The Case of the Pilfered Picnic: A 15-Minute Broderick Mystery (15-Minute Books Book 104)

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But during the s fashionable porcelain had changed considerably, largely due to the decline of rococo styles and increasing vogue for neoclassicism. In theory, the latt , er could only be imported prior to by private individuals bringing in china for their own use or as gifts. However, great numbers of clandestine pieces were readily available in London; Christie's auctions of the early s included 'S6ve, Chantilly, Toumay, and Saxon' porcelains. Duties on French porcelain were high and extremely complicated to calculate, making English china comparatively inexpensive, but increasing the prestige of the former.

Smuggling continued, and soon London dealers had added sales of 'Frankendahl and Nyphenbourg' to their stocks. It is particularly difficult to assess the comparative perception in Britain of fine English-made porcelain, compared with that of France or Saxony. Advertisements stressed the continued improvements and made favourable comparisons with foreign china? In the s Duesbury entitled his works the 6 second Dresden'; by his Chelsea-Derby wares were compared in 'state of perfection equal to that of the French'.

Valpy 'Extracts from eighteenth century newspapers', in ECC Trans, vol 11, pt 2 ; vol II pt 3 ; vol 12, pt 2 ; vol 14, pt2 1. Quoted from the pre-amble to Christie's sale catalogues April , and May 17, The r6le of such porcelains as diplomatic gifts was of prime importance. Although no British china works gained similar royal or aristocratic financial support, the giving of fine porcelain was respected and frequently adopted in this country, too.

In the Queen had purchased a Chelsea service to give to her brother in Mechlenburg-Strelitz. Much Derby porcelain was probably bought with such intention, although motives for purchasing are rarely recorded. Marriage, or recent succession to a title, provided a stimulus to a whole range of luxury trades, as households appropriate to newly acquired status were established.

In the royal parents gave their newly titled son, the Duke of Clarence, a guinea Worcester dessert. The House of Lords was augmented considerably from the s, notably with the creation of British titles for Scots and Irish peers, and the Derby factory benefited from this, along with the increasing vogue for coats of arms on goods, obliging Lygo to look for an up-to-date 'pearage' with dates of title creation and crests. An appraisal of the dynamics of such change follows, with an assessment of whether the Derby factory, or any other, coped and adapted to these new demands.

This had boosted the production of ceramic tablewares, but also stimulated the fondeurs- ciseleurs making ornaments in bronze or ormolu. In England 4 Lygo, Oct. Lygo March 5 and 12,; Jan 4,; Sept-4,; March, 17 Young, English Porcelain, Its Makers Design, Marketing andConsumplion , pl The wealthy could buy genuine antiquities, or traditional luxury pieces of gout grec in the manner of the French Court, but they could also purchase modem alternative manufactured goods like those of more moderate means.

Notable to the English contribution of alternative omaments were Boulton's ormolu and Blue John vases and obelisks, and Wedgwood's vases and plaques. Derbyshire spars and alabasters were advertised for sale at Duesbury's London showroom from c. The supplier, Richard Brown, had his lapidary works next to Duesbury's Derby mill, and produced wares of similar style and quality to Boulton. At that time a variety of newly introduced Derby vases had fetched high prices; although these were still selling ten to twenty years later, they only cost a quarter of the original price.

Somers Cox, 'The non-functional use of ceramics in the English country house during the eighteenth century', in The Fashioning ofthe British Country House , pp , and Young, ibid, p He was apprenticed c. Twitchett, Derby Porcelain , p I Os, by late it had to be bought-in at I guinea. Richly decorated 'Cupid and Dolphin' vases, designed after Saly, fetched a little under L20 in , by the s they were being sold in biscuit; Lord Dover bought one March 9, for L5.

Nevertheless some significant decorative Derby vases continued to be purchased in the later s, alongside cheaper flower pots and vases, although the latter appear to have been in competition with Dresden pieces. One of the most expensive single items of Duesbury II porcelain sold was 'a large fountain group in bisc. The piece had been provided with its own mahogany stand and glass shade, 14 Lygo, Aug. Farrer, ed, Correspondence ofJosiah Wedgwood , vol 2, p84, and Aug.

Fine vase purchases include: McCarty with a set of 3 richly decorated vases one '86' plus side vases costing L But pieces of this type were expensive to produce, and thus aimed at the luxury end of the market. Kean continued to use the ornamental moulds but does not appear to have added to the range. The permanent exhibition of teawares on a tea-table in the drawing room, dressing and bedrooms had ceased at Petworth House prior to , perhaps as such display had become universal.

By the later s the Derby showroom manager indicated that porcelain dejeuner trays, containing a tea set for one or two people, were on display in private quarters, protected, like some figures, under glass domes. Officially tea purchases rose between and to an average of E Any loss in govemmental revenue was to be made up by a tax on households with seven or more windows: Valpy, The Bemrose Papers: Documents ofthe Derby Porcelain Factory in the Dept.

Grand households may have 'saved' enough to fund an extensive order of new tea equipage or breakfast set; in the s the Earl of Stamford's Dunham Massey household ordered between 85 to 95 pounds of tea a year. Wedgwood basalt, once fashionable to show off a hostess's white hand had been banished from the London saleroom; technological problems with his paler dry-body teawares had been overcome, but by the Derby manager, Lygo, indicated that 'Jasper tea sets [were] very unsaleable'.

