"This very thorough catalogue, with excellent footnotes and bibliography, firmly places the subject in its broadest context." --Apollo Covers approximately 95 pieces, representing Chelsea, Bow, Derby, Worcester, Chamberlain-Worcester, Caughley, Longton Hall, Spode, and Hilditch and Sons.

This book addresses the contributions made by analytical chemistry to the characterisation of 18th and early 19th Century English and Welsh porcelains commencing with the earliest reports of Sir Arthur Church and of Herbert Eccles and Bernard Rackham using chemical digestion techniques and concluding with the most recent instrumental experiments, which together span more than a hundred years of study. From the earliest experiments which required necessarily the sacrifice of significant portions of each specimen, which may already have been damaged , to the latest experiments which needed only microsampling or the non-destructive interrogation of valuable perfect specimens a comprehensive survey is undertaken of more than twenty manufactories of quality porcelains. The correlation is made between the quantitative elemental oxide determinations of the scanning electron microscopic diffraction and Xray fluorescence data and the qualitative molecular spectroscopic Raman data to demonstrate their complementarity and use in the holistic forensic assessment of the origin of the fired procelains ; this will form the groundwork for the adoption of analytical techniques for the attribution of unknown or questionable procelains to their potential source factories . The book will also examine the perception of what constitutes a porcelain and its definitions and examines the assignment of porcelains to types which currently employs the definitions of hard paste , soft paste , hybrid , magnesian and bone china from the conclusions derived from the analytical data and a consideration of the raw materials employed in their manufacturing processes. During the discussion of this analytical evidence several themes and protocols have been established for its utilisation in the potential identification of porcelains and several case studies undertaken for this purpose are cited. The book will be of interest to analytical scientists , to museum ceramics curators and to ceramics historians.

This new addition to the Penrose Antiques Ltd short guides containing 25 colour figures gives a brief history of the Derby works from the establishment of a ceramics manufactury in 1748 by Prince de Conde (Louis-Henri de Bourbon) and a French national Andrew Planche from Chantilly through to the present day. The book also defines what can be considered as the golden period of porcelain manufacture in Derby between 1780 and 1830 highlighting the decorators and the influence of patronage in the development of porcelain Manufacture in Derby as evidenced by the Derby Pattern books and the production of the so called named Derby services.

The central focus of this text on 18th-century English porcelain is the design processes that were followed in the industry. These are studied and discussed in relation to manufacturing techniques and the appearance of the figures and tablewares themselves. Other explorations of 18th-century porcelain trade include: plagiarism and industrial espionage; importation and exportation; raw materials and factory siting; and terms and conditions of employment. The text also examines the sales and marketing of English porcelain and pieces together the evidence for its consumption and use, linking these to the spread of polite culture and other changes in the social fabric of 18th-century England. Appendices give brief factory histories and a chronology of events.

The material for this book arose from the author’s research into porcelains over many years, as a collector in appreciation of their artistic beauty , as an analytical chemist in the scientific interrogation of their body paste, enamel pigments and glaze compositions, and as a ceramic historian in the assessment of their manufactory foundations and their correlation with available documentation relating to their recipes and formulations. A discussion of the role of analysis in the framework of a holistic assessment of artworks and specifically the composition of porcelain, namely hard paste, soft paste, phosphatic, bone china and magnesian, is followed by its growth from its beginnings in China to its importation into Europe in the 16th Century. A survey of European porcelain manufactories in the 17th and 18th Centuries is followed by a description of the raw materials, minerals and recipes for porcelain manufacture and details of the chemistry of the high temperature firing processes involved therein. The historical backgrounds to several important European factories are considered, highlighting the imperfections in the written record that have been perpetuated through the ages. The analytical chemical information derived from the interrogation of specimens, from fragments, shards or perfect finished items, is reviewed and operational protocols established for the identification of a factory output from the data presented. Several case studies are examined in detail across several porcelain manufactories to indicate the role adopted by modern analytical science, with information provided at the quantitative elemental oxide and qualitative molecular spectroscopic levels, where applicable. The attribution of a specimen to a particular factory is either supported thereby or in some cases a potential reassessment of an earlier attribution is indicated. Overall, the information provided by analytical chemical data is seen to be extremely useful for porcelain identification and for its potential attribution in the context of a holistic forensic evaluation of hitherto unknown porcelain exemplars of questionable factory origins.

Armorial porcelains comprised the output of most European ceramics factories in the 18th and 19th Centuries in response to the large quantity of armorial porcelain services that were being imported from China bearing the coats of arms and crests of aristocratic families. Whereas these armorial services have been identified and covered for most porcelain manufactories the information relevant to their production by the two relatively short-lived Nantgarw and Swansea China Works has not been addressed as a theme until now. As an integral component of the holistic forensic appraisal of porcelain, a functional and decorative artwork manifestly part of our cultural heritage and its ongoing preservation , the recording and identification of such artefacts is material for the future establishment of a database of factory production . The Nantgarw and Swansea factories only operated for a limited period in the second decade of the 19th Century and their porcelains were much appreciated for their high quality and desirability by Georgian households. Today, examples are to be found in many museums and ceramics collections and continue to excite the interest of specialists and the general public . This text provides the first comprehensive assessment of armorial porcelains from these two factories and the methodology and procedure for the identification of unknown armorial bearings and crests is illustrated; individual bearings are discussed in detail and existing incorrect assignments in the literature are re-appraised. The difficulties in attribution of armorial heraldic achievements that are only minimally depicted are considered and directions for further studies using historical documentation are invoked. This book therefore fills a currently existing gap in the ceramics literature of the 19th Century.