Stoneware, About 1740S (Height 252 Mrn) About Two-Fifths Actual Slze
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Cover iiEustrutiun Two fine eanhenware coffee-pots. Contents The left-hand one is creamware painted with enamels; Melbourne, Derbyshire, about 1770. The other is colour-glazed ware, slip-cast 1. INTRODUCTION 5 as a cauliflower, Staffordshire or Yorkshire, about 1760s. Both about two-fifths actual size. 2. LOCAL EARTHENWARES 7 (Photograph: Northampton Museum.) Illwrration on rille page 3. SLIPWARE 15 - Bear of Nott~nghamstoneware, about 1740s (height 252 mrn) About two-fifths actual slze. 4. DELFT 25 - (Photograph: Nonhampton Museum.) 5. STONEWARE 33 6. FINE EARTHENWARES 41 - 7. CREAMWARE 47 - 8. PORCELAIN 53 9. AN EARLY EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PIT GROUP 51 10. FURTHER READING 60 11. MUSEUMS 62 INDEX 63 Published by SHIRE PtJBLICAnONS LTD Cromwell House, Church Street. Princes Risborough. Aylesbury. Bucks. WP17 9AJ, UK. Series Editor: James Dyer Copyright Jo Draper, 1984 All nghts resewed No pan oith~s publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means. electron~cor mechanical. includtng photocopy, recording, or any information storage and rerrieva! svstem, without perrn~ssionin wiring from the publishers. First published I984 Set in 11 paint Times and printed in Great Britain by C. I. rhomas R. Sons (Haverfordwest) Ltd. Press Buildings. Merlins Bridge. Havedordwest. Dyfcd. 6 Posr- Medieval Porierv century. of creamware, which was exported and prized all over Europe and beyond, as the best reasonably priced pottery of the period. Britain had been a backwater for ceramic production. Local earthenwares British ceramics were influenced by conrinen tal developments and seldom achieved the quality of, for example, tin-glazed Archaeofogically local earthenwares are often called coarse- earthenware produced in Europe. wares, but by comparison with earlier ots the are not coarse. Bw comparison with delft and the later Pine eart r;enwares they do sekm so, however. Long before 1650 almost all potters were using a fine. fairly hard fabric w~tha little fine sand temper, which is very sophisticated by comparison with much medieval and earlier pottery tempered with large atit or $round shell. Almost_ -_- a11 wots were at least partia!l_vglj~cd,whereas in the medieval period only jugs and finer vesseIs werc glazed. Metal cooking vessels were very common and had completcl?; replaced the simple ceramic cooking pot, which had been the commonest pottery form made from the neolithic period onwards. There was no reduction in the amount of pottery in circulation. because during the Iate sixteenth century . when t hc cooking pot was superseded, many new pottery forms such as dishes, plates, bowls (some handled), cups, mugs and specialised cooking vessels Iike skillets and chafing dishes came ~ntocommon use. The orher very common medieval form - the jug, or pitcher - continued in production, as did large storage vecsels. Almost all post-medieval earthenwares are oxidised and hlearthenware handled bwh. hthcrcaratcd in Dorchesrer In 154h 3. Plain greeny therefore red, becausc they were fired in a kiln with plenty of air, orange plaze (helpht M mmm). 4. With lr h~tcrl~p decorat~on (d~arneter 132 mm). Probablv or rather ox gen, available. Many medieval wares were black or earl! eigh~ecnthccntup Boz h also111one-! h~rdactual slzc ( Dotxt Uountv Museum.) . dark brown iecnuse they were fired in a reducing atmosphere, in Chamber-pols. a form rarclv reprcwnrrd in collccrions 5. W~thsl~p decoration, lrom the a sealed kiln where the supply of free oxygen was limited. group ~llustratcdin chaptct'9; early tlghrcen~hcenrury (he~ght148 mml. 6. Olive green Ime ~ns~deand spla~hcsoutside. prahahly her c~ghrcenthcentury. local eanhenware All forms were made in metal. but the pottery equivalent was f hc~ph~155 mm). Rorh ahour a quancr actual s~zc.(Dorset County Museum ) much cheaper. Even more economical were wooden bowls, drinking vessels and trenchers. Neither metal nor wooden vessels are well represented in archaeological deposits because wood rots away and the metal vessels were recycled by being melted down when broken beyond repair. Probate inventories (lists of possessions made after death) show the low value placed on earthenwares since they rarely mention them at all. They do, however, clearly indicate the great variety of the more valuable metal cooking and serving vessels. An inventory of a 'gentleman' in Yetminster, borsez, in 1686 lists '1 furnace pan, 2 brass pots, 2 kettles, 2 skillets, 2 skimmers, 2 brass ladles, a pestle and morter, 2 brass candlesticks and 2 chaffindishes' (chafing dishes) and '18 pewter disks, 12 plates, 12 pewter porringers, 3 pewter candlesticks an8",;:; 8 Posr- Medieval Ponery Local earthen wares 9 small pewter salts and drinking holes, 4 pewter chamber pots, a bed pan and closestool pan', w hi 1st any pottery he possessed must be included with 'other lumber goods'. This rich inventory gives a goad idea of the variety of brass and pewter used, but any wooden vessels present would have been too cheap to be listed. A later inventor), of a yeoman from Leigh. Dorset, does however list '5 trenchers and one cage'. presumably because of the 'cage' or stand. This inventory of 1760 includes bell-metal, pewter and iron vessels. and '3 stone plates and some cups . 