Images(5)

Starling Pot

Date1650-1680

OriginEurope, Netherlands, Amsterdam (probably)

MediumUnglazed earthenware

DimensionsOL: 8 9/16"; OH: 6 1/2"; OD: 7 3/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase, C. Thomas Hamlin III Fund

Object number2019-69

DescriptionGlobular low-fired unglazed earthenware vessel with an irregular shield-shaped hole is cut in one side of the slightly flattened form to aid in ease of access to the nests inside. A small hole below the narrow everted rim opening would have facilitated the insertion of a twig to facilitate birds being able to land on it prior to entering the bottle. A loop handle from which the piece would have hung is affixed on one side near the shoulder.
Label TextStarling pots, also known as bird bottles or Martin pots were used in Europe and America during the 17th and 18th centuries. Variations of this form have been excavated in Williamsburg, Philadelphia, and elsewhere on the eastern seaboard. This form was manufactured at Yorktown by the pottery owned by Williams Rogers and Dutch and English examples were exported to colonial America. This is a rare survival that helps to illustrate an important part of historic food ways and customs. These pots were used to encourage small songbirds to nest near houses so their eggs and the birds themselves could be harvested for food. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century receipt books record the use of starlings, martins, and other small birds in a variety of dishes.