Further boosted by the cessation of the East India Company's monopoly in , tea consumption rose within six years from 30 million tons to 49 million. Teawares and Derby Porcelain Teawares, along with those for coffee and chocolate, were clearly one of the Derby factory's staple products, accounting for c. The London showroom had sold 32 teasets in the latter half of ; by for the comparable period this had risen to Although Duesbury I some twenty years earlier had briefly used a steatite body which would have produced heat- resistant wares akin to Worcester, he appears to have deliberately ceased its production, in preference for a soft-paste and glaze that had considerable aesthetic appeal.

For Derby's wealthy hostesses elegance reigned over practicality, a point highlighted by Lygo's request from London: Lygo to Egan in Bath. The majority of teawares bought from the Covent Garden showroom were set- patterns, rather than special commissions, but in a variety of new shapes and designs. Under the Kean regime 'very saleable new tea china' was introduced, and appears to have been marketed in half or full dozens at five to ten guineas per dozen.

Ceramics both functional and polite: BP vol 4, Egan's order Nov. BP vol 5, Oct. BP vol 4, Egan order Nov.

No customer reviews

Hamilton shape handless at L6. BP vol 4, letter added to Egan's order Nov. Forster, ibid, and R. Bayne-Powell, Travellers in the Eighteenth Century 1. Although an array of different sized dishes would have adequately presented the two, not dissimilar, courses laid out before guests in the 'French style', many pieces had very specific uses. Practical, yet elegant, ceramics were more slowly accepted in this r6le, compared to their use in tea, c6ffee or chocolate drinking.

This is an important distinction: However basic British foodstuffs, and our preference for the 'roast beef of old England', had hardly changed over the preceding centuries. Wooden and pewter plates continued to be used widely, while amongst the more fashionable wealthy, hard-paste oriental porcelains more obviously served this r6le from the second quarter of the eighteenth century. Soft-paste porcelains throughout much of the eighteenth century were highly impractical in this r6le: However, by the mids there was a clear shift away from crearnware by the fashionable dlite: The Queen had spent E25 on a table service with five dozen plates, decorated with blue Chantilly sprigs, when visiting 34 E.

Derby table service order for Mr. Middleton, March 8,, 'enamelled in fine blue and white': However precious metal tableware was also on the decline amongst the bon ton. The Margrave and Margravine of AnsPach's Derby table service was combined with silver, which made up the largest tureens and some of the dish covers. Lygo bought a tin kettle to 'season' test with hot water Derby teapots and tureens, but as a matter of practice had earlier cautioned 'the customers or the housekeepers to warm the table china well before the fire Although Boulton tried to break into this market he found that the French, as leaders of 'new modes of luxury and magnificence' believed 'China only or perhaps in some instances Glass: Thorpe, Derby Porcelain , pl Vickery, l Women and the World of Goods: Porter, eds, Consumption andthe World of Goods , p; Wedgwood had problems with glazed dry-bodied wares..

Various desserts could also be bought-in. These desserts, together with fashionable additions of ice pails, ice cups, bottle stands or cheese stands, form the greatest volume of Derby's private special commissions. Additional pieces added considerably to the basic price; thus the Earl of Shaftesbury's standard person dessert of E Charleston, English Porcelain, , p2l 46 B. Earl of Shaftesbury June 13,; also Sept 9, Hon, Mr Fitzherbert Dessert sets patternl 15' sold for L3 1. Significantly, table sets were also being bought in designs to match the dessert; Chelsea had made prestigious combined services in , and Wedgwood had recorded his contact with Catherine's Russian court, having 'just bought you the firs[t] go[od] Order for Double Services'.

Lord Vernon, who purchased a combined service in late , paid 8s. Shifting eating patterns and the rise ofsilver The gradual shift in eating patterns modified tableware requirements; as the eighteenth century progressed the main meal of the day originally served at noon to two o'clock became later. The gentlefolk of Lancashire dined at 4pm in the late s. By the close of the century, the fashionable dined at 5 pm; by dinner was at 6pm, becoming later over subsequent decades.

Feb 4,, Oct 28, Baxter's orders from the Russian Court, c. Davenport- Hines and I. By the Bloor period the Imari palette and designs are commonly advertised as appropriate to candlelight. Wedgwood had created printed-patterned 'dead game' tablewares for his 'country gentlemen [and] sportsmen' in the early s. By the close of the century 'masculine' hand-painted hunting scenes and dogs are depicted on Derby porcelain; by c. Perhaps not surprisingly this apparent change in emphasis occurred as the aristocracy and wealthy had moved on from porcelain tableware, following the Prince Regent's spectacular display of silver at his grand f8te at Carlton House in By silver was more widely used as a tableware in Britain than anywhere else in Europe; during his reign George IV commissioned nearly EI 12,worth of table silver.

France continued to use porcelain in this r6le. Such was the rarity of porcelain on the finest English dinner tables by that Lady Morgan recorded its use by Baron Rothschild: Consumption according to gender, soeial and product category Fine ceramic consumption and gender' Much of the stimulus to the trade in consumer goods has been credited to upper-class and middling women's growing interest in their r8les as fashionable hostesses, mothers or interior decorators. By Wedgwood displayed 'various table and dessert services Porcelain consumption sits astride the male-female r8les.

Porcelain teawares had by mid-century acquired the habit of nearly four generations of use; other than clothing, they appear to have been the only high-value status article provincial gentlewomen were allowed to buy: By mid-century porcelain had become 'a necessary appanage of lustre and prestige', bought by men to show off their wealth and good taste.

