Coalport China

The Coalport porcelain manufactory (or Coalport China), the first porcelain factory in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, England, was founded by the practical and enterprising John Rose in 1795, at Coalport, served by the Coalport Canal, which had been completed in 1792. Rose had trained at the Caughley porcelain manufactory in Shropshire and had been making pottery on his own account nearby at Jackfield, a mile upstream across the River Severn from Coalbrookdale, since about 1780. His rapid success enabled him to buy the Caughley manufactory in 1799, the Nantgarw porcelain manufactory in 1819 and the Swansea porcelain manufactory, with their repertory of moulds. He employed William Billingsley, formerly at Nantgarw, as chief painter, and Billingsley's chemist, Walker, who initiated at Coalport a maroon glaze and brought the Nantgarw technical recipes to Rose at Coalport.

In 1820 Rose received the gold medal of the Society of Arts for his feldspar porcelain and an improved, lead-free glaze, with which the enamel colours fused in firing. Favourite patterns were the "worm sprig" and the "Tournai sprig" introduced by Billingsley at Pinxton, the Dresden-inspired "Berlin china edge", and the blue transfer willow pattern and blue dragon pattern.

During the 1830s the factory initiated the practice of applying a light transfer printed blue outline, to guide the painters. This preserved some of the freedom of hand-painted decoration, while it enabled Rose to keep up the pace of production. The technique was widely adopted by other manufactories during the 19th century.

John Rose died in 1841; the enterprise was continued under the former name "John Rose & Co." by his nephew W.F. Rose and William Pugh.

At The Great Exhibition (London 1851) an elaborate Coalport table service with deep borders of mazarin blue was shown; it had been commissioned by Queen Victoria as a gift to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia.

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