Mug, stoneware with printed decoration and glazed, manufactured by Ashdale Pottery Products, England, ca. 1985.

Mug, cylindrical with loop handle; brown stoneware with opaque white glaze, mottled with brown, and a brown interior at rim; printed decoration in brown and blue depicting a fox and a rabbit in a wood.

Given by Jennifer Opie, Paul Greenhalgh and Oliver Watson

A highly ‘industrial’ product, made with a deliberate ‘handmade’ and ‘rural’ look: - the stoneware body, the mottled glaze, the uneven band of brown at the rim, the woodland scene in hand-painted style, even maybe the name ‘Ashdale’ itself, are intended to convey associations far removed from that of the industrial ceramic factory in which it was no doubt produced.

Part of a large collection of mugs acquired in 1991. This group [C.84 to 105-1991] were brought together from various sources and were presented by the donors - the Curator and Deputy Curators of the Ceramics and Glass Section. The collection aims to illustrate the various uses of the 'Mug as bearer of message' over the past decade.

C.101-1991