Coronation Service, 1830-37 (bone china)

This service, originally consisting of fifty-six large pieces and twelve dozen plates, may claim to be the most ambitious ever produced by an English factory. The Rockingham Works was established in 1825 at Swinton in Yorkshire under the patronage of the second Earl Fitzwilliam (nephew and heir of the Marquis of Rockingham) by the brothers Thomas, George Frederick and John Wager Brameld. By far the youngest of the factories from which services were ordered by William IV following his accession in 1830, the Rockingham Works quickly established a reputation for producing wares of outstanding quality. The designs were made by John Wager Brameld. All of the artists responsible came from within the Rockingham factory's own workforce of around six hundred. They included the modeller Thomas Griffin and the painters George Speight (royal arms), Thomas Brentnall (flowers), William Willis Bayley, William Corden and (probably) Henry Pedley. The factory's chief gilder was Isaac Baguley. The 'ice-cellars' or pails and the small vases forming finials to the 'triple dress plates' are variations on the antique Warwick Vase discovered in Rome in 1770 (Glasgow, Burrell Collection), decorated with scenes after Reynolds, Teniers, Wilkie and William Collins.