From the 1860s Managing Director Richard William Binns (1819-1900) started to buy examples of early Worcester and other works of Art to inspire his workforce. He was particularly fascinated with the Arts of the Far East. He amassed a large collection of Japanese and Chinese ceramics and built on the former Chamberlain factory’s Design Library by acquiring a large number of books on sculpture, architecture, costume, calligraphy, botany and the decorative arts. One of these volumes, Owen Jones’ Examples of Chinese Ornament (1867) includes beautifully reproduced chromolithograph patterns from the original ornamentation found on Chinese painted vases, incense burners and other decorative items. Jones (1809-74) was one of the most influential designers/architects of the 19th Century.
The Museum has recently digitised this volume, and following on from our successful Chinese New Year celebrations last month, we have chosen some of the most ‘springlike’ plates from this volume while we imagine what type of plates or vases we could have created in a pattern inspired by these designs.
Plate 16, 45, 48, 49, Examples of Chinese Ornament, 1867, Owen Jones, MoRW B780