White Salt-Glazed Stoneware

Defining Attributes

A salt-glazed, thinly potted, gray to white-bodied non-porous stoneware that is generally identifiable by its characteristic pitted "orange peel" surface. The gray pasted wares are white slipped (dipped) to make them appear whiter and often have a characteristic brown oxide coating on rims, handles, and spouts, areas where the slip did not adhere very well.

Chronology

Traditionally dipped white salt-glazed stoneware has been dated to ca. 1715 by researchers in the Chesapeake region (Noël Hume 1970:114-115). Recent reports on the excavations at John Dwight’s pottery in Fulham, just north of London, suggest that this date could be pushed back to 1700 in Staffordshire and earlier at Fulham (Noël Hume 2001:199). Dwight was making a dipped white salt-glazed stoneware by the mid-1690s. There is evidence to suggest that Staffordshire potters were copying the Fulham pieces by the late 1690s, and were almost certainly doing so by the first decade of the 18^th century. The Fulham products were better made than their Staffordshire counterparts, showing evidence of being turned on a lathe and a distinct knife finish on the handles (Green 1999:135-140). Brown edged dipped white salt-glazed pieces stayed in production through much of the 18^th century and are found on archaeological sites in the Chesapeake region dating up to the Revolutionary War (Noël Hume 1970:115; 2001:199).

Between ca. 1720-1740, white salt-glazed stoneware was sometimes incised with line decorations that were filled with an iron oxide which fired brown. Referred to as Scratch-brown, this ware is relatively rare on colonial archaeological sites. In the mid-1730s incised designs were to be filled with cobalt blue oxide. This ware, Scratch-blue, was very popular on teawares and is found on sites up through the Revolutionary War period (Noel Hume 2001:206,207). A later version of the blue scratch and fill stoneware, Debased Scratch-blue, was popular from ca. 1765 – ca. 1795, and continued to be made into the 1820s. Noël Hume (2001:207-209) claims credit, with his wife, for coining this term to describe the English versions of Rhenish blue decorated stonewares.

Noël Hume (2001:201) identifies a transitional white salt-glazed stoneware, that was introduced by ca. 1720. Like its dipped predecessors, it had a coarse, grayish body, but unlike the earlier pieces, the engobe that coated the vessels contained flint. Often this glaze has very fine black specks in it, and the surface can be somewhat yellowish. By the mid-1720s, true white salt-glazed stoneware, with flint in both the body and glaze, was introduced.

In the 1730s and 1740s, block press-molded and slip cast forms became prevalent. These techniques allowed for the manufacture of intricately shaped vessels, and were especially popular for teapots and punch pots. Thinly cut slabs of clay were pressed against specially carved wooden blocks by the late 1730s, or liquid clays were cast in plaster molds by the mid-1740s, to create elaborate designs in relief (Mountford 1971; Poole 1995:60). By 1740, molded plate rims in standardized patterns were introduced, with motifs known as "dot, diaper and basket", "bead and reel", and "barley". While most commonly left plain white, these plates were sometimes painted with metal oxides in similar clouded patterns as seen on the Whieldon creamwares.

An overall cobalt blue stoneware, known as Littler’s Blue, was produced between 1745 – 1765. This ware was often elaborately gilded or painted with white enamel and is rarely found on archaeological sites (Noël Hume 2001: 277-279). In the 1750s - 1760s white salt-glazed wares were sent to Liverpool to be overglaze transfer printed and these designs were often also enameled (Mountford 1971:60,61).

Description

Fabric
White salt-glazed stoneware has a homogenous, fine-textured non porous body. The earlier dipped wares have gray-colored pastes and are slightly grainy. Whiter fabrics were achieved by using whiter clays and adding calcined flint to the paste.

