OBHS Freeholder Magazine Online: The Townsend Jug: Pattern, Portrait and Politics

The Townsend Jug: Pattern, Portrait and Politics:
A Remarkable Piece of Early Swinton Pearlware
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Iron was Solomon Townsend's trade, but could it also be the trade of the giver of the jug? Were they wishing success to a business relationship, which, though impeded by bad fortune, would hopefully be remembered in the future? The other major industry at that time in Rotherham, besides the Swinton Pottery works, was the large ironworks of the Walker brothers, which also enjoyed the patronage of the 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam. This ironworks was known primarily as a manufacturer of cannons. In 1795 it is estimated that the Walker Ironworks produced as many as 22,000 cannons.(22) The Walkers were also known for their work with Thomas Paine from 1788 to 1791 in the construction of prototypical iron bridges. Thomas Paine, in addition to writing such works as The Rights of Man and Common Sense, was also one of the very earliest designers of single span iron bridges. In 1785 Paine tried unsuccessfully to gain support to erect an iron bridge over the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.(23) Unable to find investors in America, at Benjamin Franklin's suggestion Paine built a model of his design and traveled to England to show it to the Royal Society.(24) Though his model was well received, still no backers were forthcoming, prompting Paine to seek out an ironworks which would built him a full scale prototype.

The Walker Ironworks in Rotherham agreed to do just that in the winter of 1788-1789. The bridge, with a span of 110 feet, was completed in 1790, but instead of being erected across the Thames River, as Paine would have liked, was instead set up in a field called Lisson Green, where other spectacles and attractions were located. Curious passers by could walk over the bridge or simply marvel at its construction. This endeavor, intended to attract possible investors in the building of pre-fabricated iron bridges, failed miserably. The rusting Lisson Green bridge was taken back to Rotherham by the Walkers in October of 1791. Thomas Paine, though disappointed, traveled to France where his writings about the French Revolution would land him in prison and nearly cost him his life.(25) The Walkers later built some of the earliest iron bridges ever made, including the bridge over the River Wear in Sunderland.(26)

This is a play on the more familiar phrase, "When this you see, remember me", a popular sentiment which can be found in embroidery, chiseled on grave stones, painted on ceramics or inscribed on wedding bands of the period. The plural "we" again may imply a relationship between two parties. The verse continues:

Though today she is virtually unknown even to historians, the ship Ohio had been in the minds of many Americans in the years 1794 -1795. According to the National Archives, she was registered in New York on May 19th, 1792.(27) For the next few years this two hundred and ninety ton merchant vessel made regular trips across the Atlantic Ocean with passengers and cargo.(28) Then in 1794 she became a household name when one of her passengers was America's first Chief Justice and signer of the Constitution, John Jay. Jay had been sent to England by President George Washington to negotiate a lasting peace with Great Britain in the form of a treaty called The Treaty of Amity, Navigation and Commerce.(29) Americans anxiously awaited Jay's return on the Ohio, eager to know the particulars of the treaty and how it would impact their fortune. The September 10 1794 issue of the Pennsylvania Gazette gave the following account;

Although the Ohio was "momently" expected to return with Jay aboard her, she did not. The September 17, 1794 Pennsylvania Gazette reported, "The Ohio sailed from Gravesend the 22nd of July. Mr. Jay does not return in her."(31) Americans would be kept waiting for news of the Jay Treaty for many long months. Jay spent the fall, winter and early spring in England, and was finally expected to arrive home in April of 1795. While he was abroad, John Jay had been nominated for Governor of New York. When the Ohio arrived and Jay was still not aboard, a flurry of broadsides were printed, some implying he should not be allowed to serve as governor. One of these, dated April 23 1795 addressed to "the Electors of the State of New York" read:

A few days later Jay finally arrived on the Severn, and the treaty was delivered to Washington without announcing any details to the public. After a senator leaked to contents of the treaty to the press, protests exploded across America. Jay was burned in effigy, graffitti appeared damning Jay, and copies of the treaty were publicly burned. Many Americans felt Jay had betrayed them and failed to secure the return of monies due them from the British for the seizure of ships and impressment of sailors. Also restrictions on shipping and maritime law were perceived of as harmful to many in the merchant trade.(33) Could a shipping or trade restriction in the Jay Treaty have caused fortune to prove unkind to a potential business deal between Solomon Townsend and the Walkers of Rotherham? Surely the Walkers could no longer capitalize on their past connection with Thomas Paine, who at that time was reviled in England for his revolutionary writings in support of the French.

