The utilitarian "Cambridge Ale Jug" shape provides the ground for this caricature of a lady golfer in bright raised enamels--one of the rarer patterns in the "Kenlock" line. Clearly of Scots origin, her tartan plaid extends from her lady-like golfing skirt to her smart golf bag and even to her sporty stockings.

Through the nineteenth century Wedgwood played on the contrast of shiny enamels against the flat matte surface of their stoneware bodies--most frequently basalt enameled with Chinese style blossoms. The turn of the (20th) century "Kenlock" line may have been an effort to update the strategy with florals in the current Art Nouveau style and an occasional foray into subjects such as our golfer.

Maureen Batkin illustrates the art work for the golfer decoration in Wedgwood Ceramics, (p. 85, plate 185).

Our golfer is strikingly similar to the semi-comic golfers featured later on wares by the Weller Pottery in Ohio. One is tempted to speculate that the link--if a specific one exists--could be Frederick Hurten Rhead, talented designer from an important Staffordshire potting family, who worked at Weller as well as many other American potteries.