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Transfer printing is a method of decorating
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 ...
or other materials using an
engraved Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an i ...
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...
or
steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...
plate from which a monochrome print on paper is taken which is then transferred by pressing onto the ceramic piece. Fleming, John & Hugh Honour. (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-fict ...
, p. 800.
Pottery decorated using the technique is known as transferware or transfer ware. It was developed in England from the 1750s on, and in the 19th century became enormously popular in England, though relatively little used in other major pottery-producing countries. The bulk of production was from the dominant Staffordshire pottery industry. America was a major market for English transfer-printed wares, whose imagery was adapted to the American market; several makers made this almost exclusively. The technique was essential for adding complex decoration such as the Willow pattern to relatively cheap pottery. In particular, transfer printing brought the price of a matching dinner service low enough for large numbers of people to afford. Apart from pottery, the technique was used on metal, and enamelled metal, and sometimes on wood and textiles. It remains used today, although mostly superseded by
lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
. In the 19th century methods of transfer printing in colour were developed.


Process

The process starts with an engraved metal printing plate similar to those used for making
engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...
s or etchings on paper. The plate is used to print the pattern on
tissue paper Tissue paper or simply tissue is a lightweight paper or, light crêpe paper. Tissue can be made from recycled paper pulp on a paper machine. Tissue paper is very versatile, and different kinds of tissue are made to best serve these purposes, w ...
, using mixes of special pigments that stand up to firing as the "ink". The transfer is then put pigment-side down onto the piece of pottery, so that the sticky ink transfers to the ceramic surface. Usually, several different transfer sections were needed for each piece if the design covered the whole object (see illustration). The paper is either floated off by soaking the piece in water, or left to burn off during the firing. This can be done over or under the ceramic glaze, but the underglaze ("underprinting") method gives much more durable decoration. The ceramic is then glazed (if this had not been done already) and fired in a kiln to fix the pattern. With overglaze printing only a low-temperature firing was needed. The process produces fine lines similar to engraved prints. Before transfer printing ceramics were hand painted, a laborious and costly process. Transfer printing enabled the high quality of representation that had been developed in painting on porcelain to be done far more cheaply, in the process making large numbers of painters redundant. Initially, it was also mostly used on porcelain, but after a few years it was also used on the new high-quality earthenwares that English potters had been developing, such as
creamware Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 175 ...
and
pearlware Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 175 ...
. By the end of the 18th century, a variant technique giving "bat-printed" wares was introduced. This used "pliable glue bats or slabs" of a rubbery texture instead of the paper. The plate printed glue onto the bat, which was then transferred to the piece, and powdered pigments were then added, which stuck to the glue. The technique was associated with the introduction of stippling rather than
line engraving Line engraving is a term for engraved images printed on paper to be used as prints or illustrations. The term is mainly used in connection with 18th- or 19th-century commercial illustrations for magazines and books or reproductions of paintings ...
as the technique used on the copper plates. The process was much more complicated, and little used after about 1820.


Colour

Both these techniques printed a single colour, which was most often the
cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element with the symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, p ...
blue that had been heavily used for painting pottery for centuries. Its success was because the colour was attractive, and cobalt kept its colour in firing even at very high porcelain temperatures. Initially cobalt blue, black and brown were probably the only colour options for underglaze transfer printing. Transfer printing could be supplemented with colour added by hand, or
gilding Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...
, and this technique was used from early on. The use of multiple transfers, each with a different colour, was introduced quite early when different areas were printed in each colour, for example, a plate with the centre in one colour, and the border in another. It was more difficult to build up a full polychrome image, but this was perfected by Messrs F&R Pratt of Fenton in the 1840s. File:DAR pot - IMG 8595.JPG, Teapot with scene of a fortune-teller. Printed black outline with manual enamel colours. 1762–82 File:Tile (England), ca. 1780 (CH 18559459-2).jpg, Tile with
Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with J ...
or
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
, c. 1780, the green painted File:DAR pot - IMG 8643 (cropped).JPG, Plate using two transfers, puce and green, c. 1830, Enoch Wood & Co. File:Burgessleigh.jpg, Polychrome teapot, 1896, Burgess & Leigh File:Advertisement for "Tetley's Teas" Matchsafe, late 19th century (CH 18494993) (cropped).jpg, Advertising metal matchbox, British, late 19th century File:Mug, coronation (AM 1990.238-1).jpg, Modern colour printing - 1937 Coronation mug by
Eric Ravilious Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs and other English lands ...
for
Wedgwood Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapid ...


Design history

The pottery and
printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniqu ...
worlds were already closely related, with large numbers of prints being copied by painters on pottery, especially porcelain, for which prints, including book illustrations, were the main source of images. Early scenes, mostly relatively small and on larger pieces occupying only the centre of the piece, included genteel or pastoral couples or small groups, landscapes, classical ruins, ships and portraits, especially of the military heroes of the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
of 1756–63. All these came from the existing repertoire of china painting, with scenes from Aesop the most popular literary references. Transfer-printed English wares are recorded in New York by 1776, and North America became an important market. By this time transfer-printing on the refined earthenwares such as
creamware Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 175 ...
had become common. Large numbers of designs celebrated the new republic and in particular
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
, with elaborate decorations around the central image as the century came to an end. One particularly distinctive type of transferware, with an all-over floral pattern, is called chintz pottery, or chintzware.


