As a River Flows, So Does Flow Blue

QUESTION: My mom loved collecting odd pieces of old china. She died recently and now I have her collection. Among the many pieces are some with designs that are all dark blue and blurry. Are these mistakes or are they some sort of china I’ve never heard of?

ANSWER: No, those blurry pieces are not mistakes. They’re what’s known as Flow Blue. And while many people call this type of ceramics “china,” it’s actually pottery not porcelain. Beginning in 1820, potters in Staffordshire, England, began making it as a way to provide a more affordable alternative for middle-class people who coveted the fine blue and white porcelains being imported from China. As dinnerware, it enjoyed its greatest popularity between the mid-19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. And as an antique, it has gained popularity in recent years.

Potters used cobalt oxide pigment to create the darker hue of flow blue. The porous earthenware absorbed it and blurred when the pottery glaze fired. Although it blurred by itself, potters discovered that it could be made to really flow by the addition of a cup of lime or chloride of ammonia during glaze firing. This had the additional advantage of covering over printing faults, bubbles, and other defects in the pottery. As a result, some flow blue is so blurred that all details are invisible.

Josiah Wedgwood first produced Flow Blue around 1820. But it wasn’t until 15 years later that mass production began. Since flow blue was a decidedly Victorian era phenomenon, its production fell into three time periods.—early Victorian from 1835 to 1850, mid-Victorian from   1860 to 1879, and late Victorian from 1880 to 1900. During the early Victorian period, the most popular styles imitated the Chinese porcelains. But they were largely inaccurate depictions of the Chinese designs, mixing Chinese, Arabic and Indian motifs. Scenics and florals were also  popular during this time.



The mid-Victorian period brought greater creativity to Flow Blue wares, as potters mixed styles and ornamentation became elaborate and varied. Also during the mid-Victorian period, styles began to mix and merge with one another. So, there were things like Oriental-style plates with floral, Gothic, or scenic borders. Other elaborate motifs, like scrolls, pillars, columns, urns and wreaths became quite common. The pieces themselves included toilet wares and teapots, plates and platters, vases and garden seats, and even dog bowls.

Flow blue designs of the late Victorian period exhibited a marked Art Nouveau influence, with stylized florals and beautiful symmetry.

By the end of the Victorian Era, there were thousands of Flow Blue patterns. Though most Flow Blue wares came from English potteries, those in Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United States all made it as well. The most noted English potteries included such names as  Wedgwood, Grindley, Davenport and the Johnson Brothers, while in the United States, Wheeling, Mercer, and Warwick. 
By World War I, U.S. potteries were producing most of the flow blue for the domestic market, causing English potters to close up shop since these wares had never been popular in England. The desirability of the ware waned in both countries between the wars, but interest picked up again in the U.S. in the 1960s.

Antique dealers determine the price of Flow Blue wares mostly based on their pattern, color, and rarity. Patterns range from Blue Danube to Iris and Classic Willow. Especially sought after ones include Amoy, Cashmere, Scinde, Shell, and The Temple, as well as the La Belle pattern by American maker, Wheeling Pottery Company.

Collectors are always on the hunt for the early patterns from the 1840s. Unusual items such as rare shapes, egg baskets and egg cups, large sized platters and early tea and coffeepots command high prices. Egg baskets with eggcups will fetch over $1,000. A single eggcup in a rare pattern can fetch over $400, whereas a not so rare one would fetch maybe $65. Rare coffeepots could he worth over $2,000, and large turkey platters from the 1890s, $600 to $800 if the pattern is right.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about  world's fairs in the 2020 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

Not Quite Fit for a King

QUESTION: I purchased an old Dewers pottery flask in an antique shop a while back. The brown glazed pitcher features two characters from Charles Dickens’ book, Oliver Twist—The Artful Dodger and Oliver Twist. The tag on the flask said it was kingsware by Doulton Pottery of England. What can you tell me about kingsware

ANSWER: Kingsware is one of the most unusual and colorful items produced by the Doulton Pottery Company. It was very popular when it was made in 1899 because the owner could drink the contents and then display the attractive stoneware container.

