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Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 6 - "Celtes, Konrad" to "Ceramics"
Author: Various
Language: English
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ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME V, SLICE VI
Celtes, Konrad to Ceramics
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
CELTES, KONRAD CENTO (town of Italy)
CELTIBERIA CENTO (composition)
CEMENT CENTRAL AMERICA
CEMETERY CENTRAL FALLS
CENCI, BEATRICE CENTRALIA
CENOBITES CENTRAL INDIA
CENOMANI CENTRAL PROVINCES AND BERAR
CENOTAPH CENTUMVIRI
CENSOR CENTURION
CENSORINUS CENTURIPE
CENSUS CENTURY
CENTAUREA CEOS
CENTAURS CEPHALIC INDEX
CENTAURUS CEPHALONIA
CENTAURY CEPHALOPODA
CENTENARY CEPHEUS
CENTERVILLE CEPHISODOTUS
CENTIPEDE CERAM
CENTLIVRE, SUSANNA CERAMICS
CELTES, KONRAD (1459-1508), German humanist and Latin poet, the son of a
vintner named Pickel (of which Celtes is the Greek translation), was
born at Wipfeld near Schweinfurt. He early ran away from home to avoid
being set to his father's trade, and at Heidelberg was lucky enough to
find a generous patron in Johann von Dalberg and a teacher in Agricola.
After the death of the latter (1485) Celtes led the wandering life of a
scholar of the Renaissance, visiting most of the countries of the
continent, teaching in various universities, and everywhere establishing
learned societies on the model of the academy of Pomponius Laetus at
Rome. Among these was the _Sodalitas litteraria Rhenana_ or _Celtica_ at
Mainz (1491). In 1486 he published his first book, _Ars versificandi et
carminum_, which created an immense sensation and gained him the honour
of being crowned as the first poet laureate of Germany, the ceremony
being performed by the emperor Frederick III. at the diet of Nuremberg
in 1487. In 1497 he was appointed by the emperor Maximilian I. professor
of poetry and rhetoric at Vienna, and in 1502 was made head of the new
Collegium Poetarum et Mathematicorum, with the right of conferring the
laureateship. He did much to introduce system into the methods of
teaching, to purify the Latin of learned intercourse, and to further the
study of the classics, especially the Greek. But he was more than a mere
classicist of the Renaissance. He was keenly interested in history and
topography, especially in that of his native country. It was he who
first unearthed (in the convent of St Emmeran at Regensburg) the
remarkable Latin poems of the nun Hrosvitha of Gandersheim, of which he
published an edition (Nuremberg, 1501), the historical poem _Ligurinus
sive de rebus gestis Frederici primi imperatoris libri x._ (Augsburg,
1507), and the celebrated map of the Roman empire known as the _Tabula
Peutingeriana_ (after Konrad Peutinger, to whom he left it). He
projected a great work on Germany; but of this only the _Germania
generalis_ and an historical work in prose, _De origine, situ, moribus
et institutis Nurimbergae libettus_, saw the light. As a writer of Latin
verse Celtes far surpassed any of his predecessors. He composed odes,
elegies, epigrams, dramatic pieces and an unfinished epic, the
_Theodoriceis_. His epigrams, edited by Hartfelder, were published at
Berlin in 1881. His editions of the classics are now, of course, out of
date. He died at Vienna on the 4th of February 1508.
For a full list of Celtes's works see Engelbert Klüpfel, _De vita et
scriptis Conradi Celtis_ (2 vols., Freiburg, 1827); also Johann
Aschbach, _Die früheren Wanderjahre des Conrad Celtes_ (Vienna, 1869);
Hartmann, _Konrad Celtes in Nürnberg _(Nuremberg, 1889).
CELTIBERIA, a term used by Greek and Roman writers to denote, sometimes
the whole north-east of Spain, and sometimes the north-east part of the
central plateau of the peninsula. The latter was probably the correct
use. The Celtiberi, in this narrower sense, were not so much one tribe
as a group of cantons--Arevaci, Pelendones, Berones and four or five
others. They were the most warlike people in Spain, and for a long time
offered a stubborn resistance to the Romans. Originally Carthaginian
mercenaries, they were induced to serve the Romans in a similar
capacity, and Livy (xxiv. 49) distinctly states that they were the first
mercenaries in the Roman army. They did not, however, keep faith, and
several campaigns were undertaken against them. In 179 B.C. the whole
country was subdued by T. Sempronius Gracchus, who by his generous
treatment of the vanquished gained their esteem and affection. In 153
they again revolted, and were not finally overcome until the capture of
Numantia (133). The twenty years' war waged round this city, and its
siege and destruction by Scipio the Younger (133 B.C.) form only the
most famous episode in the long struggle, which has left its mark in
entrenchments near Numantia excavated in 1906-1907 by German
archaeologists. After the fall of Numantia, and still more after the
death of Sertorius (72 B.C.), the Celtiberians became gradually
romanized, and town life grew up among their valleys; Clunia, for
instance, became a Roman municipality, and ruins of its walls, gates and
theatre testify to its civilization; while Bilbilis (Bambola), another
municipality, was the birthplace of the eminently Roman poet Martial.
The Celtiberians may have been so called because they were thought to
be the descendants of Celtic immigrants from Gaul into Iberia (Spain),
or because they were regarded (cf. Lucan iv. 9) as a mixed race of Celts
and Spaniards (Iberians); in either case the name represents a
geographer's theory rather than an ascertained fact. That a strong
Celtic element existed in Spain is proved both by numerous traditions
and by the more trustworthy evidence of place-names. The Celtic
place-names of Spain, however, are not confined to Celtiberia or even to
the north and east; they occur even in the south and west.
A long description of the manners and customs of the Celtiberi is
given by Diodorus Siculus (v. 33, 34). Their country was rough and
unfruitful as a whole (barley, however, was cultivated), being chiefly
used for the pasture of sheep. Its inhabitants either led a nomadic
life or occupied small villages; large towns were few. Their infantry
and cavalry were both excellent. In battle, they adopted the
wedge-shaped formation of the column. They carried double-edged swords
and short daggers for use hand to hand, the steel of which was
hardened by being buried underground; their defensive armour was a
light Gallic shield or a round wicker buckler, and greaves of felt
round their legs. They wore brazen helmets with purple crests, and
rough-haired black cloaks, in which they slept on the bare ground.
Like the Cantabri, they washed themselves with urine instead of water.
They were said to offer sacrifice to a nameless god (Strabo iii. p.
164) at the time of the full moon when all the household danced
together before the doors of the houses. Although cruel to their
enemies, they were hospitable to strangers. They ate meat of all
kinds, and drank a kind of mead. E. Hübner's article in
Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopadie_, iii. (1886-1893), collects all the
ancient references, which are almost all brief. Strabo's notice (bk.
iii.), based perhaps on Poseidonius, is fullest. (F. J. H.)
CEMENT (from Lat. _caementum_, rough pieces of stone, a shortened form
of _caedimentum_, from _caedere_, to cut), apparently first used of a
mixture of broken stone, tiles, &c., with some binding material, and
hence of any material capable of adhering to, and uniting into a
coherent mass, fragments of a substance not in itself adhesive. The term
is often applied to adhesive mixtures employed to unite objects or parts
of objects (see below), but in engineering, when used without
qualification, it means Portland cement, its modifications and
congeners; these are all hydraulic cements, i.e. when set they resist
the action of water, and can, under favourable conditions, be allowed to
set under water.
_Hydraulic Cements_.--It was well known to builders in the earliest
historic times that certain limes would, when set, resist the action of
water, i.e. were hydraulic; it was also known that this property could
be conferred on ordinary lime by admixture of silicious materials such
as pozzuolana or tufa. We have here the two classes into which hydraulic
cements are divided.
Pozzuolanic cement.
When pure chalk or limestone is "burned," i.e. heated in a kiln until
its carbonic acid has been driven off, it yields pure lime. This slakes
violently with water, giving slaked lime, which can be made into a
smooth paste with water and mixed with sand to form common mortar. The
setting of the mortar is due to the drying of the lime (a purely
physical phenomenon, no chemical action occurring between the lime and
the sand). The function of the sand is simply that of a diluent to
prevent undue shrinkage and cracking in drying. Subsequent hardening of
the mortar is caused by the gradual absorption of carbonic acid from the
air by the lime, a skin of carbonate of lime being formed; but the
action is superficial. Mortar made from pure or "fat" lime cannot
withstand the action of water, and is only used for work done above
water-level. If, however, such "fat" lime is mixed in the presence of
water, not with sand but with silica in an active form, i.e. amorphous
and (generally) hydrated, or with a silicate containing silica in an
active condition, it will unite with the silica and form a silicate of
lime capable of resisting the action of water. The mixture of the lime
and active silica or silicate is a pozzuolanic cement. The simplest of
all pozzuolanic cements would be a mixture of pure lime and hydrated
silica, but though the latter is prepared artificially for various
purposes, it is too expensive to be used as a cement material. A similar
obstacle lies in the way of using a certain native form of active
silica, viz. kieselguhr, for it is too valuable as an absorbent of
nitroglycerine, for the manufacture of dynamite, to be available for
making pozzuolanic cement. There are, however, many silicious
substances occurring abundantly in nature which can thus be used. They
are mostly of volcanic origin, and include pumice, tufa, santorin earth,
trass and pozzuolana itself. The following analyses show their general
composition:--
+-----------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| |Neapolitan | Roman | |
| | Pozzuo- | Pozzuo- | Trass |
| | lana | lana |(per cent) |
| |(per cent) |(per cent) | |
+-----------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------|
| Soluble silica (SiO2) | 27.80 | 32.64 | 19.32 |
| Insoluble silicious residue | 35.38 | 25.94 | 50.40 |
| Alumina (Al2O3) | / 19.80 | / 22.74 | 13.86 |
| Ferric oxide (Fe2O3) | \ | \ | 3.10 |
| Lime (CaO) | 5.68 | 4.06 | · · |
| Magnesia (MgO) | 0.35 | 1.37 | 0.13 |
| Sulphuric anhydride (SO3) | Trace | Trace | · · |
| Combined water (H2O) | / 4.27 | / 8.92 | 7.57 |
| Carbonic anhydride (CO2) | \ | \ | · · |
| Moisture | · · | · · | 5.04 |
| Alkalis and loss | 6.72 | 4.33 | 0.58 |
| +-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | 100.00 | 100.00 | 100.0 |
+-----------------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
An artificial product which serves perfectly as a pozzuolana is
granulated blast-furnace slag. The slag, which must contain a high
percentage of lime, is granulated by being run while fused into
abundance of water. This granulated slag differs from the same slag
allowed to cool slowly, in that a portion of the energy which it
possesses while fused is retained after it has solidified. It bears to
ordinary slowly-cooled slag a similar relation to that borne by plastic
sulphur to ordinary crystalline sulphur. This potential energy becomes
kinetic when the slag is brought into contact with lime in the presence
of water, and causes the formation of a true hydraulic silicate of lime.
The following analysis shows the composition of a typical slag:--
Per Cent.
Insoluble residue 1.04
Silica (SiO2) 31.50
Alumina (Al2O3) 18.56
Manganous oxide (MnO) 0.44
Lime (CaO) 42.22
Magnesia (MgO) 3.18
Soda (Na2O) 0.70
Sulphuric anhydride (SO3) 0.45
Sulphur (S) 2.21
------
100.30
Deduct oxygen equivalent to sulphur 1.10
------
99.20
Granulated slag of this character is ground with slaked lime until both
materials are in a state of fine division and intimately mixed. The
usual proportions are three of slag to one of slaked lime by weight. The
product termed slag cement sets slowly, but ultimately attains a
strength scarcely inferior to that of Portland cement. Although it is
cheap and suitable for many purposes, its use is not large and tends to
decrease. Pozzuolanic cements are little used in England. Generally
speaking, they are only of local importance, their cheapness depending
largely on the nearness and abundance of some suitable volcanic deposit
of the trass or tufa class. They are not usually manufactured by the
careful grinding together of the pozzuolana and the lime, but are mixed
roughly, a great excess of pozzuolana being employed. This excess does
no harm, for that part which fails to unite with the lime serves as a
diluent, much as does sand in mortar. In fact, ordinary pozzuolanic
cement made on the spot where it is to be used may be regarded as a
better kind of common mortar having hydraulic qualities. Good hydraulic
mortars may be made from lime mixed with furnace ashes or burnt clay as
the pozzuolanic constituent.
Portland Cement
Cements of the Portland type differ in kind from those of the
pozzuolanic class; they are not mechanical mixtures of lime and active
silica ready to unite under suitable conditions, but consist of definite
chemical compounds of lime and silica and lime and alumina, which, when
mixed with water, combine therewith, forming crystalline substances of
great mechanical strength, and capable of adhering firmly to clean inert
material, such as stone and sand. They are made by heating to a high
temperature an intimate mixture of a calcareous substance and an
argillaceous substance. The commonest of such substances in England are
chalk and clay, but where local conditions demand it, limestone, marl,
shale, slag or any similar material may be used, provided that the
correct proportions of lime, silica and alumina are maintained. The
earliest forms of cements of the Portland class were the hydraulic
limes. These are still largely used, and are prepared by burning
limestones containing clayey matter. Some of these naturally possess a
composition differing but little from that of the mixture of raw
materials artificially prepared for the manufacture of Portland cement
itself. Although hydraulic limes have been in use from the most ancient
times, their true nature and the reason of their resistance to water
have only become known since 1791. Next in antiquity to hydraulic lime
is Roman cement, prepared by heating an indurated marl occurring
naturally in nodules. Its name must not be taken to imply that it was
used by the ancients; in point of fact the manufacture of this substance
dates back only to 1796.
With the growth of engineering in the early part of the 19th century
arose a great demand for hydraulic cement. The supply of materials
containing naturally suitable proportions of calcium carbonate and clay
being limited, attempts were made to produce artificial mixtures which
would serve a similar end. Among those who experimented in this
direction was Joseph Aspdin, of Leeds, who added clay to finely ground
limestone, calcined the mixture, and ground the product, which he called
Portland cement. The only connexion between Portland cement and the
place Portland is that the cement when set somewhat resembles Portland
stone in colour. True, it is possible to manufacture Portland cement
from Portland stone (after adding a suitable quantity of clay), but this
is merely because Portland stone is substantially carbonate of lime; any
other limestone would serve equally well. Although Portland cement is
later in date than either Roman cement or hydraulic lime, yet on account
of its greater industrial importance, and of the fact that, being an
artificial product, it is of approximately uniform composition and
properties, it may conveniently be treated of first. The greater part of
the Portland cement made in England is manufactured on the Thames and
Medway. The materials are chalk and Medway mud; in a few works the
latter is replaced by gault.
The composition of typical samples of chalk and clay is shown in the
following analyses:--
+-----------------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Chalk. | Clay. |
+-------------------------+---------+----------------------------+---------+------------------+-------+----------+
| |Per cent.| |Per cent.| | | |
|Silica (SiO2) | 0.92 | Insoluble silicious matter | 26.67 |Consisting of | | |
|Alumina+ferric oxide | | Silica (SiO2) | 31.24 | Quartz (SiO2) | 19.33 | |
| (Al2O2 + Fe2O3) | 0.24 | Alumina (Al2O3) | 16.60 | Silica (SiO2) | 5.19 |\ |
|Lime (CaO) | 55.00 | Ferric Oxide (Fe2O3) | 8.66 | Alumina (Al2O3) | 1.47 | >Feldspar|
|Magnesia (MgO) | 0.36 | Lime (CaO) | 0.25 | Magnesia (MgO) | 0.03 | | 7.34% |
|Carbonic anhydride (CO2) | 43.40 | Magnesia (MgO) | 1.91 | Soda (Na20) | 0.65 |/ |
| | ----- | Soda (Na2O) | 1.00 | | ----- | |
| | 99.92 | Potash (K2O) | 0.45 | | 26.67 | |
| | | Sodium Chloride (NaCl) | 1.86 | | | |
| | | Combined water, organic | | | | |
| | | matter, and loss | 11.36 | | | |
| | | | ------ | | | |
| | | | 100.00 | | | |
+-------------------------+---------+----------------------------+---------+------------------+-------+----------+
Mixing.
Loading the kiln.
[Illustration: FIG. 1]
These materials are mixed in the proportion of about 3:1 by weight so
that the dried mixture contains approximately 75% of calcium
carbonate, the balance being clay. The mixing may be effected in
several ways. The method once exclusively used consists in mixing the
raw materials with a large quantity of water in a wash mill, a machine
having radial horizontal arms driven from a central vertical spindle
and carrying harrows which stir up and intermix any soft material
placed in the pit in which the apparatus revolves. The raw materials
in the correct proportion are fed into this mill together with a large
quantity of water. The thin watery "slip" or slurry flows into large
settling tanks ("backs") where the solids in suspension are deposited;
the water is drawn off, leaving behind an intimate mixture of chalk
and clay in the form of a wet paste. This is dug out, and after being
dried on floors heated by flues is ready for burning. This process is
now almost obsolete. According to present practice the raw materials
are mixed in a wash mill with so much water that the resulting slurry
contains 40 to 50% of water. The slurry, which is wet enough to flow,
is ground between millstones so as to complete the process of
comminution begun in the wash mill. Thorough grinding and mixing are
of the utmost importance, as otherwise the cement ultimately produced
will be unsound and of inferior quality. The drying of the slurry is
generally effected by the waste heat of the kilns, so that while one
charge is burning another is drying ready for the next loading of the
kilns. The kilns commonly employed are "chamber kilns," circular
structures not unlike an ordinary running lime kiln, but having the
top closed and connected at the side with a wide flue in which the
slurry is exposed to the hot products of combustion from the kiln. The
farther ends of the flues of several such kilns are connected with a
chimney shaft. The slurry, in drying on the floor of the flue, forms a
fairly tough cake which cracks spontaneously in the process of drying
into rough blocks suitable for loading into the kiln. At the bottom of
the kiln is a grate of iron bars, and on this wood and coke are piled
to start the fire. A layer of dried slurry is loaded on this, then a
layer of coke, then a layer of slurry, and so on until the kiln is
filled with coke and slurry evenly distributed. Fresh slurry is run on
to the drying floors, and the kiln is started. The construction of an
ordinary chamber kiln may be gathered from the accompanying diagram
(fig. l). The operation of burning is a slow one. An ordinary kiln,
which will contain about 50 tons of slurry and 12 tons of coke, will
take two days to get fairly alight, and will be another two or three
days in burning out. Therefore, allowing adequate time for loading and
unloading, each kiln will require about one week for a complete run.
The output will be about 30 tons of "clinker" ready to be ground into
cement. The grinding of the hard rock-like masses of clinker is
effected between millstones, or in modern plants in ball-mills,
tube-mills and edge-runners. It is an important part of the
manufacture, because the finished cement should be as fine and
"floury" as possible. The foregoing description represents the
procedure in use in many English factories. There are various
modifications in practice according to local conditions: a few of
these may be described. In all cases, however, the main operations are
the same, viz. intimately mixing the raw materials, drying the
mixture, if necessary, and burning it at a clinkering temperature
(about 1500° C. =2732° F.). Thus when hard limestone is the form of
calcium carbonate locally available, it is ground dry and mixed with
the correct proportion of clay also dried and ground. The mixture is
slightly damped, moulded into rough bricks, dried and burned. A
possible alternative is to burn the limestone first and mix the
resulting lime with clay, the mixture being burned as before. By this
method grinding the hard limestone is avoided, but there is an extra
expenditure of fuel in the double burning.
Other kilns.
Many different forms of kiln are used for burning Portland cement.
Besides the chamber kilns which have been described, there are the
old-fashioned bottle kilns, which are similar to the chamber kilns,
but are bottle-shaped and open at the top; they do not dry the slurry
for their next charge. Their use is becoming obsolete. There are also
stage kilns of the Dietzsch type, which consist of two vertical
shafts, one above the other, but not in the same vertical line,
connected by a horizontal channel. At this middle portion and in the
upper part of the lower shaft the burning proper proceeds; the upper
shaft is full of unburnt raw material which is heated by the hot gases
coming from the burning zone, and the lower shaft contains clinker
already burned and hot enough to heat the incoming air which supplies
that necessary for combustion at the clinkering zone. A pair of
Dietzsch kilns, built back to back, are shown in fig. 2. There are
other forms of shaft kiln, such as the Schneider, in which there is a
burning zone, a heating and cooling zone as in the Dietzsch, but no
horizontal stage, the whole shaft being in the same vertical plane.
Another form is the Hoffmann or ring kiln, made up of a number of
compartments arranged in a ring and connected with a central chimney;
in these compartments rough brick-shaped masses of the raw materials
are stacked, and between these bricks fuel is sprinkled. At a given
moment one of these compartments is burning and at its full
temperature; the air for combustion is drawn in through one or more
compartments behind it which have just finished burning, and is
thereby strongly heated; the products of combustion pass away through
one or more compartments in front of it and heat their contents before
they are subjected to actual combustion. It will be seen that the
principle of the ring kiln is similar to that of the stage kiln. In
each case the clinker which has just been burned and is fully hot
serves to heat the air-supply to the compartment where combustion is
actually proceeding; in like manner the raw materials about to be
burned are well heated by the waste gases from the compartment in full
activity before they themselves are burned. (It may be noted that here
and generally in this article "burn" is used in the technical sense;
it is technically correct to speak of cement clinker being "burned",
although it is not a fuel; in accurate terms it is the fuel which is
burned, and it is the heat it generates which raises the clinker to a
high temperature, i.e. technically "burns" it.) By this device a great
part of the heat is regenerated and a saving of fuel is effected.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.]
Rotatory kilns.
The methods of burning cement described above are obsolescent. They
are being replaced by the rotatory process, so called because the
cement is burned in rotating cylinders instead of in fixed kilns.
These cylinders vary from 60 to 150 ft. in length, an ordinary length
in modern practice being 100 to 120 ft.; their diameter
correspondingly varies from 6 ft. to 7 ft. 6 in. The cylinders are
made of steel plate, lined with refractory bricks, are carried on
rollers at a slight angle with the horizontal, and are rotated by
power. At the upper end the raw material is fed in either as a dry
powder or as a slurry; at the lower end is a powerful burner. In the
early days of rotatory kilns producer gas was used as a fuel, but with
little success; about 1895 petroleum was used in the United States
with complete success, but at a relatively heavy cost. At the present
time, finely powdered coal injected by a blast of air is almost
universally employed, petroleum being used only where it is actually
cheaper than coal. In the working of this type of kiln the rotation
and slight inclination of the cylinder cause the raw material to
descend towards the lower end. At the upper end the raw material is
dried and heated moderately. As it descends it reaches a part of the
kiln where the temperature is higher; here the carbonic acid of the
carbonate of lime, and the combined water of the clay are driven off,
and the resulting lime begins to act chemically on the dehydrated
clay. The material is then in a partially burnt and slightly sintered
state, but it is not fully clinkered and would not make Portland
cement. The material continues to descend by the rotation of the kiln
and reaches the lower end nearest the burner where the temperature is
highest, and is there heated so highly that the union of the lime,
silica and alumina is complete, and fully burnt clinker falls out of
the kiln. It is extremely hot, and is cooled usually by being passed
down one or more rotating cylinders, similar to the first, but
smaller, and acting as coolers instead of kilns. On its way down the
cylinders the clinker meets a current of cold air and is cooled, the
air being correspondingly warmed and passing on to aid in the
combustion of the fuel used in heating the kiln. This regenerative
heating is similar in principle and effect to that obtained by means
of the shaft and ring kilns described above. The output of these kilns
varies from 200 to 400 tons per kiln per week according to their size
and the nature of the raw materials burned, as against 30 tons per
week for an ordinary chamber kiln. A large saving in labour is also
secured. The rotatory system presents many advantages and is rapidly
replacing the older methods of cement making. Fig. 3 represents
diagrammatically a rotatory cement plant on the Hurry & Seaman system,
which was one of the first to make cement by the rotatory process
successfully on a large scale, using powdered coal as fuel. Rotatory
kilns of various other makes are now in use, but the same principles
are embodied, namely, the employment of a rotating inclined cylinder
for burning the raw materials, a burner fed with powdered coal and a
blast of air, and some device such as a cooling cylinder or cooling
tower by which the clinker may be cooled and the air correspondingly
heated on its way to the burner.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.]
Another method of making Portland cement which has been proposed and
tried with some success consists in fusing the raw materials together
in an apparatus of the type of a blast furnace. The high temperature
necessary to fuse cement clinker makes this process difficult to
accomplish commercially, but it has many inherent merits and may be
the process of the future, displacing the rotatory method.
Cement clinker.
Portland cement clinker, however produced, is a hard, rock-like
substance of semi-vitrified appearance and very dark colour. The
product from a well-run rotatory kiln is all evenly burnt and properly
vitrified; that from an ordinary fixed kiln of whatever type is apt to
contain a certain amount (5 to 15%) of underburnt material, which is
yellowish and friable and is not properly clinkered. This material
must be picked out, as such underburnt stuff contains free lime or
unsaturated lime compounds. These may slake slowly in the finished
cement and cause such expansion as may destroy the work of which it
forms part. Well-burnt, well-picked clinker when ground yields good
Portland cement. Nothing is added during or after grinding save a
small amount (1 to 2%) of calcium sulphate in the form either of
gypsum or of plaster of Paris, which is sometimes needed to make the
cement slower-setting. For the same purpose a small quantity of water
(up to 2%) may be added either by moistening the clinker or by blowing
steam into the mills in which the clinker is ground. This small
addition for this specified purpose is recognized as legitimate, but
the employment of various cheap materials such as ragstone and
blast-furnace slag, sometimes added as diluents or make-weights, is
adulteration and therefore fraudulent.
Composition.
The composition of Portland cement varies within comparatively narrow
limits, and for given raw materials the variations are tending to
become smaller as regularity and skill in manufacture increase. The
following analysis may be taken as typical of cements made from chalk
and clay on the Thames and Medway:--
Per cent.
Silica (SiO2) 22.0
Insoluble residue 1.0
Alumina (Al2O3) 7.5
Ferric oxide (Fe2O3) 3.5
Lime (CaO) 62.0
Magnesia (MgO) 1.0
Sulphuric anhydride (SO3) 1.5
Carbonic anhydride (CO2) 0.5
Water (H2O) 0.5
Alkalis 0.5
-----
100.0
There may be variations from this composition according to the nature
of the raw materials employed. Thus the silica may range from 19 to
27%, the alumina and ferric oxide jointly from 7 to 14%, the lime from
60 to 67%. All such variations are permissible provided that the
quantity of silica and alumina is sufficient to saturate the whole of
the lime and to leave none of it in a "free" condition, likely to
cause the cement to expand after setting. Other things being equal,
the higher the percentage of lime within the limits indicated above
the stronger is the cement, but such highly limed cement is less easy
to burn than cement containing about 62% of lime; and unless the
burning is thorough and the raw materials are intimately mixed, the
cement is apt to be unsound. Although the ultimate composition of
cement, that is, the percentage of each base and acid present, can be
accurately determined by analysis, its proximate composition, i.e. the
nature and amount of the compounds formed from these acids and bases,
can only be ascertained indirectly and with difficulty. The
foundations of our knowledge on this subject were laid by H. le
Chatelier, whose work has since been supplemented by that of Spenser
B. Newberry, W.B. Newberry and Clifford Richardson. As the outcome of
these inquiries it has been established that tricalcium silicate
3CaO·SiO2 is the essential constituent of Portland cement. The
constituent of next importance is an aluminate, but whether this is
dicalcium aluminate, 2CaO·Al2O3, or tricalcium aluminate, 3CaO·Al2O3,
is still in doubt. In the following description it is assumed to be
the tricalcium aluminate. The remaining silicates and aluminates
present, and ferric oxide and magnesia, if existing in the moderate
quantities which are usual in Portland cement of good quality, are of
minor importance and may be regarded as little more than impurities.
The silicates and aluminates of which Portland cement is composed are
believed to exist not as individual units but as solid solutions of
each other, these solid solutions taking the form of minerals
recognizable as individuals. The two principal minerals are termed
alite and celite; according to the best opinion, alite consists of a
solid solution of tricalcium aluminate in tricalcium silicate, and
celite of a solid solution of dicalcium aluminate in dicalcium
silicate. Celite is little affected by water, and has but small
influence on the setting; alite is decomposed and hydrated, this
action constituting the main part of the setting of Portland cement.
Both the components of alite react, and for simplicity their reactions
may be stated in separate equations, thus:--
(1) 2(3CaO·SiO2) + 9H2O = 2(CaO·SiO2)·5H2O + 4Ca(OH)2
Tricalcium silicate. Hydrated mono- Calcium
calcium silicate. hydroxide.
(2) 3CaO·Al2O3 + 12H2O = 3CaO·Al2O3·12H2O
Tricalcium aluminate. Hydrated tricalcium
aluminate.
Since alite is a solid solution and, although an individual mineral,
is not a chemical unit, the proportion of tricalcium silicate to
tricalcium aluminate in a given specimen of alite will vary; but,
whatever the proportions, each of these substances will react in its
characteristic manner according to the equations given above.
The precise mechanism of the process of setting of Portland cement is
not known with certainty, but it is probably analogous to that of the
setting of plaster of Paris, consisting in the dissolution of the
compounds produced by hydration while they are in a more soluble form,
their transition to a less soluble form, the consequent
supersaturation of the solution, and the deposition of the surplus of
the dissolved substance in crystals which interlock and form a
coherent mass. This theory being accepted, it is evident that a small
quantity of water, by successive dissolution and deposition of a
substance capable of existing in a more soluble and in a less soluble
form, is able to bring about the crystallization of an indefinitely
large quantity of material. It is not necessary that there should be
present sufficient water to dissolve the whole of the reacting
substance at any one time; it is sufficient if there is enough for
hydration and a small surplus for the crystallization by successive
stages as above described. It is generally admitted that the aluminate
is the chief agent in the first setting of the cement, and that its
ultimate hardening and attainment of strength are due to the
tricalcium silicate.
As mentioned above, the constituents other than the tricalcium
silicate and tricalcium aluminate of which alite is composed, are of
minor importance. The function of the ferric oxide present in ordinary
cement is little more than that of a flux to aid the union of silica,
alumina and lime in the clinker; its role in the setting of the cement
is altogether secondary. In fact, excellent Portland cement can be
prepared from materials free from iron. Such cement, if free also from
manganese, is white, and its manufacture has been proposed for
exterior decorative use. Magnesia, if present in Portland cement in
quantity not exceeding 5%, appears to be inert, but there is evidence
that in larger proportion, e.g. 10-15%, it may hydrate and set after
the general setting of the cement, and may give rise to disruptive
strains causing the cement to "blow" and fail. In so-called natural
cement which is comparatively lightly burnt, the magnesia appears to
be inert, and as much as 20 to 30% may be present. Another constituent
of Portland cement which influences its setting time is calcium
sulphate, naturally formed from the sulphur in the raw materials or
fuel, or intentionally added to the finished cement as gypsum or
plaster of Paris. It has a remarkable retarding effect on the
hydration of the calcium aluminate, and consequently on the setting of
the cement; thus it is that a little gypsum is often added to convert
a naturally quick-setting cement into one which sets slowly. It will
be observed that in the hydration of tricalcium silicate, the main
constituent of Portland cement, a large portion of the lime appears as
calcium hydroxide, i.e. slaked lime. It is evident that this will form
a pozzuolanic cement if a suitable silicious material such as trass is
added to the cement. The ultimate product when set may be regarded as
a mixed Portland and pozzuolanic cement. The use of trass in this
manner as an adjunct to Portland cement has been advocated by W.
Michaelis, and undoubtedly increases the strength of the material, but
it has not become general.
Testing.
The quality of Portland cement is ascertained by its analysis and by
determining its specific gravity, fineness, mechanical strength and
soundness. A good sample will usually have a composition within the
limits cited above and approximating to the typical figures given
above. It will be ground so finely that not more than 3% will be left
on a sieve of 76 × 76 meshes per sq. in., the wires of the sieve being
0.005 in. in diameter. It will have, when freshly burned, a specific
gravity not lower than 3.15, and briquettes made from it and kept in
water will possess a tensile strength of 400-500 lb. per sq. in. seven
days after they are made, while briquettes made from a mixture of 3
parts by weight of sand and 1 of cement will give about 225 lb. per sq.
in. at twenty-eight days. Formerly the soundness of cement was
determined by keeping thin pats of the cement in cold water for
twenty-eight days, or in warm water (110°-120° F.) for twenty-four
hours, and examining for cracks or other signs of expansion. Modern
practice is to measure the expansion of a test piece of cement kept in
water at a temperature of 212° F. The simplest and most generally used
method is due to H.L. le Châtelier, and consists in measuring the
increase in circumference of a cylinder of cement 30 mm. in diameter
by means of a split ring encircling the cylinder, the motion of which
is magnified by two light rods extending radially. Another
quantitative test for soundness is that formulated by L. Deval, who
has shown that briquettes of 3 of sand and 1 of cement kept in water
for two days at 80° C. = 176° F. attain approximately the same
strength as similar briquettes attain at seven days in water at the
ordinary temperature. In like manner briquettes kept at 176° F. for
seven days are approximately equal in strength to those kept at the
ordinary temperature for twenty-eight days. A cement not perfectly
sound will give low results in the hot test, and a cement of
indifferent soundness will crack and go to pieces. The test is
admittedly severe, but can be passed without difficulty by cement made
with proper care and skill. There are many modifications and
elaborations of all the tests which have been mentioned. Cement for
all important work is submitted to a rigorous system of testing and
analysis before it is accepted and used.
_Hydraulic Lime_ is a cement of the Portland as distinct from the
pozzuolanic class. The most typical hydraulic lime is that known as
Chaux du Theil, made from a limestone found at Ardèche in France. This
limestone consists of calcium carbonate most intimately intermixed with
very finely divided silica. It contains but little alumina and oxide of
iron, which are the constituents generally necessary to bring about the
union of silica and lime to form a cement, but in spite of this the
silica is so finely divided and so well distributed that it unites
readily with the lime when the limestone is burned at a sufficiently
high temperature. English hydraulic limes are of a different class; they
contain a good deal of alumina and ferric oxide, and in composition
resemble somewhat irregular Portland cement.
Analyses of the two classes of hydraulic lime are as follows:--
Chaux de Theil. Blue Lias.
Per cent. Per cent.
Insoluble silicious matter 0.3 2.39
Silica (SiO2) 21.7 14.17
Alumina (Al2O3) 1.8 6.79
Ferric oxide (Fe2O3) 0.6 2.34
Lime (CaO) 74.0 63.43
Magnesia (MgO) 0.7 1.54
Sulphuric anhydride (SO3) 0.3 1.63
Carbonic anhydride (CO2) \ 0.6 / 3.64
Water (H20) / \ 2.69
Alkalis and loss · · 1.38
----- ------
100.0 100.00
Hydraulic lime contains a good deal of uncombined lime, and has to be
slaked before it is used as a cement. In France this slaking is
conducted systematically by the makers, the freshly burned lime being
sprinkled with water and stored in large bins where slaking proceeds
slowly and regularly until the whole of the surplus uncombined lime
is slaked and rendered harmless, while the cementitious compounds,
notably tricalcium silicate, remain untouched. In English practice
hydraulic lime is slaked by the user. Seeing that regular and perfect
slaking is more easily attained when working systematically on a large
scale and by storing the material for a long period, the French method
is the better and more rational. The product may then be regarded as a
cement of the Portland class mixed with slaked lime. When gauged with
water and made into a mortar it sets slowly, but ultimately becomes
almost as strong as Portland cement. Its slow setting is an advantage
for some purposes, e.g. for foundations and abutments where
settlements may occur. The structure is free to take its permanent
position before the lime sets, and cracks are thus avoided. A case in
point is the employment of hydraulic lime in place of Portland cement
as grouting outside the cast-iron tubes used for lining tunnels made
by the shield system.
_Roman Cement_ is another cement of the Portland class which came into
use shortly before the manufacture of artificial Portland cement was
attempted. It is still in use, though only for special purposes where a
quick-setting material is required. It is made from septaria nodules
which are dredged up on the Kent and Essex coasts and consist of about
60% of calcium carbonate mixed with clay, the mass being sufficiently
indurated to remain coherent under water. The nodules are not prepared
in any way, but simply burned at a moderate red heat.
The resulting cement varies somewhat in composition, but approximates
to the following figures:--
Per cent.
Insoluble silicious matter 5.86
Silica (SiO2) 19.62
Alumina (Al203) 10.30
Ferric oxide (Fe2O3) 7.44
Manganese dioxide (MnO2) 1.57
Lime (CaO) 44.54
Magnesia (MgO) 2.92
Sulphuric anhydride (SO3) 2.61
Carbonic anhydride (CO2) 3.43
Water (H2O) 0.25
Alkalis and loss 1.46
------
100.00
The most characteristic constituent is the oxide of iron, which gives
the cement a reddish colour, and the presence of manganese also
differentiates Roman from Portland cement, which rarely contains
appreciable quantities of that element. The high percentage of alumina
causes the cement to be quick-setting, and it becomes hard in about
five minutes. It resists the action of water, salt or fresh, very
well, and is therefore useful in situations where the work is likely
to be submerged immediately after it has been put in place.
The term _Natural Cements_ is applied to cements made by burning
mixtures of clay and carbonate of lime naturally occurring in
approximately suitable proportions. They may be regarded as badly-mixed
Portland cements, and need no special description. American "natural"
cements are of a somewhat different class. They are usually made from a
silicious limestone containing magnesia, and are comparatively lightly
burned.
The following analysis is typical of a cement of this kind:--
Per cent.
Silica (SiO2) 24.30
Alumina (Al203) 7.22
Ferric oxide (Fe2O3) 5.06
Lime (CaO) 33.70
Magnesia (MgO) 20.94
Water, carbonic anhydride, and loss 8.78
------
100.00
These irregular cements of the Portland class are good building
materials for ordinary purposes, but are not so suitable as good
artificial Portland cement for heavy and important undertakings.
_Passow Cement _is a recent product which is in a class by itself. It is
made by granulating blast furnace slag of suitable composition and
finely grinding the product, either alone or with an admixture of about
10% of Portland cement clinker. It differs from ordinary slag cement
(see above) in that it is not a pozzuolanic cement depending on the
interaction of granulated slag and lime. The particular method of
granulating slag for Passow cement produces a material which sets _per
se_ and attains a strength comparable with that of Portland cement.
Passow cement has been successfully made from slag of different
compositions in Germany, England and America.
Uses of hydraulic cements.
The chief use of hydraulic cements, whether of the pozzuolanic or
Portland class, is to act as an adhesive material in work which is to be
exposed to water. No doubt in times of remote antiquity it was found
that the jointing of masonry which was to be immersed required the use
of a cement indifferent to the action of water. Ordinary mortar failed
in such positions; mortar made from lime prepared from limestones or
chalks containing a little clay was found to stand; mortar made from
lime mixed with trass or similar active silicious material was also
found to stand. On this observation rests the whole of the present
enormous employment of hydraulic cements. It was a natural transition to
utilize these cements not merely for jointing masonry but also for
making concrete, and the only reason why hydraulic cements, as distinct
from cements which are not hydraulic (e.g. ordinary mortar), are used
for the latter purpose is their great mechanical strength. Their use in
above-water work is checked by the low price of common brick. Even in
such work, where it would be thought that masses of burnt clay would be
the cheapest conceivable material, concrete is at least on level terms
with its rival. It must be remembered that one of the great advantages
of concrete is that five-sixths of its total mass may be provided from
local sand and gravel, on which no carriage has to be paid. The cement,
on which alone freight is to be reckoned, converts these from loose
incoherent material into a solid stone. Thus it comes about that the
largest use of cement is for manufacturing concrete for dock and harbour
work, and for the making of foundations. It is also employed for the
building of light bridges, floors, and pipes constructed of cement
mortar disposed round a skeleton of iron rods. Such composite structures
take advantage at once of the high tensile strength of iron and of the
high compressive strength of cement mortar. (See also CONCRETE.)
Good hydraulic cements are highly permanent materials provided certain
conditions be observed. It might be supposed that hydraulic cements from
their nature would be indifferent to the action of water, but this is
only true if the structures of which they form part are sufficiently
compact. In this case the action of the water is checked by the film of
carbonate of lime which eventually forms oh the surface of calcareous
cement. This, together with the compactness of the mortar, hinders the
ingress and egress of water, and prevents the dissolution and ultimate
destruction of the cement. But where the concrete or mortar is not well
made and is porous, the continual passage of water through it will
gradually break up and dissolve away the calcareous constituents of the
cement until its strength is utterly destroyed. This destructive action
is increased if the water contains sulphates or magnesium salts, both of
which act chemically on the calcareous constituents of the cement. As
sea-water contains both sulphates and magnesium salts, it is especially
necessary in concrete for harbour work to take every care to produce an
impervious structure. There are various minor external causes for the
failure and ultimate destruction of cement mortar and concrete, but
their discussion is a matter for the specialist. Failure from inherent
vice in the cement has been already touched on; it can always be traced
to want of skill and care in manufacture.
_Calcium Sulphate Cements._--Under this term are comprehended all
cements whose setting properties primarily depend on the hydration of
calcium sulphate. They include plaster of Paris, Keene's cement and many
variants of these two types. The raw material is gypsum (q.v.). This may
be almost chemically pure, when it is generally used for Keene's cement;
or it may contain smaller or greater quantities of impurities, in which
case it is suitable for the preparation of cements of the plaster of
Paris class. The mode of preparation is to calcine the gypsum at
temperatures which depend on the class of cement to be produced. If
plaster of Paris is to be made, calcination is carried out at about 204°
C. (=400° F.); at this temperature, gypsum, CaS04.2H20, loses
three-quarters of its combined water and becomes 2CaSO4.H20. If a cement
of the Keene's cement class is to be prepared the temperature used is
higher, e.g. 500° C. (=932° F.), and the whole of the combined water of
the gypsum is expelled, the anhydrous sulphate CaSO4 being obtained.
Plaster of Paris; Keene's cement.
To produce plaster of Paris European practice consists in baking the
mineral in ovens, and in America in heating it in kettles. Both
processes are inferior in economy to calcination in rotatory kilns, a
process which may be regarded as the method of the present and the
immediate future. Keene's cement and its congeners are made in fixed
kilns so constructed that only the gaseous products of combustion come
into contact with the gypsum to be burnt, in order to avoid
contamination with the ash of the fuel.
The setting of plaster of Paris depends on the fact that when
2CaSO4·H2O is treated with water it dissolves, forming a
supersaturated solution of CaSO4·2H2O. The excess held temporarily in
solution is then deposited in crystals of CaSO4·2H2O. In the light of
this knowledge the mode of setting of plaster of Paris becomes clear.
The plaster is mixed with a quantity of water sufficient to make it
into a smooth paste; this quantity of water is quite insufficient to
dissolve the whole of it, but it dissolves a small part, and gives a
supersaturated solution of CaSO4.2H2O. In a few minutes the surplus
hydrated calcium sulphate is deposited from the solution, and the
water is capable again of dissolving 2CaSO4·H2O, which in turn is
fully hydrated and deposited as CaSO4·2H2O. The process goes on until
a relatively small quantity of water has by instalments dissolved and
hydrated the 2CaSO4·H2O, and has deposited CaSO4·2H2O in felted
crystals forming a solid mass well cemented together. The setting is
rapid, occupying only a few minutes, and is accompanied by a
considerable expansion of the mass. There is reason to suppose that
the change described takes place in two stages, the gypsum first
forming orthorhombic crystals and then crystallizing in the
monosymmetric system. Gypsum thus crystallized is in its normal
monosymmetric form, more stable under ordinary conditions than the
orthorhombic form. Correlatively in its process of dehydration to form
plaster of Paris, monosymmetric gypsum is converted into the
orthorhombic form before it begins to be dehydrated.
The principles which govern the preparation and setting of the other
class of calcium sulphate cements, that is, cements of the Keene
class, are not fully understood, but there is a fair amount of
knowledge on the subject, both empirical and scientific. The essential
difference between the setting of Keene's cement and that of plaster
of Paris is that the former takes place much more slowly, occupying
hours instead of minutes, and the considerable heating and expansion
which characterize the setting of plaster of Paris are much less
marked.
It is the practice in Great Britain to burn pure gypsum at a low
temperature so as to convert it into the hydrate 2CaSO4·H2O, to soak
the lumps in a solution of alum or of aluminium sulphate, and to
recalcine them at about 500° C. On grinding they give Keene's cement.
Instead of alum various other salts, e.g. borax, may be used. The
quantity of these materials is so small that analyses of Keene's
cement show it to be almost pure anhydrous calcium sulphate, and make
it difficult to explain what, if any, influence these minute amounts
of alum and the like can exert on the setting of the cement. It seems
probable that the effect of the salts is inconsiderable, and that the
governing condition is the temperature at which the cement has been
burnt. The setting of Keene's cement takes place by the same sort of
process which has been described for the setting of plaster of Paris,
the chief differences being that the substance dissolved is anhydrous
calcium sulphate and that the operation takes a longer time.
All cements having calcium sulphate as their base are suitable only
for indoor work because of the solubility of this substance. They form
excellent decorative plasters on account of their clean white colour
and the sharpness of castings made from them, this latter quantity
being due to their expansion when setting.
See D.B. Butler, _Portland Cement_ (London, 1905); E.C. Eckel,
_Cements, Limes and Plasters_ (New York, 1905); G.R. Redgrave and
Charles Spackman, _Calcareous Cements_ (London, 1905); F.H. Lewis,
"Manufacture of Hydraulic Cements in the United States," _The Mineral
Industry_ (New York, 1898); W.H. Stanger and Bertram Blount, "Cement
Manufacture in Great Britain," _The Mineral Industry_, New York, 1897
and 1905; _Id_. "The Testing of Hydraulic Cements," _Journ. Soc. Chem.
Ind.,_ 1894, 13, p. 455; _Id., Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng._, 1901; B.
Blount, "Recent Progress in the Cement Industry," _Journ. Soc. Chem.
Ind.,_ 1906, 25, p. 1020; H.L. le Chatelier, _Recherrhes
experimenlales sur la constitution des mortiers hydrauliques;_ Desch,
_Concrete_, No. 2, pp. 101-102; Davis, _Journ. Soc. Chem. Ind.,_ 1905,
26, p. 727. (B. Bl.)
_Adhesive Cements._--Mixtures of animal, vegetable and mineral
substances are employed in great variety in the arts for making
joints, mending broken china and other objects, &c. A strong cement
for alabaster and marble, which sets in a day, may be prepared by
mixing 12 parts of Portland cement, 8 of fine sand and 1 of infusorial
earth, and making them into a thick paste with silicate of soda; the
object to be cemented need not be heated. For stone, marble, and
earthenware a strong cement, insoluble in water, can be made as
follows:--skimmed-milk cheese is boiled in water till of a gluey
consistency, washed, kneaded well in cold water, and incorporated
with quicklime; the composition is warmed for use. A similar cement
is a mixture of dried fresh curd with 1/10th of its weight of
quicklime and a little camphor; it is made into a paste with water
when employed. A cement for Derbyshire spar and china, &c., is
composed of 7 parts of rosin and 1 of wax, with a little plaster of
Paris; a small quantity only should be applied to the surfaces to be
united, for, as a general rule, the thinner the stratum of a cement,
the more powerful its action. Quicklime mixed with white of egg,
hardened Canada balsam, and thick copal or mastic varnish are also
useful for cementing broken china, which should be warmed before their
application. For small articles, shellac dissolved in spirits of wine
is a very convenient cement. Cements such as marine glue are solutions
of shellac, india-rubber or asphaltum in benzene or naphtha. For use
with wood which is exposed to moisture, as in the case of wooden
cisterns, a mixture may be made of 4 parts of linseed oil boiled with
litharge, and 8 parts of melted glue; other strong cements for the
same purpose are prepared by softening gelatine in cold water and
dissolving it by heat in linseed oil, or by mixing glue with
one-fourth of its weight of turpentine, or with a little bichromate of
potash. _Mahogany cement_, for filling up cracks in wood, consists of
4 parts of beeswax, 1 of Indian red and yellow-ochre to give colour.
_Cutler's cement_, used for fixing knife-blades in their hafts, is
made of equal parts of brick-dust and melted rosin, or of 4 parts of
rosin with 1 each of beeswax and brick-dust. For covering bottle-corks
a mixture of pitch, brick-dust and rosin is employed. A cheap cement,
sometimes employed to fix iron rails in stone-work, is melted
brimstone, or brimstone and brick-dust. For pipe-joints, a mixture of
iron turnings, sulphur and sal ammoniac, moistened with water, is
employed. _Japanese cement_, for uniting surfaces of paper, is made by
mixing rice-flour with water and boiling it. _Jewellers'_ or _Armenian
cement_ consists of isinglass with mastic and gum ammoniac dissolved
in spirit. Gold and silver chasers keep their work firm by means of a
cement of pitch and rosin, a little tallow, and brick-dust to thicken.
_Temporary cement_ for lathe-work, such as the polishing and grinding
of jewelry and optical glasses, is compounded thus:--rosin, 4 oz.;
whitening previously made red-hot, 4 oz.; wax, ¼ oz.
CEMETERY (Gr. [Greek: koimêtêrion], from [Greek: koiman], to sleep),
literally a sleeping-place, the name applied by the early Christians to
the places set apart for the burial of their dead. These were generally
extra-mural and unconnected with churches, the practice of interment in
churches or churchyards being unknown in the first centuries of the
Christian era. The term cemetery has, therefore, been appropriately
applied in modern times to the burial-grounds, generally extra-mural,
which have been substituted for the overcrowded churchyards (q.v.) of
populous parishes both urban and rural.
From 1840 to 1855, attention was repeatedly called to the condition of
the London churchyards by correspondence in the press and by the reports
of parliamentary committees, the first of which, that of Mr Chadwick,
appeared in 1843. The vaults under the pavement of the churches, and the
small spaces of open ground surrounding them, were crammed with coffins.
In many of the buildings the air was so tainted with the products of
corruption as to be a direct and palpable source of disease and death to
those who frequented them. In the churchyards coffins were placed tier
above tier in the graves until they were within a few feet (or sometimes
even a few inches) of the surface, and the level of the ground was often
raised to that of the lower windows of the church. To make room for
fresh interments the sextons had recourse to the surreptitious removal
of bones and partially-decayed remains, and in some cases the contents
of the graves were systematically transferred to pits adjacent to the
site, the grave-diggers appropriating the coffin-plates, handles and
nails to be sold as waste metal. The neighbourhood of the churchyards
was always unhealthy, the air being vitiated by the gaseous emanations
from the graves, and the water, wherever it was obtained from wells,
containing organic matter, the source of which could not be mistaken. In
all the large towns the evil prevailed in a greater or less degree, but
in London, on account of the immense population and the consequent
mortality, it forced itself more readily upon public attention, and
after more than one partial measure of relief had been passed the
churchyards were, with a few exceptions, finally closed by the act of
1855, and the cemeteries which now occupy a large extent of ground to
the north, south, east and west became henceforth the burial-places of
the metropolis. Several of them had been already established by private
enterprise before the passing of the Burial Act of 1855 (Kensal Green
cemetery dates from 1832), but that enactment forms the epoch from
which the general development of cemeteries in Great Britain and Ireland
began. Burial within the limits of cities and towns is now almost
everywhere abolished, and where it is still in use it is surrounded by
such safeguards as make it practically innocuous. This tendency has been
conspicuous both in the United Kingdom and the United States. The
increasing practice of cremation (q.v.) has assisted in the movement for
disposing of the dead in more sanitary conditions; and the proposals of
Sir Seymour Haden and others for burying the dead in more open coffins,
and abandoning the old system of family graves, have had considerable
effect. The tendency has therefore been, while improving the sanitary
aspects of the disposal of the dead, to make the cemeteries themselves
as fit as possible for this purpose, and beautiful in arrangement and
decoration.
The chief cemeteries of London are Kensal Green cemetery on the Harrow
Road; Highgate cemetery on the slope of Highgate Hill; the cemetery at
Abney Park (once the residence of Dr Watts); the Norwood and Nunhead
cemeteries to the south of London; the West London cemetery at Brompton;
the cemeteries at Ilford and Leytonstone in Essex; the Victoria cemetery
and the Tower Hamlets cemetery in East London; and at a greater
distance, accessible by railway, the great cemetery at Brookwood near
Woking in Surrey, and the cemetery at New Southgate. The general plan of
all these cemeteries is the same, a park with broad paths either laid
out in curved lines as at Kensal Green and Highgate, or crossing each
other at right angles as in the case of the West London cemetery. The
ground on each side of these paths is marked off into grave spaces, and
trees and shrubs are planted in the intervals between them. The
buildings consist of a curator's residence and one or more chapels, and
usually there is also a range of family graves with imposing tombs,
massive structures containing in their corridors recesses for the
reception of coffins, generally closed only by an iron grating. The
provincial cemeteries in the main features of their arrangements
resemble those of the metropolis. One of the most remarkable is St
James's cemetery at Liverpool, which occupies a deserted quarry. The
face of the eastern side of the quarry is traversed by ascending
gradients off which open catacombs formed in the living rock,--a soft
sandstone; the ground below is planted with trees, amongst which stand
hundreds of gravestones. The main approach on the north side is through
a tunnel, above which, on a projecting rock, stands the cemetery chapel,
built in the form of a small Doric temple with tetrastyle porticos.
Many of the cities of America possess very fine cemeteries. One of the
largest, and also the oldest, is that of Mount Auburn near Boston.
Others of importance are the Laurel Hill cemetery (1836) at
Philadelphia; the Greenwood cemetery (1838) at Brooklyn (New York); the
Lake View cemetery at Cleveland, Ohio; while the cemeteries at New
Orleans (q.v.) are famous for their beauty.
