Life reflected in a vessel - English summary

Financed from the grant of Ministry of Science and Higher Education in 2006-2010 as a research project.

LIFE REFLECTED IN A VESSEL

STUDY OF LUXURY AND EVERYDAY CONSUMPTION IN GDANSK IN 17TH- 19TH CENTURY BASED

ON CERAMIC VESSELS FROM THE AREA OF THE DOMINICANS' CENTRE AND A QUARTER OF

DLUGI TARG – POWROZNICZA, VOL I

SUMMARY1

Changes in kitchen and tableware in Gdansk

1st half of the 17th

century was a time when the traditions of late medieval and early

modern (16th

century) pottery were still alive, on the other hand, however, signs of change were

already visible.

Tableware included painted vessels of the Werra (1560 – 1630) [Cat. no. 377-383] and the

Weser ware (1580 - 1630) [cat. no. 384-388] and other similarly dated dishes imported from

northern Germany. [Cat. no. 389,390] Plates and bowls of various sizes covered with green or

yellow glaze were also used. [Cat. no. 392-394] Deprived of painted ornaments they were

sometimes decorated with thicker streaks of glaze. The vessels were either small or medium-sized

and could not satisfy all needs of their users. Therefore, a set of dishes, had to be supplemented with

larger bowls and plates, such as the one decorated with white painted ornaments, resembling the

Werra ware. [Cat. no. 396] It was, however, the group of engobed and underglaze painted bowls and

plates that influenced the appearance of the tableware of the period the most. [Cat. no. 420-424]

Unlike in the case of faience these vessels were made for use and not only for decoration purposes.

In the 1st half of the 17

th century single tin-glazed vessels from Spain and Italy (e.g. bowls from

Montelupo and Liguria) [Cat. no. 181-183] were imported to Gdansk. Their occurrence in the

discussed assemblages should be attributed rather to the earlier period. On the contrary, north Dutch

faience, so called Dutch majolica, appears in the 17th

century assemblages as a harbinger of change.

The beginning of its production moved the tradition of Italian majolica to the zone of close cultural

and trade contacts of Gdansk, making, what used to be an almost unreachable luxury, accessible to a

wider group of customers. The appearance of Dutch majolica in Gdansk also shows the dominant

direction of future faience import. [Cat. no. 185-187]

Tableware consisted also of drinking bowls for hot beverages and broths. In the 1st half of

the 17th

century they were usually quite massive, undecorated, with vertical handles. [Cat. no. 458-

462] Engobed underglaze painted mustard pots also appeared on the tables of the described period.

1 The summary is a translation of chapter 5 with some necessary adjustments.


[Cat. no. 440-441] Glazed thin-walled ewers, over 20-cm-high were used for carrying liquids. They

can be identified as imports from central Poland, so called white-gray earthenware2. [Cat. no. 469-

471] Smaller jugs, such as a stoneware vessel with a forged footer from Kreussen in Saxony, were

used for drinking. [Cat. no. 355] Imitations of stoneware jugs were also in use,

e.g. a glazed copy of a Waldenburg stoneware jug. [Cat. no. 467] The jugs usually had pewter lids,

that increased their market value. In probate inventories such vessels were listed in the “silver or

pewter” category as if the ceramic vessel itself had no value at all. Tankards, like a Weser ware

example [Cat. no. 387,388] and engobed underlaze painted jugs, morphologically resembling

medium-sized pots, were also used as drinking vessels. [Cat. no. 439]

The tableware included also unglazed earthenware (jugs , bowls), but judging by the

discussed assemblages only occasionally.

It should be noted that the diversity of the tableware in Gdansk is characteristic for the 1st

half of the 17th

century. It is much easier to divide the vessels into “workshop groups”,

distinguished by similarity of material and decoration techniques, then to find some general

tendencies. Occurrence of such groups is in some cases limited to one building plot, as if it

depended but on whom and where had bought them and not on the current fashion (see small green

glazed bowls found in 112 Szeroka St., former Breitgasse). [Cat. no. 392-394] Although in Gdansk

tableware the very notion of fashion trends can be applied to more expensive ceramic vessels from

the next period, even in the 1st half of the 17

th century we can see the change coming. The tableware

that cannot yet be called a set is composed of similar dishes and bowls. Regardless of the material

status of the household laid table was to provide some aesthetic sensations as well.