Charles Noke, an artist at Doulton, experimented with glazes and eventually  developed kingsware. Born in Worcester, England, near the Worcester porcelain factory, to a father who had one of the largest old china collections in the Midlands. Through his fathers influence, he was often allowed to roam freely through the local potteries and see all phases of their operations. What fascinated Noke the most was the process of modeling and sculpture.



Charles took some clay home from the pottery and sculpted it into different forms which he showed to the top modelers at the company. They thought his work showed promise. At the age of 16 he became an apprentice modeler and designer at Worcester Porcelain. Meanwhile, he enrolled at the Worcester School of Design to study sculpture. Noke worked under direction of such noted Worcester modelers as George Evans and George Owen.

After working at Worcester for 16 years, John Slater, the General Manager at Doutlon’s Burselm Pottery, asked him to come work for him at the Doulton Company. The main reason his joined Doulton was for artistic freedom. Eventually, Noke became Doulton’s chief modeler.

Noke helped develop the glazes for Doulton’s Sung, Chinese Jade and Flambe wares. In 1895, he developed an unusual method of slip painted underglaze called Holbein. It gave the effect of an "old masters" painting with the application of slip in yellow, green and shades of brown on a cream earthenware body.

In 1899, Noke introduced a new method of stoneware production called kingsware which was much cheaper to produce than Holbeinware. He applied colored slips of subdued green, yellow and reddish brown to the interior of plaster molds into which he had impressed a design. When he poured another brown slip, the colors fused to give a deep and soft effect to the embossed design. Noke most commonly used a dark brown glaze, but also used an unusual paler yellow one which he called "kingsware yellow glaze."

Noke also used a method of finish on kingsware known as "aerographed brown." Using an ivory earthenware base, he added the colors to the shape after it left the mold. These colors lacked the soft effect of the usual kingsware and were sharper and more vibrant. These wares were also different because they had handles and necks and bases aerographed with a spray painting technique. One of these embossed pitchers features a golf scene, one of Noke's favorite pastimes.

 produced kingsware flasks to hold whisky. The pottery produced it in large quantities for firms such as John Dewars & Sons of Perth, Bullock Lade, Greenlees & Watson and the Hudson's Bay Company. Not only did kingsware flasks hold products from these firms, it also became a way of advertising. Many of the flasks had a company name embossed on them. The flasks also had designs depicting the pleasures of drinking and smoking. For example, an ovoid flask, called "Connoisseur,"  showed a gentleman studying the quality of a glass of wine. A wine pitcher featured an image of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine. Doulton also produced a variety of other items in kingsware, such as vases, water jugs, pitchers, mugs, and tobacco humidors.

The range of characters used on kingsware was extensive. Besides his work, Noke loved to play golf and read the works of Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, and Robert Burns. It’s no wonder that he used so many characters from these literary works on kingsware. For example, a kingsware water jug called "Memories" shows Dickens characters wearing wigs. A flask called the "Artful Dodger and Oliver Twist" portrays two Dickens' characters from his book Oliver Twist. This gave kingsware a universal appeal.

Collectors look for kingsware for a variety of reasons. Some pieces have amusing mottoes and express fitting sentiments, such as "A bumper to her who adores me and another to her to adore" can be found on a loving cup. The motto, "Be content the sea has fish enough," can be found on an ashtray. On a whisky jug a motto would read, "It's hard for an empty bag to stand straight up.”

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about  La Belle Epoque in the 2020 Spring Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.

A Taste of Elegance

QUESTION: From what period does this chair originate? The legs look quite modern. Is it a modern interpretation of an antique design?

ANSWER: This chair is a fine example of French Art Deco. As one of six of a set of dining chairs, it would have been placed under an equally simple, but elegant dining table.

