2020.0013 Mug, view 5
  • 2020.0013 Mug, view 5
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Mug (Child's sign language or alphabet mug)

  • Category:

    Ceramics

  • Place of Origin:

    Probably Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

  • Date:

    1800-1825

  • Materials:

    Earthenware (pearlware); Lead glaze

  • Techniques:

    Thrown, Molded, Printed

  • Museum Object Number:

    2020.0013


  • Complete Details



Object Number

2020.0013

Object Name

Mug (Child's sign language or alphabet mug)

Category

Ceramics

Credit Line/Donor

Museum purchase with funds provided by the estate of Doris and Stanley Tananbaum

Place of Origin

Probably Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe

Date

1800-1825

Mark or Signature or Inscription or Label

1. Inscription; Exterior wall; Blue printed alphabet (upper case consonants; lower case vowels) with hand signs.

Subjects

Disability; Sign language

Materials

Earthenware (pearlware); Lead glaze

Techniques

Thrown, Molded, Printed

Dimensions (inches)

2.7 (H) , 3.4 (L) , 2.7 (Diam)

Dimensions (centimeters)

6.8 (H) , 8.6 (L) , 6.9 (Diam)

Object Description

Web - 02/16/2021

This fascinating white earthenware (pearlware) “child’s mug” dates to the early 1800s and probably was made in Staffordshire, England. The sides of the little vessel bear a blue transfer-printed chart illustrating a British Sign Language (BSL) alphabet with adjacent letters. Small, cylindrical earthenware cups like these, whether displaying the BSL chart or other designs, seem most commonly to have been presented as gifts to children, sometimes as a reward for success during their studies.

Although rare, children’s mugs displaying sign-language motifs were produced by more than one English factory and in different colors. On at least some, the letters run from right to left, rather than from left to right, as English normally is read. Also, rather than showing the vowels (A, E, I, O, U) in traditional alphabetical order, the signs for them are clustered in the first square of the chart, just before the square for “B.” Many other BSL charts do not separate out the vowels.

The British Sign Language alphabet, then as now, differs markedly from American signing alphabets. Also, the origins of British sign-language may date as early as the sixteenth-century, while American alphabets are said to have their origins in the early 1800s. The British alphabet on the mug forms an interesting comparison to a printed-on-paper chart regarding American Sign Language (ASL) in the Winterthur collection [1967.0224]. The paper print, also dating to the 1800s, is titled “MANUAL ALPHABET USED IN THE PENNSYLVANIA INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB” and illustrates quite different signing positions for the different letters.

Although this version of American sign language appears to have been fairly popular, it was not the only one available. For example, a more detailed publication regarding signing, titled Language Addressed to the Different Senses, was published in 1865 in Hartford, Connecticut. (A copy resides in the Winterthur Library.) Understanding of sign language also has been encouraged by organizations including The Girl Scouts of America, who traditionally awarded a badge for accomplishments in signing.

Sign language has evolved over time and varied depending on one’s location and access to resources. Because of segregation, for example, a Black American Sign Language (Black ASL) was developed. For more on that subject, see "The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its History and Structure" by Carolyn McCaskill and others (Gallaudet University Press, 2020).

For a child's plate in Staffordshire pearlware, bearing a blue transfer-printed version of the same alphabet, see 2023.0014.001.

Bibliography and Bibliographic Notes

[Article] Sousa, Daniel. 09//2021 Hartford's Asylum for the Deaf. Historic Deerfield. 19: 31-35.
Discussion of Hartford Asylum and objects relating to deafness: see pp. 31 & 34 for blue-printed transferware portraying Hartford asylum; see p. 34 for brown-printed English child's mug with hand sign language. Well researched article with further illustrations. Objects in Deerfield collection
[Book] Shipkowitz, Davida & Shipkowitz, Irving. 2002 The ABC’s of ABC Ware.
Child's plate showing similar sign language, printed in blue: p. 192, fig. E150, "Manual Alphabet in a Circle," pearlware, possibly Leeds Pottery, Yorkshire. *See Winterthur 2023.0014.001)
[Book] Halliday, Rosemary & Halliday, Richard. 2012 Extraordinary British Transferware: 1780-1840.
Child's mug with seeimgly identical print but different handle: p. 176, c. 1820. Ear-shape strap, loop handle with molded leafy ends.
[Electronic] Transferware Collectors Club. Transferware Collectors Club Database of Patterns & Sources. Transferware Collectors Club 03/13/2024 https://www.transferwarecollectorsclub.org/members/database
Same pattern in brown on child's mug: pattern title listed as "Sign Language," pattern no. 12847, unknown maker.