Dog-handled loving cup with a modelled toad squatting at the bottom; greeny-yellow streaked glaze.
A second example in a similar colourway was observed in September 2016.
The modelled toad in this piece had been placed standing up, partly onto the side of the cup, giving the impression that it was jumping upwards.
The ceramic tradition of practical jokes is clearly seen in this amusing piece, where the toad would emerge from the drink to surprise an unsuspecting drinker. Many potteries produced similar frog and toad pieces, but the Benthall Pottery Company had discovered its own “toad in the hole” in 1855, when a living toad was found in solid clay deep down in a clay pit. The discovery was widely reported in the press (Eddowes’s Shrewsbury Journal, 26 September 1855, and others). Perhaps this piece, made many years later (maybe in the 1890s), draws on the memory of that remarkable discovery.
Mark: Impressed SALOPIAN mark
Height: 150mm / 6in
Provenance: Private collection, UK