The Worcester works have, at one time or other, been favoured more than most English establishments with orders from royalty. Of these I give five examples of plates, to show the beauty and intricacy of their designs. Fig. [569] is a part of a service made for the Queen; Fig. [573], from the service made for Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, in 1789; 572, for the Princess Charlotte on her marriage; 571 for his Majesty King William IV.; and 570, for the Duke of Cumberland in 1806.
Fig. 574.
A curious feature in connection with these works, and one which I am only aware has been followed by one other English china manufactory (that of Pinxton), was the issuing of porcelain tokens—that is, china money—for the convenience of the masters and workmen at the factory. They are, it will be seen, in the form of a promissory note. They bear the “promise” on the obverse, and on the reverse the letters W P C (Worcester Porcelain Company), and were issued for various amounts.
Fig. 575.
Examples of some of the more recent productions of the Royal Worcester Porcelain Company (as shown at the French Exhibition of 1868) are shown on our cuts, Figs. [560 to 565].
Royal China Works.—The porcelain works of Messrs. Grainger and Co. are situated in St. Martin’s Street, with show-rooms in the Foregate. They were established in 1800, as I have before stated, by Mr. Thomas Grainger, nephew to Mr. Chamberlain, to whom he served an apprenticeship as a painter; the latter part of his apprenticeship being devoted to taking a share in the general management of the works. When out of his time, Mr. Grainger started a manufactory on his own account, and took into partnership a Mr. Wood, a painter of considerable skill and eminence, whose productions on the early porcelain made by them are characterized by a peculiar mellowness of shade, and who excelled in “mezzo-tint drawing;” and the works were carried on for some time under the firm of “Grainger and Wood.”
