Plates - 3
from Italian Traditional Food

Development of plates

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Continuing the potted history of plates ...

Chelsea porcelain - the early and best years

Talking of plates it's appropriate to link together Chelsea and Derby, two great names in English porcelain, because for a time their fortunes were shared. The Chelsea factory was started in 1745 by an Englishman named John Gouyn, in partnership with a Huguenot silversmith, Nicholas Sprimont. Gouyn had gathered some knowledge of the making of soft paste porcelain while in France, and on his return to England he brought workmen from Staffordshire - already an important centre for pottery - and set up for himself in London.

It's odd, as one distinguished collector remarks, that the first venture in any field should be the best, but the early Chelsea wares are now considered the finest collector's pieces, a fact reflected by the prices they fetch in the world's salerooms.

The end of an era

In 1749, or thereabouts, the partnership came to an end and so did the first Chelsea factory, but the worthy Staffordshire workmen then started one of their own and, within two years, Nicholas Sprimont was back in business. He had spent his time evolving new shapes and designs which not unnaturally resembled the silver of the period. But the influence of the Meissen factory was strongly felt and Chelsea plates, bowl, dishes and tureens were turned out in shape of apples, pineapples, cauliflowers, and lettuces. Invention didn't stop there, and Chelsea tureens are to be found disguised as rabbits, ducks, fish and even eels.

Delicately realistic paintings of flowers, fruit and their attendant insects appeared on plates, and many of these designs were taken from a book illustrating the flowers to be found in Sir Hans Sloane's Chelsea garden, which accounts no doubt for their botanical exactness.

Relocation to Derby

Then, in 1770, when the influence of Meissen had declined and Sevres was making its more elaborate impact on the decoration of English porcelain, when gilding had been introduced and the botanical plates had acquired gilt rims, William Duesbury bought the Chelsea factory. Many of the workmen and the original moulds were transferred to Derby, where he had been manager of the firm for fifteen years. This move, coupled with the fact that very little is known about the precise work of the early Derby factory, explains why it is difficult and even impossible to tell which of the porcelain came from Chelsea and which from Derby.

Page 4 of this Italian Traditional Food article on plates can be found on the next page.

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