Images(8)

Potted Meat Dish

Dateca. 1690

OriginEngland, London

MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delft / delftware / bleu persan)

DimensionsH: 3 5/8"; L: 6"; W: 4 5/8".

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958-17

DescriptionStraight-sided spade-shaped dish with flat bottom. Deep blue tin-glazed ground with white painted flowers and leaves.
Label TextThe function of this container is unclear. It may be a vessel for potting or preserving meat. It is also possible that the form is a cooler for a single wineglass, which would fit comfortably in the dish with its stem resting in the recess; monteiths for cooling sets of glasses were popular at this time. The spade shape may represent the card suit, a possibility suggested by a surviving example shaped like a heart. An example with six lobes has also been recorded.

There is no evidence that this blue-ground delft was produced anywhere in England except London. Fragments of a blue ground potting pot were found at a dump at Mark Brown's Wharf in Lambeth, along with kiln wasters (see CWF accession 1953-1029). Fragments of a blue-ground potting pot with the squatting Chinese figure pattern have been excavated in Williamsburg at the Chiswell-Bucktrout House (2HB.1099) and at the Hubard site (2PB.1054).
InscribedNone
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceJoseph Vizvcarra, Lombard, IL