Art Deco emerged in Paris just before World War I as a luxurious design style. But it wasn’t until after the war in the 1920s that Modernism appeared throughout Europe. Until the art world coined the name Art Deco later on in the 1960s, designers referred to the style as Arte Moderne which is French for Modern Art.

Art Nouveau furniture became a commercial failure. The intricate inlays and carvings made it too expensive for all except the very rich.  Concerned by competitive advances in design and manufacturing made in Germany and Austria in the early 20th century, French designers realized they could rejuvenate a their French furniture industry by producing luxurious pieces that a greater number of people could afford.

The founding in 1900 of the Société des Artistes Décorateurs (the Society of Artist-Decorators), a professional designers' association, marked the appearance of new standards for French design and production. Each year the association held exhibitions in which their members exhibited their work. In 1912, the French Government decided to sponsor an international exhibition of decorative arts to promote French design. However, they had to postpone the exhibition, originally scheduled for 1915, until after World War I.

Set at the Trocadero in Paris, near the Eiffel Tower, La Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exhibition of Modern and Industrial Decorative Arts), held finally in 1925, was a massive trade fair that dazzled more than 16 million visitors during its seven-month run. On exhibit was everything from architecture and interior design to jewelry and perfumes, all intended to promote French luxury items. With such a long name, visitors began referring to the exhibition, and subsequently the design movement, as Art Deco. On display were a wide range of decorative arts, created between the two world wars.



The French Government invited over 20 countries to participate. All works on display had to be modern, no copying of historical styles of the past would be permitted. The stylistic unity of exhibits at the fair indicated that Art Deco had already become an international style by 1925.The great commercial success of Art  ensured that designers and manufacturers throughout Europe would continue to produce furniture in this style until well into the 1930s.

In France, Art Deco combined the traditional quality and luxury of French furniture with the good taste of Classicism and the exoticism of far-off lands. Many designers used sumptuous, expensive materials like exotic hardwoods, ivory, and lacquer combined with geometric forms and luxurious fabrics to provide plush comfort. Motifs like Chinese fretwork, African textile patterns, and Central American ziggurats provided designers with the exotic designs to play with to create a fresh, modern look. They depicted natural motifs as graceful and highly stylized. The use of animal skins, horn, and ivory accents from French colonies in Africa gave pieces exotic appeal.



French Art Deco furniture featured elegant lines and often had ornamentation applied to its surface. It could be utilitarian or purely ornamental, conceived only for its decorative value. It was the look that was important to many French designers, not the use or comfort of the piece. Even today, some pieces look as if their designers intended them to remain on display in a store window and not be used at all. At times it seemed as though the designers and their patrons were trying to escape the dismal reality of daily life at that time.

In 1937, the French government sponsored another trade fair, La Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne (The International Exhibition of Arts and Techniques in Modern Life). Less ambitious than the 1925 exhibition, this fair focused more on France's place in the modern world rather than on its production of luxury goods, thus marking the end of the French Art Deco Era.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about western antiques in the special 2019 Summer Edition, "That's Entertainment," online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques & More Collection on Facebook.

The Beauty of Doulton Burslem Ware

QUESTION: I recently came across several pieces of what a dealer called Doulton Burslem Ware at an antique show. I have never heard of this type of pottery, even though I have several pieces made by Royal Doulton in my collection. Were these pieces specially made? Did Doulton make them in a separate factory. Where did the name Burslem come from?

ANSWER: Over its history, Royal Doulton made a variety of types of ceramics, including pottery and porcelain. Its Burslem line featured its finest porcelains.

John Doulton began his working life as a potter’s apprentice at Dwight’s Pottery in Fulham, England. In 1815, he went into business for himself in Lambeth, partnering with a journeyman names John Watts and a widow named Martha Jones. After Martha Jones left the partnership in 1820, John Doulton changed the company’s  name to Doulton & Watts. The business specialized in making stoneware articles, including decorative bottles and salt glaze sewer pipes. The firm took the name Doulton & Company in 1853 after the retirement of John Watts.

