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CONTRIBUTIONS
TOWARDS
THE HISTORY
OF
Early English Porcelain,
FROM CONTEMPORARY SOURCES.
BY
J. E. NIGHTINGALE. F.S.A. ^; 7U J?/
To which are added Reprints from Messrs, Christies Sale Catalogues
of the Chelsea^ Derby^ Worcester and Bristol Manufactories
from 1769 to 1785.
PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION.
SALISBURY :
BENNETT BROTHERS, PRINTERS, JOURNAL OFFICE.
i8$i.
1^
'' ' i': • /
EARLY ENGLISH PORCELAIN.
In the Journal of the ArchsBological Institute for 1862
Mr. A. W. Franks printed his ** Notes on the Manufac-
ture of Porcelain at Chelsea." This account contains
pretty well all the information that has hitherto been
known on the subject. Mr. Franks concluded his Paper
with the following remarks : — "I feel certain, that if the
newspapers of the period, both local and metropolitan,
were carefully examined, much curious matter might be
brought together, which would throw light on many
debated points in the history of porcelain. I will ven-
ture to suggest the importance of collecting together
such scattered notices, which are far more useful and
far more to be depended upon than the vague opinions
formed by collectors, resting frequently on hearsay, and
on a misconception of the true bearing of some fact or
document which is not given in fuU.V
Acting on this suggestion, I have lately gone through
such of the newspapers as are to be found in the British
Museum, together with some others, which cover the
period of the rise and development of the different
manufactures of English Porcelain in the last century.
These notices consist principal!; of announcements of
Sales by Auction, bat I have also extracted any matter
which bears at all on the subject irom any other aonrce,
and haye classified them all under their different heads.
I have thus been enabled to add one more at least,
namely that of Longton Hall, to the list of English
Porcelain Manufactories, nearly all of which had their
origin in the earliest years of the second half of the last
century. Some few of these notices of Sales by Auc-
tion may be found already printed and scattered amongst
the different accounts of the English Factories ; but
they are only such as have turned up accidentally and
not the result of any settled plan.
These incidental notices, as far as they relate to the
Chelsea works, are continued down to about 1769 — 70,
the period when Sprimont retired altogether from the
Chelsea Manufactory. After that time 1 have, by the
courtesy of Mossrs. Christie, been enabled to reprint
either wholly or in part, a large number of sale Catalogues
of the Chelsea and Derby fabrics, as well as a Worcester
and a Bristol Catalogue : these extend to the year 1785.
after which time these sales by public auction seem to
have ceased. I begin with Chelsea, as that was incon-
testably the most important, both artistically and other-
wise, of any of the English manufactories.
CHELSEA.
No information can be gained from any Bate Books
of the Parish of Chelsea, as to the names or occupiers
of any particular premises in the middle of the last
century. The earliest Bate Books now preserved date
from about 1798.
At what particular time the Duke of Cumberland
and Sir Everard Faulkener became interested in the
Chelsea works does not appear, but that a close connec-
tion existed between these two Patrons is evident from
the following paragraph which appeared in the General
Advertiser on March 18th, 1744-5 : — *' Sir Everard
Faulkener EnS is appointed Secretary to the Duke of
Cumberland, Generalissimo of the Forces in Flanders,
&c." The earliest notice I have found in any Newspaper
relating to the manufacture of English Porcelain is
contained in the General Advertiser of January 29,
1760) and repeated several times during the spring : —
Chelsea China Warehouse.
Seeing it frequently advertised, that the Proprietor of
Chdsea Porcelaine is not concerned in any shape what-
soever in the Goods exposed to Sale in St James's-street,
called The Chelsea China Warehouse^ in common Justice
to N. Sprimont, (who signed the Advertisement) as well
as myself, I think it incumbent, publickly to declare to the
Nobility, Gentry, &c. that my China Warehouse is not
suppl/d by any other Person than Mr. Charles Gouyn^
late Proprietor and Chief Manager of the Chelsea-House,
who continues to supply me with the most curious Goods
of that Manufacture, as well useful as ornamental, and
which I dispose of at very reasonable Rates.
