Mudlarking Mosaic - a quarter of the way through.

There are around 90 sections in this mosaic and I'm about a quarter of the way through. Fortunately it continues to be a pleasure and I become so absorbed I enter into what the psychologists call 'flow', the road to a happiness.

Beginning with another of my favourites, Chinese export porcelain. So as not to feel too much of a vandal I tried to keep snipping to a minimum so it was a a jigsaw puzzle task. The first are my larger pieces.

The second much smaller ones. 

This stuff was imported to Europe from around 1550 and declined in popularity from the late 18th century when Staffordshire ceramics became de rigueur. A longer post can be found here. The first handle less tea bowls were made of Chinese export porcelain and captured in several eighteenth century family portraits. Did they end up in the Thames?

An English Family at Tea 1725 (Joseph Van Aken)

Chinese export porcelain also features in those lovely dutch still lives.

Still Life With Turkey Pie by Pieter Claesz 1625(Rijksmuseum) 

Chunky shards with the seaweed patterns of Mochaware produced from 1792 - 1850 are squashed into the next section. A previous post on Mochaware can be found here.

A popular ceramic for jugs, bowls, chamber pots and salts. 

Mochaware Mustard Pot 1800s (ebay) 

The first pottery I spotted along the Thames was Staffordshire Combed Slipware. I assumed it was Victorian and amazed when I found out it could originate from 1690 - this was the pottery that started my fascination with the Thames and the secrets it holds. 

Utilitarian it was primarily used in baking dishes, although I've also included a marble ware piece, probably from a cup. 

Staffordshire Combed Slipware Baking Dish 1790-1800 (John Howard) 

Another ceramic from Georgian England, banded or annular ware from 1770s - 1840 covered in more detail here.

The  relief mouldings lift this section of creamware. First produced in 1750 and remaining popular until 1840 it was a cheaper substitute for Chinese export porcelain. 

Tucked in the centre are a couple of floret and leaf terminals which may well have decorated the base of jug handles such as the one below. 

Creamware Water Jug 18th Century (John Howard) 

No mudlarking mosaic would be complete without the ubiquitous clay pipe>

And finally a few shots of what at the moment is the tour de force, remembering virtually none of this is my own design, just a pure copy of someone else's masterpiece.