Archive for the ‘Antique Pottery’ Category

The manufacture of earthenware by early colonists in North America began as a cottage industry and never grew on a scale consistent with the rapid growth in population and technology in the USA over the last 200 years. The relatively minor impact of domestically produced American pottery may be considered a testament to the extraordinarily high standards of European earthenwares, particularly the products of Staffordshire, which have been exported in enormous quantities since the declaration of American independence (1776). Although a few distinctly American forms and types of decoration emerged during the 19th century, the only pottery that can be considered uniquely American is that made by the Native Americans, the earliest examples of which pre-date European settlement by thousands of years.
EARLY POTTERY
Any domestically produced American pottery made before the mid-18th century is extremely rare. American pottery of this period is limited to simple, thickly potted red or buff earthenware. As the population grew in north-eastern America during the second half of the 18th century, distinctive pottery types were manufactured, all of which were useful. An industry developed for the manufacture of salt-glazed stoneware, which was superior to the porous and brittle common earthenwares. Early American stoneware (pre-1800) was mainly produced by German immigrants in the south-eastern states of Virginia and Georgia.
“Yellow-ware” describes any type of earthenware with an opaque, yellow glaze. This glaze was used in North America throughout the 19th century to make utilitarian wares including mixing bowls or “pans” (deep dishes for cooling milk). Of greater interest is slipware, sometimes erroneously termed “Pennsylvania slipware”, which refers to red-bodied (or occasionally buff) earthenware,
made largely in Connecticut, decorated with trailed Slip, usually of ochre or chocolate brown. Common forms are deep plates, “pans”, and pie dishes, which arc often worn through extended use, and so of little value. Common decoration is abstract, but additional inscriptions, dates, figural images, or highly accomplished patterns are particularly sought after.
“Spongeware” and “spatterware” were made throughout the 19th century and describe household mixing bowls, teaware, and platters with random, mottled patterns, typically in pale blues and
yellows. Small plates and mugs (often made in Staffordshire) with spattered borders and naively painted farm animals or figures are extremely
popular. “Mochaware” is of comparable collectability and interest, especially early 19th-century examples. The term describes glazed earthenware with “tree” forms in the pale glaze, which are caused by the capillary action of the brown slip. Mugs and jugs, most of which were originally made in Staffordshire for the North American market, are typical.
STONEWARE
Most North American stoneware of the 19th century was made in the north-eastern state of Vermont, principally by the Norton family of Bennington. The high standards and successful forms of Norton’s stoneware were imitated throughout New England until the beginning of the 20th century when stoneware became virtually obsolete. Two standard forms of “Bennington crock” were made (one of simple cylinder form with “ear” handles, and one of jug type) for the storage and transport of liquids, including apple cider, ale, and maple syrup. Other forms include covered pots, chamber-pots, spittoons, water coolers, and jugs, some of which were coated in brown glaze.
Decoration on American stoneware was rare before c.1830 and varied only subtly for the rest of the 19th century. It is typically in underglaze cobalt blue painted in a naive manner, sometimes over a scratched design. Usual images include flowers (least collectable), insects, ornamental numerals, birds, animals, landscapes, and commemorative designs, the latter being among the most desirable. Some types of decoration arc characteristic of a particular potter or date; for example, butterflies arc associated with the Norton family in the 1830x.
LATER POTTERY
In the late 19th century American commercial potters were established well beyond New England. New centres included Pittsburgh and other towns in Pennsylvania and neighbouring Ohio; Baltimore, Maryland; New York City; and Trenton in New Jersey, which by the 1880s was known as the “Staffordshire of America”. The output consisted entirely of utilitarian pieces. Much was in the form of “granite ware”, a highly practical, heavy, white earthenware of ironstone type, which was often left undecorated. Typical examples, which arc common owing to the robust nature of the ware, include tureens and tableware of all types, comparable to contemporary Staffordshire but larger in scale. Most tableware in daily use took the form of inexpensive transfer-printed wares imported from Staffordshire, the most collectable of which are those decorated with American scenes.
Rockingham-glaze ware – earthenware with a rich, sometimes lustrous, brown glaze – was produced extensively in the USA at this time, notably by the United States Pottery of Bennington, Vermont, founded by Christopher Fenton c.1840 and active throughout the century. Most examples are slip-cast, relief-moulded hollow-wares, including jugs, figural flasks, spittoons, furniture rests, and statuary. Pairs of “chimney dogs” (based on Staffordshire models but larger in scale) and recumbent lions are characteristic of the Bennington pottery and most desirable.
A uniquely American and fairly rare naive pottery, consisting of unusual `pinched” forms with applications under green glaze, was made by settlers in the Shenandoah Valley of the Virginias in the mid-19th century. The wares are well-potted, and innovative examples may bear scratched signatures or monograms. Much more common and widely collected is American majolica, which was produced at several factories from the 1860s until the beginning of the 20th century. The best majolica was made by the firm of Griffen, Smith Hill ( 1867-1902) in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
NATIVE AMERICAN POTTERY
The majority of 19th-century Native American pottery that appears on the market today was made in the states Of the south-western USA by nations including the Hopi, the Navajo, and the Acoma. Most wares arc unglazed terracotta, and all items are of traditional design and manufacture – either coil-formed or thrown. Decoration is typically painted, with geometric patterns in faded earth tones. Collecting Native American pottery is a rapidly growing area of interest, and examples that can be dated to before the centennial of 1876 are especially sought after. However, dating can be very difficult owing to the continuous production of the traditional forms.
