"Success to Lord Rodney" Mug
ca. 1782
Medium
Lead-glazed earthenware
Dimensions
Height: 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Pottery
Culture
British, Burslem, Staffordshire
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of R. Thornton Wilson, in memory of Florence Ellsworth Wilson, 1943
Accession Number
43.100.21
Tags
Art Historical Context
This charming lead-glazed earthenware mug, crafted around 1782 by Ralph Wood the Younger in Burslem, Staffordshire, captures a moment of national pride in British naval history. Ralph Wood, part of a renowned family of potters, specialized in molded ceramics that brought affordable decorative wares into everyday homes. The piece’s title, “Success to Lord Rodney,” refers to Admiral George Rodney’s celebrated victories during the American Revolutionary War era, particularly his triumph at the Battle of the Saints. Such commemorative mugs served as tangible souvenirs, allowing ordinary Britons to...
About the Artist
Ralph Wood the Younger · 1748–1795
Ralph Wood the Younger was born in Burslem, Staffordshire, in 1748, the son of the celebrated potter Ralph Wood the Elder and a member of a family that stood at the center of the Staffordshire ceramics industry during its most creative and internationally influential period. Growing up in the workshops of his father, he absorbed from childhood the technical traditions of English earthenware produc...