Illustration 3 1 . — -Deiftware 

 ointment pot. Bluish-white 

 tin-enamel glaze. One- 

 half. (USXM 59.1842.) 





Illustration 32. — Sherds of black 

 basaltes ware. .Same size. (USNM 

 59.2021.) 



pottle Basons" bought by Mercer in 1744 (fig. 68b, 

 m. 28). 



.'\nother reconstructed plate, probably a Lambeth 

 piece, has blue decoration in the Chinese manner. It 

 dates from about 1730 to 1740 (USNM 59.1706, fig. 

 70). Several small bowl sherds seem to range from 

 the early to the middle 18th century. Polychrome 

 delft is represented by only three sherds, all apparently 

 front bowls, and none well enough defined to permit 

 identification. 



There are several fragments of ointment pots, all 

 18th-century in shape. Three sherds of tin-enameled 

 redware are probably continental European. Two 

 of these have counterparts from early 17th-century 

 contexts at Jamestown. A blue-decorated handle 

 sherd from a large jug or posset pot is also 17th 

 century. 



The predominance of early dating of tin-enamel 

 sherds and the relatively few examples of it from any 

 period suggest that much of what was found either was 

 used in the Port Town or was inherited by the Mercers, 

 probably by Catherine, and used when they were first 

 married. It also points up the fact that deiftware 

 early went out of fashion among well-to-do families. 

 English fine earthenvv.\res. — The fine earthen 

 tablewares introduced in Staffordshire early in the 

 18th century, largely in response to the new tea- 

 drinking customs, are less well represented in the 

 Marlborough artifacts than arc those made later in 



Figure 71. — Whieldon-tvpe tortoiseshell ware, about 

 1760. 



the century. .Apparently, the contemporary white 

 salt-glazed ware was preferred. 



M.\RBLED w.\RE. — The Staffordshire factories of 

 Thomas Astbury and Thomas VVhieldon were 

 responsible for numerous innovations, including fine 

 ■'marbled" wares in which clays of different colors 

 were mixed together so as to form a veined surface. 

 The technique itself was an old one, but its application 

 in delicate tablewares was a novelty. Although 

 Astbury was the earlier, it was Whieldon who ex- 

 ploited the technique after starting his potworks at 

 Little Fenton about 1740.'''- From Marlborough 



''■'2 Rackh.am, op. cit. (footnote \S5), p. 28. 



