Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library

Harvest Jug with Masonic Symbols
1805
Maker not marked
USA: New York
Salt-glazed stoneware
overall: 7"h x 8"w x 9"d
Special Acquisitions Fund
91.045

Masonic Harvest Jug shape with carrying ring/handle, pouring spout and cylindrical neck; incised "J. Romer / 1805" under spout with Masonic symbols (all-seeing eye, sun, moon, columns, square and compasses, etc), fish, fish hook(s), floral sprig.

The potter who shaped and decorated this jug cut the owner’s name, J. Romer, and a date, 1805, under the spout. On the side of the vessel, he incised a whimsical picture of a Masonic apron into the clay, suggesting that the owner was a Freemason. John Romer (1764-1855), a member of Hiram Lodge No. 72 in Mount Pleasant, New York, may have called this jug his own. For further information, see Hamilton, John D., "Material Culture of the American Freemasons," 1994, p. 231.