Spode and Pattern 1166

A range of wares, bone china, pattern 1166 c1808

One of the most sumptuous designs produced during the Spode period (c1770-1833) has pattern number 1166. It has no name just a number. It is one of about 75,000 patterns recorded in the Spode archive. Many Spode patterns simply have a unique number with no name but this design has a conveniently memorable number.

Pattern 1166 was first recorded in about 1808. The items in the illustration above are the sort of wares made for Spode's well-to-do customers.

The pattern is groundlayed in cobalt blue, handpainted and gilded on Spode's pure white bone china. It is gilded and painted entirely by hand. The combination of cobalt blue and gold is one of the most expensive in ceramic decoration as it is produced with 2 of the most expensive raw materials. This extravagance, coupled with these gorgeous flowers, makes this design one of the most magnificent to come out of the Spode factory.

Gilding detail to foot of 'Beaded New Shape Jar'

The gilded scales are graduated in size to fit the various sized objects - whether for a large punch bowl (the one in the illustration was the Duke of Newcastle's) or a small ink stand - and each object's particular shape.

The top illustration was produced for a postcard for the new Spode Museum in about 1996. Sadly the museum was short-lived and closed in 2008/9.

The pieces in the top illustration from left to right are given below. Jar is an old word for vase. The number in brackets after the description is the page number in the Spode 1820 Shape Book which can be found at the Spode Exhibition Online site.

The spellings here are shown in italics as given in the original document.

• Sevres Shape Jar (sic); recorded as made in 3 sizes; this with swan shaped handles; (143)
• Pierced Cov'd Pedistall Antique Jar (sic); recorded as made in 2 sizes; (63)
• Punch Bowl, cover and ladle made for His Grace the Duke of Newcastle with the handle to the cover modelled as a ducal coronet.
• Tray Ink Stand with ink pot, wafer box and sand box; (90)
• Dolphin Tripod (thought to be an incense burner); recorded as made in 3 sizes; (17)
• Sevres Shape Jar (sic); as above

The illustrated Beaded New Shape Jar (below) was recorded made in 9 sizes; (6). The different sizes could be arranged as groups known as garnitures. More here - hopefully this link of a 2017 exhibition will stay on the V & A website. They also have a film about the history of garnitures on YouTube. There is also a book 'Garnitures: Vase Sets from the National Trust' by Patricia Ferguson. 

'Beaded New Shape Jar', made in 9 sizes

Each vase of different size, or even in a pair of the same size, had a different arrangement of flowers painted on it but following the same theme; and different flowers scattered along the foot.

'Beaded New Shape Jar', detail

It is possible that this pattern on Spode's bone china was made to imitate the Chinese and Japanese metal working technique known as cloisonné.

Duke of Newcastle's Punch bowl, detail

Many, many different items were made in this pattern to grace the homes of the wealthy. More can be seen in the book Spode by Leonard Whiter.

Recommended Reading 2 - 'Spode...' by Leonard Whiter

Front cover

'Spode: A History of the Family, Factory and Wares from 1733 to 1833' by Leonard Whiter; published by Barrie & Jenkins; 1970; 1978 and 1989; ISBN 0-7126-2175-X.

It is important to use this book in tandem with works on Spode, or including Spode, by Peter Roden for the latest and correct historical information about the early years of the Spode businesses and family.

This is my second recommended reading on Spode history. It covers the period from 1733, the year of Josiah Spode I's birth, to 1833, the year when the company ownership and name changed. It is a neat 100 years.

This book by Leonard Whiter is regarded as a standard work on Spode history. However since publication of the 3rd edition new information has been researched. 

Scholars of Spode may know that the 3rd edition of the book has different colour illustrations from the first two editions. What many may not know is this is because the first lot of printing plates were lost! The original artwork for the publication (excluding the colour illustrations) is in the Spode archive.

This is a really good introduction to the Spode subject with information about the Spode family and the factory in Stoke-upon-Trent. This is the factory for which Spode I finally completed the purchase in 1776. It closed in 2009.

