Creamware is a cream-coloured refined

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed Vitrification#Ceramics, nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids ...

with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 1750 by the potters of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, who refined the materials and techniques of salt-glazed earthenware towards a finer, thinner, whiter body with a brilliant glassy lead glaze, which proved so ideal for domestic ware that it supplanted white salt-glaze wares by about 1780. It was popular until the 1840s. Variations of creamware were known as "tortoiseshell ware" or "Whieldon ware" were developed by the master potter

Thomas Whieldon Thomas Whieldon (September 1719 in Penkhull, Staffordshire – March 1795) was an English potter who played a leading role in the development of Staffordshire pottery. The attribution of actual pieces to his factory has long been uncertain, an ...

with coloured stains under the glaze. It served as an inexpensive substitute for the

soft-paste porcelain Soft-paste porcelain (sometimes simply "soft paste", or "artificial porcelain") is a type of ceramic material in pottery, usually accepted as a type of porcelain. It is weaker than "true" hard-paste porcelain, and does not require either its hig ...

s being developed by contemporary English manufactories, initially in competition with

Chinese export porcelain Chinese export porcelain includes a wide range of Chinese porcelain that was made (almost) exclusively for export to Europe and later to North America between the 16th and the 20th century. Whether wares made for non-Western markets are covered ...

s. It was often made in the same fashionable and refined styles as porcelain. The most notable producer of creamware was

Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indu ...

, who perfected the ware, beginning during his partnership with Thomas Whieldon. Wedgwood supplied his creamware to

Queen Charlotte Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland as the wife of King George III from their marriage on 8 September 1761 until her death in 1818. The Acts of Un ...

and

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

(in the famous Frog Service) and used the trade name ''Queen's ware''. Later, around 1779, he was able to lighten the cream colour to a bluish white by using

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

in the lead overglaze. Wedgwood sold this more desirable product under the name ''pearl ware''. The Leeds Pottery (producing "Leedsware") was another very successful producer. Wedgwood and his English competitors sold creamware throughout Europe, sparking local industries, that largely replaced tin-glazed

faience Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white Ceramic glaze, pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an stannous oxide, oxide of tin to the Slip (c ...

. and to the United States. One contemporary writer and friend of Wedgwood claimed it was ubiquitous. This led to local industries developing throughout Europe to meet demand. There was also a strong export market to the United States. The success of creamware had killed the demand for tin-glazed earthenware and pewter vessels alike and the spread of cheap, good-quality, mass-produced creamware to Europe had a similar impact on Continental tin-glazed

factories. By the 1780s Josiah Wedgwood was exporting as much as 80% of his output to Europe.

Materials and production

Creamware is made from white clays from

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

and

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

combined with an amount of calcined

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

. This body is the same as that used for salt-glazed

stoneware Stoneware is a broad class of pottery fired at a relatively high temperature, to be impervious to water. A modern definition is a Vitrification#Ceramics, vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refractory fire ...

, but it is fired to a lower temperature (around 800 °C as opposed to 1,100 to 1,200 °C) and glazed with

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

to form a cream-coloured earthenware. The white clays ensured a white colour after firing and the addition of calcined flint improved its thermal shock resistance, whilst the calcined flint in the glazes helped prevent

crazing Crazing is a Yield (engineering), yielding mechanism in polymers characterized by the formation of a fine network of microvoids and fibrils. These structures (known as ''crazes'') typically appear as linear features and frequently precede brittle ...

Development

Creamware was first produced some time before 1740. Originally lead powder or

galena Galena, also called lead glance, is the natural mineral form of lead(II) sulfide (PbS). It is the most important ore of lead and an important source of silver. Galena is one of the most abundant and widely distributed sulfide minerals. It crysta ...

, mixed with a certain amount of ground calcined flint, was dusted on the ware, which was then given its one and only firing. This early method was unsatisfactory because the use of lead compounds resulted in lead poisoning among the potters, and the dry grinding of calcined flint caused a form of

silicosis Silicosis is a form of occupational lung disease caused by inhalation of crystalline silica dust. It is marked by inflammation and scarring in the form of Nodule (medicine), nodular lesions in the upper lobes of the lungs. It is a type of pneum ...

colloquially known as potter's rot.Donald Towner, ''Creamware'', London: Faber & Faber (1978) , p. 20 Around 1740 a fluid glaze in which the ingredients were mixed and ground in water was invented, possibly by Enoch Booth of Tunstall, Staffordshire, according to one early historian, although this is disputed. The method involved first firing the ware to a

biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked food item. Biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be savoury, similar to crackers. ...

state, and then glazing and re-firing it. Foremost of the pioneers of creamware in the

Staffordshire Potteries The Staffordshire Potteries is the industrial area encompassing the six towns Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Tunstall and Stoke (which is now the city of Stoke-on-Trent) in Staffordshire, England. North Staffordshire became a centre of c ...

was

. Although he has become popularly associated almost exclusively with tortoiseshell creamware, in fact he produced a wide variety of creamware. He first mentions 'Cream Colour' in 1749. The young

was in partnership with Thomas Whieldon from 1754 to 1759 and after Wedgwood had left to set up independently at Ivy House, he immediately directed his efforts to the development of creamware. Wedgwood rebelled against the use of coloured glazes, declaring as early as 1766 that he was clearing his warehouse of coloured ware as he was 'heartily sick of the commodity'. Wedgwood improved creamware by introducing

china clay Kaolinite ( ; also called kaolin) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedron, tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen ...

into both the body and glaze and so was able to produce creamware of a much paler colour, lighter and stronger and more delicately worked, perfecting the ware by about 1770. His superior creamware, known as 'Queen's ware', was supplied to

and

and later became hugely popular.Donald Towner, ''Creamware'', London: Faber & Faber (1978) , p. 21 There were few changes to creamware after about 1770 and the Wedgwood formula was gradually adopted by most manufacturers.

