Ceramic pudding mold with an elephant silhouette impressed into the bottom of the mold, most likely representing Jumbo, the large-eared African elephant made famous by P. T. Barnum. When the pudding is finished and flipped over to release it from the mold, the "bottom" becomes the top of the pudding. Thus the slightly dimensional elephant decorates the top of the pudding. The off-white color mold is made of a sturdy type of earthenware called "ironstone," so named for its durability, not because there is iron in the material. Ironstone was popular for everyday kitchen items and dinnerware in the 1800s and early 1900s The mold may date from 1882 to 1885 when Jumbo was in North America and, with Barnum's widespread promotion, spawned the craze for all things elephant ("Jumbomania"). The mold may have been made in America, or imported from England, where there were many potteries in Staffordshire producing ironstone items. If English, the mold may be earlier, dating to the 1870s or the early 1880s when Jumbo was a resident of the London Zoo. In addition to the elephant design, the mold is fluted all around the interior to create a very attractive pudding. The exterior is smooth, save for slight indentations, and overall gives the appearance of an oval bowl. In the 1700s and 1800s, the word "pudding" referred to a broad range of foods, both savory and sweet. Puddings, jellies and other molded desserts were very popular in Victorian cookery, so there was a large market for fancy and unusual molds to create elegant looking desserts. Jumbo the Elephant (ca. 1861 - September 15, 1885) was an unusually tall African elephant best known for his time as an attraction in the London Zoological Gardens, and as a part of P.T. Barnum's circus from 1882 to his untimely death in 1885. His sale by the London Zoo to Barnum and his partners prompted a great public outcry in England, but Barnum used even negative publicity to his advantage. Sent to America in a very large crate with his long-time keeper Matthew Scott, Jumbo toured cities and towns in the United States and Canada as part of Barnum's circus. He was not trained to perform like the Asian species of elephant in circuses; he only needed to be his huge, "jumbo" self to attract the crowds. Sadly, Jumbo was killed by a train in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, on September 15, 1885, as he was returning from an evening performance, walking on the railroad tracks. Barnum had the elephant's hide and bones mounted separately by Ward's Scientific of Rochester, New York. The pair were exhibited under circus tents as "Double Jumbo" for two or three years after Jumbo's death. The stuffed hide was then given to Tufts College (now Tufts University), where Barnum served on the founding Board, and the bones were given to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where they remain today. The mounted hide was lost to fire in the mid-1970s.
