Description
This rare and exceptional Harvest Jug is scraffito decorated with the Royal Coat of Arms of King George 111. The prolific and well-executed decoration also features a verse in a heart-shaped motif, elaborate scrolls, leaves, and a crown. A scroll at the handle terminal is a feature found almost exclusively on these West Country pieces. This high-status large-scale jug with its royalist and patriotic theme would probably have been a special commission, and is inscribed at the handle base are the initials W H 1765. The poem reads: “Now I am come to supply our workmen when in having Dry. When they go about hard and sweating Ale is better far than meat. Work on brave boys and never fear you shall have ale and cider and beer”.