Description:
English delft one-piece, press-molded sweetmeat or pickle dish with seven compartments, decorated in blue. These dishes were used to serve accompaniments to the meal courses, such as pickled vegetables or sweetmeats, preserves, candies, and nuts. Most were made in one piece, with from one to seven compartments, but others could be made of removable dishes that nested together. This partitioned dish with six bun feet attached to an unglazed base consists of one piece. A Wedgwood Factory pattern book of 1773 shows a tray of comparable shape but with a set of removable containers called "pickle saucers" resting in it. Fragments of trays with seven lobes (both glazed and unglazed) and a six-sectioned dish have been excavated at Lambeth. The widespread adoption of these pickle dishes reflects a mid-18th-century change in dining fashion with the interest in pickled fruits and vegetables inspired by French cuisine. The dish has six kidney-shaped compartments around a central six-pointed star. The edges are decorated with a basket-weave patterns; the well of the center star has a large floral spray, and the surrounding compartments have floral sprays alternating with three crossed 'hairy' fish surrounded by three flowers. Frank Britton believes that this entwined triple fish design seen on the ceiling bosses in the north transept of Bristol Cathedral was the design source for the Bristol delft decorators. The motif has been found on Egyptian pottery of the XVII-XV Dynasty (circa 1567-1985 BC), and represented the Holy Trinity, to which the Cathedral is dedicated. A similar entwined fish design has also been found on a fragment at Colonial Williamsburg.
Label Text:
Pickle dishes were filled with savory pickles during first or second course of dinner or could contain sweetmeats and be incorporated into the dessert service.
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+66.190 |
