Wood Jeanne on wed 15 jun 05
Hi Lee,
I remember you posting this before and I have
considered the idea since then.
Indeed, throwing upside down quite probably was done
for some pitchers, such as the tall, elegant baluster
jugs, but there are many short or squat forms with the
pinched/piecrust foot as well. These wouldn't be as
difficult to throw depending on the skill of the
potter of course.
Medieval European kilns didn't have kiln shelves nor
did they use saggars often, as far as I have been able
to ascertain. They did kind of an organized "tumble
stack" if that's not a contradiction in terms ;-)
When stacked upon each other if the pots rested on the
pinches it was easier to separate them after the
firing than it would have been with flat surface to
flat surface. I have some 14th. Century salt glazed
shards with pinched feet and it can be seen where the
feet touched something but was separated.
I have a notion also that some of the pinched feet
were decorative and may have been potters copying from
one pot center to another. The jugs from Rouen, for
instance, were widely copied. Perhaps there was a
practical reason (throwing taller, preventing sticking
together, etc) that was copied for it's attractive
look (well I like it anyway).
Here's a web site that applies:
http://www.medievalpottery.uk7.net/page2.html
-Jeanne W.
p.s. When you first posted this I hoped to discuss it
and tried to find John Reeve with a web search but
didn't have any luck.
--- Lee Love wrote:
snip:
> John Reeve shared a story with us at a workshop at
> Norther Clay Center.
> Some museum folks, I think from the Victoria and
> Albert, brought him
> some pots, including broken ones. They were Old
> English tall pitchers
> with those funny pie crust bottoms. John said, after
> some examination,
> he figure these tall pitchers were thrown, bottom
> first:
>
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