The Northumberland Vase
What is it?
The Northumberland Vase is the largest piece of Coalport china ever produced. It was made for the 1862 International Exhibition in London where it won Coalport a bronze medal. It represents the peak of design and decoration at the Coalport China Works. The vibrant turquoise ground colour is known as "bleu celeste". The cherubs you can see on the front of the vase were painted by Robert Abrahams, the principal artist at the factory. On the rear of the vase are flowers painted by another artist, William Cook. Later the vase came to be owned by the Duke of Northumberland.
Where can I see it?
The Northumberland Vase can be seen in the Introductory Gallery of the Museum.
What similar things can I see?
A superb selection of some of the grand ornamental wares made at the Coalport China Works in the mid Nineteenth Century are on show at the Museum. You can see the exquisite flower painting of William Cook on a number of pieces including egg and bottle shaped vases and pieces with birds painted by his contemporary John Randall. The vivid bleu celeste ground colour is used to great effect on many wares.
Coalbrookdale Ware
What is it?
Flower-encrusted ‘Coalbrookdale ware’ was made at Coalport from the 1820s until the 1840s. With its exuberant forms and fragile flowers this type of porcelain was impractical for everyday use, but they made stunning ornaments for the home, provided you were careful with the dusting!
Where can I see it?
The Museum’s collection of Coalbrookdale ware porcelain is on display in the Display Kiln.
What similar things can I see?
Coalbrookdale ware was made at a time when Coalport was actively improving the quality of its china and decoration. Beautiful painting and sinuous forms can be seen on many of the pieces in the Museum from the 1820s to 1840s. We can even show you how to make the bone china flowers that were used to decorate Coalbrookdale ware!
Flower making has always been done by hand. A skilled flower maker can make a bone china rose in 30 seconds. In the Museum’s workshops we demonstrate flower making on most days of the week.
Flower Making
What is it?
At the Coalport China Museum we offer live demonstrations of many of the manufacturing processes that were used at the China Works. Flower making is one of our most popular demonstrations, and can be seen at the Museum on most days of the week. This technique was used at the factory to create the delicate bone china flowers which embellish Coalbrookdale ware. The flower makers used only simple tools, such as combs and scalpels, and could create a rose in only 30 seconds!
Where can I see it?
Flower making demonstrations take place in the Museum’s Long Workshop.
What similar things can I see?
Demonstrations of many traditional ceramic processes take place at the Museum on different days of the week, from pot throwing through to china painting. The results of the flower makers’ craft can be seen in our displays of delicate Coalbrookdale ware.
Although making items on the potter’s wheel was too laborious and time consuming to be used at the Coalport factory itself, we demonstrate this traditional pottery technique in the Museum. This is one of our most popular demonstrations and can be seen on mostdays of the week.
The Coalport China Works was famous for the high quality of its hand-painted decoration on bone china. Today our skilled demonstrators can show you the techniques they use to paint china. Demonstrations take place on several days of the week.
A Bottle Oven
What is it?
The first thing any visitor to the Coalport China Museum will notice are the distinctive bottle-shaped chimneys of our two surviving bottle ovens. These were the kilns in which the china was fired. The outer wall of the bottle oven acts as a chimney. It is known as the ‘hovel’ and gives the oven its distinctive bottle shape. Inside the hovel is the kiln proper. The china would be placed in fire-clay boxes known as ‘saggars’ to be fired in the kiln. A kiln could contain up to 2,000 saggars. This kiln was a biscuit kiln, used to give the china its first firing.
Where can I see it?
The biscuit kiln is located at the far end of the Museum yard. The interior of the kiln has been reconstructed, allowing you to see how china was fired in the bottle oven.
What similar things can I see?
All of the buildings now occupied by the Museum were once part of the Coalport China Works, and include the workshops where once potters, handlers, turners, printers and many other employees laboured to make fine bone china. The remaining buildings of the China Works now house the Youth Hostel and Gift House.
This building was built in the early Nineteenth Century. It is the oldest surviving part of the Coalport China Works. Today it is used for Youth Hostel accommodation.
Cabbage Leaf Mask Head Jug
What is it?
