A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



of Justice Walk, a portion of the river front- 

 age running east from Lawrence Street to 

 Church Street, and that it ' occupied the 

 houses to the upper end of the street,' i.e. 

 Lawrence Street. Part of the works was 

 situated in Cheyne Row West, where large 

 quantities of broken figures and bases were 

 found during some excavations in 1843. 

 Some time between 1750 and 1754 a ware- 

 house was opened in Pall Mall for the sale of 

 the Chelsea ware, and by February 1757 the 

 warehouse had removed to Piccadilly. There 

 is in the British Museum n a memorial 

 (written after 1752) from 'the undertaker of 

 the Chelsea porcelain,' who complains of the 

 smuggling of Dresden porcelain into England. 

 He states that he sold last winter to the value 

 of ,3,500, and employed one hundred persons. 

 Writing in 1750 Jonas Hanway 13 says, 'It is 

 with great satisfaction that I observe the 

 manufactories of Bow, Chelsea, and Stepney 13 

 have made such a considerable progress ; on 

 the other hand it is equally a subject of horror 

 to see so many shops in the streets of London 

 supplied with the porcelain of Dresden, though 

 it is importable only under oath of being for 

 private use and not for sale.' 



A public sale of the ware by auction was 

 held in March and April 1754 at St. James's, 

 Haymarket, and lasted fourteen days. 'The 

 undertaker of this manufactory, having at a 

 very great expense brought it to that perfec- 

 tion as to be allowed superior to any other 

 attempts made in that way,' hopes for the en- 

 couragement of the public, ' more particularly 

 as he is determined to submit the value en- 

 tirely to their generosity, and likewise that he 

 will positively not open his warehouses, nor 

 exhibit any article to sale after this till next 

 year.' A further sale, however, of five days 

 took place in November-December following, 

 confined to small and fancy objects, such as 

 snuff-boxes, smelling-bottles, trinkets for 

 watches, and knife-handles. These articles 

 were ' in lots suitable for jewellers, goldsmiths, 

 toy-shops, china-shops, cutlers, and work- 

 men in those branches of business.' The 

 second annual sale took place on 10 March 

 1755 and fifteen following days, and among 

 the goods mentioned is ' a most magnificent 

 and superbe lustre.' This is probably a lustre 

 similar to that made for the Duke of Cumber- 

 land, described by Mrs. Delany, 13a who visited 



11 Lansd. MS. 829, fol. 4. 



" Travels (1753), iv, 228. Quoted by Walter 

 F. Tiffin, Chronograph of Bow, Chelsea, and Derby 

 Porcelain Manufactories, 5-6. 



13 Of the Stepney porcelain works no informa- 

 tion has as yet been found. 



'** Life and Corres. (Ser. i), iii, 462. 



the duke's lodge at Windsor in June 1757. 

 Here she saw a closet decorated in gold and 

 green with shelves filled with china, ' in the 

 middle hangs a lustre of Chelsea china that 

 cost six hundred pounds and is really beauti- 

 ful.' None of the catalogues of the earliest 

 sales have survived, but that of the next sale, 

 held on 29 March 1756 and fifteen following 

 days, has been reprinted by Mr. Raphael W. 

 Read, 14 and gives a valuable account of the 

 output of the manufactory. There was then 

 a great popular demand for china. A retail 

 dealer at ' Mr. Foy's china shop opposite the 

 King's Palace' advertises in March 1756 

 ' upwards of one hundred thousand pieces of 

 china ware,' including Old Japan, Dresden, 

 and Chelsea porcelain. Much of Sprimont's 

 best ware went abroad, as appears from the 

 catalogue of a sale advertised in April 1756 of 

 the stock of Laumas and Rolyat, Lisbon mer- 

 chants, which included ' one hundred double 

 dozen of Chelsea knives and forks, silver- 

 mounted.' 



A crisis now occurred in the undertaking : 

 Sprimont was taken ill, and announced by 

 advertisement in February 1757 that though 

 the manufactory had been much retarded, 

 ' several curious things ' had been finished and 

 would be sold at the Piccadilly warehouse. 

 The annual spring sales were resumed in 1759, 

 and continued in 1760 and 1761. The close 

 of the advertisement in 1761 ran thus : 

 ' The proprietor, N. Sprimont, after many 

 years' intense application has brought this 

 manufactory to its present perfection ; but as 

 his indisposition will not permit him to carry 

 it on much longer, he takes the liberty to 

 assure the nobility, gentry, and others, that 

 next year will be the last sale he will offer to 

 the public.' The sale was deferred till 

 March 1763, when Sprimont announced that 

 on account of his lameness the manufactory 

 itself would shortly be disposed of. Another 

 announcement of the intended sale of the 

 stock and plant was made in January 1764, 

 'as Mr. Sprimont, the sole possessor of this 

 rare porcelain secret, is advised to go to the 

 German Spaw.' No sale appears to have 

 taken place, and another sale (the last of the 

 regular spring auctions) was held in March. 

 It included what was probably a replica of the 

 magnificent dessert service in mazarine blue 

 and gold presented by the king and queen 

 to the Duke of Mecklenburg, as it is described 

 as ' the same as the royal pattern which was 

 sold for ^1,150.' At a sale of specimens of 

 all the English porcelain manufactories at the 



14 Reprint of the original catalogue of the Chelsea 

 Porcelain Manufactory. Privately printed. Salisbury 

 (1880). 



152 



