Posted 9 years ago
EddyCrook
(6 items)
This was always in my grandparents house in Lancashire England as long as I remember (I was born in 1945) The tree has some broken off branches and the basket of eggs has no handle. The only markings are as shown. Any ideas as to age etc?
It's one of the famous Staffordsire figures : The Tythe Pig.
"In the early 19th century, the centuries-old practice of tithing, or giving 1/10 of your produce, to the church prevailed--and it was unpopular and contentious. Read my book if you want to know the gritty details, and they are fascinating. If you tithed milk, did you have to deliver the milk to the church or did the vicar have to come and milk the cow? If you gave every tenth lamb, could you offer the runt of the litter? And what if the litter comprised only 5 lambs?"
http://www.mystaffordshirefigures.com/blog/the-tithe-pig
"In 1751, Boitard engraved a humorous scene showing the farmer and his wife giving 1/10th of their produce to the parson--and included was their tenth child! By 1765, Derby had mimicked this in a porcelain vignette, and by the early 1800s the Staffordshire potters were doing the same."
Thanks for that info. I'd been wondering about it for a while. I think it looks very old, maybe one of the first ones done?
Ed
Early nineteenth century.
Thanks.
Ed