Rockingham Pottery

Introduction

The Rockingham Pottery was a 19th Century manufacturer of porcelain of international repute, supplying fine wares and ornamental pieces to royalty and the aristocracy in Britain and overseas, as well as manufacturing porcelain and earthenware items for ordinary use.

It is most well known for its finely decorated and somewhat gaudy rococo style of porcelain; indeed its name has almost come to classify such a style and as such pieces by other factories are regularly and incorrectly attributed to Rockingham.

History of the Pottery

The factory was located in Swinton, South Yorkshire, England, and for the later part of its lifetime existed under the patronage of the Earls Fitzwilliam, Marquesses of Rockingham, who were the major landowners in the area, whose stately home and extensive park was located several miles away in Wentworth, and from whom the works took its name.

Records show that a potworks making utilitarian earthenware for the local market existed on the site in 1745. This passed through the hands of several owners including being linked for some time with the Leeds Pottery, until ownership eventually passed into the hands of the local Brameld family in the early 19th century. Experiments with the manufacture of porcelain began in 1820. By 1828 fine porcelain services and ornamental wares were being produced alongside day-to-day porcelain and earthenware, which brought the factory to the attention of the aristocracy, leading to the use of the sub-title "Manufacturer to the King" from the early 1830s.

The pinnacle of the factory's output were the two intricately decorated "Rhinoceros" vases which were at that time the largest porcelain objects in existence, one of which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the other of which is in the Clifton Park Museum in Rotherham, and an large exquisite service commissioned for King William IV, which took eight years to complete, was eventually delivered to his successor Queen Victoria and can still be seen at Buckingham Palace.

Unfortunately the Brameld family were more ceramic artists than businessmen: in the pursuit of their art they frequently lost sight of the bottom line and had to be bailed out by the Earl. Eventually in the face of mounting debts the Earl lost patience and the bankrupt pottery closed in 1842.

One of the original kilns, a small part of the factory, a gatehouse (both now private residences) and the pottery flint millpond remain in a small park today as remnants of this once-great factory.

Rockingham pottery and porcelain

Rockingham porcelain was produced in two distinct periods: 1828 to approximately 1831, the so-called red mark period, and 1831-1842, the puce mark period. As their names suggest, these periods are defined by the backstamps found on porcelain. See below for more details on markings.

Porcelain products included tea and coffee services, dinner and dessert services, writing sets and ink pots, scent jars and pots, baskets, bed posts, porcelain plaques, figurines, animals, cabinet plates and cups. Patterns varied from regular geometric designs featuring brightly coloured reserves and simple gilding, through intricate neo-rococo designs of scrolls and acanthus leaves, to ornate encrusted decorative wares. Many of the more decorative pieces feature landscapes, floral and botanic specimens. Royal and aristocratic commissions often feature the family's arms. There is some evidence to show that the most decorative pieces were produced towards the end of the red mark period and the early puce mark periods: earlier pieces often feature the more geometric shapes, while later pieces, though retaining the neo-rococo shapes of the early puce mark period, feature less extravagant decoration that was possibly more fitting of the first years of the Victorian age.

Amongst its other products, the factory was also famous for producuing a deep brown, almost iridescent brown-glazed earthenware. In these wares, it was most famous for producing an ingenious style of pot that is filled from a hole in the bottom via a vacuum lock, known as a Cadogan. Highly gilded examples of these in many sizes are often found.

Amongst its more standard products were blue and green transfer-printed creamware and pearlware services and other items featuring a variety of scenes: the "Returning Woodman" (often on octagonal plates) is possibly the most recognisable of these.

Identifying original Rockingham

Rockingham-produced earthenware is often transfer printed, but occasionally enamalled pieces may be found. Brown-glazed 'Cadogan' pots are also common. Many pieces are backstamped with an embossed "Brameld" mark. Other pieces can be identified by matching with known backstamped designs.

On Rockingham porcelain the most common marks are a red griffin with the words "Rockingham Works Brameld" and a puce griffin with the words "Rockingham Works Brameld, Manufacturer to the King". Other variations are occasionally found. Pattern numbers are present; numbers of over 2000 are not known on orignal Rockingham, although there was a subsidiary 2/1 to 2/110 series that is genuine. Due to the frequency with which other manufacturers' wares are attributed to this factory, and since pieces were frequently backstamped, the shapes of unmarked pieces must be matched with known Rockingham shapes to associate unmarked wares with this pottery with any confidence.

Other Rockingham

Bennington

The famous brown earthenware glaze discovered by the Rockingham pottery was used in many potteries and made its way across the Atlantic to be used on many decorative and utilitarian pieces from a variety of US potteries, the most famous of which is Bennington. The name "Rockingham" is often used in the US to describe the rather substantial brown-glazed earthenware output of these factories.

Copies

Some copies are known from the late 19th and early 20th century, but these are rare and the late 19th century pieces are interesting and moderately valuable in their own right. Often the backstamps do not look correct.

Modern "Rockingham"

Since the name Rockingham had come to describe a particular style of porcelain, the name was used by other manufacturers in the 20th century for earthenware and porcelain pieces, some of which are approximately in the style of original Rockingham. Although some were never intended to be passed off as genunine Rockingham (for example Paragon's "Rockingham" range of mid-20th century), some pieces are backstamped with a Griffin mark similar to the the genuine product to the extent that the unwary could mistake them for originals. Give-aways are "Rockingham, England" and "Rockingham, Staffordshire" marks which are late 20th Century and not genuine Rockingham.

References

• Cox, Alwyn & Cox, Angela (2002) Rockingham 1745-1842 (2nd ed.). London: Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 1-85-149372-7.