Description:
English earthenware fuddling cup with three containers covered with a manganese mottled, brown lead glaze. These three thistle shaped cups have compressed spherical bodies, flared cylindrical necks, and unglazed flat circular bases. Twisted, rope-like pieces of clay joinedthe cups at the point between the neck and body and are connected at mid-body by hollow pipes so that the liquid can pass through.The earthenware is a buff color and is slightly pinkish. The glaze's streaked appearance suggests that it may possibly be the "Motley-colour" referred to by Robert Plot , "which is procured by blending the Lead with the Manganese, by the Workmen call'd Magnus." Plot further states that the workmen may have confused manganese with magnas, an iron ore. Mottled ware appears to have been made at other potting centers during the 18th century, including Buckley, Prescot, Sheffield Manor, Bristol, Ironbridge, and Derby. The Oxford English Dictionary defines "fuddle", a word in use by the late 16th century, as "to confuse with, or as with, drink." Although there is no evidence that the 'fuddling cup' was used in the 17th century, the term has long been used to describe small cups or vase-like containers, usually three or four, joined to each other with intertwined handles and internal openings. The modest size of the containers was probably meant to deceive drinkers, assuming they were unaware of the internal connections between the pots.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+63.114 |
