Description:
One of two circular English creamware dessert plates with three molded bead borders - around the rim edge, and top and bottom of the fluted curvature. The rim is pierced with a band of openwork pattern (diamonds, ovals, and circles). 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. While unmarked, this dish bears a strong resemblance to one illustrated in James and Charles Whitehead’s 1798 pattern book. According to Donald Towner, there are very few distinctive patterns in Whitehead pattern book and that many of the engravings seem to be derived from Wedgwood, Leeds, and Castleford pattern books such as a variety of examples of these "Pierced Desert Plates, from 6 to 10 Inches," which also appear later in the c.1803/4 Don Pottery pattern book. These plates are part of a group of five from the John B. Morris collection (#466); HD 57.202.1-.3 have a heart included in the openwork design and a tape label on the back inscribed "1115" and HD 57.202.4-.5 do not have a heart in the design and have a tape label inscribed "991."
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+57.202.5 |
