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Covered Dish, circa 1850 Maker: Francis Morley & Co. Staffordshire, England Pattern Name: "Lake" Indian scene on the St. Lawrence (on lid) and Chaudière Bridge (inside) Canadian Museum of Civilization Cat. no. D-10857b,c Slide no. 18000 |
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UNDERGLAZE TRANSFER-PRINTED EARTHENWARE (part 2)The best known of the Canadian scenes were taken by Staffordshire potters from the work of W.H. Bartlett, an English topographical artist who was in Canada in the 1830s. Bartlett travelled in Europe, Asia and North America, making sketches as he went. They were engraved and published in London in what would today be called coffee-table books. The book illustrating Canadian scenery was advertised in Canada at the beginning of the 1840s. A few years later a Halifax importer was taking orders for the Canadian views on tableware. In all, some half-dozen Staffordshire potters included Bartlett's Canadian scenes in the outpouring of topographical views decorating their earthenwares.
Canadian scenes on British earthenware were offered in a wide range of colours. Blue was almost always one of the options, but the blue itself could vary. A deep, dark blue (not to be confused with the later "flowing blue") became popular with North American customers. "Dark Blue Earthenware" was advertised in Montreal in the 1820s. It was the shade of blue chosen by Enoch Wood, a Staffordshire potter with a strong North American trade, for scenes of Canada's Quebec City, Montmorency Falls, and Table Rock, Niagara. Wood's Canadian scenes were not intended for the Canadian market; however, they were included in a long series of United States views made for sale in that country and marked with the American eagle and motto.
Davenport, another Staffordshire firm, offered a view of Montreal in at least a half-dozen colours, including a light blue. At the time the Montreal view was brought out, Davenport had agents in several European cities. The firm's trade connections were far-flung, and the view of Montreal found its way to many parts of the world.
The potters' enthusiasm for views of remote places sometimes resulted in "a glorious perversion of geography." When an unidentified Staffordshire potter chose to capitalize on the century's fascination with Arctic exploration, he turned to a British naval officer's account of the search for the Northwest Passage. He adapted illustrations found in Captain Edward (later Sir Edward) Parry's two published Journals (1821 and 1824) and flung round them a border of palm trees and tropical creatures.
Not only Canadian scenery but typical Canadian sports, particularly winter sports, found their way into nineteenth-century tablewares and toilet wares. In the 1880s a Scottish pottery with a well-established Canadian trade took inspiration from a series of Christmas and New Year cards published in Montreal. The pattern taken from the pictures on the cards was called "Canadian Sports." It was printed on the earthenware in black, occasionally in sepia or blue, and sometimes washed in colours.
John Marshall & Co. of Bo'ness (Borrowstounness in Linlithgow) were the makers of the Canadian Sports pattern. Marshall died in 1870 but the business continued under the same name until near the end of the century. |
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