The chief cemetery of Paris is that of Père la Chaise, the prototype of
the garden cemeteries of western Europe. It takes its name from the
celebrated confessor of Louis XIV., to whom as rector of the Jesuits of
Paris it once belonged. It was laid out as a cemetery in 1804. It has an
area of about 200 acres, and contains about 20,000 monuments, including
those of all the great men of France of the 19th century--marshals,
generals, ministers, poets, painters, men of science and letters, actors
and musicians. Twice the cemetery and the adjacent heights have been the
scene of a desperate struggle; in 1814 they were stormed by a Russian
column during the attack on Paris by the allies, and in 1871 the
Communists made their last stand among the tombs of Père la Chaise; 900
of them fell in the defence of the cemetery or were shot there after its
capture, and 200 of them were buried in quicklime in one huge grave and
700 in another. There are other cemeteries at Mont Parnasse and
Montmartre, besides the minor burying-grounds at Auteuil, Batignolles,
Passy, La Villette, &c. In consequence of all these cemeteries being
more or less crowded, a great cemetery was laid out in 1874 on the
plateau of Méry sur Oise, 16 m. to the north of Paris, with which it is
connected by a railway line. It includes within its circuit fully 2 sq.
m. of ground. The French cemetery system differs in many respects from
the English. Every city and town is required by law to provide a
burial-ground beyond its barriers, properly laid out and planted, and
situated if possible on a rising ground. Each interment must take place
in a separate grave. This, however, does not apply to Paris, where the
dead are buried, forty or fifty at a time, in the _fosses communes_, the
poor being interred gratuitously, and a charge of 20 francs being made
in all other cases. The _fosse_ is filled and left undisturbed for five
years, then all crosses and other memorials are removed, the level of
the ground is raised 4 or 5 ft. by fresh earth, and interments begin
again. For a fee of 50 francs a _concession temporaire_ for ten years
can be obtained, but where it is desired to erect a permanent monument
the ground must be bought by the executors of the deceased. In Paris the
undertakers' trade is the monopoly of a company, the _Société des pompes
funèbres_, which in return for its privileges is required to give a free
burial to the poor.
The _Leichenhäuser_, or dead-houses, of Frankfort and Munich form a
remarkable feature of the cemeteries of these cities. The object of
their founders was twofold--(1) to obviate even the remotest danger of
premature interment, and (2) to offer a respectable place for the
reception of the dead, in order to remove the corpse from the confined
dwellings of the survivors. At Frankfort the dead-house occupies one of
the wings of the propylaeum, which forms the main entrance to the
cemetery. It consists of the warder's room, where an attendant is always
on duty, on each side of which there are five rooms, well ventilated,
kept at an even temperature, and each provided with a bier on which a
corpse can be laid. On one of the fingers is placed a ring connected by
a light cord with a bell which hangs outside in the warder's room. The
use of the dead-house is voluntary. The bodies deposited there are
inspected at regular intervals by a medical officer, and the warder is
always on the watch for the ringing of the warning bell. One revival,
that of a child, has been known to take place at Frankfort. The
Leichenhaus of Munich is situated in the southern cemetery outside the
Sendling Gate. At one end of the cemetery there is a semicircular
building with an open colonnade in front and a projection behind, which
contains three large rooms for the reception of the dead. At both
Frankfort and Munich great care is taken that the attendants receive the
dead confided to them with respect, and no interment is permitted until
the first signs of decomposition appear; the relatives then assemble in
one of the halls adjoining the Leichenhaus, and the funeral takes place.
In any case there is, with ordinary care, little fear of premature
interment, but in another way such places of deposit for the dead are of
great use in large towns, as they prevent the evil effects which result
from the prolonged retention of the dead among the living. Mortuaries
for this purpose have also been established in many places in England.
In Italy the _Campo Santo_ (Holy Field) is best illustrated by the
famous one at Pisa, from which the name has been given to other Italian
burying-grounds. Of the cemeteries still in use in southern Europe the
catacombs (q.v.) of Sicily are the most curious. There is one of these
under the old Capuchin monastery of Ziza near Palermo, where in four
large airy subterranean corridors 2000 corpses are ranged in niches in
the wall, many of them shrunk up into the most grotesque attitudes, or
hanging with pendent limbs and head from their places. As a preparation
for the niche, the body is desiccated in a kind of oven, and then
dressed as in life and raised into its place in the wall. At the end of
the principal corridor at Ziza there is an altar strangely ornamented
with a kind of mosaic of human skulls and bones.
Cemeteries have been in use among many Eastern nations from time
immemorial. In China, the high grounds near Canton and Macao are crowded
with tombs, many of them being in the form of small tumuli, with a low
encircling wall, forcibly recalling the ringed barrows of western
Europe. But the most picturesque cemeteries in the world are those of
the Turks. From them it was, perhaps, that the first idea of the modern
cemetery, with its ornamental plantations, was derived. Around
Constantinople the cemeteries form vast tracts of cypress woods under
whose branches stand thousands of tombstones. A grave is never reopened;
a new resting-place is formed for every one, and so the dead now occupy
a wider territory than that which is covered by the homes of the living.
The Turks believe that till the body is buried the soul is in a state of
discomfort, and the funeral, therefore, takes place as soon as possible
after death. No coffin is used, the body is laid in the grave, a few
boards are arranged round it, and then the earth is shovelled in, care
being taken to leave a small opening extending from the head of the
corpse to the surface of the ground, an opening not unfrequently
enlarged by dogs and other beasts which plunder the grave. A tombstone
of white marble is then erected, surmounted by a carved turban in the
case of a man, and ornamented by a palm branch in low relief if the
grave is that of a woman. The turban by its varying form indicates not
only the rank of the sleeper below but also the period of his death, for
the fashion of the Turkish head-dress is always changing. A cypress is
usually planted beside the grave, its odour being supposed to neutralize
any noxious exhalations from the ground, and thus every cemetery is a
forest, where by day hundreds of turtle doves are on the wing or
perching on the trees, and where bats and owls swarm undisturbed at
night. Especially for the Turkish women the cemeteries are a favourite
resort, and some of them are always to be seen praying beside the narrow
openings that lead down into a parent's, a husband's, or a brother's
grave. Some of the other cemeteries of Constantinople contrast rather
unfavourably with the simple dignity of those which belong to the Turks.
That of the Armenians abounds with bas-reliefs which show the manner of
the death of whoever is buried below, and on these singular tombstones
there are frequent representations of men being decapitated or hanging
on the gallows.
See also the articles BURIAL AND BURIAL ACTS; CREMATION; FUNERAL
RITES; CHURCHYARD.
CENCI, BEATRICE (1577-1599), a Roman woman, famous for her tragic story;
poetic fancy has woven a halo of romance about her, which modern
historic research has to a large extent destroyed. Born at Rome, she was
the daughter of Francesco Cenci (1549-1598), the bastard son of a
priest, and a man of great wealth but dissolute habits and violent
temper. He seems to have been guilty of various offences and to have got
off with short terms of imprisonment by bribery; but the monstrous
cruelty which popular tradition has attributed to him is purely
legendary. His first wife, Ersilia Santa Croce, bore him twelve
children, and nine years after her death he married Lucrezia Petroni, a
widow with three daughters, by whom he had no offspring. He was very
quarrelsome and lived on the worst possible terms with his children,
who, however, were all of them more or less disreputable. He kept
various mistresses and was even prosecuted for unnatural vice, but his
sons were equally dissolute. His harsh treatment of his daughter
Beatrice was probably due to his discovery that she had had an
illegitimate child as the result of an intrigue with one of his stewards
(A. Bertolotti, in his _Francesco Cenci_, publishes Beatrice's will in
which she provides for this child), but there is no evidence that he
tried to commit incest with her, as has been alleged. The eldest son
Giacomo was a riotous, dishonest young scoundrel, who cheated his own
father and even attempted to murder him (1595). Two other sons, Rocco
and Cristoforo, both of them notorious rakes, were killed in brawls.
Finally Francesco's wife Lucrezia and his children Giacomo, Bernardo and
Beatrice, assisted by a certain Monsignor Guerra, plotted to murder him.
Two bravos were hired (one of them named Olimpio, according to
Bertolotti, was probably Beatrice's lover), and Francesco was
assassinated while asleep in his castle of Petrella in the kingdom of
Naples (1598). Giacomo afterwards had one of the bravos murdered, but
the other was arrested by the Neapolitan authorities and confessed
everything. Information having been communicated to Rome, the whole of
the Cenci family were arrested early in 1599; but the story of the
hardships they underwent in prison is greatly exaggerated. Guerra
escaped; Lucrezia, Giacomo and Bernardo confessed the crime; and
Beatrice, who at first denied everything, even under torture, also ended
by confessing. Great efforts were made to obtain mercy for the accused,
but the crime was considered too heinous, and the pope (Clement VIII.)
refused to grant a pardon; on the 11th of September 1599, Beatrice and
Lucrezia were beheaded, and Giacomo, after having been tortured with
red-hot pincers, was killed with a mace, drawn and quartered. Bernardo's
penalty, on account of his youth, was commuted to perpetual
imprisonment, and after a year's confinement he was pardoned. The
property of the family was confiscated.
The romantic character of the history of this family has been the
subject of poems, dramas and novels. Shelley's tragedy is well known
as a magnificent piece of writing, although the author adopts a purely
fictitious version of the story. Nor is F.D. Guerrazzi's novel,
_Beatrice Cenci_ (Milan, 1872), more trustworthy. The first attempt to
deal with the subject on documentary evidence is A. Bertolotti's
_Francesco Cenci e la sua famiglia_ (2nd ed., Florence, 1879),
containing a number of interesting documents which place the events in
their true light; cf. Labruzzi's article in the _Nuova Antologia_,
1879, vol. xiv., and another in the _Edinburgh Review_, January 1879.
CENOBITES (from Gr. [Greek: koinos], common, and [Greek: bios], life),
monks who lived together in a convent or community under a rule and a
superior,--in contrast to hermits or anchorets who live in isolation.
The Basilians (q.v.) in the East and the Benedictines (q.v.) in the West
are the chief cenobitical orders (see MONASTICISM).
CENOMANI, a branch of the Aulerci in Gallia Celtica, whose territory
corresponded generally to Maine in the modern department of Sarthe.
Their chief town was Vindinum or Suindinum (corrupted into Subdinnum),
afterwards Civitas Cenomanorum (whence Le Mans), the original name of
the town, as usual in the case of Gallic cities, being replaced by that
of the people. According to Caesar (_Bell. Gall._ vii. 75. 3), they
assisted Vercingetorix in the great rising (52 B.C.) with a force of
5000 men. Under Augustus they formed a _civitas stipendiaria_ of Gallia
Lugdunensis, and in the 4th century part of Gallia Lugdunensis iii.
About 400 B.C., under the leadership of Elitovius (Livy v. 35), a large
number of the Cenomani crossed into Italy, drove the Etruscans
southwards, and occupied their territory. The statement of Cato (in
Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ iii. 130), that some of them settled near Massilia
in the territory of the Volcae, may indicate the route taken by them.
The limits of their territory are not clearly defined, but were probably
the Athesis (Adige or Etsch) on the east, the Ollius (Oglio, or perhaps
the Addua) on the west, and the Padus on the south. Livy gives their
chief towns as Brixia (Brescia) and Verona; Pliny, Brixia and Cremona.
The Cenomani nearly always appear in history as loyal friends and allies
of the Romans, whom they assisted in the Gallic war (225 B.C.), when the
Boii and Insubres took up arms against Rome, and during the war against
Hannibal. They certainly joined in the revolt of the Gauls under
Hamilcar (200), but after they had been defeated by the consul Gaius
Cornelius (197) they finally submitted. In 49, with the rest of Gallia
Transpadana, they acquired the rights of citizenship.
The orthography and the quantity of the penultimate vowel of Cenomani
have given rise to discussion. According to Arbois de Jubainville, the
Cenom[)a]ni of Italy are not identical with the Cenom[=a]ni (or
Cenomanni) of Gaul. In the case of the latter, the survival of the
syllable "man" in Le Mans is due to the stress laid on the vowel; had
the vowel been short and unaccented, it would have disappeared. In
Italy, Cenomani is the name of a people; in Gaul, merely a surname of
the Aulerci.
See A. Voisin, _Les Cénomans anciens et modernes_ (Le Mans, 1862); A.
Desjardins, _Géographic historique de la Gaule romaine,_ ii.
(1876-1893); Arbois de Jubainville, _Les Premiers Habitants de
l'Europe_ (1889-1894); article and authorities in _La Grande
Encyclopédie_; C. Hulsen in Pauly-Wissowa's _Realencyclopadie_, iii.
pt. 2 (1899); full ancient authorities in A. Holder, _Alt-celtischer
Sprachschatz_, i. (1896).
CENOTAPH (Gr. [Greek: kenos], empty, [Greek: taphos], tomb), a monument
or tablet to the memory of a person whose body is buried elsewhere. The
custom arose from the erection of monuments to those whose bodies could
not be recovered, as in the case of drowning.
CENSOR (from Lat. _censere_, assess, estimate; in Gr. [Greek:
timaetaes]). I. _In ancient Rome_, the title of the two Roman officials
who presided over the census, the registration of individual citizens
for the purpose of determining the duties which they owed to the
community. In the etymology of the word lurks the idea of the arbitrary
assignment of burdens or duties. Varro defines _census_ as _arbitrium_,
and derives the name _censores_ from the position of these magistrates
as _arbitri populi_ (Varro, _de Ling. Lat._ v. 81; _ap._ Non. p. 519).
This original idea of "discretionary power" was never entirely lost;
although ultimately it came to be more intimately associated with the
appreciation of morals than with the assignment of burdens. From the
point of view of its moral significance the censorship was the Roman
manifestation of that state control of conduct which was a not unusual
feature of ancient societies. It is true that Rome possessed sumptuary
laws, and laws dealing with moral offences, which it was the duty of
other magistrates to enforce; but the organization for the control of
conduct was mainly exhibited in the censorship, and, as thus exhibited,
was at once simple and comprehensive.
The censorship was believed to have been instituted in 443 B.C. to
relieve the consuls of the duties of registration. Since the periods of
registration were quinquennial, it was not a continuous office; but its
tenure does not seem to have been fixed until 434 B.C., when a _lex
Aemilia_ provided that the censors should hold office for eighteen
months. This magistracy was at first confined to patricians; a plebeian
censor is first mentioned in 351 B.C. A _lex Publilia_ of 339 B.C. is
said to have enacted that one censor must be a plebeian. Two plebeian
censors were for the first time elected in 131 B.C. The election always
took place in the Comitia Centuriata (see COMITIA). The censorship,
although lacking the powers implied in the imperium and the right of
summoning the senate and the people, was not only one of the higher
magistracies, but was regarded as the crown of a political career. It
was an irresponsible office; and the only limitations on its powers were
created by the restriction of tenure to a year and a half, the fact that
re-election was forbidden, and the restraint imposed on each censor by
the fact that no act of his was valid without the assent of his
colleague.
The original functions of the censors were (1) the registration of
citizens in the state-divisions, such as tribes and centuries; (2) the
taxation of such citizens based on an estimate of their property; (3)
the right of exclusion from public functions on moral grounds, known as
the _regimen morum_; (4) the solemn act of purification (_lustrum_)
which closed the census. Two other functions were subsequently
added:--(5) the selection of the senate (_lectio senatus_, see SENATE),
and (6) certain financial duties such as the leasing of the contracts
for tax-collecting and for the repair of public buildings. The first
four of these functions were those of the census, which was a detailed
examination of the citizen body as represented by heads of families
(_patres familiarum_) in the Campus Martius. The equites were a select
portion of this citizen body; but the review of these knights took
place, not in the Campus, but in the Forum (see EQUITES). It was in
connexion with this review of the ordinary citizens and the knights, as
well as with the choice of senators, that the censors published their
edicts stating the moral rules which they intended to enforce. The
offences which they punished were sometimes concerned with family life
and private relations, sometimes with breaches of political duty.
Certain professions, such as that of an actor or gladiator, also invoked
their stigma, and at times the disqualifications they pronounced were
the consequence of a previous judicial condemnation. _Infamia_ was the
general name given to the disabilities pronounced by the censor. These
varied in degree from the deprivation of a senator of his seat, or a
knight's loss of his horse, to exclusion from the tribes or centuries,
an exclusion which entailed the loss of voting power. All the
disabilities pronounced by one pair of censors might be removed by their
successors.
The censorship, although its control over the senate came to be
weakened (see SENATE), lasted as long as the republic; and it was only
suspended, not abolished, during the principate. Although the princeps
exercised censorial functions, he was seldom censor. Yet the office
itself was held by Claudius I. and Vespasian. Domitian assumed the title
of life censor (_censor perpetuus_), but the precedent was not followed.
A fruitless attempt to galvanize the republican office into new life was
made in A.D. 251, during the reign of the emperor Decius.
AUTHORITIES.--Mommsen, _Romisches Staatsrecht_, ii. 331 foll. (3rd
ed., Leipzig, 1887); Daremberg-Saglio, _Dictionnaire des antiquités
grecques et romaines_, i. 990 foll. (1875, &c.); Lange, _Romische
Alterthumer_, i. 572 foll. (Berlin, 1856, &c.); de Boor, _Fasti
Censorii_ (Berlin, 1873); Gerlach, _Die romische Censur in ihrem
Verhaltnisse zur Verfassung_ (Basel, 1842); Nitzsch, "Über die Census"
in _Neues Jahrbuch f. Phil._ lxxiii. 730 (Leipzig, 1856); Zumpt, "Die
Lustra der Römer" in _Rhein. Museum_, xxv. 465, xxvi. i.
(A. H. J. G.)
II. In modern times the word "censor" is used generally for one who
exercises supervision over, or criticizes, the conduct of other persons.
In the universities of Oxford and Cambridge it is the title of the
official head or supervisor of the non-collegiate students (i.e. those
who are not attached to a college, hall or hostel). In Oxford the censor
is nominated by the vice-chancellor and the proctors, and holds office
for five years; in Cambridge he is similarly appointed, and holds office
for life. The censors of the Royal College of Physicians are the
officials who grant licences.
_Council of Censors_, in American constitutional history, is the name
given to a council provided by the constitution of Pennsylvania from
1776 to 1790, and by the constitution of Vermont from 1777 to 1870.
Under both constitutions the council of censors was elected once in
seven years, for the purpose of inquiring into the working of the
governmental departments, the conduct of the state officers, and the
working of the laws, and as to whether the constitution had been
violated in any particular. The Vermont council of censors, limited in
number to thirteen, had power, if they thought the constitution required
amending in any particular, to call a convention for the purpose. A
convention summoned by the council in 1870 amended the constitution by
abolishing the censors.
For the censorship of the press, see PRESS LAWS; for the censorship of
plays, THEATRE: _Law_, and LORD CHAMBERLAIN.
CENSORINUS, Roman grammarian and miscellaneous writer, flourished during
the 3rd century A.D. He was the author of a lost work _De Accentibus_,
and of an extant treatise _De Die Natali_, written in 238, and dedicated
to his patron Quintus Caerellius as a birthday gift. The contents are of
a varied character: the natural history of man, the influence of the
stars and genii, music, religious rites, astronomy, the doctrines of the
Greek philosophers. The second part deals with chronological and
mathematical questions, and has been of great service in determining the
principal epochs of ancient history. The whole is full of curious and
interesting information. The style is clear and concise, although
somewhat rhetorical, and the Latinity, for the period, good. The chief
authorities used were Varro and Suetonius. Some scholars, indeed, hold
that the entire work is practically an adaptation of the lost _Pratum_
of Suetonius. The fragments of a work _De Natali Institutione_, dealing
with astronomy, geometry, music and versification, and usually printed
with the _De Die Natali_ of Censorinus, are not by him. Part of the
original MS., containing the end of the genuine work, and the title and
name of the author of the fragment are lost.
The only good edition with commentary is still that of H. Lindenbrog
(1614); the most recent critical editions are by O. Jahn (1845), F.
Hultsch (1867), and J. Cholodniak (1889). There is an English
translation of the _De Die Natali_ (the first eleven chapters being
omitted) with notes by W. Maude (New York, 1900).
CENSUS (from Lat. _censere_, to estimate or assess; connected by some
with _centum, i.e._ a count by hundreds), a term used to denote a
periodical enumeration restricted, in modern times, to population, and
occasionally to industries and agricultural resources, but formerly
extending to property of all kinds, for the purpose of assessment.
Operations of this character have been conducted with different objects
from very ancient times. The fighting strength of the children of Israel
at the Exodus was ascertained by a count of all males of twenty years
old and upwards, made by enumerators appointed for each clan. The
Levites, who were exempted from military duties, were separately
enumerated from the age of thirty upwards, and a similar process was
ordained subsequently by Solomon, in order to distribute amongst them
the functions assigned to the priestly body in connexion with the
temple. The census unwillingly carried out by Joab at the behest of
David related exclusively to the fighting men of the community, and the
dire consequences ascribed to it were quoted in reprobation of such
inquiries as late as the middle of the 18th century. It appears, too,
that a register of the population of each clan was kept during the
Babylonian captivity and its totals were published on their return to
Jerusalem. In the Persian empire there was apparently some method in
force by which the resources of each province were ascertained for the
purpose of fixing the tribute. In China, moreover, an enumeration of
somewhat the same nature was an ancient institution in connexion with
the provincial revenues and military liabilities. In Egypt, Amasis had
the occupation of each individual annually registered, nominally to aid
the official supervision of morals by discouraging disreputable means of
subsistence; and this ordinance, according to Herodotus, was introduced
by Solon into the Athenian scheme of administration, where it developed
later into an electoral record.
It was in Rome, however, that the system from which the name of the
inquiry is derived was first established upon a regular footing. The
original census was ascribed to Servius Tullius, and in the constitution
which goes by his name it was decreed that every fifth year the
population should be enumerated along with the property of each
family--land, live-stock, slaves and freedmen. The main object was to
ensure the accurate division of the people into the six main classes and
their respective centuries, which were based upon considerations of
combined numbers and wealth. With the increase of the city the operation
grew in importance, and was followed by an official _lustrum_, or
purificatory sacrifice, offered on behalf of the people by the censors
or functionaries in charge of the classification. Hence the name of
lustrum came to denote the intercensal term, or a period of five years.
The word census, too, came to mean the property qualification of the
class, as well as the process of registering the resources of the
individual. Later, it was used in the sense of the imposition itself, in
which it has survived in the contracted form of _cess_. Unfortunately
the statistics of population thus collected were subordinated to the
fiscal interests of the inquiry, and no record has been handed down
relating to the population of the city and its neighbourhood. In the
time of Augustus the census was extended to the whole empire. In the
words of the Gospel of St Luke, he ordered "the whole world to be
_taxed_," or, according to the revised version, to be _enrolled_. The
compilation of the results of this the most comprehensive enumeration
till then attempted was engaging the attention of the emperor, it is
said, just before his death, but was never completed. The various
inquiries instituted during the middle ages, such as the Domesday Book
and the Breviary of Charlemagne, were so far on the Roman model that
they took little or no account of the population, the feudal system
probably rendering information regarding it unnecessary for the purposes
of taxation or military service.
The foundations of the census on the modern system were laid in Europe
towards the middle or end of the 17th century. Sweden led the way, by
making compulsory the parish record of births, deaths and marriages,
kept by the clergy, and extending it to include the whole of the
domiciled population of the parish. In France, Colbert, in 1670, ordered
the extension to the rural communes of the system which had for many
years been in force in Paris of registering and periodically publishing
the domestic occurrences of the locality. Five years before this,
however, a periodical enumeration by families and individuals had been
established in the colony of New France, and was continued in Quebec
from 1665 till 1754. This, therefore, may be considered to be the
earliest of modern censuses.
Efforts have been almost unceasingly made since 1872 by statistical
experts in periodical conference to bring about a general understanding,
first, as to the subjects which may be considered most likely to be
ascertained with approximate accuracy at a census, and secondly--a point
of scarcely less importance--as to the form in which the results of the
inquiry should be compiled in order to render comparison possible
between the facts recorded in the different areas. In regard to the
scope of the inquiry, it is recognized that much is practicable in a
country where the agency of trained officials is employed throughout the
operation which cannot be expected to be adequately recorded where the
responsibility for the correctness of the replies is thrown upon the
householder. The standard set up by eminent statisticians, therefore,
may be taken to represent an ideal, not likely to be attained anywhere
under present conditions, but towards which each successive census may
be expected to advance. The subjects to which most importance is
attached from the international standpoint are age, sex, civil
condition, birthplace, illiteracy and certain infirmities. Occupation,
too, should be included, but the record of so detailed a subject is
usually considered to be better obtained by a special inquiry, rather
than by the rough and ready methods of a synchronous enumeration. This
course has been adopted in Germany, Belgium and France, and an approach
to it is made in the decennial census of Canada and the United States.
Religious denomination, another of the general subjects suggested, is of
considerably more importance in some countries than in others, and the
same may be said of nationality, which is often usefully supplemented by
the return of mother-tongue. Nor should it be forgotten that the
internal classification and the combinations of the above subjects are
also matters to be treated upon some uniform plan, if the full value of
the statistics is to be extracted from the raw material. On the whole,
the progress towards a general understanding on many, if not most, of
the questions here mentioned which has been made in the present
generation, is a gratifying tribute to those who have long laboured in
the cause of efficient enumeration.
THE BRITISH EMPIRE
_England and Wales._--Up to the beginning of the 19th century the number
of the population was a matter of estimate and conjecture. In 1753 a
bill was introduced by a private member of the House of Commons, backed
by official support, to provide for the annual enumeration of the people
and of the persons in receipt of parochial relief. It was violently
opposed as "subversive of the last remains of English liberty" and as
likely to result in "some public misfortune or an epidemical distemper."
After passing that House, however, the bill was thrown out by the House
of Lords. The fear of disclosing to the enemies of England the weakness
of the country in fighting-material was one of the main objections
offered to the proposal. By the end of the century, however, owing to a
great extent to the publication of the essays of Malthus, the pendulum
had swung far in the opposite direction, it was thought desirable to
possess the means of judging from time to time the relations between an
increasing population and the means of subsistence. A census bill,
accordingly, again brought in by a private member, became law without
opposition at the end of 1800, and the first enumeration under it took
place in March of the following year, the operations being confined to
Great Britain. The inquiry was entrusted in England to the overseers,
acting under the justices of the peace and the high constables, and in
Scotland, to village schoolmasters, under the sheriffs. A supplementary
statement of births, deaths and marriages for each parish was required
from the clergy, who transmitted it to parliament through the bishops
and primates successively. There was no central office or control. The
schedule required the number of houses, inhabited and otherwise, the
population of each family, by sex, and the occupation, under one of the
three heads, (a) agriculture, (b) trade, manufacture or industry, or (c)
other than these two. The results, which were not satisfactory, were
published without comment. Ten years later, the chief alteration in the
inquiry was the substitution of the main occupation of the family for
that of the individual. The report on this census contained a very
valuable exposition of the difficulties involved in such operations and
the numerous sources of error latent in an apparently simple set of
questions. In 1821 an attempt to get a return of ages was made, but it
was not repeated in 1831, when the attention of the enumerators was
concentrated upon greater detail in the occupation record. Their efforts
were successful in getting a better, but still far from complete result.
The creation, in 1834, of poor law unions, and the establishment, in
1836, of civil registration districts, as a rule coterminous with them,
provided a new basis for the taking of a census, and the operations in
1841 were made over accordingly to the supervision of the
registrar-general and his staff. The inquiry was extended to the sex,
age and occupation of every individual; those born in the district were
distinguished from others, foreigners being also separately returned.
The number of houses inhabited, uninhabited and under construction
respectively, was noted in the return. The parish statement of births,
deaths and marriages was sent up by the clergy for the last time. The
most important innovation, however, was the transfer of the
responsibility for filling up the schedule from the overseers to the
householders, thereby rendering possible a synchronous record.
With some modification in detail, the system then inaugurated has been
since maintained. In 1851 the relationship to the head of the family,
civil condition, and the blind and deaf-mute were included in the
inquiry. On this occasion, the act providing for the census was
interpreted to authorize the collection of details regarding
accommodation in places of public worship and the attendance thereat, as
well as corresponding information about educational establishments. A
separate report was published on the former subject which proved
something of a storm centre. The census of 1871 obtained for the first
time a return of persons of unsound mind not confined in asylums. During
the next ten years, the separate areas for which population returns had
to be prepared were seriously multiplied by the creation of sanitary
districts, to the number of 966. The necessity, for administrative or
other purposes, of tabulating separately the returns for so many
cross-divisions of the country constitutes one of the main difficulties
of the English census operations, more particularly as the boundaries of
these areas are frequently altered. In anticipation of the census of
1891, a treasury committee was appointed to consider the various
suggestions made in regard to the form and scope of the inquiry. Its
proposals were adopted as to the subdivision of the occupation column
into employer, employed and independent worker, and as to the record
upon the schedule of the number of rooms occupied by the family, where
not more than five. Separate entry was also made of the persons living
upon property or resources, but not following any occupation. No action
was taken, however, upon the more important recommendation that midway
between two censuses a simple enumeration by sex and age should be
effected. A return was also prepared in 1891, for Wales, of those who
could speak only Welsh, only English, and both languages, but, owing to
the inclusion of infants, the results were of little value. In 1901 the
same information was called for, excluding all under three years of age.
The term tenement, too, was substituted for that of storey, as the
subdivision of a house, whilst in addition to inhabited and uninhabited
houses, those occupied by day, but not by night, were separately
recorded. The nationality of those born abroad, which used to be
returned only for British subjects, was called for from all not born
within the kingdom.
_Scotland._--In the acts relating to the census from 1801 to 1851,
provision for the enumeration of Scotland was made with that for England
and Wales, allowance being made for the differences in procedure, which
mainly concerned the agency to be employed. In 1855, however, civil
registration of births and deaths was established in Scotland, and the
conduct of the census of 1861 was, by a separate act, entrusted to the
registrar-general of that country. The same course was followed at the
three succeeding enumerations, but in 1901 the former practice was
resumed. The complexity of administrative areas, though far less than in
England, was simplified, and the census compilation proportionately
facilitated, by the passing of the Local Government Act for Scotland, in
1889. In 1881, the definition of a house in Scotland was made identical
with that in England, since previously what was called a house in the
northern portion of Great Britain was known as a tenement in the south,
and vice versa. Since 1861 a return has been called for in Scotland of
the number of rooms with one or more windows, and that of children of
school-age under instruction is also included in the inquiry. The number
of persons speaking Gaelic was recorded for the first time in 1881. The
question was somewhat expanded at the next census, and in 1901 was
brought into harmony with the similar inquiry as to Welsh and Manx.
_Ireland_.--An estimate of the population of Ireland was made as early
as 1672, by Sir W. Petty, and another in 1712, in connexion with the
hearth-money, but the first attempt to take a regular census was made in
1811, through the Grand Juries. It was not successful, and in 1821
again, the inquiry was considered to be but little more satisfactory.
The census of 1831 was better, but the results were considered
exaggerated, owing to the system of paying enumerators according to the
numbers they returned. The census, therefore, was supplemented by a
revisional inquiry three years afterwards, in order to get a good basis
for the newly introduced system of public instruction. The completion of
the ordnance survey and the establishment of an educated constabulary
force brought the operations of 1841 up to the level of those of the
sister kingdom. The main difference in procedure between the two
inquiries is that in Ireland the schedule is filled in by the
enumerator, a member of the constabulary, or, in Dublin, of the
metropolitan police, instead of being left to the householder. The
tabulation of the returns, again, is carried out at the central office
from the original schedule, and not, as in England, from the book into
which the former has been copied by the enumerating agency. The inquiry
in Ireland is more extensive than that in Great Britain. It includes,
for instance, a considerable amount of information regarding holdings
and stock. The details of house accommodation are fuller. A column is
provided for the degree of education, and another for religious
denomination, an addition which has always been successfully resisted in
England. This last information was made voluntary in 1881 and the
following enumerations without materially affecting the extent of the
record. The inquiry as to infirmities, too, is made to extend to those
_temporarily_ incapacitated from work, whether at home or in a hospital.
There is also a column for the entry of persons speaking the Irish
language only or able to speak both that and English. In the report of
1901 for England and Wales (p. 170) a table is given showing, for the
three divisions of the United Kingdom, the relative number of persons
speaking the ancient languages either exclusively or in addition to
English.
_British Colonies and Dependencies._--A simultaneous and uniform census
of the British empire is an ideal which appeals to many, but its
practical advantages are by no means commensurate with the difficulties
to be surmounted. Scattered as are the colonies and dependencies over
the world, the date found most suitable for the inquiry in the mother
country and the temperate regions of the north is the opposite in the
tropics and inconvenient at the antipodes. Then, again, as to the scope
of the inquiry, the administrative purposes for which information is
thus collected vary greatly in the different countries, and the inquiry,
too, has to be limited to what the conditions of the locality allow, and
the population dealt with is likely to be able and willing to answer. By
prearrangement, no doubt, uniformity may be obtained in regard to most
of the main statistical facts ascertainable at a census, at all events
in the more advanced units of the empire, and proposals to this effect
were made by the registrar-general of England and Wales in his report
upon the figures for 1901. Previous to that date, the only step towards
compilation of the census results of the empire had been a bare
statement of area and population, appended without analysis; comparison
or comment, to the reports for England and Wales, from the year 1861
onwards. In 1905, however, the returns published in the colonial reports
were combined with those of the United Kingdom, and the subjects of
house-room, sex, age, civil condition, birthplace, occupation, and,
where available, instruction, religion and infirmities, were reviewed as
fully as the want of uniformity in the material permitted (Command
paper, 2860, 1906). The measures taken by the principal states, colonies
and dependencies for the periodical enumeration of their population are
set forth below.
_Canada_.--The first enumeration of what was afterwards called Lower
Canada, took place, as above stated, in 1665, and dealt with the legal,
or domiciled, population, not with that actually present at the time of
the census, a practice still maintained, in contrast to that prevailing
in the rest of the empire. The record was by families, and included the
sex, age and civil condition of each individual, with a partial return
of profession or trade. Later on, the last item was abandoned in favour
of a fuller return of agricultural resources, a feature which has
remained a prominent part of the inquiry. After the British occupation,
a census was taken in 1765 and 1784, and annually from 1824 to 1842, the
information asked for differing from time to time. Enumerations were
conducted independently by the different states until 1871, when the
first federal census was taken of the older parts of the Dominion. Since
then, the enumeration has been decennial, except in the case of the more
recently colonized territories of Manitoba and the North-West, where an
intermediate census was found necessary in 1885-1886. The census of
Canada is organized on the plan adopted in the United States rather than
in accordance with British practice, and includes much which is the
subject of annual returns in the latter country, or is not officially
collected at all. The details of deaths in the year preceding the
census, for instance, are called for, there being no registration of
such occurrences in the rural tracts. In consideration of the large
immigrant population again, the birthplace of each parent is recorded,
with details as to nationality, naturalization and date of immigration.
Occupation is dealt with minutely, in conjunction with temporary
unemployment, average wage or salary earned, and other particulars. No
less than eleven schedules are employed, most of them relating to
details of industries and production. The duty of filling up so
comprehensive a return, involving an answer to 561 questions, is not
left to the householder, but entrusted to enumerators specially engaged,
working under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture. Owing to
the sparse population and difficulties of communication in a great part
of the dominion, the inquiry, though referred to a single date, is not
completed on that day, a month being allowed to the enumerator for the
collection of his returns and their revision and transmission to the
central office. A special feature in the operations is the provision,
necessitated by the record of the _legal_ population, for the inclusion
in the local return of the persons temporarily absent on the date of the
census, and their adjustment in the general aggregates, a matter to
which considerable attention is paid. The very large mass of detail
collected at these inquiries entails an unusually long time spent in
compilation; the statistics of population, accordingly, are available
considerably in advance of those relating to production and industries.
_Australasia_.--As the sphere of the census operations in Canada has
been gradually spreading from the small beginnings on the east coast to
the immense territories of the north-west, so, in the island continent,
colonization, first concentrated in the south-east, has extended along
the coasts and thence into the interior, except in the northern region.
The first act of effective occupation of the country having been the
establishment of a penal settlement, the only population to be dealt
with in the earlier years of British administration was that under
restraint, with its guardians and a few scattered immigrants in the
immediate neighbourhood of Sydney Cove. This was enumerated from 1788
onwards by official "musters," at first weekly, and afterwards at
lengthening intervals. The record was so inaccurate that it had no
statistical value until 1820, when the muster was taken after due
preparation and with greater care, approximating to the system of a
regular census. The first operation, however, called by the latter name,
was the enumeration of 1828, when an act was passed providing for the
enumeration of the whole population, the occupied area and the
live-stock. The details of population included sex, children and adults
respectively, religion and _status_, that is whether free (immigrants or
liberated convicts), on ticket-of-leave, or under restraint. A similar
inquiry was made in 1833 and again in 1836. In 1841 a separate census
was taken of New Zealand and Tasmania respectively. The scope of the
inquiry in New South Wales was somewhat extended and made to include
occupations other than agriculture and stock-breeding. Five years later,
the increase of the population justified the further addition of
particulars regarding birthplace and education. The record of _status_,
too, was made optional, and in 1856 was omitted from the schedule. In
that year, moreover, Victoria, which had become a separate colony, took
its own census. South Australia, too, was enumerated in 1846, ten years
after its foundation as a colony. From 1861 the census has been taken
decennially by all the states except Queensland, where, as in New
Zealand, it has been quinquennial since 1875 and 1881 respectively. Up
to and including the census of 1901 each state conducted separately its
own inquiries. The scheme of enumeration is based on that of Great
Britain, modified to suit the conditions of a thin and widely scattered
population. The schedules are distributed by enumerators acting under
district supervisors; but it is found impossible to collect the whole
number in a single day, nor does the mobility of the population in the
rural tracts make such expedition necessary. In more than one state the
police are employed as enumerators, but elsewhere, a staff has to be
specially recruited for the purpose. The operations were improved and
facilitated by means of an interstatal conference held before the census
of 1891, at which a standard schedule was adopted and a series of
general tables agreed upon, to be supplemented in greater detail
according to the requirements of each state. The standard schedule, in
addition to the leading facts of sex, age, civil condition, birthplace,
occupation and house-room, includes education and sickness as well as
infirmities, and leaves the return of religious denomination optional
with the householder. Under the head of occupation, the bread-winner is
distinguished from his dependants and is returned as employer, employed,
or working on his own account, as is now the usual practice in
census-taking. Each state issues its own report, in which the returns
are worked up in the detail required for both local administrative
purposes, and for comparison with the corresponding returns for the
neighbouring territory. The reports for New South Wales and Victoria are
especially valuable in their statistical aspect from the analysis they
contain of the vital conditions of a comparatively young community under
modern conditions of progress.
_South Africa._--Almost from the date of their taking possession of the
Cape of Good Hope and its vicinity, the Netherlands East Indian Company
instituted annual returns of population, live-stock and agricultural
produce. The results from 1687 for nearly a century were recorded, but
do not appear to have been more accurate than those subsequently
obtained on the same method by the British government, by whom they were
discontinued in 1856. The information was collected by district
officials, unguided by any general instructions as to form or procedure.
The first synchronous census of the colony, as it was then constituted,
took place in 1865, on a fairly comprehensive schedule. Ten years later
the inquiry was extended to religion and civil condition, and for the
census of 1891, again, a rather more elaborate schedule was used. The
next census was deferred till 1904, in consequence of the
disorganization produced by the Boer war. The inquiry was on the same
lines as its predecessors, with a little more detail as to industries
and religious denomination. Speaking generally, the administration of
the operations is conducted upon the Australian plan, with special
attention to allaying the distrust of the native and more ignorant
classes, for which purpose the influence of the clergy was enlisted. In
some tracts it was found advisable to substitute a less elaborate
schedule for that generally prescribed. In Natal, indeed, where the
first independent census was taken in 1891, the Kaffir population was
not on that occasion enumerated at all. In 1904, however, they were
counted on a very simple schedule, by sex and by large age-groups up to
40 years old, with a return of birthplace, in a form affording a fair
indication of race. Natives of India, an element of considerable extent
and importance in this colony, are enumerated apart from the white
population, but in full detail, recognizing the remarkable difference
between the European and the Oriental in the matter of age distribution
and civil condition. The Transvaal and the Orange River colonies were
enumerated in 1904. In the latter, a census had been taken in 1890, in
considerable detail, but that of the Transvaal, in 1896, seems to have
been far from complete or accurate even in regard to the white
population. In Southern Rhodesia the white residents were enumerated in
1891, but it was not until 1904 that the whole population was included
in the census. The difficulty in all these cases is that of procuring a
sufficient quantity of efficient agency, especially where a large and
illiterate native population has to be taken into account. For this
reason, amongst others, no census had been taken up to 1906 of Northern
Rhodesia, the British possessions and protectorates of eastern Africa,
or, again, of Nigeria and the protectorates attached to the West African
colonies of Gambia, Sierra Leone and Lagos.
_The West Indies._--Each of the small administrative groups here
included takes its census independently of the rest, though since 1871
all take it about the date fixed for that of the United Kingdom. The
information required differs in each group, but the schedule is, as a
rule, of a simple character, and the results of the inquiry are usually
set forth with comparatively little comment or analysis. In some of the
groups distinctions of colour are returned in general terms; in others,
not at all. On the other hand, considerable detail is included regarding
the indentured labourers recruited from India, and those of this class
who are permanently settled on the land in Guiana and Trinidad. No
census was taken in the former, or in Jamaica and Barbados, in 1901.
_Ceylon_.--Here the census is taken decennially, on the same date as in
India, in consideration of the constant stream of migration between the
two countries. The schedule is much the same as in India with the
substitution of race for caste. Until 1901, however, it was not filled
in by the enumerator, as in India, but was distributed before and
collected after the appointed date as in Great Britain.
_India_.--The population of India is the largest aggregate yet brought
within the scope of a synchronous and uniform enumeration. It amounts to
three-fourths of that of the British Empire, and but little less than a
fifth of the estimated population of the world. Between 1853 and 1881
each province conducted its own census operations independently, with
little or no attempt at uniformity in date, schedule or tabulation. In
the latter year the operations were placed for the first time under
central administration, and the like procedure was adopted in 1891 and
1901, with such modification of detail as was suggested by the
experience of the preceding census. On each occasion new areas had to be
brought within the sphere of enumeration, whilst the necessity for the
use in the wilder tracts of a schedule simpler in its demands than the
standard, grew less as the country got more accustomed to the inquiry,
and the efficiency of the administrative agency increased. Not more than
5% of the householders in India can read and write, and the proportion
capable of fully understanding the schedule and of making the entries in
it correctly is still lower. From the literate minority, therefore,
agency has to be drawn in sufficient strength to take down every
particle of the information dictated by the heads of families. As it
would be impossible for an enumerator to get through this task in the
course of the census night for more than a comparatively small number of
houses, the operation is divided into two processes. First a preliminary
record is made a short time before the night in question, of the persons
ordinarily residing in each house. Then, on that night, the enumerator,
reinforced if necessary by aid drafted from outside, revisits his beat,
and brings the record up to date by striking out the absent and entering
the new arrivals. The average extent of each beat is arranged to include
about 300 persons. Thus, in 1901, not far from a million men were
required for enumeration alone. To this army must be added the
controlling agency, of at least a tenth of the above number, charged
with the instruction of their subordinates, the inspection and
correction of the preliminary record, and the transmission of the
schedule books to the local centre after the census has been taken. The
supply of agency for these duties is, fortunately, not deficient.
Irrespective of the large number of clerks, village scribes and state
and municipal employés which can be drawn upon with but slight
interruption of official routine, there is a fair supply of casual
literary labour up to the moderate standard required. The services, too,
of the educated public are often voluntarily placed at the disposal of
the local authorities for the census night, with no desire for
remuneration beyond out-of-pocket expenses, and the addition, perhaps,
of a personal letter of thanks from the chief official of the district.
By means of a well-organized chain of tabulating centres, the
preliminary totals, by sexes, of the 294 millions enumerated in 1901
were given to the public within a fortnight of the census, and differed
from the final results by no more than 94,000, or .03%. The schedule
adopted contains in addition to the standard subjects of sex, age, civil
condition, birthplace, occupation and infirmities, columns for
mother-tongue, religion and sect, and caste and sub-caste. It is printed
in about 20 languages. The results for each province or large state are
tabulated locally, by districts or linguistic divisions. The final
compilation is done by a provincial superintendent, who prepares his own
report upon the operations and results. This work has usually an
interest not found in corresponding reports elsewhere, in the prominent
place necessarily occupied in it by the ethnographical variety of the
population.
FOREIGN COUNTRIES
Inquiries by local officials in connexion with measures of taxation,
such as the hearth-tax in France, were instituted in continental Europe
as early as the 14th century; but as the basis of an estimate of
population they were intrinsically untrustworthy. Going outside Europe,
an extreme instance of the results of combining a census with more
definite administrative objects may be found in the census of China in
1711, when the population enumerated in connexion with a poll-tax and
liability to military service, was returned as 28 millions; but forty
years later, when the question was that of the measures for the relief
of widespread distress, the corresponding total rose to 103 millions!
The notion of obtaining a periodical record of population and its
movement, dissociated from fiscal or other liabilities, originated, as
stated above, in Sweden, where, in 1686, the birth and death registers,
till then kept voluntarily by the parish clergy, were made compulsory
and general, the results for each year being communicated to a central
office. A census, as a special undertaking, was not, however, carried
out in that country until 1749. The example of Sweden was followed in
the next year by Finland, and twenty years later, by Norway, where the
parish register was an existing institution, as in the neighbouring
state. Several other countries followed suit in the course of the 18th
century, though the results were either partial or inaccurate. Amongst
them was Spain, though here a trustworthy census was not obtained until
1857, or perhaps 1887. Some of the small states of Italy, too, recorded
their population in the middle of the above century, but the first
general census of that country took place in 1861, after its
unification. In Austria, a census was taken in 1754 by the parish
clergy, concurrently with the civil authorities and the military
commandants. Hungary was in part enumerated thirty years later. The
starting-point of the modern census, however, in either part of the dual
monarchy, was not until 1857. Speaking generally, most of the principal
countries began the current series of their censuses between 1825 and
1860. The German empire has taken its census quinquennially since its
foundation, but long before 1871 a census at short intervals used to be
taken in all the states of the Zollverein, for the purpose of
ascertaining the contribution to the federal revenue, the amount of
which was revisable every three years. The last great country to enter
the census field was Russia. From 1721, what are known as revisions of
the population were periodically carried out, for military, fiscal and
police purposes; but these were conducted by local officials without
central direction or systematic organization. In 1897 a general census
was taken as synchronously throughout the empire as was found possible.
It embraced a population second to that of India alone, as China,
probably the most populous country in the world, has not yet been
subjected to this test. The inquiry was made in great detail, under
central control, and on a plan sufficiently elastic to suit the
requirements of so varied a country and population. As in India, the
schedules had to be issued in an unusual number of languages, and were
dealt with locally in the earlier stages of tabulation. The principal
regions of which the population is still a matter of mere conjecture are
the Turkish empire, Persia, Afghanistan, China and the Indo-Chinese
peninsula, in Asia, nearly nine-tenths of Africa, and a considerable
portion of South America. (J. A. B.)
UNITED STATES
Modern census-taking seems to have originated in the United States.
Professor von Mayr declares in a recent and authoritative work, "It was
no European state, but the United States of America that made a
beginning of census-taking in the large and true sense of that word,"
and Professor H. Wagner, writing of the censuses of Sweden, said to have
been taken in the 18th century, uses these words, "Since 1749 careful
parish registers have been kept by the clergy and have in general the
value of censuses." The same authority, although mentioning a reported
census of Norway in 1769, indicates his conviction that the first real
census of that country was in 1815. Sweden, Norway and the United States
are the only countries with any claim to have taken the first modern
census, as distinguished from a register of tax-payers, &c., the lineal
descendant of the old Roman census, and the innovation seems to be due
to the United States. If so, the first modern census was the American
census of 1790. At the present date more than three-fifths of the
estimated population of the world has been enumerated in this way. It is
of interest accordingly to note how and why the device originated.
The Federal census, which began in 1790 and has been taken every ten
years since under a mandate contained in the Constitution of the United
States, was the outgrowth of a controversy in the convention which
prepared the document. Representatives of the smaller states as a rule
claimed that the vote, and so the influence, of the states in the
proposed government should be equal. Representatives of the larger
states as a rule claimed that their greater population and wealth were
entitled to recognition. The controversy ended in the creation of a
bicameral legislature in the lower branch of which the claim of the
larger states found recognition, while in the upper, the Senate, each
state had two votes. In the House of Representatives seats were to be
distributed in proportion to the population, and the convention,
foreseeing rapid changes of population, ordained an enumeration of the
inhabitants and a redistribution or reapportionment of seats in the
House of Representatives every ten years.
The provision of the Constitution on the subject is as
follows:--"Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among
the several states which may be included within this Union according to
their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the
whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a
term of years and excluding Indians not taxed, three-fifths of all other
persons. The actual enumeration shall be made within three years after
the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every
subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law
direct."
In 1790 the population was reported classed as slaves and free, the free
classed as white and others, the free whites as males and females, and
the free white males as under or above sixteen years of age. In 1800
and 1810 the same classification was preserved, except that five
age-groups instead of two were given for free white males and the same
five were applied also to free white females. In connexion with the
census of 1810 an attempt, perhaps the earliest in any country, was made
to gather certain industrial statistics showing "the number, nature,
extent, situation and value of the arts and manufactures of the United
States." In 1820 a sixth age class was introduced for free white males,
an age classification of four periods was applied to the free coloured
and the slaves of each sex, and the number of aliens and of persons
engaged in agriculture, in manufactures and in commerce was called for.
The inquiry into industrial statistics begun in 1810 was also repeated
and extended.
In 1830 thirteen age classes were employed for free whites of each sex,
and six for the free coloured and the slaves of each sex. The number of
aliens, of the deaf and dumb and the blind were also gathered.
The law under which the census of 1840 was taken contained a novel
provision for the preparation in connexion with the census of
statistical tables giving "such information in relation to mines,
agriculture, commerce, manufactures and schools as will exhibit a full
view of the pursuits, industry, education and resources of the country."
This was about the first indication of a tendency, which grew in
strength for half a century, to load the Federal census with inquiries
having no essential or necessary connexion with its main purpose, which
was to secure an accurate enumeration of the population as a basis for a
reapportionment of seats in the House of Representatives. This tendency
was largely due to a doubt whether the Federal government under the
Constitution possessed the power to initiate general statistical
inquiries, a doubt well expressed in the 9th edition of the
_Encyclopaedia Britannica_ by Francis A. Walker, himself a prominent
member of the party whose contention he states:--
"The reservation by the states of all rights not granted to the
general government makes it fairly a matter of question whether purely
statistical inquiries, other than for the single purpose of
apportioning representation, could be initiated by any other authority
than that of the states themselves. That large party which advocates a
strict and jealous construction of the constitution would certainly
oppose any independent legislation by the national Congress for
providing a registration of births, marriages and deaths, or for
obtaining social and industrial statistics, whether for the
satisfaction of the publicist or for the guidance of the legislature.
Even though the supreme court should decide such legislation to be
within the grant of powers to the general government, the distrust and
opposition, on constitutional grounds, of so large a portion of the
people, could not but go far to defeat the object sought."
The difficulty stated in the foregoing quotation, although now mainly of
historic importance, exerted great influence upon the development of the
American census prior to 1900.
The pioneer work of the census of 1840 in the fields of educational
statistics, statistics of occupations, of defective classes and of
causes of death, suffered from numerous errors and defects. Public
discussion of them contributed to secure radical modifications of scope
and method at the census of 1850. Before the census law was passed, a
census board, consisting of three members of the president's cabinet,
was appointed to draft plans for the inquiry, and the essential features
of its report prepared after consultation with a number of leading
statisticians were embodied in the law.
The census of 1850 was taken on six schedules, one for free inhabitants,
one for slaves, one for deaths during the preceding year, one for
agriculture, one for manufactures and one for social statistics. The
last asked for returns regarding valuation, taxation, educational and
religious statistics, pauperism, crime and the prevailing rates of wages
in each municipal division. It was also the first American census to
give a line of the schedule to each person, death or establishment
enumerated, and thus to make the returns in the individual form
indispensable for a detailed classification and compilation. The results
of this census were tabulated with care and skill, and a preliminary
analysis gave the salient results and in some cases compared them with
European figures.
The census of 1860 followed the model of its predecessor with slight
changes. When the time for the next census approached it was felt that
new legislation was needed, and a committee of the House of
Representatives, with James A. Garfield, afterwards president of the
United States, at its head, made a careful and thorough study of the
situation and reported an excellent bill, which passed the House, but
was defeated by untoward influences in the Senate. In consequence the
census of 1870 was taken with the outgrown machinery established twenty
years earlier, a law characterized by Francis A. Walker, the
superintendent of the census, who administered it, as "clumsy,
antiquated and barbarous." It suffered also from the fact that large
parts of the country had not recovered from the ruin wrought by four
years of civil war. In consequence this census marks the lowest ebb of
American census work. Tie accuracy of the results is generally denied by
competent experts. The serious errors were errors of omission, were
probably confined in the main to the Southern states, and were
especially frequent among the negroes.
Since 1870 the development of census work in the United States has been
steady and rapid. The law, which had been prepared for the census of
1870 by the House committee, furnished a basis for greatly improved
legislation in 1879, under which the tenth census was taken. By this law
the census office for the first time was allowed to call into existence
and to control an adequate local staff of supervisors and enumerators.
The scope of the work was so extended as to make the twenty-two quarto
volumes of the tenth census almost an encyclopaedia, not only of the
population, but also of the products and resources of the United States.
Probably no other census in the world has ever covered so wide a range
of subjects, and perhaps none except that of India and the eleventh
American census has extended through so many volumes. The topics usually
contained in a census suffered from the great addition of other and less
pertinent matter, and the reputation of the work was unfavourably
affected by the length of time required to prepare and publish the
volumes (the last ones not appearing until near the end of the decade),
the original underestimate of the cost of the work, which made frequent
supplementary appropriations necessary, the resignation of the
superintendent, Francis A. Walker, in 1882, and the disability and death
of his successor, Charles W. Seaton. The eleventh census was taken under
a law almost identical with that of the tenth, and extended through
twenty-five large volumes, presenting a work almost as encyclopaedic,
but much more distinctively statistical.
