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'Oranges and Lemons' jug: C.72A-1992

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

'Oranges and Lemons' jug

Maker(s)

Factory: Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd
Designer: Guyatt, Richard Talbot

Entities

Categories

Description

Earthenware, printed underglaze in black and painted overglaze in green enamel with a design illustrating the nursery rhyme title, 'Oranges and Lemons'.

Cream earthenware printed underglaze in black and painted overglaze in pale green enamel. The pear-shaped jug has a loop handle and sparrow-beak spout, and stands on a foot-ring. The underside is recessed and glazed. The sides are decorated around the middle with the inscription, 'Oranges & Lemons: the 'O' formed by a vignette showing a woman and a man picking fruit, assisted by a small girl: the ‘&’ by a pink and black striped bell rope; the 'L an image of a church with a tall tower, beside a tree. Below, the inscription continues: 'Say the bells of St. Clements'. Around the top and bottom there is a border of pendant bells in a pale green band. The spout, inside and handle are unpainted, a slight indentation decorates the outside of the handle.

Notes

History note: Given by Sir Ivor and Lady Batchelor

Legal notes

Given by Sir Ivor and Lady Batchelor

Measurements and weight

Height: 19.2 cm
Width: 17.5 cm

Place(s) associated

  • Barlaston ⪼ Staffordshire ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1992-04-27) by Batchelor, Ivor, Sir and Lady

Dating

20th Century, Mid
Elizabeth II
Circa 1955 CE - 1960 CE

Note

Guyatt’s other Wedgwood designs included a dinner service for King’s College, Cambridge, also c.1952-53, and commemorative mugs for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, the Prince of Wales's Investiture in 1969 and several royal weddings; his last mug, in 2005, was for the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar. Outside Wedgwood, his commercial commissions ranged from exhibition stands to coins, stamps, the WH Smith logo and packaging for Anchor butter.

Richard Gerald Talbot Guyatt CBE (1914-2007) began his career as a freelance graphic designer with posters for Shell-Mex and BP and book illustrations. At the Royal College of Art, where he was a professor from 1948 and later rector, he lead the introduction of education in graphic design and influenced subsequent expansion into typography, illustration, printmaking, photography, film and television design. From 1952-55 and 1967-70 Guyatt was consultant designer to Wedgwood. The company had revived the use of engraved designs in the mid 1930s – a mode of decoration which allowed the artist’s own work and ‘hand-writing’ to be reproduced in a factory setting, and well suited to Guyatt’s style.

The Fitzwilliam Museum holds examples of the jug and three of the mugs from the ‘Oranges and Lemons’ set, as well as items from the King’s College dinner service and Wedgwood Queen’s ware designed by Eric Ravilious.

This jug is part of a ‘lemonade set’ comprising a jug and four mugs, originally made for sale through Liberty’s and later distributed more widely. The set illustrates old London churches, using the theme of the nursery rhyme ‘Oranges and Lemons’. Here, St Clement's Church, Eastcheap, is shown with fruit-pickers, and the first line of the rhyme - a reference to the nearby wharves where citrus fruits were unloaded.

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Banding composed of enamels ( green and pink)
Decoration

Materials used in production

Clear glaze
Cream-coloured earthenware

Techniques used in production

Moulding : Cream-coloured earthenware, printed in black, glazed and painted in enamels
Glazing (coating)

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: Circular backstamp, incorporating a horizontal leaf design

  • Text: *FIRST MADE FOR LIBERTYS BY*/ WEDGWOOD/MADE IN ENGLAND/DESIGNED BY RICHARD GUYATT
  • Location: Underside of base
  • Method of creation: Printed in black
  • Type: Mark

Inscription present: partly underneath backstamp

  • Text: IV
  • Location: Underside of base
  • Method of creation: Painted in black
  • Type: Label

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.72A-1992
Primary reference Number: 11825
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 15 January 2021 Last processed: Wednesday 13 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "'Oranges and Lemons' jug" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/11825 Accessed: 2024-11-02 16:24:35

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/11825 |title='Oranges and Lemons' jug |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-02 16:24:35|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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