Anna Pottery, Snake Jug, c. 1865, stoneware with painted decoration, 31.75 x 21.11 x 22.07 cm (Minneapolis Institute of Art)
[0:00] [music]
Dr. Beth Harris: [0:04] We’re here in the galleries at the Minneapolis Institute of Art — MIA — and we’re looking at a really unusual jug.
Dr. Alex Bortolot: [0:13] This is a jug that would have held whiskey, but it was so much more than that. It’s meant to be a visually striking tour de force of the potter’s art.
Dr. Harris: [0:22] We may not recognize this scene immediately, but anyone in 1865, at the very end of the Civil War, would have known exactly what this was.
Dr. Bortolot: [0:30] A person who was politically clued in would instantly recognize the figures who are convulsing and intertwining with these giant serpents on this jug, and in fact not just on this jug but passing through the jug.
Dr. Harris: [0:41] The Kirkpatrick brothers, who made this jug, were very popular potters in southern Illinois and had a special affection for snakes. One of the brothers collected and even exhibited snakes. So snakes appear on many of their wares, but the snakes have particular meaning here. We can see that they have dark spots on their heads, which tells us that they’re copperhead snakes.
Dr. Bortolot: [1:06] Copperhead was a name given to a certain type of individual who identified with the Democratic Party and were sympathetic to the Confederate cause.
[1:15] One thing that will be surprising to some is that back in the mid- to late 19th century, the Republicans were the much more progressive party, pursuing emancipation of enslaved men and women.
Dr. Harris: [1:27] Although they were also very pro-industry.
Dr. Bortolot: [1:29] Which was why in part they were a bastion of the Northern states, which were far more industrialized than the Southern states.
[1:34] On the other hand, the Democrats were in support of states’ rights, particularly the states’ rights to maintain the institution of slavery. Whereas Illinois as a whole was part of the North, southern Illinois, where Cornwall and Wallace Kirkpatrick had their factory, was culturally and economically much more tied to the Southern states.
Dr. Harris: [1:52] The economy of the state of Illinois was deeply hurt by the Civil War, and so it makes sense that this would be an area where you would have people who were called Peace Democrats. They wanted the war to end, and they were also in many ways deeply racist.
Dr. Bortolot: [2:09] Copperheads were not particularly invested in the emancipation of enslaved individuals. In some cases, newspapers which identified with the Democratic party traded in openly racist rhetoric.
Dr. Harris: [2:22] So, we see these copperhead snakes circling this jug, but what draws our attention is this main scene with two figures, one of whom is dressed in a skirt, wearing something that looks like a woman’s shawl, army boots, and he’s bearded. He seems to be attacking another figure, a Union soldier, with a knife, and that soldier is coming at him with a pistol.
[2:45] What we have here is actually the figure of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, at the moment of his arrest.
Dr. Bortolot: [2:54] Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union general Ulysses S. Grant in the spring of 1865, and so Jefferson Davis roves around under military guard through the South, and four weeks later, his encampment is happened upon by Union soldiers.
[3:09] He picked up a raincoat. His wife put her shawl over his head to keep him warm and he tried to sneak into the woods, where he was caught by Union soldiers.
Dr. Harris: [3:18] So he wasn’t really wearing women’s petticoats, but this was the story that made it into the press and even into popular song. It made fun of Jefferson Davis in a way that felt quite satisfying to a Northern audience.
Dr. Bortolot: [3:31] If you look at the text beneath this depiction of Jefferson Davis on the jug, it says, “Trying to get over the last ditch, but his boots betray him.” In popular prints, he’s seen sprinting away, skirts flying, boots fully exposed, carrying a Bowie knife and a bag of gold with a Union soldier shooting at him with a pistol.
[3:49] In the case of the jug, we have the addition of his genitalia, which can be seen from these lifted fluttering skirts. One of the fascinating aspects of the history of this object is that at some point, somebody has chipped those away.
Dr. Harris: [4:01] When we’re looking at a jug that’s got spiders and dung beetles and balls of excrement and figures piercing the jug with their butts sticking out, we’re looking at something very entertaining.
Dr. Bortolot: [4:14] Cornwall and Wallace both were essentially showmen at a time of great showmen promoting themselves and their business through spectacle.
Dr. Harris: [4:20] This is also the time of P.T. Barnum.
Dr. Bortolot: [4:22] Speaking to the broadest of audiences.
Dr. Harris: [4:24] For a long time, we thought that the message of this jug and the other jugs that they created with writhing snakes were promoting the temperance movement. There’s this idea that alcohol brings on delirium tremens, ghastly nightmares. Now we have a very different view of them.
Dr. Bortolot: [4:41] Where the satire comes in with snake jugs as a whole is most likely tweaking of the noses of those sanctimonious Victorian Americans who professed to lead more elevated lives.
Dr. Harris: [4:52] We might even think about the kind of humor that we read in Mark Twain, poking fun at all levels of society, at corruption, at politicians.
Dr. Bortolot: [5:02] A critical view of both elite, urbane society and rustic society, and at the same time, they had aspirations to the highest form of craftsmanship.
[5:10] [music]
