One jug, the simplest of puzzles, had a frog on the bottom. When the unwary tippler drank his grog, the frog appeared―a startling, lifelike visitor. Many hard drinkers must have had a real fright from this jug.
The urge to prank goes back far, further than this entry might indicate. It's a healthy instinct, in the right context. One hopes that the wags have not been forever stilled.
2 comments:
Oddly enough, I am familiar with puzzle jugs, some of which are part of the collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum. They really are fascinating to understand just how clever people were long ago (and a sense of humor is always welcome). The ones shown here are fine examples - yes, I'd likely be wearing my wine. I liked the idea of the frog in the grog..
There are a few other examples of tricky crockery, not quite deliberately devious but things that would fool lots of people today. I'm sure you're familiar with moustache cups. I used to have a pair of huge him and her teacups, one of them a moustache cup.
The ones that reminded me of the frog story were the Japanese porcelin cups that showed a Geisha's face at the bottom when the cup was empty and held up to the light.
A mark of culture is how much attention is paid to the little things in life.
The Victoria and Albert Museum looks impressive, even if they are perhaps a little too afraid of looking stuffy and English now. Many such cases. Anyway, I looked at some of the puzzle jugs they have in their collection. They have a few breathtaking ones. This must be a great collection to see up close. It's good to have both a sense of humor and a sense of beauty.
Mustache cups are an interesting creation. They date from when men had big mustaches that were also very high maintenance. For most of the twentieth century as well as this one, mustaches have been more close cropped, so mustache cups haven't seen much use.
That's a nice touch, coming face to face with a geisha when you've finished your tea.
I hope society starts paying more attention to the little things soon.
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