Early pottery
• YELLOW-WARE very collectable, particularly among admirers of folk art, but few pieces have significant value, and many arc of European origin
• SLIPWARE well decorated pieces arc most desirable
• SPONGEWARE AND SPATTERWARE reproduction and
restoration are quite common
• SIZE American wares are generally larger and more
heavily potted than contemporary English wares
• COLLECTING early wares are very rare and are usually so worn that they have relatively little value; examples that bear dates, arc well decorated, and arc unusual in form or decoration will raise collector interest
Stoneware
• COLLECTING made in large quantities; the most
desirable arc pieces with unusual decoration
Later pottery
• COLLECTING Rockingham-glazed wares are valuable if the form is unusual and figural; English majolica is more popular than American majolica in the USA
Native American pottery
• COLLECTING wares are difficult to date and arc often in fairly poor conditionMARKS
• signed examples arc usually 20th century

Majolica
Although the English word “majolica” derives from “maiolica”, the term for Italian tin-glazed pottery, the inspiration for this purely Victorian phenomenon in fact came from several quarters: not only Italian Renaissance pottery but also the pottery of the Frenchman Bernard Palissy (c.1510-90), who was famous for dishes with realistically applied reptiles, crustacea, and vegetation. Closer to home, the pottery of the Staffordshire makers Thomas Whieldon (1719-95) and Ralph Wood (1715-72) was also influential. Elements of each of these were combined in the late 1840s into a decorative ceramics material that enjoyed great popularity in mid-Victorian Britain. Majolica was also made in France, Germany, and the USA, where it is popular with collectors.
IMPORTANT PRODUCERS
Majolica was produced by many small manufacturers, but three Staffordshire factories - Minton & Co. (est. 1798), Wedgwood (est. 1759), and George Jones & Sons (est. 1861) - dominated the market and between them account for most of today’s collectable pieces. Minton and Wedgwood, the
largest makers of ornamental pottery in Staffordshire, made excellent majolica ware, and indeed both claimed to have invented it. Monumental pieces by Minton astounded visitors at such important international exhibitions as the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. Huge fountains with life-sized human and animal figures formed centrepieces at the major trade shows, surrounded by other furnishings and sometimes by whole tiled rooms that glowed with the coloured glazes. Such pieces were too expensive for profitable production and were intended primarily to enhance the companies’ prestige at such events. The third important maker is less well known outside this specialist field. George Jones & Sons in Stoke-on-Trent produced some of the finest majolica, but made little else of note and consequently had nothing to fall back on when the fashion for majolica declined at the end of the 19th century. Other British factories that produced majolica, but as a sideline to their mainstream production, include Spode (under the name of Copeland, from the 1840s to the 20th century) in Stoke-on-Trent, and the Worcester Royal Porcelain Co. (est. 1862).
Staffordshire figures
The popularity of porcelain figures in Britain during the 19th century led to a demand for less expensive imitations for the mass market, and the Staffordshire potteries obliged by making exact reproductions of the fine-quality figures made by porcelain factories such as Derby. The rustic charm of Staffordshire figures proved popular at the time, and successive generations have continued to enjoy collecting these generally inexpensive mantelpiece ornaments.
BOCAGE AND SQUARE-BASED FIGURES
The products of John Walton’s factory in Burslem (active 1810-30s) were typical of early 19th-century Staffordshire figures. Copying the tradition set by Chelsea and Derby, the factory included flowering trees, a feature known as “bocage”, behind its figures. Classical deities and allegorical figures (such as the popular set of three female figures representing “Faith”, “Hope”, and “Charity”), aimed at more educated customers, were usually mounted on the same style of square base edged with a brown line. Rustic groups of children playing and shepherdesses were mounted on similar bases or on raised green mounds with streams. Biblical characters proved immensely popular, especially “Elijah and the Widow”. One distinctive type of group, mounted on “table bases” (scroll-footed platforms), is conventionally referred to as being by Obadiah Sherratt (d.1841) after a potter who worked in Burslem from c.1815; however, it is now considered unlikely that Sherratt was responsible for the unmarked table-based models usually ascribed to him.
CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS PEOPLE
Victorian Staffordshire figures were intended to be viewed on a mantelpiece from the front only, and consequently the backs were neither modelled nor painted: hence the name “flatbacks” for such pieces. Many figures were simple but highly decorative images of children or lovers. However, from the 1840s there was a demand for portraits of famous people, whose features were copied from journals or the covers of popular printed music. In an age when the public rarely knew what famous people truly looked like, potters sometimes reused discontinued moulds to represent more topical individuals. Some figures were even wrongly named, such as a portrait of Benjamin Franklin labelled as George Washington.
Some popular figures were produced for many years and often require a close examination to determine whether they are earlier or later examples; this can greatly affect the value. There are many fake Staffordshire figures on the market, and it is important to learn the correct “feel” of genuine pieces, and to buy only from reputable dealers or auctioneers.
A Boy and “zebra”
This “flatback” figure portrays a schoolboy with a horse that has curiously been painted to resemble a zebra. Flatback
figures have little or no modelling on the back, a feature that made them easy to mass-produce. It was assumed that flatback pieces would stand on a mantelpiece above a fireplace, and this piece incorporates a spill vase at the back to hold the rolled-paper spills that were used in the 19th century for lighting the fire.
ORIGINAL AND FAKE STAFFORDSHIRE
• FORMS pairs of animals (very popular from the 1840s), portraits of royalty, politicians, military and naval heroes, sportsmen, theatrical celebrities, religious figures, notorious villains
• CENTRES OF PRODUCTION most figures were made
in the towns centred around Stoke-on-Trent, although a number were made in north-eastern England and Scotland
• COLLECTING a pair of figures will always be worth more than twice the price of a single piece; later examples are less sharply moulded than the originals, with particularly crude painting
• REPRODUCTIONS AND FAKES fake Staffordshire figures
are frequently made of pure white porcelain, stained to look old; “crazing” – a network of tiny cracks or veins in the surface glaze – affects most old figures, and fakers sometimes go to such lengths to reproduce it that they over-emphasize; the resulting effect is too regular and pronounced
Marks
Only a few Victorian Staffordshire figures are marked in any way, but research can identify some factories; earlier figures by John Walton and Ralph Salt (both active early 19th century) have their names impressed into a strap of clay at the back of the base COLOUR, GLAZE, AND TYPES
Majolica colours are not enamelled but are contained within the substance of the glaze. They are applied either as separate coloured glazes or as stains painted onto the body that are picked up by the viscous lead glazes. A sign of good-quality manufacture is that the glazes are well controlled, without blurring or dribbling. The usual majolica palette is blue (including a vivid turquoise), green, yellow, orange, black, and brown.