His son, Henry, joined his father in 1835 at age 15. He quickly mastered the technique of throwing large vessels. Legend has it that he once made 15 3-gallon filter cases before breakfast. To celebrate his coming of age in 1841, Henry made and fired a 300-gallon chemical jar. His father was so proud of him he displayed it with a sign reading, "The largest stoneware vessel in the world."

Not only did Henry have skill in making pottery, but he was a big thinker and attuned to the artistic tastes of the public. By 1871, Henry Doulton launched a studio at the Lambeth pottery, offering work to designers and artists from the nearby Lambeth School of Art.  In 1877 Henry bought out Pinder, Bourne and Company, a pottery located in Burslem, Staffordshire, England. This placed him in the region known as The Potteries. Five years later he changed the name to Doulton and Company.

Henry fostered an artistic environment that encouraged individual expression, and  soon his workers made some of the most beautiful porcelains of the time. Not only did he hire women, but handicapped artists as well.

Henry was given the Albert Medal by the Royal Society of Arts in 1885 and was knighted in 1887 because of his contributions to the artistic life of England. In the late 1800s anyone who wanted to be in style owned Doulton items.

Sir Henry held off displaying the new Burslem porcelains at exhibitions until he was confident that he could show his competitors the best of his artists were cap-able of producing. At the Chicago Exhibition in 1893 he felt the public was ready for the new range. Large vases, including one which was 6 feet high, were modeled by Charles Noke' and painted by Charles Labarre, who had come to Doulton's from Sevres in France. Other items exhibited were floral painted dessert services and fish and game sets. The Doulton Works took seven of the highest awards, the most given to any ceramic firm.

Doulton's factory at Burslem produced a tremendous amount of tableware and beautifully decorated items, such as vases, ewers and plaques, all of high quality porcelain. It took the work of many skilled craftsman and women to accomplish this.

Notable artists such as Percy Curock, Daniel Dewsbury, Edward Raby, George White and, of course, Charles Noke experimented with glazes, including Changware, Chinese Jade, Sung, and Flambe'.

The Art Nouveau movement influenced many of Doulton’s artists in the late 19th century. In 1889, when Doulton recruited Charles Noke' from the Worcester factory as its chief modeler, many of his earliest pieces featured Oriental-style dragons in high relief. Vases and ewers had gilded dragon handles or molded dragons crawling up the sides. Dragons became an important part of Noke's work, especially when he began experimenting with the Chinese rouge flambe glazes in the early 1900s.

By this time Doulton had become known for its stoneware and ceramics, under the artistic direction of John Slater, who worked with figurines, vases, character jugs, and decorative pieces designed by the prolific Leslie Harradine. Doulton products came to the attention of the Royal family. In 1901 King Edward VII sold the Burslem factory the Royal Warrant, allowing the business to adopt new markings and a new name, Royal Doulton. The company added products during the first half of the 20th century while manufacturing fashionable and high-quality bone china.

Early Doulton artists frequently used nature as their theme, befitting the Art Nouveau style. Flowers were a very popular subject, usually done in muted colors outlined in gold. They also used animals, especially farm animals such as cows and goats, to decorate vases and other items, many with hand-painted landscapes.

In the first few years of the Burslem factory, some unique, very fragile pieces were made with colorful applied seashells or flowers, vines and leaves in an effort to duplicate some of the Amphora pieces made in Austria during that time. Some of these pieces are still in existence today and are eagerly sought by collectors.



During the late 19th century, when the Burslem craftsmen were producing their wares, many competing potters from the Worcester, Royal Bonn and Rudolstadt factories were also producing similar pieces. All of them employed the Spanish Ware technique—the  painting of very fine raised 22-karat gold outline traceries of flowers and leaves, combined with on-glaze enamel painting, often on an ivory or vellum ground. Many pieces had elaborate gilded scroll handles and three or four feet. Some rare pieces even had sections of reticulation.