The popular opinion of a census, at least in the United States, depends
largely upon the degree to which its figures for the population of the
country, of states, and especially of cities, meet or fail to meet the
expectations of the interested public. Judged by this standard, the
census of 1890 was less favourably received than that of 1880. The
enumerated population of the country in 1880 was larger than had been
anticipated; and in the face of these figures it was difficult for local
complaints, even where they were made, to find hearing and acceptance.
But according to the eleventh census the decennial rate of growth of
population fell suddenly from over 30%, which the figures had shown
between 1870 and 1880, and in every preceding decade of the century,
except that of the Civil War, to less than 25%, in spite of an
immigration nearly double that of any preceding decade. For this change
no adequate explanation was offered by the census office. Hence the
protests of those who believed that the figures for population were too
small swelled into a general chorus of dissatisfaction. But the census
was probably more correct than the critics. Most of the motives
influencing popular estimates of population in the United States tend to
exaggeration. The convention which drafted the Constitution of the
United States attempted to secure a balance of interests by apportioning
both representatives in Congress and direct taxes according to
population. A passage in _The Federalist_ suggests the motives of the
convention as follows:--
"As the accuracy of the census to be obtained by Congress will
necessarily depend in a considerable degree on the disposition if not
co-operation of the states, it is of great importance that the states
should feel as little bias as possible to swell or reduce the amount
of their numbers. Were their share of representation alone to be
governed by this rule, they would have an interest in exaggerating
their inhabitants. Were the rule to decide their share of taxation
alone, a contrary temptation would prevail. By extending the rule to
both objects the states will have opposite interests, which will
control and balance each other, and produce a requisite impartiality."
With the disappearance of direct taxation as a source of federal
revenue, the motive mentioned for understating the population
disappeared. On the other hand, the desire for many representatives in
Congress has been reinforced by the more influential feelings of local
pride and of rivalry with other cities of somewhat similar size. Hence a
complaint that the population is overstated is seldom heard, and hence,
also, popular charges of an under-count afford little evidence that the
population was really larger than stated by the census.
After the detailed tabulation had been completed, it was shown that the
number of persons under ten years of age in 1890 was surprisingly small,
and that this deficiency in children was a leading cause of the slow
growth in population. Before the tabulation had been made Francis A.
Walker wrote:--"If the birth-rate among the previously existing
population did not suffer a sharp decline ... the census of 1890 cannot
be vindicated. To ascertain the facts we must await the tabulation of
the population by periods of life, and ascertain how many of the
inhabitants of the United States of 1890 were under ten years of age."
These results thus confirmed the accuracy of the count of 1890. Efforts
to invalidate the census returns by comparison with the registration
records of Massachusetts cannot be deemed conclusive, since in the
United States, as in Great Britain, the census must be deemed more
accurate and less subject to error than registration records. A strong
argument in favour of the eleventh census, apart from its
self-consistency, is that its results as a whole fit in with the
subsequent state enumerations. In eleven cases such enumerations have
been taken; and on computing from them and the results of the federal
census of 1880 what the population at the date of the eleventh census
should have been, if the annual rate of increase had been uniform, it
appears that in no case, except New York City and Oregon, was the
difference between the enumerations and these estimates over 4%. In
Oregon about 30,000 more people were found in 1890 than the estimate
would lead one to expect; in New York city, about 100,000 less. It seems
not improbable that in the latter, where the difficulties incident to a
count during the summer are almost insurmountable, serious omissions
occurred. Still, such a comparison confirms the accuracy of the eleventh
census as a whole.
The results of the twelfth census (1900) further refute the argument
that would maintain the eleventh census to be inaccurate because it
showed a smaller rate of increase in population during the preceding
decade than had been recorded by other censuses during earlier decades.
The rate of increase during the decade ending in 1900 was even less than
that for the preceding decade; and it is impossible that a falling off
so marked could in two successive enumerations be the result of sheer
inaccuracy. The rate of increase from 1890 to 1900, eliminating from the
computation the population of Alaska, Hawaii, Indian Territory and
Indian reservations, was 20.7; the rate of increase if these places are
included--in which case the figures of the population of Hawaii in 1890
must be taken from the census of the Hawaiian government in that
year--was 21%.
The law regulating the twelfth census deserves to rank with those of
1790, 1850 and 1879 as one of the four important laws relative to
census work. By this law the census office was far more independent
than ever before. Appointments and removals were made by the director
of the census rather than by the secretary of the interior, and in all
plans for the execution of the law the head of the office was
responsible for success. The law divided the subjects of census
inquiry into two parts--first, those of primary importance, requiring
the aid of the enumerator; and, secondly, those of subsidiary
importance, capable of production without the aid of the enumerator.
The former had to be finished and published by 1st July 1902; the
latter were not to be undertaken until the former were well advanced
towards completion. By this means the attention of the office could be
concentrated on a small number of subjects rather than distributed
over the long list treated in the volumes of the tenth and eleventh
censuses.
Under the federal form of government, with its delegation of all
residuary powers to the several states, the United States have no
system of recording deaths, births and marriages. Hence there is no
such basis as exists in nearly every other civilized state for a
national system of registration, and the country depends upon the
crude method of enumerators' returns for its information on vital
statistics, except in the states and cities which have established a
trustworthy registration system of their own. These are the New
England states and a few others in their vicinity or influenced by
their example. Enumerators' returns in this field are so incomplete
that hardly two-thirds of the deaths which have occurred in any
community during the preceding year are obtained by an enumerator
visiting the families, no satisfactory basis for the computation of
death-rates is afforded, and the returns have comparatively little
scientific value. In the regions where census tables and
interpretations are derived from registration records kept by the
several states or cities they are often made more complete than those
in the state or municipal documents. The census of agriculture is also
liable to a wide margin of error, owing to defects in farm accounts
and the inability of many farmers to state the amount or the value
even of the leading crops. The census figures relate to the calendar
year preceding 1st June 1900, and hurried and careless answers about
the preceding year's crop are almost sure to have been given by many
farmers in the midst of the summer's work.
The difficulties facing the manufacturing census were of a different
character. A large proportion of the industries of the country keep
satisfactory accounts, and can answer the questions with some
correctness. But manufacturers are likely to suspect the objects of
the census, and to fear that the information given will be open to the
public or betrayed to competitors. Furthermore, the manufacturing
schedule presupposes some uniformity in the method of accounting among
different companies or lines of business, and this is often lacking.
Another source of error in the manufacturing census of the United
States is that the words of the census law are construed as requiring
an enumeration of the various trades and handicrafts, such as
carpentering. The deficiencies in such returns are gross and
notorious, but the census office feels obliged to seek for them and to
report what it finds, however incomplete or incorrect the results may
be. Even on the population returns certain answers, such as the number
of the divorced or the number unable to read and write, may be open to
question.
The wide range of the American census, and the publication of
uncertain figures, find a justification in the fact that the
development of accurate census work requires a long educational
process in the office, and, above all, in the community. Rough
approximations must always precede accurate measurements; and these
returns, while often inaccurate, are better than nothing, and probably
improve with each decade.
Besides, the breadth of its scope, in which the American census stands
unrivalled, the most important American contribution to census work
has been the application of electricity to the tabulation of the
results, as was first done in 1890. The main difficulties which this
method reduced were two. The production of tables for so enormous a
population as that of the United States through the method of tallying
by hand requires a great number of clerks and a long period of time,
and when complete cannot be verified except by a repetition of the
process. The new method abbreviates the time, since an electric
current can tally almost simultaneously the data, the tallying of
which by hand would be separated by appreciable intervals. The method
also renders comparatively easy the verification of the results of
certain selected parts.
Judged by European standards the cost of the American census is very
great. The following table gives the total and the per capita cost of
each enumeration.
+------+---------------------+------+-----------------------+
| | Cost. | | Cost. |
| +----------+----------+ +------------+----------+
| Date.| Total in |Per Capita| Date.| Total in |Per Capita|
| | dollars. |in cents. | | dollars. |in cents. |
+------+----------+----------+------+------------+----------+
| 1790 | 44,377 | 1.12 | 1850 | 1,423,351 | 6.13 |
| 1800 | 66,109 | 1.24 | 1860 | 1,969,377 | 6.26 |
| 1810 | 178,445 | 2.46 | 1870 | 3,421,198 | 8.87 |
| 1820 | 208,526 | 2.16 | 1880 | 5,790,678 | 11.48 |
| 1830 | 378,545 | 2.94 | 1890 | 11,547,127 | 18.33 |
| 1840 | 833,371 | 4.88 | 1900 | 16,116,930 | 21.16 |
+------+----------+----------+------+------------+----------+
For the sake of comparison it may be stated that the per capita cost
of the English census of 1901 was 2.24 cents, or little more than
one-tenth that of the American census. This difference is due in part
to the greater scope and complexity of the American census, and in
part to the fact that in the United States the field work is done by
well-paid enumerators, while in England it is done in most cases by
the heads of families, who are not paid.
The course of events has clearly established the fact that the
authority of the Federal government in this field is greater than the
strict constructionists of a previous generation as represented by
General Walker in the passage already quoted believed it to be.
Decision after decision of individual instances has made it a settled
practice for the Federal government to co-operate with or to
supplement the state governments in the gathering of statistics that
may furnish a basis for state or Federal legislation. The law has
allowed the Federal census office in its discretion to compile and
publish the birth statistics of divisions in which they are accurately
kept; one Federal report on the statistics of marriages and divorces
throughout the country from 1867 to 1886 inclusive was published in
1889, and a second for the succeeding twenty-year period was published
in 1908-1909; an annual volume gives the statistics of deaths for
about half the population of the country, including all the states and
cities which have approximately complete records of deaths; Federal
agencies like the bureau of labour and the bureau of corporations have
been created for the purpose of gathering certain social and
industrial statistics, and the bureau of the census has been made a
permanent statistical office.
The Federal census office has been engaged in the compilation and
publication of statistics of many sorts. Among its important lines of
work may be mentioned frequent reports during the cotton ginning
season upon the amount of cotton ginned, supplemental census reports
upon occupations, on employees and wages, and on further
interpretation of various population tables, reports on street and
electric railways, on mines and quarries, on electric light and power
plants, on deaths in the registration area 1900-1904, on benevolent
institutions, on the insane, on paupers in almshouses, on the social
statistics of cities and on the census of manufactures in 1905.
Congress has recently entrusted it with still further duties, and it
has developed into the main statistical office of the Federal
government, finding its nearest analogue probably in the Imperial
Statistical Office in Berlin. (W. F. W.)
CENTAUREA, in botany, a genus of the natural order Compositae,
containing between four and five hundred species, and of wide
distribution, but with its principal centre in the Mediterranean region.
The plants are herbs with entire or cut often spiny-toothed leaves, and
ovoid or globose involucres surrounding a number of tubular, oblique or
two-lipped florets, the outer of which are usually larger and neuter,
the inner bisexual. Four species are native in Britain. _C. nigra_ is
knapweed, common in meadows and pastureland; _C. Cyanus_ is the
bluebottle or cornflower, a well-known cornfield weed; _C. Calcitrapa_
is star-thistle, a rare plant, found in dry waste places in the south of
England, and characterized by the rose-purple flower-heads enveloped by
involucral bracts which end in a long, stiff spine. Besides cornflower,
a few other species are worth growing as garden plants; they are readily
grown in ordinary soil:--_C. Cineraria_, a half-hardy perennial, native
of Italy, is remarkable for its white downy foliage; _C. babylonica_
(Levant) has large downy leaves and a tall spike of small yellow
flowers; _C. dealbata_ (Caucasus) is a low-growing plant with larger
rose-coloured heads; _C. macrocephala_ (Caucasus) has large yellow
heads; _C. montana_ (Pyrenees) large handsome blue heads; and _C.
ragusina_ (S.E. Europe) beautiful silver-haired leaves and yellow
flowers.
CENTAURS, in Greek mythology, a race of beings part horse part man,
dwelling in the mountains of Thessaly and Arcadia. The name has been
derived (1) from [Greek: kentein] (goad) and [Greek: tauros] (bull),
implying a people who were primarily herdsmen, (2) from [Greek: kentein]
and the common termination [Greek: -auros] or [Greek: -aura] ("air")
i.e. "spearmen." The former is unsatisfactory partly from the
philological standpoint, and the latter, though not certain, is
preferable. The centaurs were the offspring of Ixion and Nephele (the
rain-cloud), or of Kentauros (the son of these two) and some Magnesian
mares or of Apollo and Hebe. They are best known for their fight with
the Lapithae, caused by their attempt to carry off Deidameia on the day
of her marriage to Peirithous, king of the Lapithae, himself the son of
Ixion. Theseus, who happened to be present, assisted Peirithous, and the
Centaurs were driven off (Plutarch, _Theseus_, 30; Ovid, _Metam._ xii.
210; Diod. Sic. iv. 69, 70). In later times they are often represented
drawing the car of Dionysus, or bound and ridden by Eros, in allusion to
their drunken and amorous habits. Their general character is that of
wild, lawless and inhospitable beings, the slaves of their animal
passions, with the exception of Pholus and Chiron. They are variously
explained by a fancied resemblance to the shapes of clouds, or as
spirits of the rushing mountain torrents or winds. As children of
Apollo, they are taken to signify the rays of the sun. It is suggested
as the origin of the legend, that the Greeks in early times, to whom
riding was unfamiliar, regarded the horsemen of the northern hordes as
one and the same with their horses; hence the idea of the Centaur as
half-man, half-animal. Like the defeat of the Titans by Zeus, the
contests with the Centaurs typified the struggle between civilization
and barbarism.
In early art they were represented as human beings in front, with the
body and hind legs of a horse attached to the back: later, they were
men only as far as the waist. The battle with the Lapithae, and the
adventure of Heracles with Pholus (Apollodorus, ii. 5; Diod. Sic. iv.
II) are favourite subjects of Greek art (see Sidney Colvin, _Journal
of Hellenic Studies_, i. 1881, and the exhaustive article in Roscher's
_Lexikon der Mythologie_). Fig. 34 in article GREEK ART (the west
pediment of the temple of Zeus at Olympia) represents the attempt of
the Centaurs to carry off the bride of Peirithous.
CENTAURUS ("THE CENTAUR"), in astronomy, a constellation of the southern
hemisphere, mentioned by Eudoxus (4th century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd
century B.C.), Ptolemy catalogued thirty-seven stars in it.
_[alpha]-Centauri_ is a splendid binary star. Its components are of the
1st magnitude, and revolve in a period of eighty-one years; and since
its parallax is 0.75", it is the nearest star to the earth;
_[omega]-Centauri_, the finest globular star-cluster in the heavens,
consists of about 6000 stars in a space of about 20' diameter, of which
about 125 variables have been examined. _Nova Centauri_, a "new" star,
was discovered in 1895 by Mrs Fleming in photographs taken at Harvard.
CENTAURY (_Erythraea Centaurium_, natural order Gentianaceae), an annual
herb with erect, smooth stem, usually branched above, and a terminal
inflorescence with numerous small red or pink regular flowers with a
funnel-shaped corolla. The plant occurs in dry pastures and on sandy
coasts in Britain, and presents many varieties, differing in length of
stem, degree of branching, width and shape of leaves, and laxity or
closeness of the inflorescence. Several other species of the genus are
grown as rock-plants.
CENTENARY (from Lat. _centenarius_, of or belonging to a hundred, from
_centeni_, distributive of _centum_, hundred), a space of a hundred
years, and particularly the celebration of an event on the lapse of a
hundred years, a centennial anniversary. The word "centennial" (from
Lat. _centennis_, from _centum_, and _annus_, a year), though usually an
adjective as in "the Centennial State," the name given to Colorado on
its admission to statehood in 1876, is also used as a synonym of
centenary.
CENTERVILLE, a city and the county-seat of Appanoose county, Iowa,
U.S.A., in the south part of the state, about 90 m. N.W. of Keokuk. Pop.
(1890) 3668; (1900) 5256; (1905, state census) 5967 (487 being
foreign-born); (1910) 6936. Centerville is served by the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific and the Iowa
Central railways. Among the principal buildings are the county
court-house and the Federal building, and the city has a public library
and a hospital. It is in one of the most productive coal regions of the
state; it ships coal, limestone and livestock, has large bottling works,
and manufactures iron, brick and tile, machine-shop products, woollen
goods, shirts, cigars and flour. The place was platted in 1846, was
called Chaldea until 1849, when the present name was adopted, was
incorporated as a town in 1855, and in 1870 was chartered as a city of
the second class. The city limits were extended in 1906-1907.
CENTIPEDE, the characteristic member of the group Chilopoda, a class of
the Arthropoda, formerly associated with the Diplopoda (Millipedes), the
Pauropoda and the Symphyla, to constitute the now abandoned group
Myriapoda. The resemblance between the Chilopoda and the Diplopoda is
principally superficial and due to the elongation and vermiform shape of
the body, which in both is composed of a number of similar or subsimilar
somites not differentiated as are those of Insecta, existing Arachnida
and most Crustacea, into series or "tagmata" of varying function. Until
1893 no one doubted the correctness of the assumption that the Chilopoda
and Diplopoda were orders of a class Myriapoda of the same systematic
status as the Arachnida or Hexapoda. But in that year, R.I. Pocock and
J.S. Kingsley independently pointed out that they differ as much from
each other as either differs from the Hexapoda; and should, therefore,
rank as distinct classes of Arthropods. Pocock, indeed, definitely
associated the Chilopoda with the Hexapoda in a group, the
Opisthogoneata (Opisthogonea), equivalent to a group, the Progoneata
(Prosogonea), comprising the Diplopoda, Pauropoda and Symphyla. As the
basis for this classification was taken the position of the generative
orifices which open in the Opisthogonea at the posterior end and in the
Prosogonea near the anterior end of the body. As a matter of fact, in
the Chilopoda they are situated on the penultimate or pretelsonic
somite; in the Hexapoda upon the antepenultimate somite (male) or a
little farther forward (female). Moreover, the recent researches of
Heymons into the embryology of _Scolopendra_, one of the Chilopods, has
shown a close correspondence in the number of cephalic metameres between
the Chilopoda and Hexapoda, a correspondence which has not yet been
established in the case of the Diplopoda or Symphyla. This last
discovery bears out the view of relationship between the centipedes and
insects, to the exclusion of the Diplopoda, Symphyla and Pauropoda. But
even if in the future it can be shown that all these groups can be
brought into line with respect to the metamerism of the head, the
position of the generative orifices will remain as a fundamental and
constant character, distinguishing the Chilopoda from the other groups
of so-called "Myriapods" and the Hexapoda from the Symphyla, which in
many particulars they resemble.
_Structure of the Chilopoda._--The exoskeletal elements of a typical
somite consist of a dorsal plate or tergum, a ventral plate or
sternum, a lateral or pleural membrane, often strengthened with
chitinous sclerites, and a pair of appendages. At the anterior
extremity there is a head-shield or cephalite, which bears eyes, when
present, and a pair of antennae. In all centipedes, except the
_Scutigeridae_, the preantennal portion of the cephalite is sharply
reflexed, ventrally forming an area called the clypeus. The inferior
edge of this bears the labrum, which is usually represented by a small
median, and two large lateral plates. The appendages are modified as a
single pair of antennae, four pairs of jaws or gnathites, a variable
number of walking legs and a single pair of generative limbs or
gonopods. The antennae, articulated to the forepart of the head and
preoral in position, are long and flexible and consist of fourteen or
more segments. The jaws of the first pair of mandibles are stout and
bi-segmented, with a dentate cutting edge. Those of the second pair or
maxillae vary considerably in structure in different groups. They are
foliaceous and are usually regarded as biramous. In some genera
(_Scutigera_, _Lithobius_) the inner branch consists of two distinct
segments meeting those of the opposite side in the middle line. The
outer branch, which is always larger, consists of three or four
segments. Generally, however, the basal segments of the two branches
are coalesced with each other and with the corresponding segments of
the opposite side to form a single broad transverse plate. The above
described condition seen in _Scutigera_ suggests that two pairs of
jaws may be involved in the formation of the maxillae in the
Chilopoda. The jaws of the third pair, the palpognaths or second pair
of maxillae, resemble dwarfed walking legs, and consist of five or six
segments, of which the basal or coxa is united mesially to its fellow.
The jaws of the fourth pair, the toxicognaths or poison-jaws, are long
and powerful, and consist like the legs primarily of six segments,
whereof the basal is large and usually fused with its fellow to form a
large coxal plate, the second is small and generally suppressed by
fusion with the third, the fourth and fifth are also small, while the
sixth is transformed into a great piercing fang, at the tip of which
opens the duct of a poison gland lodged within the appendage.
The tergal elements of the somites bearing the antennae, mandibles and
maxillae appear to be represented by the head-shield or cephalite. The
tergal element of the somite bearing the palpognath is usually
suppressed; that of the toxicognath is sometimes of large size as in
some Geophilomorpha (_Himantarium_), sometimes small as in
_Scutigera_, _Lithobius_, _Craterostigmus_, sometimes suppressed
probably by fusion with the tergum of the first leg-bearing somite as
in the Scolopendromorpha. The sternal plates of all the jaw-bearing
somites have disappeared, except in the case of the somite of the
toxicognath, where it may be vestigial. In the case of the somites
bearing the walking legs the tergal and sternal elements are preserved
without fusion with the corresponding plates of the preceding or
succeeding somites, so that great flexibility of the body is retained.
The only exception to this is presented by _Scutigera_, where the
terga corresponding to the somites bearing the fifteen pairs of legs
are reduced by fusion and suppression to seven. The walking legs are
articulated to the inferior portion of the pleural or lateral area of
the somites close to the external margins of the sterna, which widely
separate those of the left from those of the right side. Generally
speaking the legs resemble each other, although as a rule they
progressively increase in length towards the posterior end of the
body. They consist typically of six segments, of which the basal is
termed the coxa and the apical the tarsus. The tarsus is armed with a
single terminal claw, and, except in the Geophilomorpha and a few
genera of other orders, is divided by a mesial transverse joint into
two segments, as is the case in _Scolopendra_ and _Lithobius_ for
example. But in some of the longer-legged, swift-footed centipedes of
the order Lithobiomorpha (e.g. _Henicops_, _Cermalobius_) the tarsi
are further subdivided. The multiplication of sub-segments reaches its
maximum in _Scutigera_, where the tarsi are extremely long, slender,
flexible and annulated. The legs of the last pair are directed
backwards in a line parallel with the long axis of the body, so that
their coxae, fused in some cases with the pleural sclerites
(_Scolopendra_, _Geophilus_), or free and of large size (_Scutigera_,
_Lithobius_), serve to protect the small genital and anal somites.
They are often greatly modified. In the males of some species of
_Lithobius_ one or more of the segments is inflated or furnished with
tubercle-bearing, tactile bristles; in some Geophilomorpha the whole
limb is thickened in the male sex. In most Scolopendromorpha the basal
segment is armed beneath with spines or spikes (_Dacetum_,
_Scolopocryptops_); sometimes the whole appendage is thickened and
terminated by a sharp and serrate claw (_Theatops_, _Plutonium_). In
these cases the legs act as weapons of defence and offence. In other
cases (_Newportia_) the tarsi lose the claw, become many-jointed and
act as feelers, while in _Alipes_ the terminal segments are flattened,
leaf-like and furnished with a peculiar stridulating organ. The
genital somite is always small and sometimes retractile within the
somite bearing the last pair of legs. Its tergal plate is usually
retained, but its sternal plate is generally suppressed. In females of
the Lithobiomorpha and Scutigeromorpha the appendages of this
somite--the gonopods--are jointed, forcipate and relatively well
developed although small. In the females of the other orders they are
greatly reduced or absent. In the males their development varies
considerably. They are well developed in _Scutigera_, where they form
two pairs of digitiform sclerites, whereas in the Geophilomorpha they
are reduced to a pair of very short, two-jointed limbs. The anal
somite is always small and limbless. In _Craterostigmus_ the genital
and anal somites are represented by a pair of elongate valves
projecting between the legs of the last pair. The structure of the
gonopods is unknown, and the homology between the two valves and the
skeletal elements of the somites in question not clearly understood.
A study of the development of _Scolopendra_ has shown that the
antennae of the adult are the appendages of the second postoral
metamere and the mandibles those of the fourth, the first postoral
metamere, which has a pair of transient preantennal appendages, and
the third, which has no appendages, being excalated at an early stage
of embryonic growth. Furthermore, behind the legs of the last pair two
pairs of appendages are present. The second of these persists as the
gonopods of the adult, but the first is suppressed. Possibly, however,
it is represented in the male of _Scutigera_ by the anterior branches
of the gonopods. The cerebral or cephalic portion of the nervous
system consists of a quadrilobate mass. From the two upper lobes,
which are set transversely, arise the ocular nerves; from the two
lower lobes, which are united by a transverse commissure, spring the
antennal nerves in front and the chords which form the oesophageal
collar behind. These chords unite below the oesophagus to form the
compound suboesophageal ganglion, whence the nerves for the four pairs
of jaws arise. The ventral system consists of a double chord uniting
in each of the leg-bearing segments in a ganglionic swelling which
gives off four pairs of nerves to the limbs and tissues of the somite.
There is a single ganglion in the genital segment.
[Illustration: Modified from Heymons, _Bib. Zool._, 1901, by
permission of E. Nagele.
FIG. 1.
A, Diagram of anterior extremity of an early embryo of
_Scolopendra_, ventral view; cl, clypeus; lb, labrum; m, mouth; p.a,
preantennal appendage; a, antenna; int, premandibular rudiment; mdl,
mandible; mx, maxilla; p.g, palpognath; t.g, toxicognath; lg. 1,
first pair of walking legs.
B, Posterior end of a later embryo of _Scolopendra_, ventral view,
showing the anal segment or telson (t); the legs of the last pair in
the adult (lg. 21) and the two rudimentary pairs of legs (lg. 22,
lg. 23).]
Eyes are frequently absent. When present they may be either simple or
compound, i.e. consisting externally of a single lens (monomeniscous)
of or an aggregation of lenses (polymeniscous). Simple eyes vary in
number on each side of the head from one, as in _Henicops_, to many as
forty, as in some species of _Lithobius_. In _Scolopendra_, where
there are four, the corneal lens is a biconvex thickening of the
cuticle. The soft or retinal portion of the eye beneath the lens
consists of an aggregation of large cells forming a single layer
continuous with the epidermic cells of the circumocular area. Thus the
eye is monostichous. The arrangement of the cells, however, is
peculiar. They are invaginated to form what may be described as a very
deep cup with exceedingly thick walls and correspondingly narrow
median space, the outer surface of the cup being formed by the inner
or proximal ends of the cells and the inner surface by their outer or
distal ends. It results from this arrangement that the cells forming
all but the bottom of the invagination lie horizontally, i.e. at right
angles to the vertical axis of the eye. From the distal ends of the
cells are secreted chitinous rhabdomeres, forming a rhabdom which
occupies and fills up the central portion of the cup beneath the
middle of the corneal lens. The outer ends of the cells are nucleated
and are continuous with the fibres of the optic nerve, which passes
from the outer surface of the bottom of the cup to the brain. Compound
eyes are found only in the _Scutigeridae_. Externally the eye consists
of one hundred or more little lenses or lenticles. The retinal portion
is composed of a corresponding number of ocular units or ommatidia.
Each ommatidium is an elongated cone with its broad extremity abutting
against the corneal lenticle. It consists of a non-nucleated
crystalline cone developed from embryonic cells, and is enveloped in
three tiers of large nucleated cells. The cells of the outermost tier
are heavily pigmented; those of the middle and innermost (proximal)
tiers, the retinal cells, are at their inner extremities produced into
threads continuous with the fibres of the optic nerve. In the space
between these cells and the crystalline cone which they surround,
there is a layer of rhabdomeres deposited apparently by the cells.
[Illustration: A and B after Heymons, _Bibl Zool_, 1901, by permission
of E. Nagele.
C after Adensamer, _Verh. z. b. Verein_, Vienna, 1893, pl. vii.
FIG. 2.
A, Brain of _Scolopendra_. n.ant, Antennal nerves; n.opt, ocular
nerves; n.pr.ant, preantennal nerves; oes. comm, oesophageal
commissure.
B, Section of Eye of Scolopendra. len, Corneal lens; ret, retinal or
visual cells; n.opt, optic nerve.
C, Ocular unit or ommatidium of compound Eye of _Scutigera_. len,
corneal lenticle; c.c, crystalline cone; 1, pigmented cells of
outermost tier; 2, 3, retinular cells of middle and innermost tiers;
rbd, rhabdomeres; n.opt, optic nerve; pg, pigment cells.]
The alimentary canal is a simple tube running without convolutions
from the mouth to the anus. Its anterior portion or pharynx, which
arises from the stomodaeal invagination in the embryo, is short; a
pair of large, so-called salivary glands open into it. The mesenteric
part of the canal is relatively wide and receives at its junction with
the hind-gut the excretory products of a pair of very long and slender
malpighian tubes of proctodaeal origin. The posterior end of the
canal, arising from the proctodaeum, is relatively short and narrow.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Diagram of Alimentary Canal of _Lithobius_.
a, Anus.
mg, Mid-Gut.
hg, Hind-Gut.
mt, Malphighian tubule.
s.gl, Salivary gland.
lg. 1, lg. 15, Legs of first and fifteenth pairs.]
The generative organs vary in structural details in different
centipedes. In the male of _Lithobius_ the testes consist of a single
coiled tube lying above the alimentary canal. The slender vas deferens
which proceeds from its hinder end divides posteriorly into a right
and left branch, embracing the gut and uniting beneath it to form a
common chamber or atrium within the genital orifice. The atrium
receives the secretion of two pairs of large accessory glands; and a
pair of tubes, or vesiculae seminales, open, one on each side, into
the divided sperm ducts close to their point of origin above the
intestine. The organs of the female are very similar. There is a large
median ovary followed by a short oviduct forming a circum-intestinal
collar and a common atrium. Into the latter open a pair of short
receptacula seminis and the slender duct of two pairs of large
accessory glands. There is nothing in the female corresponding to the
supra-intestinal vesiculae seminales of the male. In the male of
_Scolopendra_, on the contrary, there are as many as twelve pairs of
somewhat sausage-shaped testes, approximated two by two. From each
pair proceed two slender ducts which open into a median duct coiled in
the posterior third of the body and much expanded in the last three of
the leg-bearing segments. The right and left portions of the
intestinal ring of the genital duct are unequally developed, and there
are no vesiculae seminales, but two pairs of accessory glands
communicate with the genital atrium as in _Lithobius_. In the female
_Scolopendra_ the right and left portions of the intestinal collar are
also unequally developed, and only a single pair of accessory glands
besides the receptacula seminis open into the atrium.
[Illustration: After Heymons, _Bibl. Zool_, 1901, by permission of E.
Nagele.
FIG. 4.--Posterior portion of generative organs of male of
_Scolopendra_ (A), of female (B). t, Testes; v.d, vas deferens; ov,
ovary; _r.s_, receptaculum seminis; gl. acc, accessory glands; g.o,
generative orifice.]
The heart is tubular and lies in the middle dorsal line immediately
beneath the integument. It consists of a series of chambers
corresponding roughly to the leg-bearing segments, and lies in a
blood-sinus formed by a pericardial membrane whence large alary
muscles extend to the sides of the body. Each chamber gives off in
_Scolopendra_ a pair of fine lateral vessels, and is furnished at its
posterior extremity with a pair of orifices by which the blood
re-enters the organ from the pericardial space. From the anterior
chamber, which lies in the first or second leg-bearing segment,
proceed three arteries, a median which runs forwards into the head to
supply the brain and other organs, and a lateral which with its fellow
of the opposite side forms an oesophageal aortic collar. From the
sides of the latter arise vessels to the gnathites, and from its
inferior portion an unpaired vessel passes forwards into the head and
another backwards above the nerve chord to the posterior end of the
body, supplying each segment in its course with a delicate lateral
branch. In _Scolopendra_ the chambers of the heart, excepting the
first and last, which are small, are subequal in size; but in forms
like _Scutigera_ where the terga are very unequal in size a
corresponding inequality in the size of the chambers is manifested.
[Illustration: A after Newport, _Phil. Trans._, 1843. B after Haase,
_Zool. Beitrage_, i. pt. 65, 1884, by permission of J.N. Kern. C after
Haase, loc. cit.
FIG. 5.
A, Anterior extremity of _Scolopendra_, showing two chambers of the
heart (h), the aortic ring (a), the alae cordis (a.m) and a cardiac
orifice (o).
B, Two segments of _Scolopendra_, showing the branching and
anastomosing tracheae and a spiracle (sp).
C, A pair of tufted tracheae of _Scutigera_. d, Dorsal plate; t.s,
tracheal sac; tr, tracheal tubes.]
In all centipedes, except _Scutigera_, respiration is effected by
chitinized tracheal tubes which extend with their ramifications
throughout the body and open to the exterior by means of spiracles
perforating the lateral or pleural membrane of more or fewer of the
somites below the edge of the terga. Spiracles are never present upon
the anal, genital and last leg-bearing somites, and only rarely, as in
_Henicops_, upon the somite bearing the legs of the first pair. In the
majority of cases the spiracles are circular, sigmoid or slit-like
orifices, with chitinized rim, leading into a pocket-like integumental
infolding, from which emanate numerous small tracheal tubes which soon
anastomose to form the main tracheal trunks. In _Dacetum_, one of the
_Scolopendridae_, there is no pocket-like infolding, the small
tracheal tubes opening direct to the exterior on a large subcircular
plate where their apertures fuse to form a complicated network. The
apertures, as in the case of other genera, are protected by fine
hairs; and the tracheae themselves are strengthened by a fine spiral
filament. In the _Lithobiidae_ the tracheae do not anastomose; but in
_Scolopendra_ and _Geophilus_ the main trunks in each segment fuse
transversely with those of the opposite side and also longitudinally
with those of the preceding and succeeding segments.
In _Scutigera_ the tracheae differ both in structure and position from
those of all other Chilopoda. The spiracles, unpaired and seven in
number, open in the median dorsal line. Each leads into a short sac
from which five tracheal tubes depend into the pericardial
blood-sinus.
Existing Chilopoda may be classified as follows, into five orders
referable to two subclasses--
Subclass I. Pleurostigma.
Order 1 Geophilomorpha.
Order 2 Scolopendromorpha.
Order 3 Craterostigmomorpha.
Order 4 Lithobiomorpha.
Subclass II. Notostigma.
Order 5 Scutigeromorpha.
SUBCLASS I, PLEUROSTIGMA.--Chilopods furnished with a rich system of
branching tracheal tubes, the spiracles of which are paired and open
upon the pleural area of more or fewer of the somites. Each leg-bearing
somite contains a distinct tergum and sternum, the number of sterna
never exceeding that of the terga. Eyes are either preserved or lost;
when preserved they are represented either by a single one-lensed
ocellus or by an aggregation of such ocelli on each side of the head.
The anterior portion of the head, bearing the labrum, is bent sharply
downwards and backwards beneath the larger posterior portion lying
behind the antennae, so that these appendages, approximated in the
middle line, project directly forwards from the margin of the head
formed by this retroversion of the labral area. The maxillae are short
and have no sensory organ; the palpognaths consist of four segments, and
the toxicognaths have their basal segments fused to form a single coxal
plate.
_Order 1. Geophilomorpha_.--Chilopods with a large and indefinite
number of somites, most of which are partially or completely divided
into a smaller anterior segment, represented by a pretergal and two
presternal sclerites, and a larger posterior segment bearing the
spiracles and legs. Spiracles are present upon all the leg-bearing
somites except the first and last; and the legs which are short and
subequal in length consist of six segments, the basal of which remains
small. There are no eyes, and the antennae consist invariably of
fourteen segments. The tergal plate of the somite bearing the
toxicognaths always remains distinct and separates the head-shield
from the tergum of the first leg-bearing somite. The penultimate and
antepenultimate segments of the toxicognaths are reduced on the
preaxial side of the appendage to the condition of arthrodial
integumental folds and suppressed on the postaxial side where the
distal segment or fang is firmly jointed to the femoral segment. In
the last leg-bearing somite the pleural sclerites coalesce with the
coxa of the appendage; but the second segment (trochanter) of this
appendage does not fuse with the third (femur). The genital and anal
somites are not retractile within the last leg-bearing somite, and the
gonopods typically persist in the male as small two-jointed appendages
and in the female as jointed or unjointed sclerites. The young are
hatched with the full number of segments.
[Illustration: FIG. 6. (After Latzel, _Die Myr. öst.-ung. Mon._ vol.
i. "Chilopoda," Vienna, 1880.)
A, Upper view of anterior extremity in _Geophilus_.
a, Basal segments of antennae.
c, Cephalic plate.
t.palp, Tergal plate of somite, bearing palpognaths.
t.tox, Tergal plate of somite, bearing toxicognaths (_tox_).
t.lg.1, Tergal plate of somite, bearing legs of first pair.
B, Toxicognaths of _Scolopendra_, showing the large coxal plate and
the reduced penultimate and antepenultimate segments.
C, Terminal segment or fang of the same, showing the orifice of the
poison gland.]
_Remarks._--The Geophilomorpha are universally distributed in suitable
localities. The number of families into which the order should be
divided is as yet unsettled, some authors admitting several groups of
this rank, others referring all the genera to a single family,
_Geophilidae_. In habits the _Geophilidae_ are mostly subterranean,
living in the earth and feeding principally upon earthworms.
Occasionally they may be found eating fruit or fungi, probably for the
sake of moisture. Although without eyes, they are extremely sensitive
to light, and when exposed to it crawl away in serpentine fashion to
the nearest sheltered spot, feeling the way with their antennae. They
can, however, progress with almost equal facility backwards, using
the legs of the posterior pair as feelers. Differing from the majority
of the family in habits are the two species _Linotaenia maritima_ and
_Schendyla submarina_, which live under stones or seaweed between
tide-marks on the coasts of western Europe. Most, if not all, the
species are provided with glands, which open upon the sterna and
secrete a fluid which in some forms (_Himantarium_) is blood-red,
while in others it is phosphorescent. In the tropical form _Orphnaeus
phosphoreus_ the fluid is known to possess this property; and its
luminosity has been repeatedly observed in England in the autumn in
the case of _Linotaenia acuminata_ and _L. crassipes_.
The number of pairs of legs within this family varies from between
thirty and forty to over one hundred and seventy. Corresponding
discrepancies are observable in size, the smallest specimens being
less than 1 in. long and barely 1 mm. wide, while the largest example
recorded, a specimen of _Notiphilides_ from Venezuela, was 11 in. long
and 1/3 of an inch wide.
When pairing takes place the female fertilizes herself by taking up a
spermatophore which a male has left upon a sheet of web for that
purpose. The female lays a cluster of eggs in some sheltered spot,
sometimes in a specially prepared nest, and encircling them with her
body, keeps guard until the young disperse and shift for themselves.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--_Scolopendra morsitans_ (after Buffon).
A, a, Cephalic plate.
b, Tergum of segment, bearing first pair of legs (d).
c, Tip of palpognath.
e, Antenna.
f, Toxicognath.
g, Last pair of appendages, enlarged and directed backwards.]
_Order 2. Scolopendromorpha._--Chilopods differing principally from
the Geophilomorpha in that the number of leg-bearing somites is
definitely fixed at twenty-three or twenty-one. These are
differentiated into larger and smaller, which alternate with nearly
complete regularity. The anterior portion of each somite is only
partially cut off as a subsegment. The tergal plate of the somite
bearing the toxicognaths is suppressed, probably by fusion with the
tergum of the first leg-bearing somite. The antennae consist of a
number of segments varying from seventeen to about thirty, and usually
differing in the individuals of a species. The second segment
(trochanter) of the legs of the last pair is coalesced with the third
(femur). In only one genus, namely _Plutonium_, which occurs in Italy,
is there a pair of spiracles for each leg-bearing segment, except the
first and last, as in the Geophilomorpha. In most genera there are
only nine pairs of spiracles situated upon the 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th,
12th, 14th, 16th, 18th and 20th leg-bearing segments, as in
_Scolopendra_, _Cormocephalus_, _Cryptops_, &c. In genera with
twenty-three pairs of legs, like _Scolopocryptops_, there is an
additional pair of spiracles on the twenty-second pedigerous segment;
and a few genera such as _Rhysida, Edentistoma_, possess a pair upon
the 7th segment. Eyes, when present, are always four in number on each
side. The newly hatched young has the full complement of appendages.
This order is divided into four families:--_Scolopendridae_
(_Scolopendra_, _Rhysida_), _Cryptopidae_ (_Cryptops_, _Theatops_),
_Scolopocryptopidae_ (_Scolopocryptops_, _Otocryptops_) and
_Newportudae_ (_Newportia_). Apart from the frigid zones it is
cosmopolitan in distribution, though only one genus (_Cryptops_)
extends into north temperate latitudes. In the tropics and warmer
countries of the southern hemisphere the genera and species are
particularly abundant, and individuals reach the greatest dimensions,
some specimens of the tropical American species _Scolopendra gigantea_
exceeding 12 in. in length. They are strictly carnivorous, their diet
consisting of any animal, vertebrate or invertebrate, small enough to
be overcome. They live in damp obscure places, under logs of wood or
stones, and are nocturnal, shunning, like the _Geophilidae_, exposure
to light; and as in the _Geophilidae_, the females guard their eggs
and young until the latter disperse to lead an independent life.
_Order 3. Craterostigmomorpha_.--Chilopods with twenty-one tergal
plates as in the typical genera of Scolopendromorpha, but with only
fifteen pairs of legs as in the Lithobiomorpha. As in some members of
the latter order there is a single ocellus on each side of the head,
the penultimate and antepenultimate segments of the toxicognaths are
complete on the postaxial side of the appendage, and spiracles are
present upon the 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th, 12th and 14th leg-bearing
somites. In the size and shape of the head, of the toxicognaths, of
the tergal plate of this somite, and of the first leg-bearing somite,
great similarity to some genera of Geophilomorpha (e.g.
_Mecistocephalus_) is presented; but in the structure of the posterior
end of the body this order differs from all the other orders of
Chilopoda. The skeletal elements of the last leg-bearing segment are
welded together to form a subcylindrical tube, and the genital and
anal somites are represented by a pair of chitinous valves capable of
opening below for the escape of the genital and intestinal products.
[Illustration: After Pocock. Q.J.M.S. vol. 45, pl. 23, 1902.
FIG. 8.
A, Anterior end of _Craterostigmus_ from above.
a, Basal segments of antennae.
c, Cephalic plate with eyes (o).
t.tox, Tergal plate of somite bearing toxicognaths (tox).
t.lg.1, Tergal plate of somite bearing legs of the first pair.
B, Maxillae.
C, Palpognath.
D, Toxicognath.
E, Last segment with genital capsule (g.c), and basal segments of
legs of 14th and 15th pairs (lg. 14, lg. 15).]
This order, containing the family _Craterostigmidae_, is based upon a
remarkable genus and species _Craterostigmus tasmanianus_, of which
only two specimens are known. These were collected under stones upon
the summit of Mount Rumney in Tasmania. They are about 1½ in. in
length; but nothing has been recorded of their habits. The chief
morphological interest attaching to _Craterostigmus_ is that, apart
from certain structural peculiarities of its own, it presents features
previously believed to be found exclusively either in the
Scolopendromorpha, or the Geophilomorpha, or the Lithobiomorpha; and
it shows how the Lithobiomorpha may be derived from a
Scolopendromorphous type most nearly resembling _Plutonium_ by the
excalation of the third, sixth, ninth, eleventh, fourteenth and
seventeenth leg-bearing somites.
_Order 4. Lithobiomorpha._ Chilopoda with fifteen pairs of leg-bearing
somites differentiated into larger and smaller, the 1st, 3rd, 5th,
7th, 8th, 10th, 12th and 14th being large, the others small. Spiracles
present upon all the larger with the exception sometimes of the 1st.
The toxicognaths are relatively weaker than in the orders hitherto
considered, and have their basal segments less firmly fused mesially.
In correlation with their weaker muscularity the first leg-bearing
segment is relatively small. The gonopods, present and usually jointed
in both sexes, are especially well developed and forcipate in the
female, and arise from a large ventral plate resulting from the fusion
of their coxae with the sternum of the genital somite. The antennae
are many-jointed, and there is a single ocellus or a cluster of ocelli
on each side of the head. The coxae of the legs are large, and those
of the last four or five pairs usually contain glands opening by large
orifices. The newly-hatched young has only seven pairs of legs, the
remaining pairs being successively added as growth proceeds.
The genera of this order are divisible into three families, the
_Lithobiidae_ (_Lithobius, Bothropolys_), _Henicopidae_ (_Henicops,
Haasiella_), the _Cermatobiidae_ (_Cermatobius_). _Cermatobius_, based
upon a single species, _martensii_, from the isl. of Adenara, is of
peculiar interest, since in the absence of coxal pores, and the length
and multi-articulation of the antennae and tarsal segments, it
approaches more nearly to _Scutigera_ than does any other
pleurostigmous Chilopod. It is also stated that the spiracles have
assumed a more dorsal position, thus foreshadowing the completely
dorsal situation they have taken up in the Notostigma. The
_Henicopidae_, containing centipedes of small size, attains its
maximum of development in the southern continents and islands, more
particularly Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and South America.
One genus (_Lamyctes_) however, occurs in Europe. The _Lithobiidae_,
on the contrary, are almost exclusively northern in range, being
particularly abundant and of large size individually in Europe,
extra-tropical Asia, and North and Central America. In habits the
_Lithobiidae_ closely resemble the _Scolopendridae_. They are,
however, comparatively far more agile with their shorter, more compact
bodies and stronger legs. They are mostly of small size, the largest
species, _Lithobius fusciatus_, of south Europe measuring only 2 in.
in length of body. The females do not guard their eggs, but coat them
with soil and leave them to their fate.
SUBCLASS 2, NOTOSTIGMA.--Chilopods with a series of median dorsal
tracheal sacs furnished with tubes dipping into the pericardial blood
space, and opening each by an unpaired spiracle upon the 1st, 3rd, 5th,
8th, 10th, 12th and 14th leg-bearing somites. This characteristic is
accompanied by the complete disappearance of the tergum of the 7th,
either by fusion with that of the 8th or by excalation, and by the
evanescence of the terga of the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 9th, 11th and 13th
pedigerous somites. The preantennal area of the head is not strongly
reflexed inferiorly, and the eyes are large and compound. The maxillae
are long and have a sensory organ, the palpognaths are long, spiny and
composed of five segments, like the primitive Chilopod leg, and the
toxicognaths have their basal segments disunited and independently
movable. Gonopods duplicated in the male.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--A, _Scutigera rubrolineata_ (after Buffon). B,
Tergum and part of a second of the same enlarged to show the position of
the stigmata o, o; p, hinder margin of tergum.]
This subclass contains the single order Scutigeromorpha and the family
_Scutigeridae_. As in the Lithobiomorpha there are fifteen pairs of
legs, the gonopods are well developed in both sexes and the young is
hatched with only seven pairs of legs. The legs and antennae in the
adult are extremely long and many jointed. In habits as well as in
structure the _Scutigeridae_, of which _Scutigera_ is the best-known
genus, differ greatly from other centipedes. Although they hide under
stones and logs of wood like _Lithobius_, they are not lucifugous but
diurnal, and may be seen chasing their foes in the blazing sun. They
run with astonishing speed and have the power of dropping their legs
when seized. South of about the 40th parallel of north latitude they
are universally distributed in suitable localities. In most species
the body only reaches a length of about 1 in.; but twice that size or
more is reached by examples of the Indian species _Scutigera
longicornis_.
[Illustration: After Latzel, _Die Myr öst-ung. Mon._ vol. i.
"Chilopoda," Vienna, 1880.
FIG. 10.--Gnathites of _Scutigera_.
I. Mandibles.
II. Maxillae.
III. Palpognaths.
IV. Toxicognaths.]
Some fossils of Carboniferous age have been described as Chilopoda by
Scudder, who refers them to two families, _Gerascutigeridae_ and
_Eoscolopendridae_. But until the specimens have been examined by
zoologists the genera they are alleged to represent cannot be taken
seriously into consideration. Remains of centipedes closely related to
existing forms have been recorded from Oligocene beds. (R. I. P.)
CENTLIVRE, SUSANNA (c. 1667-1723), English dramatic writer and actress,
was born about 1667, probably in Ireland, whither her father, a
Lincolnshire gentleman named Freeman, had been forced to flee at the
Restoration on account of his political sympathies. When sixteen she
married the nephew of Sir Stephen Fox, and on his death within a year
she married an officer named Carroll, who was killed in a duel. Left in
poverty, she began to support herself, writing for the stage, and some
of her early plays are signed S. Carroll. In 1706 she married Joseph
Centlivre, chief cook to Queen Anne, who survived her. Her first play
was a tragedy, _The Perjured Husband_ (1700), and she herself appeared
for the first time at Bath in her comedy _Love at a Venture_ (1706).
Among her most successful comedies are--_The Gamester_ (1705); _The Busy
Body_ (1709); _A Bold Stroke for a Wife_ (1718); _The Basset-table_
(1706); and _The Wonder! a Woman keeps a Secret_ (1714), in which, as
the jealous husband, Garrick found one of his best parts. Her plots,
verging on the farcical, were always ingenious and amusing, though
coarse after the fashion of the time, and the dialogue fluent. She never
seems to have acted in London, but she was a friend of Rowe, Farquhar
and Steele. Mrs Centlivre died on the 1st of December 1723. Her dramatic
works were published, with a biography, in 1761 (reprinted 1872).
CENTO, a town of Emilia, Italy, in the province of Ferrara, 18 m. S.E.
direct from the town of Ferrara; 50 ft. above sea-level; it is reached
by road (6 m. to the W.) from the station of S. Pietro in Casale, 15 m.
S.W. by W. of Ferrara, and also by a steam tramway (18 m. N.) from
Bologna to Pieve di Cento, on the opposite bank of the Reno. Pop. (1901)
4307 (town), 19,078 (commune). It is connected by a navigable canal with
Ferrara. It was the birthplace of the painter Giovanni Francesco
Barbieri (Guercino). The communal picture-gallery and several churches
contain works by him, but none of first-rate importance. A statue of him
stands in front of the 16th century Palazzo Governativo. The town was
surrounded by walls, the gates of which are preserved. The origin of the
name is uncertain.
CENTO (Gr. _[Greek: kentrôn]_, Lat. _cento_, patchwork), a composition
made up by collecting passages from various works. The Byzantine Greeks
manufactured several out of the poems of Homer, among which may be
mentioned the life of Christ by the famous empress Eudoxia, and a
version of the Biblical history of Eden and the Fall. The Romans of the
later empire and the monks of the middle ages were fond of constructing
poems out of the verse of Virgil. Such were the _Cento Nuptialis_ of
Ausonius, the sketch of Biblical history which was compiled in the 4th
century by Proba Falconia, wife of a Roman proconsul, and the hymns in
honour of St Quirinus taken from Virgil and Horace by Metellus, a monk
of Tegernsee, in the latter half of the 12th century. Specimens may be
found in the work of Aldus Manutius (Venice, 1504; Frankfort, 1541,
1544). In 1535 Laelius Capitulus produced from Virgil an attack upon the
dissolute lives of the monks; in 1536 there appeared at Venice a
_Petrarca Spirituale_; and in 1634 Alexander Ross (a Scotsman, and one
of the chaplains of Charles I.) published a _Virgilius Evangelizans, seu
Historia Domini nostri Jesu Christi Virgilianis verbis et versibus
descripta_.
CENTRAL AMERICA, that portion of the American continent which lies
between Mexico and Colombia, comprising the British crown colony of
British Honduras, and the six independent republics of Guatemala,
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. These seven
divisions are described in separate articles. Central America is bounded
towards the N. by the Caribbean Sea, and towards the S. by the Pacific
Ocean, and extends between 7° 12' and 18° 3' N. and between 77° 12' and
92° 17' W. It has an area of about 208,500 sq. m., and stretches for
some 1300 m. from N.W. to S.E., in a succession of three serpentine
curves, reaching its greatest breadth, 450 m., between the Peninsula of
Nicoya and the north coast of Honduras, and diminishing to 35 m. in the
Isthmus of Panama. The eastern boundary of Central America was usually
regarded as identical with that of Costa Rica until 1903, when the
republic of Panama was formed out of the northern territories of
Colombia; and the more modern definition given above does not command
the universal assent of geographers, because it fails to include the
whole region up to the natural frontier on the north-west, i.e. the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Mexico. It has, however, the support of
political and historical considerations, as well as of common usage; and
it may therefore be regarded as adequate, although, in respect of
climate and natural products, it would be more accurate to define
Central America as lying between Tehuantepec and Darien.
_Physical Features._--The _Cordilleras_, or mountain chains of Central
America do not form a complete link between the western ranges in the
north and south of the continent, for their continuity is interrupted
by various depressions, of which the chief is the lacustrine basin of
Nicaragua. With these exceptions, they traverse Central America from
end to end, their main axis trending from north-west to south-east.
They do not, as a rule, rise in sharply serrated ridges or series of
volcanic crests, like the Andes, but the central Cordilleras are
disposed in a succession of mountain masses, with many lesser chains
radiating from them. The principal summits have an altitude of 12,000
and even, in a few cases, of 13,000 ft., and the general character of
the ranges is volcanic, many craters being still active. Large tracts
of land remained imperfectly surveyed at the beginning of the 20th
century, owing to the unhealthiness of the tropical climate, and the
dense underwoods which impede exploration. In the northern part of
Guatemala, on the Pacific coast of the same country, in British
Honduras, along the Segovia river, on the Mosquito Coast, and in the
basin of Lake Nicaragua and the San Juan river, there are broad
stretches of comparatively flat country. The main line of watershed is
everywhere nearer to the Pacific than to the Atlantic, except in
southern Costa Rica and Panama, where it is almost equidistant from
the two oceans. In consequence, the rivers of the Pacific seaboard are
mostly short and swift,--mere mountain torrents, in many instances,
until they reach the sands and swamps which border the sea. The rivers
of the Atlantic littoral descend more gradually, and by longer
channels. The largest of them is the Segovia, in Nicaragua and
Honduras, which has a course of 450 m. Lake Nicaragua, the largest
inland sheet of water, has an area exceeding 3500 sq. m. There are
also several mountain lakes of exceptional interest and beauty, such
as Atitlán and Amatitlán, in Guatemala, besides two great land-locked
salt-water lakes--the Pearl Lagoon of the Mosquito Coast, and the
Carataska Lagoon in Honduras.
