stoneware dish.

A nice two handled dish, I don't believe it has much age. No mark or residue of any label, so unlikely to get an ID, but thought I'd give it a go anyway.

salt glazed?

No indication from the images that it is salt-glazed. The "toasted" look suggests that it is wood-fired.

The shape, without the decoration, reminds me of Winchcombe and Muchelney wares.

Is it not? Ok, thanks for the feedback.

Agreed, the toasting effect on the outside means its wood fired. But wood firing is Real hard work. The Kiln temperatures need to be maintained for a long time, and continually fed with wood. Its only really practical in a rural situation. There are very few potters doing it nowadays. So it might be older than you think. Mulcheney is well over 50 years old.
It looks very well made, a good shape. Its just that decoration does not look as good as it should be to match the quality of the pot. Finger wipe decoration tends to be actually quite refined, professional and traditional in its style. This decoration is just not that!

Thanks Phil. Whilst I like the decoration, it does seem a little too much even for my untrained eye, so I appreciate what you say, it makes sense, reference the lack of refinement.
Regards the firing, I've given my head a shake, not thinking too clearly today.
Many thanks again all

It could be that a pottery held a course allowing people that paid to use pottery blanks to decorate as they wished and then these were fired later by the pottery. It is the type of thing that's done to bring in extra revenue.

Funny you should say that, after previous comments made I wondered if some trainee at Winchcombe (or wherever) may have been responsible. What you mention makes sense, thanks.

Muchelney is possible. I was chatting to Ben Leach at the pottery just before the second lockdown and he's helping with the firing but is a wood carver rather than a potter. He says he gets bored after throwing the first few pots of their standard ware but his dad expects him to make the full quota in the day.  

The remarkable bit about Muchelney is their remarkably consistent uniformity over so many years. They are so instantly recognisable as a Muchelney. That takes a very high standard of discipline and tight quality control over more than half a century. If this is Mulcheney, then it is very, very unusual.

Very true. Ben said his father is an absolute stickler for uniformity. Any diversion and he'd be in trouble. So probably not theirs unless it's an individual piece, and then it should have a personal stamp

That looks like a lot of work for one day.

abstract toad wrote:That looks like a lot of work for one day.

Jobbing potters a hundred years or so ago worked piecework terms and so some would throw over 1000 pots a day.