How to identify old Earthenware.—The following Table roughly summarises the field under which English earthenware may be classified. It is the hope of the writer that possessors of earthenware which they are unable to identify will, by the help of this Table, be able to place their pieces under the sub-head to which they belong. The references given to the chapters dealing with the classes in detail are intended to point the way to a more extended examination of specimens.

A good general rule for beginners in attempting the proper identification is to commence by eliminating all the classes of ware to which the piece obviously cannot belong. Gradually the field becomes limited to one period, and finally it is narrowed to two or three factories. But it is only by practice that definite and accurate conclusions can be arrived at.

TABLE FOR USE IN IDENTIFYING OLD ENGLISH EARTHENWARE.
I.EARLY POTTERY.
Mediæval.		Early examples of green glazed pitchers and jugs of crude form, 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries.
Domestic Vessels.Costrels (i.e., pilgrims' bottles), flasks with holes at shoulders for use of cord in carrying.
Ecclesiastical Tiles
(15th-16th centuries).		 Ecclesiastical tiles. Incised or impressed patterns, raised, inlaid, or with slip decoration.
Floral, geometrical, heraldic ornamentation. Figures of men and of animals (see illustration, [p. 85]).
Slip Ware.
(17th century.)		Loving-cups, or tygs, with several handles, posset pots with spouts. Lead-glazed, greenish in colour, with tones varying from purplish-brown to black (see illustration, [p. 89]).
Wrotham Ware
(1612–1717).		Wrotham, in Kent, the seat of this ware of red body with slip stamped decorations or incised ornamentation. A great number of pieces of this class bear dates covering a century.
Toft Ware
(Latter half of 17th century).		Dishes and posset pots of Staffordshire origin, Thomas Toft, 1660, Ralph Toft, Ralph Turnor, William Chatterly, Robert Shaw, William Tabor, John Wright, Joseph Nash, John Meir and other names appear on this ware, some being those of the potters, and others the owner's name.
(These varieties of Early Pottery are described in Chapter II.)
II.DELFT WARE. General Characteristics of Delft Ware. In appearance it cannot be mistaken for any other ware. It has a brown or grey body, showing at crumbled edges where the glaze is chipped off. The surface is white, and the painting upon it is more coarse than Dutch examples. English decorations are mostly painted under glaze in blue, yellow, or dull purple.
Lambeth.
Early examples, 1630.
Van Hamme, potter of Lambeth, 1671.		 Dishes, plates, salt-cellars, puzzle-jugs, sack bottles, pharmacy jars and candlesticks are most ordinarily found. The enamelled surface of Lambeth delft has a pinkish tint. Plates with portraits and dates (1637–1702), Adam and Eve dishes, of large size, painted in blue with this and other Biblical subjects, "The Journey to Emmaus," "Jacob's Ladder," or with Oriental designs. Earlier specimens have a purplish or dull yellow lead glaze at back of dish.
Bristol. Election and other plates dated 1740–1784. Painted tiles and plates with landscape subjects—Chinese figures, parrots. Bianco sopra bianco white enamel on greenish ground. Bowls with purple ground and white reserved panels with blue decoration.
Liverpool.
 Early in 18th century, the principal trade of the city. Prior to 1762 all Liverpool delft, including tiles, was printed. Delft dishes decorated in Chinese style. Bowls with ships as decoration. Druggists' jars. Transfer-printed tiles by Sadler & Green, or later by Zachariah Barnes.
Wincanton. Similar to Bristol in character. Up to the present very little is known of this factory. (See illustration, [p. 127].)
(These varieties of Delft Ware are dealt with in detail in Chapter III.)
III.STONEWARE.
Early Bellarmine Jugs.		 Mottled red-brown colour, mostly salt glazed, pitted surface like orange skin. Having dates and coats-of-arms in foreign examples; coarser style probably English.
Fulham.
John Dwight
(1671–1703).		 White busts and figures. Red, unglazed ware. Brown jugs and mugs. Marbling on vases and bases, and stamped ornaments in relief on teapots.
Staffordshire.
Elers Ware.
