Wenger, Albert Francis, 1837 or 1838-1924, Photograph album of pottery manufactured by Albert Wenger, 1888
- Title(s):
- Photograph album of pottery manufactured by Albert Wenger.
- Published/Created:
- Hanley, Staffordshire, England, 1888.
- Physical Description:
- 1 volume ; 26 x 34 cm
- Holdings:
- Rare Books and ManuscriptsNK4087.S6 W46 1888 Flat AYale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund[Request]
- Copyright Status:
- Copyright Information
- Full Orbis Record:
- http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/13060068
- Classification:
- Photographs
- Notes:
- Albert Francis Wenger entered business in 1870 as a manufacturer and supplier of colors, oxides and glazes for pottery decoration. By 1888, when the present album was compiled, Wenger had moved from Cobridge to the Parker Street Works in Hanley, Staffordshire, where his scope of activity expanded to include the manufacture of earthenware. In 1895, the firm of Wenger's Limited was established "to acquire as a going concern, and to carry on the business of manufacture of colour and chemical, and pottery requisites, formerly prosecuted by A.F. Wenger at Hanley ..." (see: The Chemical Trade Journal, June 8, 1895, pages 374). Wenger became a naturalized British citizen in 1893. His family has moved to Stoke-on-Trent from Switzerland in the 1860s.
Bound in dark purple calf, the upper cover lettered in gilt: "Wenger, Staffordshire" (partially obscured by a later paper label).
Photograph album of pots, blocks, moulds, tiles, et cetera manufactured by Albert Francis Wenger at his Parker Street Works in Hanley, Staffordshire. The album served as a catalog of Wenger's wares, illustrated with 221 albumen prints mounted on 120 leaves (of pale blue ribbed paper), and a small number of sketches in graphite. Many items are annotated in graphite with stock numbers, prices, dimensions, or other brief information. The album is accompanied by an additional 44 loose leaves (from another album?) bearing 107 photographs of patterned tiles. The album can be dated to 1888 from a stamp on the verso of several photographs.
Photographs in the album primarily depict moulds and blocks. The wooden blocks were apparently rented out to other pottery manufacturers, with the photographs illustrating the unglazed final form of each design. A vast array of pots, jugs, plates, tiles, ornaments, vases, animal sculptures and even an umbrella stand were available for rent from Wenger. The second plate shows a modified pattern for the Alhambra Vase and appears to be the same mould that formed the Doulton Alhambra Vase of the 1880s. - Subject Terms:
- Ceramic tiles -- Great Britain.Potters -- Great Britain.Pottery -- Great Britain.Staffordshire pottery.Wenger, Albert Francis, 1837 or 1838–1924.
- Form/Genre:
- Photographs.
Photograph albums.
Albumen prints.
Manufacturers' catalogs. - Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON