tankard BM-Franks.779.+

Period:Qing dynasty Production date:1760-1780 (circa)
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, painted,

Dimensions:Diameter: 17.30 centimetres Height: 14.80 centimetres

Description:
‘Famille rose’ tankard made for an English leather worker. This straight-sided tankard shows a leather worker, sitting on a wooden bench in a scarlet frock coat, knee breeches and a tricorne hat sewing a satchel, while another opposite him is making a shoe. Above the figures on one side is the inscription ‘VIVAT RYE’ (long live the rye) and in smaller letters ‘I must work for leathers dear’. On the other side of the tankard the inscription is ‘VIVAT [ long live ] Rich Phillcox whit (sic) His Honest Fammily (sic), I must work for leathers dear’. Each scene is surrounded by a frame of scrollwork and flowers interlaced with 18th-century boots and other shoes, and alternating with flowers. The tankard has a red-and-gold spearhead rim border and a red-and-gold handle with notches imitating bamboo.
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Comments:Harrison-Hall and Krahl 1994:The design on this mug appears to be copied from the trade label of a leather worker named Richard Phillcox. Such trade labels were used to advertise and promote goods and services. The motto ‘long live the rye’ refers to a kind of whisky, distilled from ‘rye’ grain, for which this tankard may have been used. A similar design appears on a saucer with the initials ‘R P’, which may have been commissioned by the same man (Godden, 1979, no.119). Pieces of Chinese export porcelain commissioned by artisans are otherwise rare. The basic shape of this tankard is also European and is similarly found in other materials such as pewter.