This nineteenth-century ceramic Snake Jug was designed by brothers Cornwall and Wallace Kirkpatrick, the founders of Anna Pottery in Anna, IL. By combining the form of a traditional whisky container (the “little brown jug”) with a vividly wrought motif of snakes and devils, the brothers created a powerful yet whimsical work of temperance propaganda. The Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois, Urbana, has received NEH funding to improve storage of its artifact and object collection.
Links:
[1] http://www.neh.gov/humanities/author/steve-moyer
[2] http://www.neh.gov/files/humanities/articles/curio_pic_snake_jug_nd2009_1000px.jpg