Printed Underglaze Earthenware

Defining Attributes

The technique of transferring printed patterns to be fired under the glaze was first developed on English porcelain. According to Simeon Shaw’s 1829 History of the Staffordshire Potteries, underglaze printing began in Staffordshire around 1783 (Shaw 1829:214). Transfer printing revolutionized the Staffordshire ceramic industry.

This process, which used tissue paper to transfer a design from an engraved and inked copper plate to a ceramic vessel, allowed potters to quickly apply complex decoration to pottery. Printed wares remained popular until around the mid-nineteenth century, when they gave way to undecorated or minimally decorated white earthenwares and white granite wares (white ironstones) for a time. Beginning around 1870, printed wares enjoyed a brief revival that lasted until the use of decals became popular in the early 1900s (Majweski and O’Brien 1986:145, 147).

Chronology

While some potteries identified their wares using printed or impressed marks that often included the manufacturer's trademark as well as the pattern name, the vast majority of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century printed pottery was unmarked. Thus, identifying and dating printed earthenware sherds has always been problematic for archaeologists. Analysis of more than 3,000 marked and tightly datable Staffordshire printed vessels has made it possible to see time trends in the production of different decorative motifs and colors (Samford 1997). Motifs and colors generally had a 15- to 20-year range of peak production, allowing likely manufacturing dates to be assigned to unmarked or fragmented printed earthenware.

To arrive at the date ranges presented below, data was collected on marked pieces with known manufacturing ranges of less than 40 years. The beginning and end production dates, or mark dates, were listed for each vessel (Godden 1964). The sum of all beginning production dates in each identification criteria category was totaled and divided by the number of examples to arrive at a mean beginning date. The same was done with the end production dates, thus providing a date span for a period of peak production. Also shown in each table are the inclusive ranges of production for each category, based on the earliest beginning and latest ending dates for marks.

There are four main categories with dating implications – central motifs, border or marly designs, color, and other printing techniques. Each of these links below provides dating information for each category.

Central Motifs

Central design motifs have been divided into twelve sub-categories, corresponding to nineteenth-century decorative trends. Analysis shows distinct differences in the periods of peak production for most of these stylistic motifs. These categories and date ranges are taken from Samford (1997).

DATE RANGES FOR CENTRAL DESIGNS

Chinese - The advent of printed underglaze designs on earthenware made production of the complex landscapes and geometric borders like those found on Chinese porcelain more cost-efficient for potteries to produce and more affordable for the consumer. The earliest printed earthenware designs were copied directly from Chinese porcelain motifs, such as the "Buffalo" and "Broseley" patterns. The most enduring Chinese-style pattern was "Blue Willow," first introduced around 1790 by Josiah Spode and made by numerous potters into the present day. Chinese-style designs include pagodas, boats called junks, weeping willow and orange trees, and figures in Chinese garb. These motifs dominated printed designs from the introduction of underglaze printing in Staffordshire in the 1780s until 1814, with peak production between 1790 and 1814. Click here to view examples.

Chinoiserie - This motif consists of Chinese designs that contain elements such as figures in Western dress and Western architectural features. The term "chinoiserie" is used to designate styles based on European interpretations of oriental designs. Chinoiserie designs were most commonly produced between 1816 and 1836. Click here to view examples.

British and American Views - From about 1815 to 1840, potters produced a number of designs depicting English and American cities, colleges, and country homes. These patterns were commonly copied from published prints and travel accounts; many patterns have been traced to their print sources in Larsen (1975) and Coysh and Henrywood (1982, 1989). These designs prominently display building or landscape features with attention to specific detail, indicating that they were based on real structures. Many Staffordshire potters appealed specifically to the American market by creating views depicting American landmarks, including churches, hotels and resorts, government buildings and homes, city vistas, and natural wonders. These patterns were first produced following the end of the War of 1812, after the re-establishment of trade with the United States, and showed a rapid increase in production, peaking in 1831. British and American views ceased production with the passage of the Copyright Act of 1842, which made it illegal for potters to copy published prints. Click here to view examples.

Exotic Views - British colonization of India and other foreign countries sparked interest in places outside Great Britain. The Exotic Views category encompasses all designs that contain motifs of foreign architecture, ruins, and non-native animals such as elephants or tigers. These scenes were either based on published engravings of actual places, as was common before 1842, or they were more fanciful, romantic interpretations of exotic places. Peak production was between 1820 and 1842. Coysh and Henrywood (1982, 1989) and others have identified the sources of these prints, providing a terminus post quem for the earliest date that different patterns in this category could have appeared on Staffordshire wares. Click here to view examples.

Pastoral - These patterns show rural-based scenes with a focus on farm animals or people working. Pastoral scenes were produced largely between 1819 and 1836. Click here to view examples.

