A DOCUMENTARY COALPORT BLUE AND WHITE JUG

A DOCUMENTARY COALPORT BLUE AND WHITE JUG, JOHN ROSE & CO, 1796 painted with flower sprays and swags and inscribed Thos Claro, Upton 1796, 19cm hLiterature: 2013, illustrated p184.The only painted and dated piece made during the first year of production at the Coalport factory. Inheriting his father's properties and business, including his "barges and vessels of all sorts", Claro of Upton upon Severn below Worcester was a substantial boat operator who presumably saw the new works beside the Severn and ordered this jug. The flower painting resembles Caughley's Salopian Rose Spray and Tulip and is probably by a former Caughley hand. On coming into his inheritance Claro was obliged to pay a total of £600 to his three sisters, almost as much as the insurance value of Rose's works in 1797.