Cherished Antique...

I'm back!  

Thank you all for the most wonderful comments, thoughts, encouragement and prayers. 

Blogging friends are the best and sure make my pacemaker surgery recovery time seem easier. Love reading your wonderful blogs! 

Decided I would to share one of my treasured and cherished antiques with you, I think I was drawn to this one because of the floral design, it's intricate and fascinated me the minute I saw it, I had to have it. I'll also share some very interesting history about England Mason Ironstone Pottery that I found, I know you'll notice some very interesting and prominent names in it's wonderful  history.

Presenting....


My Treasured Antique ~ My Mason Ironstone Bowl..

Ironstone is a type of pottery that was first manufactured in England in the early 1800s. The formula for ironstone was developed by potters who were looking to be able to produce an affordable alternative to porcelain, which had become very expensive to import. The process required the use of slag, flint, stone, cobalt, and clay ground together in certain proportions. The resulting product was very attractive, sturdy, and functional, and soon became very popular.

MASON’S A FAMILY OF POTTERS…. 1796-1856

 

It was love and luck that got Miles Mason started in the ceramics business. We know little of his

early life except that he was born in 1752 in Dent in the West Riding of Yorkshire. As a young

man he worked as a clerk for his Uncle Bailey of Frog Hall, Chigwell Row in London, who was

a stationer. By chance, his next door neighbor was Richard Farrar, a prosperous glass and

china merchant who sold mainly porcelain imported from China. Farrar’s daughter, Ruth,

was only nine when her father died in 1775. She inherited his vast estate, which included a

personal fortune in excess of $55,000. Seven years later, when she was 16, Miles married her,

and together they had four children, a daughter, Ann Ruth, and three sons William, George

Miles and Charles James.

****
Miles Mason then, began his career in ceramics as a retailer in his late father-in-law's business.

There he inevitably made contact with the Staffordshire master potters whose products he sold,

and it was not long before he became involved in the manufacturing side. His timing could

not have been better. The East India Company had always sold their imported porcelain

twice yearly auctions in London. In the late eighteenth century, these were dominated by the

“ring”, a consortium of dealers getting together to suppress prices. By not bidding against

each other, the dealers purchased the porcelain cheaply then ‘knocked it out’ to the highest

bidder within the ring. Due to this and to the effects of the Napoleonic wars upon trade and

the economy in 1791 the East India Company decided to dispense with the auction side of

its business.

***

This created a wonderful opportunity for English manufacturers to fill the gap and

increase the production of ceramics with an oriental appeal.In 1796 he entered into a

partnership with the experienced porcelain manufacturer Thomas Wolfe of Liverpool, and

then in the same year took another partnership with George Wolfe at the Victoria Works in

Lane Delph, producing fine earthenware. Miles thus assured himself of a continuous supply of

earthenware and porcelain for his retail business in London . Both of these partnerships ceased

in 1800 but Miles kept the Victoria Works for himself and started to produce his own porcelain

which continued until 1807. During this time he moved his family from London to a house

next door to the Victoria Works.

***

His business prospered and within three years Miles had moved to much larger premises,

it was in the Mivera Works that from1807 until 1813 Miles produced porcelain to a very high

standard and it was here with the assistance of his three sons he experimented on new clays

and produced an earthenware called Ironstone China.

Miles retired from the business in June 1813 when the business was taken over by his sons.

He retired to Liverpool and died there in 1822 having succeeded in a career that saw the

introduction of a product that would make the family name of Mason’s one of the most

important in the history of English Ceramics.

***

THE SONS,

William Mason, George Miles Mason & Charles James Mason (CJ)

Miles eldest son, William, had a short and not very successful career in the pottery industry

but very little is known about him. George, the second son, was a good businessman, and ran the

administrative side of the business until 1832 when he left the trade for a life as a country

gentleman and entered into politics.

Charles James Mason (CJ)

For pottery enthusiasts, however, by far the most important member of the family was the third

and youngest son, Charles James.(CJ) born in 1791, he was destined to become one of the

outstanding figures in the Staffordshire pottery industry. Today, when people speak of

“Ironstone” it is invariably Mason’s to which they refer and to CJ’s work in particular.

From a very early age he assisted his father in the factory experimenting with new clays,

he enjoyed the life and soon became a master-potter himself. Charles at only the age of 21

leap into the limelight when he registered the patent for Patent Ironstone China.

***

In 1815 Charles married Sarah Spode, who was the granddaughter of the first Josiah Spode

the founder of the famous potting family. She was a very shrewd business woman and

she encouraged her husband in all his new ventures and they remained happily married for

27 years. They had two children Florence Elizabeth Mason and Charles Spode Mason.

Sarah died in 1842 and was buried in the Mason’s family vault in Barlaston.

History

Joining these great parties, drop in and join, 

Sherry at No Minimalist for Open House Party 

My Romatic Home for Show and Tell Friday

Courtney at French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Honey at 2805 for Potpourri Friday

Heather and Vanessa at The Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday

Sherry at The Charm of Home for Home Sweet Home Friday

Debra at Vintage Designs! 

Have a great day!