Stone a n d with M u s e u m Michigan State University to conduct a study of the Fort Michilimackinac pottery collection. Most of the artifacts found have been analyzed, classified, and stored in the Anthropology L a b o r a t o r y of Michigan State University M u s e u m .
GROUP I—
Shepard argues that: In a sense, we [archaeologists] are too objective in our attitude toward pottery; we treated it as a simple physical thing and, as I said before, we almost forgot the role of the potter. Important qualitative and quantitative data and some historical data are presented in parts of the text and in captions to the illustrations.
TIN-GLAZED EARTHENWARE
Pale yellow body covered with a bluish-white glaze; decorated with a leaf motif in blue and purple. Pale yellow body covered with a bluish-white glaze; decorated with a geometric border in blue and red.
The lack of decorative pieces like this at Michilimackinac indicates a stark difference between the Fort's material culture and that of the more advanced areas along the eastern seaboard, from Williamsburg to Louisbourg.
ENGLISH CREAM-COLORED EARTHENWARE
Description: Cream-coloured earthenware covered with a bright, yellowish lead glaze; no relief or painted decoration. Description: Cream-coloured earthenware covered with a clear, yellowish lead glaze and decorated with various molded relief edges. Cream-colored body covered with a bright, yellowish lead glaze; decorated over the glaze with leaf motifs in black and iron red.
Cream-colored body covered with a clear, yellow, leaden glaze; decorated with a beaded border in relief and a black transfer stamp over the glaze. Description: Cream-colored earthenware covered with a clear, yellow lead glaze; decorated over glaze with polychrome enamel colors. Cream-colored earthenware covered with a clear, yellow lead glaze; decorated with a bead and line border in relief and with foliated applied handle terminals.
GROUP III—
The archaeological evidence seems to indicate that the cream-coloured pottery at the Fort was generally limited to tea, coffee and dinner services. In 1778, the English trader, J o h n Askin, wrote to a friend in Montreal, complaining about the dull winters at the Fort and comparing Michigan's social life to that of London. Only in the last quarter of the eighteenth century did transfer printing reach an important position.
5' For an explanation of the transfer printing process, see ELLOUISE B.'VKER LARSEN, American Historical Insights into Staffordshire China, p. See also JOSEPH MAYER, "O n Liverpool Pottery," Transactions of the Historic Society oj Lancashire and Cheshire, vol. As with the polychrome cream ware, the printed pieces came from elements of a tea service.
COARSE EARTHENWARE
Body yellow, decorated with yellow coating and (on the outer surface) brown attachments; completely covered with transparent lead glaze. Body of yellow, decorated with yellow slipper and combed, brown slipper; completely covered with transparent lead glaze. Body made of yellow, decorated with yellow cap and brown fittings; .. covered with transparent lead glaze.
Buffet body decorated with a cream slide and brushed brown slide lines; generally covered with a clear lead glaze. Buff body decorated with a yellow slip and brushed, brown slip lines; generally covered with a clear lead glaze. Red body decorated on the inside only with a cream slip and brushed, brown slip lines; covered with a clear lead glaze.
GROUP IV—
FINE EARTHENWARE
Cream colored body covered with a mottled brown lead glaze and decorated with a relief leaf design. Cream-coloured body coated internally with clear lead glaze and externally with brown and green lead glaze. Cream colored body covered with a green lead glaze; decorated with a molded leaf pattern and an overall design of dotted circles; around 1755-1775.
Cream colored body molded in the shape of a cabbage leaf and covered with a green lead glaze;. Cream body molded in imitation of a cabbage leaf and covered with a green, yellow and brown lead glaze; around 1755-1775. Cream body cast in imitation of a cauliflower, covered with a clear green and white lead glaze; around 1755-1775.
ENGLISH WHITE SALTGLAZED STONEWARE
Most of the sherds of white salt-glazed stoneware represented pieces from dinner plates or other pieces of dinner services. Molded relief designs were the common ones used in English white glaze around 1760.^^ The repertoire of English makers was limited, and most of the common relief designs for these wares, represented by rim pieces from Fort ( Figure 36). Compared to the plain white and white glaze cast in relief, relatively little blue became scratched.
During excavations in 1959-1965, a total of 190 fragments of blue salt glaze were discovered at Fort Michilimackinac. Although less common than white relief wares, blue scratch has been found at many comparable historic sites.^^ Blue scratch sherds from Louisbourg and Fort Ligonier are shown in Appendix B, Figure 2d, and Appendix C, Figure \h, and Figure 2e. 9< A scratched blue cup (dated 1752) with a chevron border similar to a tea bowl from the fort (fig. 39a) is illustrated in BERNARD RACKHAM, Early Staffordshire Pottery, plate 55.
