Posted 11 years ago
ho2cultcha
(5051 items)
Now that i have over 100 ceramic and cement garden frogs, i think that i'm becoming somewhat of an 'expert' in the field - sort of an archaeoherpetologist? whatever! from the style of these two little frogs, i'm guessing that they were made sometime between 1890 and 1910 - maybe up to 1920 if they were made in a very rural place. Around 1910, pottery frogs began to get more details and stronger characters - took on personalities like in cartoons. I could be wrong, but i don't think so. I found these two in a pot in the trash - the same trash where i found that cool little Zuni owl. These look like they were made by squishing clay into a mold, and then when the mold was removed, the details - like the toes and mouths were sculpted in. These frogs are 3.5" tall x 3" long x 3" wide. They remind me alot of sewer tile frogs i've seen. i wonder if sewer tile pottery was sometimes left unglazed like these?
i'm pretty sure that these are sewer tile frogs, but i've never seen unglazed sewer tile frogs before. the color / texture of the clay matches the local sewer tiles which were made in Niles Canyon and Richmond at the turn of the last century. does anyone have more info about sewer tile art? thanks!
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