Jonathan Rickard. Mocha and Related Dipped Wares, 1770–1939. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England; East Nassau, N.Y.: Historic Eastfield Foundation, 2006. xxii + 178 pp.; 100 color, 208 bw illus.; bibliography, index. $65.00 (hardcover).
A colleague described Jonathan Rickard’s long-awaited book as “ravishing.” I cannot improve on that description. Mocha (also dipped, also slipware) seems to command a particular devotion, even an obsessive fascination, in those who spend time with it. Having succumbed to the seduction and having puzzled over its hold, I conclude the appeal rests with the fact that one clearly sees process in the decoration. In an absorbing act of imagination, the informed observer participates in the manufacturing process. The best way to achieve this intimacy with an object is to handle it, but Rickard’s book comes as close as one can hope to this ideal. In fact, many of the illustrations, including all of the close-ups, give better views of the manufacturing techniques than can be seen on actual objects, especially in dim museums by somewhat aging eyes. The author’s decision to include color photographs (principal photography by Gavin Ashworth) spanning two pages of a few inches of pot is generous and brave, and readers should be grateful.
Dipped wares—that is, fine earthenwares decorated with colored slip—have been a ubiquitous but little-understood ceramic type. Although they were made well into the twentieth century, their manufacturing techniques, dates, historic name(s), and role in ceramic history were unknown. Rickard addresses these questions and to a large degree answers them all. His thirty-something years of examining pieces, consulting working potters, sifting through commercial records, and generally collecting any information he could find have resulted in an impressive body of knowledge.
Chapter 1, on dipped wares in historic context, describes some of the British manufacturing techniques and fabrics associated with dipped wares. The author makes a case, without belaboring it, for an introductory date of 1770 for dipped wares. He also intersperses tidbits of American and European history to give a flavor of the broader reality in which these objects of focused study existed.
The meat of the book, chapters 2 through 9, is organized by decorative technique: variegated surfaces; engine-turned dipped wares; mocha decoration; the multichambered slip pot; solid-color slip fields and banded wares; trailed slip and offset decoration; dipped fan decoration; and combinations and other oddities. The style is discursive, with technical information, documentary references, historical background, and detailed description all interwoven—a book to read as well as consult. It is to the author’s credit that there is no hint of an ax that needs grinding. He presents his considerable knowledge in a straightforward manner, with emphasis on referenced facts. A word about the footnotes: publishers almost always exercise a policy of nonfraternization between beauty and footnotes. The author, however, a graphic designer who typeset this book, has managed to merge ninety-five footnotes with text and illustrations without violence to either aesthetics or scholarship, a tribute to intelligent layout.
Chapter 10, on French and North American production, is an odd combination of the most elegant (French) and the most utilitarian (North American) versions of the ware. The French part is exciting, full of visual and factual surprises. The inclusion of French ceramics reminds us that there was a large world of pottery production outside Britain and North America. Jonathan Rickard’s next book could well include chapters on other European countries, particularly those in Eastern Europe. The short section on North American production does not break new ground but is adequately covered. As the author points out, available books on yellow ware cover the makers, shapes, and the trade thoroughly.
Chapter 11 covers the makers of dipped wares; while perhaps the least glamorous chapter, it contains the most fruits of research. Rickard has compiled an astoundingly long list of manufacturers. Because the ware was seldom marked, learning who manufactured it is not easy. Rickard’s many and varied sources were found one—or a very few—at a time in museums, archives, private collections, and archaeological collections in France, Great Britain, and the United States. It took much travel and many years. One might ask, Why bother with so much work just to compile a list of names? Because the result, of course, is not just a list but a book full of many small facts, and these facts create broader pictures. We cannot appreciate the widespread manufacture of this ware without knowing who made it, where, and when. We cannot understand how retailers could afford to sell such decorative wares for so little unless we know how ingeniously simple the decoration was to make. Jonathan Rickard’s book is a salutary reminder that historical knowledge comes so often from patient and passionate pursuit.
Lynne Sussman, Parks Canada (retired)