Bear Pots

These are pots modelled on bears used in baiting. In the mid-18th century, and possibly for as little as two decades (c. AD 1750-1765), Midland potters were producing bear baiting jugs in both brown and white salt-glaze. They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and poses, but are most frequently shown sitting upright on their hindlegs with a dog between their front paws (Fig. 1). The bears always have a collar and/ or muzzle and usually a chain. We see these items in earlier images, such as that in Lily’s Antibossicon (Fig. 2) and they seem likely to have formed part of real baitings that the pottery buyers would have been familiar with. In addition to the dogs, just occasionally the bears are shown holding something else – in this example from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the bear is holding a musical instrument, rather like a recorder but with a distinct curve in the shaft (Fig. 9). Is this the representation of a trained or dancing bear, rather than a baiting?

There has been relatively little scholarship around baiting in this period, but one currently overlooked line of evidence comes from this pretty surprising place – the potteries of Staffordshire and Nottingham.

The pots have contrasting rough and smooth surfaces that simulated fur, added to their decoration, and made them more tactile. While the brown pots (thought to be made in Nottingham) are all one colour (Fig. 1), the white pots (thought to be from Staffordshire) have brown enamel highlights (Fig. 3). These patterns seem to be unique to each pot, and show the individuality of each bear and dog. A further individual touch is added through the depiction the animals’ teeth or tongue (Fig. 4).

These pots conjure up many questions – one, from a modern perspective, is why would you want something that grim on your sideboard? BUT, looking beyond aesthetics, these pots are intriguing. One reason is that baiting is suggested to be in decline in this period – that it was outlawed in 1835, but people had stopped doing it long before. However, the appearance of these pots contradicts this – why would you buy a pottery representation of an abhorrent practice that had fallen out of fashion?

A further intriguing question comes when you consider what these pots are for. In almost all cases, the head of the bear is removable and becomes a cup, which immediately suggests a liquid beverage was involved. Some pots go further still, and have a spigot approximately where their belly-button would be, that would allow the drinks to be dispensed (e.g. V&A pot, Fig. 5). So were they used for drinking, and perhaps for drinking games in pubs? Bear baiting was strongly associated with pubs and alehouses in the early modern period (watch out for more BOB news on that), so were these pots an extension of this? While this could well be possible, it’s likely that these were not cheap to buy – perhaps something for the middle classes, or, as suggested by John Howard, a friendship group could have clubbed together to buy one to keep in their local tavern.

A third, perhaps surprising, aspect comes from considering the sex of the animal – while most have no indications of their sex, some most definitely do – see for example these bears from the Metropolitan Museum in New York (Fig. 6). The bear to the left is quite clearly showing his penis, while the one sitting on his back legs (Fig. 7) has both penis and testicles on display. Does this again feed into the idea of (male) tavern culture? And are the bears with no visible genitals intended to be female, or were these very masculine bears produced by the potters on a whim (or to order)?

While most of the pots are the height of a pint glass or more, much smaller pots are also known (Fig. 8). These again correspond to the overall pattern of sitting on their hindlegs with their arms around a dog. Many are thought to be mustard pots, but the one shown here is a rattle. If still considering them part of drinking culture, then they could perhaps have been for spirits rather than mustard, or the rattle may have been part of a game, but that is entirely speculation.

In the early 1800s, bear baiting ceramics became popular again, but this time they were in multi-coloured pearlware. These were much larger and often had spouts like teapots. The overall pattern of a bear sitting on its hindlegs with a muzzle and holding a dog are there, but the features are often very exaggerated and are sometimes intended to be satirical (such as the pots where the dog has been replaced by a figure of Napoleon).