Spode, Josiah, I, 1733–97, English potter. He founded a pottery firm in 1770 at Stoke-on-Trent in the Staffordshire pottery district. Creating many of his patterns after Japanese designs, he developed a highly effective method of transfer printing with blue underglazes. He also experimented with a transparent but durable bone china, arriving at a formula that is still used. His son Josiah Spode II, 1754–1827, took over the pottery factory in 1797. He is credited with having introduced feldspar into Spode ware and for producing pottery of a high technical excellence. Under his direction the blue and white ware was noted for the novelty of its designs; these included genre scenes of an exotic character, such as tiger hunting in India. The firm is still in existence.
See J. Bedford, Old Spode China (1969); L. R. Whiter, Spode: A History of the Family, Factory and Wares from 1733 to 1833 (1970).
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