From the very beginning, people found it necessary to devise a vessel which would contain and transport liquids. Their early efforts to solve this problem resulted in the use of clay, which we found all around us, to make a primitive type of jug. Perhaps accidentally someone dropped one of these early clay jugs or pitchers into the fire and discovered that the heat hardened the clay into pottery.

An economic recovery coincided with the accession of Queen Victoria to the throne in the 1830's. That is when the relief molded jug or pitcher emerged as a distinct art form. Most potters of the Victorian period started production of these novel, Staffordshire, relief molded (moulded) jugs. It was on the relief molded jug or pitcher alone that many designers’ and potters’ reputations rested.

First and disputably the most important of the potters, of the true molded jug, was William Ridgway of Hanley. From about 1830, he potted press molded jugs, mostly in a tan stoneware, but sometimes in a light green or blue. Breakage was enormous, so that every household and pub would have had a number to use.

On 1 October 1835, Ridgway registered his first pattern with the public records office, under an act which protected sculptural work only from duplication. On the bottom of the vessel he impressed: PUBLISHED BY W RIDGWAY & CO., HANLEY, OCTOBER 1 ST, 1835.

Other firms joined in the production of relief molded jugs - some of them are: Charles Meigh, Coalport, Copeland, Copeland and Garret, Edward Walley, Elijah Jones, James Dudson, Jones and Walley, Minton, Samuel Alcock, Spode, T. J. & J. Mayer, T. & R. Boote and William Brownfield. The most prolific producers of Victorian, Staffordshire, relief moulded pitchers were William Brownfield and James Dudson.

...with hundreds of patterns - Amphitrite, Apostles, Bacchanalian Revels, Battle of Acre, Birdnesting, Cain and Abel, Cashmere, Dolphin, Fair Hebe (Georgian), Gipsey (sic), Gypsy, Good Samaritan, Hannibal, Hunting scenes, Infant Samuel, Ivy patterns, John Gilpin, Julius Caesar, Naomi, Ranger, Portland Vase, Silenus, Swans, Volunteer, Tam-O-Shanter, George Washington and York Minster.

These jugs were made in various shades of blue, brown, green, lavender, tan, white and polychrome. They were made from parian, pottery, porcelain and stoneware.

For more information:

"A Collector's Guide to Nineteenth Century Jugs"

<<< return to previous page