Posset cup
Production: Unidentified Staffordshire Pottery
Slipware posset cup, slightly flaring body of thrown red earthenware with two handles, coated with white slip sliced through with a geometric ‘diced’ pattern above and below a central band of foliate patterns made by slicing through the glaze, and on each side, a rectangular cartouche, one with the date '1761'and the other with the letters 'BK' .
Red earthenware, thrown, with applied extruded handles, coated on the exterior of the body above the foot with a wide band of white slip, decorated in sgraffito technique (cutting through the slip to reveal the body below), and covered with yellowish lead-glaze. The base is mainly unglazed. The pot is of a squat inverted bell-shape, standing on a circular foot, and has two loop handles with vertical ribbing and a 'kick' at the lower end. The sides are decorated with two wide horizontal bands of 'dicing' (chequer pattern) on either side of a band divided into twelve rectangular panels. On one side the centre panel is occupied by the incised date '1761' surrounded by a border of incised dots, and the other side has a compartment incised with initials 'B K' within a similar border. The panels on either side of the inscriptions and under the handles are each occupied by an incised vertical plant motif.
History note: Provenance unknown prior to mid-twentieth century. Previously with Jonathan Horne Antiques Ltd and entered the Longridge collection (no. 576) though apparently not amongst the pieces sold at Christie's but instead sold privately. At some point purchased by Micheál and Elizabeth Fuller of Upper Slaughter. Sold at Woolley & Wallis, 10 November 2021, Upper Slaughter Manor, The Collection of Micheál & Elizabeth Feller - Day 2, p. 197, lot 490, where it was purchased by the vendor, E. & H. Manners, Kensington Church Street, London.
Purchased with Friends of The Fitzwilliam Museum Acquisition Fund
Height: 17.6 cm
Width: 31.3 cm
Method of acquisition: Bought (2022-04-29) by E. & H. Manners
Third quarter of 18th century
George III
Production date:
dated
AD 1761
: probably the date of manufacture but not necessarily
This posset cup is an exceptionally fine example of later English slipware with sgraffito decoration. It belongs to a small group of wares decorated in the same way and bearing dates between 1755 and 1766 (those in the Burnap and Weldon collections, and that at Colonial Williamsburg dating between 1759 and 1766). The cup may also have been used for other drinks, such as warmed and spiced ale.
Body Above Foot
composed of
slip coating
( white)
Visible Surface
composed of
lead-glaze
( yellowish)
Foot
Diameter 13.5 cm
Rim
Diameter 23.8 cm
Body
Decoration
red Earthenware
Inscription present: cut through white slip in a rectangular with a a border of cut spots
Inscription present: cut through white slip in a rectangular with a a border of cut spots
Inscription present: narrow white paper rectangular stick on label printed in blue and black with a decorative cartouche enclosing the name in reserve
Inscription present: rectangular white paper stick on label with a blue line border interrupted by the dealer's name at the bottom, and having two compartments at the top, the one on the right enclosing the £ sign and the price, and in the larger space below the attribution and date
Accession number: C.2-2022
Primary reference Number: 311378
Object entry form: 1560
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Posset cup" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/311378 Accessed: 2025-03-26 14:12:54
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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/311378
|title=Posset cup
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-03-26 14:12:54|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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