The first successful attempt to establish a true hardpaste porcelain manufactury in America was made by William Ellis Tucker, who established his “American China Manufactory” on Market Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1825. Tucker had been decorating china previously and firing it in a homemade kiln before his experiments led him to successfully create an opaque white earthenware. His first products had a yellow cast and were hand-decorated with simple landscapes.

In 1828 Tucker partnered with his brother Thomas and Thomas Hulme to improve the product and introduce more elaborate decorations, including flowers, birds and other English-style motifs. This partnership soon dissolved and William Tucker operated the works alone from 1829 to 1831. In 1832, shortly before he died, Tucker took Joseph Hemphill as a partner in the “Manufactory”. Hemphill continued the business, introducing skilled European workers and a more elaborate china, with Thomas Tucker as his superintendent until he retired in 1837. Thomas assumed the business in 1837 and operated it until it closed in 1838.

Tucker china is variously marked, reflecting the work’s jumbled history of ownership. They include “William Ellis Tucker/China Manufacture/Philadelphia/1828″, “Tucker & Hulme” (sometimes with Philadelphia and 1828), and “Jos. Hemphill/Philad.” The china is also sometimes marked by its decorator with “B” for Charles Boulter, “F” for Charles Frederick, “H” for William Hand, “M” for Joseph Moran, “V” for a Vivian and “W” for Andrew Craig Walker.