Discussing ceramic tableware from the 1st half of the 17th

century, we must be aware of the

fact that it did not necessarily have to predominate. Trends of the earlier period were still strong.

Pewter dishes were in use and some inventories of that time mention wooden vessels as well.

In the kitchen earthenware was still the most popular. Unglazed cooking pots resembled

medieval and 16th

century ones in shape and material. [Cat. no. 563-573] Most often they were

made of whitish, greyish clay, sometimes also brick-red. Small earthenware pipkins and

hemispherical frying pans (all thick-walled and relatively small) were also traditional in that sense.

[Cat. no. 501-508] In the 1st half of the 17

th century large quantities of glazed pots were imported to

Gdansk from central Poland (so called white-gray earthenware). [Cat. no. 525,526] Made of whitish

clay, thin-walled, with maximum belly diameter in the upper part of the vessel and a very short or

2 Sometimes called „ceramika kielecka” in Polish literature, which means “Kielce earthenware”.


non-existing neck, were often decorated with roulette motives. In the next period they became the

most common kitchenware in Gdansk.

In the 2nd half of the 17th

and the 18th

century ceramic tableware in Gdansk underwent

significant changes. Undoubtedly it was dominated by faience. Tin-glazed dishes from Friesland,

called - due to the source of inspiration - Dutch majolica appeared in Gdansk as the first. They are

represented by rather large and massive plates, bowls and platters. Some of them were made

exclusively for decoration. [e.g. cat. no. 188-190] Decorative vessels adorned walls regardless of

the function of the chamber (a living room, a kitchen, a tavern chamber) and the material status of

the household [Fig. 50]3. It is worth mentioning that the custom outlasts the described period and

numerous proofs for its universality can be found in iconography and written sources almost to the

present.

After Dutch majolica Gdansk shared common European taste for chinoiseries. The market

was flooded with white-blue faience from Delft, or to say more broadly, the southern Netherlands.

[Cat. no. 206-215] In discussed material it amounts to 25 % of all faience vessels. Other faience

imports came from London [e.g. cat. no. 216, 220-222] and present Germany (mainly Stralsund).

[e.g. cat. no. 238,251,252] The former amounts to approximately 5% and the latter to a little over

3% of faience vessels. French faience represents approximately 0.3 % of all faience vessels. [Cat.

no. 253,254]4

In response to the fashion and related demand for tin-glazed vessels among the poorer, its

production started in Pomerania. [Cat. no. 256 onwards] Pomeranian faience (called Stettiner Ware

in German literature) is usually light brick-red or brick-red earthenware, covered generally on one

side, with a thin layer of tin glaze. Underglaze painted decoration is a transformation, sometimes

naive, of motifs known from Delftware. Shapes of vessels, just like in Delftware, are largely

standardised [Fig.4].

In the described period variety of plates and bowls was slightly wider than before. Vessels

with clearly distinguished rim appeared more frequently. The division into shallow and deep plates

was established. Due to faience production technology (turning and composition of clay) nearly as

many bowls as plates dated to the period were found.

Mass appearance of faience resulted in the decrease in the number of glazed earthenware

3 In Polish version of the text „Fig.” is „Ryc.”

4 Correction: discussed material contains at least one Portuguese faience dish wrongly attributed to Delft. [Cat. no. 205]


bowls and plates. The group that has once formed majority of the tableware, amounts only to 1,5%.

