A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE in Alsace,* and to others found in the Rhine valley and used for the manufacture of some sort of ' Samian,' and conjectures that the Castor kilns may have been used for the same object. This however, as we shall see, is unlikely to have been their principal employment, and similar kilns have been found elsewhere associated with other wares. We shall judge best of the wares produced in our Castor kilns by the pieces of pottery actually found within or near them by Mr. Artis. These are described by him as exhibiting a great variety. Many shapes occur — bowls, saucers, cups with and more often without handles, in- dented ' thumb vases,' small round-bellied jars, and muUers for grinding {rnortaria or pelves). Style and character differ equally. There is white stoneware, sometimes painted with colour ; there are ' face-urns,' and pieces ornamented with 'engine-turning' (fig. 29), and red imitations of Fic. 29. Castor Ware with ' Engine-turning.' Fig. 30. Foliation and Fish Ornament ON Castor Ware. ' Samian,' and dark-coloured ware decorated with devices in relief or in white paint. But despite this apparent variety — which the imperfection of our record may have exaggerated — one ware or set of wares can be distinguished as the commonest and the most characteristic 'Castor ware.' This ware has a white or whitish paste, coloured outwardly a dull slate colour, blue or coppery in tint. The vessels are usually small in size, and are decorated in certain definite methods. Some are marked with indentations such as might be made by the potter's thumb, and with rude ornament on the ribs or ridges between the indents : these are usually known as 'indented' or 'thumb vases' (fig. 30, centre piece). Others have designs in self-colour ' slip,' laid on in relief by the method called ' bar- botine.' These designs are commonly foliation or animals, sometimes fishes (fig. 30), but especially dogs chasing hares or stags. More ambitious but less frequent are designs including human figures — a huntsman spearing a boar, or, rarer still, an incident from classical mythology, such as Hercules rescuing Hesione from a sea monster. Others again have decorations in white paint. Some of these are foliated patterns, more conventional than the usual Castor style, employed to ornament vessels which are larger than the usual Castor sizes. Others, naturally much
- Not Silesia, as Artis says. Brongniart, Traile des Arts Ceramiques, i. 426.
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