Description:
One of two pairs of English creamware shallow, oval fruit baskets with stands (HD 2006.33.3.1-.2 and HD 2006.33.3.3-.4). The flared sides of the basket are decorated with an openwork pattern of a row of hearts over three rows of a diamond-pierced openwork pattern; fluted oval base; and plain well. The basket has two double intertwined cord handles with four flower and leaf terminals, which are attached under the flared rim with its plain rim border on the top and cable or gadrooned border on the rim's underside. The rim of the stand has a cable or gadrooned border around the rim edge and a row of pierced hearts over two rows of diamonds; fluted curvature; and plain well. 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, these baskets and stands are similar to a basket and stand illustrated in James and Charles Whitehead’s 1798 pattern book - No. 86, "Oval [and round Fruit Baskets] engined pierced, three Sizes," with the exception of the terminals. 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 Fruit Basket and Stands," which also appear later in the c.1803/4 Don Pottery pattern book. However, this particular design is not shown in any of the other pattern books although the foliate terminals appear to match a molded terminal illustrated by Peter Walton and Donald Towner who describes this terminal as "by far the most usual Leeds terminal used on creamware after 1775..... and does not appear to have been used by any other factory."
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+2006.33.3.3 |
