EARLY 19TH CENTURY, BY HENRY CLAY

Henry Clay was renowned for his japanning and papier mch business which he conducted out of Birmingham and then London from 1772 until his death in 1812. In 1772, he received a patent for a special process of pasting sheets of paper together and stove hardening them to producea durable substance suitable for furniture wares. This process was distinct from that for making true mache, which used a mixture of pulped paper, glue and chalk and originated in Persia, coming to England via France in the seventeenth century. He decorated his products in the Etruscan (Classical) or Chinese taste. The patent expired in 1802 at which time rival factories began production and continued to use the Clay name throughout the nineteehth century. The 1851 Great Exhibition catalogue noted that the Clay method was superior to the traditional pulp technique or papier mch production (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, eds., Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1660-1840, 1986, pp.176-177; E. Joy, English Furniture, 1800-1851, 1977, pp.271-272).