SC - feastware question

[Dottie Elliott]

>I just
>got through looking at a site that has beautiful late anglo-saxon 
>reproduction
>pottery on it. 

If this is a web site, I would love to see the address.

As someone who has been studying medieval pottery (and learning to make 
pottery) for a while now I will try to answer this. First of all, our 
knowledge of the middle ages is based on what archeologist have found, 
and drawings, paintings and writings or the period. Its my opinon that 
its impossible to tell from an illuminated manuscript or painting whether 
an item is metal, pottery or wood. Plates in England aren't found until 
the late fifteen hundreds and those were square and made of wood. Now, 
they did have silver plates before that. It was an ostentatious show of 
wealth and was used as such. Often such plates (and even the more 
beautiful pottery) was displayed during feasts rather than used as 
another show of wealth (you have so much you don't need to use it all).  

Most of the pottery that survives from England are pots, jugs, pitchers, 
pans and later cups, bowls and so on.  Pottery in England in the 10th & 
11th centuries was mostly rather simple (well compared to Italy). It was 
crudely made and decorated possibly not all. Pottery was mostly very 
functional. Cups of the time are mostly wood (bowls) or metal. Things got 
better as time went on. I have read that the pottery industry in England 
collapse when Rome withdrew and that explains why their pottery was crude 
early on. Certainly, it was not nearly as finished looking nor as highly 
decorated as Italy's pottery.

Also, let me say that of the cups, bowls and plates I am making, plates 
are the hardest. You must be careful to leave enough clay for the bottom 
to be able to use the item but if you leave too much it will warp on 
drying and be too heavy. My teacher agress that they are one of the 
harder items to make.

Its my personal opinion that poorer folks used simple wood bowls in their 
own homes because they would have been eating bread (not using it as a 
plate and throwing/giving it away). This was something they could make 
themselves as well. Wood doesn't break as easily as pottery either.

Please also remember that at feasts folks shared food containers.  How 
many people you might share with depended on your social rank.  The type 
of bread and amount and type of food was dictated by this as well.  The 
trencher was a place to put your portion that you removed from a communal 
bowl. There is a whole realm of ettiquette on how to share food (like its 
bad manners to eat the trencher), share cups, etc. Its my opinion that 
when serving large groups of people, bread trenchers were the only way to 
give that many folks their own 'plate'.

I started learning about pottery with the single intent of making period 
looking items for displaying my food in A&S contests. I was sadly 
disappointed to find that for England and France, bread trenchers are 
what I must use. For Italy, at least, I can do plates & bowls.

Clarissa
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