This Minton relief molded jug in light green is 8-1/2" high and is known as Silenus or Bacchus. The color is even lighter than it appears in the pictures. The handle is the same light green color as the body of the jug, although the photo makes the handle appear darker. It is marked on the bottom with an early Minton mark and dates to about 1831. Before glass and plastic containers were widely available to hold liquids, especially wine, such decorative stoneware pitchers were made in various sizes and colors. Even though these jugs had a utilitarian function, they were decorated like sculptures, and this jug is especially sculptural with its figures in high relief, almost in three dimensions. The full figure images of Bacchus all around the jug reference the fact that the jug is meant to hold wine. Kathy Hughes describes the decoration in A Collector's Guide to Nineteenth-Century Jugs, Vol. I, p. 39, "[There is] a Silenus group of three in extremely high relief on each side. Grapevines adorn the green stoneware body and twine around the handle." This jug is in excellent condition and was obviously treasured throughout the almost 200 years of its life. It displays well in oak and glass cabinets and creates a fascinating sculptural display, especially in company with other jugs.

I have many other antique relief molded jugs. Please inquire.