Despite the development of neoclassicism, and what would appear today as more 'masculine' alternative products, men continued to buy 'See appendix 2, and relevant inventories of consumption. McKendrick, 'Home demand and economic growth: McKendrick, ed, Historical Perspectives: Plumb , ppl He stresses the high numbers of titled ladies in the Wedgwood London accounts, and even higher percentage of women customers in the provinces. Farrer, ed, Correspondence ofJosiah Wedgwood , vol 1. Savage, eds, SelectedLetters ofJosiah Wedgwood , p30 32 status porcelain.

Some even 'replaced' silver with china tablewares; in the s the Whatmans of Kent happily added plate to the family collection, but the conspicuous consumer Sir John Stanley bought porcelain tableware, too. The dynamics of eighteenth-century expenditure on status or luxury goods are complex. The aristocratic classes connected cultural consumption and taste to political power.

Women, even amongst the dlite, were largely excluded from the purchase of status goods within the general realm of 'fine art' because they were believed to lack the intellectual capacity to make aesthetic judgements. Masculine cravings for show and extravagance, were to be moderated by feminine influences of virtuous and refined domestication! The adoption of porcelain 'second course' tablewares was clearly a male status decision, but their adoption by wealthy middling males might have been less enthusiastic.

Silver plate provided show, combined with financial security, while table porcelain was clearly a fragile luxury. One male 6The division between the 'fine' and 'agreeable' arts is far from clear within the context of expensive household goods outside the traditional gender roles. Clifford, 'A commerce with things: The women bought smaller individual items like teaware, snuff boxes or paste jewellery; but only 3 women bought entire teasets, or preciousjewels. Lippincott, Selling Art in Georgian London: Boulton and Fothergill's customers, pre, appear to have been similarly male dominated in the ratio 3: Mones, 'Croquettes and Grisettes: Kuchta 'The making of the self-made man', ibid, pp Products ofa Civilised Society , p Mathews compromised by choosing and approving the crest design on tableware, then bringing in his wife to choose the shapes.

Furthermore women with young children, although giving birth in town near to their physician , were forgoing the Season, and staying in the country. The Derby warehouse was not visited by laTge female groups, but by a number of couples, or two generations of the same family. By the mid- I s Lygo was largely dealing with a hierarchy of servants who managed the porcelain in the larger aristocratic or Royal households, and these were generally men.

These servants were clearly influential in approving the porcelain, although their employers had the final say. Something of the male and female divide common to eigbteenth-century luxury purchasing is apparent c. Elizabeth Shackleton, on an annual budget of around , and Susannah Whatman, whose paper-maker husband had an income of ; E6, a year, were both directly involved in cleaning porcelain. Burrell's housekeeper, July 31, Female servants are more closely associated with female clients: Vickery, 77ie Gentleman's Dtrughler , pl 49; C. Lygo's record of breakages of Derby tableware suggests it was not so much its loss that seems to have caused the private customers' complaints, but the disruption and unpleasantness 'below stairs'.

Repair or replacement was an accepted consequence of buying fashionable china and a further demand on household budgets; Duesbury's London showroom regularly provided such a service. Lord Wentworth's servant claimed a Derby ice pail was 'broke with his wiping', while a teapot was damaged with hot water; Sept.

Mr Craythorne's two china tureens , ppar ntly flew after twelve months' use. Ice pails, and their covers, in particular suffered in the Prince of Wales' household: Based on Day-books, 12 months, Feb. Customer lists are not completely accurate, for Lygo recorded cash sales rather sketchily, sometimes never knowing a purchaser's name, nor did he detail what had been bought. Men similarly are recorded under cash sales, but payments in excess of f 10 all appear to be credited to men. Some cash payments were also made by dealers.

However from the mids, as Duesbury shifted his marketing strategy towards the trade, private female custom grew, almost equalling the male by the close of the decade. Women were buying more teawares. However, it was rare for a woman to buy high value goods, with some 16J. In s Paris women marchande de mode were credited with particular powers of seduction in selling luxury goods, even overpriced ones, to both male and female customers. Warehouse Private Customers by Identifiable Types, no.

This fashion for decorating china seems to have lasted for about five years from the summer of , involving eleven or more different households on various scales: Princess Galetzen a Russian who also bought Wedgwood tea, coffeee, dejune wares and vases totalling L One lady had received enamels from Wedgwood but was unhappy with the results, Lygo Sept. Such accomplishments were common, see A.

Bermingham, 'Elegant females and gentlemen connoisseurs', in A. Brewer, eds, The Consumption of Culture: Image, Object and Text I , pp Lady Spencer had not approved of the Derby shapes, and had gone straight to Wedgwood's. The pail was allowed to be 1. Wedgwood provided dairy furniture to the Bishop of Chester, Countess of Bridgewater, and 'aunts of the King of France'. Holland wanted to know the initial cost of , with the same to follow.

Buy for others

The relative spend of private customers by gender, c. However the Prince of Wales gave a dessert 'set in plants to the Queen, perhaps to convince her of his reformed character. But non-royals were also involved: But even in this category the men outspent the women: However, Lygo's remarks of might suggest that utilitarian hand basins, jugs and, particularly, chamber pots were rarely produced by the up-market porcelain factories: Lord Scarsdale spent 13gs on vases in , while Mr.

McCarty of Cork bought 3 vases for L Male purchasers of dessert services: March 30, 31 E. Mrs-Leigh pornaturn pots I Os. A survey ofprivate customers' visits andpurchases ofDerby Porcelain: March to August Lygo provided Duesbury with details of the private visitors who called at the London showroom during the latter part of the Season before returning to their country estates. The numbers of 'people of fashion' are small because Duesbury and Lygo called on the dlite at their homes.

