Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Some Thought On Chintz History


Chintz pottery (a tightly grouped, small floral all over patterns) started becoming available in England in the early 1900s.Chintz was manufactured on a large scale between the 1920s and early 1950s and appearing primarily on basic tea ware and dinner ware. Typical chintz ware is lithographed transfer paper applied over clear glazed ware to retain the bright and natural colors of the paper. The widest range of transfer patterns were offered by the Winton Potteries, many of these designs were reserved, however a few were sold to other pottery manufacturers. Among the most widely seen patterns are the Rose Violet/Rose du Barry pattern and Paisley.

During World War II only practical ware was manufactured and decorating of this white ware was forbidden. However some black market chintz was produced by unscrupulous dealers at this time. The pottery trade in recession after the post war boom chintz ware was no longer produced by Winton Potteries by the mid 1950s their stock of lithographed sheets were sold to other pottery manufacturers. In the mid 1990s due to the interest in chintz ware the potteries began reproducing their products. Due to inexpensive ease and speed of making transfer paper today reproduction and new patterns of chintz abound.

As a chintz collector prior to 1995 for me personally there is nothing like an original the look and feel of a vintage piece is unique. Imperfections, black market, and non-english manufacturers all add up to the mystery and magic of chintz ware.
You can visit my store for more examples of
Royal Winton Chintz

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