This is a hard to find Victorian Earthenware Jug. It dates to the 1860s / 70s and was made at Bells Pottery in Glasgow.
The pattern is called "The Fishwives".
The jug has been made from a model with two sides made separately and joined together and the handle then applied. You can see the seam where the side join running down the front of the vase. Each side has a different pattern.
On one side is a raised image to two fishwives. They wear a pale blue jacket, pink overskirt of apron, stripy blue skirts and wee black shoes. They have creels on their backs full of silvery fish. The other side shows a fishwife and a customer. She has her creel on the ground to display her wares - the gentleman shakes hands to conclude a deal. The handle is shaped like a gnarled tree branch and is thinly painted with an ochre yellow colour. This colour is also picked up with the decorative chain border near the top. The rim of the jug has not been painted and is just glazed. The paintwork on the figures is picked out with more pastel shades and the colours and not so vibrant as on other examples - I like this more subtle colouring.
Given the jugs age - it is certainly in excellent antique condition. It is clean inside with no staining. The exterior is also nice and clean with no crazing. There are no chips or cracks. On the base there is the Victorian lozenge mark. It is hard to read the date on this mark as it has been flooded with glaze - but it certainly dates the jug to being late 19th century.
It is quite an iconic piece of Scottish Pottery - it appears on the cover of Graeme Chruikshank's book on Scottish Pottery (as photographed). It is also documented on page 59 of the book "The Glasgow Pottery of John and Matthew Preston Bell" by Henry Kelly.
Dimensions: It is 7 1/2 inches in height. The rim has a diameter of 4 inches. From handle to spout it is 6 inches. The base is 6 inches in diameter. Unpacked it is 700 grams.
It will be very carefully packed and sent to you with Royal Mail Tracked and Signed Post (Medium Parcel). This will be applied to your order at the checkout.