Some of the dishes are thick-walled and massive, with simpler decoration in comparison to the

preceding period (e.g. engobed underglaze painted earthenware). [Cat. no. 433-437] There is

however a distinctive group of more delicate glazed earthenware vessels that can be dated

exclusively to the described period (5% of all plates and bowls). They are thin-walled, made of

well levigated clay, covered with an orange glaze with a characteristic tendency to peel off. [Cat.

no. 413-419] They are identified with north Germany workshops from around Bremen. [Strauss

1969, Taf. 22.5, s. 28]

Assortment of the Gdansk tableware in the 2nd

half of the 17th

– 18th

century included other

types of vessels as well. Drinking bowls for hot beverages and broths, as opposed to the previous

period, were less massive and more decorative. [Cat. no. 463,464] Beer pitchers with wide

cylindrical necks and pear-shaped bellies were either faience or stoneware. [Cat. no. 252,358]

Cylindrical tankards were used for drinking. They were mainly of Westerwald stoneware but also of

faience and glazed earthenware. [e.g. cat. no. 359-361]

2nd

half of the 17th

century also brought an important change of social habits in Gdansk.

Drinking coffee and tea, new beverages accompanying sophisticated desserts, became a customary

ending of receptions. Tea and coffee bars functioned in the city since the turn of the 17th

and 18th

centuries. [Bogucka 1997 , s.156, 157] The custom of drinking coffee and tea was especially

valuable for my research, because study of vessels for drinking and preparation of both beverages,

allowed to determine what had been seen as a luxury.

The above vessels included: cups and saucers, tea and coffeepots, milk jugs and creamers.

Most of them were imports. More than one third (only cups and saucers in discussed assemblages)

was Chinese porcelain. [Cat. no. 1-24] Delftware was also numerous. [Cat. no. 193-200]

Pomeranian faience (also called Stettiner Ware) prevails in the group of small jugs. [Cat. no. 326-

332] Only 2 out of 99 are delftware. The proportion, however, may be overstated because about 1/3

of these vessels, morphologically defined as jugs, may have been used as mugs.

18th

century witnessed a change in provenance of tableware imported to Gdansk. Future

English domination on the market was heralded by an occurrence of white salt-glaze stoneware

[Cat. no. 339-341], red and blackware. Dated to a period after 1720, they constitute approximately

2% of tableware. In discussed material they were mostly vessels from tea and coffee sets. From

a technical point of view they seem to belong rather to the next period than to the age of Delftware.

Kitchenware of the described period was dominated by earthenware pots and pans from


central Poland (white-gray earthenware). [Cat. no. 527-534] White or white-gray glazed thin-walled

pots with a maximum belly diameter in approximately 2/3 of the height of the vessel represent

mainly type 3 and 4 of the rim shape [Fig. 8]. They are covered with powdery lead glaze; green,

brown, olive, and yellowish in colour. The upper part of the belly of the vessels is decorated by

roulette ornaments often combined with engravings. Less frequently the grooves are the only

decoration or the vessel is undecorated. Majority of these pots are medium-sized (less than 20cm in

diameter), which may indicate they were used heating food.

Among discussed vessels there were generally three shapes of earthenware pans [Fig. 9c].

Several examples of the last, flat type, that is the vessels with rounded bottom, were imports from

the northern Netherlands. [Cat. no. 522] All the pans were used for frying or cooking and bear

traces of use.

A group of glazed earthenware pots can be identified as local products. As for the rim shape:

older pots, whose production started already in 17th

century, represent type 5; younger, dated to the

2nd

half of 18th

and 19th

century - type 7 and sometimes 6. All of them are barrel-shaped. Type 5

pots are medium-sized, the other are usually small. Some of them could serve as jugs. The entire

group is distinguished by a characteristic way of glazing. Rims and inner surfaces are of different

colour than bellies. The former are usually yellow or orangeish the latter – dark brown (type 5 pots)

or slightly lighter. [Cat. no. 539,551,553]

What is important, the described period was is the last when earthenware was used for

thermal processing of food. At the end of the period new type of kitchen stove came into use. In so

called English stove flame was covered with an iron sheet, which made use of clay pots impossible.

