Miniature Toby jug in the form of Jack Point from Gilbert and Sullivan's The Yeomen of the Guard. Rockingham Pottery, 1985, from original moulds made by Shorter & Sons, 1940, first issued in 1949

Toby jug in the shape of Jack Point from Gilbert and Sullivan's opera The Yeomen of the Guard, showing him sitting on an executioner's chopping block, the axe blade within the block, its handle acting as the handle of the jug. He is wearing a jester's outfit comprising a purple headdress with a yellow cock's head on top which has a maroon coxcomb and gullet. He has a yellow and maroon parti-coloured costume with white spots on the yellow half of the jacket and yellow on the maroon side, tights with one leg maroon, the other yellow, and one maroon shoe and one yellow. He holds a miniature jester in both hands, resting on his right knee. The back of his head is open to act as the jug.

Given by Rockingham Pottery

All the fourteen glazed earthenware Toby jugs in this gift represent popular characters in Gilbert and Sullivan operas as they appeared with the D'Oyly Carte Company in the 1940s.

This set was produced by Rockingham Pottery in 1985 from the original moulds used by Shorter in 1949 when they extended the concept of making character jugs to issuing a set of entirely original figurines based on actors in costume. They obtained permission from the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company to model fourteen character jugs from five of the G&S operas - The Mikado, The Gondoliers, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Yeomen of the Guard. This series was quite different in style from any Shorter character jugs manufactured previously since the characters were posed and caught in mid-gesture, each wearing an exact copy of their stage costume.

Clarice Cliff, as Art Director, was apparently originally responsible for the design of the Gilbert and Sullivan series which was modelled by Betty Silvester. Although designed in 1940 the Gilbert and Sullivan figures were not marketed until after the war when an extensive marketing campaign was masterminded by Colley Shorter in 1949. They featured prominently when he and Clarice Cliff-Shorter toured Canada and the United States on a publicity tour in the same year.

The Gilbert and Sullivan character jugs were made in two sizes, the large at10 inches high and the small at 5 inches. In addition to the figurines, small rectangular wall plaques, cigarette boxes and ash trays, bearing embossed figures from the operas, supplemented the range.

This set of figurines is one of a very few sets impressed 'Rockingham', which were issued in the mid 1980s by the person who owned the moulds for a short period.

Issued by Rockingham Pottery in 1985 using original moulds made by Shorter & Sons in 1940.

This is one of a set of fourteen miniature Toby jugs showing popular characters from comic operas by Gilbert & Sullivan. The jugs were originally designed by the Burslem pottery firm Shorter & Sons in 1940 when principals from the D'Oyly Carte Company were photographed in their costumes and in poses they felt best represented their characters. This was modelled on Grahame Clifford as the jester, Jack Point, in The Yeoman of the Guard.

Two sizes of these jugs were made, as well as wall plaques, cigarette boxes and ash trays featuring the characters. As Art Director of Shorter's, Clarice Cliff was responsible for the design of the series although the figures were modelled by various artists. The outbreak of World War II meant that the range was not marketed until 1949 when an extensive advertising campaign in North America was masterminded by Colley Shorter. The set to which this jug belongs was the first of a very few produced in the mid-1980s by the owner of the original moulds who marked the jugs 'Rockingham'.

S.684-1985