Pozer liked what he saw and sent off an order for creamware. He showed it to George Pozer, a prominent merchant. In 1798 (two years after the founding of the pottery), the captain of the sailing ship Ephron arrived in the port of Quebec with a selection of Herculaneum earthenware. It was Herculaneum's practice to give ships' captains samples of its products to show to prospective customers abroad. Also, the overglaze printed decoration - of a sailor taking soundings - is usually found on unmarked specimens.

It is a rarity because lustre was not often used at this pottery. Early in the nineteenth century, a Quebec merchant was advertising 'Wedgwood's finest cream-coloured Earthen Ware, in crates, each containing a complete dinner-service.' Until the second half of the century, however, it was only occasionally that an importer mentioned any potter's name in advertisements.ДЄnother known supplier of creamware to Canada was Liverpool's Herculaneum Pottery, and one of the rarities in the Museum's collection is a small Herculaneum plate with a lustre rim. Records exist, however, to show that Wedgwood was owned by such people as Sir James Monk, attorney-general of Quebec, and Sir Robert Shore Milnes, lieutenant-governor of the province. It came from Scottish as well as English potters. Much that was imported was unmarked as to maker. The decoration, if any, was usually hand-painted. Light in weight and brilliantly glazed, this was the ware most often found on Canadian tables when the nineteenth century dawned. Canadian importers used the terms 'queensware' and 'cream-coloured earthenware' interchangeably, without regard to maker. Other British potters copied this improved body and adopted Wedgwood's name for it. He called it 'Queen's ware' after Queen Charlotte gave him orders for it in 1765. In the second half of the century, he had taken an existing Staffordshire body and had so refined and perfected it that it became almost a new invention. The ware owed its success to the first Josiah Wedgwood. With this earthenware, cream in colour, British potters were making their first major impact on world markets. CREAMWARE At the end of the eighteenth century a French scientist, BarthГ©lГ©my Faujas de Saint-Fond, noted that English earthenware for the table was in use throughout Europe, the East Indies, the West Indies and the continent of America.

Creamware plates