Posts Tagged ‘chinese porcelain’

WINE-GLASS, BLUE GLASS CASED OVER
GLASS, with ACID-ETCHED DECORATION
Benjamin Richardson, England, 1857
I It. 143 mm (563 in.)
Acid Etching: Although acid-etched glasses
arc known to exist from the 17th century,
the process was not generally used in glass-
making until the 19th century, with the
discovery of hydrofluoric acid. Heinrich
Schwanhardt (d.1693), son of the Nurem-
berg engraver Georg Schwanhardt, is
recorded to have engraved glasses with
acid, one example attributed to him being
dated 1686. The technique can be used
either to cut through one layer of glass to
another, as in the glass illustrated, or to
provide a single-layered glass with a matt
finish. An acid-resist such as wax paraffin
covers the parts that are not to be affected,
the pattern having been cut through the
resist. The surface of the glass is then
treated in an acid bath (such as a mixture
of 100 parts of water, 10 of potassium
fluoride and t part hydrochloric acid).
Benjamin Richardson of the Richardson
firm of Stourbridge took out a patent to
etch glasses in 1857.
VASE WITH ACID-ETCHED DECORATION
J. & J. Northwood, England, r.1878.
Ht. 216 mm (85 in.)
It was only in the 19th and 20th centuries
that acid-etching became at all an accepted
mode of decoration. In England it is
known that the Dudley firm of Thomas
Hawkes used the technique in the 1830’s.
Besides flat glass objects, wine-glasses,
bottles and vases were being acid-etched
by the 1840’s. John Northwood and T.
Guest were involved in the Richardson
experiments with acid-etching, and in the
186o’s established themselves as individual
firms specialising in etching. They were
known as J. 8c J. Northwood, and Guest
Brothers respectively, and produced a
quantity of etched work in the later 1860’s
and 1870V The skill and delicacy of the
etching they achieved can be seen on the
vase illustrated, made at the J. 8c J.
Northwood works and shown at the Paris
Exhibition of 1878. Acid-etching was by
no means a technique confined to England,
however.
The Techniques of’Taking Away
As Maurice Marinoi of Trance grew to
understand the nature and working of
glass, he experimented with its ornamen-
tation. In 1922 he began using the
technique of acid-etching in a manner
distinctly his own. The process had been
used by French glass-makers since the
mid-19th century. F.mile Galle, comment-
ing on the technique, had said that it would
not do for delicate work, but ‘it cuts into
certain glasses in a manner of its own’. He
used it in his factory from 1890 onwards,
and the Daum factory had also used it to
some extent. Marinot took up acid-etching
because it suited his purpose better than
any other decorative technique. When he
employed acid-etching he used the massi v e
forms he had always favoured, in trans-
parent, occasionally tinted, glass. The
etched designs cut deeply into the surface,
giving an almost sculptural look to the
glass. The whole surface of the glass was
subjected to the treatment, with the most
varied results.
Acid-etching has been used to give a matt
surface to the colourless glass vase illus-
trated. This slender vase has a round foot,
w ith a long stem widening slightly towards
the bowl, which is of an exaggerated tulip
shape. It is just one example of the beaut]
of modern Swedish glass. Even such an
aesthetically difficult technique as etching
has been triumphantly used to give .1
beautiful all-over textural and eye-catch-
ing finish. It has been said that ‘Sweden’s
great contribution to modern design was
to transform Functionalism from an in-
tellectual theory into a practical instru-
ment for better living’ (Polak, 1962). This
was eminently shown in her glass-making;
but besides qualities like fitness for prac-
tical purpose, toughness in wear and
cheapness of production, the general aim
from the beginning was to create objects
of beauty. The Swedes succeeded in their
glassware perhaps more than in any other
branch of modern design.
ENGRAVED AND SAND-BLASTED VASE
Hy Sverre FtTterscn, Hadeland, Norway, 1038
Sand-blasling: In the process of sand-
blasting a stream of sand, crushed flint or
powdered iron is directed on to the surface
of the glass in a jet of air. The parts of the
glass to be left plain are covered with a
stencil plate of steel, or an elastic varnish
or rubber solution painted on to form a
protective shield. The type of finish is
varied by altering the size of the nozzle, or
the abrasive, or the air pressure. The
technique has been in use since 1870,
though it has rarely been applied to vessel
glass, except for lettering on mass-pro-
duced items, and is mainly used on glass
panels for decorative architectural use.
One of the more successful uses of sand-
blasting on vessel glass was by Sverre
Pettersen of Norway (1884-1959), who
was engaged as designer to Hadelands
Cilasswerk in 1928—at that time the only
factory for table glass and decorative glass
in Norway. During the ‘thirties he pro-
duced some very interesting pieces with
sand-blasted decoration.
PLATE WITH SAND-BLASTED ENGRAVING
By I adislav Oliva, Czechoslovakia, 1959
Diam. 362 mm (1425 in,)
Such are the difficulties attached to using
sand-blasting for anything but the heaviest
surface decoration that only very occasion-
ally are satisfying examples of the tech-
nique to be found. One of the exceptions is
this plate, designed and executed by
Ladislav Oliva (b. 1933) in Czechoslovakia.
The plate, in clear colourless lead crystal
glass, has a slightly raised rim, and the
grille-like decoration is in the form of cuts
about to mm (4/ioths in.) deep. Oliva
manages through this technique to give
the glass a new and exciting appearance.
His decorative themes always seem to
result from the natural lights of the heavy
glass mass. The matt finish that sand-
blasting imports to the glass can be very
pleasant to the touch, although sometimes
it can give a fairly rough effect.
The  century has been called the ‘golden
age of glass”, for it added many new tech-
niques to the glass-maker’s repertoire. This
sudden burst of activity can be put down to
many factors, including ‘the industrial revo-
lution, the relaxation of government controls
on the industry (specifically in England) and
a pride of craftsmanship born of freedom’
I Revi, i<)5g). Not since the Italian Renais-
sance had there been such an interest in new
glass-making ideas. In America the larger
firms hired scientists to discover new methods
of colouring glass, one of the best-known
being the Englishman Joseph I^ocke. In
Britain and on the Continent there was keen
rivalry in producing new types of art glass
for a highly competitive market. Demand
rem lied its zenith towards the end of the
I ii torian era. Since then, though new
techniques have still greatly interested glass-
makers, the art glass produced has reflected
the inherent qualities of the material, rather
than added decorative effects.
Pearl Satinglass, also known as Pearl Ware,
Mother-of-Pearl Satinglass and Verre de
Soie, can be found in a variety of patterns
and colours, but basically it shows the
technique of keeping a symmetrical or
controlled pattern of air traps within the
body of a vessel. The vase illustrated shows
a typical example in the so-called hobnail
pattern. Benjamin Richardson of England
filed the first patent for this technique in
1857. His method was quite simple. A
gather of glass was blown into a mould
which carried the pattern in projected
form. The piece, thus indented, was
covered by a further gather of glass, which
caused air traps to form over the pattern.
Another method current in England and
America in the late 19th century was to line
a heated mould with glass tubes, either
clear and colourless or coloured, and to
blow a bubble of glass into this mould.
BOWL OPAQUE IVORI
COLOURED GLASS CASED WITH A P.AIJi RUBY OUTER
LAYER
Stevens & Williams, England, about 1885
lit. 140 mm (55 in.)
The tubes would thus be caught up and
marvered into the body of the glass. By
twisting the paraison the worker produced
articles of glass with pearly swirled stripes
on the outer surface. This method was
probably used to produce the body of the
bowl illustrated, which has been further
worked to form a frilly rim, and has the
heavy applied decoration current around
1885, Patents to produce Pearl Satinglass
were filed by firms in New York in 1881
and France in 1885. The Mt. Washington
Glass Company of the U.S.A. filed patents
in 1886, which also suggested using heat-
sensitive metal to colour the glass, and
giving the article a lustreless finish by
using an acid bath, or by sand-blasting.
The Phoenix Glass Company of Pennsyl-
vania filed patents in 1886, 1887 and 1888;
the final patent described the use of two
moulds, one to pattern the inner wall of
the article, the other to be used after the
outer casing of glass had been applied.
FAIRY LAMP IN PEARL SATINGLASS, RAINBOW STRIPED
IN BLUE, ROSE, YELLOW AND APRICOT
About 1885. lit. 152 mm (6 in.)
The finished product made by the tech-
nique last described displayed a criss-
crossed network of pearly-indented lines
contained in the body of the article.
William Webb Boulton, who had the
Audnam Bank glass-house in England,
filed a patent for Pearl Satin Glass in 1885.
Other English glass-houses manufactured
this type of glass, notably Stevens &
Williams of Brierley Hill, who called it
‘Verre de Soie\ Much of the Pearl Satin-
glass produced in the late 19th century
came from Bohemian and French factories.
These cheaper wares, supplied by factories
at Steinschonau and Altrohlau, Bohemia,
effectively ruined the market for the finer
wares of England and America. Many
different means were used to colour Pearl
Satinglass. The rainbow striping suggested
in this fairy lamp was produced by laying
coloured rods of glass on the body of the
article before it was fully formed.
VASE IN PEARL SATINGLASS
Thomas Webb & Sons, England, probably early
iSoo’s. Hi. 260 mm (1025 in.)
The technical development of trapping air
in moulded recesses between an opaque-
glass body and a tinted layer was further
refined by Thomas Webb & Sons of
England. In the magnificent example
illustrated the vase has a diamond air-lock
pattern between opaque and translucent
layers of glass, but has been covered by an
outer layer etched away to form a floral
pattern in relief; the whole article has a
satin finish. In 1889 Thomas Webb
patented this process for manufacturing
cameo relief designs on articles of Pearl
Satin Ware. After the diamond air lock
pattern had been produced in the usual
way, an extra coating of opaque white or
coloured glass was applied. The design
was painted on to this coating with acid-
resisting inks; when the article was plunged
into an acid bath, the acid dissolved away
all glass not protected by the resist. The
glass-maker had to be extremely careful
not ti) leave the object in the acid too long,
lest the acid reached the air traps.
FOOTED VASE, WITH CORAIE1NE DECOR AI ION
Last quarter of iqih century. 111. 127 mm (j in.)
Corulene: ‘The vase illustrated displays a
type of decoration that became popular
from its introduction in the last quarter of
the 19th century and is known as
‘Coralcne’. A design was painted in enamel
on the surface of a glass. Tiny glass beads,
which could be clear, coloured or opales-
cent, were then applied and stuck to the
enamel paint of the design. The object was
next put into a muffle-kiln, where the
enamel and beads were fired firmly into
place. Decoration could be in the shape of
coral, but is also seen in fleur-de-lis,
herringbone, sheaf of wheat and many-
other patterns. This type of decoration is
found in all colours and on all types of
glassware. Coralenc was so named by the
Mt. Washington Glass Company in the
U.S.A., and by several Continental and
English glass manufacturers. Its use was
not restricted to any one factory.
Amberina is generally recognised as a
clear amber glass shading to red at the top.
The patent for it, dated July 24, 1883, was
granted to Joseph Locke of the Libbey
Glass Company. This remarkable man was
born in Worcester, Kngland, in 1846 and
worked first as a potter. Guest Brothers of
Stourbridge, etchers and decorators of
glass, engaged him, but later he was
persuaded to join the firm of Hodgetts,
Richardson & Company, where he pro-
duced his copy of the Portland vase. After
various employments, Locke finally went
to America in 1882, where he was signed
on by the New Kngland Glass Company
of Cambridge, Mass., later to become the
Libbey Glass Company of Toledo, Ohio.
‘Amberina’, ‘Pomona’, and ‘Agata’ glass
are only a few of his achievements while in
their employment. Amberina was the first
patented method for producing shaded
and parti-coloured glassware from a sen-
