Weltliteratur
The Longfellow Jug. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons for Richard Briggs, 1880.
Courtesy National Park Service, Longfellow National Historic Site LONG 5829 |
"Kéramos" and its celebration of cosmopolitanism in the arts was the inspiration behind this pitcher, adorned with an oval portrait of the bearded Longfellow on its front and a seven-line excerpt from Longfellow's poem on its back. Printed on the underside in underglaze black is the inscription: "Manufactured by Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Etruria / For / Richard Briggs / Boston / Registered in Great Britain / and France / Also in the / United States." Briggs (1829-1893), who had commissioned the jug (the precursor of many commemorative plates, cigar box labels, busts, bookends, inkwells, and cardboard models of Craigie House) in 1880 as a Christmas present for Longfellow, was a china decorator and pottery dealer on 137 Washington Street in Boston. |