Abstract
The second chapter of case study exemplars reveals a selection of case studies wherein the inclusion of analytical evidence recommends serious consideration should be given to the perceived historical knowledge about porcelain manufactories relating to the attribution of specimens. Firstly, the long-held assumption that the Nantgarw China Works made highly phosphatic soft paste porcelain exclusively is demonstrated to be incorrect form recent analytical data which indicate clearly the presence of highly siliceous shards from the factory site befitting a hard paste porcelain body . Secondly , the marine excavation of porcelain shards from the wrecks of Portuguese carracks which foundered off the Cape of Good Hope in the early seventeenth century on the way home to Europe from China with cargoes of Ming Dynasty Chinese porcelains, reveal analytically the presence of anatase (a twenty century pigment !) and also soft paste bodied porcelain. Thirdly, there is now overwhelming analytical evidence that the porcelains attributed for many years to either Bow or the unknown Factory A dating from around 1745–1750 are in fact now to be considered one and the same.
“Detection is an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner”.
Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of Four.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1890.
“You see but you do not observe. The distinction is clear”.
Sherlock Holmes, A Scandal in Bohemia.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1891.
“Never trust to general impressions but concentrate yourself upon details”.
Sherlock Holmes, The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1892.
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Edwards, H.G.M. (2022). Case Studies II: Analytical Data Which Have Revealed that Significant Revision Is Required to the Perceived Historical Knowledge of Porcelain Factories (Part A). In: Porcelain Analysis and Its Role in the Forensic Attribution of Ceramic Specimens. Cultural Heritage Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80952-2_7
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