DUPRS_0013 Ridgway Pottery Sherd

DUPRS_0013 Ridgway Pottery Sherd

Ridgway Pottery Sherd

This artifact is a pottery sherd, which measures approximately 6.5cm at its longest length, and approximately 3.8 cm at its widest. It has variable thickness, between 0.3 and 0.45 cm. Due to its small size, the sherd cannot be matched to a particular form.
Lettering is visible on the exterior surface. The letters visible are “Stua-”, in decorative script, surrounded by a border. Beneath this is a bow and arrow, with “RIDGWAYS” written in the arrow. Below this is “ENGL-“.The design and lettering are brown to black. The bow and arrow is the maker’s mark of Ridgway pottery.

Ridgway Pottery

Selective Surface collection, east Stanley Park, Historic Chatham Township (modern Summit, New Jersey)

Drew University, Department of Anthropology

19th century

Juliet LaVigne

http://www.kovels.com/price-guide/pottery-porcelain-price-guide/ridgway.html
Jervis WP. A Pottery Primer. The O’Gorman Publishing Corps: New York 1911.
http://www.oldandsold.com/pottery/greatbritain2.shtml
http://www.figurines-sculpture.com/ridgway-potteries-ltd.html

Ceramics

Ridgway is a British manufacturer of ceramics. Sources differ on the year Ridgway was founded and began production. According to some sources, production began in the beginning of the 19th century, and continued under various Ridgway companies until it became a part of Royal Doulton in the 1960s. W.P. Jervis’s 1911 A Pottery Primer says that Ridgway pottery began with Job Ridgway, who began a small company known as Job Ridgway and Sons in the late 1780s-1790s. He later sold his interests and his sons bought it back in 1806. It was originally manufactured in Staffordshire, England. According to another source, the company was known as John Ridgway and Co from 1814, then J and W Ridgway, W Ridgway, and W Ridgway and Son. In 1836 the name then changed again to W. Ridgway, Morley, Wear, and Co.
John Ridgway was named Potter to Queen Victoria and traveled to America in the 1820s, establishing an export trade (the pottery was only ever produced in England). The Royal Crown and the Royal Arms were frequently used in the potter’s mark after 1850.
The sherd is likely post 1820, when Ridgway pottery began being exported to America. It is possibly pre-1850 because it doesn’t have any royal markings. Because of the apparent confusion about the exact beginning and evolution of the Ridgway pottery brand, it was difficult to determine a more specific manufacture date; there is little information available about the variations in the Ridgway potter’s mark, although there are variations.
Ridgway was known for good quality porcelain with blue designs. This, and the fact that it was an import from England, might indicate that items from this manufacturer were considered a luxury good, or at least more expensive than similar, domestic items.
Without knowing the specific type of ceramic object this came from, it’s hard to speculate as to what specific cultural significance it had.