GROUP II—
STONEWARE, MISCELLANEOUS
German stoneware mugs were actually common in the English colonies in the mid-eighteenth century. The majority of German stoneware sherds from Fort Michilimackinac were found within areas containing materials related to the English occupation period. As large quantities of G er m a n stoneware were exported to both France and England in the eighteenth century, the context in which the sherds were discovered becomes i m p o r t a n t . The increase in export trade in these wares in the eighteenth century evidently resulted in a general deterioration in quality that is evident in the stylized geometric and foliate designs on a majority of the sherds from the fort.^°^.
34;0 During an archaeological dig in Williamsburg, Virginia, many fragments of German stoneware mugs were discovered. 91 For notes on eighteenth-century German porcelain exports, see EMIL HANNOVER, Pottery and Porcelain, A Handbook for Collectors, vol. Michilimackinac are probably of English origin.^°' An important industry specializing in the production of this type of brown salted earthenware was centered in the London area, particularly in F u l h a m and Lambeth.^^^.
CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN
Edge of a bowl shard; foliate decoration, d, fragment of body, probably from center of plate; decorated with a Chinese figure and willow trees, e, the base of a tea bowl, decorated inside with a bird and flowers. Shoulders and upper edge of a teapot shard; decorated with a Chinese figure and a willow tree. Probably from the same service as d above, g, fragment of plate rim; decorated with a dragon.
In very thin vases; decorated with flowers, curtains and a chain border in brown, green, red and gold. in thin vases; decorated with a leaf design in red, green and yellow, d, body piece from the center of a disc plate (the foot ring is on the reverse). Rim pieces from a bowl; decorated with polychrome flowers within a vine-shaped cartouche painted in blue and gold, g, rim piece from a tea bowl.
The quality of the painted decoration was good b u t n o t exceptional for wares of this type.^^^ Cups predominated, rather t h a n teacups (with handles). A fragment of a small section of the base and rim of a punch bowl (Figure 50a) is of extreme interest. Using the 2% inch arc of the foot ring of this piece, it is possible to calculate the outside diameter of the foot ring to be about 6 inches.
Measurements of many Chinese export porcelain punching bowls show that the diameter of these bowls is about twice the outer diameter of the foot rings. The quality of the porcelain and the less precise decoration on the Michilimackinac shard, however, indicate a dating to the Ch'ien Lung period. Excavations in 1959 revealed shards of Chinese export porcelain in place of a fireplace and floor storage cupboard in the barracks used in the 1770s.^^^.
ENGLISH PORCELAIN
1^2 Similar, but not identical, sauceboats are in the collections of the Chicago Art Institute and the Henry Ford Museum. This study has demonstrated to the authors that considerable uncertainty exists in the identification of eighteenth-century coarse earthenware. Paul Durrenberger, although a chronological assessment of the site (ca.) was not attempted on the basis of ceramic evidence.'*.
The differences are based on the nature of the socio-economic interpretations that can be derived from the analysis of ceramic data on historical sites. The extent of China's porcelain export trade system is partly reflected in the presence of this type of pottery. The inhabitants of the fort from the French period used few types of pottery, which was characteristic of a high level of social life.
HISTORY
Calendar of Paris Manuscripts Archives and Libraries Relating to the History of the Mississippi Valley to 1803. Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France.
CERAMICS
Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610-1791. Although the majority of the porcelain discussed and illustrated are 'm u s e m pieces', the chapters on the journey itself will prove valuable to the historical archaeologist. 34; Some observations on English salt-glazed brown stoneware." Transactions of the English Ceramic Circle, 1939, vol.
ARCHEOLOGY
White body covered with transparent salt glaze; decorated with incised lines filled with cobalt blue (i.e. scratch blue). Light yellow body covered with off-white pewter glaze; heavily ornamented and decorated with blue foliate and geometric border. Bright red case decorated with cream colored drag lines and coated (interior only) with brown lead glaze.
BuiT earthenware body coated internally with a greyish-white pewter glaze and externally with a white pewter glaze decorated with powdered p u r p l e. C r e a m - colored body coated internally with a clear lead glaze and externally with a green lead glaze decorated with regular dark green dots. BuffT e a r t h e n w a r e body covered with a bluish white pewter glaze and decorated with a leaf design in black and green.
