Sprigging (pottery) the Fulham Pottery or the German-born Elers brothers were first is uncertain. They used metal moulds, which tend to leave a thin line impressed into the body around the outline of the sprig. White Chinese Dehua porcelain cups and pots with sprigged prunus (plum/cherry) blossom decoration were copied by several European porcelain factories in the mid-18th century, from Meissen and Sèvres to Bow. Sprigging was used extensively in the Staffordshire potteries on a variety of wares and reached a height with Josiah Wedgwood's Jasperware, and his replica of the Portland Vase in 1790, which fully exploited the possibilities of contrasting
Mississippian culture pottery surrounding areas of Alabama. The "Hemphill style" pottery is a locally produced ware with a distinctive engraving tradition. It is found in the graves of commoners and the elite alike, as well as being found in domestic settings. The other variety consists of painted vessels, many of which were not produced locally. Unlike the engraved pottery, the negative-painted pottery only seems to have been used by the elites at the Moundville site itself, and have not been found outside of the site. The "Hemphill style" pottery found at the Moundville site is categorized as "Moundville Engraved, variety Hemphill". They are