Jug with Bird and Nest Motif

Arthur Shorter (1850–1926), who had trained as a ceramic decorator, and James Boulton (1829–1900), an experienced “fireman” (who had the responsibility of firing and controlling the kilns), founded their eponymous firm in 1878 in the center of the English pottery industry, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Shorter had attended the local art school and worked for Minton & Co. amongst other firms, while Boulton had spent many years employed at Josiah Wedgwood & Co. These backgrounds at leading manufacturers who sold large amounts of majolica during the period no doubt influenced the partners to focus on majolica as a core offering of the firm’s early production in the late 1870s and through the 1880s when the brightly colored ware enjoyed wide popularity. This model is typical of that production, which focused on cleverly-designed, lower-priced tablewares and decorative household goods that were accessible to a wide swath of the middle classes both in the UK and abroad (the firm actively exported its ceramics). This jug’s design falls in a category made by a range of majolica manufacturers, likely first by Minton and Wedgwood, that were known as “rustic” wares at the time and evoked nature through representations of tree bark grounds overlaid with leaves, berries, and in the case of the Shorter & Boulton model, a bird and nest. These designs evocative of nature enjoyed popularity from the 1860s through the 1880s.

The American manufacturer Joseph S. Mayer, of Trenton, New Jersey, reproduced many English designs–the Shorter & Bolton model was among them–in its highly successful production of low-cost wares. Mayer manufactured majolica from 1882 through the 1890s for the American market. The Mayer examples are characterized by a white glaze applied to the “bark” ground and usually exhibit a somewhat haphazard application of colored glazes over other elements. In contrast, the Walters’ jug exhibits the well-controlled application of glazes and gray ground typical of Shorter & Boulton production.

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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, IN, 29 September 2018, lot 3136; purchased by Deborah and Philip English, Baltimore, 2018; given to the Walters Art Museum, 2024.