Monteith

CultureEnglish
Titles
  • Monteith
Datec. 1690–1700
Made inLondon, England
MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
Dimensions6 7/8 × 12 1/4 in. diameter (17.5 × 31.1 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, gift of Miss Ima Hogg
Object numberB.59.69
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Murphy Room
On view

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Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
Description

Delftware is a variety of earthenware with tin oxide added to its lead glaze formula to give an opaque white effect that was often used to imitate, or at least suggest, the appearance of Chinese porcelain. First produced in England in the late 1500s, delftware grew in popularity in the 1600s as potteries flourished in London, Bristol, and elsewhere in the British Isles. Metallic oxides provided a range of colors for decoration: cobalt for blue, manganese for purple, iron for red, copper for green, and antimony for yellow. Delftware was relatively soft and chipped easily. By the mid-1700s, more durable soft-paste porcelains and salt-glazed stonewares grew in popularity; by the early 1800s, delftware production in England had declined dramatically.

Emerging near the end of the 1600s, the monteith permitted the bowls of wine glasses to be chilled or rinsed in cold water while their feet were retained in the decorative notches along the rim. The name is derived from a “fantastical Scot called ‘Monsieur Monteigh’” noted in the writings of Anthony Wood, a 17th-century English diarist. Though the gentleman noted by Wood remains obscure, it was the shaped outline of the hem of his cloak that gave the decorative bowl its name.


Provenance[D. M. & P. Manheim, New York]; purchased by Miss Ima Hogg, July 14, 1959; given to MFAH, by 1966.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Porringer
c. 1685–1695
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.2019.1
Plate
1688
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.99
Punch Bowl
c. 1770
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.89
Dinner Plate (one of a pair)
c. 1770
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.88.1
Dinner Plate (one of a pair)
c. 1770
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.88.2
scan from file photograph
c. 1760–1765
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.69.193
Dinner Plate
c. 1740–1750
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.189
Tile
c. 1760–1770
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware) with transfer print and enamel
B.2005.12
Plate
1702
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.98
Posset Pot with Cover
c. 1720–1740
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.69.A,.B
Pair of Candlesticks
c. 1640–1680
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.171.1,.2
Dinner Plate
c. 1740–1775
Tin-glazed earthenware (delftware)
B.56.193