Thread by @TheMERL

Hello, we've found a harvest jug of ⚫️pure chaotic energy⚫️ and want to tell you about it.

👁‍🗨🌞👁‍🗨

This in example of Barnstaple ware, produced in North Devon, 1838.

It was made by a man named John Prouse, and depicts several scenes of harvesting barley, which was used to make beer.

And just as barley was malted to produce beer, beers were often drunk as the work took place. Some labourers were even paid in beer as well as cash.

And there’re many diverse accounts of the process. From drunken merriment in fields, to gruelling labour in harsh heat.

It's why Prouse's sun looms so menacingly in the earthenware sky. It's a vivid illustration of the complex relationship between the sun and the labourers whose harvest depended on it.

While drinking loads of beers.

All on the side of a jug.

🍻 AND THAT'S NOT EVEN ALL🍻

The second image on the jug is a really big cockerel.

It may or may not be to scale. We don't know. We leave it for the archaeological record to decide.

Then, the last feature is a poem:

"Harvest is come all
Busy now in making
of the Barley mow if
you the Barley mow
neglect of Good ale you
can not then expect".

A barley mow is a stack of barley. The poem a mow of mows. And a little squiffy too.

And it ends with an attribution:

"John Prouse, August 1838, Hartland"

*drops mic*

*loses mic in field*

*spends hangover looking for mic*

Beyond this jug, we know little else of Prouse's life. Other than a deep-rooted suspicion of the sun. And a feverish vision of a giant chicken.

But either way, we're in awe with the jug's level of detail, and the sheer scope of its imaginative force.

We hope it inspires you to write beautiful poems on containers and bottles of your own.

Prouse's jug and more amazing artefacts feature in our latest blogpost, which is all about PICNICS.

So please, join us and treat yourself to our delicious, niche knowledge.

bit.ly/2ZZKxUu

And you can find more details on the artefact itself here:

reading.ac.uk/adlib/Details/…