Majolica wares include jardinieres of every size and proportion, conservatory seats, vases, dishes, teapots, and tureens. To suit the high Victorian taste, factories vied with each other to cram ornament onto their wares, leading to the creation of extraordinary objects that are both beautiful
and bizarre. Such pieces are not to everyone’s
taste, but after years of neglect majolica
is now keenly collected and can be
surprisingly highly priced. Nothing
exemplifies the frivolity of majolica
better than the range of eccentric teapots
made by Minton and George Jones in the shape of Chinese people, monkeys, boats, fish, and cats. However, most were too costly for everyday use and survive because they were kept largely for display; some of these pieces fetch very high prices at auction.
• GLAZES semi-transparent lead
• PALETTE blue, green, yellow, brown, black, orange
• FORMS domestic wares: teapots, dishes, jugs, vases, dessert baskets, tazzas, centrepieces; umbrella stands; garden ornaments
• DECORATION highly ornamented with an eclectic range
• COLLECTING an exhibition in 1982 organized by the dealers Jeremy Cooper Ltd in London ignited interest in majolica and caused the international collector’s market to take off
• FAKES collectors should beware of unmarked pieces by minor makers that have been doctored by the addition of the Minton name etched or engraved through the glaze, in an attempt to pass them off as originals
Marks
Most of the larger producers marked their pieces; marks were usually impressed into the clay under the glaze and can therefore be difficult to see; George Jones & Sons did not always employ a company mark, but did use a distinctive design number, painted in black, usually positioned in the middle of the underside of the pieces; Wedgwood and Minton also impressed date marks into their pieces
George Jones & Sons (est. 1861)
A Vase and cover by Minton & Co.
This large ornamental vase is decorated in typical high Victorian taste, inspired by the designs of the Renaissance. Well modelled and superbly glazed in a typical, strong, majolica palette, the piece incorporates three seated Bacchic figures (one unseen here), rams’ heads, and thick leafy swags, with a cherub on the finial, and such Classical motifs as the Greek key pattern.

Staffordshire figures
The popularity of porcelain figures in Britain during the 19th century led to a demand for less expensive imitations for the mass market, and the Staffordshire potteries obliged by making exact reproductions of the fine-quality figures made by porcelain factories such as Derby. The rustic charm of Staffordshire figures proved popular at the time, and successive generations have continued to enjoy collecting these generally inexpensive mantelpiece ornaments.
BOCAGE AND SQUARE-BASED FIGURES
The products of John Walton’s factory in Burslem (active 1810-30s) were typical of early 19th-century Staffordshire figures. Copying the tradition set by Chelsea and Derby, the factory included flowering trees, a feature known as “bocage”, behind its figures. Classical deities and allegorical figures (such as the popular set of three female figures representing “Faith”, “Hope”, and “Charity”), aimed at more educated customers, were usually mounted on the same style of square base edged with a brown line. Rustic groups of children playing and shepherdesses were mounted on similar bases or on raised green mounds with streams. Biblical characters proved immensely popular, especially “Elijah and the Widow”. One distinctive type of group, mounted on “table bases” (scroll-footed platforms), is conventionally referred to as being by Obadiah Sherratt (d.1841) after a potter who worked in Burslem from c.1815; however, it is now considered unlikely that Sherratt was responsible for the unmarked table-based models usually ascribed to him.
CHARACTERS AND FAMOUS PEOPLE
Victorian Staffordshire figures were intended to be viewed on a mantelpiece from the front only, and consequently the backs were neither modelled nor painted: hence the name “flatbacks” for such pieces. Many figures were simple but highly decorative images of children or lovers. However, from the 1840s there was a demand for portraits of famous people, whose features were copied from journals or the covers of popular printed music. In an age when the public rarely knew what famous people truly looked like, potters sometimes reused discontinued moulds to represent more topical individuals. Some figures were even wrongly named, such as a portrait of Benjamin Franklin labelled as George Washington.
Some popular figures were produced for many years and often require a close examination to determine whether they are earlier or later examples; this can greatly affect the value. There are many fake Staffordshire figures on the market, and it is important to learn the correct “feel” of genuine pieces, and to buy only from reputable dealers or auctioneers.
A Boy and “zebra”
This “flatback” figure portrays a schoolboy with a horse that has curiously been painted to resemble a zebra. Flatback
figures have little or no modelling on the back, a feature that made them easy to mass-produce. It was assumed that flatback pieces would stand on a mantelpiece above a fireplace, and this piece incorporates a spill vase at the back to hold the rolled-paper spills that were used in the 19th century for lighting the fire.
ORIGINAL AND FAKE STAFFORDSHIRE
• FORMS pairs of animals (very popular from the 1840s), portraits of royalty, politicians, military and naval heroes, sportsmen, theatrical celebrities, religious figures, notorious villains
• CENTRES OF PRODUCTION most figures were made
in the towns centred around Stoke-on-Trent, although a number were made in north-eastern England and Scotland
• COLLECTING a pair of figures will always be worth more than twice the price of a single piece; later examples are less sharply moulded than the originals, with particularly crude painting
• REPRODUCTIONS AND FAKES fake Staffordshire figures
are frequently made of pure white porcelain, stained to look old; “crazing” – a network of tiny cracks or veins in the surface glaze – affects most old figures, and fakers sometimes go to such lengths to reproduce it that they over-emphasize; the resulting effect is too regular and pronounced
Marks
Only a few Victorian Staffordshire figures are marked in any way, but research can identify some factories; earlier figures by John Walton and Ralph Salt (both active early 19th century) have their names impressed into a strap of clay at the back of the base.

