Puzzle Jug

Date1780-1820

MediumLead-glazed earthenware

DimensionsH: 6"; D: 4 5/8" without handle; D: 5 3/8" with handle

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1963-714

DescriptionA pear-shaped puzzle jug with a red body covered with a light ground slip (which is cut into forming the decoration) and a yellow lead glaze. The jug has a thick edge and 3 spouts around the rim, a heavy looped handle, a long neck containing circles in various sizes cut out and connected by lines which are incised, and a bulbous body incised with vine decoration along the top terminating with 2 shell-like flowers and the inscription: "Stephen Searl / Buckfastleigh."Label TextPuzzle jugs, with pierced necks, hollow handles, and rims with straw-like nozzles, were popular as early as the seventeenth century for use in drinking games. The object was to cover the appropriate holes in the handle and rim in order to take a drink. Needless to say, the difficulty of the game increased with success.

This puzzle jug is inscribed "Stephen Searl" and “Buckfastleigh," the latter referencing a small market town in Devonshire. Made in Devon, the vessel may commemorate the 1793 birth of one Stephen Searle in the village of Buckfastleigh (1851 Census of the United Kingdom for the county of Devon).Inscription(s)Inscribed "Stephen Searl / Buckfastleigh"Mark(s)NoneProvenanceEx coll: C.B. Kidd