Description:
English creamware, pear-shaped teapot decorated with three small painted birds on the lid and two black transfer prints on the pot. The origin of the first print, with a scene of a man asleep against a tree stump with a woman prodding him with a pointed instrument, is unknown; the tea canister (HD 1669) has the same print over the signature, "Palmer Enamel Hanley." Correspondence in 1974 with E. Norman Stratton, who had a similar tea canister which he had considered the only known example of a transfer printed piece with the Palmer signature, elicited the following information. Working in Church Works, Hanley, Henry Palmer (d.1778), had two employees, Henry Baker who was his head enameller, printer, and perhaps an engraver; and Thomas Rothwell (1740-1807) who was an enameller and engraver. Both of these men had worked previously in Liverpool, but were in Hanley by 1767 and still there in 1771. Recent research has shown that Henry Baker was the chief printer for Palmer at this time and the engraving for the print is likely to be his work or work done under his direction. The other print depicts the same man and woman standing and talking in front of of a broken-down fence. There are several adaptations of this scene, such as an earlier version that appeared in a vignette heading the song, "Jockey and Jenny," on p.149 in "Clio and Euterpe or British Harmony, A Collection of Songs and Cantatas" Vol. I, published by Henry Roberts in 1758. Another adaptation appeared on p. 231 of the 3rd edition of "The Ladies Amusement," signed "J. June sculp," which was published in the early 1770s, before 1775. Cyril Cook, in his "The Life and Work of Robert Hancock," illustrates similar transfer prints signed "R. Hancock fecit," which he titled, "Milkmaid at Gate." After his engraving apprenticeship ended in 1753, Robert Hancock (1730-1817) worked at the Battersea Works and Bow Porcelain Works before joining the Worcester Porcelain Company of Dr John Wall (1708-1776) where he worked from from 1756 to 1774 engraving copperplates for transfer-printing on porcelain, using designs adapted from contemporary engravings and paintings; many of his designs appear in "The Ladies Amusement." The two subjects, with slight variations, were later used at Liverpool on pottery and porcelain, possibly in the factory of Thomas Wolfe who worked in Liverpool from about 1796-1800 and had other partnerships in Stoke. The pot has a ribbed, double-intertwined loop handle with leaf terminals, curved spout, a lid with a reclining flower knob with a bud and leaf terminal, and concave foot ring.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+56.011 |
