Untitled (Memory Bottle with Harmonica and Razor)

Some memory jars may have come from African American traditions of decorating graves with objects owned by the deceased. The objects embedded in the surface of these bottles and jars provide clues about when they were made or who made them. For example, Jug with Finial includes a campaign button for William Jennings Bryan, a Democratic presidential candidate between 1896 and 1908, while High-Buttoned Shoe shows a macabre row of teeth that may have belonged to the maker.

About the sculpture

Particulars

Neighbors at Smithsonian American Art Museum

On the same theme · Clocks and watches

Unknown

What it shows

In the catalog

Sources

Muskrat, before 1997

Cane with Boot-Shaped Handle, late 19th-early 20th century

San Jose, late 19th-early 20th century

Nuestra Senora del Carmen, ca. late 19th-early 20th century

San Rafael, late 19th-early 20th century

Worrying Mother Pig Toy, 20th century (pre-1960s)

Bright Light at Russell's Corners, 1946

Fish Decoy, ca. 1940s

The Portrait, 1890

Untitled (Victorian Collage), 1880-1890

Untitled (Hourglass), ca. 1872-1874

Another Year by the Old Clock, from Harper's Bazar, January 1, 1870, 1870

Hallowe'en Imp, published 1947

(Illustration for Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám) The Invitation, 1883-1884

Untitled (Child with Sun Dial), ca. 1903

Thomas Jefferson, Writing the Declaration of Independence, 1898