Stoneware mug with frilled base: mid 16th century

Stoneware mug with a pale brown glaze and frilled base. It has a silver lid that attaches to the handle. This drinking mug has a silver-gilt lid, hinge-boss and cast dolphin thumpiece. The roundel in the centre of the lid is engraved with the owner's initials "PH" and the rim bears the inscription: "+THE TONGE THAT LIETH KILLETH THE SOULE". The mounts are English but unmarked. The English practice of adding precious metal mounts to plain stonewares flourished for a relatively short period from the 1520s to 1580s, and the products from Raeren (Belgium) were among the first imports to be treated in this way.