Chapter 16 Chapter XVI - Bells Glasgow Pottery

Chapter XVI —The Wares of the 1870s. 

Chapter 16 

No matter whether John Bell or James Murdoch were responsible for design and 

production in the Glasgow Pottery in the 1870s, and it seems likely that it was mainly 

the latter, it was a time of great innovation and probably the most prolific period in the 

Pottery’s history. Designs were changed, production soared and the export trade certainly was 

well established both with the Far East and other areas nearer home. 

fig. 16.1 Porcelain Breakfast cups 

In porcelain there seems to have been little change. Teasets and dessert services were produced 

as usual; in this period. too, the Glasgow Pottery produced breakfast sets with large cups In 

sometimes very startling colours, like bright orange. Some of these were purchased directly from 

the Company by the People’s Palace in Glasgow and are still in the collection. 

In Parian a number of new jug shapes was produced in particular the very beautiful ‘lily of the 

valley shape (fig. 16.2) and the remarkable and beautiful ‘celtic’ shape (fig 16.3). This last shows 

the influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement, evidence that Bell’s were still keeping abreast of 

changes in popular taste. None of the Parian 

ware from the 1870s however, seems to have 

had the popularity of one or two of the earlier 

moulded jug shapes, judging by the survival 

rate. No other sorts of Parian ware are recorded 

from this time, besides jugs. (101) 

In earthenware there are several new jug 

shapes and a lot of new transfer patterns. One 

of the jug shapes in particular, the one on which 

we so often find “Indian Cress”(fig16.4) as the 

pattern, had a success equal to that of the 

“Sappho” Jug of 1855. It is still found in great 

numbers, transfer- printed with a great many 

different patterns but at least seven other new 

jug shapes are initiated in this period and some 

of them continue well into the 1880s and must 

have been very successful. One, the 

“Copenhagen” shape (fig.16.5) with that 

pattern on it, provides our first evidence for 

Bell’s export trade at this time since it is a very 

obvious export item, designed for the Danish 

market. (102) 

fig.16.2 “Lily of the Valley” 

72 © Henry E. Kelly


Some commemoratives were issued at this 

period too. “Burns” (I) was certainly reissued 

on a different shape of jug from its earliest 

issue but “Burns” (Ill) (fig.16.6) also appears 

at this time on jugs and punch bowls, as well 

as porringers and earthenware tea sets. 

“Garibaldi” was first put on sale in the 

previous period on a “Sappho”-shaped jug but 

re-appears in this decade on an “Indian Cress” 

jug and makes a startling re-appearance in jugs 

made by LIanelly Pottery in the 1880s. On the 

same shape we have the unnamed pattern to 

commemorate the wedding in 1871 of the 

Marquis of Lorne to Princess Louise 

(fig.16.7). This time other potteries seem to 

have been as successful as Bell’s with their 

issues since their jugs are as common as 

Bell’s. Britannia Pottery, in fact, seems to have 

stolen a march on Bell’s on this occasion 

since their jug gained an enormous popularity 

in Canada when the Marquis went out there as 

Governor-General and it is still quite 

commonly found there. Britannia Pottery, of 

course, had a very strong connection with 

fig. 16.3“Celtic”shape 

Canada, since a warehouse had been set up in Toronto in the 1850s. Among the Bells’ 

commemoratives of this period, too, is the “Scott” jug. On the “Indian Cress” shape, the purple 

transfer on this jug shows a bust of Sir Waiter Scott on one side and a view of Abbotsford on the 

other. To this date also we must attribute a vase with lion’s head handles and the “Scott” pattern 

in black. ( fig.16.8). 

The list of new patterns for this period is not 

particularly long but shows several innovations. 

Achilles 

Aden 

Alice 

Batavia 

Bramble 

Burns II (fig.16.9) 

Burns III 

Butterfly 

fig. 16.4 Indian Cress 

Cadzow 

Copenhagen 

Corea (fig.16.10) 

Dagmar 

Delhi 

Egyptian Vase (fig.16.11) 

Foreign Birds 

Fungus (differing from Mushroom only in colour) 

Garibaldi 

Giraffe 


Grecian 

Griffin 

Indian Cress (i.e. Nasturtium) 

Ionia 

Italy 

Japanese 

Jeddo 

Laurel 

Lily and Rose 

(Lorne) 1871 [The name never appears on the 

jugs] 

Louise [On one piece at least this appears as 

Lousie] 

Morning and Even 

Moss Rose 

Mushroom 

Ophelia 

Paraguay 

Scott 

Sexagon [An export pattern for S. E. 

