Bow Porcelain

In this publication (Ramsay, Ramsay, and Girvan, 2011) we recognize that Benjamin Lund used bone ash in part of his porcelain production. This combination of bone ash and soapstone has been traced by us back to Bow where it was being used by at least early 1745, if not earlier. Research into porcelain wasters at Warmstry House, Worcester by Victor Owen has demonstrated the presence of a Mg-P body in early Worcester material. Technology pathways, as initially employed by Owen and Hillis (2003) for Liverpool, has been able to show a compositional line of ascent stretching from the experimental work by the Royal Society of London in the 1720’s, through to Bow, to Lund’s Bristol, and thence to Worcester. Although Mg-P porcelains have now been recognized in porcelains characterized by what appears to be decorative idioms traditionally attributed to Limehouse, there is now considerable debate as to whether such porcelains are in fact Limehouse.