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Drinking Vessel

CultureEnglish
Dateca. 1690-1695
MediumEarthenware with lead glaze
DimensionsOverall: 4 7/8 × 6 1/2 inches (12.38 × 16.51 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Frank P. Burnap
Object number41-23/792.1-3
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 112
Exhibition History

English Pottery and Porcelain, 1300-1850, Detroit Institute of Arts, January 19-February 28, 1954, no. 63.

English Ceramics, 1630-1830, Detroit Institute of Arts.  January 12-February 28, 1954.

Selection from the Burnap Collection of English Ceramics, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, February 2-March 2, 1964.

The English Potter Prior to 1800, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco. November 18, 1972-February 25, 1973.

Gallery Label
The inscription reads "God Bles King William," and refers to the accession of the Protestant William of Orange and his wife Mary to the throne of England in 1689.

Vessels in this case were used for serving and drinking two hot, alcohol-based beverages: posset and caudle. A typical posset recipe consisted of cream, wine or ale, spices, sugar and eggs. Although posset was considered both nutritional and medicinal, it was also a popular beverage served at social gatherings. A properly made posset consisted of three layers: a frothy foam, a floating custard formed by the alcohol-curdled milk that was eaten with a spoon and the alcohol-rich liquid that sank to the bottom and was drunk or poured through the spout. Served in bulbous cups, caudle was also made with wine or ale, spices, sugar and eggs but included gruel of oatmeal or breadcrumbs.
Provenance

Bryan T Harland (1865-1930), Croydon, London;

His posthumous sale The Harland Collections: The Well-known Collection of Early English Pottery; Various Works of Art by Sotheby and Co., London, February 11, 1931, lot 136;

Cecil Baring, 3rd Baron Revelstoke (1864–1934) by 1935;

Sold at Old English Pottery by Puttick Simpson, London, May 17, 1935, lot 7;

Francis L. Berry (1877-1936), London by 1937;

His posthumous sale Well-known Collection of Old English Glass and Pottery, Together with a Few Specimens of Greek & Roman Glass, by Christie, Manson & Woods, London, June 21, 1937, lot 11;

Mr. Frank P. (1861-1957) and Mrs. Harriet C. (1866-1947) Burnap, Kansas City, MO, by 1941;

Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1941

Published References
Sotheby and Co., The Harland Collections: The Well-known Collection of Early English Pottery; Various Works of Art (Sotheby's: London, 1931), 27, unpaginated (repro.).

Old English pottery: Second portion (London: Puttick Simpson, 1934) unpaginated, (repro.).

Christie, Manson & Woods, Well-known Collection of Old English Glass and Pottery, Together with a Few Specimens of Greek & Roman Glass (London: Christie, Manson & Woods, 1937), 5.

D. Barrett Tanner, “Burnap Collection of English Pottery, Part II, The Early Wares,” The Magazine Antiques vol. 49 (March 1946): 172 (repro.).

Paul L Grigaut, English Pottery and Porcelain, 1300-1850 exh. cat. (Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1954) 30, 28 (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, The Frank P. and Harriet C. Burnap Collection of English Pottery in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery, rev. ed. (1953; Kansas City, MO: Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, 1967), 28 (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


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