W.T. COPELAND & SONS Stoke on Trent Pitcher & Bowl wash

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This is a great pitcher and bowl set, Blue and White transfer. W. T. Copeland & Sons Stoke on Trent England. This 19th century pitcher and bowl came with other pcs of the set from the estate I am selling off. This pitcher is 10 1/2 high at the tallest point. The bowl is 5 1/2 inches deep and 12 1/2 inches across. As all the pcs. in this partial set not a chip, crack, or repair. The best of condition that I have seen. This set will ship for $20.00 All the world loves Spode. It was so in the beginning when, in the mid-eighteenth century old Josiah Spode the First started to make his fine bone china and with it to create ceramic history, It is so today, for t has been a remarkable revival of interest, during the last decade, in the superb wares for which he and his successors were responsible. Josiah Spode, it will be remembered, was an apprentice of Whieldon in 1749. Under the great Master Potter both Spode and Josiah Wedgwood received the same careful training side by side. It is indeed instructive to note, in the history of these two great potters, how divergent was the evolution of their respective talents. They were, however, alike in exerting a powerful influence upon the subsequent development of English ceramics. While Wedgwood showed the world what marvellous gems of art could be created in the highest qualities of pottery, Spode did likewise in the realms of porcelain. To translate the oft quoted words of Brogniart, (the one-time Director of Sevres), 'Spode made a porcelain much superior to any that had been made in England up to that time. He attempted to equal the ancient porcelain of Sevres and the resemblance is very close. He introduced, or at least perfected, the employment of calcined bone in the body of his paste.' T, in a nut-shell, we have the sum of his great achievement - as far as his paste was concerned. But he was far more than just a specialist in technique. He had a fine sense of form and a talent for good design, like his old master Whieldon. Thus his productions during close upon fifty years ere he died in I797, were produced during, and helped to create, the finest period of English ceramics (speaking now without account being taken of the present time). It was a memorable event, even for Spode, when John Turner, of whom we have spoken elsew, came into his life in 1962, when Spode was 29 years old. They both worked with Turner and Banks of Stoke in the works which occupied the very site on which the Copeland factory stands today. But in that same year (1762) Turner left and Spode took his place as manager, continuing in that capacity for eight years; until, in 1770, he took over the works on mortgage, becoming sole proprietor and complete owner in 1776. As his own master Spode soon showed his ability. He evolved a cream-coloured ware decorated with simple designs in enamel colours which was a triumph. But a greater one followed when, seeking to discover a new technique of under-glaze decoration, and to some extent inspired by Worcester's fine blue and white, he eventually brought to perfection (in 1785) his own solution by producing his now famous under-glaze blue transfer printing which, applied to his table wares immediately commanded admiration, success and emulation. His next achievement was the technique of over-glaze painting imposed on. under-glaze outlines in transfer printing. These great improvements in decoration technique had immediate repercussions throughout the pottery industry. But these achievements apart, we must remember that the eulogy of Brogniart was in relation to Spode's porcelain. Perhaps from the time when he was only Manager, Spode had been experimenting in the hope of discovering a method of improving the hardness, durability and appearance of the old soft paste wares and, as a result of dogged persistence he eventually succeeded by perfecting a body in which the new ingredient was calcined bone ash. Thus was Bone China introduced to the world with far reaching... read more

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