Beswick Ware Oliver Twist ‘Mr. Bumble’ Design Ceramic Character Jug No. 2032

This is a nice example of a character jug of ‘Mr Bumble’, the parish beadle from Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’, produced by Beswick.

The wide brim is formed by the beadle’s hat. He has a stiff, upturned collar in brown edged with green. The handle is in the midline at the back and is in the form of the beadle’s staff.

The interior and the base are white. The base has an unglazed rim, revealing the underlying ceramic body to be white. The centre is impressed with the words ‘BESWICK ENGLAND 2032’ and ‘MR BUMBLE PARISH BEADLE’. In addition, there is a No. 54 hand-painted in black glaze.

This piece was in production from 1966 to 1973.

It has a height of approximately 12.5cm and a maximum width of about 14.2cm.

It has an unwrapped weight of 400g.

It is in good condition, with no chips or cracks, although there is fine crazing to the glaze.