John Wesley Pounce Shaker
1800-1850 / Bust / Ceramic / Sculpture / Wesleyana
Glazed ceramic
Probably early 1800s
This salt or pepper shaker-like object likely was a pounce shaker or pounce pot.
Pounce was a fine powder, most often made from powdered cuttlefish bone, which was used both to dry ink and to sprinkle on a rough writing surface to make it sufficiently smooth for writing. In times when paper came "unsized", that is, lacking the thin gelatinous material used to fill the surface of the paper and make it smooth enough for writing with a quill or a steel nib, a fine powder was needed to prepare the paper. Similarly, pounce was used instead of blotting paper to dry ink.
The shaker is only one example of a wide variety of commemorative Wesley objects, or 'Wesleyana', produced in the 1800s.
Probably early 1800s
This salt or pepper shaker-like object likely was a pounce shaker or pounce pot.
Pounce was a fine powder, most often made from powdered cuttlefish bone, which was used both to dry ink and to sprinkle on a rough writing surface to make it sufficiently smooth for writing. In times when paper came "unsized", that is, lacking the thin gelatinous material used to fill the surface of the paper and make it smooth enough for writing with a quill or a steel nib, a fine powder was needed to prepare the paper. Similarly, pounce was used instead of blotting paper to dry ink.
The shaker is only one example of a wide variety of commemorative Wesley objects, or 'Wesleyana', produced in the 1800s.