The lists exclude traders, but also an unknown number of private visitors, some of whom are recorded in the day-books with small cash payments. By early the warehouse appears to have been allowed to run down as a public venue, with Lord Cremorne commenting in February that year that few of his friends knew of its existence. The considered purchasing decisions of the late-season private customer were made within a twelve-week period: On 24 March The World recorded 'the influx of people into London for the Levee is prodigious'; three days later there had been a tea at the drawing-room in St James's Palace to celebrate the King's recovery to health.

Cameo portraits were produced by Derby in the early nineteenth century, e. Lygo did not always the names of visitors or cash purchasers, sometimes refering to them ' as the friend of.. Bentley had similarly provided Wedgwood with such information. Nesbit and Mrs Sydenham who had spent 5s. By the second week of July all visitors had declined, and titled ones had ceased except for the Scottish Duke of Gordon , as Lygo recorded that families were soon to set off for the country.

Middling cuslomersfor Derby Porcelain Although it would be tempting to suggest the summer callers to the London showrooms were a different or 'middle-class' clientele either living in or on a brief trip to the capital, this is difficult to prove. See graph 6, which shows the increasing number of untitled customers by c. Miss Whitbread's purchases coincided with setting up house as the newly married Mrs Gordon. Brummel 'and friends, the banking '7Lygo, May 21, and July 2, The spring had seen celebrations to mark the King's return to health, in late May a ball to celebrate the King's fifty-first birthday was held at St.

Wraxhall and Mr Rose. However, few of these were newly monied, for most are associated with fashionable court and government circles; Lygo regularly records the sessions of the House of Commons, for without the members' presence in London the 'nobility leave town' and 'business will be dead'.

A number of unidentified women appear to have bought status porcelain in their own right: However the verbal tradition that rich dissenters ordered Derby porcelain with 'brown edges' rather than gilding appears to have no proven foundation; the term 'Quaker' can be found amongst the factory documentation used in relation to ground colours on porcelain at the close of the century. Customers may have bought any future Derby porcelain through the growing number of retail outlets both in London and the provinces.

This sector is the greatest imponderable - Duesbury's trade customers more than doubled between and , not counting the continental merchants, and could be found throughout Britain. A number mounted the 44 china, like Vulliamy, Catherine or Penton, to make more luxurious ornaments. Lygo, June 10, 'House of Commons dissolved today', Aug.

Mrs Leigh had a dessert with customised cheese stand costing E Lushington bought amongst other items a 12 guinea set of vases, May 19,; Mrs Sullivan ordered a table and dessert set in 'Mr. Order for Egan in Bath, Nov. Day-book March 9 and Oct 5, Little is known of Mr. Lygo Jan 3,, Oct. Pentons bought enamelled porcelain squares or'pedestals' to incorporate into girandoles e. A few of the dealers had specialised requirements: Egan confirmed 'I never shall wish a large Quantity but a little and very good'19 The greatest limiting factor for the more middling classes buying Derby porcelain in any quantity was cost.

The best-selling Derby teawares, particularly to the trade, were the cheaper restrained gold or blue-and-gold patterns. Although provincial shops may have acquired greater amounts of fine porcelain as the century progressed, allowing for overheads, most shopkeepers would have sold Derby porcelain at a similar price to that charged to the private London customers, a point emphasised by Lygo. Bath was loosing its elite status. Fawcett, 'Eighteenth-century shops and luxury trade', in Bath History, , vol 3, p59 42 notion of 'trading-up' within the provincial lower gentry or middling classes, notably in the context of teawares.

Damaged items, figurative in the main, were regularly sent off to the London auctioneers, Christie or Whitling. One dealer bought a parcel of eight 'very little imperfect figures' for only I Os. Smaller quantities of inferior dinner ware and useful household pieces also entered this 5ODLS Parcel 17x. Achers, Bank, had sent L20 payment to Derby for 'cups etc. This is one of the few surviving requests for china via the factory. Jan 27, 'Lady Young sold 12 plates much damaged f 1. Thomas, The Rise ofthe Staffordshire Potteries 1 , p Wedgwood had his Queensware table plates sorted, the best going to the nobility at 5s.

Lygo too noted he had been I looking over the plates sent for Mr. As the century closed European consumers of luxury wares may have become more discriminating. In , Derby factory stock was differentiated as 'best' and 'seconds'. Billingsley's calculations to set up a china works at Pinxton in made no mention of seconds.

He had allowed a firing loss of one seventh, but made no differentiation between 'quality and quantity' save for finished decoration and gilding. He proposed to sell off two-thirds of his good wares in the 56Richards, ibid, p 3'Lygo, July 2, April 22, stock bought by Bloor and Tatem had been classed as'best' E6, and second' L4, In the s some Derby seconds found their way to James Giles's London decorating shop, and despite obvious firing cracks, were richly gilded.

There is no indication from the factory site that less sound wares were systematically destroyed: Turner and Chamberlain may have been an official outlet for tseconds'. By some white wares were being sent to Bath. Derby porcelain was never disposed of in this manner, although Lygo did suggest a Nankeen service might be raffled in Bath.

Hughes in private correspondence confirmed local pottery waste was used thus. Stables to WD May 5, Similar complete teasets sold in London for L7. Egan's order ftom Lygo 'white tea ware etc. Egan used an ex-Cockpit Hill decorator, Anthony Amatt, who completed special orders, including crests; material for gilding was sent too. Old factory stock had been bought by Bloor on April He hoped to get rid of an indifferent table service pattern '32' to an American dealer; Lygo, Oct 1, had sold the'old rose coloured' cupid dessert to a good customer for guineas, hoping 'it would not be returned for another of the same price'.

