Tankard, Norway, 1650-1750, fruitwood (probably apple) in a form following silver designs, with a plain body raised on four carved lion feet, a hinged cover, carved with a dragon, and and S-scroll handle.

Tankard of fruitwood (probably apple) in a form following silver designs. The cylindrical body, with hinged cover and S-scrolled handle, is raised on four feet carved in the form of crouching lions. The domed lid is carved with a dragin, surrounded by incised scrolls, the edge carved with a simple chevron pattern. The sides and recessed back face of the handle show an incised meander. The thumb-piece is carved in the form of a crouching human figure (damaged), with the drum-shaped hinge-piece carved with a rosette at either end. The body of the tankard has been struck randomly with a curved chisel or gouge, to give an overall pattern. The outer surface of the tankard shows darkening from oxydisation and possibly from later surface treatments, but the inside of the tankard shows the light colour of the wood, which is consistent with its being apple. The top is cracked.

Gift of Mrs Alec Tweedie FRGS

The tankard was given to the Museum by Mrs Alec Tweedie, with four other Norwegian objects (W.100 to W.104-1926) from her ethnographic collection, which she described as 'odds & ends from a traveller' (Acquisition File). Ethel Brilliana Tweedie (1862-1940) was a prolific English author, travel writer. biographer, historian, editor, journalist and illustrator. In her youth she visited Iceland and published her journal A Girl's Ride in Iceland in 1889; in 1894 she published A Winter Jaunt to Norway and in 1898 Through Finland in Carts. Her husband died in 1896, from the stress of financial failure, and she was left destitute, so took to writing to support herself and her two young sons, both of whom died later on active service. She was an early and enthusiastic advocate of women's rights and women's suffrage. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, her book An Adventurous Journey, Russia-Siberia-China was published in 1929 (London, Thornton Butterworth 1929). Other items from her collection were passed on to Warrington Museum and Art Gallery, the Horniman Museum and he British Museum. She gave, and also bequeathed on her death in 1940, a wide variety of other objects to the V&A.

Drinking traditions were very important social rituals in many societies. In Scandinavia, and particularly in Norway, this was particularly so. Wooden versions of fashionable silver forms of the later 17th century were frequently made and used in different communities. This tankard shows all the elements of a silver design made in many areas of Europe in about 1680, but it may date from much later, as the form became tradional and was copied and re-copied.

W.101-1926