SC - feastware question

[Phil & Susan Troy]

Helen wrote:
> 
>     I sure you have talked about  this in the past and I have read all past files on
> the subject, but I still do not understand....... WHY, if man has been making
> pottery since prehistory, does everyone say my 12th cent. feast needs to have
> wooden/bread trenchers or metal?  Why was pottery not vogue in that time?  I just
> got through looking at a site that has beautiful late anglo-saxon reproduction
> pottery on it.   (from historical dig site finds) What time frame was that?

Well, I'm not sure what time frame Anglo-Saxon reproduction pottery would come
from ;  ). 

Ceramics of various kinds would be useful becuase they usually hold up well
under high heat, often better than wood or the softer metals. They were often
used for cooking pots in period. It may be, however, either an issue of
expense (I have no idea how expensive good pottery might have been in period,
but it's not an especially easy craft to master, and each piece has to be made
by hand, at least approved, I suspect, by a master craftsman, if not actually
made by him). On the other side of the coin it may have been considered that
an earthen plate or trencher was "common clay", dirt cheap, etc. (fill in the
supporting cliche of your choice), which might explain an aversion on the part
of some noble or bourgoise diners. It may also be that pottery was used more
frequently than you suppose, but that many pieces didn't survive as well as
the metal ones.

And finally, on a practical note, it occurs to me that cutting anything on a
ceramic plate could lead to damage to the edge of one's knife, which might go
far to explain the wood or bread trenchers. Never mind that bread can dull a
knife too...

Adamantius
Østgardr, East
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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