[Illustration: Geologic Map of Central America.]
_Geology._--The neck of land which unites the continents of North and
South America is not, geologically, the direct continuation of either,
but constitutes a third element which is wedged, as it were, between
the other two. The folds in the earth's crust which form the Andes and
the Western ranges of North America, are not continued along the
connecting isthmus, where, on the contrary, the strata are folded from
west to east, obliquely across the trend of the continent. It should,
however, be noticed that the Andes, as they approach the Caribbean
sea, bend round towards the east; and it is probable that the folds of
the North American Cordillera similarly bend eastward beneath the
volcanic rocks of Mexico. The folds of Central America are tangential
to the two arcs thus formed.
By far the greater part of Central America and Mexico is covered by
Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits, both sedimentary and volcanic; but
the foundation on which they rest is exposed at intervals. From the
Rio Grande to the southern declivity of the Mexican plateau the
existence of ancient crystalline rocks at the surface is yet unproved,
but they probably occur in the Sierra Madre del Pacifico. South of the
plateau, in the state of Oaxaca, low mountain ridges composed of
granites and gneisses, supposed to be of Archaean age, begin to
appear. They strike from west to east, and mark the front of the
series of east and west folds which stand _en échelon_ across the
Central American region. Between the 15th and 17th parallels of
latitude, in the state of Chiapas and in the republic of Guatemala,
there is a second group of ridges composed of granites and schists
with an eastward trend. In this case the evidence of age is clear, for
the rocks are covered by a limestone which is proved to be
Pre-Carboniferous. Similar rocks, supposed to be of Archaean or at
least of early Palaeozoic age, occupy considerable areas in British
Honduras, Honduras and northern Nicaragua, and occur also in Costa
Rica and perhaps in Panama; and wherever the strike has been observed,
it is approximately from west to east. The presence of Palaeozoic
rocks has been proved in Guatemala and the adjacent state of Chiapas,
where limestones have been found containing many unmistakable
Carboniferous fossils, and below these is a considerable thickness of
beds supposed to be Silurian. Nowhere else in the Central American
region is there any palaeontological evidence of Palaeozoic rocks.
The Mesozoic series begins with sands and red or yellow clays
containing plant remains and possibly of Triassic age; but the
occurrence of these deposits is limited to a few small isolated
outcrops. Jurassic beds have been found in Mexico but not in Central
America. The Cretaceous system, consisting of a lower series of clays,
sandstones and conglomerates, followed conformably by an upper series
of limestones, covers a considerable area in Chiapas, Guatemala and
Honduras, and is found also in Costa Rica. The upper series contains
hippurites. The greater part of the eastern half of the Mexican
plateau is also formed of Cretaceous beds.
The Tertiary system may be conveniently divided into two divisions.
The lower, of Eocene and Oligocene age, consists generally of sand and
clays which were evidently laid down near a shore line. The upper
division also, including the Pliocene and Pleistocene (which have not
yet been clearly distinguished from each other), is usually of shallow
water origin; but in the northern part of Yucatan it includes beds of
chalky limestone, like those of the Antilles, which may have been
deposited in a deeper sea.
It is probable that folding took place at more than one geological
epoch, and the whole series of beds up to the Oligocene is involved in
the folds. The Pliocene, on the other hand, is usually undisturbed,
and the final effort must, therefore, have occurred during the Miocene
period, which appears to have been a period of great earth movement
throughout the Caribbean region. From the southern extremity of the
Mexican plateau to the Colombian border, the strike of the folds--of
the Mesozoic and early Tertiary deposits, as well as of the older
rocks--is in general from east to west; but there is one considerable
exception. On both sides of the deep depression which crosses Honduras
from Puerto Cortez to the Gulf of Fonseca, the strike is commonly from
north to south. The depression is probably a "Graben" or trough formed
by faulting.
The great volcanoes of Mexico and Central America stand upon the
Pacific side of the continent, and it is only where the land contracts
to a narrow neck that their products spread over to the Caribbean
shore. The extent of the volcanic deposits is very great, and over a
wide area they entirely conceal the original structural features of
the country. The eruptions began towards the close of the Cretaceous
period and continue to the present day. The rocks are lavas and ashes,
chiefly of andesitic or basaltic composition, but rhyolites and
trachytes also occur, and phonolite has been met with in one or two
places.
According to R.T. Hill, there is but little geological evidence of any
Tertiary or later connexion between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific,
excepting, perhaps, a shallow opening during the Eocene period. It
should, however, be stated that all authorities are not agreed upon
this point, and K. Sapper found marls and sandstones which he believes
to belong to the Upper Tertiary, lying horizontally at a height of
about 7500 ft. in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Unfortunately the
fossils obtained from these beds were lost.
_Climate_.--The climate of Central America is subject to the most
marked local differences of heat and cold, owing partly to the
proximity of two oceans, partly to the variations of altitude which
render such territories as the swamps of the coast, or the lowlands of
British Honduras and northern Guatemala, totally unlike the alpine
regions of Salvador and Costa Rica. The whole area may, however, be
roughly divided into a tropical zone (_tierra caliente_), from
sea-level to about 1500 ft.; a temperate zone (_tierra templada_),
from 1500 to 5000 ft.; and a cold zone (_tierra fria_), above 5000 ft.
These figures are, of course, only approximately correct; and it often
happens that, at the same elevation, the heat is greater on the
Pacific than on the Atlantic versant. The rainy season on the Pacific
slope varies in duration from four to six months, between April and
December. It lengthens as the altitude increases. On the coast, it
corresponds with the prevalence of the south-west monsoon, the
tempestuous _Cordonazo de San Francisco_, or "Flagellation of St
Francis," as it is called in Mexico, and it is often interrupted by an
interval of two or three weeks of fine weather, known as the
_Veranillo de San Juan_, or "Little summer of St John." In the rainy
season, the morning has usually a clear sky; about two or three
o'clock in the afternoon the clouds begin to gather in great cumulus
masses; suddenly the lightning flashes out and the rain crashes down;
and by evening the sky is clear and starry. North winds are most usual
during the dry season. On the Atlantic coast the trade-winds may bring
rain in any month, and, owing to the moist atmosphere, the heat is
more oppressive. The rainfall may vary in successive years from less
than 50 in. to nearly 200 in., owing to the occurrence of
cloud-bursts. Frosts are not rare above 7000 ft., but snow seldom
falls.
_Fauna_.--The fauna of Central America is more closely connected with
the fauna of South than with that of North America. As the region is
comparatively small, and its limits conventional, there are
comparatively few species that it can claim as peculiarly its own. It
is almost entirely free from the presence of animals dangerous to man.
Of felines it possesses the jaguar (_Felis onza_), popularly called
the tiger; the cuguar (_Felis concolor_), popularly called the lion;
the tigrillo (_Felis tigrina_), which is sometimes kept tame; and
other species. Several species of monkeys (_Mycetes_ and _Ateles_) are
numerous in the warm coast region. The Mexican deer (_Cervus
mexicanus_) has a wide range both in the lowlands and highlands.
Besides the tapir there are several varieties of wild pig, such as the
marrano de monte (_Sus torquatus_) and the jabali or javali (_Sus
labiatus javali_). The _Edentata_ are represented by a species of
armadillo, the honey-bear (_Myrmecophaga tomandua_), and the
_Myrmecophaga didactyla;_ and among the rodents may be mentioned,
besides rats, hares and rabbits, the fruit-eating cotorra and
tepes-cuinte (_Dasyprocta aguti_ and _Coelogenys paca_), and the
troublesome _Geomys mexicana._ The manatee is common in all the larger
streams. Much annoyance is caused to the agriculturist by the little
marsupial called the tacuacine, or the _Didelphys carcinora,_ its
allied species. The bats are so numerous that villages have sometimes
had to be left to their undisputed occupancy. In the south-east of
Costa Rica the inhabitants are at times compelled to withdraw, with
all their live-stock, before the swarms of large migratory vampires
which in a single night can bleed the strongest animal to death. Most
of the domestic animals--the horse, ox, goat, sheep, pig, dog, rabbit,
common fowl, peacock and pigeon--are of European origin, and are
popularly grouped together as _animales de Castilla._ For the bird
collector there is a rich harvest. The catalogue of the National
Museum at Washington shows that Costa Rica alone possesses more than
twice as many species of birds as the whole of Europe. Among birds of
prey it is sufficient to mention _Corogyps atratus,_ the commonest of
the vultures, which acts as a universal scavenger, the _Cathartes
aura,_ the beautiful _Polyborus vulgaris,_ and the king of the
vultures (_Sarcorhamphus papa_). Neither the condor of the southern
continent nor the great eagles of the northern are known. The parrot,
macaw and toucan are found in all parts; the crow, blackbird, Mexican
jay, ricebird, swallow, rainbird, wood-pecker, humming-bird and trogon
are also widely distributed. A bird of the last-named genus, the
quetzal, quijal or quesal (_Trogon resplendens_) is of special note,
not only from the fact that its yellow tail-feathers. 2 or 3 ft. long,
were formerly worn as insignia by the Indian princes, but because it
has been adopted as the emblematical figure on the national arms of
Guatemala. The gallinaceous order is well represented, and comprises
several peculiar species, as the pavo de cacho, and the Peten turkey
(_Meleagris ocellata_), which has a bronze sheen on its plumage; and
aquatic birds, it is almost needless to add, are unusually numerous in
a region so richly furnished with lagoons, rivers and lakes.
Besides the alligator, which swarms in many rivers, the almost endless
varieties of Central American reptiles include the harmless boba or
chicken-snake, python and black snake; the venomous corali, taboba,
culebra de sangre and rattlesnake; iguanas of great size, scorpions,
edible lizards and other lizards said to be poisonous. In the rivers
and lakes, as in both seas, fish of many kinds abound; turtles and
tortoises are exported; and there are valuable pearl and oyster
fisheries. Insect life is even richer and more varied. Of the
_Coleoptera_, the Camelicorns, the Longicorns, the Curculionids, and
the Chrysomelines are said to be best represented, and of the
_Lepidoptera_ the prevalent genera are--_Ageronia, Papilio, Heliconia,
Sphinx_ and _Bombyx_. There are five species of bees, and the European
honey-bee, known as _aveja de Castilla_ or "bee of Castile," has been
naturalized. Ants are common, and may sometimes be seen marching in a
column 3 or 4 m. long. The mosquito, wood-tick, flea and locust are
unfortunately no less plentiful in certain districts, but their
distribution varies greatly, the mosquito being almost unknown in
parts of Honduras. A curious species of butterfly is the _Timetes
Chiron,_ which migrates in countless multitudes from the forests of
Honduras to the Mosquito Coast, but is never known to return.
_Flora_.--The flora of Central America ranges from the alpine to the
tropical, with the transition from one climatic zone to another.
Although its forest growths are, on the whole, inferior in size to
those of corresponding latitudes in the eastern hemisphere, it is
unsurpassed for beauty, luxuriance and variety. In the volcanic
districts, the soil is extremely fertile, yielding, where cultivated
and irrigated, magnificent crops of sugar, cotton, rice, tobacco,
coffee, cocoa and maize. Indigo is produced in small quantities; sugar
yields two or three crops, and maize as many as four, this cereal
supplying a chief staple of food. Plantains, bananas, beans, tomatoes,
yams, arrowroot, pine-apples, guavas, citrons and many other tropical
fruits are also cultivated, while the extensive primeval forests
abound in mahogany, cedars, rosewood, ironwood, rubber, gum copal,
vanilla, sarsaparilla, logwood and many other dye-woods, medicinal
plants, and valuable timbers. Conspicuous amongst the forest trees are
the giant ceiba, or pyramidal bombax, and the splendid Coyal palm
(_Cocos butyracea,_ L.), with feathery leaves 15 to 20 ft. long,
golden flowers 3 ft. high, and a sap which when fermented produces the
intoxicating _chicha_ or _vino de Coyol._ In Guatemala occurs the
remarkable _Herrania purpurea,_ a "Chocolate tree," whose seeds yield
a finer flavoured chocolate than the cocoa itself. The same country is
famous for its magnificent orchids, huge arborescent thistles, and a
remarkable plant called by the Spaniards _Flor de la Calentura_,
"fever flower," from the heat which it is said to emit at the moment
of fertilization. Salvador produces an abundance of medicinal plants,
notably the so-called Peruvian balsam (_Myrospermum salvatorense_); in
Honduras there are immense forests of conifers, resembling those of
the Landes in France; in Nicaragua a characteristic tree is the cortes
(_Tecoma sideroxylori_) yielding timber as hard as ebony, and
noteworthy for the golden blossom with which it is entirely covered
after the leaves have fallen.
_Inhabitants_--In 1905 the population of Central America numbered about
4,750,000, and this total tends to increase, despite the unhealthy
climate of many districts, the terribly high average of infant
mortality, and the slow progress of immigration. Some authorities
estimate it at 5,500,000. The vast majority of the inhabitants are of
mixed Indian and Spanish blood, but the Indian element predominates
everywhere except in Costa Rica, where the whites are exceptionally
numerous. The Indian races have not shown the same power to adapt
themselves to modern civilization as the Mexicans; in some regions there
are tribes remaining in a state of complete savagery although before the
Spanish conquest their ancestors attained a high level of culture (see
below under _Archaeology_). The density of population throughout Central
America is little more than 25 per sq. m.; and it is clear that several
large areas now thinly peopled once maintained a far greater number of
inhabitants. Such are parts of the Nicaraguan lake district, where the
flora consists in great measure of plants that were formerly cultivated
by the Indians. The depopulation of these areas was effected partly by
tribal wars, partly by the harsh rule of the Spaniards. Apart from the
German agricultural settlements in Guatemala and elsewhere, the foreign
population is chiefly confined to the seaports and other centres of
commerce, Great Britain, Germany and the United States being largely
represented among the wealthier classes of residents; while the foreign
labourers are mostly Italians or negroes, with a few Chinese on the
Pacific coast.
_History_.--Central America was discovered by Columbus in August 1502;
and part of the territory which is now Costa Rica was conquered by the
Spaniards under Pedro Arias de Avila after 1513. Between 1522 and 1525,
the authority of Avila was superseded, and his work of conquest
completed by Hernando Cortes, who had already subjugated Mexico. Panama
formed part of a distinct Spanish government, "New Granada"; British
Honduras was colonized, though not formally annexed, in the 18th
century; and over the Mosquito Coast the British government exercised a
nominal protectorate after 1665. Otherwise the rest of Central America
remained a Spanish dependency bearing the general name of "Guatemala,"
until 1821. It ranked as a captaincy-general under the rule of a
military governor, and was organized in five departments, corresponding
in area with the modern republics of Guatemala, Honduras, Salvador,
Nicaragua and Costa Rica. For three centuries it was administered by
Spanish officials, who almost invariably devoted their whole energy to
enriching themselves and the home authorities. The old Indian
civilization was swept away; the native races were enslaved, maltreated
and, for a time, demoralized. But their history offers no parallel to
that of the West Indian Caribs, who failed to survive, and were replaced
by hordes of African slaves. In Central America the Indians not only
survived, thus leaving no room for any large negro population, but
quickly acquired the language, religion and habits of their masters,
with whom they intermarried. By the close of the 18th century, the
majority had attained something like uniformity of life and thought.
Racial distinctions had been obscured by intermarriage; even the term
_Ladino_, or "Latin," came to mean an educated man, whether of Spanish
or Indian blood. Nowhere, except in Mexico, has a mixed or coloured race
more completely absorbed the civilization of its white rulers; but so
gradual and silent was the process that it passed almost unnoticed. Its
result, the successful revolt of the Spanish colonies--colonies mainly
peopled by Indians or half-castes--was no more a conflict of rival races
or civilizations than the rebellion of the British colonies in North
America.
"New Granada" attained its independence in 1819; and in 1821 "Guatemala"
declared itself free. That the subsequent history of the Central
American republics has been largely a record of civil war,
maladministration and financial dishonesty, is perhaps due in part to
racial inferiority. In part, however, it may be explained by the absence
of any tradition of good government; perhaps also by the brevity and
artificiality of the evolution which converted a debased
slave-population into the citizens of modern democratic states. The five
divisions of "Guatemala" were temporarily incorporated in the Mexican
empire during 1822, but regained their autonomy (as Guatemala, Honduras,
Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica) on the declaration of a Mexican
republic, and in July 1823 combined to form the Republic of the United
States of Central America. The Liberal or Federalist party, which was
supreme in Honduras, found itself opposed by the Conservatives,
including the clergy and former Spanish officials, who were very
influential in Guatemala. A bitter and protracted struggle ensued. In
1837-1839 a Conservative rising, under Rafael Carrera, president of
Guatemala, resulted in the overthrow of the Liberals, under General
Francisco Morazan of Honduras; and in 1842, after a vain attempt to
restore the Federal republic, Morazan was captured and shot. A fresh
union of the republics (except Costa Rica) was concluded in 1842, and
dissolved in 1845. The year 1850 was signalized by the conclusion, on
the 19th of April, of the Clayton-Bulwer treaty (q.v.) between Great
Britain and the United States, which was designed to facilitate the
construction of an interoceanic canal. The history of this project is
given in detail under PANAMA CANAL. One important result of the treaty
was the abandonment, in 1860, of the British protectorate over the
Mosquito Coast. This event had been preceded by a decade of political
disturbances. In 1850 Honduras, Salvador and Nicaragua had combined to
restore federal unity; but their allied armies were defeated by the
Guatemalans under Carrera. In 1856 the American adventurer, William
Walker, endeavoured to usurp the government of Nicaragua; in 1860 he
invaded Honduras and was captured and shot. His object was to assist the
slave-holders of the United States by adding new slave-states to the
Union. A further attempt to restore federal unity failed in 1885, and
its promoter, Justo Rufino Barrios, president of Guatemala, lost his
life. In 1895 the Greater Republic of Central America was formed by the
union of Nicaragua, Salvador and Honduras; and a constitution was framed
providing for the admission of Guatemala and Costa Rica; in December
1898 it was dissolved, as unsatisfactory to Salvador. On the 4th of
November 1903 Panama, which had since 1863 formed part of Colombia,
declared itself an autonomous republic. Its independence was immediately
recognized by the United States, and shortly afterwards by the European
powers. The United States also forbade the landing of any Colombian
force on the territories of Panama, and thus guaranteed the security of
the new state.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--For a general description of Central America, and
especially of its physical features, the following monographs by K.
Sapper are of prime importance:--_In den Vulcangebieten Mittelamerikas
und Westindiens_ (Stuttgart, 1905); _Mittelamerikanische Reisen und
Studien aus den Jahren 1888 bis 1900_ (Brunswick, 1902), and _Das
nordliche Mittelamerika nebst einem Ausflug nach dem Hochland von
Anahuac_ (Brunswick, 1897); these all contain many useful
illustrations and maps. See also _Central America and the West
Indies_, by A.H. Keane, edited by Sir C. Markham (London, 1901, 2
vols., with maps and illustrations); _Central and South America_, by
H.W. Bates (London, 1882); _The Spanish American Republics_, by T.
Child (London, 1892); and _Expedition nach Zentral und Sudamerika_, by
P. Preuss (Berlin, 1901). For geology, see "The Geological History of
the Isthmus of Panama and Portions of Costa Rica," by R.T. Hill, in
_Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. Harvard_, vol. xxviii., No. 5 (1898); and the
following by K. Sapper:--"Grundzüge der physikalischen Geographic von
Guatemala," in _Petermann's Mitt._ Ergänzungsheft, No. 113 (1894),
"Über Gebirgsbau und Boden des nördlichen Mittelamerika," ibid., No.
127 (1899), and "Über Gebirgsbau und Boden des südlichen
Mittelamerika," _ibid_., No. 151 (1905). _The States of Central
America_, by E.G. Squier (New York, 1858), is still valuable, as are
others of the numerous essays, pamphlets, &c., on Central American
affairs left by this author; see the bibliography of his writings
published in New York in 1876. The _Bulletins of the Bureau of
American Republics_ (Washington, from 1893) give ample information on
commerce and industry. See also _History of Central America_, by H.
Bancroft (San Francisco, 1881-1887. 3 vols.).
ARCHAEOLOGY OF CENTRAL AMERICA
Discoveries and investigations carried on during the 19th century have
thrown much light on the splendid past of Central America. The still
extant ruins of great buildings, unlike anything which is known in the
old world, testify to the high culture attained in pre-Columbian days by
several native peoples differing greatly from one another in speech and
racial affinities. As a science the archaeology of Central America has
scarcely yet emerged from its infancy. Entire branches are still wholly
uninvestigated. Amongst the numerous problems which await solution must
still be reckoned the decipherment of the inscriptions, which hitherto
has not progressed beyond the discovery of calendar systems and the
relative datings involved in such systems.
For a complete survey of this ancient civilization, so far as it has
been investigated, it is necessary to include with Central America,
properly so called, a considerable portion of the Mexican territories
south and east of the isthmus of Tehuantepec. The peoples inhabiting
Yucatan, Campeche, Guatemala, Chiapas and Oaxaca present at the first
view striking ethnical differences. On a linguistic basis, however, they
may be united into several large groups. Thus, Yucatan and the greater
part of Guatamala are inhabited by the Mayas, with whom may be included
the still savage Lacantun or Lacandones. Related to these linguistically
are the Tzendals in Chiapas and the Quiches and Cackchiquels in
Guatemala, as well as the less important tribes of the Mam, Pokoman,
Pokonchi, Tzotzil, Tzutuhil and Ixil. Between these there are patches of
country in which dialects of the Mexican are spoken. In Oaxaca there is
an extraordinary mixture of languages, some of which, like that of the
Huave of Tehuantepec, are of quite unknown affinities; the bulk of the
population, however, is composed of Mixtecs and Zapotecs with which the
Mixe and Zoque on the east are connected. Mexican dialects also occur in
isolated parts of Oaxaca.
_Mayan Culture._--The civilization of the Mayas may well have been
reared upon one more ancient, but the life of that culture of which the
ruins are now visible certainly lasted no more than 500 years. The date
of its extinction is unknown, but in certain places, notably Mayapan and
Chichenitza, the highest development seems to be synchronous with the
appearance of foreign, viz. Mexican or Nahua elements (see below). This
quite distinctive local character suggests that the cities in question
played a certain preponderating role, a hypothesis with which the scanty
documentary evidence is in agreement. On the other hand the Mayan
culture evinces an evident tendency to assimilate heterogeneous
elements, obliterating racial distinctions and imposing its own dominant
character over a wide area. Oaxaca, the country of the Mixtecs and
Zapotecs, became, as was natural from its geographical position midway
between Yucatan and Mexico, the meeting-ground where two archaeological
traditions which are sharply contrasted in their original homes united.
Architecture
Central American architecture is characterized by a fine feeling for
construction, and the execution is at once bold and aesthetically
effective. Amongst the various ruins, some of which represent the
remains of entire cities, while others are no more than groups of
buildings or single buildings, certain types persistently recur. The
commonest of such types are pyramids and galleries. The pyramids are
occasionally built of brick, but most usually of hewn stone with a
covering of finely-carved slabs. Staircases lead up to the top from one
or more sides. Some pyramids are built in steps. Usually the platform on
the top of a pyramid is occupied by buildings, the typical distribution
of which is into two parts, viz. vestibule and sanctuary. In connexion
with the pyramid there are various subsidiary structures, such as
altars, pillars, and sacrificial stones, to meet the requirements of
ritual and worship, besides habitations for officials and
"tennis-courts" for the famous ball-game like that played by the
Mexicans. The tennis-courts always run north and south, and all the
buildings, almost without exception, have a definite orientation to
particular points of the compass. Frequently the pyramids constitute
one of the four sides of a quadrangular enclosure, within which are
contained other pyramids, altars or other buildings of various
dimensions.
The normal type of gallery is an oblong building, of which the front
facing inwards to the enclosure is pierced by doors. These divide it
into a series of rooms, behind which again there may be a second series.
Occasionally the rooms are distributed round a central apartment, but
this is ordinarily done only when a second storey has to be placed above
them. The gallery-buildings may rise to as much as three storeys, the
height, size and shape of the rooms being determined by the exigencies
of vaulting. The principle of the true arch is unknown, so that the
vaults are often of the corbelled kind, the slabs of the side-walls
being made to overlap in succession until there remains only so narrow a
space as may be spanned by a single flat stone. At Mitla, where the
material used in the construction of the buildings was timber instead of
stone, the larger rooms were furnished with stone pillars on which the
beams could rest. The same principle recurs in certain ruins at
Chichenitza. The tops and sides of the doors are often decorated with
carved reliefs and hieroglyphs, and the entrances are sometimes
supported by plain or carved columns and pilasters, of which style the
serpent columns of Chichenitza afford the most striking example. On its
external front one of these galleries may have a cornice and
half-pillars. Above this is a plain surface of wall, then a rich frieze
which generally exhibits the most elaborate ornamentation in the whole
building. The subjects are geometrical designs in mosaic, serpents'
heads and human masks. The corners of the wall terminate in
three-quarter pillars, above which the angles of the frieze frequently
show grotesque heads with noses exaggerated into trunks. The roof of the
gallery is flat and occasionally gabled.
_Principal Sites._--Such are the general characteristics of Central
American buildings, but it must be understood that almost every site
exhibits peculiarities of its own, and the number of the ruined
settlements even as at present known is very large. The most
considerable are enumerated below.
_Yucatan_.--Of the very numerous ruins which are distributed over
Yucatan and the islands of the east coast the majority still await
exploration. A few words of special notice may be devoted to one or two
sites in the centre of the peninsula which have already become famous.
At Uxmal the buildings consist of five considerable groups, viz.--the
Casa del Adivino, which is a step-pyramid 240 ft. long by 160 ft. wide
and 80 ft. high, crowned by a temple 75 ft. long by 12 ft. wide; the
Casa de Monjas, a striking erection of four oblong buildings on an
extensive terrace; the Casa de Tortugas, Casa del Gobernador, and Casa
de Palomas, the last of which is a group of six galleries surrounding a
court. At Izamal there is a very imposing group of ruins, as yet quite
insufficiently explored. At Chichenitza, a city of first-rate
importance, situated 22 m. west of Valladolid, the ruins consist of
eight principal groups, the chief of which are as follows. The Casa de
Monjas, a three-storeyed building, attributable to several distinct
periods; the Caracol, a round structure with dome in imitation of a
snail-shell, showing evident traces of Mexican influence; El Castillo, a
large temple standing on a base 200 ft. long and 75 ft. high, approached
by staircases on all four sides, and furnished with serpent-pillars of a
kind unknown anywhere else except at Uxmal and Tula near Mexico; an
unnamed temple-pyramid, which is remarkable for a group of caryatid
figures; a tennis-court; and finally the Tiger Temple, which contains
marvellous coloured reliefs representing figures of warriors and
place-hieroglyphs, all executed in a distinctively Mexican style. Yet
another evidence of Mexican influence at Chichenitza is to be noted in
five figures of the so-called Chac-mol type, that is to say, horizontal
figures in which the arms are extended to the navel which is indicated
by a cup-like depression. This Chac-mol type is characteristic of such
sites as Tlascala and Cempoallan.
Other important sites in Yucatan are Chacmaltun, with fine
wall-paintings; Tantah, with remarkable pillared facades; the ruins of
Labna, Chunhuhub, and the caves of Loltun; and Xlabpak de Santa Rosa,
where there is a three-storeyed temple palace. Two sculptured reliefs
are of great interest; they represent a person holding a staff on which
is a figure of the god Ah-bolon-tzacab.
_Guatemala_.--The Guatemalan ruins are distributed over a wide area. The
most numerous and extensive are on the Usumacinta river. The most
important sites in that district are Piedras Negras, and Yaxchilan or
Menche Tinamit, where there are temples covered with sculptured reliefs
and hieroglyphic inscriptions, and stelae and slabs carved with human
figures placed in niches. In the Peten district, Tikal is famous for its
splendid sculptures representing Kukulkan and other divinities. Near the
modern city of Guatemala are the vast ruins of Guatemala-Mixco.
Chacujál, which Cortes visited on his expedition of 1524-1525 is very
possibly to be identified with the modern Pueblo Viejo on the river
Tinaja. Chaculá and Quen-Santo between the headwaters of the Rio de
Chiapas and the Rio Lacantun are two sites of a strongly marked local
character. Series of three pyramids are peculiar to these two
settlements, as also are pyramids with human figures on their platforms.
Stelae discovered at Quen Santo have a calendar character, which proves
that Mayan science had penetrated into what was probably the home of an
old Lacantun culture.
Santa Lucia Cozumalhuapa, on the Pacific slope of the Cordilleras, is a
very peculiar site. The ruins are those of a settlement which had
already been deserted before Alvarado's expedition of 1522. The
sculptures of gods, goddesses and other figures, executed on enormous
blocks of stone, show a distinctively Mexican character, with which,
however, various Mayan features are blended. They may perhaps be
attributed to some offshoot of the Nahua stock, probably the Pipil
Indians, which developed on lines of its own in this remote corner.
Near the frontier of Honduras are the remarkable ruins of Quirigua,
which rival Copan in importance and have suffered less from the ravages
of the climate. The ruins of temples and palaces contain gigantic stone
stelae of very fine workmanship, on which are sculptured human and
animal figures representing hieroglyphs of the calendar dates.
_Honduras_.--Copan, one of the most important seats of Mayan
civilization, lies close to the borders of Guatemala. The ruins comprise
great buildings, temples, pyramids, &c. and contain sculptures of the
highest interest. Especially noteworthy are altars in the form of a
turtle and stelae covered with hieroglyphs. The hieroglyphs are of the
kind usually found in such ruins, the meaning of which is so far clear
that it is known that the commencement of an inscription records certain
dates in the complicated calendar system of the Mayas. A collation of
these dates demonstrates that the most ancient on record are separated
from the most recent by an interval of only a few centuries. From this
it may be concluded that the Mayan civilization, whether or not it was
preceded by anything older, flourished for only a comparatively short
period, the beginning of which cannot be placed many centuries before
A.D. 1000.
According to Squier (_Honduras_, London, 1870, p. 75) the other
principal ruins of Honduras are to be found in plains of the department
of Comayagua, near Yarumela, near Lajamini, and in the ruined town of
Cururu. They are "large, pyramidal, terraced structures, often faced
with stones, conical mounds of earth and walls of stone." Further ruins,
such as those of Calamulla, Jamalteca, Maniana, Guasistagua, Chapuluca
and Chapulistagua, are found in the department of Comayagua in the side
valleys and adjoining tablelands. The most interesting and most
extensive are the ruins of Tenampua (Pueblo Viejo), about 20 m.
south-east of Comayagua. Here ramparts, defence works, terraced stone
mounds and numerous large pyramids are to be found. Squier found further
ruins in the west of Honduras, which have also been described in part by
Stephens, and were probably first mentioned in 1576 by Diego Garcia de
Palacio (_Carta dirigida al Rei de España_, published by Squier, New
York, 1860).
[Illustration: (Map of Central America)]
At Rio Ulloa are remains which testify to the existence of a large
population in past days. Possibly they may be identified with a site
of the name of Naco mentioned by Las Casas and by Bernal Diaz (_Histoire
véridique de la conquête de la Nouvelle Espagne_, translated by D.
Fourdanet, 2nd ed., Paris, 1877, ch. 178, p. 690).
_Chiapas_ (Mexico).--The principal site is Palenque, the ruins of which
were amongst the earliest of all to attract attention. The style of
architecture, with the gigantic vaults and singular comb-shaped gables,
distinguishes Palenque from Copan and Quirigua, which it surpasses also
in the unequalled magnificence of its sculptures. Five out of the
remarkably uniform series of buildings may be specially mentioned. They
are the Great Palace, a complex structure of galleries and courts
commanded by a three-storeyed tower, the Temples of the Cross, which are
galleries constructed on terraces and containing the well-known reliefs,
the Temple of Inscriptions, the Sun Temple and the Temple of the Relief.
The sculptured figures of Palenque are familiar from many reproductions.
The most characteristic groups represent a deity standing between
worshippers who hold a staff surmounted by the water-god
Ah-bolon-tzacab, the "god of the nine medicines." The inscriptions on
the famous Cross and in the Sun Temple contain calendar-datings which
are remarkable as showing a particular combination of numbers and
hieroglyphs, which does not occur elsewhere.
A whole series of sites is included within the geographical limits of
Chiapas, which from the archaeologist's standpoint must be considered as
belonging properly to Guatemala. The country has been quite
insufficiently explored.
_Oaxaca_ (Mexico).--The bulk of the population of the province of Oaxaca
is composed of a distinct racial group, best represented by the
Zapotecs, who have been for an unknown length of time the intermediaries
between the Nahua civilization of Mexico on the west and the Mayan on
the east. The influence of the two separate currents may be detected in
the bastard calendar system no less than in the still undeciphered
inscriptions. The principal ruins are those of Mitla, the burial city of
the priests and kings of the ancient Zapotecs, which bear a quite
distinct character, though presenting certain analogies with the
Mexican. One of the chief structures is a step-pyramid, rising in three
steps to a height of 130 ft., another is a pyramid of brick. Besides
these there are courts, surrounded by palaces which represented
necropolises, the dwellings of the priests, of the chief priest, and of
the king (with an audience-hall). The wall paintings of the "palaces"
are especially admirable, and it is to be noted that the deities
represented in them are those of the Mexican pantheon.
Monte Alban is interesting for the definitely Zapotec character of its
sculptures. Quiengola near Tehuantepec is a site with extensive ruins
including a fine tennis court.
_British Honduras_.--The antiquities of British Honduras have been but
little investigated. In the scanty literature relating to them a few
accounts of ruined places are to be found. In style these buildings
closely resemble those of the neighbouring Yucatan. The ruins in the
colony New Boston, mentioned by Froebel (_Central America_, p. 167), are
of this kind. F. de P. Castells (see _American Antiquarian_, Chicago,
1904, vol. xxvi. pp. 32-37) describes the ruins, in the north of the
colony, of "Ixim chech," supposed to be the Indian form of the English
name "Indian Church." They are on the road to the Lake of Yaxha (green
water), where further ruins are to be found. Thomas Gann gives detailed
accounts of numerous mounds also in the northern part of British
Honduras (see _19th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology_,
Washington, 1900, part i. pp. 661-692, with plates). The most
interesting ruins are those which have been discovered in Santa Rita, at
the mouth of the New River, near the town of Corosal. Here wonderful
wall paintings in stucco came to light, which unfortunately Gann could
only save in part. The remainder were destroyed by Indians. It should be
remarked that a number of the mounds in Santa Rita were erected over
ruins of buildings which must therefore be of older date than the
mounds.
_Salvador_.--Pedro de Alvarado in his expedition of 1524 calls this
whole district _Cuscatan_ (Mex. _Cozcatlan_), that is, "Land of precious
stones, of treasures, of abundance." A further description of the land
is given by Palacio (l.c.) in 1576. Although there are numerous relics
of Mayan civilization buried in the earth; few ruins are to be seen on
the surface. Karl Sapper has described three large ruins: Cuzcatlan near
the capital, Tehuacan near S. Vicente, and Zacualpa on the Lake of Güija
in the extreme north-west of the country. The ruins show a distinct
affinity in style to those of the Mayan buildings in Guatemala, but they
are less fine and artistically perfect. Probably the central and western
districts of San Salvador were originally peopled by the same race of
Mayas, and these tracts of country were later settled by the
Mexican-speaking Pipiles.
A characteristic feature of the extensive ruins of Zacualpa is that the
pyramids and ramparts have perpendicular steps which are higher than
they are broad, and this peculiarity may be attributed to the influence
of the Maya tribes, who are related to the Mams of Guatemala.
_Decipherment of the Mayan Hieroglyphs._--The key to the decipherment,
so far as this has progressed at present, was furnished by the _Historia
de las Cosas de Yucatan_, a work written by Diego de Landa, the first
bishop of the country. This professed to give, with much other more or
less doubtful information, the full account of a calendar system
analogous to that of the Mexicans, which was said to have been used by
the Mayas (see MEXICO). The signs for each of the 20 days and for the 18
weeks of 20 days are figured by Landa. The first step was to compare
these with the hieroglyphic characters contained in the few Mayan
picture manuscripts (Codex Troano, Cortesianus, Peresianus, Dresden
Codex) which have survived the destructive fanaticism of the Spanish
missionaries. Förstemann's acute analysis detected that the bars and
dots which occur along the margin and in the body of the pictorial
scenes represented numerals, dots standing for each integer up to five,
while for five a bar was used. Next, it was found that the order in
which these numeral-signs are placed is regular, and that there are
never more than five in a group. It was established that the first sign
in such a group is that for the numeral 1 (_Kin_), the next that for 20
(_Uinal_), the third for 18×20 (_Tun_), the fourth for 18×20×20
(_Katun_), and the fifth for 18×20×20×20, that is to say, a cycle.
Had the available material for study been confined to the manuscripts,
little more progress would have been made beyond establishing subsidiary
details in the actual calendar. But when a similar analysis was applied
to the numerous monuments discovered and figured by Maudslay and others,
some important results of a general bearing were obtained. It was found
that many of the hieroglyphs of various forms upon the stones were also
of numeral value, and, what was of great importance, that they all
referred back to a single starting-point. This starting-point or zero is
no doubt the mythological date at which, according to Mayan cosmology,
the world was created. It is placed at nine or ten cycles before the
time when Copan and Quirigua were erected and the picture manuscripts
made. And it is by reference to it in the inscriptions that such
students as Seler, Goodman and others have been enabled, as already
stated, to obtain a record of the relative chronology of the most famous
monuments, to confine the period of their erection within the space of a
few centuries, and approximately to fix even their absolute antiquity.
Though much yet remains to be done, these are substantial results which
have already been won from the study of the hieroglyphs.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The _Antiquités mexicaines_ of Dupaix (Paris, 1834),
the _Voyage pittoresque et archéologique dans la province d'Yucatan_
of F. de Waldeck (Paris, 1838), and the _Monuments anciens du Mexique_
of Brasseur de Bourbourg and Waldeck (Paris, 1866) are quite out of
date and superseded. Stephen's _Incidents of Travel in Central
America, Chiapas and Yucatan_ (New York, 1841 and 1867), and B.M.
Norman's _Rambles in Yucatan_ (New York, 1843), are still of value,
the first-mentioned especially for the drawings by Catherwood. Among
the earlier writers may also be mentioned Charnay, _Les Anciennes
Villes du Nouveau Monde_ (Paris, 1885) and _Cités et ruines
américaines_ (Paris, 1863), the latter written in collaboration with
Viollet-le-Duc. Those, however, who are not primarily bibliophiles
will be content to study the following:--Maudslay (in Godman and
Salvin's _Biologia Centrali-Americana_, sect. _Archaeology_, London,
1889, &c.), a pioneer work containing the admirably presented results
of scientific exploration. Maler, in _Memoirs of the Peabody Museum_,
vol. ii. 1, 2 (Cambridge, U.S.A., 1901 and 1903); Holmes,
_Archaeological Studies among the Ancient Mexicans_ (Field Columbian
Museum, Chicago, 1895); E. Seler, _Die alten Ansiedelungen von
Chacula_ (Berlin, 1901), _Wandmalereien von Mitla_ (Berlin, 1895),
_Ges. Abhandlungen_, vol. i. (Berlin, 1902) and vol. ii. (1904),
_Fuhrer von Mitla_ (Berlin, 1906). E. Förstemann has contributed many
valuable essays to _Globus_ and the _Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie_
(Berlin); especially important are his commentaries to the _Dresden
Codex_ (Dresden, 1901), to the _Codex Tro-Cortesianus Madrilensis_
(Danzig, 1902), and to the _Codex Peresianus_ (Danzig, 1903). See also
"The Archaic Maya Inscriptions," by F.T. Goodman (in _Biologia
Centrali-Americana_, section _Archaeology_, viii., 1897), and _Report
of an Archaeological Tour in Mexico in 1881_, by A.F. Bandelier
(Boston, 1884). Valuable bibliographies have been made by Bandelier
(_Notes on the Bibliography of Yucatan and Central America_,
Worcester, U.S.A., 1881) and by K. Häbler ("Die Maya Literatur und der
Maya Apparat zu Dresden," in the _Zentralblatt fur Bibliothekwesen_,
xii., 1895). The Mayan picture MSS. have been published in facsimile
as follows:--the _Dresden Codex_ by Förstemann (Leipzig, 1880, and
Dresden, 1892), and the _Codex Tro_ by Brasseur de
Bourbourg--_Manuscrit Troano, étude sur le système graphique et la
langue des Mayas_ (Paris, 1869-1870), the _Codex Cortesianus_ by Léon
de Rosny (Paris, 1883) and by F. de Dios de la Rada y Delgado and F.L.
de Ayala y del Hierro (Madrid, 1893), the _Codex Peresianus_ by Duruy
and Brasseur de Bourbourg (Paris, 1864) and by L. de Rosny (Paris,
1887). The following relate especially to the ruins in Salvador:--_La
Universidad_, by D. Gonzalez, vol. ii. ser. 3, No. 6, p. 283 (San
Salvador, 1892-1893); _Le Salvador pré-Colombien, études
archéologiques_, by F. de Montcasus de Ballore (Paris, 1891), 25
plates; Karl Sapper in _Arch. fur Ethnologie_, 9, p. 3 ff. (1896).
(W. L.*)
CENTRAL FALLS, a city of Providence county, Rhode Island, U.S.A., on the
Blackstone river, about 5 m. N. of Providence. Pop. (1900) 18,167;
(1905, state census) 19,446, of whom 8792 were foreign-born, 4164 being
French-Canadian, 1587 being English, and 1292 being Irish; (1910)
22,754. It is served by the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway. The
Blackstone furnishes good water-power, and the chief industry of the
city is the manufacture of cotton goods; other important industries are
the refining of copper and the manufacture of woollens, silks and
hair-cloth. The total value of the factory product in 1905 was
$5,090,984, being 12.9% more than in 1900. A settlement was established
here about 1763 and was first a part of Smithfield, and then, after
1871, of Lincoln. About 1780 a chocolate mill was erected, and from then
until 1827 the settlement was known as Chocolateville. It was
incorporated as the Central Falls Fire District of Smithfield in 1847,
and in 1895 was chartered as a city.
CENTRALIA, a city of Marion county, Illinois, U.S.A., in the S. part of
the state, about 62 m. E. of St Louis. Pop. (1890) 4763; (1900) 6721
(571 foreign-born); (1910) 9680. The city is served by the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy, the Illinois Central, the Illinois Southern, and
the Southern railways; the first two have repair shops here. Centralia
is situated in the central part of southern Illinois, popularly known as
"Egypt." Among its manufactures are window glass, envelopes, cigars,
concrete blocks and flour. In and near the city coal is mined, and
apples, strawberries and other fruits are raised, and the city is a
shipping point for coal and fruit. Centralia was first settled in 1853,
and was first chartered as a city in 1859.
CENTRAL INDIA, a collection of native states in India forming a separate
agency, which must not be confounded with the Central Provinces. The
Central India agency was formed in 1854, when Sir R. Hamilton was
appointed agent to the governor-general. It lies between 21° 24' and 26°
52' N. and between 74° 0' and 83° 0' E., and may be said to consist of
two large detached tracts of country which, with Jhansi as a pivot,
spread outwards east and west into the peninsula, reaching northward to
within some 30 m. of Agra, and southward to the valley of the Nerbudda
and the Vindhya and Satpura ranges. The total area is 78,772 sq. m. It
is bounded on the N. and N.E. by the United Provinces, on the W. and
S.W. by Rajputana, some native states of the Bombay presidency, and
Khandesh. The Central Provinces and the Bengal district of Chota Nagpur
enclose it on the S. and E., while the Jhansi district of the United
Provinces separates the two tracts.
Central India may be divided into three great natural divisions: the
highlands of the Malwa plateau, with a mean elevation of some 1500 ft.
above sea-level; the low-lying country some 600 ft. above sea-level,
comprising the greater part of the eastern section of the agency; and
the hilly tracts, which lie mostly to the south. The Malwa plateau
consists of great undulating plains, separated by flat-topped hills,
whose sides are boldly terraced, with here and there a scarp rising
above the general level; it is covered with long grass, stunted trees
and scrub, which owing to the presence of deciduous plants is of a
uniform straw colour, except in the rains. The foundation of this
plateau is a bed of sandstone and shales belonging to the Vindhyan
series. This bed, which stretches east and west from Sasseram to
Neemuch, and north and south from Agra to Hoshangabad, comprises the
whole of the agency except the northern part of Bundelkhand. On the
plateau itself the sandstone is generally overlaid by the Deccan trap, a
blackish-coloured basaltic rock of volcanic origin, the high level
tableland having been formed by a succession of lava flows, the valleys
of Central India being merely "denudation hollows" carved out by the
action of rain and rivers. It is apparently the northern limit of what
was once a vast basaltic plain stretching from Goona to Belgaum, "one of
the most gigantic outpourings of volcanic matter in the world." The
sandstone bed on which it rests is visible at a point just north of
Goona, and in a small area round Bhilsa and Bhopal, as it is in those
places freed from the layer of trap. The low-lying land includes roughly
that part of the agency which lies to the east of the plateau and
comprises the greater part of the political divisions of Bundelkhand and
Baghelkhand and the country round Gwalior. The formation save in north
Bundelkhand is sandstone of the Vindhyan series, free as a rule from
"trap." In the north of Bundelkhand the prevailing rock is gneiss and
quartz. The quartz takes the shape of long serrated ridges, which are in
many places a characteristic feature of the landscape. Trap appears here
and there in intrusive dykes. The hilly tracts lie chiefly to the south
of the agency, where the Vindhya, Satpura and Kaimur ranges are met
with. The country is rough forest and jungle land little used for
cultivation. The greater part of Central India is covered with the
well-known "black cotton soil," produced by the disintegration of the
trap rock. It is a very rich loamy earth, possessing great fertility and
an unusual power of retaining moisture, which makes artificial
irrigation little needed. Opium and millet are the principal crops grown
upon it. The ordinary "red soil" covers a large part of northern
Bundelkhand, and as it requires much irrigation, tanks are a special
feature in this country. Ethnologically as well as climatically the
differences between the plateau and the eastern part of the agency are
distinct and the languages markedly so. The plateau is inhabited by
pure-blooded Rajput races, whose ancestry can be traced back for
centuries, with all their numerous offshoots. The inhabitants of the
low-lying country are also Rajputs, but their descent is mixed and as a
rule the families of the plateau will have no marriage connexion with
them. The races of the hilly tracts are semi-civilized tribes, who often
flee at the mere sight of a white man, and have as yet been but little
affected by the Hindu religion of their Rajput rulers. Of the climate of
the plateau, Abul Fazl, the author of the _Ain-i-Akbari_, says: "The
climate is so temperate that in the winter there is no occasion for warm
clothing, nor is it necessary in summer to cool the water with
saltpetre. But in the four rainy months the night here is cold enough to
render a quilt necessary." The rains of the south-east monsoon reach
Central India as a rule about the 12th of July, and last until the end
of September.
_Administrative Divisions._--The Central India agency is divided for
administrative purposes into eight units, two classed as residencies and
six as agencies. These are the residencies of Gwalior and Indore, and
the agencies of Baghelkhand, Bhopal, Bhopawar, Bundelkhand, Indore and
Malwa. But these divisions are purely an artificial grouping for the
purposes of the British government, the original native divisions
consisting of 16 states and 98 minor states and estates. The 15 large
states are Gwalior, Indore, Rewa, Bhopal, Dhar, Barwani, Datia, Orchha,
Charkhari, Chhattarpur, Panna, Dewas (senior branch), Dewas (junior
branch), Jaora and Ratlam. At the close of the Pindari War in 1818 the
whole country that is now under the Central India agency was in great
confusion and disorder, having suffered heavily from the extortions of
the Mahratta armies and from predatory bands. It had been the policy of
the great Mahratta chiefs, Holkar and Sindhia, to trample down into
complete subjection all the petty Rajput princes, whose lands they
seized and from whom they levied heavy contributions of money. Many of
these minor chiefs had been expelled from their possessions, had taken
refuge in the hills and forest, and retaliated upon the Mahratta
usurpers by wasting the lands which they had lost, until the Mahrattas
compounded for peace by payment of blackmail. In this state of affairs
all parties agreed to accept the interposition of the British government
for the restoration of order, and under Lord Hastings the work of
pacification was effected. The policy pursued was to declare the
permanency of the rights existing at the time of the British
interposition, conditionally upon the maintenance of order; to adjust
and guarantee the relations of subordinate and tributary chiefs to their
superiors so as to prevent all further disputes or encroachments; and to
settle the claims of the ousted landholders, who had resorted to pillage
or blackmail, by fixing grants of land to be made to them, or settling
the money allowances to be paid to them. The general result was to place
all the privileges, rights and possessions of these inferior chiefs
under the guarantee or protection of the British government, to whom all
disputes between the superior and inferior states must be referred, and
whose decision is final upon all questions of succession to hereditary
rights or rulership. The states have no general ethnological affinity,
such as exists in Rajputana. Their territories are in many cases neither
compact nor continuous, consisting of a number of villages here and
there, with a nucleus of more or less importance round the chief town.
Their relations to the government of India and to each other present
many variations. Ten of them are under direct treaty with the government
of India; others are held under _sanads_ and deeds of fealty and
obedience; while a third class, known as the mediatized states, are held
under agreements mediated by the British government between them and
their superior chiefs.
_Population._--The total population of the Central India agency in 1901
was 8,628,781, showing a decrease during the decade of 16.4%.
Considerable losses were caused by the famines of 1897-1898 and
1899-1900, which were severely felt, especially in Bhopal and Malwa. The
greater part of the population of Central India is of the Hindu
religion, but a few Mahommedan groups still exist, either traces of the
days when the Mogul emperors extended their sway from the Punjab to the
Deccan, or else the descendants of those northern adventurers who hired
out their services to the great Mahratta generals. Of the first Bhopal
is the only example, while Jaora is the only notable instance of the
other. Roughly there are four great sections of the population: the
Mahratta section, who belong to the ruling circles; the Rajputs, who are
also hereditary noblemen; the trading classes, consisting chiefly of
Marwaris and Gujaratis; and lastly, the jungle tribes of Dravidian
stock. The Mahrattas are foreigners, and, though rulers of the greater
part of Central India, have no true connexion with the soil and are
little met with outside cities, the vicinity of courts, and
administrative centres. The Rajputs with all their endless ramifications
form a large portion of the population. Originally invaders, they have
so long held a stake in the soil that they have become almost part of
the indigenous population. The Marwaris hold practically all the trade
of Central India, with the exception of the Bora class of Mahommedans.
They are either Vaishnavite Hindus or else Jains. Their advent into
Central India dates, except in the case of one or two families, from the
time of the Mahratta invasion only. The Jain portion of this community
is very wealthy. The last section, that of the jungle tribes, is mostly
of Dravidian or mixed Aryo-Dravidian origin, these tribes being the
modern representatives of the former rulers and inhabitants of this
country.
The British agent to the governor-general resides at Indore, and there
are British cantonments at Mhow, Neemuch and Nowgong. The whole country
is fairly provided with railways, largely at the expense of Sindhia.
CENTRAL PROVINCES AND BERAR, a province of British India, which was
formed in October 1903 by the amalgamation of the Central Provinces and
the Hyderabad Assigned Districts. The total area of the provinces is
113,281 sq. m., and the population on that area in 1901 was 10,847,325.
As is shown by its name the province is situated in the centre of the
Indian peninsula, comprising a large proportion of the broad belt of
hill and plateau country which separates the plains of Hindustan from
the Deccan. It is bounded on the N. and N.E. by the Central India
states, and along a small strip of the Saugor district by the United
Provinces; on the W. by Bhopal, Indore and the Khandesh district of
Bombay; on the S. by Hyderabad and the large _zamindari_ estates of the
Madras presidency; and on the E. by these latter estates and the
tributary states of Bengal. In October 1905 most of Sambalpur and five
Oriya-speaking hill-states were transferred from the Central Provinces
to Bengal, while the Hindi-speaking states of Chota Nagpur were
transferred from Bengal to the Central Provinces. The province,
therefore, now consists of the five British divisions of Jubbulpore,
Nerbudda, Nagpur, Chhattisgarh and Berar, which are divided into the
twenty-two districts of Saugor, Damoh, Jubbulpore, Mandla, Seoni,
Narsinghpur, Hoshangabad, Nimar, Betul, Chhindwara, Wardha, Nagpur,
Chanda, Bhandara, Balaghat, Raipur, Bilaspur, Amraoti, Akola, Ellichpur,
Buldana and Wun; and the fifteen tributary states of Makrai, Bastar,
Kanker, Nandgaon, Kairagarh, Chhuikhadan, Kawardha, Sakti, Raigarh,
Sarangarh, Chang Bhakar, Korea, Sirguja, Udaipur and Jashpur.
Central Provinces.
The Central Provinces are divided into two parts by the Satpura range
of hills (q.v.), which runs south of the Nerbudda river from east to
west; so that, speaking generally, it consists of districts north of
the Satpuras, districts on the Satpura plateau, and districts south of
the Satpuras. North of the Satpuras is the rich valley of the
Nerbudda, which may be said to begin towards the north of the
Jubbulpore district and to extend westward through the district of
Narsinghpur as far as the western limit of Hoshangabad, a distance of
nearly 300 m. The elevation of the valley above the sea varies from
1400 ft. at Jubbulpore to 1120 at Hoshangabad. In breadth it is about
30 m., extending between the Satpuras and the southern scarp of the
Vindhyas. This great plain, 10,613 sq. m. in extent, contains for the
most part land of extreme fertility. The continuation of the valley
west of Hoshangabad forms the northern portion of the district of
Nimar, the farther limit of which touches the Khandesh district of the
Bombay presidency. Towards the river, though rich in parts, this tract
of country is generally wild and desolate, but nearer the base of the
hill range there is a large natural basin of fertile land which is
highly cultivated. South of the Satpuras lies the great plain of
Chhattisgarh at a mean elevation above the sea of 1000 ft.; it has an
area of 23,000 sq. m., and forms the upper basin of the Mahanadi.
