​A historical, early blue and white pottery timeline for willow collectors, based on her presentation at the 1994 IWC Convention in Hyannis, MA.

​

By Rita E. Cohen

​

​

​

1650

Tea introduced into England.

​​

1658

First recorded advertisement for tea appears in "Mercurius Politicus" stating "that excellent and by all physicians approved, China drink, called by the Chinese Tcha, by other nations Tay alias Tee, is sold at the Sultan's Head, a Cophee-house in Sweetings Rents by the Royal Exchange, London."

 

1720s

Two million pieces Chinese Export porcelain imported into Britain this year alone --- it was CHINAMANIA!

 

1740s

British discover how to make artificial porcelain translucent, a good medium for Chinese style designs (chinoiserie)

 

1740

Ralph Daniel returns from France and introduces plaster of Paris as a mould material. Easier than previously used alabaster and fired earthenware for reproducing working moulds in quantity

 

1740s-1800

Creamware being produced. Rarely marked before 1760.

 

1743

Enoch Booth credited with developing liquid glaze.

 

1747

William Cookworthy discovers china clay (kaolin) and china stone in Cornwall (necessary for making hard paste).

 

1748

179,564 pounds of cobalt in the form of smalts imported to England from Germany.

 

1749-1754

Josiah Spode I hired by Thomas Whieldon.

 

1751

First patent application for transfer printing made by Irish engraver John Brooks. He was associated with Battersea as was Robert Hancock.

 

1753

Transfer printing on enamels introduced at Battersea using the same technique later used on porcelain and pottery.

 

1754

286,739 pounds of cobalt imported to England.

 

1754-1759

Josiah Wedgwood in partnership with Thomas Whieldon. He does extensive experiments for improving cream colored body.

 

1756

Patent application for transfer printing of ceramics by Sadler and Green (in Liverpool) - printing on top of the glaze.

 

1756

Transfer print engraver Robert Hancock moves to Worcester.

 

1757-1758

Underglaze blue painted and printed designs on Worcester porcelain. Chinese porcelain still cheaper than English wares.

 

1760s

Thomas Turner apprenticed to Worcester Porcelain Company where he learned the art of engraving on copper plate for the transferring of the design on to porcelain.

 

1761

Wedgwood's creamware body now perfected. Creamware table wares introduced.

 

1764

Nicholas Crisp awarded prize for finding cobalt in Cornwall, but a great deal still imported from Saxony and later Scandinavia.

 

1765

Creamware now being called "Queens Ware" because of a creamware tea service ordered by Queen Charlotte.

​

1768

Willian Cookworthy of Plymouth patents a formula for hard paste or true porcelain using only china clay and china (Cornish) stone. Patent was assigned to Richard Champion for 14 years.

 

1769-1780

Wedgwood and Bently partnership.

 

1769

Opening of Josiah Wedgwood's model pottery called Etruria.

 

1769

Demand from consumers for a whiter bodied earthenware looking more like Chinese porcelain than creamware when decorated with underglaze blue.

 

1770s

Term “china glaze” appears-what we now refer to as pearlware.

 

1772

First furnace in the Potteries for extracting blue set up by Roger Kinnaston. A better technology for refining cobalt.

 

1772 (?)

Thomas Turner leaves Worcester to establish his own company at Caughley. Two-thirds of Caughley porcelain decorated by engraving, thus enabling him to undersell similar products from Worcester.

 

1772

Wedgwood writes Bently about developing a white ware "better than his neighbors." This is now taken to mean that there was already an earthenware on the market considerably different than creamware.

 

1772

Josiah Spode I in partnership with Thomas Mountford, strictly a means of obtaining funds for conducting a business.

 

1772

Miles Mason starts potting in Liverpool.

 

1773

Wedgwood's showroom opens in London. Bentley located in London.

 

1773

Duty on tea imported to England 64%.

 

1773

Boston Tea Party

 

1775

Wedgwood and John Turner travel to Cornwall and establish a clay mining company that supplied kaolin to the Staffordshire potteries.

 

1775

Relaxation of patent (monopoly) for use of Cornish stone and china clay. The right to use Cornish clays and other materials now available to other potters for non-translucent wares only.

