Surfaces
Treatment: Inner surfaces of plates and bowls and outer surfaces of jugs, cups, mugs, chamber pots, and other utensils viewed on the exteriors are coated with white kaolin slip. Designs are scratched through the slip while wet and into the surface of the paste, exposing the latter. Undersides of plates and chargers are often scraped to make irregular flat areas of surface. Slip-covered portions are coated with amber glaze by sifting on powdered galena (lead sulphide). Containers which are slipped externally are glazed externally and internally. Slip and glaze do not cover lower portions of jugs, but run down unevenly.
Figure 20.—Gravel-tempered chafing dish from Jamestown. Colonial National Historical Park. (Smithsonian photo 43104.)
Color: Slipped surfaces are white where exposed without glaze. Unglazed surfaces are a dull terra cotta. The glaze varies in tone from honey color to a dark greenish amber. When applied over the slip, the glaze ranges from lemon to a toneless brown-yellow, or, at best, a sparkling butter color. When applied directly over the paste and over the incised and abraided designs, the glaze appears as a rich mahogany brown or dark amber.
Forms
Plates, platters, and chargers:
(a) Diameter 7″-7½″. Upper surface slipped, decorated, and glazed. (Fig. 12.)
(b) Diameter 12″; depth 2″-3″. Upper surface slipped, decorated, and glazed. (Fig. 11.)
(c) Diameter 14½″-15″; depth 2″-3″. Upper surface slipped, decorated, and glazed. (Fig. 11.)