Farther to the west and again divided off by hills is the great plain
of Nagpur, extending over 24,000 sq. m. Its general surface inclines
towards the south from 1000 ft. above the sea at Nagpur to 750 ft. at
Chanda. To the south the province is shut in by the wide mountainous
tract which stretches from the Bay of Bengal through Bastar to the
Godavari, and west of that river is continued onward to the rocky
ridges and plateaus of Khandesh by a succession of ranges that enclose
the plain of Berar along its southern border.
Berar.
Berar consists mainly of the valley lying between the Satpura range of
mountains in the north and the Ajanta range in the south. The
Gawilgarh hills, a range belonging to the Satpura mountains, form the
northern border. On the east the frontier is marked by the Wardha
river down to its confluence with the Penganga, and on the south by
the Penganga for about two-thirds of the frontier's length. The tract
is half surrounded on the east, north and north-west by the Central
Provinces, with which it is amalgamated. In addition to the Melghat
mountain tract which walls it in on the north, Berar is divided into
two sections, the Payanghat or lowland country, bounded on the north
by the Gawilgarh hills, and on the south by the outer scarps of the
Ajanta range, and the Balaghat or upland country above the Ajanta
ridge, sloping down southwards beyond the ghats or passes which lead
up to it. The Payanghat is a wide valley running up eastward between
this ridge and the Gawilgarh hills, varying in breadth from 40 to 50
m., and broader towards the end than at its mouth. It contains all the
best land in Berar; it is full of deep, rich, black alluvial soil, of
almost inexhaustible fertility, and it undulates sufficiently to
maintain a natural system of drainage, but there is nothing
picturesque about this broad strip of champaign country. The upland
tract, on the contrary, is diversified with low-lying plains, high
plateaus, fertile bottoms and rocky wastes, and is rendered
picturesque by rivers and groves.
_Natural Features_.--The provinces may be divided into two tracts of
upland and three of plain, consisting of the Vindhya and Satpura
plateaus, and the Berar, Nagpur and Chhattisgarh plains. To the north
the districts of Saugor and Damoh form the southern boundary of the
Vindhyan escarpment. In this region the sandstone rocks are generally
overlaid with heavy black soil formed from the decaying trap, which is
principally devoted to the cultivation of the spring crops, wheat and
grain, while rice and hill millets are sown in the lighter and more
sandy soils. Next, the long and narrow valley of the Nerbudda from
Jubbulpore to Hoshangabad is formed of deep alluvial deposits of
extreme richness and excellently suited to the growth of wheat. To the
south of the Nerbudda the Satpura range stretches across the province,
containing the greater part of five districts, its crystalline and
sandstone rocks rising in places through the superficial stratum of
trap, and with large areas of shallow stony land still covered to a
great extent with forest interspersed by black-soil valleys of great
fertility. In the latter are grown wheat and other spring crops, while
the lighter kinds of rice and the hill millets are all that the poorer
land can bear. To the south of the Satpuras and extending along its
base from west to east lie successively the Berar, Nagpur and
Chhattisgarh plains. The surface soil of Berar is to a great extent a
rich black vegetable mould; and where this surface soil does not
exist, there are muram and trap with a shallow upper crust of inferior
light soil. The Nagpur country, drained by the Wardha and Wainganga
rivers, contains towards the west the shallow black soil in which
autumn crops like cotton and the large millet, _juar_, which do not
require excessive moisture, can be successfully cultivated. The
eastern part of the Nagpur country and the Chhattisgarh plain,
comprising the Mahanadi basin, form the great rice tract of the
province, its heavy rainfall and hard yellowish soil rendering it
excellently adapted for the growth of this crop.
_Climate_.---As regards climate the districts of the Central Provinces
are generally divided into hot and cool ones. In the latter division
are comprised the two Vindhyan districts of Saugor and Damoh,
Jubbulpore at the head of the Nerbudda valley, and the four Satpura
districts of Mandla, Seoni, Betul and Chhindwara, which enjoy, owing
to their greater elevation, a distinctly lower average temperature
than the rest of the province. The ordinary variation is from 3 to 4
degrees, the mean maximum reading in the shade in a cooler district
being about 105° as against 108° in the hotter ones for the month of
May, and 79° as against 83° for the month of December. In the cold
weather the temperature in Nagpur and the other hot districts is about
the same as in Calcutta and substantially higher than that of northern
India. The climate of Berar differs very little from that of the
Deccan generally, except that in the Payanghat valley the hot weather
may be exceptionally severe. The rainfall of the province is
considerably heavier than in northern India, and the result of this is
a cooler and more pleasant atmosphere during the monsoon season. The
average rainfall, before it was affected by the abnormal seasons which
followed 1892, was 51 in., varying from 33 in. in Nimar to 65 in
Balaghat. In the autumn months malarial fever is prevalent in all
thickly forested tracts and also in the rice country; but on the whole
the province is considered to be healthy, and as the rains break
fairly regularly in June and produce an immediate fall in the
temperature, severe heat is only experienced for a period of from two
to three months.
_Agriculture_.--Broadly speaking, the northern districts of the
province produce principally cold weather crops, such as wheat and
grain, and the eastern ones principally rice. At the beginning of the
decade 1891-1901 wheat was the staple product of the Vindhyan and
Nerbudda valley districts, and was also grown extensively in all the
Satpura districts except Nimar and in Wardha and Nagpur. Cotton and
juar were produced principally in Nimar, Nagpur, Wardha and the
southern portion of Chhindwara, and the latter also in Chanda. In the
Satpura districts the inferior soil was and is principally devoted to
hill millets. Rice is an important crop in Damoh, Jubbulpore, Mandla,
Seoni and Chanda, and is the chief staple of Bhandara, Balaghat, and
the two eastern districts of Raipur and Bilaspur. The staple crops of
Berar are cotton and juar. The succession of bad seasons which marked
the end of the decade affected the distribution of the principal
crops, but with the advent of more prosperous seasons things tend to
return to their old level.
_Industries_.--The only important industries are connected with cotton
and coal. In 1904 the total number of factories was 391, almost
entirely cotton presses and ginning factories, which received an
immense impetus from the rise in cotton prices. In 1896 a brewery was
established at Jubbulpore. Two coal-mines are worked in the Central
Provinces, at Warora and Mopani, to each of which there is a branch
line of railway. In 1903-1904 there was a total yield of 160,000 tons,
valued at about £45,000. In connexion with the Warora colliery there
is a fire-clay business. The Mopani colliery, which dates back to
1860, is worked by a joint-stock company.
_Trade_.--The trade of the Central Provinces is conducted mainly by
rail with Bombay and with Calcutta. The chief imports are cotton piece
goods, cotton twist, salt, sugar, provisions, railway materials, raw
cotton, metals, coal, tobacco, spices and kerosene oil. The chief
exports are raw cotton, rice, wheat, oil-seeds, hides and lac. The
exports of wheat are liable to extreme fluctuations, especially during
famine periods.
_Railways_.--Until recently, the only railway in the Central Provinces
was the Great Indian Peninsula, with two branches, one terminating at
Nagpur, the other at Jubbulpore, whence it was continued by the East
Indian system to Allahabad. The Bengal-Nagpur line has now opened up
the eastern portion of the country, bringing it into direct connexion
with Calcutta; and a new branch of the Indian Midland, from Saugor
through Damoh, has been partly constructed as a famine work. Large
portions, however, in the hilly centre and in the south-east, are
still remote from railways.
_Administration_.--The administration of the province is conducted by
a chief commissioner on behalf of the governor-general of India in
council, assisted by members of the Indian civil service, provincial
civil service, subordinate civil service, district and assistant
superintendents of police, and officers specially recruited for
various departments. The form of the administration of Berar was in
1903 entirely reorganized. Under the original settlement concluded by
the treaties of 1853 and 1860 the revenues of the province were
assigned primarily for the maintenance of the Hyderabad contingent,
such surplus as accrued from year to year being made over to the
nizam, while the province itself was administered in trust by the
government of India through the resident at Hyderabad. In November
1902 a fresh settlement was arranged and Berar was leased in
perpetuity to the British government in return for an annual rental of
25 lakhs. It remained under the administration of the resident until
the 1st of October 1903, from which date it was amalgamated with the
Central Provinces for administrative purposes. As the immediate result
of this change the offices of heads of departments in Berar, except
the judicial commissionership and the conservatorship of forests, were
amalgamated with the corresponding appointments in the Central
Provinces, and Berar is now treated as one of the divisions of that
province for purposes of revenue administration, with a divisional
commissioner as its immediate head.
_Population_.--The population of the Central Provinces and Berar as
now defined according to the census of 1901 was 10,847,325, and is of
very diverse ethical construction, having been recruited by
immigration from the countries surrounding it on all sides. There are
six main divisions of the people: the Dravidian tribes, who formerly
held the country; Hindi-speaking immigrants from the north and
north-west into Saugor, Damoh, the Nerbudda valley and the open
country of Mandla and Seoni; Rajasthani-speaking immigrants from
Central India into Nimar, Betul and parts of Hoshangabad, Narsinghpur
and Chhindwara; Marathi-speaking immigrants from Bombay into Berar,
the Mahratta districts and the southern tahsil of Betul; the Telugu
castes in the Sironcha and Chanda tahsil of Chanda and the south of
Bastar; and the Hindu immigrants into Chhattisgarh, who are supposed
to have arrived many centuries ago when the Haihaya dynasty of
Ratanpur rose into power.
_Language_.--Owing to the diversity of race, the diversity of language
is equally great. Thirty languages and a hundred and six dialects are
found in the Central Provinces alone, and twenty-eight languages and
sixty-eight dialects in Berar. The chief of these languages are
Western Hindi, Eastern Hindi, Rajasthani, Marathi, Oriya, Telugu and
Dravidian dialects. Of these last the chief dialects are Gondi, Oraon
or Kurukh, Kandhi and Kanarese, of which Gondi is by far the most
important. There are also the Munda languages, of which the chief are
Korku, Kharia and Munda or Kol. The chief languages of Berar are
Marathi, Urdu, Gondi, Banjari, Hindi, Marwari, Telugu, Korku and
Gujarati.
_History_.--The authentic history of the greater part of the country
embraced in the Central Provinces does not begin till the 16th century
A.D. By the people of northern India the country was known as Gondwana,
after the savage tribes of Gonds by whom it was inhabited. The Mussulman
invaders of the Deccan passed it by, not caring to enter its mountain
fastnesses and impenetrable forests; though occasional inscriptions show
that parts of it had fallen from time to time under the dominion of one
or other of the great kingdoms of the north, e.g. of Asoka, of the
Guptas of Maghada, or of the ancient Hindu kingdom of Vidarbha (Berar);
and inscriptions and numerous discoveries of coins prove that, during
the middle ages, the open spaces were occupied by a series of Rajput
dynasties. Of these the most important was that of the Haihayas of
Ratanpur, a family which, settled from time immemorial in the Nerbudda
valley, had towards the close of the 10th century succeeded the Pandava
dynasty of Maha Kosala (Chhattisgarh) and ruled, though from the 16th
century onwards over greatly diminished territories, until its overthrow
by the Mahrattas in 1745. The second ruler of this dynasty, Ratnaraja,
was the founder of Ratanpur.
The inscriptional records cease abruptly in the 12th century, and no
more is known of the country until the rise of the Gond dynasties from
the 14th to the 16th centuries. The first of these is mentioned in 1398,
when Narsingh Rai, raja of Kherla, is said by Ferishta to have ruled all
the hills of Gondwana. He was finally overthrown and killed by Hoshang
Shah, king of Malwa. The 16th century saw the establishment of a
powerful Gond kingdom by Sangram Sah, who succeeded in 1480 as the 47th
of the petty Gond rajas of Garha-Mandla, and extended his dominions so
as to include Saugor and Damoh on the Vindhyan plateau, Jubbulpore and
Narsinghpur in the Nerbudda valley, and Seoni on the Satpura highlands.
Sangram Sah died in 1530; and the break up of his dominion began with
the enforced cession to the Mogul emperor by Chandra Sah (1563-1575) of
Saugor and Damoh and of that portion of his territories which afterwards
formed the state of Bhopal.
About 200 years after Sangram Sah's time, Bakht Buland, the Gond
chieftain of a principality seated at Deogarh in Chhindwara, having
visited Delhi, set about introducing the civilization he had there
admired. He founded the city of Nagpur, which his successor made his
capital. The Deogarh kingdom, at its widest extent, embraced the modern
districts of Betul, Chhindwara, Nagpur, with parts of Seoni, Bhandara
and Balaghat. In the south of the province Chanda was the seat of
another Gond dynasty, which first came into prominence in the 16th
century. The three Gond principalities of Garha-Mandla, Deogarh and
Chanda were nominally subject to the Mogul emperors. In addition to the
acquisitions made in the north at the expense of Garha-Mandla, the
Moguls, after the annexation of Berar, established governors at Paunar
in Wardha and Kherla in Betul. Having thus hemmed in the Gond states,
however, they made no efforts to assert any effective sovereignty over
them; the Gond rajas for their part were content with practical
independence within their own dominions. Under their peaceful rule their
territories flourished, until the weakening of the Mogul empire and the
rise of the predatory Bundela and Mahratta powers, with the organized
forces of which their semi-barbarous feudal levies were unable to cope,
brought misfortune upon them.
In the 17th century Chhatarsal, the Bundela chieftain, deprived the
Mandla principality of part of the Vindhyan plateau and the Nerbudda
valley. In 1733 the peshwa of Poona invaded Bundelkhand; and in 1735 the
Mahrattas had established their power in Saugor. In 1742 the peshwa
advanced to Mandla and exacted the payment of _chauth_ (tributary
blackmail), and from this time until 1781, when the successors of
Sangram Sah were finally overthrown, Garha-Mandla remained practically a
Mahratta dependency. Meanwhile the other independent principalities of
Gondwana had in turn succumbed. In 1743 Raghoji Bhonsla of Berar
established himself at Nagpur, and by 1751 had conquered the territories
of Deogarh, Chanda and Chhattisgarh. In 1741 Ratanpur had surrendered to
the Mahratta leader Bhaskar Pant without a blow, and the ancient Rajput
dynasty came to an end. In Chanda and Deogarh the Gond rajas were
suffered by Raghoji Bhonsla and his successor to carry on a shadowy
existence for a while, in order to give them an excuse for avoiding the
claims of the peshwa as their overlord; though actually decisions in
important matters were sought at Poona. Raghoji died in 1755, and in
1769 his son and successor, Janoji, was forced to acknowledge the
peshwa's effective supremacy. The Nagpur state, however, continued to
grow. In 1785 Mudhoji (d. 1788), Janoji's successor, bought from the
Poona court the cession of Mandla and the upper Nerbudda valley, and
between 1796 and 1798 this was followed by the acquisition of
Hoshangabad and the larger part of Saugor and Damoh by Raghoji II. (d.
1816). Under this latter raja the Nagpur state covered practically the
whole of the present Central Provinces and Berar, as well as Orissa and
some of the Chota Nagpur states.
In 1803 Raghoji joined Sindhia against the British; the result was the
defeat of the allies at Assaye and Argaon, and the treaty of Deogaon, by
which Raghoji had to cede Cuttack, Sambalpur and part of Berar. Up to
this time the rule of the Bhonsla rajas, rough warriors of peasant
extraction, had been on the whole beneficent; but, soured by his defeat,
Raghoji now set to work to recover some of his losses by a ruthless
exploitation of the peasantry, and until the effective intervention of
the British in 1818 the country was subjected to every kind of
oppression. After Raghoji II.'s death in 1816 his imbecile son Parsaji
was deposed and murdered by Mudhoji, known as Appa Sahib. In spite of a
treaty signed with the British in this year, Mudhoji in 1817 joined the
peshwa, but was defeated at Sitabaldi and forced to cede the rest of
Berar to the nizam, and parts of Saugor and Damoh, with Mandla, Betul,
Seoni and the Nerbudda valley, to the British. After a temporary
restoration to the throne he was deposed, and Raghoji III., a grandchild
of Raghoji II., was placed on the throne. During his minority, which
lasted till 1840, the country was well administered by a British
resident. In 1853, on the death of Raghoji III. without heirs, Nagpur
lapsed to the British paramount power. Until the formation of the
Central Provinces in 1861, Nagpur province, which consists of the
present Nagpur division, Chhindwara and Chhatisgarh, was administered by
a commissioner under the central government.
The territories in the north ceded in 1817 by the peshwa (parts of
Saugor and Damoh) and in 1818 by Appa Sahib were in 1820 formed into the
Saugor and Nerbudda Territories under an agent to the governor-general,
and in 1835 were included in the newly formed North-West Provinces. In
1842, in consequence of a rising, they were again placed under the
jurisdiction of an agent to the governor-general. Restored to the
North-West Provinces in 1853, they were finally joined with the Nagpur
province to constitute the new Central Provinces in 1861. On the 1st of
October 1903 Berar also was placed under the administration of the
commissioner of the Central Provinces (for history see BERAR). In 1905
the greater part of Sambalpur district, with the feudatory states of
Bamra, Rairakhol, Sonpur, Patna and Kalahandi, were transferred to
Bengal, while the feudatory states of Chang Bhakar, Korea, Surguja,
Udaipur and Jashpur were transferred from Bengal to the Central
Provinces.
During the decade 1891-1901 the Central Provinces suffered from famine
more severely than any other part of India. The complete failure of the
rain in the autumn of 1896 caused scarcity to develop suddenly into
famine, which lasted until the end of 1897. The total number of persons
in receipt of relief reached its maximum of nearly 700,000 in May 1897.
The expenditure on relief alone was about a million sterling; and the
total cost of the famine, including loss of revenue, amounted to nearly
twice that amount. During 1897 the death-rate for the whole province
rose to sixty-nine per thousand, or double the average, while the
birth-rate fell to twenty-seven per thousand. The Central Provinces were
stricken by another famine, yet more severe and widespread, caused by
the complete failure of the rains in 1899. The maximum of persons
relieved for the whole province was 1,971,000 in June 1900. In addition,
about 68,000 persons were in receipt of relief in the native states.
During the three years 1899-1902 the total expenditure on famine relief
amounted to about four millions sterling. Berar also suffered from the
famines of 1897 and 1900.
See _The Imperial Gazetteer of India_ (Oxford, 1908), x. 99, for list
of authorities.
CENTUMVIRI (_centum_, hundred; _vir_, man), an ancient court of civil
jurisdiction at Rome, probably instituted by Servius Tullius.[1] Its
antiquity is attested by the symbol and formula used in its procedure,
the lance (_hasta_) as the sign of true ownership, the oath or wager
(_sacramentum_), the ancient formula for recovery of property or
assertion of liberty. It is probably alluded to in Livy's account of the
Valerio-Horatian laws of 449 B.C. (Livy iii. 55, _Consules ... fecerunt
sanciendo ut qui tribunis plebis, aedilibus, judicibus, decemviris
nocuisset, ejus caput Jovi sacrum esset_). If the _judices_ here
mentioned are the _centumviri_, it is clear that they formed a tribunal
which represented the interests of the _plebs_. This is in accordance
with Cicero's account (_de Orat._ i. 38. 173) of the sphere of their
jurisdiction. He says this was mainly concerned with the property of
which account was taken at the census; it was therefore in their power
to make or unmake a citizen. They also decided questions concerning
debt. Hence the _plebs_ had an interest in securing their decisions
against undue influence. They were never regarded as magistrates, but
merely as _judices_, and as such would be appointed for a fixed term of
service by the magistrate, probably by the _praetor urbanus_. But in
Cicero's time they were elected by the _Comitia Tributa_. They then
numbered 105. Their original number is uncertain. It was probably
increased by Augustus and in Pliny's time had reached 180. The office
was probably open in quite early times to both patricians and plebeians.
The term is also applied in the inscriptions of Veii to the municipal
senates and Cures, which numbered 100 members.
AUTHORITIES.--Tigerström, _De Judicibus apud Romanos_ (Berlin, 1826);
Greenidge, _Legal Procedure of Cicero's Time_, pp. 40 ff., 58 ff., 182
ff., 264 (Oxford, 1901); Bethmann-Hollweg, _Der romische
Civilprozess_, ii. 53 ff. (Bonn, 1864); Pauly-Wissowa,
_Realencyclopadie_, iii. 1935 ff. (Wlassak). (A. M. Cl.)
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Mommsen (_Staatsrecht_, i³. 275, n. 4, ii³. 231, n. 1, 590 f.)
believed that the _Centumviri_ were instituted about 150 B.C.
CENTURION (Lat. _centurio_), in the ancient Roman army, an officer in
command of a _centuria_, originally a body of a hundred infantry, later
the sixtieth part of the normal legion. There were therefore in the
legion sixty centurions, who, though theoretically subordinate to the
six military tribunes, were the actual working officers of the legion.
For the most part the centurions were promoted from the ranks: they were
arranged in a complicated order of seniority; the senior centurion of
the legion (_primus pilus_) was an officer of very high importance.
Besides commanding the centuries of the legion, centurions were
"seconded" for various kinds of special service, e.g. for staff
employment, the command of auxiliaries. See further ROMAN ARMY.
CENTURIPE (formerly CENTORBI, anc. [Greek: Kentoripa] or _Centuripae_),
a town of Sicily, in the province of Catania, situated 2380 ft. above
sea-level in a commanding situation, 7 m. N. of the railway station of
Catenanuova-Centuripe, which is 28 m. W. from Catania. Pop. (1901)
11,311. Thucydides mentions it as a city of the Sicels. It became an
ally of the Athenians at the time of their expedition against Syracuse,
and maintained its independence almost uninterruptedly (though it fell
under the power of Agathocles) until the First Punic War. Cicero
describes it, perhaps with some exaggeration, as being far the largest
and richest city of Sicily, and as having a population of 10,000,
engaged in the cultivation of an extensive territory. It was granted
Latin rights before the rest of Sicily. It appears to have suffered much
in the war against Sextus Pompeius, and not to have regained its former
prosperity under the empire. Frederick II. entirely destroyed it in
1233, but it was soon rebuilt. Considerable remains of the ancient city
walls and of buildings, mostly of the Roman period, still exist, and
numerous antiquities, including some fine Hellenistic _terra-cottas_,
have been discovered in casual excavations.
See F. Ansaldi, _I Monumenti dell' antica Centuripi_ (Catania, 1851);
P. Orsi in _Atti del Congresso Internazionale di Scienze Storiche_
(Rome, 1904), v. 177. (T. As.)
CENTURY (from Lat. _centuria_, a division of a hundred men), the name
for a unit in the Roman army, originally amounting to one hundred men,
and for one of the divisions into which the Roman people was separated
for voting purposes (see COMITIA). The word is applied to any group of
one hundred, and more particularly to a period of a hundred years, and
to the successive periods of a hundred years, dating before or after the
birth of Christ. The "Century-plant" is a name given to the Agave
(q.v.), or American aloe, from the supposition that it flowered once
only in every hundred years.
CEOS (Gr. [Greek: Keôs], mod. _Zea_ or _Tzia_), an island in the Aegean
Sea, belonging to the group of the Cyclades and the eparchy of Syra, 14
m. off the coast of Attica. Its greatest length is about 15 m. and its
breadth about 8 m. It rises gradually towards the centre, where it
culminates in Mount Elias, 1864 ft. high. Among its natural productions
are lemons, citrons, olives, wine and honey; it also exports a
considerable quantity of valonia. There were formerly four towns of some
importance in the island:--Iulis, about 3 m. from the north-west shore;
Coressia, the harbour of Iulis, with a temple of Apollo Smintheus in the
neighbourhood; Carthaea, in the south-east, with a temple of Apollo;
and Poieëssa, in the south-west. Of these Iulis is represented by the
town of Zea, and Carthaea by the village of 'S tais Polais; traces of
the other two can still be made out. Iulis was the birthplace of the
lyric poets Simonides and Bacchylides, the philosophers Prodicus and
Ariston, and the physician Erasistratus; the excellence of its laws was
so generally recognized that the title of Cean Laws passed into a
proverb. One of them forbade a citizen to protract his life beyond sixty
years. The people of Ceos fought on the Greek side at Artemisium and
Salamis; they joined the Delian League and also the later Athenian
alliance in 377 B.C. They revolted in 363-362, but were reduced again,
and the Athenians established a monopoly of the ruddle, or red earth,
which was one of the most valuable products of the island. In A.D. 1207
it was divided between four Italian adventurers; after forming part of
the duchy of Naxos in 1537, it passed under Turkish rule in 1566. Silver
coins of Carthaea and Coressia have been found dating from the 6th
century B.C. (see NUMISMATICS: _Greek_, "Cyclades and Sporades"). The
present population of the island is about 4000, of which the capital has
about 2000.
See Pridik, _De Cei Insulae rebus_ (1892). (E. Gr.)
CEPHALIC INDEX, the term in use by anthropologists to express the
percentage of breadth to length in any skull. The principle employed by
Retzius is to take the longer diameter of a skull, the antero-posterior
diameter, as 100; if the shorter or transverse diameter falls below 80
the skull may be classed as long (dolichocephalic), while if it exceeds
80 the skull is broad (brachycephalic) (see CRANIOMETRY).
CEPHALONIA (Ital. _Cefalonia_, ancient and modern official Greek
_Cephallenia_, [Greek: Kephallênia]), an island belonging to the kingdom
of Greece, and the largest of those known as the Ionian Islands,
situated on the west side of the mainland, almost directly opposite the
Gulf of Corinth. The name was traditionally derived from Cephalus, the
Attic hero who was regarded as having colonized the island. The
tradition, which is repeated by Aristotle, is probably due solely to the
similarity of the names (see J.G. Frazer, _Pausanias_, i. 37, 6 note).
Pop. (1907) 71,235. Its extreme length is 31 m., and its breadth varies
from about 20 m. in the southern portion to 3 m. or less in the
projecting part, which runs parallel with the island of Ithaca, at a
distance of about 4 m. across the strait of Guiscardo or Viscaro. The
whole island, with its area of 348 English sq. m., is covered with rocky
hills of varying elevation, the main range running from north-west to
south-east. The ancient Mount Aenos, now Elato, Monte Negro, or the
Black Mountain (5315 ft.), frequently retains the snow for several
months. It is not only the loftiest part of the sierra, but also the
highest land in the whole Ionian group. The name "Black" was given from
the darkness of the pine woods which still constitute the most striking
feature in Cephalonian scenery, although their extent has been greatly
curtailed by fire. The summit is called Megálo Sorós. The island is ill
supplied with fresh water; there are few permanent streams except the
Rakli, and springs are apt to fail in dry summers. In the western part
of the island a gulf runs up from the south, a distance of about 7 m.;
on its east side stands the chief town Argostoli, with about 10,000
inhabitants, and on its west side the rival city of Lixouri, with 6000.
About a mile west of the town are the curious sea mills; a stream of sea
water running down a chasm in the shore is made to turn the wheels.
About 5 m. from Argostoli is the castle of St George, a building of
Venetian origin, and the strongest fortification in the island. On an
eminence east-south-east of Argostoli are the ruins of the ancient
Cranii, and Lixouri is close to or upon those of Pale; while on the
other side of the island are the remains of Samos on the bay of the same
name, of Proni or Pronni, farther south above the vale of Rakli and its
blossoming oleanders, and of an unknown city near the village of Scala.
The ruins of this city include Roman baths, a brick-built temple,
rock-cut tombs, and tessellated pavements; and Cranii, Proni and Samos
are remarkable for stretches of Cyclopean and Hellenic walls, partly of
the most irregular construction, and partly preserving almost unimpaired
the results of the most perfect skill. The inhabitants of Cephalonia
have all along been extremely active; and no slight amount of toil has
been expended in the construction of terraces on the steep sides of the
hills. Owing to the thinness of the population, however, but a small
proportion of the soil is under cultivation, and the quantity of grain
grown in the island is comparatively meagre. The staple is the currant,
in the production of which the island surpasses Zante. The fruit is
smaller than that of the Morea, and has a peculiar flavour; it finds a
market mainly in Holland, Belgium and Germany. The grape vine also is
grown, and the manufacture of wine is a rising industry. The olive crop
is of considerable importance, and the culture of cotton in the low
grounds has been successfully attempted. Manufactures are few and
undeveloped, but lace from the aloe fibre, Turkey carpets and
basket-work are produced by the villagers, and boats are built at both
the principal towns. Of all the seven Ionian islands Cephalonia and
Zante are most purely Greek, and the inhabitants display great mental
activity.
In the Homeric poems Cephalonia is generally supposed to be mentioned
under the name of Same, and its inhabitants, among the subjects of
Ulysses, to be designated Cephallenes (see, however, under ITHACA). In
the Persian War they took but little part; in the Peloponnesian they
sided with the Athenians. The town of Pale was vainly besieged by Philip
of Macedon in 218 B.C., because it had supported the Aetolian cause. In
189 B.C. all the cities surrendered to the Romans, but Same afterwards
revolted, and was only reduced after a siege of four months. The island
was presented by Hadrian to Athens, but it appears again at a later date
as "free and autonomous." After the division of the Roman empire, it
continued attached to Byzantium till 1082, when it was captured by
Robert Guiscard, who died, however, before he could repress the revolt
of 1085. In 1204 it was assigned to Gaius, prince of Tarentum, who
accepted the protection of Venice in 1215; and after 1225 it was held
along with Santa Maura and Zante by a succession of five counts of the
Tocco family at Naples. Formally made over to Venice in 1350 by the
prince of Tarentum, it was afterwards captured by the Turks in 1479; but
the Hispanico-Venetian fleet under Benedetto Pessaro and Gonsalvo of
Cordova effected their expulsion in 1500, and the island continued in
Venetian possession till the fall of the republic. For some time it was
administered for the French government, but in 1809 it was taken by the
British under Cuthbert, Lord Collingwood. Till 1813 it was in the hands
of Major de Bosset, a Swiss in the British service, who displayed an
industry and energy in the repression of injustice and development of
civilization only outdone by the despotic vigour of Sir Charles Napier,
who held the same office for the nine years from 1818 to 1827. During
the British protectorate the island made undoubted advances in material
prosperity, but was several times the scene of political disturbances.
It retained longer than the sister islands traces of feudal influence
exerted by the landed proprietors, but has been gradually becoming more
democratic. Under the Venetians it was divided into eight districts, and
an elaborate system of police was in force; since its annexation to
Greece it has been broken up into twenty demarchies, each with its
separate jurisdiction and revenues, and the police system has been
abolished.
AUTHORITIES.--A special treatise on the antiquities of Cephalonia was
written by Petrus Maurocenus. See Holland's _Travels_ (1815); Ansted's
_Ionian Islands_ (1863); Viscount Kirkwall's _Four Years in Ionian
Islands_ (1864); Wiebel's _Die Insel Kephalonia_; parliamentary
papers. Riemann, _Recherches archéologiques sur les Iles Ioniennes_
(Paris, 1879-1880); Partsch, _Kephallenia und Ithaka_ (1890); see also
CORFU; IONIAN ISLANDS. (E. Gr.)
CEPHALOPODA, the fifth of the classes into which the zoological phylum
Mollusca is divided (see MOLLUSCA). The Cephalopoda are mainly
characterized by the concrescence of the foot and head. The foot grows
forward on each side so as to surround the mouth, the two upgrowths
meeting on the dorsal side of the head--whence the name Cephalopoda. The
perioral portion of the foot is drawn out into paired arm-like
processes; these may be beset with sheathed tentacles or with suckers or
hooks, or both. The epipodia are expanded into a pair of muscular lobes
right and left, which are bent round towards one another so that their
free margins meet and constitute a short tube--the siphon or funnel. The
hind-foot is either very small or absent. A distinctive feature of the
Cephalopoda is their bilateral symmetry and the absence of anything like
the torsion of the visceral mass seen in the Anisopleurous Gastropoda.
The anus, although it may be a little displaced from the median line,
is approximately median and posterior. The mantle-skirt is deeply
produced posteriorly, forming a large sub-pallial chamber around the
anus. By the side of the anus are placed the single or paired
apertures of the nephridia, the genital apertures (paired only in
_Nautilus_, in female Octopoda, female _Ommatostrephes_ and male
_Eledone_), and the paired ctenidia. The visceral hump or dome is
elevated, and may be very much elongated in a direction almost at
right angles to the primary horizontal axis of the foot.
A shell is frequently, but not invariably, secreted on the visceral
hump and mantle-skirt. The shell is usually light in substance or
lightened by air-chambers in correlation with the free-swimming habits
of the Cephalopoda. It may be external or internal, that is, enclosed
in folds of the mantle. Very numerous minute pigmented sacs, capable
of expansion and contraction, and known as chromatophores, are usually
present in the integument. The sexes are separate.
The ctenidia are well developed as paired gill-plumes, serving as the
efficient branchial organs (figs. 4, 24),
The vascular system is very highly developed; the heart consists of a
pair of auricles and a ventricle (figs. 12, 28). Branchial hearts are
formed on the afferent vessels of the branchiae. It is not known to
what extent the minute subdivision of the arteries extends, or whether
there is a true capillary system.
The pericardium is extended so as to form a very large sac, passing
among the viscera dorsalwards and sometimes containing the ovary or
testis--the viscero-pericardial sac--which opens to the exterior
either directly or through the renal organs. It has no connexion with
the vascular system. The renal organs are always paired sacs, the
walls of which invest the branchial afferent vessels (figs. 28, 29).
They open each by a pore into the viscero-pericardial sac, except in
_Nautilus_. The anal aperture is median and raised on a papilla. Jaws
(fig. 6, e) and a radula (fig. 9) are well developed. The jaws have
the form of powerful beaks, either horny or calcified (_Nautilus_),
and are capable of inflicting severe wounds.
Cerebral, pleural and pedal ganglia are present, but the connectives
are shortened and the ganglia concentrated and fused in the cephalic
region. Large special ganglia (optic, stellate and supra-buccal) are
developed. Sense-organs are highly developed; the eye exhibits a very
special elaboration of structure in the Dibranchiata, and a remarkable
archaic form in the nautilus. Otocysts are present in all. The typical
osphradium is not present, except in _Nautilus_, but other organs are
present in the cephalic region, to which an olfactory function is
ascribed both in _Nautilus_ and in the other Cephalopoda.
Hermaphroditism is unknown in Cephalopoda; male and female individuals
always being differentiated. The genital aperture and duct is
sometimes single, when it is the left; sometimes the typical pair is
developed right and left of the anus. The males of nearly all
Cephalopoda have been shown to be characterized by a peculiar
modification of the arm-like processes or lobes of the fore-foot,
connected with the copulative function. The term hectocotylization is
applied to this modification (see figs. 6, 24). Elaborate
spermatophores or sperm-ropes are formed by all Cephalopoda, and very
usually the female possesses special capsule-forming and nidamental
glands for providing envelopes to the eggs (fig. 4, g.n.). The egg is
large, and the development is much modified by the presence of an
excessive amount of food-material diffused in the protoplasm of the
egg-cell. Trochosphere and veliger stages of development are
consequently not recognizable.
The Cephalopoda are divisible into two orders, Tetrabranchiata and
Dibranchiata, the names of which (due to Sir R. Owen) describe the
number of gill-plumes present; but in fact there are several characters,
of as great importance as those derived from the gills, by which the
members of these two orders are separated from one another.
ORDER 1. TETRABRANCHIATA (= Schizosiphona, Tentaculifera).
_Characters_.--The inrolled lateral margins of the epipodia are not
fused, but form a siphon by apposition (fig. 4). The circumoral lobes of
the fore-foot carry numerous retractile tentacles, not suckers (fig. 6).
There are two pairs of ctenidial gills (hence Tetrabranchiata), and two
pairs of renal organs, consequently four renal apertures (fig. 4). The
viscero-pericardial chamber opens by two independent apertures to the
exterior, and not into the renal sacs. There are two oviducts (right and
left) in the female, and two sperm-ducts in the male, the left duct in
both sexes being rudimentary. A large external shell, either coiled or
straight, is present, and is not enclosed by reflections of the
mantle-skirt. The shell consists of a series of chambers, the
last-formed of which is occupied by the body of the animal, the hinder
ones (successively deserted) containing gas (fig. 1). The pair of
cephalic eyes are hollow chambers (fig. 14. A), opening to the exterior
by minute orifices (pin-hole camera), and devoid of refractive
structures. A pair of osphradia are present at the base of the gills
(fig. 4, _olf_). Salivary glands are wanting. An ink-sac is _not_
present. Branchial hearts are _not_ developed on the branchial afferent
vessels.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Lateral view of the female Pearly Nautilus,
contracted by spirit and lying in its shell, the right half of which is
cut away (from Gegenbaur, after Owen).
a, Visceral hump.
b, Portion of the free edge of the mantle-skirt reflected on to the
shell,--the edge of the mantle-skirt can be traced downwards and
forwards around the base of the mid-foot or siphon i.
l, l, Superficial origin of the retractor muscle of the mid-foot
(siphon), more or less firmly attached to the shell, of which a small
piece (s) is seen between the letters l, l.
s, (farther back) points to the siphuncular pedicle, which is broken
off short and not continued, as in the perfect state, through the
whole length of the siphuncle of the shell, also marked s and s'.
o, points to the right eye.
t, is placed near the extremities of the contracted tentacles of the
outer or annular lobe of the fore-foot--the jointed tentacles are seen
protruding a little from their long cylindrical sheaths.
v, The dorsal "hood" formed by an enlargement in this region of the
annular lobe of the fore-foot (m in figs. 2, 3).
V, A swelling of the mantle-skirt, indicating the position on its
inner face of the nidamental gland (see fig. 4, g.n.).]
_Visceral Hump and Shell._--The visceral hump of _Nautilus_ (if we
exclude from consideration the fine siphuncular pedicle which it trails,
as it were, behind it) is very little, if at all, affected by the coiled
form of the shell which it carries, since the animal always slips
forward in the shell as it grows, and inhabits a chamber which is
practically cylindrical (fig. 1). Were the deserted chambers thrown off
instead of being accumulated behind the inhabited chamber as a coiled
series of air-chambers, we should have a more correct indication in the
shell of the extent and form of the animal's body. Amongst Gastropods it
is not very unusual to find the animal slipping forward in its shell as
growth advances and leaving an unoccupied chamber in the apex of the
shell. This may indeed become shut off from the occupied cavity by a
transverse septum, and a series of such septa may be formed, but in no
Gastropod are these apical chambers known to contain a gas during the
life of the animal in whose shell they occur. A further peculiarity of
the nautilus shell and of that of the allied extinct _Ammonites_,
_Scaphites_, _Orthoceras_, &c., and of the living _Spirula_, is that the
series of deserted air-chambers is traversed by a cord-like pedicle
extending from the centro-dorsal area of the visceral hump to the
smallest and first-formed chamber of the series. No structure comparable
to this siphuncular pedicle is known in any other Mollusca. The
siphuncle does not communicate with the coelomic cavity; it is a simple
vascular process of the mantle, whose cavity consists of a venous sinus,
and whose wall contains a ramification of the pallial artery. There
appears to be no doubt that the deserted chambers of the nautilus shell
contain in the healthy living animal a gas which serves to lessen the
specific gravity of the whole organism. This gas is said to be of the
same composition as the atmosphere, with a larger proportion of
nitrogen. With regard to its origin we have only conjectures. Each
septum shutting off an air-containing chamber is formed during a period
of quiescence, probably after the reproductive act, when the visceral
mass of the nautilus may be slightly shrunk, and gas is secreted from
the dorsal integument so as to fill up the space previously occupied by
the animal. A certain stage is reached in the growth of the animal when
no new chambers are formed. The whole process of the loosening of the
animal in its chamber and of its slipping forward when a new septum is
formed, as well as the mode in which the air-chambers may be used as a
hydrostatic apparatus, and the relation to this use, if any, of the
siphuncular pedicle, is involved in obscurity, and is the subject of
much ingenious speculation. In connexion with the secretion of gas by
the animal, besides the parallel cases ranging from the protozoon
_Arcella_ to the physoclistic fishes, from the hydroid _Siphonophora_ to
the insect-larva _Corethra_, we have the identical phenomenon observed
in the closely allied _Sepia_ when recently hatched. Here, in the pores
of the internal rudimentary shell, gas is observable, which has
necessarily been liberated by the tissues which secrete the shell, and
not derived from any external source (Huxley).
The coiled shell of _Nautilus_, and of the majority of extinct
Tetrabranchiata, is peculiar in its relation to the body of the animal,
inasmuch as the curvature of the coil proceeding from the centro-dorsal
area is towards the head or forwards, instead of away from the head and
backwards as in other discoid coiled shells such as _Planorbis_; the
coil is in fact absolutely reversed in the two cases. Such a shell is
said to be exogastric. But in some extinct forms, e.g. _Phragmoceras_,
_Cyrtoceras_, _Ptenoceras_, the shell is coiled towards the ventral
side, when it is termed endogastric. Amongst the extinct allies of the
nautilus (Tetrabranchiata) we find shells of a variety of shapes, open
coils such as _Scaphites_, leading on to perfectly cylindrical shells
with chamber succeeding chamber in a straight line (_Orthoceras_),
whence again we may pass to the corkscrew spires formed by the shell of
_Turrilites_. In some extinct genera, e.g. _Gomphoceras_, among the
Nautiloidea the aperture of the shell is contracted and the edge of the
aperture is lobed. In these cases the animal was probably able only to
protrude its appendages and not its whole head. The ventral part of the
aperture corresponding to the funnel is separated from the dorsal part
by a constriction. Hence it is possible to distinguish the ventral and
dorsal sides of the shell and to decide whether it was exogastric or
endogastric. The direction of the coil of the shell cannot be determined
by the position of the siphuncle, which traverses the septa centrally,
ventrally or dorsally. Contracted shell apertures occur also in
Ammonitoidea, the condition reaching an extreme in _Morphoceras_, where
the original aperture is subdivided by the ingrowth of the sides, so
that only five small separate apertures remain. Of these the central
probably corresponded to the mouth, two lateral to the eyes, and the
remaining two to the pedal appendages.
_Head, Foot, Mantle-skirt and Sub-pallial Chamber._--In the pearly
nautilus the ovoid visceral hump is completely encircled by the free
flap of integument known as mantle-skirt (figs. 2, 3, d, e). In the
antero-dorsal region this flap is enlarged so as to be reflected a
little over the coil of the shell which rests on it. In the
postero-ventral region the flap is deepest, forming an extensive
sub-pallial chamber, at the entrance of which e is placed in fig. 3. A
view of the interior of the sub-pallial chamber, as seen when the
mantle-skirt is retroverted and the observer faces in the direction
indicated by the reference line passing from e in fig. 3, is given in
fig. 4. With this should be compared the similar view of the
sub-pallial chamber of the Dibranchiate _Sepia_. It should be noted as
a difference between _Nautilus_ and the Dibranchiates that in the
former the nidamental gland (in the female) lies on that surface of
the pallial chamber formed by the dependent mantle-flap (fig. 4, g.n.;
fig. 1, V), whilst in the latter it lies on the surface formed by the
body-wall; in fact in the former the base of the fold forming the
mantle-skirt comprises in its area a part of what is unreflected
visceral hump in the latter.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Spirit specimen of female Pearly Nautilus,
removed from its shell, and seen from the antero-dorsal aspect (drawn
from nature by A.G. Bourne).
m, The dorsal "hood" formed by the enlargement of the outer or
annular lobe of the fore-foot, and corresponding to the sheaths of
two tentacles (g, g in fig. 6).
n, Tentacular sheaths of lateral portion of the annular lobe.
u, The left eye.
b, The nuchal plate, continuous at its right and left posterior
angles with the root of the mid-foot, and corresponding to the
nuchal cartilage of Sepia.
c, Visceral hump.
d, The free margin of the mantle-skirt, the middle letter d points
to that portion of the mantle-skirt which is reflected over a part
of the shell as seen in fig. 1, b; the cup-like fossa to which b and
d point in the present figure is occupied by the coil of the shell.
g.a. points to the lateral continuation of the nuchal plate b to
join the root of the mid-foot or siphon.]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Lateral view of the same specimen as that
drawn in fig. 2. Letters as in that figure with the following
additions--
e, points to the concave margin of the mantle-skirt leading into the
sub-pallial chamber.
g, The mid-foot or siphon.
k, The superficial origin of its retractor muscles closely applied
to the shell and serving to hold the animal in its place.
l, The siphuncular pedicle of the visceral hump broken off short.
v, v, The superior and inferior ophthalmic tentacles.]
The apertures of the two pairs of renal sacs, of the
viscero-pericardial sac, of the genital ducts, and of the anus, are
shown in position on the body-wall of the pallial chamber of
_Nautilus_ in figs. 4, 5. There are nine apertures in all, one median
(the anus) and four paired. Besides these apertures we notice _two_
pairs of gill-plumes which are undoubtedly typical ctenidia, and a
short papilla (the osphradium) between each anterior and posterior
gill-plume (see figs. 4, 5, and explanation). As compared with this in
a Dibranchiate, we find (fig. 25) only four apertures, viz. the median
anus with adjacent orifice of the ink-sac, the single pair of renal
apertures, and one asymmetrical genital aperture (on the left side)
except in female Octopoda and a few others, where the genital ducts
and their apertures are paired. No viscero-pericardial pores are
present on the surface of the pallial chamber, since in the
Dibranchiata the viscero-pericardial sac opens by a pore into each
nephridium instead of directly to the surface. A single pair of
ctenidia (gill-plumes) is present instead of the two pairs in
_Nautilus_. The existence of two pairs of ctenidia and of two pairs of
renal sacs in _Nautilus_, placed one behind the other, is highly
remarkable. The interest of this arrangement is in relation to the
general morphology of the Mollusca, for it is impossible to view this
repetition of organs in a linear series as anything else than an
instance of metameric segmentation, comparable to the segmentation of
the ringed worms and Arthropods. The only other example which we have
of this metamerism in the Mollusca is presented by the Chitons. There
we find not two pairs of ctenidia merely, but sixteen pairs (in some
species more) accompanied by a similar metamerism of the dorsal
integument, which carries eight shells. In _Chiton_ the renal organs
are not affected by the metamerism as they are in _Nautilus_. It is
impossible on the present occasion to discuss in the way which their
importance demands the significance of these two instances among
Mollusca of incomplete or partial metamerism; but it would be wrong to
pass them by without insisting upon the great importance which the
occurrence of these isolated instances of metameric segmentation in a
group of otherwise unsegmented organisms possesses, and the light
which they may be made to throw upon the nature of metameric
segmentation in general.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--View of the postero-ventral surface of a
female Pearly Nautilus, the mantle-skirt (c) being completely
reflected so as to show the inner wall of the sub-pallial chamber
(drawn from nature by A.G. Bourne).
a, Muscular band passing from the mid-foot to the integument.
b, The valve on the surface of the funnel, partially concealed by
the inrolled lateral margin of the latter.
c, The mantle-skirt retroverted.
an, The median anus.
x, Post-anal papilla of unknown significance.
g.n., Nidamental gland.
r.ov, Aperture of the right oviduct.
l.ov, Aperture of the rudimentary left oviduct (pyriform sac of
Owen).
neph.a, Aperture of the left anterior renal sac.
neph.p, Aperture of the left posterior renal sac.
viscper, Left aperture of the viscero-pericardial sac.
olf, The left osphradium placed near the base of the anterior
gill-plume.
The four gill-plumes (ctenidia) are not lettered.]
The foot and head of _Nautilus_ are in the adult inextricably grown
together, the eye being the only part belonging primarily to the head
which projects from the all-embracing foot. The fore-foot or front
portion of the foot has the form of a number of lobes carrying
tentacles and completely surrounding the mouth (figs. 2, 3). The
epipodia incline towards each other posteriorly so as to form an
incomplete siphon (fig. 4), a condition which is completed and
rendered permanent in the tubular funnel of Dibranchiata. The
epipodial nature of the funnel is well seen in young embryos, in which
this organ is situated laterally and posteriorly between the mantle
and the foot.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--View of the postero-ventral surface of a male
Pearly Nautilus, the mantle-skirt (c) being completely reflected so as
to show the inner wall of the sub-pallial chamber, and the four
ctenidia and the foot cut short (drawn from nature by A.G. Bourne).
pe, Penis, being the enlarged termination of the right spermatic duct;
l.sp, aperture of the rudimentary left spermatic duct (pyriform sac
of Owen). Other letters as in fig. 4.]
The lobes of the fore-foot of _Nautilus_ and of the other Cephalopoda
require further description. It has been doubted whether these lobes
were rightly referred (by T.H. Huxley) to the fore-foot, and it has
been maintained by some zoologists (H. Grenadier, H. von Jhering)
that they are truly processes of the head. It appears to be impossible
to doubt that the lobes in question are the fore-portion of the foot,
when their development is examined (see fig. 35), further, when the
fact is considered that they are innervated by the pedal ganglion. The
fore-foot of _Nautilus_ completely surrounds the buccal cone (fig. 6,
e), so as to present an appearance with its expanded tentacles similar
to that of the disk of a sea-anemone (_Actinia_). A.G. Bourne, of
University College, prepared from actual specimens the drawings of
this part in the male and female _Nautilus_ reproduced in fig. 6, and
restored the parts to their natural form when expanded. The drawings
show very strikingly the difference between male and female. In the
females (lower figure), we observe in the centre of the disk the
buccal cone e carrying the beak-like pair of jaws which project from
the finely papillate buccal membrane. Three tentaculiferous lobes of
the fore-foot are in immediate contact with this buccal cone; they are
the right and left (c, c) inner lobes, and the inferior inner lobe
(d)--called inferior because it really lies ventralwards of the mouth.
This inner inferior lobe is clearly a double one, representing a right
and left inner inferior lobe fused into one. A lamellated organ on its
surface, known as Owen's organ, probably olfactory in function (n),
marks the separation of the constituent halves of this double lobe.
Each half carries a group of fourteen tentacles. The right and the
left inner lobes (c, c) each carry twelve tentacles. External to these
three lobes the muscular substance of the mouth-embracing foot is
raised into a wide ring, which becomes especially thick and large in
the dorsal region where it is notably modified in form, offering a
concavity into which the coil of the shell is received, and furnishing
a protective roof to the retracted mass of tentacles. This part of the
external annular lobe of the fore-foot is called the "hood" (figs. 2,
3, m). The median antero-posterior line traversing this hood exactly
corresponds to the line of concrescence of the two halves of the
fore-foot, which primitively grew forward one on each side of the
head, and finally fused together along this line in front of the
mouth. The tentacles carried by the great annular lobe are nineteen on
each side, thirty-eight in all. They are called "digital," and are
somewhat larger than the "labial" tentacles carried on the three inner
lobes. The dorsalmost pair of tentacles (marked g in fig. 6) are the
only ones which actually belong to that part of the disk which forms
the great dorsal hood m. The hood is, in fact, to a large extent
formed by the enlarged sheaths of these two tentacles. All the
tentacles of the circumoral disk are set in remarkable tubular
sheaths, into which they can be drawn. The sheaths of some of those
belonging to the external or annular lobe are seen in fig. 3, marked
n. The sheaths are muscular as well as the tentacles, and are simply
tubes from the base of which the solid tentacle grows. The functional
significance of this sheathing arrangement is as obscure as its
morphological origin. With reference to the latter, it appears highly
probable that the tubular sheath represents the cup of a sucker such
as is found on the fore-foot of the Dibranchiata. In any case, it
seems to the writer impossible to doubt that each tentacle, and its
sheath on a lobe of the circumoral disk of Nautilus, corresponds to a
sucker on such a lobe of a Dibranchiate. W. Keferstein follows Sir R.
Owen in strongly opposing this identification, and in regarding such
tentacle as the equivalent of a whole lobe or arm of a Decapod or
Octopod Dibranch. The details of these structures, especially in the
facts concerning the hectocotylus and spadix, afford the most
conclusive reasons for dissenting from Owen's view. On the ventral
side an extensive part of the internal surface of the muscular ring is
laminated, forming the so-called "organ of Valenciennes," peculiar to
the female and serving for the attachment of the spermatophores. We
have so far enumerated in the female nautilus ninety tentacles. Four
more remain which have a very peculiar position, and almost lead to
the suggestion that the eye itself is a modified tentacle. These
remaining tentacles are placed one above (before) and one below
(behind) each eye, and bring up the total to ninety-four (fig. 3 v,
v).
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Male (upper) and female (lower) specimens of
_Nautilus pompilius_ as seen in the expanded condition, the observer
looking down on to the buccal cone e; one-third the natural size
linear. The drawings have been made from actual specimens by A.G.
Bourne, B. Sc., University College, London.
a, The shell.
b, The _outer_ ring-like expansion (annular lobe) of the circumoral
muscular mass of the fore-foot, carrying nineteen tentacles on each
side--posteriorly this is enlarged to form the "hood" (marked v in
fig. 1 and m in figs. 2 and 3). giving off the pair of tentacles
marked g in the present figure.
c, The right and left inner lobes of the fore-foot, each carrying
twelve tentacles in the female, in the male subdivided into p, the
"spadix" or hectocotylus on the left side, and q, the "anti-spadix,"
a group of four tentacles on the right side--it is thus seen that
the subdivided right and left inner lobes of the male correspond to
the undivided right and left inner lobes of the female.
d, The inner inferior lobe of the fore-foot, a bilateral structure
in the female carrying two groups, each of fourteen tentacles,
separated from one another by a lamellated organ n, supposed to be
olfactory in function--in the male the inner inferior lobe of the
fore-foot is very much reduced, and has the form of a paired group
of lamellae (d in the upper figure).
e, The buccal cone, rising from the centre of the three inner lobes,
and fringing the protruded calcareous beaks or jaws with a series of
minute papillae.
f, The tentacles of the outer circumoral lobe or annular lobe of the
fore-foot projecting from their sheaths.
g, The two most posterior tentacles of this series belonging to that
part of the annular lobe which forms the hood (m in figs. 2 and 3).
i, Superior ophthalmic tentacle.
k, Inferior ophthalmic tentacle.
l, Eye.
m, Paired laminated organ on each side of the base of the inner
inferior lobe (d) of the female.
n, Olfactory lamellae upon the inner inferior lobe (in the female).
o, The siphon (mid-foot).
p, The spadix (in the male), the hectocotylized portion of the left
inner lobe of the fore-foot representing four modified tentacles,
eight being left unmodified.
q, The anti-spadix (in the male), being four of the twelve tentacles
of the right inner lobe of the fore-foot isolated from the remaining
eight, and representing on the right side the differentiated spadix
of the left side. The four tentacles of the anti-spadix are set,
three on one base and one on a separate base.]
