ASTBURY WARE

English earthenware produced by John Astbury and his son Thomas from about 1725; later a term for fine 18th-century Staffordshire earthenware until c. 1760. John Astbury (16881743) established a single-kiln pottery at Shelton in 1725; to him are ascribed productions that were markedly in advance of other potters' work. His ware was better formed, being finished on a lathe; better surfaced, with a coating of white pipe clay; and harder and lighter because of the introduction of calcined flint into the body. Astbury's red or buff earthenware was ornamented by white relief ships, figures, and fortifications. Astbury products include agateware and tortoiseshell ware; black earthenware with relief ornament in white; glazed earthenware in various brown, fawn, and buff shades stamp-decorated with white pipe clay; salt-glazed stoneware; white and cream earthenware; terra-cotta, which was a hard red unglazed earthenware with geometric incised lathe-cut decoration; sgraffito (scratch-decorated) earthenware; and figures. The distinctive Astbury figures consisted of men, animals, and birds, singly or grouped, modelled in clay, slip-coated, and decorated in a coloured sliplater to be superseded by metallic oxide colours. Arbour groups (couples beneath a tree), musical groups of individual performers, equestrian figures, and Chinese figures are all represented.