Ever since
erp mentioned in a comment that she had a milk pitcher just like my milk jug, I have been singing
Little Brown Jug to myself and anyone unfortunate enough to be in the same room. Only I don't sing those words, mine goes something like
Ha, ha he, urceole, me delectas maxime, a haunting memory from my school days and the Latin Chanty Club. (I used to embarrass my children with my party piece of the Latin version of
Waltzing Mathilda - who says Latin is a dead language?)
Only the little brown jug has its own song but here are a few more from my collection:
I think potters can be very imaginative when creating jugs. These are from Tintagel in Cornwall, with their very distinctive glaze but it was their shape that attracted me.
This is from the Hatherleigh pottery, a regular stopping off place for me when driving to Plymouth.
This elegant wine decanter is from the Dartington Crystal factory in nearby Torrington, where you can watch the craftsmen at work. (Perhaps I should have filled it with wine to get a better picture!)
I don't know when the word pitcher fell out of common usage in England. It is rather a nice word. But pitchers, jugs or good old urceoli, I love them.
This elegant wine decanter is from the Dartington Crystal factory in nearby Torrington, where you can watch the craftsmen at work. (Perhaps I should have filled it with wine to get a better picture!) 
Who knew there were jug/pitcher/urceoli devotees across the pond. Your collection is beautiful. Alas, I no longer have my mine. What the kids didn't take was left in Vermont (we sold the house with the furnishings).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm pretty sure my daughter still has and uses this one. I'll take a picture of my clearly outclassed collection and post it later.
I look forward to seeing your photo, e.
ReplyDeleteKarin, I'd better keep my husband out of sight then. I wouldn't want him to grab you!
ReplyDeleteThere is something very comforting and reassuring about jugs / pitchers etc isn't there? Is it their solidity, the way they sit firmly on a surface? And the word 'pitcher' has a positively Biblical ring to it.
ReplyDeleteYes, D, the only pitcher quotation I could think of was from the Bible. I think it is a much more attractive word than jug; pity we don't use it. Do you remember the old pubs with their Jug and Bottle windows? How much nicer to have had Pitcher and Flagon.
ReplyDeleteAfter assembling my ragtag juggery, it became apparent that they're not fit to be seen on the same post as your beautiful collection, so I decided go with a bit a whimsey instead.
ReplyDeleteHere are four little white jugs who've bravely agreed to represent their less photogentic cupboard mates at chez erp
Funnily enough I have a jug post lined up (still photographing them but the light is awful). You can't have too many jugs. I like your blue glass one.
ReplyDeleteerp
ReplyDeleteI envy you that jug collection, thay have a beautiful shape.
Rattling On
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing your collection, hopefully some treasures from Russia. My blue glass jug is a piece of Bristol Blue (yet another one of my collections!), a gift from my son and his wife after their wedding.
What fun!
ReplyDeleteIs the second up from the bottom (the one erp fancies) Denby ? Bakewell design ?
They come along on ebay from time to time if her passion grows :0)
lovely collection!
ReplyDeleteVal
ReplyDeleteIt certainly looks like the Bakewell design and I don't think anyone but Denby could produce that gorgeous brown glaze. Unfortunately the maker's stamp is too faded to read. I picked it up in a charity shop some years ago.
Jodi
ReplyDeleteI am afraid I have rather a lot of collections - pigs, bowls, jugs, boxes, mugs and more books than even I care to admit!
I admire these pitchers in your collection. I have a few pitchers and use them as vases for flowers from my garden.
ReplyDeleteThey have a festive feel with a bouquet in them.
You have such pretty ones and it is nice to learn each one's little story of where you found it.