In 1880`s st. petersburg reproduction antique russian furniture was very popular in Russia as stafford  pattern had been sold.  Stafford porcelain herbs and spices were removed from auction two years later.
Staffordshire  china  bottom stamp meanings are simple to read and understand together with  staffordshire  pottery flatback figure horse. The famous script “staffordshire  tin glaze” trademark was first introduced in
1828. Its staffordshire antique ornaments stamps have been symbols for many years.
Pair of  of a harvester and companion, the man standing before a flowering tree stump with a scythe over his shoulder, in a pink-lined sea-green coat, his breeches enriched with gold, pink and blue designs, with a
knotted scarf and barrel beside, his companion in pink coat and iron-red bodice, her dress with blue and gold designs, on mound bases encrusted with flowers and moulded with scrolls,  in high, gold anchor marks at back of staffordshire candelabras 18th century salt glaze. Harrison breakfast tea set, painted in colours with two pink lilies and leaves and a small red-flowered plant, with gilt dentil rim, 9 in diameter, gold anchor
markStaffordshire tin glaze by obadiah sherratt were staffordshire figures fake, one with a fox and bird, and the other with a dog goring a fox, before flowering trees, the mounds applied with flowers, on pierced gilt
scroll bases, gold anchor marks. Green ground vase of baluster form from staffordshire england shakespeare collector plates, the elaborate scroll handles enriched with gilding and the neck with pierced arches, the
sides painted in colours with a putto on cloud spray and a flower spray, in gilt scroll cartouches on the green ground.

Ironstone and transfer-printed wares
In the 19th century, British manufacturers were preeminent in the production of functional, durable, and decorative ceramic tableware. Large factories with streamlined production methods made use of transfer-printing, which enabled every piece to be identically decorated to a high standard. Pearlware, widely used from the 1780s, was improved to create a generic type of white earthenware that could be potted evenly and inexpensively.
IRONSTONE AND STONE CHINA The durable British earthenware services came to supplant the more delicate Chinese porcelain for everyday use both in Britain and abroad. Customers still wanted “Oriental” patterns, and Japanese Lind Chinese designs were combined in styles called “Indian” or “Japan”, with their roots in
British wares of the Regency period. In 1813, at Fenton in Staffordshire, Charles James Mason ( 1791-18,56) patented a durable white stoneware body under the name “Mason’s Patent Ironstone China”. From the I 820s to the 1840s other Staffordshire manufacturers produced similar wares with names such as “Granite China” and “Stone China”. The use of the name “china” was blatantly misleading, because these wares were forms of earthenware. To satisfy demand, many Staffordshire factories grew to an enormous size, employing a vast workforce that kept the kilns burning all year round, producing huge quantities of ware for both the home and the export markets.
BLUE-AND-WHITE PRINTED WARES
Ironstone, with its bright colours and occasional gilded decoration, was more expensive than plain blue-and white wares. Underglaze blue, transfer-printed ware was the staple product of British potteries as far apart as northeastern England, Scotland, the West Country, and South Wales, but it is with the Staffordshire potteries that mass-produced blue-and-white dinner services and other domestic wares are most closely associated. Because the printed patterns were applied beneath the glaze, the design cannot wear off nor the colours fade, with the result that most pieces look as fresh today as when they were made.
The largest producer of blue-and-white printed ware was the Spode factory (est. 1776) in Stoke-on-Trent, where every piece was made to a very high standard. Spode had
begun by copying Chinese-styleatterns, which were very popular. The demand for English pottery increased when mass imports of Chinese porcelain were suspended c.1800 because the British china dealers had attempted to form a cartel to keep prices artificially low. Gradually new designs were introduced, including views of British stately homes, and American and Indian scenes.
THE “WILLOW” PATTERN
One of the most popular transfer- printed designs, the “Willow” pattern was made by dozens of potteries throughout Britain. The pattern depicts the lovers Koon-sec and Chang fleeing their oppressors and being transformed into doves. This “ancient” fable has long delighted owners of Willow services, but in fact it was invented in Britain in order to sell Staffordshire dinner services. Often incorrectly attributed to the Caughley factory (est. c.1772-5), Shropshire, the original pattern was adapted from various Chinese porcelain designs and may have been first used at Spode. Caughley did not make Willow-pattern wares. The design was made in many different versions, and was eventually copied in both China and Japan.
• BODY a broad range of durable carthenwares and stonewares called by such names as “Ironstone”, “Stone China”, and “Granite China”
• DECORATION mostly transfer-printing; chinoiseries (including the Willow pattern), sporting scenes, Imari and famille-rose-inspired palettes and motifs, and landscapes
Marks
C.J. Mason & Co.: mark used for Mason’s Patent Ironstone China
Spode: mark used on blue-and-white and some stone china
The underglaze blue and the overglaze red and gilded designs of large peonies above zigzag fences on this Mason’s Ironstone card-rack were inspired by ornamentation used on brightly coloured porcelain exported from the Japanese port of Iman from the middle of the 17th century. Such designs, which often entirely covered the piece, were known during the Regency period as “Japar” patterns. This rare, and therefore highly desirable, unmarked shape can be identified as Mason’s Ironstone from the very good quality of the decoration, although it is a little worn in places.

Wedgwood stoneware
NEO-CLASSICAL STONEWARE
By the 1760s Britain was in the early stages of Neoclassical fever, exemplified in the work of the Adam brothers in architecture, and greatly stimulated by the excavations of the Classical ruins at Herculaneum and Pompeii that had begun in 1738 and 1748 respectively. Seeking to capitalize on the popularity of the Neo- classical style, Wedgwood worked on the refinement of his stonewares throughout the 1760s and 1770s. His first success (c.1768) was black basalte, a fine-grained, unglazed stoneware stained with cobalt and manganese oxides. This type of ware was sometimes decorated with red figures, a style inspired by ancient Greek pottery.
Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95) almost single-handedly transformed British pottery-making into a highly
mechanized industry, which supplied
fine ceramic wares to a worldwide market. Throughout his life Wedgwood researched and experimented tirelessly with materials and methods of manufacture. The
enormous success of his factory was owed not only to his artistic abilities but also to the realization that a wide-based market catering for all levels of society was the key to advancement in such an erratic profession.
From 1754 to 1759 Wedgwood worked in partnership with the potter Thomas Whieldon (1719-95), making experimental and tortoiseshell wares. Because of a leg injury Wedgwood was unable to practise as a potter, and therefore spent much of his time developing pottery bodies and glazes, making very detailed recordings of his discoveries. By 1759 he had set up his own business at the Ivy House Works in Burslem, Staffordshire, where he made redware, Whieldon-type ware with translucent lead glazes, blackware, salt-glazed stoneware, and creamware (cream-coloured earthenware). In 1769 he formed a partnership with the Liverpool merchant Thomas Bentley, and opened a bigger factory called “Etruria” (after Etruscan pottery, which inspired some of the factory’s production). During the ensuing decade, until Bentley’s death in 1780, the company expanded and consolidated its position at the forefront of the market.
Jasper tricolour ware is relatively scarce, and even small Uncomplicated examples such as this cachepot are much sought after by collectors Tricolour wares were first made during the 1780x. The decoration was often arranged in a grid-like or trellis design (called a “dice pattern “), with the bars and niches applied with delicate jasper quatrefoils and floral scrolls Here the decorator has Lived sage green and yellow on a white ground; the range of available stains Included a deeper green, dark blue, and lilac A cachepot is similar to a jardiniere and serves the same purpose, it is an ornamental container used to conceal a more utilitarian plant pot the name is derived from the French cacher, to hide).
Other types of stoneware made include “rosso antico”, a red-bodied ware largely based on Classical forms, and the yellow-bodied “caneware”. However, the most famous type of Wedgwood stoneware is the hard, fine-grained, unglazed “jasper” ware introduced in 1774-5, typically with applied white decoration of Classical figures and motifs. John Flaxman (1755-1826), 1755-1826), George Stubbs (1724-1806), and other artists produced designs for ornamental wares, including vases, plaques, cameos, and medallions, based on the illustrations of the excavated Greek and Roman material.
• silky,mostly fine grained, and unglaze
FORMS mostly Neo-classical in style; ornamental vases and urns; portrait plaques; busts; some teawares
• COLOURs jasper: first coloured all the way through the body and later as a surface wash only, in pale blue, sage green, olive green, lilac, lavender, and black; rosso antico: a refinement of the existing Staffordshire redware made by the Hers brothers; caneware: yello
smade by Wedgwood and other Staffordshire
potters from the 1770S
• DFCORATION the stoneware body is capable of taking extremely fine detail; early wares are more detailed than later wares; black basalte is often ornamented with engine-turned ornament, sprigged Neo-classical motifs and mythological figures are typical
Marks
Pre-Etruria wares are rarely marked, but thereafter most wares are impressed with the name; “WEDGWOOD” used after c.1820

Creamware and pearlware
In the 18th century Staffordshire became the most important area for the manufacture of everyday pottery. Tin-glazed earthenware, for centuries the European staple, was never made there, and very little porcelain was produced before the late 18th century. From the late 17th century north Staffordshire potters gradually refined their wares, until by the middle of the century they were making some of the finest pottery in Europe.
CREAMWARE
Thomas Astbury (1686-1743), Enoch Booth, and Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95) are all associated with the invention and development of creamware (cream-coloured earthenware). By the 1760s Wedgwood’s creamware was sufficiently developed to excite the interest of Queen Charlotte, who ordered a tea service (1765), and it was subsequently renamed “Queen’s ware”. For the next 100 years, creamware remained the standard pottery body in Britain and throughout much of continental Europe and North America. The close-grained body was composed of clay from
Devon mixed with flint and covered in
a very thin but smooth lead glaze. It could be finely moulded or cut with great detail. Furthermore, it was very receptive to underglaze blue, overglaze enamelling, or printing. English creamware includes ornamental wares and sophisticated pierced wares, which were made in Staffordshire and Leeds, and also figures. However, most of the output was of more mundane items such as dinner services, tablewares, and teawares. The versatility of creamware and its acceptance among the higher classes of European society (the 926-piece “Frog” service was made by Wedgwood for Catherine the Great of Russia in 1773-4) ensured its financial success,
as well as undermining virtually the entire European tin-glazed pottery tradition.
PEARLWARE AND PRATTWARE
Introduced by Wedgwood c.1779 as an improvement on his creamware, pearlware includes more white clay and flint in the body than creamware does. Suggesting an iridescent appearance, “pearlware” is a misleading term; the addition of cobalt oxide to the glaze imparted a bluish-white cast, which is particularly visible where there is pooling. Much pearlware is decorated in underglaze blue by painting or, later, by transfer-printing. Among the most famous printed themes are versions of the “Willow” pattern. In the early 19th century, manufacturers broadened the range of patterns to include Classical designs and English landscapes.
Prattware is associated with the Pratt family from Lane Delph in Staffordshire, although it was also made by a number of other factories. The body is similar to pearlware in weight and colour, but the ware is distinguished by a strong, high-temperature palette comprising ochre, brown, green, and blue. Wares include moulded teapots, jugs, and figures. From the 1840s the firm of E & R. Pratt & Co. was famous for multicoloured printing, used extensively on pot lids.
