Double Drop Pendant

Historical Information

Object: Sponge-decorated / slip-decorated earthenware sherds

Fabric / Body: Buff/white earthenware with thick clear glaze

Technique: Blue hand painted/sponged repeated pattern

Date: c. 1830-1880

Likely Origin: Staffordshire, Yorkshire, Rural potteries

Pattern / Style: Early Victorian spongeware with slip-banded rim

Find Location: Essex Coast, England

Extra Information:

These fragments come from a piece of Victorian hand painted spongeware, a hand-decorated folk pottery style widely produced for everyday domestic use. Unlike transferware, spongeware was decorated by hand, using natural sea sponges, paint brushes, cloth-wrapped sticks, or improvised stamps dipped into coloured slips. The soft, irregular shapes and uneven colour on these sherds are diagnostic of this technique. Spongeware was the pottery of cottage kitchens, farmhouses, inns, and workmen's tables - inexpensive, cheerful, and robust. The combination of a coloured banded rim with sponged motifs is a known mid-19th century style, closely related to the mocha ware tradition of slip decoration. Because these wares were affordable and heavily used, they were frequently broken and discarded, which is why fragments commonly appear on river and coastal foreshore sites.