Dating from a period when the designs of molded stoneware jugs often sacrificed utility fo...

Dating from a period when the designs of molded stoneware jugs often sacrificed utility for sculptural quality, Ridgway's bamboo jug instead combines a unique shape with practical simplicity. Here standing bamboo canes bound together with rope create a traditional tankard shape. In the sort of clever touch characteristic of molded jugs, the rope binding extends to form an entwined handle.

The forest green stoneware chosen for the jug conveys an earthiness appropriate to the rustic bamboo motif.

Though rustic, Ridgway's jug relates to the often sophisticated and formal use of Asian mo...

Though rustic, Ridgway's jug relates to the often sophisticated and formal use of Asian motifs in European decorative arts. The rhythmic quality of uniform bamboo stalks standing side by side seems to have intrigued potters as early as the eighteenth century, as certain Wedgwood designs attest.