sitive homogeneous metal.
To produce Amberina a very small amount
of gold in solution was colloidally dis-
persed in a transparent amber glass metal.
When an object had been made from this
mix, it was allowed to cool below a glowing
red heat and then certain parts were re-
heated at the ‘glory hole’ (a small opening
in the furnace). This caused a red colour to
strike in the reheated portions—but over-
firing caused a fuchsia or purple shading.
Further patents were issued either to
Locke or to Kdward D. Libbey. An
interesting development was the produc-
tion of blanks composed of sensitive
Amberina glass which, after moulding,
were reheated to produce a deep ruby
colour on the outer surface only. A design
would be cut through to the undeveloped
amber colour below, giving a rich effect.
Amberina was made in Cambridge, Mass.,
between 1883 and 1888 by the New
Kngland Glass Company. A fine though
short-lived revival was made between 1917
and 1920, when the firm had moved to
Toledo, Ohio; one of its products is
shown above.
New England Glass Company, U.S.A., 1886
Ht. 178 mm (7 in.)
Almost every glass company in Europe and
America probably made Amberina at some
time during this period. A new technique
was patented for the New England Glass
Company in 1883 and was called ‘Plated
Amberina’; this was unique to that firm.
A piece of opal or opalescent glass plated
with a gold-ruby mixture was reheated at
the ‘glory hole’, so that it would develop
deeper and lighter shadings on its outer
surface. When Amberina metal was used,
the shading would of course be amber-to-
red. However, other colours could be
made: a sensitive cobalt and ruby glass
mixture would produce a plated ware
shading from blue to ruby. Canary, blue
and green colours were also mentioned in
the patent. Plated Amberina invariably has
moulded ribbed decoration, as in the
example shown, though this had no par-
ticular bearing on the specifications men-
tioned in the patent. It was manufactured
only from 1883 to 1886.
PARFA1T oi.ass in rose amber glass
Ml Washington Glass Company, U.S.A., 1886
Ht. 127 mm (5 in.)
The Mt. Washington Glass Company,
New Bedford, Mass., attempted more or
less successfully to produce its own
Amberina glass under the name ‘Rose
Amber’. This was in every way similar to
Locke’s Amberina. Needless to say, the
New England Glass Company had an
injunction granted in 1886 in their suit
against the Mt. Washington Glass Com-
pany for infringement of their patent.
The Circuit Court of the United States
forbade the New Bedford firm to produce
its Rose Amber wares. However, it did not
seem that this injunction had any effect.
The New Bedford Board of Trade Report
of 1889 describes the making of Amberina,
Rose Amber, by ‘two companies, of which
the Mt. Washington was one’, and de-
scribes how ‘it caught the popular fancy
and was all the rage for about two years’.
According to this report it was the success
of the Amberina glass that caused Mt.
Washington to go in for an opaque shaded
ware—Burmese glass.
AMBERINA GLASS
New England Glass Company, U.S.A., iS
iii. 121 mm (475 in.)
WINE-GLASS IN ALEXANDRITE GLASS
English, beginning of 2olh century
Ht. 114 mm (45 in.)
Quite a number of Amberina pieces were
pressed or press-moulded. This piece can
definitely be attributed to the New Eng-
land Glass Company, since it follows a
design sketch made by Joseph Locke in
1884 when he was head designer for the
Cambridge winks. I lobbs Brockunier &
Company of Wheeling, West Virginia,
were licensed to manufacture pressed
Amberina by the New England Glass
Company in 1886. Sowerby’s Ellison Glass
Works Ltd., Gateshead-on-Tyne, Eng-
land, were also licensed to produce pressed
Amberina in 1883. A transparent, homo-
geneous glass shading from pale amber to
a delicate rose tint was press-moulded by
the firm of CristalletICS de Baccarat of
France from 1916. Known as ‘Rose Teinte’,
or to collectors as ‘Baccarat’s Amberina’,
it was reintroduced in 1940 as a popular
item. Its delicate colours were a result of
using less gold salts in the glass, but its
similarity to the American Amberina and
Rose Amber is undisputed.
‘Alexandrite’ glass, a single-layer glass of
three blended colours, first appeared about
1900, and is reputed to have been made by
the two English firms of Thomas Webb &
Sons and Stevens & Williams. 11 started off
as an amber glass; a portion would be re-
heated to rose, and reheated again to blue
on the outer rim, producing an exception-
ally beautiful effect. It is found in plain as
well as patterned surfaces. Stevens &
Williams used a differing technique to
produce the same effect. They cased a body
glass of transparent amber with rose and
blue glass. The outer casings of blue and
rose were then cut away, to reveal the
yellow glass beneath. Kolo Moser, a glass
designer of Bohemia of the early 1900’s,
produced an amethyst transparent glass
which carries the mark ‘Alexandria, but
this one-colour ware should not be con-
fused with the work attributed earlier to
Webb and Stevens & Williams.
PITCHER IN RUBY GLASS WITH DEVELOPED
OPALESCENT DESIGN
I hi i ijih century. I It. 279 mm (11 in.)
Opalescent Glass: In the late 19th century
glasses with raised opalescent white de-
signs became very popular. A coloured
gather of glass was heavily coated with a
sensitive, clear colourless glass containing
bone ash and arsenic. This was blown into
a patterned mould to give it the raised
design. It was then cooled slightly and
reheated, the raised parts striking an
opalescent white, while the background
retained the original colour. Inexpensive
glassware in this technique was produced
by Hobbs Brockunier & Company of
Wheeling, West Virginia; Alexander J.
Beatty & Sons of Steubenville, Ohio;
Phillip Arbogast of Pittsburgh, Pennsyl-
vania ; John Bryce & Company of Pitts-
burgh ; King & Company of Pittsburgh;
and Doyle & Company of Pittsburgh, and
others. Thomas Davidson of George
Davidson & Company Ltd. the Teams
Glass Works, Gateshead-on-Tyne, Eng-
land, patented in 1889 a process for making
a pressed, shaded version, in which the
opalescence was either white or of the
same shade as the body metal.
VASE IN BURMESE GLASS
Ml. Washington Glass Company, U.S.A., 1885
Ht. 305 mm (12 in.)
‘Burmese’ glass is a single-layered glass
shading from opaque greenish-yellow to
deep pink at the top. It was developed by
the Mt. Washington Glass Company,
New Bedford, Mass. Frederick S. Shirley
patented his formula for Burmese in 1885
for the firm. He produced the glass by
adding small amounts of fluorspar, feldspar
and oxide of uranium to essentially the
same ingredients as used by Joseph Locke
to make his Amberina glass. The fluorspar
and feldspar gave the glass its translucency,
and the uranium oxide made the ordin-
arily translucent white glass melt a pale-
yellow in colour; the gold made the glass
sensitive to thermal changes so that when
reheated at the ‘glory hole’ it struck a
salmon pink colour, which shaded down
to the original yellow. A second reheating
caused the pink glass to revert back to its
yellow colour, a feature quite often seen
on the rim of a piece of Burmese glass.
Frederick Shirley’s formula for Burmese-
glass was patented in England in 1886.
Thomas Webb 8i Sons of Stourbridge,
England, purchased a licence to copy-
Burmese products as well as to produce
their own shapes and designs. Most ol t he-
English Burmese ware is acid-finished,
though Mt. Washington produced both
glossy and acid-finished Burmese ware.
Thomas Webb & Sons called their glass
‘Queen’s Burmese Ware’. The glass was
much used for the patent ‘fairy lights’ or
small individual candle shades so popular
in England and America in the late
‘eighties. Queen Victoria ordered a tea-set
in Burmese glass from the Mt. Washington
Glass Company, enamelled with what was
to become known as the ‘Queen’s’ design.
The ornamentation of Burmese ware was
often of a highly decorative order. Verses
by well-known poets, Egyptian scenes, and
bird and animal portrayals were included
in enamelled motifs. Occasionally, finely
wrought applied decoration w ould be used.
Peach Blow: When a ‘Peach Bloom’
coloured Chinese porcelain vase was sold
for $18,000 in 1886, this caused such a
sensation that products labelled ‘Peach
Bloom’ or —slightly changed ‘Peach
Blow’ attracted many sales. ‘The glaze on
the vase was described as being the colour
of ‘crushed strawberries’. The magic of
the name attracted the attention of manu-
facturers of coloured art glasses, who tried
to devise new types suitable for this name.
Hobbs Brockunicr & Company of Wheel-
ing, West Virginia, produced such a glass
and called it ‘Wheeling Peach Blow’.
Replicas of the ‘Morgan’ vase were made,
like the example illustrated, in both glossy
and acid finishes. The moulded Stand with
its five-headed griffin is in an unimportant-
quality amber glass, hut the vase itself is
made of white opal glass plated with 1
transparent amber glass, made heat-sensi-
tive with gold salts. Reheating caused the
glass to strike a ruby colour, shading to
yellow or amber.
The Mt. Washington Glass Company
filed trade-name papers on the terms
‘Peach Blow’ and ‘Peach Skin’ through
Frederick S. Shirley in 1886. As a
colourant for their new products Shirley
substituted a small amount of cobalt or
copper oxide, instead of oxide of uranium
as in making Burmese. This produced a
homogeneous glass shaded pale grey-blue
to a delicate rose tint in the reheated
portions. When plunged in acid the surface
acquired an all-over slightly grey cast. As
it is a single-layered glass, the shading is
the same on the inside as on the exterior.
The Mt. Washington Peach Blow wares
were manufactured in similar shapes to
their Burmese ware. Moulded and applied
decoration were used, as well as gilding
and enamelling. The example illustrated
shows the ‘Queen’s’ design, as ordered by
Queen Victoria from the firm. The pattern
is of conventionalised flowers in raised
enamel, much of the decoration done in
pure gold reduced with acids.
The success of its Amberina glasses caused
the New England Glass Company to
experiment further with heat-sensitive
glasses. One of the resulting products was
patented by Edward D. Libbey in 1886
and called at first ‘Wild Rose’, later ‘Peach
Blow’. It is a single-layered glass shading
down from red to white in the lower part
of the piece. To produce it, an opal glass
was combined with a gold-ruby glass in
one pot. When a vessel had been formed,
reheating produced the rose colouring in
the required parts. Glasses made from this
metal were moulded, decorated with gild-
ing and enamelling and also acidized to a
satin finish. Occasionally, they would be
left in the original glossy state. The vase
illustrated was decorated by Joseph Locke
for his daughter Nora. The etched reliel
designs covering the surface of the glass
have been outlined and highlighted with
gold traceries and a dark brown mineral
stain.
At about the same time that the U.S.A.
glass-making firms were experimenting
with heat-sensitive glasses, both Thomas
Webb & Sons and Stevens & Williams of
England manufactured shaded wares
which they termed ‘Peach Glass’ or ‘Peach
Bloom’. Webb’s Peach Glass was cased,
the inner layer being creamy coloured with
a slight ly greenish cast in the upper portion.
It is similar in appearance to Hobbs
Brockunier & Company’s ‘Wheeling Peach
Blow’. Stevens & Williams of Stourbridge
produced a glass called ‘Peach Bloom’
which was also very much the same in
appearance. The English Peach glasses
were produced in both glossy and acid
finishes, and arc frequently found with
elaborate gold decoration on both finishes.
Occasionally, Webb’s Peach Glass will
have the Webb incised mark on the base;
Stevens & Williams ware also sometimes
bears a mark under the foot.
The Boston & Sandwich Glass Company,
Sandwich, Mass., manufactured a glass
known as ‘Sandwich Peach Blow’. This
was a single-layered glass, strawberry ice
cream pink in shading, often found in
moulded and twisted swirl decoration; see
the example above, which also has the
characteristic thorn handle of the period.
Overlay decorations in a camphor or
greyish colour are quite usual, the com-
plete piece having an acid finish. Many-
other types of glass are loosely termed
‘Peach Blow’, but basically, apart from a
slight variation in colour shading, the
products can be summarised as follows:
Webb and Wheeling Peach Blow are
always lined, but Mt. Washington, New-
England and Sandwich Peach Blow are
never lined. The Bohemian manufacturers
soon cashed in on the vogue of Peach Blow
wares, producing far cheaper glasses,
which forced the better products off the
markets, though their wares in no way-
resembled those made in America and in
England.

