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Not currently on display at the V&A

Jug

ca. 1921 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This jug was produced by Parrott & Company in Burslem, Staffordshire, in a range of ware inspired by the successful play Sweet Nell of Old Drury, originally produced at the Haymarket Theatre on 30th August 1900 by the husband and wife team of Julia Neilson (1868-1957) and Fred Terry (1863-1933). The couple married in 1891 and Sweet Nell was the first of several romantic-historical dramas with which they became indelibly associated. Although they toured extensively, they also had annual six-month seasons from 1905 until 1913 at the New Theatre. Fred Terry's great-nephew Sir John Gielgud once recalled that Terry and Neilson ‘took the theatre dreadfully seriously. This made them extremely good in rubbish. They performed in very fustian plays’.

Parrott & Company was established by Arthur William Parrott and his brother Charles Henry Parrott in about 1921 in the Albert Street Pottery, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. It was amalgamated with Burgess and Leigh at the beginning of World War Two. Charles retired and moved to Ilfracombe but Arthur continued in the business.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Transfer-printed earthenware
Brief description
Jug decorated with an image from the play Sweet Nell of Old Drury and featuring facsimile signatures of its stars Julia Neilson (1868-1957) and her husband Fred Terry (1863-1933). Glazed earthenware. Parrott and Company, Burslem, Staffordshire
Physical description
Cream jug with pie-crust shaped rim and lip, decorated with a blue line and a decorative blue line on the handle, the decorative finial of which is shaded in blue. The body of the vase is decorated with a transfer design of a scene from the play Sweet Nell of Old Drury, showing on one side Nell Gwynn curtseying to King Charles II and on the other side a smaller image of Charles II sitting at a table with Nell Gwynn and another character standing at the table. There are reproduction signatures of Julia Neilson and Fred Terry also on the body of the jug.
Dimensions
  • Height: 14.0cm
  • At widest point, across top, point of lip to end of handle width: 20.0cm
Marks and inscriptions
Coronet ware "NELL GWYNN" Parrott and Company Burslem (On base)
Credit line
Given by the British Theatre Museum Association
Object history
Given to the British Theatre Museum Association by Miss Helen Campbell in January 1966.
Production
Part of their range called 'Coronet ware'
Association
Literary reference<i>Sweet Nell of Old Drury</i>
Summary
This jug was produced by Parrott & Company in Burslem, Staffordshire, in a range of ware inspired by the successful play Sweet Nell of Old Drury, originally produced at the Haymarket Theatre on 30th August 1900 by the husband and wife team of Julia Neilson (1868-1957) and Fred Terry (1863-1933). The couple married in 1891 and Sweet Nell was the first of several romantic-historical dramas with which they became indelibly associated. Although they toured extensively, they also had annual six-month seasons from 1905 until 1913 at the New Theatre. Fred Terry's great-nephew Sir John Gielgud once recalled that Terry and Neilson ‘took the theatre dreadfully seriously. This made them extremely good in rubbish. They performed in very fustian plays’.

Parrott & Company was established by Arthur William Parrott and his brother Charles Henry Parrott in about 1921 in the Albert Street Pottery, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. It was amalgamated with Burgess and Leigh at the beginning of World War Two. Charles retired and moved to Ilfracombe but Arthur continued in the business.
Associated object
S.126-2007 (Object)
Other number
1966/A/135 - BTMA accession number
Collection
Accession number
S.93-2007

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Record createdApril 27, 2007
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