Ironstone china, ironstone ware or most commonly just ironstone, is a type of vitreous
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
first made in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
in the early 19th century. It is often classed as
earthenware
Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...
although in appearance and properties it is similar to fine stoneware. It was developed in the 19th century by potters in Staffordshire, England, as a cheaper, mass-produced alternative for
porcelain
Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
.
There is no
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
in ironstone; its name is derived from its notable strength and durability.
Ironstone in Britain's Staffordshire potteries was closely associated with the company founded by Charles James Mason following his patent of 1813, with the name subsequently becoming generic. The strength of Mason's ironstone body enabled the company to produce ornamental objects of considerable size"Mason ware". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 201 including vestibule vases 1.5 metres highJohn Fleming (art historian), Fleming, John &
Hugh Honour
Hugh Honour FRSL (26 September 1927 – 19 May 2016) was a British art historian, known for his writing partnership with John Fleming (art historian), John Fleming. Their ''A World History of Art'' (a.k.a. ''The Visual Arts: A History''), is now ...
. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London:
Allen Lane
Sir Allen Lane (born Allen Lane Williams; 21 September 1902 – 7 July 1970) was a British publisher who together with his brothers Richard and John Lane founded Penguin Books in 1935, bringing high-quality paperback fiction and non-fictio ...
, p. 399. and mantelpieces assembled from several large sections.
Antique ironstone wares are collectable, and in particular items made by Mason's.
History
Ironstone was patented by the British potter Charles James Mason in 1813. His father, Miles Mason (1752–1822) married the daughter of Richard Farrar, who had a business selling imported Oriental porcelain in London. Subsequently, Mason continued this business, but after the East India Company ceased the bulk importation of Oriental porcelain in 1791 he began to manufacture his own wares. His first manufacturing venture was a partnership with Thomas Wolfe and John Lucock in Liverpool, and he later formed a partnership with George Wolfe to manufacture pottery in Staffordshire.Subsequently other manufacturers produced ironstone, with James Edwards (1805–1867) of the Dalehall Pottery in Staffordshire also credited as its pioneer. Other sources also attribute the invention of ironstone to William Turner of Longton,"Ironstone china". ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 201 and Josiah Spode who is known to have been producing ironstone ware by 1805, "which he exported in immense quantities to France and other countries". The popularity of Spode's ironstone surpassed the traditional
faience
Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major ad ...
pottery in France.
A variety of ironstone types was being produced by the mid-19th century. "
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
ironstone" became a particularly popular variety in the 19th century, as well as "yellow ironstone". Patterns with raised edges became popular in the mid-19th century, including "cane-coloured" Derbyshire ironstone. Some of the most well-known and collectable British ironstone manufacturers of the 19th century include:
* Church Gresley Pottery
*Edge, Malkin, Burslem, Staffordshire
* Hartshorne Pottery (founded by James Onions around 1790)
* Hartshorne Potteries (founded in 1818 by Joseph Thompson)
*
Hill Top Works
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit.
Terminology
The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not a ...
*
Old Midway Pottery
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
* Old, Baranya, Hungary
* Old, Northamptonshire, England
*Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...
*
Rawdon Pottery Rawdon may refer to:
Places
in England
* Rawdon, West Yorkshire
* Rawdon Colliery, Leicestershire
in Canada
* Rawdon, Quebec
* Rawdon, Ontario, a historic township merged since 1997 into the municipality of Stirling-Rawdon, Ontario
* Rawdon Tow ...
*
Sharpe Brothers
The Sharpe Brothers was a Canadian professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Ben Sharpe and Mike Sharpe, best known for their tenures wrestling in the territories of Northern California and Japan. Both men were tall in stature wit ...
Spode and Copeland
Spode is an English brand of pottery and homewares produced by the company of the same name, which is based in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
Spode was founded by Josiah Spode (1733–1797) in 1770, and was responsible for perfecting two extremel ...
*
Swadlincote Potteries
Swadlincote is a former mining town in the district of South Derbyshire, England, lying within The National Forest area. It borders the counties of Leicestershire and Staffordshire, south-east of Burton upon Trent and north-west of Ashby-de-l ...
Waterloo Pottery
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat
* Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place.
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Antarctica
*King George Island (S ...
*
Wooden Box Pottery
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...
In the United States, ironstone ware was being manufactured from the 1850s onward. The earliest American ironstone potters were in operation around
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.
Notable 19th-century ironstone manufacturers in the United States include:
*
Empire Pottery
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
Walter Scott Lenox
Walter Scott Lenox was the American businessman who established Lenox china, supplying the first complete American-made bone china table service for Woodrow Wilson's White House.
Biography
Lenox resolved to become a potter early in his b ...
*
Homer Laughlin
Homer Laughlin (March 23, 1843 – January 10, 1913) was an American businessman and potter who, with his brother Shakespeare, formed the Laughlin Pottery Company in 1871 in Newell, West Virginia.''Press Reference Library : Portraits and Biograph ...
Types of ironstone ware
Transferware
Transfer-printed
Transfer printing is a method of decorating pottery or other materials using an engraved copper or steel plate from which a monochrome print on paper is taken which is then transferred by pressing onto the ceramic piece. Fleming, John & Hugh Hon ...
designs were applied to ironstone by Mason's in an attempt to copy Chinese porcelain cheaply. Transferware is most often in one colour against a white background, such as blue, red, green or brown. Some patterns included detail colours that were added on top of the main transfer after the glaze had been applied.
Transferware designs range from dense patterns that cover the piece, to small motifs applied sparingly to give a delicate appearance, as with floral motifs.