Sunderland was an ideal location for pottery making. It was a busy trading port with good supplies of local clay and plenty of coal to fire kilns. The earliest known local pottery was established in about 1720 at Newbottle.
By the late 1700s pottery making had changed from a rural craft to a mass production industry. Staffordshire was developing as the centre of the English pottery industry. On Wearside, pottery was mostly made by family firms. At its peak, around 1850, they employed almost 400 skilled workers.
This creamware jug has an unusual combination of designs. It is decorated with enamelled scenes featuring a windmill, waterwheel and landscape. It also bears the inscription 'Hylton Lowford Pottery May 21 1801' and a transfer-printed oriental scene. It was probably used by Dawson’s Pottery to show potential customers the range of decorative techniques available.
By Dawson's Low Ford Pottery, Sunderland.
On display at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, Pottery Gallery
www.sunderland.gov.uk
