POST MEDIEVAL TOY

1600

A cast copper alloy miniature toy cauldron dating to the Post-Medieval period. The object is cast in a triplicate form. These multiples are quite rare and toy cauldrons with three legs are more often found as a single component. This find has been cast so that three cauldrons are positioned together each with a single handle lug on the outside. Each individual cauldron also had one single leg one the outside, all of which are incomplete. One side of the cauldron has been damaged. The cauldron next to the damaged side is slightly larger than the other two. The object has a mid-green patina.The reason for creating a triplicate example is unclear; vessels known as 'fuddling' vessels have been recorded as full size ceramics and were produced from the 17th century in the 'country pottery' tradition as novelty or joke pieces - created to befuddle. These 'fuddling cups' were vessels with three or more small cups with interlinked handles and joined together through a small hole in the walls. The idea was to drink from one without spilling the contents of the others. Although cooking vessels (which these miniature cauldrons were copies of) have no 'fuddling' parallel, it seems that this miniature is some sort of novelty piece. A very similar 'fuddling cup' was recorded under SWYOR-6C64B4. None of these vessels (of either size) have been reported from the City of London yet which suggests that these 'fuddling cups' (original as well as miniature) seem to have been a rural joke. (pers. comm. Geoff Egan).Similar examples which can be found on the database are LANCUM-855CB2 and NLM-5A2185.