Many of the cups and saucers from tea, coffee and chocolate services were very delicate in nature and also painted in muted colors using flowers as a theme. Much use of gold was used to decorate the cups and saucers, not only to outline the flowers, but the handle and trim were almost always done in gold. Doulton did a series called Blue Iris. The majority of the pieces in this line used blue flowers on a cream background, embellished by much gold tracery.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about Colonial America in the Spring 2018 Edition, "Early Americana," online now.

Like a Bowlful of Jelly

QUESTION: Recently, I’ve begun to collect jelly molds. The ones I’m finding are mostly newer, but I’d like to perhaps add some older ones to my collection. Unfortunately, I don’t know much about these molds, except that many were not made to mold jelly as many people know it today. What can you tell me about the old jelly molds? Why did they come to be?

ANSWER: If you say jelly, most people think of fruit jellies in jars. While some people still make their own, the majority of people buy theirs at their local supermarket. Brands like Smuckers and Welch’s have become synonymous with jelly. But early jelly molds contained mostly other types of foods.

White earthenware jelly molds, particularly those produced in England around the turn of the 20tº century, are some of the most widely collected of all food molds. Although jelly molds have been produced in a variety of materials, including copper, tin, redware, yellowware, graniteware, cast iron, aluminum and plastic, over the last several hundred years, it’s the white earthenware ones that collectors favor. Cooks used these molds to form aspics, sweet jellies, mousses, and steamed puddings.

Historians believe the use of jellies began in medieval England, when people prepared the earliest of puddings, called blancmange, literally "white food,” from boiled milk and ground almonds, sometimes flavored with fish or poultry. Flummery, an oatmeal believed to have been the first food actually set in wooden molds, appeared during the late 17`º or early 18'"century.

Cooks prepared the earliest jellies---technically, aspics, being savory rather than sweet --with gelatin they obtained from cows' feet and sheep's heads, which they flavored with meat extracts. They used shavings from deer antlers to make hartshorn jelly. They employed Isinglass — a natural substance obtained from the air bladders of certain fish, and containing about 90 percent gelatin—to help improve the setting qualities of jellied foods. When cooks created the first aspics in the 18th century, the scope and use of molds broadened considerably.





By the 18th century, sugar had become widely available, and sweet jellies became popular. Cooks used wines, fruit juices and nuts used as flavorings, and colored their jellies with boiled down plants and other natural sources, including insects. The most common colors were lemon yellow, orange, ,and violet. People used individual bowls  or glasses until about the mid-1700s, when molds became larger.



One of the main suppliers of earthenware jelly molds was Wedgwood. Although best known for decorative pieces, Wedgwood produced many jelly molds. The company’s two-part "core molds" from the 18th century were well suited to translucent jellies. These molds remained in place once a cook unmolded the jelly. The hand-painted enameled designs on the inner core were visible through, and magnified by, the jelly, making for a handsome display. Wedgwood intended these jellied creations only as table decorations, not for consumption. Other Wedgwood molds featured classical and Egyptian themes, animal and birds, Prince of Wales' feathers, and the emblems of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The firm designed molds with eagle and corn-on-the-cob motifs for the American market.

In the 19th century, middle-class housewives began to use jelly molds. Molds came in a wide variety of shapes, including geometric forms, with their designs of swirls, tiers, and/or spirals, and . "architectural" styles. Architectural molds incorporated 18th and 19th century neo-classical building elements such as grooved columns, acanthus leaves, pieces of egg-and-dart molding, and rounded ornamental knobs. Various fruit, flowers, wheat, corn and animal patterns were also abundant. Cooks used many molds from this period for all kinds of food, from rice to ice cream to pudding. They used some pudding molds to steam or bake in while they used others for chilling and setting pudding that they had cooked in a saucepan. Generally, pudding molds intended for baking or steaming had a tube or spout in the center, much like an angel food cake pan, to allow for more even cooking.

