Friday 28 December 2012

Colander 1480- 1650

Hesitated before picking up the piece below with holes, now I'm really pleased that I bothered. Below I've carefully  propped it up with a very green English Tomato which was to hand ripening on our windowsill to better illustrate its origin. The shard is as big has my hand and has a shiny brown glaze on the inside and traces of a thin glaze on the outside. It took me a while to work out it was from a colander and that the little protrusion was in fact a foot - it was only when I came across the still life painting below that the penny dropped. 
Mudlarking Find: 16th Century Earthenware Colander
It is probably redware, the texture is quite rough and you can spot large inclusions in the clay. The holes are uneven. I've read that pottery in the 16th century was expensive and only owned by the well to do, the rest using vessels and cooking equipment made of leather, wood or pewter. I wonder how common colanders were? Were they must have kitchen equipment for those who could afford them? 

Still Life with Earthenware colander by Flemish Clara Peeters 1589- 1657
I can't end this post without reference to my surprise that this old still life was painted by a woman. Very little is known about her but she must have been pretty remarkable to have made it in 16th century. Apparently the painting is full of symbolism which is lost on our 21st century sensibilities, the fish represents Christ and are placed in the position of a cross, although I've read elsewhere is just represents abundance and has no moral or other subtext.  

6 comments:

  1. Just right, once again. Thank you. Barbara

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just love reading your posts! and amazing how you can match up your finds to works of art - LOVE it

    ReplyDelete
  3. wonderful still-life...get detective work!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh... this is so interesting. Your find is amazing and so the still life is

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you so much for this post! We were working on the registration of a find assemblage from a wreck off Sweden and there were several chards like yours. Your post helped us identify the vessel. The shards seems to originate from a colander exactly like the one in Claras painting! Thank you again for helping us (unknowingly). All the best//marie

    ReplyDelete
  6. Não bộ là phần quan trọng nhất của con người nhưng lại ít được quan tâm làm thế nào để có trí nhớ tốt ?, từ bây gời hãy chăm sóc bộ não bằngthức ăn bổ não tăng cường trí nhớ , nhưng thức ăn này rất hiệu quả giúp bạn cải thiện trí nhớ .Thoái hóa khớp gối là bệnh không nên coi thường , vậy thoái hóa khớp gối có nên đi bộ không ? Lời khuyên là không nên , chỉ sử dụng những cách tập ít tác động đến chân là tốt nhất .hay buồn ngủ là bệnh gì. Bạn đang muốn giảm nhưng nhưng chưa biết phải làm sao ! Sau đây những món ăn giúp giảm cân sẽ giúp bạn có được cở thể đẹp đống thời trị mất ngủ đêm và giúp ngủ ngon hơn .

    ReplyDelete