European Ceramics

---

In the mid-1600s, three exotic beverages were introduced in Britain: coffee from the Arabian Peninsula, tea from China, and chocolate from Central and South America. Initially, these beverages were great luxuries, but by the mid-1700s, they became part of the daily diet for many people. Ceramics factories invented new forms for serving the drinks and their accompaniments.

The first European soft-paste porcelain was made in Florence about 1575 at workshopsunder the patronage of Francesco I de’ Medici, but it was not until the late 17th and 18th centuries that it was produced in quantity. The secret of true porcelain, similar to the porcelain of China, was discovered about 1707 at the Meissen factory in Saxony by Johann Friedrich Böttger and Ehrenfried Walter von Tschirnhaus. The standard English bone chinabody was produced around 1800, when Josiah Spode the Second added calcined bones to the hard-paste porcelain formula. Although hard-paste porcelain is strong, its vitreous nature causes it to chip fairly easily, whereas bone china does not. Hard-paste porcelain is preferred on the European continent, whereas bone china is preferred in Britain and the United States.

Experimental porcelain-making began at the Longton Hall factory in Staffordshire around 1749, but it was not until two years later, when William Littler (1724–1784) joined the partnership, that production began in earnest. Littler was a former salt-glazed stoneware potter, and his experience helped make the venture commercially viable. The factory remained in business for another nine years, before ongoing financial difficulties forced it to close.

Founded around 1745, Chelsea was the first English factory to produce commercial quantities of porcelain. Under the direction of the factory’s co-founder and manager, Nicholas Sprimont (circa 1716–1771), Chelsea specialized in finely enameled tableware, figures, and vases—always in the latest styles. Many of its wares from the 1760s were further embellished with ornate gilding. The delicately pierced patterns on this vase’s neck and lid indicate that the object held potpourri.

Meissen

Sevres