 

1775

First known references to new Caughley "Salopian" porcelain.

 

1775-1783

American Revolution

 

1775

"Tidmarsh Jug" - pearlware underglaze blue painted in chinoiserie style. Date is also under the glaze, therefore not retrospective.

 

1776

Josiah Spode I buys the premises he had previously only rented.

 

1776

Wedgwood still experimenting with a whiter ware but resists marketing it. Bently, in Wedgwood’s London showroom is receiving pressure from customers for white ware. He does not want to lose their share of the market.

 

1777

Exports expanded due to completion of Grand Trunk Canal linking potters in Staffordshire to the River Mersey and Port of Liverpool in the West and the River Trent and Hull in the East.

 

1778

Josiah Spode II becomes a freeman of the City of London enabling him to enter the retail trade. He establishes himself at 29 Fore Street, Cripplegate. This was a separate business from that of his father in Stoke.

 

1779

Act of parliament passed to prohibit smuggling of tea.

 

1779

Josiah Wedgood introduces his "Pearl White" insisting that it is a change rather an improvement over his creamware, which he personally preferred.

 

1780

Thomas Turner of Caughley producing Willow TYPE patterns ONLY. Thomas Minton was an apprentice engraver at this time. Patterns called Willow Nankin, Temple (also called Brosley Nankin and Pagoda), Striped Temple, Pagoda, Fence, Fenced Garden, Full Nankin, Conversation, Uninhibited Pagoda, Cottage, and Bandstand.

 

1780s

Increased demand for Chines style from the now affluent middle and professional classes.

 

1783

Use of oil to bind color to the biscuit ware perfected.

 

1783

James Richards and Thomas Lucas, engravers, leave the service of Thomas Turner at Caughley and engage with the Staffordshire manufactory of Josiah Spode I.

 

1784

119% duty on tea imported to England. 5 million pounds imported but 7 million pounds smuggled in.

 

1784

Commutation Act introduced by Pitt reducing tax on tea from 119% to 12 1/2%. Tea drinking increased (15 million pounds) creating a greater demand for ceramic tea wares. Increased consumption of tea may have helped to reduce the death rate due to decline in drinking cheap gin. Tea drinking became a formidable rival to alcohol for all classes.

 

1784

Increased tax on silver. Duty could represent 25% of a piece – now much cheaper to buy earthenware teapot than a silver one.

 

1784

Perfection of transfer printing process by Spode for use under the glaze on pottery. Spode capitalizes on popularity of Chinese Export blue painted pieces. Realizes that a vast market exists for exact copies and  fanciful one, i.e. Willow (Standard).

 

1784

Two Figures I pattern produced by Spode I. Very dark blue (ono tone) and all line engraved.

 

1784

Mass production now possible using transfer printing process. Pearlware body discovered to be excellent for blue underglaze transfer printing.

​

1784

February 22, the first American ship the "Empress of China" leaves New York for Canton, thus beginning the American China Trade.

 

1787

Eight potters and one enameler are listed in the Staffordshire directory as making china glaze in addition to cream colored ware.

 

1788 or 1789

Thomas Minton, engraver, opens his business in Staffordshire selling his engraved plates. One of his chief customers is Josiah Spode I. He had previously had his own engraving business in London.

 

1789

French Revolution

 

1790

Spode's Willow I appears. All line engraved. Dark blue but bright and clear. Spode's Willow II soon follows – all line engraved but finer quality and the tone of blue softer.

 

1791

Imports of China ware by the Honorable East India Company greatly reduced. They had been losing money on China wares due to illegal auction rings. By 1799 none left for sale.

 

1793-1815

War against France and her allies almost continuous.

 

1793

John Davenport establishes pottery at Longport (Burslem).

 

1793-1797

War with French Republic and Dutch.

 

1795

Newcastle branch of Trent and Mergey Canal is built to pass alongside Spode’s manufactory.

 

1795

Josiah Wedgwood dies. No underglaze blue printed wares produced by factory until after his death.

 

1796

Josiah Spode II moves to more fashionable area-Portugal Street, Lincoln's Inn. Sold wares besides Spode Including glass and porcelain giving him first. hand knowledge of market demand which would serve him well when he took over his father’s business in Stoke. 