History


Italy

Although England dominated the history of commercial transfer printing, the technique had first been used in Italy. A few maiolica pieces, probably from around
Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
, mix printed and painted elements in their decoration. They date to the late 17th century, or possibly the early 18th; four surviving pieces are known. Between about 1749 and 1752, just at the time of the earliest English printeds, the
Doccia porcelain The Doccia porcelain manufactory, at Doccia, a ''frazione'' of Sesto Fiorentino, near Florence, was in theory founded in 1735 by marchese Carlo Ginori near his villa, though it does not appear to have produced wares for sale until 1746. It has ...
factory near
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...
also used transfer printing. They also experimented with
stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...
s, and some pieces mix these techniques. About 50 pieces are known to survive.


England

In the 1750s three men made significant advances in the application of printed decoration to ceramic surfaces; it does not seem likely that they were aware of the Italian precedents. Most early uses were on expensive
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 main ...
wares, in contrast to the 19th century, when it was much more used on
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 c ...
s. Initially, all pieces were overglaze printed. A single
Chelsea porcelain Chelsea porcelain is the porcelain made by the Chelsea porcelain manufactory, the first important porcelain manufactory in England, established around 1743–45, and operating independently until 1770, when it was merged with Derby porcelain. ...
plate survives in the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, which has a transfer-printed design and the "raised anchor" form of the Chelsea mark, indicating a date between 1750 and 1752. A Swiss enamel artist also records seeing printing being done at an unidentified factory near to (but different from) the Chelsea works, during a visit to London that ended in late 1752. In 1751 John Brooks, an Irish engraver then based in Birmingham, petitioned for a patent for “printing, impressing, and reversing upon enamel and china from engraved, etched and mezzotinted plates and from cuttings on wood and metal...” He was primarily concerned with printed decoration on enamels; boxes, plaques, medallions, etc. His patent application failed and he moved from Birmingham to London where he continued to unsuccessfully apply for patents. He was involved in early printing on enamels at
Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batt ...
in London, and probably Bilston near Birmingham. Printing on enamel probably began around 1753 (a letter of
Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole (), 4th Earl of Orford (24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English writer, art historian, man of letters, antiquarian, and Whig politician. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twi ...
dated 7 September 1755 mentions a printed Battersea box), and by around 1756 his process was being used on some Bow porcelain, although the results were not excellent, perhaps as the glaze was "too soft and fusible", giving a tendency to blur the image. The colours of the 1750s were a "purplish or brownish black" or a "beautiful warm brick-red". By around 1760 there was some underglaze printing in blue. Five years after Brooks's first patent attempt, in 1756, John Sadler (in partnership with Guy Green) claimed in a patent affidavit that they had spent the past seven years perfecting a process for printing on tiles and that they could "print upwards of Twelve hundred Earthen Ware Tiles of different patterns " within a period of 6 hours. Sadler and Green printed in Liverpool, where their trade included overglaze printing on tin-glazed earthenware, porcelain, and
creamware Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 175 ...
. Transfer printing on porcelain at the Worcester porcelain factory in the 1750s is usually associated with Robert Hancock, an etcher and engraver, who signed some pieces and had also worked for Bow. Richard and Josiah Holdship, the managers of Worcester, were very supportive and involved with Hancock's work. By the mid-1750s the Worcester factory was producing both underglaze prints in blue and overglaze prints, predominately in black. Some printed pieces were in complicated shapes and included
gilding Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...
, showing that the technique was at this point regarded as suitable for luxury products. From 1842 the United Kingdom Patent Office introduced a system of registered marks, usually impressed or printed on the underside of pieces. Transfer-printed designs were easily registered by submitting the transfers printed on paper. The technology of transfer printing spread to Asia as well. Kawana ware in Japan developed in the late
Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...
and was a type of blue-and-white porcelain. Burleigh, made in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, is the last pottery in the world to still use transfer printing on its ceramics.


Manufacturers

Major 19th- or 20th-century English manufacturers include Crown Ducal, Enoch Wood & Sons, Royal Staffordshire, Royal Crownford, Alfred Meakin (Tunstall), Spode, Johnson Brothers, and Mason's. The process was popular in other countries including
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
. File:Tile (England), 1760 (CH 18340193) (cropped).jpg, Sadler and Green tile, 1760 File:"Carrick Castle, Lochgoil" Matchsafe, ca. 1900 (CH 18495993) (cropped).jpg, Wooden matchbox, British, c. 1900 File:Jar, beverage (AM 1966.137-1).jpg, Practical printing on a stoneware New Zealand jar File:Petrus Regout & Co. Aquila 1.jpg, Paper print of transfers, Dutch, 1859 File:Printing department of earthenware factory Societe Ceramique Maastricht.jpg, Transfer printing department of earthenware factory, ''Societe Ceramique'',
Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...


Notes


References

* Battie, David, ed., ''Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Porcelain'', 1990, Conran Octopus, *Copeland, Robert, ''Blue and White Transfer-printed Pottery'', 2000, Shire Publications Ltd, *Dawson, Aileen, ''The Art of Worcester Porcelain, 1751-1788: Masterpieces from the British Museum Collection'', 2009, British Museum/UPNE, , 781584657521 *Godden, Geoffrey, ''English China'', 1985, Barrie & Jenkins, *Honey, W.B., ''Old English Porcelain'', 1977 (3rd edn.), Faber and Faber, *Savage, George, ''Pottery Through the Ages'', Penguin, 1959


Further reading

*Joe Keller and Mark Gibbs, ''English Transferware: Popular 20th Century Patterns''. *Gillian Neale, ''Miller's: Encyclopedia of British Transfer-Printed Pottery Patterns, 1790 - 1930''. Mitchell Beazley 2005,


External links

{{commons category, Transfer printing
Transferware Collectors Club
Ceramic art Printing terminology Types of pottery decoration British pottery