A handled basket-shaped pot-pourri bowl and pierced cover
As the ‘father of English bone china’, Josiah Spode (1733-1797) holds a special place in English ceramic history. His objective was to produce a china as near as possible in appearance to early Sèvres soft paste porcelain, regarded as the loveliest of all western porcelains and the standard of perfection. However, it had to be commercially viable using existing production methods and easily obtainable materials and avoid a high failure rate during firing. He eventually determined a workable formula, but it was his son, Josiah Spode II, who launched bone china on the market. Spode’s new product was strong, exceptionally white, translucent and a huge success.
The decoration, known as Imari, is inspired by Japanese ceramics. From the late 17th century, Japanese export porcelains were shipped from the port of Imari. In the West, this name was applied to bold patterns normally combining underglaze blue with overglaze red enamel and elaborate chased gilding. The dense patterning was inspired by Japanese textiles and brocades. At the end of the 18th century, these patterns were adapted by European potters acquiring the generic name Imari.
The patterns were rather gaudy, but glinted beautifully in candlelight, thanks to a new method of gilding with burnished gold, an innovation attributed to John Hancock Senior (c.1757-1847).
