Famous Potters of Stoke-on-Trent
Famous Potters of Stoke-on-Trent
Other
relevant links
Bibliography
| Josiah Spode II | |
|
|
While
his father (Josiah Spode I) ran and developed the
pottery works in Stoke Josiah Spode II trained
as a potter and ran the firm's warehouse in London.
Spode II led the development of bone china, which became the standard English porcelain body from about 1800 onwards. |
Josiah
Spode II, 1754–1827, took over the pottery factory from his father in
1797. He is credited with having introduced feldspar into Spode ware and for
producing pottery of a high technical excellence.
Under
his direction the blue and white ware was noted for the novelty of its designs;
these included genre scenes of an exotic character, such as tiger hunting in
India.
The inclusion of bone ash in
porcelain had long been known to have a stabilizing effect during firing: small
proportions had been used at Bow as early as 1748 and subsequently at many
factories both in England and on the Continent. True bone china was produced by
mixing as much as 50 per cent bone ash to the china clay and china stone
porcelain mixture. The first porcelain of this type may have been produced by James
Neale of Hanley in the 1780s,
but Josiah Spode II developed and marketed bone china with outstanding success.
The lead-glazed body was not only fine, white, and translucent, but also cheap
to produce and eminently attractive to the buying public. Within a few years,
the majority of porcelain manufacturers were following his lead in making bone
china.
| Spode remained at the forefront of bone china and stone china production until 1833, when the factory was acquired by William Taylor Copeland and Thomas Garrett: it remained under their names until 1847, when Copeland became the sole owner. |
Josiah Spode I
Spode
ware
Spode's
pottery in Stoke - pictures
Identifying
marks on Spode ware
Identifying
marks on Copeland & Garrett ware
Spode's own Internet site: www.spode.co.uk
John Bedford, Old Spode China (1969);
L. R. Whiter, Spode:
A History of the Family, Factory and Wares from 1733 to 1833 (1970).
questions / comments? email: Steve Birks