Paul and Virginia Relief Moulded Stoneware Jug Palm Trees Antique c 1840

A very attractive antique pale grey-blue to green octagonal stoneware jug with a relief moulded design with Paul and Virginia, based upon the highly successful pastoral romance novel by the French writer Jacques-Henri Bernadin St Pierre originally published in 1788. The story is of the lives (and ,of course, love affair), of two young people brought up in Mauritius, free from social prejudice, religious superstition and other conventions of European society.  

The tall jug features two different vignettes, one to each side, of Paul and Virginia in the midst of palm trees and various tropical plants and small waterfalls. The handle is shaped in the form of the stem of a palm tree. Some collectors may refer to this body as drabware.

The jug is 8 5/8 inches (22 cm) high, and approximately 5 3/4 inches (14.7 cm) diameter and weighs 819 grammes unpacked. It is in fair antique condition with some minor staining to the outer rim a stabilised crack to the left side and to the rim near the handle, there is a firing tear to the base of the handle. This item was probably made during the early  Victorian period around 1840. 

The jug is unmarked and the maker is currently unknown. Similarly themed jugs were made by TJ and J Mayer of Dale Hall Pottery Longport, also Charles Meigh, Ridgways, Dudson and other Staffordshire potteries in England made relief moulded stoneware jugs.

It is a very attractive item for display or use and will be of particular interest to collectors of relief moulded jugs, stoneware or ceramics with a literary connection..

References:

R.K. Henrywood Relief Moulded Jugs Page 228-231, Plates 266, 267

Gifts for Good Children, The History of Children's China 1790-1890, by Noel Riley. page 108, plate 347