The Devils Ewer

Every drop passes beneath him

There is a devil under the spout. A horned, bearded face, cast in relief just below the lip where the pour leaves the vessel, so that nothing can leave it without passing him.

This vessel is four inches tall. A jug this size pours a measure, not a glass: a small, deliberate quantity of something, tipped out slowly, and watched. Which leaves the question the object never answers. Why cast a devil onto something so small, unless what it poured mattered?

Whatever it held is long gone. What remains is the arrangement: a small vessel, a slow pour, and a face positioned so that nothing leaves except past his lips.

What you will receive

The ewer itself. A Victorian silver plate pouring vessel, four inches in height, by Briddon Brothers of Sheffield, whose Victoria Plate Works operated from 1863 to 1910. It carries the maker's mark on the base. A single vintage piece, not a reproduction and not repeatable stock.

The body is engraved in bands: an anthemion border at the shoulder, scrolling foliage below it, floral swags at the waist, and a stippled band at the base. Beneath the spout is a cast mask in relief: a horned, bearded face. Scroll handle. The interior is plain.

Condition is as photographed: an honest piece of working plate, unrestored.

Using it in your show

It is a pouring vessel, and everything worth doing with it begins with what it pours and where.

The straightest use is ink. A scrying bowl wants a black surface, and the ink that makes one lives in this jug. Pour it into the bowl in front of the sitter, from a vessel with a devil under the spout, and the reading can begin. You never have to say why the readings work. They saw the pour.

Or pour onto paper. Ink dropped and tilted makes blots, and blots want reading. Every shape on the page arrived past that face, which is worth one quiet mention and no more.

Either way, pour slowly, and let them see where the pour comes from. He is under the spout for a reason.

Nothing he pours is for drinking. Not any more.