English Brown Stoneware (1675-1775) A gray-bodied stoneware with a brown salt glaze.

Material – Stoneware

Place of Origin – England

The Rhenish potteries dominated the stoneware markets from the mid-fifteenth century through the seventeenth century. Although there is evidence that English potters attempted to make stoneware vessels it isn’t until the late seventeenth century that they achieved the first successful stonewares are developed by a Fulham potter, John Dwight. In 1672 Dwight was granted the first patent for the production of stoneware in England. The patent did not stop other English potters from making similar wares and by the end of the 17th century their production was not limited to Fulham.[i] These vessels were often ornately sprig decorated with a brown oxide colorant being added in a thick band to the upper portion of the vessel. English brown stoneware vessels also tend to have dark hematite inclusions in the paste. These served as utilitarian wares often associated with tavern wares for the consumption of beer and spirits. Common vessel forms include bottles, mugs, and storage jars.[ii] Eighteenth century hunting mugs can be distinguished by their larger size, sprigged decorations that depict hunting scenes, a white slipped base, and they are finished with a silver metal band around the rim.[iii]

[i] K.J. Barton, Pottery in England from 3500BC-AD 1730 (A.S. Barnes and Company, South Brunswick, UK, 1975), 132; Howard Coutts, The Art of Ceramics: European Ceramic Design 1500-1830 (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2001), 58-61; Robin Hildyard, Browne Muggs: English Brown Stoneware (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK 1985), 11; Ivor Noel Hume, A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America (Vintage Books, New York, NY, 1991), 111-112.

[ii] Coutts, The Art of Ceramics, 61; Jo Draper, Post-Medieval Pottery 1650-1800 (Shire Publications Ltd, Buckinghamshire, UK, 2001), 33-35; Hildyard, Browne Muggs.

[iii] Coutts, The Art of Ceramics, 61; Hildyard, Browne Muggs.