Wednesday, December 29, 2010

A Loving Present

I've been anticipating the day I could share this with you all! Several friends recently had this beautiful bundle of joy named Nora:

When I heard they were expecting, I immediately started plotting the perfect baby present. What better thing for a pair of antique scholars than a modern-day loving cup?


Nottingham area loving cup from England, dated 1812. I really enjoy the incised lines and the roulette decoration on this.
http://www.petworthantiquecentre.co.uk/dealer-products.asp?pid=618&did=26&dealername=Deborah+Serpell
Historically, the loving cup was a two-handled vessel often presented for births, weddings, or other commemorative events. The equivalent would be a trophy by today's standards. In the ceramic world, the loving cups were often scratched with decorative motifs, dates, and names (not always!). I especially enjoy the ones made around the area of Nottingham, England which produced a rich brown salt-glazed stoneware.  Here is the version I made for Nora:


I did not extrude the handles, as I currently do not have an extruder, and wanted to try pulling a thinner handle to see how it would look.

Around the rim I used metal stamp letters to write a note to Nora:

The stamps read "Welcome to the World Nora"
I made a second one as well which had a larger rim, but chose to give Nora the more proportionate one. Or, as someone pointed out, if Nora ever knocks it off the shelf, I can send her the second one! Here is the second version:

                                                     

While the piece above has a higher rim than the other, I felt that with the placement of the handles, and the fact that the handles were pulled, made the other one look more proportioned. I thought (and hope!) this was a very loving gift to give to a very lovely little girl!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a lovely gift! And the work is beautiful--as always.

Anonymous said...

Dear Miss Brenda,
Thank you for the wonderful loving cup you made for me. Mom and Dad think it's wonderful and so do I. It was great to meet you and Mike, and I cannot wait to meet Fro and Company soon.

Love,
Baby Nora

Unknown said...

Nice! Nora is a very lucky baby!
Cheers
~Craig

Malinda said...

I am sure that baby Nora and her parents will treasure your gift. Beautiful!

Liberty Stoneware said...

Thank you all for the notes and comments! And Nora, I will try to tame the big brown dog before you meet him so he doesn't lick on you for hours! And, who knows, like your mom said, if your dad lets you get married, maybe you'll get to use the cup at your wedding!