Minton produced pyramid jelly molds as early as 1824. Historians believe these molds to have been two-part core molds similar to those produced by Wedgwood. Minton's 1884 catalog illustrates 63 different molds, featuring recumbent lions, crowns, wheat sheaves, shells, grapes, pineapples, other fruits, fishes, and florals. They also made  architectural molds. Minton molds often have a foot rim, a bluish tinge and no mark.

Another notable manufacturer was W.T. Copeland, a company that produced a prolific number of molds well in the 20th century, including architecturally inspired designs,  various fruits, chickens, bears, dolphins, and conch shells.

By the late 1880s, when advances in printing made colored cookbook illustrations possible, aspiring hostesses could prepare luscious-looking molded dishes. Using exotic molds such as those in Copeland's catalog, cooks used differently colored gelatins, as well as bits of food placed in the mold to create an attractively patterned surface when they turned out the jelly.

The Victorian era was the heyday of the jelly mold. When World War I began, may firms went out of business. Instant gelatin desserts, such as "JELL-O", took much of the work out of making molded desserts and the status as well.

NOTE: The title of this blog comes from the poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore, published in 1823. Most people probably never would connect a “bowlful” of jelly with jelly molds, but prior to the poem’s creation, many people used bowls to molded their jellies.
 
To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Article section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the other 18,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about Colonial America in the Spring 2018 Edition, "EArly Americana," online now.

Would You Like to Have Tea With My Dollies?

QUESTION: I have a child’s tea set that once belonged to my grandmother’s mother.  Each piece has an illustration from a nursery rhyme. Each piece is stamped “Made in England” on the bottom. Can you tell me more about it?

ANSWER: You have child’s tea set made by Bilton’s of Staffordshire, England made sometime after World War I when the pottery began producing what they called  “nursery wares for children.” Each piece features a traditional nursery rhyme---Little Red Riding Hood, Little Bo Peep, Old Mother Goose, Ride a Cock Horse, Tom Tom the Piper's son, and others. The set, in particular the teapot, has pure the Art Deco styling of the mid 1920s..

Biltons Limited began making ceramics in 1900. The company continued until 1911 when Joseph Tellwright acquired it and changed the name to just Biltons. Prior to World War 1 they had specialized in the manufacture of tea and coffee pots, jugs, kettles, and such. After the war, the pottery produced tablewares, plus figures and devotional wares known as “grotesques.” 

However, when technical advances occurred in the 19th century, faience and porcelain became widespread since their use was no longer restricted to making tableware and decorative vases. Potteries began using faience and porcelain to make certain types of toys, and European faience factories started to produce toy tea sets and doll's accessories, in addition to their usual production.

Potteries began to make toy tea sets on a small scale for children to play with their dolls. Originally, potteries made these sets by hand. As such, people gave them to little girls as precious gifts. Because of their fragility, parents only let their daughters play with them on special occasions under their supervision.
                   
While toy tea sets belong to the world of toys, the art and craft required to make them is directly linked to the skills required to handle whatever material used, whether it be copper, pewter, tin, silver, faience, or porcelain. In the 19th century, France, together with England was one of the leading producers of faience in Europe. While porcelain was for a long time the prerogative of Germany, the situation in the 18th century changed, and the French revival raised faience production to a peak. While contemporary toy tea-sets continue to be made in ceramic, the quality is no longer  equal to the former production.

The first toy tea sets appeared in the 16th century. These early sets, made in pewter and copper, came from Germany, a country known for producing toys in wood and metal. Until the end of the first half of the 19th century, France turned to Germany for many of its toys. Before the era of faience and porcelain toy tea sets, most of them were made from metals, including gold and silver, pewter and copper. Silver and goldsmiths especially catered to the wishes of the young princesses of Europe.