A colour image from the book

Whiter shows how the business developed and discusses and illustrates wares in different styles, shapes and patterns. Very usefully, the book includes illustrations of Spode shapes from the 1820 Shape Book which is in the Spode archive but this is not a straight reproduction and researchers should go back to the original document for complete information. Whiter groups the shapes by type which is not how they are arranged in the original early 19th century book. This can be confusing but luckily Robert Copeland spent a huge amount of time cross-referencing Whiter's pages with the original, all by hand pre-computer days, and this is also in the Spode archive. 

Whilst Curator at the museum, in 2004, I had the original document photographed so it can also be viewed in digital form.

A black & white image from the book

When Whiter researched and wrote this book, what is now the Spode archive, was privately owned by the company and it was not part of the Spode Museum Trust which was formed in 1987.

Also whilst Curator I learnt that, sadly, since publication, documents used during the research for the book were lost, returned to the wrong owners or given away so this book is an important source for some of the material now missing.

Leonard Whiter was employed by the Spode company working there from 1959 to 1974 and became a very successful Sales Director.

A copy of this book is available to read in the Spode archive.

I would recommend this as a valuable resource for anyone interested in Spode history and its earliest production items.

Back cover

Spode's Old Colour Room

The Old Colour Room 20 Feb 2008

For many years ceramic colours used on the Spode factory were stored and prepared in the Old Colour Room. This was a specialist and skilled job.

The Spode factory closed in 2009 but production and staff had been dwindling gradually for a few years prior to this. I took some photographs around parts of the old factory site between 2006 and 2008. Like many parts of the huge factory site the room shows a mix of the old and the new.

You can see lidded jars of various sizes and shapes. Many of these held powdered colours ready for use; as well as other ingredients in the preparation of colours. The colours were used for for decorating Spode wares whether bone china, earthenware and stone china as well as, for example, coloured bodies. The colour room was occasionally in use almost up to the date of closure of the company.

The Old Colour Room 21 September 2006

The Old Colour Room 21 September 2006

Interestingly, and probably obviously, the jars themselves were made on the Spode factory - a good example of self-sufficiency! Some of these have backstamps of Copeland and Garrett dating them to 1833-1847. These items belonged to the Spode company and not to the museum. However whilst Curator I was delighted to accept a range of them into the collection before I left to take up a new role in 2008. 

A range of these colour jars was also purchased directly from the Spode company in 2007/2008 by the Historic Eastfield Village near Albany, NY, USA.

Machine in the Old Colour Room 

There is an image here of a machine in the Old Colour Room. I can't remember the details of what it was for but know from the Head Engraver at the time, Paul Holdway, that it was directly connected to engraving and/or printing departments.

Recommended Reading 1 - 'Spode and His Successors' by Arthur Hayden

'Spode and His Successors: A History of the Pottery Stoke-on-Trent 1765 - 1865'; by Arthur Hayden; published by Cassell & Company; 1925

This book from 1925 is regarded as a standard work on Spode history. Some incorrect or misleading information has now been updated by more recent authors on the subject with new research. But this older publication should not be ignored. At the time of publication the start date for the Spode company was then thought to be around 1765 and so the dates in the title made a neat century for this study.

Most dates of patterns and objects are now thought to be newer than Hayden recorded but on the plus side old documents, whose whereabouts are now unknown, are reproduced in this book so it contains important information. It also has charming loose leaf colour plates of pattern book pages and ceramic pieces of note.

A colour image from the book

Hayden's style is authoritative yet readable and the preface sets out his aims. His bibliography shows the depth of his research consulting documents and books from the late 18th century up to the 1920s.

He dedicates the book to 'The Potters of Staffordshire....'

Not many realise that this book was commissioned by the Spode company, then under the ownership of the Copeland family. It was used by the company as a marketing tool and as a gift to special customers and retailers and should be approached with this in mind. Some copies which now come up for sale have a dedication from the Copeland directors in the front.

Under the paper dust cover

A recent acquisition of papers* into the Spode archive, whilst I was Curator of the Spode Museum, includes correspondence between Arthur Hayden and Ronald Copeland during the development of the project of this book and is yet to be studied in detail.

