I might have raised this on HISTARCH a few years ago, but if so, I don't
remember what the answer was...

Does anyone know of a reliable citable source for blue-bodied earthenwares?

I don't mean pearlware, flow blue-decorated earthenwares, or slightly
blue-tinged white granite, but vessels where the clay itself is actually
sky-blue. Archaeologically speaking, they appear to date from the 2nd half
of the 19th century onwards, and - like whiteware - exist along all points
of a firing continuum, from more low-fired earthenwares to materials that
are essentially indistinguishable from stoneware.

I've come up with these in small quantities from sites across various parts
of the world, from Wales to Tasmania, but there doesn't appear to be much
archaeological discussion of them.

For those of you with access to Henry Kelly's 1999 book on Scottish pottery
("Scottish Ceramics", Schiffer), there are good photographs of the right
sort of vessel on pages 108 (plate 21.2) and 110 (21.13), where they're
described as blue earthenware imitations of parian pitchers.  I also have a
photograph of something similar in a book on Welsh pottery where they're
deeply unconvincingly described as an attempt to imitate jasperware.  But
that's about it.

I don't really remember seeing anything similar when I was working in the
US, but since that's over 7 years ago now, my memory might be playing tricks
on me....

Any thoughts?

Alasdair Brooks