Experimental porcelain
A great deal remains to be learned about the early years of British porcelain, although much is being revealed through research. The first attempts to produce porcelain in England can be traced back to
John Dwight ( 1635-1703), a
potter based in Fulham, London, who succeeded only in producing a fine stoneware. An itinerant chemist, Thomas Briand Id. 1747), is likely to have made some kind of porcelain in London in the early 1740s, and, although none has been identified, his experimental pieces may have contributed to the success of Chelsea from c.1744, since it is believed that it
was from him that the formula was acquired.
THE LONDON FACTORIES
During the 17th and 18th centuries Chinese porcelain found a ready market in London, and manufacturers were aware that the production of viable British substitutes would be extremely profitable. The founders of the factory at Bow on the city’s eastern outskirts received their first patent c.1744, although the works was probably not active until 1747. Joseph Wilson had established a factory at nearby Limehouse by 1746, when blue-and-white Limehouse porcelain was advertised for sale. No examples of Limehouse were identified until 1989, when archeologists discovered the site and dug up shards that had been discarded during manufacture. acture. These matched exactly a type of porcelain previously believed to have been made at the Liverpool factory of William Reid, which is now ascribed to Limehouse. Wares included shell-shaped pickle dishes, sauceboats, and teapots, with blue-and-white chinoiserie decoration. However, Limehouse porcelain clearly proved too difficult to manufacture, and the works closed in 1748.
Charles Gouyn, a jeweller and china retailer, operated a porcelain factory in St James’s from c.1749 to 1759, but to date no excavations have been possible to confirm the identity of the items produced. However, it is believed that Gouyn made the porcelain figures, scent bottles, and other miniature “toys” (small novelties) referred to as “Girl-in-a-Swing” wares (after the first such figures to be identified), now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
About 1752 Nicholas Crisp set up a small factory in Vauxhall on the south bank of the river Thames, making distinctive blue-and-white porcelain, the forms and decoration of which were influenced by Chinese export wares and British and Dutch Delftware. Vauxhall also made rare and very beautiful, brightly painted wares decorated with flowers executed in the style of
Meissen. In addition, the factory experimented with polyglaze printing – a form of overglaze printing using several colours at once – but very few of these wares survive. Vauxhall products, like those of Limehouse, were only recently identified, following the discovery of broken porcelain shards on the site of the original factory. The factory closed in 1764.
LUND’S BRISTOL
One of the proprietors of Limehouse moved to Bristol to join Benjamin Lund, and together they produced blu and-white porcelain from c.1749. Lund’s Bristol porcelain was not unlike that of Limehouse, but it was more durable owing to its secret ingredient: Cornish soapstone, a substitute for the petuntse (china clay) required to make true porcelain. At Worcester, Dr John Wall and William Davis realized the potential of soapstone and purchased Fund’s factory – together with its secret formula for porcelain – in 1752. Worcester became the most successful 18th-century British porcelain factory, and its proprietors went to great pains to protect their secret formula. However, a Worcester employee stole the formula and sold it in 1756 to Richard Chaffers, who made porcelain in Liverpool during the 1750s and I760s.
• BODY all the early factories made soft-paste porcelainGLAZE
• Vauxhall: glaze may be “peppered”
• DECORATION Vauxhall: underglaze blue may be inky, wet-looking, and rather smudged; polychrome painting and transfer-printing; designs inspired by Chinese export porcelain and Meissen; Limehouse: wares may resemble Chinese export porcelain unevenly fired
• COLLECTING early porcelain is very rare, and there is a great deal of interest especially in Vauxhall, Limehouse, and the earliest Worcester
Marks
Factory marks were very seldom used by the early porcelain manufacturers, which makes identification a challenge for new collectors; any marks that do appear must be treated with suspicion

