Seconds Empire State JU11 Jug

New York’s iconic Empire State Building, a 102-story Art deco Ziggurat skyscraper, was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Remarkably, it is still one of the tallest buildings in the world today. Its name is derived from “Empire State” - the nickname of the state of New York.

Moorcroft designer Vicky Lovatt was under no illusion that whilst the Art Deco façade would work on this exciting Moorcroft Art Deco shape. It was, in fact, the building’s internal detail that would create something sensational in the Art Deco field. The Art Deco style is defined by a high level of ornamentation, generally in bright, metallic colours, that features sunbursts, zigzags and other dramatic shapes that often have a graphic, flattened appearance. Nowhere in New York, perhaps even the world, is this Art Deco decadence more pronounced than in the lobby of the Empire State where it has a 24-karat gold and aluminium leaf mural on the ceiling featuring lines of gears created in homage to the mechanical age.

Vicky takes us all on a journey from the streamline façade of the building, allowing the interior’s rich gilt motifs and bronze palette to transform the other three-sides of this unusual jug, to using a mustard clay ground and gold lustre to re-create the interior’s opulence.

Interestingly, the Moorcroft designer’s imagery of the exterior has not been designed by studying its external appearance but by absorbing herself into another part of the interior’s Art Deco decadence. On the wall above the information desk in the Fifth Avenue lobby there is a depiction of the Empire State Building, with beams of light radiating from the mooring mast, blasting out with golden glory. As you take in the verticality in the Empire State’s exterior in this design, your eyes are raised to this mooring mast on the top of the skyscraper, itself an Art Deco feature, but now crowned with the pinnacle of Art Deco design – a sunbeam motif. Wheels of ingenuity continue the circles of the sunbeam around each side of the jug itself to raise the gears to full-throttle.

What is a Moorcroft second? All our art pottery is closely inspected before it leaves the Moorcroft factory and the selection process is as rigorous as any in the world. As a result, not all pieces emerge unblemished in their quality assessment. The fault or faults may be in the finish of a piece, whether it be a tiny tubeline miss, an incorrectly painted petal, or a small glaze run. Seconds are not ‘red-dotted’, all of them are far too good for that, and each seconds piece has a charm and individuality of its own. Any fault is not structural and the piece can still be used for the purpose it was made. 

The 'Was' price shown is the Best Quality RRP of this design and shape.

A Gift Box is not supplied with this product

Not all Seconds Empire State Jugs contain the gold lustre.

Was: £715.00
Ex Tax: £208.54

• Designer: Vicky Lovatt
• Dimensions: H 22.00 x W 8.00 x D 9.00 cm
• Availability: In Stock