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Small Platter, circa 1840 Maker: John Ridgway Staffordshire, England Pattern Name: "Japan Flowers" Canadian Museum of Civilization Cat. no. A-5631 Slide no. 17986 |
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IRONSTONE (part 2)With the second half of the century came a change in much, though not all, of the ironstone used in Canada. This British earthenware had begun by imitating the blue-grey appearance of Chinese porcelain; it now took on the look of the inexpensive French porcelain that, with changes in trade and navigation laws, was beginning to make inroads into the nineteenth-century Canadian market.This later ironstone was usually heavier than the earlier type; much of it was the forerunner of modern hotelwares. Tough and often sparsely decorated, it bumped its way over rough tracks into new settlements. It was in demand where durability rather than decoration was a prime requisite: in many farm houses, inns and hotels, and on shipboard.
At least one British potter exporting to Canada marked some of his ironstone "French China". It was a bold way of meeting growing competition from France. Special orders were executed for Canada, such as the wares produced by Staffordshire's Clementson Brothers for customers who were Methodists. Other examples are the tablewares made by another Staffordshire firm, E.F. Bodley & Son, for use on ocean-going vessels of Montreal's Canada Shipping Company.
Ironstone made to French-Canadian order and printed with Canadian symbols (beavers and maple leaves), a nationalist slogan ("Nos Institutions. Notre Langue et Nos Lois") and the motto of the Department of Public Instruction of Quebec ("Labor Omnia Vincit") was produced by the Staffordshire firm of Edward Walley.
In an effort to give his ironstone the distinction of French porcelain, Walley marked some of it "Paris White". British potters industriously cultivated the Canadian trade. Staffordshire potter Joseph Clementson, for example, visited Upper Canada (Ontario) in the 1830s to assess the market for himself. That was at the beginning of his potting career. Later his sons carried on the connection. Francis, the eldest of his four sons, had a china, glass and earthenware business in Saint John, New Brunswick for some years. He imported heavily from the family firm. Newfoundland china merchants distributed Clementson ironstone, as did merchants in the Far West. In Quebec City, china merchants McCaghey, Dolbec & Co. had their own name added to ironstone tableware imported from Clementson's. |
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