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SLIPWARE      Beverage Wares 
Fuddling Cups 
S77, S78. FUDDLING CUPS 
Donyatt, Somerset 
(S77) Dated 1733 
(S78) Dated 1734 (or 1739) 
(Both) H.: 2 3/4" (7 cm): 
Diam. (greatest, with handles): S 3/8" 
(13.7 cm) 
BODY CLAY: Medium-grained red. 
LEAD GLAZE: (177) Slightly muddy. 
(577, 578) Irregular green blotched. 
Overall, excluding bottoms (with glaze 
overrun from sides), 
SHAPE: Thrown, joined, and pierced. 
(S78) Pulled handles, convex on interi- 
ors and exteriors. (577, S78) Twisted 
pairs of rolled strips join vessels to 
one another Slightly concave bottoms. 
SLIP GROUND: Cream-colored. 
Overall, excluding (S77) interior and 
(S78) exterior lower extreme of wall 
and bottom. 
DECORATION: Sgraffito. Floral 
motifs. (S77) Inscribed "As A Ring is 
Round," "And hath no end Is," "Love 
unto my frend," and "EH/1733." (S78) 
Inscribed "my joy Shall," "be in," "Christ 
on HiGe," and "IW/1734 [or 1739?]." 
Ex coll.: (578) M. D. Block. 
Fuddling cups, used during drinking games, are composed of joined clusters
of 
small vessels with interiors linked through holes in the walls. The earliest
dated 
English examples are three-part London delftware types (see also nos. 1)208,
D290, D291, D293,,D295) from 1633., 
   A 1684 sgraffito fuddling cup is the earliest known dated slipware example
and is attributed to Donyatt in Somerset, the sotrce of the cups shown here.'
Typical Donyatt examples include triangular arrangements of three to six
ves- 
sels with traditional abstract designs and flowers, especially tulips, carved
through a cream-colored slip ground. Unevenly applied green speckling is
another common feature. 
   Religious inscriptions, as on the 1734(?) fi-ddling cup (no. S78), are
extremely 
uncommon on Donyatt sgraftito ware., In contrast drinking rhymes and secu-
lar messages of goodwill abound.1 The 1733 cup (no. S77) reproduces one version
of a phrase that appears on English pottery made over more than a century
and 
a half at different centers. A 1633 London delftware mug with the Watermen's
and Lightermen's Company arms declares, "A RING IS ROUND J&] HATH
NO 
END/SO IS MY LOVE UNTO MY FRIEND."' A North Devon sgraffito jar made
for 
ferryman Thomas Beat is inscribed slightly differently, "The Ring is
Round that 
hath no End so is my love to you my Friend, January the 21 1796.." 
b/1   ")/6 
138 The Longridge Collection