CIRCA 1689-1694, LAMBETH, PROBABLY NORFOLK HOUSE

This mug is one of a group all of the same form and each with the same decoration and inscription, with slight variations in the words and spelling. The attribution to Norfolk House is based on the fact that a fragment of the lower part of a mug (of a different shape) bearing an identical label has been excavated at the site in Lambeth.1 The inscription indicates that the mugs were made between the accession of William III and Mary II in 1689 and Mary's death in 1694. For three mugs belonging to this group see Michael Archer, Delftware in the Fitzwilliam Museum, London, 2013, pp. 171-172, C.21, C.22 and C.23. Another example from the G.F. Glenny Collection was sold at Sotheby's in London on 24 July 1956, lot 72, inscribed 'GOD SEND YE KING SAVE TO IRLAND' referring to William's Irish war of 1689-91. A similar example in the Rous Lench Collection was sold by Sotheby's in London on 1 July 1986, lot 27, and another in the Harriet Carlton Goldweitz Collection was sold by Sotheby's in New York on 20 January 2006, lot 26.

1. In the Cuming Museum, Southwark, see ibid., London, 2013, pp. 171.