22 
House & Carden 
A fine example of 1 9th 
Century Crown Derby, 
a tureen and platter 
with floral medallions 
THE PAST OF CROWN DERBY 
The Collector Will Find Its Beginning Obscured and Its Career Checkered 
But It Is Well Worth the Hunting 
GARDNER TEALE 
his work book informs us that 
in the years 1751-1753 porce¬ 
lain figures manufactured in 
Derby were being sent down to 
Eondon for Duesbury to 
enamel there, as he was also 
enamelling the Bow and Chel¬ 
sea figures. If Dr. Johnson’s 
plaint to Mrs. Thrale was 
made at that time we might 
find foundation for it in the 
fact that whereas a pair of 
Bow or Chelsea figures such 
as Jupiter and Juno sold for 
4s. 6d. Duesbury was asking 
nearly twice as much for Derby 
pieces of the same genre. 
A privately printed brochure 
by J. E. Nightingale, F. S. A., 
issued in 1881 (“Contributions 
towards the History of Early 
English Porcelain”) has this 
to say of Derby porcelain: 
“The earliest notice I have 
found of this manufactory is 
contained in an advertisement 
of a sale by auction several 
times repeated, in the ‘Public 
Advertiser’ during the month 
of December, 1756. ... To 
be sold by auction by Mr. Bellamy. By order 
of the proprietors of the Derby Porcelain 
Manufactory, at a commodious house in 
Princes St., Cavendish Square. This and three 
following days. A curious collection of fine 
figures, jars, sauceboats, Services for deserts, 
and a great Variety of other useful and orna- 
( Left) ‘‘Cupid Dis¬ 
armed,” an unusual 
group in 18 th Century 
Derby biscuit or un¬ 
glazed clay, modeled by 
Spangler after a design 
by Angelica Kauffmann 
I N the famous Mrs. 
Thrale’s “The Wonder 
Years” we read how 
“Dr. Johnson goes to ‘drink 
tay’ with Mrs. Thrale and over 
his eleventh cup he berates the 
foolish costliness of ‘chaney’. 
He smacks the table: ‘Ma’am, 
I visited the Derby pottery, 
and I protest I could have ves¬ 
sels of silver as cheap as what 
are made of porcelain there!’ ” 
Horace Walpole would never 
have complained! But good 
old Dr. Johnson followed the 
progress of the high cost of 
living with the same enthusi¬ 
asm that the master of Straw¬ 
berry Hill followed the joys 
of collecting. 
Derby porcelain is one of 
the most sought and one of the 
least written about of the En¬ 
glish wares, although William 
Bemrose’s “Bow, Chelsea and 
Derby Porcelain”, a book is¬ 
sued in 1898 and not easy to 
obtain, gives us an excellent 
survey of the Derby porcelain 
through its different periods. 
Much mystery surrounds the origin of the 
Derby potteries. Before 1750 there were pot 
works there under the ownership of John and 
Christopher Heath, which works, however, ap¬ 
pear to have been established in 1751 by 
William Duesbury of Lougton, Staffordshire. 
Duesbury himself was living in London, but 
Examples of Chelsea- 
D er b y porcelain are 
eagerly sought by ce¬ 
ramic collectors. The 
saucer in the lower right 
corner exhibits the 
French sprig decoration 
Classic motifs influenced both the shape and 
the decoration of Crown Derby at one 
period, as witness this cup and saucer dat¬ 
ing from about 1800 . Gold was used with 
the colors for banding and enrichment 
The festoon decoration is found in some o] 
the early examples of Crown Derby, as 
this covered bouillon cup and saucer. 
This and other photographs by courtesy 
of the. Metropolitan Museum of Art 
Fluted cups and saucers with the French 
sprig, or blue cornflower decoration, were 
characteristic of many of the early Crown 
Derby tea and coffee services. Patterns 
after the style of Japanese Imari ware 
