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.
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 |
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| Marks and inscriptions | Inscribed 'January 17 1797' on both sides |
| Gallery label |
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| 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 |
About this object record
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| Record created | March 27, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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