Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
19th Century Victorian English Busts and Statues
Parian, or “statuary porcelain”, was possibly the most significant ceramics development in Britain during the Victorian period. Named after the Greek island of Paros for its resemblance to the white marble quarried there, parian was a bone china that contained a high degree of feldspar, which meant that it did not need a separate glaze. Decorative wares could therefore be displayed without becoming dirty, unlike earlier biscuit, or unglazed, white porcelain, which was coarse and difficult to clean. First made in the 1840s, parian was capable of being moulded without losing any detail, with the result that contemporary sculptors could have their works successfully reproduced for the mass market. Parian was also made in the USA at the United States Pottery in Bennington, Vermont.
IMPORTANT MAKERS
There remains Uncertainty as to which factory invented parian. The firms of Minton & Co. (est. 1793) and Copeland (1833-1933), both in Stoke-on-Trent, claimed to have discovered the secret; both were making parianlike porcelain by the mid-1840x, and at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London they displayed an extensive range of parian subjects. Other famous makers included Royal Worcester (est. 1862), Coalport (est. c.1796), and Wedgwood (est. 1759), all of whom made a range of wares, figures, and busts, while Wedgwood also made impressive, large figure groups. Smaller portrait busts were the speciality of Robinson & Leadbeater (est. early 1860s), in Hanley, and others were made by the firm of Goss ( 1858-1940), in Stoke-on-Trent. Parian dominated English porcelain production for display objects for about 40 years, and a great deal survives.
PORCELAIN BUSTS AND STATUES
Models for parian were provided by eminent Victorian sculptors, whose full-sized statues could be reduced in size and reproduced in quantity for commercial sale without losing quality. The work of contemporary sculptors such as John Bell (1812-95), Raphaelle Monti (1818-81), and Sir Thomas Brock (1847-1922), together with famous Classical statues housed in museums, could be reproduced and sold to a wide public. A device known as “Cheverton’s
Reducing Machine”, patented by Benjamin Cheverton in 1844, was developed to allow subjects to be scaled down and cast in moulds for the ceramics factories. Busts were made of various subjects, including royalty, politicians, philanthropists, poets, composers, and
characters from antiquity. Figures ranged from meaningful allegories to barely disguised eroticism; for example, The Greek Slave, a controversial sculpture by the American sculptor Hiram Powers (1805-73), was displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and copied by Minton & Co. Many parian figures were made either for the Art Union of London or for the Ceramic and Crystal Palace Art Union, which were lotteries set up by philanthropic Victorians to raise funds for the arts; parian works were frequently offered as prizes. The manufacture of artistic parian gradually diminished in favour of the large-scale mass production of portrait busts, and little of any consequence was nude after c.1880.
• BODY fine, highly vitrified, generally pure white
• FINISH matt, semi-matt, or with a slight surface sheen
• PRODUCTION usually slip-cast, therefore quite light
• FORMS sentimental figures; figures Of politicians, royalty, and composers; literary, religious, and allegorical subjects; copies of famous Classical statues housed in museums; works by Victorian sculptors
• IMPORTANT MANUFACTURERS Minton & CO.,
Copeland, and Robinson & Leadbeater
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Wednesday, May 13th, 2009
Derby
Derby already had a long tradition of pottery manufacture by the time that porcelain was made there c.1748 by Andrew Planche, a French chemist
who had learned the art of making porcelain at factories in continental Europe. Early Derby production was very much aimed at the London market and imitated the white Rococo porcelain made at Chelsea.
EARLY DERBY WARES
The forms of the rare porcelain made during the Planche period are, like Chelsea’s, influenced by English silver. Chinoiserie figure groups, unique to Derby, are seen at their best when left undecorated. Derby’s
slightly creamy, glass-like glaze dribbled freely during the firing. To prevent adhesion to the kiln shelves, the glaze was initially wiped away from around the bases of figures and cream-jugs, giving
an appearance known as “dry-edge”. During Derby’s “transitional” phase (c.1755-6) the glaze, over a chalky paste, became whiter, and was lightly decorated in distinctive, rather delicate enamels, which have earned figure groups of this period the title “Pale Family”.
In 1756 William Duesbury (1725-86) and his partner John Heath bought the factory. From this time the influence of the German factory of Meissen became more apparent. Wares made under Duesbury’s direction are very similar to some made at Longton Hall and were likewise aimed at the London market. Tureens and leaf-shaped dishes were made, alongside some teawares and baskets. Derby developed distinctive styles of bird- and flower-painting that are conventionally associated with artists known respectively as the “moth painter” and “cotton-stalk painter”; in fact such decoration was applied by a number of painters at the factory.
Derby’s porcelain body meant that its teawares were prone to cracking during use, and examples are rare.
Instead, Derby became England’s foremost figure manufacturer. Influenced by Meissen, Derby figures of the 1750s and 1760s are very Rococo in style, standing on wide, scrolled bases, often backed with intricate bocage. To prevent kiln adhesion during firing, the unglazed bases of the figures were supported on raised clay pads that left distinctive “patch marks”.
THE CHELSEA-DERBY PERIOD
In 1770 Duesbury bought the ailing Chelsea factory and ran it until 1784 in conjunction with the Derby works. Following Chelsea’s adoption of the Derby porcelain formula, production at the factory improved, and new styles of decoration were developed, greatly influenced by the Neo-classical style fashionable in London. Figures continued to form the greater part of Derby’s output, but modellers engaged from Europe introduced new subjects and vastly improved the quality. They also developed biscuit figures into a distinctive Derby speciality. The fine detail of the modelling was displayed to full effect on white Derby biscuit figures and groups.
• BODY early Derby paste is chalky white
• GLAZE creamy white; c.1750-56 Derby porcelain is known as “dry-edge” because the edges of the bases were wiped free of glaze before firing
• FORMS tureens, leaf shapes, baskets; teawares are rare
• DECORATION birds, flowers; c.1756-65 sprays of flowers with very fine stems were painted, formerly attributed to the “cotton-stalk painter”
• FIGURES unglazed biscuit was used from 1770s; the styles are Rococo, including scrolled bases and bocage; “patch marks” were left by firing supports
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