Wally Bird tobacco jar, 1897

Stoneware Wally Bird Tobacco Jar made by Robert Wallace Martin, Southall, London, 1897.

Tobacco jar in the form of a grotesque bird called a 'Wally Bird'. Saltglazed stoneware with incised decoration standing on small circular wooden base. Although purely decorative, the head can be removed to reveal a small cavity inside for storing tobacco.

The Martin Brothers’ Wallace, Edwin, Walter and Charles made pottery inspired by Doulton’s saltglazed stoneware in Fulham then Southall, London, from 1873-1914. They worked as artist-craftsmen making and decorating each entirely unique piece themselves. They were the first studio potters and the forerunners of the movement established by Bernard Leach in the 1920s. They made a diverse range of decorative wares in stoneware to which they added incised decoration and a saltglaze which gives a distinctive orange-peel texture. Saltglaze stoneware is a very hard material originally used for drainpipes, bottles and jugs.

The firm’s most famous product was the Wally Bird made by Wallace Martin. They were based on 17th century English slipware ‘Owl Jugs’. Each Wally Bird is unique and has its own individual expression; some are recognizable caricatures of public figures.