China Learn

Earthenware to Porcelain

Although earthenware is known to have been made in our country from remote ages, porcelain was not manufactured here till almost the middle of the eighteenth century, but there is no doubt that long before this it was imported from China; and some of the most beautiful specimens of Oriental in the possession of collectors of our own time, as well as the blue Nankin dinner and tea services so often met with, are relics of a time before Chelsea or Bow were dreamed of.

We hear of an importation of porcelain bowls from China as early as 1506 j and in 1567 Queen Elizabeth is said to have placed much value on a “poringer of white porselyn” and a “cupp of green porselyn.” The process of manufacture, however, must have been quite unknown or even guessed at in those days, for we find Lord Bacon-that marvel of learning-writing of “Mines of Porcelain,” as if by some mysterious process or action of the earth china was evolved underground. Shakespeare speaks of china in “Measure for Measure,” and Ben Jonson frequently alludes to “porc’lain” in his writings; but it is impossible that much china came to England until 1650, when the East India Trading Company was established, and no doubt its importation in large quantities was contemporary with the importation of tea.

Wooden ware was used till the era of pewter, which gave place to porcelain; and as much value seems to have been attached to specimens of the turner’s art as we attach to-day to our pieces of” old blue.” In 1633 a certain Mary King of Plymouth bequeathed a “wodden cupp” to a friend as a valuable token of friendship; and we find frequent references in American books to wooden “noggins,” or bowls with handles. Beautiful white dishes and large wooden trenchers, oblong in shape, were made from poplar wood. These trenchers were frequently used jointly by two persons sitting side by side, and children were not allowed a whole trencher. I remember reading in an American book how a respectable citizen of Connecticut lost an election because he allowed his children a platter each, and it was felt that such pride in a parent could not be tolerated. He explained matters by saying that a deceased relative having been a turner by trade, he possessed a superabundance of these articles; but, he added, that as his action in allowing his family one apiece had given offence, it should not occur again.

The custom of eating from the same platter by two persons must have obtained also in our own country, for Horace Walpole relates of the aged Duke and Duchess of Hamilton, in the middle of the eighteenth century, that they sat upon a dais at the head of their table and ate from the same plate, as a tribute of regard for past customs and a token of unity in old age.