Pottery & Porcelain Marks

• Where a piece was made
• By whom was it made including the potter, which factory, mark of the decorator
• When was it made
• For whom was it made

There are several ways in which the marks are made on the pieces of pottery and porcelain:

Incised. This is where the mark is scratched into the body of the clay before firing. This is done with a sharp tool and was the main method adopted until the late 1790s. A variation of this mark is where a tool is used leaving a grooved cut with clearly defined sloping sides.

Impressed. Marks are made by pressing a die stamp into the surface of the unfired clay.

Painted. This is where the marks have been painted onto the surface of pottery or porcelain either before or after the glaze.

Printed. Various methods have been adopted to print on the base of the piece, but the most common is probably by the printed transfer process, applied either before or after glazing.

The first instance of the marking of ceramics is believed to have emanated from China with marks of the Chinese Ming Dynasty. As each new emperor ascended to the throne, he was given a new mark. The early marks were either incised or painted in coloured slip and this system remained in force for 500 years from the 14th century.

In Europe the earliest marks were to be found on Italian maiolica from the mid 16th century and have also been seen in German produced ceramics. Dutch marks appeared on items from the Delft potteries during the 17th century. The first marks in the British Isles did not appear until the late 18th century on work from the Josiah Wedgwood factory. By the early 19th century it was a common practice for most porcelain to have some sort of symbol or initials which were often hand painted and many famous marks such as the crossed swords of Meissen appeared.

Doulton used impressed marks on the earliest stoneware items produced initially at the Lambeth factory and later at the Burslem works.

Patent Office Registration Marks had to be introduced by the middle of the 19th century to protect the British ceramic manufacturers from having their designs copied. The famous diamond shaped registration mark was first seen on pieces released in 1842 with the registration process starting in 1839 after the passing of the Copyright of Design Act.

The diamond mark continued until 1883 and provides a very useful indicator of date by using an alpha-numeric system. From 1884, the registration number was shown, prefixed by either Rd or Rd No. The actual year can be determined from the many books on the subject and are well documented.

There are a number of clues that can be adopted in the dating of pottery and porcelain:

• Printed marks with the name of the pattern were made after 1810
• English marks that include Ltd after the maker's title must be after 1855
• The use of the words Trade Mark indicate a date after 1862
• Inclusion of the word Royal in the makers title indicates manufacture in the second half of the 19th century onwards.
• From 1891 any item for export to the United States had to include the country of origin, which soon meant the words Made in ... were added
• Printed marks including the Royal Coat of Arms will be 19th or 20th century
• Anything manufactured in the British Isles marked Bone China or English Bone China indicates a 20th century date of manufacture.

This is only a very basic introduction into what is a fairly complex subject. Many sources of information exist in print and particularly the Encyclopedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks by Geoffrey A. Godden. A more convenient pocket guide is published by Millers and is Pottery & Porcelain Marks by Gordon Lang.