A Rare, Nearly Matched Pair Set Of Early Worcester Porcelain Gravy Boats Dr. Wall Period (1751-1774)

A rare, nearly matched pair set of Early Worcester Porcelain gravy boats with hand painted under glaze blue flowers, leaves and tulip flowers, hand painted in the center of each at the bottom of the gravy boat. No nicks, cracks, and in wonderful condition. One boat rocks a bit, but the other is stable. Both are marked with the classic underglaze blue ‘C’ and small black specks can be seen in the bottom of the pieces as well as some remains of the kiln surface imbedded as well.

Estimate: $600-$800
Reference: 206-146

Name of the Company: Worcester Porcelains, also known as Royal Worcester; Worcester Royal Porcelain; The Worcester Tonquin Manufactory; Fight & Barr; Barr; Flight, Barr & Barr.
Period: 1751 to present day.
Founded in 1751 by Dr. John Wall (1708-1776) and William Davis as the Worcester Tonquin Manufactory. Upon Dr. Wall’s retirement in 1774, W. Davis continued operations until his death in 1783. The company was then acquired by Thomas Flight, a London based distributor of finished porcelains, for his two sons, Joseph Flight, and John Flight. Thomas Flight died in 1791 and his two sons partnered with Martin Barr, who died in 1800 and upon formation of the new partnership was renamed: Flight & Barr until 1804. At that time, Barr’s two sons Martin Barr, Jr. and George Barr joined the company, and it was renamed in 1804, Barr, Flight & Barr until 1813 and then the name was changed to Barr, Flight & Barr and remained so until 1840. The company was then sold to a rival competitor, Robert Chamberlain & Sons and was renamed Chamberlain & Co. until 1847. In that year, John and Fredrick Lilly joined the company, briefly until 1852 and in that year, the company had a major fire, which brought the help and investment of their Irish distributors, Richard William Binns (1819-1900) and William Henry Kerr (1823-1897) to resurrect with new equipment and facilities and managed it until 1862. The official name of Worcester Royal Porcelain Co., Ltd., was in 1862. After the reconstruction, R. W. Kerr returned to Ireland and continued to manage the company until his death in 1897. At that time, G. Solon took over as the new manager followed by several others until 176 when the company merged with Spode and remained so until 2009 when the Portmeirion Group then acquired all designs and intellectual property, but not the actual factory and retained the original name as one of their product lines specializing in limited editions of luxury Decorative Porcelain and Tableware’s.
The Dr. Wall period is the first real porcelain and it used between 30-40% bone ash in its content, allowing Dr. Wall’s ‘C’ mark to produce a very light, opaque (light shines through) that did not crack when exposed to hot water for making tea or placing hot foods in or on its tableware. Dr. Wall’s porcelains are also noted for their nearly matched, hand painted, blue underglaze porcelains that have a ‘ring’ when tapped lightly with the fingernail.

Notes: Good condition with no cracks, or hairlines. See images and description.

$600 - $800

5" x 2" x 3"

Home Decor, Porcelains / Fine China

20%

Richard Gabriel | (781) 883-6639 | gabriel@calixbooks.com

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