THE EARLY POTTERIES OF STAFFORDSHIRE. 



55 



half of the seventeenth and most part of the eighteenth 

 centuries. Of this kind of ware is the highly interesting 



relic which is here engraved. It is, as will be seen, a small 

 earthenware cradle of excellent form, and elaborately orna- 

 mented. It is of brown ware, similar, but of finer quality, 

 to the dishes. The ground is a rich reddish brown, the orna- 

 ments of buff and black. It is peculiarly interesting, as 

 bearing the date on its top of 1693. This valuable example 

 of English fictile art, which is 7| inches long, and 4| inches 

 in height, is in the Bateman museum at Lomberdale House, 

 where there are several other interesting specimens, to some 

 of which I shall yet have occasion to refer. 



In all these pieces the ware is first coated over with its 

 ground colour, and the patterns then drawn on in " slip," 

 one colour on the other, and afterwards glazed. The outlines 

 are generally of the darkest coloured slip, with dots, or 

 pellets of buff. 



DELFT WARE was made in Staffordshire about the period of 

 which I have been writing, and continued to be made until 

 its use was superseded by the other bodies. Examples of 

 English Delft ware from different localities are now and then 

 to be met with, and some excellent specimens are in my own 



