Beaker (part of a garniture) ca. 1752–1753 British, Worcester No factory better illustrates the entrepreneurial underpinnings of the ceramic industry in England during the eighteenth century than the one established at Worcester in 1751.[1] Created by a deed of partnership, it was an ambitious and risky undertaking, because the city of Worcester did not have the various resources and potential clientele offered by London. However, the founders of the factory astutely focused on types of products that were not available from the factories established at Chelsea and at Bow several years earlier.

Beaker (part of a garniture) ca. 1752–1753 British, Worcester No factory better illustrates the entrepreneurial underpinnings of the ceramic industry in England during the eighteenth century than the one established at Worcester in 1751.[1] Created by a deed of partnership, it was an ambitious and risky undertaking, because the city of Worcester did not have the various resources and potential clientele offered by London. However, the founders of the factory astutely focused on types of products that were not available from the factories established at Chelsea and at Bow several years earlier. Chelsea’s production was aimed primarily at the luxury market, and it included a large number of decorative objects and figures. Bow sought to compete with imported Chinese porcelains and to reach a more middle-class clientele. In contrast, Worcester aimed to provide utilitarian wares that were not made by the other English factories, and it developed styles of decoration that further distinguished its production. From the outset, Worcester relied heavily on English silver forms for a number of its wares, and in its early years, much of its production was painted with different types of Asian-inspired motifs combined in innovative ways. In addition, the factory excelled at finely executed, low-relief molding, which it employed more extensively than other factories in England. Shortly after the Worcester factory was founded, it purchased another porcelain factory that would profoundly benefit the young enterprise. In 1752, Worcester merged with the Bristol factory, established by Benjamin Lund (British, d. 1768) three years earlier, and it acquired all of Bristol’s equipment, stock, and, most significantly, the lease of Lund’s soapstone mine. The lease made it possible for Worcester to incorporate soapstone in its ceramic body, a practice initiated by Lund at Bristol. The inclusion of soapstone made the soft-paste porcelain more durable, allowing it to tolerate the temp

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