From 1840 to 1847 the managing directors were Walter Chamberlain, John Lilly, and Martin and George Barr, and Fleming St. John; from 1848 to 1850 the proprietors were Walter Chamberlain and John Lilly; in 1850, Walter Chamberlain and Edward Lilly. In 1850 Mr. W. H. Kerr joined the concern, which was for a short time carried on under the style of “Chamberlain, Lilly, and Kerr;” but on the 1st of January, 1852, another change took place in the proprietary. On this occasion Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Lilly retired, and Mr. R. W. Binns entered into partnership with Mr. Kerr, and the firm was carried on under the style of “Kerr and Binns,” and “W. H. Kerr and Co.” In 1852 the works were considerably increased, in fact they may almost be said to have been then rebuilt, by Mr. Kerr, whose great desire was to make them the best constructed, and most roomy and convenient, of any porcelain works in the kingdom. In 1862 Mr. Kerr retired from the concern, and it is now carried on by a company of shareholders, Mr. R. W. Binns, F.S.A., who is one of them, holding the proud position of “Art Director,” a post for which no man is better qualified than he is. The total number of hands employed at the present time is between five and six hundred. [Illustration: Fig. 546.] [Illustration: Figs. 547 and 548.--Ewer and Stand, painted by Bott.] The productions of the Worcester works have been brought to a wondrous state of perfection, both as to body, glaze, form, and decoration. Certainly neither in ancient nor in modern specimens of ceramic art have such exquisitely beautiful works been produced as some of the enamels which, under the fostering hand of Mr. Binns, have of late years been made here. The body, unlike the works of Limoges or the Sèvres imitations, is _pure porcelain_, not a coating of porcelain over sheets of metal; and the effect is produced by the partial transparency of the white laid on the blue ground, instead of by heightening. The tone produced in these enamels is peculiarly soft and delicate, and the colours are pure and intense; they will bear--and bear well--a close and critical comparison with those of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.[83] Examples consisting of an ewer and stand, a vase, a pastile-burner, a plate, a tazza, and other articles, are given on Figs. 547 to 553. The late Mr. Bott, an artist of the very highest eminence, was brought up by Mr. Binns specially for the production of these enamels, and his early death has been a great loss to Art. Through his death examples have become very scarce, and realise high prices. At the present time a pair of vases--still in the hands of the Worcester Company--are valued at 1,500 guineas, and an ewer and basin at 350 guineas, and the probability is that they will still increase rapidly in value. To Mr. Binns is entirely due the introduction and carrying out of the Worcester enamels in the style of Limoges; the ivory porcelain, a soft-glaze body of an ivory tint; the