Sauceboat

Description

During the mid to late 1700s the fashion for neoclassical design as well as an increased interest in natural history drove the creation of many seashell-themed designs. This sauceboat features shell-like gadrooning at the base of the body. In many ways, the overall form imitates costly silver of the period. This earthenware type is known as agateware and was intended to imitate patterns found in natural stone. Such stone, during the 1700s, was fashionable for use as inlays on objects, such as boxes, or in architectural settings. Ceramic agateware was produced in Staffordshire, England in lead-glazed earthenware (as shown here) and salt-glazed stoneware. Labor-intensive to produce, some agateware required kneading different colors of clay together before rolling it out and pressing it into molds. Careful cleaning of the surface exposed crisply defined colors. Archaeological evidence from American sites, as well as documentary evidence, prove that agateware was fashionable here during the colonial period. Period terms for agateware include "agate" and "marbled" typically followed by the object type (as in teapot).