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Continental series (Wood & Challinor)

Henrywood's Highlights
Transferware from a British Perspective

Number Eight of an Ongoing Series by Dick Henrywood

As most of you will know the object of this series of articles is to record and hopefully expand our knowledge of transferware patterns, so if you can contribute in any way, please let us know for the benefit of the wider transferware community.

My previous outing concentrated on Thomas Mayer’s “Olympic Games” series and brought just a few responses. This time, I am reverting to a series of views of Europe made in the 1830s.

Continental Series

This untitled series, by Wood & Challinor of Tunstall, is another which does not appear much in existing literature. Volume 1 of The Dictionary of Blue & White Printed Pottery illustrated a saucer with a view of the “Castle of Beaucaire” whereas Volume 2 showed a plate with a view of “Viege” (along with a matching drawing), and the entry there mentioned “Lake of Como” and possibly “Bacharach”, although as far as I am aware the latter has never been confirmed.

Once again, the American market was larger than the home market in England, and wares from this series are more commonly found in the U.S., particularly in the colours other than blue. In this case recorded examples are mostly dinner wares found particularly in blue but also in black and shades of red, and rare two-colour examples with black centre and red border have been noted. The printed mark consists of an ornate foliate scroll cartouche containing the individual title in capital letters, with the maker’s initials W & C on a oval panel at the base.

As with William Ridgway’s “Italian” series, some of the scenes seem to be taken from illustrations by Samuel Prout, published in The Tourist in Switzerland and Italy (The Landscape Annual for 1830) or The Tourist in Italy (The Landscape Annual for 1831).

I have managed to assemble the following list of thirteen scenes to date:

“Bacharach” *
Sauce tureen stand

“Castle of Beaucaire”
Tea plate 7in
Saucer 7.5in
Illustrations: Coysh & Henrywood 1/74 (saucer)

“Castle of Chillon”
Soup plate 10.3in

“Castle Mount Dragon” *
Item not known
This title is listed by the Kowalskys in their Encyclopedia of Marks 1780-1980, but I have been unable to locate any real place with this name.

“Chateau Laserve”
Sauce tureen

“Lake of Como”
Dinner plate 10.6in
Illustrations: FOB 65 (plate); Williams 2/207 (plate, mark)

“Lyons Cathedral”
Platter 19in

“Orgon”
Plate 8in

“Rimini”
Dinner plate 10.3in
Illustrations: Snyder 170 (plate, mark)

“Simplon”
Plate 9in

“Tower of Mauconseil” *
Vegetable dish

“Verona”
Dinner plate 10.3in

“Viege”
Plate 9in
Illustrations: Coysh & Henrywood 2/205 (plate, drawing)

There are five examples currently listed in the database, all plates printed in blue. I have confirmed ten of these titles (the three exceptions are marked with an asterisk as usual) but I feel sure there will be others. There must be other platters, probably at least one more plate, a soup tureen, and maybe other shapes too. Can anyone out there provide any other images or information?

Incidentally, Wood & Challinor also produced another series of continental views which are much less often seen. Both the border and the printed mark are different. I only have records of two views here, but I will list them just in case anyone knows of others:

“Klumn” [sic]
Plate 9.25in
Illustrations: Williams 1/313 (plate)

“Lago di Como”
Platter 17in

Information about either series would be very welcome. All contributions would be gratefully received and will be reported in future Bulletins. They should be sent to Dick Henrywood by e-mail: henrywoodshighlights@transferwarecollectorsclub.org).

Plate

Mark

Plate

Mark

Castle of Beaucaire”, blue tea plate and mark

“Castle of Chillon”, black and red dinner plate and mark (courtesy Margie Williams)

Plate

Mark

Plate

“Lyons Cathedral”, black platter and mark (courtesy Jennifer Sheffer)

“Simplon”, red dessert plate (courtesy Margie Williams)

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