As has already been said, the stoneware vessels of the Low Countries
came into England and were in common use in the time of Elizabeth. Fine
examples of mottled “tiger ware” with silver mounts were evidently used
by more luxurious possessors, and such specimens bring enormous
prices under the hammer. The celebrated West Malling Elizabethan jug
sold at Christie’s, in 1903, for £1,522. This example was described as
Fulham delft or stoneware, splashed purple, orange, green, and other
colours, in the style of the old Chinese, and mounted with neck-band,
handle mount, body-straps, foot and cover, of silver-gilt. It has
the London hall-mark of 1581, the year after Drake returned in the
_Golden Hind_ from his voyage around the world. The maker’s mark is a
_fleur-de-lis_ stamped in intaglio, repeated on cover, neck-band, and
foot. Its height is 9ⁱ/₂ inches. The weight of silver straps is only
9 oz. “It may have been used for sacred purposes,” says one of the
journalistic critics, who marvelled at the price, “but without doubt is
nothing more than an old sack-pot.”
We illustrate an example with silver-mounted cover and foot, about 1570
in date, which shows the type of jugs of Tudor days of this class.
There are many examples of this kind of tankard. The Vintners’ Company
has one of delft mounted in silver-gilt with cover with inscription,
“Think and Thank,” and “Thank David Gitting for this.” It bears a date
1563. The dates of most of the specimens of this class of stoneware or
delft flagon range from about 1560 to about 1595.
The Pepys Standing Cup and Cover
In continuing the examination of loving-cups the comparison can be
made between the early ornate Gothic type exemplified in the Leigh
cup; the restrained and solid piece of craftsmanship in the Westbury
cup; and the applied style of decoration, French in character, found
in pieces from about 1670 for the next ten years or so. The Pepys cup
is about 1677, and typifies this last period. There is among the York
Corporation plate a silver-gilt cup, 17ⁱ/₂ inches high, with cover
surmounted by a lion couchant. This “Turner” cup has the inscription:
“_Ion̄es Turner serviens ad legem Civitatis Eborū Recordator hoc Majori
et Communitati ejus de gratitudinis ergo dedit, 1679._” The hall-mark
is London, 1679. There is a resemblance in this cup to the Pepys cup:
it is finely decorated with acanthus leaves. In 1893 a copy of the
Turner cup, with the lion transformed into the lion of England, and
embellished with shields of the various Dukes of York, was presented to
His Majesty King George by the citizens of York on the occasion of his
marriage.
In 1677 Samuel Pepys was elected Master of the Clothworkers’ Company,
to whom he presented this cup (illustrated), which is still used at
their dinners.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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