William Simpson slipware posset pot, 1685

Overview

Hayden illustrates a wide-mouthed, rounded posset pot dated 1685 and inscribed with William Simpson’s name. The body has a straight upper band above a swelling lower portion and a narrow base. His description records three handles and three loops. In the monochrome photograph the near handle projects across the body, a large handle opens to the right, and smaller looped attachments can be distinguished alongside the principal handles. Raised-looking dots outline several of the decorative divisions. The date occupies the upper band, while the other lettering and ornament extend around a surface that the single photograph does not show completely.

The caption and text describe a yellow ground with conventional brown decoration and dotted work. These colour claims come from Hayden’s written account, because the photograph supplies shape and arrangement rather than reliable colour. In the same chapter he explains slip as clay mixed with water to a consistency suitable for trailing a pattern onto the ware. The pot therefore documents an object-specific meeting of ceramic form, inscription and slip decoration. Its name is a category assigned in the collector’s account; the source does not establish this particular vessel’s former contents, a named drinking event or the identity of its maker. William Simpson’s appearance in the inscription alone does not supply that information.

The caption locates the pot in Dr. W. L. Glaisher’s Cambridge collection at the time of publication. The chapter’s auction table separately records the same dated, inscribed example at Sotheby’s in December 1908. This places the object within a later history of collecting as well as seventeenth-century manufacture. Hayden’s judgments about the artistic rank and national character of slipware reflect his collecting perspective; they do not establish how its makers or users understood it.

History & identity

An individual early English earthenware object documented in Arthur Hayden’s illustrated collector study of 1909.

Sources & representation

Complete chapter II, including illustration captions and auction table, and selected front matter read; native p.89 photographs inspected.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Chats on Old Earthenware

   Arthur Hayden · 1909

   New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company; chapter II, Early Ware, pp.83–98; objects illustrated p.89.

Language & cultural connections

Source-supported language and cultural connections have not yet been compiled for this profile.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Historical illustrated collection studyHayden’s original illustrated account, chapter IIResearch access: 2026-10-21

Image credits

AI-generated interpretation after Hayden’s 1909 documentation; not a photograph or authenticated replica.