Chetham and Woolley Stonewares, 1793-1921

Prelims

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Prelims

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

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Foreword by J.V.G. Mallet

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Introduction

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1.

Feldspathic Stoneware

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2.

Market Conditions for Decorative Ceramics in the Late 18th Century

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3.

The Documentary Record of Chetham & Woolley

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4.

The Oak-Leaf Border Group

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5.

‘Pearl’ Stoneware Jugs

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6.

‘Pearl’ Stoneware Mugs

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7.

Pratt-type Wares

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8.

MIST-type Wares

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9.

Miscellaneous

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Conclusion

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Postscript

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Appendices

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Notes

120

Bibliography

127

Index

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Chapter 4

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4. THE OAK-LEAF BORDER GROUP

Plate 16. Coffee pot with oak-leaf border. Height 49cm. c.1800. Unmarked.

VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON

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Chapter 4

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4. THE OAK-LEAF BORDER GROUP

Plates 17 and 18. Two oak-leaf border coffee pots with unusual finials, c.1800. Height and location not known.

first presented, it did not unfortunately survive the test of subsequent discoveries – the Chetham & Woolley Venus and Cupid finials in Plates 13a and 13b show the hair falling straight down in one case and to the side in the other.

Venus and Cupid finials were not the only ones to appear on Chetham & Woolley wares. The teapots illustrated in Plates 14 and 15 share the same ‘pearl’ body and all the other typical features of the factory’s oak-leaf border group. However, in these examples one has a simple acorn knop (Plate 14) and the other (Plate 15) a representation Plate 19. Chetham & Woolley coffee pot, but lacking the oak-leaf border. Unmarked, c.1800. Height 45cm.

WARRINGTON MUSEUM

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Chapter 5

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5. ‘PEARL’ STONEWARE JUGS

Plates 43 and 44. Feldspathic stoneware jug sprig relief decorated with a hunting scene.

Unmarked. Dated 1804. Height: 16.5cm.

PRIVATE COLLECTION

texture and translucency, the same shape of handle, the same proportions, the same type of moulded beak and the same engine turning decoration. Most importantly, it has a sprig relief hunting scene composed of moulds from the pool of seven from which all of the pictures on the five unmarked jugs were made. The combination for the jug in Plate 40 is sprig moulds 1, 2a, 5 and 6.

Significantly, this latter jug is also marked – impressed at the base of the handle are the names ‘CHETHAM & WOOLLEY’.

The number of common features shared between the unmarked jugs and the marked Chetham & Woolley jug in Plate 40 makes it is reasonable to conclude that the five unmarked jugs in Plates 34 and 36 were also made by that factory.

They are representative of typical Chetham & Woolley feldspathic dry-bodied stoneware jugs of which over forty examples – all unmarked – have

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now been discovered and identified in various collections in both the UK and USA. The identification of the group of seven factory associated sprig moulds in Plates 38 and 39 makes it possible to recognise another group of the Chetham & Woolley hunting scene jugs.

The link is the jug in Plate 42 which is made from the same ‘pearl’ feldspathic stoneware body, with the same engine turned decoration to the lower section, and where the hunting scene is composed from some of the special Chetham & Woolley associated sprigs, in this case moulds 4, 5 and 7.

One difference between this and the other jugs is that the handle shape in this case is of a rectangular form. However, since the sprig moulds creating the hunting scene are so strongly associated with the Chetham & Woolley jugs examined previously, it leads to the reasonable deduction that the factory also made jugs with

Chapter 5

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5. ‘PEARL’ STONEWARE JUGS

Plate 45. Feldspathic stoneware jugs in the same Chetham & Woolley ‘pearl’ body, all with the same rectangular shaped handles. Unmarked 1800-1810. Heights: 17cm, 16.5cm and 10cm.

PRIVATE COLLECTION 46

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48

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Plate 46. Follower head first into stream.

Plate 47. Follower riding strongly with companion appearing.

Plate 48. Upright rider clearing gate.

Plate 49. Fox escaping amongst rocks.

C. WYMAN

these rectangular shaped handles. This makes it possible to identify another grouping of sprig relief decorated hunting scene jugs and another set of factory associated sprig moulds.

Plate 50. An unusual sprig relief moulded tavern scene on a Chetham & Woolley feldspathic dry-bodied stoneware jug. 1795-1810. Height: 21cm PRIVATE COLLECTION

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Chapter 8

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8.

