England
c. 1825-1850
#607

To make a transfer print an artist first engraves the design to be used on a copper plate. Then special ink is applied to the plate where it fills the engraved grooves, and is then pressed onto tissue paper. The paper, now soaked in ink over the pattern, is placed on the piece of ceramic and fired. The paper burns away leaving the colored pattern fixed on the surface. Transfer decorating made it possible to decorate ceramics more quickly and cheaply than painting by hand, and English producers began to manufacture huge quantities of ceramics for both domestic use and especially export to the United States. Martha Young collected nearly 50 transfer-decorated teapots and displayed them throughout Locust Grove.