Posts Tagged ‘aesop s fables’

Chelsea
The first successful British porcelain factory was founded c.1744 at Chelsea, then a village on the outskirts of London, by the Huguenot silversmith Nicholas Sprimont (c.1716-71). Unsurprisingly, the Shapes of British silverwares were to have a considerable influence on the porcelain made at Chelsea. Production at the factory falls into five periods, four of which are named after marks used at the time.
THE TRIANGLE PERIOD
During the “Triangle” period (c.1744-9), Chelsea porcelain was of a beautiful white glassy body, and the shapes were mostly copied directly from British Rococo silver. Early Chelsea porcelain was difficult to control during firing; wares were small-scale and included cream-jugs, beakers, and teapots. The factory was proud of the pure white appearance of its porcelain, and painted decoration was therefore kept to a minimum.
THE RAISED ANCHOR AND THE RED ANCHOR PERIODS
Changes were made to the body and glaze in the second phase (c.1749-52), known as the “Raised Anchor”
iraised from the mark of a tiny anchor embossed on a sed pad. The body was now more robust, and tin Oxide was added to the glaze to opacity it, which alsogave
it a silky feel. Popular decoration included copies Of 17th-century Japanese Kakiemon porcelain, and landscapes painted in the style of imported European wares from the factories of Meissen in Germany and Vincennes in France. Scenes from Aesop’s Fables, painted in rich colours, became a Chelsea speciality. A few figures and models of birds were also produced at this time, but these are rare.
During the “Red Anchor” period (1752-6) original forms of decoration were introduced, as well as others copied from Meissen. This period is famous for its dessert table settings, especially covered tureens in the forms of fruit, vegetables, animals, birds, and fish. painted botanical decoration, a Chelsea invention, was used on “Hans Sloane” wares, named after Sir Hans Sloane, an eminent scientist and patron of the Physic Garden, a botanical garden in Chelsea. Chelsea also made small “toys” – tiny scent bottles and seals in the form of fruit, animals, and people.
Figures became an important part of the factory’s production, owing to the skills of the Flemish modeller Josef Willems (c.1715–66). When held up to a strong light, Red Anchor porcelain should exhibit the famous Chelsea “moons” – bubbles trapped in the paste, which appear as lighter spots in the body.
GOLD ANCHOR PERIOD
The coloured grounds and Rococo shapes of the French factories of Vincennes and Sevres were the dominant influences in the subsequent “Gold Anchor” period (c.1756-69), when the factory’s anchor mark was neatly applied in gold rather than red. The use of gilding was significantly increased. Figures, designed for display on mantelpieces or in cabinets and intended to be viewed only from the front, became more elaborate, with masses of bocage (small modelled trees and flowers). Although at the end of the 19th century Gold Anchor wares were extremely valuable, their popularity has decreased throughout the 20th century.
Economic problems coupled with the ill health of the founder led to the closure of the Chelsea factory in 1769. John Heath and William Duesbury, the owners of the Derby porcelain factory (est. c.1748), bought the works in 1770 and ran the two premises in London and
Derby in tandem. This period of production
is known as the “Chelsea-Derby”
period. The factory finally
closed in 1784.
Triangle period (c.1744-9)
• BODY white, glassy, and translucent
• FORMS based on British silverware shapes
• DECORATION often left uncoloured
• COLLECTING wares arc rare and valuable
Raised Anchor period (c.1749-52)
• BODY milky white and silky; contains impurity specks
• GLAZE tin oxide added to glaze to opacify it; silky feel
• FOOT-RIMS ground flat
• DECORATION based on Japanese porcelain, Vincennes, and Meissen
Red Anchor period (c.1752-6)
• BODY creamy white with dribbling glaze; “moons” appear in paste-firing support marks (”spur marks”)
• DECORATION Meissen-style flowers
Gold Anchor period (c.1756-69)
• BODY creamy, prone to staining; bone-ash was added
• GLAZE clear, thickly applied; pools and tends to craze
• STYLE Rococo; influenced by Sevres
• FAKES beware of 19th-century fakes, usually made in French hard-paste porcelain, the body of which is too white and glassy; they are often marked with gold anchors far bigger than those on genuine pieces
Marks
c.1744–c.1749: usually incised or painted in underglaze blue
c.1749-52: anchor embossed on a raised pad 1752-6: the mark of a very small anchor in red enamel appears on the backs of figures and on the bases of plates and cups
c.1756-69: anchor painted in gold
c.1769-84: Chelsea–Derby mark

In the 18th century, as the fashion for porcelain reached its peak, many porcelain factories were established outside Germany and France, the main centres of production. Many new factories were founded by arcanists, modellers, and decorators who exploited their knowledge of porcelain manufacture, moving from factory to factory throughout Europe. Unsurprisingly, most of the smaller European operations imitated the styles of Meissen and Sevres, although their wares sometimes display an interesting mixture of influences.
THE LOW COUNTRIES
In 1750 Francois-Joseph Peterinck (1719-99) established a factory in Tournai and, with the help of the arcanist Robert Dubois, produced soft-paste porcelain. The influence of Meissen in the tablewares can be seen in the moulded basket-weave borders and the spiral patterns around the rims of plates, while the decoration is more English-inspired. The specialities of Tournai were exotic birds and scenes taken from Aesop’s fables in underglaze blue, both of which were used at Chelsea and Worcester. Typical of Tournai, too, are landscape vignettes in puce or purple monochrome, surrounded by small sprays of flowers. The factory also made a limited range of galanterie – small decorative objects such as snuff-boxes.
