Punchbowl, Liverpool,
England, circa 1759. Tin-glazed earthenware with polychrome
flowers and "Success to gen'l Wolfe" in well.
Delicate
Deception:
By Amanda E. Lange, Associate Curator
DEERFIELD, MASS. - Delftware with its rich, long history
continues to reveal much about the daily life and special
occasions of its early American users. Delftware took the form of
elegant plates often mistaken for fine porcelain, apothecary jars
filled with mysterious remedies, and deep punch bowls inscribed
with toasts to inspire merrymakers.
Historic Deerfield is currently featuring 175 pieces of delftware
from the collection along with 25 loans from a private
collection. The exhibition entitled, "Delicate Deception: ," is a
feature of the Flynt Center of Early New England Life until
November 30.
The exhibition is accompanied by a full-color, hardcover
catalogue, , supported by the Ray J. and Anne K. Groves
Publishing Fund. This new publication is the first in a series of
catalogues featuring the museum's nationally renowned decorative
arts collections.
The three essays that open the book examine a wide range of
topics. The initial essay studies collecting delftware at
Historic Deerfield, tracing the acquisitions of Henry and Helen
Flynt, the founders of museum, and subsequent important gifts
from donors. A brief history of the manufacture and production of
delftware follows. The third essay explores the sale and
consumption of delftware in the Connecticut River valley.
The catalogue section presents 97 pieces of the museum's English,
Dutch, and French delftware. The book reviews the variety of
delftware forms, ranging from posset pots to punch bowls, based
on function rather than decoration. Each chapter is preceded by a
brief introduction complemented by period quotations from early
travelers in North America.
Teapot, The Porcelain Bottle Factory, Delft, Holland,
1697-1701.
Delftware has a buff-colored earthenware body, coated with a lead
glaze opacified by the addition of tin ashes. (It is also called
tin-glazed earthenware for this reason.) As the title of the
exhibition reveals, delftware was a very fragile material that
frequently imitated Chinese porcelains. Knowledge of tin-glazed
earthenware manufacture spread from the Near East throughout the
Mediterranean, reaching southern Spain in the Eleventh Century,
Italy in the Fourteenth Century, and then northward to France and
the Low Countries in the early Sixteenth Century. This pottery
was known by various names, depending on the country producing
it: maiolica, faience, limeware, holland ware, white ware,
galleyware, and even "bastard china."
The most commonly used term was delftware, which takes its name
from the town of Delft in the Netherlands where many successful
potteries were situated. Dutch products dominated the market in
Northern Europe for a Century, and the English potteries grew in
imitation of the Dutch. Delftware was first made in England in
1567, when two Flemish potters arrived in Norwich, England. The
center for delft production soon shifted to the London area.
The process of creating delftware is captured in an 18-minute
video, Reproducing a Delftware Posset Pot, included in the
exhibition. Artisan Michelle Erickson, a specialist in the
reproduction of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century English
pottery, is featured in the video. The film follows the formation
of a posset pot (a two-handled, spouted drinking vessel) from
throwing on the wheel and assembling, to decorating and final
firing. Delftware was unique in its use of an absorbent glaze
that was often decorated with colored pigments. Once a line was
painted, it was difficult to erase. Decorators or "pot painters"
worked quickly and confidently; often their designs exhibit
spontaneity and freedom not found in other ceramics.
Throughout the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries, delftware
was the most common type of ceramic export to the American
colonies. Produced in a wide variety of forms, ranging from the
purely decorative to the decidedly utilitarian, plates, dishes,
punch bowls, mugs, tea wares, tiles, apothecary jars, and
chamberpots formed the bulk of delftware imported to America.
Some of the most entertaining aspects of the delftware exhibition
are found in the sections on its place in early American life as
tables wares and drinking vessels, containers for health and
beauty treatments, commemorative items, and other uses.
With water not always being safe to drink, alcoholic beverages
such as cider, ale, beer, and punch were a fixture in the diets
of early Americans. Punch lovers mixed rum or brandy with sugar,
orange, lime, or lemon juice, and spices, diluting this mixture
with hot or cold water according to the season, and the capacity
of the drinkers. It was the obligation of the revelers "to drink
the bowl dry" and the custom of calling for toasts made this an
easy task. Historic Deerfield has a sizeable collection of
delftware punch bowls, many with toasts in the bottom, including
"Success to genl Wolfe," "Success To the British Arms," and "One
Bowl More And then."
By the mid Seventeenth Century tea, coffee, and chocolate had
been introduced into Europe, with imports of these exotic
beverages rising enormously during the first half of the
Eighteenth Century. Chinese porcelains, the preferred vessels for
these drinks, were too expensive for most middle-class consumers.
Pewter, the most popular choice for tablewares, was unsuitable as
it transmitted heat. To fill the market need, potters created
less expensive delft tea, coffee, and chocolate wares.
Unfortunately, delftwares were not very durable, often chipping,
cracking, or breaking in contact with boiling water. Today these
tea and coffee wares are extremely rare survivals.
Dining customs changed dramatically from the Seventeenth Century
to the Eighteenth Century. Initially, one-pot meals such as
stews, hashes, and potages were popular, which were eaten from
small, handled bowls known as porringers. Most diners ate with
their hands from communal bowls or carried knives and spoons with
them. In the Eighteenth Century the main meal had at least two
courses, with all of the dishes arranged symmetrically in the
center of the table. The first course featured meat, fish, and
soup, while the second course offered grilled meats and
vegetables with a tart or pudding. Delft tablewares became
increasingly imitative of Chinese-style or chinoiserie designs
for their decoration. These Asian-inspired scenes range from
excellent copies of the Chinese originals to loose
interpretations of oriental motifs and designs.