But back in the 18th century, when faience and porcelain tea sets weren’t yet a phenomenon, potteries made them only on order for wealthy customers. These toys didn’t reach the height of their popularity until 100 years later, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Toy tea sets finally came into vogue during  the 1850's, specifically when they appeared on display at the Universal Exhibition of 1855.

And while this tea set may not be the most exciting or the most valuable, it’s a great example of a phenomenon that still exists today.

Art on a Plate

QUESTION: Recently, I purchased a beautiful large plate with what looks like a hand-painted picture on it. The mark on the back says “Limoges, France.” I don’t know how old the plate is or anything about this company. Can you help me?

ANSWER: What you purchased is called a charger. It’s actually the large plate used as the base plate for elegant French dining service. In this type of service, the space in front of each person is never supposed to be without a plate. In the beginning and in between courses, a servant would place a charger—a large ornately decorated plate—in front of each guest. Factories in the town of Limoges, France made chargers like the one you bought, marked as yours is, from 1891 to 1914.

Limoges is the center of hard paste porcelain. It is to France as Stoke-on-Trent is to England—the center of the ceramic industry. The town of Limoges is about 200 miles southwest of Paris and owes its prominence in the field of hard paste porcelain production to the abundance of natural resources. The soil in the area is rich in deposits of kaolin and feldspar, the essential ingredients for hard paste porcelain. The region also has forests to supply necessary fuel for the kilns and rivers to provide transportation for the finished goods.

Limoges’ golden age extended from the mid to the late 19th century. Production became industrialized, and manufacturers introduced mass-production techniques and new methods of decoration. Makers exported about 75 percent of their wares, the largest percentage to the U.S. In 1900, 10,000 barrels of decorated and blank porcelain were shipped from the Limoges factories to the U.S. The number of companies making it increased from 32 in the late 19th century to 48 in the 1920s.

Paintings on porcelains have been popular from the middle of the 18th century to the present. Chargers present an excellent background for ceramic painters to off their skills. Porcelain is more difficult to work on than canvas with oils because ceramic paints, which are basically oxides of various metals, don’t attain their final color until they’re fired at the correct temperature. Many ceramic colors have to be fired at different temperatures and will fuse out if heated above that temperature. It’s necessary for ceramic artists to apply and then fire the high-temperature colors first and then work down in stages to the low-fire ones.

The advantages of painting on a porcelain charger is the surface is so flat and smooth that artists can achieve extremely detailed results. Once fired, the colors are permanent. A porcelain charger painted in 1854 will look exactly the same today. Oil painting tends to darken with age, and watercolors fade.

While exquisite examples of paintings on porcelain have been made by top European porcelain companies, such as Berlin, Vienna, Meissen and Sevres, and many are quite expensive, Limoges chargers are affordable and readily available.

With the tremendous amount of porcelain produced, the market couldn't absorb all the wares. World War I and the economic depressions of the 1920s and 1930s forced many older companies out of business. With revitalization after World War II, many of the factories in Limoges continued to produce decorated chargers and do so even today.

Figural themes, both portrait and allegorical, as well as scenic decor are less common subjects on Limoges porcelain and are favorites of collectors. Portrait ware was popular during the mid 19"' century. Male subjects included important historical figures, such as Napoleons and Louis KW. Most portraits featured beautiful women, however, ranging from the French Empress Josephine to unknown Victorian women. Some of the most highly prized Limoges decorated chargers` are those having Art Nouveau-style ladies with grape clusters in their flowing heir and elaborate gowns. Sometimes a sleek tiger or greyhound dog completed the portrait. Each one was truly a work of art.

A Limoges charger that carries a decorator's mark and additionally an artist's signature is the most desirable. Next in demand are those hand painted but without an artist’s signature.

NOTE: I'm taking a week off from my blog for July 4. Have a patriotic Fourth of July! My blog will be back the week after next.

