Present in Both Vermeer's Dutch Republic and Chauncy's Harvard: The Intercontinental Trade of Rhenish Stonewares (Archaeological Find)
Title:
Present in Both Vermeer's Dutch Republic and Chauncy's Harvard: The Intercontinental Trade of Rhenish Stonewares
Subject:
This grouping of six blue on grey stoneware sherds illustrates both the extent of the European ceramic trade and the foodways of colonists in the seventeenth century. Since the sherds cross-mend and two of them have ribbed edges, this collection may have once been part of a jug or tankard. This jug would have been a gorgeous example of Rhenish stoneware from the Westerwald region of Germany. Westerwald was one of the centers of European stoneware production throughout the seventeenth century and ceramics produced there were exported throughout the rest of Europe and the English colonies. Due to the fragile nature of ceramics, it is unlikely that the early colonists brought over many with them. American production of stonewares did not really take off until the early eighteenth century, so the first few generations of colonists depended on Atlantic trade with England and the rest of Europe for their ceramic needs. It is also interesting to note the forms of ceramics present in archaeological excavations. In seventeenth century sites, such as the Old College Building, there were very few, if any, plates. Meals were taken on wooden trenchers, which were shared by two to three “trencher mates.” Ceramics were typically used either to consume or store liquids. Storage forms were eventually standardized and often had numbers incised into them to demarcate the quantity of liquid they could hold. This jug may have once held a wide variety of liquids, ranging from the beer that accompanied the students’ morning bever (light breakfast) to the wine that students drank surreptitiously in their quarters after hours.
Source:
Sources:
Deetz, James. 1996. In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life. New York, NY: Anchor Books.
“Diagnostic Artifacts in Maryland.” Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum website. http://www.jefpat.org/diagnostic/
"Historic Archaeology Type Collection." Florida Museum website. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/typeceramics/type/stoneware-rhenish-blue-and-gray/
Hume, Ivor Noël. 1969. A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Images:
“Diagnostic Artifacts in Maryland.” Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum website. http://www.jefpat.org/diagnostic/colonialceramics/Colonial%20Ware%20Descriptions/Rhenish.html - This is a good example of a blue on grey stoneware jug. The six sherds we found in Level 4 may have once been part of a similar jug.
Essential Vermeer 2.0. "The Procuress." http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/procuress.html#.XKbGgxNKgWo - This painting is interesting because it illustrates the presence of Rhenish stoneware across Continental Europe during the 17th Century. As shown by our excavations, Rhenish stoneware also made it across the Atlantic. Examples have even been found in the Spanish colonies in Florida and Central America. It is clear there was a thriving trade.
World Menagerie. "Bakken Trencher Dough Bowl." https://www.wayfair.com/decor-pillows/pdx/world-menagerie-bakken-trencher-dough-bowl-w001200567.html/ - This modern-day trencher resembles the trenchers that Harvard students would have eaten off of in the 17th Century. Due to their construction, few, if any, trenchers have survived since the 17th century. The absence of plates in the archaeological record, however, makes it clear that trenchers were used for food consumption, instead of plates.
Object Name:
Rhenish Blue on Grey Stoneware Sherds
Inventory Description:
Rhenish Blue on Grey Stoneware Sherds
Peabody Number:
2018.24.590
Culture/Period:
17th Century
Intrasite:
H963 Level 4
Depth:
80 - 100 cm
Class 1:
Ceramic
Class 2:
Stoneware
Class 3:
Sherd
Quantity:
6
Height (cm):
4.14
Width (cm):
4.09
Depth/Thickness (cm):
0.57
Notes:
These six Rhenish stoneware sherds cross-mend. They may have been part of a jug.