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LARGER IMAGE
THE LOWESTOFT PORCELAIN FACTORY, AND THE CHINESE PORCELAIN MADE FOR THE EUROPEAN MARKET DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY[86]
❧ WRITTEN BY L. SOLON ❧
MR. W. CHAFFERS is responsible for the spread of a theory regarding the Lowestoft factory and its productions, which, after it had been provisionally endorsed by the majority of collectors, turned out to be one of the worst mystifications recorded in ceramic history. It must be conceded, in mitigation of the offence, that seldom had such a crop of apparently admissible evidence turned up to substantiate an ill-grounded belief. ¶ On a visit that the author of ‘Marks and Monograms,’ in quest of information, paid to the town of Lowestoft, he came across numerous pieces of porcelain of very distinctive character, bearing the crest or initials of the old families in which they had long been preserved, and all of which were said by their possessors to have been made in the local factory that existed at one time. He concluded, naturally enough, that he was on the way to the discovery of a most important and so far unsuspected centre of production—a too-hasty conclusion that a prejudiced course of investigation, unfortunately, came to strengthen. ¶ The ware that he soon felt himself warranted to call ‘Lowestoft porcelain’ bore, it is true, decorations of European design, but was no other than the inferior oriental china that the East India companies threw wholesale upon the market during the eighteenth century. In building up his lame theory Chaffers had neglected to take into consideration a few points of primary importance. ¶ All the ancient inhabitants of the town who could remember anything of the extinct factory agreed in saying that it was a small place, with only one biscuit oven and one enamelling kiln, and that at the best of times the number of persons it employed did not exceed seventy. Now, if the inquirer had not willingly lost sight of the fact that the very same kind of porcelain as that of which he was endeavouring to localize the origin was commonly found in every country which had had commercial intercourse with the east, not only in Europe, but also in America—where Boston and Salem were the centres of a large importation trade—and that many ancient families inhabiting the sea-port towns of those countries boast the possession of tea or dinner services of similar china, emblazoned with the arms or inscribed with the initials of an ancestor who had obtained them from the East Indies; if he had not conveniently forgotten that odd specimens of the ware are found in every collection and curiosity shop at home and abroad, then he might have suspected that such a colossal supply could only have come from a manufacturing centre of amazing magnitude, and not from a small factory at work for a few years on the coast of England. He also failed to observe that the paste of the china was manifestly of oriental character, and that there is no record of hard porcelain having ever been made at Lowestoft. ¶ On the other hand, a coarse kind of soft china, usually painted in underglaze blue, has been traced as the undeniable product of the Lowestoft factory, and a sufficient number of examples of that class can now be produced to dispel any doubt as to the precise description of the ware that was made there, and to put an end to all controversy. ¶ To the facility that the situation of Lowestoft offered for trading with Holland by way of Yarmouth must be attributed the existence of a petty company of merchants who joined to the importation of Delft-faïence the manufacture, on a small scale, of a pottery of the same description. White and blue faïence pieces, inscribed with local names and dated as early as 1755, seem to indicate that the pottery-works were in operation about that time. The making of soft china was added shortly afterwards. A heap of discarded plaster moulds was unearthed from the site of the old works in 1902; it included moulds for embossed sauce-boats and plain globular teapots; upon one of these latter, the date 1762 was incised in the plaster. The globular tea-pot made in that mould is reproduced on the accompanying plate. In the same year a queer, nine-sided ink-pot was manufactured; it bears a pseudo-Chinese ornamentation in underglaze blue, with the monogram ‘R.B. 1762.’ Robert Browne, for whom the piece was painted and inscribed, was the head of the firm till 1771. This unimpeachable testimony of the true style of the Lowestoft fabrication is now in the possession of Mr. Arthur Crisps, in whose collection are preserved six other ink-pots of the same shape, together with many other genuine pieces, decorated in the same manner, and bearing dates ranging from 1762 to 1782. Among these may be mentioned a tea service which has the name ‘Elizath Buckle,’ and the date 1768, painted in blue. It was executed by Robert Allen, a nephew of the worthy dame, who was still serving his apprenticeship, but in after times became the manager of the works. Also a number of small articles bearing the words ‘A trifle from Lowestoft’ or ‘A trifle from Yarmouth.’ None of these specimens have anything in common with the so-called Lowestoft china. ¶ A family tradition discloses the way in which porcelain making was introduced at Lowestoft. It is reported that Robert Browne, anxious to master a process unknown to him and from which he expected great results, repaired to London disguised as a workman, and in that capacity took employment in one of the china factories, either Bow or Chelsea. The discipline of former years had somewhat relaxed in these establishments, and he had no difficulty in worming out from one of the foremen, in exchange for adequate remuneration, the secret of the mixture, with instructions about practical manipulations. The object he had in view appears to have been most easily attained; scarcely three weeks had elapsed when he returned to his own works, provided with sufficient information to start china-making at once, without calling any outsider to his assistance. It is needless to observe that what he learned in this manner did not put him in the position of producing hard porcelain, and that he could not have made any on this basis. ¶ As it stands now the history of the Lowestoft works is a short one to tell. A better knowledge of the exact nature of the owners’ business might have been obtained from an examination of the papers and account books of the old firm; they may or may not be still in existence; at any rate, their contents have never been investigated. We know very little besides the fact that fritt porcelain was made for the first time in 1762, and that the factory was closed in 1803. This article will, however, have fulfilled its purpose if it establishes, once for all, not so much what was the true Lowestoft ware, but what it was not. One may well wonder how it came to pass that the name of the obscure Lowestoft factory could ever have been mentioned in connection with a particular ware which, in every country where the unmistakable specimens of it are met with in large quantities, is recognized as being of oriental provenance. As no conjecture has so far been advanced in answer to that query I will venture to present a not improbable solution of the problem.
LOWESTOFT PORCELAIN TEAPOT OF SOFT PASTE
IN THE COLLECTION OF MR. GEORGE HARDING
SMALL PLATE PAINTED IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE, WITH A VIEW OF LOWESTOFT CHURCH