Specialist Report

Date 2004

Event ID 932879

Category Documentary Reference

Type Specialist Report

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/932879

The ceramic assemblage from this wreck comprises 147 fragments of pottery and 33 of brick and tile. The pottery weighs 24.038kg, with a total rim percentage of 671 and a maximum vessel count of 118. The brick and tile weighs 11.423kg in total, no two fragments being demonstrably from the same object. The following fabrics were recognised:

Grotesque maiolica (fabric 10): 17 fragments of up to 15 vessels, probably the product of Tuscan workshops at Pisa or Montelupo in the Arno valley, after about 1593. The most complete (and diagnostic piece) is the ewer, and the character of the pieces suggests that they all formed part of the same service.

Montelupo maiolica (fabric 11): 35 fragments of up to 28 vessels, all of them bowls or dishes. These pieces form a coherent group dating from the end of the 16th century.

Ligurian berettino maiolica (fabric 12): 4 fragments of a type rare in Britain.

Faenza maiolica (probable) (fabric 13): 2 fragments.

Deruta maiolica (probable) (fabric 14): 5 fragments, from a source rarely represented in Western Europe.

(Unidentified) Italian maiolica (fabric 15): 9 fragments.

North Italian Red Earthenware (fabric 20): 3 fragments of lead-glazed ware, probably from the Arno valley and dated to about 1600.

(Iberian) Seville coarseware (fabric 30): 61 fragments representing up to 44 vessels, all of them olive jars. Such vessels were widely distributed across Europe, but have not proved susceptible to chronological study. The Kinlochbervie assembly does not add significantly to this study.

(Iberian) red micaceous ware (fabrics 40-43): 8 fragments representing up to 8 vessels, from the Guadalquivir valley, and possibly intended for shipboard use rather than as cargo.

(Unidentified) stoneware (fabric 50): 2 fragments representing up to 2 vessels, possibly from Beauvais type. This is the only piece not demonstrably of Mediterranean origin, and was possibly the possession of a crew member.

The fragility of maiolica ware suggests that this was carried as cargo rather than for shipboard; it was possibly protected by being within containers at the time of sinking. The same may also be true of the North Italian redware and the stoneware vessel. The brick probably formed part of the galley structure, some pieces being blackened.

(Includes quantitative summary tables of pottery, brick and tile. The results of petrological and chemical analysis are tabulated).

D H Brown and C Curnow 2004.