Longfellow jug

“Longfellow” jugs were made by Wedgwood, the famous English manufacturer of fine china and porcelain, as a tribute to the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. On one side is the poet’s portrait; on the other, the first lines of his long poem Kéramos. The jugs were commissioned by Richard Briggs, a Boston retailer of china and glass. Briggs gave one to Longfellow at Christmastime in 1880 and received the poet’s thanks in a letter dated December 30.