A Staffordshire-type Slipware Chamber Pot

by Liam Ray

Before indoor toilets and plumbing revolutionized hygiene in the home, one's business was performed in one of two places. Outdoors in a privy or outhouse, or indoors using a chamber pot. If for any reason you didn't want to go outside, be it night time, inclement weather, or laziness; you would use the chamber pot stored next to your bed, and dump it outdoors.

artifacts in situ

Our efforts at the Paul Wentworth House this summer were focused on locating evidence of possible enslaved peoples' quarters on the property, learning more about the daily lives of this particular group of the Wentworth House residents, and connecting artifacts to their original purposes and manufacturers. Among the artifacts we found, one piece connected people from several walks of life that together formed the basis of 18th century English settlement in Atlantic America. 

fragments before mending

This is a chamber pot made in a style known as Staffordshire Slipware, which had its heyday between 1660 and 1720. The style is so named because potters would cover these vessels with a clay slurry called slip, and use dyes and paints to create linear designs like the one seen on the side of the pot. Another slip painting technique, dotting, is visible on the rim. This pot would have been manufactured in the North Midlands of England, carried over by merchant ships, bought and used by the Wentworths, and regularly emptied and cleaned by the enslaved people listed in the Wentworths' probate inventory. It connects an astonishing variety of people from various walks of life. All 40+ pieces were found in a single 1x1 meter pit abutting the back corner of the house, suggesting that it may have been cast out a back door or window after breaking beyond use.

mended chamber pot from the ca. 1701 Wentworth House