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Innovation and Decoration: Industrial Slipware at Boscobel

August 7th, 2024

To mark the opening of Reclaimed Resilience, Boscobel’s new Assistant Curator Riley Richards, shares more on one of her favorite aspects of the exhibition – industrial slipware a.k.a mochaware: 

Industrial slipware, also known as “mochaware” or “dipped ware,” is a type of refined earthenware ceramic that was made popular during the first decades of the nineteenth century following major industrialization in the European pottery industry. Its particular style of decoration often featured hard-edged bands of brightly colored slip, or liquid clay, that was applied utilizing motorized lathes. Industrial slipware was primarily produced in the potteries region of Staffordshire, England, however these industrial techniques were also embraced by potteries in both continental Europe and in the United States. A majority of Boscobel’s industrial slipware is English in origin, however, there are several examples in our collection produced at the Creil Factory in Creil-sur-Oise, France (fig. 1).

Motorized lathes not only influenced the decoration featured on pots, mugs, and bowls, but also significantly sped up the production of slip decorated earthenware more generally. As a result, mochaware was significantly cheaper than higher-style ceramics, such as Chinese export porcelain and Jasperware, and became popular among an emerging middling class in the United States and across the Atlantic. Industrial slipware seemingly struck the perfect balance between tastefully decorated and useful.

In the following paragraphs, we will learn a little bit more about the techniques utilized by these slipware manufacturers, the materials they used and sought to emulate, and more importantly, how these objects fit into the curatorial and decorative scheme at Boscobel.

Turning and Slipware

Slipware is a category of earthenware ceramics that is decorated using slip, or liquid clay, before being fired in a kiln. Using slip for decorating ceramics is ancient in origin, although industrial slipware more closely relates to a tradition of decoration tracing back to seventeenth century Europe. An English cup in Winterthur Museum’s collection exemplifies this prototypical style, featuring a dotted application of dark brown slip on a buff-colored body (fig. 2). Other examples feature patterns made of free-hand lines to create dynamic and tastefully decorated surfaces. Regardless of the design, a transparent glaze was added after the slip to create a watertight vessel with a highly polished shine.

 

Industrial slipware manufacturers built upon this stylistic tradition by utilizing motorized lathes to apply and incise decoration to mugs, bowls, and pitchers. The surface of a chamber pot in Boscobel’s collection, decorated with a series of bands in varying widths and colors, highlights the precision and techniques afforded by the lathe (fig. 3). As the chamber slowly rotated, the decorator likely used a brush to apply a thick band of cream slip; the thinner bands of blue and brown were then applied with either thin brushes or a blowing bottle (fig. 4). Blowing bottles  allowed the turner to control the flow of slip out of a bottle with their breath, in a manner akin to a modern squeeze bottle.

The swag-and-loop decoration was applied after these hard-edged bands with a multi-chambered slip cup (fig. 5). The illustrated example is a modern three-chamber cup. The decorator of this chamber pot, would have filled the cups of a similar tool with blue-, brown-, and cream-colored slip; funneling the slip onto the clay surface as it rotated on the lathe. This technique produced an “earthworm” pattern, where a series of “cat’s eyes” motifs overlap to produce a swag. The viscosity of the slip coupled with these decorative techniques produced one-of-a-kind decorative motifs While the “earthworm” pattern on this chamber pot creates a whimsical, abstracted design, these multi-chambered slip cups were also used to emulate the coloring and patterning of carved agates, tortoise shells, and other natural materials.

Beyond the examples at Boscobel, industrial slipware was decorated with a very broad range of design and technique types. Archival records from pottery manufacturer Hartley, Greens & Co. of Leeds, England, held at the Victoria & Albert Museum demonstrate the broad range of designs and colors able to be produced by a single manufacturer (fig. 6). Pattern No. 440 (lower right), for example, would have been produced by adding alternating bands of colored slip with a blowing bottle. The textured example in No. 436 (center left) possibly shows encrusted decoration, where a vessel covered in wet slip was rolled in small pieces of dried clay to create a rock-like textured surface. 

 

 

Mochaware Decoration

Industrial slipware is often known as “mochaware,” which refers to the dendritic, or branch-like motifs commonly used to decorate this type of ware. The term “mocha” is derived from the name of the Yemenese port city Al Mukha, where London merchants imported moss agate. The green inclusions or naturally occurring dendrites in this semi-precious stone are reminiscent of the patterns found on industrial slipware. A pitcher, basin, and cachepot made by the Creil Factory in France are good examples that feature “mocha” or dendritic decoration, creating a pattern of tree-like motifs around the base of the pitcher and pot.

