Bow Porcelain – Moorabool Antique Galleries

Moorabool has a nice collection of Fresh Bow Porcelain to share…….

Bow Porcelain figure & garden urn, 1750's & 1765 — Bow Porcelain figure & garden urn, 1750’s & 1765

Bow Porcelain has a keen following among collectors, valued for its cheerful, bright colours and quirky modelling.

A selection of Beautiful Bow, with bright Chinese-style flower decoration, 1750’s

Founded in the mid 1740’s by Thomas Frye, it produced a variety of wares in direct competition to the fellow-fledgling factory in the region, Chelsea. While Chelsea produced high-end luxury ceramics, Bow was happy to produce less expensive wares – and did so on a large scale, becoming the largest manufacturer of the period in England.

Like Chelsea, it was located within the bounds of present-day London – although in the mid-18th century, both places were still smaller hamlets on the Thames River, yet to be enveloped by the expanding metropolis.

Bow Porcelain from the 1750’s, showing the influence of Meissen in the ‘Fisherfolk’ figures, and Asian imports in the plate & coffee cans – all very much in fashion in the 1750’s.

The products of these early factories were a direct response to the red-hot London market for Asian Porcelain imports – so it’s hardly surprising that the pieces are often imitations of Chinese & Japanese designs.

Many items are copies of Chelsea forms, and Chelsea in turn copied the expensive imports from Meissen. We have several pieces in stock that follow this fascinating storyline……

Bow (left) and Meissen (right) figure of ‘Autumn’
Bow (left) and Meissen (right) figure of ‘Autumn’
Bow (left) and Meissen (right) figure of ‘Autumn’

By the 1770’s, the Bow style was overshadowed by multiple other porcelain manufacturers such as Worcester and Derby. Chelsea also found itself in trouble, and had their ‘strategic merge’ with William Duesbury’s Derby factory in 1770, which led to their closure a few years later. The same fate befell Bow, with the owner recorded as bankrupt in 1763, and the sale of moulds & equipment to Duesbury of Derby in 1776.