Maker: Josiah Spode
Period: Regency
This handsome Spode coffee can from around 1806 is decorated with a stylised Chinese chrysanthemum in printed sepia with bamboo picked out in gilt. The pattern appears on both the front and back, as well as the inside, of the Bute-shape can.
The sepia printing was done by a complex process called ‘pluck & dust’ that Spode used in the early 1800s.
Pluck & dust was similar to bat printing except that the copper plate was heated, and paper used instead of a gelatine ‘bat’ to transfer the image. The heated plate was rubbed with heavy, sticky oil, then carefully rubbed to remove all the oil apart from what remained inside the engraved or etched lines. The printer then placed a dampened sheet of tissue on the plate and passed both of them through a press. This transferred the sticky oil to the paper, which was then carefully peeled off. ‘The paper was then pressed onto the ceramic, transferring the design in oil onto it. The paper was carefully peeled off. Powdered pigment was then lightly dusted onto the ceramic. The pigment stuck only onto parts that were oiled. The ceramic had already been dipped in glaze and fired at a temperature of at least 1,000 degrees Celsius. It was then fired again, but at a lower temperature of about 750 Celsius, to fix the print to the body.
The excellent ‘Antiquespode’ website has a Spode coffee can printed with same pattern as ours but in iron red instead of sepia. The owner lists the pattern as 981, introduced by Spode in 1806.
Condition Good. Minor rubbing, mainly to gilding on top rim. The odd surface scratch and spot of glaze crazing, visible only on close inspection.
Height: 6.2 cm
Diameter: 6.5 cm; Width across handle: 8.4 cm
Net weight: 112 g
Medium: Bone china (porcelain)
Origin: Spode Works, Stoke-on-Trent, England
See Spode and Copeland in Makers & Artists for background on the factory
