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Overglaze Printing on English Porcelain: the beginnings
The earliest known piece of English porcelain bearing transfer printed decoration is a Chelsea saucer [1]. It has a raised anchor mark indicating that it was made about 1750-52. The overglaze print is in black, with colours added by hand, and depicts a couple in a garden. Whether it was decorated in Birmingham or later at Battersea is difficult to say. There is also the possibility that it was decorated elsewhere in London, since the Swiss enamel artist, André Rouquet, states that he saw transfer printing being carried out at a currently unidentified factory located near to the Chelsea porcelain factory. Although the book in which he recorded this information was not published in Paris until 1755, the observation must have been made before Rouquet left England in late 1752. However, no other reference to this factory seems to exist and this printed Chelsea saucer is an isolated enigma.
A very important figure in the development of English ceramic printing was the engraver Robert Hancock. Between 1746 and 1753 he served an apprenticeship to an engraver in Birmingham. There he must have encountered John Brooks and learned of his printing activities. After completing his apprenticeship, Hancock engraved a series of prints after Boitard some of which are dated 1754. These appear on enamels and also on Worcester porcelain. The enamels were probably printed in Birmingham but it is unclear whether the Worcester porcelain was printed there or at the factory. These and other early prints are sometimes referred to as “smoky primitives” due to their slightly uncertain impressions [2]. Some of these designs were occasionally further decorated with painted enamel colors.
A few patterns were specifically engraved in outline form, so that they could be colored in. The Red Bull was a particularly long running example of this type [3]. Introduced about 1754, it was still in use in the later 1760s.
About 1756 Hancock moved to Worcester, where he was to provide the factory with many engraved copper plates. This was not an exclusive arrangement, however, as he supplied similar plates to the Bow factory [4]. Indeed, it is possible that some popular patterns such as L'Amour and the Tea Party may have appeared on Bow porcelain before they were used at Worcester.
Despite being early into the field of transfer printing, Bow never utilized the process on a large scale. Signed examples of Hancock's print of the Tea Party are also found on Chinese porcelain [5]. It is not known who printed these pieces or where. It could even have been Hancock himself.
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