Tim,



Your question concerning tulip shape cups and bowls in the “common shape”



You state, “In the table provided, it lists printed as rare for whiteware,
not seen for white granite, and not seen for bone china.  Pearlware is not
listed.”  I assume you are referring to the table following the drawing of
the tulip shape on page 13 of the “Common Staffordshire Cup and Bowl
Shapes” article posted on the Jefferson Patterson Park Diagnostic artifact
web site.  Pearlware is not listed for tulip shape because the tulip shape
does not get introduced until the post pearlware production period.    In
that table, undecorated tulip shape cups are listed as common on whitewares
and white granite wares.  They are not listed for decoration under white
granite because if they were decorated, they would not be white granite.



You mentioned that the cups you are classifying as tulip shape are paneled.
I think that these would be what the potters were calling “pressed.”  Tulip
shape cups do not have panels.  Unfortunately, I did not write up pressed
cups because the data was rather thin on the use of the term.  The pressed
shapes commonly have 12 to 14 side panels.  Is that what you mean by
paneled cups?  My paper covers the most common cup shapes, and there were
may others that seem to have had rather short ranges of production and that
we rarely see from archaeological assemblages.  Michael Berthoud’s book *A
Compendium of British Cups* illustrates a huge number of cup shapes (1990
Micawber Publications, Shropshire, Great Britain).



For those looking for a copy of this paper, it can be found on the
Jefferson Patterson Park web site under diagnostic artifacts.  I think the
address is

http://www.jefpat.org/diagnostic/index.htm



Another source that might be of help is my articles “Thoughts toward a
Users’ Guide to Ceramic Assemblages” that first appeared in the Council for
Northeast Historical Archaeology Newsletters, and now can be downloaded for
free from the CNEHA web site.



Peace and have a good cup-ulation,

George L. Miller






On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 7:52 PM, mike will <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Sorry ... I may have overlooked a previous HISTARCH discussion, but could
> someone let me know if there is a link for the paper on common cup and bowl
> shapes?
> Thx
> Mike
>
> On Wed, Jun 27, 2012 at 9:35 AM, Tim Bennett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Hi George,
> >
> > Thanks for the great paper on common cup and bowl shapes.  I found it
> > quite informative.
> >
> > I've been studying historic ceramics (mostly 19th century) for a number
> of
> > years which has coincided with the excavation of a Michigan farmstead
> > (Warner site) dating to 1841.  Our family has lived there for over 170
> > years and we have been able to identify dozens of patterns of ceramics
> > including "Bologna" by William Adams, "Sydenham" by Joseph Clementson,
> > "Premier" by J & G Meakin, etc.
> >
> > I've been reading a number of your articles lately and have found them
> > quite valuable and insightful.  Interestingly, before I had read them, I
> > had been coming to many of the same conclusions you did regarding
> > differentiation between pearlware, graniteware, ironstone, etc.  More on
> > that at a later date.
> >
> > Just a basic question regarding tulip shape cups in the common cup and
> > bowl shapes article:
> >
> > In the table provided, it lists printed as rare for whiteware, not seen
> > for white granite, and not seen for bone china. Pearlware is not listed.
> >  Unless I am confusing the tulip shape with another, I've seen all kinds
> of
> > what appear to be tulip shaped cups with transfer printed designs.  Many
> of
> > these utilize patterns (some with registry dates) in the 1840s.  The
> > earliest is an unmarked cup in blue that appears to be "Garden Scenery"
> by
> > T. J. & J. Mayer circa 1842.  I realize that some of these could/would
> have
> > been manufactured later on with an earlier registry date, but there are
> > many, many transfer printed tulip shaped cups in the 1840s and 1850s.
>  Ones
> > with handles are quite rare, though I have seen two examples:
> "Tillenberg"
> > by Joseph Clementson or Clementson Brothers and an unidentified pattern
> in
> > mulberry by J. & S. Alcock Jnr. registered in 1848.  P W & Co had a
> pattern
> > called "Minerva" circa 1852 listed as "Pearl Stone Ware" in the maker's
> > mark.  The tulip shape cups
> >  I am referring to have paneled sides.
> >
> > Any clarification would be most appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Tim
> >
>