Old English Watering Pots

I've always been fascinated by old pottery, especially pieces that were made by country potters, for everyday utilitarian purposes.  In 1996, my friend and fellow potter, Guy Wolff introduced me to the wonderful world of garden pottery.  We had both been influenced over the years by early American salt-glazed pottery, 18th and 19th century English country pottery, as well as Korean and Japanese folk art, known as Mingei.  But Guy opened my eyes to antique flower pots, garden tools and garden ornament.  The book, Antiques From the Garden, by Alistair Morris became one of our favorite reference books when we were working to develop garden pottery for Smith & Hawken and other wholesale customers in the late '90's and early '00's.  This is where I first saw one of these early English watering pots.  The one shown below is from the Antiques in the Garden book, and is said to be from the 17th century.

These pots are a bit complicated and labor intensive to make, (I think of them as the garden potter's equivalent to making teapots).  The first step is throwing the body of the pot, which is a traditional pitcher form, followed by throwing the spouts.

Once both pieces are "leather hard", they can be joined.  Next comes pulling the handle: