MANY thanks, George!
As one of your west coast fans, I've collected up most of your articles.
I appreciate this summation very much.
S. Walter
-----Original Message-----
From: George Miller
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2019 8:04 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Cottage ware
7-21 July HISTARCH answering Susan Walter on origins of “Cottage Ware”
Susan,
Your HISTARCH question about the term “cottage ware” brought back some
foggy memories of seeing the term. I checked several sources and they did
not contain that term. However I did find a reference to it in J. Arnold
Fleming’s *Scottish Pottery* that was first published in 1923 and reprinted
1973 by EP Publishing Ltd, Wakefield, United Kingdom. Page 65 discussed
the use of cut sponge patterns when he states “Hence it is by far the most
rapid and cheapest method, and yet is very effective in its colouring of
‘Cottage pottery.’
Another term that sticks as a vague memory is “peasant ware,” but several
books I consulted did not come up with the term. Both terms seem to have
been created in the 20th century and do not occur in any of the
Staffordshire potters price fixing lists, or in the many potter’s and
importers invoices that I have consulted over the years
Pearlware is another term that does not occur in the potter’s price fixing
list or their invoices nor in the invoices from and to importers or account
books that I have consulted over the years. As I have said earlier
“Pearlware has become pigment of our immigration.” Noël Hume’s 1969
article “Pearlware: Forgotten milestone of
English Ceramic History” in the March issue of *Antiques *has set the
direction that historical archaeologists and collectors have taken in
labeling every sherd with a trace of blue in its glaze as pearlware. Josiah
Wedgwood’s 1779 letter to his partner Thomas Bentley describes is new
“Pearl White.” Wedgwood’s correspondence for that period describes his
seeking a whiter firing ware. See pages 227 to 239 in *The Selected Letters
of Josiah Wedgwood* edited by Ann Finer and George Savage published by
Cory, Adams & Mackay in 1965. Noël Hume’s article on pearlware illustrates
several vessels painted in a copy of a Chinese style and implies that is
what pearl white referrers to. Several years ago Rob Hunter observed that
Josiah Wedgwood did not produce these types of painted wares. Wedgwood was
using the addition of cobalt to the glaze to produce a whiter looking ware,
not a darker amount of cobalt to produce a copy of Chinese porcelain.
M. Mellanay Delhom’s article “Pearlware” published in *The 22nd Wedgwood
International Seminar* in 1977 (pages 61-65) lists notes from the Wedgwood
records from 1815, 1816, 1817, 1820 and 1822 that continue to refer to
“Pearl White” and not pearlware. My 1987 article “Origins of Josiah
Wedgwood’s ‘Pearlware’ that was published in *Northeast Historical
Archaeology* Volume 16, pages 83-95 clearly documents that the other
potters refereeing to these blue painted chinoiserie patterns as “China
Glaze.” Given that Wedgwood does not seemed to have produced these wares,
it not surprising that the term does not show up in his correspondence. The
other thing that happens is that decoration replaces creamware, not
“pearlware.” Potters continue to refer to wares as to how they were
decorated, i.e. edged, dipt, painted or printed. What has been labeled
pearlware is almost never undecorated. Unfortunately, archaeologists and
collectors have gotten hung up on calling everything with a trace of blue
in the glaze as pearlware.
For a discussion of classification of blue tinted wares see my article see
my article “Thoughts Towards a User’s Guide to Ceramic Assemblages: Part
Four, Some Thoughts on Classification of White Wares.” Published in
the *Council
for Northeast Historical Archaeology Newsletter*, 1993 volume 26 pages 4-7.
This can be downloaded from the *Council for Northeast Historical
Archaeology* web site. I had an article with Rob Hunter titled “How
Creamware got the Blues: The Origins of China Glaze and Pearlware” that was
published in *Ceramics in America *in 2001.
If one classifies their wares as cottage ware or pearlware, then the
results will not be comparable to historic assemblages listed in invoices,
account books or probate inventories. The potters just referred to these
wares as painted if underglaze decorated and enameled if painted over the
glaze. My preference is to use their terms because we do not have an
ability to reclassify wares from the documents in terms of pearlware or
cottage ware.
Peace,
George L. Miller
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