This interesting antique jar is very old. It dates back to the mid-1800s. It is very similar to the stoneware made by the mid-19th-century British stoneware makers based in the Lambeth district of London. The applied relief figures and decor elements are very similar to those of Lambeth. However, they almost exclusively used the brown slip on the upper part of the containers they made, leaving the lower part natural. Also, British wares were usually marked in accordance with British law.
A very respectful and highly professional catalog by late Johannes Vogt attributes this type of jar to Belgium.
The jar is made of stoneware with applied decorations featuring beautifully crafted figures smoking and drinking, as well as a bucolic view of a countryside cottage. The formed clay jar was dipped in iron-rich slip that gives it a wonderful brown color, fired at high temperatures of 2200°F - 2400°F, and glazed with a common salt compound.
This technology, which used applied decorative elements, was quite labor-intensive and disappeared in the last half of the 19th century with the emerging industrial production.
This type of stoneware jars was also produced in the border area of Germany and Flanders (Belgium) for several centuries.
The jar is 6.5" tall to the top of the finial, 4.5" in diameter. It is in good condition for the age - there are no chips or cracks, but the pewter shows an old repair and a split.
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