Porcelain
Hausmaler
From the 17th century in Germany and Bohemia there Was an important industry of freelance artists who decorated faience, to help factories meet the demand for highly decorated pottery. These decorators, known as “Hausmaler” (”home painters”), worked in their own studios or workshops. Additionally, hoping to profit from the new porcelain industry, Hausmaler in Augsburg and elsewhere bought whitewares from Meissen in bulk and decorated them.
AUGSBURG
Hausmaler from Augsburg were among the first to decorate Meissen porcelain outside the factory, and thus their decoration is usually found on tableware of the 1720s. Gilt decoration is particularly associated with the Augsburg workshops and is the most common form of Hausmaler work found today. The best-known and most prolific studio was that of the brothers Abraham and Bartholomaus Seuter (1688-1747 and 1678-1754), who specialized in gilt decoration, particularly chinoiserie scenes in the manner of Johann Gregorius Horoldt ( 1696-1775) of Meissen, and hunting, genre, and mythological scenes set within ornate gilt scrollwork or foliate borders, or reversed on a solid gilt ground.
The other major Hausmaler workshop in Augsburg during the first half of the 18th century was that of the Auffenwerths, who painted chinoiseries in a style that is very similar to the Seuter workshop but which can be distinguished by its more feathery appearance. Sabina Auffenwerth (b.1706) is the best known of the family, for her polychrome chinoiserie panels in the style of Meissen, and genre scenes with large figures, sometimes painted in monochrome black, purple, or red, with the faces and arms highlighted in flesh tones.
OTHER CENTRES OF PRODUCTION
One of the most important Hausmaler in Germany was Ignaz Bottengruber (active 1720-30), who worked in Breslau. His work is characterized by detailed designs, high-quality gilding, and varied and subtle tones. He specialized in Bacchic, hunting, and military scenes framed by rich scrollwork, in addition to mythological and allegorical subjects. Ignaz Preissler (1670-1741), the son of a celebrated glass-decorator, Daniel Preissler ( 1736-1733), also worked in Breslau and later in Bohemia; he painted townscapes, landscapes, chinoiseries, and mythological scenes in black monochrome, known as “Schwarzlot” (”black lead”), or even in red monochrome.
The most prolific Hausmaler workshop of the later 18th century was that of Franz Ferdinand Meyer (active 1747-94) who worked in Pressnitz,
Bohemia. His work is recognizable by a
cool palette dominated by light green
and iron red, broad gilt scrollwork borders, and bouquets of flowers around the borders. The painter
F.J. Ferner (active 1745-50) may
have been one of Meyer’s assistants, because his style is similar. Ferner added enamelled and gilt decoration
of flowers, animals, figures, and trees to pieces decorated in underglaze blue at the Meissen factory.
KEY FACTS
• PALL I 1E monochrome red, purple, or black, and gilding are most typical of Hausmaler wares, but polychrome decoration is also found
• SUBJECTS chinoiseries, large figure scenes, landscapes,
mythological, and hunting scenes
Marks
Pieces decorated by Meyer and Ferner generally have the :Meissen crossed swords mark in underglaze blue; after c.1760 Meissen
introduced the cancelled crossed swords mark on imperfect or blank wares in order to prevent its products from being associated with the work of incompetent decorators

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.