In the adult male nautilus we find the following important differences
in the tentaculiferous disk as compared with the female (see upper
drawing in fig. 6). The inner inferior lobe is rudimentary, and
carries no tentacles. It is represented by three groups of lamellae
(d), which are not fully exposed in the drawing. The right and left
inner lobes are subdivided each into two portions. The right shows a
larger portion carrying eight tentacles, and smaller detached groups
(q) of four tentacles, of which three have their sheaths united whilst
one stands alone. These four tentacles may be called the
"anti-spadix." The left inner lobe shows a similar larger portion
carrying eight tentacles, and a curious conical body behind it
corresponding to the anti-spadix. This is the "spadix." It carries no
tentacles, but is terminated by imbricated lamellae. These lamellae
appear to represent the four tentacles of the anti-spadix of the right
internal lobe, and are generally regarded as corresponding to that
modification of the sucker-bearing arms of male Dibranchiate
Siphonopods to which the name "hectocotylus" is applied. The spadix is
in fact the hectocotylized portion of the fore-foot of the male
nautilus. The hectocotylized arm or lobe of male Dibranchiata is
connected with the process of copulation, and in the male nautilus the
spadix has probably a similar significance, though it is not possible
to suggest how it acts in this relation. It is important to observe
that the modification of the fore-foot in the male as compared with
the female nautilus is not confined to the existence of the spadix.
The anti-spadix and the reduction of the inner inferior lobe are also
male peculiarities. The external annular lobe in the male does not
differ from that of the female; it carries nineteen tentacles on each
side. The four ophthalmic tentacles are also present. Thus in the male
nautilus we find altogether sixty-two tentacles, the thirty-two
additional tentacles of the female being represented by lamelliform
structures.
_Musculature, Fins and, Cartilaginous Skeleton._--Without entering
into a detailed account of the musculature of _Nautilus_, we may point
out that the great muscular masses of the fore-foot and of the
mid-foot (siphon) are ultimately traceable to a large transverse mass
of muscular tissue, the ends of which are visible through the
integument on the right and left surfaces of the body dorsal of the
free flap of the mantle-skirt (fig. 1, l, l, and fig. 3, k). These
muscular areae have a certain adhesion to the shell, and serve both to
hold the animal in its shell and as the fixed supports for the various
movements of the tentaculiferous lobes and the siphon. They are to be
identified with the ring-like area of adhesion by which the
foot-muscle of the limpet is attached to the shell of that animal. In
the Dibranchs a similar origin of the muscular masses of the fore-foot
and mid-foot from the sides of the shell--modified, as this is, in
position and relations--can be traced.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Minute structure of the cartilage of _Loligo_
(from Gegenbaur, after Furbringer)
a, Simple cells.
b, Dividing cells.
c, Canaliculi.
d, An empty cartilage capsule with its pores.
e, Canaliculi in section.]
In _Nautilus_ there are no fin-like expansions of the integument,
whereas such occur in the Decapod Dibranchs along the sides of the
visceral hump (figs. 15, 16). As an exception among Octopoda lateral
fins occur in _Pinnoctopus_ (fig. 38, A), and in _Cirrhoteuthis_ (fig.
38, D).
In _Nautilus_ there is a curious plate-like expansion of integument in
the mid-dorsal region just behind the hood, lying between that
structure and the portion of mantle-skirt which is reflected over the
shell. This is shown in fig. 2, b. If we trace out the margin of this
plate we find that it becomes continuous on each side with the sides
of the funnel. In _Sepia_ and other Decapods (not in Octopods) a
closely similar plate exists in an exactly corresponding position (see
b in figs. 10, 26). In _Sepia_ a cartilaginous development occurs here
immediately below the integument forming the so-called "nuchal plate,"
drawn in fig. 8, D. The morphological significance of this nuchal
lamella, as seen both in _Nautilus_ and in _Sepia_, is not obvious.
Cartilage having the structure shown in fig. 7 occurs in various
regions of the body of Cephalopoda. In all Glossophorous Mollusca the
lingual apparatus is supported by internal skeletal pieces, having the
character of cartilage; but in the Cephalopoda such cartilage has a
wider range.
In _Nautilus_ a large H-shaped piece of cartilage is found, forming
the axis of the funnel (fig. 8, A, B). Its hinder part extends up into
the head and supports the peri-oesophageal nerve-mass (a), whilst its
two anterior rami extend into the tongue-like siphon. In _Sepia_, and
Dibranchs generally, the cartilage takes a different form, as shown in
fig. 8, C. The processes of this cartilage cannot be identified in any
way with those of the capito-pedal cartilage of _Nautilus_. The lower
larger portion of this cartilage in _Sepia_ is called the cephalic
cartilage, and forms a complete ring round the oesophagus; it
completely invests also the ganglionic nerve-collar, so that all the
nerves from the latter have to pass through foramina in the cartilage.
The outer angles of this cartilage spread out on each side so as to
form a cup-like receptacle for the eyes. The two processes springing
right and left from this large cartilage in the median line (fig. 8,
C) are the "pre-orbital cartilages"; in front of these, again, there
is seen a piece like an inverted T, which forms a support to the base
of the "arms" of the fore-foot, and is the "basi-brachial" cartilage.
The Decapod Dibranchs have, further, the "nuchal cartilage" already
mentioned, and in _Sepia_, a thin plate-like "sub-ostracal" or
(so-called) dorsal cartilage, the anterior end of which rests on and
fits into the concave nuchal cartilage. In Octopoda there is no nuchal
cartilage, but two band-like "dorsal cartilages." In Decapods there
are also two cartilaginous sockets on the sides of the
funnel--"siphon-hinge cartilages"--into which fleshy knobs of the
mantle-skirt are loosely fitted. In _Sepia_, along the whole base-line
of each lateral fin of the mantle (fig. 15), is a "basi-pterygial
cartilage." It is worthy of remark that we have, thus developed, in
Dibranch Cephalopods a more complete internal cartilaginous skeleton
than is to be found in some of the lower vertebrates. There are other
instances of cartilaginous endo-skeleton in groups other than the
Vertebrata. Thus in some capito-branchiate Chaetopods cartilage forms
a skeletal support for the gill-plumes, whilst in the Arachnids
(_Mygale_, _Scorpio_) and in _Limulus_ a large internal cartilaginous
plate--the ento-sternite--is developed as a support for a large series
of muscles.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Cartilaginous skeleton of Cephalopoda (after
Keferstein.)
A, Capito-pedal cartilage of _Nautilus pompilius._
a points to the ridge which supports the pedal portion of the
nerve-centre.
B, Lateral view of the same--the large anterior processes are sunk
in the muscular substance of the siphon.
C, Cephalic cartilages of _Sepia officinalis_.
D, Nuchal cartilage of _Sepia officinalis_.]
_Alimentary Tract._--The buccal cone of _Nautilus_ is terminated by a
villous margin (buccal membrane), surrounding the pair of beak-like
jaws, of which the ventral projects over the dorsal. These are very
strong and dense in _Nautilus_, being calcified. Fossilized beaks of
Tetrabranchiata are known under the name of rhyncholites. In Dibranchs
the beaks are horny, but similar in shape to those of _Nautilus_. They
resemble in general those of a parrot, the lower beak being the larger
and overlapping the upper or dorsal beak. The lingual ribbon and
odontophoral apparatus have the structure which is typical for
Glossophorous Mollusca. In fig. 9, A is represented a single row of
teeth from the lingual ribbon of _Nautilus_, and in fig. 9, B, C, of
other Cephalopoda.
In _Nautilus_ a long and wide crop or dilated oesophagus (fig. 10, cr)
passes from the muscular buccal mass, and at the apex of the visceral
hump passes into a highly muscular stomach, resembling the gizzard of
a bird (fig 10, gizz). A nearly straight intestine passes from the
muscular stomach to the anus, near which it develops a small caecum.
In other Cephalopods the oesophagus is usually narrower and the
muscular stomach more capacious, whilst a very important feature in
the alimentary tract is formed by the caecum. In all but _Nautilus_
the caecum lies near the stomach, and may be very capacious--much
larger than the stomach in _Loligo vulgaris_--or elongated into a
spiral coil. The simple U-shaped flexure of the alimentary tract, as
seen in fig. 10, is the only important one which it exhibits in the
Cephalopoda. The acini of the large liver of _Nautilus_ are compacted
into a solid reddish-brown mass by a firm membrane, as also is the
case in the Dibranchiata. The liver has four paired lobes in
_Nautilus_, which open by two bile-ducts into the alimentary canal at
the commencement of the intestine. The bile-ducts unite before
entering the intestine. In Dibranchiata the two large lobes of the
liver are placed antero-dorsally (beneath the shell in Decapoda), and
the bile-ducts open into the caecum. Upon the bile-ducts in
Dibranchiata are developed yellowish glandular diverticula, which are
known as "pancreas," though neither physiologically nor
morphologically is there any ground for considering either the
so-called liver or the so-called pancreas as strictly equivalent to
the glands so denominated in the Vertebrata. In _Nautilus_ the
equivalents of the pancreatic diverticula of the Dibranchs can be
traced upon the relatively shorter bile-ducts.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Lingual dentition of Cephalopoda. A, A single
row of lingual teeth of _Nautilus pompilius_ (after Keferstein). B,
Two rows of lingual teeth of _Sepia officinalis_ (after Troschel). C,
Lingual teeth of _Eledone cirrhosa_ (after Loven).]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Diagram representing a vertical approximately
median antero-posterior section of _Nautilus pompilius_ (from a
drawing by A.G. Bourne). The parts which are quite black are the cut
muscular surfaces of the foot and buccal mass.
a, The shell.
b, The nuchal plate, identical with the nuchal cartilage of _Sepia_
(see fig. 2, b).
c, The integument covering the visceral hump.
d, The mantle flap or skirt in the dorsal region where it rests
against the coil of the shell.
e, The inferior margin of the mantle-skirt resting on the lip of the
shell represented by the dotted line.
f, The pallial chamber with two of the four gills.
g, The vertically cut median portion of the mid-foot (siphon).
h, The capito-pedal cartilage (see fig. 8).
i, The valve of the siphon.
l, The siphuncular pedicle (cut short).
m, The hood or dorsal enlargement of the annular lobe of the
fore-foot.
n, Tentacles of the annular lobe.
p, Tentacles of inner inferior lobe.
q, Buccal membrane.
r, Upper jaw or beak.
s, Lower jaw or beak.
t, Lingual ribbon.
x, The viscero-pericardial sac.
n.c, Nerve-collar.
oe, Oesophagus.
cr, Crop.
gizz, Gizzard.
int, Intestine.
an, Anus.
nept, Aperture of a nephridial sac.
r.e, Renal glandular masses on the walls of the afferent branchial
veins (see fig. 11).
a.b.v, Afferent branchial vessel.
e.b.v, Efferent branchial vessel.
vt, Ventricle of the heart.]
Posterior salivary glands are not developed in _Nautilus_, but on each
side in the wall of the buccal mass is a gland corresponding to the
anterior salivary gland of the Dibranchiata. No ink-sac is present in
_Nautilus_.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Diagram to show the relations of the four
nephridial sacs, the viscero-pericardial sac, and the heart and large
vessels in _Nautilus_ (drawn by A.G. Bourne).
neph, neph, on the right side point to the two nephridia of that
side (the two of the opposite side are not lettered)--each is seen
to have an independent aperture.
x is the viscero-pericardial sac, the dotted line indicating its
backward extension.
visc. per. apert, marks an arrow introduced into the right aperture
of the viscero-pericardial sac.
r.e, r.e, point to the glandular enlarged walls of the afferent
branchial vessels--two small glandular bodies of the kind are seen
to project into each nephridial sac, whilst a larger body of the
same kind depends from each of the four branchial afferent vessels
into the viscero-pericardial sac.
v.c, Vena-cava.
vent, Ventricle of the heart.
ao, Cephalic aorta (the small abdominal aorta not drawn).
a.b.v, Branchial vessel.
e.v.b, Efferent branchial vessel.]
_Coelom, Blood-vascular System and Excretory Organs._--_Nautilus_ and
the other Cephalopoda conform to the general Molluscan characters in
regard to these organs. Whilst the general visceral cavity forms a
lacunar blood-system or series of narrow spaces, connected with the
trunks of a well-developed vascular system, that part of the original
coelom surrounding the heart and known as the Molluscan pericardium is
shut off from this general blood-lymph system, and communicates,
directly in _Nautilus_, in the rest through the renal sacs, with the
exterior. In the Cephalopoda this specialized pericardial cavity is
particularly large, and has been recognized as distinct from the
blood-carrying spaces, even by anatomists who have not considered the
pericardial space of other Mollusca to be thus isolated. The enlarged
pericardium, which may even take the form of a pair of sacs, has been
variously named, but is best known as the viscero-pericardial sac or
chamber. In _Nautilus_ this sac occupies the whole of the
postero-dorsal surface and a part of the antero-dorsal (see fig. 10,
x), investing the genital and other viscera which lie below it, and
having the ventricle of the heart suspended in it. Certain membranes
forming incomplete septa, and a curious muscular band--the
pallio-cardiac band--traverse the sac. The four branchial afferent
veins, which in traversing the walls of the four renal sacs give off,
as it were, glandular diverticula into those sacs, also give off at
the same points four much larger glandular masses, which hang freely
into the viscero-pericardial chamber (fig. 11, r.e). In _Nautilus_ the
viscero-pericardial sac opens to the exterior directly by a pair of
apertures, one placed close to the right and one close to the left
posterior renal aperture (fig. 5, visc.per). This direct opening of
the pericardial sac to the exterior is an exception to what occurs in
all other Mollusca. In all other Molluscs the pericardial sac opens
into the renal organs, and through them or the one renal organ to the
exterior. In _Nautilus_ there is no opening from the
viscero-pericardial sac into the renal sacs. Therefore the external
pore of the viscero-pericardial sac may possibly be regarded as a
shifting of the reno-pericardial orifice from the actual wall of the
renal sac to a position alongside of its orifice. Parallel cases of
such shifting are seen in the varying position of the orifice of the
ink-bag in Dibranchiata, and in the orifice of the genital ducts of
Mollusca, which in some few cases (e.g. _Spondylus_) open into the
renal organs, whilst in other cases they open close by the side of the
renal organs on the surface of the body. The viscero-pericardial sac
of the Dibranchs is very large also, and extends into the dorsal
region. It varies in shape--that is to say, in the extensions of its
area right and left between the various viscera--in different genera,
but in the Decapods is largest. In an extension of this chamber is
placed the ovary of _Sepia_, whilst the ventricle of the heart and the
branchial hearts and their appendages also lie in it. It is probable
that water is drawn into this chamber through the renal sacs, since
sand and other foreign matters are found in it. In all it opens into
the pair of renal sacs by an orifice on the wall of each, not far from
the external orifice (fig. 29, y, y'). There does not seem any room
for doubting that each orifice corresponds to the reno-pericardial
orifice which we have seen in the Gastropoda, and shall find again in
the Lamellibranchia.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Diagram to show the relations of the heart in
the Mollusca. (From Gegenbaur.)
A, Part of the dorsal vascular trunk and transverse trunks of a
worm.
B, Ventricle and auricles of _Nautilus_.
C, Of a Lamellibranch, of _Chiton_, or of _Loligo_.
D, Of _Octopus_.
E, Of a Gastropod.
a, Auricle.
v, Ventricle.
ac, Arteria=cephalica=(aorta).
ai, Arteria abdominalis. The arrows show the direction of the
blood-current.]
The circulatory organs, blood-vessels and blood of _Nautilus_ do not
differ greatly from those of Gastropoda. The ventricle of the heart is
a four-cornered body, receiving a dilated branchial efferent vessel
(auricle) at each corner (fig. 11). It gives off a cephalic aorta
anteriorly, and a smaller abdominal aorta posteriorly. The diagram,
fig. 12, serves to show how this simple form of heart is related to
the dorsal vessel of a worm or of an Arthropod, and how by a simple
flexure of the ventricle (D) and a subsequent suppression of one
auricle, following on the suppression of one branchia, one may obtain
the form of heart characteristic of the anisopleurous Gastropoda
(excepting the Aspidobranchia). The flexed condition of the heart is
seen in _Octopus_, and is to some extent approached by _Nautilus_, the
median vessels not presenting that perfect parallelism which is shown
in the figure (B). The most remarkable feature presented by the heart
of _Nautilus_ is the possession of four instead of two auricles, a
feature which is simply related to the metamerism of the branchiae. By
the left side of the heart of _Nautilus_, attached to it by a
membrane, and hanging loosely in the viscero-pericardial chamber, is
the pyriform sac of Owen. This has been shown to be the rudimentary
left oviduct or sperm-duct, as the case may be (E.R. Lankester and
A.G. Bourne), the functional right ovi-sac and its duct being attached
by a membrane to the opposite side of the heart.
The cephalic and abdominal aortae of _Nautilus_ appear, after running
to the anterior and posterior extremes of the animal respectively, to
open into sinus-like spaces surrounding the viscera, muscular masses,
&c. These spaces are not large, but confined and shallow. Capillaries
are stated to occur in the integument. In the Dibranchs the arterial
system is very much more complete; it appears in some cases to end in
irregular lacunae or sinuses, in other cases in true capillaries which
lead on into veins. An investigation of these capillaries in the light
of modern histological knowledge is much needed. From the sinuses and
capillaries the veins take origin, collecting into a large median
trunk (the vena cava), which in the Dibranchs as well as in _Nautilus_
has a ventral (postero-ventral) position, and runs parallel to the
long axis of the animal. In _Nautilus_ this vena cava gives off at the
level of the gills four branchial afferent veins (fig. 11, v.c.),
which pass into the four gills without dilating. In the Dibranchs at a
similar position the vena cava gives off a right and a left branchial
afferent vein, each of which, traversing the wall of the corresponding
renal sac and receiving additional factors, dilates at the base of the
corresponding branchial plume, forming there a pulsating sac--the
branchial heart. Attached to each branchial heart is a curious
glandular body, which may possibly be related to the larger masses
(fig. 11, r.e) which depend into the viscero-pericardial cavity from
the branchial afferent veins of _Nautilus_. From the dilated branchial
heart the branchial afferent vessel proceeds, running up the adpallial
face of the gill-plume. From each gill-plume the blood passes by the
branchial efferent vessels to the heart, the two auricles being formed
by the dilatation of these vessels.
The blood contains the usual amoeboid corpuscles, and a diffused
colouring matter--the haemocyanin of Fredericque--which has been found
also in the blood of _Helix_, and in that of the Arthropods _Homarus_
and _Limulus_. It is colourless in the oxidized, blue in the
deoxidized state, and contains copper as a chemical constituent.
The renal sacs and renal glandular tissue are closely connected with
the branchial advehent vessels in _Nautilus_ and in the other
Cephalopoda. The arrangement is such as to render the typical
relations and form of a renal tube difficult to trace. In accordance
with the metamerism of _Nautilus_ already noticed, there are two pairs
of renal organs. Each assumes the form of a sac opening by a pore to
the exterior. As is usual in renal tubes a glandular and a
non-glandular portion are distinguished in each sac; these portions,
however, are not successive parts of a tube, as happens in other
cases, but they are localized areae of the wall of the sac. The
glandular renal tissue is, in fact, confined to a tract extending
along that part of the sac's wall which immediately invests the great
branchial afferent vein. The vein in this region gives off directly
from its wall a complete herbage of little venules, which branch and
anastomose with one another, and are clothed by the glandular
epithelium of the renal sac. The secretion is accumulated in the sac
and passed by its aperture to the exterior. Probably the nitrogenous
excretory product is very rapidly discharged; in _Nautilus_ a
pink-coloured powder is found accumulated in the renal sacs,
consisting of calcium phosphate. The presence of this phosphatic
calculus by no means proves that such was the sole excretion of the
renal glandular tissue. In _Nautilus_ a glandular growth like that
rising from the wall of the branchial vessel into its corresponding
renal sac, but larger in size, depends from each branchial afferent
vessel into the viscero-pericardial sac and forms the pericardial
gland--probably identical with the "appendage" of the branchial hearts
of Dibranchs.
The chief difference, other than that of number, between the renal
organs of the Dibranchs and those of _Nautilus_, is the absence of the
accessory growths depending into the viscero-pericardial space just
mentioned, and, of more importance, the presence in the former of a
pore leading from the renal sac into the viscero-pericardial sac (y,
y' in fig. 29). The external orifices of the renal organs are also
more prominent in Dibranchs than in _Nautilus_, being raised on
papillae (np in fig. 29; r in fig. 25). In _Sepia_ the two renal sacs
give off each a diverticulum dorsalwards, which unites with its fellow
and forms a great median renal chamber, lying between the ventral
portions of the renal organs and the viscero-pericardial chamber. In
_Loligo_ the fusion of the two renal organs to form one sac is still
more obvious, since the ventral portions are united. In _Octopus_ the
renal sacs are quite separate.
_Gonads and Genital Ducts._--In _Nautilus_it has been shown by E. Ray
Lankester and A.G. Bourne that the genital ducts of both sexes are
paired right and left, the left duct being rudimentary and forming the
"pyriform appendage," described by Sir R. Owen as adhering by
membranous attachment to the ventricle of the heart, and shown by W.
Keferstein to communicate by a pore with the exterior. The ovary
(female gonad) or the testis (male gonad) lies in _Nautilus_, as in
the Dibranchs, in a distinct cavity walled off from the other viscera,
near the centro-dorsal region. This chamber is formed by the coelomic
or peritoneal wall; the space enclosed is originally part of the
coelom, and in _Sepia_ and _Loligo_ is, in the adult, part of the
viscero-pericardial chamber. In _Octopus_ it is this genital chamber
which communicates by a right and a left canal with the renal sac, and
is the only representative of pericardium. The ovary or testis is
itself a growth from the inner wall of this chamber, which it only
partly fills. In _Nautilus_ the right genital duct, which is
functional, is a simple continuation to the pore on the postero-dorsal
surface of the membranous walls of the capsule in which lies the ovary
or the testis, as the case may be. The gonad itself appears to
represent a single median or bilateral organ.
The ovary forms a large projection into the genital coelom, and the
coelomic epithelium is deeply invaginated into the mass of the gonad,
so as to constitute an ovarian cavity communicating with the coelom by
a narrow aperture. The ova originate in the epithelium, migrate below
it and then, as they enlarge, project into the ovarian cavity, pushing
the epithelium before them. Each ovum is surrounded by a follicular
epithelium which is nourished by numerous blood-vessels, and which
penetrates into the surface of the ovum in numerous folds. When
mature, the ovum is contained in a membrane or chorion with a
micropyle, and escapes by dehiscence of the follicle into the genital
coelom and duct. In its passage to the exterior the ovum passes a
glandular structure on the wall of the genital capsule, which probably
secretes the gelatinous substance enclosing the eggs. In addition to
this internal gland there are other accessory glands, which are not
related to the genital duct or sac but are differentiations of the
wall of the pallial cavity, and occur on the inner wall of the pallium
in _Nautilus_, on the somatic wall in Dibranchiata. In _Nautilus_ they
form a continuous mass. These produce the external envelopes of the
eggs.
In the male the testis is a specialized portion of the wall of the
genital coelom, and has a structure comparable to that of the ovary.
The spermatozoa pass through an orifice from the cavity of the testis
to the genital capsule, and thence to the spermiduct. The spermiduct
is provided with a glandular pouch, and opens into a terminal
reservoir known as Needham's sac or the spermatophore sac. The
function of this pouch is to form the spermatophore, which is an
elastic tube formed of structureless secretion and invaginated into
itself. The deeper part contains the spermatozoa, the external part is
called the connective, and is usually much contracted and spirally
coiled. When the spermatophore is expelled into the water the
connective is extended and evaginated, and the sac containing the
sperms bursts. In _Nautilus_ the spermatophore when uncoiled is a
little over 30 mm. in length. These spermatophores are somewhat
similar to those formed in certain pulmonate Gastropods.
The eggs are laid shortly after copulation. In _Nautilus_ they are
laid separately, each being about 4 cm. long and contained in two
thick shells, the outer of which is partly open.
[Illustration: Fig 13.--Nervous system of _Nautilus pompilius_ (from
Genebaur, after Owen).
t, t, Ganglion-like enlargements on nerves passing from the pedal
ganglion to the inner series of tentacles.
t', Nerves to the tentacles of the outer or annular lobe.
b, Pedal ganglion-pair
a, Cerebral ganglion-pair.
c, Pleuro-visceral ganglionic band (fused pleural and visceral
ganglion-pairs).
d, Genital ganglion placed on the course of the large visceral
nerve, just before it gives off its branchial and its osphradial
branches.
m, Nerves from the pleural ganglion to the mantle-skirt.]
_Nervous System._--_Nautilus_, like the other Cephalopoda, exhibits a
great concentration of the typical Molluscan ganglia, as shown in fig.
13. The ganglia take on a band-like form, and are but little
differentiated from their commissures and connectives--an archaic
condition reminding us of _Chiton_. The special optic outgrowth of the
cerebral ganglion, the optical ganglion (fig. 13, o), is
characteristic. The cerebral ganglion-pair (a) lying above the
oesophagus is connected with two suboesophageal ganglion-pairs, of
band-like form. The anterior of these is the pedal _b, b_, and
supplies the circumoral lobes and tentacles, and the funnel, a fact
which proves the pedal origin of these organs. The hinder band is the
visceral and pleural pair fused; from its pleural portion nerves pass
to the mantle, from its visceral portion nerves to the branchiae and
genital ganglion (fig. 13, d), and in immediate connexion with the
latter is a nerve to the osphradium or olfactory papilla. A labial
commissure arises by a double root from the cerebral ganglia and gives
off a stomatogastric commissure, which passes under the pharynx
immediately behind the radula and bears a buccal ganglion on either
side.
_Special Sense-Organs._--_Nautilus_ possesses a pair of osphradial
papillae (fig. 4, olf) corresponding in position and innervation to
Spengel's organ placed at the base of the ctenidia (branchiae) in all
classes of Mollusca. This organ has not been detected in other
Cephalopoda. _Nautilus_ possesses other olfactory organs in the region
of the head. Just below the eye is a small triangular process (not
seen in our figures), having the structure of a shortened and
highly-modified tentacle and sheath. By A. Valenciennes, who is
followed by W. Keferstein, this is regarded as an olfactory organ. The
large nerve which runs to this organ originates from the point of
juncture of the pedal with the optic ganglion. The lamelliform organ
upon the inner inferior tentacular lobe of _Nautilus_ is possibly also
olfactory in function. In Dibranchs behind the eye is a pit or open
canal supplied by a nerve corresponding in origin to the olfactory
nerve of _Nautilus_ above mentioned. Possibly the sense of taste
resides in certain processes within the mouth of _Nautilus_ and other
Cephalopoda.
The otocysts of _Nautilus_ were discovered by J.D. Macdonald. Each
lies at the side of the head, ventral to the eye, resting on the
capito-pedal cartilage, and supported by the large auditory nerve
which apparently arises from the pedal ganglion but originates in the
cerebral. It has the form of a small sac, 1 to 2 mm. in diameter, and
contains whetstone-shaped crystals, such as are known to form the
otoliths of other Mollusca.
The eye of _Nautilus_ is among the most interesting structures of that
remarkable animal. No other animal which has the same bulk and general
elaboration of organization has so simple an eye as that of
_Nautilus_. When looked at from the surface no metallic lustre, no
transparent coverings, are presented by it. It is simply a slightly
projecting hemispherical box like a kettle-drum, half an inch in
diameter, its surface looking like that of the surrounding integument,
whilst in the middle of the drum-membrane is a minute hole (fig. 3,
u). Sir R. Owen very naturally thought that some membrane had covered
this hole in life, and had been ruptured in the specimen studied by
him. It, however, appears from the researches of V. Hensen that the
hole is a normal aperture leading into the globe of the eye, which is
accordingly filled by sea-water during life. There is no dioptric
apparatus in _Nautilus_, and in place of refracting lens and cornea we
have actually here an arrangement for forming an image on the
principle of "the pin-hole camera." There is no other eye known in the
whole animal kingdom which is so constructed. The wall of the
eye-globe is tough, and the cavity is lined solely by the naked
retina, which is bathed by sea-water on one surface and receives the
fibres of the optic nerve on the other (see fig. 14, A). As in other
Cephalopods (e.g. fig. 33, Ri, Re, p), the retina consists of two
layers of cells, separated by a layer of dark pigment. The most
interesting consideration connected with this eye of _Nautilus_ is
found when the further facts are noted--(1) that the elaborate
lens-bearing eyes of Dibranchiata pass through a stage of development
in which they have the same structure as the eye of
_Nautilus_--namely, are open sacs (fig. 34); and (2) that amongst
other Mollusca examples of cephalic eyes can be found which in the
adult condition are, like the eye of _Nautilus_ and the developing eye
of Dibranchs, simple pits of the integument, the cells of which are
surrounded by pigment and connected with the filaments of an optic
nerve. Such is the structure of the eye of the limpet (_Patella_), and
in such a simple eye we obtain the clearest demonstration of the fact
that the retina of the Molluscan cephalic eye, like that of the
Arthropod cephalic eye and unlike that of the vertebrate myelonic eye,
is essentially a modified area of the general epiderm, and that the
sensitiveness of its cells to the action of light and their relation
to nerve-filaments is only a specialization and intensifying of a
property common to the whole epiderm of the surface of the body. What,
however, strikes us as especially remarkable is that the simple form
of a pit, which in _Patella_ serves to accumulate a secretion which
acts as a refractive body, should in _Nautilus_ be glorified and
raised to the dignity of an efficient optical apparatus. In all other
Mollusca, starting as we may suppose from the follicular or pit-like
condition, the eye has proceeded to acquire the form of a _closed_
sac, the cavity of the closed vesicle being then filled partially or
completely by a refractive body (lens) secreted by its walls (fig. 14,
B). This is the condition attained in most Gastropoda. It presents a
striking contrast to the simple Arthropod eye, where, in consequence
of the existence of a dense exterior cuticle, the eye does not form a
vesicle, and the lens is always part of that cuticle.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Diagrams of Sections of the Eyes of Mollusca.
A, _Nautilus_ (and _Patella_).
B, Gastropod (_Limax_ or _Helix_).
C, Dibranchiate Cephalopod (Oigopsid).
Pal, Eyelid (outermost fold).
Co, Cornea (second fold).
Ir, Iris (third fold).
Int 1,2,3,4, Different parts of the integument.
l, Deep portion of the lens.
l^1, Outer portion of the lens
Co.ep, Ciliary body.
R, Retina.
N.op, Optic nerve.
G.op, Optic ganglion.
x, Inner layer of the retina.
N.S., Nervous stratum of the retina. (From Balfour, after
Grenacher.)]
The development of _Nautilus_ is still entirely unknown. Dr Arthur
Willey, during his sojourn in the East Indies, made special efforts to
obtain fertilized eggs, both by offering rewards to the native
fishermen and collectors and by keeping the living adults in
captivity, but without success.
_Phylogeny and Classification._--As _Nautilus_ is the only living
genus of the Tetrabranchiata, our knowledge of all the rest is based
upon the study of their fossil shells. A vast number of species of
shell similar in structure to that of _Nautilus_ are known, chiefly
from Primary and Secondary formations. These are divided into two
sub-orders by differences in the form and structure of the initial
chamber. In the Nautiloidea this chamber has the form of an obtuse
cone, on the apex of which is a slit-like mark or cicatrix, elongated
dorso-ventrally and placed opposite to the blind end of the siphuncle,
which indents the front wall of the initial chamber but does not enter
its cavity. In the Ammonoidea, on the other hand, the initial chamber
is inflated, and is spheroidal, oval or pyriform in shape, with no
cicatrix, and separated from the first air-chamber by a constriction.
The siphuncle also commences with a dilatation which deeply indents
the front wall of the initial chamber, called the protoconch, but does
not penetrate into its cavity. Munier-Chalmas has shown that the
cavity of the protoconch is traversed by a tubular organ, the
"prosiphon," which does not communicate with the true siphuncle, the
place of which it is supposed to take in the early life of the animal.
It is generally held, as suggested by Alpheus Hyatt, that the initial
chamber of the Nautiloidea corresponds not to the protoconch of the
Ammonoids, but to the second chamber of the latter, and that there
existed in the young Nautiloids a true initial chamber, a protoconch
which was either uncalcified or deciduous. The shell of the living
nautilus does not decide this question, as its early stages are
unknown, and there is a little vacuity in the centre of the spirally
coiled shell which may have been originally occupied by the true
protoconch.
The septa in the Nautiloidea are generally concave towards the
aperture of the shell, their curvature therefore directed backwards
(fig. 1); in the Ammonoidea, on the other hand, the convexity is
usually towards the aperture, the curvature therefore directed
forwards. The lines along which the edges of the septa are united to
the shell are known as "sutures," and these in the Nautiloidea are
simply curved or slightly lobed, whereas in the Ammonoidea they are
folded in various degrees of complexity; the projections of the suture
towards the mouth of the shell are called saddles, those in the
opposite direction lobes. The siphuncle in the _Nautilus_ pierces the
centres of the septa, and in fossil Nautiloids it is usually central
or sub-central. In a few cases it is marginal, and in that case may be
external, i.e. ventral, or internal, i.e. dorsal. In Ammonoids the
siphuncle is always marginal, and usually external. Its walls in the
living _Nautilus_ are strengthened by the deposit of calcareous
granules, and in some fossil forms the wall is completely calcified.
But this proper calcified wall is quite distinct from calcareous tubes
surrounding the siphuncle, which are developed from the septa. In the
pearly nautilus each septum is prolonged backwards at the point where
it is pierced by the siphuncle, forming a shelly tube somewhat like
the neck of a bottle. In many fossil forms these septal necks are
continued from the septum from which they arise to the next, so that
the siphuncle is enclosed in a complete secondary calcareous tube. In
the majority of Nautiloids the septal necks are directed backwards,
and they are said to be retrosiphonate. In the majority of the
Ammonoids the septal necks are continued forwards from the septa to
which they belong, and such forms are termed prosiphonate.
The Tetrabranchiata were most abundant in the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic
periods. The Nautiloidea are the most ancient, appearing first in the
Upper Cambrian, the genera being most numerous in the Palaeozoic
period, and comparatively few surviving into the Secondary. On the
other hand, the Ammonoidea are scarce in Palaeozoic formations, being
represented in deposits earlier than the Carboniferous only by
comparatively simple types, such as _Clymenia_ and _Goniatites_. In
the Secondary period Ammonoids were very abundant, both in genera and
species and in individuals, and with few local exceptions none are
known to have survived even to the commencement of the Tertiary. In
the widest sense the genus _Nautilus_ has existed since the Ordovician
(Silurian) period, but the oldest types are not properly to be placed
in the same genus as the existing form. Even with this qualification
the genus is very ancient, shells very similar to those of the living
_Nautilus_ being found in the Upper Cretaceous.
It has been maintained by some zoologists that the Ammonoidea were
Dibranchiate, though it would not follow from this that the shell was,
therefore, internal. They are, however, generally classed with the
Tetrabranchiata, and the absence of all evidence of the possession of
an ink-sac is in favour of this view. There can be little doubt that
they gave rise to the Dibranchiata.
About 2500 fossil species are included in the Nautiloidea, but only a
few species of the genus _Nautilus_ survive. Some of the fossil forms
are very large, the shell reaching a length of 2 metres, or 6 ft. 6
in. Of the Ammonoidea more than 5000 species have been described, and
some of the coiled forms are 70 cm., or nearly 2 ft. 6 in. in
diameter.
Associated with various forms of Ammonoids there have been found
peculiar horny or calcified plates, sometimes contained within the
body-chamber of the shell, sometimes wholly detached. The most typical
form of these structures has been named _aptychus._ It consists of two
bilaterally symmetrical halves, of somewhat semicircular shape, and
attached to one another by their straight inner margins, like a pair
of doors. In some cases the aptychus is thin and horny, but more often
it is thick and calcified, in which case the principal layer has a
peculiar cellular structure. The surface may be smooth or sculptured,
and one side is usually marked by concentric lines of growth. Another
type is similar, except that the two halves are united in the middle
line; bodies of this character are called _synaptychus_; they occur in
the body-chamber of species of _Scaphites_. Another form called
_anaptychus_ consists of a thin horny undivided plate which is
concentrically striated. This is associated with species of
_Ammonites_ and _Goniatites_.
Many theories have been proposed in explanation of these structures.
According to Sir Richard Owen, the aptychus is an operculum developed
in a part of the body corresponding to the hood of _Nautilus_. E. Ray
Lankester suggested that the double plate was borne on the surface of
the nidamental gland, with the form and sculpturing of which in
_Nautilus_ it closely agrees. On this view the aptychus would occur
only in females. The most recent view is that these structures could
not have been opercula because of their constant position inside the
body-chamber, and that they were not external secretions at all, but a
calcified internal cartilage situated at the base of the funnel.
_Classification of Tetrabranchiata._--Cephalopoda in which the mantle
is entirely enclosed by a multilocular siphunculated shell, which may
or may not be coiled. Only the last compartment of the shell occupied
by the body of the animal. Numerous pedal tentacles around the mouth,
which are retractile within sheaths. Halves of the funnel not united.
Two pairs of ctenidia, and two pairs of renal tubes without
reno-pericardial apertures. Pericardium opens directly to exterior.
Cephalic cartilage wholly ventral. Optic vesicles with apertures,
without crystalline lens.
_Sub-order 1. Nautiloidea_.--Initial chamber not inflated, with
dorso-ventral cicatrix at extremity.
Fam. 1. _Orthoceratidae_. Shell straight or slightly curved, with a
simple aperture, large terminal chamber and cylindrical siphuncle.
_Orthoceras_, Silurian to Trias. _Baltoceras_, Silurian.
Fam. 2. _Actinoceratidae_. Shell straight or slightly curved, with
wide siphuncle contracted at level of septa. _Actinoceras_, Silurian
to Carboniferous. _Discosorus_, Silurian. _Huronia_, Silurian.
_Loxoceras_, Silurian to Carboniferous.
Fam. 3. _Endoceratidae_. Shell straight, with wide margina
siphuncle, necks produced into tubes fitting into one another.
_Endoceras_, Silurian.
Fam. 4. _Gomphoceratidae_. Shell globular, straight or arcuate,
aperture contracted. _Gomphoceras_, Silurian. _Phragmoceras_,
Silurian.
Fam. 5. _Ascoceratidae_. Shell straight, ampulliform, summit
truncate, terminal chamber extending nearly whole length of shell
ventrally. _Ascoceras_, Silurian. _Glossoceras_, Silurian.
Fam. 6. _Poterioceratidae_. Shell straight or curved, fusiform,
aperture simple, siphuncle contracted at septa. _Poterioceras_,
Silurian to Carboniferous. _Streptoceras_, Silurian.
Fam. 7. _Cyrtoceratidae_. Shell slightly curved, aperture simple,
siphuncle wide, septa approximated. _Cyrtoceras_, Devonian.
Fam. 8. _Lituitidae_. Shell coiled in one plane with the terminal
part uncoiled, aperture contracted. _Lituites_, Silurian.
_Ophidioceras_, Silurian.
Fam. 9. _Trochoceratidae_. Shell helicoidally coiled, dextral or
sinistral, the last whorl generally uncoiled. _Trochoceras_,
Devonian. _Adelphoceras_, Devonian.
Fam. 10. _Nautilidae_. Shell coiled in one plane, aperture wide and
simple, siphuncle central. _Nautilus_, recent. _Trocholites_,
Silurian. _Gyroceras_, Silurian to Carboniferous. _Hercoceras_,
Silurian. _Ptenoceras_, Devonian. _Discites_, Carboniferous.
Fam. 11. _Bactritidae_. Shell straight, conical, siphuncle narrow
and marginal, necks long, infundibuliform, sutures undulating.
_Bactrites_, Silurian and Devonian.
_Sub-order 2. Ammonitoidea_,--Initial chamber spheroidal; siphuncle
narrow and simple; septa convex towards aperture; sutures complex.
_Tribe 1. Retrosiphonata_.--Siphuncular necks projecting behind the
septa as in Nautiloidea. Sutures form simple undulations. Occur
exclusively in Palaeozoic strata from Devonian upwards.
Fam. 1. _Goniatitidae_. Shell nautiloid, with simple sutures and
ventral siphuncle. _Goniatites_, Devonian and Carboniferous.
_Anarcestes_, Devonian.
Fam. 2. _Clymeniidae_. Shell nautiloid, with simple sutures,
siphuncle dorsal, that is, internal. _Clymenia_, Upper Devonian.
_Tribe 2. Prosiphonata._--Siphuncular necks projecting in front of the
septa. Sutures form deeply indented lobes and saddles.
Fam. 1. _Arcestidae_. Globular and smooth or nearly smooth, with
reduced umbilicus, terminal chamber very deep, an aptychus present.
_Popanoceras_, Permian. _Cyclolobus_, Permian, _Arcestes_, Trias.
_Lobites_, Trias.
Fam. 2. _Tropitidae_. Shells globular, but having radiating and
tuberculated costae. _Thalassoceras_, Permian. _Tropites_, Trias.
_Sibirites_, Trias.
Fam. 3. _Ceratitidae_. Shells coiled, with a large umbilicus,
terminal chamber short, sutures with simple saddles. _Trachyceras_,
Upper Trias. _Ceratites_, Trias. _Dinarites_, Trias.
Some genera with helicoidal shells are related to these coiled forms,
viz. _Cochloceras_, Trias; also some straight forms, e.g.
_Rhab-doccras_, Trias.
Fam. 4. _Pinacoceratidae_. Shell compressed, smooth, terminal
chamber short, sutures very complicated, convex. _Pinacoceras_,
Trias.
Fam. 5. _Phylloceratidae_. Shell coiled, the whorls overlapping each
other, sutures formed of numerous lobes and saddles. _Phytloceras_,
Jurassic.
Fam. 6. _Lytoceratidae_. Shell discoid, whorls loosely united or
uncoiled, sutures deeply indented, but with only three saddles and
lobes. _Lytoceras_, Jurassic and Cretaceous. _Macroscaphites_,
Cretaceous. _Reunites_, Cretaceous. _Ptychoeeras_, Cretaceous.
_Turrilites_, Cretaceous. _Baculites_, Cretaceous.
Fam. 7. _Ammonitidae_. Shell coiled, with narrow whorls which do not
embrace one another, aperture simple, a horny anaptychus present.
_Ammonites_, Jurassic. _Arietites_, Jurassic. _Aegoceras_, Lias.
Fam. 8. _Harpoceratidae_. Shell discord and flattened, with a
carinated border, aperture provided with lateral projections, a
calcareous aptychus, formed of two pieces. _Harpoceras_, Jurassic.
_Oppelia_, Jurassic. _Lissoceras_, Jurassic and Cretaceous.
Fam. 9. _Amaltheidae_. Shell flattened, with a prominent carina
continued anteriorly into a rostrum. _Amaltheus_, Lias.
_Cardioceras_, Jurassic. _Schloenbachia_, Cretaceous.
Fam. 10. _Stephanoceratidae_. Shell not carinated, but with
radiating costae, which are often bifurcated, aperture often with
lateral projections which contract it, aptychus formed of two
pieces. _Stephanoceras, Morphoceras, Pensphinctes, Peltoceras_,
Jurassic. _Hoplites_, Cretaceous. _Acanthoceras_, Cretaceous.
_Cosmoceras_, Jurassic. Various more or less uncoiled forms are
related to this family, viz. _Scaphites, Crioceras_, Cretaceous.
ORDER 2. DIBRANCHIATA (= Holosiphona, Acetabulifera)
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--_Sepia officinalis_, L., about ½ natural size,
as seen when dead, the long prehensile arms being withdrawn from the
pouches at the side of the head, in which they are carried during life
when not actually in use. a. Neck; b, lateral fin of the mantle-sac; c,
the eight shorter arms of the fore-foot; d, the two long prehensile
arms; e, the eyes.]
_Characters_.--Cephalopoda in which the inflected margins of the
epipodia are fused so as to form a complete tubular siphon (fig. 24, i).
The circumoral lobes of the fore-foot carry suckers disposed upon them
in rows, _not_ tentacles (see figs. 15, 24). There is a single pair of
typical ctenidia (fig. 25) acting as gills (hence Dibranchiata), and a
single pair of renal organs, opening by apertures right and left of the
median anus (fig. 25, r) and by similar internal pores into the
pericardial chamber, which consequently does not open directly to the
surface as in _Nautilus_. The oviducts are sometimes paired right and
left (Octopoda, Oigopsida), sometimes that of one side only is developed
(Myopsida). The sperm-duct is always single except, according to W.
Keferstein, in _Eledone moschata._
A plate-like shell is developed in a closed sac formed by the mantle
(figs 20, 21), except in the Octopoda, which have none, and in _Spirula_
(fig. 17, D) and the extinct _Belemnitidae_, &c., which have a small
chambered shell resembling that of _Nautilus_ with or without the
addition of plate-like and cylindrical accessory developments (fig. 17,
A, C, fig. 19).
The pair of cephalic eyes are highly-developed vesicles with a
refractive lens (fig. 33), cornea and lid-folds,--the vesicle being in
the embryo, an open sac like that of _Nautilus_ (fig. 34). Osphradia are
not present, but cephalic olfactory organs are recognized. One or two
pairs of large salivary glands with long ducts are present. An ink-sac
formed as a diverticulum of the rectum and opening near the anus is
present in all Dibranchiata (fig. 25, t), and has been detected even in
the fossil _Belemnitidae._ Branchial hearts are developed on the two
branchial afferent blood-vessels (fig. 28, _vc'_, _vi_).
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Decapodous Cephalopods.
A, _Cheiroteuthis Veranyi_, d'Orb. (from the Mediterranean).
B, _Thysanoteuthis rhombus_, Troschel (from Messina).
C, _Loligopsis cyclura_, Fér. and d'Orb. (from the Atlantic Ocean).]
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Internal Shells of Cephalopoda.
A, _Conoteutliis dupiniana_, d'Orb. (from the Neocomian of France).
B, Shell _Sepia orbigniana_. Fér. (Mediterranean).
C, Shell of _Spirulirostra Bellardii_, d'Orb. (from the Miocene of
Turin). The specimen is cut so as to show in section the chambered
shell and the laminated "guard" deposited upon its surface.
D, Shell of _Splrula laevis_, Gray (New Zealand).]
In the Dibranchiata the shell shows various stages of degeneration,
culminating in its complete disappearance in _Octopus_. As in other
Mollusca, there is a tendency in Cephalopods for the mantle to extend
over the outside of the shell from its edges, and when these secondary
mantle-folds entirely cover the shell and meet or fuse together the
shell is surrounded by the mantle both externally and internally, and is
said to be internal, though it remains always a cuticular structure
external to the epidermis. This procebs is generally accompanied by a
reduction of the size of the shell in comparison with that of the body,
so that the relations of the two are gradually reversed, the body
outgrows its house and instead of the mantle being enclosed by the
shell, the shell is enclosed by the mantle. The earliest stage of this
process is shown in the recent _Spirula,_ though it is perhaps not
impossible that in some of the later fossil Ammonoids the shell was
becoming more and more internal. The shell of _Spirula_ (fig. 18) is
coiled somewhat like that of _Nautilus_, but the coils are not in
contact, the direction of the coil is endogastric or ventral instead of
exogastric, and the shell is very much smaller than the body. Like that
of _Nautilus_ it is divided by septa and traversed by a siphuncle. The
relation of the animal to the terminal chamber is as in _Nautilus,_ but
the body extends far beyond the aperture, and folds of the mantle grow
up over the shell and cover it everywhere except part of the dorsal and
ventral surfaces.
[Illustration: After Chun, from Lankester's _Treatise an Zoology_
FIG. 18.--_Spirula._
A, Dorsal aspect.
B, Ventral aspect.
a, Arms.
e, Eyes.
fi, Fins.
fu, Funnel.
pa, Mantle.
po, Posterior fossa.
sh, Shell.
te, Tentacular arms.
td, Terminal pallial disk]
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Digram of shell Belemnite (after Phillips). r.
Horny pen or "proostracum": A, conical cavity or "alveolus," in which
the chambered "phragmacone" (p) is contained: g, "guard," or "rostrum."]
The next modification in the enclosed shell is the addition to it of
secondary deposits of calcareous matter, by the inner surface of the
shell-sac. Successive layers are deposited on the posterior part of the
original shell, whether coiled or straight, and these layers form a
conical mass, which may attain great thickness. A somewhat coiled shell
with such a deposit is seen in _Spirulirostra_ (fig. 17, C) of the
Miocene. In the next stage of modification secondary secretion forms a
long and broad projection of the dorsal lip of the aperture; this is
well developed in the belemnites (fig. 19). Thus in these modified
shells three parts are to be distinguished: the original septate shell,
which has been called the phragmacone; the posterior conical deposit,
called the rostrum or guard; and the anterior somewhat flat projection,
called the proostracum. In the living Dibranchiata other than _Spirula_
the phragmacone and rostrum have become very rudimentary. The shell of
_Sepia_ (fig. 20) consists almost entirely of the proostracum, the
little ventral hollow posteriorly representing the phragmacone, and the
posterior pointed projection, the rostrum. In the _Oigopsida_ the shell
is represented by a proostracum which is no longer calcified by forms a
chitinous plume or gladuius, and a similar rudiment occurs in
_Loliginidac_ (fig. 21) and _Sepiolidae_. Lastly, in the Octopoda the
shell is represented only by small chitinous rudiments to which the
retractor muscles of the head and funnel are attached; these are paired
in _Octopus_, unpaired in other cases as in _Cirrhoteuthis_.
[Illustration: FIG. 20. FIG. 21. FIG. 20.--The calcareous internal shell
of _Sepia officinalis, _the so-called cuttle-bone, a, Lateral expansion;
b, anterior cancellated region; c, laminated region, the laminae
enclosing air.]
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--The horny internal shell or gladius or pen of
_Lohgo_.]
The early appearance of the sac of the mantle in which the shell is
enclosed has led to an erroneous identification of this sac with the
primitive shell-sac or shell-gland of the Molluscan embryo. The first
appearance of the shell-sac in Dibranchiata is shown in figs. 35, 36.
Its formation as an open upgrowth of the centro-dorsal area, and the
fact that it appears and disappears without closing in _Argonauta_ and
_Octopus_, was demonstrated by E. Ray Lankester.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--The Argonaut in life. (After Lacaze-Duthiers)
Tr. Float: Br.a, anterior arms: Br p, posterior arms: V, the expanded
portion of them, once called the sails; B, the beak; C, the shell; En,
the Funnel.]
In _Argonauta_ (the paper nautilus) the female only possesses a shell,
in which the body is contained; but this is not homologous with the
true shell in other cases; it is a structure _sui generis_ secreted by
the expanded arms of the dorsal pair which are closely applied to it on
either side (fig. 22).
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Head and circumoral processes of the
fore-foot of _Onychoteuthis_ (from Owen).
a, Neck.
b, Eye.
c, The eight short arms.
d, Long prehensile arms, the clavate extremities of which are
provided with suckers at e, and with a double row of hooks beyond at
f. The temporary conjunction of the arms by means of the suckers
enables them to act in combination.]
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Male of _Ocythoe catenulata_, Steenstrup
(_Octopus carena_, Ver.), showing the hectocotylized arm. (From
Gegenbaur.)
t^1, t^2, t^3, t^4, The first, second, third and fourth arms or
processes of the fore-foot.
h, The third arm of the right side hectocotylized.
x, The apical sac of the hectocotylized arm.
y, The filament which issues from the sac when development is
complete.
i, The siphon.]
_Head, Foot, Mantle and Mantle-cavity._--If we now compare the
fore-foot of the Dibranchiata with that of _Nautilus_, we find in the
first place a more simple arrangement of its lobes, which are either
four or five pairs of tapering processes (called "arms"), arranged in
a series around the buccal cone, and a substitution of suckers for
tentacles on the surface of these lobes (figs. 15 and 24). The most
dorsally placed pair of arms, corresponding to the two sides of the
hood of _Nautilus_, are in reality the most anterior, and are termed
the first pair. In the Octopoda there are four pairs of these arms
(fig. 38), in the Decapoda five pairs, of which the fourth is greatly
elongated (figs. 15, 16). In _Sepia_, _Sepiola_ and _Rossia_, each of
these long arms is withdrawn into a pouch beside the head, and is only
ejected for the purpose of prehension. In _Loligo_ they are completely
retractile, very slightly so in the majority of the Oigopsida, and in
_Rhynchoteuthis_ they are united to form a beak-like appendage. A
gradual reduction of the tentacular arms can be seen in the Decapoda,
leading to their total absence in Octopoda; thus in _Leachia_,
_Chaunoteuthis_ and others these arms are reduced to mere stumps. In
some _Cheiroteuthidae_ and _Cranchiidae_ the ordinary or sessile arms,
especially the dorsal pairs, are reduced. In the Octopoda they are not
unfrequently connected by a web, and form an efficient swimming-bell,
e.g. in _Cirrhoteuthidae_ and _Amphuretidae_. The suckers are placed
on the adoral surface of the arms, and may be in one, two or four
rows, and very numerous. In place of suckers in some genera, e.g.
_Veranya_, we find on certain arms or parts of the arms horny hooks;
in other cases a hook rises from the centre of each sucker. The hooks
on the long arms of _Onychoteuthis_ are drawn in fig. 23. In various
species of _Cheiroteuthis_ the suckers on the tentacular arms are very
feeble, but the bottom of the cup is covered by a number of
anastomosed epithelial filaments which are used as a fishing-net. The
fore-foot, with its apparatus of suckers and hooks, is in the
Dibranchiata essentially a prehensile apparatus, though the whole
series of arms in the Octopoda serve as swimming organs, and in many
(e.g. the common octopus or poulp) the sucker-bearing surface is used
as a crawling organ.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--View of the postero-ventral surface of a male
_Sepia_, obtained by cutting longitudinally the firm mantle-skirt and
drawing the divided halves apart. This figure is strictly comparable
with fig. 4. (From Gegenbaur.)
