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Bow porcelain factory

Bow parrot, c. 1760. The green and the crimson-purple on the base are two of Bow's distinctive colours.

The Bow porcelain factory (active c. 1747–64 and closed in 1776) was an emulative rival of the Chelsea porcelain factory in the manufacture of early soft-paste porcelain in Great Britain. The two London factories were the first in England.[1] It was originally located near Bow, in what is now the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, but by 1749 it had moved to "New Canton", sited east of the River Lea, and then in Essex,[2] now in the London Borough of Newham.[3]

Designs imitated imported Chinese and Japanese porcelains and the wares being produced at Chelsea, at the other end of London. From about 1753, Meissen figures were copied, both directly and indirectly through Chelsea. Quality was notoriously uneven;[4] the warm, creamy body of Bow porcelains is glassy and the glaze tends towards ivory. The paste included bone ash,[5] and Bow figures were made by pressing the paste into moulds, rather than the slipcasting used at Chelsea.[6] Bow appears to have been the largest English factory of its period.[7] After about 1760, quality declined, as more English factories opened, and the dependence on Chelsea models increased, perhaps aided by an influx of Chelsea workers after 1763, as production there decreased.[8]

Inkwell, inscribed "Made at New Canton 1750", one of about 40 dated pieces known.[9]

Both Bow and Chelsea catered for the luxury end of the market. One of the earliest records is in the Pelham Papers, the private accounts of the Duchess of Newcastle, showing the Duchess 'Pd. For China made at Bowe £3.0.0.' [10] Bow also produced a good deal of cheaper sprigged tableware in white, with the relief decoration applied in strips after the main body is formed. There are blue and white porcelain tablewares with floral underglaze decoration imitating Chinese wares.[11] Japanese export porcelain in the Kakiemon style was popular at Bow, as at Chelsea and continental factories, especially a design featuring partridges for tableware.[12] The style of large bold "botanical" designs for flat pieces, derived from botanical book illustrations, were borrowed from Chelsea, and for smaller European flowers Bow had a distinctive style with similarities to French Mennecy-Villeroy porcelain that is "remarkably soft and delicate", though only seen on more expensive pieces.[13]

  1. ^ Spero, 121
  2. ^ Powell, W R, ed. (1973). "'West Ham: Industries', in A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6". British History Online. London: Victoria County History. pp. 76–89. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
  3. ^ The two sites for the factory, now both swallowed by London, were in the 18th century firstly "Bow, Middlesex" and then "Stratford-le-Bow", Essex ("New Canton").
  4. ^ Charles Truman, reviewing exhibitions of Bow porcelain in The Burlington Magazine 124 No. 952 (July 1982), p. 465; J. V. G. Mallet: "The wares of Bow do not, even in the years of Frye's association with the factory, show much consistency either in design or in execution." Mallet 1984:238; Spero, 123.
  5. ^ Honey, 82; Spero, 122
  6. ^ Spero, 123
  7. ^ Spero, 121–122
  8. ^ Honey, 123–124; Spero, 123
  9. ^ Spero, 123
  10. ^ Anton., Gabszewicz (2000). Made at New Canton : Bow porcelain from the collection of the London Borough of Newham. English Ceramic Circle. London: English Ceramic Circle in association with the London Borough of Newham and the Newham Millennium Celebrations 2000 Committee. ISBN 0953510298. OCLC 44058298.
  11. ^ Honey, 121–123
  12. ^ Honey, 114–116
  13. ^ Honey, 112

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