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This jug from the Ault Pottery and another of the same model manufactured by Linthorpe Art Pottery (also in the Metropolitan Museum) represent a single Christopher Dresser model produced by two different factories at different dates. When Linthorpe closed in 1889, its moulds were acquired by Ault Pottery. In 1893, Dresser signed a contract with Ault to produce new designs; the contract also stated that each piece should be marked with his facsimile signature.
William Ault (1842-1929), an English potter, was involved with several companies in the Staffordshire potteries and South Derbyshire making art pottery and more utilitarian wares. In 1887, he established the Ault Pottery, formally William Ault & Co, in Swadlincote, in Derbyshire. Their most interesting and sought-after wares use designs by Christopher Dresser. These firstly resulted from the purchase of some of the Linthorpe Art Pottery's moulds for Dresser designs after it went out of business in 1889-91. Ault's company continued to use some Dresser moulds until the 1920s.
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