Vase

Object Type
This vase is one of a garniture of five, or perhaps seven, vases of different but complementary forms intended for the mantlepiece of a fashion-conscious household. It has no purpose other than as decoration.

Design & Designing
By about 1760, highly skilled Staffordshire stoneware potters, fully aware of the growing popularity of cream-coloured earthenware, were probably anxious to find new directions in which to develop their material. Since the profits to be made from enamelled stoneware no doubt went directly to the independent decorators and the retailers, there was a need for smart in-house factory decoration. Using a stained body with contrasting white ornament, a successful but apparently short-lived type of stoneware was produced, combining thinly lathe-turned vase forms of standard Chinese type with the intricate mould-applied decoration more commonly found on red stonewares of the 1760s and 1770s. Teapots, cream jugs and flower pots with stands were also made. But competition from the new creamware soon forced specialist stoneware potters into decline.

Time
The increasing demand for inexpensive but fashionable goods was the spur for makers to substitute cheaper materials for fashionable English or Chinese porcelain. At exactly the same period, independent enamellers were painting white glass vases to look like porcelain.