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Approx 3 1/8" tall antique English creamer, whimsical graphic on the front with a little creature called a pisky sitting on a mushroom.
CORNISH PISKY SEEN NEAR FALMOUTH
Stamped on the bottom ENGLAND
Circa early to mid 1900s.
Excellent condition. From my private collection.
Here is some information I found on Piskies:
The Cornish Pisky is the most famous of the Pobol Vean. However, what he/she/it looks like it depends upon which part of Cornwall you visit. In the East of Cornwall, we find the familiar tribe of Piskies, with their elfin looks, pointy hats and pointier ears. Like the Spriggans, they are mischievous creatures. However,in West Cornwall, Pisky is a solitary individual rather than a tribe. Margaret Ann Courtney defines the Piskies as follows:
'The small people go about in parties, but the pisky in his habits, at least in West Cornwall, is a solitary being.
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Here in the west he is a ragged, merry little fellow (to 'laugh like a Pisky' is a common Cornish simile), interesting himself in human affairs, threshing the farmer's corn at nights, or doing other work, and pinching maidservants when they leave the house dirty at bed-time.'
(Courtney, Cornish Feasts and Folk-lore, p.122)
Whichever version you choose, there is no mistaking Pisky behaviour. A favourite trick was to ride horses at night so that their owners found them exhausted in the mornings. Where the horses had been ridden in a circle, gallitraps, or faerie rings, were left behind. |
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