Pitchers

As noted in the theme descriptions, the main thing that distinguishes what I’m here calling ‘pitchers’ from ‘creamers’ is size.  Many of these are a foot or more tall, and hold over a quart, so pretty obviously they were designed to hold water or milk (or wine in some cases), not cream.  Thus in this picture, the one in the middle is a pitcher.  The one on the left is definitely in the creamer category, and the one on the right, while borderline, I’m also calling a creamer. 

Here are some large black and white cow pitchers; the one with the pink bow and yellow bell – which came equipped with cooking implements – is marked for Jay Imports, Made in China.  The one next to it, sort of football shaped and with no legs, is marked “©1992, B.W., Taiwan” (it cost me 99 cents).  The large bodied cow with the polka dot tail for a handle is copyrighted for Clay Art, also made in Taiwan.  For some reason this is one I keep forgetting I already have, so the collection now has four of them.  The round one with the daisy necklace holds two quarts, and is marked for OCI, Omnibus, Japan.  It appears frequently on eBay.  Both of the ones to the right of it are from Taiwan.

Here are four standing black and white cow pitchers, all with some sort of filler between their legs.  The one on the left, with the blue collar and yellow bell standing in grass, is one of the few in the collection that was made in Brazil. Next to it, with the grass and yellow flowers, is one from ‘Young’s Exclusive’. It came in a box that says ‘Kitchen Creations’, is dated 1999 and was made in China.  It actually has a matching sugar bowl, so in spite of its size it might as well have gone in the creamer pile.  The cow with the chicken beside it is from Certified International Corporation, © Coco Dowley, and was made in Taiwan.  The cow on the right is unmarked.

Here’s a whole herd of tall sitting up pitchers.  The big red one on the left is stamped for “Home”, made in China; the one next to it in the back is from Japan, as is the one on the far right with the pink nose and big blue bow, © B&D.  The two to its right in the back row are both from the US.

In this set, the two on the ends are Italian.  Pitchers from molds of this shape come in a variety of materials and colors.  The big black and white cow pitcher second from the left is copyrighted ’84 from Animals & Co., made in the US.  I bought this one in a shop in San Diego in 1985, but have since seen a number of them (at a much lower price!) on eBay.  There’s also a brown and white version which seems to be much rarer. 

The large blue pitcher, like its red cousin a couple pictures back, is from “Home”, made in China.  The one next to it comes from the same mold as the middle one in the second picture, but is painted somewhat differently; it bears the incised mark of © 1992, B.W., Taiwan.

The foot-tall pitcher with brown eyes and nostrils is unmarked; the slightly smaller one to its right has a sticker that says “Designer:  Pelzman Designs”.  

The white cow on the left has glued-on glass brown eyes and is marked “Marcia Ceramic USA DC-1 ©”.  Next to it is a rather wild and unembarrassed interpretation with a prominent udder and blue horns and belly that’s looking straight up out of bulgy eyes, from China.  On the right is another version of the typically Italian pitcher, although this one bears no marks.

Here’s another version of the “Marcia” pitcher, but this time with a sticker, and holes instead of the glass eyes. From the “Potteries of California” web page, we learn that Marcia of California  was owned by George Sigal, who with his sons produced fairly large items like this pitcher from the 1950s to 70s in a pottery located near the Cal State LA campus.  I guess one would have to ask George why they used the name Marcia.

The hot pepper pitcher on the left, by Fitz and Floyd and marked “ © OCI 1 QT”, matches the teapot featured in the introductory section, and a sugar and creamer.   The nicely done black and white one in the middle is from “Frutuoso and Frutuoso”, made in Portugal (Can’t find them on the web, but half the fun is in the searching…the top of google’s list under Frutuoso turns out to be a stud farm).  On the right is a Japanese cow that from its pained expression and position of the forelegs looks like it’s hurting in the soft parts.

The rather piggish-looking cow on the left seems to have rather more than the normal allocation of teats.  Makes you wonder if whoever designed it ever saw a real cow.  The middle one with pinwheel designs is a Japanese version of the ‘begging’ cow that is featured in several more interpretations below.  On the right is a very hefty cow that, although unmarked, arrived here (via eBay) from Dublin, Ireland

Here are four variations on the ‘begging’ theme, from different ends of the earth.  The pitcher on the left, while unmarked, I believe is from Japan like the one with pinwheels.  The one next to it, with the purple nose and brown bell, is incised for “Caldas de Raihna, Portugal”. Next to it, in black and white, is one from a paint-it yourself ceramic shop, marked “For Mom, love Tom and Cindy”.  The mottled brown one on the right would appear to be from a similar mold, but the ad on eBay stated that the seller bought it from a “’gentlemen’s private collection’, being sold because of his divorce, which was mostly top quality glass and pottery; he claimed it was English, c 1860-1880.”  The glaze does seem not unusual for that period, though I have no way of knowing for sure.  True or not, I fell for it.

