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Bottle
Unknown - Enlarge image
Bottle
- Place of origin:
London, England (probably, made)
- Date:
1660-1665 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Tin-glazed earthenware
- Credit Line:
Given by Miss Annette and Miss Katharine Thicknesse
- Museum number:
C.1042-1922
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 54b, case 14
Object Type
This vessel is known as a 'Sack Bottle' because many examples are inscribed with the word 'Sack' (or sometimes 'Whit' for white wine) and a date, usually around the middle of the 17th century. Sack was a strong sweet imported wine, roughly equivalant to modern sherry. Although delftware bottles were too porous to allow them to be used as storage vessels, they would have been quite adequate for serving.
People
The sketchy but heroic portrait of Charles II in his armour is probably an allusion to his appearance at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, where after the decisive defeat of the Royalists, Charles II hid in the Boscobel Oak. Although his return to the English throne in 1660 was entirely bloodless, it still suited his English Royalist supporters to imagine him reclaiming his rightful position through bravery on the field of battle.
Design & Designing
'Sack' bottles, whose shape ultimately derived from imported German brown stoneware bottles, offered a perfect surface for decoration. There is evidence also that they were given as New Year gifts, which would explain the inscribed dates and the fact that these bottles have survived unscathed in comparatively large numbers.
