Description:
English creamware egg cup with a pierced band of heart-shaped openwork around the upper half of the semi-ovoid circular cup, over engine-turned ribbing around the lower half; a short pedestal; and a raised foot with a serrated or gadrooned rim. Egg cups were made by Wedgwood in creamware from perhaps as early as 1765 in many shapes including open hoop or ring and pear and decorative styles. Enoch Booth (c.1703-1773) of Tunstall, England, developed the fine, light-colored earthenware now known as creamware in the early 1740s using the various improvements in body, glaze, and firing; but it was Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) who perfected and successfully marketed the ceramic body. Wedgwood’s version of creamware resulted from many experiments with white clays and improved glazes; by 1762, he had developed a light, sturdy, refined, and yet inexpensive cream-colored earthenware body. Wedgwood described the new product as "a species of earthenware for the table, quite new in appearance, covered with rich and brilliant glaze, bearing sudden alterations of heat and cold, manufactured with ease and expedition, and consequently cheap." Middle-class consumers rushed to purchase creamware, bringing the popularity of alternative ceramics such as tin-glazed earthenware and salt-glazed stoneware to an end. In an effort to capture a segment of the creamware market, many English potteries also began to produce the ceramic; estimates suggest that more than 150 factories in England manufactured the ware. Unfortunately most early wares were not marked, making attribution to a particular factory difficult. Anita Campbell shows a similar egg cup found during excavation of one of the archaeological sites in Place-Royale, Quebec City, which included the original foundations of several houses where some residents had large creamware dinner services, and tea and coffee wares.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2006.33.70 |
