Potters Leaving their Mark: Thumb Marks

Recently, mudlarking on the Thames, I purposely sought out pottery where hands have left their mark. Poignant reminders of their makers. Impressions left by the maker’s thumbs, whether part of shaping the object, fixing a handle to the main body or in decoration have to be the most moving of all. 

Fragment of Medieval? Pot Found Mudlarking on Thames Foreshore

When following the potter’s decorative thumb mark on the piece above yesterday, I noticed clear finger prints captured in the clay, at the top of the indentations.

Close up of thumb marks on Medieval? Pot, showing finger prints. 

Perhaps a bit of a rushed job, the shapes are not quite as uniform as they are on the second  and third sherds below.  All I suspect  are  from the rims of storage jars, all have traces of glaze.   The curves on two are very shallow, they must have been enormous. My uneducated guess is the first is hand formed red ware made between 1250-1450. The second  and third are both wheel made, the second perhaps redware from 1600-1700,  quite possibly made in London as the redware industry was firmly established in London from end of 15th Century. The third could be Surrey whiteware made between 1240-1500.  

Sections of Pot Redware and White Ware Pot Rims found Mudlarking on the Thames 

Just now I noticed what could be 500+ year old finger prints on the reverse of the whiteware. The potter must have held the inside of the wet pot whilst they created the indentations on the outside, magic. Double click on the photo for a better view. 

Close up of border whiteware sherd, showing  potter's finger prints. 

The last example is a tree trunk of a handle base, decoratively attached to the body of a cooking pot with confident thumb presses.  Are the blackened areas the remains of the fires that cooked countless meals?

The base of a redware cooking pot handle found on the Thames Foreshore

I prefer not to dwell on the hours I’ve spent googling trying to identify these finds, with only partial success. Clearly something best  left to the experts and my up and coming visit to the Museum of London’s Finds Officer. Meanwhile,  I’ll  continue with this series of posts, it’ll be interesting to see if I get any of this right. 

Is this from a 400 year old money box?

To my surprise my web trawling suggests the small green glazed knob I found on the Thames foreshore topped a ceramic money box. The 'inside' shot shows  the potter's rather pleasing twist, used to create the lid.  

Money box lid found Mudlarking on the Thames, London 

Probably made from Surrey/Hampshire border ware. They were made between 1550- 1650, covering the life time of Shakespeare. Apparently, often found at theatres where they are thought to have functioned as box offices - could it have come from the original Globe Theatre, across the river from where I found this? 

Money Box from Museum of London 

A couple of weeks after posting this, I've just seen one of these money boxes in the Globe Theatre's exhibition,  it is so much smaller than I thought from this photograph, even though the Museum of London's photo above has the dimension. You could easily fit it into your hand. 

Bartmann Jugs 1550- 1700

Also called ‘Bellarmines’, produced in Cologne and surrounding towns such as Frechen, Germany, from 1550 – 1700 and exported to England in large quantities. They were later manufactured in England. These pieces have a very distinctive mottled effect, which was achieved by throwing salt into the kiln, producing a texture similar to orange peel. The fragments are likely to originate from jugs and bottles. For someone who knows nothing about pottery, I've found out that they are made of stoneware, a clay which is fired at high temperatures. This results in a more sturdy and chip resistant product which is more suited to transportation and storing liquids and food,  which is precisely what the Bartmann Jugs were used for. 

Salt glaze pieces, middle fragments from  Bartman Jugs 'eye' and 'beard' and 'medallion'  found Mudlarking  

Bartman Jug 

The face of a bearded man is emblazoned in relief decoration, on the neck of each one. Originally thought to represent the mythical wild man, popular in northern European folklore from 14th century. Later the face became linked with cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), a fierce opponent of alcohol and Protestantism in Germany, perhaps by protestants wishing to ridicule the cardinal by associating him with vessels carrying alcohol. In the 17th century, many would be decorated with a medallion in the middle of the body, usually a coat of arms of royalty, noble families or towns. No success yet in finding a full Bartmann face, tantalisingly I’ve found a few fragments of face , an eye and beard and other decorations, perhaps monograms, sections of handles and undecorated jug pieces. One to keep looking for.

Tudor Nit Comb Found Mudlarking on the Thames

I found a small section of a tudor comb on my first ever mudlarking trip in September 2011. It’s made of bone, so smooth to touch and beautifully made. One side is a regular comb, the other a nit comb. 

Section of Tudor nit Comb found on Thames Foreshore

When I picked it up I asked my sister whether she thought it was anything of interest, she thought not. Fortunately I ignored her and asked our guide what it might be. I found another comb section a few months later, but left it there for someone else to find.

Tudor Nit Combs found on the Mary Rose