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The Two Temples
Mason, Miles, born 1752 - died 1822 - Enlarge image
The Two Temples
- Object:
Plate
- Place of origin:
Lane Delph, England (made)
- Date:
ca. 1805 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Mason, Miles, born 1752 - died 1822 (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Earthenware, transfer-printed in underglaze blue
- Credit Line:
Transferred from the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street
- Museum number:
2588-1901
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 120, case 6
Object Type
Practical and technically excellent Staffordshire porcelain or refined earthenwares often copied closely from Chinese prototypes, began to flood the market in the early 19th century. This plate is copied almost exactly from a Chinese export version, including the octagonal shape. What is different is the use of transfer-printing in preference to the labour-intensive Chinese method of hand painting.
Trading
Miles Mason (died 1822) had been a successful china merchant in London, dealing in imported Chinese porcelain, before moving to Staffordshire and starting his own pottery. His determination to become a manufacturer was certainly influenced by the East India Company's decision in 1791 to cease importing Chinese porcelain.
Materials & Making
This plate tries hard to copy Chinese porcelain, with its hard grey 'hybrid' English pottery body and its authentic pattern. It did, however, resemble the late-18th-century products of Caughley (Shropshire) and Worcester, and was already old-fashioned by 1805. Miles Mason, with his experience of dealing with changing public taste, soon took the Staffordshire potteries along a completely new path with his invention of 'Patent Ironstone China', a cheap but hard earthenware with colourful 'Japan' patterns.