C, The head.
J, The mid-foot or siphon, which has been cut open so as to display
the valve i.
R, The glandular tissue of the left nephridium or renal-sac, which
has been cut open (see fig. 29).
P, P, The lateral fins of the mantle-skirt.
Br, The single pair of branchiae (ctenidia).
a, The anus--immediately below it is the opening of the ink-bag.
c, Cartilaginous socket in the siphon to receive c', the
cartilaginous knob of the mantle-skirt--the two constituting the
"pallial hinge apparatus" characteristic of Decapoda, not found in
Octopoda.
g, The azygos genital papilla and aperture.
'i, Valve of the siphon (possibly the rudimentary hind-foot)
m, Muscular band connected with the fore-foot and mid-foot (siphon)
and identical with the muscular mass k in fig. 3.
r, Renal papillae, carrying the apertures of the nephridia.
v.br, Branchial efferent blood-vessel.
v br', Bulbous enlargements of the branchial blood-vessels (see figs
28, 29).
t, Ink-bag]
In the males of the Dibranchiata one of the arms is more or less
modified in connexion with the reproductive function, and is called
the "hectocotylized arm." This name is derived from the condition
assumed by the arm in those cases in which its modification is carried
out to the greatest extent. These cases are those of the Octopods
_Argonauta argo_ and _Ocythoe catenulata_ (fig. 24). In the males of
these the third arm (on the left side in _Argonauta_, on the right
side in _Ocythoe_) is found before the breeding season to be
represented by a globular sac of integument. This sac bursts, and from
it issues an arm larger than its neighbours, having a small sac at its
extremity in _Ocythoe_ (fig. 24. x), from which subsequently a long
filament issues. Before copulation the male charges this arm with the
spermatophores or packets of spermatozoa removed from its generative
orifice beneath the mantle-skirt, and during coitus the arm becomes
detached and is left adhering to the female by means of its suckers. A
new arm is formed at the cicatrix before the next breeding season. The
female, being much larger than the male, swims away with the detached
arm lodged beneath her mantle-skirt. There, in a way which is not
understood, the fertilization of the eggs is effected. Specimens of
the female _Ocythoë_ with the detached arm adherent were examined by
Cuvier, who mistook the arm for a parasitic worm and gave to it the
name _Hectocotylus_. Accordingly, the correspondingly modified arms of
other Cephalopoda are said to be hectocotylized. J.J.S. Steenstrup has
determined the hectocotylized condition of one or other of the arms in
a number of male Dibranchs as follows:--in all, excepting _Argonauta_
and _Ocythoe_ and _Tremoctopus_, the modification of the arm is
slight, consisting in a small enlargement of part or the whole of the
arm, and the obliteration of some of its suckers; in _Octopus_ and
_Eledone_ the third right arm is hectocotylized; in _Rossia_ and
_Sepiola_ the fourth left arm is hectocotylized along its whole
length, and the fourth right arm also in the middle only; in _Sepia_
the fourth left arm is modified at its base only; in _Sepioteuthis_,
the same at its apex; in _Loligo_, the same also at its apex; in
_Loliolus_, the same along its whole length; in _Ommatostrephes_,
_Onychoteuthis_ and _Loligopsis_ no hectocotylized arm has hitherto
been observed. Thus, speaking generally, it is one or both of the
fourth pair of short arms which are modified in the Decapoda, of the
third pair in the Octopoda. In the pallial cavity are situated one
pair of gills in the Dibranchiata (fig. 25), attached dorsally along
the whole of their afferent borders. On each side of the branchia is a
series of lamellae, least in number in the Octopoda. Each lamella is
transversely folded, and the folds are in turn folded, so that the
respiratory surface is increased. On the somatic wall of the pallial
cavity, between and ventral to the gills, are the following apertures:
the anus and opening of the ink-sac, close together in the median
line; a pair of apertures of the renal sacs, on either side of the
median line; external to the renal orifice, on the left side, the
genital aperture in _Cirrhoteuthidae_ and Myopsida. In other Octopoda,
and in nearly all the Oigopsida among the Decapoda, the genital ducts
are paired in the female, but only the left is developed in the male.
The funnel forms a complete tube in the Dibranchiata, and in the
majority of the Decapoda, as in _Nautilus_, it is provided with an
internal valve projecting from its somatic surface, which allows water
to pass outwards but prevents it passing inwards. The mantle performs
rhythmical respiratory movements of expansion and contraction, the
water entering between funnel and mantle and passing out through the
funnel. In Decapoda the edge of the mantle bears internally on each
side a cartilaginous projection which fits into a corresponding
depression on the external surface of the funnel; this is called the
"resisting apparatus," and serves to make the union of mantle and
funnel firmer during expiration. More powerful expiratory movements
are used for sudden retrograde locomotion through the water.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--Diagram representing a vertical approximately
median antero-posterior section of _Sepia officinalis_ (from a drawing
by A.G. Bourne). The lettering corresponds with that of fig. 10, with
which this drawing is intended to be compared.
a, Shell (here enclosed by a growth of the mantle).
b, The nuchal plate (here a cartilage).
c, (The reference line should be continued through the black area
representing the shell to the outline below it), the integument
covering the visceral hump.
d, The reflected portion of the mantle-skirt forming the sac which
encloses the shell.
e, The inferior margin of the mantle-skirt (mouth of the pallial
chamber).
f, The pallial chamber.
g, The vertically cut median portion of the siphon.
i, The valve of the siphon.
m, The two upper lobes of the fore-foot.
n, The long prehensile arms of the same.
o, The fifth or lowermost lobe of the fore-foot.
p, The third lobe of the fore-foot.
q, The buccal membrane.
v, The upper beak or jaw. s, The lower beak or jaw.
t, The lingual ribbon.
x, The viscero-pericardial sac.
n.c, The nerve-collar.
cr, The crop.
gizz, The gizzard.
an, The anus.
c.t, The left ctenidium or gill-plume.
vent, Ventricle of the heart.
a.b.v, Afferent branchial vessel.
e.b.v, Efferent branchial vessel.
re, Renal glandular mass.
n.n.a, Left nephridial aperture.
visc.per.apert, Viscero-pericardial aperture (see fig. 29).
br.b, Branchial heart.
app, Appendage of the same.
i.s, Ink-bag.]
_Luminous Organs._--In certain Oigopsida living in deep water, e.g.
_Histioteuthis, Calliteuthis, Histiopsis, Pterygioteuthis_, the
surface of the skin bears photogenous organs directed towards the oral
extremity. Anatomically these consist of a deeper photogenous layer
and a more superficial refracting layer. In some cases, e.g.
_Pterygioteuthis_, they occur even within the mantle-cavity.
_Fins._--In the majority of the Decapoda and in the _Cirrhoteuthidae_,
the mantle is produced into lateral symmetrical expansions which have
the function of fins. They originate at the aboral extremity where
they remain in _Spirula_ (fig. 18). In most other Oigopsida they are
terminal, but more dorsal than ventral, e.g. _Loligopsis_ (fig. 16),
and there may be two on each side, as in _Grimalditeuthis_. In other
cases they extend laterally along a greater length of the body, as in
_Sepia_ (fig. 15). In _Ctenopteryx_ they have a superficial
resemblance to the fins of fishes, consisting of a thin membrane
supported by a series of muscular rods.
_Chromatophores._--These are characteristic of the Dibranchiata,
apparently absent in _Nautilus_. They are originally single cells of
ectodermic origin which sink below the epidermis and become connected
with radiating muscular fibres. The cells are single but multinuclear.
Different cells contain pigments of different colours, yellow, brown,
red or blue. Each cell in life is in constant tremulous movement;
under the influence of nervous excitement the cells are suddenly
expanded or contracted, producing blushes of colour and pallor. By
reflex action of which the afferent stimulus acts upon the eyes as in
fishes, the chromatophores assume a condition which approximates the
colour of the animal to that of surrounding objects. In the Decapoda
there are also reflecting elements which produce iridescent hues.
_Aquiferous Cavities._--In addition to the pockets into which the
tentacular arms of Decapoda are retracted, there are in several
Dibranchiata cavities in the integument which open to the exterior by
special pores but have no communication with the vascular system or
other internal cavities of the body. In _Ocythoe_ there are such pores
on the back of the head and at the base of the funnel; buccal pouches
on the ventral side of the mouth, internal to the arms, occur in some
genera, one in _Loligo_, two in _Sepia_. In some species of _Sepia_
there are pouches in the mantle.
_Alimentary Tube._--The principal differences from _Nautilus_ are the
following:--the mandibles are similar in shape, but are chitinous, not
calcified. In the radula there are three teeth on each side of the
median tooth in each row, except in _Gonatus_, in which there are only
two lateral teeth, and the _Cirrhoteuthidae_, in which the radula has
entirely disappeared. In front of the radula is the so-called tongue,
a fleshy projection corresponding to the sub-radular organ of other
Mollusca.
[Illustration: FIG. 27.--Alimentary canal of _Loligo sagittata_ (from
Gegenbaur). The buccal mass is omitted.
oe, Oesophagus.
v, The stomach opened longitudinally.
x, Probe passed through the pylorus.
c, Commencement of the caecum.
e, Its spiral portion.
i, Intestine.
a, Ink-bag.
b, Its opening into the rectum.]
In most of the Dibranchiata there are two pairs of salivary glands. In
the Decapoda the ducts of the posterior pair unite into a median duct
which opens on the surface of the sub-radular organ. The anterior pair
is but slightly developed except in the Oigopsida. In the Octopoda
there are also two pairs, but the posterior pair, except in
_Cirrhoteuthis_ where they are absent, are large and displaced
backwards, being situated near the oesophageal proventriculus.
Connected with the intestine immediately beyond the pylorus is a
thin-walled caecum, spherical in _Rossia_ and _Leachia_, elongated in
_Loligo_, but usually coiled into a spiral (fig. 27). The hepatic
ducts open into the caecum. The liver is developed as a paired gland,
more or less fused into one in the adult, but the ducts are always
paired. The ducts are covered by a number of glandular follicles
forming what is called the pancreas.
The ink-sac, absent in _Nautilus_, is a rectal caecum developed from
its dorsal wall. It is present in all Dibranchiata except _Octopus
arcticus, O. piscatorum_ and _Cirrhoteuthis_. It consists of a deeper
part or gland proper and a reservoir. It extends to the posterior
extremity of the body in _Sepia_, but in _Octopoda_ is usually
embedded in the surface of the liver. The pigment of the secretion is
melanin, and its function is to produce a dense opacity in the water,
which conceals the animal.
_Vascular System_ (fig. 28).--The ventricle lies in the pericardial
cavity, except in Octopoda where this cavity is much reduced. The
auricles, one pair, are contractile expansions of the efferent
branchial vessels. The heart gives off an anterior or cephalic and a
posterior or abdominal aorta. The vascular system is almost perfect,
arteries and veins being united by capillaries. The principal vein is
a vena cava passing backwards ventrally from the cephalic region and
dividing into two afferent branchial veins, each of which receives a
pallial and an abdominal vein. Each of these afferent branchial
vessels is enclosed in the cavity of a renal organ and is covered
externally by the glandular tissue which forms the excretory part of
the "kidney" (fig. 29). Each afferent vessel is expanded into a
contractile branchial heart, which is provided with a glandular
appendage. The latter corresponds to the glandular masses which are
attached to the afferent branchial veins in _Nautilus_, and to the
pericardial glands of other Molluscs.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Circulatory and excretory organs of _Sepia_
(from Gegenbaur, after John Hunter).
br, Branchiae (ctenidia).
c, Ventricle of the heart.
a, Anterior artery (aorta).
a', Posterior artery.
v, The right and left auricles (enlargements of the efferent
branchial veins).
v', Efferent branchial vein on the free face of the gill-plume.
v.c, Vena cava.
vi, vc', Afferent branchial vessels (branches of the vena cava, see
fig. 29).
vc", Abdominal veins.
x, Branchial hearts and appendages.
re, e, Glandular substance of the nephridia developed on the wall of
the great veins on their way to the gills. The arrows indicate the
direction of the blood-current.]
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--Diagram of the nephridial sacs, and the veins
which run through them, in _Sepia officinalis_ (after Vigelius). The
nephridial sacs are supposed to have their upper walls removed.
v.c, Vena cava.
r.d.v.c, Right descending branch of the same.
r.s.v.c, Left descending branch of the same.
v.b.a, Vein from the ink-bag.
v.m, Mesenteric vein.
v.g, Genital vein.
v.a.d, Right abdominal vein.
v.a.s, Left abdominal vein.
v.p.d, Right pallial vein.
v.p.s, Left pallial vein.
c.b, Branchial heart.
x, Appendage of the same.
c.v, Capsule of the branchial heart.
np, External aperture of the right nephridial sac.
y, Reno-pericardial orifice placing the left renal sac or nephridium
in communication with the viscero-pericardial sac, the course of
which below the nephridial sac is indicated by dotted lines.
y', The similar orifice of the right side.
a.r, Glandular renal outgrowths.
w.k, Viscero-pericardial sac (dotted outline).]
_Coelom._--The coelom forms a large sac with a constriction between
the anterior or pericardial division and the posterior or genital
division, and it is produced into lateral diverticula which contain
the branchial hearts; but in the Octopoda the pericardial division is
suppressed and the genital division communicates by long ducts with
sacs containing the appendages of the branchial hearts. The renal sacs
communicate with the pericardium by pores near the external renal
apertures; in the Octopoda the reno-pericardial openings are in the
capsules of the branchial hearts. The genital ducts pass from the
genital coelom to the exterior. They are paired in female Oigopsida
and Octopoda except _Cirrhoteuthidae_, but only the left persists in
the males of all Dibranchiata, and in the female Myopsida.
[Illustration: FIGS. 30, 31.--Nerve-centres of _Octopus_. Figure 30
gives a view from the dorsal aspect, figure 31 one from the ventral
aspect.
buc, The buccal mass.
ped, Pedal ganglion.
opt, Optic ganglion.
cer, Cerebral ganglion.
pl, Pleural ganglion.
visc, Visceral ganglion.
oes, Oesophagus.
f, Foramen in the nerve-mass formed by pedal, pleural and visceral
ganglion-pairs, traversed by a blood-vessel.]
In the oviduct is a glandular enlargement, and in addition to this the
females are provided with the so-called nidamental glands which are
developed on the somatic wall of the pallial cavity, one on each side
of the rectum, except in certain Oigopsida (_Enoploteuthis, Cranchia,
Leachia_) and in the Octopoda, in which these organs are absent. The
latter fact is related to the habit of the majority of the Octopoda of
guarding or "incubating" their eggs, which have little protective
covering. In the other cases the eggs are surrounded by a tough
gelatinous elastic material secreted by the nidamental glands.
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--Lateral view of the nervous centres and
nerves of the right side of _Octopus vulgaris_ (from a drawing by A.G.
Bourne).
bg, Buccal ganglion.
cer, Cerebral ganglion.
ped, Pedal ganglion.
pl, Pleural, and visc., visceral region of the pleuro-visceral
ganglion.
gang. stell, The right stellate ganglion of the mantle connected by
a nerve to the pleural portion.
n.visc, The right visceral nerve.
n.olf, Its (probably) olfactory branches.
n.br, Its branchial branches.]
The vas deferens is at first narrow and convoluted, then dilates into
a vesicula seminalis at the end of which is a glandular diverticulum
called the prostate. By the vesicula and the prostate the
spermatophores are formed. These have a structure similar to those of
_Nautilus_, and in the Octopoda may be as much as 50 mm. in length.
Beyond the prostate the duct opens into a large terminal reservoir
which has been called Needham's sac, and in which the spermatophores
are stored.
_Nervous System and Sense-Organs._--The figures (30, 31, 32)
representing the nerve-centres of _Octopus_ serve to exhibit the
disposition of these parts in the Dibranchiata. The ganglia are more
distinctly swollen than in _Nautilus_. In _Octopus_ an infra-buccal
ganglion-pair are present, corresponding to the buccal ganglion-pair
of Gastropoda. In Decapoda a supra-buccal ganglion-pair connected with
these are also developed. Instead of the numerous radiating pallial
nerves of _Nautilus_, we have in the Dibranchiata on each side (right
and left) a large pleural nerve passing from the pleural portion of
the pleuro-visceral ganglion to the mantle, where it enlarges to form
the stellate ganglion. From each stellate ganglion nerves radiate to
supply the powerful muscles of the mantle-skirt. The two stellate
ganglia are connected, except in _Sepiola_, by a transverse
supra-oesophageal commissure, which represents the pallial cords
united by a commissure above the intestine in Amphineura. The nerves
from the visceral portion of the pleuro-visceral ganglion have the
same course as in _Nautilus_, but no osphradial papilla is present. An
enteric nervous system is richly developed in the Dibranchiata,
connected with the somatic nervous centres through the buccal ganglia,
as in the Arthropoda through the stomato-gastric ganglia, and
anastomozing with deep branches of the visceral nerves of the
viscero-pleural ganglion-pair. It has been especially described by A.
Hancock in _Ommatostrephes_. Upon the stomach it forms a single large
and readily detected gastric ganglion.
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Horizontal section of the eye of _Sepia_
(Myopsid). (From Gegenbaur, after Hensen.)
KK, Cephalic cartilages (see fig. 8).
C, Cornea (closed).
L, Lens.
ci, Ciliary body.
Ri, Internal layer of the retina.
Re, External layer of the retina.
p, Pigment between these.
o, Optic nerve.
go, Optic ganglion.
k and k', Capsular cartilage.
ik, Cartilage of the iris.
w, White body.
ae, Argentine integument.]
In the Dibranchiate division of the Cephalopoda the greatest
elaboration of the dioptric apparatus of the eye is attained, so that
we have in this class the extremes of the two lines of development of
the Molluscan eye, those two lines being the punctigerous and the
lentigerous. The structure of the Dibranchiate's eye is shown in
section in fig. 14, C, and in fig. 33, and its development in figs. 34
and 37. The open sac which forms the retina of the young Dibranchiate
closes up, and constitutes the posterior chamber of the eye, or
primitive optic vesicle (fig. 37, A, poc). The lens forms as a
structureless growth, secreted by both the internal and external
surfaces of the front wall of the optic vesicle (fig. 37, B, l). The
integument around the primitive optic vesicle which has sunk below the
surface now rises up and forms firstly nearest the axis of the eye the
iridian folds (if in B, fig. 37; ik in fig. 33; Ir in fig. 14), and
then secondly an outer circular fold grows up like a wall and
completely closes over the iridian folds and the axis of the primitive
vesicle (fig. 33, C). This covering is transparent, and is the cornea.
In the oceanic Decapoda the cornea does not completely close, but
leaves a central aperture traversed by the optic axis. These forms are
termed Oigopsidae by C. d'Orbigny, whilst the Decapoda with closed
cornea are termed Myopsidae. In the Octopoda the cornea is closed, and
there is yet another fold thrown over the eye. The skin surrounding
the cornea presents a free circular margin, and can be drawn over the
surface of the cornea by a sphincter muscle. It thus acts as an
adjustable diaphragm, exactly similar in movement to the iris of
Vertebrates. _Sepia_ and allied Decapods have a horizontal lower
eyelid, that is to say, only one-half of the sphincter-like fold of
integument is movable. The statocysts are situated ventrally between
the pedal and visceral ganglia, and are entirely enclosed in the
cranial cartilage. The cavity of each is continued into a small blind
process which is the remnant of the embryonic connexion of the vesicle
with the external surface. The sensory epithelium is at the anterior
end of the vesicle forming a macula acustica, and in the cavity is a
single otolith, partly calcareous and partly organic except in
_Eledone_, in which it is entirely organic. The nerve arises from the
cerebral ganglion on each side and passes through the pedal ganglion.
There is no branchial osphradium in the Dibranchiata corresponding to
that of _Nautilus_, but the olfactory organ or rhinophore near the eye
is present. In _Sepia_ and the majority of the Dibranchiata it is a
simple pit, in some of the Oigopsida it is a projection which may be
stalked.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Diagrams of sections showing the early stage
of development of the eye of _Loligo_ when it is, like the permanent
eye of _Nautilus_ and of _Patella_, an open sac. (From Lankester.)
A, First appearance of the eye as a ring-like upgrowth.
B, Ingrowth of the ring-like wall so as to form a sac, the primitive
optic vesicle of _Loligo_.]
_Reproduction and Development._--The modification of one or a pair of
the arms in the male for purposes of copulation has already been
described. In many genera the sexes differ from one another in other
characters also. As a rule the males are more slender or smaller than
the females. The maximum degree of sexual dimorphism occurs in
_Argonauta_ among the Octopods; in this genus the female may be
fifteen times as large as the male, and the peculiar modification of
the dorsal arms for the secretion of the shell occurs in the female
only, no shell being formed in the male. In most cases the females are
much more numerous than the males, but the opposite relation appears
to exist in those Octopoda in which the hectocotylus is autotomous,
for as many as four hectocotyli have been found in the pallial cavity
of a single female. When the hectocotylus is not detached it is
usually inserted into the pallial cavity of the female so as to
deposit the spermatophores in or near the aperture of the oviduct, but
in _Sepia_ and _Loligo_ they are merely deposited on the ventral lobes
of the buccal membrane.
The eggs are laid shortly after copulation. In the Octopoda and in
_Sepia_, _Sepiola_ and _Rossia_, each egg has a separate envelope
continued into a long stalk by which it is attached with several
others in a cluster. In _Argonauta_ the eggs are carried by the female
in the cavity of the shell. In _Loligo_ the eggs are very numerous,
and are enclosed in cylindrical transparent gelatinous strings united
at one end into a cluster.
The Cephalopoda appear to be the only Invertebrates in which the egg
is mesoblastic and telolecithal like that of Vertebrata. This is the
result of the large quantity of the yolk, and the position the latter
assumes in relation to the blastoderm. In all other Mollusca the
segmentation is complete though in some cases very unequal. In the egg
of _Loligo_, which has been chiefly studied (fig. 35), the
protoplasmic pole is at the narrower end of the egg, and segmentation
is restricted to this end, forming a layer of ectoderm cells. From one
part of the periphery of the ectoderm proliferation of cells takes
place and gives rise to a layer of scattered nuclei over the whole
surface of the yolk. The region of proliferation marks the anal side
of the ectoderm, and the layer of nuclei forms the perivitelline
membrane. This process must be regarded as equivalent to the first
stage of invagination, the yolk being surrounded by hypoblast cells or
their nuclei. Later on the same anal edge of the ectoderm forms
another cellular layer, the endoderm proper, which forms a continuous
sheet below the ectoderm.
The mesoderm also originates at the anal side of the ectoderm and
extends in two bands right and left between ectoderm and endoderm.
After the mesoderm is thus established, a little vesicle lying upon
and open to the yolk is formed from the endoderm, and this vesicle
ultimately gives rise to the stomach, the two lobes of the liver and
the intestine. The buccal mass and oesophagus arise from a stomodaeal
invagination, and the anus is formed later from a short proctodaeal
invagination.
The external changes of form are as follows:--The mantle is the middle
of the embryonic area, and in its centre is the shell-gland, which,
however, behaves in a different way from that seen in other Molluscs.
Its borders grow inwards and approach each other to form the
shell-sac. E. Ray Lankester showed that in _Argonauta_ and other
Octopods the shell-sac disappears before it is closed up, but in other
forms except _Spirula_ it closes completely and the shell develops
within it. The lateral and posterior borders of the embryo form the
foot, and these borders grow out into ten or eight lobes which become
the arms, and which at first, as seen in fig. 35 (8), are entirely
posterior to the mouth. Development actually shows the anterior arms
gradually growing round the mouth and uniting in front of it. Between
the mantle and the foot are two ridges which form the funnel, and
their position shows them to be the epipodia. The otocysts and eyes
are formed as invaginations of ectoderm, the former behind the eyes,
at the sides of the funnel. All the nerve-centres, cerebral, visceral,
pedal and optic, are formed as proliferations of the ectoderm. At the
sides of the optic ganglia a pair of ectodermic invaginations are
formed, which in the adult become the white bodies of the eyes,
surrounding the optic ganglion. These are vestiges of lateral cerebral
lobes which degenerate in the course of development.
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Development of _Loligo_.
1. View of the cleavage of the egg during the first formation of
embryonic cells.
2. Lateral view of the egg at a little later stage. a, Limit to
which the layer of cleavage-cells has spread over the egg; b,
portion of the egg (shaded) as yet uncovered by cleavage-cells; ap,
the auto-plasts; kp, cleavage-pole where first cells were formed.
3. Later stage, the limit (a) now extended so as to leave but little
of the egg-surface (b) unenclosed. The eyes (d), mouth (e) and
mantle-sac (u) have appeared.
4. Later stage, anterior surface, the embryo is becoming nipped off
from the yolk-sac (g).
5. View of an embryo similar to (3) from the cleavage-pole or
centro-dorsal area.
6. Later stage, posterior surface.
7. Section in a median dorso-ventral and antero-posterior plane of
an embryo of the same age as (4).
8. View of the anterior face of an older embryo.
9. View of the posterior face of an embryo of the same age as (8).
Letters in (3) to (9):--a, lateral fins of the mantle; b,
mantle-skirt; c, supra-ocular invagination to form the "white body";
d, the eye; e, the mouth; f^1, f^2, f^3, f^4, f^5, the five paired
processes of the fore-foot; g, rhythmically contractile area of the
yolk-sac, which is itself a hernia-like protrusion of the median
portion of the fore-foot; h, dotted line showing internal area
occupied by yolk (food-material of the egg); k, first rudiment of
the epipodia (paired ridges which unite to form the siphon or
funnel); l, sac of the radula or lingual ribbon; m, stomach; n,
rudiments of the gills (paired ctenidia); o, the otocysts--a pair of
invaginations of the surface of the epipodia; p, the optic ganglion;
q, the distal portion of the ridges which form the siphon, k being
the basal portion of the same structure; r, the vesicle-like
rudiment of the intestine formed independently of the parts
connected with the mouth, s, k, m, and without invagination; s,
rudiment of the salivary glands; t in (7), the shell-sac at an
earlier stage open (see fig. 36), now closed up; u, the open
shell-sac formed by an uprising ring-like growth of the
centro-dorsal area; w in (5), the mantle-skirt commencing to be
raised up around the area of the shell-sac. In (7) mes points to the
middle cell-layer of the embryo, ep to the outer layer, and h to the
deep layer of fusiform cells which separates everywhere the embryo
from the yolk or food-material lying within it.]
The coelomic cavity appears as a symmetrical pair of spaces in the
mesoderm, right and left of the intestine, and from it grow out the
genital ducts and the renal organs. The gonad develops from the wall
of the coelom.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Section through aboral end of embryo of
_Loligo_ showing shell-sac still open. ep, ectoderm; m, mesoderm;
m', endoderm; shs, shell-sac; y, yolk.]
_Phylogeny and Classification._--The order is divided into two
sub-orders, Decapoda and Octopoda, by the presence or absence of the
tentacular arms. The Decapoda are more adapted for swimming than the
Octopoda, the body being usually provided with fins. In the former
also there is generally an internal shell of considerable size, often
calcined, while in the Octopoda only the merest vestiges of a shell
remain. There can be no doubt that the Octopoda were derived from the
Decapoda, although from the absence of skeletal structures fossil
remains of Octopods are almost entirely unknown. _Palaeoctopus_,
however, occurs in the Cretaceous, while shells of _Argonauta_ do not
appear before the Pliocene. The Decapoda are abundantly represented in
the Secondary formations by the _Belemnitidae_, whose shell (fig. 19)
consists of a straight conical phragmacone covered posteriorly by a
very thick rostrum, and produced anteriorly into a thin long
proöstracum which is only occasionally preserved. In certain cases
remains of the arms provided with hooks, and of the ink-sac, have been
recognized. The _Belemnitidae_ appear first in the Upper Trias, attain
their maximum development in the Jurassic rocks, and are not continued
into the Tertiary period, though represented in the Eocene by a few
allied forms.
There is no difficulty in deriving the typical existing Decapoda from
_Belemnitidae_, and many of the extinct forms may have been directly
ancestral. Chitinous "pens" like that of _Loligo_, however, begin to
appear in the Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks, so that in this case as
in many others the parent form and the modified form existed
contemporaneously, and the latter alone has survived. The oldest
shells of the _Sepia_ type are from the Eocene, and it is perhaps
possible that the _Sepiidae_ arose separately from the Belemnites.
It is a curious fact that no fossil specimens of the genus _Spirula_
have been found, but this may be due to the fact that it occurs only
in deep water. At any rate there is no evidence that the shell of
_Spirula_ has lost a rostrum and a proöstracum; its characters must be
regarded as primitive, not secondary. In the characters of the
protoconch and of the commencement of the siphuncle, the shell of
_Spirula_ agrees with that of the Ammonoids, and in both its position
is ventral, although in most Ammonoids the shell being exogastric the
ventral side is the convex or external, while in _Spirula_ the shell
is endogastric and the siphuncle internal. The fact that the shell is
not completely enclosed by the mantle is also a primitive character.
With regard to the general morphology of the Cephalopoda, it is
difficult to reconcile the existence of two pairs of renal tubes as
well as a pair of genital ducts in _Nautilus_ with the view that the
original Mollusc was unsegmented and had only one pair of
coelomoducts. Considering the great specialization, however, and high
degree of organization of the Cephalopods, it is evident that the
earliest Nautiloid whose remains are known to us must have had a long
evolutionary history behind it, and such metamerism as exists may have
been developed in the course of its own history. In the other
direction the evidence seems to prove that the Dibranchiata with only
two renal ducts have been derived from the Tetrabranchiata.
SUBORDER 1. DECAPODA.--Four pairs of ordinary non-retractile arms
which are shorter than the body, and one pair of tentacular arms,
situated between the third and fourth normal arms on each side and
retractile within special pouches. Suckers pedunculated and provided
with horny rings, on the tentacular arms confined usually to the
distal extremities. Usually a well-developed internal shell, and
lateral fins on the edges of the body. Heart in a coelomic cavity;
nidamentary glands usually present.
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Right and left sections through embryos of
_Loligo_. (After Lankester.)
A, Same stage as fig. 35 (4).
B, Same stage as fig. 35 (8); only the left side of the sections is
drawn, and the food-material which occupies the space internal to
the membrane ym is omitted.
al, Rectum.
is, Ink-sac.
ep, Outer cell-layer.
mes, Middle cell-layer.
ym, Deep cell-layer of fusiform cells (yolk-membrane).
ng, Optic nerve-ganglion.
ot, Otocyst.
wb, The "white body" of the adult ocular capsule forming as an
invagination of the outer cell-layer.
mtf, Mantle-skirt.
g, Gill.
ps, Pen-sac or shell-sac, now closed.
dg, Dorsal groove.
poc. Primitive optic vesicle, now closed (see fig. 34).
l, Lens.
r, Retina.
soc, Second or anterior optic chamber still open.
if, Iridean folds.
C, The primitive invagination to form one of the otocysts, as seen
in fig. 35 (5) and (6).]
Tribe 1. _Oigopsida_.--A wide aperture in the cornea. Two oviducts in
the female. In fossil genera and _Spirula_, shell has a multilocular
phragmacone with a siphuncle; initial chamber globular and larger than
the second chamber. The most ancient forms characterized by the small
size of the rostrum and proöstracum, and large size of the
phragmacone. In the living genera, except _Spirula_, the shell is a
chitinous gladius.
Fam. 1. _Belemnoteuthidae_. Extinct; shell with well-developed
phragmacone, and rostrum merely a calcareous envelope; siphuncular
necks directed backwards as in Nautiloidea; ten equal arms provided
with hooks. _Phragmoteuthis_, Trias. _Belemnoteuthis_, Jurassic and
Cretaceous. _Acanthoteuthis_, Jurassic.
Fam. 2. _Aulacoceratidae_. Extinct; phragmacone with widely
separated septa; rostrum well developed and claviform.
_Aulacoceras_, Trias. _Atractites_, Trias and Jurassic.
_Xiphoteuthis_, Lias.
Fam. 3. _Belemnitidae_. Extinct; phragmacone short with ventral
siphuncle, prolonged dorsally into long proöstracum; rostrum large
and cylindrical. _Belemnites_, 350 species from Jurassic and
Cretaceous. _Diploconus_, Upper Jurassic.
Fam. 4. _Belopteridae_. Extinct; rostrum and phragmacone well
developed, phragmacone often curved; initial chamber small.
_Beloptera_, Eocene. _Bayanoteuthis_, Eocene. _Spirulirostra_,
Miocene.
Fam. 5. _Spirulidae_. Dorsal and ventral sides of posterior
extremity of shell uncovered by mantle; no rostrum or proöstracum;
shell calcareous, coiled endogastrically and sipnunculated; fins
posterior. _Spirula_, three living species known, abyssal.
Fam. 6. _Ommatostrephidae_. Shell internal and chitinous, ending
aborally in a little narrow cone; tentacular arms short and thick;
suckers with denticulate rings. _Ommatostrephes_, fins aboral,
simple and rhomboidal, British. _Ctenopteryx_, fins pectinate, as
long as the body; _Bathyteuthis_, fins terminal, rudimentary;
tentacular arms, filiform; abyssal. _Rhynchoteuthis_, tentacular
arms united to form a beak-shaped appendage. _Symplectoteuthis.
Tracheloteuthis. Doridicus. Architeuthis_; this is the largest of
Cephalopoda, reaching 60 ft. in length including arms.
Fam. 7. _Thysanoteuthidae_. Arms enlarged, bearing two rows of
suckers and filaments; fins triangular, extending whole length of
body. _Thysanoteuthis_, Mediterranean.
Fam. 8. _Onychoteuthidae_. Fins terminal; tentacular arms long;
suckers with hooks. _Onychoteuthis_, hook-bearing suckers on
tentacular arms only. _Enoploteuthis_, hook-bearing suckers on all
the arms. _Veranya_, body very short, tentacular arms atrophied in
the adult, Mediterranean. _Chaunoteuthis_, body elongated,
tentacular arms atrophied. _Pterygioteuthis. Ancistroteuthis.
Abralia. Teleoteuthis. Lepidoteuthis._
Fam. 9. _Gonatidae_. Body elongated; fins terminal; radula with only
two lateral teeth. _Gonatus_.
Fam. 10. _Cheiroteuthidae_. Tentacular arms long, not retractile;
resisting apparatus well developed. _Cheiroteuthis_, suckers along
the whole length of the tentacular arms. _Doratopsis_, body very
long and slender with aboral spine, dorsal arms very short.
_Histioteuthis_, six dorsal arms united by membrane, photogenous
organs present. _Histiopsis_, membrane of dorsal arms only half-way
up the arms, photogenous organs present. _Calliteuthis_, no brachial
membrane, photogenous organs present. _Grimalditeuthis_, two fins on
each bide, no tentacular arms.
Fam. 11. _Cranchiidae_. Eight normal arms, very short; eyes
prominent; fins small and terminal. _Cranchia_, body short,
purse-shaped, normal arms short, fins entirely aboral. _Loligopsis_,
body elongated, conical, tentacular arms slender. _Leachia_,
tentacular arms absent, funnel without a valve. _Taonius_, body
elongated, normal arms, rather short, eyes pedunculated.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--Octopodous Cephalopods.
A, _Pinnoctopus cordiformis_, Quoy and Gain (from New Zealand).
B, _Tremoctopus violaceus_, Ver. (from the Mediterranean).
C, _Cranchia scabra_, Owen (from the Atlantic Ocean; one of the
Decapoda).
D, _Cirrhoteuthis Mulleri_, Esch. (from the Greenland coast).]
Tribe 2. _Myopsida_.--No aperture in the cornea. Left oviduct only
developed in female. Internal shell without a distinct phragmacone,
calcified or simply chitinous.
Fam. 1. _Sepiidae_. Body wide and flat; fins narrow, extending the
whole length of the body; shell calcareous and laminated.
_Belosepia_, a rudiment of rostrum and phragmacone present in shell,
Eocene. _Sepia_, shell with a rostrum, British. _Sepiella_, shell
without a rostrum.
Fam. 2. _Sepiolidae_. Body short, rounded at the aboral end; fins
rounded, inserted in middle of body-length; shell chitinous, small
or absent. _Sepiola_, head united to mantle dorsally, British.
_Rossia_, head not united to mantle, British. _Stoloteuthis_ and
_Inioteuthis_, without shell. _Heteroteuthis. Euprymna._
Fam. 3. _Idiosepiidae_. Body elongated, with rudimentary terminal
fins; internal shell almost lost. _Idiosepius_, 1.5 cm. long, Indian
Ocean.
Fam. 4. _Sepiadariidae_. Body short; mantle united to head dorsally;
no shell. _Sepiadarium_, Pacific Ocean. _Sepioloidea_, Australian.
Fam. 5. _Loliginidae_. Body elongated and conical; fins extending
forward beyond the middle of body-length; shell chitinous, well
developed. _Loligo_, fins triangular, aboral, British.
_Sepioteuthis_, fins rounded, extending along whole of body-length.
_Loliolus. Loliguncula._ The following fossil genera, known only by
their gladius and ink-sac, have been placed near
_Loligo_:--_Teuthopsis, Beloteuthis_ and _Geoteuthis_, Lias;
_Phylloteuthis_, Cretaceous; _Plesioteuthis_, Jurassic and
Cretaceous.
SUBORDER 2. OCTOPODA.--Only four pairs of arms, all similar and longer
than the body. Body short and rounded aborally. Suckers sessile. Heart
not contained in coelom. No nidamentary glands.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--_Palaeoctopus Newboldi_, the oldest Octopod
known. From the Cretaceous rocks of Lebanon. (After H. Woodward.)]
Tribe I. _Leioglossa_.--No radula. Arms united by a complete membrane.
Fins on sides of body.
Fam. _Cirrhoteuthidae_. Tentacular filaments on either side of the
suckers. _Cirrhoteuthis_, pallial sac prominent, fins large,
pelagic. _Opisthoteuthis_, body flattened, with small fins,
deep-sea. _Vampyroteuthis_, four fins. _Palaeoctopus_, fossil,
Cretaceous.
Tribe 2. _Trachyglossa._--Radula present. No fins.
Fam. 1. _Amphitretidae_. Arms united by membrane; funnel attached to
mantle, dividing the pallial aperture into two. _Amphitretus_,
pelagic.
Fam. 2. _Alloposidae_. All arms united by membrane; mantle joined
to head by dorsal band and two lateral commissures. _Alloposus_,
pelagic.
Fam. 3. _Octopodidae_. Arms long and equal, without membrane;
hectocotylus not autotomous. No cephalic aquiferous pores.
_Octopus_, two rows of suckers on each arm, British. _Eledone_,
single row of suckers on each arm. _Scaeurgus. Pinnoctopus.
Cistopus. Japetella._
Fam. 4. _Philonexidae_. Hectocotylus autotomous; arms unequal in
size; aquiferous pores on head and funnel. _Tremoctopus_, two dorsal
pairs of arms united by membrane. _Ocythoë_, without interbrachial
membrane.
Fam. 5. _Argonautidae_. Hectocotylus autotomous; no interbrachial
membrane; extremities of dorsal arms in female expanded and
secreting a shell; males very small, without shell. _Argonauta_.
LITERATURE.--Use has been freely made above of the article by E. Ray
Lankester, on _Mollusca_, in the 9th edition of this Encyclopedia. For
the chief modern works, see Bashford Dean, "Notes on Living Nautilus,"
_Amer. Nat._ xxxv., 1901; Arthur Willey, "Contribution to the Natural
History of the Pearly Nautilus," A. Willey's _Zoological Results_, pt.
vi. (1902); Foord, _Cat. Fossil Cephalopoda in British Museum_;
Alpheus Hyatt, "Fossil Cephalopods of the Museum of Comp. Zoology,"
_Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool._ (Cambridge, U.S., 1868); Jalta, "I Cefalopodi
viventi nel golfo di Napoli," _Fauna und Flora des Golfes von Neapel_,
xxiii. (1896); Joubin, "Céphalopodes de l'atlantique nord," "Céph. de
la Princesse Alice," _Camp. sci. Albert I^er de Monaco_, ix. (1895),
xxii. (1900); Paul Pelseneer, "Mollusca," in the _Treatise on
Zoology_, edited by E. Ray Lankester. (J. T. C.)
CEPHEUS, in Greek mythology, the father of Andromeda (q.v.); in
astronomy, a constellation of the northern hemisphere, mentioned by
Eudoxus (4th century B.C.) and Aratus (3rd century B.C.). Ptolemy
catalogued 13 stars in this constellation, Tycho n, and Hevelius 51. The
most interesting star in it is [delta] _Cephei_, a remarkable double
star, the brighter component of which is a short period variable (5.37
days), with a range in magnitude of 3.7 to 4.9; it is also a
spectroscopic binary.
CEPHISODOTUS, the name of the father and of the son of Praxiteles, both
sculptors like himself. The former must have flourished about 400 B.C. A
noted work of his was Peace bearing the infant Wealth, of which a copy
exists at Munich. Peace is a Madonna-like figure of a somewhat
conservative type; the child Wealth is less successful. Cephisodotus
also made, like his son, a figure of Hermes carrying the child Dionysus,
unless indeed ancient critics have made two works of one. He made
certain statues for the city of Megalopolis, founded in 370 B.C. Of the
work of the younger Cephisodotus, his grandson, we have no remains; he
was a prolific sculptor of the latter part of the 4th century B.C.,
especially noted for portraits, of Menander, of the orator Lycurgus, and
others (see J. Overbeck, _Antike Schriftquellen_, p. 255).
CERAM (_Sirang_), an island of the Dutch East Indies, in the Molucca
group, lying about 3° S., and between 127° 45' and 131° E. Its length is
a little over 200 m., its greatest breadth about 50 m., and its area,
including neighbouring islets, 6621 sq. m. It consists of two parts,
Great Ceram and Little Ceram or Huvamohel, united by the isthmus of
Taruno; and, for administrative purposes, is assigned to the residency
of Amboyna, being divided into Kairatu or West Ceram, Wahai and Amahai,
the northern and the southern parts of Middle Ceram, and Waru or Eastern
Ceram. No central chain of mountains stretches west and east through the
island, but near the north coast hills, rising 2300 to 2600 ft., slope
steeply to the shore. Near the south coast, west of the Bay of
Elpaputeh, a complex mass of mountains forms a colossal pyramid, with
peaks rising to nearly 5000 ft. The isthmus connecting the two parts of
the island is very narrow, and has a height of only 460 to 490 ft. The
chief rivers flow north and south into bays, but are navigable only for
a few miles during the rainy season. The rainfall is very heavy,
amounting to 121 in. (mean annual) on the south coast. On the north
coast the bays of Savai and Waru are accessible for small vessels. The
geological structure, consisting chiefly of eruptive rocks and
crystalline limestone, is similar to that of northern Amboyna. In the
eastern section the prevailing rock is crystalline chalk, similar to
that of Buru. Several hot springs occur, and earthquakes are not
infrequent. About 4000 persons perished in the earthquake of 1899. A
large part of the interior is covered with dense forests, and except
along the coast the population is scanty. For the naturalist Ceram is
without much interest, lacking characteristic species or abundance of
specimens. The Bandanese pay occasional visits to shoot bears and deer;
there are numbers of wild goats and cattle; and among birds are
mentioned cassowaries, cockatoos, birds of paradise, and the swallows
that furnish edible nests. A large number of fish are to be found in the
various rivers; and as early as 1860 no fewer than 213 species were
described. The most valuable timber tree is the iron-wood. Rice, maize,
cocoa-nuts, sugar-cane and a variety of fruits are grown; and some
tobacco is exported to Europe; but by far the most important production
is the sago palm, which grows abundantly in the swampy districts,
especially of Eastern Ceram, and furnishes a vast supply of food, not
only to Ceram itself, but to other islands to the east. The Dutch have
established cocoa and coffee plantations at various points. The
coast-villages are inhabited by a mixed Malay population, Buginese,
Macassars, Balinese and other races of the archipelago. The interior is
occupied by the aborigines, a people of Papuan stock. They are savages
and head-hunters. The introduction of Christianity was hampered by the
baneful influence of a secret society called the Kakian Union, to which
pagans, Mahommedans and Christians indiscriminately attached themselves;
and it has several times cost the Dutch authorities considerable efforts
to frustrate their machinations (see _Tijdschrift van Ned. Ind._, fifth
year). The total population is estimated at 100,000, including 12,000
Christians and 16,000 Mahommedans. The chief settlements are Savai at
the north and Elpaputeh at the south end of the isthmus of Taruno. There
was a Dutch fort at Kambello, on the west side of Little Ceram, as early
as 1646.
CERAMICS, or KERAMICS ([Greek: keramos], earthenware), a general term
for the study of the art of pottery. It is adopted for this purpose both
in French (_céramique_) and in German (_Keramik_), and thus has its
convenience in English as representing an international form of
description for a study which owes much to the art experts of all
nations, though "ceramic" and "ceramics" do not appear in English as
technical terms till the middle of the 19th century.
The word "pottery" (Fr. _poterie_) in its widest sense includes all
objects fashioned from clay and then hardened by fire, though there is a
growing tendency to restrict the word to the commoner articles of this
great class and to apply the word "porcelain" to all the finer
varieties. This tendency is to be deprecated, as it is founded on a
misconception; the word "porcelain" should only be applied to certain
well-marked varieties of pottery. The very existence of pottery is
dependent on two important natural properties of that great and
widespread group of rocky or earthy substances known as clays, viz. the
property of plasticity (the power of being readily kneaded or moulded
while moist), and the property of being converted when fired into one of
the most indestructible of ordinary things.
The clays form such an important group of mineral substances that the
reader must refer to the article CLAY for an account of their
occurrence, composition and properties. In this article we shall only
deal with the various clays as they have affected the problems of the
potter throughout the ages. The clays found on or close to the earth's
surface are so varied in composition and properties that we may see in
them one of the vital factors that has determined the nature of the
pottery of different countries and different peoples. They vary in
plasticity, and in the hardness, colour and texture of the fired
product, through an astonishingly wide range. To-day the fine, plastic,
white-burning clays of the south of England are carried all over Europe
and America for the fabrication of modern wares, but that is a state of
affairs which has only been attained in recent times. Even down to the
18th century, the potters of every country could only use on an
extensive scale the clays of their own immediate district, and the
influence of this controlling factor on the pottery of bygone centuries
has never yet received the attention it deserves.[1]
_General Evolution of Pottery._--The primitive races of mankind, whether
of remote ages or of to-day, took perforce such clay as they found on
the surface of the ground, or by some river-bed, and with the
rudimentary preparation of spreading it out on a stone slab if necessary
and picking out any rocky fragments of appreciable size, then beating it
with the hands, with stones or boards, or treading it with the feet to
render it fairly uniform in consistency, proceeded to fashion it into
such shapes as need or fancy dictated. Fired in an open fire, or in the
most rudimentary form of potter's kiln, such pottery may be buff, drab,
brown or red--and these from imperfect firing become smoked, grey or
black. How many generations of men, of any race, handed on their
painfully acquired bits of knowledge before this earliest stage was
passed, we can never know; but here and there, where the circumstances
were favourable or the race was quick of observation, we can trace in
the work of prehistoric man in many countries a gradually advancing
skill based on increased technical knowledge. For ages tools and methods
remained of the simplest--the fingers for shaping or building up
vessels, a piece of mat or basket-work for giving initial support to a
more ambitious vase,--until some original genius of the tribe finds that
by starting to build up his pot on the flattened side of a boulder he
can turn his support so as to bring every part in succession under his
hand, and lo! the potter's wheel is invented--not brought down from
heaven by one of the gods to a favoured race, as the myths of all the
older civilizations or barbarisms, Egyptian, Chaldean, Greek, Scythian,
and Chinese have fabled, but born from the brain and hand of man
struggling to fulfil his allotted task.
Formerly every writer on the history of pottery seemed to imagine that
the very rudest pottery must have been the invention of Egyptian,
Chinese or some other distinct race from which the knowledge radiated to
all the other races of the prehistoric world. No conception could be
more erroneous. Since the middle of the 19th century research has
established beyond doubt that wherever clay was found men became potters
of a sort, just as they became hunters, carpenters, smiths, &c., by
sheer force of need and slowly-gathered tradition. The not yet exploded
view that Egypt or Assyria was the special cradle of this art, and that
the pottery of the Greeks and Romans directly descended from such a
parent stock, cannot survive in view of the incontestable evidence that
pottery was made by the prehistoric peoples of what we now call Greece,
Italy, Spain and other countries, long before they were aware that any
other peoples lived on the earth than themselves.
For centuries this simple hand-made pottery was hardened by drying in
the sun, so that it would serve for the storage of dried grain, &c., but
the increasing use of fire would soon bring out the amazing fact that a
baked clay vessel became as hard as stone. Then, too, came the knowledge
that even in one district all the clays did not fire to the same colour,
and colour decoration arose, in a rude daubing or smearing of some clay
or earth (a ruddle or bole perhaps), which was found to give a bright
red or buff colour on vessels shaped in a duller-coloured clay--most
precious of all were little deposits of white clay which kept their
purity unsullied through the fire,--and by these primitive means the
races of the dawn made their wares. On this substructure all the pottery
of the last four thousand years has been built, for behind all Egyptian,
Greek or Chinese pottery we find the same primitive foundations.
We now reach the beginnings of recorded history, and as the great
nations of the past emerge from the shadows they each develop the
potter's art in an individual way. The Egyptians evolve schemes of
glowing colour--brilliant glazes fired on objects, shaped in sand held
together with a little clay, or actually carved from rocks or stones;
the Greeks produce their marvels of plastic form, and then, excited by
their growing skill in metal work, turn the plastic clay into imitations
of metal forms. These nations are overthrown, and the Romans spread some
knowledge--only a tincture, it must be confessed--over all the lands
they hold in fee; and from the Euphrates to the Atlantic, from Egypt to
the Wall of Hadrian, they set alight potters' fires that have never
since been extinguished. The Roman empire falls, and over Europe its
pottery is forgotten along with its greater achievements; yet still
pottery-making goes on in a very simple way, to be slowly revived and
modified once more by the communities of monks, who, in later centuries,
replace the Roman legions as the great civilizing influence in Europe.
Meantime Egypt and the nearer East continued, in a debased form, the
splendours of their glorious past, and glazed and painted pottery was
still made by traditional methods. What part the Byzantine civilization
and the Persians played during this obscure time, we are only just
beginning to realize; but we now know that many interesting kinds of
decorated pottery were made at Old Cairo, at Alexandria, at Damascus, in
Syria, Anatolia and elsewhere (on which the later Moslem potters founded
their glorious works), at a time when all over Europe crocks of simple
red or drab clay, covered only with green and yellow lead-glazes, were
the sole evidence of the potter's skill. What the Arab conquests
destroyed, and what their breath quickened into life, we can only guess;
but the fact is indisputable that with the Mahommedan conquests there
came a time when the potter's art of the Occident reached its highest
expression, and when methods and knowledge hitherto confined to Egypt,
Syria and Persia were spread from Spain and the south of France to
India--even, it may be, into China.
Meantime, in the farther East, the Chinese--the greatest race of potters
the world has ever seen--were quietly gathering strength, until from
their glazed, hard-fired pottery there emerged the marvellous, white
translucent porcelain, one of the wonders of the medieval world.
With the dawn of the 15th century of our era, the state of affairs was
practically this:--In European countries proper we find rudely fashioned
and decorated wares in which we can trace the slow development of a
native craft from the superposition of Roman methods on the primitive
work of the peoples. The vessels were mostly intended for use and not
for show; were clumsily fashioned of any local clay, and if glazed at
all then only with coarse lead-glazes, coloured yellow or green; in no
case above the level of workmanship of the travelling brick- or
tile-maker. The finest expression of this native style is to be found in
the Gothic tile pavements of France, Germany and England, where all the
colours are due to the clays and there is no approach to painting. In
the Moslem countries--including the greater part of Spain and Sicily,
Egypt and the nearer East, probably even to the very centre of
Asia--pottery was being made either of whitish clay and sand, or of a
light reddish clay coated with a white facing of fine clay or of
tin-enamel, on which splendid decorative patterns in vivid pigments or
brilliant iridescent lustres were painted.
As early as the 12th century of our era this superior artistic pottery
of the Moslem nations had already attracted the notice of Europeans as
an article of luxury for the wealthy; and we may well believe the
traditional accounts that Saracen potters were brought into Italy,
France and Burgundy to introduce the practice of their art, while
Italian potters certainly penetrated into the workshops of eastern Spain
and elsewhere, and gathered new ideas. In Italy certainly, and in the
south of France probably, efforts were continuously in progress to
improve the native wares by coating the vessels with a white "slip" and
drawing on them rude, painted patterns in green, yellow and purplish
black. The increasing intercourse with Spain, in war and peace, also
introduced the use of tin-enamel after the fashion of the famous
Hispano-Moresque wares, and by the end of the 14th century a knowledge
of tin-enamel was widespread in Italy and paved the way to the glorious
painted majolica of the 15th and 16th centuries. From Italy and Spain,
France and Holland, Germany, and finally, though much later, England
learnt this art, and the tin-enamelled pottery of middle and northern
Europe, so largely made during the 17th and 18th centuries, was the
direct offshoot of this movement of the Italian Renaissance.[2]
During the 15th and 16th centuries Chinese porcelain also began to find
its way into Europe, and by the whiteness of its substance and its
marvellous translucence excited the attention of the Italian majolists
and alchemists. The first European imitation of this famous oriental
porcelain of which we have indubitable record was made at Florence
(1575-1585) by alchemists or potters working under the patronage, and,
it is said, with the active collaboration of Francesco de' Medici. This
Florentine porcelain was the first of those distinctively European
wares, made in avowed imitation of the Chinese, which form a connecting
link between pottery and glass, for they may be considered either as
pottery rendered translucent or as glass rendered opaque by shaping and
firing a mixture containing a large percentage of glass with a very
little clay. After the cessation of the Florentine experiments we know
of no European porcelain for nearly a century, though the importation of
Chinese porcelain had largely increased owing to the activity of the
various "India" companies. The next European porcelain, made like the
Florentine of glass and clay, was that of Rouen (1673) and St Cloud
(1696); and during the 18th century artificial glassy porcelain was made
in France and England largely, and in other countries experimentally.
