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This double-sided grotesque face jug was manufactured by Martin Brothers, London.
The output of the Martin Brothers pottery was always highly ornamented, even including its useful wares like this jug. The brothers were intensely interested in surface decoration and took their ideas from a very wide variety of sources. Robert Wallace Martin, the eldest brother, was fully familiar with historic motifs. This jug uses slightly sinister, chortling and grimacing faces - in this case in the form of the Sun and Moon. Wallace began making vases in this vigorously modelled form about 1885, inspired by Janus, the ancient Roman god with two faces.
The Martins worked exclusively in salt-glazed stoneware with a distinctive semi-matt, speckled surface and a limited colour range of browns, blues and greens. The technique and use of satyr-like masks have both English and German origins. This type of jug was clearly popular, as an unidentified German patron ordered 15 face jugs.
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