Nevertheless Lygo was well awareof rival firms' prices, and might match the prices of a similar Worcester pattern. Lygo reluctantly reduced the bill, stressing to Duesbury that it was bad practice, but that he did not want to affront his client. Ceramics are recorded amongst the London and provincial newspapers' advertisements as sales on retirement, on closure of works, or as bankrupt wholesalers' stock.

The aristocracy had long been used to the ethos of collecting and actively bought 'second-hand' Chinese, Meissen, S6vres, Chelsea and others: Derby porcelain was bought damaged, but also mended. The neoclassical revival of the 69E. Lady Skipworth's dessert plates were to be charged as Worcester at I Os. Lowes had bought a dessert pattern '44'. China appears near the top of the lists of sale goods. King, possibly Charles King, Duesbury 11's clerk of works.

Wright's effects, including art, were advertised March I and 17, Derby Museum holds a Chinese monogrammed teaset reputedly owned by Wright. Porter, European Society in the Eighteenth Century , p 46 Edwardian era saw the reuse of earlier tablewares, indicating services had been carefully preserved. Hire or loan ofDerby Porcelain Fashionable clients did not have to go to the expense of buying Derby porcelain, in the town items could be borrowed or hired for occasional use.

Hiring china was not a cheap option, but it was obviously suited to very infrequent entertainment in town; most porcelain was stored and used within country houses. Lygo also operated a loan system to those who were waiting for their order to be completed, whether it was for table or ornamental pieces. Cavendish was lent figures and vases while her order was made. The popularity of porcelain over silver during the period stimulated the desire for fragile teapots and 'tablewares for the second course'. Although 'male status buying' continued, particularly of dessert and tablewares, private female clientele doubled within just a few years.

More women had been brought into the trade, suggesting that female custom for fine porcelain in general had increased. Trade custom had grown five-fold, while direct provincial trade had increased: Finally, upper middle-class families politicians, doctors, clerics, industrialists and so on bought Derby porcelain in London, but a few more remote or northerly individuals were sent small orders, particularly teawares.

A decade later a contemporary commentator recorded 'the great degree of luxury to which this country has arrived within a few years was] not only astonishing, but almost dreadful to think of. Ceramic consumers appear to be trading upwards from the late s, particularly in relation to teawares. But the adoption of fine porcelain tablewares was less universal in the eighteenth century, with all the attendant connotations of luxury.

If the 'boom' of the late s had been created by the middle classes then, realistically, the period when many had spare cash to spend on luxury porcelains was limited: Consumption during the Napoleonic period for the middle and lower classes was less frenzied: The middling class was confidently creating its own culture and consumer wants, in the provinces and within the home. Despite the Derby management's hopes of trebling their sales, this would have represented a tiny proportion of ceramic sales in late eighteenth-century Britain. Archaeological evidence from the eastern seaboard of colonial America and 'clearance groups' from a number of English public houses give credence to the universality of polite 'Staffordshire' cream and pearl wares in the s.

The Bowling Green public house in Leicester, a less prosperous establishment, revealed the rancis Place quoted in R. Nenadie, 'Middle-rank consumers and domestic culture in Edinburgh and Glasgow, ', Past andPresent, vol. The Bowling Green Inn, Leicester, excavated in , has yet to be published. For all periods Lockett expressed concern that the American archaeologists could not truly differentiate between the porcelain types, particularly specific factories, from excavated sherds.

Contemporary inventories would indicate that fine European porcelains, including French, may be under-represented in the archaeological record by a factor of five, as the higher-value pieces were conserved beyond use. Combined with the evidence from the Derby showroom they might aid the better understanding of gender r6les and consumer dynamics early in the Industrial Revolution. The marketing and disposal of rine ceramics in later eighteenth- century England The single most important change in fine ceramic retailing had been established at the beginning of the eighteenth century with the East India Company's obligation to hold twice-yearly auctions of oriental goods.

Although the vogue for Chinese wares was waning by the s, as neoclassical styles advanced, the r6le of the Company sale remained important in the distribution of fashionable ceramics into the early s. Disposal by auction was the method adopted by the first English porcelain manufacturers, initially by Chelsea.

Despite having established central London warehouses in the early s, Chelsea and Bow used these and other venues as seasonal auction rooms. Worcester opened its own trade warehouse in Aldersgate Street early in Williams, who took every opportunity to publicise his wares, claimed to be one of the oldest and largest china dealers in the 1 E.

Williams's advertisements as the 'Factor for the Derby Porcelain Company' in the Public Advertiser in early suggest that he was taking orders for Derby china from both private and trade dealers. Unfortunately his warehouse was soon to be demolished for road widening, and goods were to be sold off 'exceedingly cheap, rather than risque the moving of them'.

The following spring this enterprising dealer had bought 'a magnificent and extensive Chelsea Table and Desert Service' for exhibition, and was 'to oblige the Curious with a Sight of gratis, before it is sent abroad'. Fifty cases of porcelain were dispatched from Derby by sea to London for Mr Williams in , valued at f. Many provincial china manufactures however failed to get a foothold in the all- important London trading network: Longton Hall, Liverpool, Lowestoft and a host of others ceased to thrive because of their limited market-place, generally expecting customers to visit their rather remote factories.

A few towns, like Chester, continued with their medieval-style week-long fairs, when private houses or workshops were converted into retail outlets, even ones selling porcelain. Jewitt, Ceramic Art ofGreat Britain , p The service was a version of the Chelsea Mecklenberg-Strelitz tableware commissioned by the Queen as a gift to her brother. The Bow factory had employed 'outriders' who had travelled through the country collecting orders and supplying shopkeepers; in auctions were held in Dublin, and Nottingham. There are no records of any outrider at the Derby factory under the Duesburys; however early in the following century Kean himself organised distant provincial sales, probably of 'seconds.

