Mug thumbnail 1
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Mug

ca. 1800-1805 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This mug is made from a new type of tough earthenware invented and patented by the Staffordshire potters William and John Turner in 1799-1800. It was one of a number of utilitarian pottery bodies developed in Staffordshire in the1800s and 1810s and intended as substitutes for robust and cheap grey-bodied Chinese porcelain tablewares, which the English East India Company stopped importing in bulk in 1791. Turner's patent specified the use of 'Tabberner's Mine Rock', which had not been used by potters before, in combination with Cornish stone and flint. The body is similar to the better known 'Stone China' launched by the Spode factory in 1813 and C. & J. Mason's 'Ironstone China', patented in the same year.

Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Lead-glazed earthenware
Brief description
Mug, lead-glazed earthenware, made at the factory of John Turner, Lane End, Staffordshire, ca. 1800-1805
Physical description
Cylindrical mug
Marks and inscriptions
'Turners Patent' (painted in red)
Gallery label
Mug Made at the factory of John Turner, Lane End, Staffordshire, England, about 1800-05 Mark: 'Turner's Patent', painted in red Lead-glazed earthenware C.55-1964 Given by E.N. Iddon(23/05/2008)
Credit line
Given by E. N. Iddon
Summary
This mug is made from a new type of tough earthenware invented and patented by the Staffordshire potters William and John Turner in 1799-1800. It was one of a number of utilitarian pottery bodies developed in Staffordshire in the1800s and 1810s and intended as substitutes for robust and cheap grey-bodied Chinese porcelain tablewares, which the English East India Company stopped importing in bulk in 1791. Turner's patent specified the use of 'Tabberner's Mine Rock', which had not been used by potters before, in combination with Cornish stone and flint. The body is similar to the better known 'Stone China' launched by the Spode factory in 1813 and C. & J. Mason's 'Ironstone China', patented in the same year.
Collection
Accession number
C.55-1964

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Record createdMarch 31, 2008
Record URL
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