Marmalade jar
James Keiller & Son Ltd
Category
Ceramics
Date
1872 - 1950
Materials
Stoneware
Place of origin
Dundee
Order this imageCollection
Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire
NT 82544
Summary
A Dundee marmalade stoneware jar. Marked 'Grand Medal of Merit Vienna 1873 / James Keiller & Sons Dundee Marmalade / Only Prize Medal for Marmalade London 1862'. Keiller's marmalade is named after its creator, Janet Keiller, and is believed to have been the first commercial brand of marmalade, originating in Dundee, Scotland in 1797. In 1828, the company became James Keiller and Son, when James junior joined the business. Traditionally it is thought that James Keiller bought a ship load of oranges from a ship that had sought harbour from a storm. The ship had started its journey in Seville but the delay caused by the storm had made the oranges less fresh than they ought to have been. The bargain gave Keiller's wife, Janet, the opportunity to manufacture a large quantity of marmalade.In reality, the Keillers adapted an existing recipe by adding the characteristic rind suspended in the preserve.
Provenance
Anonymous donation to the National Trust for the furnishing of Fen Cottage.
Makers and roles
James Keiller & Son Ltd, marmalade manufacturer