Lowestoft Porcelain Factory

[1] It mostly produced "useful wares" such as pots, teapots, and jugs, with shapes copied from silverwork or from Bow and Worcester porcelain.

[3] Geographically, it was isolated from other porcelain factories, or indeed makers of fine earthenware, which probably accounts for a relatively slow-moving stylistic development.

[3] Although Lowestoft probably sold mainly to the local East Anglian market, by 1770 it had a warehouse, effectively a shop, in Cheapside, London.

This type of decoration continued to form the majority of production throughout the life of the factory but scenes were gradually simplified.

Overglaze colours in enamel were used from about 1768, generally in white and blue or in a polychrome that utilizes a bright brick red.

[11] Many such documentary pieces are dated which, together with the wasters excavated at the site in 1902 and 1967, has helped to build up a good picture of the factory's products.

[12] Many pieces are in a pattern, itself derived from Chinese models, known as "Redgrave" (after a family with several workers at the factory), with paeonies and rocks.

[16] Lowestoft has a higher proportion than most factories of "documentary" pieces bearing dates, names of owners, or other inscriptions, for "farmers' celebrations, elections, weddings, and the like".

In 1772 a doctor on a day trip from Yarmouth with friends put in his diary: "After dinner visited the china manufactory carried on there.

[26] When Robert Browne died in 1771 he was succeeded as manager by his son of the same name, who introduced, or increased the amount of, polychrome overglaze enamelling.

He believed production had been running down from about 1795, as competition from Staffordshire pottery, both in fine earthenware and bone china, grew.

A letter from the son of the younger Robert Browne, recalling his father's view, explains the closure: "they could not produce the wares so cheaply as the Staffordshire potters, and that they were getting old and wished to retire from the business, not from want of capital, as they were all wealthy men for the period...".