Belleek Ware

Belleek ware, porcelain from the factory at Belleek, in Fermanagh, Ire. (now Northern Ireland). Extensive local deposits of white feldspar and Cornish china clay and the use of skilled labour from England contributed to the early success of this factory, established by David McBinney and Robert Williams Armstrong in 1857. The white lustreware and the large Parian statuary associated with Belleek both appeared in that first year. Belleek ornate figures, busts in the classical style, ware in natural forms (e.g., shells), and utilitarian ware were among the finest of Victorian eggshell porcelain. The factory became noted for its highly polished iridescent glaze (made under license from the patentee Jules-Joseph Brianchon of Paris) with a frostlike appearance; for a characteristic delicacy and subtlety, evident in the famous Belleek openwork baskets, which, in oval or round form, were hand modelled and embellished with flowers and foliage; and for ornamental motifs taken from marine life. Production continues to the present day, including traditional 19th-century designs.

American, or Lenox, Belleek, a successful imitation that developed its own warm and restrained perfection, was initiated by Walter Scott Lenox in about 1889 at the Ceramic Art Company and has been made by Lenox, Inc., since 1906.