Kiln furniture, saggar

In 1672, John Dwight set up a pottery in Fulham. He became the first Englishman to make stoneware, produced by firing clay at very high temperatures. In the 1970s, excavations at Fulham revealed the extent of Dwight’s wares and experiments.

This incomplete saggar has four knife-cut marquise-shaped apertures and v-shaped notches in the rim. The notches enabled the fused stacks to be separated with a small crowbar or similar tool. This form of saggar is particularly common after 1680 and they are usually found containing mugs known as gorges. The gorge sits on a square pad of refractory clay.