This lead-glazed tortoiseshell creamware puzzle jug c.1765-85 is offered by Earle D Vandekar of Knightsbridge for $3500.
This Whieldon-type jug, previously in the Tom Walford Collection, features a band of pierced holes to the neck with three hollow spouts to the rim above.
The series of perforations is the traditional appeal of the puzzle jug, which was used as a conversation piece after a dinner party or as a drinking game in a tavern, given to an unwitting subject to drink from with the impossible challenge of not spilling any of the contents. The extra holes in the rim could make it more confusing still.
The dealership moved to Downington, Pennsylvania, last July. It first opened more than 100 years ago in Amsterdam, before relocating to London in 1916. It was on Brompton Road for more than 40 years. It is now headed by Paul Vandekar and his wife Deirdre Healy.
