Collections Database

Description:
English press-molded oval dish, stand, or undertray decorated in green glaze with six pierced trelliswork cartouches framed with fruits and leaves alternating with basketweave panels around the rim, and a sixteen-lobed wavy (scalloped and scrolled) edge. Six groups of fruit extend from the curvature into the well. The central well is plain. Attributing examples of this popular dish form to particular makers is difficult. Factories throughout Staffordshire made fairly similar models, and shards in related, if not identical, design have been excavated among factory waste from Thomas Whieldon's Fenton Vivian factory site (1747-1780); the Town Road in Hanley (possibly from Humphrey Palmer's Factory), and William Greatbatch's factory at Lower Lane Fenton. The circa 1765 date is assigned, however, based on the assumption that they must post-date Josiah Wedgwood's claim to have discovered green glaze in 1759. This form is also found with a tortoiseshell glaze and white salt-glazed stoneware. Leslie Grigsby notes that "this dish was probably the stand for a fruit basket..." A fragment of a similar green-glazed dish has been found in Portsmouth, NH, and is on display at the Warner House.

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+56.254

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.