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Posset pot: C.286 & A-1928

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Potter: uncertain

Entities

Categories

Description

Earthenware, slip-decorated, and lead glazed

Red earthenware, thrown, coated inside and out with white slip, and slip-trailed in dark red, olive-green, and white slips under yellowish lead glaze; base unglazed. Cylindrical with two S-shaped handles. Decorated round the top with a slip-trailed inscription, 'THE BEST IS NOT TOO GOOD FOR YOV 1692'. Below this, on each side, is a pair of stylized tulips separated by vesica-motifs, the latter made up of studs of slip with star impressions of a cut stick. The lid is left red without a coating of white, and is decorated with quatrefoils in white ouline filled in with olive-green slip shwoing the impression of a textile mesh.

Notes

History note: Given about 1840 to Mrs Wilson ffrance of Rawcliffe hall, near Garstang, Lancashire, by a farmer on the Rawcliffe estate; Margaret, youngest daughter of Thomas Robert Wilson of Rawcliffe Hall, Lancashire on June 6, 1859 married John Thomas Massy-Westroff of Attyflin, Co. Limerick; their eldest child, Mary Georgina, married on May 17, 1905 Arthur White; Mrs Westroff-White widowed and still of Attyflin, concerned for its safety because of the political situation, sold the pot for £100 in April 1922 through Rupert Gelston to Dr Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge. Gelston despatched it to his and Glaisher's mutual friends, Col. and Mrs. W.D. Dickson of Bournemouth, where it arrived on 26 April, and was unpacked by the Dicksons and Glaisher.

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest

Measurements and weight

Height: 22.8 cm
Width: 29 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

Dating

17th Century, Late
William III and Mary II
Production date: AD 1692

Note

The cover is almost certainly a 'marriage'

Components of the work

Visible Surface composed of lead-glaze
Body
Decoration
Visible Surfaces

Materials used in production

Earthenware

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: THE BEST IS NOT TOO GOOD FOR YOV 1692
  • Location: On exterior round the top
  • Method of creation: Slip-trailed
  • Type: Inscription
  • Text: 4780/Two handled slip/ware posset pot &/cover with inscription/and date 1692./There is a tulip de-'sign in green and/brown slip on the pot on a yellow/ground: and the/bround of the cover/is very dark/b. in April 1922/It came from Limer-/ick & originally/from Lancashire
  • Location: On base
  • Method of creation: Hand-written in black ink
  • Type: Label

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.286 & A-1928
Primary reference Number: 74141
Old object number: 4780
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 19 May 2023 Last processed: Wednesday 13 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Posset pot" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/74141 Accessed: 2024-03-28 16:52:47

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/74141 |title=Posset pot |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-03-28 16:52:47|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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