Credit Line Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art; The Buten Wedgwood Collection, gift through the Wedgwood Society of New York, AFI.2527.2008
Marks On the underside impressed WEDGWOOD and with the three-letter date code for 1880. Printed in black, "Manufactured by Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Etruria / For Richard Briggs / Boston Registerd in Great Britain / and France / Also in the / United States" and handwritten the number 2136
Inscription On one side of the jug printed in black with the first verse of Longfellow's poem "Keramos," reading, "Turn, Turn, my wheel. Turn Round and Round / Without a pause without a sound: / So spins the flying world away! / This clay, well mixed with marl and sand. / Follows the motion of my hand; / For some must follow and some command. / Though all are made of clay" and around the upper edge are the names of other well-known Longfellow poems: Excelsior, Hiawatha, Evangeline, Miles Standish, Golden Legend, Tales of a Wayside Inn, and Psalm of Life.
Provenance Dealer Seal Simons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; purchased in 1961 by Harry Buten (1904-1971) and Nettie Buten (1902-1998); by descent to their children Max Buten (born 1932); Iris Buten Newman (born 1936); David Buten (born 1938) and Beatrice Buten Magee (born 1940) [see note 1]; by gift to the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art in 2008
1. The jug was housed at the Buten Museum of Wedgwood in Merion, Pennsylvania until 1988 when it was moved with the collection to the Nassau County Museums in Sands Point, Long Island, New York. In 2008, it was transferred to the Birmingham Museum of Art
