Toby Jug
c1928. Painted papier-mâché jug, captioned, initialled “V.B.” and signed “V. Brett” on and under base, 23 x 11 x 20.5cm. Slight surface loss to paint. This Australian-made jug is styled on the 18th century Toby Jugs originally produced by Staffordshire potters. Artist and teacher Vera Brett née Seward had an art studio at Ashfield in the late 1920s. She married a fellow potter, James Arthur Brett in 1928 and exhibited pottery with the Arts and Crafts Society of NSW in the early 1930s. During WWII, she was a highly respected volunteer and instructor at the Red Cross Papier Mache Auxiliary at 113 Oxford Street, Sydney. A prolific worker, Brett made “hundreds” of high-quality papier-mâché objects to support army hospitals and the war effort, mostly at her home in McMillan Avenue, Dolls Point. One of her more notable accomplishments, reported in the newspapers, was her invention of a shrapnel-proof helmet made from papier-mâché in March 1942. “National Emergency Services tested the helmet with a charge of high explosive, and shrapnel consisting of [glass], nails, pen-nibs, and a half penny. The charge was capable of sending glass fragments 100 feet in the air. The helmet sailed 15 feet in the air, but only visible damage to it was the mark of a nail.” By June 1942, Mrs Brett had completed 34 helmets, “taking approximately three and a half hours to make each one.” It was reported that the helmets were used by roof spotters at the Red Cross House and National Emergency Services wardens at Sandringham, NSW. Ref: Propeller (Hurstville, NSW), 29.5.1941 & 19.3.1942; Western Mail (Perth), 4.6.1942; BDM (NSW), #30489/1892 & #38855/1969. A Toby Jug, aka Fillpot (or Philpot), is a pottery jug in the form of a seated person. The original Toby Jug, with a brown salt glaze, was created by English potters in Staffordshire during the 1760s. It is thought to be a development of similar Delft jugs that were produced in the Netherlands. Similar designs were produced by other potteries, first in Staffordshire, then around England, and eventually in other countries, both in Europe and in British colonies. There are “competing” theories regarding the origin of the name “Toby Jug” including Sir Toby Belch in Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night, or Uncle Toby in Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy. The most widely accepted theory is Henry Elwes, a Yorkshireman, who was “famous for drinking 2000 gallons of strong stingo beer from his silver tankard, while eating nothing...He was nicknamed ‘Toby Fillpot’, and after his death in 1761 the London publisher of popular prints, Carrington Bowles, issued a mezzotint portrait of him. It became a best-seller.” Ref: Wiki.
Item #CL208-31
Price (AUD): $1,650.00 other currencies