Sugar dish & cover

Dateca. 1730

MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delft / delftware)

DimensionsOH: 4 1/4" (10.8 cm.); Diam: 4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1965-84,A&B

DescriptionSquat cylindrical pot-shaped sugar dish and cover (or bowl) with small foot ring and flat cover with a cuplike finial. White tin glaze decorated in blue with large rosettes and bands encircling the rim and the base; related bands on the cover.
Label TextThis form is often referred to today as a trinket pot, a vessel used on a dressing table to hold anything small or loose, including powder. The recess in the finial was reportedly a receptacle for patches and would have had a domed cover. It is, however, far more likely that these are sugar boxes, as they are similar to those found as part of miniature tea services. The cupped finial would have been used to hold spices.

Fragments of two such pots were excavated in Williamsburg at Wetherburn's Tavern (9NA), one the same form as this. Fragments with the same decoration as that at the edge of the cover and at the rim of the container have been excavated on several sites in Williamsburg, including the Thomas Everard House (29GC.OOO4) and the Timberlake and Dana site (2JA.OI66).
InscribedNone
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceF. H. Garner.
Tilley & Co., London