(By courtesy of the Company of Clothworkers.)
The Stoneware Jug
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 9¹/₂ 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, 17¹/₂ 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.
Its description is as follows: Standing cup and cover, parcel gilt. Deep plain band round rim, below which is a chased laurel wreath. The rest of the cup is overlaid with an outer framework of pierced and embossed work of ornate character, which is not gilt. The design embraces foliated scrolls with griffin, and included are teazles and two rams, symbols of the Clothworkers’ Company. The cover is surmounted by a ram.
The cup bears an inscription: “Samuel Pepys Admiralitati Angl: Secretis & Societ: Pannif: Lond: Mr. An. MDCLXXVII,” and a monogram S. P., together with the arms of Pepys.