COVE

Porcelain, also known as china, is a kind of kiln-fired ceramic similar to earthenware and stoneware. Originally developed in China, porcelain first arrived at the British Isles in the 16th century and was considered a rare commodity. By the time Queen Victoria’s reign started in 1837, her predecessors had amassed a collection of porcelain and other East Asian luxuries. During the Great Exhibition of 1851, porcelain was both imported and produced locally by artisans who had finally managed to crack the secrets behind its production. Porcelain dishes, vases, and other decorative items were common, including plates representing the Crystal Palace itself. Porcelain was also used for more specific purposes, such as vessels in scientific experiments or huge ornate vases. 

The popularity of porcelain rose after the Great Exhibition ended, leading to a Victorian obsession with porcelain and chinoiserie as status symbols. An upper-class family could display their wealth by purchasing and displaying porcelain items or decorating with Chinese furniture and motifs. Porcelain dolls, for example, would display the ideal "porcelain" complexion of ladies, be used as miniature fashion models, and openly show that a family was so wealthy they could hand a breakable object to a young child as a plaything. Porcelain vases with hexagonal sections or geometric lines in a "Chinese style" garnered interest after 1851 along with perfectly matching porcelain tea sets and dinnerware. This boom of interest in porcelain carries into the 20th and 21st centuries, as even today we fall under the allure of fancy tea parties with porcelain teacups or the delicate facade of a porcelain doll. Many Victorian or chinoiserie-styled dolls, vases, and porcelain dinnerware can be purchased today, either as antique pieces or replicas. 

Booth for Porcelain in the Victorian Era, in our Great Exhibition of 1851, designed by Talia Shirley, 2025. This booth features miniature paper versions of popular porcelain items that would have been displayed in the Great Exhibition. It includes plates, a vase with flowers, teacups, a serving pitcher, and a large vase centerpiece on three tables with dark tablecloths. The figure of Prince Albert is visible on the right side of the booth, as he reaches out to pick up a porcelain teacup from the table in front of him. The background is a color plate from the British Library, produced by Henry Clarke Pidgeon in 1851, showing off some of the luxuries brought to the Great Exhibition by the Russian Court. An example of Russia’s porcelain contributions is visible, just to the left of my booth’s vase centerpiece, where a large, golden, porcelain vase stands. 

"1851 Crystal Palace Transferware Platter," EndsWellAntiques, Etsy, 2025. Porcelain plates that show the Crystal Palace like this one were sold as commemorative items to visitors, and a number of imported porcelain items like vases and dinnerware were popular attractions. The piece shown in the photo is done in pale blue with a grape vine border and is approximately 10" by 8". Plates like this would have been cheaper and more easily replicated thanks to the simple form and use of transferware printing. This interest in commemorative porcelain continues into the 21st century, where this plate is up for sale yet again, still serving as a visible reminder of the Great Exhibition nearly 200 years later.

“Glass and Porcelain Vessels for Chemical Purposes, Electro-coppered,” 1851, John Baker Edwards, Liverpool, producer and manufacturer, The Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, Class 10, “Philosophical, Musical, Horological, and Surgical Instruments,” vol. 1, p. 461. Glass and porcelain vessels covered in copper for the purposes of heat distribution were first introduced in 1844, at the French exposition. The manufacturer, Baker, claims that a “similar apparatus is now made for chemical [purposes] in England.” The illustration shows an array of vessels made of both glass and porcelain, that have been varnished, brushed in bronze-powder and copper, and placed in a decomposition-cell. This process covered the outside with a “bright metallic copper” that preserves the glass and porcelain from fractures, unequal expansion, and external casualties. This is an interesting use of porcelain, considering how it was mostly common produced as dinnerware or vases.

“Doll 1865 (made),” Nov. 1865, Made in Germany, Commissioned by Mr. H.J. Powell as a gift, Textiles and Fashion Collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.  While there was no specific exhibit for porcelain dolls at the Great Exhibition, they were a staple of the Victorian era. As one of the more popular uses for locally produced porcelain, dolls were common playthings of the wealthy and upper-middle classes in 19th-century England. By this time, porcelain dolls were certainly not new inventions, but their popularity peaked in the aftermath of the Great Exhibition. This specific doll was created in Germany in 1865 and owned by the Powell family of England. Standing at 35 cm tall and composed of wood and porcelain, she wears an 1865 horse-themed outfit and a wig of real human hair. Note how her deliberately pale face displays a ladylike ‘porcelain’ complexion. 

“Plate 241” and “Plate 242,” 1851, National Manufacture of Porcelain and Stained Glass, Sevres, France, The Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, section “France and Algiers,” vol. 3, pp. 1240-41. Labeled as “Sevres Porcelain,” these  items originate from the National Manufactory of Porcelain in Sevres, France, which produced and sold everything from vases and tea services to Chinese style furniture. Plate 241 shows a set of porcelain pitchers, while Plate 242 shows three porcelain vases. The pieces were completed and then decorated in Sevres by artists attached to the Manufactory, where their features were hand-painted. The beginning of the chapter on France and Algiers specifically mentions items of Sevres Porcelain as "of great rarity and costliness” (1169). While smaller commemorative plates made with printing were cheaper and more readily available, such as the transferware platter in my second post, larger and more intricate pieces such as these were the privilege of the wealthy. 

“Plate 114,” 1851, Imperial China Manufactory, St. Petersburg, Russia, The Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, section “Russia,” vol. 3, p. 1379. While many porcelain pieces brought to the Great Exhibition were smaller plates, vases, and dinnerware, Russia favored the large and extravagant. Most of Russia’s porcelain shows up in records as either mosaic tabletops or extraordinarily large vases, like the one shown in Plate 114. The artist has included 4 people in Plate 114, 2 children and 2 adults, set alongside the vase to give the viewer a sense of its sheer size and scale. Even without its large base, the vase would tower over the people admiring it. The Manufactory notes that many of these vases have been “ornamented with paintings”; full-sized paintings have been reproduced on their sides before being shipped to London from St. Petersburg (1376).