Posset pot

Dateca. 1650

MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delft / delftware)

DimensionsH: 7 3/8"; Diam.(middle): 7". (18.7 cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1954-749,A&B

DescriptionPosset pot and cover, white earthenware, delft, Tin-glaze. Cylindrical posset pot with rows of bosses, S-shape tubular spout, and two S-scroll handles. Slightly domed cover with wide flange and mushroom knop. White tin glaze.
Label TextPosset was a drink made in the seventeenth century with milk, spices, and either wine or ale. As the warmed milk curdled, the curd would rise and the whey containing the alcohol could be sipped or poured from the spout that projects from the bottom of the pot.

A cylindrical posset pot with similar embossments is dated 1651. Examples of the same proportions but larger and without the bossing date into the 1670s. Other forms with embossments, but without date, include candlesticks with mid-drip pans modeled on seventeenth-century brass forms and tall, cylindrical slightly tapering up mugs. Though often considered to date from later in the seventeenth century, these mugs are of the same proportions as a non-embossed example dated 1644. The indentation on a dated Charles I porringer of 1660 (CWF accession 1959-51) also is similar. The London attribution is based on the form and on the color of the glaze.

InscribedNo
MarkingsNo
ProvenanceD. M. & P. Manheim