Dish (Char dish)

Description

Low, cylindrical delftware dishes of this type often are ornamented with hand-painted fish around the exterior wall. They are associated with a type of paste made from a freshwater fish called char that once was more plentiful in deep-water budies such as Windermere in the Lake District. The fish are a type of salmon that is said to have become trapped in the lake and landlocked there after the last Ice Age. Dishes like this one were used both to store such preparations and to serve them at meals. Unlike meats, which typically were reserved for the first (often heavier) course of a dinner, fish was considered appropriate for both the first and second courses. In the 1700s, it would have been placed on the table alongside vegetables, sweet dishes such as certain pies, and other foods.