Old Blue China
"Our pioneer ancestors of slender purse and simple taste contented themselves with dishes of wood and pewter, and until the days of the Revolution there was practically no china in…
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
“Old Blue China,” by Rachel Weston from The Boston Cooking-School Magazine, Volume 13, 1909.
Our pioneer ancestors of slender purse and simple taste contented themselves with dishes of wood and pewter, and until the days of the Revolution there was practically no china in America. The first imported china came from Holland. Plates, teapots, tea-caddies, round platters, tiles, punch bowls and apothecary jars of this early Delft are found scattered throughout New York and many parts of New England. The pottery is rather coarse, with a grayish-white glaze; the decorations are blue, with sometimes a rim of buff or a touch of green.
The apothecary jars, more than a century old, are from eight to ten inches in height, and are decorated with abbreviated names of the drugs, painted in clear blue letters, and surrounded with garlands and quaint little cupids. There are no tops to these rare old jars, as they were tightly covered with oilskin.
Much of the decoration on the old Delft is of Oriental design, as the Dutch very early imported quantities of china from the East and the decoration of their own pieces was often the Dutch interpretation of the Chinese idea. Many Dutch families of New York still treasure these old dishes of their ancestors, and punch bowls, teapots, caddies, jars and platters are among their most cherished relics.
The tables of our forefathers were furnished with a beautiful ware, not china, but a good serviceable pottery, decorated with American views, portraits of heroes and historical happenings, done in a rich, deep shade of blue. The potters at Staffordshire, England, early recognized that a ware designed especially for Colonial trade would prove profitable, and in the latter part of the eighteenth century they began to send to this country dinner, tea and toilet sets in great quantities. The patriotic designs, and views of American scenery, became so popular that over sixty English potters found it to their advantage to manufacture for this market.
Not only American, but English, German and Italian views, as well as classical and historical subjects, were used in the hundreds of designs made. Very many patterns were made from views in and about New York, Albany, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore, and a historical value is given to the quaint old pieces, as the designs were made from original drawings of the subjects. The borders are of flowers, leaves or fruit, sometimes with medallions.
Several of the makers used individual borders, by which their wares may be known. The clear, beautiful shell border is found on the plates and platters by Wood; and the characteristic scroll, eagle and rose design shows the mark of Stobbs, though his name does not always appear on the back of his pieces.
In the color of the old blue lies its greatest charm. There is nothing quite like its deep, glowing hue. The makers of today use aniline dye, and do not exactly match the long-ago tone.
For about fifty years the Staffordshire wares in the dark rich blue were sent to this country, after which the designs were stamped in light blue, brown, pink, green and black. At the present time there is a pottery in Staffordshire making honest reproductions of old Wood and Clews potteries, good in color and moderate in price. But the collector must beware of fakes, as these reproductions are sometimes scratched with an emery wheel and boiled in fat, giving such an old-time look that one may be easily deceived.
Enoch Wood, whose pottery was established in 1784, was one of the first to send his wares to America; so numerous were his productions that many a piece still exists. Some of the large platters are highly valued, and the plates showing ''The Landing of the Pilgrims" are worth thirty dollars. The designs relating to Lafayette also are in great demand.
Two of the most famous of the Staffordshire potters were James and Ralph Clews, makers of the celebrated "states plates and platters," which bear the names of the fifteen states in a festoon border. Other potteries with the Clews imprint are the series showing the droll adventures of Doctor Syntax and the American views, which include "The Landing of Lafayette," a design high in favor with the collector. It is said such respect and honor were paid to Lafayette by the patriots, that, even the china, bearing designs referring to him, was most carefully preserved and is found today in better condition than other specimens of the same period.
J. and W. Ridgeway are best known by an interesting set of early American views with a medallion border of roses. The tureens and platters of this series, called "Beauties of America," are very rare. Another potter, R. Hall, sent great quantities of his ware to America. His "Select Views" are well known to all lovers of old Staffordshire. The nineteen-inch platter, shown in the photograph, has his mark on the back, in blue, "R. Hall, Select Views," also a cluster of flowers and the words "Stone China," while in an oval is the name of the view, "Church of St. James and Polytechnic School, Vienna, Germany."
In almost every country cupboard are to be found a few pieces of Willow Ware, which is not so old or rare as many suppose, and is largely reproduced today. Thomas Turner worked out this pattern from a Chinese design in 1780.
The first pieces, made in Caughley, England, are beautiful and of value. These early specimens are marked on the back with the letter S, a crescent, or the word "Salopian." A certain charm lingers about this old ware, because of the legend ascribed to the pattern, and we follow with interest the adventures of the Mandarin's daughter, who dwelt in a gorgeous mansion, surrounded by caterpillar trees. We see the little prison, built out over the water, where the maiden was kept from her suitor, the Mandarin's secretary. Here their pursuers cross the bridge to the island, where the lovers have escaped, and when, at last, they are discovered on the more distant island, we behold the souls of the devoted pair changed, in pity, by the gods to turtle-doves.