Despite his Midlands origins, Duesbury had already spent at least two years in the capital in the early s decorating, selling and repairing porcelain, and would have established London contacts for supply and distribution. A insurance policy records the stock and utensils of the Chelsea works to be valued at f. Mallet suggests Duesbury was mainly a dealer. The warehouse was situated a few minutes' walk from Covent Garden and the Strand, on a comer site incorporating properties on Bedford St.

To the east was the City, and the sweep of important dealers on Ludgate Hill and St.

Although the rich were already building further west and northwards, the warehouse was obviously well sited up to , being equidistant from the fashionable housing and the City -a position that reflected its dual function as a luxury retail outlet and commercial centre. The immediate neighbourhood contained a mix of fashionable shops, craftsmen and artists and professionals. A further floor, garret and cellar provided storage and private rooms for his family and staff. In common with many metropolitan shopkeepers, including the Bow factory, Duesbury rented out accommodation surplus to the china firm's needs.

Their combined rents of E per year paid for Duesbury's annual lease for all the premises, with E12 apparent profit. In the Bedford Head premises were insured for E, and an additional property in the Bedford-Henrietta Streets referred to as the 'large house' was being insured for L2, Policies for the Derby factory itself dating from and would suggest that the warehouse was becoming increasingly more 14 DLS letter WDI to his wife'Sally', June 25, The Duesburys ownership of the Lambeth property lead to the erroneous suggestion by Jewitt that they also run a pottery in the vicinity.

Valpy, The Bemrose Papers , p 54 important, as the value of utensils and stock at the works was reduced from ESOO to E, and it remained at this level until at least As well as the rent and insurance payments, Duesbury was obliged to spend in the region of a further E each year to run the warehouse. Initially this position was held by William Wood, but he was succeeded in by Joseph Lygo. Lygo managed the showroom for the following twenty years. In December he agreed a contract with a salary of E per year, doubling his previous sum.

This assistant's desired accomplishments, or willingness to learn, included the speaking of French, book- keeping, good character and genteel behaviour. A porter was also employed intermittently: Lygo found difficulty attracting suitable lads who would remain sober and not complain of the weight of the porcelain crates. Hidden costs included nearly L59 for various state taxes, including the short-lived shop tax at L15, but also window, commutation and house tax. Cleaning and lighting the street cost a further EI1. Each month I Os. On top of these outgoings would be the major expenses of transport and post.

Duesbury I had created a sound physical base in the capital which provided a whole n the early s Wedgwood had allowed L for London warehouse expenses and L, including L50 rent, for his Chelsea workshop. One of Wedgood's London showroom employees was to leave in complaining the salary 'proves insuff icient for attending the company'.

L 18Lygo, Feb. The site of the warehouse appears to have been well considered, as does the purchase of access to the Thames. This season the 'Nobility and Gentry' were invited to view a 'Dessert Service The proprietors expressed the opinion 'that this new and beautiful Dessert Service will produce of still larger and more extensive commissions'. Also displayed were 'Spares and Crystalizations'. No Derby wares were officially sent to Peking in the early s, though private gifts were taken. The dessert may have been ordered by the Company to woo an official.

Derby porcelain did feature in the Vulliamy clocks sent east DL82 Letter Vulliamy to WD, Dec. No record of such transactions survives, but Lygo's knowledge of and dealings with various metal workers is conspicuous. Few documents survive relating to the early years of the Duesbury warehouse. In Wood's main tasks were the paying and collection of bills; he also procured some raw materials for both the Chelsea and Derby factories, and distributed presents of game amongst trading associates.

Account books relating to the Derby end of the business dating to the early s indicate all the London takings were sent to the works in this period, with weekly remittances of f, 30 to E60 returned to the warehouse. The years witnessed considerable upheaval: The two William Duesburys, father and son, became equal partners in July The public spring sales The spring auction had been the most common and much publicised method of interesting the nobility and gentry in acquiring fine earthenware and porcelain in the months prior to these families returning to their country houses. However, Duesbury had been obliged to postpone one of his May sales because of the conflict of dates with the 'publick entertainments'.

The Christie's spring sale catalogues of 26 Lygo, Dec. Appears to be incorrectly dated May 9, and II. Purchasing of ceramics in general had probably become less novel, and fashionable society had moved on to other entertainments. Whereas the Queen had visited the Derby showroom herself on at least two occasions, in and 1, most of her orders were being placed through her various servants -a pattern reflected in Lygo's dealings with the majority of the upper aristocracy, and through domiciliary visits. In late March Pitt's parliament had dissolved, and for many the 'season' would have ended prematurely as landed families returned to their constituencies for the tasks of electioneering; although the most glamorous canvassing took place in Fox's Westminster poll, followed by festivities from mid-May.

This club of influential London dealers in return indicated their wish to give 'assistance to the Derby Manufactory'. The earliest surviving London sales ledgers only date from June , so there are no comparative trading statistics from the era before the abolition of the public spring sale. Specific trade sales had been in existence earlier, linked to the expected 28BM.