1 tea pot and tea dishes'. which are probably included because they are not common local: earthenware. Earthenwares were used. broken and discarded, so that thev rarely survived to be collected, and coIlectors tended to concentrate on decorated wares. Local earthenwares therefore are mostly known through the archaeolo~icalrecord. and here they appear in huge quantities. Even pit goups of the rnld nineteenth century incIude a few local Earthenware pots with an won-nch sl~punder the glaze. 9. A veT crude jug (height IR2 bowls or other kitchen wares. whilsr in cgroups of the seventeenth (height 246 mm) The shp can be seen extcndlng below the and eighteenth centuries they predominate (chapter 9). century. Both about a quarter actual sizc. (Northampton Many of the local potteries were small family concerns. and often pottery making was only a part-time occupation. Surviving Mu s II. With a dutl green glaze, from the grou illustrated in chapter 9 (hcight 172 mm). accounts. w~llsand ~nventoriesshow that the potters were often U.kc buff fabric with a streaky blow? plsrc &eight 131 rnrn). Both canhenware, earl etghreen~hcentury, with bands of ndg~ngreminisent of metal or uwdcn vc~reb.Doll small farmers as well. Local clay was used. dug from as dose to shout two-fifths actual size. (12: Northampton Museum.) the kiln and workshop as possible. Some of these clays needed weathering in the frost or mixing with fine sand. whllst others were suitable for firing without any addition. All. however. had to have any stones or gravel removed, sometimes by diluting the clay with water until it was a slip and then sieving it. After the clay 7. Plain cvcwda\ eanhcn*are bowl. wth a brow-flecked oranpcy glaze ~nstde:probably cightccnth ccntur). Iheight 153 mm). 8. A very s lend~dtwclve-handled Mwl glazed ~rten&hrcllau overall: canhcnvuc, probably ma& at Vewd(Doncl), and pcrhnps c~~htccn~hrcnturv (hcight l.U mm). Bo~habout une-sixth actual stte. (Donet Counry Mutvum ) 10 Posf-Medieval Portery Local earthen wares 11 had been trampled or mixed and then kneaded to remove air pockets it was ready for use, Almost all local eanhenwares were thrown on the wheel, that is, formed by placing a suitably sized lump of clay on a small circular platform (wheel) and shaping the pot as this revolves. Early wheels were powered bv the potter's feet, but during the eighteenth centusy wheels came into use that were directly cranked by another worker or driven like a lathe by cord and pulley from a large hand-turned wheel. When the main par? of the pot was leather hard the handles were attached. Pottery needs to be dry before it is fired because any water left in the body will mnkc it shatter in the kiln. In the simplest potteries vesseIs were dried outside in the sun. but many had dryine,- - sheds, some us in^ a low artificial heat. Glazing made the pots less porous and more attractive. 13. An uncl.~ir~,cL3rihenware hrc pot, wbluh would k f~llrdwrth hot .~<hesfor as a Originally galena, a lead ore mined at several places in En land, prtablc hcatrr prohablv eighteenth centurv (hcighl 131 mm) About one-fifth actual slze. 14. A s~mplesl~pware dlch wtth yellowy SIFP and grrn glaze. of a lype produced hv was ground to a powder and dusted on, but a later and t etter many local pottertes dunng chr eighteenth and r~ine~eenthcenturies (diameter 251. mm). method was to dip the pot in a liquid mixture of slip and galena as About one-sixth actual swe. (Both Northampton Museum ) this could cover more of the pot. Irt the later seventeenth century lithatge or lead oxide, which gave a shinier finish. stalted to Glaze colour resuEts from the cnlour of the body of the pot or replace galena. although not all local potteries changed to it. the slip coatings, seen through r he basically colourless glaze, or Mosr local porters ground and prepared their own glazes. from additions to the glaze itself. Most clays contain iron, which tters used saggars in the k~ln.but others simply placed in an oxidising atmosphere makes the glaze orangey or brown sherdsSomepo o pottery or pellets of clay between the vessels to prevent depending on how much is prescnt. and on some earthenwares the glaze from sticking them together. Later developments 15. Puzzle jug with a dark brown glaze (height 172 mm). The tube in the handle supplies included fixed shelves inside the kiln so that the finer wares could the nozzles on the rim.