Mug (Child's or alphabet mug)

Description

From the 1800s onward, advances in ceramic manufacturing and shipping made more wares available to larger audiences, including children. Parents, for example, acquired small plates and mugs as gifts or toys towards furthering their children's education. The Brownhills Pottery's "Famous Places" series of transfer-printed earthenware plates and mugs not only displays the English alphabet in upper case but also shares images--most likely copied from published prints--of important locals across the world. This mug is printed in dark brown with details picked out in hand-painted red and green. Although it does not display the series title, “FAMOUS PLACES,” the ornamental details and numbered mark identify it as part of that group. The primary ornament on the mug is a rectangular scene displaying a harbor view with ships and distant mountains, above the title "COPENHAGEN." The underside of the mug bears the transfer-printed pattern registry mark "R\d No. 26734" (for 1895) in a rectangle over the factory mark, "B.P. C\o." (for the Brownhills Pottery Company).