Anna Pottery
Cemetery urn, 1893
hand-thrown and constructed stoneware, white-slip decoration, hand-applied decoration 
43 3/8 inches high by 17 1/23 inches diameter 
Illinois State Museum collection
Gift of Mrs. Margaret Kirkpatrick, Anna, Illinois 

This two-piece pottery cemetery urn was made for Nathaniel Kirkpatrick, a brother of Cornwall Kirkpatrick and Wallace Kirkpatrick, founders and owners of the Anna Pottery. The inscription reads "Nathaniel M. Kirkpatrick died Jan. 7th 1893 Age 80 years." A tree trunk theme was regularly used in the design of cemetery markers in the nineteenth century. Stonemasons carved limestone cemetery stones in the shape of tree trunks during the War Between the States for the graves of soldiers killed in battle. This theme for grave markers was also popular in the western states among pioneers. People bought prints of paintings with subject matter like a girl in a landscape by a tree with the inscription "May this tree be spared," with a place to write a loved one's name. 

In what ways would a tree trunk be a visual symbol for a person who died?

What symbols do we use today to show that a person has died and we are mourning them?