October, 1918 
10 
Another shelf of old 
transfer printed 
Worcester 
cester. It was not to 
be found. Months after 
I bought a rare plate of 
early Worcester fabri- 
que in a second-hand 
store in a village up the 
Hudson. I suppose the 
right way to be pre¬ 
pared to collect any¬ 
thing is not only to have 
one’s eyes open but to 
know the things seen 
when one sees them, 
which is of course to 
discover them. Any¬ 
one may find a thing, 
but the joys of discov¬ 
ery are reserved for 
the initiate. 
The approximate 
date for the English 
w ares of Worcester 
place the beginnings 
about 1751. It is a soft 
glaze porcelain, as is 
Chelsea, Bow and 
Derby, in contradis¬ 
tinction to the hard 
glaze porcelain of Bris¬ 
tol, Liverpool and 
Plymouth, hard glazes 
that are cold to the 
touch while the soft 
glazes of Worcester 
have a somewhat vel¬ 
vety feel and may read¬ 
ily be scratched with a 
steel point or knife 
blade. Worcester por¬ 
celain was not begun as 
early as that of Chelsea 
or of Derby, or of Bow, 
sHBESHI 
Cup, bowl, chocolate pot and tea pot in Worcester of the Japanese decoration period 
Further examples of 
the “Japan taste” in 
decoration 
but its fame has come 
to be greater. The Wor¬ 
cester Porcelain Com¬ 
pany of 1751 sought to 
imitate the blue and 
white hard paste 
Chinese porcelains. 
There were several sorts 
of the early ware with a 
fritty body superior to 
the commoner product 
of the manufactory. A 
greenish hue is one of 
the characteristics of the 
frit paste. As Sir James 
Yoxall says, the Wor¬ 
cester of this early 
period was “the best 
simulacrum of blue and 
white ‘Oriental’ ever 
produced.” Certain it 
is that the famous Dr. 
Wall, proprietor of the 
Worcester works from 
1751-1757, set about to 
compete with the 
Chinese wares and suc¬ 
ceeded admirably in the 
venture. 
Some years ago the 
late R. W. Binns, a 
noted British authority 
on keramics, founded 
the museum in Worces¬ 
ter and there has been 
gathered the finest ex¬ 
tant collection of this 
old porcelain. It is rich 
in examples of the Dr. 
Wall period. The en¬ 
thusiasm with which 
(Continued on page 54) 
Still more evidences of the “Japan taste” are found in this group with its designs of Oriental origin adapted to English keramic forms, a 
style popular in its day and greatly sought after by collectors 
