#maniarchaeology

Closeup of thumbnail painted with copper luster sprig on white ground, on top of a ceramic plate with the same design.

nails painted white with copper luster band. Thumb has a floral sprig in same copper luster. In the background is a plate painted with the same design

Ceramic sherd painted with a copper luster sprig.

Back to basics #maniarchaeology today. Maybe the most common ironstone pattern, this simple sprig motif in copper luster is called Tea Leaf, produced throughout 2nd half of the 19th century by many different makers.
Sherd image courtesy Jefferson Patterson Park

left hand holding a small sherd. Fingernails and sherd are decorated with a design of blue grid with red stars inside and green at the intersections of lines.

Artifact image of sherds decorated with blue grid and red stars with green accents on a white ground.

Decorated sherds and a black and white image of a complete tankard with the same checked design. Text reads, "Chinese or common shape cup with painted star and grid pattern in blue, red, and green (left). This vessel may have been made in Bristol in the early 18th century in a fashion known as Bristol blue-red-green. Whole mug with similar pattern from a private collection on right. Angelica Knoll, 18CV60, c. 1650-1770."

A complete mug decorated with blue grid design with red stars inside. Top area has decorative border and reads "Union".

New 💅 based on this awesome early 18th c. English Delft (tin-enamel). The distinctive color palette of blue, red and green is called Bristol, though it was also made in London.
This vessel was found at George Washington Birthplace, and was likely used by the Washington family.
#maniarchaeology

my hand laying over a pile of small white buttons with colorful patterns. Nails are painted black, each with a decorated button painted on.

my left hand palm up to show a handful of white buttons with colorful patterns. Nails are painted with buttons to match, one per finger, on a black background.

my hand laying over a pile of small white buttons with colorful patterns. Nails are painted black, each with a decorated button painted on.

🏺 New #maniarchaeology inspired by 2 of my favorite things: porcelain and buttons! Prosser-molded porcelain buttons were made post-1840 and are very common archaeologically. However, the original transfer-printed designs on some of them, known as "calicos" are often worn away.

fingernails painted blue and white with a stylized geometric motif. The background is a diffuse blue, green, and pink fabric.

a small ceramic sherd with a stylized geometric pattern in blue and white

thumbnail painted blue and white with a stylized geometric motif. The background is a diffuse blue, green, and pink fabric.

🏺 #maniarchaeology inspired by this 19th c. transfer-printed whiteware with spearhead band, excavated at Mount Vernon, image courtesy DAACS.

Hand in foreground showing nails painted in floral design with orange, cobalt blue, and gold on a grayish background. IN the background, a plate with the same motifs and colors.

Hand in foreground showing nails painted in floral design with orange, cobalt blue, and gold on a grayish background. IN the background, a plate with the same motifs and colors.

Closeup of thumbnail painted with a chrysanthemum in orange, cobalt blue, and gold on a grayish background. IN the background, a plate with the same motifs and colors.

💅 Though sometimes called Gaudy Welsh or Gaudy Dutch, this mid-19th c. British earthenware was actually influenced by Japanese Imari porcelain. Love the color palette and showy florals. This example is ironstone, but other refined EWs and European porcelains may have this design.
#maniarchaeology

Super-pleased to discover that @lindsaybloch.bsky.social‬
and #maniarchaeology are here on Bluesky!

Clearly what 18th/19th-century ceramics studies are _really_ for.

Thumb on a basket with red printed fabric behind. Nail has a raised design of squares with dots inside them.

Fragment of a ceramic plate with a molded decoration composed of sections of squares with stars in them, basketweave, and squares with dots. in them.

Hand posed over a basket with red printed fabric behind. The nails are painted white with raised decoration imitating basketweave and squares with dots and stars.

🏺 💅 Can anyone identify what I was going for with today's #maniarchaeology?

It's white salt glazed stoneware (British, mid-18th C.) with the dot-diaper-basketweave molded edge. As always, the texture is super tricky to achieve on nails, but improving!

Archy example courtesy Mount Vernon via DAACS

Hand holding a curved shell. Nails are painted with blue border and blue finial-like design on white background.

Sherds of a platter partially mended. White with blue molded border and interior band with little finials

Closeup of thumbnail painted in blue and white design with white seashell in background

Hand splayed over a shell, painted with blue and white design

💅 🏺Back to a classic: shell-edged pearlware. Typically the painted and molded edge was the only decoration, but the Mared pattern by Wedgwood included this delicate neoclassical band. Rarely found archaeologically, this platter was recovered in Jamaica.
#maniarchaeology

hand holding a large sherd of pottery with a bright and a dark brown clay marbled together. Nails are painted to match.

hand holding a large sherd of pottery with a bright and a dark brown clay marbled together. Nails are painted to match.

Closeup of a thumbnail with a spiral design, echoing the center of a pottery sherd below it.

A historic agate mug, made of two clays marbled together. Courtesy Auckland Museum via Wikipedia.

Most of the historic ceramics that I've copied have a surface design. 18th C. British agateware is different, made of two clays wedged together. During the trimming process the marbling is revealed. I love how this one turned out! Sherds were recovered in St. Augustine, Florida .
#maniarchaeology 🏺

tan plate molded with basket and raspberry branch, painted in natural flowing colors

nail polish design on paper showing basketry design with botanical design on top

hand bent to show nails painted with alternating botanical design and brown sponge design. In background is the back of plate with brown sponged pattern

painted nail with botanical design shown in front of the plate it copies.

Victorian Majolica #maniarchaeology 💅
Molded natural motifs with flowing underglaze painting, it's another one of those *pretty* ugly historic pottery types. Replicating molded designs with polish--still hard!

more info from MAC Lab: apps.jefpat.maryland.gov/diagnostic/P...

hand clenched to show nails painted white with big floral design in red, blue, and green, with a matching saucer in background

fingers held around rim of a saucer with matching floral design in red, blue, and green

hand holding a small flower stencil carved from a pencil eraser, with floral painted saucer behind.

back of saucer with stamped mark "Societe Ceramique Maestricht Made in Holland"

💅 💐 In US, we assume this kind of hand-painted and sponged whiteware from mid-19th to early 20th C. is British, but it was also very popular with the Dutch!
#maniarchaeology
🏺