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HB900125 – Lion mask book cases and bases – 8384b copy
HB900125 – Lion mask book cases and bases – 8384b copyHB900125 – Lion mask book cases – 8433 D1HB900125 – Lion mask book cases and bases – 8430HB900125 – Lion mask book cases – 8433 D3HB900125 – Lion mask book cases and bases – 8433HB900125 – Lion mask book cases – 8433 D2

A Collection of Twenty Seven Early 19th Century Blue and White Plates

A Collection of Twenty Seven early 19th Century Blue and White Plates comprising 13 Dinner Plates, 9 Soup Plates, 2 Twifflers and 3 Small Plates. Factories represented include Spode, Wedgwood, Rogers, CJ Mason, Davenport & Riley. All in perfect condition. Detailed list available upon request.
To be sold as a collection or individually.

Transfer-Printed Wares in Underglaze Blue

A new technique can transform an industry. The discovery that prints could be transferred to pottery and porcelain certainly helped to transform the ceramic industry.

The process was first used in the 1750’s on wares that had already been glazed. In 1780 the first earthenware to be transfer-printed in blue and then glazed were made in Shropshire. At this point cobalt blue was the only colour that remained stable in the heat of the glost furnace.

They achieved enormous popularity immediately, and by the end of the 18th Century similar wares were being produced in Staffordshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire and South Wales.

1780 – 1800 The Chinoiserie Period

This was a period of recruitment and experiment for the potteries. One of main problems in these early years was the selection of a good design. Since most of the finest ceramics in use had for many years been imported from China, it is not surprising that Chinese wares were the main inspiration.

1800 – 1815 The First Transitional Period

In the early 19th Century, due to the invention of the Fourdrinier paper-making machine, a more suitable transfer paper became available so that the engravers could do finer work. This combined with stipple meant it was possible to introduce more light and shade and print scenes with clouds in the sky.

European features started to appear: a Palladian arch would appear on a Chinese pagoda, hills were inserted behind a Chinese scene and flowers began to feature in borders.

Chinoiserie designs became more and more standardised and the well-known Willow pattern emerged, a design which has been produced by British potters ever since.

The search for more interesting decoration had begun. Designs began to be based not solely on the Chinese but on topographical engravings in books on India, the Ottoman Empire and Italy.

Many of the wares had borders of garden flowers, echoing contemporary designs on fabrics and wallpapers.

1815 – 1835 The Vintage Years

A vast export trade opened up and flourished after the Napoleonic Wars, and many shiploads of blue and white plates were sent to North American ports including Montreal, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and New Orleans. Blue and white printed wares were also sent to Europe and even India and other Eastern countries.

A flood of illustrated topographical books were published which also fed the hunger for numerous and various scenes.

Most of this Collection belong to this period. These were the ‘Golden Years’ of this genre, and the wares are of superb quality, fine products of co-operative craftsmanship and practical skill.

1835 – 1845 The Second Transitional Period

By 1835 potting techniques had advanced considerably. However dinner services last for some years and the middle class market was beginning to reach saturation point and services had to be produced more cheaply to come within reach of the farm labourer and the mill worker.

Quality and this trade started to decline in the 1830s as the wares went out of fashion in North America with the production of new types of earthenware and the expansion of American potteries

The Copyright Act of 1842 dealt a serious blow to the makers of printed wares. This provided for the registration of original designs to protect them from piracy for a period of three years with an option of renewal. This prevented the potters from copying engravings from books, previously a major source of inspiration, and they were forced to look elsewhere for patterns. The result was a shift in emphasis to rather dreary formulaic romantic scenes. The second half of the nineteenth century was to see the final decline of blue printed pottery

Item code: HL7568

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