The aesthetic British potter's attraction to the exotic extended beyond Japan to include other locales, usually of a clime more sultry than that of their native isle. Think of the palm-studded shoreline depicted in Gildea & Walker's enormously popular transfer pattern "Melborne." With this modest size milk jug, Dudson captures that appeal in a delicate molded relief of an exotic long-beaked bird perched amid bamboo and other tropical foliage. 

The warm buff color, the tapered shape, and molded bamboo handle are all characteristic of  Dudson's production, as is the pleasingly smooth matte texture of the stoneware body. Dudson acknowledges the functional aspect of the piece by a protective high glaze finish for the interior.

Dudson's versatility--as well as their ability to get the most benefit from a winning design--is demonstrated by the appearance of "Tropical Bird" with molded relief and with applied white sprigging. A photo of a sprigged example, recently sold by Seekers, is included for comparison.

The British potter's penchant for copying their competitors is illustrated by a further comparison of Dudson's "Tropical Bird" with the similar "Bird in Bamboo" by F. & R. Pratt & Co., illustrated in A Collector's Guide to Nineteenth-Century Jugs, Vol.II by Kathy Hughes (p.85, no.213). Care to speculate as to which is the original?