Wednesday 16 February 2011

English mochaware mustard pot 1830-50

















English mochaware  mustard pot c1830 with 'seaweed' designs on pale blue band.


Mocha decorated pottery was made in England between  c1770 and c1930. It is a utilitarian earthenware, slip-decorated, lathe-turned, and in addition to coloured slip bands on white and buff-coloured bodies is sometimes adorned with geological markings. An unknown potter discovered that by dripping a coloured acidic solution into a wet alkaline slip on a pot body the colour would instantly spread into dendritic/seaweed markings. Mocha is highly valued and collected in America where it was exported in the 19th century.

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