Looking Forwards From The Past – Medieval Influenced Pottery

Alex McErlain writes about the Yorkshire Museum’s collection of Medieval jugs, and how pottery from this period has influenced contemporary ceramics – including many in the collection at York Art Gallery.

The collection of medieval jugs, usually kept in the Yorkshire Museum, has long been a source of inspiration to many studio potters. Amongst the numerous fine examples, I am particularly drawn to this fat jug with its unusual decorative treatment (pictured below top). The sandy brown clay body has had a thin coating of white slip followed by four vertical stripes of green glaze.

The stripes are what makes this jug so distinctive, especially the contrast with the slipped body. It makes the jug appear elegant and energised contrasting with the rather sturdy underlying form. The inventiveness of the medieval potters never cease to fascinate me. There was no real reason for the potter to apply the glaze stripes other than the perennial enjoyment of enlivening something you have made in an inventive manner. The handle is especially bold, thick and round in form and attached with gusto.

From the many medieval inspired pots in the studio pottery collection I have chosen an unusual piece made by Sebastian Blackie (pictured below bottom). Blackie’s pot is unglazed and partially smoke fired. It employs the same dry surface treatment as its medieval counterpart though minus the glaze and admittedly the smoke marking is more connected to African traditions.

The handle has a tenuous attachment, barely making contact at the base and thus drawing our attention to the way we read such pots. One very non medieval motif is the presentation of the form on a plinth base. Perhaps the artist was making reference to the way these simple everyday jugs now have an elevated status within museum presentation. However we read the pot it clearly owes much to its medieval forebears in form and detailing. I think it makes us look more closely at the sources of inspiration and thus takes the development of jug design forward in the modern world.

The York collection of medieval jugs were largely assembled by members of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society during the Victorian era. The antiquarians gathered these vessels at a time when the medieval period was not considered to be especially interesting and was certainly not fashionable. There were three main collectors whose pots formed the core of the philosophical societies hoard, Messrs Hargroves, Bateman and Cook.

Without the passion and acquired expertise of these individuals, the museum would not have such a fine holding. Most of the pottery held by York Art Gallery has come from the generous bequests of individuals who have built specialist collections of objects. The collections at York continue to grow with the gallery making occasional acquisitions as funds permit, however offers to bequeath new specialist collections will be the way it can continue to build on its reputation as the Centre of Ceramic Art in the UK.