Staniland, 'Miles Mason and the China Club, , part 1'. By late the dealers were opposing the East India Company over a change in the previous policy that had allowed them to buy faulty goods on a '2 for V price basis, with subsequent accusations of trade ringing. Over the following years oriental goods became less popular: In October less than lots out of the were sold at India House. Lygo went to some considerable length to woo Irish dealers. In Wedgwood had welcomed the 'violent madness breaking out' in Ireland following the Duke of Richmond's gift of vases to his brother-in-law, the Duke of Leinster, and had opened a shop in Dublin between and In autumn Lygo appealed to Duesbury to offer the Irish dealers 'more than the common discount': However they bought other cheaper English porcelains, as Lygo recorded, There is still more and more of the goods made laid with the blue only, which I think the manufacturers will one day see their error in doing SO.

Lygo was prepared to arrange trade sales particularly to attract the Irish element; in when these dealers were in town a hastily organised trade sale with 'sundry lots as catalogue' fetched nearly E Neunburg and Whitling were the largest purchasers at nearly E40 each, 13 spending less than E The dealers were given four months' credit. The following year, , was the first when no public spring sale had been held. Lygo's letters from August that year indicate something of the skills and experience that a good showroom manager had to possess.

By the close of the following month Lygo was laying out items for a two-night sale, realising that the season 'will be so far advanced Parliament was not due to meet until 15 November and Lygo hoped 'we shall then have a deal to do'. On 27 October the Company declared their sale for 14 December, and Lygo was able to organise his sale campaign. He advised Derby that it should be within five days before the India House sale, for by then the country dealers should have arrived in town -I December was chosen.

He hoped three or four Irish and Mr Elliot from Bristol would then attend. Duesbury sent six brace of birds to be delivered by Lygo to dealers: Neales, Maidment, Bailey, and Elliot each received a brace and Neunburg two. A cold buffet supper was provided. Goods to the value of fl, All four Irishmen visited the warehouse again in December, spending a further The following December, , with the market awaiting the importation of French goods, the trade sale fared less well with only E raised. Significantly there are no records of any other trade sales; the 'China Club' had effectively routed the evening porcelain auction.

Thereafter Duesbury's 60 Covent Garden saleroom settled into a more predictable routine, balancing the ceramic trade requirements with those of the fashionable seasonal client, alongside the provision of various factory materials and staff, and debt collecting. Unfortunately, at the time of the fiercest French competition, Derby was having problems of its own including a 'flying' body unsuited to hot food, and poor management back at the factory.

By the spring of the 'trade been worse here the last fortnight than ever I knew it at this time of year - it is a general complaint'. He also recalled by the summer of that he 'never recollect[ed] money to come in so slowly at this time of year'. In June the Queen visited the showroom 'informally', as the companion of the Duchess of Ancaster, ordering tea and table wares.

Mr Clay, the manufacturer of paper goods in Henrietta St. Under 'The Queen at sundry times', June 22, is an order for a piece tea set, 6 salad bowls and 3 pickles stands, 6 ice cream and 6 egg cups to the value of EI6. The next entry for Nov. IS for two more salad bowls is annotated INB These was ordered by the Queen when at the Warehouse'- a second visit or af ive-month delay in filling a simple order? Crompton came to inform us two days before that Her Majesty intended paying another Visit to the Warehouse'.

Other Royal orders during were placed by the King's Pages, a 'Gcnt. Wedgwood before him regularly recorded the necessity of 'genteel' publicity. Duesbury Il's attitude to patriotic promotion however differed; money was regularly spent on illuminating the warehouse for the various royal birthdays, but of particular note were the costly factory decorations in the spring of , and subsequent discreet metropolitan press coverage.

Within days of his father's death Lygo advised the young Duesbury to 4get yourself properly established manufacturer to his majesty'; in January the warrant fees appear to have been paid into the Chamberlain's Off ice. Clarence, recently retired from the navy, and 34 as above but the King's account, Jan 30, re. Duesbury's illuminations were highly praised, but with no mention of the Covent Garden outlet. For the month previous various groups of potters had taken extensive front page advertisements 'congratulating his Majesty'; Wedgwood's name predominated.

Lygo thrice visited Mr Louis Weltje, the Prince of Wales's Comptroller, to request that the Prince would have a word with his two brothers about a warrant. Weltje was given a cabinet cup and saucer for his troubles, and responded with the assurance to pay the Prince's porcelain bill. What became of the Dukes' promises is less certain. By early Wedgwood was able to announce on his printed bill heads 'Potter to the Duke of York and Duke of Clarence'.

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Day had hoped the Derby showroom would take the service in part exchange for guineas-worth of Duesbury's porcelain, but the management wanted nothing to do with foreign wares. Their first-hand knowledge of the porcelain trade in Worcester, rather than Flight's ability to produce fine porcelain, sealed the commission. Nearly a year later Lygo laid out pattern tablewares, previously shown to the Prince, in the dining-room at York House for the separate inspection of the Duke and Duchess.

Lygo enthusiastically suggested that four dozen dessert plates and 20 shaped comports and icepails should be got up with different floral patterns to show the Prince. By next spring an order was finally placed for a 6complete dessert service of a very expensive pattern, but the Prince's steward had not been told, and had not budgeted for its payment. The nobility were also treated with some deference. If they did not visit the showroom Lygo would wr , ite and then call on them at their London houses taking examples of porcelain patterns to view or leave for consideration.

The ma , nager's letters, combined with the accounts, record the etiquette of dealing with the various household servants. Most payments of private customers' bills can be cross- referenced to a money payment to a servant: Private customers could get a host of unprofitable and time-consuming services from the Derby warehouse, including the hire or loan of porcelain, exchanges of unwanted pieces, gifts of decorating enamels for ladies to use on blank china 'in the country', porcelain wares to be matched or mended, and even teaware cleaned after being 'discoloured with seasoning'.

