Pair of claret jugs by Carl Stock - 1902/05

Carl Stock (1876 – 1945), the designer of these jugs, began his working life as an apprentice in Bruckmann’s workshops, where he was trained as a modeller and sculptor. He later became one of Bruckmann’s major designers, winning numerous international awards.

Mackintosh influence in the design of these jugs can be clearly seen through the strong angles, subtle curves and rose motifs, all of which are typical. The design is an assured and thoroughly modern composition seeming to owe nothing to the past.

The roses are grouped in bunches and dense elongated clusters which may be the designer having a joke at his own expense and including a visual pun of his own surname, Stock. Stockrosen is the German name for the hollyhock whose tall and very distinctive flower laden spikes are suggested by the arching arrangement.