{"id":13113,"date":"2022-07-20T10:41:33","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T08:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homesandantiques.com\/?p=1231"},"modified":"2022-07-20T11:04:09","modified_gmt":"2022-07-20T09:04:09","slug":"a-history-of-antique-spongeware","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/homesantiques\/rss_feed\/a-history-of-antique-spongeware\/","title":{"rendered":"A history of antique spongeware"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ellie Tennant\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 20 July 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The art of decorating pottery by hand using sponge printing is nothing new. Some of the Minoan ceramics from 4,000 years ago on display in the Archaeological Museum in Heraklion, Crete, are decorated with basic sponge stippling. But the technique evolved in Britain during the 19th century, when potteries in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland began to use fine-pored sponges cut into shapes to print simple, coloured patterns on to inexpensive earthenware.<\/p>\n

Key potteries included Llanelly<\/a> in south Wales and David Methven & Sons<\/a> in Kirkcaldy, east Scotland, which both produced a vast amount. Notable English potteries such as George Jones and WM Adams & Co were also big producers. Confusingly for dealers and collectors alike, copying was rife and many potteries didn\u2019t mark their pieces.<\/p>\n

Antiques dealer Robert Young<\/a>, who has a personal spongeware collection of 150 pieces, says a lot of it was unmarked because it was decorated by individuals at home. \u2018It was a cottage industry. Women would pick up cheap blanks from the pottery, sponge them on the kitchen table, then return them for the second firing.\u2019 Because it was so cheap, it was well used and so only a relatively small amount has survived intact.<\/p>\n

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\u2018It was the kind of tableware you\u2019d find in a farmhouse kitchen, used to serve porridge and soup to farm workers who lived in little bothies,\u2019 says Becca Gauldie, an antiques dealer who started collecting spongeware at the age of 12, after gathering broken shards on beaches near Kirkcaldy. \u2018Lots of it got scorched because it was kept resting on the range and people often poured hot dripping into spongeware bowls, which got right into the pottery and discoloured it.\u2019<\/p>\n

As such, collections are rare \u2013 even the Victoria and Albert Museum<\/a> only has a small selection of relatively refined mid 18th-century sponged creamware from Staffordshire potteries<\/a> on show. So where are the rural 19th-century pieces from Welsh, Scottish and Irish potteries? The answer seems to be that savvy collectors are snapping it up. Tim Bowen<\/a>, an expert in Welsh spongeware, has noticed the trend.<\/p>\n

You might also like<\/strong> a history of Wedgwood<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s been a recent resurgence in interest. When I started dealing 25 years ago, all the weekend auctions in Wales would have spongeware but now it\u2019s harder to find and consequently prices have steadily gone up.\u2019 Prices vary according to condition, age and design, but rare pieces can fetch thousands of pounds. \u2018I sold a collection of 25 pieces of blue and white<\/a> spongeware pottery from the 1800s for \u00a36,500 recently,\u2019 says Robert Young.<\/p>\n

Small single items such as mugs can be quite affordable though, starting at around \u00a340 each in antiques shops<\/a>. It\u2019s the simplicity of spongeware that draws many collectors to it today. Rudimentary spongeware was often, as Emma Bridgewater<\/a> affectionately describes it, \u2018a bit slapdash\u2019. There are smudges, wonky patterns and mysterious gaps in otherwise unbroken friezes.<\/p>\n

Dealer Tim Bowen has one piece in his own collection that he can\u2019t bear to part with. \u2018It\u2019s a humble little mug, with the name \u201cDolly\u201d on it. It\u2019s not the most valuable piece \u2013 I have sold pristine, early blue and white spongeware mugs for \u00a3500 each \u2013 but it\u2019s so sweet and personal.\u2019<\/p>\n

Robert Young prefers unusual pieces such as the mustard pot he currently has in stock, priced at \u00a3220. \u2018It wasn\u2019t just crockery that was decorated using sponges,\u2019 says Tim Bowen. \u2018We have a late 19th-century spongeware toothbrush holder for \u00a3110.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\u2018Japanese collectors love blue and white patterns because that\u2019s what they\u2019re familiar with, while ex-pats in Canada and America want nostalgic animal motifs but children\u2019s porridge bowls with mottoes always sell well to everyone,\u2019 says Becca Gauldie, who has a patriotic World War I design in stock, with the music hall lyric \u2018It\u2019s a long long way to Tipperary\u2019 emblazoned inside, for \u00a3225.<\/p>\n

The fact that spongeware is so robust and useable today is a big plus for buyers. \u2018It doesn\u2019t need to be put in a glass cabinet,\u2019 says Tim Bowen. \u2018The odd chip or hairline crack doesn\u2019t matter when you\u2019re serving up salads and stews on a daily basis. We have pieces at home that we use all the time. We mix them up with modern spongeware and it all looks great together on the dresser.\u2019<\/p>\n

Where to buy antique spongeware<\/h2>\n