Extremely rare and important hand-painted Liverpool jug, made for the American market, circa 1800. The obverse has a large circular border with a fine line with a small space with a heavy line border both of which are hand-painted. The image is titled below on the left bottom border in hand in black ink stating: "When the First Sea Struck her." and above is a hand- painted brig being struck by a wave and demasting her four topmasts and her mizzenmast while above the vessel lighting is depicted. Captioned to the right below the border by hand with black ink states: "The Second." The image above depicts the same brig being hit by a larger wave causing further destruction. The sky is transfer printed, however the ships and sea are a hand-painted original work of art. The reverse has a similar circular double border to the obverse. The image on the reverse depicts the brig jury rigged sailing towards the shore. Her sails are billowing and she is flying a large American flag. To the right of the brig is a dory with oarsmen and to the left a spit of land with a tower. The sky is blue with billowing clouds. The sea has a stylized look and is painted with a few shades of green. This entire image is an original painting executed by a skillful hand. The top, spout, base and handle have a black painted border decoration. Below the spout, the initials: "EEC" are painted in fancy script. (MI-597)
Note: There are only a hand full of hand-painted Liverpool jugs in existence. Most of these are in museum collections. Provenance: Guthman Americana, Connecticut S. Robert Teitelman, Philadelphia - Robert Teitelman was probably the preeminent collector of Liverpool ware of all time. This jug was one of his most prized examples of the hand-painted jugs in his collection. Most of Mr. Teitelman's finest pieces were given to the Winterthur Museum in Wilmington, Delaware. The base has a round yellow sticker with the catalog number #CAT SRT 85.5 and a small white rectangular label with the number #LO8.1008.8.
Condition: There is a repaired cracked which runs down through the center of the obverse image and around part of the base. There is a hairline crack on one side of the spout.
Dimension: Height 9 inches.