John Philip Elers,
David Elers
(1690–1710).		 A generic name for all unidentified red (unglazed) ware. Teapots, &c., with stamped ornament similar to Dwight. Prunus blossom and Chinese ornament, in relief. Turned on lathe and perfectly finished. Spouts plain, moulded by hand.
John Astbury
(died 1743).		Red, buff, orange, and chocolate body. Similar ware to Elers, with the ornaments in relief in white pipe-clay. Made early salt-glaze crouch ware.
Thomas Astbury
(from 1725).		 Followed same style. Little to distinguish his work from that of his father.
Astbury is a generic term for all ware of this nature, with white stamped ornaments in relief. Many Staffordshire potters made this type of ware in latter half of eighteenth century, and it was imitated at Liverpool.
Nottingham.
Early 18th century		 As early as Dwight's day Morley made stoneware mugs, and Nottingham ware holds a high place. The jugs are sometimes with decorative pierced work, showing an inner shell which holds the liquid. The glaze is decidedly lustrous in appearance, and the colour of the body is a warm reddish brown. Discontinued at end of 18th century. Bear Jugs were a feature of this factory, and cruder examples were made at Chesterfield and Brampton.
(These varieties are described in detail in Chapter IV.)
Staffordshire
Salt Glaze
Astbury and Whieldonwere the pioneers ofthis finer stoneware.Most of the Staffordshirepotters from 1725–1780made salt-glaze ware.But this ware wassupplanted by Wedgwood'scream ware, which seizedthe market in the lastquarter of the 18thcentury.		 Finely potted thin stoneware, surface like skin of orange, almost as translucent as porcelain.
  • 1. Plain white or undecorated with raised stamped ornament.
  • 2. Plain white body with incised ornament filled in with blue.
  • 3. Enamelled in colours on a white body.
  • 4. Body colour blue (rare examples by William Littler), enamelled decorations in black, white, or gold.
  • 5. Pierced ware with decorations in colour, or undecorated.
  • 6. Ware decorated by transfer printing.
  • 7. Ware with raised ornament, touched with colour.
Some of this salt-glaze ware is in colour a slate grey. The sharpest cut designs and the highest type of the undecorated ware belong to the period from 1725–1740. The enamelling in colours was at its best from 1745–1760.
Salt-glaze ware, in imitation of the Staffordshire potters, was also made at Swansea and at Liverpool.
(These varieties are described in detail in Chapter VI.)
Fulham.
(Eighteenth century.)		Fulham has been the seat of the manufacture of stoneware since the days of Dwight.
Early 18th century. Blue and grey stoneware jugs and mugs, with initials of Queen Anne or those of George I., often dated.
Late 18th century.The following are typical—brown stoneware jugs and mugs with bacchanalian subjects, or sporting scenes, in relief, inkstands, brandy flasks of grotesque shape.
In 19th century days "Doulton & Watts, Lambeth Pottery," is impressed on similar examples, and in middle 19th century days, under the guidance of Sir Henry Doulton, a revival of artistic stoneware took place, which traditions Messrs. Doulton carry on at the present day.
IV. VARIEGATED WARE.
Usually known under the generic term of Whieldon ware.		 Marbled or agate wares (1740–1756), Dwight (of Fulham), John Astbury. The earlier surface marbling or combing supplanted by "solid agate" ware—a blending of layers of different coloured clays. Early tortoiseshell plates made by Whieldon. Tortoiseshell and mottled ware also made by Philip Christian at Liverpool, at Leeds, and at Castleford.
Wedgwood.—Later developments of this ware—vases and important classic pieces in imitation of coloured marbles.
The imitators of Wedgwood.—Palmer, Neale, and others made this marbled ware. Neale employed with great success sprinkled marbling, touched with gold, on a cream body.
Both Wedgwood and his successors made "solid agate" and also surface-decorated ware of cream body.
(This ware is described in Chapter V. (Whieldon),and in Chapters VII. and VIII. in regard to Wedgwood and later developments.)
V. CREAM WARE.
By far the largest variety of English earthenware. Madeby all potters. The standard type of all subsequent domestic ware.		Experimental Stage.—Astbury (1725), Whieldon (from 1740), Warburton (Hot Lane), Baddeleys (Shelton).
