By Cathy Anstey

IN 1755, just four years after Worcester began making china, the factory was producing the best English blue and white tableware money could buy. And this passion for excellence was to continue throughout the firm’s 255-year history.

By 1789 the quality of the work at Worcester was held in such high esteem that, following a visit to the factory, King George III granted the company the prestigious Royal Warrant as Manufacturers to their Majesties. The word Royal was then added to the name.

Its exquisite fine porcelain graced the banqueting tables of royal families, heads of state, the rich and the famous – proud to display their magnificent pieces - all over the world.

With its huge range of objects from large exhibition pieces, figurines, clocks, candle snuffers and jewellery to dinner services, tea sets and vases, it constantly strove to surpass all technical and aesthetic thresholds.

It wasn’t just considered one of the best producers of fine china in the world – it was rated the best.

In its heyday Worcester Royal Porcelain employed 900 workers in Worcester alone. These ordinary people of the city were responsible for producing some of the world’s most beautiful and refined ceramics ever created.

While the Worcester factory in Severn Street stopped production about 10 years ago following a decline in the British ceramics industry and some of the buildings, which stretched down to Diglis, have been demolished, converted to apartments or lie empty, the Museum of Royal Worcester still pays homage to the company’s unique contribution to the industry and the national identity.

And the museum has just launched a new project which aims to restate Worcester Royal Porcelain’s world-class status by creating the world’s largest catalogue of Worcester porcelain - accessible from the museum’s website.

Museum director Amanda Savage said: “We have more than 10,000 pots in our collection and only a very small proportion have been photographed.

“These are just the pots, not other things like the pattern books. The catalogue is minimal at the moment. Different pieces are photographed on different backgrounds in different styles and it is a very small proportion of the collection.

“We want to photograph them to the same standards. We want to photograph the front, the stamp and the back if it is different from the back for every piece.”

She added that apart from having a full range of good quality photographs for each piece, the museum aims to increase the descriptions so people can learn more about them.

Mrs Savage said: “It is there for people who want to buy any pieces for sale in the shop and as a design resource for people who want to look at shapes and patterns for their own work.

“It is inspiration for people who are painting and want to reference something from a particular period. People like botanical artists and historians can use it and people working in TV if they want to get period things right. It will be a real working tool.

“Once it is fully completed, people who come to the museum can find out details about the pieces on an iPad which we will have available for use in the galleries. They can see high quality images on the internet and it will make them really want to come to the museum and see them.”

She pointed out that the museum’s Flight and Barr period collection of Royal Worcester from the late 18th century to the early 19th consists of hundreds of pieces but there are currently only about 20 items photographed.

“We also have cases of Grainger pieces but only a few are photographed. The photographs we have were never taken for catalogue use on the internet. It is very important for us to have a high quality catalogue.

“This has been on our wish list for a long time and it is good practice for a museum to have a full catalogue of its collection. The temptation would be to take loads of photos but we want to have consistency of excellence across the board.”

The museum wants to preserve and reinforce the Royal Worcester Porcelain passion for the highest quality through the presentation of the catalogue.

Mrs Savage admits this once in a lifetime project is a massive task and will take a couple of years to complete as each piece has to be carefully moved, painstakingly photographed and then replaced either on display or into storage.

But before any of that can start the museum, a charity, has to raise funds and it has started a public appeal. The total cost will be £20,000 but she says they will be able to start the first batch of photographing once they have reached the £5,000 mark.

“Once we have started, we will be able to up load sections onto the website. We are currently raising money for it.

“We started raising money in September and it is on the website as the Catalogue Appeal. We have about £800 so far. A £10 donation will photograph five pots. We will accept any donation someone wants to make – every penny counts.

“It would be wonderful to get some corporate donations.”

The museum is also asking for volunteers to help with the cataloguing of pieces. “We are asking people if they would like to do the cataloguing and we have got 10 volunteers so far. We will also need people to help move the items. It is a wonderful opportunity for people to study and learn from it,” she said.

She added that she hoped the project would help to reignite the pride felt by the people of Worcester for this world-class firm and its workers – some of whom were considered the greatest china painters and craftsmen and women of all time.

“Royal Worcester Porcelain is known throughout the world. It had celebrity customers and royal customers. This project will triumph the work ordinary people did in Worcester and recognise the impact they had on this industry. Royal Worcester was used at state banquets and given to royal visitors.

“We are a flagship and we do have world-class collections. There is nothing else like it in the world – and it is about the heart of Worcester.

“This project is giving people who do not know the world-class nature of Royal Worcester a pride in what was done here and reigniting that pride in people who did know about Royal Worcester.”

Anyone who wants to make a donation to the catalogue appeal can visit http://www.museumofroyalworcester.org/support-us/catalogueappeal/ and donate online or download the appeal leaflet. They can also e-mail amanda@museumofroyalworcester.org, call into the museum shop on Severn Street or ring 01905 21247.

Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Caroline Engevi by e-mailing caroline@museumofroyalworcester.org or ringing 01905 21247.