Chelsea China Warehouse, S. Stables.
St James's-street, Jan.
i7«», 1750.
I had groat difficalty in Qndiug the advertisement of
Sprimont'e which called forth this retort from Stables.
There is only a single number of the Daib/ Advertiser
for the year 1750 preserved in the British Museum, and
this is bound up with other Newspapers, but in this
particular number of May 15th the following adTerliae-
ment fortunately appeared : —
Chelsea Porcelaine.
The Publick is hereby informed, that the Sale- Warehouse at
the Manufactory there will from henceforward be con-
stantly open, and that new Productions are daily pro-
duced, and brought into the Sale- Room.
And the Publick may be assured, that no Pains will be
spared to extend this Manufacture to as great a Variety
as possible, either for Use or Ornament.
Note, The Quality and Gentry may be assured, that I am
not concern'd in any Shape whatsoever with the Goods
expos'd to Sale in St James's Street, called the Chelsea-
China Warehouse.
N. Spbimont.
This ad^'ertisement by Utabk-s Beeme to imply that
Charles Gouyn had preceded Sprimont as Proprietor
and Chief Manager of the Chelsea works, and that
Oonyn etiil coatinued to mauufactare on his own
BCeOQDt.
This was evidently a period of considerable change
and a new starting point in the history of tie manu-
factory. In the London Evening Poal of Dec. 19,
1749, a Freehold Messuage is advertised to be sold in
" Great China Row, Chelsea," enquiries to be made
of Mr. Brown " over against the French Chapel in
Chelsea." Gouyn and Sprimont had probably both a
French origin, and from the allusion in the advertise-
ment to a Chapel of that nationality, there was appa-
rently a French colony in Chelsea at that time. French
Vll
surnames frequently occur in connection with Chelsea.
Previous to 1750 I find in the numerous sales adver-
tized by public auction no notice of any English or
European porcelain with the exception of Dresden. In
sales of any importance belonging to persons of quality
porcelain is almost always mentioned ; but it is confined
to Oriental, and in the majority of instances described
as Old Japan. The first allusion to any English porce-
lain in a sale by auction is in the General Advertiser
for Dec. 4, 1750, in which Mr. Ford announces the sale
of a " Closet of fine Old Japan China," in which is
included " curious Dresden and Chelsea Figures."
Whatever might have been the date of the first estab-
lishment of the manufactory of porcelain at Chelsea, it
does not appear that works were extensively carried on
there before about 1750. The well known examples of
the " Goat" jugs with the inscribed mark " Chelsea,
1745," seem to show that articles of considerable excel-
lence were made there at that period, but it was only in
1749 or 1750, when Sprimont appears to have succeeded
Gouyn in the Chelsea works, that any specific public
notice is found of the manufactory; even then it is
announced that the sale warehouse at Chelsea would
only be opened continuously for the first time for the
sale of its products. Although Chelsea now may be
considered as a part of London, it was very different in
the middle of the last century, and there is no reason
to suppose that the sale warehouse afterwards opened in
Pall Mall was then in existence.
Sprimont, in 1750, says " no pains will be spared to
extend this manufactory to as great a variety as pos-
sible, either for use or ornament." There are two
incidental notices of the Chelsea Manufactory in 1747.
both of which go to show that the factory was not then
firmly estahlished. Shaw in his " History of the Stafford-
shire Potteries" (Handley, 1829) says that Carlos
Simpson and his father, with six other Staffordshire
workmen, went in 1747 to work at the Chelsea China
manufactory for a short time ; that they soon ascer-
tained that they were the principal workmen on whose
exertions all the excellence of the porcelain must
depend. The other notice is fonnd in the " London
Tradesman" of 1747, by R, Campbell, who seems to
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