- Also known as
-
Bow Porcelain Factory
-
primary name: Bow Porcelain Factory
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other name: Bow China Works
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other name: New Canton
- Details
- organisation; manufacturer/factory; English
- Life dates
- c.1744-1776
- Address
- North side of Stratford High Street near Bow Bridge over the River Lea.
- Biography
- Commercial production of porcelain at the Bow porcelain factory or china works, aka 'New Canton', is presumed to have begun between December 1744, the date of the first patent granted to Edward Heylyn merchant and Thomas Frye painter, and November 1749/50, the date of the second patent granted to Frye alone, under the management of Thomas Frye (until in 1759 he retired to paint). Others associated with the manufacture include John Weatherby glass seller and John Crowther glass seller nd wholesale potter, both of whom are mentioned in the 1790 statement by Thomas Craft, accompanying his bowl which is now in the British Museum. Accounts and Bills are known from 1748 and 1749 and the first printed advert appeared in the Daily Advertiser on 26 August 1748. But the earliest date actually to be inscribed on Bow porcelain is 1750.Much contemporary information relating to the Bow factory and warehouse in the early 1750s is recorded in the John Bowcock papers, which are now divided between the British Museum and the British Library. Bow porcelain comprised both ornamental wares (including figures and groups) and useful wares (plates, dishes, tureens, bowls, mugs, teawares, etc.).
- Bibliography
- Elizabeth Adams & David Redstone 'Bow Porcelain' (Faber & Faber, London 1981; Revised Edition 1991).
Anton Gabszewicz & Geoffrey Freeman 'Bow Porcelain - the Collection formed by Geoffrey Freeman' (Lund Humphries,London, 1982); includes on pp19-20 a list of all known dated wares and documentary pieces: these are strongly represented in the BM collection.
Anton Gabszewicz 'Made at New Canton - Bow Porcelain from the Collection of the London Borough of Newham' (ECC pub. 2000); cat. entry 1 on p21 records 4 additions to the list of dated wares in Gabszewicz & Freeman 1982.