Glaze
This ware is salt-glazed by the addition of common salt into the kiln when it is at the highest temperature. The vaporized sodium combines with the silica on the surface of the vessel to create a clear, glossy, hard glaze that allows the fabric to show through. Salt-glazing is characterized by a pitted glossy surface with a distinctive "orange peel" texture. Dipped white salt-glazed stoneware can be distinguished from true white salt-glazed stoneware by the presence of a visible thin white band on the surface of the paste, while the glaze and body on true white salt-glazed stoneware are largely indistinguishable.

Decoration
When decorated, a variety of molded and applied techniques, often in combination, were used on white salt-glazed stoneware. Press molding, slip casting, engine turning, and incising were mixed with colored slips and oxide powders, overglaze polychrome enamels and transfer printed designs. A rare but distinctive decoration was made by sticking bits of shredded clay in bands on teawares or all over animal figures, especially bears, as "breadcrumb" fur. This technique, known as rustication, was popular in the 1740s (Mountford 1971; Poole 1995:58).

Vessel surfaces were incised with geometric and floral motifs and then filled with iron or cobalt oxides. The excess paint was wiped away, leaving only the brown or blue-filled lines after firing. Debased Scratch-blue is a continuation of the scratch-blue technique, but the cobalt powder is more heavily applied and is not wiped away from the undecorated surface, creating amorphous blue areas outside the incised lines (Gusset 1980:28-30).

Elaborate vessels, such as teapots in the shapes of houses, vegetables, and animals, were made from block molds and plaster-of-paris casts. Press molded pieces have smooth interior surfaces, while slip cast vessels show a mirror image of the relief design on the reverse surface. These pieces were left plain white or were painted with polychrome enamels or colored slips such as Tortoiseshell or clouded wares.

Some of the more expensive tablewares were overglaze painted by enamelers, or decorated with the new technique of transfer printing in black, red, and purple on top of the glaze. Technology limited the size of the designs, which are often found on the centers of plates or the sides of teapot. Early transfer printing is distinguishable by its sharp lines, while the paper transfer method used in the late 18^th century produced images composed of tiny dots, like newsprint. White salt-glazed stoneware is always overglaze decorated.

Form
Wheel thrown, press molded, and slip cast forms included all types of tablewares, especially teawares, plus pitchers, jugs, mugs and tankards, chamberpots, and a variety of specialized forms. Common forms of dipped white salt-glazed stoneware include mugs, tankards, and coffee pots. Scratch-Blue white salt-glazed stoneware forms included tablewares, especially teawares, pitchers, punch pots, and loving cups. Debased Scratch-blue Mugs, tankards, and chamber pots are the common forms, in addition to teawares. The chamber pots are frequently decorated with sprig-molded medallions of George III, and in the last decades of the 18^th century, the Great Seal of the United States (Noël Hume 1970:117).

Notes

Around 1675, John Dwight of Fulham established the first successful salt-glazed stoneware manufacturing industry in England. By the early 1680s, Dwight had perfected a white-bodied, salt-glazed stoneware that proved to be popular, particularly the globular mug, known as a gorge. It is distinguishable by the presence in the paste of black iron specks up to one millimeter in diameter, and a sometimes cream-colored glaze. It can also be slightly translucent, and vessel walls are generally 2 mm. or less in thickness. Production of this Fulham "fine white" ware had apparently ended by the late 17^th century (Green 1999:125).

The introduction of calcined flint to the manufacturing process, traditionally credited to John Astbury in 1720 (although Dwight may have used flint too), helped refine white salt-glazed stoneware. By 1740, English white salt-glazed stoneware was produced by press molding, which allowed objects to be cast in relief in an array of patterns. The versatility and durability of white salt-glazed stoneware allowed it to quickly replace tin glazed earthenware and to serve as an affordable substitute for porcelain. This pottery was the most common dining and tea ware used in England during the mid-18^th century, only to be replaced in popularity by creamware in the 1760s.

References

Barker and Halfpenny 1990; Gusset 1980; Green 1999; Mountford 1971; Noël Hume 1970, 2001