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Blue Ridge is a type of American dishware manufactured by Southern Potteries Incorporated from the 1930s until 1957. Well known in their day for their underglaze decoration and colorful patterns, Blue Ridge pieces are now popular items with collectors of antique dishware. The underglaze technique made the decorations more durable, and while basic patterns were reused consistently, the fact that each piece was hand-painted means that no two pieces are exactly alike.〔Betty Newbound, "Southern Potteries," ''Encyclopedia of Appalachia'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 2006), p. 830.〕 Blue Ridge dishware is rooted in a pottery established in Erwin, Tennessee around 1916 at the behest of the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railroad and chartered as Southern Potteries Incorporated in 1920. During the late 1920s, under the guidance of Charles Foreman, Southern Potteries implemented its underglaze decoration technique, which it began stamping with "Blue Ridge Hand Painted Underglaze" and similar variations in the following decade. Blue Ridge's free-style decorations helped it stand out against competitors, most of whom used dull, decal-decorated dishes. Although Southern Potteries eventually employed over 1,000 workers and had gained a foothold in major markets across the United States, the company was unable to overcome the onset of plastic dinnerware in the 1950s. The rise of various collectors' organizations in the 1980s helped make Blue Ridge a popular collectible item.〔 ==History== The Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railroad constructed a railroad line through the mountains of northeast Tennessee in the early 1900s. In an attempt to encourage industry along this line, they sold several acres of land along what is now Ohio Avenue in Erwin to several investors for the establishment of a pottery. The kaolinite and feldspar deposits in the adjacent hills made Erwin an ideal place for the manufacture of ceramics, and the pottery plant was likely in operation by late 1916.〔William Helton (ed.), Albert Price, "Southern Potteries Incorporated," ''Around Home In Unicoi County'' (Johnson City, Tenn.: Overmountain Press, 1994), pp. 65-70.〕 The plant initially had seven beehive kilns— four for glaze and decorator firing, and three for bisque firing— and was surrounded by approximately forty houses for company employees.〔 The earliest dishware produced at the Erwin plant consisted of gold-trimmed, decal-decorated dishes stamped under the name "Clinchfield Potteries." In April 1920, the pottery was incorporated under the name "Southern Potteries, Incorporated." E.J. Owen, an associate of the Minerva, Ohio-based Owen China Company, was named the initial president of Southern Potteries, but, in 1922, the company was purchased by another Owen manager, Charles Foreman. Foreman expanded Southern Potteries in 1923, and within a few years replaced the coal-fired kilns with the newer oil-fired continuous-tunnel kilns, and introduced the underglaze painting technique. Dozens of local women were trained in the freehand painting process.〔Betty Newbound and Bill Newbound, ''Southern Potteries Incorporated Blue Ridge Dinnerware'' (Collector Books, 1984), pp. 6-9.〕 Southern Potteries initially stamped its dishware pieces with the name "Southern Potteries," but in the 1930s had begun to use its now-famous "Blue Ridge" stamp, referring to the mountains surrounding Erwin. The bright, clear colors and uninhibited style of Blue Ridge dishware gave it an immediate edge over the rigid styles of decal-decorated dishware, and by 1938 Southern Potteries had transitioned entirely to a hand-painting operation. The plant employed 300 workers in 1940 and its dishware was being marketed in showrooms across the country, including storefronts at Chicago's Merchandise Mart and on Fifth Avenue in New York. Blue Ridge dishes were also featured in ads by Sears and Quaker Oats.〔 The outbreak of World War II halted the flow of imported pottery, and U.S. potteries drastically expanded to meet the sudden spike in demand. By the late-1940s, Southern Potteries employed over 1,000 workers and produced 324,000 hand-painted pieces per week, making it the largest hand-painted pottery in the United States.〔 Imports returned in the early 1950s, however, and the rising popularity of plastic dinnerware began to take a toll on Southern Pottery's profits. The plant initially dropped employees' hours to half-time to avoid layoffs, but by 1956 had slashed its workforce to 600. In January 1957, the stockholders of Southern Potteries voted to close the plant and liquidate its assets. The plant was sold to a casket company, and the company's molds were sold to regional potters, most notably the Cash Family's Clinchfield Artware,〔 and to Negatha Peterson, operating as Erwin Pottery.〔 "Blueridge Pottery Stories" 2010 Erwin National Blueridge Pottery Club〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blue Ridge (dishware)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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