Asia](fig.16.12) 

Swallow (fig 16.13) 

Tamerlain 

Trojan 

See page no.99 for more export names. 

The mark on these patterns is the oval garter 

mark with the bell in the middle and the 

pottery description “J. & M. P. B. & Co.” 

Very noticeably the classical theme is 

continued by such patterns as “Achilles”, 

“Trojan” and “Ionia” but it is totally diluted 

by the number of place name patterns that are 

present, of which, of course, “Ionia” is one. 

Of the many others “Batavia” is worthy of 

note as being an export pattern designed for 

the Far East; “Sexagon” is another. Perhaps 

these are the first two in what was to become a 

remarkable, perhaps unique range of specially 

designed wares for that market. “Italy” is 

another place-name pattern of some beauty, 

found on jugs only. 

It is important to distinguish between 

“Foreign Birds” and “British and Foreign 

Birds”, quite distinct patterns which could 

both have been available at this time, though 

“Foreign Birds” was making its first 

appearance while the other was an old 

fig.16.5 Copenhagen 

fig 16.6 Burns III 


favourite and appears on wares of the LIanelly Pottery in the 1880s. Every Scottish pottery at 

this time too seems to have produced a pattern with angels and children, based loosely on a pair 

of marble plaques by Thorwaldsen. Bell’s version is called “Morning and Even” and shows 



fig.16.7 “Lorne” 

fig. 16.8 Sir Walter Scott 

fig.16.9 Burns II 

fig. 16.10 Corea 

fig. 16.11 Egyption Vase 

fig, 16.12 Sexagon 


angels carrying children through the air at the 

said times. One jug with this pattern bears the 

date 1878 on an inscription. 

Bell’s at this time also introduced for the 

first time in the Scottish pottery industry 

multi-coloured prints to decorate pottery. 

There are at least three jugs, one with an 

oriental scene, one with flowers and fruit and 

with a named pattern - Grecian - in pink and 

navy blue; well as these there is a dinner 

service with pink and red roses. These could 

not have been very popular since they are 

rarely found and such prints did not for some 

time recur in Bell’s repertoire or in any other 

Scottish pottery wares much before the 1890s. 

Hand-painted earthenwares are not recorded 

from this period in any quantity either, except 

for the plaques discussed above. 

A major innovation, probably of around 

1857 but greatly expanded in production in 

this period is of a hard, white earthenware 

body frequently impressed with the name 

GRANITE. This was used for cheese dishes 

(fig.16.16), sardine dishes, tea kettles 

(fig.16.17) and vases, as well as dinner wares 

and many other kinds of ware. Amongst its 

uses was the manufacture of ware for use on 

board ship (see p.47). The ‘Granite’ wares 

were often painted in bright colours almost in 

imitation of majolica but amongst them are 

vases identical in shape to porcelain vases of a 

later period but decorated in black, or blue, or 

orange with outlined and gaudily painted 

classical figures (see chapter 21, page 97, fig 

21.19). The same decoration can be found on 

teapots and even on very large decorative 

pieces which imitate classical vases. Thesee 

last are obviusly for a very different market 

from Granite wares. The classical figures 

reproduce some of the groups used in the 

1840s and 50s on terracotta wares. The tea 

kettles are sometimes hand-painted with 

scenes of a lily pond but have been found 

painted to match porcelain teasets with 

Scottish views against a ground colour in the 

usual way. Huntly House in Edinburgh has one 

such tea kettle with a vivid emerald green 

ground colour, utterly unlike anything from an 

earlier period. 

