Armorial porcelains comprised the output of most European ceramics factories in the 18th and 19th Centuries in response to the large quantity of armorial porcelain services that were being imported from China bearing the coats of arms and crests of aristocratic families. Whereas these armorial services have been identified and covered for most porcelain manufactories the information relevant to their production by the two relatively short-lived Nantgarw and Swansea China Works has not been addressed as a theme until now. As an integral component of the holistic forensic appraisal of porcelain, a functional and decorative artwork manifestly part of our cultural heritage and its ongoing preservation , the recording and identification of such artefacts is material for the future establishment of a database of factory production . The Nantgarw and Swansea factories only operated for a limited period in the second decade of the 19th Century and their porcelains were much appreciated for their high quality and desirability by Georgian households. Today, examples are to be found in many museums and ceramics collections and continue to excite the interest of specialists and the general public . This text provides the first comprehensive assessment of armorial porcelains from these two factories and the methodology and procedure for the identification of unknown armorial bearings and crests is illustrated; individual bearings are discussed in detail and existing incorrect assignments in the literature are re-appraised. The difficulties in attribution of armorial heraldic achievements that are only minimally depicted are considered and directions for further studies using historical documentation are invoked. This book therefore fills a currently existing gap in the ceramics literature of the 19th Century.

A surveying publication about Chinese armorial porcelain for the Dutch market is lacking up to now. The aim of this publication is a reference book written in English, containing a description of c. 500 Chinese services bearing coats of arms of Dutch families. About 200 services will be varieties.

It is curious that so little information is available in connection with armorial china from any published works on Chinese or other porcelain. Except for the late Mr. F.A. Crisp's "Armorial China", which is an illustrated catalogue of his own collection, and for "Examples of Armorial China", which merely gives reproducations in colour by W. Griggs, of pieces in various collections, there is no work definitely devoted to this subject, while even these works make no attempt in any way to describe its origin and history. Yet the collection of armorial porcelain is a most interesting one, dealing as it does, not only with the manufacture and quality of the china itself, but also, by means of the armorial bearings, conveying its own date and history, and leading the student on to the fascinating study of heraldry and genealogy.--pg. 1.