George Jones & Sons: Ivy Bower (Detail), 1881 – Porcelain Art Mug

In September 1881 George Jones & Sons of Stoke-on-Trent registered a new tableware pattern: two small birds at home in a bower of ivy, one perched among the leaves, one coming in to land. It belongs to the years when English potters were looking at Japanese prints – a free, asymmetric spray of ivy takes the place of the old, strictly symmetrical border.

The firm printed the pattern on earthenware and on bone china, in green or in brown, and on finer pieces the print was coloured by hand. The bird group on this mug is taken line for line from a green transfer-printed plate in the curator's own collection; nothing has been redrawn. Turned by a quarter, the spray runs around the mug as a garland, as it does on the firm's own cups. The whole plate is shown in the last product image.

Fine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.

George Jones & Sons, Ivy Bower, 1881; transfer print on earthenware, pattern no. 6099. Private collection. Public domain.

Selected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.