Puzzle Jug, Isaac Button, Soil Hill Pottery, Halifax, Yorkshire, England, 1950s

Description

A rare and splendid traditional Isaac Button puzzle jug made at the historic Soil Hill Pottery, Ogden in the West Riding of Yorkshire, complete with the legend “From Mother Earth I claim my birth, I am made a joke for man. Now I’m here, filled with good cheer, come taste me if you can”.

These jugs were a speciality of the pottery. Stamped on the base is “I. Button Halifax”, this was Isaac’s personal stamp which he used during the last ten years at Soil Hill when he was working on his own, before he retired, and consequently, this is a rare piece.

After the making and construction of these time-consuming pots, which required a skilled pair of hands and was carried out in stages, the puzzle jug, here with its five spouts was immersed in liquid white clay (slip). When this coat of slip had stiffened, the traditional pottery verse would be scratched into the surface, exposing the contrasting red clay underneath, a technique known as sgraffito. When all these processes were finished, the pot would be carefully dried, immersed in a highly-fluxing raw lead and clay glaze then once-fired in a large kiln, taking several days to fire and cool, the whole process taking several weeks.

A marvellous film financed by the Arts Council of Great Britain was made about Isaac working Soil Hill on his own and the Herculean tasks involved. It was considered an important record of the life of a country potter with so many generations of Halifax potters before him, and made shortly before he retired in the 1960s.

A Brief History of Soil Hill
Soil Hill Pottery, which at 1300 feet above sea level constituted wild windswept moorland heights, exposed to gales and all manner of extreme weather, summer and winter. The Button family worked the Soil Hill Pottery continuously for three generations from the last quarter of the 19^th c. through to the mid-1960s. Before them, from the mid-18th century, there were three generations of the Catherall’s, a pottery family from Buckley, North Wales, wanting to take advantage of the rapidly expanding markets in the West Riding of Yorkshire, including Halifax, Bradford and Leeds, during the Industrial Revolution.

All these generations of potters over centuries from around the Halifax region produced superb, inspirational decorated slipwares and utilitarian items, which are now rightly and justifiably recognised as some of the finest works of country pottery Folk Art in Britain.

Date
Late 19th-early 20th century

Dimensions
5.75’’h x 7’’w   O/A approx (inclusive of handle)

Condition
In excellent condition with various minor kiln flaws, also minor wear commensurate with age and handling, all perfectly normal for country pottery.

Price
£275   $360-USD

Reference – Peter Brears – The Collectors Book of English Country Pottery

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Ref Number: 221041A
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