A gravy jug

A gravy jug – a small circular faience sauce vessel, consisting of a squab tureen, uniformly connected to a cup-shaped saucer base and a domed lid with an indentation for a ladle. The tureen shape resembles an inverted cone. The opening of the vessel is quite wide, whereas the foot is so small that if the tureen were free-standing, it would not make it stable. The top of the tureen belly is adjoined partially by two horizontal handles, the shape of which resembles an ornamental cartouche (two cymoid arms fastened with a cusp at the top and a fan-shaped crest at the bottom). The handles are decorated with a three-dimensional motif of leaves and a flower, partly outlined with brown. The lid gets convex at close proximity to the edge and ends in a bossed handle with a large small-leaved rosette as its base, spreading over the flattened top of the bulge. The front of the handle is covered by a swirling relief rosette, partly outlined with brown. The lid edge (extending forward, beyond the rim of the tureen opening) has a relatively deep indentation, accommodating the projecting handle of the ladle. The vessel is decorated with painted ornaments consisting of a two-colour pattern of poppies, stylised in the spirit of moderate Art Nouveau. The floral pattern was applied mechanically, using a stencil. Both sides of the tureen belly are covered by a conventional bouquet of five flowers, one of which is the axis of the composition. A similar strip pattern runs around the edge of the cup-shaped saucer and the lid edge. The pattern piece consists of a flower with two stripes. The painted decoration of the vessel is complemented by another four stripes, the first two of which frame the saucer edge and the tureen opening, whereas the other two capture the pattern decorating the lid. Workshop signature – anchor in oval field, inscription below: S.B. & S / ENGLAND and the signature of the London store SOUTH AUDLEY S/ T. GOODE & Co / LONDON. W. Between them, there are three small maroon dots. The digit “4”, stamped in black, appears at a considerable distance from the above characters. A large white porcelain ladle with a unique shape, particularly concerning the scoop and the end of the handle. A large, deep, pear-shaped, half-pear scoop, with its narrower end pointing forwards, where there is a downward kink, formed as if by the oblique truncation of a thick rod, the cross-section of which resembles a fish tail. The two triangular cones of the handle tip correspond to similar two cones protruding from under the scoop, at the handle exit. These four cones allow the ladle to be positioned horizontally. The ladle has minimal gilding, only on the handle tip, where it takes the form of an outline and fine lines to emphasise its form. This object does not have the mark of the workshop and is most probably a Czech product from 1st half of 19th century.

Joanna Kluz