The Fourth Gerald Dunning Memorial Lecture: Sex, Magic and Dr Gerald Dunning

This paper reviews three articles written by Gerald Dunning on inscriptions on medieval pottery, the scene on a medieval jug from London, and phallic imagery on medieval jugs. There appears to be insufficient evidence to maintain a magical significance in the inscriptions, and the scene on the London jug may represent the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise rather than a brothel. Phallic imagery may be related to ritual social occasions by analogy with the bronze figure known as Jack of Hilton. It is suggested that some medieval pottery decoration may be inspired by social occasions such as feasts.