As well as Coalport china, the Museum houses a nationally important collection of Caughley porcelain. The late Eighteenth Century Caughley Porcelain Manufactory was the fore-runner of the Coalport China Works and was located a couple of miles downstream, on the opposite bank of the River Severn. The Manufactory’s most famous product was its distinctively shaped Cabbage Leaf Mask Head jugs. This example is decorated with a print of the nearby Iron Bridge, and was probably made to commemorate the Bridge’s completion in 1779.
Where can I see it?
This jug is on display in our Caughley Galleries.
What similar things can I see?
The Museum’s displays of Caughley porcelain include many cabbage leaf mask head jugs in a whole range of sizes and with many types of decoration.
The Prince of Orange Plate
What is it?
The coat of arms on this splendid plate are those of the Dutch Prince of Orange, Stadtholder Willem V. The plate was made at the Caughley Porcelain Manufactory, but as with many of the pieces made at the factory, we cannot be entirely certain when it was made or even where it was decorated. We believe the plate was probably made to present to the Dutch Prince when he visited the Ironbridge Gorge in August 1796, and would have been decorated at the Caughley factory.
Where can I see it?
The plate is on show in the Museum’s Caughley Galleries.
What similar things can I see?
The Caughley factory was mainly famous for its blue-printed wares, but a number of pieces were hand-painted with bright enamel decoration. The Museum has on display a small but representative selection of these pieces.
These vases from the late 1780s are beautifully painted with exotic birds. Although made at Caughley, the vases were probably sent down the River Severn to Worcester to be decorated.
This elegant coffee pot demonstrates the attractiveness of the simple but effective ‘Target’ pattern. It was probably decorated at Caughley itself in the early 1790s.
The feathers on this piece is the crest of the Prince of Wales, later King George IV. He was an important customer of the Caughley factory.
The Indian Tree Pattern
What is it?
The Indian Tree pattern was the most famous pattern used at the Coalport China Works. It was produced in large quantities, particularly in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many people still own Indian Tree pattern pieces today. The pattern was apparently first introduced at the factory in 1801, but the first known example dates from the 1820s. No-one can be sure where the design came from. One legend has it that the pattern was originally copied from a piece of silk belonging to a soldier in the Shropshire Light Infantry.
Where can I see it?
A selection of Indian Tree pieces are displayed in the first part of the Museum’s Introductory Gallery.
What similar things can I see?
In addition to fine ornamental china, the Museum displays examples of several popular and much-loved Coalport patterns, including the Batwing pattern and the Broseley Green Dragon pattern. There are also displays of many other popular Coalport pieces, such as the highly covetable miniature china items.
The Batwing pattern takes is name from the shape of the brightly coloured panels on the china, which look like the outstretched wings of a bat. It was first produced in 1896 and is one of the most popular Coalport designs.
The Broseley Green Dragon pattern was another long-standing Coalport pattern. It was first produced in about 1805. The pattern takes its name from the small town of Broseley, about three miles from Coalport.
A huge range of miniature pieces, from scent bottles and pin trays to doll-sized teacups and mugs, was produced at Coalport in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Pot Throwing
What is it?
On most days of the week visitors can watch skilled crafts people demonstrate the traditional technique of throwing on the potter’s wheel. Although the potter’s wheel was too laborious and time consuming to be used at the Coalport factory itself, this highly skilled craft allows visitors to appreciate the wider context of ceramic manufacture. Many of the pieces produced on site are available for sale within the Museum.
Where can I see it?
Pot throwing demonstrations take place in the Museum’s Pottery Workshop.
What similar things can I see?
The Museum’s workshops contain displays and demonstrations of a range of different ceramic processes which were once used at the factory, from making fine bone china flowers by hand to using a mechanised jigger or jolley to produce plates, bowls and cups in great quantities.
Flower making is one of our most popular demonstrations, and can be seen at the Museum on most days of the week. This technique was used at the factory to create the delicate bone china flowers using only simple tools, such as combs and scalpels.
The jigger and jolley were advanced versions of the potter’s wheel. They could be used to make up to 1000 items a day. Power for these machines came from the factory’s engine house.
Saggars, the fireclay boxes in which the fine china was packed during firing, were all made by hand. At the factory three men were employed to make different parts of the saggar, today our saggar making demonstrator makes the complete saggar herself.
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