 

1796

Thomas Minton's pottery at Stoke-on-Trent opens with production of earthenwares.

 

1797

Further increase of duty on silver and decline of imports of porcelain from China led to a demand for reasonably priced English wares.

 

1797

Thomas Minton begins making porcelain as well as earthenware.

 

1797

William Adams builds a paper mill on land at Cheddon called Butcher's Meadow. Supply now available locally.

 

1797

On August 18, Josiah Spode I dies. Josiah Spode II returns to Stoke with knowledge of London market for earthenware, porcelain and glass. Glass was never attempted but porcelain was, as it did not compete with earthenware and its introduction would not endanger earthenware sales.

 

1799

By the end of the 18th century English blue and white transfer printed porcelain and earthenware had begun to arrive in the USA.

 

1799

Bone China perfected by Spode.

 

1799

Josiah Spode II, Thomas Wolfe and others lease china clay and china stone pits in Cornwall.

 

1799

Thomas Turner (Caughley) sells his leases to Coalport Porcelain Manufactory - John Rose, Edward Blakeway and Richard Rose. By 1803 they declared bankruptcy.

 

1800

In January, John Turner takes out a patent for a new "stone china" type body.

 

1800

Spode introduces underglaze blue prints on bone china.

 

1800

Miles Mason moves to Staffordshire.

 

1800

John Turner and Willian Turner introduce "Turner's Patent" body, a hybrid porcelain cum stone china ware. The first of the stone chinas.

 

1800

Creamware popularity decreases sharply as popularity of china glaze/pearlware increases.

 

1802

China Glaze (pearlware) was the most common type of pottery being produced in Staffordshire.

 

1805

Spode II begins printing patterns other than Willow and its many chinoiserie variants.

 

1806

Napoleon's Berlin Decree attempts to destroy England's foreign trade. In Europe only Russia was open to British exports.

 

1806

John Turner of Lane's End goes bankrupt.

 

1806

George IV, while Prince of Wales, visits Spode Pottery and Porcelain Works. Spode II appointed "Potter to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales."

 

1807

Articles from John Turner's bankrupt business auctioned off. Spode II purchases right to the "Turner Patent" body.

 

1810

By this time, Pearlware is America's dominant tableware. A terminal date is difficult. Pearlware was replaced by a white body with clear glaze, stone and opaque china.

 

1810

Spode's Willow III was produced. Uses extensive stipple work and varying depth of engraved lines to add dimension. 

 

1812-1814

War of 1812

 

1813

Introduction of Spode Stone China in imitation of Chinese porcelain and oriental inspired designs in under glaze blue printed patterns are created for its decoration.

​

1813

Introduction of Mason's Patent Ironstone China.

 

1814

Willow is found in potter's records listed as a generic term. When listed on orders for china it is listed as a separate entity from other blue transfer printed wares.

 

1815

All English porcelains are now almost exclusively bone china (45-50% bone ash).

 

1815

End of Napoleonic War.

 

1818

Wedgwood produces its first printed Willow.

 

1820

Sixteen engraving establishments listed in Staffordshire directory.

 

1821

Spode II appointed Potter to HM George IV.

 

1822

Spode II introduces Felspar porcelain.

 

1822

New formulation of stone china marketed as Spode's New Stone. Both oriental and floral designs used.

 

1824

A surviving order for china states “It must be Blue Willow in any pattern.”

 

1827

Josiah Spode II dies.

 

1828

Twenty-eight engraving establishments in Staffordshire.

 

1828

50,000 people directly and indirectly obtaining their livelihood from the Staffordshire pottery industry.

 

1829

Simeon Shaw publishes "History of the Staffordshire Potteries."

 

1833

Copeland purchases the Spode half-share of the London business and the manufactory complete. Copeland & Garrett take over the works and firm ceases to trade as Spode.

 

1835

Copeland & Garrett become sole suppliers to the Hudson Bay Company for earthenware - lasted until 1872.

 

1850's 

Manufacturers adopting term "ironstone" to describe what was only mediocre quality earthenware with none of the special attributes claimed for Mason's original formula.

 

1883

L. Jewitt writes "The Ceramic Directory of Great Britain."