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Pipkin: Gl.C.35-1928

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Object information

Current Location: Gallery 27 (Glaisher)

Maker(s)

Production: Unidentified Harlow pottery (Probably)

Entities

Categories

Description

Red earthenware with dark cream slip-trailed decoration under yellowish lead glaze, which does not cover the base inside. Circular with carinated sides and everted rim, standing on a low foot. The mouth is pinched up at one side to form a lip, at right angles to the handle, now missing apart from the stump. Round the upper part, above a wavy line, is the trailed inscription 'FAST AND PRAY 1650 W'

Notes

History note: Alfred P. Billson Collection, Folkestone; purchased by Mr Stoner on behalf of Dr J.W.L. Glaisher at the Billson Sale, Sotheby's, 21 December, 1908, Catalogue of Antiquities and other Works of Art . . ., lot 37, for £5.10.

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest

Measurements and weight

Diameter: 11.3 cm
Height: 6.8 cm

Place(s) associated

  • Harlow ⪼ Essex ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

Dating

17th Century, Mid#
Commonwealth
Production date: AD 1650 : dated

Note

In the 17th century there were potteries making slipware at Carters Mead, Brays Grove, and Latton Street in the area of Harlow New Town

This pipkin (a spouted cooking pot with handle to hold over the heat) is an extraordinarily rare witness to early modern fasting practices. The ‘fast and pray’ inscription would have appealed to the religious radicalism of Puritans living around Harlow during the Commonwealth period (1649–60). The pipkin’s burnished underside indicates that it was used for cooking the kind of meagre vegetable broth recommended for fast days by Thomas Tryon (1634–1703) in his self-help manuals. See also GL.C.36-1928, a slipware square bottle slip-trailed 'IAMES WANEL: ND/FEARE GOD THE LORD/AND FAST AND PRAY/*ABCDEFGHIKLMTHE'.

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Decoration composed of slip ( white)
Visible Surfaces composed of lead-glaze ( yellowish)
Body

Materials used in production

Earthenware

Techniques used in production

Lead-glazing

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: FAST AND PRAY 1650 W
  • Location: Round upper part
  • Method of creation: Slip-trailed
  • Type: Inscription

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: Gl.C.35-1928
Primary reference Number: 77055
Glaisher MS Catalogue: 2957
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Saturday 10 June 2023 Last processed: Wednesday 13 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Pipkin" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/77055 Accessed: 2024-10-14 06:33:01

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/77055 |title=Pipkin |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-10-14 06:33:01|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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