Corked clear-glass milk bottle containing a carved wooden figure symbolizing the plantation life endured by the artist's father. The artist was Frederick I. Douglas (1871-1933), born in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, and the son of a former slave. Douglas worked as a gristmill operator and chauffeur. Late in life, he took up the craft of assembling sculptures in bottles, a form of folk art known as a bottle whimsy. Douglas began carving in 1927 and died in 1933.