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The Neptune Jug
J. G. Green - Enlarge image
The Neptune Jug
- Object:
Ewer
- Place of origin:
England, Great Britain (made)
- Date:
1850 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
J. G. Green (retailer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Clear glass, wheel-engraved
- Museum number:
4453-1901
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 122f, case 4
Object Type
This water jug was much admired at the Great Exhibition for its elegant shape and engraved design. It draws inspiration from the Ancient Greek oinochoe shape, characterised by a high, curling handle and three-lipped mouth. It also echoes French Renaissance forms, themselves based on classical styles. The finely engraved scene of Neptune and accompanying figures serves to emphasise both the classical inspiration for the design and the intended use of the jug for water.
People
Joseph George Green, designer and manufacturer, of 19 St James's Street, Piccadilly, London, was awarded a prize medal at the Great Exhibition for his wheel-engraving, a technique that uses rotating discs (usually of copper) to cut a decorative design in glass. He is known to have ordered some of his glass vessels from W.H.B. Richardson of Stourbridge, though probably to his own design requirements.
Historical Associations
The glassware assembled at Green's stand in the Crystal Palace was praised for the 'general excellence of (the) forms' and 'large adherence to those principles which have been considered as best regulating the true use of this beautiful material'. The report of the Exhibition jury went on to give this judgement of Green's work: 'In his blown glass jugs, water-bottles and wine glasses, some of the purest forms derived from Greek utensils have been selected and adapted to the material and to present use. They have been decorated with ground ornamental forms in bands, and although the ornament is sometimes too redundant and dispersed, it is in the right direction.'
