Antique shell types are not hard to find today. Photo by Mgiganteus1ДЄ silver nautilus shell, open end upward, was a popular shape for a spoon warmer. Shapes and materials Nautilus: the shell that inspired a thousand silver spoon warmers. Spoon warmers played their part in the effort to serve food at the right temperature вЂ“ and fitted in with all the other paraphernalia in a fashionable late 19th century dining room. (Keeping the plates hot was a big deal, but thatвЂ™s another story.) Hot food was appetising and proof of a well-run home too. Households with servants urged their staff to hurry from kitchen to dining room so food could be served hot, or at least warm, on heated plates. Until the later 20th century rooms were often poorly heated, even in wealthy homes. This makes more sense when we remember how cold British houses could be for much of the year. The earliest spoon warmers date from the 1860s. A decorative container filled with hot water to keep serving spoons and sauce ladles warm seemed like the perfect solution in Victorian England. Even worse, a dish with rich, fatty gravy may congeal unappealingly on its way to your plate. Photo by HomeThingsPastДЇood served with a cold spoon may cool down too quickly for some tastes. Spoon warmer c1890 designed by Christopher Dresser, just over 6 inches long. Links to originals here: Wedgwood plate, teapot, American pitcher. Some of it was not at all fashionable, and was much coarser or browner than the cream ceramics produced by the innovative 18th century manufacturers. By this time the names creamware and queensware were applied to a wider range of pottery. Wedgwood-style creamware continued to be popular until the mid-19th century. 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. PORTSMOUTH, N.H.Creamware plate from a Wedgwood service.

Washington apotheosis creamware