Imperfect Printed Enamel Surfaces: Interpreting Marks of Eighteenth-Century Midland Craftsmanship. (3rd May 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Grayson, John
• Is Part Of: Midland history. Volume 45:Number 2(2020)
• Page Start: 190
• Page End: 207
• Publication Date: 2020-05-03
• Subjects: Birmingham -- craft -- enamel -- eighteenth-century -- manufacturing -- South Staffordshire -- transfer-printing; Midlands -- History -- Periodicals; 942.405
• DOI: 10.1080/0047729X.2020.1767974
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0047-729X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Eighteenth-century ceramic and enamelware manufacturers recognized that printing provided an efficient means of applying identical decoration to three-dimensional surfaces, which thereby speeded up production. The process, transfer printing, used a flexible paper carrier to 'transfer' wet ink from a flat engraved copper plate to the irregular surface of an object. Whilst the ceramics industry is writ large within the grand narrative of the eighteenth-century transfer printing, the methods used by the enamelling trade are little known. Using craftsmanship-framed analysis of printed enamel boxes in Wolverhampton Art Gallery, this article considers their printed surfaces in order to understand the technical and tacit skills developed by the eighteenth-century midland printers and decorators. Analysis of these artefacts provides, for the first time, a more comprehensive understanding of the modes of making the prints, their application, and the problems encountered.