Stoneware Butter Churn

Artisan: Jane Graber
Date: 2017
Inscriptions: numbered ‘4’ (on churn) and signed and dated ‘Graber 2017’ (on the underside)
Dimensions: 38 x 23 mm. / 1 ½ x ⅞ inches (height x diameter, of churn); 77 mm. / 3 inches (length of stirring stick)
Intended Room: Servants’ Hall
Inventory number: 2021.153
Category: Ceramics

Provenance: Purchased via eBay in November 2021.

This lovely butter-churn is surely too decorative to be used. It comes with a slender stick for stirring the butter, which slips through a hole in the dark brown lid. The lid is presumably detachable, though I haven’t tried: it may be stuck on with wax. As ever, the colours are warm and appealing: a soft biscuity cream colour coupled with royal blue. The churn is numbered ‘4’ above the design, which shows a bird with speckled breast (a thrush?) seated on a branch.