A great example of how a simple design strategy can generate quite a bit of pizazz, Emily Welch adorns this pear-shape jug with just five bands of horizontal ornamentation. Two bands feature beading, a favorite Doulton Lambeth device; two bands consist of a very original border involving trefoils (cloverleaf shapes); and the central band is the classical guilloche. A guilloche is a chain formed by overlapping bands that entwine to form linked circles. Far from classical, however, is the excitement created by the busy relief that covers the looped bands.

One does not think of Doulton as a pottery that frequently depends on dripping glaze for decorative effect. The dark toned glaze that underlies the guilloche relief, however, flows beneath the chain to create a sort of dark shadow that creates depth and drama.

The jug is marked with monograms for Emily Welch and assistant Lydia Grieg. The narrow silver trim at the rim bears no marks.

In 1815 John Doulton entered into a partnership to produce stoneware which eventually in 1854 became Doulton & Co. The product was functional--bottles and pipes--with decoration a very secondary concern. John's son Henry, however, entered into a relationship with the Lambeth School of Art in the early 1870's to establish a studio to produce unique artist-decorated pieces, one of the earliest flowerings of the art pottery movement. Doulton expanded into table wares and porcelain after acquiring the Staffordshire pottery, Pinder Bourne, and in 1901 received the warrant to become Royal Doulton. Art production in Lambeth reached a peak in the 1890's and continued well into the twentieth century, though with a slow decline in quantities produced and decorators employed.

Generally the Lambeth studio emphasized surface decoration, reflecting contemporary interest in flat patterns. Typically designs are incised. Colored glazes complement the pattern but were seldom allowed to completely obscure the natural tones of the stoneware body.