jug & lemonade set

Eric Ravilious 1903 - 1942

Summary

A Liverpool shaped baluster jug with flared foot, sparrow beak lip and plain loop handle. Side of jug to left of handle has printed underglaze in black with a group of garden implements including fork, rake, broomstick, hoe, spade, shears and scythe, in a wooden barrel intertwined with leafy winding stems. Two single large drooping leaves to left and right of a barrel, over a watering can to left and broomstick to right. Details such as the underside of leaves, winding leafy stems and ends of broomsticks picked out in a pale pink metallic lustre. Side to right of handle printed with nine small vignettes forming a diamond shape, scenes including from top to bottom, left to right: cat asleep on a wall; rhubarb plant; sunflowers in a vase; wheelbarrow; greenhouse; brazier on wheels; leaves in an enamel jug; cabbage plant beneath a protective cloche; beehive surrounded by swarming bees. Each vignette washed with a circle of pale pink lustre. Front of jug below lip and back of jug between handle terminals each painted with two diagonal squiggly lines in pale pink lustre crossing over each other. Handle printed with single broomstick, top end of which is overpainted in lustre. Narrow black enamel bands to neck rim and foot. Shape: Liverpool Pattern: Garden Implements & CL6323 Jug, part of the 'Garden Implements' lemonade set 1938-1939 Designed by Eric Ravilious Made by Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd Earthenware with printed decoration On one side of this jug, intended for use outside, Eric Ravilious recorded everyday farm and garden implements in precise detail. They reflect his fascination with human interaction with the landscape. The small everyday garden scenes on the reverse side of the jug, including a greenhouse, a beehive and a wheelbarrow recall the pleasurable pastimes in a middle class English garden. The designs were made to decorate a Wedgwood traditional stock shape dating from the early years of the firm. The shape and colour of this jug recall 18th century creamware from the 1770s and 1780s.

Display Label

Jug and beaker from a lemonade set 1938 Eric Ravilious 1903-42 Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd Billy, Gallery Officer: What do I think when I see that? Lots of hard work. When the allotment was all overgrown I actually went to buy a scythe and when I priced it up I was gobsmacked! £300 at B&Q, I’m not kidding you. Hannah, Curator: Which of these tools would you use then? Billy: Hoe. That’s the most common item I’d use. Sometimes for best plot competitions people will trim it up to perfection - I was very regimented with my lines, but not edging. That spade would break your back - the handle’s too short. My handles were really tall. The rake I’d use for when I did potatoes, just for tidying up. Part of the Industrial Art Collection, a pioneering collecting project begun in 1933 by Director Lawrence Haward to collect examples of contemporary design for mass production. Purchased from the manufacturer 1939.239/241