
Fergus Gambon
Director
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Sold for £21,250 inc. premium
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Head of Sale
Provenance
The Fourth Marquess of Bute (1881-1947)
Christie's sale of the Bute Collection, 8 July 1996, lot 3
A British Private Collection
This rare jug belongs to a small group of Toby jugs with shared characteristics in terms of their modelling and decoration. Despite their naivety, the larger examples show a high degree of subtlety in the modelling of the face as seen in this example. Twelve such jugs are recorded by Vic Schuler, Collecting British Toby Jugs (1999), p.55, including the present lot. These include examples illustrated by Sir Harold Mackintosh, Bt., Early English Figure Pottery (1938), p.39, no.92 and Captain R K Price, Astbury, Whieldon, and Ralph Wood Figures, and Toby Jugs (1922), pl.XLVII, 68 and 69.
Two marked examples are recorded. One from the Lord Mackintosh sale at Sotheby's in May 1967, described in the catalogue as being inscribed on the underside 'J Marsh Jolley'. Another sold at Phillips, 29 November 1989, lot 305 was inscribed 'J Marsh, Folley'. Jacob Marsh is recorded as a potter in Burslem in 1803, moving to the Lane Delph Pottery in 1806. He is listed in The History and Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire in 1834 as 'Jacob Marsh of Golden Hill House, (Foley) gent'. See John and Griselda Lewis, Pratt Ware (1984), p.44-45. Foley lies between Longton and Fenton and it is likely that Marsh's connections there were longstanding, providing the probable maker for this rare group of jugs.