Queen's Ware perfected by Wedgwood (1765). Wedgwood, Turner, Warburton, (Leeds) Messrs. Hartley, Greens & Co., Liverpool, Swansea, Derby.
In colour creamy or yellowish white. In weight light.
Plain or undecorated. Many of Wedgwood's finest cream ware pieces are undecorated, and Leeds, at first largely imitative, developed a fine quality in design and potting, especially in designs after silversmiths' models.
Decorated by painting. At first painting was sparely used. The style of enamelling used on salt-glaze ware was modified to suit the new cream ware. Later the colours began to emulate those of porcelain. Spode, in particular, copied the latter in earthenware, and cream warebecame richly painted and gilded.
Transfer-printed. As the invention of transfer-printing and the perfection of cream ware by Wedgwood were contemporaneous, the Liverpool printers decorated all the early cream ware. But cream ware was subsequently made as well as printed at Liverpool, and printed as well as made in Staffordshire and elsewhere.
Early Cream Ware. Wedgwood. Enormous variety of domestic ware, plain or undecorated, as in perforated or basket patterns, fruit dishes, &c., painted in simple border designs, and transfer-printed in red, black, or puce, at Liverpool, for Wedgwood.
Warburton, William Adams, John Turner, Spode, and many others made similar cream ware.
Leeds.—Great variety of dishes, fruit baskets, centre-pieces, &c., made of undecorated cream ware. In addition painted and transfer printed decorations were also employed.
Transfer-printing
in blue.
In imitation of Chinese styles, and in competition with the porcelain of Worcester,Bow, Plymouth, &c.		 Liverpool made cream ware punch bowls finely decorated in blue.
Caughley produced for a few years earthenware of cream body decorated, in characteristic style, by Thomas Turner, who introduced the willow pattern in 1780, which appears together with similar Chinese subjects in his early Salopian porcelain.
Staffordshire.
(See [Chapter X].)		 John Turner (of Lane End) first introduced under-glaze blue into Staffordshire.
Josiah Spode introduced "willow pattern"into Staffordshire, 1784. William Adams (of Greengates), 1787, fine under-glaze blue.
Thomas Minton, 1793, fine under-glaze blue. Apprenticed to Thomas Turner (of Caughley).
Adams, Warburton, Spode, and other Staffordshire potters engaged largely in this deep blue printed ware.
Swansea had a similar cream ware, which had painted designs or blue-printed in imitation of Chinese style, with pagodas, &c. (See illustration, [p. 405].)
VI. CLASSIC WARE.
Josiah Wedgwood
(born, 1730; died, 1795).
Thomas Bentley,in partnership with Wedgwood (1768–1780).		Wedgwood. Red ware in imitation of Elers ware, chocolate ware with black ornamentation in relief. White fine stoneware used as plinths of marble ware and agate vases; this was the experimental stage of Wedgwood's celebrated jasper ware. Black basalt, or Egyptian ware, fine unglazed stoneware, sometimes used for tea services, but mainly for busts, medallions, and vases. Jasper ware. Wedgwood's crowning invention. A fine, unglazed stoneware, white throughout. Produced either "solid" or "jasper dip," in blue (various tones), sage green, olive green, lilac, pink, yellow, and black. Used in classic vases, and on cameos, plaques, &c., with a ground of one of these colours and relief ornament in white.
(See [Chapter VII].)
William Adams (or Tunstall), pupil of Wedgwood (1787–1805).
Benjamin Adams (1805–1820).
John Turner (of Lane End) (1762–1786).
{ H. Palmer
{ (of Hanley),
{ from 1769.
{ Neale (1776–1778)
{ R. Wilson (1778)
{ Neale & Co.
{(1778–1787).
Jacob Warburton (of Cobridge) (1786–1826).		Contemporaries of Wedgwood. Adams, Turner, Palmer, Neale and Mayer, all made ware of asimilar nature to above; all of fine quality.
John Turner's "jasper" was really a semi-porcelain.
Other potters whose stoneware in jugs and Pottery vases, &c., carried on the traditions of continued by sons. Wedgwood (though in the second flight), were Birch, Keeling, Clews, Hollins, Steel, Myatt, and many others, whose names are found impressed on ware, betraying the influence of Wedgwood.
