English Delftware - Later Wares

Later Wares

Towards the end of the 17th changing taste led to the replacement of apothecary pots, paving tiles and large dishes by polite tablewares, delicate ornaments, punch bowls, teapots, cocoa pots and coffee-pots. The decoration became lighter and more informal. Changing taste was also reflected in chinoiserie decoration and greater use of a polychrome palette.

In Bristol and Lambeth from the mid-18th century there was much use of a technique imported from Italy, bianco sopra bianco (white-on-white). The object was covered in a tin-glaze tinted with a small amount of colouring oxide, with decoration over it in white tin-glaze.

The development of a very white earthenware by Wedgwood spelled the end of English delftware. Decoration could be applied to the bisque ware from printed transfers, white pottery could be produced with a clear lead-glaze, and the result was pottery lighter and more durable than tin-glazed ware. The north Staffordshire potteries also introduced industrial techniques that disadvantaged the delftware makers, and by the 19th century tin-glazed earthenware almost died out until its revival in the form of art pottery a hundred years later.