Series of jug forms that remixe patterns drawn from New American Scenery motifs to create new, layered narratives on “Sampler” forms.
FULL LIST OF ARTWORKS AVAILABLE BY INQUIRY
INDIVIDUAL WORKS
Samplers Jug Series
Paul Scott’s over-sized sampler jugs were inspired by historical transfer-printed jugs in museum collections and slip cast in Staffordshire using a mould that was developed from his drawings and photographs. Each is decorated with a selection of motifs – in the form of print decals from the New American Scenery series. He has described this jug as his most resolved example because it constitutes the most comprehensive sampling of border patterns and themes developed and explored throughout the whole series. The American Eagle motif that appears in several places was taken from the Spread Eagle motif used by the Staffordshire firm of Joseph Stubbs (active c1824-36).
There is a rationale for Scott’s treatment of every inch of surface. The first stage involves applying historical transfer-printed border designs as frames for selected imagery. He calls this ‘creating an architecture … I do the neck,’ he says, ‘I do the spout, I do the handle and then I create the spaces on the surface to infill with the graphic.’
Archival research feeds into his studio practice. The dark blue leaf border on neck, spout and handle derives from a pattern discovered in the Spode archive at Stoke on Trent. Antique copper plate engravings were converted into modern print decals, while retaining the characteristic deep blue of historical transfer-wares and the look of the originals. The broad ribbon of Oak Leaf pattern that crosses the belly of the jug is an enlarged version of an engraving executed by Paul Holdway, the last Head Engraver at the Spode factory, which closed in 2008. ‘See these little lines here’ Scott says of a patch of surface covered with lines and squiggles, ‘they are from a trial sheet in the Spode archive, made by an apprentice …. they have never been printed before.’
Sampler Jug No. 11
Wood Cuts (after Grant & Enoch), Heritage, and the Sleep of Reason
2025, transfer print collage on pearlware jug, 15 x 14 x 11.75″
Sampler Jug No. 10
Shelburne & Sugar
2024, Transfer print collage on pearlware jug with platinum lustre, 14.5 x 15.25 x 12.25″
Acquired by Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, VT), 2025
Sampler Jug No. 9
After Thomas Cole
2022, transfer print collage on pearlware jug, 15 x 14 x 11.75″
Sampler Jug No. 8
(after Stubbs)
2021, decal collage on pearlware jug, 15 x 14 x 11.75″
Sampler Jug No. 7
(after Stubbs)
2021, transfer print collage on pearlware jug, 15 x 14 x 11.75″
Sampler Jug No. 6
Fleurs.de.Sel’s New York (after Stubbs)
2021, transfer print collage on pearlware jug, 15 x 14 x 11.75″
Acquired by Yale University Art Gallery, 2024, Windgate Foundation Fund for Contemporary Craft. 2024.28.1.
Sampler Jug No. 5
2020, earthenware jug with pearlware glaze, 15 x 14 x 11.75″
Sampler Jug No. 4
2020, transferware collage on pearlware jug, 15 x 14 x 11.75″
Acquired by the Alturas Foundation, 2020
Sampler Jug No. 3
2020, transfer print collage on pearlware jug designed by Paul Scott and Ed Bentley. Model made by Ed Bentley, fabricated by “Ceramics by Design”, Longton, Stoke on Trent, England, 15 x 14 x 11.75″
Sampler Jug No. 2
Big Bend & Hot Dogs
2019, earthenware jug with pearlware glaze designed by Paul Scott and Ed Bentley, 14.5 x 15.5 x 11″
Acquired by the Alturas Foundation, 2020
Sampler Jug No. 1
Stay Dirty
2019, transfer print collage on pearlware jug, 14.5 x 15.5 x 11″
Acquired by RISD, 2020, Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund, 2020.38
STATEMENTS
Sampler Jugs
In the early 19th century, decorators in ceramic factories collaged tissue print transfers designed for smaller objects (plates, bowls etc) to create ‘readable’ patterns cover the glazed surface of large wares. The process would be used for special orders of over-sized tableware forms, or exhibition works. These Cumbrian Blue(s) ‘sampler’ jugs combine the randomness of factory glaze tests with the precision of the factory decorator.
Sampler Jugs, the pitcher, or “jug” in the UK, is a prototypical transferware vessel. This series remixes patterns drawn from other New American Scenery motifs to create new, layered narratives within the series.
GUIDE
Paul Scott’s over-sized sampler jugs were inspired by historical transfer-printed jugs in museum collections. They were slip cast in Staffordshire using a mould that was developed from his drawings and photographs. Each is decorated with a selection of motifs – in the form of print decals from the New American Scenery series. He has described this jug as his most resolved example because it constitutes the most comprehensive sampling of border patterns and themes developed and explored throughout the whole series. The American Eagle motif that appears in several places was taken from the Spread Eagle motif used by the Staffordshire firm of Joseph Stubbs (active c1824–36).
There is a rationale for Scott’s treatment of every inch of surface. The first stage involves applying historical transfer-printed border designs as frames for selected imagery. He calls this ‘creating an architecture … I do the neck,’ he says, ‘I do the spout, I do the handle and then I create the spaces on the surface to infill with the graphic.’
Essay by Jo Dahn
Paul Scott, NAS Artwork Series Brochure, 2023, Pg 4
Paul Scott, NAS Artwork Series Brochure, 2023, Pg 1
NEWS & MEDIA
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Paul Scott’s Sampler Jug #10, Shelburne & Sugar
by Kory W. Rogers, Francie and John Downing Senior Curator of American Art, Shelburne Museum
TCC Bulletin, 2025 Vol. XXVI No. 2
