PART IV.
Salopian Works, Caughley.
The Salopian Porcelain Works were founded by Thomas Turner, of Caughley Place, who had been employed in the Worcester factory, and becoming manager of the pottery works at Caughley, near Broseley, in 1772. To him are attributed the famous “willow pattern,” the “Nankin” and the “blue dragon,” and the production of the beautiful and distinguishing dark blue colour; Thomas Minton, of Stoke, assisted in the completion of the “Nankin,” being an articled engraver at Caughley. Of Turner the Messrs. John Rose bought the factory in 1799, and in 1814-15 it was broken up. This was a grievous loss, as the porcelain produced there was remarkable for the brilliancy of its glaze, the fineness of its substance, and the beauty of its blue colour. The name “Salopian” indicates its origin, but several other marks of very elaborate designs were employed, being a series of Arabic numerals, as here given, although some slight varieties are noticeable in the different illustrations published.
Coalport and Colebrook Dale.
John Rose, an apprentice of Thomas Turner, of Caughley, Salop, was also the founder of the Coalport and Colebrook Dale, Shropshire, manufactories, and after a time, having purchased the Caughley plant, he united the latter with Coalport, Swansea and Nantgarw factories; the paste of Coalport was a combination, and “felspar porcelain” was produced. Turner’s “willow” and “blue dragon” designs were again resuscitated to a great extent, and various sprig patterns, copied from Chelsea, Dresden and Sèvres porcelain, as well as bearing their marks. Besides these latter, the names and initial letters of the original factories are found on the early examples, and the more recent bear the marks next here following.
The letters “C. B. D.” in monogram, “C. D.” and “C. Dale” stand for Colebrook Dale, and the Coalport mark is simply its name in writing hand. There are other marks that cannot be omitted in the series, such as the name “Salopian” in capitals, in small roms.; the name “Turner” in capitals; the letter “S” in blue stands for “Salopian” (an early mark); the letters “So S” and “Sx.” Also, the crescent surmounting the name “Salopian,” the former in blue and the latter impressed only. One other mark may be named, a dot, and an “S” surmounting the crossed swords.
(The Staffordshire Works—Shelton New Hall.)
The porcelain manufacture was introduced into the Staffordshire potteries in 1777 on the purchase of Champion’s patent, obtained by him from Cookworthy, of Plymouth. The New Hall Works, Shelton, built by Whitehead, produced hard porcelain, much like that of Bristol. The blue tea-ware was in hard paste, with the “willow pattern,” and having Champion’s mark under the glaze, was made in this factory by Turner. Some seventeen or twenty celebrated manufacturers were connected with the Shelton China Works at the “New Hall.” One of these was the celebrated Josiah Spode, who in 1784 took the factory from Banks and Turner, and was in his turn succeeded by his son, J. Spode, junior. This latter introduced soft felspar and bones into the Staffordshire porcelain. Turner junior was followed by Copeland, and Garrett, Thomas Minton and his son, Herbert. Hard paste was introduced into the Staffordshire china by the latter. The second Josiah Spode was the most successful porcelain manufacturer of his time, and the new parish church at Stoke was mainly built and decorated by him. He contributed to it the best porcelain, jasper ware, patent stone pottery, and blue-painted ditto to beautify it.
Mr. William Copeland was his partner, and the exquisite Parian biscuit china or Parian Carrara was carried to the utmost perfection by him. The firm of Josiah Spode and William Copeland, and then Copeland and Garrett, is now known as “Copeland and Sons.”
The Spode china bore the maker’s name, painted or impressed, and surmounted by a crown and inscribed between the branches. Later on it bore “Copeland and Garrett,” or two C’s interlaced; also “Saxon Blue” and “New Blanche.”
The pâte sur pâte, or “slip painting,” was brought to great perfection by M. Solon, the principal artist employed by Messrs. Minton, as well as Mr. Toft.
Josiah Wedgwood’s nephew, Thomas Brierly, introduced the soft paste porcelain at Etruria in 1808; but it was not of long existence. The examples to be seen are decorated with landscapes, birds, and flowers, and are, for the most part, distinguished with the name “Wedgwood” coloured red.
The early marks on Minton’s porcelain are the following (the special mark of Solon Miles being the most ornate)—
Specimens of the earths, clay, stone, sand, etc., were placed in Josiah Wedgwood’s hands by a Mr. Bradley Blake, a resident at Canton, such as employed at Nankin for porcelain. And Wedgwood produced very excellent examples, but he never manufactured this china ware for commerce, although his nephew, Thomas Brierly, did, in 1808, at Etruria. For himself he was a potter, and it was for beautiful varieties of this ware that the famous Flaxman worked designs for him.
The names of Ridgway and Sons, and Heath, Warburton, Clowes, Hollins, and Daniel, are well known in connection with the New Hall China Works at Shelton. But during a course of many years and many successions of proprietorship, there is little space for lists of names in a brief article.
I may here observe that when the Derby works began to decline, after 1825, many highly efficient workmen joined the factory at Stoke-upon-Trent, founded by Turner and rendered illustrious by Spode. Thus the artistic work of the Staffordshire factory at Stoke was greatly improved.
