People have told me I have “nice jugs”… they are on display in the shop. Yes, I have a room full of jugs – well over 200. So, what is about jugs that make them special, we all probably have a few more than we need purely for practical use.
It may be that jugs fulfil such a vital part of household life, protecting important food items. Just being around, they give us a sense of well being, of food and wine aplenty. Traditionally you see specific shapes, materials and designs for beer, wine, cocktails, lemonade, water and milk. With a perfect secondary role for flower arrangements, storing cutlery or kitchen utensils and displayed attractively en masse, you just can’t have too many jugs in the home.
Plastic bottles and packaging make supermarket storage easier but serving out of a lovely round stoneware milk jug, a dainty bone china cream jug, a curvy blue and white gravy jug, a heavy crystal water jug or displaying daffodils in a worn enamel jug will feed the soul in as much as the body!
In addition to utilitarian jugs there are jugs more for ornaments such as the easily recognisable Toby jug, said to based on the 18th century “Toby Fillpot” a portly, rotund, and heavy drinking fellow. Later, head and shoulder only jugs, called character jugs, were made. These feature a myriad of famous characters from history; fiction and entertainment and are widely collected, with Royal Doulton being the most prolific manufacturer.
In the 1950’s Dartmouth pottery developed a “gurgle” water jug. While gurgling fish jugs were made well before this date, Dartmouth really made them famous. The upturned fish shape ensures that as the liquid is poured out the mouth spout, the air trapped in the tail of the fish makes gluggy gurgling sounds. Fun!
Daphne Geisler of Vintage Treasures Kansas St.