Except for pots kitchenware of the 2nd

half of 17th

– 18th

century included massive stoneware

pots and jars used for preparing sauerkraut. [Cat. no. 367] Stoneware and less often glazed

earthenware bottles were also used. Bottles of this period are characterised by more convex bellies

than in the next one. [Cat. no. 373] Other vessels used for food preparation were glazed earthenware

and stoneware bowls and colanders. The latter could have been intended for their function from the

start or be readapted for the function like a small glazed pot with several holes pierced in the

bottom. [Cat. no. 535]

Last period of kitchen and tableware evolution, starting around 1750 partially overlaps

with the previous one. Its beginning is related to the widespread of fine faience5, marking modern

5 General term taken from French literature (faïence fine) used here to describe creamware, pearlware and whiteware

together.


age on tables across Europe and farther. Thanks to addition of calcium silicate clay became lighter

in colour and, more importantly, harder, which made mould casting possible. Plates became more

delicate and the division between the shallow and the deep ones, resembling the plates we use

today, became fixed and clear. Variety of tableware widened significantly, which is the main

characteristic of the period. Dutch faience began to give way. A that time shape of fine faience

dishes, especially creamware, duplicated silver and pewter. [e.g. cat. no. 101-105] Domination of

fine faience was so strong that those "new" shapes were copied by faience manufacturers (e.g. from

Stralsund). [Cat. no. 241-246] Other novelties such as thin walled glazed earthenware and red glaze

stoneware, produced since 1720s, are represented mainly by dessert dishes. [Cat. no. 489-499] At

the end of the 18th

century a factory in Bunzlau (Bolesławiec in south-western Poland) specialized

in fine stoneware. [e.g. cat. no. 334-337] Coffee pots and milk jugs from there could be bought in

Gdansk each year at St. Dominic's fair.

Oriental style tea and coffee sets of European porcelain can also be dated to the end of the

18th

and the beginning of the 19th

century. Cups, saucers and teapots are often decorated with

underglaze painted “dried flowers” motif. [e.g. cat. no. 30-34]

The 19th

century, European style porcelain in discussed material was relatively massive.

Cups, mugs, saucers, plates, etc. duplicate the shape of rococo metal vessels. [e.g. cat. no. 41,50]

But the porcelain tableware of the 19th

century could also have simpler, classicist forms. [e.g. cat.

no. 59,62]

In the 2nd

half of the 18th

- 19th

century traditional stoneware was still in use. It was either

table (jugs with tubular spouts) or kitchenware. The latter included, just like in the previous period,

massive stoneware pots and jars used for preparing sauerkraut. Smaller jars used for mustard were

made of stoneware, fine faience or yellow ware. [Cat. no. 364,365,500] Stoneware bottles of this

period are more cylindrical than before. In such a shape they were more suitable for transport. [Cat.

no. 370,372] Bottles found in Gdansk were produced in Saxony (Duingen) and Bavaria (eg

Dietfurt).

Traditional stoneware bowls of the period were used in the kitchen whereas smaller ones

made of fine stoneware from Bunzlau/Bolesławiec may have also appeared on the tables. [Cat. no.

241-246] Ceramic moulds for cakes were a novelty of this period. [Cat. no. 410]

Red earthenware pots and bowls of various sizes, identified with the production of small

rural potteries of Gdansk Pomerania form a distinct group among kitchenware of that time. [Cat. no.

446-456] They are thick-walled, made of clay with a small amount of sand admixture, covered with

brownish or, rarely, greenish glaze. Painted decoration, if there is any, is limited to straight and


wavy white lines. Bowls and colanders of this variety are large, up to 40 cm in diameter. The latter

remind Dutch glazed fish dishes. [Cat. no. 452] Pots representing the same group are barrel-shaped

and massive. None of them bears sign of use. Similar pots produced in Chmielno,

a Kashubian village known for its pottery, they were called pots for goose gravy – a local culinary

speciality.

At the other – finer – extreme of local pottery production in 19th

century were squat spouted

jugs, gently contoured, less than 20cm in height, with a characteristic decoration. The inside of jugs

is covered with a white tin glaze. Neck is usually of a different colour and may be blue, beige or

brown. Belly is light in colour, beige or orange, covered with a simplified painted floral or

geometric patterns. [Cat. no. 476-478] This type of decoration, with colour highlighting tectonic

divisions of vessels, as used in the Kashubian folk pottery in 19th

century. [Krajewska 1958, Fig.

14,15,19 , p 220.223]

The development trends described above are reflected in archival sources and iconography.

