Export wares
Given that the North East potteries' largest markets were in Northern Europe, it is surprising how little is known about their export wares. Until the coming of the railways in 1830, access to the North Sea provided North East potters with a competitive advantage over their Staffordshire rivals. Blakey/Moore write that 'Research carried out in Denmark has shown that over two thirds of all English pottery imported into Denmark between about 1770 and 1870 came from the North East. The remaining portion, from Staffordshire, was mainly post-1850' (see St Anthony's Pottery, Newcastle Upon Tyne – Joseph Sewell's Book of Designs).
Photo from Blakey/Moore: 'Joseph Sewell's Book of Designs'
When first looking at these wares, I was deceived by their shape and form into thinking they were made in the 1820s. Right is an engraving of a price list used by M J Gronbech for selling to the Danish market. Blakey/Moore point out that 'late eighteenth century shapes remained in demand until 1836 and presumably beyond.' Blakey/Moore also illustrate (p15, shown below) a supplementary page or addendum to Sewell's Book of Designs in use from 1825 to 1840, which shows that Regency shapes continued to be produced right into the Victorian era.
Most of the Danish items on this page came from the Joyce and Jack Cockerill collection, assembled over years from contacts in Northern Europe. I'm also indebted to Paul Scott and Inger Helene Stemshaug (Landscapes on Norwegian Ceramics, Horizon Transferware on Contemporary Ceramics), for providing images of Norwegian export wares and the transfers' sources.
Sewell & Donkin, St Anthony's Pottery, 1819–1852 – views of Denmark
Knippels Broe, Copenhagen, Denmark
Painting by Carl Bille, photo Brave Fine Art
The third Knippelsbro (Knippels Bridge), in Copenhagen, was built in 1816. It was a wooden construction with statues of 'The Four Winds' on each corner, sculpted by Frederick Christian Willerup. The bridge was dismantled by 1869, and replaced by a railway bridge. The statues are now in the Museum of Copenhagen.
Unusually, both the oversized cup below and the saucer have Sewell impressed marks over the numeral '1'.
Although unmarked, the jug below appears to have a transfer from the same copper plate as the marked saucer above.
The details below are from the items above respectively. There appear to be two copper plates.
Hermitage and Bernstorff Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark
The transfers have a wash of pink lustre. Both the cup and saucer have the same 'SEWELL' impress.
Royal Danish Theatre, Det Kongelige Theater, Copenhagen, Denmark
Skuespilhuset apparently translates as 'playhouse', but appears to have been misspelt by the engraver as 'Suespil Huset'. The Wikipedia page suggests this (undated) engraving was made after remodelling of the theatre in 1837. Looking at the shape of the coffee pot below, you could be forgiven for thinking it was made a decade earlier.
Equestrian statue of Frederick V, Copenhagen Denmark.
The equestrian statue of Frederick V stands in the courtyard of the Amalienborg Palace (see below), so the background of trees and bushes in the transfer appear to be an improvisation of a view never seen by the engraver to suit a panoramic format. The view on the other side of the lid of the coffee pot (above right) is yet to be identified.
Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark
There are at least two versions of this transfer, both misspelt 'Amalieborg'. The larger plate is marked 'SEWELL' over a number 5.
Borsen and Senat Husit, Copenhagen, Denmark
In the absence of a printed mark I cannot be 100% certain these items were made by Sewell. However, as the came in a job lot, it seems likely that this tea bowl pairs with the 'Amalieborg' saucer above. The 'Borsen' image shows the recently destroyed tower of Copenhagen's Bourse (stock exchange). The other side of the tea bowl has a transfer titled 'Senathusit', which location is proving harder to track down.
Fredensborg Palace, Denmark
Below, a mug with pink lustre decoration and flower transfers.
Although unmarked, these items are attributed to Sewell on the basis of the Knippels Broe transfer (see above).
Roskilde Cathedral, Roskilde Domkirke, Denmark
Sewell & Donkin, St Anthony's Pottery, 1819–1852 – views of Germany
Beistow Bei Rostock (Bristow (?) by Rostock)
'Iahrmarkts geschenk' appears to translate as 'fair market gift', or what might in English be called a fairing. There is a place called Bristow not far from Rostock, but the only reference I have found to 'Biestow' is the picture below of a farmer and his wife.