• BODY cream, thin, and lightweight
• GLAZE ivory-tinted lead glaze
• FORMS ornamental Neo-classical wares, tablewares, and more rarely figures
• DECORATION underglaze blue, overglaze enamels, or transfer printing
Pearlware
• BODY white flinty earthenware
• GLAZE bluish glaze to counteract the cream body
• FORMS mainly useful wares: dishes, plates, teapots, coffee-pots, and jugs
• DECORATION usually painted or printed underglaze
blue of English landscapes, Grand Tour ruins, etc.
Prattware
• BODY similar to pearlware
• PALETTE high-fired colours: ochre, yellow, brown, green, and blue
• FORMS jugs, teapots, and figures
Marks
The practice of marking pottery became more widespread from c.1800; some factories impressed their marks, but the majority are transfer-printed in underglaze blue; in addition the factory might also supply the title of the pattern on the back
Wedgwood: mark used on creamware
Leeds: impressed mark for the firm of Hartley, Greens & Co. (1800-30)

Stoneware
British stoneware was probably first produced in London during the second half of the 17th century. Apart from the fine-bodied Wedgwood-type black basaltes and “jasper”-type wares there are three main types pes of British stoneware: grey-bodied, brown-
glazed wares of Rhenish type;
redware in the manner of Chinese Yixing stonewares; and white or off-white salt-glazed wares manufactured in several places including London, Nottingham, Bristol, and Staffordshire.
RHENISH WARE
The earliest datable material, from c.1660, was found at Woolwich, in London. John Dwight (c.1635-1703) was the first documented potter to make brown, salt-glazed Rhenish-style stoneware, and his production of more refined whitewares and red stonewares of the Yixing type began in 1672-3. Production in or near London was centred on Fulham and Mortlake and was generally based on German wares such as those from Cologne (including “bellarmines”), Raeren, and Westerwald. Wares include mugs, jugs, and tankards usually decorated with applied moulded motifs or scratched decoration of hunting or drinking scenes. Brown wares continued to be made throughout the 18th and 19th centuries at Mortlake, Fulham, and Lambeth. This group is mostly decorated with applied reliefs under a two-tone brown wash.
REDWARE AND WHITEWARE
Probably introduced to the Staffordshire area by migrant potters, stoneware became more refined during the 18th century, culminating in the sophisticated Neo-classical wares of Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95). Traditionally it is believed that redware was introduced by the brothers John and David Elers from The Netherlands shortly after their arrival in London c.1686. It was strongly influenced by Chinese Yixing stonewares, which were imitated in the Netherlands. Output consisted almost exclusively of tea and coffeewares and other domestic tablewares. Because the body was so hard it could be decorated by engine-turning on a lathe (after c.1765), and by applying delicate sprigs of flowers or scrolled ornament to the smooth, matt body.
Redware was also made in Staffordshire, and is often erroneously described as “Elers ware”. Some pieces are impressed with pseudo-Chinese seal marks on the base. This provincial type of redware fell out of favour in the latter half of the 18th century. White stoneware was probably developed in the third quarter of the 17th century. This fine ware could be slip-cast into fairly complicated forms, such as teapots in the form of shells, houses, or animals. Many examples are enamelled, and some are transfer-printed. This type of ware was supplanted by Wedgwood’s creamware in the late 1760s.
• TYPES Rhenish type: grey-bodied; redwares: inspired by Chinese Yixing wares; white/grey wares: bodies became very refined during the 18th century
• GLAZE all wares were salt-glazed; surface has a granular “orange peel” texture
• FORMS mostly jugs, cylindrical tankards, teapots; flatwares were made only after c.1700
• DECORATION sprigging; applied panels of hunting or revelry, or sporting scenes, sometimes taken from printed sources such as Hogarth’s A Modern Midnight Conversation; engine-turning on redwares; stamping; from the mid-18th century, enamelling was used on white wares, mostly copying Chinese fanzine-rose wares; transfer-printing is rare
• MAIN CENTRES OF PRODUCTION London: Fulham,
Lambeth, and Mortlake; Staffordshire; Nottingham
Marks
Apart from inscriptions and dates, stonewares are unmarked

Lead-glazed ware
The earliest British lead-glazed potter) was made in the I0th or the 11th century. Recent evacuations Of sites at Winchester and Stamford have revealed crude and sometimes partially glazed cooking pots, pitchers, and bottles. In the 17th century a more idiosyncratic type of British pottery developed, including the bold slipwares 4 Staffordshire and of Wrotham, Kent. A considerable range of different pottery types were covered in lead glaze; red, buff, or white-bodied clays were covered
a clear or coloured lead glaze similar to that of the Chinese sancai tomb pottery made during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). During the 18th and 19th centuries
Staffordshire emerged as one of the most important ceramics regions of the modern age. All the necessary ingredients for high-quality production were found in
a area: first-rate clays, local supplies of coal to fuel sic kilns, and an extensive waterway system for transporting the finished product.
pitchers, pie plates, salts, tygs (a type of large mug), and dishes. Thickly potted, most wares were boldly decorated with figures, animals, birds, or coats of arms. This latter type remained popular well into the 19th Century, especially on oblong oven dishes. Some fine slipwares have the names of such potters as Thomas Tort (d.1689), Ralph Simpson 1651-1724), and William Taylor (b.c. 1630) prominently displayed in the decoration. Because such documentary wares are very expensive, this type has been faked at least since the latter half of the 19th century.
