Tobacco jar — Martin Ware, Martin, Robert Wallace, Southall, 1887
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
1887
Tobacco jar — Martin Ware, Martin, Robert Wallace, Southall, 1887 is an object recorded by Victoria and Albert Museum, dated 1887. The museum's brief description reads: Large bird 'Martin Ware' tobacco jar, salt-glazed stoneware, modelled by R.
Wallace Martin and made by Martin Bros., Southall, 1887. Museum description: Tobacco jar and cover. Stoneware. Modelled, carved and incised in the form of a grotesque bird. Ivory, green, brown & black glaze. Round ebonised wooden base. The museum record gives material recorded as Stoneware; measurements Height 30 cm; Width 17.6 cm; place associated: Southall; maker recorded: Martin, Robert Wallace. These details come from the holding museum's own record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
If Martin-ware [… has] not the transparency of porcelain nor the elaborately and costly ornamentation of Sèvres [it is] pure and honest art work. This is how the art critic Cosmo Monkhouse described the output of the Martin Brothers' studio in The Magazine of Art in 1882. Eccentric founder Robert Wallace Martin and his siblings Charles, Walter and Edwin epitomized the energy and experimentation of the nineteenth-century art pottery movement. They regarded pottery as a means of artistic expression, rather than a product of industrial manufacture, and were particularly inspired by the naturalistic and rustic flora and fauna forms of the sixteenth-century potter Bernard Palissy (see p.000). This jar is typical of the Martin Brothers' grotesque and eccentric stonewares and demonstrates a unique blend of fantasy and imagination. The function of these anthropomorphic lidded wares, which were produced in many different shapes and sizes, is unclear. They have been called 'tobacco jars', since Monkhouse used this term, but they are not airtight and the interiors are not finished to a standard fit for storage, suggesting an essentially ornamental and aesthetic purpose. The Martin Brothers drew upon an eclectic range of sources for their work and it is possible that these jars were inspired by traditional English owl-shaped pottery jugs. Martin-ware birds are not of any known species, and in many examples the lidded heads are made to swivel on the body, further enhancing their…
Physical characteristics
- Material
- Stoneware
- Dimensions
- Height 30 cm; Width 17.6 cm
Technical characteristics
- Technique
- Salt-glazed stoneware, ebonised wood
- Maker recorded
- Martin, Robert Wallace
- Place recorded
- Southall
Design
- Inscriptions recorded
- 'R.W. Martin & Brothers / London & Southall / 1-1887'; 'R.W. Martin Bro / Southall 87'
Identification
- Museum object name
- Tobacco jar
- Museum object number
- C.1151&A-1917
- Museum system number
- O148466
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm materials, dimensions, maker and wider type against the holding institution and a specialist reference.