"Rustic" Jug, shape no. E2

The firm founded as Griffen, Smith & Hill Company in 1879 and renamed Griffen, Smith & Co. in 1880, produced its high-quality “Etruscan Majolica” until the early 1890s in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, a town located about thirty miles northwest of Philadelphia. Under the management of Phoenixville natives George Griffen (1854–1893) and his brother Henry Griffen (1857–1907), and Staffordshire-trained potters David Smith (1839–1895) and William Hill (1837–1913), the firm’s range of majolica was the largest of any American ceramic manufacturer. Though many of its designs were derived from English models, the company’s distinctive glazes were formulated in-house and admired for their vibrancy and richness.

This model is typical of that production, which focused on cleverly-designed tablewares that were accessible to the American middle classes. This jug’s design falls in a category made by a range of majolica manufacturers, likely first by the English firms Minton and Wedgwood, that were known as “rustic” wares and evoked nature through representations of tree bark grounds overlaid with foliage and natural motifs. These designs evocative of nature enjoyed popularity from the 1860s through the 1880s.

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Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Sale, Strawser Auction Group, Wolcottville, Indiana, 29 September 2018, lot 3046; purchased by Deborah and Philip English, Baltimore, 2018; given to the Walters Art Museum, 2024.