Service Types and the Importance of Nomenclature in Their Attribution

Abstract

A description of the types of porcelain service manufactured at Swansea and Nantgarw and the special services recorded as being owned by notable people: the concept of attribution of a named service commission and how this originated and their historical importance for chronology of output from a factory and also the association of a particular artist and decorator with such a named service. A listing is prepared of the main sponsors of the Swansea and Nantgarw factories who reasonably might have been expected to have ordered such services from the fledgling factories in support of their activities and from which an idea could be gauged of potential missing services of this type which may still be in existence. Finally, it is realised that the dispersal of large remnants of Swansea and Nantgarw services at auctions during the last century would probably have now resulted in the loss of context with their original attributions.