POLITICAL SATIRE AND TRANSFERWARE

T. Harley 6.5 inch jug, "Bonaparte And The Quaker," ca. 1802-1808.

Serendip is a place I arrive at often when I search for transferware patterns.  My search recently took me to Geoffrey Godden's book, "An Illustrated Encyclopedia Of British Pottery And Porcelain," which was published in 1965.  I was looking for a basket undertray or stand on p. 176, but the photo below the stand caught my attention.  It showed a jug titled "Bonaparte and the Quaker,"  and I realized the identical jug was on my shelf! The only difference is that the jug in the book is signed on the bottom, "Manufactd (sic) by T Harley, Lane End."  The commentary on the jug is like a political cartoon on transferware.  It makes fun of Napoleon and touts the superiority of even a peaceful Quaker!

The text is hard to read, even enlarged, so here are close-ups. You can click on them to make them larger, but I'll add the text to the caption below.

"So they are all great Men in you Country, eh? but I suppose they are like you not very fond of fighting; is not that the case Master Quaker." The punctuation is not mine!

"Little man it is not the Case, I myself encourage not fighting, but if thou, or any of thy Comrades darest to cross the great Waters my countrymen shall make Quakers of ye all."

The pattern is based on a source print, a political cartoon, that has been in the collection of the British Museum since 1868.

"Bonaparte and the Quaker" from the collection of the British Museum.  It is dated 1803, and says it was "Pubd by Roberts 28 Middle Row Holborn London."

You might wonder what is on the other side of the jug.  Perhaps another jibe at Napoleon?

There are just some lovely flowers on the other side of the jug.  English roses?

Here's the page from Godden's book.

And the cover.  I have owned it for a long time, but haven't looked at it for quite awhile.  It's good to remember old friends.

NAMED AND DATED CERAMICS, RESEARCH, AND THANKS!

 I received some excellent feedback from Gary Hammond recently.  He had read my post titled "The Weaver's Arms On Transferware," where I asked if anyone could help me identify the names of the people printed on the jugs seen below.

Gary found information about Elijah Pointon, see the jug on the left, in an 1841 & an 1851 Census for Leek in Staffordshire.  Elijah Pointon was born there in 1816.

Census for 1841/Click on the photo to make it larger.

Census for 1851/Click on the photo to make it larger.

 
When I took the jug down from a shelf to dust and photograph it, I found a printout from Barrie Cathcart of Barrie Cathcart Antiques, dated 2007, which says "I found him (Elijah Pointon) in Leek, born 1816, and dying in 1853. He married in 1839 to Hanna, he was a silk weaver and she a silk winder. They lived at Buxton Road in Leek. Their children were Elizabeth, Mary Ann, and Ann Jane."  I should dust more often.

Earthenware 6.5 inch high jug painted in pink lustre with a name and date plus a common cottage pattern on both sides. The clay is colored cafe au lait (I don't know the proper term).  The heart surrounding the name and date is charming.

The sides and border of the Pointon jug are painted with pink lustre.

I decided to search my collection for all of my named and dated patterns.  I had more than I remembered. Most are not transferware, but some include transfer printing.

I own seven jugs and one teapot.

Most of the items are handpainted with pink lustre and other colors.  Notice that all of the items have dates from the early 19th century.

Other side of the teapot seen above. "Come friends & relations, let's join heart in hand./The voice of the Turtle is heard in our land:/Let's all walk together and follow the sound./We'll march to the place where redemption is found."

  I thought I showed you all of my named and dated jugs, but David found another!

Filled-in transfer jug with initials and date: 1825

If you want to see more photos of any of the pieces (like the sides), let me know.

The End.