Trade customers were kept sweet with Christmas boxes and presents of foodstuffs. Both examples are clearly uneconomical connections for Derby that were presumably maintained because of their associated prestige. Many private clients with Derbyshire connections, or who had visited the factory while touring, made their purchases and final payments through the London saleroorn - thus, for example, the names of the Devonshires, Strutt, Fitzherbert and Sir Joseph Banks all occur in the capital's day-books. Factory valuations after suggest that the stock was kept too low to allow any sizeable retail or wholesale function in Derby.

This appears to be true even when the factory was considerably nearer to a dealer than the metropolitan showroom. Elizabeth Studwell of Norwich proudly advertised in that '-she had just returned from London etc. Other than private sales to the Manchester area there is no obvious record of a Derby trade connection with this northern city through London. The factory may have been supplying a dealer direct, such as Ollivant, or had an agency agreement, both of which seem unlikely judging 'Wedgwood saw c.

Worfolk Chronicle, March 22,, quoted in S. Thomas Turner may have been supplied with inferior pieces. Alternatively, one of the factory's London trade customers might have been acting as a wholesaler supplying a Manchester retailer. The ex-Derby clerk and showroom manager, Barker, later became an agent for Bloor in Liverpool.

Only one retailer, Miss Williams, sold Derby porcelain, and then not in great amounts. She had taken about E40 of goods per year but found Turner's common goods were more popular. Two years later Egan had opened his shop; his first year's takings of f. Sales remained poor, although the previously bankrupt Egan optimistically considered opening another shop in Weymouth. In April Lygo could see that 'trade never been worse'; unfortunately the Bath boom had been hit by the collapse of three local banks.

Cabinet cups sold proportionately well here. Lygo suggested he raised money by raffling a Nankeen table service. From Kean insisted Egan bought direct from Derby. Derby's sales catalogue suggests an extension of 'a considerable Branch of Commerce to foreign Nations which we have great Reason to believe from our late Demands'. Anderson, Strivingfor Perfection 4 BM.

The earliest record of such trade is , when Daguesant spent E Relatively minor alterations were made to suit Daguesant's foreign customers' tastes, including omitting detailed work in preference for 'more Gold on a larger scale', and greater attention to 'well colouring of the Fleshy parts. Micali's Italian friends were surprised he bought china here knowing 'the People of Leghorn considered the English Porcelain very bad Ware and of little Value, from what they have heard', but from what he had seen Micali disagreed. Micali compared Duesbury's quoted prices unfavourably with 5A.

Referencesfrom Original Documents , various appendices. Hope in Amsterdam with such a F osition. On a sale-or-return basis, 15 separate table and teaware patterns, and shaped wares, were provided in April II Between August and April , John Williams of Hammersmith ordered at least 11, 'boy' figures in two sizes, usually costing 10d and 12d each. Dubois had bought over Eworth of Derby in , and Eworth the following year. Troutt had bought a little over Eworth of Derby in both and , with over El worth acquired in , and E worth five years later.

Micali to WD, Nov. Some of the Micali orders are missing from the documents making it difficult to judge how much Micali actually sold, and paid for c. Williams is recorded in the summary account sheets as having bought , L and L77 of porcelain per year, this may be John, as'W. In part, such marketing may have been an attempt to get rid of the 'very heavy stock of figures in the warehouse [with] In the summer of Lygo was to persuade Williams that if 'some of our teasets was introduced in that Country but they would sell', but he only appears to have bought six saucers.

Wedgwood had already done this for Micali. Less quantifiable are the private and trade orders destined for overseas. Lygo frequently refers to items for someone 'going abroad' or to a specific country, or items were to be shipped or packed 'for the convoy'. Hillier, Pottery and Porcelain, , pS4. The Derby factory had problems meeting similar home demands, without entering into the luxury market abroad, where they were in more direct competition with porcelain from other nations.

In common with Wedgwood, the Derby management cultivated private relationships that might prove useful in promoting the factory abroad. He also commissioned 'one of the new shape Cabinet Cups.. While the dessert was being shipped nearly a year later Fitzherbert was home before becoming Ambassador to Spain: Hort was to 'endeavour to recommend the Manufactory as much as lays in his power'. Duesbury attempted to sell Derby porcelain in the West Indies in Lord Dunmore's account was credited with One American merchant, probably Mr Jacks, was not prepared to take such inferior wares, and commissioned dessert and table wares, as well as buying tea ware and figures.

But such trade caused problems; Lygo had to be sure that any porcelain leaving Britain was to be paid for, and checked merchants' banking and credit arrangements before goods were shipped.

Derby Porcelain and the Early English Fine Ceramic Industry, c. | Alabi O - www.farmersmarketmusic.com

Not surprisingly the manufacturers answered in the negative; however 'The Gentlemen all agreed that their Export to Ireland is much diminished in consequence of the Commercial Treaty with France'. The Irish dealers were buying in France, but this may in part explain Duesbury's willingness to help Egan set up shop in Bath.

In the dealers were asked a more open question about the export of ceramics as a whole; the china trade had 'very much diminished The movement to abolish the East India Company's charter was gaining pace; at the close of Lygo opined that if this happened there might be a greater foreign demand for fine goods.

Jolliat had bought Derby porcelain in s. It was closely linked to the trade patterns centred around the East India Company auctions, and the private Season purchasing of the late Spring. Producers of more middling wares like Worcester opened up a warehouse specifically for the trade, while at the luxury end of the market Chelsea's annual production was disposed off at fashionable auctions. Share your thoughts with other customers. Write a customer review.

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