Discussion:
At this time, the only known examples of Beauvais stoneware in the Chesapeake region consist of at least one vessel from James Fort, and at least one vessel from Jordan's Journey sites 44PG302 and 44PG307. Elsewhere in North America, Beauvais stoneware is found on 16th through 18th-century French sites, including South Carolina's Charles Fort, Maine's Fort Pentagoet, l'Habitation de Champlain in Quebec, and Montreal (Niellon and Moussette 1981:271, Fig. 61; Faulkner and Faulkner 1987:211; Chrestien and Dufournier 1995:91-101, Gaimster 1997a:305). Hurst et al. write that in England the type is widely distributed in small numbers, but does not appear to be found in the Low Countries due to the prevalence of Rhenish stonewares (1986:105).
Sources
Allan, John P. (1983) Some post-medieval documentary evidence for the trade in ceramics. In Ceramics and Trade: The production and distribution of later medieval pottery in north-west Europe, edited by Peter Davey and Richard Hodges, pp. 37-48, University of Sheffield.
(1984) Medieval and Post-Medieval Finds from Exeter, 1971-1980. Exeter City Council and The University of Exeter.
(1994) Imported Pottery in South-West England, c. 1350-1550. Medieval Ceramics 18:45-50.
Allan, John, and James Barber, with a contribution by David Higgins. (1992) A seventeenth-century pottery group from Kitto Institute, Plymouth. In Everyday and Exotic Pottery from Europe: Studies in honour of John G. Hurst, edited by David Gaimster and Mark Redknap, pp.225-245. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Barton, Kenneth J. (1992) Ceramic changes in the Western European littoral at the end of the Middle Ages: A personal view. In Everyday and Exotic Pottery from Europe: Studies in honour of John G. Hurst, edited by David Gaimster and Mark Redknap, pp.246-255. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Brooks, Catherine, and Richard Hodges, with Helen Clarke, Margaret Ellison, Sarah Jennings, Stephen Moorhouse, Charles Murray, and Clive Orton. (1983) Imported pottery in eastern Britain c. 1200-1500: an interim appraisal of the evidence. In Ceramics and Trade: The production and distribution of later medieval pottery in north-west Europe, edited by Peter Davey and Richard Hodges, pp.231-243, University of Sheffield.
Chrestien, Jean-Pierre, and Daniel Dufournier. (1995) French Stoneware in North-Eastern North America. In Trade and Discovery: The Scientific Study of Artefacts from Post-Medieval Europe and Beyond, British Museum Occasional Paper 109, edited by Duncan R. Hook and David R.M. Gaimster, pp.91-103. The British Museum, London.
Davey, Peter, with J. Lewis, J.A. Rutter, and L. Simpson. (1983) Later medieval imported pottery in the Irish Sea Province. In Ceramics and Trade: The production and distribution of later medieval pottery in north-west Europe, edited by Peter Davey and Richard Hodges, pp.209-218, University of Sheffield.
Faulkner, Alaric, and Gretchen Faulkner. (1987) The French at Pentagoet 1635-1674. The Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Augusta.
Gaimster, David R.M., with contributions by Robin Hildyard, John A. Goodall, Judy Rudoe, Duncan R. Hook, Ian C. Freestone, and Mike S. Tite. (1997) German Stoneware 1200-1900: Archaeology and Cultural History. British Museum Press, London.
Gaskell Brown, Cynthia (ed).(1979) Castle Street: The Pottery, Plymouth Museum Archaeological Series, Number 1. Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, Plymouth.
Hurst, John G. (1983) The trade in medieval pottery around the North Sea. In Ceramics and Trade: The production and distribution of later medieval pottery in north-west Europe, edited by Peter Davey and Richard Hodges, pp.257-260, University of Sheffield.
Hurst, John G., David S. Neal, and H.J.E. van Beuningen. (1986) Pottery Produced and Traded in North-West Europe 1350-1650, Rotterdam Papers, 6, Rotterdam.
Jennings, Sarah, with M.M. Karshner, W.F. Milligan, and S.V. Williams. (1981) Eighteen centuries of pottery from Norwich, East Anglian Archaeology Report No. 13. The Norwich Survey, Norwich.
Kiser, Robert Taft. (1992) Ceramics, in Jordan's Journey: A Preliminary Report on Archaeology at Site 44PG302, Prince George County, Virginia 1990-1991, edited by L. Daniel Mouer and Douglas C. McLearen, pp.113-137. Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.
(1994) The Jordan's Journey Component: Culinary Ceramics, in Jordan's Journey III: A Preliminary Report on the 1992-93 Excavations at Archaeological Site 44PG307, edited by Douglas C. McLearen and L. Daniel Mouer, pp. 86-94. Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.
Niellon, Françoise, and Marcel Moussette, (1981) Le site de l'Habitation de Champlain à Québec: étude de la collection archéologique (1976-1980). Gouvernement du Quebec, Quebec.
Platt, Colin, and Richard Coleman-Smith, with P.A. Faulkner, M.R. Maitland Muller, J.S. Wacher, F.A. Aberg, and others. (1975) Excavations in Medieval Southampton 1953-1969, Volume 2: The finds. Leicester University Press, Leicester.
Sites
Montreal, Canada
L'Habitation de Champlain, Québec
Fort Pentagoet, Maine
Charles Fort, South Carolina
Jamestown Rediscovery, Structure 165, c. 1607-1610
Jordan's Journey site 44PG302, Virginia
Jordan's Journey site 44PG307, Virginia
Prepared by Taft Kiser
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Form: The only known form from Virginia is the small, cylindrical jar. The vessel has a roughly finished flat bottom about 67 mm across, then flares slightly to vertical sides which were accidentally scuffed and dented before firing. A ridged cordon stands about 25 mm below a vertical rim with an exterior bevel. The vessels are very thinly thrown with pronounced interior rilling and diagonal torquing. This torquing is also faintly visible on the exterior surfaces.