Description:
English creamware oval tureen with a domed cover. The lid has a floral finial with a flower (partially broken off) extending from a stem with two molded buds and leaves, and a molded feather edge border around the lobed rim edge with a notched hole in the side for a ladle or spoon. The tureen has bowed sides; bands of molded feathers around the upper side and rim border of the spreading foot; and a pair of attached double-intertwined twist handles with briar terminals above and winding stem, flowers, and leaves terminals below. While unmarked, this tureen is similar to a tureen illustrated in James and Charles Whitehead’s 1798 pattern book - No. 14, "Oval Tureens - Feather Edge [five sizes]." 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, and also appear later in the c.1803/4 Don Pottery pattern book. The combination of the briar and floral terminals of the handles are found in the Whitehead and Leeds pattern books, and according to Towner, the flower finial were generally used by the Leeds pottery after about 1775, and do not appear to have been used elsewhere. 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.
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+2006.33.57 |
