Clever and charming Antique 19th Century James MacIntyre, Burslem, Staffordshire, England, earthenware lidded jug

A wonderful, very clever and charming old lidded jug made by James MacIntyre of Burslem, Staffordshire, England. This lovely item carries the maker's stamp and is also embossed with their name. This particular stamp is believed to date from the late 19th Century between 1867 and 1897. A really nice and collectable piece of old pottery.

The jug has been beautifully made and has a lovely patinated and simplistic weighted metal lid, possibly pewter or tin that has been hand made and fits into the ceramic base by means of a pin hole on one side of the jug and a slotted pin hole on the other. The slot has been glazed so it is part of the design and not a defect. The lid is very simple in its style but also very clever. It has a slightly off centre knob and two little lugs that fit into the holes in the china to allow the lid to spin. On the underside of the lid there are a couple of weights. The lid is perfectly balanced to hang flat when hung in its pin holes, however when the jug is tipped the lid pins swivel so the lid still stays horizontal and effectively opens to allows the contents to pour. Very clever! This can be seen on the video.

The jug is a nice shape with a thin lip and thick handle. The handle is slightly wonky and this adds to the absolute charm of this piece.

It is a lovely combination of colours being soft rose pink on the body of the jug, with a pale caramel coloured raised collar on the neck. This little raised collar has been decorated with a beaded effect top edge that looks very pretty. the top of the jug is and handle are lovely coffee colour.

The top rim of the jug originally was gilded but this has worn off with use to leave only a slight gilding effect. The inside of the jug is a cream glaze.

This beautiful old jug is in good vintage condition. There is wear on the gold of the rim and some superficial glaze crazing throughout. There are a few little manufacturing blips to point out. These are a few pin prick bubbles in the glaze, there is a slightly rough join between the base of handle and the body of the jug. On the bottom of the jug the pink glaze has a few areas where it has not been applied evenly at the edges and there is a painters scuff in the glaze with a bit of gold glaze incorporated.

The base carries several maker's marks. There is a stamped mark, a couple of embossed marks and a hand written paint mark.

It measures approximately 13.5cm wide and 18cm tall.

Please look at all of the photographs and the video as these form part of the description and help to show colour, scale and condition.