Description:
Cup plates were used when tea was drunk from saucers. After the tea was poured from the cup to the saucer, the cup was placed on a cup plate in order to prevent the tea from staining the tablecloth. English pearlware cup plate with an underglaze transfer print of "The Landing of General Lafayette, Castle Clinton, NY", by James and Ralph Clews. Cup plates, small plates from 3 to 4 1/2 inches in diameter, were used to hold the cup to prevent damage or staining. Before the advent of the glass pressed maching, most cup plates were earthenware, usually matching dinner and tea sets; some were blown glass with simple cut design. English potters were making cup plates along with their other tablewares in order to capture the American market; it is not known who made the first cup plate. Staffordshire potters, including Davenport, Riley, and Wedgwood, were exporting these "Anglo-American" wares, often using historical subjects, including people, views, and events. Most were made from 1800-1850, with the largest production after the war of 1812. This pattern is probably found on the most forms and is probably the most recognized in the area of historical Staffordshire. The arrival of La Fayette, August 16, 1824, at Castle Garden was the occasion for one of the most momentous celebrations in New York annals. His trip of fifteen days on the CADMUS had brought him to New York Harbor, where the country's finest boat, CHANCELLOR LIVINGSTON, escorted by the pride of the navy, met and conveyed him in triumph to Castle Garden. Shown here to the left of Castle Garden are the ROBERT FULTON and the CHANCELLOR LIVINGSTON. Ralph and James Clews, born in 1788 and 1790 respectively, were two of the sons of John Clews, a hatter, of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. We know little of their early life, but by 1811 James Clews was acting as clerk to the potter Andrew Stevenson, and he and Ralph were in business on their own account by the autumn of 1813. The Bleak Hill Works in Cobridge, near to Burslem was probably their first pottery. Bleak Hill, a small factory with two ovens, had been operated by Peter Warburton until his untimely death in January 1813 at the age of 40, and his widow Mary was advertising the works for sale or to let in the following month. An insurance policy which the widow Warburton took out in July 1817 specifies the premises as being in the occupation of Ralph and James Clews and it seems likely that the brothers took the opportunity presented by the empty factory when they first entered business in 1813. In 1817, the brothers rented a second factory in Cobridge, the Globe Works, and it was at this pottery they developed their enormous export trade to the United States. The Clews brothers continued to occupy the Bleak Hill factory until 1827, when the works was advertised to let and they took out a lease on the Cobridge Works of Andrew Stevenson who had retired from business around that date.The 1827 move from Bleak Hill to the much larger Cobridge Works was clearly intended to provide additional manufacturing capacity, the rent was double that of the nearby Globe Works which they continued to operate. A major contribution to the growth of Clews’ business was their close relationship with the firm of merchants and importers Bolton, Ogden, & Co., who effectively financed the manufacturers by advancing a proportion of the value of consignments prior to sale. This arrangement resulted in Clews becoming substantially indebted to their importer. When production problems arose, due to industrial unrest in the Potteries in 1834, the business had no reserves to cope with the loss of revenue and the Clews brothers went bankrupt with enormous liabilities and relatively few assets. Bolton,Ogden & Co were owed over £68,000, of which some £35,000 was unsold ware.
Subjects:
Pottery; glaze (coating by location) Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+65.227 |
