13th Century Cauldron

Most of you may know, I recreate a lot of historical pottery. I haven't really shared a lot of my own pottery here or ever done any comparisons to the originals. I have a few of those in a few posts here and there.

When recreating pottery for me, I try to get close to the original, however there will be differences. As a potter, I make decisions based on design, esthetics, and my own experiences as I create the piece. I often work from one print out, usually a profile and a lot of the time I will miss details or I am unsure about parts of a piece, so I will make my next best guess about what the piece really looks like. Sometime the photo I have is of a broken item or damaged piece, so I have to make up parts as to what could possibly be there. I also change the items size depending on the needs of the final user/owner is (usually bigger). That will distort the completed object into looking exactly like the original.

If I had the piece in front of me, I would have a bit more control over what my finished product would be. Also, as an artist, I want the pot to have some of me in the work as I don't consider myself a production potter. However, I think usually I get pretty close to what I am looking at within 1-5% of the piece.

Here is a pot I found on the Museum of London site over here. It is a Cauldron, 13th-14th Century.

Here are the details per their website:

Accession number: 18931
Collection place: London
Production date: Medieval; late 13th-mid 14th century
Material: ceramic; earthenware
Measurements: H 240 mm
Museum Section: Medieval
Summary: Largely reconstructed London-type ware cauldron with opposed, angular loop handles, glazed internally.
Location: Object stored at Mortimer Wheeler House (Ceramics and Glass store)
Category: Medieval glazed ware.
Sub-category: London-type ware.

Dishes in Medieval Oxford

The plate is an important part of any meal, the centerpiece of the modern table, however, dishes were used earlier on as well. A dish is usually a shallow piece with taller more vertical walls than a standard plate. I suppose you could compare it to dog food dishes of today in some cases.

This example below is from the Ashmolean Museum:



*Common Name Early Medieval Oxford ware
*Class Dish
*Height 56-65mm
*Identifier PW45
*Production centre dispersed industry to the north west of Oxford
*Distribution local
*Use baking and preparation of food
*Date Late 12th - early 13th century AD
*Published in Mellor in Allen 1994, Fig 70 no 1, 328
*Historic context ditch in rural hamlet

In the Period, plates had multiple uses. They weren't just to sit on a table, but more to be used in preparation of cooking or also used in the process of baking.

Pedestal lamps in Saxon-Norman England

Pedestal Lamp
Saxo-Norman AD 850 - 1150

* Common name Early Medieval Oxford ware
* Class Pedestal lamps
* Height left, 56mm right, 145mm
* Identifier PW50
* Production centre a dispersed industry to the north west of Oxford
* Distribution local
* Use for lighting interiors
* Date 11th - 12th century AD
* Published in Jope, Jope & Rigold 1950, Fig 21 nos 3 and 2, 59
* Provenance found in 1894, one near the University church with pottery, skeletons and a Roman coin; the other from properties associated with wealthy merchants.

I'm always looking through websites for new things to make. I came across this "new" simple project off the Ashmolean Museum site. I find it interesting since it looks like a bowl or even an early version of the English beakers that came out much later. The more you look at pottery and really analyze the various forms, to more you can see similarities throughout the centuries. Sometimes you can see the influences between cultures as well (if there was trade between them, that is).

Summer equals new stuff!

I was very busy the past few months. March I found myself with a new full time job, which did take me awhile from doing pottery, however, I was able to allocate some time to slowly build up stuff on the weekends between SCA commitments. For those of you who don't know, I volunteer and run the SCA potters guild in CAID and we did a large cup project which I put in hundreds of hours. All proceeds went to the Crown Prints. It was a success.


Here are some of the newer forms I've made in order to give as largess to the Crown and to raffle.



Late Period (1550-1650) English Barrel Shaped Mug




Late Period (1550-1650) English Incised Mug




English Jug (I have to recheck the date on this one, but I think it's 13th Century)




Butter Pot 1600's




Porringer 1600's




Early Gaul....

Random Drinking Vessels

Trying to update for all my newer pots that I have been making the past six-ten months.



English Jug 14th Century




English 14th Century




Gaul 2-5th Century



Gaul 2-5th Century

The Gaul items I find a lot more interesting than the English and German pieces since I see a lot of Greek influence in them (plus they are fairly difficult for earlier pieces). Unless you are a potter, you wouldn't know that it's difficult to to manipulate the clay in several directions from narrow to bulbous and back to narrow again. Also, when you have a narrow base, it makes it difficult to throw that as well, then wide, then narrow, without distortion or collapse. Gravity plays a large part with throwing vessels and these guys have been somewhat tricker than their English or German counterparts.

I think that's why I like them. More of a challenge.