Pearlware

One important ware of note however is pearlware, of which there was an increase around 1779. Pearlware is distinct from creamware in having a blue-tinged glaze produced by the use of

and a body somewhat modified to produce a ware that was slightly greyish in appearance. Pearlware was developed in order to meet demand for substitutes for Chinese

porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

amongst the growing middle classes of the time. By around 1808 a fully whitened version of creamware (known as White Ware) was introduced to meet changing market demand.

Forms

During the partnership between

and

from 1754 to 1759, moulded creamware in a variety of forms was developed, especially in collaboration with the talented block-cutter

William Greatbatch William Greatbatch (circa 1735 - 29 April 1813) was a noted potter at Fenton, Staffordshire, from the mid-eighteenth to the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. Fenton was one of the six towns of the Staffordshire Potteries, which were joined i ...

, who produced a variety of Cauliflower, Pineapple, Fruit Basket and other popular wares. There was considerable inventiveness of form and the use of moulds allowed both greater complexity and ease of mass-production. Several creamware types used moulds originally produced for the earlier salt-glazed stoneware goods, such as the typical plates illustrated opposite. Combined with increasingly sophisticated decorative techniques, creamware quickly became established as the preferred ware for the dinner table amongst both middle and upper classes.

Decoration

Creamware during the 18th century was decorated in a variety of ways:

Lead-powder

The early process of using lead-powder produced a brilliant, transparent glaze of a rich cream colour. Small stamped motifs similar to those used at the time on salt-glaze wares and redware were sometimes applied to the ware for decoration. Dry crystals of metallic oxides such as copper, iron and manganese were then dusted onto the ware to form patches of coloured decoration during firing.

Tortoiseshell method

The early lead-powder process led directly to the development of the tortoiseshell method and other coloured glazes which were used with the new fluid glazes. Here, patches of colour were sponged or painted onto the biscuit surface before a clear glaze was applied to the whole and then fired. Coloured decoration could help disguise imperfections that might arise during the firing process.

Transfer-printing

Transfer-printing of pottery was developed in the 1750s. There were two main methods,

underglaze Underglaze is a method of decorating pottery in which painted decoration is applied to the surface before it is covered with a transparent ceramic glaze and fired in a kiln. Because the glaze subsequently covers it, such decoration is completely ...

printing and overglaze. For overglaze printing, an engraved copper plate was prepared and rubbed with oil. The surplus oil was wiped off and an impression was taken onto thin paper. The oily print was then transferred to the glazed earthenware surface which was then dusted with finely ground pigment in the chosen colour. Excess powder was then removed and the ware was given a short firing in a muffle kiln to soften the glaze, burn off the oil and leave the printed image firmly bonded to the surface. This method could be varied by transferring the oily print onto a 'glue-bat' – a slab of flexible

gelatine Gelatin or gelatine () is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also be referred to as hydrolysis, hydrolyzed col ...

that could be laid on the workbench whilst a globular pot was carefully rolled over it. Glue-bats allowed more subtle engraving techniques to be used. Underglaze transfer printing was also sometimes used, directly onto the porous biscuit body. Transfer-printing was specialist and so generally outsourced in the early years: Sadler & Green of Liverpool were exclusive printers to Josiah Wedgwood by 1763, for example.

Enamelling

By 1760 creamware was often enamelled for decoration, using a technique adopted from the early porcelain industry. This consisted of painting overglaze on the ware with pigments made from finely powdered coloured glass and then firing again to fuse the enamel to the ware. The varied enamel colours did not fuse at the same temperature so several firings were generally needed, adding to the expense.

Manufacturers and attribution

There were approximately 130 potteries in North Staffordshire during the 1750s, rising to around 150 by 1763 and employing up to 7,000 people – a large number of these potteries would have been producing creamware. Whilst Staffordshire had taken the lead, creamware came to be developed in a number of large potting centres where stoneware was already being produced, eventually replacing stoneware entirely. These included Derbyshire, Liverpool, Yorkshire (including the Leeds pottery) and Swansea. Attribution of pieces to particular factories has always been difficult because virtually no creamware was marked prior to Josiah Wedgwood's manufacture of it in Burslem. At the time manufacturers frequently supplied wares to one another to supplement stocks and ideas were often exchanged or copied. In addition, factories usually sent out their wares to outside specialist enamellers or transfer-printers for decoration – decoration in-house was only gradually adopted. For this reason, several manufacturers usually shared the same decorator or printer and tended to use the same or very similar patterns. Collectors, dealers and curators alike were frustrated in their efforts to ascribe pots to individual factories: it is frequently impossible to do so. Archaeological excavations of pottery sites in Staffordshire and elsewhere have helped provide some better-established

typology A typology is a system of classification used to organize things according to similar or dissimilar characteristics. Groups of things within a typology are known as "types". Typologies are distinct from taxonomies in that they primarily address t ...

to enable progress in attribution.

''Terraglia''

Italian versions of creamware were known as ''terraglia'', or ''creta all'uso inglese'' ("earthenware in the English manner"). They were produced in many factories, including by the Naples porcelain factory.

Decline

The heyday of creamware ran from about 1770 to the rise of painted pearlwares, white wares and stone chinas in the period around 1810 to 1825. Although creamware continued to be produced during the later period, it was no longer pre-eminent in the markets.Terrence A Lockett, "The Later Creamwares and Pearlwares," in ''Creamware and Pearlware.'' The Fifth Exhibition from the Northern Ceramic Society. Stoke-on-Trent City Museum & Art Gallery (1986). pp. 44–51

References

External links

Creamware at the Victoria and Albert Museum
{{Authority control British art English inventions Staffordshire pottery