A rare 'Cistercian Ware' small posset pot circa 1520

Cistercian wares, so-called due to their discovery at a number of Cistercian abbey sites in the North of England, are characterised according to W. B. Honey, European Ceramic Art, p. 132, as "thinly potted and fired to stoneware hardness, covered with a dark brown or black glaze, and occasionally decorated with applied white clay or trailed white slip".

A number of two-handled cups of this form, including probably the present piece, have been excavated from a pottery site at Silcoates, near the village of Potovens, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, an area that appears to have been home to a large number of potteries believed to be the source for much 'Cistercian' ware. The excavation is discussed in an article in The Journal of the Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology, Vol. 1, 1967, pp. 18-21, and line drawings of the recovered pots are illustrated, fig. 6. The form and decoration of the present piece correspond directly to example 4, which is illustrated together with its cover. The iridescence on the surface of the present example supports the theory that it too was excavated.