In 18th Century Sunderland, you might have found yourself at your local tavern after a long and grueling day of work, down the mines or the shipyards. You might have ordered yourself a mug of cider. And just maybe, as you went to take a sip from your cup, you could have found yourself getting sprayed with your drink from what looked like a small frog hidden inside. If you dropped your cup in surprise, you would not be the first – in fact, that seems to have been the fate of most of the so-called ‘surprise frog mugs’ that were popular around Sunderland and Staffordshire at the time. Few have survived, and it seems these days only collectors are familiar with these strange artefacts of Northern tavern culture.
While overexplaining a joke will usually spoil it, in this case it is worth a closer examination of what the hidden ceramic frog signifies. One source explains a connection between cider and frogs through the cider ‘mother’ being sometimes called “frog spittle” (1). A rudimentary semiotic analysis of the frog itself has a couple of variations – Eastern cultures consider them to bring wealth. Elsewhere frogs are seen as symbols of fertility and spring. All of this to say the frog boasts a more positive cultural legacy than their cousin the toad, who bears associations with curses and witchcraft. According to DS Skinner “Frogs, which were fertility cult symbols in ancient cultures and good luck symbols in more recent times, came to predominate as the hidden ceramic surprise over toads, which had darker associations.” (2)
An 1883 text (3) claims; “(There are few Northern superstitions) viewed with such fear, dread, and horror as “Toad in the Pot” - from this, no doubt, has risen the manufacture of pint drinking mugs, containing a facsimile of a toad.” The source goes on to tell an origin tale of a wicked old woman cursing a girl on her wedding day by sealing a toad inside an earthen pot. As the toad suffered, so would the object of the curse. Of course, this more macabre explanation overlooks a larger context that the average 1800s tavern goer would have about frogs. That is – the old xenophobic association of frogs and the French, which would have boomed during the Napoleonic wars. This would certainly connect frog mugs to the naval towns they were popular in.
“May England’s Oak,
Produce the bark,
To tan the hide, of Bonaparte” (4)
(A quote printed on one of the many 1800s era frog mugs depicting anti-French sentiment).
An 1883 text (3) claims; “(There are few Northern superstitions) viewed with such fear, dread, and horror as “Toad in the Pot” - from this, no doubt, has risen the manufacture of pint drinking mugs, containing a facsimile of a toad.” The source goes on to tell an origin tale of a wicked old woman cursing a girl on her wedding day by sealing a toad inside an earthen pot. As the toad suffered, so would the object of the curse. Of course, this more macabre explanation overlooks a larger context that the average 1800s tavern goer would have about frogs. That is – the old xenophobic association of frogs and the French, which would have boomed during the Napoleonic wars. This would certainly connect frog mugs to the naval towns they were popular in.
“May England’s Oak,
Produce the bark,
To tan the hide, of Bonaparte” (4)
(A quote printed on one of the many 1800s era frog mugs depicting anti-French sentiment).
(Picture C - an 1806 Battle of Trafalgar frog mug from Royal Museums Greenwich)
It is questionable whether Frog Mugs would be better remembered today if they were a higher brow form of art? These were undoubtedly things that were made for the working class to enjoy, something silly and joyful that captured a moment in history and space. Museums are stockpiled with artefacts of the bourgeoise - delicate silk dresses pressed and preserved; silver swords; items that the privileged have had the luxury to pass down throughout generations. For better or worse, prestige is something the humble frog mug lacks.
1) The Cultivator & Country Gentleman Volume 43
https://books.google.ca/books?id=adtBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA735&dq=cider+frogs+spittle&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjitYOTzKfjAhWJK80KHWq3A0cQ6AEIVDAI#v=onepage&q=cider%20frogs%20spittle&f=false
2) Chapter “Rockingham ware and gender identity” from the book “Rockingham Ware in American Culture, 1830-1930: Reading Historical Artifacts” By Jane Perkins Claney
https://books.google.ca/books?id=UQjRRbMIF3MC&pg=PA91&dq=toad+in+mug&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVlsrTy6fjAhWJbs0KHa0lBfUQ6AEIRzAG#v=onepage&q=toad%20in%20mug&f=false
3) Cheshire Notes and Theories, Volumes 3-5
https://books.google.ca/books?id=z0YQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA9&dq=mug+toad&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMlLfUyKfjAhUIZc0KHUxcAL4Q6AEIPjAE#v=onepage&q=mug%20toad&f=false
4) Blog Post on Frog mugs and anti-French sentiment
http://mrswoffington.blogspot.com/2009/09/thoughts-on-le-frog-mug.html
Other sources looked at;
https://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/articles/collecting-frog-mugs-nice-surprise/
https://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/2010/04/new-to-the-collection-ancient-order-of-foresters-frog-mug.html
https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-4498
https://collection.maas.museum/object/174619
http://thetonofstuff.blogspot.com/2012/06/quiet-word-from-list-mistress-surprise.html
https://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/
It is questionable whether Frog Mugs would be better remembered today if they were a higher brow form of art? These were undoubtedly things that were made for the working class to enjoy, something silly and joyful that captured a moment in history and space. Museums are stockpiled with artefacts of the bourgeoise - delicate silk dresses pressed and preserved; silver swords; items that the privileged have had the luxury to pass down throughout generations. For better or worse, prestige is something the humble frog mug lacks.
1) The Cultivator & Country Gentleman Volume 43
https://books.google.ca/books?id=adtBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA735&dq=cider+frogs+spittle&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjitYOTzKfjAhWJK80KHWq3A0cQ6AEIVDAI#v=onepage&q=cider%20frogs%20spittle&f=false
2) Chapter “Rockingham ware and gender identity” from the book “Rockingham Ware in American Culture, 1830-1930: Reading Historical Artifacts” By Jane Perkins Claney
https://books.google.ca/books?id=UQjRRbMIF3MC&pg=PA91&dq=toad+in+mug&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjVlsrTy6fjAhWJbs0KHa0lBfUQ6AEIRzAG#v=onepage&q=toad%20in%20mug&f=false
3) Cheshire Notes and Theories, Volumes 3-5
https://books.google.ca/books?id=z0YQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA9&dq=mug+toad&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiMlLfUyKfjAhUIZc0KHUxcAL4Q6AEIPjAE#v=onepage&q=mug%20toad&f=false
4) Blog Post on Frog mugs and anti-French sentiment
http://mrswoffington.blogspot.com/2009/09/thoughts-on-le-frog-mug.html
Other sources looked at;
https://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/articles/collecting-frog-mugs-nice-surprise/
https://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/2010/04/new-to-the-collection-ancient-order-of-foresters-frog-mug.html
https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-4498
https://collection.maas.museum/object/174619
http://thetonofstuff.blogspot.com/2012/06/quiet-word-from-list-mistress-surprise.html
https://www.stokemuseums.org.uk/