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

Ti-glazed earthenware was produced in France from at least the beginning of the 16th century when itinerant potters from Italy first introduced the technique. The ware is called “faience”, since much of the early ware resembled maiolica made in Faenza, Italy.
THE 16TH CENTURY
The dominant style for most of the 16th century was Italian; craftsmen from Italy appear to have settled in Lyons (1512), Nevers, Montpellier, and Nimes, and the output of these centres closely reflects the contemporary Italian polychrome maiolica of Urbino, Faenza, and Savona. The Italian istoriato (narrative) style is found on wares made in Lyons and Nevers, while the panelled a quartiery style associated with Faenza is seen on the faience of Nimes and Montpellier. However, in the north of France at Rouen around the middle of the century the work of Masseot Abaquesne (active 1526-59) is more sombre, and the designs show a strong affiliation with the Mannerist work of the Fontainebleau School. Early Rouen was noted for the manufacture of tiles some still extant in chateaux), albarelli (drug jars), saucer dishes, and flat-rimmed dishes.
THE 17TH CENTURY
The first half of the century continued to be dominated by the Italian tradition, but from the mid-17th century a more native French Baroque style developed. Mythological figures after contemporary prints were Popular subjects; drawn in a bold, muscular style in which ochre and blue are often dominant, they are somewhat livelier than their Italian istoriato predecessors. Dishes, which greatly outnumber hollow-wares (except apothecaries’ wares), were typically embellished with heavy foliated borders, usually interrupted with cartouches enclosing diverse subjects. During the second quarter of the century the influence of imported Chinese porcelain is evident, both in decoration and in form, and consequently the “hot” Italian colours declined in favour of blue and white. Nevers was probably the most important centre until the last 20 years of the century and was one of the first French pottery centres to decorate its wares with Chinese motifs. Here the earliest manifestations are garbled versions of the many imported late Ming blueand-white wares. A large proportion of production was painted in cobalt blue, sometimes outlined in manganese brown with figures in the manner of Chinese Transitional porcelain. Alongside the Italianate and Chinese styles, faience with solid-coloured grounds was made, including, most commonly, bleu persan (Persian blue), cobalt, and, more rarely, ochre.
Rouen, close to Paris and the French court, developed as a prominent centre for faience at the end of the 17th century. The Rouen style of the late 17th and early 18th centuries is formal, utilizing intricate motifs resembling ironwork (forronerie) or lacework (lambrequin) but probably owing as much to contemporary Chinese ceramic ornament. The lambrequin rayonnant style, so-called because of its radiating “snowflake” complexity, was copied by many other manufacturers in France, including those in Strasbourg and Moustiers. At its height (c.1695-1725) Rouen combined this style with vessels based on the shapes of silverwares because the French nobility had been ordered to melt down its silver in order to finance the wars of Louis XIV. Faience therefore became a fashionable substitute for silver.
THE 18TH AND 19TH CENTURIES
Between c.1710 and 1720 polychrome wares became fashionable once again. For the next 20 or 30 years bold chinoiseries in high-fired (grand-feu) colours eclipsed the blue-and-white wares. From c.1750 low-fired (petit-feu) enamelled decoration became the focus of the leading faience factories of the day, located in Strasbourg, Niderviller, Luneville, Sceaux, and Marseilles. In an ultimately futile competition with porcelain, these manufacturers decorated their wares with botanical flowers, chinoiseries, and fantastical landscapes in the most delicate brushwork. Forms from the mid-18th century, in keeping with the innate intimacy of the Rococo, were diverse and lively, almost matching porcelain in some instances.
However, in the late 18th century, competition from porcelain and English creamware (cream-coloured earthenware) proved too much for faience manufacturers, and many failed around the turn of the century. Some potteries survived the onslaught from English creamware by manufacturing the same material, known
as faience fine, which although clean and crisp was never as creamy or warm as the English ware. In France, factories such as those in Creil, Pontaux-Choux, and Montereau, some active before the
mid-18th century, made great quantities of faience fine, thus helping to accelerate the decline of faience. Many of these factories decorated their wares with transfer-printing in the style of creamware from the Wedgwood factory (est. 1759) in Burslem, England.
By the mid-19th century Quimper was one of the few surviving faience factories in France, producing wares with simple figural subjects loosely imitative
of I 8th-century Rouen. Gien, active toward the end of the 19th century, appears to have concentrated on the manufacture of wares in revival styles, using printed designs based on classic Italian maiolica. The output of historicized faience was fairly limited as many factories preferred to produce the fashionable styles current in the dying years of the 19th century. The firm of Samson (est. 1845) in Paris made a wide range of good reproductions of faience. Although this factory applied the original marks, it usually put its own monogram alongside.
• BODY Rouen: red; Nevers and Marseilles: buff;
Strasbourg: creamy white; Moustiers: greyish
• GLAZE Strasbourg: thick and creamy white; Moustiers: creamy grey
• PALETTE “hot” colours inspired by Italian maiolica; from c.1625 blue and white inspired by imported Chinese porcelain; high-fired colours: cobalt blue, manganese purple, ochre, yellow, green, and iron red; enamels: from the late 1740s a wide range of colours
• DECORATION Rouen: lainbrequins and arabesques; Nevers: narrative style; Strasbourg: botanical studies; Marseilles: naturalistic flowers, bouillabaisse; Moustiers: potato flowers, fantastic creatures, Classical figures, and festoons
Marks
These were very randomly applied; marks arc usually the initials of the proprietor of the factory; most are in puce, blue, or black; care should be taken since marks of such collectable factories as Strasbourg, Sceaux, Marseilles,
Rouen, Lille, and Nevers have been widely copied on 19th- and 20th-century fakes
Strasbourg: Paul Hannong factory (c.1740-60) Marseilles: Veuve Perrin factory (c.1740-95) Moustiers: Olerys factory (1 738–c.1790) Quimper: Antoine de la Hal (est. 1782)
Quimper: Fougeray factory (est. 1872): copies of 18th-century originals

Although Italian maiolica reached its apogee in the masterpieces of the 16th century, there is still much to admire in the products of the following 100 years. Potteries in Deruta continued to make colourful albarelli (drug jars), although these
Undoubtedly lack the vigour of their 16th-century predecessors; and, while embossed wall plaques of the Madonna and Child were now virtually mass-produced at Deruta, some still convey a spirit befitting their imagery. The great istoriato (narrative) painting of Urbino became debased, and Montelupo dishes are of inferior quality. However, the depiction of soldiers boldly standing with legs apart – the characteristic Montelupo decoration of arlecchini – remained a powerful image on dishes and plates.
1650-1800
New varieties of fine maiolica were developed in the second half of the 17th century. At Castelli thin potting was combined with careful painting that employed perspective, quite unlike the Italian maiolica of the previous century. The workshops of the Gentile and Grue families in Castelli produced a large number of high-quality wares, including dishes, vases, and pharmacy jars, the best being made by Francesco Antonio Xaverio Grue 1686-1746) and Carmine Gentile. Most of their wares were essentially functional, but they also included plaques made purely for display. Dishes depicting Classical heroes, spirited hunting scenes,or biblical epics are the successors of 16th-century istoriato wares. Production continued at Castelli until the mid-18th century, although there was a gradual decline in quality.
Drug jars continued to be made, although with less spirit than in the past. Instead of [)right colours, the influence of Chinese porcelain led to borders of blueand-white scrollwork or naive landscapes, which were both pleasing and original. From the late 17th century, dishes produced in Savona represented the istoriato ato tradition in a fresh and lively fashion, combining somewhat sketchy painting with high-quality potting. The standard of maiolica produced by the various Savona workshops varies considerably.
In the 18th century, Italy was no longer the leading force in European pottery. Nevertheless the centres of Le Nove, Bassano, Turin, Milan, and Faenza produced good pottery influenced by silver forms, French faience, and Chinese porcelain. Potters in Milan made dinner services decorated with the Chinese famille-rose palette and Japanese Imari patterns. The Ferniani family in Faenza made good-quality dinnerware often decorated with potato flowers or carnations.
AFTER 1800
In the 19th century, Italian pottery was dominated by mostly debased copies of earlier models. Among these, the bold flower painting of G.B. Viero at the faience factory (est. 1728) in Le Nove stands out, as does the work of probably the best-known 19th-century Italian maiolica potter, Ulysse Cantagalli (1839-1901) of Florence. Original 16th-century dishes were already very valuable, and there was an eager market for high-quality reproductions. Cantagalli’s famous copies of wares from Urbino and other centres of Italian maiolica production were so good that they fooled many connoisseurs in the 19th century. Many other 19th-century potters also reproduced the glories of the past, maintaining a tradition that continues to the present day.
1650-1800
• BODY new, fine maiolica types, which were thinner than those made in the previous century were
developed after c.16-50
• GLAZE high quality, and generally a greyish cream
• STYLE influenced by silverware, Chinese porcelain, and French porcelain and faience
• FORMS decorative plaques, vases, dinner services
• PALETTE Castelli: naturalistic tones of olive green, brown, and yeIlov,
• DECORATION continuation of istoriato (narrative) painting; introduction of perspective in painting of landscapes; allegorical and mythological themes; flowers and figures; Oriental motifs, including Chinese landscapes and blue-and-white scrollwork
• IMPORTANT MAKERS the Grue, Cappelletti, and Gentile families
After 1800
• FORMS a return to classic 16th-century forms; many produced as tourist wares
• DECORATION high-quality reproductions of 16th-century designs (e.g. istoriato)
Marks
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Cantagalli used this distinctive cockerel mark,usually in black; collectors should tic wary as
unscrupulous dealers have often removed this mark in order to pass pieces off as originals
Savona: this late 17th/early 18th-century representation of the tower or beacon in the harbour of nearby Genoa has been much imitated