Classical - Classically-inspired motifs on English earthenware enjoyed a brief period of popularity between 1827 and 1847. Classical motifs feature columned temples, ruins, urns, draped figures, and acanthus leaves. The taste for classical furnishings had begun to wane by the 1840s, replaced in popularity by Gothic Revival themes. Click here to view examples.

Romantic - Stressing emotion and intuition over tradition and reason, the Romantic Movement arose in the nineteenth century in opposition to the Greek Revival and in response to increasing industrialization. Ceramics printed with Romantic-style motifs generally depicted bucolic scenes containing several elements: in the background were one or more stylized buildings, whose fanciful nature or lack of distinguishing architectural detail indicated they were not representations of actual buildings; the mid-ground usually had a water source such as a river or lake; the foreground contained small human figures or animals, generally placed there to provide a sense of scale. Although they remained popular throughout the nineteenth century, Romantic views were at their peak circa 1831-1851.
Click here to view examples.

Gothic Revival - Gothic Revival patterns on Staffordshire earthenware are characterized by depictions of church and other building ruins, and structures with architectural details including arches, turrets, towers, bastions, and crenellated walls. These designs were most commonly produced between 1841 and 1852; in the United States, the style's popularity continued to the outbreak of the Civil War. Click here to view examples.

Floral - Floral motifs were popular subjects for potters throughout the nineteenth century, but some time differences are apparent. The most commonly produced designs had a central floral motif, generally accented with a floral printed marly. The peak years of production for central floral patterns were 1833 to 1849. Click here to view examples.

Sheet Patterns - Another type of floral design was printed as sheet patterns. These patterns, with repeating designs and no borders, were like wallpaper. Because the design had no distinct beginning or end points, they could be applied to the ceramic vessel without considering the pattern orientation. These designs were most commonly produced between 1826 and 1842. Click here to view examples.

Aesthetic Period - The Aesthetic Movement of the late Victorian period ascribed to the view that the Arts should provide refined sensuous pleasure. Influenced by the opening of trade with Japan by the West in the mid-nineteenth century, Aesthetic period designs often display Japanese-style designs, although Arabic and Middle Eastern inspired motifs were also produced. Typical Aesthetic Period ceramic motifs, common in the 1870s and 1880s, include fans, half circles or picture frames filled with decorative patterns or scenes, prunus blossoms, bamboo, and birds and butterflies arranged in asymmetrical, collage-like effects. Many of the Aesthetic period-inspired earthenwares are printed in brown, black, red, or green on ivory-dyed ceramic bodies. Click here to view examples.

Border or Marly Designs

Many printed vessels contain a border pattern that frames the central design motif. These border designs fall within several broad categories that are datable within spans of 15 to 20 years. These border categories are discussed below:

DATE RANGES FOR BORDERS

Continuation of Main Scene – This treatment, in which there is no separate border motif, is relatively uncommon. The primary design motif continues to the edge of the vessel. This treatment is found on plates, dishes, and other flat vessels. The lack of a separate border treatment is most commonly found on vessels produced between 1815 and 1837, a period that also corresponds with the production of American, British, and Exotic Views. Click here to view examples.

Continuous Repeating Designs – Vessels with Continuous Repeating Designs have repeating motifs whose patterns run unbroken around the marly on flat wares or below the rim on hollowware. These borders fall within four primary categories: geometric, floral, other and linear. Click here to view examples.

Non-continuous Repeating Designs – Motifs are broken by unprinted white areas or areas with a light or airy background pattern. Designs are found on marlys of flat wares and below the rim on hollowwares. Floral non-continuous designs were most commonly produced between 1820 and 1843. Click here to view examples.

Vignettes – These designs feature small oblong or oval cartouches surrounding a variety of floral, object, or scenic motifs. Click here to view examples.

Colors

Like design motifs, colors used on printed earthenware are useful in estimating the dates of production. Underglaze printed vessels produced from the 1780s through the 1820s were primarily blue, since cobalt was the only coloring agent at that time that could withstand the high heat of the glazing oven without blurring the designs or causing problems with the glaze as they burned off. As technology improved and glazes became clearer, other colors were successfully developed. Black appears to have been among the first viable colors other than blue, but it was followed by various shades of brown, purple, green, red, and lavender. Brown was used in printing prior to 1829, but it became more common in the 1830s. Printing in two or more colors was introduced around 1835. Generally, the central design of a vessel would be depicted in one color, and the border in a contrasting color. The most common color combination was red and green. Click here to view examples.

Some printed wares display a type of polychrome decoration known as clobbering - colored enamels (pinks, greens, yellows, reds) hand-applied as highlights over the final lead glazing. Clobbering is generally restricted to small areas along the rim or marley of the vessel; it is quite distinct from the technique of printing a design with larger areas intended to be filled with enamels, practiced later in the century. This type of decorative technique occurs most commonly on vessels manufactured after 1840. Click here to view examples.

DATE RANGES FOR COLORS

Engraving technology, field dots, negative printing, and flow colors are other printing techniques that have dating applications.

