These six pieces are part of a superb Crown Derby table service of 19 th 
Century creation. Medallion landscapes of Derbyshire scenery are introduced 
in the decoration, set in frames of elaborate designs 
This Crown Derby biscuit figure of 
Lord Lyndhurst, dating circa 1810 , is 
one of the most interesting of the 
porcelain figures of this period 
Contrasted with the biscuit or uncol¬ 
ored and unglazed figure opposite is 
this early Derby porcelain figure of 
Queen Henrietta Maria 
mental Porcelain after the finest Dresden 
Models all exquisitely painted in Enamel, with 
flowers, insects, India plants, &c. . . . This 
and the following days will be sold some of 
the finest of the Derby Porcelain and Foreign 
China’.” But even here there is room for 
doubt as to the figures which were referred 
to actually having come from Derby kilns. 
Llewellynn Jewitt, F. S. A., pos¬ 
sessed a deed of partnership made be¬ 
tween William Duesbury, enameler, 
John Heath, gentleman, and Andrew 
Planche, china maker, dated January 
1, 1757. From this we glean that the 
Derby porcelain was now well under 
way, and we know that by 1763 a con¬ 
signment of over forty-one boxes of 
porcelain was sent from the company’s 
Nottingham Road manufactory to Lon- 
don, a consignment whose valuation, ac¬ 
cording to Mr. Frederick Litchfield 
(“Pottery & Porcelain”) was placed 
at £666 17s. 6d. 
In 1769 Duesbury acquired the Chel¬ 
sea porcelain works and for a period 
of fifteen years the Chelsea and the 
Derby factories combined and 
their w'ares were known as 
Chelsea-Derby porcelain, mod¬ 
els being interchanged by the 
manufactories. In 1786, short¬ 
ly before his father’s death, 
William Duesbury entered the 
firm. An improvement in 
Derby porcelain followed, and 
it was patronized by Royalty 
and the Court, the Duke of 
Newcastle, Lord Lonsdale and 
Lady Spencer taking an espe¬ 
cial interest in it. When the 
younger Duesbury died in 
1796, a Mr. Kean managed 
the firm until his place was 
taken by William Duesbury's 
grandson. 
From the assumption of 
management by Robert Bloor 
Two early 19th Century Crown Derby 
plates, with floral decorations and blue 
borders 
Above is a Jap¬ 
anese flower mo¬ 
tif done in late 
18 th Century 
Crown Derby 
A fluted bowl of 
Crown Derby of 
late 18 th Century 
make is shown 
at the left 
Rich colors and gold were used in the decoration of this late 18 th Century 
Crown Derby tea set. William Billingsley, a native of Derby, was the leading 
Derby decorator, flower designs and landscape decorations coming readily to his 
hand. The Crown Derby ground colors are lilac, pale blue, deep blue, green, 
pink and a rare canary yellow 
in 1815, Derby porcelain declined as rapidly 
as Bloor’s fortune increased. At his death in 
1849 the stock was sold off and the manu¬ 
factory’s buildings demolished. On a new site 
Messrs. Locker & Co. continued the Derby 
porcelain, being succeeded in 1859 by Messrs. 
Stevenson, Sharp & Co. Later the firm be¬ 
came known as Stevenson & Hancock and on 
Stevenson's death in 1866 Mr. Samp¬ 
son Hancock became sole proprietor. 
The present Derby porcelain is pro¬ 
duced by the Royal Crown Derby 
Porcelain Co., Ltd., the Duke of Dev¬ 
onshire having procured for the revived 
industry the Crown patent for the use 
of the word Royal. The early Derby 
patterns and decorations have been re¬ 
produced and the modern pieces attain 
a high degree of excellence that lifts 
Crown Derby far above the slump of 
the Bloor period. 
The paste of old Crown Derby is 
very beautiful, being fine and white 
and soft. The original Derby paste 
was probably more glassy. The dull 
ivory Derby biscuit, a worthy rival of 
that of Sevres, seems to have 
been a secret that died with 
■ |gg the old manufactory. In seek¬ 
ing to re-discover it, Mount- 
ford invented what is known 
as the Parian Derby. After the 
time of Duesbury and of Kean 
the biscuit body used for fig¬ 
ures appears to be just the 
regular Derby porcelain body, 
left biscuit, with its chalky 
effect and not having the de¬ 
cisive texture of the original 
Duesbury biscuit. 
The decoration of Crown 
Derby is beautiful. For some 
twenty-two years William Bil¬ 
lingsley, a native of Derby and 
a pupil of Zachariah Bowman, 
a celebrated artist of the Dor- 
(Continued on page 58) 
