Description:
Nottingham-type mug; thrown and lathe turned mug; tall, cylindrical, straight-sided form, covered with a iron brown slip and salt-glazed, two applied bands of grog, potter's waste or breadcrumbs are at the top and bottom of the mug, in between those bands are band of deep cut flutes, applied, ribbed strap handle with squeezed terminal, the underside of the mug has modern paper labels applied for collector "LOWY/175" , English ceramic dealer "Garry Atkins", also a white label with the inscription, "Nottingham salt-glazed tankard with grog bands/ 19/0G8/ 48" Condition: Several chips to the underside of the base rim. Salt-glazed brown stoneware was made in Nottingham, England, from the late 1600s until the early 1800s. During kiln firing, salt is introduced into the kiln, where it reacts with the clay to create a shiny, pitted glaze. Nottingham-type stonewares are characterized by lustrous metallic chocolate brown surfaces. Nottingham ware was very fine, thinly potted stoneware. This mug is evenly thin, not thick like some more utilitarian pieces. Generally termed “Nottingham”or “Nottingham brown stoneware” – the same type of ware was also produced at the neighboring towns of Derby and Crich. Plain or undecorated wares predominated but decorated examples were also produced. Mugs like this one with bands of vertical fluting and a border of bread crumbs (also called potter’s waste or grog) were hugely popular during the early- to mid-eighteenth century. Among the many forms recovered from North American excavation sites, thinly potted straight-sided tankards and baluster-shaped mugs predominate in the category of Nottingham-type drinking vessels. Similar fragments to this mug have been excavated in Portsmouth, NH. Many references to Nottingham wares appear in the account books of Connecticut River Valley merchants as well as advertised in places like Boston, MA, and Newport, RI. During UMass Archaeology Field School excavations of the Nims House in Deerfield, a small fragment of a Nottingham-type mug’s handle was recovered.
Label Text:
The cities of Nottingham and Derby in the English Midlands specialized in the production of brown stoneware from the late 1600s until the mid-1800s. Their characteristic lustrous, chocolatey brown surfaces resulted from coatings of iron-rich slip (liquid clay) and salt glazing. Mugs like this one with decorative bands of vertical fluting and borders of bread crumbs (also called potter’s waste or grog) proved extremely popular for the American market during the mid to late 18th century. Connecticut River valley merchants sold the majority of Nottingham brown stonewares to customers in the decade before the American Revolution.
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