How Were Chamber Pots Used

What Is a Chamber Pot? History of a Unique Antique

Kate Miller-Wilson

An avid antiques collector herself, Kate has written about antiques for many years. She has too managed an online antiques customs.

Antique Collector

Dormitory in an old English Victorian Workhouse with Chamber Pots

In many homes, sleeping room pots served an important but humble purpose in the days before indoor plumbing. Instead of trekking out to the outhouse or privy in the dark, people would keep a chamber pot under the bed and utilize it as a place to relieve themselves at night. Some families may not even have had outhouses, making chamber pots the but option. You'll find these items in antique stores and flea markets, and it's fun to learn a petty more about the fascinating history of chamber pots.

Primeval Champer Pots

Bedchamber pots have been used by humankind for thousands of years. 1 of the primeval known examples of a bedchamber pot was discovered by archeologists at the Tel-el-Amarna site in Egypt and dates from the 1300s B.C. Other early examples of this utilitarian vessel that have been plant are attributed to the ancient peoples of Sybaris and Rome. Although chamber pots remained fairly similar in style throughout the centuries, they did undergo slight changes in pattern. By the 1500s, sleeping room pots had adult into the styles and designs that are most recognizable today.

Chamber Pot Materials

Through the years sleeping room pots have been made of about every blazon of material that would concord liquids. The sleeping room pots of the wealthy European royal families, aristocracy, and upper class were made of pewter, copper, silver, and sometimes even gold. However, the nearly common materials for sleeping accommodation pots included the following:

Can
Lead
Pottery
Earthenware
Delftware
Stoneware
Ironstone
Ceramic

Sleeping accommodation Pots in Diverse Eras

The very earliest sleeping room pots were unproblematic containers without much ornamentation, but manufacturers refined the style over the years. Every bit time went on, information technology was common for sleeping accommodation pots to be squat jugs with a wider rim. Many had a chapeau to incorporate the contents and any associated odors. Some likewise fit into chairs with a special hinged seat called "close stools."

Chamber Pots in Colonial America

In Colonial America, most of the chamber pots were made of earthenware that was lead glazed and had a slightly coarse texture. The coat turned the inside of the pots a reddish color as it oxidized. Although this type of rustic pottery was patterned after the silver styles popular in Europe, it was non as attractive every bit the delicate Delftware chamber pots with their tin glaze and creamy white advent. In the mid 1600s, a number of Staffordshire potteries began to mass produce bedchamber pots, exporting many to the colonies. The Staffordshire pots were very affordable and many have been discovered at colonial sites.

Victorian Bedroom Pots

During the Victorian era, ceramic chamber pots busy in colorful floral designs or beautiful scenes were very popular. Near were made of stoneware or china, although metal versions also existed.

Chamber Pot History and Employ

Sleeping room pots were sometimes the simply selection for people who needed to save themselves. Co-ordinate to Lives and Legacies, in that location was no outhouse at George Washington's Ferry Farm and many other historical homes of the era. People simply used bedchamber pots and shut stools. Withal, in later years, many families also had outhouses for daytime utilise.

How Many Chamber Pots Did People Take?

Generally, each bedchamber in a home would have its own chamber pot. If anybody slept in i room, such as in frontier cabins, the home may have had simply i bedroom pot.

Storage of Bedchamber Pots

Most people stored a chamber pot under the bed or next to the bed. In some cases, a special piece of article of furniture, called a commode, contained doors to store the chamber pot. If the pot itself did not take a hat, the chamber pot was ordinarily stored in a piece of furniture that could enclose it. This kept information technology out of site and reduced aroma.

Emptying Bedchamber Pots

It was part of the regular morning time chores to empty the chamber pots. In families with staff, a servant would perform this duty, only in most families, it roughshod to the inhabitants of the firm. If there was an outhouse, people would empty the contents of the pot into that. If not, the contents could be dumped out a window, poured into a torso of water, or spread on the garden.

Common Names for Sleeping room Pots

Bedchamber pots are known by a variety of names including:

Po
Pot
Pot de chambre
John
Hashemite kingdom of jordan
Potty
Thunder pot
Thunder mug
Chamberpot
Bourdalous

Sleeping accommodation Pot Resources

If y'all would like to see more chamber pot designs, bank check out one of these resource:

More Than McCoy shows a wonderful array of antiquarian chamber pots, including pots from many unlike manufacturers.
An example of an ornate Victorian chamber pot is institute at Bath Antiques Online. Dating from the 1890s, this lovely vessel has a beautiful two-tone bluish transferware floral design.
For a look at a few unusual antique chamber pots, meet Munich's Das Zentrum für Aussergewöhnliche Museen, which translates to the Center for Unusual Museums. The museum, referred to as ZAM, devotes a separate room to its bedroom pot collection chosen the Nachttopt- Museum. In that location is also a room, called the Bourdalous- Museum, which houses ZAM's collection of special chamber pots designed especially for females, called bourdalous.

Sleeping room Pot Values

Like all antiques, chamber pot values depend on what collectors desire. Sleeping room pots were a common particular, since every home had at least one. You can hands find them at antique shops and auctions. Yous'll also observe them at flea markets and online stores like Red Lane and TIAS. In general, sleeping room pots it good condition sell for more than than those with damage, and cute designs fetch more. Here are some sample sales prices from eBay:

A beautiful Staffordshire china chamber pot in excellent condition sold for just under $200 in early 2020.
A Victorian china chamber pot with a floral blueprint sold for about $fifty.
A unproblematic enamalware sleeping room pot with a lid and handle sold for $35.

Commonsensical Antiques

Chamber pots are antiques that once served a commonsensical function in daily life. Today, they tin exist decorative collectibles or conversation pieces, and they are easy to discover and affordable. Accept fun looking at all the different styles.