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Stanley Melbourne Bruce, (8th Prime Minister, 1925-28)…
Sale Title:
Auction House:
Auction Location:
Melbourne
Date:
25-Jun-2022
Lot No.
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Description:
Stanley Melbourne Bruce, (8th Prime Minister, 1925-28) porcelain character jug designed by Percy Metcalfe for Ashtead Pottery, limited edition 53/500 factory mark, signature an inscription on the base. 18.5 cm high. Stanley Bruce (1883-1967) was Prime Minister from 1923 to 1929. Australian-born, English-educated Bruce was a Nationalist who governed in coalition with the newly-formed Country party. He encouraged families to emigrate from Britain and settle on the land, while he secured loans from London financiers to fund infrastructure development. In turn, the British market opened up to Australian wool, wheat and other goods. After struggling with industrial relations issues, Bruce became the only Prime Minister to lose his own seat at an election. The Ashtead Pottery operated in the English village of Ashtead, Surrey, between 1923 and 1935. Set up to offer employment for disabled ex-servicemen, at the peak of its production it employed forty men to produce a broad array of wares, including commemoratives and household crockery. Percy Metcalf was one of several designers who worked for Ashtead. This jug is one of a series of four modelled by Metcalf and produced between 1925 and 1928. The other jugs depicted British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, British Attorney General Lord Hailsham, and British Prime Minister David Lloyd George. The jugs were issued in numbered limited editions - 1000 each for the British Prime Ministers and 500 each for Hailsham and Bruce. In January 1929 Australian statesman Richard Casey, in London, wrote to the Australian prime minister, Stanley Bruce: 'I see that you have agreed to the Bruce Toby Jug being sold to the public. I inquired of the potters about it and got two of them. I think they have turned out very well indeed. If you want any I can get them and send them out.' The National Portrait Gallery's Bruce jug was spotted by the Director and Historian on a speculative autumn afternoon's visit to a multi-vendor antique market at Exhibition Park in Canberra. As it happens, it is number 1 of the rare Bruce jugs. Its provenance is unknown, but the possibility of a Casey connection is particularly tantalizing to curators.
Estimate:
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Price:
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Category:
Ceramics: Australian Themes & Other Makers