Toby Jug

This jug is a version of a Toby Jug, in the form of a seated, heavy-set, jovial man holding a mug of beer in one hand and a tobacco pipe in the other and dressed in a long coat and tricorn hat, which forms a pouring spout. The original Toby Jug, with a brown salt-glaze was developed and popularized by Staffordshire potters in the 1760s, possibly after Dutch examples. Such jugs retained their popularity among the middle classes for at least a century, and they were produced for decades by factories in England. British potters brought these English designs with them when they emigrated to the United States. The British designer for this acquisition might be Daniel Greatbach who worked first in Jersey City at the firm of D. and J. Henderson. This example is as close to an English example as one can get, both in terms of its form as well as its medium of brown stoneware. This example is especially rare in that it is marked, making it one of the few examples that can be securely attributed to the Jersey City firm. It is likely one of the earliest of such forms made in America. Variations on this were made at the Henderson successor firm in Jersey City, and also at the United States Pottery company in Bennington, Vermont.