Staffordshire Bear’s Grease Jug – Napoleonic Bear Design

Description

This unusual Staffordshire pottery jug was originally used for storing bear’s grease, a hair restoring pomade.
The seated bear grasps in its forepaws a caricature figure of Napoleon Bonaparte, wearing his characteristic bicorne hat and carrying a club. The bear is glazed in rather fetching brown and ochre.

Fact

Bear’s grease became a popular hair restoring pomade (a preparation for dressing the hair) during the second half of the 1700s, when the wearing of wigs fell out of fashion.
Originally made from bear fat and perfumed with rose oil, bear’s grease was applied to the hair under the belief that it both revived and strengthened hair growth.
Bear’s grease remained popular until the early 1900s.