Potter's Prints

I've seen a few collections of pottery in the last couple of months where I found the fingerprints of potters from 150+ years ago! While it's not terribly surprising to find, I just thought I would share the nerdy excitement. These materials are from South Carolina and Virginia.

Placing my fingers just above the fingerprints on the bottom edge of a saggar from the Yorktown pottery site. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

 

It almost looks like the person who left these prints had the saggar in one position, and then shifted their hand to the outside a little more. See how the indentations are a little deeper toward the outside? Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

Kiln wadding. It only makes sense that a wad of clay would have the prints of a potter! Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

Putting my hands around the kiln wadding. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

Kiln brick from South Carolina kiln. See the mess of fingerprints along the upper edge? Courtesy, Steve Ferrell Studio, Edgefield, South Carolina

My fingers on another kiln brick from South Carolina. Courtesy, Steve Ferrell Studio, Edgefield, South Carolina





Surmising Saggars

Saggar. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

Another fascinating aspect of the William Rogers kiln site were the saggars used for firing mugs and tankards (and possibly bowls and teapots). My title is intended to imply that none of this is indefinite or proven, and any comments or additional information is always appreciated! I say that saggars were used for firing mugs and tankards because that seems to be what the archaeological evidence shows (at least at this site, and for this moment until I research more and reconsider). The saggars varied in height and size, but seemed to correspond with most of the tankard and mug sizes. All of the saggars were wheel thrown, circular in shape, with a heavy rounded rim. There are also several saggars which I did not get to examine in this go around which have tankards adhered to the interior floor of the saggar.  I've included some photos I took at the Potteries Museum in Stoke on Trent, England which shows this unfortunate, but somewhat humbling, result.

Tankard adhered to interior floor of saggar. Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent, England.

Teapots adhered to interior floor of saggar. Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke on Trent, England.

I would basically argue that saggars held more refined wares which may not have stacked well or would have been more vulnerable to the environment in the kiln. Saggars were used to hold groupings of smaller objects so as to maximize kiln space. This also allowed for better stacking of objects in the kilns because, in general, kiln shelves were not used.

Interior of kiln in Stoke on Trent, England, showing how saggars were stacked on top of one another. Gladstone Pottery Museum, Stoke on Trent, England.

It would appear that the saggars were also designed to accomodate the handles of tankards. Or, to accomodate lowering the tankard or any other vessel into the saggar. An opening, usually about 2 inches across was cut into most of the smaller saggars which may have only accomodated one or two pieces. I could be completely wrong about this idea.

Large opening cut into one side of the saggar. Most of the openings went all the way to the base of the saggar. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

Another large opening cut into a saggar, different size than most of the others, and the opening did not go to the base of the saggar. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

Holes were also cut into the saggars to allow the salt to enter the saggar and cover the ware. Most of these holes were teardrop-shaped, but there were also a few which had triangular holes cut into them.

Teardrop-shaped opening on saggar. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

Triangular-shaped opening on saggar. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

There were also these pieces, which in the archaeological catalog were called "saggar lids." While many of these did correspond with the tops of the saggars, it would also appear that these basically acted as large pads between saggars and other pieces, to shore up heights and level out the stacking.  The archaeological report for the William Rogers site says that the lids were only used on the uppermost saggar after the saggars were stacked one on top of the other in a column (similar to the photo of the Gladstone kiln above). However, because many of these "lids" had other "lids" or bits attached to the tops of them, I wonder if that was really the case. The edges of these "lids" were beveled, and it appeared that one side was consistently used as the top and one as the bottom. This is because one side of each "lid" had much more salt and wear than the other. The bottom part of the "lid" which would have sat on the saggar was the wider part. The bevel likely kept the salt from catching and collecting on the saggars.

"Lid" for saggar. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

"Lid" for saggar. Note the beveled edge. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

Saggar "lid" showing that the pieces were not directly stacked one on top of the other. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

Eighteenth-Century Kiln Wadding



A box of kiln wadding. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

Next time you go to wad your pottery for a kiln firing, think of the William Rogers pottery factory in Yorktown, Virginia. William Rogers was the proprietor of the pottery, which operated from the 1720s until circa 1745. William Rogers is often referred to as the "Poor Potter" of Yorktown. This was due to a 1732 report written by Governor Gooch of Virginia which said "As to manufactures seet up, there is one poor Potters work for course earthen ware, which is of so little consequence, that I dare say there hath not been twenty shillings worth less of that comodity imported since it was sett up than there was before." This report was not exactly telling the truth, and in fact, William Rogers' production was quite lucrative, reportedly selling as far as New England (see the 2004 Ceramics In America publication for two good articles on Rogers). This site produced both earthenware and stoneware vessels. I had the pleasure last week of looking over the kiln furniture and some of the archaeological material from the stoneware kiln site. One of the most fascinating things to me was to handle the wadding and props from the kiln.

Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

For those who do not crouch in, stand next to, or crawl around in kilns loading pots, wadding is a basic component which (in modern recipes) usually consists of kaolin, alumina hydrate, and sometimes grog, or heavy sand.


You can see the texture of the sand on this small piece of wadding. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

Historically, it would seem that many potters used their basic clay combined with grog. Wadding basically acts as a buffer between the pot which it is put underneath and the other vessels or kiln furniture. It basically keeps the pot from sticking to everything. Very handy in a salt-glaze kiln, which the William Rogers site was. And, historically, kiln shelves were generally not used, so pieces were often stacked one on top of the other. 

This is the base of a tankard. You can see the small orange-colored spots which are where the wadding was placed on the tankard before it was fired. Wadding typically leaves little marks like this. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 



This is the interior floor of a saggar. You can see the orange-colored markings where there were vessels propped up. My estimation is that this saggar held mugs with three pieces of wadding on each mug. Count up the little marks and you can kind of guess where the mugs were sitting! Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 



Wadding usually has no particular shape, and is often just grabbed and made into whatever shape is necessary for the vessel, be it a small ball, a square pad, or a fistful. There were quite a few fistfulls in the collection, which was really fun to hold and see the fingerprints of the potters. 

A fistful of wadding with my fingers in the same place as the original potter. Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

 There were some pieces of wadding which I thought may have been used in a particular way, and connected to some of the archaeological vessels I looked at. Take a look at this bottle, and notice the marks on the shoulder of the bottle where my fingers are.

Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 



Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 



Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

There were likely wads or pads there, and this may have been the shape of the wadding:



Courtesy, National Park Service, Colonial National Historical Park, Yorktown Collection 

I say that because if you think about sitting something on the shoulder of the bottle, a triangular piece of wadding would work really well for support. I could be wrong here, I'll have to test my theory once I get a kiln built!

Happy wadding.