Lusterware

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Lusterware is a type of pottery or porcelain with a metallic sheen that gives the effect of iridescence, produced by metallic oxides and an overglaze finish.

This style was popular with and likely invented by Persian potters in the 9th century.

Lusterware was also produced during the reign of the Fatimids in Egypt in the 10th and 12th centuries. While the production of lusterware continued in the Middle East, it spread to Europe—first to Spain and then to Italy, where it was sometimes used to enhance majolica. The technique became popular in England during the 19th century, where it was used by Josiah Wedgwood and Josiah Spode in the Midlands, and at Sunderland in the North East.

Wedgwood's lusterware made in the 1820s spawned the production of mass quantities of copper lusterware in England and Wales. Cream pitchers with detailed spouts and meticulously applied handles were most common, and often featured stylized decorative bands in dark blue, cream yellow, pink, and, most rare, dark green and purple. Raised, multicolored patterns depticting pastoral scenes were also created, and sand was sometimes incorporated into the glaze to add texture. Mini and larger pitchers were spun off from cream pitchers, as well as small coffeepots and teapots. Sets came a bit later, usually featuring creamers, sugars, and bowls. Today, these bowls are the most desirable likely because they were actually used while creamers and sugars were probably kept for display and thus are less rare.

Large pitchers with commemorative scenes appear to have arrived around the middle of the 19th century. These were purely decorative and today command high prices because of their historical connections.

In America, copper lusterware became popular precisely because of its lustrousness. Apparently, as gaslights became available to the rich, the fad was to place groupings of lusterware on mirror platforms to be used as centerpieces for dinner parties. Gaslights accentuated their lustrousness.

Americans truly valued pink lusterware, though. Delicate white porcelain pieces with pink luster toile-like designs were the most prized and are most prized today at antiques centers. Here is where delicate teacups with saucers and lovely dinner plates come into play. Rural scenes are most common and sheep are the animal most featured.