(See [Chapter VIII]. for detailed list.)
The Castleford Pottery, near Leeds (1790–1820), David Dunderdale (D. D. & Co.) made black basalt ware in similar style.
(See [Chapter IX.] for details.)
At Swansea (1790–1817) basalt figures of fine style were made. Etruscan Ware (Dillwyn & Co.), 1845.
(See [Chapter XII.] for marks.)
VII. FIGURES.
(Mainly Staffordshire.) 		The body of Staffordshire figures by Ralph Wood, Neale and Palmer, Walton, Enoch Wood, Salt, and other potters, is of cream ware.
Leeds figures are similar, and are of the same body as the dessert centre-pieces and other cream ware.
Most of the Staffordshire figures are unmarked, but they can be identified as belonging to one of the following schools, by comparison with similar marked examples.
Salt-glazed Figures. A class by themselves. Mainly small in size, and no marked specimen is known. Bears, cats, birds, and miniature figures of men, chief designs, and the kneeling camel modelled asteapot.
Whieldon School.
(1740–1780.)		 Artistic blending of colourings and glazings. Animals, birds, sometimes classic figures, e.g., Diana, Venus, and Madonna and Child. Miniature musicians, and satyr head moulded in form of cup. Early form of Toby jug. (See illustration, [p. 179].)
Ralph Wood School.
Ralph Wood (died 1772).
Ralph Wood, jun. (born, 1748; died, 1795).		 This represents the high-water mark of Staffordshire figures. Vicar and Moses group, Toby Jug, St. George and Dragon, Haymakers, Charity, Neptune, Summer, Old Age, &c., all remarkable for fine modelling and delicate colouring.
Wedgwood School.
Josiah Wedgwood.
{ Neale and Palmer.
{ Wilson.
{ Neale & Co.
Voyez, as a modeller,employed at Etruria, andby Neale and Palmer.
Lakin and Poole.		 Many large figures, such as Ceres, Diana, Juno, Prudence, Fortitude, Charity, Venus and Cupid, &c., in cream ware delicately coloured.
Other subjects of less classic taste were produced at Etruria, e.g., Sailor with Cutlass, Girl playing Mandoline, Sailor's Farewell and Return (a pair), The Lost Piece (after the Ralph Wood model), and Elijah and the Widow, a popular scriptural subject (a pair). Fair Hebe group modelled as a jug.
Wood and Caldwell School.
Enoch Wood (1783–1840).
Wood and Caldwell (1790–1818).
Enoch Wood and Sons (1818–1866).		Eloquence (or St. Paul preaching atAthens), Descent from the Cross, and other fine pieces display the powers of Enoch Wood at his best as a fine modeller.
Other figures, some marked, are St. Sebastian, Britannia, Quin as Falstaff, Antony and Cleopatra, reclining figures (pair), Fire, Earth, Air, Water (set of four), Diana (similar to Wedgwood); group,The Tithe Pig (parson, farmer, and his wife and baby and pigs), with tree and foliage as background; Leda and Swan, Jolly Traveller (man, dog, and donkey), Hurdy-Gurdy Player, Sportsman and Dog, Old Age (pair), Lovers on garden bench, tree background, Tailor and his Wife, riding on goats (after the Dresden model). Busts were also a noteworthy production of this School. Wesley, Whitfield, Wellington, Emperor of Russia, Napoleon, Miss Lydia Foote, and several marked silver lustre busts and figures, e.g., Mater Dolorosa, Boys Reading, &c. The Vicar and Moses group and other earlier models were duplicated by this school, and many Toby Jugs were produced of bright colouring.
Walton School.
John Walton (of Burslem) (1790–1839).		Continuing the traditions of the Wood School, Walton and others produced a great number of Toby Jugs, following the Ralph Wood model, but growing more debased in form and colouring. Girl with lamb, Boy with dog, and simple figures largely made for popular markets.
Ralph Salt School.
Ralph Salt (of Hanley) (1812–1840).		 Great fondness shown for village groups, with figures with tree background (imitation of Chelsea style). In character the work of this School differs little from that of Walton.
