| Pottery | | | | sgraffito and consisting of decoration |
| | | | incised through a coating of light-colored |
| We use the pottery products almost everyday | | | | slip to a dark body, was practiced in north |
| in our life. But there are few people who | | | | Devonshire and other places. |
| know the history of the pottery and | | | | |
| porcelain. Here we will look into the | | | | John Astbury and Thomas Whieldon of |
| difference of the pottery and the porcelain | | | | Staffordshire were the foremost potters in |
| and try to understand the some of the | | | | the middle of the eighteenth century, and |
| different aspects of the pottery and | | | | their output comprised wares of all the types |
| porcelain. | | | | that were then known. |
| | | | |
| Pottery is defined as earthenware and | | | | In particular, Whieldon's name is linked with |
| includes Faience, or Majolica, cream ware | | | | wares with pale-colored transparent glazes |
| and, according to many authorities, a | | | | including early versions of the famous Toby |
| near-porcelain variety called stoneware. It | | | | Jug, and Ralph Wood and his son, also named |
| is the commoner type of chinaware; the | | | | Ralph, made similar types. |
| features that place it apart from porcelain | | | | |
| are that it is opaque, and that the glaze | | | | Astbury is noted for pieces made from red |
| does not combine with the paste, or clay | | | | clay, either engine-turned on a lathe or with |
| body. | | | | white clay ornaments in relief. These two men |
| | | | led the way to the perfecting of lead-glazed |
| The origins of the making of pottery are lost | | | | pottery, a step that was the achievement of |
| in antiquity, and date from when Primitive | | | | Josiah Wedgwood. Wedgwood was a good |
| Man found that the heat of a fire would | | | | practical potter, he had been for a few years |
| harden clay. | | | | in partnership with Whieldon, but was a |
| | | | better business man, and his cream-colored |
| So far as the modern collector is concerned | | | | lead-glazed earthenware, known from 1765 as |
| little is available that was made before the | | | | Queen's Ware, was so successful that it |
| sixteenth century, although a considerable | | | | competed with porcelain, and was imitated not |
| number of earlier examples can be studied in | | | | only by other English makers but also all |
| museums. They are seen to be of simple | | | | over the Continent of Europe. |
| shapes, mostly in the form of jugs; sometimes | | | | |
| with decorative patterns cut or impressed | | | | The closest imitator in England was the |
| into the red or buff clay; with patterns | | | | factory at Leeds, Yorkshire, which approached |
| rubbed on or dribbled in wet clay (slip) of a | | | | the high quality of Wedgwood's products, but |
| contrasting colour or with designs stamped on | | | | often used original patterns. His own men in |
| pads of clay stuck on the article. Many are | | | | Staffordshire decorated much of Wedgwood |
| colored with transparent glazes made from | | | | creamware, or at a workshop he had for a time |
| lead, in shades of yellow, brown or green. | | | | in London at Chelsea, but a quantity was sent |
| The shapes used varied from place to place | | | | to Liverpool to be ornamented by a newly |
| and from century to century, and it is not | | | | invented process. This was by means of |
| always possible to name where or when a piece | | | | engravings printed on paper and transferred |
| was made. Kilns with fragments of broken ware | | | | to the china article; quick, cheap and |
| have been excavated, and these are a guide. | | | | effective, it was typical of Wedgwood to test |
| | | | the possibilities of something as novel and |
| English pottery | | | | promising. For the collector it is reassuring |
| | | | to know that the majority of Wedgwood ware is |
| The type of pottery described in the previous | | | | marked. |
| chapter continued to be made in all parts of | | | | |
| England throughout the seventeenth, | | | | Some of the types of pottery could be studied |
| eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the | | | | in the museums. The pottery comes in |
| so-called studio potters are still making | | | | different shapes and sizes and they are |
| much. Among the more important later centers | | | | decorated in different ways and styles. |
| that have been identified with certainty, | | | | Pottery making became popular from the |
| are: London (known as Metropolitan Ware); | | | | seventeenth century and continued till the |
| Wrotham, Kent; and Staffordshire, where the | | | | eighteenth and nineteenth century in England. |
| names of Toft, Simpson and Malkin are the | | | | These activities were located in different |
| best known. A further technique, known as | | | | places of England. |