A RARE William MOORCROFT “EVENTIDE” BISCUIT BARREL w. Silver-Plate Lid, c. 1925

This is a beautiful, Moorcroft biscuit barrel, fitted with a silver plated handle and inset lid by William Hutton and Sons.

The pottery barrel is beautifully decorated with a frieze of trees in summer foliage, in muted shades of greens and browns against a red, twilight sky. along Along the bottom of the barrel, behind the trees, in the background, are rolling hills in deep shades of cobalt blue, tinged with the orange red of the sky. The decoration features the raised outline for which Moorcroft is famous.

The high-polish, domed lid is inset in a silver collar around the neck of the jar, to which a hinged half-circle handle is fixed.  The handle raises and lowers perfectly. The inset lid is topped with a raised round finial.

William Moorcroft founded his pottery near Staffordshire in 1913, after leaving MacIntyre’s Arts and Crafts design studio, where he was responsible for ceramics. Moorcroft ceramics were sold by Liberty’s in London.

Marked: On the bottom of the base of the barrel, with the impressed Moorcroft mark in block letters with “Made in England”  and the numbers “80” impressed additionally on the base : the impressed makers’ mark overlaid with blue glaze.  Signed in blue glaze with the William Moorcroft signature.

The silver plate bears is stamped “WH & S”  “EP” and “A1”, with a circle of cross-hatching in front of the  letters.  This is the mark for William Hutton and Sons, who operated as silversmiths, between 1893 and 1930, in Birmingham, and London (pictured).

Measures:  Dimensions: 7 1/2″ H x 5 1/2″ in diameter, from handle to handle.