Photo eBay
Norwegian views
I'm grateful to Paul Scott for the group shot above, of a display in Norway's National Museum of Art Architecture and Design in Oslo,
Richard Davies & Co, Tyne Main Pottery, Salt Meadows, Gateshead, 1831–1844
Christiania, Oslo, Norway
Bell says that Davies & Co 'produced white-, printed-, and lustre-ware, chiefly for the Norwegian market'. Oslo was renamed Christiania in 1624, when the Danish king, Christian IV, remodelled it after a fire. In 1925 it reverted to Oslo. Inger Helene Stemshaug (Landscapes on Norwegian Ceramics, Horizon Transferware on Contemporary Ceramics) has identified the view as after a print by Wilhelm Maximilian Carpelan, 1821.
Sewell & Donkin, St Anthony's Pottery, 1819–1852 – Norwegian subjects
Christiania, Oslo, Norway
Photo Frode Larsen, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design/The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo
A cup and saucer with the same view. The saucer has an impressed 'Sewell & Donkin' mark to the rear. The transfer is almost indistinguishable from the Davies version above, raising the possibility that one pottery supplied the other with earthenware for decoration.
Eidsvold, Akershus county, Norway
Photo Frode Larsen, Nasjonalmuseet for kunst, arkitektur og design/The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo
This transfer is attributed to Sewell on the basis of the recumbent lion, looking over its shoulder, which appears on firmly attributable Sewell items (see centre below). The watch holder has floral decoration typical of Sewell in the 1820s, and is of similar form to those on the supplementary page of Joseph Sewell's book of designs (see right below). The creamware body of the jug and its quality suggest an earlier date than the other items on this page. The reverse side has an image of the Norwegian statesman, Christian Krohg, and the date of his death, 1828. I would imagine the jug was made around that date.
The jug below has a transfer apparently from the same copper plate, except that it has a date underneath the word 'Eidsvold'. The whiter body and extensive use of pink lustre, suggest the 1830s. It also has the transfer of Christian Krohg on the reverse. I hadn't realised that Sewell was making these pink-lustre wares. There must be many similar Sewell items, as yet unattributed.
Christian Krohg, 1777–1828
Krohg (see Stemshaug, Landscapes on Norwegian Ceramics, Horizon Transferware on Contemporary Ceramics) became a popular figure in 1824 for defending the Norwegian constitution against encroachment from the Swedish-Norwegian King, Carl Johan. He committed suicide in 1828, and is likely that the first jug below was made just after that date. The second jug is from the 1830s. There are some obvious differences between the two imprints below of the transfer, not least the areas of shading behind Krohg's shoulders, on the pink lustre jug.
There appear to be several small nicks or scratches amongst the text showing that the two imprints above came from the same copper plate. In each case, look dead centre of the details below. In the left details, there's a black mark over the 'e' in 'Mens' that seems too high up to be an accent (apologies here for my ignorance of Norwegian punctuation). In the centre details, there's a black dot over the second 'd' in 'dod', and in the right details there's a diagonal scratch in the centre, under the 'n' in 'Enver'. So it seems that the copper plate was re-engraved sometime after 1830. Perhaps that is also when the date was added under Eidsvold (see above).
Unmarked items, views of Norway
Christiania – maker unknown
The sucrier has an untitled and elongated version of the Christiania transfer. The Museum catalogue says maker unknown, so it doesn't have an impressed mark. Similar shaped sucriers appear in Joseph Sewell's 'Book of Designs'. Blakey's essay includes an engraving of a pricelist used by M J Gronbech, a Danish distributor, which shows that these Regency shapes remained in demand as late as 1836.
Christiania – maker unknown
Inger Helene Stemshaug (Landscapes on Norwegian Ceramics, Horizon Transferware on Contemporary Ceramics) has identified the view as after a hand-coloured lithograph by Peter Frederik Wergmann, Christiania (1835).
Akershus Fortress – maker unknown
This teacup, with a view of the Akershus Fortress, pairs with the Christiania saucer above, and is after one of the details on the print by Peter Frederik Wergmann.
Thomas Fell, St Peter's Pottery, Newcastle
Oscar 1, King of Sweden and Norway, 1844–1859
The lustre flourishes on this jug are typical of a pot painter who worked for Thomas Fell, and moved to the Garrison Pottery around 1850.
