Toby Jug

Last updated
Toby Jug, made by Ralph Wood (the Younger), Burslem, c. 1782-1795; lead-glazed earthenware. Pearlware Toby jug VA C42-1955.jpg
Toby Jug, made by Ralph Wood (the Younger), Burslem, c. 1782-1795; lead-glazed earthenware.

A Toby Jug, also sometimes known as a Fillpot (or Philpot), is a pottery jug in the form of a seated person, or the head of a recognizable person. Typically the seated figure is a heavy-set, jovial man holding a mug of beer in one hand and a pipe of tobacco in the other and wearing 18th-century attire: a long coat and a tricorn hat. The tricorn hat forms a pouring spout, often with a removable lid, and a handle is attached at the rear. Jugs depicting just the head and shoulders of a figure are also referred to as Toby jugs, although these should strictly be called "character jugs" [1] or face jugs, the wider historical term.

Contents

The original Toby Jug, with a brown salt glaze, was developed and popularised by Staffordshire potters in the 1760s. [2] It is thought to be a development of similar Delft jugs that were produced in the Netherlands. [3] Similar designs were produced by other potteries, first in Staffordshire, then around England, and eventually in other countries, both in Europe and in British colonies.

Toby jug found in a chief's tomb in the Belgian Congo, dating from early 1800s, now in the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Toby jug from chief's tomb, early 1800s - Kongo - Royal Museum for Central Africa - DSC05809.JPG
Toby jug found in a chief’s tomb in the Belgian Congo, dating from early 1800s, now in the Royal Museum for Central Africa.

The Jug in the form of a Head, Self-portrait (1899) by Paul Gauguin is an unusual example from a painter. They were made in the 1760s in the Netherlands.

Etymology

There are competing theories for the origin of the name "Toby Jug". [4] Although it has been suggested that the pot is named after Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night , or Uncle Toby in Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy , the most widely accepted theory is that the original was a Yorkshireman, Henry Elwes, 'famous for drinking 2,000 gallons of strong stingo beer from his silver tankard, while eating nothing....He was nicknamed Toby Fillpot, and after his death in 1761 the London publisher of popular prints, Carrington Bowles, issued a mezzotint portrait of him. It became a best-seller - as did the Burslem Potter Ralph Wood's "Toby" jugs based on the portrait.' [5] Toby Fillpot was also the subject of a popular poem, 'The Brown Jug', by Francis Fawkes:

DEAR TOM , this brown jug, that now foams with mild ale,
(In which I will drink to sweet Nan of the Vale)
Was once Toby Fillpot, a thirsty old soul
As e'er drank a bottle or fathomed a bowl;
In boosing about 't was his praise to excel,
And among jolly topers he bore off the bell.

It chanced, as in dog-days he sat at his ease,
In his flower-woven arbour, as gay as you please,
With a friend and a pipe, puffing sorrows away,
And with honest old Stingo was soaking his clay,
His breath-doors of life on a sudden were shut,
And he died full as big as a Dorchester butt.

His body when long in the ground it had lain,
And time into clay had resolved it again,
A potter found out in its covert so snug,
And with part of fat Toby he formed this brown jug;
Now sacred to friendship, to mirth, and mild ale,
So here 's to my lovely sweet Nan of the Vale.

Cultural references

In the book and 1949 film Twelve O'Clock High a Toby Jug depicting Robin Hood is used as a signal in the officer's club, to discreetly warn aircrews that there will be a mission the following day, without revealing this to outsiders who might be visiting. The Toby Jug plays a pivotal role in the film.

In the satiric 1954 novel, "Lucky Jim," a Toby Jug is noted at the Welchs' house.

A Toby Jug collector and her large collection also figure prominently in the plot of the Bravo/Netflix series Imposters.

Ma Mary discusses losing her mother's collection of Toby jugs in Series 3 Episode 3 of Derry Girls.

In the Apple+ series "Masters of the Air" the same type of Toby Jug depicting Robin Hood used in the film "Twelve O'Clock High" is conspicuously in the background of the Part 9 officer's club scene with the conversation between Major's Rosenthal and Crosby.

Collections

The American Toby Jug Museum is located on Chicago Avenue in Evanston, Illinois, US.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoneware</span> Term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature

Stoneware is a broad term for pottery fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern definition is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire clay. End applications include tableware, decorative ware such as vases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English delftware</span> Tin-glazed pottery

English delftware is tin-glazed pottery made in the British Isles between about 1550 and the late 18th century. The main centres of production were London, Bristol and Liverpool with smaller centres at Wincanton, Glasgow and Dublin. English tin-glazed pottery was called "galleyware" or "galliware" and its makers "gallypotters" until the early 18th century; it was given the name delftware after the tin-glazed pottery from the Netherlands,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slipware</span> Pottery with a coating of slip

Slipware is pottery identified by its primary decorating process where slip is placed onto the leather-hard (semi-hardened) clay body surface before firing by dipping, painting or splashing. Slip is an aqueous suspension of a clay body, which is a mixture of clays and other minerals such as quartz, feldspar and mica. The slip placed onto a wet or leather-hard clay body surface by a variety of techniques including dipping, painting, piping or splashing. Slipware is the pottery on which slip has been applied either for glazing or decoration. Slip is liquified clay or clay slurry, with no fixed ratio of water and clay, which is used either for joining pottery pieces together by slip casting with mould, glazing or decorating the pottery by painting or dipping the pottery with slip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer in England</span> Beer in England

Beer has been brewed in England for thousands of years. As a beer brewing country, it is known for top fermented cask beer which finishes maturing in the cellar of the pub rather than at the brewery and is served with only natural carbonation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydria</span> Type of Greek pottery used for carrying water

The hydria is a form of Greek pottery from between the late Geometric period and the Hellenistic period. The etymology of the word hydria was first noted when it was stamped on a hydria itself, its direct translation meaning 'jug'.

