Images(6)

Tankard

Dateca. 1805

Maker Leeds Pottery

OriginEngland, Yorkshire, Leeds

MediumLead-glazed earthenware (pearlware / china glaze)

DimensionsOverall: 4 15/16 × 4 5/8 (including handle) × 3 3/8in. (body at the widest point) (12.5 × 11.7 × 8.6cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, The Friends of Colonial Williamsburg Collections Fund

Object number2023-320

DescriptionTankard: straight cylindrical mug with slightly splayed trimmed and turned foot; plain extruded ear-shaped handle; opposite the handle is the name “John Sledge” painted in black within a horizontal oval of blue dots; under the oval reserve and encircling the lower portion of the tankard body are cordwainer tools including a split last or shoe stretcher, bench with tools (including various awls and nippers or plyers and a shoe thread container), stirrup, ceramic or pewter pitcher or jug, a shoe (vamp, quarter, tongue, and heel), English awl, shoemaker’s hammer, knife, and shoe sole; the exterior rim of the vessel painted with a blue scalloped border. Impressed "LEEDS POTTERY" on the underside.
Label TextFrom the 14th until the early 19th century, cordwainers made shoes and were differentiated from cobblers who repaired shoes. The City of York in Yorkshire, England, has one of the oldest shoemaking industries in the UK and was a leading center of tanneries and subsequently shoe production in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. This handsome tankard made in Yorkshire at the Leeds Pottery just a few miles west of the City of York depicts cordwainers' tools and bears the name of one of several individuals associated with the trade in Yorkshire.
InscribedOpposite the handle the name "John Sledge" painted in black within a horizontal oval of blue dots.
MarkingsImpressed "LEEDS POTTERY" on the underside.
ProvenanceBefore April 26, 2023 [Windsor House Antiques, Leeds, Yorkshire, UK]; April 25–26, 2023, [Dreweatts Auctions, Donnington Priory, Newbury, Berkshire, UK]; April 26– November 10, 2023 [Martyn Edgell Antiques, Ltd., Nassington, Peterborough, UK]; November 30, 2023 to present, purchased by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, Virginia)