This is an earthenware presentation jug decorated with hand-painted lustre-glazed transfer prints of theatrical engravings and chap-book prints. It was made by the Staffordshire firm of Elsmore and Forster, Clayhills Pottery, Tunstall, which operated between 1853 and 1871 and appears to have specialised in this type of jug. They produced various examples of them, all decorated with engraved images relating to popular entertainment, so it seems that they had acquired a stock of old prints which they printed in different combinations on various-sized jugs. Clown images printed on jugs are rare but this clown print also features on two other similar Elsmore and Forster jugs.

It is profusely decorated with decorations on the inside and outside of the rim - stylised foliate decorations inside, with ivy leaf and berry decorations outside. The handle is also decorated, and the body of the jug features two full-length clown engravings, as well as the face of the clown Joe Cashmore, a group of the pantomime characters Pantaloon, Columbine, Harlequin and Clown, and a repeat on the other side of Harlequin, Columbine and Clown, without Pantaloon, but instead another booted Cavalier-type character. Around the lowest section of the jug are five small chap-book figures, including one of Mr Punch with Toby the dog, and another of Clown.