EARLY WORCESTER PORCELAIN
The Worcester factory was one of the first, probably the best, and certainly the most long-lived of the 18th-century porcelain makers. Pieces from its first 100 years are widely admired and collected.
The first two porcelain manufacturers in England were close to the city of London, at Bow in the east and Chelsea in the west. Both were founded in the 1740s and both made soft-paste porcelain. However, neither factory survived to the end of the century, although by this time Britain was a major manufacturer and exporter of porcelain.
A porcelain factory was founded in the city of Worcester in 1751, and although it underwent several changes of name, splits and mergers, it can trace its history continuously from that time up to the present day.
The factory's guiding light in its first years was Dr John Wall, a chemist and artist as well as a physician, who set out to emulate the great European factories of
Sevres and Meissen. The company's soft-paste porcelain was denser and yet more delicately potted than that of its British rivals.
The soapstone-style body of Worcester proved immensely popular. Wall retired in 1774. When his former partner died in 1783, the factory was bought by a Thomas Flight, and continued for more than 50 years under various members of the Flight and Barr families.
THE DOCTOR'S APPRENTICE
One of Dr Wall's apprentices, Robert Chamberlain, set up in business for himself at a separate factory when Flight took over. At first he concentrated in decorating wares made elsewhere, but in the 1790s Chamberlain's Worcester began making fine, hard-paste porcelain of their own. Several craftsmen worked for both Worcester factories, which had a broadly similar style. They remained rivals until 1840, when they were merged under the name Chamberlain & Co.
The Worcester factories excelled at making tableware, particularly tea and coffee sets, jugs, comports and tureens, and vases. The soapstone body was suitable for everything except large dinner plates.
Worcester was famous for its decoration, too, particularly its background colours in rich shades of blue, green, turquoise and claret. These usually framed panels of white that were decorated with paintings, many by artists who moved there following the failure of the Chelsea factory. Blue grounds were lightened by wiping off the colour to make patterns resembling fish scales. This scale blue ground is particularly prized by collectors.
WORCESTER PORCELAIN COLLECTOR'S INFORMATION
Complete or partial sets of early Worcester in good condition are rare, but single pieces or place settings are much more realistic goals for collectors. You might want to specialize in a particular decorative style or type of piece, or on a particular period in the firms' history.
The best way to get a feel for the factory's products, and decide what you might want to collect, is to look at pieces in museums or at dealers. The real enthusiast will want to visit the city, and particularly the Dyson Perrins Museum, which is entirely devoted to its history of ceramics manufacture.
Many early Worcester pieces are marked, and it is well worth taking a book of ceramic marks with you when you shop. The style of mark and the factory name gives some clue to date. A blue crescent, in outline or filled in, is among the marks found on very early pieces.
At first, marking was far from compulsory and tended to be haphazardly applied. After 1793, pieces tended to be clearly marked with the name or initials of the factory. Flight & Barr marks appear on wares made before 1807. From then to 1813, the factory was known as Barr, Flight & Barr, and from 1813 to 1840 as Flight, Barr & Barr.
A word of warning; Worcester porcelain has been collected for a very long time, and subjected to faking and forgery for almost as long. Many marks, particularly those in ink, can be faked; marks should be seen as a guide to authenticity rather than proof of it. The easiest way to tell if a piece is porcelain is to hold it up to a strong light, such as a bare bulb, to see if it's translucent. True soapstone Worcester has a greenish tinge under a strong light. It's a good idea to examine a piece in sunlight as well as under artificial light, as this makes it easier to detect restoration, tampering or over-painting.
SKINNING AND CLOBBERING
Because some decorative styles are more highly valued than others, original pieces are sometimes doctored to make them more valuable. The piece may either be 'skinned' the original decoration is removed and replaced with a more sought-after design - or 'clobbered' - where a new decoration is applied over the original. Usually it is the ground colour that is altered in this way.
As always, check very carefully for hairline cracks, small chips, rubbed gilding or other blemishes, all of which should bring down the price. Avoid pieces pretending to be early Worcester that have a crackled glaze. The soapstone body never crazed. Also avoid pieces which are glazed around the foot rim; these too are likely to be fakes.
This plate is an early product of the Worcester porcelain factory, dating from the late 1760s. Some of the bud and foliage decoration is painted on, and the rest is applied to create a
three dimensional effect. According to a widely circulated legend, which has since proved to be untrue, the service from which it came was first made for a blind nobleman.
Read articles and references:
Good standards are Warman's
English & Continental Pottery & Porcelain (Susan and Al Bagdade), and Marks
& Monograms on European and Oriental Pottery and Porcelain (William Chaffers).
Worchester Porcelain
Warman's English & Continental Pottery & Porcelain (3rd Ed)
Marks & Monograms on European and Oriental Pottery and Porcelain