[Sca-cooks] trenchers

[otsisto]

Ceramic/pottery trenchers. Maiolica ceramics.

Lyse

-----Original Message-----
Porcelain became available as an Asian import in the 16th Century.  European
porcelain manufacture began around 1575, but it wasn't perfected until the
17th Century.  One also needs to consider glass and very delicate stoneware
as a stop gap between bread and porcelain.  I'm also certain that there was
overlap between fashions.

Precious metals in plates were used all through period, but I think you will
find they were more widely used in Southern Europe, where bread trenchers
appear to be of limited use or non-existent.  Metal and wood were probably
also used for dishes carried in one's baggage, as witness a painting of John
of Gaunt at table.  Some manor accounts show an annual or semi-annual
purchase of stoneware, largely mugs and bowls, to replace broken dishes.

Bear