{"product_id":"pearlware-jug-decorated-with-transfer-image-tom-molineux-e9e4y33u","title":"[Pearlware jug decorated with transfer image of Tom Molineux and Tom Cribb facing each other in a boxing match, a verse to the other side.]","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA rare and attractive souvenir of a championship boxing match, considered to be one of the greatest sporting events of the nineteenth century, and the earliest recorded instance of an American boxer competing for an international title.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe two challengers were \u003cstrong\u003eTom Cribb (1781-1848) a coal porter from Wapping, widely viewed as the English champion of bareknuckle boxing, and Tom Molineaux (1784-1818) a formerly enslaved Black American from Virginia.\u003c\/strong\u003e They faced up against one another twice, once in 1810 and again in 1811, with Cribb (sometimes Crib) winning in both instances. There were accusations of foul play in the 1810 fight, with the crowd pushing into the ring and injuring Molineaux, leading to their rematch the following year. This return fight was hosted at Thistleton Gap in Rutland, and attracted a crowd said to number in the region of 15,000 people. Compared to the 35 rounds of their first match, this second was over in just 11, with Cribb breaking Molineux’s jaw.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMolineaux’s (also sometimes spelled Molineux, Molyneaux or Molyneux) was thought to have been born on a plantation in Virginia, where some sources say he earned his freedom and $500 in a boxing match against another enslaved man, after the plantation owner’s son made a small fortune betting on his success. He then moved to New York where his fighting prowess earned him the title “Champion of America”. Pursuing a prizefighting career across the Atlantic, he emigrated to England in 1809 where he was taken under the wing of Bill Richmond, himself also a formerly enslaved boxer, who at the time was the landlord of the Horse and Dolphin pub in Leicester Square. Richmond acted both as manager and second to Molineaux, training him up on the bareknuckle circuit to the point that he was considered a worthy contender to Cribb’s title. After the second Cribb match Molineaux and Richmond parted ways, and Molineaux continued to tour the British Isles as a prizefighter, with some success. His health deteriorated however, and between tuberculosis, alcoholism and the implicit risks of his profession, he died in Ireland in abject poverty, at only 34 years of age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe public interest in the Cribb an Molineaux fights coincided with a industrial boom in Staffordshire pottery, marketed to the emergent middle classes. The innovation in transferware techniques meant that images from popular prints could be economically reproduced onto ceramics, rather than the previous more laborious hand-painted processes. This led to a souvenir market that could respond quickly to current events and popular issues, ranging from the commemoration of naval victories, to abolitionist transferware, decorated with antislavery motifs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe present jug is printed with an image derived from an engraving attributed to George Cruikshank\u003c\/strong\u003e, published by Walker and Knight on October 3, 1811. The text of that engraving as as follows: “The Battle between Crib and Molineaux, fought at Thistleton Gap in the County of Rutland Sept’r 28th 1811 for 600 Guineas. it was terminated in 11 rounds, fought in 20 minutes, in which Crib was Victorius, the Moor was carried off senseless, with a broken Jaw, Crib was but triflenly hurt.” Curiously, when comparing the transfer on the mug with the original print, it is apparent that the face used for Molineaux has been substituted for that of his second Bill Richmond.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe verse on the other side of the vessel reads:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Since boxing is a manly game,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd Britons recreation;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy boxing we will raise our fame,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e’Bove any other nation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe sons of France their pistols use,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePop, pop, and they have done;\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut Britons with their hands will bruise,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd scorn a way to run.“\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s interesting to note that though the verse celebrates the British victory, it does so at the expense of the French rather than the Americans, and indeed doesn’t touch upon the racial difference between the fighters. A near-contemporary account in an 1820 issue of \u003cem\u003eBlackwoods Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e offers a further nuanced perspective on the match: “\u003cstrong\u003eWe never felt so grateful to Mr Clarkson and Mr Wilberforce, for their humane exertions to procure the abolition of the slave trade, as when we first saw Molineaux knock down Crib.\u003c\/strong\u003e At once all distinction of colour was lost. We saw before us two human beings–and our hearts beat for the cause of liberty all over the world. It is true that Molineaux was not an African black–but that is nothing to the purpose. He was \u003cem\u003ea\u003c\/em\u003e black–nay, \u003cem\u003ethe\u003c\/em\u003e black–and that was enough to kindle in our bosoms the enthusiasm aforesaid.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRare: a yellow ware example of a jug with the same transfer and verse is held in the collection of the Winterthur Museum in Delaware (Object Number: 2017.0012.015) but we could not find an equivalent in a UK collection. The V\u0026amp;A hold a pair of Staffordshire figurines (C.130:1-2003 \u0026amp; C.130:2-2003).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBlackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e . Vol. VIII. No. XLIII. October, 1820. “Boxiana. No VIII. The Sable School of Pugilism.” p.64-65.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Maggs Bros.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48165893898397,"sku":"262317","price":2750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0669\/0045\/9677\/files\/262317_01.jpg?v=1779117009","url":"https:\/\/store.maggs.com\/products\/pearlware-jug-decorated-with-transfer-image-tom-molineux-e9e4y33u","provider":"Maggs Bros.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}