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Fulham Ware

In the year 1671 John Dwight obtained from King Charles II a patent entitling him to make “the Stoneware, vulgarly called Cologne Ware.” He established a manufactory at Fulham, and there produced stoneware of a very fine quality, and also salt-glazed ware. He had learned the process of salt-glazing in Germany, and for many years seems to have been the only person who used it in this country.

Dwight copied the greybeard or Bellarmin jug, which was first made on the Continent, and which had been derisively called after Cardinal Bellarmin, then very unpopular, owing to his persecution of the Protestants in the Low Countries. “The form of the jug is a round corpulent body with a short neck, on which is an ugly mask with a long beard.”

Amongst other specimens of Dwight’s ware which still exist are” three mementoes of his little daughter. One is a reclining figure, modelled after her death, bearing the inscription, ‘Lydia Dwight, died 3rd March, 1673.’ Another is a full-length statuette, and the third is a model of her hand” (Binns). John Dwight claimed to have made porcelain, but either he did not associate the word with its present-day interpretation or possibly specimens of it have ceased to exist; there is also the remote contingency that any pieces which may remain are not recognized as his work.