Archive for the ‘mug/tankard’ Category

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Chinese-English “monster mug”, c.1780

Saturday, November 24th, 2012

This is the story of a forced marriage between an 18th century Chinese porcelain mug and a 19th century English pottery jug, joined together by a mad tinker to live out the rest of their lives as one. The Qianlong period (1736-1795) mug with cobalt blue underglaze design stands 5-1/8″ high. The original handle, most likely in the form of a dragon, broke off sometime in the early 1800s. I imagine a clever repairer (or Dr. Frankenstein?) found a damaged English stoneware pottery jug, skillfully removed the intact snake-shaped handle and, using two metal rivets, reattached it to the body of a Chinese tankard…creating a hybrid Anglo-Asian monster mug!

This is what the original dragon handle on my Chinese mug would have looked like before it broke off. Photo courtesy of Ruby Lane

And this Mason’s Ironstone “Hydra” jug, made in Staffordshire, c.1830, shows the serpent handle intact. Photo courtesy of Selling Antiques

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Chinese Nanking mug, c.1790

Saturday, August 6th, 2011

What a mess this guy is! It looks like someone threw it out of a moving car. This humble porcelain mug with cobalt blue Nanking underglaze decoration began its life in pristine condition over 220 years ago in China and was most likely exported to North America or Europe.

Measures 5″ high with a 3-3/4″ diameter.

The original porcelain handle seems to have gone missing some time ago. The rim appears to have been nibbled at by a porcelain mouse.

Although this mug is riddled with numerous cracks and chips, it will make a splendid pencil holder.

All that holds the mug together now is a single tin strap, added by a tinsmith in the 19th century.

Bits of old fabric strips once sealed the cracks on the bottom. Looks to me like the linen used to wrap mummies.

This mug, clearly in much better condition than mine, still maintains its original handle. But I am sure my mug had a much more colorful life.

Photo courtesy of Antiques.com

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Stoneware beer pitcher, c.1835

Saturday, April 9th, 2011

An impressive three quart baluster shaped stoneware pottery beer pitcher made in Haddonfield, NJ by Carl Wingender between 1820 and 1850. Jug has a hinged pewter lid and is decorated with an incised floral motif filled in with cobalt blue slip.

Pitcher measures 12-3/4″ tall.

A hefty metal replacement handle was added after the original stoneware handle broke off, no doubt due to the extreme weight of the jug and its contents. Or due to the clumsiness of an inebriated drinker.

The original “make-do” repair incorporated a thick tin band that was attached at the bottom of the replacement handle and encircled the jug, covering up much of the front decoration. It may have rusted and fallen off, as I have seen on other pieces with similar repairs.

The top of the pewter lid is engraved with the original owner’s initials.

Wonderfully detailed sketch showing an almost identical jug with its original handle.

Drawing from the book “Early American Folk Pottery” by Harold F. Guilland, 1971.

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Canary yellow mug with 46 staples, c.1820

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2011

This canary yellow pottery mug with silver lustre bands and decoration was made in England in the early 19th century. I recently purchased it from a dealer in the UK who used the “tankard” as his pencil cup. He wrote me “(It) sits on my desk. Only dealers appreciate it! My customers think I am crazy”. I, of course, do not think he’s crazy and it’s too bad his customers did not appreciate it, nor see the beauty in the patterns made by the multiple repairs. It did take a little bit of convincing for the dealer to agree to sell it to me and after I told him “please consider how happy the mug will be living in America with other wounded survivors!”, we agreed on a fair price. I sent payment, the mug arrived 2 weeks later and it has become my new favorite piece!

Measures 3-1/2″ tall, 3-5/8″ diameter.

Every angle reveals more and more staples…

Comical poem printed on the front reads:

“The maltster doth crave

His money to have,

The distiller says have it he must;

By this you may see,

How the case stands with me;

So I pray don’t ask me to trust”

After this mug was smashed, the body was held together with the aid of 40 metal staples of varying size and the handle was repaired with 6 metal bands. It must have been truly cherished by whoever had it repaired.

I love the stylized sunbursts, enhanced by the addition of metal staples, on both sides of the mug.