Arthur Hayden was already a well-established author specialising in books on pottery and the frontispiece of this book says 'by Arthur Hayden, Author of Royal Copenhagen Porcelain and Chats on English Earthenware etc'

Black & white image from the book

A copy of this book is available in the Spode archive. They often appear for sale on the web sometimes signed by one of the Directors of the company. They were used by the company as a marketing tool and given to their high class retailers and customers as gifts.

I would recommend this as a 'good read' for anyone interested in Spode.

*collection number SMT 2003.1

Spode Books

Here are the best books to consult to learn about Spode.
Please click the image to enlarge.

You can find my booklist here.

Spode - A Short History

Pattern 1166 - more here

The Spode company produced high quality ceramic products on the same factory site in Stoke-upon-Trent, North Staffordshire, England since it was established by Josiah Spode I in the late 1700s.

Pattern 282 (detail), c1802

Josiah Spode I (1733-1797) established his famous pottery manufactory in Stoke-upon-Trent in about 1770 completing the purchase of the factory in 1776. Prior to this he had had two partnerships. In 1778 his son Josiah Spode II (1755-1827), already trained by his father in the manufacture of pottery, opened premises in Fore Street, Cripplegate in the City of London in order to trade in pottery and was highly successful in sales and marketing. It was compulsory to belong to one of the Guilds to operate a business in London at this time. Such was the newness of the pottery trade there was no relevant guild so Josiah II joined the Guild of Spectacle Makers.

Spode II's business increased substantially after his father's perfection of the technique of underglaze transfer printing using designs hand engraved onto copper plates and then printed onto biscuit earthenware. This was in about 1784 when the principal products were copies of Chinese porcelain decorated with blue and white landscapes. Spode's new designs included the Willow pattern derived from Chinese landscapes and by 1816 the famous Italian pattern. The Spode pieces filled a market need for replacements for the Chinese porcelain which was becoming increasingly difficult to obtain from Canton in China.

Although the Spode company went into administration and closed in 2009 the famous Portmeirion pottery company, also in Stoke-upon-Trent, purchased the Spode brand.

From the late 1700s the Spode company also produced much specially commissioned wares such as armorial designs, known as badged ware, which had previously been produced in Chinese porcelain and was also becoming difficult to obtain. (There are 23 badge books in the Spode archive recording designs for well-to-do customers from 1833 to about 1998).

Also in 1784 William Copeland went to work for Spode II in London becoming an equal partner in 1805 and sole administrator in 1812. His son William Taylor Copeland (Lord Mayor of London 1835-1836) became a partner in 1824 and sole owner in 1833 of both the Stoke and London businesses (initially until 1847 with a partner, Thomas Garrett).

The father and son team of Spode I and II also perfected the recipe for bone china which is thought to have been first produced, after much experimentation, in about 1799. Some pieces are marked Stoke China. It is the Spode recipe which was to become the industry standard. 

The firm remained in the Copeland family until 1966. Various changes of ownership followed until closure in 2009. In 1970 to commemorate the bicentenary of the founding of the company name was changed from W. T. Copeland back to Spode. 

The Spode brand name was used alongside the Copeland name throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, often styled 'Copeland late Spode'. The 'late' means formerly - the Spode brand was so well known that the company always used it whatever the ownership. Above is a mark, known as a backstamp, on the base of cream jug in pattern 3525 made in about 1823. This is just one of many hundreds of different marks used by the Spode company.

My simplified Factory 'Family' tree can be found on my page Who Owned Spode?

Further Reading  

1. London - World City 1800 - 1840; 1992; Yale University Press in association with the Museum of London

2. Spode and Copeland Marks and Other Relevant Intelligence; by Robert Copeland; Studio Vista;  ISBN 0‑289‑80172‑9

3. Copyhold Potworks & Housing in the Staffordshire Potteries... by Peter Roden published 2008; ISBN 978-0-9559317-0-3

4. Peter Roden's Journal article (Volume 14 1997) NCS for latest research on Spode's early history