(See [Chapter XI.] for detailed description.)
Leeds School.
(1760–1825.)		 Some of the Leeds figures are marked, e.g., Venus, delicately coloured, slight oil gilding. Busts were made such as Wesley,and Rhytons, or drinking cups, in form of fox's head. Rustic figures of Children, and other miscellaneous subjects. Lion couchant, Snuff bottle in shape of Lady's head.
Liverpool School.
Herculaneum (1794–1841.)		 Largely imitative of Staffordshire figures. Some excellent busts and figures were produced. Busts of Wesley, Admiral Duncan, and Mask Cup moulded with portrait of Admiral Rodney. Toby Jug, man standing upright holding jug of ale. Lady with bulldog at her feet.
Salopian.
Thomas Turner(of Caughley), about 1774.		 Earthenware figures of fine modelling are attached to Caughley, but are unmarked. Prudence and Fortitude (large size), Antony and Cleopatra (recumbent), Ceres and Apollo, and others.
A figure of Jacobin Pigeon sitting on nest in shape of sauceboat has the impressed mark S.
Swansea. Cows and other small figures were typical of Swansea, but a recumbent figure of Antony is marked "G. Bentley, Swansea, 22 May, 1791."
Sunderland School.Figures of Seasons, set of four female figures marked "Dixon, Austin & Co." Shepherds and Shepherdesses and Bull Baiting groups were also made here. The potting and colouring are crude, and the figures are of no artistic interest.
VIII.LUSTRE WARE.Early Copper Lustre. Richard Frank at Brislington, near Bristol, crudely decorated in simple ornament.
Gold Lustre. Gold-purple or pink in colour. Wedgwood used this lustre in mottled and veined ware with rich effect.
As an adjunct to other decoration this lustre has been widely used, crudely as at Sunderland, and with fine effect by Spode and other Staffordshire potters. Swansea employed it with great artistic skill.
Silver Lustre. Plain. Late 18th century. Thomas Wedgwood, E. Mayer, Spode, and others in imitation of silver designs.
Decorated. 1. Silver lustre decorations painted on other coloured grounds in combination with subjects in colours, birds, foliage, &c.
2. Silver lustre as a background with white, blue, or canary-coloured design. This unlustred ground, used as a pattern, is known as the "resist" style, and some of the most artistic effects are found in this, and in combination with painting in colours.
Copper Lustre. Plain. Early 19th century. Early and best style thin and well potted.
Decorated. Red or blue or green in embossed floral design in combination with copper lustre frequently found.
(For details of makers and marks see [Chapter XIII.])
IX.NINETEENTH CENTURY
DEVELOPMENTS.
Spode's Felspar China, 1805.
Spode's Stone China.
Haynes' Opaque China (Swansea), invented end of 18th century.
Mason's Patent Ironstone China, 1813
Riley's Semi-China.
Minton's Stone China.
Meigh's Stone China.		 Early Experiments.
Wedgwood's semi-porcelain, used at first for the plinths of his variegated vases. His Pearl Ware.
Nineteenth Century.
Josiah Spode the Second in 1805 introduced an opaque porcelain ofironstone body, which he termed Felspar China, Stone China, and on some of his marks, New Fayence.
Spode's new ware received rich decorations in colour, in imitation of Derby and other porcelains.
Haynes, of the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea, invented a similar opaque china at the end of the 18th century.
At the Cambrian Pottery in this new hard white earthenware, floral painting by trained artists was done in excellent style on enamelled grounds of chocolate.
Mason, with an earlier softer body, had followed the Japanese colours in his jugs, but when Charles James Mason, in 1813, patented his ironstone china, the jugs took a new form, becoming octagonal, and their corners were not easily broken as in the chalkier body.
Long dinner services of a great number of pieces were made in this ironstone china richly decorated.
Other Staffordshire makers made stone china, including Minton, Meigh, Riley, Clementson, Ridgway, Adams, Davenport, and many others.
By the time the middle of the century had been reached, English earthenware had cast off its own characteristics and become what so many people to-day believe it to be—a poor imitation of porcelain.
(For details and marks see [Chapter XIV.])

II
EARLY
WARE