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Date: | Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:17:32 -0500 |
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Rob Hunter has produced another great addition to the ceramics and
archaeological literature with the publication of the 2007 volume of
Ceramics in America. This volume shines a light on the dark area of the
translucent soft paste porcelains. Archaeologists rarely get beyond
describing these wares as being soft paste porcelain. While there are a
number of books on English factories that produced these wares such as Bow,
Chelsea, Derby and Worcester, none of them pull all of the information
together for an overview of these elusive wares.
The 2007 volume of Ceramics in America begins with a reprinting of
Graham Hood’s slim volume on the Bonnin and Morris Philadelphia porcelain
factory with all new color photographs of the wares and some of the
excavations by Garry W. Stone and Paul Huey. This is followed by a reprint
of an important article by Michael Brown on the history of the factory.
Alexandra A. Kirtley produced a catalog of all the known surviving Bonnin
and Morris pieces and their histories. Gavin Ashworth has rephotographed
these vessels as well as almost all of the other photos in the volume.
Finally, Michelle Erickson recreated the process of producting a Bonnin and
Morris pickle stand with a very detailed set of photographs of making the
various molds and assembling the final object.
Until the publication of this volume, it was assumed that Bonnin and
Morris produced the first porcelain in the United States beginning in 1770.
However, Stanley South’s excavations of John Bartlam’s wares at the Cain
Hoy site in South Carolina have shown that Bartlam was producing soft paste
porcelain between 1765 and 1770. Rob Hunter, Stanley South and Lisa R.
Hudgins have articles on these discoveries again with excellent color
photos. These articles alone would make the volume worth adding to your
library, but there is much more.
J. Victor Owen provides an excellent summary of the chemical make up
of glassy, bone, soapstone and hybrid soft paste porcelains with
information on the mix of these ingredients of porcelains from a large
number of English factories as well as the porcelains from John Bartlam and
Bonnin and Morris factories. This article will go a long way toward making
these wares less opaque.
The quest for the secret of how to make porcelain has a strong
relationship with alchemy and the alchemists who sought to turn base metals
into gold. The arcanum was the secret of how to make porcelain that was
highly sought by European and English potters. Glenn Adamson presents a
good brief summary of this history of the quest and how it related to a
changing knowledge of the chemistry involved in the production of
porcelain.
Roderick Jellico and Rob Hunter went through the collections at
Colonial Williamsburg and photographed a large number of the soft paste
porcelains from that collection. These photographs and the documentary
information will make this the first place to go for the identification of
these wares from archaeological sites.
Amy C. Earls has put together a Checklist of Articles and Books on
Eighteenth Century Porcelain in America to conclude the volume.
This volume is a great addition to the literature and it has many
photos of wares from very short period of time because of the limited dates
that some of these factories were in production. Particularly interesting
is the use of underglaze transfer printing at the Bonnin and Morris
porcelain works. The printing and painted styles of these wares will show
up in the painted China glaze wares about a decade after they were being
produced on soft paste porcelains, so the articles are also relevant to the
study of the later earthenwares.
The 2007 volume of Ceramics in America is hard bound and is a product
of the Chipstone Foundation, which helped keep the price down. It was
published at $65.00, however Amazon has it for $41.00.
Peace,
George L. Miller
URS Corporation
437 High Street
Burlington, New Jersey 08016
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