Bristol porcelain

[4] The Cornish china stone was apparently first noticed by the Quaker pharmacist William Cookworthy (1705-1780) around 1745; he was to found Plymouth porcelain, which moved to become the next Bristol factory.

to 1752, rather than Worcester in the years after are extremely rare, but there are some with "Bristoll" in raised letters, including sauce-boats and copies of a figure of "Chinaman" that are moulded from a cast of a Chinese original.

Decoration could be underglaze blue "usually badly blurred and frequently in poorly executed chinoiserie designs, and overglaze enamels.

Champion's Bristol factory lasted from 1774 to 1781, when the business was sold to a number of Staffordshire potters owing to serious losses it had accrued.

Where Cookworthy looked to East Asia porceain for models, Champion preferred Meissen porcelain and French factories.

Whilst ornamental wares were made, the staple was tea and coffee services, a number made for local businessmen or for politicians and their wives, including Jane Burke,[13] wife of Edmund Burke, who Champion helped to be elected MP for Bristol in 1774.

[12] The wares of Plymouth and the first years at Bristol are not easily distinguished, and many prefer to classify pieces as "Cookworthy" or "Champion".

Mug, c. 1748–1752, Lund's Bristol factory, soft-paste porcelain with overglaze enamels .
Cup and saucer, 1774, from the Champion period. The Latin inscription reads: "R. and J. Champion gave this as a token of friendship to J. Burke the best of British wives, on the third day of November, 1774". [ 2 ] This was Jane, Mrs Edmund Burke ; Champion was a friend, who helped Burke's election that year as a Bristol MP .
Garniture of three vases, c. 1773, painted by Michel Socquet