Transfer Print: Olde Blue

Manufacture date : 1790- 1830 (pearlware)

Vessels: table, teaware, and also decorative ceramics.

Olde Blue (3)
A muffin plate with an Olde Blue motif from the Flanagan site in Missisauga.

Olde Blue is a style of transfer print where the image is almost a “negative,” the major elements are white or light and the background is dark blue. The shade of blue is very distinctive; it is a very dark cobalt, much darker than the blue used in later transfer prints.  Unlike later transfer prints, Olde Blue images often take up the majority of the space, leaving very little of the vessel undecorated. Olde blue should not be confused with flow blue, a decoration in which the rich blue print bleeds into the white spaces of the vessel.

References

Jefferson Patternson Park and Museum, Diagnostic Artifacts in Maryland 2002: https://www.jefpat.org/diagnostic/Post-Colonial%20Ceramics/Printed%20Earthenwares/index-PrintedEarthenwares.htm