464 - Chewing Tobacco Jar H. & R. Wittig Nordhausen, Westerwald Stoneware, Gebr. Jung Höhr, circa 1900

Chewing Tobacco Jar H. & R. Wittig Nordhausen, Westerwald Stoneware, Gebr. Jung Höhr, circa 1900 Stoneware, salt-glazed, grey and cobalt blue glaze. Cylindrical storage jar with a fitted lid, at the sides two applied moulded cone handles, the lid knob of similar form. The wall with the blue Fraktur inscription Kautabak von H. & R. Wittig Nordhausen, flanked by large fan palmettes and curving flowering tendrils, above and below encircling bands of beading and zigzag. The surface of the lid with six-pointed star rosettes on a blue ground. The base impressed STEINZEUGFABRIK GEBR. JUNG HÖHR. Condition commensurate with age, the lid with a small crack and chip. H. 27 cm. 360-degree photo on our website. The brothers Hugo and Rudolf Wittig founded their chewing tobacco business in the Sandstraße in Nordhausen in 1888; from 1897 the Nordhausen chewing tobacco known as Wittig-Priem was produced in the new buildings in the Geseniusstraße, where it was made until 1945. The jars stood as shop vessels on the counters of grocery and general stores from which the chewing tobacco was sold loose, and at the same time advertised the manufacturer; from 1890 the factories put their names on the vessels. They were made almost without exception in the Westerwald: the stoneware factory Gebrüder Jung in Höhr, founded in 1889 by Franz and Peter Jung, had expressly specialised in regimental steins and tobacco jars and ceased production in 1918 after the death of the modeller Peter Jung.