Tournai produced a large range of figures and groups following contemporary French taste in their subject-matter, in particular pastoral scenes of shepherds and children by artists who had worked at Mennecy. The thickly glazed groups are painted in a pale palette or left in the white, but lack crisp modelling. Also typical of Tournai are figures and groups in biscuit porcelain, especially those on high rockwork bases around a central tree; groups like these were made at Derby.
Peterinck retired in 1796, and ownership of Tournai passed to his daughter Amelie de Bettignics (1757–after 1805). The factory continued making simple household wares, but no more figures, until the mid-19th century. Many 18th-century wares were sold undecorated, and were later painted at a porcelain factory in The Hague set up in 1776 by a German porcelain dealer, Anton Lyncker (1718-81). The Hague factory also made its own hard-paste porcelain wares, decorated in a manner similar to Tournai’s. Confusingly, both The Hague factory’s own products and the Tournai pieces that it decorated have the same mark; any soft-paste ware bearing an overglaze mark of a stork is likely to be (but by no means definitely is) of Tournai origin.
The first successful Dutch porcelain factor was established in Weesp, near Amsterdam, in 1757 by the Irish arcanist D. MacCarthy, who had been involved in attempts to manufacture porcelain in Copenhagen. This factory has a complex history of ownership. In 1771 it changed hands and moved to Oude Loosdrecht, and in 1782 moved to Amstel, near Amsterdam, where it remained until its closure in 1820. All the Dutch factories used a good-quality white hard paste with a clear glaze. Some small figures of putti holding salts were made at Weesp. At Oude Loosdrecht and Amstel, production was focused entirely on wares – mainly tea, coffee and dinner services. In both form and decoration
the wares are similar to Meissen and
other German porcelain.
SWITZERLAND
Most porcelain factories in Europe were established by aristocratic patrons who could afford luxury products; in Switzerland, where there was no monarchy, a group of prominent citizens established the first porcelain factory in Zurich in 1763. The factory initially made a soft-paste porcelain but switched to the production of hard paste c.1765.
Reflecting the demands of Switzerland’s dominant middle-class market, the bulk of Zurich
production was tea, coffee and dinner services. These generally followed German Rococo and Neo-classical styles, but the complex scrolled handles on coffee- and teapots were unique to Zurich. In terms of ecoration, the Zurich factory is associated with small pastoral landscapes in a palette dominated by blues and greens. Sortie exquisitely painted landscapes in warmer colours arc by Salomon Gessner (1739-79), 1739-79), one of the founders; unfortunately the enamels arc often flaky because the paint was applied too thickly. The colourful, naturalistic sprays of flowers familiar on 18th-century Meissen also featured at Zurich, although the flower sprays tend to be looser. Other kinds of decoration included a version of the Oriental banded hedge pattern, Usually in purple, and vignettes of birds on branches.
Almost 400 different types of figure igure and group were made, mostly in the late Rococo style. The famous Meissen series of the street vendors of London and Paris may have inspired the set of 42 street-
sellers called the “Cries of Zurich”. The finest figures were probably modelled by Valentin Sonnenschein (1749-1828), from Ludwigsburg, and, perhaps because of his influence, many Zurich figures resemble those made there. The factory closed in 1791, owing
to financial problems caused by competition from other factories and imports of inexpensive creamware from England.
SCANDINAVIA
In the 1730s several French
and German arcanists, including Christoph Conrad Hunger of Meissen
and Vienna, produced soft-paste porcelain
on a limited scale in Copenhagen. In 1774 the first hard-paste porcelain factory was founded there. Queen Caroline Matilda was the main shareholder of this factory; after her exile it was bought in 1779 by King Christian VII and styled the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory. A fine, white hard paste with a clear glaze was used to make wares mainly in a severe Neo-classical style, much influenced by Berlin, Vienna, and Sevres.
Cylindrical teapots and coffee-cups with angular handles, and trays with angled sides, are typically embellished with oval and cylindrical medallions enclosing landscapes, topographical views, or portraits in sepia, puce, or pink monochrome, surrounded with swags and coloured borders heightened with gilding. Botanical subjects were also popular, the most famous
example being the 1,800-piece “Flora Danica” service ( 1789-1802) that was probably made for Catherine the Great of Russia.
The factory declined in the early 19th century, but under the direction (1828-57) of Gustav Friedrich Hetsch it produced biscuit figures, notably those based on the work of the Neoclassical sculptor Berthel Thorvaldsen. The factory enjoyed a renaissance when in 1885 the architect and painter Arnold Krug (1856-1931) was appointed artistic director. With new glaze technology, he introduced a revolutionary form of underglaze painting, using simple washes of blues and greys to produce an effect very similar to Japanese pottery. Johann Ludwig Eberhard Ehrenreich (1722-1803)
produced porcelain between 1766 and 178 at Marieberg, near Stockholm.
It initially used a soft paste for Rococo wares, especially spiral-fluted custard cups similar
to those made at Mennecy.
A hard-paste porcelain was
introduced from 1777.