Victorian Ironstone Enamel Plates, Mason's Patent

• Transfer Printed / Decorated Transferware - Transfer printing is method of decorating ceramics, reducing the cost of decoration when compared to employing artists to paint each piece. A print was taken on transfer-paper from an engraved copperplate, covered in ink prepared with metallic oxides, and the image on the paper was then applied to the biscuit-fired ceramic body. The print was fixed by heating the object in an oven, and then glazed, sealing the picture. Early transfer prints were blue and white, as cobalt was the only colour to stand firing without blurring. Early in the 19th century advances in the composition of the transfer paper resulted in better definition and detail, and enabled engravers to combine line-engraving with stipple.
• Ironstone China - Credit for the invention of ironstone china is generally accorded to Charles Mason in 1813. Charles Mason was one of the two sons of Miles Mason who founded the Mason works in 1802, and ran the business with his brother George Mason.
  
  Ironstone was a heavy hard earthenware which was slightly translucent, its strength supposedly coming from a very small quantity of iron slag added to the mixture. The additional strength enabled the company to make larger objects that were not susceptible to breakage.
  
  The company manufactured dinner wares, toilet sets, tureens, jugs and so on, and the most popular patterns were blue and white, floral and Oriental Imari style colours.
  
  The trade name "Patent Ironstone China" was registered by the company in 1813, but the patent was only valid for 14 years and was not renewed, enabling other potteries to use the word "ironstone" in describing their wares.
  
  Mason wares are generally well marked with "Mason's Patent Ironstone China" .
• Victorian Period - The Victorian period of furniture and decorative arts design covers the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901. There was not one dominant style of furniture in the Victorian period. Designers used and modified many historical styles such as Gothic, Tudor, Elizabethan, English Rococo, Neoclassical and others, although use of some styles, such as English Rococo and Gothic tended to dominate the furniture manufacture of the period.
  
  The Victorian period was preceded by the Regency and William IV periods, and followed by the Edwardian period, named for Edward VII (1841 ? 1910) who was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India for the brief period from 1901 until his death in 1910.

This item has been included into following indexes:

• Mason's Ironstone China (England) - other items 107