Transfer Print Pearlware Sherds (Archaeological Find)

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Title:

Transfer Print Pearlware Sherds

Subject:

Transfer Print Pearlware as part of improvement in technology and a global economy

Description:

Transfer printed pearlware like the ceramic depicted gives us a sense of the rapid improvement in technology as well as the effects of the ever-expanding transatlantic trade system of the early 19th century. While earlier techniques like hand painting produced ceramics with an excellent level of craftmanship and artistry, the process was laborious and costly, restricting the number of objects in circulation and leaving potters in a relatively niche market. By the mid 18th century, England began using the transfer printing process, enabling higher quality, more consistent, and detailed representations on various ceramics, a technological marvel at the time. Not only that, the process was far more cheaply, opening the door for mass production of fine painted ceramics, thus consolidating the market to a fewer number of large manufacturers, meaning that finished products from England could reach the colonies more easily in larger quantities. While many of the artifacts collected at Harvard Yard had been manufactured more locally, pearlware from this time came all the way from England by the Staffordshire Potteries, a vanguard of the industrial revolution. Finished products arrived in the colonies as part of the larger triangular trade system, so with this pearlware we are looking at material evidence of the inhabitants of colonial Harvard directly enjoying the benefits of a new global trade system. They could now dine with beautifully painted pearlware, but for a fraction of the price.

Source:

“Transfer-printed Creamware and Pearlware for the American Market”
Nelson describes the expansion of transfer printed creamware pearlware into the American market. She explains that original American scenes started to be depicted in English-produced ceramics, indicating the rising demand for these objects in the colonies as part of a large trade system.

“Kilns in Hanley – 1930”
aThis image depicts the growth of pottery industrialization in Hanley, part of Staffordshire. It is representative of how pottery went from the hands of individual skilled potters to being mass produced in factories, as was the case with transfer printed pearlware in the early 18th century.
http://www.thepotteries.org/six_towns/hanley.htm

“Federal Reserve Feature 30” This pearlware plate, dated to c.1814, depicts an American scene with a continuous floral design on edge. The center illustration reflects the rising demand for American designs from the colonies, and the detail and symmetry exemplify the improvement made with transfer printing over other techniques. Also pictured is the Ridgway maker’s mark, a prominent Staffordshire pottery.
http://www.jefpat.org/diagnostic/Post-Colonial%20Ceramics/Printed%20Earthenwares/Central%20Designs/Thumbnail%20pages/British%20and%20American%20Central%20Designs.htm

Object Name:

Transfer Printed Pearlware Sherds

Inventory Description:

3 Transfer Printed Pearlware Sherds

Peabody Number:

2018.24.75

Intrasite:

H958 Level 1

Depth:

50-60cm

Class 1:

Ceramic

Class 2:

Earthenware

Class 3:

Pearlware

Quantity:

Height (cm):

3.9

Width (cm):

3.2

Depth/Thickness (cm):

Notes:

3 Transfer Printed Pearlware Sherds. Fenced Design. All 3 Sherds cross-mend