Cinque Ports (The Monastery) Rye Green and Black Milk or Cream Jug

Pottery has been produced in and around Rye in Sussex since the late 18th century. From the mid-19th century until its closure at the outbreak of World War II, The Bellevue Pottery was the dominant force. In 1947, this factory was reopened as the ‘Rye Pottery’ by the brothers John and Walter Cole, who trained many apprentices. David Sharp joined the company in 1947 and left in 1956 to form ‘Cinque Ports Pottery’ with George Gray. In 1964, the partnership ended and Gray ran the pottery, which manufactured commercial domestic ware in large quantities. Gray set up new premises at The Monastery and incorporated this in his back stamp. The pottery continued production until the 1980s, when it was taken over by Jim Elliot of Iden Pottery. This is a good example of a George Gray Cinque Ports Pottery milk or cream jug. The jug is cylindrical in shape and is decorated with a streaked green base glaze, over which is a wax resist black glaze design in the form of two rows of squares above the base. The jug is also horizontally streaked with black glaze. The handle is decorated in green and black and is positioned approximately halfway down the body. The interior is glazed in white. The underside is marked in black with the words ‘CINQUE PORTS POTTERY LTD. THE MONASTERY RYE’. It has a maximum height to the top of the spout of approximately 11.5cm, with a diameter across the rim of about 6.8cm and across the base of about 6.9cm. It is in excellent condition, with no chips or cracks.