A very handsome 1920s Rockingham ware water jug with marbled blue and toffee banding, and "Made in England" stamped on its base. 

History

Original Rockingham jugs, along with Brown Betty teapots, are distinguished by two common characteristics: their red Etruria Marl clay, and a rich brown manganese glaze known as Rockingham. The clay is unique to Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, UK, and after its discovery in 1695, the pottery industry – The Potteries – sprung up around these clay seams.

The factories that produced these jugs also produced Brown Betty teapots and the heyday of design of both lies in the first part of the twentieth century.  Affordable, utilitarian and unpretentious, they were to become design classics. When fired, the Rockingham glaze created a streaky and splattered finish and so helped disguise any dribbles while the jug was in use. Come the 1920s it was many a household’s jug of choice, being produced with varying striped bands of colour and marbling. By 1926 the Staffordshire pottery industry, such as the potteries of James Sadler & Sons and Joseph Bourne & Sons Ltd, was turning out thousands every week. 

Note: these water jugs were for everyday use, and so were not subject to rigorous production control. Therefore they often contain marks fired into the glaze, over-glazed chips, pre-firing smudges and some historical glaze crazing - which is all integral to their character.

Country of origin: UK

Date: c.1920 - 1930

Material: Staffordshire red Marl clay 

Dimensions: Height 17cm / Diameter 10.5cm / Width from handle to tip of spout 14.5cm

Condition: excellent

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