A remarkable bowl, apparently from a mould cast from a silver original, is of the date of the commencement of these works. It is in possession of Mrs. Barr, and bears beneath it the date
Mr. Binns also possesses specimens which may be attributed to about the same period.
In 1756, the truly important invention of printing on china, i.e. transferring printed impressions from engraved copper-plates on to the china body, is said to have been made in Worcester. At all events, it is an undoubted fact that, in 1757, the art in Worcester had arrived at a wondrous state of perfection; and it is but fair, therefore, to say that the belief in its being practised in the previous year is well founded. To have arrived at the state of perfection which is exhibited in the example to which I am alluding (a mug bearing the head of the King of Prussia, and dated 1757), must at least have been the work of months, if not of years. The invention of transfer printing is claimed, and very plausibly, for Liverpool, and is said to have been made by Mr. John Sadler, who drew up papers, and procured affidavits, for obtaining a patent, in August, 1756; on the 27th of July in that year he and his partner, Guy Green, were sworn to have printed more than twelve hundred earthenware tiles in six hours. Whether the Worcester idea was taken from Liverpool, or whether both were taken from Battersea, or whether, as is not unfrequently the case, the invention originated in two minds about the same time, without one being at all connected with the other, it is not for me now to determine. It is enough for my present purpose to say that highly finished printed goods were made at Worcester in 1757, and the dated example now in existence clearly establishes the fact that it was a work of some forethought and care. On this mug the following poem appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine for December, 1757:—
Fig. 514.
POEM
ON SEEING AN ARM’D BUST OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA CURIOUSLY IMPRINTED ON A PORCELAIN CUP OF THE WORCESTER MANUFACTURE, WITH THE EMBLEMS OF HIS VICTORIES. INSCRIBED TO MR. JOSIAH HOLDSHIP.
Here, taught by thee, we view with raptured eyes,
Graceful and bold, the Prussian hero rise—