Spanish Colonial Era Pottery

In a series of tightly dated deposits dating between the 1788 fire and the 1801 Languille construction, fragments of hundreds of vessels of English creamware and pearlware were recovered, including transfer-printed Liverpool creamware and hand-painted pearlware with Chinese motifs, intended to imitate Chinese porcelain.

There was such a dense layer of ca. 1790s English pottery at the rear of the lot that it hints at some sort of specialized function for the locale in this era.

This deposit was marked in particular by a number of vessels of Liverpool-manufactured creamware with black printed designs, including multiple examples with a patriotic scene of George Washington and Lady Liberty alongside a map of the newly independent United States.  By the 1790s, English potteries were producing extensively for the American market.  Even though New Orleans was technically Spanish in these years, such wares paved the way culturally for the changes soon coming with the Louisiana Purchase.  Read more about the history of ceramics in New Orleans at http://www.chipstone.org/article.php/779/Ceramics-in-America-2017/New-Orleans,-Louisiana