A chinoiserie Mug, Daniel & Cork, Staffordshire, circa 1867
This slender earthenware mug has a domed, spreading base and an everted rim. It is printed in brown with the named Nankin pattern. This chinoiserie pattern features a couple in a small boat, with a pagoda and curling palms beyond. Monstrous blooms are to the left of the scene, and a large bird chases a butterfly in the sky above. Repeated on both sides of the mug, the pattern is additionally hand-painted under the glaze with red, green, pink, yellow and orange enamels, the latter having a lustrous effect. The inside rim has a printed border, and the moulded scroll handle is decorated with printed trailing flowers.
The domed base bears a printed mark with a pagoda, palm tree and scroll on which is written NANKIN DANIEL & CORK.
The partnership was apparently very short lived and little is known about them or their wares. Only one other marked Daniel & Cork piece appears to be recorded – a mug of identical form printed with a green version of the Nankin pattern, having an additional border surrounding the base (see the last image). The dissolution of their partnership was reported in the London Gazette:
Notice is hereby given, that the Partnership, trade, and business lately subsisting between Joseph Daniel and William Cork, carried on at The New Wharf Pottery, situate at Burslem, in the county of Stafford, as Manufacturers of Earthenware, under the name or style of Daniel and Cork, was this day dissolved by mutual consent. All debts due to or owing by the said firm will be received and paid by the said Joseph Daniel. – Dated this 18th day of June, 1867. Joseph Daniel. Wm. Cork. [London Gazette, 21 June 1867].
Condition: There is a fault to the foot rim which looks like a bruise. It may have occurred as a result of a manufacturing flaw as the body appears to be indented and glazed at that point. From manufacture, there is a short clay tear / firing crack to the rim above the handle. There is also a blob of glaze to the foot rim. The glaze is crazed overall, and there are faults to the interior base, including glaze loss, mottling and tears. The join between the two patterns is rather obvious. No restoration.
Dimensions: Height 14 cm
Refs. Printed British Pottery & Porcelain, 1750-1900: A Remarkable Story. An online exhibition organised by The Transferware Collectors Club and The Northern Ceramic Society, featuring the Daniel & Cork mug described above. See also A-Z of Stoke-on-Trent Potters, where the period of operation for Daniel & Cork is given as 1867-69, despite the notice of dissolution reported in the London Gazette.