English delftware

English delftware is tin-glazed pottery made in the British Isles between about 1550 and the late 18th century. The main centres of production were London, Bristol and Liverpool with smaller centres at Wincanton, Glasgow and Dublin. English tin-glazed pottery was called "galleyware" and its makers "gallypotters" until the early 18th century; it was given the name delftware after the tin-glazed pottery from the Netherlands, which it often copied, but "delftware" is not usually capitalized.

Many everyday wares were made: tiles, mugs, drug jars, dishes, wine bottles, posset pots, salt pots, candlesticks, fuddling cups (that is, ale mugs joined in groups of three, four or five with connecting holes to confuse the drinker), puzzle jugs (similar to fuddling cups), barber's bowls, pill slabs, bleeding bowls, porringers and flower bricks. Humble undecorated items included chamberpots, colanders and small disposable ointment pots (gallipots), dispensed by apothecaries. Large decorative dishes, often called chargers, were popular, and included much of the most ambitious painting, often stretching the artists to the edge of their capabilities, and beyond.

English delftware pottery and its painted decoration is similar in many respects to that from Holland, but its peculiarly English quality has been commented upon: ". . . there is a relaxed tone and a sprightliness which is preserved throughout the history of English delftware; the overriding mood is provincial and naïve rather than urbane and sophisticated." Caiger-Smith describes its mood as "ingenuous, direct, sometimes eccentric"; and Garner talks of its "quite distinctive character". Its methods and techniques were simpler than those of its continental counterparts. English tin-glaze potters rarely used the transparent overglaze applied by the more sophisticated Dutch and Italian potters. The enamels so popular on the continent in the 18th century were used only for a short time at Liverpool, where the so-called Fazackerly wares were made.

An English delftware jug has been found in East Malling, Kent, with a silver mount hallmarked 1550, which is presumed to be the earliest date of manufacture. (Malling jugs may be seen in the London Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.)

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