WORCESTER PORCELAIN. In 1751, Dr. John Wall, physician, and William Davis, apothecary, established the "Worcester Ton quin Manufacture,' to imitate Chinese blue and-white ware. Many connoisseurs declare some of the porcelain pieces were the best ever made in England. Robert Hancock, the clever engraver at the Battersea Enamel Works, helped by introducing transfer-printing; his fine work made the ware famous with such decorative pictures as "Garden Scene," "Milkmaid in a Farmyard,' "The Hunt" etc., from noted ar tists as Gainsborough, Watteau, etc. Hancock left in 1774 and Dr. Wall died in 1776; then Thomas Flight purchased the factory, and, with his sons, John and Thomas, ran the works. Frequent changes of partnership changed the firm name respectively to Flight and Barr; Barr, Flight and Barr; Flight, Barr and Barr, when, in 1840, the competition of Robert Chamberlain forced an amalgamation in the firm name "Chamberlain's.' Oriental decoration and Eng lish silverware forms characterize the Dr. Wall period (1751-83). The quality of the potting, as well as decoration, was first class from the start, but the "inky' quality of the blue (through impurity) was a defect of early pieces. Wor cester soon acquired a deserved reputation for its wonderful gilding. O'Neal and Donaldson painted lovely figure decoration. The "Japan' pattern gained fame. A number of pieces in Worcester paste are facsimiles of Bow and Chelsea ware ("quail' pattern, etc.). Wall period blues (all underglaze) as backgrounds were "scale blue' and "powdered blue,' of very variable quality. Other early colors were ca nary yellow, turquoise, copper green, apple ,green and purple. In enameling sprays and stripes, a dead-surface opaque Bros bleu is fre quent. Favorite decorative motifs were "ex otic birds,' flowers, fruit, figures, landscapes, etc., also handpainted camaieu •sprig pattern' in pink or overglaze blue. The early transfer pruning was in dark blue, chocolate brown, red, puce or purple, in overglaze. Decoration in the Flight period changed to "armorial" services of a gorgeous character; Grecian fret, anthemion and "Early Empire' conceptions (then in vogue) are favored. The great change in deco rative treatment appears to have been without a transition period. The heavy gilding wi,s still of fine execution but excessive and changed too in style. The final period is noted for grand services made for the emperor of Russia, George III, George IV and William IV. Ar tists were, besides Hancock, such men as Valen tine Green, James Ross, Thomas Baxter, en gravers; Donaldson, Williamson, Dyer, O'Neal, Fogo, etc., painters. The products were large vacs after Sevres and Dresden, table services, jugs, beakers, etc. Documentary evidence adds figures to 1Vorcester ware, but none are known. Fatly Worcester paste was a glassy, trans lucent, beautiful frit of greenish tinge when looked through. This gave way to a semi opaque paste of yellowish tone, of which in ferior body come of Worcester's most costly pieces is composed, The Flight period paste was no longer a soft, but hard, opaque, greyish body, often both thick and heavy. From 1783
to 1793 we have a pore, translucent, fine paste of hone-ash, china stone and china clay. Marks! First came a crescent or the Chinese square "seal' mark, and the letter W, two on the same piece sometimes. At times a capital E his within the horns of the crescent. Then we gel "FLIGHTS' or the same in italics, some with a superposed crown. These are followed by the changed firm names. Crossed swords closely resembling the Dresden mark are on some pieces.
Chamberlain Worcester.— On the pur chase of the Worcester factory by Flight. Rob ert Chamberlain (about 1783), whose capacity is a mooted point, left the factory and started on his own account at the Diglis works. Hit brother Humphrey and Richard Nash were partners. H. Chamberlain, Junior, and Robert Chamberlain, Junior, ran the works from 1798 to 1811, and, from 1804 to 1811, G. Boulton was a partner. Competition between the Wor cester factories was so keen that Barr, Flight and Barr, after heavy losses, combined with Chamberlain (l840) when the work was con tinued in the Chamberlain plant only. The art value of the product soon fell off. Under Kerr and Binns the later factory produced, us the 19th century, very fine work. *Chamber lains' started the lovely, translucent "Regent* body in their finest pieces, but it was very costly and unprofitable. Chamberlain ware so closely resembles the Flight and Barr product that they are hard to sometimes differentiate. Both did spiral-fluted table services. 'Japan' style was used by Chamberlains for many years. Marks were "Chamberlain's' or °Gum berlain's Worcester,' also "Chamberlains Wor cester.' The crown appears on "Regent Paste' pieces and over some Flight firms' names. The factory is still running as the Royal Worcester Works.
Grainger nephew of Hum phrey Chamberlain, a porcelain painter in the Worcester works, named Thomas Grainger. opened (about 1801) an independent factory with a partner in the firm name of Grainger and Wood. In 1812 the firm became Grainger. Lee and Company, then G. Grainger and Com pany in 1839. Their chief product was services, and excellently painted views in panels with handsome gilding appear on extant pieces. Among other marks are "George Grainger. Royal China Works' "Grainger, Lee and Co.' the last mark being "G. & Co." in a shield with three manias in a canton.
Binns, W. M., 'The First Century of English Porcelain' (London 1906): Burton, W., 'A History and Description cf English Porcelain' (London 1902); Chunk A. H., 'English Porcelain made during she Eighteenth Century' (London 1904); Hobson. R. L., 'Worcester Porcelain' (London 1910); Jewitt LI., 'The Ceramic Art of Great Britain' (London 1883); Nightingale, J. E., tion towards the History of Early English Porcelain' (Salisbury 1881); Solon, M. L. 'Brief History of Old English Porcelain' (Lon don 1903).