A look at the design, market and legacy of Victorian pottery

Saturday, September 18, 2021

Majolica Sardine Boxes

George Jones sardine box

Although sardine harvesting has gone on for thousands of years, the history of canned sardines is a relatively recent one. It began in England around 1810 when Englishman Peter Durand developed the first patent for preserving sterilized perishable foods in an enclosed container. In 1822 France, Joseph Collins, aware of the historic preservation of cooked sardines in clay jars in the Breton area of France during the reign of Napoleon, applied methods first developed to preserve sweets, to the fish industry creating the first canned fish. In 1853 the Chancerelle Cannery in Brittany became the first company to take advantage of the plentiful sardine stocks in the offshore waters to create the canned sardine market. Soon their success caught on ‘spawning’ small canneries around fishing ports throughout Europe and the United States.

Sardine tin from the Chancerelle cannery

19th century French sardine ad

Sardine fishing waters around Brittany

Humorous French postcard advocating the superior sardines of Marseilles

French sardine fishermen

These canned fish became popular with the military–particularly in America during the Civil War–where there was a need to feed nutritious food to traveling troops. In time, sardine’s popularity caught on everywhere resulting in a market that ultimately created millions of cans of sardines every year.

Civil War era sardine can

Advertisement for Norwegian sardines 

French grocery advertising plate featuring sardines

As sardines became the latest food novelty among the middle class, all manner of companies produced specialty products to serve them. No well equipped dining service was complete without special forks with which to serve sardines or special containers in which to highlight the delicacy.

Shiebler silver and gold wash sardine fork

Of course potteries picked up on the popularity of canned sardines and created their own decorative containers to sell to the upscale dining hostess. By the early 1870s sardine boxes became one of the most popular specialty items made by the Staffordshire potteries. 

The variety of sardine boxes made by majolica manufacturers created a serving container for every taste. George Jones was a leading innovator in the process.

George Jones Pelican Top Sardine Stand in the aesthetic taste

Shell Sardine by George Jones

Much copied Jones overlapping fish sardine box

George Jones majolica fish sardine box

Very rare George Jones majolica fisherman sardine box

George Jones majolica sardine terrine

Jones duck finial sardine

George Jones majolica basket of fish sardine


George Jones majolica Basket in Boat

Minton, of course, made a sardine box. This one dates from 1867.

Minton majolica sardine box

Wedgwood, whose largest majolica market was in the United States, made sardine boxes late into the Nineteenth Century, long after other large potteries ceased, sometimes with aquatic themes... and sometimes not.

Wedgwood Ocean series sardine box

Wedgwood sardine box matching their Fruit series

Wedgwood Sardinia sardine server

Wedgwood majolica St. Louis sardine box

Wedgwood Mat sardine box

Wedgwood Argenta Early English sardine box

Wedgwood Argenta sardine box

Wedgwood Grosvenor sardine box

Wedgwood Luther sardine box

Wedgwood majolica mottled sardine

Other companies in Great Britain made boxes as well.

Fielding majolica sardine box

Fielding insect and scroll sardine box

Holdcroft majolica sardine box

Holdcroft sardine box with crab finial

Holdcroft sardine box

Forester/Adams & Bromley sardine box

Adams & Bromley majolica pineapple sardine box

Brown-Westhead Moore basketweave sardine box with butterfly finial

Brown-Westhead Moore sardine box

Joseph Roth majolica sardine box

Copeland sleigh sardine box

Victoria Pottery Company sardine box

Samuel Lear Sunflower sardine box

Brownfield pond lily majolica sardine box

Forester majolica fish sardine box

Forester bird finial majolica sardine box

Forester frog finial majolica sardine box

Forester majolica swan finial sardine box

Sardine box attributed to Forester

Alloa Pottery of Scotland produced this sardine box

There are many unattributed sardine boxes. Most are believed to be of British origin.











Possibly by Brownfield or Skey

Attributed to Adams & Bromley

Unusual mermaid finial sardine box


Possibly by Adams & Bromley


Schiller & Sons sardine box

French majolica sardine box

Sarreguemines majolica sardine box

In America, the Etruscan Works of Griffen, Smith & Co. made sardine boxes to take advantage of plentiful sardine catches in American waters. Underplates were sold separately.

An Etruscan Majolica copy of a George Jones sardine design

This sardine was sometimes lined in velvet and given as a gift jewel box 
by David Smith's wife

The sardine industry went into decline in Great Britain after the 1880s while the French sardine industry waxed and waned with fish supplies. Sardines though, remained popular worldwide until after WW2. The craze began to diminish by the 1950s. Because of their high Vitamin D content as well as their supply of “good” cholesterol they are still canned and enjoyed today though the market is no longer packed like sardines with devotees. 

Sorry about that! I couldn't resist!

2 comments:

  1. Hi. Great article and amazing photos. Do you have any pictures of the open boxes? And the sizes of the interiors? We're the designed to hold the actual can, dropped in, or were they just shaped like the can, and the contents stacked in there? Some seem square, but others are shaped like 20th century sardine cans. I'm really interested if there are standard sizes to distinguish a Staffordshire item from a soap dish or razor box, etc. Thanks so much. - Kemp Wills

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    1. I don't have photos of the interiors or the inside dimensions though some may be available online in auction or retail listings. Judging by the staining found on many of these box bases, my guess is that the can was not placed directly into the box but the contents were taken out of the can and placed into the ceramic container. The sizes of these boxes are similar but not identical or standardized.

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