TORTOISESHELL, AGATE, AND
JACKFIELD WARE
Thomas Whieldon ( 1719-95) is usually associated with the production of tortoiseshell ware, although many potteries in north Staffordshire made similar wares from the mid-18th century. They are distinguished by the use Of translucent coloured glazes, Only partially mixed, or mottled, to produce an effect suggested by their title. Combinations of manganese brown, copper green, and cobalt blue were used on domestic wares or figures. Agate ware differs from tortoiseshell in that,
instead of differently coloured glazes being mixed, it
is made by mixing differently coloured clays to produce an effect similar to hardstones – hence the name. First made c.1740, these salt- or lead-glazed wares were later developed by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95). The term “Jackfield” has been traditionalIy given to a reddish-brown ware covered in a very glossy black glaze. This type of ware was probably first made in Jackfield, Shropshire, from C.1750, and later produced in many potteries in Staffordshire and elsewhere in the second and third quarters of the 18th century. Production was predominantly of hollow-ware decorated with moulding, gilding, or enamelling.
Slipware
• COLOURED) slips dark brown, tan, and white
• Forms dishes, tygs, puzzle jugs, and chargers
• DECORATION trailing, combing, marbling; designs: heraldic devices, figures, animals, birds, coats of arms
Tortoiseshell, agate, and Jackfield wares
• GLAZES tortoiseshell: mottled green, yellow, white, manganese, and blue; Jackfield: black and very shiny
• FORMS mainly teawares
• SPUR MARKS two or three left by supporting pins on the base of plates during firing
• DECORATION applied motifs, crabstock handles
• COLLECTING cow creamers are very popular
Tobyjugs
• COLLECTING extremely popular area of collecting; Prattware types were made after c.1780; the most desirable are those of the so-called “Ralph Wood” type; the most typical and popular figure is the “Tope”

Delftware
The manufacture of British tin-glazed earthenware began in the 16th century, when it was known as “galley ware possibly named after wares transported by galleys from Spain and Italy. The most important centres of production in Britain were Southwark, Aldgate, and Lambeth in London, Norwich, Brislington, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Wincanton.
EARLY DELFTWARE
A record of 1567 tells of the arrival in Norwich of such Dutch potters as Jaspar Andries and Jacob Jansen, who had fled Antwerp to escape religious persecution. These potters established potteries locally and later at Aldgate in the east of London. Very few examples of 16th-
century British tin-glazed earthenware have survived, apart from some tiles and a number of bulbous-bodied jugs (some with silver mounts). Pottery made during the 17th century is far more common. From the late 1620s virtually until the cessation of tin-glazed production in the late 18th century, there is a considerable body of dated and documentary British delftware, which enables collectors to study the changing shapes and styles of this type of ware over a period of nearly 200 years. From c.1600 small quantities of Chinese porcelain began to be imported by the East India Company into Britain, and some British delftware made from c.1620 shows the influence of these Chinese blue-and-white imported wares. After c.1660 until the end of the 17th century those in the so-called “Transitional” style were copied.
The most notable late 17th-century wares include “blue-dash” chargers, named after the blue dashes around the rim, which were boldly decorated in polychrome with stylized tulips, carnations, oak leaves, biblical subjects, and portraits, particularly Of such monarchs as Charles II, William and Mary, and Queen Anne. The majority of this type are covered with a yellowish
lead glaze on the back, through which the body is clearly visible – it was considered unnecessary to waste the expensive tin glaze on a side that was rarely seen. These dishes have a thick foot-rim around which a cord could be wound for hanging the object on the wall. Other wares included wine-jugs, drug jars, salts, and wide-brimmed dishes. While a few examples show traces of the old Italian-Dutch style, most embrace the continuing fashion for Chinese bloc-and-white wares.
18TH-CENTURY DELFTWARE
From c.1720 British delftware became increasingly distinctive, and the decoration less complex and looser in style. Delftware made in the 18th century tends to be more delicate and intimate (with some robust exceptions from Bristol), and a far greater range of wares was made, including punchbowls, plates, flower-bricks, wall pockets, wine-bottles, guglets, fuddling-cups, pear-shaped jugs, puzzle jugs, posset-pots, and, extremely rarely, tea and coffeewares. While many of these wares were painted with contemporary British subjects –figures, buildings, and landscapes – others are decorated in blue with chinoiserie themes – pagodas, pavilions, Chinese figures, birds, and flowers. Production of British delftware virtually ceased at the end of the 18th century because of the competition from creamware (cream- coloured earthenware).
• BODY British delftware is harder and coarser than the softer, thinner Dutch Delftware
• STYLE before 1620 wares are Italian-Dutch in style; after 1620 the influence of Chinese blue and white is clear; 18th-century wares are less formal, and contemporary British figures and landscapes with chinoiserie subjects remained popular
• GLAZE generally smoother than Dutch Delftware and chips easily; mainly pinkish or bluish; 18th-century glaze is smooth, as opposed to the whiter and “peppered” surface of Dutch Delftware
• PALETTE blue and white dominates; polychrome (iron red, yellow, green, brown, and manganese purple) also used, hit rarer and extremely collectable
• DECORATION this is cruder than Dutch Delftware:
monarchs, bold flowers, oak leaves, chinoiseries
• FLATWARES these have knife-like weals under the outer flange or rim since they were fired in the kiln on stilts
• COLLECTING flatvares are most available; dates and inscriptions and more unusual forms of decoration can increase the value of a piece substantially

Tin-glazed earthenware has been produced in The Netherlands since the end of the 15th century. Introduced by immigrant Italian craftsmen who settled in Antwerp (c.1500), the techniques and the decorative style gradually spread north during the troubled years of the 1560s and 1570s. While many potteries were established at Haarlem, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam, it was the town of Delft that rose to prominence in the mid-17th century and from which the term “Delftware” is derived.