Analyzing the content of probate inventories from Gdansk, we can see that wooden vessels listed in

the 1st quarter of 17

th century are replaced by pewter, which in turn gives way to faience and

porcelain. Large proportion of bowls and mugs or beakers in the category of earthenware seems to

characterize inventories from the end of 17th

century, when the tableware was still dominated by

pewter vessels. About 100 years later, when repertoire of fine pottery vessels increased the

proportion of the two, let's call it, the "basic" forms, fell.

As for iconography, in 16th

century the tableware is mainly pewter. Stoneware pitchers were

used for drinking and serving beverages, in addition to rummers and glasses. As time passed,

ceramic vessels replace metal, which, however do not disappear completely. 1735 Oysters for

dinner by Jean François Troy depict a table set with silver plates and platters, salt containers and

bowls for cooling glasses [Forrest 1998, p. 9] (glass cisterns according to the Whitehead catalogue)

[Whitehead, cat.no.97].

Luxury and wealth seen through vessels

To talk about the price of vessels and their meaning as signs of prestige and social status

archaeology is not enough. We must refer to archival sources where, as a rule, more precious

vessels are more likely to be found.

Probate inventories mention generally tableware and vessels of purely decorative function,


kitchenware is either totally omitted or listed as “kitchenware” without mentioning the single items.

Porcelain and faience got more attention, but even then the descriptions are brief, which may be due

to the unification of shapes and decoration even in the case of more expensive vessels. Stoneware

jugs with metal lids are good examples of what value other categories of ceramics had for inventory

makers. These very decorative vessels, much appreciated now by archaeologists and laymen, were

listed in the “silver or pewter” category as if the lid was the only valuable element.

In press advertisements published for almost 200 years in Danziger Anzeigen first

information about ceramic vessels was: kind of ceramics, provenance and decoration. Probably,

therefore, these were the main criteria of their market value. Meissen porcelain got the most

elaborate descriptions. On the one hand, they were probably the most valuable dishes on the local

market, on the other hand, a rich assortment of dishes varying in decoration undoubtedly required

longer descriptions. The exact number of vessels in sets of dishes offered for sale must have been

obvious for potential buyers as such information appeared for the first time in 19th

century.

Prices of ceramic vessels of the 2nd

half of the 17th

– 18th

century were sometimes mentioned

in the inventories. Comparing these scant information with the prices of other goods it can be stated

that only faience show dishes and decorative sets, and some extremely expensive pitchers exceeded

the price of luxury food. Prices of faience bowls were more or less at the same level as the products

consumed daily. Plain earthenware was cheaper. It is worth noting that Chinese porcelain teacups

were more expensive than faience bowls, regardless of the size of the latter. They were also more

expensive than most pitchers, even the ones with metal lids.

Among fine faience vessels, the undecorated ones (cream coloured ware and later

whiteware) were definitely the cheapest. In the 2nd

half of the 19th

century, they were also referred

to as “common” or “earthenware”. The exception was ironstone/stone china/white granite, very

popular in the 1850s and more expensive than CC and whiteware. Next group includes vessels with

the least complicated painted decoration, such as sponge decorated, shell edge, banded or mocha.

The main characteristic of the group was a small amount of work and the skills needed to complete

the decoration. Dishes with more complicated decoration, such as flowers, leaves, Chinese

landscapes or geometric patterns, were slightly more expensive. Painters had to be skilled enough to

duplicate decorative motifs on all the vessels from a set. This category includes tableware and

toiletries of everyday use. Prices of more elaborately painted vessels must have been higher,

matching the transfer printed ones. In 1790s they were 3 – 5 times more expensive and in 1850s 1.5

– 2 times more expensive than undecorated CC and whiteware. In the early 19th

century the willow


pattern was the cheapest among them. [Miller 1980, p. 3-4]

Similar criteria applied to porcelain would mean that thick-walled unpainted white porcelain

of 19th

century, although theoretically the most valuable, had to belong to the cheapest porcelain on

the market. Similarly, one should be cautious in estimating the value of transfer printed vessels, e.g.

plates with the above mentioned willow pattern that were found in discussed material.

