- The Art of the Potter -
198 I) led previous writers to assume that this redness was the result of a deliberately
added haematite-rich slip which had been burnished onto the outside of the leather-
hard vessel (Elsdon 1989: 18). Using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray
analysis, however, Middleton (1987) demonstrated that the red or reddish-brown
surface colour had been achieved by burnishing, either with or without an iron-rich
pigment or by coating the vessel in a ferruginous slip: different techniques were
used to produce an ostensibly similar desired end-product. Occasionally this red
pigmentation may be highlighted. In Kent, for example, white or off-white paint
may be used to highlight panels of, or paint designs on areas of, haematite coating
(Macpherson-Grant 1991). This all serves to highlight the contrasts between the
artificial and natural, untreated surface colours.
Burnishing is the most obvious instance of compression of the clay and is found
extensively on iron age ceramics over the whole or just part of the pot (Figure 19.3).
By rubbing a smooth, rounded tool such as a pebble over the surface of the leather-
hard vessel, the surface clay is compacted and takes on a high gloss, the facets
caused by the burnishing still clearly visible. Burnishing can be regarded as both
functional and decorative. It may help reduce the permeability of a vessel and thus
be functional but it also clearly gives a better finish to the vessel and it may also be
used as a background against which to highlight other decorative schemes (Elsdon
1989: pI. I I).
Figure 19.3 (A) Burnishing marks on the neck of a bowl from Glastonbury, Somerset.
(B) Burnishing facets on a bowl from Hambledon Hill, Dorset.333