Master sample milk jug

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

52417

Title

Underside of master sample milk jug from A. W. Buchan & Co. in "Sutherland" pattern showing instructions for decorators

Description

Base of a buff biscuit stoneware milk jug made as the 'master sample' specimen. On the base are handwritten indications to tell decorators how many panels to paint for each shape using this pattern (for instance shape 61 is to have 10 repeated panels).Round base, everted lower portion, annular shaped centre portion, inverted upper portion. Round raised neck with pointed lip. Looped handle with double centre ridge. Handpainted formal leaf design 'Sutherland' in blue, orange and red around body. The design is painted with black guide lines around the body to show the centre, low and high points, and the top pof the shoulder. Around the bottom line are ten vertical dashes to mark the division between the individual panels of the repeated design. At the top around the rim is a blue and yellow dog toothed pattern. inside the jug in handwritten black text is "master sample".

Type

Ceramic

Accession number

HH3706/72

Copyright

The City of Edinburgh Council Museums & Galleries

As part of the Auld Reekie Retold collections project, 2019-2022, four ex-employees of the Buchans company were invited to look at the collection of photographs and pottery items at the Museums Collections Centre.

The group talked about how they worked from sample pieces for each individual design. Painters were given a set of glazes for the particular design they were working on. The Buchan company had a range of set designs with evocative names such as "Brittany", "Iona", "Bluebell", and perhaps their most famous, the "Thistle" pattern. instructions for different elements were marked on the samples, as in this example where the base has handwritten indications to tell decorators how many panels to paint for each shape using this pattern (for instance shape 61 is to have 10 repeated panels).

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