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Herculaneum coffee can, c.1815

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

Herculaneum pottery coffee can, made in Liverpool, England in the early 1800s. Herculaneum Pottery was based in Toxteth, and produced creamware and pearlware pottery, as well as bone china porcelain, between 1793 and 1841. This superbly decorated example has delicately hand painted flowers, birds and butterflies with gilt detailing. Although unmarked, the original pattern number is believed to be 905. Coffee can measures just over 2-1/2″ high and has a diameter of 2-3/4″. The sturdy replacement handle, made of bronze and covered in tightly wrapped rattan painted with red detailing, is held in place with the aid of two wires which pass through the body of the mug. It was most likely made by an English china mender in the mid-1800s.


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Famille Rose decorated mug, c.1750

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

This Chinese export porcelain cylindrical form mug is decorated in the Rose Mandarin style with polychrome underglazed enamels. It is painted using the Famille Rose palette and has stylized flowers and a domestic scene

Over the past 260 years or so, this ceramic survivor sustained a life of clumsy owners, resulting in many large chips along the rim and a broken handle

Mug stands 4-1/2″ tall

The once separated handle is now held tightly in place with the aid of two small metal rivets, repaired in the 1800’s by an itinerant mender

This Chinese ceramic mug with similar form has an intact handle and no chips

Photo courtesy of Artifact

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Stoneware tavern mug, c.1850

Monday, August 9th, 2010

A much battered Doulton Lambeth style salt glazed stoneware tavern mug has barely survived many a bar room brawl over the past 160 years. It was made in England in the mid-1800’s and has an applied sprigged decoration of drinking and smoking men with a two-tone brown glaze

I am sure much beer has been consumed in this small mug, which measures 3-1/2″ high

This charming fellow is seated on a beer barrel, beside a clay pipe and his own stoneware tavern mug

When the handle broke off, a tinsmith fashioned a replacement handle and 2 support bands, allowing the drinker to resume consuming his beloved brew

The stoneware mug below, with similar form and glaze, still has its sturdy applied handle

Photo courtesy of Ruby Lane

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Copper & pink luster child’s mug, c.1820

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Victorian child’s mug features two small cottages rendered in pink lustre slip, sandwiched between a copper lustre decorated rim and base

Mug stands 3″ high and was made in England in the early 19th century

The charmingly naive decoration is appropriate for a child’s mug

It is not unusual to find children’s china with cracks, chips and missing pieces. So when the handle broke off, a “do-it-yourself” metal handle was attached

I imagine you could purchase these clip-on replacement handles at a hardware or dry goods store

Reino Liefkes, Senior Curator of the Ceramics & Glass Collection at the V&A Museum in London researched the patent number and discovered it belonged to Frederick Warren Wilkes of Birmingham, UK. The handle, dating to 1922, was named “Emergency Handle for Domestic Receptacles”. Please check out this post for more information.

Please check out the cup on the right, which has the same patented replacement handle, posted on March 22, 2010: “Pekin” pattern cup, c.1880

This mug, with the same form and similar pink lustre decoration as mine, sports its original unbroken handle

photo courtesy of Eron Johnson Antiques

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Chinese Mandarin port scene mug, c.1750

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

Porcelain mug made in China for export to Europe and North America, with polychrome underglaze port scene in the Mandarin palette

Bold cobalt blue Fitzhugh border encircles the rim

Mug measures 4-3/4″ high

The broken porcelain handle was replaced sometime in the late 1700’s to mid-1800’s with one made of iron and in the same shape as the original. It was gessoed and painted with white enamel, now faded to a cream color, to match the body of the mug

You can see the original handle on this mug with the same shape and similar decoration

Photo courtesy of Hartleys Auctions

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Chinese Imari mug, c.1770

Monday, May 31st, 2010

This Chinese export ribbed barrel form mug is decorated in the Imari style with polychrome enamel and gilding. Chinese Imari porcelains are copies of popular Japanese Imari pieces of the mid 17th to early 18th century and were made for export to Europe and North America

Rim is decorated with an alternating diaper & floral spring design

Mug measures 4-3/4″ high and has a 2-3/4″ diameter opening

The replaced silver handle & rim were exquisitely crafted by an experienced silversmith and I only wish they left their hallmark. It is some of the finest silver work I have seen on a repaired item. Porcelain handle fragments enable the new silver handle to be mounted, in the same manner as a crown is attached to the remains of a tooth

This mug, identical in form and decoration to mine, still has its original handle. But it too has been repaired, this time using metal staples to hold it together. There seems to be a design flaw as the delicate handle couldn’t support the weight of the heavy mug…especially when filled with ale.

Photo courtesy of eBay

 

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