Medieval Ceramics Volume 17: Journal of the Medieval Pottery Research Group

Editorial of Medieval Ceramics 1993

This paper presents a chronological overview of the different wares produced during the 13th to 15th centuries in the centres of Genoa and Savona and the surrounding area, and considers some of the influences governing the evolution and distribution of the different wares within the broad traditions of Savona Archaic Graffita, Proto-Maiolica, Archaic Maiolica and Monochrome Graffita. For each ware the most common forms are described and the fabrics summarised. The final section presents the results of ongoing scientific research into the pottery fabrics, which now has a databank of c. 5000 thin-section samples from the major production centres Mediterranean area.

This paper provides an overview of the documentary evidence for the mechanisms whereby the different types of Spanish pottery imported from the 13th to the 15th century reached England1. Much Iberian pottery arrived through trade with Valencia, Granada and Andalusia, but nearly all commercial imports to Southampton, Sandwich and London came in on Catalan and Italian vessels, often as containers for oil, ginger, and sugar. In London, however, the situation is complicated by Flemish interests. The problems of identifying the different forms, their provenance, function and destination are discussed with reference to entries in the records for London and Southampton, which include details of merchant, date, vessel, cost and associated cargo, and the potential of the Customs Records to contribute to pottery studies is demonstrated.

Martincamp’ flasks have been widely published in Great Britain under the name of this village in the Seine-Maritime (Eastern Normandy), to the extent that their ‘provenance’ is well-established in the literature. However, the evidence supporting this definite attribution is weak. A study of ‘Martincamp’ wares on both sides of the Channel, particularly from London (Museum of London) and Dieppe (Castle Museum), showed that they could have been produced in a wider area, and that the production was not just limited to flasks. This demonstrates the fundamental problem of attributions made at distance in consumer sites when so little is known of the production centres.

This paper comprises an overview and comparison of the pottery and other artefacts found on board late medieval shipwrecks, excavated in the reclaimed land of the former inland-sea in the centre of the Netherlands1. It describes a well- dated assemblage of artefacts found in a small cog wrecked in the early 15th century, and the inventory of the standard galley utensils, cooking-pots and pans used on board late medieval ships, and it briefly outlines the difficulties of recording these objects according to the type of classification used for 19th-century cargo-vessels of the Zuider Zee.

Publication review

Publication review

Publication review

Statement of Account of The Medieval Pottery Research Group for the Year Ending 31 January 1993

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