Description:
English pearlware, rectangular, slab-constructed tea caddy decorated with flower baskets and floral sprays in "Prattware" colors (brown, blue, orange, and green) after the potter, William Pratt, who developed the palette at his factory in Lane Delph, Staffordshire. These are the typical range of colors available for underglaze painted decoration, a palette limited to colors derived from metallic oxides that could withstand the heat of the glaze firing. The shaped lid has a molded, slightly-arched handle with brown foliate decoration, over four small flower sprays and a brown-edged rim; the inside of the lid and the underside of the box are incised with the number "215". The body, the inside of which is divided into two compartments (possibly for green and black tea), has a brown-edged rim over two large floral sprays in low baskets on the sides, and the ends decorated with three small flower sprays and a simulated, applied molded round handle outlined in brown. There is a brown band around the base, over four triangular feet, which have the front outlined in brown and an incised line around the base. A rare form with a divided interior; his object probably held black and green teas. Welsh ceramics scholar Jonathan Gray thought that this shape could be Welsh based on an identically shaped casket or canister with underglaze blue transfer printed decoration sourced to the Cambrian Pottery in Swansea, Wales.
Subjects:
Pottery; glaze (coating by location) Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+56.003 |