The beginnings of Portuguese faience are obscure, and prior to the 17th century few pieces can be attributed with any certainty. Although written records indicate that there was production from at least the 13th century, evidence is sparse until the 16th century, when there appears to have been a flowering in this craft. In 1552 there were ten potteries in Lisbon alone. It is most likely that the industry was boosted by migrant potters, perhaps from Italy, France, or The Netherlands. While some European-type wares were made, including Italian-Style albarelli and late 19th-century wares in the style of the French potter Bernard Palissy \ (c.1510-90), 10-90), the most
wares were those decorated in the manner of Chinese export porcelain made during the late Ming Dynasty ( 1368-1644), indicating the importance of the
Portuguese trade with China at this time.
Although some of these mainly blue-and-white wares are fairly fine renditions of Chinese porcelain, most have a crowded market-place appeal, with robustly drawn if somewhat garbled motifs in what is known as the “Sinn-Portuguese” style. Motifs include the Fight Precious Things (including the artemisia leaf and the musical stone, which often appear in the broad panelled borders of dishes). With time, these designs became simplified or formalized: Chinese-border sunflowers evolved into spiky demi-lines or a radiating scale pattern; the artemisia leaf began to resemble a spider. The compartmentalized borders taken from kraal: porcelain were retained, although the diverse semi-geometric patterns of the late Ming style were replaced by a simple “cross-stitch” trellis design.
AFTER 1700
During the 18th century Portuguese faience was strongly influenced by  French potteries, especially those in Rouen,    the Portuguese wares were never as meticulously drawn as the French. In general Portuguese faience produced in Lisbon, Oporto, Coimbra, and other potteries is very similar in feeling to provincial French faience. Furthermore, there was clearly a reluctance to advance or to experiment with new designs, so wares often seem old-fashioned – the formal Baroque style of early 18th-century Rouen wares is still found in the middle of the century or even later. This time-lag can also be seen on high Rococo faience, the style
being maintained until beyond the end of the 18th century. The most important pottery centres were
given a great incentive in 1770 when
a ban was imposed on all imported porcelain, save that from East Asia, which boosted domestic production.
In the 19th century, in keeping with the European trend, Portuguese potters produced considerable quantities of revival wares, borrowing indiscriminately from the classic wares of Italy, France, and The Netherlands. Among the more frequently encountered types are the lead-glazed wares made in Caldas da Rainha that were based on the wares of Bernard Palissy – dishes or hollow-wares with applied reptiles, covered in dark lead glazes. Nineteenth-century wares were skilfully potted and painted. Much late 19th- and 20th-
century pottery is traditional in feel,
using an Italianate or a debased Ming
export style. In the latter category,
deer and rabbits cavort amid
formal small-scale vegetation,
mostly painted in blue with
brown outlines. This refined
material may have a silky-smooth
glaze of slightly pinkish tone.

•    Body- generally fairly crude; less refined than Spanish
wares
•    GLAZE quite gritty
•    DECORATION usually very  schematic and quickly executed; 17th-century bloc-and-white wares: outlined in manganese brown, based on Chinese late Ming and Transitional porcelain; 18th-century faience: inspired by French faience; 19th-Century wares: inspired by 16th-century Palissy wares
•    FEATURES flatware was generally fired on a triangular
arrangement of pins visible on the underside of the  flangeIMPORTANT
•     CENTRES OF PRODUCTION Lisbon, Oporto, Coimbra, Caldas da Rainha
Marks
Before c.177() Portuguese wares were rarely marked
Lisbon: Royal factory of Rato (1767-183.5); mark for wares made under Brunetto (1767
Caldas da Rainha: Mafra factory (est. 1853); Mark for wares made under Manuel Gomel (active 1853-7)

Display cabinets.
At the end of the 17th century the display cabinet evolved from the cabinet-on-stand tradition, and adopted many of the same features. The principal difference was that the outer doors of the cabinet were not solid, enabling the contents of the shelves –not drawers – inside to be easily viewed.
EARLY CABINETS
Italian cabinets were developed from the cabinet-onstand tradition, and by the mid-17th century Baroque display cabinets or showcases were also made. These were incredibly grand, opulent, and dramatic, made to display collections of semi-precious stones, minerals, plaques, or other curiosities. In Rome, glass-fronted cabinets were designed by architects, such as Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) and Francesco Borromini (1599-1677), and such architectural features as pediments, columns, and sculptural finials prevail. Cabinet-makers in Florence quickly adopted these ideas and combined them with their own tradition of pietre dure panels and gilt-bronze mounts.
The fashion for displaying objects arose with the craze for Chinese porcelain and blue-and–white Delftware at the end of the 17th century. Although an elaborate series of shelves was commonly used for their display, fine cabinets attested to the ()-,-,-net’s wealth and cultured tastes, and were symbols of great pride, especially as they were quite rare until the the 18th century. In England the late 17th-century display cabinet had glazed doors with half-round mouldings resembling those found on drawer fronts of the period, and the sides were veneered with walnut, often ten quarter-veneered. Supported on turned legs and stretchers, it might also have contained two drawers behind the doors, and rested on bun feet. Contemporary cabinets from The Netherlands were influential, partly owing to the Delftware displayed within, and partly because of Dutch craftsmen living and working in England.
Marquetry was still used in both English and Dutch designs. In England, after the end of Charles II’s reign (1685), coloured marquetry became more subtle, and arabesques were more popular than flowers and foliage. Alternatively,
coloured metal or brass-and-tortoiseshell veneering, in imitation of the latest Parisian
fashion inspired by Pierre Gole (c.1620-84) and Andre-Charles Boulle ( 1642-1732), were also used at this time, although still confined to the wealthiest patrons.
ENGLISH 18TH-CENTURY CABINETS
The earliest 18th-century display cabinets were simple in construction and were almost identical to contemporary bookcases or bureau bookcases and cabinets. The most common features included fine proportions, chamfered corners, gilded mouldings, and rich veneers. Between 1730 and 1750 mahogany gradually replaced walnut as the preferred wood, and also from 1730 the influence of William Kent (c.1685-1748) and Palladianism promoted the use of broken pediments and architectural overtones similar to those used in bookcases. Scrolled brackets, eagles’ heads, lion-masks, and garlands were typical decoration. The cabinets themselves were variously designed – in three sections with a “break-front”, or in two, with stands or on solid bases with doors. Marquetry decoration was replaced with finely carved wood although there were still instances of japanned cabinets and inlay with ivory plaques.
From c.1750, cabinets were decorated with Rococo ornament, inspired by France, or with Gothic or Chinese details, largely due to the hugely influential designs of Thomas Chippendale (1718-79) and his pattern-book The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Director (1754-62). Chinese-inspired designs were especially important for display cabinets, as a result of the quantities of Chinese porcelain displayed inside them, and also as a result of the continuing vogue for Oriental decoration. Pagoda-shaped roofs and mouldings, openwork friezes, latticed galleries, and longitudinal glazing are characteristic of this style. Chippendale favoured chinoiserie above all else, although he was not averse to uniting it with distinctive Rococo touches. In The Universal System Of Household Furniture (1762), John Mayhew (1736-1811) and William Ince (c.1738-1804) describe a “china case for Japanning the inside all of looking-glass, in that manner it has been executed, and has a very elegant effect”. japanned cabinets were extremely popular, as were those that featured panels of imported Oriental lacquer. Hanging corner cabinets, made of mahogany and with similar motifs, were also produced, although in smaller numbers than the cabinets.
The design of cabinets was definitively modified by the aspirations of Neo-classicist architects, particularly Robert Adam (1728-92), and cabinet-makers from 1760. Influenced by Classical architecture, the new cabinets were more simple  than their predecessors. Doors and cupboards were framed with tapered and fluted columns and pilasters; cornices were surmounted by scrolled and pierced pediments, frequently with urns at the corners and centres; and friezes were delicately carved with anthemia, sheaves of wheat, or honeysuckle motifs. Mahogany was gradually superseded by satinwood or exotic wood veneers, and some cabinets were painted in subtle colours. The construction and look of all these display cabinets were still similar to, but slightly more delicate than, those of contemporary bookcases. The similarity is so close that The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer’s Guide (1788-94) by George Hepplewhite (d.1786) does not feature display cabinets as such. The astragals (glazing bars) and cornices illustrated on a separate plate were considered to be equally suitable for both bookcases and cabinets.

