Weserware

• Material – Earthenware
• Place of Origin – Germany
• Date – 16th-17th century
• Location – Collections

Known as Weserware, this once-fired, slip-decorated ceramic type was made in as many as 100 workshops in the region of the upper Weser and Leine Rivers in north-western Germany. It was widely exported in the ca. 1580-1630 period, with the Hanseatic-town, Bremen, being the center of distribution. It reached England via Dutch dealers, where it has been found primarily in archaeological excavations along England’s east coast.  

Attributes

Fabric: The fabric is finely worked and dense, and it is pale pinkish-buff in color. It contains numerous hematite inclusions of various sizes.  The broken edges are laminated. 

Glaze: A colorless lead glaze that appears yellow over the fabric and white slip. Over the iron oxide-tinted slip, the lead glaze appears reddish-brown on one example, and orange on the other. One James Fort example is splashed with copper oxide that appears pale green. 

Decoration: The decoration consists of iron oxide-tinted trailed slip decoration of lines and dots.

Form: Suggesting they were brought as personal possessions, only two Weserware vessels have been recovered from James Fort period contexts. They include a small pedestal cup ornamented with trailed and dotted slip placed directly on the body, and a small dish that was covered on the interior with a white slip, and then decorated with trailed concentric circles below the hammerhead-shaped rim.

related images

sources

Hurst, John G., David S. Neal, and H.J.E. van Beuningen (1986) Pottery Produced and Traded in North-West Europe, 1350–1650. Rotterdam Papers 6. Foundation “Dutch Domestic Utensils,” Museum Boymans-van Beuningen: Rotterdam.