fig.16.13 Swallow 

fig 16.14 Foreign Birds 

fig. 16.15 Multi coloured 




fig. 16.16 Granite Ware 

The middle of this decade sees the 

introduction into British pottery making, not 

just Scottish, of the ‘Japanese’ pattern. This 

consists of an overall transfer printed pattern 

(occasionally hand-painted) made of up 

vignettes in round or rectangular frames, arcs 

of unrelated diaper patterns, miscellaneous 

scraps of landscape and boughs of apple or 

plum [“prunus”] blossom or birds and 

frequently of fans, all of these elements are 

mixed together in an asymmetric way. The 

classic Bell’s example is “Corea” (fig.16.10) 

which featured sunflowers in the border and 

followed the other features of ‘Japanese’ 

patterns. Sunflowers were the national emblem 

of Korea. It was immensely popular and can 

fig.16.17 Granite Ware 

still be found in large quantities. “Arcadia II” 

is another, less exotic, example of this type of pattern from Bell’s. The patterns were, of course, 

another manifestation of the craze for things Japanese which began at that time. 

Another novelty of this time was the great expansion in the use of the grey colour for transfer 

patterns. This had been introduced as early as the late 1850s but now became so popular that in 

Bell’s case at least it threatened to oust all other colours from the market. Purple disappears 

forever as a pattern colour and ancient patterns like “Warwick Vase” and “Italian Lakes” are 

resurrected in the new grey colour and gain a new popularity. The craze for grey patterns even 

extends to spongeware which is found a lot from this time in a sober grey instead of its usual 

more gaudy brightness. This is the date too for the genesis of the ubiquitous “Grecian” pattern 

which gained such overwhelming and inexplicable popularity all over Britain. It is found in both 



transfer-printing and sponge-printing, though 

Bell’s are thought to have made it in spongeprinting 

only. The Bell’s pieces are marked 

with an impressed B in a bell, a new mark 

which was to increase in use in the following 

period. But Bell’s version of “Grecian” is 

instantly recognisable even without a mark 

(fig.16.18). The origins of the pattern are not 

certainly known though it is said to be based 

on a Spode pattern which was based in turn on 

a Chinese pattern. In sponge-printing the 

pattern is unrecognisable as any known object 

and can degenerate into shapeless blobs of 

grey. 

The problem of spongeware from the 

Glasgow Pottery is the same up to this time as 

for any other Scottish or English potteries. 

fig.16.18 Grecian 

Since the wares are hardly ever marked and since attribution from sherds is very difficult it is 

almost impossible to attribute pieces with any certainty. While ready- made sponges were sold 

commercially and potters moved from place to place on the slightest pretext, it is perfectly 

possible that two or three or even more potteries could be duplicating the same patterns at the 

same time. Later on Bell’s, Verreville Pottery and Methven’s Links Pottery of Kirkcaldy started 

to mark pieces more often but even then they seem to have marked only certain kinds of piece 

and the problem is only partially resolved. (103) 

In 1879 the Pottery announced itself for the first time in the Glasgow Post Office Directory as 

makers of fine sanitary ware. One or two transfer- printed toilets have been recorded with a 

Bell’s mark on them though what the mark was has not been specified. This dating is odd since 

the Pottery appears in the Journals of W. Denny & Brothers from April 1868 as supplying them 

with sanitary ware as we have seen. Crockery and china seldom appear in Denny’s books, except 

for the crockery for the ‘Snark’. It would appear that sanitary ware was made throughout the 60s 

and 70s despite what the Pottery claimed. Some arrangement must have been made with other 

firms to supply cabinets, presumably of wood, and chains with plugs. This trade seems to have 

continued until 1903, well after John Bell’s death. 

This seems the most likely period for another innovation of the Pottery - the making of garden 

ornaments. These are not thick on the ground but there have been several unconfirmed reports of 

urns and recently a life-size bust of Mary, Queen of Scots has been recorded. If this is typical the 

quality of these products was high. The body appears to be some kind of stoneware. 

We have already seen something of the state of the export trade at the end of this period in the 

previous chapter. 

The business of keeping an eye on bankrupt dealers who owed the Company money continues 

in this period but since Matthew is no longer alive to carry the job out, it is entrusted to Donald 

Mcintosh as Cashier to the Company. In 1879 we find him as Commissioner on the sequestrated 

estates of Thomas Naismith, a glass and china merchant of Bridge St., Glasgow whose estates 

had been sequestrated on the 5 April 1879. (104)

Chapter 16 Chapter XVI - Bells Glasgow Pottery

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