Engraving Technology - For the first several decades of underglaze printing, the coarse quality of the tissue paper used to transfer inked designs to the pottery meant that engraving of the copper plates had to be rendered in thick lines to enable the paper to absorb ink. The resulting finished wares had little or no ability to shade patterns to give them different levels of intensity. With the 1803 invention of a machine that produced finer tissue paper, engravers began using a combination of line and stipple (a series of small dots of varying levels of concentration) engraving. This combination of techniques allowed fine tone gradations in color and made it possible to suggest foreground and background and give the view a sense of depth. Motifs produced using simple line engravings showed a peak production range of 1797 to 1812, but because the earlier wares rarely had maker’s marks, the mean beginning date is probably more like 1790. The use of a combination of line and stipple engraving continued throughout the remaining period of printed ware production. Click here to view examples.

Field Dots - These vessels have tightly clustered small circles that create a negative pattern. The centers of the circles are left white. Field dots are generally seen on British and American Views and show a peak production between 1816 and 1841. These patterns are sometimes referred to as “Old Blue” or “Dark Blue”. Click here to view examples.

Negative Printing - These vessels have been printed “in reverse” to typical vessels, and the technique is generally seen in blue printed wares. For example, the background of the vessel will be blue and the design elements appear in white. The period of peak production for these wares falls between 1821 and 1840. Click here to view examples.

Flow Colors - Staffordshire potters introduced a new process using flowing colors for decorating printed and painted ceramics. The earliest known reference for flow wares in North America dates to 1844 (Collard 1967:118; Miller 1991:9). Volatizing chemicals placed in the kiln during the glaze firing caused painted and printed colors to flow beyond the original engraved pattern lines, producing a halo-like effect. Stylistic motifs typical on flow wares included Chinoiserie, Floral, and Romantic designs. Blue was the most common color used with the flow process, although vessels were also printed in purple (mulberry), brown, black, and green (Collard 1967:118). The table below provides dates ranges for different motifs. Click here to view examples.

Description

Fabric
Printed decoration is found on refined white earthenwares. Refined white earthenwares have a hard, somewhat porous body, and thin walls. Crushed, finely-ground burned flint, feldspar, and occasionally kaolin were added to the clay to produce a white body (Kybalová 1989:13).

Ware Type
Archaeologists have traditionally used the terms pearlware and whiteware to describe ceramic vessels decorated with printed motifs, but these terms are problematic. For a discussion of the evolution of creamware, pearlware, and whiteware, click here.

Glaze
Printed earthenwares most commonly have a clear lead glaze.

Form
Printing was used as a decorative technique on a full range of vessel forms, from table wares and tea wares to toilet wares. Printed decoration was confined to only one side of flat vessels, such as plates, dishes and saucers, and hollow vessels with constricted necks, like jugs and teapots. Hollow vessels, such as bowls and tea cups, are printed on the vessel exterior and often contain varying amounts of decoration inside the vessel as well, particularly along the interior rim and base.

References

Collard, Elizabeth
1967   Nineteenth-Century Pottery and Porcelain in Canada. McGill University Press, Montreal, PQ.

Coysh, A. William and Richard K. Henrywood
1982   A Dictionary of Blue and White Printed Pottery, 1780-1880, Volume I. Baron, Suffolk.

1989   A Dictionary of Blue and White Printed Pottery, 1780-1880, Volume II. Antique Collectors Club,
           Woodbridge, Suffolk.

Godden, Geoffrey A.
1964   Encyclopaedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks. Barrie & Jenkins, London

Kybalová
1989   European Creamware. The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, London.

Larsen, Ellouise Baker
1975   American Historical Views on Staffordshire China. Reprint of 1950 edition. Doubleday, New York.

Majewski, Teresita and Michael J. O’Brien
1987   The Use and Misuse of Nineteenth-Century English and American Ceramics in Archaeological Analysis.
           In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory 11:97-207. Michael B. Schiffer, editor. Serial
           Publication Series. Academic Press, New York.

Mason, Veneita
1982   Popular Patterns of Flow Blue China with Prices. Wallace-Homestead, Des Moines, IA.

Miller, George L.
1991   A Revised Set of CC Index Values for Classification and Economic Scaling of English Ceramics from 1787
           to 1880. Historical Archaeology, 25(1):1-15.

Miller, George L. and Robert H. Hunter Jr.
2001   How Creamware Got The Blues. Ceramics in America, 135-161.

Samford, Patricia
1997   Response to a Market: Dating English Underglaze Transfer-Printed Wares. Historical Archaeology,
           31(2):1-30.

Shaw, Simeon
1829   History of the Staffordshire Potteries and the Rise and Progress of the Manufacture of Pottery and
           Porcelain; with Reference to Genuine Specimens and Notices of Eminent Potters. Reprinted by
           Beatrice C. Weinstock, Great Neck, New York, 1968.