This is another Portuguese beggar with the same inscriptions as the one above, but this time with a sticker for Andrea by Sadek. This gift, tableware and home furnishings company, also known as Charles Sadek Import Company or j.willfred, was founded in 1936 by Norman and Charles Sadek and is still operated by the Sadek family. Their headquarters are in New Rochelle NY, and they have 7 showrooms across the US.

These two are also from similar molds. The one on the right, which would appear to be from the same mold as a pitcher shown in the Delft theme, has a stamp that states “Biltmore Estate Collection, Genuine Delft”. The white pitcher bears the stamp of “Maryland China, Taiwan”, and I’d guess is made from a copy of the Delft mold. At least I’d be willing to bet the Dutch didn’t copy the Taiwanese in this case…albeit the Delft blue coloring does of course have a Chinese origin.

Here’s a collection that includes a teapot, creamer and sugar, cup, and three pitchers (thus they’re here), all with cow heads sticking out of rectangular or circular ‘bodies’.  The teapot and creamer/sugar are from Dept. 56, made in Japan.  The pitcher is unmarked, but I believe belongs to the same set.  The one quart milk carton that has the cow with the blue collar is ©Russ Berrie & Co., and was made in Sri Lanka.  Its half gallon neighbor, wearing the yellow bandanna, is from Taiwan, and bears the mark of two hands cupped around a flower with “S L” above them.  The cup, which I bought because I thought it matched the teapot set (it doesn’t), is by Ganz, Taiwan.

Here’s a very similar interpretation, from Enesco Designed Giftware.

This is a group of miscellaneous cows, all a bit too large to be used for cream.  We bought the one on the left in a grocery story in Ljubjana, Slovenia, during a visit in 2000; lovely town, fond memories.  The white heavy set bull with yellow horns and a brightly painted scene, in the middle, is unmarked but I’d guess from the style and picture that it’s from Italy or Spain.  The other three are from Japan, and the one standing in the grass is marked for ‘the haldon group’.

This large pitcher with the raised farm scene on the side is from “style.eyes by Baum Bros, Country Fair Collection, China”.  These other four are all from the same mold, painted differently.  I bought them from 4 different eBay sellers, at prices ranging from $3 to $25.  I’ve since learned not to buy the first one of a pattern that comes up, unless it appears to be an unusual antique.

These aren’t the most beautiful cows in the collection, but they are unusual.  Only the one on the right, which has purple rhinestone eyes, is marked; it says ‘Dunbar” in script.  I guess whoever made it was proud of it.

Three caricatures, unrelated but more or less with the same basic idea.  The middle one has a faint “TS” impressed inside what looks to me like a tank, and the one on the right is stamped B901. 

Here are a couple unmarked rather forlorn looking cows, a heavy set smiling one with a red bow and a huge bell, and an older ‘cold paint’ pitcher.  This one has retained most of its paint; I have one identical to it where all the paint has been worn off, and I didn’t realize they were the same until I was taking these pictures.

The stubby cow with the big head and orange bell on the left is from Japan.  Its blue sponged companion is marked for “Hudsonware Vermont”…a small paper that accompanies their products claims their products are all ‘hand molded, hand sponged, and signed in the “Northeast Kingdom of the Green Mountain State of Vermont”.    The white pitcher with the green eyes and its brown friend with the white forelock are both from ‘paint it yourself’ molds – the white one has “LB80” inscribed in the bottom, and the brown one was made by “Amy,’70”.

Well, they have to be cows because cows have horns and mice don’t.  I’d guess them to be Japanese- no other country seems to produce such fanciful cows.  The only marks on them are numbers, 9198 on the biggest and 8721 on the other two. 

This is the first of several ‘sets’.  The little ones are creamers, but the biggest is a pitcher so I chose to put them here. The sticker on their bottom says they’re from Stonewall Kitchen, Made in Spain.

The tag on these rather wild interpretations says they’re “Bee Happy by Claire Mackie, a collection of Department 56”.  The smaller cow must be intended to be a creamer, since it came with a pink udder-shaped sugar bowl and a spoon with a daisy on top.  Dept. 56 has produced quite a number of cows, but these are by far their most imaginative.  They’ve been around since 1976, and make giftware, collectibles, and holiday decorating items.  Check out www.department56.com if you like ‘stuff’.