Is a Man Without a Mustache Truly a Man

QUESTION: I’ve seen several mustache cups at recent antiques shows. I’d like to start collecting them, but the ones I saw were a little pricey. Before I invest in any, I’d like to know more about them. Can you help me?

ANSWER: That’s only understandable. Too many people start collections on impulse and then things get out of hand. Before they know it, they’ve spent way more money than they had expected.

Mustache cups, which featured a raised guard attached to a cup’s rim to prevent the mustache from touching the liquid, resulted from a need of mustache wearers to protect their mustaches. During Victorian times, mustaches became a form of male pride, with some men going to extreme lengths to grow a perfect one. Some curled, waxed, and touched up their mustaches with dye while others used rollers and nets to hold the curl at night. To maintain and shape these manly growths, men had to use a special wax.

The wax created a problem for men wearing mustaches because any cup of hot tea or coffee melted the wax and dripped it right into the cup and leaving the mustache a drooping mess, and the drink far from tasty. The solution was the invention of the mustache cup by Harvey Adams in 1830 at a pottery in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, England.

Victorians began referring to mustaches as "Napoleons," named after the French soldiers who wore small beards and mustaches called "Napoleons" after the Franco-Prussian War. Among the aristocracy, each gentleman had his own china maker, whose identity was carefully shielded. The guard across the top was designed from a mold in the exact shape and size of the nobleman's mustache.

During the early years, manufacturers sold mustache cups and matching saucers as individual items, but as the 19th century progressed, makers included them in complete sets of porcelain dinnerware, such as Haviland. Those belonging to the sets were usually small and dainty while those for everyday use were large and heavy. Men used them to drink coffee, tea, and even hot chocolate.

Mustache cups became popular in the U.S. during the mid 19th century. German potters produced vast quantities of mustache cups for export to the U.S. By the 1880s and well into the 1890s, potteries all over the world had begun producing elaborately decorated sets.

Potters used their imagination to create unique and fascinating mustache cups and saucers from earthenware; porcelain, and stoneware in many shapes and sizes, ranging from tiny demitasse cups to large farmer's cups holding up to a quart of liquid. Tinsmiths and silversmiths also made them.

Early cups were bowl-shaped, cylindrical, six or eight-sided, ribbed, melon-shaped and kettle-shaped. Handles came in many different forms, ranging from snakes, insects, birds, twisted ropes, fans, and cherubs. The saucers matched or harmonized with the cups in both shape and decoration. Early saucers were deep, while later examples became shallower, like regular saucers.

German manufacturers used luster grounds, which were Victorian favorites, on their mustache cups. Pink luster was the most popular. Other ground colors frequently used included pale green, yellow, sky blue, lavender, coral, cobalt and gold. In addition, German potters encrusted their cups with ornate forms of applied decoration.

Mustache cups can be found decorated with landscapes, hunting scenes, animals and birds, flowers and interesting geometric designs. Portrait mustache cups are rare and therefore highly sought after by collectors.

During in the late 19th century, mottoes or expressions on mustache cups, written in enamel, gold, or molded in relief, became a fad. Some examples include “Remember Me,” “Love the Giver,” “Forget Me Not,” “A Present,” and “Birthday Greetings.” Others had the words “Father” or “Papa” written on them.Victorians loved to travel, so the mustache cup came a favorite  souvenir. Cups, often with a pink luster ground, could be found in shops near tourist spots. Manufacturers also made mustache cups to commemorate historical events and royal coronations.

Potteries in Staffordshire, England, decorated some of these souvenir mustache cups  with transfer printed designs, but today, these are scarce and command high prices. Matched cups and saucers made by Limoges, Rosenthal, Royal Worcester and Royal Bayreuth are also becoming hard to find. Silver-plated mustache cups and saucers in good condition are also rare. Prices for these rarer cups can reach as high as $400 to $500.