{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1813083"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1813083/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PN1808/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PN1808/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PN1808","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PN1809","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PN1810","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PN5054","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1813083/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1813083","accessionNumber":"C.326-2025","objectType":"Jug","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This stoneware jug is a remarkably rare example of independent work by Edgar Kettle, a pottery decorator active in the 1870s. Although Kettle was employed by C.I.C Bailey’s Fulham pottery, for a time he made ceramics at his home in Putney, firing them in a small kiln which he built in the garden. This jug is a rare survival from that period, indicated by the incised script on the base which reads ‘Edgar Kettle, Art Pottery, Pentlow St, Putney’. Production was clearly small scale by nature, and it is unlikely there are many extant pieces known or in circulation. Working from a home studio and firing his wares onsite, away from the factory, makes this jug an exceptionally early example of independent ceramic practice, and a precursor of the studio pottery movement.\n\r\nKettle is best known as a decorator for the Fulham Pottery, where he is thought to have worked around 1874-5, using incised decoration to decorate salt-glazed stoneware vessels. The V&A has one example (C.4-1978) decorated with scrolling foliage and dragons. The Fulham Pottery was founded by John Dwight in 1672, a pioneer of English salt-glazed stoneware (a hardwearing ceramic material with a glaze that forms from salt thrown into the kiln during firing) and an early experimenter with porcelain. The pottery continued to operate on the same site for two centuries, yet was falling into ruin when it was purchased by C.I.C Bailey in 1864. Bailey rebuilt and enlarged the pottery, reviving the architectural stoneware and terracotta production. \n\r\nIn the 1870s the pottery began to make art wares, influenced by the Doulton Lambeth factory who had employed students from the Lambeth School of Art for this purpose and had exhibited their ‘artistic’ pottery to great acclaim at the International Exhibition of 1871 (several of these pieces were gifted by Doulton to the South Kensington Museum). Bailey quickly followed suit and employed Jean-Charles Cazin, an instructor at the Lambeth School of Art, who designed art wares in a historicist style from 1871-4. The designs produced by both potteries were heavily inspired by 16th and 17th-century German stoneware vessels.\n\r\nThe other notable employee of the Fulham pottery was the sculptor Robert Wallace Martin, who became a designer and modeller for Bailey in 1872. A year later he set up his own studio making pottery at nearby Pomona House, but relied on his former employer to fire his wares. Kettle is thought to have decorated for Martin, presumably during this period after meeting at Fulham. Bailey eventually started to charge exorbitant prices for the firings, and in 1877 Martin moved to Southall to set up a pottery with his three brothers, where they were responsible for every stage of manufacture. Working in this unusual and self-sufficient way, they would go onto produce some of the most striking and imaginative stoneware art pottery and sculpture of the period.\n \r\nIn a similar spirit to Robert Wallace Martin, Kettle appears to have been driven to make his own pottery away from the confines of the factory, where he could exercise creative control. Although it is not clear whether he threw the jug himself or just modelled and decorated the surface, he must have had the skills and knowledge required to fire the piece in his garden kiln. At the time these processes were typically carried out by different people in defined roles, until the emergence of studio practice in the early 20th century. The jug also features a striking design, using stylised geometric floral ornament and curling foliage incised in unusually high relief, emulating architectural carvings. The brown and blue colours are typical as these were the only colours that could withstand the high firing temperatures required for stoneware. However this bold design is quite distinct from the wares decorated by Kettle at Fulham, indicating a newfound ability to experiment and pursue his own designs freely.","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Kettle, Edgar","id":"A18527"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Stoneware","id":"x30197"}],"techniques":[{"text":"salt glaze","id":"AAT48635"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Stoneware, with applied sprigs and incised decoration, salt-glazed in blue and brown","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Stoneware","id":"THES48890"},{"text":"Art pottery","id":"THES49021"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2026PN1808","2026PN1809","2026PN1810","2026PN5054"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES388601"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Jug","id":"AAT45685"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"c.1879","earliest":"1874-01-01","latest":"1883-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"24.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Diameter","value":"14","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"18.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Including handle"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"Edgar Kettle, Art Pottery, Pentlow St, Putney (incised on base)","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":""}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Jug, salt-glazed stoneware, by Edgar Kettle, about 1879, Putney, London","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["C.326-2025"],"accessionNumberNum":"326","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":2025,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-20","recordCreationDate":"2025-12-15","availableToBook":true}}