MIST-TYPE WARES (See also Appendix 5) (A) OCTAGONAL TEAPOTS AND ASSOCIATED WARES There are several shards from the group found near the Chetham & Woolley Commerce Street site which can be readily matched to a well known, but

previously unattributed category of feldspathic stonewares (Plate 75). The octagonal form and decorative features of these fragments mean that they can easily be identified as coming from a group of elegant octagonal-shaped feldspathic stoneware teapots such as that illustrated in Plate 76.

Plate 76. Octagonal feldspathic stoneware teapot both slip moulded and sprig relief decorated with a hinged cover, 1800-1820. Unmarked. Height 14cm.

PRIVATE COLLECTION

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Chapter 8

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8. MIST-TYPE WARES

Plate 75. Two shards (Numbers 2 and 3 in Plate 68) from the group found close to the Chetham & Woolley factory.

CITY MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY, STOKE

The main bodies of teapots of this design are partially decorated with raised mouldings created by slip casting. Additional sprig relief decoration has been applied to plain or coloured ground side panels. When compared to the teapot covers in Plates 77 and 78, it is clear to see that the shard

in Plate 75 was also once part of a similar piece.

Not only does the octagonal form of the cover coincide, but the raised swag decoration on the smaller shard also matches exactly.

In Plate 79 another feldspathic stoneware shard from the group is shown. This also originates from the same category of octagonal wares. Plate 80 shows how precisely the features remaining on the shard coincide with decorated surfaces of the surviving teapot. Many octoganal teapots of this kind are known and another excellent example is illustrated in Plate 81.1 In previous sections other shards found in the same group as those in Plates 75 and 79 have been shown to be derived from other categories of Chetham & Woolley feldspathic stoneware. As all of these shards were discovered in a coherent batch, it is not unreasonable to draw the conclusion that Chetham & Woolley also made the well known group of feldspathic dry-bodied stoneware octagonal teapots.

The teapot in Plate 81 is especially interesting because the base is impressed with the mark ‘MIST LONDON’ (Plate 82). Normally im-

Plates 77 and 78. Details showing the hinged cover of the teapot in Plate 76 and how the shard in Plate 75 matches the pattern and shape of the other cover.

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Conclusion/Appendices

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POSTSCRIPT

During a visit with the English Ceramic Circle to the United States in May 2010, three additional interesting feldspathic stoneware items were found, two certainly attributable to Chetham & Woolley and the third perhaps so.

The first item, from a private collection, is a larger helmet-shaped cream jug within the Oak Leaf Border group illustrated in Plate 173. The finely lined blue edging is enhanced by the careful painting in green and blue of the large and small leaf decoration, which is relief moulded, on the shoulder of this so far unique example. The other two discoveries were both made at Historic Deerfield in Massachusetts. One is part of the foundation’s collection and the other belongs to a private individual living in the town.

Plate 172 shows a rare and late Chetham & Woolley MIST-type jug. It is in the same form as that illustrated in Plates 124-126, but in this case there is a conventional blue ground, characteristic of many other MIST-type pieces. It, too, bears the same commemorative sprig relief portraits of Washington and La Fayette as on the examples in Plates 124-126 and must, therefore, also have been made specifically for the American market, in order to celebrate the latter’s return visit to the United States in August 1824 as an honoured national guest.

The third and extremely interesting feldspathic stoneware piece is illustrated in Plate 174. It is composed of four separate pieces forming a

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Plate 172. Chetham and Woolley feldspathic stoneware MIST-type jug with portraits of Washington and La Fayette in the same form as illustrated in Plates 124 -126.

Unmarked. Height 16cm. 1824.

WILLAMS HOUSE, HISTORIC DEERFIELD, USA

tower. The three lower oblong tiers are bevelled at the corners, each with projecting lips, those of the bottom tier in the form of female masks. The upper tier is covered with a pyramidal lid, crowned by a finial in the shape and texture of a woven basket. (The overall construction is almost identical to the central element of a garniture of

Conclusion/Appendices

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POSTSCRIPT

Plate 173. Chetham & Woolley helmet shaped feldspathic stoneware jug of the Oak Leaf Border group.

Blue edged,with long and short leaf relief moulded decoration in green and blue around the shoulder.

Unmarked. Height 16cm. 1795 -1805.

PRIVATE COLLECTION, USA

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