Museum in search for boy who smashed ancient jug

An Ipswich museum has issued an appeal to find the family of a little boy left "devastated" after he accidentally smashed an historic artefact last summer.

The team at the Christchurch Mansion museum is asking relatives of a boy, believed to have been around four or five years old at the time, to come forward so they can reassure him the 18th-century jug has been fixed.

The child was said to have been "distraught" that he caused the breakage and museum says it is keen to let him know that everything is okay.

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The Delft puzzle jug had been in the museum collection on permanent display for many years. It is called a puzzle jug because it has four spouts and when tipped, the contents could pour from any one of the them.

A spokesman for the museum told the Ipswich Star: "The young lad was very upset by what had happened and they all thought he had destroyed the historic jug. We would like to be able to show him and his family that it has all been put back together again and that it is back on show."

A local councillor told the BBC: "He was visiting the mansion with his family and this beautiful ancient puzzle jug was on quite a low window ledge. He knocked it off and it smashed into about 60 pieces. He was of course, absolutely devastated, and his family were really upset."

The jug was smashed into 65 pieces in the accident and took 65 hours to put back together.