While imprisoned, Paine was devastated to discover that his once loyal friend George Washington was willing to allow him to rot in jail or even face the guillotine in favor of supporting John Jay, a longtime political enemy of Paine, in his negotiations with the court of England.(34) After Thomas Paine was finally released from prison in November of 1794 he felt betrayed and extremely bitter towards Washington and would remain so for the rest of his life. The two never spoke again; instead Paine wrote inflammatory letters in newspapers about what he viewed as Washington's betrayal.(35) Whether the Walker brothers' connection to Paine put them out of favor with the government of England or impacted their ability to trade with ironmasters like Solomon Townsend in America is still unclear, but the fact remains that the United States would not erect its first iron bridge until 1839,(36) over 50 years after Thomas Paine first proposed his bridge in Philadelphia.

In addition to the verse, further meaning can be found in the images surrounding the poem. This border has never been seen on any other piece,(37) and again I wondered whether it could have been designed especially for Solomon Townsend. Grapes and wheat are featured on the lower half of the cartouche, symbols of the beer and wine which would have been served in the jug. Three flags appear in the design. One is a ship's vane; the long pennant shaped flag used to determine wind direction on sailing vessels. The other two are shown next to each other, and may represent America and England. The square flag has thirteen stripes, which may indicate the thirteen colonies. The flag beside it may represent the flag of Great Britain, the Union Jack. On the upper left is a large anchor, which may represent Solomon Townsend's trade. Two cannons, one on either side, may be symbols of the Walker's ironworks in Rotherham. Maritime implements and weapons appear throughout the border, including a speaking trumpet, a used to amplify the voice when speaking ship to ship; a gaff hook, which was used to draw two ships closer together, a boarding axe, an anchor buoy and the hilt of a sword.(38) Though the images of cannons, anchors, references to shipping and the iron trade, links to Paine and Jay, as well as the shared patronage of the 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam all seem to point towards a connection to the Walker Ironworks of Rotherham, no evidence has yet been uncovered to link them to Solomon Townsend in America; further research will be needed to forge this chain.

As fascinating as these historical and political connections are, another significant image appears on the rear panels. These feature two identical scenes of blue transfer decoration, accented with yellow, brown and orange polychrome highlights. The images are recognizable and familiar to any collector of ceramics from the novice to the curator: a Chinese scene with three islands, a bridge with a three arches, a fence around a temple, three Chinese figures, a man in a boat, birds, fruit trees, and a large willow tree. It is Willow - the most familiar pattern in all of ceramics history - or is it? At least three other pieces, a plate and two jugs, have been attributed to Swinton in the 1790s with this same pattern,(39) named Two Figures by Leonard Whiter.(40)

D.G. Rice writes in Rockingham Pottery and Porcelain: "Services decorated with the underglaze willow pattern, so frequently found among the diverse output of the Staffordshire Potteries, were also produced at Rockingham. According to Jewitt (41) the pattern was adopted at Swinton as early as 1788 . . ."(42)

Should we call this pattern "Two Figures" or "Willow"? Deciding which patterns should be called Willow, establishing who developed the pattern and categorizing the many variations are subjects of debate. Many books have been written on the subject, and even the most learned and respected authorities on the history of ceramics seem unable to agree. According to Ivor NoÙl Hume, "The willow design is thought to have been conceived by Thomas Milton at Chaughley; it was then shipped to China for use on export porcelain, and the first products arrived back in England in 1792, thus making all Willow pattern Chinese porcelain after that date."(43)

Robert Copeland writes in his book, Spode's Willow Pattern and Other Designs after the Chinese, considered by many to be the definitive text on the origins of Willow, "There is, apparently, no Chinese pattern that contains all the features of the standard Willow pattern, and though there seems no doubt that the pattern was Spode's invention from Chinese originals, the expression has been loosely used even since the eighteenth century, for example on a bill from the London pottery and glass sellers Elizabeth North and Son, dated April 1799, which lists a sale of tea ware printed in 'brown edge Willow'."(44)

Many modern collectors mistakenly believe the Willow pattern to be based on the Willow poem in its various forms, one of which reads:

In truth, this poem is not Chinese; it is an English creation which was written many years after the Willow pattern on dishes was well established. (46) The pattern was not based on the poem, but rather the other way around. Therefore when viewing a Willow piece from the year 1795, one must forget about the motifs suggested by the poem, such as the two birds in the sky, while remembering that the name Willow was in popular use.