Up to the year 1798 the Stoke manufactures were chiefly restricted to white ware decorated with blue, like ordinary Nankin. The factory was first established in 1790 by Thomas Minton, who had been an apprentice of Thomas Turner (of Caughley) as an engraver, and had then worked for Spode; and in 1788 he settled at Stoke.
The next year he took Joseph Poulson into partnership—the late manager for Spode—and from the year 1793 to 1800 he continued to be a joint manager and proprietor. He died in 1809, when Thomas Minton carried on the business alone. Mr. Minton’s second son, Herbert, succeeded him. John Boyle was his partner for some years, and was succeeded by Daintry Hollins and Mr. Colin Minton Campbell, his nephews. After his death they owned the business.
Steele, Bancroft and Handcock were Minton’s most distinguished painters, and John Simpson was his chief enamel painter of figures and of all the work of the highest class.
M. Solon-Milès, from Sèvres, began work for him in 1870; and to the latter we owe the application of engobe (white slip) on celadon grounds, toned chocolate, grey, and green, which is known as pâte sur pâte—originally a Chinese invention of some centuries old. Solon’s monogram, or “Solon” or “Miles” are sometimes found on his work. The other three given were Minton’s early marks. The ermine surmounting his name has been employed since the year 1851—painted in colours or in gold or else indented.
Some services were produced in Felspar china, decorated with oriental flowers and birds. They were distinguished by a scroll in violet, enclosing a number in red, and below this the mark, “M. & B. Felspar Porcelain.”
Nantgarw China.
The factory of Nantgarw was a small one, founded in 1813, by Billingsley & Walker, at some ten or a dozen miles from Cardiff. The former had been an apprentice to Duesbury, of Derby, and had had great experience, having been in partnership with Coke at Pinxton, then acting as manager at Mansfield, working afterwards at Torksey, Lincolnshire, then at Bristol, and serving under Flight & Barr at Worcester, prior to his founding the manufactory at Nantgarw. In 1820, eight years before the death of Billingsley, John Rose, of Coalport, purchased the plant, Billingsley and Walker going into his service. The marks on the Nantgarw porcelain were either in red or impressed, as illustrated. The paste employed was exceedingly soft and fine in texture; the vases, with beautiful handles and covers, the table services and plaques were painted with landscapes, birds, insects, and flowers. At one time Mortlock (of London) purchased Billingsley’s porcelain in white and decorated and fired it himself. The extreme softness and vitreous fracture of the paste identifies it as of Nantgarw when the mark is lacking. Two other marks of this factory may be given. The name is in capital letters, either painted in red, or more usually impressed, and the second is in red. Sometimes the letters “C.W.” are found impressed underneath the name of the factory, which is supposed to mean “China Works.” Billingsley is supposed to have produced an excellent dessert service painted in flowers which is now the property of Mr. Firbank, M.P.
The Rockingham Porcelain—Swinton, Yorks.
The Rockingham factory was originally established for earthenware; but Thomas Brameld introduced the manufacture of the finest description of porcelain in the year 1820 or 1823, collecting his materials from Cornwall, Dorset, Sussex, and Kent. His dessert, dinner, and breakfast sets, and his ornamental pieces and figures, all highly decorated, were of first-class excellence. The mark usually employed—adopted in 1828—was the Rockingham crest—a Griffin—the Swinton Works being on the estate of Charles, Marquis of Rockingham, together with an inscription giving the name of the factory, and of Brameld—himself a painter on porcelain. The mark was in red. In 1826 they became embarrassed, no expense having been spared on the manufacture of the finest work; but they were kept open through the assistance of Earl Fitzwilliam until 1842. In some examples of the Rockingham china (preserved in the Scheiber collection) the mark varies to “Royal Rock Works, Brameld,” and the words “Manufacturers to the King” below the crest; also the name “Brameld” is sometimes enclosed in an oval design. Some genuine Rockingham ware is unmarked; some have incised marks such as “No. 22,” and “No. 31,” also “Brameld,” giving the batons and dots in addition.
BRAMELD.
There is a splendid specimen of this china to be seen in the South Kensington Museum—a highly decorated vase standing four feet high, and fired in a single piece, also having three handles, representing gold oak-branches, and the whole standing on three lions’ paws, a rhinoceros surmounting the lid or cover. The painter, Isaac Baguley, took over some part of this factory, Speight, Cordon, and Lucas being amongst the chief painters employed.
Belleck White Porcelain.
The factory at Belleck, County Fermanagh, Ireland, was established by Messrs. Armstrong and McBirney in 1856-7, and the porcelain was produced from the Felspar clays on the estate of J. C. Bloomfield, Esq. The use of salts of bismuth, resin, and oil of lavender produced the lustrous glaze for which this ware is remarkable, and the colours obtained from metallic oxides. So unique is this porcelain that no mark is required to identify it; but there is one stencilled or painted upon it in brown, green, or red, and the design is a round tower, a harp, shamrock, and greyhound—the former three being characteristic emblems of the country—but I do not know the origin of the latter. Perhaps it is the crest of the Bloomfields of Fermanagh, on whose estate the felspar was found.
