on the back of plates, &c. The “Co.” in this instance was Mr. Thomas Courteney, the London agent, through whom the order was procured. His place of business was 34, Old Bond Street, and many of the goods afterwards made for him bore the accompanying mark, Fig. [91]. Messrs. Locker & Co., at the modern King Street works, used the mark, Fig. [92], and their successors, Stevenson, Sharp, and Co., the next one. The next firm, Stevenson and Hancock, used, in accordance with my suggestion, and a sketch I made for them, in 1862, the old Derby mark of the crown, crossed daggers, dots, and letter
, with the initials of the firm S. H. (for Stevenson and Hancock); this is still continued by the present sole proprietor, Sampson Hancock—the letters S. H. being, fortunately, his own initials.
Figs. 91 to 94.
Of the artists employed at the Derby China Works, the principal modellers appear to have been Spengler, Stephan, Coffee, Complin, Hartenberg, Duvivier, Webber, and Dear, and many others, including Bacon the sculptor, were employed in London, and the models sent down to the works.
Of the painters, the principal ones were Bowman, who was originally of Chelsea, afterwards of Derby, and then again of London, and who was one of the best flower and landscape painters of his day; Billingsley, who received instruction from Bowman, and whose flower pieces have certainly never been surpassed, or even equalled; Hill, a famous painter of landscapes, who delighted in sylvan scenery; Brewer, also an excellent landscape and figure painter, and whose wife, Bernice Brewer, was also a painter; Pegg, who surpassed in faithful copying of nature, in single branches and flowers, and in autumnal borders; Samuel Keys, a clever ornamentalist, who ended his days in the employ of Mintons; Steel, who excelled all others in painting fruit; John Keys, a flower painter; Cotton and Askew, two highly-gifted painters of figures; Webster, Withers, Hancock (two, uncle and nephew), Bancroft and others as flower painters; Lowton, clever at hunting and sporting subjects; and Robertson, at landscapes.[17] But besides these, there were many other really clever artists employed. It is pleasant, too, to know, that “Wright, of Derby,” the celebrated portrait painter, the contemporary and fellow pupil with Reynolds, lent his powerful aid on some occasions,[18] in supplying drawings and giving advice, as did also De Boeuff, Bartolozzi, Sanby, Glover, and many others of eminence; and it is also interesting to add, that one of the Wedgwood family, Jonathan Wedgwood, was at one time employed at Derby. The draft of agreement between himself and William Duesbury, dated 1772, is in my own possession, and by it he binds himself for three years to work at “the arts of repairing or throwing china or porcelaine ware,” for the sum of fourteen shillings per week. A few brief notes upon some of the artists of the Derby works will doubtless be of service to collectors; I therefore dot down the following memoranda:—
J. J. Spengler, a Frenchman, had been occasionally employed in London by Mr. Duesbury to model figures for him, and in 1790, on the recommendation of Mr. Vulliamy, entered into an agreement to come to Derby. Mr. Wallis, in his not very reliable account of the Derby China Works, to which I have before referred, says Spengler “was brought to Derby from London by Mr. Kean,” but this is an error. He was in Derby years before Mr. Kean had any connection with the works. The original agreements, dated July 13 and September 15th, 1790, are in my own possession (as are also a number of original letters, accounts, and other documents connected with him), and is as follows:—
“A Copy.
“A Memorandum.