English Delftware Pottery

The history of early English delftware is also the first chapter in the chronicle of Britain's modern ceramic industry. To collectors of English pottery, examples of seventeenth-century delftware provide uninhibited splashes of color unequaled among the wares of later years; to this historical archaeologist reaching into the shadows of the past, shattered delftware dishes, mugs, porringers, and even chamber pots provide lanterns to light his way.

This beautiful book contains the first ever comprehensive survey and catalog of the collection of English Delftware drug jars held in the Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. The book also includes details of tin-glazed barbers' bowls, pill tiles and posset pots in the collections. Delftware drug jars were originally manufactured in London around 1570. They were expensive highly prized objects, used by successful apothecaries for storage of pills, ointments, syrups, oils and confections. They were often highly decorated or labeled to indicate their contents. Today, English Delftware drug jars are rare and highly collectable. The Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain holds one of the finest collections of Delftware drug jars in the UK, photographed and cataloged for the first time in this publication.

"Tin-glazed earthenware has been made in Europe since the 15th century. In Britain, floor tiles and drug pots were made in Aldgate, London in the 16th century by immigrant potters from the Low Countries. In the early 17th century, factories making dishes and other wares were set up in London close to the River Thames. Their products were initially much influenced by Chinese porcelain as well as by Italian maiolica. Manufacture spread from London to centres such as Bristol, Liverpool and Dublin. Known as 'gally ware' in the 17th century, this type of pottery has come to be known as 'delftware' from the Dutch town of Delft which was renowned for its manufacture ... The British Museum collection of delftware, which was established in the later part of the 19th century, is one of the finest in the world. It is especially notable for the number of pieces bearing dates and for those which document historical personages and events. This beautifully illustrated book will feature more than 140 items from this extensive collection and include pieces which have never before been fully described or published in colour."--Publisher's description.

Tin-glazed pottery was imported from the Mediterranean over 500 years ago, but Delftware, with its distinctive blue-and-white designs influenced by Chinese porcelain, was first made in Northern Europe in the Netherlands, and subsequently in the burgeoning English potteries for the affluent middle classes. Changing fashions and the emergence of new materials and manufacturing techniques forced the obsolescence of Delftware by 1840, and pieces today command very high prices. Every piece in this catalogue is illustrated, in many cases with more than one view. The book also contains authoritative essays which provide a wider context for Delftware.