Casgliadau Arlein

Wassail bowl and lid made at Claypits Pottery, Ewenny. The ancient New Year custom of wassailing was practiced in Glamorgan, as in other parts of Wales in the nineteenth century, when parties of wassailers would progress from house to house with traditional greetings for the health and prosperity of the inhabitants, whiich were acknowledged with spiced ale, sometimes with a concoction of apples and cakes, dispensed in a wassail bowl carried around by the party. Red fabric with white slip & yellow glaze. 18 handles, with pattern of circles & zigzags in sgraffito ; 2 opposing handles larger than the rest. Bands of circle designs above & below handles. Lid flanged to fit over rim. 8 rows of triple-looped handles with birds on crest of each loop; top loop of one row formerly straddled by figure; applied decoration includes 2 face masks & sheaves of wheat, sgraffito includes hop-flower & sunray motifs.