Platter

This platter commemorates Revolutionary War hero General Lafayette's landing in New York for his famous tour in 1824. It illustrates how Staffordshire potteries developed industrial production techniques, such as transfer-printing, which consisted of printing decoration onto tissue which was affixed to the ceramic body before firing; the paper burns away in the kiln while the ink remains. This allowed to increase production for export to specialized markets such as the United States, where much of Clews wares were exported. Although this is considered white earthenware, sometimes referred to as pearlware, it satisfied the American need for better quality tablewares, which were not being manufactured significantly in the U.S. at this time.