SPODE DISH.
Transfer-printed in deep blue under-glaze.
DISH WITH LANDSCAPE SUBJECT IN STYLE OF CLAUDE.
Transfer-printed in deep blue under-glaze.
(In the possession of Mr. S. G. Fenton.)
At a time when the school of landscape engravers dearly loved a classic ruin or the broken arch of a temple in the composition of the scene, it is only natural to find this class of subject on the printed ware. We illustrate a typical under-glaze blue-printed dish with fine contrasts showing very accurately what excellent decoration was employed in this engraved work. The school of Claude landscapes found its votaries, and some strong engraving by Brookes and others was done for this old blue earthenware. It is pictorial, and betrays an attempt to break new ground and get away from the conventions of Oriental design, but the border in the dish we illustrate ([p. 345]) shows the strong Japanese spirit which had inspired Spode, and this touch of incongruity makes it more than probable that this dish is of Spode origin.
There are many other phases of printed ware that can only be alluded to in passing. The transfer printing in outline, the colour being added by hand, was the beginning of the establishment of all the modern methods for china and earthenware as commonly in use. Something, too, should be said of "bat" printing. This was the use of a block of glue instead of transfer-paper to receive the inked impression from the copper plate and transfer it to the body of the earthenware. William Adams, of Cobridge, in 1775 first introduced "bat" printing into Staffordshire. Of the various types of engraving, such as line, and stipple, and aquatint, and, later, lithography, there is no space to deal. But enough has been said in connection with the various types of printed ware to show that when pursued in a special manner it may be found to be of exceptional interest to the collector.
MARKS.
Transfer-printed Earthenware.
Many printed examples are unmarked, both of the early transfer-printing in black over the glaze, and of the latter under-glaze blue-printed ware, but over a wide period the following names are found as marks upon various transfer-printed specimens.