Brown stoneware is a hard, dense, non-porous pottery fired at high temperature and finished with a brown surface, typically achieved by salt glazing over an iron-rich wash or clay. The result is a durable, waterproof ware with a characteristic glossy, slightly pitted orange-peel texture, well suited to storing and serving liquids.
It was imported from the Rhineland in large quantities from the sixteenth century, most famously as bearded bellarmine jugs, before English production was established in the late seventeenth century, with John Dwight at Fulham among the pioneers. Nottingham and Derbyshire became important centres, Nottingham ware being known for its lustrous brown finish and incised decoration. In the nineteenth century the Lambeth potteries, especially Doulton, made huge quantities of bottles, jars, spirit flasks and moulded hunting jugs, with sprigged scenes of huntsmen, windmills and drinkers. Collectors value early dated or inscribed pieces, named potteries, crisp sprigged decoration and good colour, while chips and cracks reduce value. Brown stoneware jars, flagons and bottles are now popular in country kitchens and larders, where their simple forms and rich colour group especially well together.