To assess the sentimental and prestigious value and cultural meanings attributed to ceramic

vessels we need to look at symbolic representations of Dutch and Flemish paintings. Porcelain and

faience are related with the sphere of worldly pleasures and earthenware with modesty and

moderation. [e.g. Fig. 39, 40] It can also be noticed that the lower-quality faience was a luxury with

all its symbolic meaning in the homes of the poor. [e.g. Fig. 29]

Analysis of the number of vessels in iconographic sources seems also very interesting. In

peasant homes we see no dishes at all, or some single pieces only. The phenomenon explains data

from inventories listing small number of dishes in most households. The assortment of vessels in

richer households is not very different from the peasant ones. What is important, higher financial

status is marked by the higher number of vessels in general and the higher number of porcelain,

faience and stoneware. [Fig. 45,50 vs. Fig. 54]

As quantitative comparisons of iconography with archaeological material are impossible

(see below), only the latter observation can be thus verified. Richer assemblages are much more

uniform, as if their former owners could simply follow the fashion. They include vessels of a high

quality, for example similar imported faience plates. Tableware includes pieces with identical

decoration, once forming a set. Assemblages from poorer parts of the city are more varied.

However, the presence of the local, Pomeranian faience, indicates the need to follow the fashion.

Some unique imitations of expensive vessels such as Meissen porcelain, can also be found. [Cat. no.

486] Occasionally one comes across surprisingly luxurious dishes (such as a creamware set with

Queen Charlotte). [Cat. no. 163-165] It is worth noting that they are exclusively tea and coffee sets,

which corresponds well with at least initial elitism of tea and coffee drinking in Gdansk.

The results of a sailor's lifestyle research by W. Rudolph shed new light on the discussed

archaeological sources, in particular, surprisingly expensive ceramic vessels found in assemblages

of a relatively low status household. The results show we can underestimate the prestigious value of

ceramic vessels and overestimate the importance of the number of vessels to assess the material

status of a household. Indeed, we cannot ignore the possibility that having a certain set of luxury


vessels might have been a necessity for the people belonging or aspiring to a particular social group,

regardless of their actual financial situation. Thanks to social observations from 18th

and 19th

century Pomerania collected by W. Rudolph we can also assume that these costly tea and coffee sets

were customary gifts seamen brought to their loved ones from long journeys.

Number of ceramic vessels in Gdansk households

According to my initial assumptions, through the comparison of archaeological and archival

data, I was not only to establish a full variety of ceramic kitchen and table ware in the period of 17th

- 19th

century, but also assess the number of vessels per household. That was unfortunately a goal I

was not able to accomplish. Archives and iconography from one side, and archaeological sources

from the other can be compared to doors slightly open, allowing us catch some glimpses of Gdansk

houses. Through the former we see sitting and dining rooms, and through the former – cesspits and

backyards. With the sources combined we can definitely see more, but not everything.

The number of vessels in probate inventories amounted to 3-134, if it was mentioned at all.

Compared to archaeological research result it seems a significant underestimation as an average of

180 ceramic vessels per latrine were found. They, however, came usually from two layers: one

related to the functioning latrine, dated roughly to 17th

- 18th

century and the other related to filling

it up with thrash and dirt. The vessels of the latter were 5, 15-25, or in one case even 40% of the

total number of vessels in a latrine. [Oniszczuk-Rakowska 2007, p. 404] The difficulties multiply if

we bear in mind that in 17th

- 19th

century Gdansk a situation when one family occupied the entire

building was very rare. Real estate market was well developed. Houses, flats and rooms were rented

on a daily basis like today and that is why the exact number of inhabitants is impossible to assess.

To end up with, speaking of comparison between the archival and archaeological sources it

is worth mentioning that 1/5 of all discussed ceramic vessels were glazed earthenware pots, and the

kitchenware was 40%. And let us remember that these two categories usually do not appear in the

archival sources. It seems a good illustration of how false a picture of the past would be if an

archaeologist stuck with his/hers strictly typological approach to artefacts and historian based solely

on the archives. The wide variety of sources is accessible for historical archaeologists and even the

hereby attempt to reconstruct a small, tangible and down-to-earth fragment of everyday life shows

that they must be used in order to find more pieces of the puzzle the past is.

Life reflected in a vessel - English summary

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