Medieval Ceramics Volume 35: Journal of the Medieval Pottery Research Group

The transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern period is considered a period of significant socio­ economic and political change; international trade routes shifted from the Mediterranean basin to the Atlantic coast and beyond, towards the New World. The opening of western markets changed the way products were commercialised, with the emphasis on quantity rather than quality, forcing merchants to keep prices low. Production was consequently intensified and trade extended across several markets. This paper considers the evidence for such changes that is provided by Italian ceramics that have been found in excavations in Granada in Spain.

Fifty-seven sherds of 18th-century black-glazed pottery from five production and five consumption centres in the English Midlands, North-West, North Wales and the Isle of Man were subject to XRF analysis in an attempt to distinguish the products of individual potteries by their chemical signature. The results produced a clear division into two chemical groupings which did not correlate with the production centres. A microscopic re-examination of the sherds suggested that the differences between the groups were the result of production choices made by the potters that outweighed any chemical variation in the clays they used.

Publication review

Publication review

Constitution of the Medieval Pottery Research Group

Preliminaries (i.e. coverpage, contents) of Medieval Ceramics 2014