Cairo

Pitcher, 5.25 inches tall. Printed maker's mark for Old Hall Earthenware Co. Ltd. and painted pattern number of 3/1616. Printed in an unusual red-orange with polychrome clobbering, this version of the "Cairo" pattern features bands of alternating panels filled with highly-stylized flowers and foliage and a low vase with Japanesque geometric designs sprouting three branches of flowers and foliage. The negative spaces of this panel are infilled with a vermicelli design.

The Old Hall Earthenware Co. Ltd. was an English pottery established in the Staffordshire town of Hanley in 1805 by Job Meigh (d 1817). It was successively known as Job Meigh (1805–12), Job Meigh & Son (1812–34), Charles Meigh (1834–49), C. Meigh, Son & Pankhurst (1850–51), Charles Meigh & Son (1851–61), Old Hall Earthenware Co. Ltd (1861–86) and Old Hall Porcelain Works Ltd (1886–1902). In March 1861 Charles Meigh Jr. transferred the business to a limited liability company called the Old Hall Earthenware Co Ltd. This was the first limited liability company in the Staffordshire Potteries. In the 1880s the designers included Christopher Dresser. The pottery closed in 1902 and the Old Hall Works was demolished in 1904.