Mid 19th Century Welsh Antique Earthenware Buckley Ware Slip Decorated Baking Dish

A generous mid-19th-century slipware baking dish, from the potteries of Buckley in Flintshire. It is press-moulded in a rounded rectangular form with sloping sides. The interior is coated in cream slip under a clear lead glaze; the rim is finished with a band of cream slip dashes, and the red earthenware body shows through as a deep, glossy red-brown around the edge and exterior. Dishes of this kind were the workhorses of the farmhouse kitchen, used for baking, roasting and setting milk, and their rugged forms and bold, simple decoration have made them prized as country pottery.

Buckley, close to the English border in north-east Wales, sits on a rare combination of coal and fine red and buff clays. Potters worked there from the medieval period until the last pottery closed in 1946, and the industry was at its height from the late 17th to the late 18th century. Demand for Buckley’s sturdy slip-decorated wares remained strong well into the 19th century, and they were shipped from the Dee to markets around the Irish Sea. Large thrown storage jars, dairy pans and press-moulded baking dishes like this one were the staple output. As the market for brown kitchen pottery declined in the later 19th century, the potters turned increasingly to smaller decorative pieces.

Large, honest and handsome, it would be perfect on a dresser, a farmhouse table or a kitchen wall, and is still a joy to use for serving.

Provenance: Wales. 19th-century.

Material: Lead-glazed red earthenware with cream slip decoration

Condition: Good. No chips, cracks, or glaze frits. The red body shows through the cream slip in places within the well, as is typical of these wares. Wear to the glaze and underside commensurate with age and use. Displays very well.

Dimensions: Length 13⅝ in (34.5 cm); width 10⅜ in (26.5 cm); height 2¾ in (7 cm