For the bold and the brave
If you have followed me for a while, you may know that I love porcelain from the H&R Daniel Factory. This was a rather short-lived factory that only produced between 1822 and 1846 - but it left a very important legacy.
The H & R Daniel porcelain factory was founded by Henry Daniel, son of a family of master colour makers. Before he started his own factory, he headed up the decoration department in the famous Spode factory where he oversaw all the beautiful early Spode decorations. In 1822 he opened his own factory with his son Richard, creating a truly iconic body of work with the most subtle colours and beautifully painted flowers and landscapes. Daniel had, in fact, already owned his own business, which existed within the Spode business; Daniel would buy the blanks from Spode, decorate them and then sell them back. The two men were friends and they parted on good terms, giving the employees the choice who they wanted to work for.
Daniel then went on to design his own porcelain, and he proved to be masterful at it. He jumped on the new Rococo Revival fashion and started designing lots of very beautiful, sometimes slightly outrageous shapes. His shapes are flowing and capricious, his colours bold, his flowers and birds flamboyant... this is tableware for the bold and the brave. What I particularly love about Daniel porcelain, apart from the daring designs, strong colours and beautiful painting, is that the items feel wonderful in your hand, even if you have big hands (like I do); cups have comfortable handles, plates are sturdy.
The new Daniel factory was the last true cottage industry among the English porcelain factories, resisting the increase of industrialisation and mass production. This resulted in extraordinary and unrivalled quality, but it probably also led to the factory having to close its doors in 1846 because it could no longer compete with others who did modernise. Henry Daniel suffered from early-onset dementia, probably because he had been working with highly toxic colour samples all his life; this was a common occupational hazard at the time. Around 1840 his son Richard started to take over and gradually the quality of many of the designs (but not all!) started to diminish, until its closure in 1846.
Daniel porcelain was not recognised until the second half of the 20th Century and it was usually lumped in with Spode, Ridgway or others. Then a few experts and collectors started to recognise the shapes and patterns and created a body of work that now helps us recognise it. The factory was only around for about two decades and had a low output, and this makes the items extremely rare and desired, even if many of the items suffer from crazing and small hairlines as the porcelain was not always very stable.
I am incredibly pleased to be able to offer this stunning collection of plates. They are all completely unique, different, outrageously flamboyant and some are very rare or unknown patterns. They are all for sale in my shop... and I already had to remove a few as they were snapped up! You can read more about Henry Daniel here in the article I wrote for Homes & Antiques a while ago.
I also have various items of teaware, and some more dishes, as well as a whole dessert service... have a look in my shop, and enjoy this crazy collection of colours, flowers, birds and shapes!
Where to find things
You can find all my Henry Daniel items here, and all my available stock can be found here. If you always want to see the latest additions, follow me on Instagram... I post pictures and a story several times a week.
Happy weekend, and be daring and bold in your decorations! 🌸🌼🌹
This week's treasures:
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