The other thing I've been up to is trying my hand at a bit of pottery. At our local big event - Wars of the Roses - there is always an arts and sciences challenge. This year the challenge was to create something inspired by The Canterbury Tales, or Song of Roland. Having recently been in England, I chose the Canterbury Tales. After reading my copy of the book, I found my self overwhelmed by too many inspirations. I decided to fall back on the setting for the story - traveling from tavern to tavern across Kent.
At the time the story was written, anthropomorphic pottery was in style. I decided to try to make my own. What fun!
Anthropomorphic “face jugs” were made in southern England
beginning in the mid-1200’s They were highly popular, with surviving examples being found all
around London, and as far away as France and Norway. Examining artifacts, it is clear that each one
was unique. While the facial expressions differ, most are characterized by a
beard, ears and nose that stick out, and arms and hands added, often framing
the face.
The first two are in the British Museum, the 3rd is in the Cloisters.
These jugs tended to be small, approximately 11-14
centimeters tall (although the center jug is 39 cm), which worked to my advantage as a beginner. Many are finished
with a green mottled glaze, although some are various shades of mottled brown
or dark red. Many of the insides are glazed in a creamy yellow-tan color.
This style of pottery was made in the 13th
and 14th centuries in Grimston, Kingston-on-Thames, Kent, Cambridge
and Hertfordshire. The speckled green glaze is typical of pottery coming from
the kilns of Essex.
These fanciful medieval vessels all began as wheel-thrown,
with the anthropomorphic details added after the jug was shaped. I am not
skilled on a wheel, so my examples were completely hand-built. After looking at
many dozens of examples, I worked to create jugs that were in the same style,
but I did not attempt to make an exact replica of any extant piece. Just as
with the originals, I began with the basic jug shape and then added the arms,
hands and facial features. I chose a white clay base to be close to the Mill
Green-ware and Kingston-ware examples. I attempted to find modern glazes that
were similar in color to the originals. Here is the result:
12 cm tall
this one is only 6 cm; unfortunately, it lost a lot of detail when it was glazed
13 cm tall
I learned that pottery is always a surprise. How moist should the clay be
to be able to shape the forms, but still be structurally sound? Will it dry
without cracking? How much will it shrink in the kiln? Will the handles be
strong enough and comfortable to hold? Will the details, carefully added when
the clay was wet, still be visible after the final glaze comes out of the kiln?
How many coats of glaze are enough? Will the color be as expected? If I made my
own glaze, could I get closer to the medieval glaze? So many questions! I'm excited to try some more experiments.
