Robert Maling inscriptions
Attributed to Robert Maling's Ouseburn Bridge Pottery
The items on this page are most often attributed to North Shields. However, my own view is they are all from Robert Maling's Ouseburn Bridge Pottery in Newcastle. Note that none of the items on this page has the horizontal lustre marks on the handle found extensively on North Shields items of the 1830s. See right for a C, C & Co example from North Shields.
The items on this page can be divided broadly into two groups: 1. wheat ear or flower collar, pre 1830; and 2. green flecks around transfer and pink lustre collar, post 1830. See below for an example from each group with the 'My Bonny Sailor' transfer.
The items on this page can be divided broadly into two groups: 1. wheat ear or flower collar, pre 1830; and 2. green flecks around transfer and pink lustre collar, post 1830. See below for an example from each group with the 'My Bonny Sailor' transfer.
The green fleck items (post 1830) share transfers with firmly attributed Robert Maling plaques (see below). The enamel decoration is also strikingly similar. It requires no great leap of faith to accept that these green-flecked items came from the same pottery. I did consider whether Maling could have made just some of the green-flecked items, but after comparing many, many transfers on these pages, I could find no evidence of two distinct groups with green flecks. The same transfers appear interchangeably across all of the green-flecked items.
I also considered whether the copper transfer plates could have moved from North Shields to Maling around 1830. But there are some consistent elements in the writing of the inscriptions (see below) which unite the two decorative groups. Note the small crosses on the letter 'L'. The left inscription is from the group with a wheat ear design around the collar. The right inscription is the earliest I have with the green-fleck decoration seen on Maling-impressed plaques.
It seems unlikely that both the copper plates and inscription enamellers would move from North Shields to Ouseburn Bridge, at a time when both potteries were flourishing. The simplest explanation is that all the items on this page were made by Robert Maling. If anyone reading this has any evidence to the contrary, please get in touch.
Inscriptions in date order
Although this item has an inscription with a birth date of 1790, it was likely made later, perhaps as a 30th birthday present in 1820. The flowers around inscriptions on these items become more fluid as time goes on.
Photo eBay
Photo Bonhams
Photo Tennants Auctioneers
Photo Durrants Auctions
Photo Piers Motley
Photo Ian Sharp
Although the impressed Maling plaque below is undated, note its similarities to the jugs above and below. In particular, the red ribbon effect that appears at the top and bottom of the monogram above, and around the angel on the plaque below. Also, the wash of pale blue enamel.
© Norfolk Museums Service
This puzzle jug has a transfer of the ship William IV launched in 1831. The jug, at any rate, could not have been made before 1830, when William became king. It is the only example I have seen of the wheat ear decoration being used into the 1830s.
Although not dated, I have attached a firmly attributed Maling plaque below. The letters are formed in the same way as those on the jug above, and it might be painted by the same hand.
Photo Finan & Co
Again, although undated, I have included a Maling-impressed plaque below. It is decorated by a similar amateurish hand to the jug above, and the text is poorly centred.
Photo Eldred's Auction Galleries
