Featured Painted vintage jug, distinctive style, help please!

Discussion in 'Pottery, Glass, and Porcelain' started by ValerieK, Mar 19, 2022.

  1. ValerieK

    ValerieK Well-Known Member

    This unusual jug came in a recent small lot of European pottery. Members have been incredibly helpful in identifying a Catalan jug, so I'm hoping you will also be successful with this one. The style is strangely familiar but I haven't been able to place it. It has something impressed on the base but I've twisted and turned the jug and really can't read it. I think I can distinguish an "A" one or two letters from the end of the short name, but that could be Italy, Spain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, France . . . (The interesting shiny area to the left is just sticker residue I need to get rid of.) There is what looks like an "W" at the bottom of the base. painted jug - 2.jpeg painted jug - 3.jpeg painted jug - 1.jpeg painted jug - 6.jpeg painted jug - 9.jpeg painted jug - 4.jpeg The only thing I'm fairly sure about is it isn't British. The colour is a lot duller than some of the photos, but I've used the flash to show the detail. It is about 9 inches high. I actually bought the job lot to obtain this, but the bit of stray brown glaze which has given the girl an odd moustache has rather put me off! If I (you) could identify the potter, then I could try to sell this and keep more of the other pieces while still breaking even, which is my usual goal.
     
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  2. Debora

    Debora Well-Known Member

    Certainly not Spanish. I'd look up and over. Eastern Europe somewhere I'd think.

    Debora
     
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  3. ValerieK

    ValerieK Well-Known Member

    Yes, I'll do some searches with that in mind, Poland, Roumania etc. Thanks, didn't think of that! The costumes are definitely "folk" looking, although I was thinking maybe Scandinavian.
     
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  4. charlie cheswick

    charlie cheswick Well-Known Member

    That's a really hard one, even so to make a guess

    Wickedly cool though, I love it
     
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  5. charlie cheswick

    charlie cheswick Well-Known Member

    Like a treacle glazed earthenware, could be from anywhere

    I'm alot of help aren't i :)
     
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  6. ValerieK

    ValerieK Well-Known Member

    Thanks anyway, it helps to justify me caring about it in the first place!
     
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  7. ValerieK

    ValerieK Well-Known Member

    I think the very puffy sleeves might help identify it, I've found that Roumania has something similar in folk costume but usually with embroidered waistcoats. At least I'm learning something, although I don't think now it is worth very much.
     
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  8. charlie cheswick

    charlie cheswick Well-Known Member

    Definitely looks to have a makers mark seen in 4th pic

    Looks all hand painted though, it's a very cool jug !!

    Love the faces, and how their legs fill the foreground
     
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  9. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

    I think it's Thun.
     
  10. dude

    dude Well-Known Member

    Nice jug! If you zoom out a little on that 4th pic and turn the jug so there is less reflection, the maker's mark may come into focus a bit more and someone may be able to make out the pic. Maybe turning off the flash will help too.
     
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  11. ValerieK

    ValerieK Well-Known Member

    Yes, the jug bellies out quite noticeably at the base, and the legs seem to grow to fill the extra space. The arms are oddly intertwined, you can see in the 5th photo that the boy is putting his weight onto his right hand spread on the ground, while the girl is reaching down with her left arm behind him. It looks like she's reaching for an apple but the pale round thing is part of the floral decoration painted over her skirt, so what is she trying to grasp?
     
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  12. ValerieK

    ValerieK Well-Known Member

    I have tried my best with the impressed mark, without the flash, but the glaze is such a rich treacle brown that I really can't make much out. However, some people on here are absolutely marvellous at optimising and deciphering marks, so I will add a couple of photos to see if they help, and also one of the distinctive shape of the jug. Thanks to all for spending their time on this! painted jug - 1 (1).jpeg painted jug - 2 (1).jpeg painted jug - 3 (1).jpeg
     
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  13. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

    I still think it's Thun/Thoune.
     
  14. janetpjohn

    janetpjohn Well-Known Member

  15. ValerieK

    ValerieK Well-Known Member

    Thank you so much for your suggestion, I think you are probably right. I've just had a look at various Thun items online, and the dark brown background is just the same, although most of the items have intricate decorative patterns rather than anything figurative. None of the ones I've found have any kind of impressed mark, but most have a clearly painted mark with Thun or Thoune and other potters' marks, often on on lighter patch of glaze. A description of Thun on a pottery website describes it as a place with a number of separate small potteries, so maybe my jug was made by a pottery with a slightly different approach, but adhering to the theme of bold colours on a chocolate brown background. The Thun/Thoune potteries look like a great collecting theme, thank you for introducing me to them!
     
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  16. ValerieK

    ValerieK Well-Known Member

    Scneider.jpg
    Wow, I think you have hit the jackpot! The Worthpoint jug is very similar - although I would say rather more accomplished artwork than mine. Unfortunately they don't show the base. I looked up Schneider Steffisburg and have found a number of pieces for sale, most marked with the name Shneider, but one or two also have an illegible small impressed mark just like mine. There are a number of figural designs, very similar to mine. Steffisburg is apparently in the administrative district of Thun. So if I offer mine for sale I think I will describe it as Thun/Thoune, probably Hans Schneider Steffisburg. Thank you so much for this!
     
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  17. Ownedbybear

    Ownedbybear Well-Known Member

    There you go. I've a few bits of Thun/Thoune and this heavily reminded me of it.
     
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