Gaudy Welsh China by Howard Y. Williams, 1978 buy Wallace Homestead Books Paperback, Very Good Condition. Antiques, Pottery, Ironware

Gaudy Welsh China by Howard Y. Williams
Published by Wallace Homestead, 1978
Paperback

Very Good Condition. The book is clean, uncreased spine, covers attached, secure binding, unmarked, no writing, no highlighting, crisp inner pages, no fading, no stains, no ripped pages, no edge chipping, no page folds, no remainder marks, not ex-library. Some light surface and edge wear from use, storage and handling. Very small corner crease mark on the front cover.

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Gaudy Welsh is an Imari-decorated earthenware with red, blue, green, and gold decorations. Most Gaudy Welsh was made in England for the American market. Gaudy Welsh china is heavier and has more childlike coloring than Gaudy Dutch. Some of its most popular patterns include Tulip, Oyster, Sunflower, Wagon Wheel, and Grape Leaf. It was made from 1820 to about 1860. The generic name seems to have been coined by American collectors, in Wales it tended to be called more prosaic names such as Welsh Lustreware, Peasant Enamel, Swansea Cottage or simply cottage ware.

The name Gaudy Welsh entered the pottery collectors vocabulary and the antique world when Professor Howard Williams mentioned it in his 1978 publication. He also standardised many of the names ascribed to patterns we now associate with Gaudy Welsh Pottery. Howard Williams' Gaudy Welsh China, published in 1978, is the definitive text on the pottery. This reference book, based on extensive research and access to major collections in Wales, is an important contribution to the literature. Gaudy Welsh China is a scholarly approach to the topic, based on original research by an American academic of Welsh descent. Williams explains his methodology and his writing is measured and substantiated with footnotes and bibliography. Williams' perspective on Gaudy Welsh is straightforward. He describes himself as an enthusiast and collector and claims that china is most interesting when approached in terms of its fabricators, consumers and their environment. His book is an historical narrative around these themes. On-going research shows that over 150 factories have been firmly established as producers of Gaudy Welsh Pottery. From Scotlands Anderson Glasgow Pottery, to Yorkshires Turpin & Co and also Twigg. Not excluding those in Sunderland, Staffordshire, Bristol and Wales (Cambrian, Llanelli and Ynysmeaudwy).

Gaudy Welsh is closely associated with Welsh people in North America. The States where it was initially popular are those of Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois and Ohio, where the majority of Welsh migrants (miners, steelworkers and farmers) settled. 'The real devotees of buy Gaudy Welsh are American', writes Williams adding that these tend to be people with common Welsh surnames such as Jones, Evans, Hughes, Roberts and Davis. Williams' explanation for this popularity is that the migrant Welsh were a 'visible people' who tended to establish their own communities and maintain their customs. It is likely that migrants carried the ware with them in their household effects and also bought exported pieces once they arrived in America. Sam Laidacker reported that British pottery and porcelain 'holds a charm for American collectors far greater than the ceramic work of any other country', adding that there was hardly a type that did not appeal to a number of collectors over a wide area. Large quantities of Gaudy Welsh were produced for the North American market. The most persuasive evidence of its enduring popularity is that the ware is now widely scattered throughout the United States.

Gaudy Welsh china was pretending to be something it was not and could never be. It was produced for working class families at a cost of only a few pennies. It was china with aspirations, like the people who bought it. The pots produced by factories such as those in Swansea, Llanelly and subsequently Staffordshire, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Sunderland were thick and coarse, covered with pitting and often woefully out of shape. The appearance of Gaudy Welsh ware coincided with a transformation of life in Britain. The Industrial Revolution was beginning to get up steam (literally), railways had replaced horse-drawn carriages and the population was on the move from the country into the towns, seeking work in the factories. The result was a burgeoning middle class who could afford the finer things in life and a working class that couldn't but was striving to do so. A home decorated with cheap and cheerful china ornaments was seen as tangible evidence that the family's move from country farmhouse to industrial slum had been a wise one. Gaudy Welsh first appeared around the late 1820's. It was a working class chinaware for show on the dresser, and yes, it was gaudy, The main colours chosen for decoration were orange, dark and light greens and most spectacularly a intense cobalt blue, in addition turquoise, yellow and pink were also used along with gold and pink lustre. Gaudy Welsh was visually eclectic, with references taken from different styles and eras. It often shows a collision of images and sets up tensions between craftsman-like fine detail and brash-naive hand-painted additions. Tulip (or Daffodil), sunflower leaf and oyster patterns combine with energetic gestural strokes and heavy blocks of cobalt overpainting.