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APPENDIX by Dr G.
C. Dunning
KNIGHT JUG (Fig.
4, P.P.28,
and Plate I)
Top and most of the body of a knight jug made of fine light
orange/ red ware, throughout and on surfaces. The outside is entirely
glazed, covering the spout, handle and figural decoration, and the body
down as far as is preserved. The glaze is glassy in appearance, thick and
even, and streaked vertically; it is dark green with a reddish brown tone
due to the body colour showing through.
The jug has a cylindrical neck joining the body at a well
defined angle. The rim is rounded on the top and thickened on the outside
as a collar about 2 cm. deep. Below the collar is a broad swelling in low
relief.
The spout is long and tubular, level with the rim at its
upper end. It is held by a thick strut to the upper part of the neck.
The handle is a solid rod, grooved lengthways. At both ends
it is marked by large thumb impressions.
The jug had plastic decoration of two knights on each side of
the neck, facing the spout. The knights on the side illustrated are
largely original; those on the other side were missing and are wholly
restored. The knight nearer the spout is mounted on a horse (head
restored), with its legs extended in the attitude of galloping. The figure
behind him is not mounted, and has a rod-like body only. Both
knights
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wear helmets with three large crests (partly restored) and each carried a
long triangular shield decorated with horizontal lines, alternately vertical
and oblong (probably rouletted) and irregular oval tool marks.
Below the spout was the figure of a stag (head and neck only
present), shown in profile, with long pointed ear and a stab marked pellet
as an eye. The antlers are highly stylised and pass up each side of the
spout, with collar like pellets at intervals to represent the tines.
Round the bulge below the figural decoration is an applied
finger pressed strip forming a large chevron.
The lower part of the jug and the base are restored, with groups of
thumb marks at intervals along the basal angle. The height, as restored, is
41.5 cm. (16.3 in.) and the body diameter is 22 cm. (8.6 in.). The
restoration was made in 1964 by Mr. J. Yasi, in the Conservation Laboratory
of the Institute of Archaeology, University of London.
The knight jug found at Dartford is an import from further
north in England, probably from the north or east Midlands rather than from
Yorkshire. In these regions at least three sources for the style are known
and others are suspected.
The type-specimen was found in Nottingham15 and is
presumed to be a product of the pottery kilns there. The decoration is in
two zones:
15 Annual Report of the Peveral
Archaelogical Group, 1955, 18-23.
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