View all examples of PEARLWARE, PLAIN
| Type Name: | PEARLWARE, PLAIN |
| Type Index: | REFINED EARTHENWARE |
| Production Origin: | ENGLAND |
| Date Range: | 1780-1840 |
| Defining Attributes: |
White to light cream-colored, thin, hard, compact paste. White to faint bluish white clear lead glaze, caused by the addition of cobalt to the glaze. Bluish cast where glaze pools. |
| Vessel Forms: |
BOWL CUP PLATE PLATTER |
| Comments: | Undecorated pearlware vessels were considerably less common than decorated varieties, and many archaeologically-recovered sherds without decoration were undoubtedly fragments from decorated wares. The paste of pearlware produced after 1810 was heavier and whiter than earlier examples, and had a harder lead glaze, varying in color from almost clear to deeply bluish tinted. |
| Published Definitions: | Noel Hume, 1969, South 1977, Miller 1991, Sussman 2000a |