The tablewares most often found in the Victorian home at every level of Canadian society were neither painted (illustration 2) nor "edged" (illustration 3), but underglaze transfer-printed like this earthenware platter of the 1850s from the Seacombe Pottery in Liverpool (illustration 1).
Briefly, the usual process of printing on ceramic wares required first, a pattern or design engraved on a copperplate. Colour, mixed to a paste with oil, was worked into the lines of the engraving, after which the excess colour was cleaned off. A sheet of specially prepared tissue paper was then laid on the copperplate, and plate and paper subjected to the action of a press. Often several parts of a design were engraved on one copperplate, in which case the design, after the paper was removed from the copperplate, had to be cut into its several parts (for example, the several parts of the border design on this platter). The trimmed paper, with its printed design, was next placed in position on the piece to be decorated (the piece of pottery having been previously fired but not glazed). The paper was then rubbed against the pot. Friction and the oil in the colour helped the paper to adhere. To remove the paper, the pot was immersed in cold water and the paper carefully detached. The design was now transferred, via the paper, from copperplate to pot, which was then heated to drive out all traces of the oil and fix the colour. After that, the pot was dipped in glaze and fired in the "glost" oven. This was the method which produced the decoration on this platter, a coloured decoration which was protected by glaze and which wore well. Many steps in this basic process required careful attention, such as heating the copper plate to the correct temperature while the colour was being worked into the lines of the engraving, or fitting together the different parts of the design (note where a join can be seen on the inner side of the border, left side, in this piece).
Courtesy: National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada (S81-9)
