ironstone china

File:T&R BOOTE 10x13 Ironstone Platter c1870.jpg

Ironstone was patented by the British potter Mason in 1813.{{cite book|last=Kovel, Ralph and Terry Kovel|title=Kovels' American Antiques, 1750-1900|year=2004|publisher=Random House of Canada|isbn=9780609808924|pages=[https://archive.org/details/kovelsamericanan0000kove/page/13 13–15]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/kovelsamericanan0000kove/page/13}} His father, Miles Mason (1752–1822) married the daughter of Richard Farrar, who had a business selling imported Oriental porcelain in London. Subsequently, Mason continued this business, but after the East India Company ceased the bulk importation of Oriental porcelain in 1791 he began to manufacture his own wares.{{cite web|last=Keele University|first=Raven Mason Collection|title=Miles Mason's Porcelain|url=http://www.keele.ac.uk/ravenmason/masonshistory/milesmasonporcelain/|publisher=Keele University|access-date=5 November 2012}} His first manufacturing venture was a partnership with Thomas Wolfe and John Lucock in Liverpool, and he later formed a partnership with George Wolfe to manufacture pottery in Staffordshire.{{cite web|last=Keele University|first=Raven Mason Collection|title=Mason's Chronology|url=http://www.keele.ac.uk/ravenmason/masonschronology/|publisher=Keele University|access-date=5 November 2012}}

Subsequently other manufacturers produced ironstone, with James Edwards (1805–1867) of the Dalehall Pottery in Staffordshire also credited as its pioneer.{{cite web|last=Mussell|first=Sue|title=James Edwards|url=http://www.james-edwards.info/|publisher=Sue Mussell|access-date=5 November 2012}} Other sources also attribute the invention of ironstone to William Turner of Longton,"Ironstone china". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2012 [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/294585/ironstone-china]. and Josiah Spode{{cite book|last=Day, Lance and Ian McNeil|title=Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780415060424|url-access=registration|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9780203028292|pages=1145}} who is known to have been producing ironstone ware by 1805, "which he exported in immense quantities to France and other countries".{{cite book|last=Jewitt|first=Llewellynn Frederick W.|title=The ceramic art of Great Britain, from pre-historic times|year=1878|publisher=Oxford University|pages=156–169}} The popularity of Spode's ironstone surpassed the traditional faience pottery in France.

A variety of ironstone types was being produced by the mid-19th century. "Derbyshire ironstone" became a particularly popular variety in the 19th century, as well as "yellow ironstone". Patterns with raised edges became popular in the mid-19th century, including "cane-coloured" Derbyshire ironstone. Some of the most well-known and collectable British ironstone manufacturers of the 19th century include:

• Church Gresley Pottery
• Edge, Malkin, Burslem, Staffordshire
• Hartshorne Pottery (founded by James Onions around 1790)
• Hartshorne Potteries (founded in 1818 by Joseph Thompson)
• Hill Top Works
• Old Midway Pottery
• Rawdon Pottery
• Sharpe Brothers
• Spode
• Spode and Copeland
• Swadlincote Potteries
• T&R BOOTE
• Waterloo Pottery
• Wooden Box Pottery
• Woodville Pottery (founded in 1833 by Thomas Hall and William Davenport)
• Woodville Potteries (founded in 1810 by Mr Watts)File:Ironstone Cup Titled Flowers of Literature - DPLA - e11c3c74fd24b11f3d85a6d03d10cb26.jpg

File:SYRACUSE China - "Oakleigh" airbrushed stencil design on bread & butter plates.jpg example of mid-20th-century restaurant ware made of ironstone china.]]

In the United States, ironstone ware was being manufactured from the 1850s onward. The earliest American ironstone potters were in operation around Trenton, New Jersey. Before this, white ironstone ware was imported to the United States from England, beginning in the 1840s. Undecorated tableware was most popular in the United States, and British potteries produced white ironstone ware, known as "White Ironstone" or "White Granite" ware, for the American market. During the mid-19th century it was the largest export market for Staffordshire's potteries.{{cite book|last=Orser Jr.|first=C.|title=Encyclopedia of Historical Archaeology|year=2002|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=9780415215442|pages=337}} In the 1860s, British manufacturers began adding agricultural motifs, such as wheat, to their products to appeal to the American market. These patterns became known as "farmers' china" or "threshers' china". Plain white ironstone ware was widely marketed in the United States until the end of the 19th century.{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=Gordon|title=The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts: Two-volume Set, Volume 1|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195189483|pages=502}}

Notable 19th-century ironstone manufacturers in the United States include:

• Empire Pottery
• Onondaga Pottery, Syracuse China
• Walter Scott Lenox
• Homer Laughlin

File:Mason's 'Watteau' ironstone bowl - 2021-12-10 - Andy Mabbett - 01.jpg (see above for maker's mark from this piece) ]]

Transfer-printed designs were applied to ironstone by Mason's in an attempt to copy Chinese porcelain cheaply. Transferware is most often in one colour against a white background, such as blue, red, green or brown. Some patterns included detail colours that were added on top of the main transfer after the glaze had been applied.

Transferware designs range from dense patterns that cover the piece, to small motifs applied sparingly to give a delicate appearance, as with floral motifs.

• Chinoiserie

{{Reflist|2}}

• [http://www.keele.ac.uk/media/keeleuniversity/microsites/ravenmason/images/Raven%20Mason%20Collection%20-%20Publicity%20Leaflet%20%28latest%20version%29.pdf The Raven Mason Collection] at Keele University, a significant collection of Mason's Ironstone
• [http://www.mason2ashworth.co.uk/ Website for Collectors of Mason's Ironstone]

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Category:Stoneware

Category:American pottery

Category:British pottery