Bowl
ca. 1785 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
Bowls like this are often called slop basins today. Slop basins were used for emptying the dregs of cups of tea before the cup was refilled. However, the Worcester porcelain factory sold small bowls like this according to their capacity, and did not call them slop bowls, which suggests that they could be used for a variety of other purposes.
Materials & Making
The Worcester factory was the first to solve the problem of printing in cobalt blue onto the porous unglazed surface of 'biscuit-fired' porcelain. Worcester introduced transfer-printing in blue around 1759-1760 and concentrated on making these relatively cheap wares by the time that this piece was made. The neat cut in the border pattern (near 6 o'clock) suggests that this piece was printed using paper transfers. The transfer was first printed with the design from an engraved copperplate. It was then pounced (dusted) with a cobalt compound, which adhered only to the printed lines. The design was transferred to the unglazed ware by rubbing the back of the sheet. Other printing techniques involved pouncing onto the ware, not the transfer. They were unsuitable for printing biscuit porcelain, as the pigments would have adhered to all the rough, unglazed surfaces of the ware.
Bowls like this are often called slop basins today. Slop basins were used for emptying the dregs of cups of tea before the cup was refilled. However, the Worcester porcelain factory sold small bowls like this according to their capacity, and did not call them slop bowls, which suggests that they could be used for a variety of other purposes.
Materials & Making
The Worcester factory was the first to solve the problem of printing in cobalt blue onto the porous unglazed surface of 'biscuit-fired' porcelain. Worcester introduced transfer-printing in blue around 1759-1760 and concentrated on making these relatively cheap wares by the time that this piece was made. The neat cut in the border pattern (near 6 o'clock) suggests that this piece was printed using paper transfers. The transfer was first printed with the design from an engraved copperplate. It was then pounced (dusted) with a cobalt compound, which adhered only to the printed lines. The design was transferred to the unglazed ware by rubbing the back of the sheet. Other printing techniques involved pouncing onto the ware, not the transfer. They were unsuitable for printing biscuit porcelain, as the pigments would have adhered to all the rough, unglazed surfaces of the ware.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Soft-paste porcelain, transfer-printed in underglaze blue |
| Brief description | Bowl, porcelain, transfer-printed in blue, made by Worcester porcelain factory, about 1785 |
| Dimensions |
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| Gallery label |
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| Credit line | Bequeathed by Arthur Edward Seawell, Esq. |
| Summary | Object Type Bowls like this are often called slop basins today. Slop basins were used for emptying the dregs of cups of tea before the cup was refilled. However, the Worcester porcelain factory sold small bowls like this according to their capacity, and did not call them slop bowls, which suggests that they could be used for a variety of other purposes. Materials & Making The Worcester factory was the first to solve the problem of printing in cobalt blue onto the porous unglazed surface of 'biscuit-fired' porcelain. Worcester introduced transfer-printing in blue around 1759-1760 and concentrated on making these relatively cheap wares by the time that this piece was made. The neat cut in the border pattern (near 6 o'clock) suggests that this piece was printed using paper transfers. The transfer was first printed with the design from an engraved copperplate. It was then pounced (dusted) with a cobalt compound, which adhered only to the printed lines. The design was transferred to the unglazed ware by rubbing the back of the sheet. Other printing techniques involved pouncing onto the ware, not the transfer. They were unsuitable for printing biscuit porcelain, as the pigments would have adhered to all the rough, unglazed surfaces of the ware. |
| Bibliographic reference | For this pattern, see Branyan, French and Sandon, Worcester Blue and White Porcelain, revised edition 1989, cat. II.B.15, where dated 1780-90 |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.794-1917 |
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| Record created | March 27, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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