Attributed to William Cocknidge

A tigerware jug with Elizabethan silver-gilt mounts, maker's mark most probably WC over a grasshopper attributed to William Cocknidge, London, 1577

hinged cover embossed and chased with grotesque masks interrupted by fruit clusters, bifurcated acorn finial, the hinge box stippled with a housemark incorporating H and M, hatched arabesque foliage at the neck mount, dog teeth above the spreading foot mount, marked on cover, neck and foot

8in.; 21cm. high

Located in London. Please enquire to arrange a viewing.

See: Jackson's silver and gold marks, Woodbridge, 1989, p.95 where the maker's mark is recorded on mounts for stoneware jugs of 1575/76 and 1576/77

'Tigerware' pottery was originally imported from the Rhine valley and also later made in England. The majority of English silver-mounted jugs date from the second half of the 16th century. London was the centre of production, but the silversmiths of the West Country (particularly Exeter and Barnstaple) can also lay claim to a good number. Indeed, it's estimated that during the reign of Elizabeth I an average of about 3500 German stoneware pots were landed in Exeter each year, most of them having first arrived in London (David Gaimster, German Stoneware 1200-1900: Archaeology and Cultural History, London, 1997, p. 80).