There came an unfortunate period in our history when the good old furniture, the tall clock and four-poster, the woven coverlet, pewter pots, silverware in simple lines, and the old blue dishes, little cared for, were relegated to garret and half-forgotten nook. This was the day of black walnut furniture, Nottingham curtains and "flowered china." In such slight esteem were the few remaining plates of grandmother's set held, they were used for pie plates, and collectors often find the rare old specimens of Wood, Stobbs and Mayer grease-soaked and nicked. The Stobbs plate shown in the photograph was in this condition, but was greatly improved by being boiled in wood ashes. About the ruins of old farmhouses, in country gardens and chicken yards one sees again and again the tantalizing glint of the old blue, perhaps enough to show that here are the fragments of a "La Grange" plate, or one of Ridgeway's "Beauties of America."
An entire set is seldom found; the dishes were broken, as dishes are today, or the family divided and a few pieces were given to each member. That a great-grandmother's wedding set should be entire is worthy of note, but quite as remarkable, it seems to me, is the charming set of grandmother's little-girl dishes, decorated with weeping willows and castle walls. With what gentle touch was each tiny dish placed in the box, made from an old drum, after the miniature feast of those bygone days. The rarity of good specimens of the old blue, its historic value and the beauty of the pieces make such a collection of deep interest. There is no more charming decoration for one's dining-room than the glowing blue of old Staffordshire placed on mantel and plate rail or hung against a plain wall of soft, warm tone. Hangers for the dishes may be purchased or fashioned from strong cord and big dress hooks.
The antique and secondhand shops hold treasures, no doubt, but the real joy of china hunting is when in some New York or New England village, or, perhaps, among the hills, one "neighbors with folks," and little by little discovers the choice objects of his search. Very often, nowadays, the old blue dishes are held in high esteem by the present owners, but sometimes the ready money is a great inducement to make the exchange. Whatever may be the case, the charm of the old blue is such that it is a pleasure to see and know where the pieces are, when they are valued possessions, even if one cannot own them.
But one does rebel when Aunt Eliza keeps soft soap in a rare old sugar bowl, and has a handy supply of salt in a "Peruvian Horse Hunt" cup, and insists on baking pies on a couple of Clews "States plates." Many of the old sugar bowls are crackled and discolored. It is interesting to learn the reason for this. Before the days of glass fruit jars, berries and fruit were dried for winter use, a bushel of blueberries being considered part of a thrifty supply, but for company use preserves were made, "pound for pound," to be stowed away in any available jar or sugar bowl, and something about the sweet compound discolored and crackled the old ware.
In hunting old china one is always meeting surprises. Off on a mountain side, among the deserted ruins of an old house, was found one of those tall, none-too-generous, pitchers which belonged to the toilet sets of the Staffordshire make. A similar pitcher, mended with putty and filled with bright pebbles, was a most acceptable gift from a mother, for some trifling kindness shown her children. In an old grocery store, where it had long served for measuring cochineal, was a squat blue cup, decorated with a cautious little hunter, who, with two stiff and spotted dogs, appears several times in the surrounding azure landscape. With quaint humor, the object of the hunt, a plump goose, is hidden in the bottom of the cup.
Come with me to a sunny old-fashioned dining-room; listen to the slow ticking of the tall clock in the corner; see the old-time secretary, the drawn and braided rugs, time-softened in color, the high and narrow mantel shelf, ornamented with a blue Staffordshire teapot and sugar bowl, beautiful in color, the design, the patriotic spread eagle, so popular in the early part of the last century.
When Miss Olivia recognizes your genuine interest in her treasures, she shows you her choice old pewter, a beautiful miniature of her great-uncle of Revolutionary fame and one of the pioneer settlers in the Saco valley. She opens the door of the little chimney cupboard, and you see her rare old china and glass, little blue cups with a border of mayflowers and a Nahant plate especially good in color. A scroll with eagles and roses frames a view of the Old Nahant Hotel, built in 1818. "Nahant Hotel near Boston" is stamped on the back in blue script, surrounded by an oval border. This is one of Stobbs's plates.
The cups and saucers illustrated bear the T. Mayer imprint. The cups of this period rarely have handles, and the saucers are very deep. The grandmothers tell us that the steaming beverage was deftly poured in and sipped from the deep saucer, while the cup was placed in a tiny "cup plate" provided for the purpose.
The price of old china is relative, depending largely upon the regard in which it is held by its present owner.
Collectors place high prices on the treasures they possess, but as a general rule they have paid far less than they ask. People, even in remote parts of the country, have learned there is a money value in the once neglected dishes, and if willing to part with them expect fair prices, though it is cheaper to buy from country homes than town shops, and one feels more certain that her old blue is genuine.
Weston, Rachel. “Old Blue China.” The Boston-Cooking School Magazine, 1909.
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