Fig. 332.—Earthenware Cradle.
A curious candlestick, shown on Fig. [329], in the Museum of Practical Geology, is of much the same kind of ware as the tygs, and has its ornaments in white clay slip; it bears the date 1649, and the initials E. M. Another, in my own collection (Fig. [330]), is made of precisely the same coarse kind of ware as the tygs; dark reddish brown, with ornaments in white slip—the slip at the base having been laid on in a broad band, and then scratched through to the dark clay. The mug, Fig. [331], is exactly the same kind of ware.
Another curious article of this same kind of ware, in the Bateman collection, is engraved on Fig. [332]. It is a small earthenware cradle of excellent form, and elaborately ornamented; the ground is a rich reddish brown, the ornaments of buff and black. It bears the date on its top of 1693, and is 7¾ inches long, and 4¾ inches in height. To this period belongs the interesting puzzle-jug in the Museum of Practical Geology, shown on Fig. [333]. It is of brown ware, and bears the name, incised in writing letters, of “John Wedgwood, 1691,” and is the first and earliest example of the name of Wedgwood occurring on pottery. It will again be referred to later on.
Fig. 333.—Puzzle Jug.
It is very clear that brown ware of the same general character as the tygs and the Toft dishes, was made in very many parts of the country besides Staffordshire, and that much now by collectors appropriated to that county has no connection with it.
Figs. 334 and 335.—Hand Grenades.
A peculiar use for ceramics should here be noticed; it has not before been spoken of in any work upon pottery. I allude to hand-grenades, two of which, preserved in the Leicester Museum, are here engraved (Figs. [334 and 335]). These were found in the Old Magazine, or Newarke, Gateway at Leicester. They are formed of red clay, and fired in the kiln in the usual manner, and they have fuse-plugs of wood fitted into the opening at the top.