These unique patterns were created by applying an acidic “mocha tea” concoction to the surface of freshly-applied slip. An alkaline and acidic reaction between the slip and “tea” caused a pattern to instantaneously spread along the surface of the slip. While it is commonly believed that this pattern was made with the stale urine of a potter, the recipe for “mocha tea” varied from pottery to pottery, typically containing a highly acidic component, such as turpentine, and a dark pigment or element, such as india ink or manganese. Unlike hand-painting similar natural motifs, mocha decoration emulated the random growth patterns of trees and could be created in seconds.

 Mocha decoration was often applied vertically in what collectors call a “tree” pattern. The Creil pitcher decorator played into the pattern’s resemblance to trees by moving his mocha-tea-saturated brush up and through the motif to create a trunk. Mocha decoration was also commonly placed horizontally and is known as a “seaweed” pattern, as is demonstrated on a pair of spill vases most often on display in Peter’s bedroom (fig. 7).

A recently acquired baluster-form jug, likely from Staffordshire, demonstrates how the hard-edged decoration afforded by the lathe and these mocha motifs were combined to create evocative and complex designs (fig. 8). The pitcher’s decorator utilized both the “tree” and “seaweed” pattern to create motifs that are reminiscent of trees and shrubs. The split background of orange and blue slip gives the illusion of a horizon line between ground and sky, or even sky and water, where a reflected landscape of trees and shrubs line the body of the vessel. Hand-painting landscapes would have been a time-consuming task and reserved for only the best “showpieces,” but here the decorator combined the techniques available to them to produce a slipware landscape. Like a well-executed painting, the craftsperson framed the landscape with two rouletted bands colored with a translucent cobalt wash. 

Seeing as Boscobel is known for its many landscapes, from its beautiful view of the Hudson River to the variety of painted landscapes on canvas and furniture, perhaps we can add this pitcher to the inventive ways craftspeople captured the beauty and forms found in nature.

Slipware in the Home

For an emerging middle-class family in the first decades of the nineteenth century, a mochaware pitcher, similar to the one in Boscobel’s collection, would be their nicest piece of pottery and used during special occasions (fig. 8). Their simple earthenware bodies and industrialized decoration made the wares monetarily accessible, while also allowing the middle class to own something ornamented, “fancy,” and born of the latest industrial trends. For a well-to-do family like the Dyckmans, however, mochaware would be far more common, considered more useful than beautiful. Due to this difference, Boscobel typically displayed these wares in the bedrooms and service spaces of the home, and not the formal drawing room or dining room. Nevertheless, industrial slipware at Boscobel is integrated as part of the spectacular interior design that demonstrates the integral role of utilitarian ceramics in the lives of all people regardless of social or economic status.

Previously resting atop the mantle in Peter Corne Dyckman’s bedroom is a pair of spill vases decorated with orange and blue bands of slip and “seaweed” mocha motifs (fig. 7). These vases would have held spills, or rolled paper used to light fires. While not as materially rich or ornate as porcelain or jasperware examples in Boscboel’s collection, early curators recognized the decorative potential of the vases, particularly their resonances with the bedroom’s wallpaper. Their geometric designs and bright colors fit nicely with early nineteenth century trends in design.

Other pieces of industrial slipware in the collection are similarly utilitarian in nature. The Creil pitcher and basin are displayed in the corner of the guest bedroom and would have been used to wash oneself in private. A blue and brown slip decorated chamber pot recently resided in Sill’s Room, the domestic space of a Free Black servant. In both examples, the ware’s relationship with user’s bodies informs their placement inside of these domestic settings. Either tucked away in a corner or near the bed, each object undermines their base everyday functions through their brightly colored decorations.

Industrial slipware at Boscobel reveals the diverse social classes under one roof. While it was a house filled with expensive, high-style goods in public-facing spaces, it was also a residence and place of labor for servants. Extricating these objects from their domestic settings allow us to ponder them in a new light, understanding both their roles as objects of use, as well as representations of technology, design, and art. 

Referenced/Recommended further reading

• Carpentier, Donald and Jonathan Rickard. “Slip Decoration in the Age of Industrialization.” In Ceramics in America, edited by Robert Hunter. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Chipstone Foundation, 2001. https://chipstone.org/article.php/9/Ceramics-in-America-2001/Slip-Decoration-in-the-Age-of-Industrialization
• Priddy, Sumpter. American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts, 1790-1840. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Chipstone Foundation, 2004. 
• Rickard, Jonathan. Mocha and related dipped wares, 1770-1939. East Nassau, NY: University Press of New England in association with Historic Eastfield Foundation, 2006.

Riley Richards, Assistant Curator

August 2024