Maize Jug

Operating from Hanley in the heart of the Staffordshire potteries district, John Adams & Co., later Adams & Bromley, was one of the most commercially successful English majolica manufacturers. Beginning in 1864, and for nearly thirty years, it supplied a diverse range of high quality, reasonably priced majolica tableware, flowerpots, and garden seats to the growing middle-class markets in the UK and abroad. Most of the company’s original partners, including John Adams (1827/8–1900) and John Bromley (1829–1915), began their careers at Josiah Wedgwood & Sons. This early experience impacted the course of their business, informing the design and decoration of the goods they manufactured which primarily focused on majolica and dry-bodied stoneware similar to Wedgwood’s jasperware.

Adams & Bromley’s well-modeled and somewhat playful designs, like the Maize Jug, likely appealed to a significant group of the middle class consumers that were the major focus of the firm. Indeed, the significant number of examples of the jug model that can be found on the secondary market today underline its appeal this design held at the time.

The company participated in several world’s fairs and exported its production widely, including to the vital American market. Clear evidence of this comes in the form of a full-page advertisement, published in the spring of 1875 in the newly formed American trade publication Crockery Journal, soon to be renamed the Crockery and Glass Journal. The firm’s majolica appeared unattributed in this prominent promotion run by L. Straus & Sons, a leading New York City-based porcelain, pottery, and glass wholesaler. The advertisement illustrates three Adams & Bromley pieces including a Maize Jug, along with majolica made by such firms as Wedgwood and Wardle & Co.

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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.

Collection of Deborah and Philip English, Baltimore, by 1998 [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; given to the Walters Art Museum, 2025.