Mug

1840-1875

Measurements

3-5/8 in x 5 in x 3-7/8 in (dia)

Materials

Brown glazed yellow earthenware (Rockingham ware)

Credit Line

Historic Odessa Foundation, gift of H. Rodney Sharp

Accession Number

1959.3887

Provenance

Ex coll. H. Rodney Sharp

Comments

This molded mug is crisply formed.  The inward-curved body stands on a molded base.  The herringbone band around the top of the body is deeply impressed and sharp-edged, likely made with a crimping wheel passed around before the handle was applied.  A mottled and streaked brown manganese glaze decorates the mug.

Light-colored ceramic bodies with a brown glaze were called Rockingham ware, for the Rockingham Pottery in England where they were first and most successfully produced.  English potters emigrated to America and replicated the popular ceramic, and many potteries throughout the northeastern United States copied one another, creating endless confusion among collectors trying to determine where and when these objects were made.  This mug might have been made in an American pottery, but it is not a common version.