Slipware Cup Made by Belle Vue Pottery, Hull, c.1826-1841
Drips of liquid have been used to make the brown, moss-like pattern on this cup. It is said that the liquid contained tobacco juice and urine! Many people called pottery decorated like this âtobacco-spit wareâ. Its proper name is Mocha. Mocha is named after a semi-precious stone called moss agate or mocha stone. Mocha stone contains green minerals. Mocha ware was first made by William Adams at Cobridge, Staffordshire in the late 1700s. Its manufacture for cheap, utilitarian wares is said to have continued until 1914. Mocha was also made at Burslem and Tunstall, Staffordshire; Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Scotland; Swansea; Sunderland; Leeds and Derbyshire. Mocha is a type of slipware. Slipware is pottery decorated with coloured liquid clays, known as âslipâ. On this cup dark brown, light brown and cream slip has been piped onto a blue background to make a plant pattern. Slipware was once very popular. It was made in huge quantities at Hullâs Belle Vue Pottery and was aimed at the cheaper end of the market. Unfortunately the popularity of slipware didnât last and by the 1840s it was very unfashionable. This cup was made at the Belle Vue Pottery, which existed on the Humber bank in Hull from 1826-1841. The pottery site was near to where Kingston Retail Park is today. Merchant William Bell owned the Belle Vue Pottery. He bought the site for £1700. Bell named his pottery after a street recently built nearby called Belle Vue Terrace. As well as making slipware, Belle Vue produced many pots decorated with printed patterns. Others had hand painted floral designs, or were decorated with brightly coloured glazes.
