Spongeware on Pearlware, Staffordshire Peafowl c1835

Early spongeware on pearlware with peafowl designs.  A fact I learned on a glebe house tour ~ a late 17th century Mid-Hudson Valley home turned museum. Two saucers made to be used with handleless teacups.  Pour tea from teapot to teacup and from teacup into saucer.  Drink it from there.  This method helped cool the tea.

Our larger saucer has a diameter of 5 7/8" and stands about 1 1/4" tall.  Impressed 22 on the bottom, quite worn down.  There is discoloration and some age crackle on the  bottom, but nowhere else.  The smaller saucer is a dainty 4" diameter and stands about 15/16" tall.  There is a tiny mark on the bottom which may have been a signature character, or it may be a glaze splotch done in its making.  Hard to tell. A very few, small spots of age discolor, mild and vague.  Two lovely early saucers filled with vim and vigor. They display beautifully.