Only the flames of the fireplace, oil and rush lamps, and candles
provided light after sunset in Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century
New England. Candles, especially those of beeswax rather than
tallow, were extremely costly and used sparingly. Only the homes
of the wealthy had a generous supply of lighting devices, and
artificial light became a measure of social standing. With its
distinctive mid-drip pan and trumpet base, this large, rare
candlestick copies an English metal prototype of the
mid-Seventeenth Century.
Delftware was created to commemorate the reigns of kings and
queens, hail political and military heroes, and herald
significant events. English delft decorated with royal portraits
was made from the reign of Charles I through that of George III.
Some of these royal portraits derive from contemporary prints,
while others are loosely based on caricatures or effigies of the
individual. Charles II (1630-1685), son of the executed Charles
I, was restored to the English throne in 1660. His wax effigy in
Westminster Abbey provides the most accurate representation of
his face: dark coloration, a prominent lower lip, a large nose,
coarse features, and thick eyebrows.
Historic Deerfield is fortunate to own a complete set of "Merry
Man" plates with an elaborate Mannerist-style cartouche, dating
from the late Seventeenth Century. This set of rhymed plates were
displayed in a cupboard, and rarely used for dining. "Merry man"
plates were popular over a long period of time; the earliest
dated set appearing in 1682, the last in 1752. The rhyme
associated with the plates would have been well known by the
users. "What is a merry man/Let him doe what he cane/ To
entertain his guests/ with wine and Merry jests/ But if his wife
doth frowne/ all merriment goes downe."
Containers for holding and displaying flowers became common
feature in upper-class households in the Eighteenth Century.
Thomas Fairchild's book The City Gardener (London, 1722)
commented that "One may guess the general love my fellow citizens
have of gardening, in furnishing their rooms and chambers with
basons of flowers and Bough pots, rather than not have something
of a garden in front of them." Bouquets of flowers became popular
in Eighteenth Century English and colonial American homes and
often appeared in pots placed in unused fireplaces, in mantel
garniture sets, and in vases placed on carved wooden brackets.
Delftware flower containers, such as wall pockets, flower bricks,
and vases, held fresh, dried, and artificial flowers.
In addition, delftware played a part in the medical practices of
early America. Some doctors, especially those in more rural
areas, supplemented their income by operating an apothecary shop.
Dr Thomas Williams (1718-1775) practiced medicine in Deerfield
for numerous years. As a doctor and apothecary, his surviving
daybooks list many medicinal preparations to induce purging,
sedating, vomiting, and sweating. Williams kept these remedies in
a set of covered delftware jars. Two basic types of delftware
drug jars were produced: one which is usually oviform for
containing dry preparations such as powders, pills, and salves,
and the other with a spout, bulbous body, and short pedestal, for
wet drugs such as oils, syrups, and liquids.
Standards of personal hygiene in the Eighteenth Century did not
match our own, and unpleasant odors must have been taken as a
matter of fact. Following a fashionable party in 1729, a man
noted, "At court last night, there was dice, dancing, crowding,
sweating and stinking in abundance as usual." The fashionably
rich could indulge in a wide variety of expensive cosmetic and
hair treatments to alter their looks and perfumes to freshen
their appearance. Specialist perfumers supplied rouges, powders,
hair pomades, and perfumes to the fashion conscious in small
delftware ointment pots.
Cup, London (Lambeth or Southwark), 1663.
The exhibition also contains a section devoted to the use of
delftware in the Connecticut River Valley. Probate inventory
records, newspapers, account books, archaeological excavations,
and objects with local histories reveal information on the
presence and use of delftware in this area. The Reginald and
Rachel French collection of delftware, acquired by the museum in
1991, provides examples of locally owned pieces of delft. One
plate is marked on the reverse with an ink inscription, stating
"Delft Wares/belonging to/Mrs. Hannah/F. Locke, who was/married
1753/Dec. 17." Genealogical records reveal that Hannah Farnsworth
Locke married James Locke, Jr. on that date in Ashby, Mass. The
Lockes were one of the first three families to settle Ashby,
where they raised 13 children including two sets of twins. This
same plate was saved and passed down through the Moore and Eddy
families of Gill, Massachusetts, before being purchased by the
Frenchs.
Delftware faced a great deal of competition in the late
Eighteenth Century. While it successfully imitated Chinese
porcelain, it was not as durable as the products from the
potteries in Staffordshire, England. Technical improvements in
Staffordshire lead-glazed earthenwares resulted in the
development of creamware in the early 1740s.
Josiah Wedgwood, founder of today's modern factory, perfected his
version of creamware in the 1760s. Wedgwood's effective marketing
skills and knowledge of current fashions eventually ruined the
market for delftware. Production went into sharp decline between
1760 and 1770, and by the early Nineteenth Century, the delftware
industry in England had come to an end. In places like the
Connecticut Valley, however, merchants continued to carry
delftware long after the American Revolution.
Historic Deerfield is open daily from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm.
Historic Deerfield will be holding a symposium on the topic of
English delftware, April 19 and 20, and will feature a roster of
internationally renowned scholars, including Michael Archer, John
Austin, Michelle Erickson, Peter Francis, Leslie Grigsby,
Jonathan Horne, and Rob Hunter. For information, call Joan Morel
at 413-775-7201. Copies of the catalogue , and copies of the
video, Reproducing a Delftware Posset Pot, are available through
the Museum Store.
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