An antique Georgian Worcester flight period porcelain Saucer Dish 20cm C.1790

An antique Georgian Worcester flight period porcelain Saucer Dish / Stand having a blue outer band with gilt leaf and berry decoration, gilt swags beneath, a further blue band with gilt decoration and a gilt central motif – unsigned as expected

Circa 1790

Good antique condition with zero to minimum wear – a good example

8 inches (20cm) dia X 1.5 inches (3.8cm) height approx

Safe UK shipping is included in the price, and international shipping is at cost

The Flight period at the Worcester porcelain factory was from 1783 to 1792. The period was marked by technical difficulties, but also by the introduction of new designs and a royal warrant.

In 1783, the factory was purchased by Thomas Flight—the former London sales agent for the concern—for £3,000. He let his two sons run the concern, with John Flight taking the lead role till his death in 1791. In 1788 George III, following a visit to the company, granted it a royal warrant, and it became known as the “Royal Porcelain Works”. Knowledge of this period is largely a result of the excellent diary that John Flight kept from 1785 to 1791. This is discussed in detail in Appendix III of Flight & Barr Worcester Porcelain by Henry Sandon.

During this period, the factory was in poor repair. Production was limited to low-end patterns of mostly Blue and White porcelains after Chinese porcelain designs of the period. It was also pressured by competition from inexpensive Chinese export porcelain, and from Thomas Turner’s Caughley (pronounced “Calf-ley”) Factory. Martin Barr joined the firm as a partner in 1792; porcelains of this period are often identified by an incised capital “B” and, later, by more elaborate printed and impressed marks.

Thomas Flight died in 1800, leaving the factory in the hands of his son Joseph Flight and Martin Barr. Barr’s sons Martin Barr Jr. and George Barr were being prepared at that time to run the factory. In addition to the warrant granted by George III, royal warrants were also issued by the Prince of Wales in 1807, and the Princess of Wales in 1808.

During the Flight and Barr period the factories under a variety of company names produced the soapstone porcelain. At first popular due to its resistance to thermal shock, this type of porcelain got out of favour in the middle of 1790s once the bone china was invented. While much of their competition changed to the new recipes, Flight and Barr continued with their original formulation until merging with Chamberlain in 1840.

The Origins of Worcester Porcelain, Ray Jones, 2018, Parkbarn, ISBN 9781898097068
Dr. Wall and the first Worcester factory (Worcester Porcelain Museum – 31 December 2010).
Jervis, William Percival. A Pottery Primer pp. 104-6 (New York: The O’Gorman Publishing Co., 1911).
‘The Origins of Worcester Porcelain’, Ray Jones, 2018, Parkbarn, ISBN 9781898097068