Cistercian Ware

A lead-glazed English earthenware of the 15th-16th centuries. The earthenware is dark red with a black or brown metallic-appearing glaze and was called Cistercian because they were first excavated at Yorkshire Cistercian abbeys. The pottery forms were mainly drinking vessels, tall mugs, trumpet-shaped tygs (with 2, 4, or 8 handles), and tankards. The majority of the ware is undecorated, but some examples are distinguished by horizontal ribbing or by white slip ornamentation consisting of roundels or rosettes. Potteries producing these wares were at Abergavenny, Monmouthshire; Tickford, Derbyshire; and Wrotham, Kent.

A distinctive 15th-16th-century manganese glazed ware commonly associated with Cistercian sites in preReformation times. This type of pottery marks a break with earlier traditions of lead glazed wares, and the various forms were produced in many kilns. Production was concentrated in Yorkshire, and the unusual two-handled cup forms found favour not only with monks but with households of all kinds.