Doultonware

views updated May 17 2018

Doultonware. High-fired vitrified non-porous salt-glazed ceramic made of a hard grey-brown material (stoneware) on which designs were drawn, a part or the whole then being richly coloured. Produced in the Doulton Works, Lambeth, London, founded by John Doulton (1793–1873), it was invented and patented by Sir Henry Doulton (1820–97), and exhibited in 1871 as sgraffito-ware. He then developed Lambeth faïence (brightly coloured glazed blocks) and Doulton impasto (glazed earthenware, the colour applied thickly). Both products were used for festive façades, such as the fronts of public-houses, bar-fronts, and the like. Hardwearing and easily washed, Doultonware's heyday was the late C19 to c.1914.

Bibliography

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (1917)