Puzzle jug
Cambrian Pottery (Established in Swansea in 1764, the Cambrian Pottery reached its creative peak under the proprietorship of Lewis Weston Dillwyn (1778-1855), who ran the Pottery (with a break between 1817 and 1824) from 1802 to 1836. Lewis Weston Dillwyn was a natural scientist, antiquarian, Member of Parliament, magistrate and landowner whose intellectual interests drove the Cambrian Pottery to become one of the most ambitious and artistically accomplished British potteries of the early 19th century. While the porcelain manufactured in Swansea between 1814 and 1825 justifies its reputation as among the finest of British porcelains, the pottery produced under Dillwyn’s ownership between 1802 and about 1809 was at its best an equally impressive achievement, most particularly that made for sale in the Pottery’s Cambrian Warehouse in London 1806-1808, the context for which this supper service was most likely created.)
Puzzle jug, pearl-glazed earthenware, baluster form with a tall collar neck, angular tubular handle, grooved along the back, the handle encircling the neck and terminating in a small globular pierced nozzle, the neck below the tube pierced with a complex repeating pattern of diamonds and dots, above the tube with spades and dots; the body painted in enamels with a purple-veined yellow ground, reserved with a frilly edged circular cartouche inscribed 'SUCCESS TO THE CLOCK AND WATCH TRADE.' around the upper edge of the circle, the centre with the monogram 'JET' above 'CARDIFF, 1880', all in brown enamel; a floral arrangement, including pink roses, to either side of the cartouche; brown bands around foot, rim outlining nozzles and handle, pale purple band at shoulder painted with dark purple foliage.
This puzzle jug bears the initials of John Thackwell of Cardiff, a clock- and watchmaker, bailiff and alderman. Thackwell's wife was related to Edward Green, an agent at the Cambrian Pottery.
Creation/Production
Date: 1800-1810
Acquisition
Bequest, 10/12/1953
Measurements
Height
(cm): 16.8
Length
(cm): 16.3
Width
(cm): 14
Height
(in): 6
Length
(in): 6
Width
(in): 5
Techniques
wheel-thrown
forming
Applied Art
moulded
forming
Applied Art
pierced
decoration
Applied Art
enamelled
decoration
Applied Art
