Coffee Pot and Cover thumbnail 1
Coffee Pot and Cover thumbnail 2
+2
images
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Coffee Pot and Cover

ca. 1775 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Wedgwood's elegant service illustrates two of the key contributions that eighteenth-century Britain made to ceramic history: creamware, a type of white earthenware, and transfer-printing, an invention that revolutionized ceramic production worldwide.

As a material, creamware had several advantages over porcelain and its other rivals. It was cheap to make; it was strengthened with calcined flint, which made it durable and encouraged thin potting; and the colour and smooth glaze made it hygienic and suitable for eating and drinking. Developed in Staffordshire during the 1740s and 1750s, creamware was perfected by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1760s. It proved enormously popular, remaining in production until the 1820s, and was exported throughout the world.

Creamware was attractive when left plain, but it provided an excellent background for restrained enamel painting or for on-glaze transfer-printing of the type shown here. Transfer-printing over the glaze involved printing a design onto a layer of gelatin (animal glue), which was then applied to the body of the ware, thus transferring the design. The revolutionary importance of the technique was that it enabled manufacturers to achieve high-quality decoration at a relatively low cost, for although engravers put much work into the printing plates, the actual decoration of the wares could be carried out by less skilled hands.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 2 parts.

  • Coffee Pot
  • Cover
Materials and techniques
Creamware, transfer-printed in purple enamel
Brief description
Coffee pot and cover, creamware, transfer-printed in purple enamel, made at Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd., Etruria, printed by Guy Green in Liverpool, ca. 1775.
Physical description
Coffee pot and cover of earthenware transfer-printed with purple enamel over the glaze and moulded.
Dimensions
  • Height: 24.4cm
  • Diameter: 13.3cm
Credit line
Given by Lady Charlotte Schreiber
Subjects depicted
Summary
Wedgwood's elegant service illustrates two of the key contributions that eighteenth-century Britain made to ceramic history: creamware, a type of white earthenware, and transfer-printing, an invention that revolutionized ceramic production worldwide.

As a material, creamware had several advantages over porcelain and its other rivals. It was cheap to make; it was strengthened with calcined flint, which made it durable and encouraged thin potting; and the colour and smooth glaze made it hygienic and suitable for eating and drinking. Developed in Staffordshire during the 1740s and 1750s, creamware was perfected by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1760s. It proved enormously popular, remaining in production until the 1820s, and was exported throughout the world.

Creamware was attractive when left plain, but it provided an excellent background for restrained enamel painting or for on-glaze transfer-printing of the type shown here. Transfer-printing over the glaze involved printing a design onto a layer of gelatin (animal glue), which was then applied to the body of the ware, thus transferring the design. The revolutionary importance of the technique was that it enabled manufacturers to achieve high-quality decoration at a relatively low cost, for although engravers put much work into the printing plates, the actual decoration of the wares could be carried out by less skilled hands.
Other number
Sch. II 406&A - Schreiber number
Collection
Accession number
414:1155/&A-1885

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Record createdMay 5, 2009
Record URL
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