Description:
English delft puzzle jug decorated in blue with the inscription flanked by three wavy bands: "Sr If this beth' first you've Seen Ill lay/ the wager which you'll please to Say # #/ That you drink not this liquor all # #/ before that Some from th' Jug doth fall #". Puzzle jugs were used for a drinking game where a drinker would attempt to drink from the jug without spilling a drop, a difficult task given the multiple holes and pierced neck. The ring at the top with its three spouts is hollow and joined to the bottom of the jug through the hollow handle; there is also a hidden hole under the handle. A drinker had to cover the hidden hole along with two of the spouts so that the hollow handle acted as a siphon and drew the liquid out through the third spout, thus avoiding the pierced neck. Delft puzzle jugs were popular in both northern Europe (where Germany's Westerwald area provided the stoneware prototypes for delft copies) and England. The earliest dated English puzzle jug is 1653. Pierced decoration is not as common on delft as on other English earthenware, and is more frequently found on puzzle jugs and bowls than on dishes. The earliest use of the term puzzle jug is not known, but it is an accepted one among modern scholars, and a 1774-dated slipware example, probably from Yorkshire, bears the inscription "A Pusling Jug". Entries indicating humor at drinking events (and perhaps referring puzzle-type vessels) appear in estate inventories from Pasquotank County, North Carolina: a 1760 reference to a "Laughing Mug" and one in 1779 to a "laughing jug." This form of heart-shaped perforations and interlocking circles is common to Liverpool examples, but is also known in other pottery centers. The jug has a high cylindrical neck pierced with flower petals and heart shapes outlined in blue; over two blue bands separating the neck from the bulbous body and two blue bands over the flat base. The rolled rim and tubular loop handle are decorated with blue scrolls and short lines; the handle terminal is flanked by two large floral sprays. The owner's label on the base reads "A- 984/AKTH", and the dealer's label reads "Garry Atkins". The perforations in the neck of this puzzle jug are of a type which can be associated with Liverpool factories. A puzzle jug with the same perforations in the Djanogli collection is painted with birds of a highly distinctive type which only appear on a group of pieces made exclusively at one of the Liverpool potteries.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2002.68.9 |
