October, 19 21 
31 
1 
For this sauce boat the 
hunt and the shell pattern 
have been used 
The octagonal form is one 
of the well-known Staf¬ 
fordshire shapes 
Everything connected with the 
ceremony of tea was made up 
in salt glaze 
A delicate corded edge gives 
simple richness to this l&th 
Century plaque 
mals and grotesque figures; (4) Heart-shaped; 
(5) Quadrilateral, hexagonal and octagonal, 
bearing panel designs in relief; (6) Irregular 
shapes with historical designs, such as the Ad¬ 
miral Vernon subjects; (7) Drab-colored with 
white handles and spouts and white and blue 
ornament applied; (8) Enameled salt glaze 
probably introduced after 1751 and before 1760. 
The invention of salt glaze was an early 
one, salt glaze stone ware having been in use 
in northern Germany in the 16th Century. 
Cologne was the great market in this century, 
from which the German salt glaze 
wares came to be known as Co¬ 
logne ware. Probably the manu¬ 
facture of salt glaze in Flanders 
was contemporary with that of the 
Rhine countries. This Flemish 
ware was known as Gres de Flan- 
dres. These wares of Germany 
and the Fow Countries form the 
first division of salt glazes, classi¬ 
fied as (1) salt glaze stoneware. 
The next division (2) comprises 
the salt glaze wares of England, 
while the last division (3) holds 
the salt glaze made in the United 
States. The stone wares of divi¬ 
sions 1 and 2 are quite different 
in effect from the thin English white body salt 
glazes with which we are particularly con¬ 
cerned. These lovely salt glazes which made 
their appearance in Staffordshire toward the 
close of the 17th Century followed the earlier 
and coarser salt glazes of Fulham and Not¬ 
tingham. The Fulham and Nottingham types 
were originally close imitations of Frechen 
brown ware—made in Frechen, near Cologne 
—being inspired by the qualities of foreign 
The pecten shell furnished 
inspiration for the decora¬ 
tion of this salt glaze cream 
jug 
Pierced work, as in this Staffordshire fruit 
dish, was one of the methods of decorating 
Staffordshire salt glaze 
Fluting and basket weave design 
elaborated the edge of this 18 th 
Century platter 
Here a combination of basket 
weave, pierced work and raised de¬ 
signs has been used 
The translucence of the Staf¬ 
fordshire salt glaze, in addi¬ 
tion to the delicate decorative 
designs, are found in this l$th 
Century fruit dish 
salt glaze stoneware which were imported into 
Fondon in the 17th Century. 
The romantic tradition of the discovery of 
the art of making salt glaze in England has 
been disposed of by competent authority. The 
old tradition had it that while a servant was 
engaged in boiling salt in an earthen vessel, 
the brine was permitted to overflow and boil 
away, the result being a partial glaze on the 
outside of the pot. This, of course, would be 
chemically impossible. 
The Elers brothers, Dutch potters arriving in 
Staffordshire, have also been cred¬ 
ited with the introduction of salt 
glaze into English manufacture 
somewhere about the year 1690, 
but recent research seems to indi¬ 
cate salt glaze pieces of local 
make antedated their arrival in 
England. However, it is probable 
that the Elers were the first to pro¬ 
duce pieces of fine white salt glaze, 
although only in small and perhaps 
experimental quantities, prefer¬ 
ring to continue their other wares. 
As early as 1671 John Dwight 
of Fulham took out a patent for a 
ware competing with “the myste¬ 
ries of Cologne ware”, producing 
some very fine pieces, among which were por¬ 
trait busts of Prince Rupert, James II and the 
wife of Samuel Pepys, the indefatigable diarist. 
The Nottingham salt glazed ware dates from 
the beginning of the 18th Century. In his 
monograph on “Salt Glazed Stoneware Edwin 
Atlee Barber describes the Nottingham salt 
glaze as follows: “It is thin in substance, well 
potted and graceful in form, but crudely deco¬ 
rated with simple designs, the prevailing sub¬ 
jects being scrolls, flowers and foliage and 
frequently inscriptions, scratched in the clay 
while wet. The glaze is of a bright red-brown 
tint, and somewhat metallic lustre, caused by a 
thin wash of ferruginous clay. The surface of 
the ware is much smoother and less granular 
than that of Germany and Flanders. Most 
characteristic in form are the mugs, pitchers or 
jugs with ribbed or horizontally corrugated 
necks, two-handled cups, and the celebrated 
‘bear’ jugs, covered with shaving of clay to 
produce a rough appearance, the head being 
detachable to serve as a drinking cup, while 
tCnnt.inued on base 72) 
Another sauce boat is dec¬ 
orated with several varia¬ 
tions of basket weave 
A great variety of 
decorative motifs is 
found in this 18 th 
Century Stafford¬ 
shire plaque 
