022118-4/RL-1113

This is a German hard paste porcelain lidded jar. The maker is New York & Rudolstadt, in Rudolstadt, Germany. The date is circa 1882 to 1918.

The company was in partnership with Lewis & Strauss, importers of fine porcelain into the United States.

The shape of the jar follows the shape of a ginger jar or a tea caddy. There is an interior lid with pierced holes that normally will indicate that the function is a tea caddy. However I cannot determine if the interior lid is original to this jar, though it fits correctly and the white glaze matches the bottom of the jar. But then, I wasn’t alive when this jar was produced, so I can’t say for certain. Therefore the function may have been intended for cookies, crackers, ginger or whatever the household wanted to use it for. If the lid is original, generally an interior lid means it is a tea caddy. If so, this is one large tea caddy.

The jar is 7 ¼” high and 5 ½” wide at the belly.

The outside is decorated similar to Royal Worcester with an off-white smooth finish and large flowers and leaves in yellow, brown and green, and outlined and highlighted with gold lines.

The finial is a round loop. The top lid is round and fits over the top of the neck or mouth. The interior lid has a knob with gold trim.

There is wear around the neck where the outer lid rests that one can feel as a roughness. The mouth of the jar has a few small lines due to age, that are not cracks, merely age use. The interior lid has a skip line in the glaze on the underside of the lid. There is some wear to the gold trim. There are no nicks, chips, cracks or crazing.

The mark is blue with a crown and shield, and the letters RW inside the shield. The underside of the jar has a hand enameled number 63. The underside of the top lid has a hand enameled number 8.