Antique Porcelain Highland Mary Figurine

porcelain wars: Worcester porcelain

The Royal Worcester factory was founded in 1751 and is the only porcelain factory established in the mid-18th century that has been in continuous production until the present day. The founders were Dr John Wall, a doctor of medicine and William Davies, an apothecary. They started with soft-past porcelain functional wares, particularly tea services. Their soft-paste porcelain had a unique property that made them famous around the world - it could withstand hot liquid. This meant that their teapots and cups could have hot tea poured into them without cracking. Early pieces were in the Chinese style, sometimes using blue and white on shapes copied from English silver.

The first Worcester figurine was made in 1757 - 'Cupid at Vulcan's Forge', which is thought to be modelled by Chelsea modeller John Toulouse. Worcester excels in figurines to this day. During the 1760s and 1770s Worcester porcelain was influenced by Meissen with colours such as the very deep blue being introduced. By this time some of Worcester's porcelain was being painted in London under their London agent, Thomas Flight, who took over the business with his sons John and Joseph, when Dr John walled died in 1776.They were joined by Martin Barr and the factory went under the name Flight and Barr, and other combinations of names until 1840.

During the period of the Regency Royal Worcester porcelain looked sumptuous and colorful and had some magnificent gilding and painting. Meanwhile flight Barr and merged with the "factory of the Chamberlain and" factory Grainger, who were both from rivals Worcester. In 1862 the 'Worcester Royal Porcelain Co "was established and the goods were known as" Royal Worcester.

In "Paros" in the mid-19th century was introduced and made a huge difference to their production. Parian is a durable material with a high feldspar content and is perfect for detailed modelling. This meant that figures could be produced with the finest of detail and quality. The material is also perfect for gilding and enamelling, which meant that pieces could be produced with lavish detail.

During the 20th century Worcester had fierce competition from Royal Doulton and as figurines were hugely popular Worcester and Doulton fought for market share. Worcester produced a range of animals, starting with a tortoise in 1910. It was modelled by George Evans and was a massive success. This encouraged Worcester to produce further animals which included birds, fish, a rabbit and a mouse, which were being produced until the 1950s.

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