Slipware Mug Made by Belle Vue Pottery, Hull c.1826-1841
Three different coloured liquid clays have been applied to this mug using a piping bag â just like icing a cake! Pottery decorated in this way is known as slipware because the liquid clays are called âslipâ. 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. By the 1840s this style of pottery was very unfashionable. This mug was made at the Belle Vue Pottery which existed on the Humber bank in Hull from 1826-1841. The pottery was near to where Kingston Retail Park is today. Merchant William Bell set up Belle Vue. He bought the site for £1700. Bell decided to name his pottery after a street recently built nearby called Belle Vue Terrace. William Bellâs father was one of the men in charge of building Belle Vue Terrace. William Bell must have chosen the name for his pottery because of its family connections. William Bell began making ceramics on a large scale from 1826. He extended the factory that already existed on the site and employed as many as thirty apprentices. Bell had no previous experience as a potter but he made his pottery a success. His employees brought recipes with them from former employers. Copper plates for making printed decoration were bought from engravers. The potteryâs location next to the River Humber was essential for its success. It had its own wharf where ships tied up to unload clay for making the pots. Other ships brought coal to power the kilns. The wharf was the only place for ships to collect finished pots for export, mainly to Germany. Disaster struck at Belle Vue in 1840. The Hull and Selby Railway Company opened a railway line along the Humber Bank. The railway cut off the potteryâs access to the river and it became difficult to export pots. The pottery closed in 1841.
