Flask thumbnail 1

Flask

1797 (dated)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
Small flasks provided a suitable surface for decoration or inscription, and a suitable neat form to serve as a present to a loved one. Even if it were not dated, the almost Gothic shape of the top of this example would date it to the late 18th century - earlier flasks being usually round in form.

Ownership & Use
There is no evidence that these little flasks were ever used. Instead they were preserved in cottages or farmhouses to become family heirlooms, eventually to become museum objects. Now the number of surviving genuine inscribed and decorated flasks probably exceeds the number of plain utilitarian harvest flasks.So popular were they with collectors around 1900, that reproductions were made by the Dicker Pottery in Sussex.

Material & Making
Using the slipware potter's red and white clays, the rural potteries of Sussex invented a style of decoration peculiar to their area. Tiny letters and symbols of printers' type were impressed into the red clay before firing, after which the impressions were filled with white clay and scraped clean. When covered with a rich lustrous lead-glaze and fired, the delicate creamy-white patterns on the coarse red background produced an inexpensive but highly effective form of decoration.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Lead-glazed red earthenware, with inlaid decoration in white pipe clay
Brief description
Lead-glazed red earthenware, with inlaid decoration in white pipe clay, made in Chailey, Sussex, by an unidentified maker, dated 1797
Dimensions
  • Depth: 7.62cm
  • Diameter: 14.6cm
Dimensions checked: Registered Description; 24/05/1999 by KN
Marks and inscriptions
Inscribed 'January 17 1797' on both sides
Gallery label
(27/03/2003)
British Galleries:
The Adam style made itself felt even in the cheap pottery made locally for rural communities. This bottle, which was probably made as a love token, is impressed with regular star patterns. These reflect the symmetrical strip ornament of fashionable Neo-classicism.
(23/05/2008)
Flask
Probably made in Chailey, Sussex,
Inscription: "January 17, 1797"
Lead-glazed earthenware with inlaid decoration

C.574-1925 Given by Mr W. Sanders Fiske
Credit line
Given by W. Sanders Fiske
Object history
Same shape as a spirit flask with an inscription 'Chailey' (see Baines)
Summary
Object Type
Small flasks provided a suitable surface for decoration or inscription, and a suitable neat form to serve as a present to a loved one. Even if it were not dated, the almost Gothic shape of the top of this example would date it to the late 18th century - earlier flasks being usually round in form.

Ownership & Use
There is no evidence that these little flasks were ever used. Instead they were preserved in cottages or farmhouses to become family heirlooms, eventually to become museum objects. Now the number of surviving genuine inscribed and decorated flasks probably exceeds the number of plain utilitarian harvest flasks.So popular were they with collectors around 1900, that reproductions were made by the Dicker Pottery in Sussex.

Material & Making
Using the slipware potter's red and white clays, the rural potteries of Sussex invented a style of decoration peculiar to their area. Tiny letters and symbols of printers' type were impressed into the red clay before firing, after which the impressions were filled with white clay and scraped clean. When covered with a rich lustrous lead-glaze and fired, the delicate creamy-white patterns on the coarse red background produced an inexpensive but highly effective form of decoration.
Bibliographic reference
John Manwaring Baines, Sussex Pottery, Fisher Publications, 1980
Collection
Accession number
C.574-1925

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Record createdMarch 27, 2003
Record URL
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