Skáholt 2002 - Nabo

glazed earthenwares (faience) were fairly common and these probably derive from the
Netherlands. The most common were those in a pinkish or buff powdery fabric where the
thick glaze tended to flake off, but there was one distinctly different type which occurred
on just one example (, ) which had a thinner, more resilient glaze. The source
of this is unknown. Most of the tin-glaze earthenwares were blue and white, but there
were a few polychrome decorated vessels. There were various types of coarse glazed
earthenwares, but the most common was a bright red or orange slipware, often with a
greenish-yellow glaze, which is probably either Dutch or German. Of special note
however is part of a green-glazed encrusted earthenware vessel () which probably
dates from the 17 th century and comes from Germany; unfortunately it was unstratified
and came from the hay silo [005]. Chinese porcelain formed a major component of fine
tablewares, and all three major 18 th century types were present – brown, blue and white
and enameled. In addition, some en griselle vessels were present. There were also some
sherds of white saltglaze stoneware, almost certainly from Staffordshire in England. All
this pottery is 18 th century and very early 19 th century and effectively associated with the
18 th century farm.
Looking at the changing composition of the assemblage through time by major categories
of pottery type, shows a fairly expected pattern (Figure 8). Throughout the 18 th century,
stonewares (mostly from the Rhineland), tin-glazed earthenwares (probably Dutch) and
Chinese porcelain all increase at the expense of coarse earthenwares, and the trend seems
to continue through the end of the century and into the next, except for a decline in
stonewares. However, by the mid 19 th century, the whole ceramic repertoire has radically
changed with the influx of Staffordshire industrial refined earthenwares. This may relate
to the opening of direct trade between Iceland and England after 1854, though
Staffordshire ceramics could have been imported via Denmark. The only comment I
would make here is the occurrence of this change at such a late date; this ceramic
revolution is generally seen much earlier (i.e. late 18 th /early 19 th century), and even
though the date of the transition between phases 3 and 4 is not very tight at present, it still
makes this transformation a delayed process compared to elsewhere. This really ties into
one of the key issues in the study of modern ceramics in Iceland – its consumption in
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