This small Dutch shape pearlware pottery Sunderland jug, commemorating the sailing ship “Great Australia”, stands 6.25 inches high. It was made in Sunderland, UK, c.1860-1870 and has pink lustre and dark red transfer decoration with over washes of yellow, green, and blue. The other side has the verse: “From rocks and sands and barren land. Kind fortune keep me free. And from great guns and woman’s tongues, Good Lord deliver me.” A nice sentiment, although not quite politically correct.
A tinker in the 19th century created the metal replacement handle with finger grip and a wide horizontal band, replacing the original broken pottery handle.
I purchased this jug and a medium size one from a London dealer earlier this year. Along with a large jug I purchased many years ago from a different dealer in London, I now have a trio of graduating size jugs, each with similar decoration and metal replacement handles. Take a look at the other two: Large Sunderland jug, c.1855, Medium Sunderland jug “Great Australia”, c.1865. I promise one day to snap a photo of all three jugs together.
This jug of similar form and decoration shows what the original handle on mine would have looked like.
Photo courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art
Tags: commemorative, English, metal handle, pearlware, pottery, transferware