Mug

Late nineteenth-century American ceramics demonstrate a playful preoccupation with alcohol. The Union Porcelain Works alone produced several renditions of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and revelry, and King Gambrinus, the mythical inventor of beer. While images of these mythical figures celebrate drink, this mug illustrates the dangers of over imbibing. On one register, a young newspaper boy and dog stand beneath a sign advertising "HOT RUM." On the next, a policeman with a stick grabs the collar of a disheveled young man. More playful than moralizing, this mug exemplifies the Union Porcelain Work’s humorous approach to domestic porcelain in the last quarter of the nineteenth-century.