Fuming or perfume pot

Surrey/Hampshire border ware fuming or 'stink' pot used for burning herbs and other fumigants to purify the air inside rooms. Fumigation was considered to be a very important method of preventing the spread of plague. All sorts of fumigants were tried such as burning sweet-smelling herbs, but others were far more noxious – the Privy Council’s recommended formula was to burn brimstone, saltpetre and amber. The Post Office in Cloak Lane was fumigated twice a day and the air was so thick with smoke the staff there could barely see across the room. Other methods included discharging guns into a room to circulate the air. In September 1665, when the Great Plague was at its worst, the City authorities resorted to lighting bonfires in the street though these were extinguished by rain three days later and not re-lit.

This fuming pot has a narrow neck, sloping shoulders, pierced cylindrical body, diametrically opposed horizontal loop handles and a pedestal foot with triangular aperture. The vessel has an angular profile and is covered in a uniform dull yellow glaze. There has been some damage and restoration.