Matson Museum of Anthropology

Jydepotter

 For nearly 500 years, Danish peasants living on the Jutland Peninsula manufactured a distinctive black pottery known as Jydepotter (you-deh-pott-er), which means "the Jute pots" or "the Jutland pottery." These distinctive black, unglazed pots are hand-molded rather than thrown on a potter's wheel. Although these vessels are primarily used for decoration today, they were traditionally used in household chores and for cooking over fire. These black pots were an important source of income to many rural Danish farm families from the mid-eighteenth to the late nineteenth centuries. The production, trade, and use of this unique pottery influenced the division of labor in communities and families; altered demographic patterns; and shifted the distribution of wealth.The history of Jydepotter is also a fascinating story about the transformation of a traditional craft to an essential source of family income and then into a modern artistic endeavor.

   A Long Tradition    Jydepotter is one of the few European hand-molded pottery traditions still practiced today. Although the potter's wheel was introduced around A.D. 500 in Scandinavia, it was never widely adopted. Some scholars argue that Jydepotter production has remained unchanged for several thousand years. While the techniques used to create recent pieces are similar to Medieval, Iron and Bronze Age techniques, most scholars believe that authentic Jydepotter production began during the sixteenth century in western Jutland. Until the mid-eighteenth century, small-scale production met local demand for household pottery.

    Pottery Maids, Pottery Wives    The poor soils of western Jutland forced farmers to find supplementary income. To take advantage of the expansion of markets in rural Denmark, farm families put more effort into production of their traditional pottery. By A.D. 1750, Jydepotter was being sold in markets across Northern Europe. The trade was so profitable that in areas where families produced this pottery, greater numbers of people could live off of smaller plots of land. To increase production, farmers hired young women from the surrounding countryside as seasonal workers. These "pottery maids" worked under the direction of the "pottery wife," the farmer's wife. The maids worked "for half" which meant that they received half of the profits from the sale of pottery. The farmer received the other half for providing materials, transport, room, and board. A skilled potter could produce from 2,000 to 3,000 pieces in a summer. Marrying a pottery maid who was "good in the clay" was desirable, because she brought the money that she had earned as a pottery maid as well as the promise of significant future income. In fact, the spread of Jydepotter production into northeastern Jutland probably resulted from contraction of new marriages outside of western Jutland.

    The Tupperware of Northern Europe    Jydepotter was distributed throughout Northern Europe. "Pottery men" bought wagonloads of vessels from the potters and sold them to people overland or transported them to riverine and coastal ports. Pottery was usually taken on to fill up the holds of small ships. Some skippers carried only pottery during the summer months. The popularity of Jydepotter ensured a profitable voyage. Although pots survived only a year or two of heavy household use, European peasants could afford to purchase large quantities, because the vessels were inexpensive. One researcher calls Jydepotter the "Tupperware" of eighteenth and nineteenth century Northern Europe.    After the mid-nineteenth century, production of Jydepotter declined rapidly and nearly disappeared by the 1880s. The few remaining potters switched from making utilitarian items to producing ornamental pieces for the growing tourist industry. By the 1940s production ceased entirely as the last potters died. What happened in the mid-nineteenth century to cause this rapid decline? First, the invention of the kitchen range disrupted demand. The range produced heat that was too high for the Jydepotter to withstand. Second, new mass-produced enameled iron pots were cheaper than the more fragile pottery. Fortunately, the changing economy of Jutland allowed the farmer to survive this loss of income. The establishment of co-operative dairies and moorland reclamation projects greatly improved the economic prosperity of Jutland farms.

    Reviving A Tradition    In the 1960s -- twenty years after the death of the last "pottery wives" -- there was a groundswell of interest in the traditional lifestyles of the Danish people. A study of the Jydepotter tradition was published in the early 1960s. Using this work as a technical guide, several modern potters revived the old craft of handmade pottery and are now training another generation of potters. Most of today's potters do not depend on their craft as their main source of income. Their studios are located in their homes. They travel to craft shows and museums to sell their wares and to disseminate knowledge about Jydepotter.