{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O77576"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O77576/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM8978/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM8978/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM8978","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AU2059","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AM6779","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA0227","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O77576/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O77576","accessionNumber":"3910-1852","objectType":"Block mould","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>For each original design for moulded pottery, at least one solid salt-glazed stoneware master block-mould was produced to enable a potter to make an unlimited number of plaster-of-paris moulds. Almost indestructible, many of these block-moulds have survived.  This particular example represents one of a number of designs for sauce boats, probably used mainly for gravy on the dining table.<br><br><b>Time</b><br>This mould, shown together with a Longton Hall porcelain sauce-boat of the same design, combines the Rococo style copied from luxury goods such as silver with techniques of mass-production developed in Staffordshire by enterprising potters and block-makers. As an experiment in introducing commercial porcelain production to Staffordshire, the factory at Longton Hall established by William Littler (1724-1784) was perhaps premature, for Littler's rather brittle porcelain body could not compete with the more refined porcelains of Chelsea, Derby and elsewhere. After Longton Hall's closure in 1759, it was not until the founding of the New Hall factory in 1782 that porcelain, rather than pottery, was mass-produced in the Staffordshire Potteries.<br><br><b>Historical Associations</b><br>As part of the collection of Enoch Wood (1759-1840), the major earthenware potter in Burslem, Staffordshire, in the early 19th century, this block-mould formed part of his factory museum, which he had opened by 1816,  if not earlier.","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Wood, Aaron","id":"A9002"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"probably"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Salt-glazed stoneware, formed in a plaster mould taken from a carved or modelled original","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Tools & Equipment","id":"THES48883"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2006AM8978","2006AU2059","2006AM6779","2017KA0227"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"53A (VA)","id":"THES49763"},"free":"","case":"CA1","shelf":"","box":"4"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Mould","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Staffordshire","id":"x29181"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1755-1765","earliest":"1755-01-01","latest":"1765-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"8.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"18.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"10.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions checked: Registered Description; 01/01/1998 by KN","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Probably made in Staffordshire by Aaron Wood (born in Burslem, Staffordshire, 1717, died in 1785)","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Block mould for a sauceboat","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Young, Hilary, 'The Birth of the Ceramic Designer' in Walford, Tom and Hilary Young <u>British Ceramic Design, 1600-2002: Papers presented at the colloquium celebrating the 75th anniversary of the English Ceramic Circle, 1927-2002.</u> 2003, p. 19, fig. 8"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"British Galleries:\nBlock moulds are the 'master-models' used by potters to make hollow plaster piece-moulds. Plaster moulds allow potters to manufacture complex shapes in bulk. The sauce boat shown below was formed in a mould made using a block mould similar to this one.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["3910-1852"],"accessionNumberNum":"3910","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1852,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LP2088","2019LR5362","2019LV5600"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-25","recordCreationDate":"2003-03-27","availableToBook":false}}