A fine antique Georgian Turner Creamware pottery pierced & moulded Plate C.1785

A fine antique Georgian Creamware pottery finely potted and embossed with a crisp basket weave pattern and a pierced, fretted or reticulated rim Plate by John and William Turner.

Circa 1785

Good Antique Condition – tiny tight line on outer edge & slight discolouration mentioned for accuracy and fine crazing as expected

7 1/8th inches (18cm) dia approx

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The illustrious firm of Turner was founded by John Turner the elder, born at Newport Shropshire in 1737, who was apprenticed to Daniel Bird of Stoke in 1753; by 1759 he was in a partnership with William Banks at Stoke and shortly after was in business on his own account at Lane End, founding a firm which survived until after the turn of the 19th century.

John the elder died at the age of 50 in 1787 and the firm was continued by his two sons William and John the younger. The principal products were creamware and stoneware of very high quality; the firm had a substantial trade with continental Europe which was adversely affected by the onset of the French Revolution. Although there are conflicting accounts of the date, it seems that whilst France was in turmoil William travelled there in an attempt to collect some debts and was fortunate to escape with his life. Any financial problems do not appear to have affected the quality of the firm’s output. Creamwares and stonewares of the highest quality were made throughout the 1790s and there are documented references to the manufacture of porcelain in 1800 and dissension within the industry in the same year by their patenting of the use of Tabberner’s Mine Rock.

The Turner family of potters was active in Staffordshire, England 1756-1829. Their manufactures have been compared favourably with, and sometimes confused with, those of Josiah Wedgwood and Sons. Josiah Wedgwood was both a friend and a commercial rival of John Turner the elder, the first notable potter in the family.

The Turner factory, like Wedgwood, mostly made fine earthenwares and stonewares but, briefly and not very successfully, made hard-paste porcelain themselves. John Turner the Elder was also an original partner in the New Hall porcelain factory, though not associated with the factory for long. Many of the most interesting wares from the Turner factory are unglazed, in caneware, jasperware and basalt ware. Geoffrey Godden uses the term “Turner stoneware” for “a refined earthenware being a cross between caneware and stoneware” (bearing in mind that many classify caneware as stoneware). The Turner factory was the leading and best maker, but many others also made this body, mainly for items like tankards and jugs, decorated with scenes in relief. The family operated the first factory, at Lane End, now part of Longton, Staffordshire, from the early 1760s (or possibly c. 1759) to 1806, when John Junior and William went bankrupt, although William Turner, son of John, continued potting until 1829, and members of the family worked for other factories.

References
‘John Turner’s Origins’ by Rodney Hampson, NCS Journal Volume 27 2011 and the references there cited.
‘The Turners of Lane End’ by Bevis Hillier, Cory, Adams and Mackay 1965, Chapter 3 and notes thereto.
Hillier, ibid, Chapter 9 and notes thereto.
Illustrated at Case 23/6 of ‘True Blue’, Friends of Blue Exhibition Catalogue 1998. The other three patterns mentioned are all illustrated in the Transferware Collectors’ Club Database.
The ‘Staffordshire Advertiser’ notice of William’s closing down sale on 12th December 1829 refers to copper plate engravings of ‘Willow table service’.