body of great hardness, density, and toughness, capable of withstanding extreme changes of temperature, he first seriously began the manufacture of the ware for the market in the year 1825. The old water-works, at the northwest corner of Schuylkill-Second (Twenty-first) and Chestnut Streets, were obtained from the city, where the necessary glazing and enameling kilns, mills, etc., were erected. His first attempts were fraught with many difficulties. While the body and glaze of the earlier productions were good, the workmanship and decoration were inferior. The decoration consisted generally of landscapes painted roughly in sepia or brown.
In 1828 Thomas Hulme was admitted to the business, but retired in about one year. During this period great improvement was made in decoration, the best productions being painted with floral designs in natural colors. A number of pitchers made during that period are marked "Tucker & Hulme, China Manufacturers, Philadelphia, 1838," the only pieces from this factory known to have been signed.
| Fig. 6.—Tucker Creamer. Sepia decoration. | Fig. 7.—Hemphill Vase. (Collection of Hon. James T. Mitchell.) |
William Ellis Tucker died in August, 1832, but previous to this Judge Joseph Hemphill had put some money in the enterprise, and continued to carry on the business after his partner's death.
Messrs. Tucker & Hemphill purchased the property at the southwest corner of Schuylkill-Sixth (now Seventeenth) and Chestnut Streets, where they erected store-houses and three kilns, and greatly increased the producing capacity of the factory. In 1832 they appealed to Congress for the passage of a tariff law which would afford them protection from foreign competition.
Mr. Thomas Tucker superintended the business after the decease of his brother, which was carried on in the name of Judge Hemphill for about three years, but in 1835 the latter entered
