Housed in the Bristol City Art Gallery and Museum, the AJ Smith Collection is one of the finest and most extensive collections of Lund's Bristol and early Worcester Porcelain. It charts the development of the first two viable porcelain factories outside London. Although Lund's china house in Bristol was short-lived, ownership of his soaprock recipe passed up the Severn to Dr. Wall's factory in Worcester which recently celebrated over 250 years of continuous production. In this specially commissioned, groundbreaking study Simon Spero analyzes for the first time the contents of this remarkable collection and presents a detailed breakdown of the different shapes and types of decoration. Particular care is given to the conclusions that can be drawn about the commercial strategy employed by the two enterprises in seeking to establish a niche in a fiercely competitive and volatile market. Two chapters by Richard Burt focus upon the socioeconomic and political context in which the two factories were created and the numerous historical controversies which surround this critical period of English ceramics. AUTHOR: Simon Spero is a leading authority on eighteenth century English Porcelain. He has lectured extensively in the UK, North America and Australia and has organized many seminars on Early English porcelain 170 colour illustrations
