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The Bow factory was in production for only a few years, from some time in the 1740s until about 1776 and this is very vague dating and is typical about the history of English porcelain. Porcelain may have been fashionable in the 18th century, but the manufacture of porcelain was clearly looked upon as a humble occupation with none of the glamour surrounding the fine arts.
No near contemporary thought it worth while to interview managers and employees in order to write a history of Chelsea, Bow or Derby. Modern accounts are based on years of research, these researchers pieced together evidence from title deeds, patents, advertisements, auctions and stray references in diaries, letters and books. And also chemical analysis and stylistic comparisons by experts have done a great deal to date and characterise the actual wares. But still there remain big gaps in the knowledge of bow.
The earliest evidence from Bow is a patent taken out in 1744 by Thomas Frye and Edward Heylin. The patent was for a porcelain body using a material called unaker, which according to the patentees was the produce of the Cherokee nation in America. Later on unaker was used for a few years by Wedgwood and other English manufacturers, but buy the 1760s they had evidently decided that the cost of importing was to high.
On the basis of this patent, some writers have claimed Bow as the earliest English porcelain factory. But Frye and Heylin were probable only experimenting at this stage, no Bow figures indisputably made of unaker have come to light. So far. Frye a painter from Dublin must have been the specialist, Heylin provided the facilities for Frye's experiments at his glass factory in Bow to the east of the old city area of London.
Certainly the next patent taken out in 1749, was in Frye's name alone. The new body described in the patent had a high proportion of bone ash, the first use of this material and an innovation of some importance, since it led on to the development of the British contribution to porcelain, (bone china), Bone ash was later used at Chelsea, since Frye held the patent this could only have been done under some sort of licence issued by him, presumably for a fee.
The enterprise at Bow became successful when it was take over by two London merchants, Wetherby and Crowther , who set up a new factory called New Canton a tribute to Chinese porcelain. Frye was manager of the works and Heylin seems to have kept involved.
Bow wares were designed for middle classed people who wanted sound and attractive figures and table ware, but could not afford Meissen and Chelsea prices. The market was obviously a big one and the factory gave work to approximately 300 workmen. In 1753 Crowther and Wetherby opened a showroom at Cornhill in the heart of the city near the Royal exchange and the Bank of England. A few years later another was opened in the West End but this soon closed.
Wetherby died in 1762, and in the following year Crowther went bankrupt, he was forced to close the showroom and auction of the stock, but he somehow managed to keep the Bow factory going. Whatever Crowther's personal difficulties, Bow must have been a paying concern for we soon find Crowther setting up another showroom at St Paul's Churchyard. The business finally closed in 1776 when William Duesbury appeared as a buyer. Carrying of the mould and equipment to his own factory
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