REVIVALISM AND THE BELLE EPOQUE

 During the 19th century, revivalism dominated fashions in cabinet-making throughout Europe and North America. In Italy the Renaissance Revival (known as Dantesque) was popular, and cabinets made in this style were carved with elements taken from the earlier period. The Florentine cabinetmaker Andrea Baccetti was arguably the greatest exponent of the Italian Renaissance Revival, making richly carved furniture during the 1860s and 1870s. As was usual, the 19th-century revivals were generally loose interpretations of the earlier styles; for example, “Renaissance” cabinets were made of rosewood with parcel gilding, materials unheard of in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries.
In The Netherlands, the large, traditional 18th-century Dutch display cabinets were reproduced in great numbers during both the 19th and 20th centuries. Usually covered with floral marquetry, these cabinets possessed glazed bureau-style upper halves, with traditional-style bombe drawers below. Sometimes one of the lower drawers
was sacrificed in favour of a stand with a stretcher, in the early Baroque manner, but
these cabinet-on-stand varieties are less common than their bureau-inspired counterparts.
The cabinet-maker Francois Linke (1855-1946), working between 1882 and 1935, helped Paris to maintain its position as the world’s centre of luxury furniture in the sumptuous Belle Epoque style. Like that of many distinguished cabinet-makers of the Second Empire (1848-70), Linke’s early work is in the Louis XV and XVI styles, many pieces copied directly from 18th-century royal furniture. However, at the International Exhibition of 1900 in Paris he staked his reputation on a lavish display of distinctive furniture in Louis XV style with overtones of Art Nouveau, using the finest mounts applied to simple carcases with quarter-veneered kingwood or tulipwood. His signature motif was the coquille (concave scallop-shell), held by acanthus tendrils. Linke kept meticulous records, which demonstrate the staggering number of hours put into each piece of furniture.

• TYPES the variety is huge, although display cabinets only
were purpose built only from c.1800.
• MATERIALS watered silk commonly lines French cabinets to offset the gold boxes, trinkets, and curiosities displayed inside; few display cabinets had glass panes until the 19th century; early French pieces often had chickenwire fronting.
• LINKE the rarity and high quality account for the prices his pieces command; his signature “F. Linke” is usually visible on one of the ormolu mounts in a right-hand corner; much furniture was exported to the USA.

