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 expands conically towards the top where, having acquired a suitable belly, it abruptly tapers into an opening, whereas its bottom has a marked small foot which, if the vessel were free-standing, would not make it stable. At the top of the tureen belly, there are two vertical handles, whose form is reminiscent of an ornamental cartouche (two volute arms fastened together with a flower cusp at the top, and with a fan-shaped crest at the bottom) embellished with a flower and feathery leaf motif 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, placed on the flattened top of the bulge. The handle front and base are covered by a relief motif of small petals which form this rosette. This relief is partly outlined with brown. The lid edge protrudes beyond the rim of the tureen opening where the lid is held by a border protrusion which, similar to a section of the lid plane, is interrupted by the deep, arched indentation for 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 pattern was applied mechanically using a stencil. On both sides of the tureen belly, there is a decoration in the form of a conventional bouquet of 5 flowers, one of which is the axis of the composition. However, the pattern adopts a striped arrangement around the edge of the lid and the bowl-shaped base. The pattern piece consists of a flower with two buds. The lid pattern runs between two brown stripes. A similar brown stripe surrounds the tureen opening and the rim of the bowl-shaped base. On the reverse of the vessel (base), there are two company marks in green seal print, i.e. the workshop's signature: an anchor in an oval shield, with an inscription underneath: S.B. & S / ENGLAND and the signature of the London store SOUTH AUDLEY S/ T. GOODE & Co / LONDON. W. There is a very short and thin maroon line visible at a considerable distance from the signatures. 

Joanna Kluz