collection of Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

Source Description:

The print ultimately derives from this engraving which is the oldest known illustration of a Newcomen engine, made by Henry Beighton  in 1717 and it shows his engine at Oxclose Colliery, Tyne & Wear.  From the collection of the Science Museum, London.

Description:

Red earthenware jug, the interior with white slip coating, the exterior with wide blue slip band around the body and copper luster neck, handle and foot.  Printed on each side in purple with the title "Sucess to the COAL TRADE" and a view of a Newcomen atmospheric engine.  

Thomas Newcomen erected the world's first successful steam engine near Dudley Castle, Staffordshire, in 1712. It became an important method of draining water from deep mines and was therefore a vital component in the Industrial Revolution in Britain. Newcomen's invention enabled mines to be drained to greater depths than had previously been economically possible and so helped provide the coal, iron and other metals that were vital to the expansion of industry.

Beneath the lip of the jug is the painted inscription "James & Sarah Harp 1826".