CIRCA 1923-1931, BLACK PRINTED AND GILT-ENRICHED PORTLAND VASE MARK, PAINTED WITH PATTERN NO. Z5360 AND 9, WITH GILT MJ MONOGRAM IN FIVE PLACES FOR THE DESIGNER DAISY MAKEIG-JONES

Fairyland Lustre pieces signed by Daisy Makeig-Jones are particularly rare, reflecting a practice at Wedgwood of obscuring designer names, recorded as early as 1777 in a letter written by Josiah Wedgwood to Thomas Bentley. Only six Fairyland Lustre motifs are known to include Makeig-Jones' signature or monogram, including the present configuration of the 'Woodland Bridge' pattern, which is marked 'MJ' five times as the design repeats around the bowl interior. Not all instances of this motif applied to this shape include the mark, suggesting that Makeig-Jones, who personally engraved each signature or monogram into its copperplate, likely added it during the engraving of a new copperplate after its initial production.
For a thorough discussion of Makeig-Jones' signatures, see U. des Fontaines, Wedgwood Fairyland Lustre: The Work of Daisy Makeig-Jones, New York and London, 1975, pp. 97-99.