Posts Tagged ‘early colonists’

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.

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