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English Delftware

Collection Info
Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid

Tin-glazed earthenware was introduced to England in the late sixteenth century by Flemish potters who settled in the region of Norfolk to escape religious persecution. Potteries specializing in tin-glazed earthenware (known as delftware) however flourished in the London area from about 1610. They served a wide segment of seventeenth-century society, with the highest demand coming from the gentry, rich tradesmen and members of flourishing guilds. Increased market demand stimulated the emergence of potteries in Brislington near Bristol, and throughout the British Isles.

The collection illustrates a broad range of functional and decorative objects, embellished with popular heraldic and royal motifs, and showing the new fashion for chinoiseries and the impact of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain.

Until England started producing porcelain domestically from 1745 onwards, delftware potteries supplied better-quality ceramic tableware to a middle-class clientele who could not afford Chinese porcelain, nor the continental imports from France and Germany. The production of delftware started to decline in the 1770s when creamware, a new and technically superior earthenware body was introduced to the market.

The Gardiner Museum’s collection of English delftware was largely donated by George and Helen Gardiner and was expanded with a significant gift from Joan Clark from the collection of Thomas Henry Clark.

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Charger with Adam and Eve
c.1685
Object number: G83.1.423
Posset Pot
1700-1720
Object number: G83.1.440a-b
Posset pot with grape motifs
Artist / Maker: Unknown Artist
1682
Object number: G83.1.441.1-2
Potting pot with 'Bleu Persan' decoration
c.1675-1690
Object number: G83.1.451
Charger with portrait of Charles II
c.1685
Object number: G83.1.412
Charger with William III on a horse
c.1688
Object number: G83.1.413
Charger with William III on horseback
c.1688-1694
Object number: G83.1.414
Charger with William III on horseback
c.1690
Object number: G83.1.415
Charger with Mary II
c.1690
Object number: G83.1.416
Charger with portrait of William III
c.1689-1702
Object number: G83.1.417
Charger with William III and Mary II
c.1690-1700
Object number: G83.1.418
Charger with William III and Mary II
c.1689-1694
Object number: G83.1.419
Charger with Queen Anne
c.1702-1714
Object number: G83.1.420
Charger with the Duke of Marlborough
c.1710
Object number: G83.1.421
Charger with Adam and Eve
c.1680
Object number: G83.1.422
Charger with Adam and Eve
c.1690
Object number: G83.1.424
Charger with Adam and Eve
c.1680-1700
Object number: G83.1.425
Charger with Adam and Eve
c.1700-1715
Object number: G83.1.426
Charger with fruit and flowers
1655
Object number: G83.1.427
Charger with flowers in a vase
c.1660-1680
Object number: G83.1.428
Charger with tulips
c.1670
Object number: G83.1.429
Charger with carnations
c.1680-1700
Object number: G83.1.430
Charger with tulips and carnations
c.1680-1700
Object number: G83.1.431
Charger with pomegranates and grapes
c.1680-1700
Object number: G83.1.432