If during in the late 1790s people popularly referred to this collective group of similar patterns by the name Willow, perhaps we should take them at their word. The pattern on the Townsend Jug features all the motifs of the Willow pattern in some form: what appears to be a large willow tree, (not the small tree on the left, but the large weeping willow in the center), a bridge with three arches, a large tea house surrounded by a fence, a boat, three figures, orange trees, three islands, and birds. Why should we call this pattern by the name "Two Figures" when, in its day, it was called Willow both by those who made it and those who bought it? If these early Willow designs were direct copies from Chinese originals,(47) perhaps no English factory can lay claim to ownership of the group of patterns, though some eventually settled on particular variations as their own. Many factories, like the Swinton Pottery works, simply went out of business, so their variations died off with them. The Spode versions, therefore, may not define the parameters of all true Willow patterns; they define Spode's Willow variation. Perhaps Spode's longevity and success as a factory, along with the popularity of the legend, led many subsequent 19th and 20th century factories to copy Spode's version of Willow. Simply because earlier versions of Willow died out as their factories closed does not make the surviving variations more true; only longer lasting.

This Swinton mask lip jug may be the earliest dated example of the Willow pattern made in England, from any factory. Prior to this discovery, the Pocock and Allen jug, discovered by Ivor NoÙl Hume was believed to be the earliest dated example, dated 1802. (48) Additionally, this jug is also the only surviving eighteenth century Willow piece containing highlights in yellow, orange and brown, though similar shards of highlighted Willow have been excavated at the Swinton site. (49)

The Townsend Jug has been preserved and cared for by Raynham Hall Museum for many years as an important artifact belonging to Solomon Townsend, a great American patriot and industrialist. As we further understand its meaning this vessel can give us glimpses into the political and economic intricacies of America's volatile youth. It can give us a clearer picture of the unique artistry of the Swinton works in Yorkshire during its relationship with the Leeds factory. Also this jug can place the origins of the Willow pattern, often thought to reside solely in Staffordshire, within Yorkshire as well. When curious collectors and historians read these words perhaps they will be able to shed further light on the significance of this remarkable piece of early Swinton pearlware.

Footnotes:
22. Marjie Bloy. "The Age of George III: Rotherham and the Battle of Trafalgar" A Web of English History, (April, 2003) (June 9, 2004). return to article
23. John Keane. Tom Paine, A Political Life (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1995), 269. return to article
24. Keane, 271. return to article
25. Keane, 282. return to article
26. Keane, 281-282. return to article
27. National Archives and Records Administration, letter to author, 7 April, 2003. return to article
28. "Ship News", The Pennsylvania Gazette, 19 September, 1792. "Ship News", The Pennsylvania Gazette, 9 March, 1793. return to article
29. Stanley Elkins and Eric McKitrick. The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788-1800 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 326-406. return to article
30.The Pennsylvania Gazette, 6 September, 1794. return to article
31. The Pennsylvania Gazette, 17 September, 1794. return to article
32. American Memory, "An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera" Portfolio 112, Folder 14e (March, 2003). return to article
33. Elkins and McKitrick, 421. return to article
34. Jack Fruchtman, Jr. Thomas Paine: Apostle of Freedom (New York/London: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1994), 329. return to article
35. Fruchtman, 350-354. return to article
36. U.S. Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration: "The Paintings of Carl Rakeman", 1839 - Our First Iron Bridge, 1997, (July, 2004). return to article
37. Alwyn and Angela Cox, letter to author, 15 July, 2004. return to article
38. The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of Dick Ryan, Director of The Townsend Society and Assistant Director of the Walt Whitman Birthplace Historic Site for his help in identifying the nautical images in the Townsend jug cartouche. return to article
39. Cox, 71. return to article
40. Robert Copeland. Spode's Willow Pattern & Other Designs After the Chinese (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1980), 67. return to article
41. Llewellynn Jewitt, Ceramic Art in Great Britain, Vol. I. (New York: Arco Publishing Company, Inc.), 497, quoted in D.G. Rice, The Illustrated Guide to Rockingham Pottery and Porcelain (New York: Praeger Publishers, Inc, 1971), 14. return to article
42. D.G. Rice, The Illustrated Guide to Rockingham Pottery and Porcelain (New York: Praeger Publishers, Inc, 1971), 13-14. return to article
43. Ivor NoÙl Hume. A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1970) 130. return to article
44. Copeland, 35. return to article
45. Mary L. Stollard, The Legend of the Willow Pattern (Home Owner From the Horace Barks Reference Library, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, September 1959), (April, 2003) return to article
46. David Richard Quintner. Willow! Solving the Mystery of Our 200-year Love Affair with the Willow Pattern (Ontario: General Store Publishing Company, 1997), 150. return to article
47. Copeland, 1st page of chapter 8. return to article
48. Ivor NoÙl Hume. All the Best Rubbish (New York: Harper & Row, 1974), 162. return to article
49. Alwyn and Angela Cox, letter to author, 7 July, 2004. return to article