Images(6)

Jug

Dateca. 1811

OriginEngland, Staffordshire

MediumLead-glazed earthenware (pearlware / china glaze / lusterware)

DimensionsOH: 5 7/8"; OL: 6 9/16" (handle to spout); OW: 5 1/8" (body at widest point).

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2023-79

DescriptionJug: lead-glazed earthenware (pearlware) bulbous body with trimmed inset foot rises to curved shoulder and broad straight neck interrupted by a slightly curved sparrow beak spout that is opposite a molded angular ear-shaped handle with a scroll at the upper terminal and rounded kick at the lower terminal. The spout decorated with silver luster and the neck with a silver resist pattern of vertical rectangles bearing a resist chainlink diagonal pattern between a resist S-shaped line flanked by two circles, the rectangles are between two horizontal bands of silver luster. The body is decorated on each side with black transfer prints surrounded by a silver luster circular border. The circular reserve on one side encircles a print of two bare-knuckle boxers, one Black and one white, facing each other with fists raised, each identified by his surname in block transfer print beneath the figure--the man on the left, “MOLINEAUX” and the man on the right, “CRIBB”. The circular reserve on the other side encloses a black transfer printed verse from the fighting song “A boxing we will go…” and reads “Since boxing is a manly game, / And Britons recreation; / By boxing we will raise our fame, / Bove any other nation. / Throw pistols, poniards, swords, a side, / And all such deadly tools; / Let boxing be the Briton’s pride, / The science of their schools.” The verse is flanked on the top by a leafy vines (hops or roses?) with a central rose and on the bottom by transfer printed oak branches tied with ribbon in the center. A band of silver luster encircles the body about an inch from the foot and a small silver luster flower spray is painted beneath the spout. The handle is decorated with silver luster, as well.
InscribedThe circular reserve on one side encloses a black transfer printed verse from the fighting song “A boxing we will go…” and reads “Since boxing is a manly game, / And Britons recreation; / By boxing we will raise our fame, / Bove any other nation. / Throw pistols, poniards, swords, a side, / And all such deadly tools; / Let boxing be the Briton’s pride, / The science of their schools.”
MarkingsNone