Service
Worcester Porcelain Factory
Category
Ceramics
Date
c. 1765 - c. 1774
Materials
soft paste porcelain
Place of origin
Worcester
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 870895
Summary
Partial tea and coffee service consisting of coffee pot, teapot, teapot stand, sucrier, tea canister, dish, slop bowl, milk jug, eight teacups and saucers and six coffee cups. Thrown and moulded wares of soft-paste porcelain produced at the Worcester porcelain factory circa 1765-1770. Decorated in the London studio of James Giles circa 1765-1774 in translucent green over black enamels and gilding with scenes of architectural fantasies and landscapes based on engraved sources. Saucers and teacups are all marked underneath with crossed swords and the number 9 in underglaze blue (used at the Worcester factory circa c1760 – 1770.) All other items are unmarked. The Saltram Collection (1967): No 259T, p.59
Full description
This service was produced at the Worcester porcelain factory circa 1765-1770. The factory made their porcelain using soaprock which resulted in a material that was more resistant to the thermal shock of boiling water, perfect for tea and coffee wares. This service is marked with crossed swords and the number 9 – a mark used by the factory in the 1760s and alluding to the factory mark of Meissen, Germany, the first factory in Europe to produce porcelain akin to the Chinese. Whilst the porcelain forms were made at Worcester, they were decorated in London at the studio of James Giles (1718-1780.) Giles was the son of a Huguenot émigré living in London by 1729 and described as a ‘china painter’. In the 1750s, he started to rent his own premises in Kentish Town, moving to Berwick Street in Soho in the 1760s. Giles brought a large amount of porcelain and glass from a variety of sources which his studio then decorated and sold on. The studio produced high quality decoration copying the latest fashions, often directly from other factories. In 1763, he advertised that 'This ingenious Artist copies the Pattern of any China with the utmost exactness, both with respect to the Design and the Colours, either in the European or Chinese taste.’ Giles’ staff at the factory included decorators from Europe alongside his own daughters May and Sarah Teresa. The service is decorated with capricci or architectural fantasies with figures within the landscape. These were taken from various engravings of Italian ruins including from a series by Franz Edmund Weirotter, Deuxième suite des ruines et paysages, 1760. The style of painting in green glaze over a black enamel had been made popular in the 1740s by factories such as Meissen (Germany), Vincennes (France) and Chelsea (England.) With the decline of the Chelsea factory in the 1760s, Giles spotted a gap in the market for this highly fashionable style. This service was originally part of the collection belonging to Montagu Edmund Parker, brother of John Parker of Saltram. Montagu collected a number of high-quality ceramics including pieces purchased from Wedgwood. These were kept at his house Whiteway in Devon. When the house was sold in 1923, this service along with other collections were transferred to Saltram.
Provenance
From the collection of Montagu Edmund Parker (1767-1813) and at Whiteway house before coming to Saltram in 1923 when the house was sold. Accepted in part payment of death duties by HM Treasury from the executors of Edmund Robert Parker, 4th Earl of Morley (1877-1951) and transferred to NT in 1957.
Makers and roles
Worcester Porcelain Factory, manufacturer style of James Giles (1718 - 1780), decorator
References
The Saltram Collection (1967):, No 259T, p.59