THE INFLUENCE OF ITALY
During the early to mid-16th century, potters produced what is known as the “Italian-Antwerp” style of wares, which were decorated with pine-cone motifs, scrolling stylized foliage, geometric patterns, and, later in the century, strapwork and half-shaded petal borders (sometimes termed “false gadroons”). Designs are often painted in high-fired colours copper green, yellow, and ochre) and usually boldly Outlined in blackish cobalt blue. Early wares include dishes, plates, albarelli (drug jars), and syrup-jugs. Although small household objects such as jugs or double-eared pots were probably made in large numbers, few are extant. Albarelli have survived in some quantity and can be recognized by their pronounced flanged bases and crisp mouth-rims. From around the middle of the 16th century the tortuous strapwork and adapted grotesque ornament of the Fontainebleau School in France are seen on more accomplished wares. Northern designers such as Vredeman de Vries of Leeuwarden and Cornelis Bos of Antwerp were also used as sources for this type of decoration.
Time and distance, however, gradually diluted both these influences (although they did not entirely disappear for another century). By the end of the 16th century new, more humble patterns had appeared, employing simple repeated motifs such as dashes, chevrons, or zigzags, and concentric circles enclosing stylized leaves, fruit, or flowers. Tiles were also made in large quantities, first for floors and later for walls.
Decoration was usually in blue but also in polychrome, and comprised mainly stylized leaves, flowers, and such fruit as pomegranates, and, later, figures with small corner motifs. The most important centres of production for tiles were Rotterdam, Haarlem, Delft, Gouda, Utrecht, and, later, Harlingen and Makkum.
During the period from 1600 to 1650, the influence of Italian maiolica was still felt. Decorative subjects were extensive and included shadowed foliage, whole and sliced fruit in the manner of Venice or Faenza, scrolling bryony-type flowers, zigzag patterns, and concentric bands of simplified foliage encircling formal flower-heads that resembled “targets”. Faenza-style putti and fern-type borders, leaping hounds, equestrian subjects, isolated standing figures, and blue-dash borders were also popular. However, a more local type of decoration that included religious subjects, shipping scenes, and milkmaids was gradually introduced.
THE BLUE-AND-WHITE PERIOD
From the beginning of the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) imported blue-and-white Chinese porcelain, known as kraak porcelain, into The Netherlands. The name derives from the Portuguese carracks, or merchant ships, that carried large cargoes
of Chinese export porcelain, two of which were captured by the Dutch in 1602 and 1604. During the early years of the 17th century, the type of Chinese ornament featured on this porcelain was introduced on Delftware. Within a few decades the high-fired Italian maiolica colours were largely displaced by a palette of blue and white, a switch that demonstrates the growing passion for blue-and-white Chinese porcelain.
As the Dutch brewing industry declined, many of the disused breweries in Delft were turned over to the potters, and from c.1650 Delft became the most important centre of production for tin-glazed earthenware. Factories at
this time included the Porceleynen Schotel and the Porceleynen Lampetkan.
Probably the single most important impetus for the vast increase in production of tin-glazed earthenwares was the cessation of imports of Chinese porcelain between 1645 and 1650, when the kilns in Jingdezhen were devastated by the invading Manchus. Between c.1650 and c.1680 the number of potteries in Delft rose from eight to nearly thirty. Production of blue-and-white “porcelain”, as the Dutch termed their tin-glazed earthenware, focused on reproducing Chinese wares made during the reign of Emperor Wanli ( 1,573-1619) and Transitional porcelain (1620-44), or kraak porcelain. Decoration also included Dutch landscapes and biblical subjects. Frederik van Frytom (1632-1702) was the best-known painter of plaques, plates, and dishes decorated with detailed landscapes, with dark-toned foregrounds, lighter-hued middle grounds, and hazy backgrounds. Tiles, drug jars, ewers and other hollow-wares, dishes, and flower-holders, some of great complexity (such as tall tulip vases), were produced. The most important factories included The Metal Pot, whose owner Adriacnus Kocks (d. 1701) supplied wares to the court of William and Mary, and The Rose, The Axe, The Three Bells, The White Star, The Greek A, and The Peacock. The still-life paintings of luscious flower displays by Dutch artists such as Jean-Baptiste Monnoyer and Jan van Huysum were very influential on the design of Delftware at this time.
POLYCHROME WARES
From c.1683 imports of Chinese porcelain were resumed, affecting the production of Delftware, which was aimed at the same market. From the end of the century, potters in Delft began to experiment with a polychrome palette. Wares follow the colourful famille-verte (green, red, yellow, purple, and red) and famille-rose (an opaque pink, white, and yellow) export porcelains made in China, which sometimes employed gilding. Another important influence were the Japanese Imari and Kakiemon porcelains, which were imported into The Netherlands in the middle of the 17th century while the Chinese imports were suspended. Dutch polychome wares tended to be restricted to a palette of yellow, blue, purple, green, red, and black. An important producer of polychrome wares in Delft was The Greek A factory (est. 1658), run by the Van Eenhoorn family.
Most of the wares produced during the 18th century are somewhat mundane, decorated with small repeating
patterns. Biblical subjects, plates painted with images of the months, and whaling and seal-hunting scenes were all popular forms of decoration. Production during the 18th century was extremely diverse and included wall plaques, flower-holders, coffee and tea services, butter-tubs, drug jars, candlesticks, garnitures or vases, punch-bowls, dishes, and small models of shoes. There were more than 30 potteries in Delft in the late-17th and 18th centuries, some specializing in tile production, although it seems that only two of these continued production in the 19th century. The increased popularity of English creamware (cream-coloured earthenware) caused the demise of the tin-glazed industry in The Netherlands from the early 19th century.
• BODY extremely fine, soft, and generally thinly potted
• GLAZE thick, white, and with a “peppered” effect due to air bubbles exploding during firing, seen most clearly on the backs of dishes
• STYLE until c.1600: Italianate/Fontainebleau; c.1610-20: Chinese kraak designs; c.1620-50: local styles; from c.1650: Chinese-style blue and white; from the early 18th century: an increase in polychrome in the style of Chinese and Japanese wares
• CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Delft, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Haarlem, Middelburg, and Rotterdam
• COLLECTING the choice for the collector is wide since so much was made; the condition wit] vary, but expect to find chipping on the rims of wares