Slipware Collection
Chamber Pots
Chamber pots have served a similar purpose to that with which we are familiar today since the seventeenth century and their basic form has changed little over the years. Archaeological evidence suggests that they were common items in slipware in n...
Cradles
The collection includes no fewer than eight cradles. Such a large number bears no relation to the quantities in which they were made, for while some may have been intended as toys, the majority are specially-commissioned pieces made to commemorate...
Cups and Mugs
Cups and mugs are universal ceramic forms. They have been in a variety of shapes, in a wide range of bodies, and are commonly found with slip decoration. Cups and mugs were probably the main slipware types produced by potters in north Staffordshi...
Dishes - Thrown
Thrown slipware dishes were a major part of all early Staffordshire potters’ output until they were largely superseded by press-moulded forms in the early to mid eighteenth century. The same was true of the slipware produced elsewhere in the...
Dishes Press - Moulded
Of all slipwares, the ubiquitous press-moulded dishes are the most difficult to date and to source. They were made at most pottery-making centres over a period of 250 years or more, and in the main the stylistic range of decoration used was limite...
Egg Holders
These unusual composite objects have traditionally been referred to as ‘egg holders. One can imagine eggs being place in each of the holes while on the table and the complete example has a central cup or bowl in which salt could be held. How...
Flasks and Kegs
In parts of southern England, flasks and kegs, rather than jugs, were the preferred means of transporting alcoholic drinks to the workers in the fields. Those produced in Sussex and Kent from the late eighteenth century were frequently decorated w...
Fuddling Cups
Trick cups, or fuddling cups, were made by potters in many parts of the country. Complex examples are known in north Staffordshire slipware, but the fuddling cups in the Potteries Museum collection are probably all from Donyatt in Somerset, and ha...
Industrial Slipwares
From the early eighteenth century pottery manufacture in north Staffordshire was transformed. Slipwares were superseded by new refined products. Slip remained an important medium for decoration on the new `industrial`, factory-made wares. From the...
Jars
The Potteries Museum collection includes a number of vessels, both with and without lids, which can broadly be described as jars. Especially common amongst north Staffordshire slipwares are large round-bodied vessels, with covers, which have tradi...
Jugs
Jugs have long been an essential accompaniment to cups as the vessels from which a range of drinks were served. Slip-decorated jugs seems to have been especially connected with the serving of alcoholic drinks, especially beer and ale. Some of the ...
Money Boxes
Ceramic money boxes had been made in the late Medieval period, but their main period of popularity seems to have been from the late 18th century onwards. Perhaps most common are the simple rounded forms with a globular knob on top, which may have ...
Porringers
Porringers were a widely-used type of vessel in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Essentially the form is that of a small bowl which is suitable for the consumption of more liquid foods, such as stews, soup, or porridge. Porringers usually...
Posset Pots
The term ‘posset pot’ is used loosely for a variety of large cups with two or more handles. However, some of these may never have been intended to hold posset, highlighting the problem of attempting to determine a vessel’s functi...
Puzzle Jugs
These are well-known in present-day collections, having survived and been collected because of their novelty value and their appealing naïve decoration and inscriptions. They particularly associated with the potteries of Donyatt in Somerset, but ...
Salt Kits
The salt kit takes the form of a jar, sealed at the top but with a circular hole in the shoulder. Salt kits were used to store salt within the house, keeping it dry and clean. They seem to date from the mid eighteenth century and later and consequ...
Studio Slipwares
The production of ‘traditional’ slipwares continued in many workshops into the 20th century, but the First World War marked the end for most of these. From the 1920s onwards there was a revival of interest in traditional making and ...
