Blue Boy character jug produced by Goldscheider Pottery of Hanley, England, circa 1955. The Blue Boy (c. 1770) is a full-length portrait in oil by Thomas Gainsborough. One of Gainsborough's best known works, The Blue Boy was long thought to be a portrait of Jonathan Buttall (1752-1805), the son of a wealthy hardware merchant, because of his early ownership of the painting. This identification has never been proven and as Susan Sloman argued in 2013, the likely sitter is Gainsborough's nephew, Gainsborough Dupont (1754-1797). It is a historical costume study as well as a portrait; the youth appears in clothing from the 17th century as the artist's homage to Anthony van Dyck and is very similar to Van Dyck's portraits of young boys. This jug is a pair with a Thomas Gainsborough character jug.
Maker:
Goldscheider
England
circa 1955
Model #:
character jug
Size:
small
Height:
2"
