Description:
English silver shape, agateware cream pot in a blue, green, light orange and purple abtstract marblized swirl pattern on a cream background. The press-molded, baluster body has a deeply-scalloped rim flanking the small pouring lip; a loop handle with a scroll terminal; and is supported on three press-molded lion mask and paw feet. The earliest documented English agateware was made by the potter John Dwight (c.1637-1703) who was working in Fulham from about 1672 to his death. Agateware can be divided into two broad categories: 'thrown agate' and 'laid agate.' 'Thrown agate' describes an object formed by throwing it on a wheel using a prepared mixture of various colored clays. In Staffordshire, thrown agate reached its height of popularity in the 1750, and continued in production into the early 1770s. Laid agate' refers to an object created from a thin sheet or bat made of agate clay; this thin sheet is draped or laid in a mold and pressed into shape. Press-molding can be more effective in creating the swirled effect of naturally occuring agate stone. The documentation for English agateware in the Connecticut River Valley is overwhelming. For instance, the 1772-1774 invoice book of Samuel Boardman of Wethersfield, Connecticut, offers agateware teapots, sugar dishes, & cups and saucers; and Fisher Gay of Farmington, Connecticut, documented his 1768-1774 sales of agateware sugar dishes, teapots, milk pots, cups and saucers as well as small agate plates. In 1773, John Williams (1751-1816) and James Upham (1755-1827), who were briefly business partners, purchased a wide variety of ceramic and glass forms from Ebenezer Bridgham of Boston for sale in Deerfield including "1/2 doz Large Agate Do [teas] 5/: / 2 doz. 1/2 pt agate bowls 2/6" and "1 doz. agate Sugars 3/-." There is also a reference to "2 Marble Canisters 0/2/0" in the 1785 probate inventory of Joseph Barnard (1717-1785) of Deerfield. Most commonly, lead-glazed agateware was made in shapes relating to the service of tea. As with other ceramics, potters looked to silver prototypes for design inspiration. Historic Deerfield's wavy edge jug demonstrates this in its body shape. The lion's mask and paw feet ultimately may also derive from silver originals. Archaeological material proves that such feet were applied to earthenware and stoneware made in Staffordshire and elsewhere. Related feet also support some soft-paste porcelain shapes.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+54.236 |
