Herculaneum Creamware Endless Knot of Love Valentine Jug with Figure of Hope, Liverpool
Circa 1800

This large English creamware jug, probably made at the Herculaneum Pottery in Liverpool around 1800, is decorated on each side with a black transfer print on the theme of constant love. It is of generous baluster form with a wide pinched spout and a loop handle, in a fine pale cream-colored body under a clear glaze.

The front carries THE ENDLESS KNOT OF LOVE, titled on a ribbon above a dark oval cartouche filled with an interlaced true-lover's knot whose continuous band is inscribed with a puzzle poem that reads round the loops without beginning or end, opening "Love is a virtue that endures for ever, A link of matchless jewels none can sever." Around the oval a putto sits astride a lion, doves fly in the clouds, a seated classical figure holds the chain of beads that encircles the cartouche, a winged Cupid with his bow stands beside a garlanded altar, and a skull at the base recalls that love outlives death. The reverse has a second oval with the figure of Hope, a young woman leaning on her anchor on a rocky shore as she watches a three-masted ship sail away.

The print is the same as the Liverpool jug illustrated by Frank Staff in The Valentine & Its Origins (1969), p. 124, no. 156. The verse belongs to the stock repertoire of the printed valentine-writers sold around 1800, and pairing it with Hope watching a departing ship made the jug a ready gift for a sailor to leave with his sweetheart.

At nearly ten inches high the jug holds its own on a sideboard, kitchen dresser or hall table, and the black-and-cream palette sits as easily in a coastal or country house as in a city apartment. It reads well beside creamware, pewter or ship models, and makes a considered gift for a wedding or anniversary.

Dimensions
Height: 9 3/4 inches (24.8 cm)
Width: 10 inches (25.4 cm)
Depth: 7 inches (17.8 cm)

Marks
Unmarked. The same figure of Hope with her anchor is found on jugs bearing the impressed HERCULANEUM mark, which supports the attribution.

Provenance
Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge

vmNY08804


Condition:
Alterations: Original Condition Unaltered
Imperfections: Some Imperfections
Condition Notes: The handle was broken off and has been invisibly restored; nothing is replaced. Otherwise wear consistent with age and use.

Origin:
United Kingdom

Materials & Techniques:
Creamware

Details:
What type of item is it? Vintage / Antique / Used
Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Original Condition Unaltered; Some Imperfections; The handle was broken off and has been invisibly restored; nothing is replaced. Otherwise wear consistent with age and use.