This set (actually I bought the pitcher separately from the cream and sugar, but they match) are stamped for Japan, and bear a silver gift-box shaped tag that reads “imported by Giftcraft, Toronto”.  They seem to be somewhat patterned after geo.z.lefton’s cows.

Here’s another fanciful pitcher, creamer and sugar set, made in China, with stamps that read “Milk Cow© Collection exclusively by Park Designs, Goldsboro, NC”

Here are three pairs of large and small creamers or pitchers.  The ones with the blue pants and pink bows are from “Farmers Kitchen, Christopher Wren, Produced for Staffordshire Tableware, England”.  The white and black ones with the grey noses are marked “© Henriksen Imports, Inc., Japan”.  The caricatures with the bright orange noses that are flashing their udders are unmarked themselves except for a sticker that says made in China, but the smaller one came in a box that says “Crazy (little) Cow Milk Jug … Cute, irresistible and crazy. Great fun to have around your home! Collect the set. Registered design of Country Kitchenware Supplies, Ltd., CKS.MALVERN.WR13 6NN UK”.  There’s a teapot that accompanies them, shown in that theme section.

Here’s a square set, “Made in Taiwan”,,,purchased separately and I didn’t notice they went together until I was dusting the collection (yes, I do the dusting…and the polishing…though I can’t really understand why my wife won’t help)

Some cows dress up.  This is a mixture of a pitcher, a couple creamers, and a teapot. The big black and white cow with the red sunglasses is from Vandor, dated 1987.  We got it in Hamburg, Germany.  Its small friend with the green and yellow shades is marked “Bonnie’s Ceramic Company, Inc., Handpainted, Made in USA”.  The pair with the wild orange tennis shoes are from ”Fiona Stokes, S. Papel, © Otagiri, Japan”.

Here are an unmarked pitcher and teapot that bear some distinct similarities; enough that at first I thought they were from a set, but on closer inspection just seem to have come from folks with similar ideas.

These black and yellow cow pitchers trimmed in gold are from the Pearl China Company which was located in East Liverpool, Ohio in the 1940s through 1958.  Their mark was an open shell with a pearl and the word “pearl”, and these pieces, like may others of theirs, were ‘hand decorated’ with 22 Kt gold.

Here are three very different interpretations.  The fancy one with the daisies and kerchief bears a vague resemblance to Fitz and Floyd’s Heidi Holstein, but is unmarked. The pitcher with the orange horns and bell and grey spots that include hearts bears a sticker that names her “Peaches ‘n Creame”; she was made in Taiwan, ©Himark.  The farmer is unmarked; he has a hole in the back of this hat, and the corn is the spout.

This is a very cute and original interpretation by CLAY ART of San Francisco, copyrighted 1993, entitled Cow Under the Moon, and made in China.  I have a number of pieces of from them (including another pitcher above) , but the only information I could glean from the web came from a 1997 About.com article http://collectibles.about.com/library/articles/aa061797.htm that notes: “In 1979 Michael Zanfagna and Jenny McClain were teaching at Mission High School in San Francisco, when they decided to build a business of affordable art.”  They made salt and pepper shakers, cookie jars, and similar items…obviously including the occasional amusing cow. Are they still in business?”

This fierce looking blue eyed Czechoslovalian (green circular stamp) bull appears to be contemplating George Washington.

I’m not sure what to make of this one - big floppy hat, long eyelashes, red jacket and ‘hands’ to cheek as if to say ‘oh my!’…No marks, and the seller thought it may have been home-made.

Here are two that aren’t cow shaped, but were too cute to resist.  The one with the red handle and face of a cow in a fancy hat is from the Regal Pottery’s Company’s Old McDonald Farm series; it tends to be rather pricey these days.  Regal Pottery was established in Antioch, IL in 1938, and was purchased by the Royal China and Novelty Company a couple years later.  It was apparently well known for Jim Beam decanters, the Old MacDonald Farm and Little Red Riding Hood series, and cookie jars; it closed in June 1992.  The orange clay milk carton with black hooves and shiny white spot came from a fancy ceramic shop in the UK in 1996, and is marked with a handwritten “ii95, ©

This little modern guy was also too cute to pass up.  It comes from the Peter Pots Pottery, whose web site notes that they have been making stoneware in Rhode Island since 1948, and since 1954 have been located in the “historic Glen Rock Mill” in West Kingston.

This one is also a bit odd for the collection, but we like to buy at least one cow creamer in every country we visit.  A while back we went to Costa Rica for a couple weeks of birding, and this was the only cow we found, in a ‘porcellan’ shop in San Jose that specializes in peddling oriental gee-gaws to the Ticos.

