Hi all

I sent this earlier to the ceramics list but realized discussion is 
across 2 lists.

Breton pot has biotite in it - see recent paper by Peter Pope et al in 
Post-Med Arch ?2008 on export to Canada.
Much western French pot has muscovite in it but is usually fine red or 
white glazed ware eg Saintonge.


Post-Medieval Archaeology 42/1 (2008), 48–74
Post-medieval Breton earthenwares in Newfoundland
By PETER E. POPE and MICHAEL BATT
with contributions by MICHAEL J. HUGHES and ROGER T. TAYLOR
SUMMARY: Archaeological investigations of early modern European contexts 
at Ferryland and St John’s, Newfoundland, produced sherds of a 
previously unidentified coarse earthenware. Petrological study, 
stylistic matching and ICP–MS/ICP–AES analysis indicate that they come 
from kilns at Saint-Jean-la-Poterie in south-east Brittany. Pottery from 
the same centre also reached early modern migratory fishing stations in 
Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula, where sherds closely resembling 
17th-century wasters from kilns at Pabu-Guingamp in northern Brittany 
have also been found. The recovery of earthenwares from these areas is 
thought-provoking; the archaeological evidence offers a way to trace the 
intricacies of a vernacular economy which is only fitfully recorded in 
commercial records.


paul