3-016-908 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Shakspeare salver and jug, 1864. Commemoration of the Tercentenary of Shakespeare's birth. 'The ale jug and salver, manufactured by Messrs. Minton, Hollis [sic], and Co., of Stoke-upon-Trent, were designed by Mr. Frederick Brett Russell, in commemoration of the tercentenary festival. The material of which they are made is gris de Flandres, enriched with blue enamel. Their form and style of ornamentation are in strict accordance with the art of the Elizabethan period. The bowl of the jug is encircled with a laureated band, with the inscriptions "Will. Shakspeare, born 1564," on one side, and "Tercentenary, 1864," on the other, but connected in the centre by a cartouche, which contains a medallion of the poet. The neck of the jug is jewelled, as is the handle, at the thumbpiece of which there is a smaller cartouche, with the monogram "V. R." The remaining ornamentation of the jug consists chiefly of a conventional treatment of scallop-shells. The salver bears in its centre a medallion of Shakspeare inclosed in a border of laurel, and on its rim, between four escutcheons, which are inscribed with "E. R.," "W. R.," "V. R.," and the arms of Shakspeare, we read that sentence of Ben Jonson, "He was not of an age, but for all time."' From "Illustrated London News", 1864.