BOW INKSTAND (DIAMETER 4 IN.).

“Made at New Canton, 1751.”

At the Victoria and Albert Museum.

III

THE BOW CHINA FACTORY

In this “Chat” we shall treat of the wonderful porcelain made at Bow, or “New Canton,” as the makers called their factory on the banks of the Lea. It was established about 1730, and it ceased about 1776. That is to say, it commenced with the reign of George II. and continued for a short time during the reign of George III. Pope was not dead, Fielding was writing his novels, Burke was electrifying the country with his genius, the great Doctor Johnson was in the midst of his Dictionary, David Garrick was holding the town in a spell by his art, and Sir Joshua Reynolds was, with his brush, perpetuating the beauties of his day, while Burns and Scott, Wordsworth and Coleridge, and Byron, Thackeray, and Dickens were then in the unborn future.