Post-Medieval dish
- Gallery: Room 46
- Maker: Pickleherring Pottery
- Culture: Post-Medieval
- Made in: Southwark
- Date: 1660
- Object type: dish
- Materials: earthenware
- Museum number: 1855,0811.2
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
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About this object
This is a rare and large tin-glazed dish created by the Pickleherring Pottery in Southwark around 1660. It features a flared rim and vivid color—blue, manganese, copper green, orange, and yellow—used to bring the painted scenes to life. At the center, you'll see a scene from the biblical story of Jacob’s Dream. A sleeping Jacob lies on the ground while three angels perch on a ladder reaching toward the sky. A fourth angel is at the foot of the ladder.
Look closely at the rim where four oval panels each portray allegorical figures representing the four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Delicate rope-like borders frame each scene. Between these, you'll notice playful grotesque figures, inspired by Italian maiolica designs. The back of the dish is also tin-glazed but treated with a different glaze. A small circular hole is cut into the footrim, though its purpose is still unknown.
The dish is marked with an inscription: "GENESIS: THE: 28: 11" and "CH 1660," offering a direct connection to the maker and scripture.
See it in person
Post-Medieval dish is on display in Room 46 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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