Fabric: Dense alluvial clay, generally orange, but can range from pinkish- to brownish-red in color. The clay is well-worked and thinly potted. Broken edges can be smooth or laminated, and display numerous pores and fissures, with almost no inclusions.

Glaze/Decoration: The interiors of all forms are covered with a thick white slip through which are incised multiple concentric circles, curvilinear lines, and central medallions of stylized zoomorphic or botanical motifs. The decorations are highlighted with splashes or stripes of ochre and green copper oxide. Small bowls are also slipped on the exteriors to just above the footring, and are sometimes decorated through the slip with incised and/or painted lines. Larger bowls are slipped on the exterior about 2/3 down from the rim with a white slip, and are sometimes decorated on the exterior like the small bowls. Flanged dishes and bowls are slipped on the interiors and rim exteriors only. A colorless lead glaze covers the slipped areas producing a creamy-yellow color. On exteriors, the unslipped and unglazed fabric appears glossy brown. Where covered with the colorless lead glaze, the fabric is a pale brownish-orange. Generally the glaze is finely-crazed and gray-stained in the cracks. There is a tendency for heavy spalling.

Forms: This ware is found in three hollowware forms. The small bowls have slightly thickened vertical rims and curved walls. There is a short splayed foot, tooled on the exterior edge and beveled on the interior. The shallow concave bases display narrow concentric potting rings. The large bowls have a folded or slightly everted, grooved rim with curved walls. The footring is splayed and beveled and the concave base displays concentric potting rings. The flanged dish or bowl has a wide upturned flanged rim. It is grooved on the interior and has a sharply carinated body. Like the other forms, the footring is splayed and manifests the characteristic potting rings on the concave base.


Reflecting the influence of Middle Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean ceramics, sgraffito slipwares were produced in the Po valley region of Northern Italy beginning in the medieval period. By the 1400s, Pisa, with its red-firing alluvial clays, became the center of the Italian slipware market, producing both sgraffito and marbled slipwares. The wares were distributed throughout the Mediterranean region and northwest Europe, largely in the 17th century.

Sgraffito slipwares are commonly found on 17th-century sites throughout North America. Primarily found in contexts of the second and early third quarters of the 17th century in Virginia, their presence is thought to be the result of Dutch commerce with the colony.

Sources
Sites
Jamestown NPS Collections, ca. 2nd quarter 17th century
Sandys Site, ca. 1630-45
William Drummond Site, ca.1650-1660
Chesopean Site
Hampton (44HT44)
Mathews Manor
Richneck
Claremont Manor (44SY5Q)

Prepared by Merry Outlaw