A large and quite astounding Ewenney Wassail bowl and cover. The cover with applied animals, including lion, crocodile, elephant, birds, hens, pug, all fronted by a seemingly drunken fellow sat astride an ale barrel, marked XXX.
Each handle is inscribed a word, making up the message ‘God the first of all, Virtue the finest of all, Vice the most hurtful of all” Presumably the drunken fellow is depicting the evils (vice) of drink.
Further inscribed to the bottom with (translated from Welsh) “Wales and Welsh united” and dated 1898.