Description:
English creamware cylindrical mug decorated with a molded beeded band around the rim and bottom edge of the base; and an attached, ribbed, double intertwined loop handle terminating in four large flower and leaf terminals. During Historic Deerfield's Creamware Symposium, April 26. 2008, Thomas Walford and Diana Edwards attributed this mug to the Newcastle area based on the ribbed or reeded handle and terminals. Walford noted that the terminals are very elaborate, out of proportion with the mug, and are distinct from those seen on Staffordshire, Yorkshire and other creamware. Walton and Towner illustrate a similar, but smaller, terminal design which they state was used by the Leeds Pottery on creamware made both before and after 1775. 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 creamware. Unfortunately most early wares were not marked, making attribution to a particular factory difficult since mugs are found many of the manufacturers' Pattern Books such those of Wedgwood, James and Charles Whitehead, and the Leeds, Castleford, and the Don Potteries.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2006.33.29 |
