Staffordshire Pearlware Pottery Large Fox Stirrup Cup,
Circa 1820

The large pearlware pottery stirrup cup depicts a fox hound.  The hound is naturalistically colored in browns and white with a few red spots with a black nose, whiskers and collar.  His large ears hand down on either side.

Dimensions: 5 inches high x 6 inches long x 5 1/2 inches deep (12/7cm high x 15.24cm wide x 13.97cm deep).

Provenance: Elinor Penna Collection.

Condition: tip of one ear invisibly repaired.

Reference: 
The Museum of Hounds and Hunting

"Stirrup cups are a hallowed tradition — and a favorite with riders who participate in foxhunting. These ... receptacles, usually in the form of a fox, stag, dog, or horse’s head, are filled with port or sherry and traditionally presented to mounted foxhunters as they wait to set off. This tradition started in the18th and 19th centuries, though the origins go much farther back; Chaucer writes about “parting cups” presented to 14th-century travelers as they set out on pilgrimages to Canterbury. 

The 19th century American poet Sidney Lanier wrote a 1877 poem The Stirrup Cup. His parting stanza:

“Time, let not a drop be spilt: Hand me the cup whene’er thou wilt; ‘Tis thy rich stirrup-cup to me; I’ll drink it down right smilingly.”

(Ref: NY10794-nncn)