Attributed Louisa "Ma Lou" Jones O.D. (Jamaican, 1912-1992), Two Terracotta Vessels

Mid-20th century, hand-coiled and pit-fired terracotta, each vessel "signed" with four shallow circular impressions to body.

Largest 8 1/2 x 15 in.

Private Collection, Edenton, North Carolina

Louisa Jones O.D., popularly known as Ma Lou, has been described as a national treasure and a master practitioner of the African-Jamaican pottery tradition. She began her artistic journey at nine years old when her family began to teach her how to make clay pots. By the age of thirteen she started to work as a full-time potter and began a career spanning over half a century. She produced primarily yabba pots, cooling jars, coal stoves and flower pots, particularly for household use and domestic applications.

Characteristically her pieces consist of terra-cotta earthenware bodies, predominantly completed without any decoration. Additionally, she covered many of her cooking pots and yabba bowls with a bauxite dirt slip and burnished them with river stones to fashion their marble like sheen finish. Her pieces were always “signed” with four shallow finger impressions which were horizontally placed.

In 1986 Ma Lou reached national acclaim when she was honoured with a Silver Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica and in 1988 when she received the Order of Distinction from the Government of Jamaica. Then, in 1991 she had a solo exhibition at the Petite Gallery in the capital of Jamaica.


Both with cracks, nicks, and variations in color inherent to the firing process.