I debated about this one, but the cow is sufficiently part of the shape that I guess it qualifies for the colection…it’s marked for “T-J-Maxx”

Here are a couple of my favorites (named Jezebel and Penelope by our webmaster).  They were hand made by a (unknown) South Carolina folk artist, according to the antique dealer from whom I acquired them at a Kiwanis sponsored antique fair in Arlington, VA.  At first I sort of just walked right by them because I wasn’t at all sure they were cows…but when you turn them around, for sure they’re each fully equipped.  Very fanciful to say the least.  Perhaps someone can identify the artist.

Here’s another hand-thrown pottery cow pitcher – it came from eBay, with no information beyond the “Kran” incised in script in its bottom.  It’s probably no surprise that I was the only bidder…

Yet a third hand made cow pitcher – this one a “Face Jug” signed by the maker Otis Norris of McBee, South Carolina (who is rather famous for such things) and dated 9-02.  Face jugs are a southern US folk art specialty, and …

here’s a black bull’s head version, “no.1 cow” by Linda Corn of Lula, Banks County, Georgia, dated 12/99.  It’s being kept company here by a cow standing in grass with grapes around its neck, marked with an incised “V COR” and bearing a decal for Wang’s International, Inc.

This cute hand-made milk pitcher with her udder in the middle of her back came to me via eBay, but was purchased initially at Bluff Park Art Show in Birmingham AL, on the 1st Saturday in Oct 1984.  It is signed with the year and what looks to be “Spunkun”.  Anybody know Spunkun??

This is a lovely hand-blown art deco black bull pitcher signed “C.Jenkins 2007”.  You can see more work by this artist, including bulls like this, other animals, and other beautiful art glass pieces,  on his web site http://charliejenkins.com…from what I glean there, he worked out of Oakland until he married in 2007, then moved with his new wife to Dresden, Maine.  Since the web site hasn’t been updated since the wedding, I assume this bull was made in California and he’s been somewhat busy since.

Switching to the other side of the earth, this is a clay water (or soy?) pot that the seller claimed is 17c Qing Dynasty.  It’s either a bull or a water buffalo, as is…

this interesting Russian liquor dispenser that came, thanks once again to eBay, from a seller in Vratsa, Bulgaria.

Here’s another decanter, presumably for a liqueur given the size of the cups.  This one’s a bit outside the two-hole criterion since its head serves as the bottle top, but like a lot of other ones that are ‘close’, I couldn’t resist.  It does after all hold liquid…

Here again (again since these were also featured in the ‘Places’ theme for Spain) are oil and vinegar cruets that we bought in Seville, and a larger wine jug, this one from Toledo. 

And here’s a pair of the larger wine pitchers, with an impressionistic bull.  Meant to be mother and child I guess…only a Mom could love a face like that.  Or maybe for wine and grappa…or…

Two more variations on the theme. The plain brown one is unmarked, and the one with the red life-saver lips is said to be from Mexico.

Three more large pottery wine jugs – the one with the cups from Mexico, the second from Peru, and the wild bright caricature (cow or devil??) unidentified.

This red clay jug with the grey glaze and stylized markings is smaller than many of the others – unidentified, although the sellers said they’d like to think it was Cretan or Etruscan…I would too, but I don’t.

No need to guess what this one’s for, or where it’s from:  “Sangria” is clearly inscribed on the front, and “El Toro, Madrid” on the side.

I’m cheating on my rule a bit with this one because it has only the one hole in its snout, but it’s so large, unique, and graceful I couldn’t resist it.  It came from Ontario Canada  (Very slow and expensive shipping!), and the only info the seller could provide is that he got it at an estate sale from someone who had an extensive pottery collection, and that it’s most likely Blue Mountain or CCC pottery. 

Of course, some cow pitchers are also creamers and vice-versa, i.e.  one hole but designed to pour, like a ‘classic’ creamer. There are a few scattered around in various sections – notably the Elsie heads are pitchers in this sense – and here are a couple interesting Japanese versions from, I believe, before WWII. 

This is a modern interpretation, with the bulbous snout serving as the handle. No wonder she looks so forlorn, getting picked up by the nose.

Finally – here since I didn’t know where else to put them and didn’t want to leave them out -- are my cow or water buffalo calligraphy water-droppers (two holes each!).  In the first picture, the porcelain one with the long horn (one horn is missing) was a present from my wife, from an antique ship in Hong Kong.  The one in the middle is from an antique market in China, and I believe the little celadon colored one on the right is Korean.  The second picture is of a Chinese silver water dropper – the little cup in front is hinged, and can be tipped up.

I’m not the only one who values such objects, as evident in the last picture; there are three cows among this 19c Edo Period bronze water dropper collection of the Tokyo National Museum.  I’m jealous.