"Bingo" is an English language children's song and folksong of obscure origin. Additional verses are sung by omitting the first letter sung in the previous verse and clapping or barking the number of times instead of actually saying each letter. Its Roud Folk Song Index number is 589.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mintons</span> English pottery company (1793–2005)

Mintons was a major company in Staffordshire pottery, "Europe's leading ceramic factory during the Victorian era", an independent business from 1793 to 1968. It was a leader in ceramic design, working in a number of different ceramic bodies, decorative techniques, and "a glorious pot-pourri of styles - Rococo shapes with Oriental motifs, Classical shapes with Medieval designs and Art Nouveau borders were among the many wonderful concoctions". As well as pottery vessels and sculptures, the firm was a leading manufacturer of tiles and other architectural ceramics, producing work for both the Houses of Parliament and United States Capitol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White-ground technique</span>

White-ground technique is a style of white ancient Greek pottery and the painting in which figures appear on a white background. It developed in the region of Attica, dated to about 500 BC. It was especially associated with vases made for ritual and funerary use, if only because the painted surface was more fragile than in the other main techniques of black-figure and red-figure vase painting. Nevertheless, a wide range of subjects are depicted.

Gianduja is one of the masks of the Italian commedia dell'arte, typically representing the town of Turin. Gianduja also became the namesake for a Piedmontese chocolate preparation. The mask depicts an honest peasant of Piedmontese country land, with a certain inclination for wine, gastronomy and beautiful girls, while strictly faithful to his lover Giacometta, who is usually represented by a cute girl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Variety Unit</span>

Variety Unit is an exhibit building at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Face jug</span> Type of jug pottery

A face jug is a jug pottery that depicts a face. There are examples in the pottery of ancient Greece, and that of Pre-Columbian America. Early European examples date from the 13th century, and the German stoneware Bartmann jug was a popular later medieval and Renaissance form. Later, the British Toby Jug was a popular form, that became mass-produced. Especially in America, a number of modern craft potters make pieces, mostly continuing the 19th-century African-American slave folk art tradition.

Charles John Noke, was an English pottery designer and artist who primarily worked for Royal Doulton.

<i>The Smoker</i> Painting by Frans Hals

The Smoker is an oil-on-panel painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Frans Hals, painted in 1626 and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood family</span>

The Wood family was an English family of Staffordshire potters. Among its members were Ralph Wood I (1715–1772), the "miller of Burslem," his son Ralph Wood II (1748–1795), and his grandson Ralph Wood III (1774–1801). Ralph I was the brother of Aaron Wood, father of Enoch Wood. Through his mother, Ralph Wood II was related to Josiah Wedgwood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turner (potters)</span> Family of English potters, active from the mid-18th to the early 19th century

The Turner family of potters was active in Staffordshire, England 1756-1829. Their manufactures have been compared favourably with, and sometimes confused with, those of Josiah Wedgwood and Sons. Josiah Wedgwood was both a friend and a commercial rival of John Turner the elder, the first notable potter in the family.

Beer in Sussex is beer produced in the historic county of Sussex in England, East Sussex and West Sussex..

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ancient Egyptian pottery</span>

Ancient Egyptian pottery includes all objects of fired clay from ancient Egypt. First and foremost, ceramics served as household wares for the storage, preparation, transport, and consumption of food, drink, and raw materials. Such items include beer and wine mugs and water jugs, but also bread moulds, fire pits, lamps, and stands for holding round vessels, which were all commonly used in the Egyptian household. Other types of pottery served ritual purposes. Ceramics are often found as grave goods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burton ale</span> Dark and sweet type of strong ale

Burton ale is a type of strong ale which is dark and sweet. It is named after the brewing town of Burton-on-Trent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pew group</span> 18th century English pottery figures

The pew group is a rare type of pottery Staffordshire figure, apparently made only in the 1740s. Typically it has two or three "rigidly posed" figures sitting on a high-backed bench, often with a woman in the centre; great attention is paid to details of hair and clothing. The setting is not church, as the usual name suggests, but a comfortable home or inn, where high-backed settles were a common piece of furniture. Details are picked out in dark brown or black glaze, and dogs and musical instruments may be depicted, or the gentlemen may be taking snuff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castleford Pottery</span>

The original Castleford Pottery operated from c. 1793 to 1820 in Castleford in Yorkshire, England. It was owned by David Dunderdale, and is especially known for making "a smear-glazed, finely moulded, white stoneware". This included feldspar, giving it a degree of opacity unusual in a stoneware. The designs typically included relief elements, and edges of the main shape and the panels into which the body was divided were often highlighted with blue overglaze enamel. Most pieces were teapots or accompanying milk jugs, sugar bowls and slop bowls, and the shapes often derived from those used in contemporary silversmithing.

References

  1. "History of Toby Jugs".
  2. "American Toby Jug Museum - Toby & Character Jugs - History". Archived from the original on 2018-05-21. Retrieved 2015-09-30.
  3. The Art of the Old English Potter, By Louis Marc Emmanuel Solon, Forgotten Books, September, 2015, p. 245, ISBN   978-1331549598
  4. Dale, Jean (2003) [1991]. Royal Doulton Jugs. A Charlton Standard Catalogue (7th ed.). North York, Canada: The Charlton Press. p. vii. ISBN   0-88968-280-1.
  5. John Windsor, 'The Mantel', The Independent, 21 August 1998