Tin - Glazed

Defining Attributes

A soft-bodied earthenware ceramic with a lead glaze to which has been added tin-oxide, often painted with blue and polychrome designs. Wares commonly found on Chesapeake sites are Dutch or English in origin, although French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish tin-glazed wares are sometimes also recovered. Tin-glazed ceramics represent attempts throughout the Middle East and West to copy porcelains produced in China, and were the first white, painted pottery produced in England.

Chronology

Tin-glazed earthenwares were first produced in northern Europe in the 16th century, although the technology was known elsewhere centuries earlier. In the Chesapeake, tin-glazed earthenware fragments are recovered from archaeological sites dating from the first years of European settlement through the third quarter of the 18th century, when tin-glazed tablewares began to be eclipsed by more durable refined earthenwares. The production of tin-glazed wares in England had almost ceased by the early 1800s, although simple ointment jars and storage bottles were made well into the 19th century (Noël Hume 1970; Shlasko 1989; Austin 1994).

Tin-glazed wares can often be more precisely dated using form and decoration. Ceramic historians using surviving dated examples of vessels have found that chargers (decorative use flatware with a diameter greater than ten inches) were primarily produced in the 17th century, although early 18th century examples are also known. Tin-glazed bottles were produced primarily between 1620 and 1680. Most tin-glazed drug jars were produced in the 17th and 18th centuries, although they continued to be made in smaller numbers into the 19th century. Punch bowls (large and small) were produced in the greatest numbers after 1680, continuing until ca.1780. Plates, a form of flatware smaller in diameter than chargers, were produced in the greatest numbers after about 1680 until the close of the 18th century. Tankards were used throughout the entire period during which tin-glazed wares were produced in England (Noël Hume 1970, 1977; Britton 1982; Archer 1997).

Decorative motifs are also chronologically sensitive. In the 1640s, English potters started making plain white vessels without decoration, so that the ware could be mass-produced. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, colorfully painted decorations became popular again, particularly 'blue-dash chargers', which were large dishes decorated with blue dashes on the rim and some type of design in the center such as floral and fruit patterns, Adam and Eve motifs, or royal portraits. After the 1630s, Chinese designs became popular (Noël Hume 1970; Black 2001). In a systematic study of decorations found on dated tin-glazed vessels in museums, Ellen Shlasko (1989) was able to document and define date ranges for certain types of decorations found on English tin-glazed. Her findings (Miller 2002), as well as other datable decorative attributes gleaned from published sources are summarized in the two tables below   and are in the table below.

Central Motif Date Range

Description

Fabric
Coarse earthenware paste that is thick but still light with a soft texture, and untempered. Colors vary from buff to pale-yellow to pink on English, Dutch and Portuguese wares, while French and Italian tin-glazed ceramics may have reddish pastes. Inclusions may include ochre, hematite, or sand.

Glaze
A clear lead glaze to which has been added tin-oxide in a proportion of approximately 1:3. The addition of tin-oxide to the glaze created an opaque, generally whiter surface that was often decorated with blue and polychrome designs. The glaze, however, is fragile and easily separates from the body. Because the tin content in the glaze was a more expensive ingredient than the lead, some potters in England (and presumably in Holland as well) sometimes used a lead or a greatly thinned tin-glaze on the backs of plates, dishes, and chargers. Lead-backed tin-glazed wares were produced until the early decades of the 18th century, and are often recovered from Chesapeake sites dating before ca. 1680 (Noël Hume 1977:42-43). Lead glazes do not appear to have ever been used on the back of Spanish majolica dishes (Noël Hume 1977:42-43; Deagan 1987).

Decoration
A wide variety of decorations are found on tin-glazed earthenwares, with the most common including painting and powdering. In some cases, vessels were also left undecorated. After a preliminary firing of the unglazed vessel, the pot was glazed and then painted in preparation for the second and final firing. Tin-glazed wares were most often decorated with cobalt oxide enamel, which fired blue. Polychrome decorations are also known, particularly on early 17th century vessels and again after ca. 1690, and were made with other metallic oxides including iron, which made red; copper, which made green; and antimony, which made yellow. The colors on early polychrome pieces tend to be less vibrant than those on later vessels. Decorative motifs included geometric, floral, landscape, figures, and Chinese designs (Shlasko 1989; Archer 1997; Black 2001).

Form
Table and tea wares, decorative and commemorative plates, drug jars, ointment pots, tiles, and chamber pots are amongst the most common forms. Small vessels such as teacups are rarely found on colonial sites dating after 1750 because the small vessels tended to lose their glaze at the lips, making them less popular than other wares. Round or octagonal plain white plates, with wide rims, were produced in London until the last quarter of the 18th century (Noël Hume 1970, 1977; Britton 1982; Austin 1994; Archer 1997).

English and Dutch delftware(1571 - 1800)
The English tin-glazed or ‘delftware’ industry was in existence by 1571, when immigrant potters from Antwerp were reported working in Aldgate in London. The production of tin-glazed wares in England grew rapidly from the 1630s on, and constituted one of the most important wares produced during the 17th and 18th centuries. During this period, British tin-glazed wares came to be produced in many centers including London, Bristol, Liverpool, Dublin, and Glasgow (Noël Hume 1970, 1977; Austin 1994; Archer 1997).

Majolica (13th – 19th centuries)
Majolica was known in Spain from the 13th century, and its production was established in Mexico and Guatemala by the late 16th century. Four majolica traditions are known including the medieval tradition (16th century Spanish wares), the Chinese popular tradition (wares reflecting Chinese decorative influence), the Italian tradition (reflecting Italian influences), and the Puebla tradition (Mexican wares). Plain, blue on white, and polychrome designs are known for all periods, and polychrome decorated vessels are more common in majolica than in delft. Vessel types commonly include bowls, platos (plates), and albarelos (Spanish drug jars), although storage jars and basins are known for some majolica varieties (Deagan 1987).

French Faience (16th – 18th centuries)
The bodies of French tin enameled wares are homogenous, and colored buff, pink, or cream. Most faience was decorated in blue or in the famille verte and famille rose colors of Chinese porcelain. Designs were mostly imitations of those used on Chinese porcelain, but in the second half of the eighteenth century potters used designs inspired by the rococo style of painting incorporating elaborate scrolls and shells. Rouen wares (1775 – 1780s) were decorated, however, with pale blue on the interior surfaces and dark brown on the exteriors of platters, mugs, cups, saucers, and bowls. Nevers ware has a blue background and white or polychrome overglaze painting. Faience appears sparingly in the archaeological record for Maryland, and what is found, dates to the last quarter of the 18th century (Waselkov and Walthall 2002).

References

Archer 1997; Austin 1994; Black 2001;  Britton 1982; Deagan 1987; Miller 2002; Noël Hume 1970, 1977; Shlasko1989; Waselkov and Walthall 2002.

Notes

Tin-glazed earthenwares are sometimes referred to as delft, majolica, or faience. Typically, delft includes English and Dutch products. In England, however, the term delft was not even in common use until the 18th century; before then, tin-glazed earthenware was referred to as galley ware (Britton 1982). Majolica includes Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Mexican products, while faience includes French products. To complicate matters, the majority of the potters working in England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries were Flemish in origin, making it difficult to separate English from Dutch products (Black 2001). Finally, some collectors and archaeologists describe lead-backed tin-glazed earthenwares as majolica, and wares with tin-glaze on all surfaces as faience. Because of the confusion that could potentially result, as well as the fact that the process of manufacture is the same for all tin-glazed wares, many archaeologists simply refer to the wares as tin-glazed, with country of origin identified if possible.