Ant Cup
Dateca. 1870
Maker
Rye Pottery
MediumStoneware
DimensionsOverall: 1 9/16 × 6 3/8in. (4 × 16.2cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number2022.900.10
DescriptionAnt Cup: thrown stoneware dish of deep circular shape with integral center cylinder or cup; wire trimmed foot; the body dipped in an iron-rich Albany-type slip.Label TextThe ant cup is among the rarest of surviving Southern utilitarian ceramic forms. Popular in Alabama and Georgia, one of the cylindrical straight-sided cup or bowl like objects would have been placed under each leg of a food or pie safe, sugar chest, or cellarette. Then the mote of each vessel would have been filled with linseed oil, turpentine, or coal oil to deter ants and other insects from crawling up the legs of the piece of furniture, thus protecting the enclosed food stuffs.
1712 (dated)
ca. 1710
ca. 1760