Chestnut baskets pierced with complicated lacy designs and exquisitely moulded handles. Towering table centrepieces fashioned as oyster shells supported on the backs of frolicking dolphins. Table services with delicate reticulated borders, the surfaces unadorned so the lustrous pale cream body shines. Welcome to the wonderful world of Leeds creamware, a ceramic genre christened after the city pottery that was once a major centre of production, although far from being the first - or the only factory to make these distinctive wares.
Inspired by the quest to find a material to rival porcelain, creamware is a fine form of earthenware pottery. White clay from Cornwall or Devon was mixed with local flint to add resilience, then finished with a lead glaze, also mixed with flint, to give a slightly golden tinge.
The material was developed by Staffordshire potter Enoch Booth of Tunstall in the 1740s and refined by Wedgwood two decades later. Wedgwood's creamware was as fine as porcelain, and he proudly supplied dinner services made from this wonder material to Queen Charlotte and Catherine the Great, christening it Queens ware to add a splash of royal cachet.
Other potters were quick to catch on, and in its heyday, from 17801820, the Leeds factory became Wedgwood's pre-eminent rival, making plain creamwares decorated with elaborate moulded and pierced decoration, as well as enamelled creamwares and a wide range of other products including stoneware, pearl and transferprinted wares.
This story is from the Special 2024 edition of Homes & Antiques.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the Special 2024 edition of Homes & Antiques.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
48 hours in FUNCHAL
Jenny Oldaker discovers Madeira's capital to be an elegant, artistic place with wide open spaces, verdant beauty spots and a picture-perfect sea-facing location...
LUKE HONEY'S Enthusiasms
On an autumn day in 1783, a sheep, a duck, and a rooster became the first living creatures to fly in a hot air balloon.
Collecting NUTCRACKERS
Not just for Christmas, these nostalgic keepsakes come in an abundance of novelty shapes and styles, offering character and affordability for budding collectors
WHY I COLLECT Medals
Oliver Miller, managing director of Bishop & Miller Auctioneers and Valuers, is fascinated by medals - for him it's all about the preservation of stories for future generations...
Fashionably CURATED
Roni Lang's home in Deal, situated above her clothing store, is every bit as creative and stylish as you'd expect from a fashion designer
Work life balance
Lucy and Guy Rutter - a ceramicist and artist respectively - have found the ideal place to live and work: a Victorian property in Faversham attached to a once-neglected studio...
Farm FUSION
A farmhouse near Cape Town has been given a rustic-meets-industrial makeover, using found materials and objects, as well as treasures brought back from afar
SAVVY Sophistication
Affordable and intriguing charity shop and eBay finds are teamed with statement pieces in this impressive Victorian home in West Yorkshire
DARREN APPIAGYEI
The wood artist talks to Dominique Corlett about seed pods, creative reinvention and the life-enhancing feeling of turning a lathe
Collecting Dioramas MINIATURE WORLDS
From elaborate taxidermy museum displays to humble folk art creations, a diorama can transport us to another time and place