Meissen Porcelain of the 18th Century.
The great secret and success story of the Far East, porcelain was discovered a thousand years before the establishment of the ceramics industry in the West. Its properties were envied and widely imitated, but never matched, and its quality far outstripped that of early Western ceramic production, which was based on stoneware.
The first examples of Chinese porcelain arrived in Europe in the early 1500s and caused a near-revolution in the ceramics world, resulting in a thriving export industry from the East that had far-reaching effects on trade. Today, examples of fine-quality porcelain from both the East and the West command the highest prices, and many museums around the world have outstanding collections.
Early Meissen
Imported from the Middle Ages through trade with China, Oriental porcelain was a rare and expensive commodity in Europe. As demand for (and imports of) porcelain became greater, alchemists in the courts of Europe attempted to discover the formula to create “true”, or hard-paste, porcelain. The production of the first European hard-paste porcelain was the result of a collaboration between the alchemist Johann Friedrich Bottger (1682-1719) and the scientist Flurcriftied Walther von Tschirnhausen ( 1651-1708) at the court of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, in Dresden.
EXPERIMENTAL WARES
Bottger had become famous for his claims that he was on the brink of producing artificial gold. His experiments in this regard failed, but his fame and talents were such that Augustus seized Bottger after he fled from Prussia to Saxony and ordered him to help in von Tschirnhausen’s porcelain experiments. The basic formula, which was discovered c.1706-7, produced a fine, brownish-red stoneware. After further experimentation in 1708, Bottger finally v produced a white hard paste, and in 1710 Augustus established Europe’s first hard-paste porcelain factory in the Albrechtsburg, a palace in Meissen.
Bottger’s stoneware was an extremely hard and finely textured material, and is sometimes described as “Jaspisporzellan” (”jasper porcelain”) because of its resemblance to hardstone. The types of ware produced included and coffee- and teapots, bowls, teacups, and teajars, often imitating Oriental porcelain. One of the first artists to be involved in the modelling of this stoneware was the court goldsmith Johann Jakob Irminger (1635-1724), and maro, stoneware pieces were based on gold and silver designs. As the material was so hard, typical decoration included polishing or faceting -techniques derived from gem-cutting - although lacquering, enamelling, and gilding were also used.
EARLY PORCELAIN
Early Meissen porcelain (”Bottgerporzellan”), first produced commercially c.17 L3, generally followed the stoneware forms, but technical developments at the factory led to a greater range of ss ares: statuettes of dwarves and saints, copies of Chinese Mane-de-Chine wares, and “pagoda” figures. The porcelain was often left white to display the precious material, but some pieces have moulded leaf or floral borders, thickly applied and clumsily drawn polychrome enamels, or gilt or silvered scrollwork borders. While all Bottger porcelain is rare, figures and enamelled pieces are particularly scarce.
During the 1720s there were rapid technical and artistic advances in the development of porcelain at Meissen, due in part to the arrival in 1720 of the colour-chemist and painter Johann Gregorius Horoldt (1696-1775). In the early v 1720s, under his leadership, a new source of clay was found from which a slightly creamy white paste was produced. This was used to make a much wider range of wares, including vases, garnitures, bottles copied from Japanese originals, and small vessels with covers, as well as tea and coffeewares.
During the 1720s Horoldt perfected the enamelling process, increasing the range of
colours. Until the early 1730s the’ factory owed its success to the skilled painters who copied or adapted Oriental porcelain decoration and eventually developed a distinctive European style of painting. In the , i rly 1720s, underglaze blue decoration was used for copying Chinese originals in the style of wares made during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1662-1722), and polychrome enamels were employed for making exact copies of Chinese and Japanese wares, including those in the Imari and Kakicinon palettes. Horoldt also produced his own designs for vignettes and chinoiserie scenes. During the mid-1720s the first European-style landscape decoration was introduced; the scenes are typically set within heavy gilt scrollwork cartouches, often embellished with coloured enamels. The factory also introduced Kauffahrtei (”sea trade”) scenes of quaysides, although these became more common in the 1730s.
Meissen figures and services
From the early 1730s beautifully modelled and painted figures and table services were produced at the Meissen porcelain factory in Germany, establishing its reputation as the pre-eminent porcelain factory in Europe. The extensive range of figures and wares was characterized by an extraordinary virtuosity of modelling, lively expression, and sense of movement, and remains a testimony to the skill of the painters, modellers, and other artisans employed. The factory dominated the mid-18th-century style of porcelain, and Meissen wares Lind figures were imitated by craftsmen at other porcelain factories throughout Europe.
EARLY FIGURES
Small figures used to decorate the dining-tables of the wealthy were originally modelled in sugar, wax, or gum by cooks and confectioners. Demand for pieces in a more permanent material led to the production of the first porcelain figures at Meissen in 1727, when the modeller Johann Gottlieb Kirchner (1706–after 1738) was appointed the first chief modeller. Kirchner initially produced figures of saints and animals in a strong Baroque style. In the same year Frederick-Augustus 1, Elector of Saxony (known as “Augustus the Strong”),entrusted him with the task of creating 910 monumental figures of animals and birds to decorate his Japanese Palace in Dresden, specially built to accommodate his vast collection of Oriental porcelain. However, the thick body of the porcelain meant that pieces tended to crack or even completely collapse in the kiln. The most famous Meissen modeller,
Johann Joachim Kandler (1706-75), joined the factory in 1731 to assist Kirchner, but he too could not solve the technical problems. These difficulties and the high cost of producing such works encouraged Kandler to experiment with the production of small-scale figures.
LATER FIGURES
In 1733 Kandler was appointed chief modeller at Meissen, and during the 1730s and 1740s he was responsible for some of the finest individual figures and groups ever made there. Kandler’s early figures have a wonderful sense of liveliness and movement unmatched by his imitators. They are vigorously modelled, dramatic, and sculptural, and make flamboyant or theatrical gestures. Among the extraordinary range of subjects were exotic birds, figures from distant lands, couples in romantic or chivalric poses (known as “crinoline” groups), and humorous depictions of court jesters. Some of the best-known and most popular figures by Kandler are the characters such as Harlequin, Columbine, and ScaramOLIche from the connniediar dell’arte, the Italian theatre tradition. Kandler also depicted street vendors in two series called the “Cris dc Paris” and the “Cris do Londres”, some of which were inspired by prints based on the drawings of the French artists Latrine BOLIcharclon and Christophe IT act. Sonic of these figures were produced in collaboration with other highly skilled modellers who joined the factory in the mid-18th century: Johann Friedrich Eberlein (169,5-1749), Friedrich Elias Meyer (1723-85), and Peter Reinicke (1715-68).
In the mid-18th century the fashion for the Baroque style declined, to be replaced by the delicate, lighthearted Rococo style. Figures of lovers in idyllic pastoral settings, as well as allegorical and mythological figures representing the seasons, the months, and Classical gods and goddesses, were made in keeping with the new, more romantic, frivolous style. From c.1750 to 1755 the factory made smaller-scale figures, which were painted with such pastel colours as pale mauve, lemon yellow, and soft green. The simple, flower-encrusted pad or rockivork bases that had been employed during the 1730s and 1740s were abandoned in the 1750s in favour of more elaborately scrolled bases.
Africa and Asia by Meyer Allegorical figures and groups representing the seasons and the continents were particularly popular during the Rococo period In this group, Africa is represented by a black putts, wearing an elephant-shaped head-dress and seated on a lion, while Asia is depicted as a white putts, wearing a jewelled necklace - two contrasting depictions that are very much a European fantasy of the inhabitants of these two continents The highly scrolled base and somewhat elongated heads are typical features of Meyer’s work and of mid-18thcentury Meissen figures. Although Meyer’s figures are of very high quality, they are riot as collectable as those by Kandler.
TABLEWARES AND SERVICES
In addition to figures, Kandler and his team of designers and modellers created an extensive range of dinner services, tea and coffee services, centrepieces, candlesticks, ladies’ toilet sets, and other useful and decorative wares. By the 1730s Meissen porcelain had become extremely fashionable throughout Europe, and the factory received many commissions.
The commission for Meissen’s largest, most famous, and beautifully modelled service, known as the “Swan” service, came in 1736 from the factory’s director, Count Heinrich von Bruhl, who had recently married. Each plate, painted with the coat of arms of the Count and his new, wife, is exquisitely modelled in low relief with a design of swans, herons, pelicans, and rushes, while the tureens are of sumptuous curving forms incorporating an elaborate design of dolphins, mermaids, and other marine creatures. The Count’s name, which translates as “swampy meadow” or “marshy ground”, may have inspired the theme.
The exquisite and imaginative decoration that the printer and chemist Johann Gregorius Horoldt (1696-1775) had brought to early Meissen wares continued during the 1730s. From 1729 Augustus the Strong commissioned the factory painters to make
copies of his collection of Oriental porcelain, and they adapted the decoration on Japanese Kakiemon wares and Chinese famille-verse wares to create a new style of decoration known as indianisa-bic Blumen
(”Indian flowers”), so called because much Oriental porcelain was exported into Europe by the Fist India Companies. In the early 1730s, land- and cityscapes framed with heavy gilt scrollwork
or interlaced strapwork borders were a popular alternative to dower decoration, but from c.1735 battle scenes and hunting subjects inspired by the French painter Antoine Watteau were favoured. V ith the development of the Rococo style the popularity of flower decoration increased, and European flowers were used fit painted designs.
The painter Johann Gottlieb Klinger (active 1731-46) was the best-known exponent of this style. At first petals, leaves, and stems were very precisely depicted, as the painters followed botanical prints; the design was enlivened with scattered insects and butterflies. The relaxed attitude of the Rococo led to the use of more naturalistic sprays or bouquets in a style known as deutsche Blumen (”German flowers”). By the mid-1750s this style had been replaced by looser representations of scattered flowers, described as NFiretacriblumen (”mannered flowers”).
Academic and Marcolini
After the end of the Seven Years War (1756-63) there was a period of decline at the Meissen factory, due to the deprivations of the war and the loss of several important painters and modellers. Meissen’s share of the burgeoning European porcelain market was further reduced as Austria and Prussia banned Meissen imports, and Britain, France, and Russia placed high tariffs on imported Meissen pieces in order to protect domestic production. Meissen lost its place as the dominant force of innovation, originality, and quality to other factories such as those in Berlin, Vienna, and Sevres, which it often now attempted to imitate.
THE DOT/ACADEMIC PERIOD
The period 1763 to 1774 is generally known as the “Dot” period, because the mark used at this time consisted of the familiar crossed swords with a dot added between their hilts, or the “Academic” period, because much of the factory’s output lacked originality. The factory continued to manufacture figures and wares in the mid-18th-century style hat, in a poorer-quality paste, these did not match the standard of earlier pieces. There were few innovations in the design and decoration of tableware in this period, with flowers the most popular painted subject. A debased form of deutsche Blumen (”German flowers”), these bouquets can be distinguished from earlier Meis-cnn painting by the often “painterly” style, the pale palette with a predominance of pink tones, and the smaller-scale and often scattered flowers, following the style of Sevres.
Figures were often reproduced from moulds dating from the 1730s but lack the bolder, lively decoration of the originals; the palette is sometimes pale and lacklustre, and intricate, fussy patterns
often appear. The Neo-classical style, characterized by simple, geometrical forms and the use of Greek and Roman architectural ornament, was introduced to Meissen by the French sculptor Michel-Victor Acier (1736-99), appointed to work as chief modeller with Kindler. Acier produced small-scale, sentimental figure groups characterized by stiffer modelling in line with file restrained character of the Neo-classical style.
THE MARCOLINI PERIOD
In 1774 Count Camillo Marcolini (1739-1814) was appointed director of Meissen; under his leadership Neoclassicism was more wholeheartedly adopted and the quality greatly improved. Biscuit porcelain was favoured for allegorical or Classical figures, because it resembled the marble used for ancient Classical sculpture. In the I 790s the modeller Johann Carl Schonheit (1767-1805) made figures in the Sevres style after such sculptors as Etienne Falconer.
The Neo-classical taste is also reflected in the forms and decoration of the tableware. Cylindrical coffee-cups with angular handles and covers seem to have been used for display and presentation rather than for drinking. Marcolini also introduced a wider range of very fine decoration that included mythological and pastoral scenes, portraits and landscapes, and, later, portrait medallions, topographical landscapes, and details of paintings. Flower-painting also continued during this period. The bouquets were often large and dense and somewhat stiffly painted, with fewer scattered flowers than in the designs of the 1760s.

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