Many of the potters described their products as queensware, or like queensware. By the 1790s Philadelphia was a centre for manufacturing this kind of tableware. English-made for the American market, this was one of many similar exports leaving from Liverpool.ДЄmericaвЂ™s own creamware production started with John Bartlam in 1770s South Carolina. It was also used for commemorative items, like the pitcher, or jug, in the photo. It brought a finer kind of tableware to middle-class families, and wasnвЂ™t only for the rich. Photo by CliffД¬reamware was popular for a wide range of household pottery appearing in the Georgian dining-room and on the tea-table. Creamware pitcher c1800 with transfer-printed 'Apotheosis of George Washington'. Other decorative effects on creamware included piercing and embossing. This is not only cheaper than hand painting it also allows for a very detailed surface design with elaborate drawing and lettering. He soon came back into the lead with a вЂњpearl whiteвЂќ, now known as pearlware.Д¬reamware lent itself to decoration with transfer printing. In the mid-1770s one of WedgwoodвЂ™s rivals got ahead with a pale вЂњchina glazeвЂќ.

He described it as вЂњquite new in appearance, covered with rich and brilliant glaze, bearing sudden alterations of heat and cold, manufactured with easeвЂ¦and consequently cheap.вЂќД¬ompetition amongst potters to produce whiter ceramics continued. Photo by Leeds MuseumsДЄlthough there were other potteries making creamware, and other people also made crucial discoveries, Wedgwood got the acclaim for being the first to make a high quality pale cream earthenware. Creamware teapot made c1770 in Yorkshire or Staffordshire. So QueenвЂ™s ware, or queensware, is a kind of creamware, but not all creamware is queensware. Also important were his design expertise and the clear glaze.ДЄfter Queen Charlotte ordered a cream table service from Wedgwood he вЂњbrandedвЂќ his cream pottery by calling it QueenвЂ™s ware, and didnвЂ™t use the name creamware himself. Part of his success depended on clay from south-west England. One of the most successful versions of creamware came from the well-known English potter Josiah Wedgwood who managed to make paler earthenware than anyone else in the 1760s. This new creamware was developed during the mid-1700s. Others worked on more affordable earthenware, trying various clay and flint blends in the search for pale, creamy colours.

Photo by Maia CД¬hinese porcelain seemed fine, white and desirable to 18th century Europe, and it inspired skilled potters there to develop their own versions of porcelain. Be sure to keep your pinky raised.Creamware plate from a Wedgwood service. And even if you have to make your own tea, you may find it comforting to sip it from a delicate cup that was manufactured in the same Stoke-on-Trent kiln that produced Her MajestyвЂ™s tea service. In recent years, leading designers including Jasper Conran and Vera Wang have collaborated with Wedgwood - in the tradition of such distinguished 18th century artists such as the painter George Stubbs and metalsmith Matthew Boulton.ДЇrom plates and other dinnerware to decorative items like urns, cachepots and candlesticks, Wedgwood designs lend a traditional air to Anglophile interiors. Nearly 200 years later, the firm created a 1,200-piece service for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Not to be outdone, Catherine the Great of Russia commissioned her own set of Wedgwood china in 1773. The queen was so thrilled with her new china that Wedgwood was given permission to call himself вЂњPotter to Her Majesty,вЂќ and the decorative style became known as QueenвЂ™s Ware.

In 1765, Wedgwood was commissioned to create a cream-colored earthenware service for Queen Charlotte, consort of King George III. The Wedgwood firm first came to prominence for its tableware, which quickly gained favor in aristocratic households throughout Britain and Europe. The best-known background hue is light blue, but WedgwoodвЂ™s iconic silhouettes also appear on green, lilac, yellow, black and even white grounds. The company is famed for its Jasperware - molded Neoclassical stoneware vases, plates and other pieces, inspired by ancient cameo glass, featuring white figures, scenes and decorative elements set in relief on a matte colored background. Arguably the most celebrated of all English ceramics makers, Wedgwood was founded in 1759 by Staffordshire potter Josiah Wedgwood (1730вЂ“95).

Wedgwood creamware patterns