German experimenters worked in another direction, and the first
porcelain made in Europe from materials similar to the Chinese was
produced at Meissen by Böttger (1710-1712). During the 18th century not
only was there a very large trade in imported Chinese and Japanese
porcelain, but there was a great development of porcelain manufacture in
Europe; and in every country factories were established, generally under
royal or princely patronage, for the manufacture of artificial porcelain
like the French, or genuine porcelain like the German. The English made
a departure in the introduction of a porcelain distinct from either,
through adding calcined ox-bones to the other ingredients; and this
English bone-porcelain--a well-marked species--is now largely made in
America, France, Germany and Sweden as well as in England.
By the end of the 18th century the risks and losses attendant on the
manufacture of the French glassy porcelain had caused its abandonment,
and a porcelain made from natural materials like the Chinese has since
been generally made on the continent of Europe.
The older tin-enamelled wares--derived from the Hispano-Moresque and the
Italian majolica--so largely made in France, Holland, Germany and
elsewhere during the 17th and 18th centuries, met with a fate analogous
to that of the French porcelain. Tin-enamelled earthenware is always a
brittle substance, soon damaged in regular use; so that, when, in the
middle of the 18th century, the English potter first appeared as a
serious competitor with a fine white earthenware of superior durability
and precision of manufacture, the old painted faience gradually
disappeared between the upper millstone of European porcelain and the
nether millstone of English earthenware.
The 19th century witnessed a great and steady growth in the output of
porcelain and pottery of all kinds in Europe and the United States.
Mechanical methods were largely called in to supplement or replace what
had hitherto remained almost pure handicraft. The English methods of
preparing and mixing the materials of the body and glaze, and the
English device of replacing painted decoration by machine printing, to a
large extent carried the day, with a great gain to the mechanical
aspects of the work and in many cases with an entire extinction of its
artistic spirit. Even the hand-work that still remained was largely
affected by the growing dominance of machinery; and the painting,
gilding and decoration of pottery and porcelain, in the first half of
the 19th century, became everywhere mechanical and hackneyed. During the
latter half of the 19th century another influence was fortunately at
work. Side by side with the increasing mechanical perfection of the
great bulk of modern pottery there grew up a school of innovators and
experimentalists, who revived many of the older decorative methods that
had fallen into oblivion and produced fresh and original work, in
certain directions even beyond, the achievements of the past. The 20th
century opened with a wider outlook among the potters of Europe and
America. In every country men were striving once again to bring back to
their world-old craft something of artistic taste and skill.
_Technical Methods._--All primitive pottery, whether of ancient or of
modern times, has been made by the simplest methods. The clay, dug
from the earth's surface, was or is prepared by beating and kneading
with the hands, feet or simple mallets of stone or wood; stones and
hard particles were picked out; and the mass, well tempered with
water, was used without any addition. From this clay, vessels were
shaped by scooping out or cutting a solid lump or ball, by building up
piece by piece and smoothing down one layer upon another or by
squeezing cakes of clay on to some natural object or prepared mould or
form. The potter's wheel, though very ancient, was a comparatively
late invention, arrived at independently by many races of men. In its
simplest form it was a heavy disk pivoted on a central point to be set
going by the hand, as the workman squatted on the ground; and it may
be seen to-day in India, Ceylon, China or Japan, in all its primitive
simplicity (see fig. 1). This form of potter's wheel was the only one
known until about the Christian era, and then, in Egypt apparently,
the improvement was introduced of lengthening the spindle which
carries the throwing-wheel and mounting on it near the base a much
larger disk which the potter could rotate with his foot, and so have
both hands free for the manipulation of the clay (fig. 2). No further
advance seems to have been made before the 17th century, when the
wheel was spun by means of a cord working over a pulley; and though a
steam-driven wheel was introduced in the middle of the 19th century,
this form remains the best for the production of fine pottery.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Potter moulding a vessel on the wheel (from a
painting in a tomb at Thebes about 1800 B.C.). Compare the wheel on
the left in fig. 5.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Potter's wheel of the time of the Ptolemies,
moved by the foot (from a wall-relief at Philae). Compare fig. 5, the
wheel on the right.]
A prevalent misconception with regard to the potter's wheel needs
correction. For anything beyond very simple shapes it is impossible to
carry the work to completion on the wheel at one operation as is
generally imagined. All that the potter can do while the clay is soft
enough to "throw" on the wheel is to get a rough shape of even
thickness. This operation completed, the piece is removed from the
wheel and set aside to dry. When it is about leather-hard, it may be
re-centred carefully on the wheel (the old practice), or placed in a
horizontal lathe (since 16th century) and turned down to the exact
shape and polished to an even, smooth surface. The Greek vase-makers
were already adepts in what is often reckoned a modern, detestable
practice. Many Greek vases have obviously been "thrown" in separate
sections, and when these had contracted and hardened sufficiently they
were luted together with slip, and the final vase-shape was smoothed
and turned down on the wheel, and even polished to as fine a degree of
mechanical finish as the modern potter ever attains. So too with the
Chinese; many of their forms have been made in two or three portions,
subsequently joined together and finished on the outside as one piece.
Indeed it is remarkable how the Greeks and Chinese had discovered for
themselves many devices of this kind which are generally held up to
opprobrium as the debased methods of a mechanical age. Always it
should be borne in mind that the shaping of pottery by "pressing"
cakes of clay into moulds is much older than the potter's wheel, and
has always been the method of making shapes other than those in the
round. The modern method of "casting" pottery by pouring slip, a fluid
mixture of clay and water, into absorbent moulds seems to have
originated in England about the middle of the 18th century; and this
too is a genuine potter's method which does not merit the disapproval
with which it has been generally regarded by writers on the potter's
art.
In all ages the work of the "thrower" or "presser" has been largely
supplemented by the modeller, who alters the shape, and applies to it
handles, spouts or modelled accessories at will.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Early Greek pottery-kiln, about 700-600 B.C.
(from a painted votive tablet found at Corinth, now in the Louvre).
The section shows the probable construction of the kiln.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Roman kiln found at Castor. The low arch is
for the insertion of the fuel; the pots rested on the perforated
floor, made of clay slabs; the top of the kiln is missing,--it was
probably a dome.]
_Firing._--The firing of pottery has become in modern times such a
specialized branch of the manufacture that the student can only be
referred here to the technological works mentioned in the bibliography
at the end of this article. It is, however, necessary that we should
briefly describe the earlier forms of potters' kilns used by the
nations whose pottery counts among the treasures of the collector and
the antiquary. Here again we now know that the primitive types of kiln
used by the potters of ancient Egypt or Greece have not vanished from
the earth; it is only in the civilized countries of the modern world
that they have been replaced by improved and perfected devices. The
potters of the North-West Provinces of India use to-day a kiln
practically identical with that depicted in severest silhouette on the
rock-tombs of Thebes; and the skilful Japanese remain content with a
kiln very similar to the one shown in fig. 3. This Greek type of kiln
was improved and enlarged by the Romans, and its use seems to have
been introduced wherever pottery was made under their sway, for
remains of Roman kilns have been found in many countries (see fig. 4).
With the end of Roman dominance we have ample evidence that their
technical methods fell into disuse, and the northern European potter
of the period from the 6th to the 12th century had to build up his
methods afresh, and improved kilns were invented. The general type of
medieval potter's kiln is illustrated for us in the manuscript of an
Italian potter of the 16th century, now in the library of the Victoria
and Albert Museum[3] (fig. 5). Kilns of a different type, horizontal
reverberatory kilns, were used for making the hard-fired pottery of
Europe (Rhenish stoneware, &c.), as well as for Chinese porcelain and
the earliest German porcelains. With the organization of pottery as a
factory industry in the 18th century, improved kilns were introduced,
and the type of kiln now so largely used in civilized countries is
practically a vertical reverberatory furnace of circular section, from
10 to 22 ft. in diameter and of similar height, capable, therefore, of
containing at one firing a quantity of pottery that would have formed
the output of a medieval potter for a year. Every device that can be
thought of for the better utilization of heat and its even
distribution throughout the kiln or oven has been experimented with;
and, though the results have been most successful from the point of
view of the potter, even the most recent coal-fired ovens remain very
wasteful types of apparatus, the amount of available heat being
relatively small to the fuel consumption. Gas-fired kilns and ovens
are now being used or experimented with in every country, and their
perfection, which cannot be far distant, will improve the most vital
of the potter's processes both in certainty and economy.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Two forms of Italian potter's wheels, about
1540.]
_Glazes._--We are never likely to known when glaze (i.e. a coating of
fired glass) was first applied to pottery, though the present state of
knowledge would incline us to the opinion that the earliest glazed
objects we possess are those of ancient Egypt,[4] but the practice may
have been originated independently wherever a knowledge of the
elements of glass-making had spread, as all the early glazes were of
the alkaline type, which must first be fused into a glass before they
can be applied to pottery.
Many primitive races seem to have burnished their pottery after it was
fired, in order to get a glossy surface; and in other cases the
surface was rendered shining and waterproof by coating it with waxy or
resinous substances which were often coloured. It is possible that the
black varnish of Greek vases was obtained by such a method, and though
that point is not settled, we have many types of primitive pottery,
both modern and ancient, which are coated in this way. Such a coating
is only a substitute for glaze in the work of peoples who do not know
or have not mastered the technical secrets of true glazes. We can only
consider as glazes those definite superficial layers of molten
material which have been fired on the clay substance. Glazes are as
varied as the various kinds of pottery, and it must never be forgotten
that each kind of pottery is at its best with its appropriate glaze.
The earliest known glazes (Egyptian and Assyrian) were silicates of
soda and lime containing very little alumina and no lead. Such glazes
are very uncertain in use, and can only be applied to pottery
unusually rich in silica (i.e. deficient in clay). Consequently these
alkaline glazes cannot be used on ordinary clay wares, and when they
have been used successfully, the clay has always been coated with a
surface layer of highly siliceous substance (e.g. the so-called
Persian, Rhodian, Syrian and Egyptian pottery of the early middle
ages). The fact that glazes containing lead-oxide would adhere to
ordinary pottery when alkaline glazes would not was discovered at a
very early period; for lead glazes were extensively used in Egypt and
the nearer East in Ptolemaic times, and it is significant that, though
the Romans made singularly little use of glazes of any kind, the
pottery that succeeded theirs, either in western Europe or in the
Byzantine empire, was generally covered with glazes rich in lead.
Throughout Europe, and over the greater part of the world, leaded
glazes have been continuously used and improved for all ordinary
pottery, and it is only with certain special hard-fired types of ware
that they have yet been successfully replaced. Chinese porcelain and
all the European porcelains made by analogous methods are fired at so
high a temperature that a glaze by felspar softened by lime and silica
is found most suitable for them, and the hard-fired stonewares, rich
in silica, are often glazed with a salt glaze, or a melted earth rich
in oxide of iron.
Every kind of potter's clay (the mixture of clay, sand, flint, &c.,
from which the potter shapes his wares) has its own type of glaze, and
from the earliest time down to our own what the potter could produce
in form or glaze or colour has been largely decided for him by the
clay material at his command. With any good plastic clay which cannot
be fired at the highest temperature, lead glazes have always proved
the most practicable. A similar clay, to which large quantities of
sand are added, may be glazed by the vapours of common salt; and
mixtures rich in felspar, like Chinese or European porcelain, can be
glazed by melting felspathic materials upon them. Naturally those
species of pottery which are the hardest fired are the most
durable--the glazes of hard porcelain are more unchangeable than lead
glazes, and these in their turn than alkaline glazes.
The most important types of glaze are (1) alkaline glazes (e.g.
Egyptian, Syrian, Persian, &c.), the oldest and most uncertain; (2)
lead glazes, the most widespread in use and the best for all ordinary
purposes; (3) felspathic glazes, the glazes of hard-fired porcelains,
generally unsuited to any other material; (4) salt glaze, produced by
vapours of common salt, the special glaze of stonewares. Many
intermediate glazes have been devised to meet special needs, but these
remain the only important groups. Fuller details on this important
subject must be sought in the technical works.
_Colours._--The primitive potters of ancient and modern times have all
striven to decorate their wares with colour. The simplest, and
therefore the earliest, colour decoration was carried out in natural
earths and clays. The clays are so varied in composition that they
fire to every shade of colour from white to grey, cream, buff, red,
brown, or even to a bronze which is almost black. One clay daubed or
painted upon another formed the primitive palette of the potter,
especially before the invention of glaze. When glaze was used these
natural clays were changed in tint, and native earths, other than
clays, containing iron, manganese and cobalt, were gradually
discovered and used. It is also surprising to note that some of the
very earliest glazes were coloured glasses containing copper or iron
(the green, turquoise and yellow glazes of the ancient Egyptians and
Assyrians). Marvellous work was wrought in these few materials, but
the era of the finest pottery-colour dawns with the Persian, Syrian
and Egyptian work that preceded the Crusades. By this time the art of
glazing pottery with a clear soda-lime glaze had been thoroughly
learnt. Vases, tiles, &c., shaped in good plastic clay, were covered
with a white, highly siliceous coating fit to receive glazes of this
type, and giving the best possible ground for the painted colours then
known. With this rudimentary technique the potters of the countries
south and east of the Mediterranean produced, between the 9th and 16th
centuries of our era, a type of pottery that remains ideal from the
point of view of colour: for, with nothing more than the greens given
by oxide of copper and iron, the turquoise of pure copper, the deep
yet vivid blue of cobalt, the beautiful uncertain purple of manganese,
and in certain districts the rich red of Armenian bole, they achieved
colour schemes that have never been surpassed in their brilliant yet
harmonious richness.
When the coating of white siliceous clay was replaced by an opaque
tin-enamel as in Spain, Italy, France, Holland, &c., a necessary
change in the colour schemes resulted. At first only the copper-greens
and cobalt-blues could be used on such a ground; the fine manganese
purple turned to brown or black and the rich iron-reds to filthy
shades of yellow. We cannot wonder that the Spanish-Arab potters paid
more attention to their lustre decoration, for that was the natural
thing to do. How strong and fine a palette could be evolved for use on
a tin-enamel ground was shown by the Italian majolists of the 15th and
16th centuries; and when the later developments of tin-enamelled
pottery took place in France, Holland, Germany, &c., their colour
schemes are only echoes of Italian majolica crossed with Chinese
porcelain. Delft, Nevers, Moustiers and Rouen may each charm us with
its individuality; Nuremberg and other south German towns may show us
that they too had mastered the use of tin-enamel; yet our minds always
go back to the colour schemes of Italian majolica and of the Persian
and Syrian pottery that lie behind and beyond them.
The colours already spoken of were either clay colours or what are
known as "under glaze" colours, because they were painted on the
pottery before the glaze was fired.
The earliest glazes of the Egyptians appear not to have been white,
but were coloured throughout their substance, and this use of coloured
glazes as apart from painted colour was developed along with the
painted decoration by the later Egyptian, Syrian and Persian potters.
Green, yellow and brown glazes were almost the only artistic
productions of the medieval European potters' kilns, and their use
everywhere preceded the introduction of painted pottery. The most
extensive application of coloured glazes was, however, that made by
the Chinese, who developed this type of colour decoration before they
used painted patterns in underglaze colour. The earliest Chinese
porcelains, and the hard-fired stonewares out of which their porcelain
arose, were decorated in this way, and the beauty of many of the early
Sung coloured glazes has never been surpassed.
With the exceedingly refractory felspathic glazes of Chinese porcelain
very few underglaze colours could be used; and the prevalence of blue
and white among the early specimens of Chinese porcelains is due to
the fact that cobalt was almost the only substance known to the
potters of the Ming dynasty which would endure the high temperature
needed to melt their glazes. Consequently the Chinese were driven to
invent the method of painting in coloured fusible glasses on the
already fired glaze. They adopted for this purpose the coloured
enamels used on metal; hence the common term "enamel decoration,"
which is so generally applied to painting in those colours which are
attached to the already fired glaze by refiring at a lower
temperature. With the introduction of this many-coloured Chinese
porcelain into Europe the same practice was eagerly followed by our
European potters, and a new palette of colours and fresh styles of
decoration soon arose amongst us. Painting in on-glaze colours, being
executed on the fired glaze, resembles glass painting, and it
generally offers a striking contrast both in technique and
colour-quality to the painting executed in colours under the glaze. In
the former the work can be highly finished and the most mechanical
execution is possible, but the colours are neither so rich nor so
brilliant as under-glaze colours, nor have they the same softness as
is given by the slight spread of the under-glaze colour when the glaze
is melted over it.
It must be pointed out that the colour possibilities in any method of
pottery decoration are largely dependent on the temperature at which
the colour needs to be fired. The clay colours are naturally more
limited in range than the under-glaze colours, and these in their turn
than the on-glaze colours.
When, about the middle of the 18th century, European pottery took on
its modern form, of earthenware made after the English fashion, and
porcelain like the French and German, the lead or felspathic glazes
used brought about another revolution in the potter's palette. The
growing ideal of mechanical perfection discounted the freedom of the
earlier brushwork, and printed patterns, or painting that might almost
have been printed, removed the mind still farther from the richness of
painted faience or majolica. It is useless to look for the glorious
colour of Persian faience, Italian majolica, or Chinese porcelain, in
modern wares produced by manufacturing processes where mechanical
perfection is demanded to a degree undreamt of before the 19th
century. The finest modern pottery colour is only to be sought in the
work of those enthusiasts and experimenters who are striving to
produce work as rich and free as the best of past times.
_Metals_.--The noble metals, such as gold, platinum and silver, have,
since the early years of the 18th century, been largely used as
adjuncts to pottery decoration, especially on the fine white
earthen-wares and porcelains of the last two centuries. At first the
gold was applied with a kind of japanner's size and was not fired to
the glaze, but for the last 150 years or so the metals have generally
been fired to the surface of the glaze like enamel colours, by mixing
the metal with a small proportion of flux or fusible ground glass.
There can scarcely be a doubt that the ancient lustres of Persia,
Syria and Spain were believed to be a form of gilding, though their
decorative effect was much more beautiful than gilding has ever been.
The early Chinese and Japanese gilding appears, like the European, to
have been "sized" or water-gilt, not fired; and it seems probable that
the use of "fired" gold was taught to the Oriental by the European in
the 18th century. To-day "liquid" gold is exported to China and Japan
from Europe for the use of the potter.
PRIMITIVE POTTERY
We can group together that great and widely-spread class of vessels made
by the primitive races of mankind, whether before the dawn of
civilization or at the present day, for it is interesting to note that
many modern races still make pottery by the same rude method as the
Neolithic races of Europe and Asia, and with striking similarity of
result. In fact, the knowledge of the methods and practices of the
primitive potters of our own time furnishes the best possible guide to
the methods of fabrication and ornamentation of the ancient specimens
that are dug up from barrows, grave mounds, and tumuli. It is only
natural that the materials and methods of such pottery are always of the
simplest. The clay is used with very little preparation, and it is no
unusual thing to find bits of stone, gravel, &c., embedded in the paste
of such wares, though at a later stage of development they would have
been removed. It must be remarked, however, that no race of potters
practised the art for long without discovering that their vessels were
not so liable to crack in drying, or lose their shape in firing, if fine
sand or pounded "potsherds" were mixed with the clay; and when we are
dealing with the work of races that have passed beyond the Stone Age and
have learned the use of metals we find this custom universal.
There are three methods of shaping which seem to be common to almost
every primitive race:--
1. The scooping out of a vessel from a ball of clay.
2. The building up of a form, often on a piece of basket-work or
matting, gradually raising the walls higher by applying and smoothing
down successive layers of clay.
3. Coiling; in which the clay is rolled out into thin ropes, and these
are coiled round and round upon each other and smoothed down with the
hands and with simple tools of bone, wood or metal.
The use of the potter's wheel is unknown, while it is remarkable how
beautifully true and finely-fashioned much primitive pottery is. The
primitive red and black vases discovered by Flinders Petrie in Egypt,
and the somewhat similar vessels of prehistoric date from Spain, are
remarkable instances of this. Some primitive races leave their pottery
without decoration, especially when they have a fine red-burning clay to
work in, but, generally speaking, primitive pottery of every race and
time is elaborately decorated, but only with the simplest patterns. Such
decorations consist of lines, dots or lunette-shaped depressions
arranged in crosses, chevrons, zigzags or all-over repeated pattern. All
this ornament is scratched or impressed into the clay before it is
fired. Simplest of all is, perhaps, the pattern which has so obviously
been produced by pressing a twisted thong round the neck or bowl of a
vase; though the thong may have been used in the first instance merely
to serve as a support while the vessel was dried. At a later stage the
ornament is generally obtained by scratching with a tool, by pressing
the end of a hollow stick into the clay to form rows of circles, by
using a stick cut at the end into the shape of a half-moon, or other
equally simple decorative device. In certain tropical countries this
rudimentary pottery becomes hard enough for a certain amount of use when
merely dried in the sun, but in all northern and temperate countries it
must have been fired, probably in the most imperfect way, in an open
fire or in such a kiln as could be formed by sinking a hole into the
ground and erecting round it a screen of stones. How imperfect the
firing was is shown by the ashen-grey colour due to smoke. In those
countries where the ware has been more perfectly fired the pieces
naturally become buff, drab, brown or red.
The primitive vessels that have been found in the grave-mounds of
England and the northern countries generally have received a number of
fanciful names for which there is very little warrant except in the case
of the cinerary urns. These are generally the largest vessels of this
class, and as they were used to contain burnt bones there seems
sufficient warrant for the supposition that they were made for this and
for no other purpose.
Our knowledge of primitive pottery has been greatly improved during
recent years by the labours of a number of American students connected
with the United States Geological Survey, who have carefully recorded
the present-day practices of those native tribes who make and use
pottery in various parts of North America and Mexico; while, in the same
way, Peruvian, Brazilian and other South American pottery has been as
closely investigated by European observers. It should be noted that no
primitive pottery reveals any trace of a knowledge of glaze, though much
of it has been highly polished after firing, and in some cases a varnish
has been applied which may perhaps be regarded as the earliest kind of
"glazing" ever applied to pottery vessels.
LITERATURE.--On primitive pottery the following works may be specially
mentioned. W. Greenwell, _British Barrows_ (1877); Boyd-Dawkins,
_Early Man in Britain_ (1880); Mortimer, _Forty Years' Researches in
British and Saxon Burial-mounds of East Yorkshire_ (1905); Abercromby,
"The Oldest Bronze-age Ceramic Type in Britain," _J. Anth. Inst._ vol.
xxxii. (1902), 373; _Guide to Antiquities of the Bronze Age_ (British
Museum, 1904); Koenen, _Gefässkunde der vorrömischen, römischen und
fränkischen Zeit in den Rheinländern_ (1895); Wosinsky, _Der
inkrustierte Keramik der Stein- und Bronze-zeit_ (1904); Walters,
_History of Ancient Pottery_ (Greek and Roman) (1905); Holmes,
_Aboriginal Pottery of the Eastern United States_ (Bureau of
Ethnology, Washington, 1899); also Holmes and Cushing in _Report_ of
Bureau of Ethnology for 1882; Wiener, _Pérou et Bolivie_ (1880); Von
der Steinen, _Natur-Völkerei Central Brasiliens_ (1894); Hartman,
_Archaeological Researches in Costa Rica_ (1905); Strebel, on "Mexican
Pottery" in _Publications_ of Museum für Völkerkunde (Berlin, vol. 6,
1899); Werner, _British Central Africa_ (1907); Füllborn, _Deutsche
Ost-Afrika_, vol. ix. (1907); Macluer, "Kabyle Pottery," _Journ. Anth.
Inst._ vol. xxxii. p. 245, and "Upper Egypt," _ibid_. xxxv. p. 20;
Myres, "Early Pottery Fabrics of Asia Minor," _Journ. Anth. Inst._
xxxiii. p. 367; Turveren Museum, _Notes analytiques sur les
collections ethnographiques du Congo_, tome ii. (1907); Cupart,
_Debuts de l'art de l'ancienne Égypte_ (1903). (W. B.*)
EGYPT AND WESTERN ASIA
_Egyptian Pottery_.--Egypt affords us the most striking instance of the
development of the potter's art. As in other countries pottery was made
even in Neolithic times, for the Nile mud forms a fine plastic clay and
sand is of course abundant. With these materials various kinds of
pottery, often extremely well made and of good form, have been
continuously produced for common domestic requirements, but such pottery
was never glazed.
The wonderful glazes of the Egyptians were applied to a special
preparation which can hardly be called pottery at all, it contained so
little clay. Yet as early as the 1st Dynasty the Egyptians had learnt to
shape little objects in this tender material and cover them with their
wonderful turquoise glazes. We have therefore to study the development
of two independent things: (1) the ordinary pottery of common clay left
without glaze; (2) the brilliant glazed faience which appears to be
special to Egypt, though it may have been the groundwork for the
technique of the slip-faced painted and glazed pottery of the nearer
East.
We probably do not possess any specimens of the most primitive Neolithic
pottery; the oldest type known to us, the black and red ware of Ballas
and Nagada (1), dates from the later Neolithic age, when copper was just
beginning to be used. This ware is very hard and compact and the face is
highly burnished. The red colour was produced by a wash of fine red
clay; the black is an oxide of iron obtained by limiting the access of
air in the process of baking, which was done, Professor Petrie suggests,
by placing the pot's mouth down in the kiln, and leaving the ashes over
the part which was to be burnt black. Both red and black colour go right
through in every case. All-red and all-black vases are occasionally
found, the red with geometrical decorations in white colour, and the
black with incised decoration. The forms are usually very simple, but at
the same time graceful, and the grace of form is more remarkable when it
is remembered that none of this early pottery was made on the wheel.
Pottery of almost similar technique was found in Crete in 1905 during
the American excavations at Vasiliki near Hierapetra. The general
appearance of the Cretan pottery is much the same as that of the
Egyptian, and the duller red and black decoration (which here has a
spotted or mottled appearance) was probably obtained in the same way,
the black spots being due to the action of separate fragments of the
baking material. This discovery is important in view of the probable
early connexion of the Cretan and Egyptian culture-centres.
A very similar red and black ware, usually of thinner and harder make,
and often with a brighter surface, was introduced into Egypt at a later
date (XIIth Dynasty), probably by Nubian tribes who were descended from
relatives of the Neolithic Egyptians. From their characteristic graves
these people are called the Pan-Grave people, and their pottery is known
by the same name.
Perhaps rather later in date than the early red and black wares, but by
no means certainly so, the second characteristic type of primeval
Egyptian pottery is a ware of buff colour with surface decorations in
red. These decorations are varied in character, including ships, birds
and human figures; wavy lines and geometrical designs commonly occur.
The whole _facies_ of this ware seems very un-Egyptian, and it has been
compared with the decorated "Kabyle pottery" of modern times. To call
the people who made this ware "Libyans" on the strength of this
resemblance of their pottery to that of the modern Kabyles, six thousand
years later, seems, however, rash. The prehistoric Egyptians were not
Kabyles or Libyans, but Nilotes, and the peculiar decoration of their
pottery, which seems so strangely barbaric, is in reality merely the
most ancient handiwork of the Egyptian painter, and marks the first
stage in the development of pictorial art on the banks of the Nile (2).
Other types of pottery (3), in colour chiefly buff or brown, were also
in use at this period; the most noticeable form is a cylindrical vase
with a wavy or rope band round it just below the lip, which developed
out of a necked vase with a wavy handle on either side. This cylindrical
type outlived the red and black and the red and buff decorated styles
(which are purely Neolithic and predynastic) and continued in use in the
early dynastic period, well into the Copper age. The other unglazed
pottery of the first three dynasties is not very remarkable for beauty
of form or colour, and is indeed of the roughest description (4), but
under the IVth Dynasty we find beautiful wheel-made bowls, vases and
vase-stands of a fine red polished ware (4). This fine ware continued in
use at least as late as the XVIIIth Dynasty, though the forms of course
differed from age to age. Under the XIIth Dynasty, and during the Middle
Kingdom generally, either this or a coarser unpolished red ware was in
use. The forms of this period are very characteristic (5); the vases are
usually footless, and have a peculiar globular or drop-like shape--some
small ones seem almost spherical. At this period the foreign "Pan-Grave"
black and red pottery was also in use (see above).
The art of making a pottery consisting of a siliceous sandy body coated
with a vitreous copper glaze seems to have been known unexpectedly
early, possibly even as early as the period immediately preceding the
Ist Dynasty (4000 B.C.). Under the XIIth Dynasty pottery made of this
characteristic Egyptian faience seems to have come into general use, and
it continued in use down to the days of the Romans, and is the ancestor
of the glazed wares of the Arabs and their modern successors (6). The
oldest Egyptian glazed ware is found usually in the shape of beads,
plaques, &c.--rarely in the form of pottery vessels. The colour is
usually a light blue, which may turn either white or green; but beads of
the grey-black manganese colour are found, and on the light blue vases
of King Aha (who is probably one of the historical originals of the
legendary "Mena" or Menes) in the British Museum (No. 38,010) we have
the king's name traced in the manganese glaze on (or rather in) the
blue-white glaze of the vase itself, for the second glaze is inlaid.
This style of decoration in manganese black or purple on copper-blue
continued till the end of the "New Empire" shortly before the XXVIth
(Saite) Dynasty. It was not usual actually to inlay the decoration
before the time of the XVIIIth Dynasty. The light blue glaze was used
well into the time of the XIIth Dynasty (British Museum, No. 36,346),
but was then displaced by a new tint, a brilliant turquoise blue, on
which the black decoration shows up in sharper contrast than before.
This blue, and a somewhat duller, greyer or greener tint was used at the
time for small figures, beads and vases, as well as for the glaze of
scarabs, which, however, were usually of stone-schist or steatite --not
faience. The characteristically Egyptian technique of glazed stone
begins about this period, and not only steatite or schist was employed
(on account of its softness), but a remarkably brilliant effect was
obtained by glazing hard shining white quartzite with the wonderfully
delicate XIIth Dynasty blue. A fragment of a statuette plinth of this
beautiful material was obtained during the excavation of the XIth
Dynasty temple at Deir el-Bahri in 1904 (British Museum, No. 40,948).
Vessels of diorite and other hard stones are also found coated with the
blue glaze. A good specimen of the finest XIIth Dynasty blue-glazed
faience is the small vase of King Senwosri I. (2400 B.C.) in the Cairo
Museum (No. 3666) (6). The blue-glazed hippopotami of this period, with
the reeds and water-plants in purplish black upon their bodies to
indicate their habitat, are well known. Fine specimens of these are in
the collection of the Rev. Wm. MacGregor at Tamworth (8).
The blue glaze of the XIIth Dynasty deepened in colour under the XIIIth,
to which the fine blue bowls with designs (in the manganese black) of
fish and lotus plants belong (8) (British Museum, Nos. 4790, &c.). The
finest specimens of XVIIIth Dynasty blue ware have come from Deir
el-Bahri, in the neighbourhood of which place there may have been a
factory for the manufacture of votive bowls, cups, beads, &c., of this
fine faience, for dedication by pilgrims in the temple of Hathor (good
collection in British Museum). Towards the end of this dynasty
polychrome glazes came into fashion; white, light and dark blue, violet,
purple, red, bright yellow, apple-green and other tints were used, not
only for smaller objects of faience, such as rings, scarabs, kohl-pots,
&c., but also for vases, e.g. No. 3965 of the Cairo Museum (Amenophis
III. wine-bottle), the ground colour of which is white with a decoration
of flower wreaths in blue, yellow and red, with an inscription in
delicate blue (6). This polychrome faience was also now used for the
_ushabti_ figures which were placed in the tombs; hitherto they had been
made exclusively of stone or wood, never of glazed stone or pottery;
henceforward they were made exclusively of faience, but the polychrome
glazes (e.g. British Museum, Nos. 34,180, 34,185) were soon abandoned,
and the plain blue and black of the ordinary vases was adopted. The
_ushabtis_ of King Seti I. (British Museum, No. 22,818, &c.) (9) are
fine specimens of this type. Under the XXth Dynasty the blue paled and
became weak in quality, but the priest-king family of the XXIst used for
their _ushabtis_ a most brilliant blue glaze, an extraordinary colour
which at once distinguishes the faience of this period from that of all
others (9). The same brilliant glaze was used for vases of various kinds
as well. The polychrome ware had developed into a style of inlaying with
glazed faience, which we see at Tel el-Amarna under the XVIIIth Dynasty
(1400 B.C.) (10), and at Tel el-Yah[=u]d[=i]ya under the XXth (1200
B.C.), used for wall decoration. After this time polychrome ceramic
decoration seems to have died out in Egypt, but was retained in Asia
(see below).
The technical skill of the New Empire potters is shown by such a
remarkable object as the gigantic _Uas_-sceptre of blue glazed faience,
now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (12, 8). This is the largest known
piece of Egyptian glazed faience; really large vases of faience are not
found. Faience vases were very commonly built up or carved out of a ball
of the dried material, perhaps held together by some mucilaginous
substance --it seems impossible that such a substance could ever have
been fashioned on the wheel. Sometimes even small vases were made of
separately moulded pieces united by a glassy material (6). Under the
XXIInd Dynasty small glazed vases with figures of deities or animals in
relief became common; these were made in moulds (6). In the matter of
form the faience pottery of the New Empire follows the lead of the new
earthenware types. Forms had altered considerably from those of the
XIIth Dynasty. In place of the simple flowing lines of that period, we
now find egg-shaped bodies with cylindrical necks, with or without
handles, great _amphorae_ with almost pointed bases, sometimes with the
handles perched upon the shoulders of the vase; flat-tipped, squat jugs;
little handleless vases somewhat resembling the modern _kulla_, "_mit
mehrfach eingezogenem Bauch_" (V.B.), and the common flat flask-like
type known as the "pilgrim bottle" (6, 13, 14, 15).
Owing to the extended foreign relations of Egypt at this time, imported
vases from Greece and Asia, including Mycenaean _Bugelkannen_ and
Cypriote black "base ring" jugs, have been found in the tombs and
deposits of this age (14). Imitations of foreign forms, especially the
_Bugelkannen_, are found[5] chiefly in faience (British Museum, 22,731,
is an imitation of a Minoan jug from Crete). The faience forms of the
XVIIIth and XXIInd Dynasties include also the _kulla_ shape, the pilgrim
bottle, miniature _amphorae_, &c. (see fig. 6), and miscellaneous forms
not found in common pottery, imitating metal and stone vases, e.g. the
blue-green ribbed pots of the XXIInd Dynasty, imitating bronze
originals, and the _alabastron_ of the XVIIIth; these last go back to
the XIIth Dynasty. Very pretty cups in the shape of lotus flowers (see
fig. 7) are to be seen in most museums; they are of the XIXth Dynasty,
and mostly came from Tuna (6, 8).
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Egyptian pottery made of fine blue paste.]
The continuance of the old red polished ware of the IVth Dynasty during
the Middle Kingdom to the time of the XVIIIth Dynasty has already been
mentioned. Characteristic of the latter period of this ware are long
jugs with attenuated body and single handle, which, because they have
been found with Mycenaean objects in Cyprus, have been considered to be
of foreign, probably of Syrian origin. They may, however, be Egyptian.
Vases of the same ware in the shape of men and animals are not uncommon
(17). Another ware of this period has a highly polished yellow face,
sometimes becoming ruddy, and passing off into a pinkish red; in this
ware the pilgrim bottles are common. An unpolished, brittle, and thin
yellow ware was also used largely for wine-vases. The rougher, commoner
red and brown ware at this period became decorated with designs, chiefly
of lily wreaths, &c., in paint of various colours (13). This new
development hid the ugly colour of the common pottery and was a cheaply
obtained imitation of the expensive, polychrome glazed ware of the
period (see fig. 8). This painted pottery continued in use until about
the time of the XXIInd Dynasty. From this time onwards, till the
Ptolemaic period, the commonest pottery was a red ware, usually covered
with a white slip. Under the XXVIth Dynasty a finer homogeneous white
ware occurs, usually for vases with a rude representation of the face of
the god Bes on their bodies.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Egyptian blue-glazed pottery.]
The XXVIth Dynasty marks a new period of development in the history of
Egyptian faience. The old deep blue colour had gradually deteriorated
into an ugly green (British Museum, No. 8962), which was replaced by the
Saite potters with a new light blue of very delicate tint, imitated, in
accordance with the archaistic spirit of the time, from the old light
blue of the earliest Dynasties. The glaze itself is very thin and
"sugary" in texture. The old decoration of the blue with designs and
inscriptions in manganese-black is abandoned; on the _ushabtis_ the
inscriptions are now incised. Side by side with this light blue glaze
was used an unglazed faience, a sort of composition paste with the
colour going right through.[6] It has more variety of colour than the
glazed faience, light green and a dark indigo blue being found as well
as the Saite light blue. Sometimes it is of a very soft, almost chalky
consistency. It was used for vases, but more generally for small figures
and scarabs (6). The commonest vase-form of this period is the pilgrim
bottle, now made with the neck in the form of a lily flower, and with
inscriptions on the sides wishing good luck in the New Year to the
possessor. These flasks appear to have been common New Year's gifts.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Egyptian pottery with painted ornament and sham
marbling.]
Under the Sebennyte kings of the XXXth Dynasty a further new development
of glaze began, of a more radical character than ever before. The colour
deepened, and the glaze itself became much more glassy, and was thickly
laid on. The new glaze was partly translucent, and differed very greatly
from the old opaque glaze. It first appeared on _ushabtis_ at the end of
the Saite period. A curious effect was obtained by glazing the
head-dress, the inscription &c., of the _ushabtis_ in dark blue, and
then covering the whole with translucent light blue glaze. This method
was regularly used during the succeeding Ptolemaic and Roman periods,
when the new style of glaze came into general use. A yellowish green
effect was obtained by glazing parts of the body of the vases in yellow
and covering this with the translucent blue glaze. This method was used
to touch up the salient portions of the designs in relief, imitated
from foreign originals, a style which now became usual on vases. The
usual decoration is mixed Egyptian and classical, the latter generally
predominating. A large range of colours was employed; purple, dark blue,
blue-green, grass-green, and yellow glazes all being found. The glaze is
very thickly laid on, and is often "crazed" (6, 8). A remarkable
instance of this Romano-Egyptian faience is the head of the god Bes in
the British Museum (No. 35,028). A hard, light blue, opaque glaze like
that of the XXVIth Dynasty is occasionally, but rarely, met with in the
case of vases (British Museum, Nos. 37,407, 37,408).
We know something of the common wares in use during this period from the
study of the _ostraka_, fragments of pottery on which dated
tax-receipts, notes, and so forth were written. From the _ostraka_ we
see that during the Ptolemaic period the commonest pottery was made of
red ware covered with white slip, which has already been mentioned. At
the beginning of the Roman period we find at Elephantine a peculiar
light pink ware with a brownish pink face, and elsewhere a smooth dark
brown ware. About the 3rd century A.D. horizontally ribbed or fluted
pots, usually of a coarse brown ware, came into general use. These were
often large-sized _amphorae_, with very attenuated necks and long
handles (see fig. 9). During the Byzantine (Coptic) period most of the
pottery in use was ribbed, and usually pitched inside to hold water, as
the ware was loose in texture and porous.
During the Coptic period, a lighter ware was also in use, decorated with
designs of various kinds in white, brown or red paint on the dull red or
buff body. In Nubia a peculiar development of this ware is
characteristic of the later period (Brit. Mus. No. 30,712).
A polished red ware of Roman origin (imitation Arretine or "Samian") was
commonly used as well.
The heavily glazed blue faience continued in use until replaced in the
early Arab period by the well-known yellow and brown lead-glazed
pottery, of which fragments are found in the mounds of Fostat (Old
Cairo).
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Egyptian pottery under the Ptolemies, showing
Greek influence in the shapes.]
_Western Asia.--Palestine_. The most ancient Palestinian pottery is the
rough "Amorite" ware from Lachish (Tel el-Hesi) which sometimes has wavy
handles like the prehistoric Egyptian (18). Later we find actual
Mycenaean pottery in Philistia (19), an interesting testimony to the
truth of the legend which brings the Philistines from Crete; the fourth
and fifth cities of Lachish (1200-1000 B.C.) show us the first ordinary
Phoenician or Israelite pottery--buff or red lamps and bowls, the latter
with the handles sometimes painted in bistre, and vases showing strong
Egyptian influence; while pottery from Cyprus and elsewhere is found as
in Egypt.
The only remarkable later development of Palestinian pottery is the
Phoenician imitation of Egyptian faience of the Saite period, of which
the characteristics are well known. Some of this may actually have been
made in Egypt.
The course of the potter's art in Mesopotamia and Persia appears to have
run on lines of development parallel with the art in Egypt, for the
country between the Tigris and the Euphrates is rich in good clays, and,
wherever the invention of glass arose, its application to pottery
decoration was certainly developed at an early period in Egypt and in
Mesopotamia.
Two characteristic uses of clay wares must, however, be pointed out,
though they have nothing to do with vase-making.
1. The Babylonian and Assyrian use of clay shaped into tablets,
cylinders and prisms, to produce an imperishable record of the
literature of the time. The cylinders and prisms were thrown on the
potter's wheel and are consequently hollow; the circular form was then
sliced down, and the surface was impressed with cuneiform
inscriptions, the prism, tablet or cylinder being subsequently dried
and fired.
2. The architectural use of glazed bricks and slabs. While the
Egyptians remained content for the most part with the application of
their brilliant alkaline glazes to small and delicately-finished
objects, the Babylonians and Assyrians developed an architecture
decorated with glazed and coloured brickwork. The bricks were of very
open texture, and the ornamental pattern or figure subjects were
obtained by a strong outline in dark-coloured clay which formed a kind
of _cloison_ or boundary, the shallow cells between being filled in
with coloured clays--yellow, red or white--or with coloured glazes of
turquoise, green or blue, yellow and purplish brown. These glazes are
obviously like the Egyptian, but they are more coarsely prepared and
are always full of bubbles and consequently more or less opaque. Yet
the severe simplicity of the method, the splendid colour effect,
strong yet sumptuous, entitles these productions to a very high rank
among all the world's work in clay and glaze. The "Frieze of the
Archers" now in the Louvre may be mentioned as one of the finest
productions of its kind, and the Louvre and British Museum possess the
finest collections of this early architectural use of glazed and
coloured clay. (See also MURAL DECORATION )
Coming to ordinary pottery we find that in early times well-formed vases
made of good clay, unglazed and unpainted, were made. Small figures of
deities made of the same clay are often found. It is practically the
same terra-cotta as that of the inscribed tablets. None of the forms are
particularly distinctive (see fig. 10). The excavations of the French in
Persia have brought to light at Moussian in Susiana an extremely
interesting painted ware, which belongs to a very early period. The
decoration is usually geometrical. The technique seems to be analogous
to the Mycenaean-Greek (_Firnismalerei_), and the whole effect is very
like that of the Greek, Late Mycenaean or Dipylon pottery. The ware is
buff in colour and fine in texture, with a polished surface. The
decoration is sometimes in polychrome, but usually in the grey-brown
iron-glaze (?) alone. This pottery degenerates later and finally
disappears (20).
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Assyrian biscuit pottery.]
During the Sargonide period in Assyria (7th century B.C.) we find a
polychrome faience (colours usually white and brown) obviously of
Egyptian origin. It was used, not for vases, but architectonically for
friezes, ornamental bosses, &c. Its origin may be found in Egypt under
the XVIIIth Dynasty, when Egyptian influence extended to the Tigris, and
Babylonia had regular diplomatic relations with Egypt In Asia this
polychrome decoration in glazes continued to be used long after it had
ceased to be made in the country of its origin; the enamelled brick
decoration of Persepolis is the descendant of the glazed inlay
decorations of Tel el-Amarna, Tel el-Yahudiya and Kuyunjik. In the
Sargonide period blue glazed vases occur (see fig. 11) which are
probably of Egyptian origin or are Phoenician imitations of Egyptian
faience.
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Assyrian glazed and enamelled pottery.]
Characteristic of the Parthian period is a coarse green glazed pottery
of which the slipper-shaped coffins, of the time were made (British
Museum, Nos. 1645-1647) (21). This glaze possibly contains a small
amount of lead; in appearance it is not unlike the contemporary
translucent blue glaze of Egypt. The Egyptian glaze certainly spread
into western Asia, and we find the last specimens of it in the tiles
from the destroyed city of Rhagae in Persia, which may be as late as the
13th century A.D. The lead glazes, unknown in Egypt till the late Roman
period, may be of Asiatic origin, though this important point is by no
means clear.
REFERENCES.--(1) Petrie-Quibell, _Ballas and Nagada_ (date erroneous);
(2) Jacques de Morgan, _L' Âge de la pierre et des métaux_; (3)
Petrie, _Diospolis Parva_, frontispiece (also for "sequence-dates" of
pottery); (4) Garstang, _Mahâsna and Bêt Khallâf_, pls. xxix.--xxxii.;
(5) Petrie, _Illahûn_, pl. xii. (corr. by V. Bissing in (14)); (6) V.
Bissing, _Catalogue générale du musée de Caire, _"Die
Fayencegefässe"; (7) Petrie, _Abydos_, ii., frontispiece; (8) Henry
Wallis, _Egyptian Ceramic Art_ (Macgregor Collection); (9) _Guide to
Third and Fourth Egyptian Rooms, British Museum_, p. 252 ff.; (10)
Petrie, _Tel-el-Amarna_; (11) _Guide to Third and Fourth Egyptian
Rooms_, p. 261; (12) Petrie, _Nagâda_, pl. xxviii.; (13) Petrie,
_Illahûn_, pls. xx., xxi.; (14) V. Bissing, _Strena Helbigiana_, p. 20
ff.; (15) Garstang, _El Arábah_, pls. xviii.-xxi., xxviii., xxix.;
(16) Hall, _Oldest Civilization of Greece_, p. 143 ff. ibid. figs. 29,
30, 69; (17) _Guide to Third and Fourth Egyptian Rooms_, pl. viii.;
(18) Petrie, _Tell-el-Hesy_, pl. v.; (19) Welch, _Ann. Brit. Sch.
Ath_. vi.; (20) de Morgan, _Délégation en Perse_, viii. (1905); (21)
_Brit. Mus.: Guide to Babylonian and Assyrian Room_. (H. R. H.)
GREEK, ETRUSCAN AND ROMAN
GREEK. _Study of Greek Vases_.--It is not so many years since an account
of Greek pottery would naturally have followed chronologically the
history of Egyptian pottery with little overlapping; but recent
discoveries have reversed all such ideas, and, while up to the end of
the 19th century the earliest remains to be traced on Greek soil could
be assigned at the furthest to the period 2500-2000 B.C., it is now
possible not only to show that at that period technical processes were
highly developed, but even to trace a continuous development of Greek
pottery from the Neolithic age. This result has been mainly brought
about by Dr Arthur Evans's researches at Cnossus in Crete, but traces of
similar phenomena are not wanting in other parts of Greece. Whether the
race which produced this pottery can strictly be called Greek may be
open to question, but at all events the ware is the independent product
of a people inhabiting in prehistoric times the region afterwards known
as Greece; its connexion with the pottery of the historic period can now
be clearly traced, and in its advanced technical character and the
genuinely artistic appearance of its decoration even this early ware
proclaims itself as inspired by a similar genius.
The study of Greek vases has thus received an additional impetus from
the light that it throws on the early civilization of the country, and
its value for the student of ethnology. But it has always appealed
strongly to the archaeologist and in some degree also to the artist or
connoisseur, to the former from its importance as a contribution to the
history of Greek art, mythology and antiquities, to the latter from its
beauty of form and decoration. Attention was first redirected to the
painted vases at the end of the 17th century, though for a long time
they served as little more than an adjunct to the cabinet of the amateur
or a pleasing souvenir for the traveller; but even during the 18th
century it dawned on the minds of students that they were of more than
merely artistic importance, and attention was devoted to the elucidation
of their subjects, and attempts made to arrive at a chronological
classification. Two facts must, however, be borne in mind: firstly, that
down to the middle of the 19th century the great majority of painted
vases had been found only in Italy; secondly, that these vases were
mostly of the later and more florid styles, which, if artistically
advanced, are now known to represent a decadent phase of Greek art.
From the former cause arose the notion that these vases were the product
not of Greek but of Etruscan artists, and so the term "Etruscan vase"
arose and passed into the languages of Europe, surviving even at this
day in popular speech in spite of a century of refutation. Meanwhile,
the study of the subjects depicted on the vases passed through the
successive stages of allegorical, historical and mystical
interpretation, until a century and more of painstaking study led to the
more rational principles of modern archaeologists.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Jug from Cyprus of Oriental style, 10 in.
high.]
_Sites and Discoveries_.--The sites on which Greek vases have been
found cover the whole area of the Mediterranean and beyond, from the
Crimea to Spain, and from Marseilles to Egypt. By far the great
majority, at all events of the finer specimens, have been extracted
from the tombs of Vulci and other sites in Etruria; those of the later
period or decadence have been found in large numbers on various sites
in southern Italy, such as Capua, Curnae and Nola in Campania, Anzi in
Lucania, and Ruvo in Apulia. In the western Mediterranean, Sicily has
also been a fruitful field for this pottery, early varieties being
found at Syracuse, later ones at Gela, Girgenti and elsewhere. Painted
vases have also come to light in Sardinia and in North Africa,
especially in the Cyrenaica, where the finds mostly belong to the 4th
century B.C. In Greece proper the most prolific site has been Athens,
where the finds extend from the Dipylon vases of the 8th century B.C.
down to the decadent productions of the 4th century; one group, that
of the white funeral _lekythoi_, is almost peculiar to Athens. Next to
this city, Corinth has been most productive, especially in pottery of
the archaic period and of local manufacture. Large quantities of
pottery of all periods have been yielded by Thebes, Tanagra and other
sites in Boeotia, and remains of the "Mycenaean" period at Mycenae,
Argos and elsewhere. But on the whole painted pottery is rare in other
parts of the mainland. Among the western islands of the archipelago,
Aegina and Euboea have proved fruitful in vases of all periods; Thera,
Melos and others of the Cyclades are remarkable for pottery of the
prehistoric period with rudely painted designs; and above all Crete is
now famous for the wondrous series of painted and ornamented pottery
of pre-Mycenacan date, which can be traced back even to the Neolithic
period, and the discovery of which has entirely revolutionized the
preconceived theories on the appearance of painted pottery in Greece.
This has been found in the recent excavations at Cnossus, Palaeokastro
and elsewhere. In Asia Minor there have been some important finds on
the mainland, but only along the coast; some of the islands, more
especially Samos and Rhodes, have been more fruitful in this respect.
At Kertch and elsewhere in the Crimea, large numbers of fine but
somewhat florid vases of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. have come to
light. Cyprus has long been known as a rich field for pottery of all
periods, from the Mycenaean onwards, the later varieties being marked
by strong local quasi-oriental characteristics, with little
development from the more primitive types (figs. 12 and 13). The
principal sites are Salamis, Amathus, Marion (Poli) and Curium.
Lastly, in the Egyptian delta two sites, Naucratis and Daphnae, have
yielded results of considerable importance for the history of early
Greek vase-painting.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Pottery from Cyprus with geometrical
ornament.]
The great majority of these vases have been found in tombs; but some
important discoveries have been made on the sites of temples and
sanctuaries, as on the Acropolis of Athens, or at Naucratis. In such
cases the vases are seldom complete, having been broken up and cast
away into rubbish-heaps, where the fragments have remained
undisturbed. The tombs vary greatly in form, those of Greece being
usually small rock-graves or shafts, those of Italy often fine and
elaborate chambers with architectural details, and the manner in which
the vases are found in these tombs varies greatly. Plain unornamented
pottery is almost universal, and may be considered to have formed the
"tomb-furniture" proper--the painted vases being as in daily life
merely ornamental adjuncts.
_Shapes and Uses of Greek Vases_.--The enormous number of painted
vases now collected in museums is in itself sufficient evidence of the
important part they must have played in the daily life, of the Greeks,
and the care which was bestowed on their decoration shows the high
estimation in which they were held. It is, however, remarkable that,
with the exception of general allusions to pottery and its use in
daily life, there are singularly few passages in classical literature
which throw light on the purposes for which these vases were used.
Where any are described at full length there is always evidence that
metal vases are intended. Athenaeus and the lexicographers have indeed
put on record a long list of names of shapes, but it is only in a few
cases that we can be certain what forms they describe, or whether any
of the typical forms of existing vases can be identified with the
literary descriptions.
We have then two questions to consider in this section: firstly, the
uses to which painted vases were put by the Greeks; secondly, the
classical names of the various forms of plain and painted pottery
which have come down to us.
As we have seen, the majority of painted vases have been discovered in
tombs, which at first sight seems to suggest that they were made
principally for sepulchral purposes; but that they also had their uses
in daily life as much as plain pottery or earthenware cannot be
doubted. They stand, in fact, in the same relation to the commoner
wares of their day as china or porcelain does with us, being largely
ornamental only, but used by wealthy people or on special occasions
for the purposes of daily life, as for instance at banquets or in
religious ceremonies.
Vases were used as measures, as in the case of a small one-handled cup
in the British Museum (see fig. 15), found at Cerigo (_Cythera_) and
inscribed with the word [Greek: hêmikotylion] or "half-kotyle,"
equivalent to about one-fourth of a pint. Another vase found at Athens
is supposed to represent the official [Greek: choinix] or quart,
having a capacity of 0.96 litre; it is inscribed [Greek: dêmosion] or
"official measure," and bears the official stamp of the state.
Conversely many names of vases, such as the _amphora_ or the _kotyle_,
were adopted to indicate measures of capacity for liquid or dry
commodities. Earthenware vessels were used for storing both liquids
and food, for the preparation of foods and liquids, and for the
various uses of the table and the toilet. That the painted ware was
used at banquets or on great occasions we learn from scenes depicted
on the vases themselves, in which vases painted with subjects appear
in use. In connexion with athletics, they were given as prizes, as in
the case of the Panathenaic _amphorae_, a class of vases given for
victories in the games held at Athens at the Panathenaic festivals,
where, however, they do not represent prizes so much as marks of
honour corresponding to modern racing cups. Vases were also used as
toys for children, as is proved by the discovery of many diminutive
specimens, chiefly jugs, in the tombs of children at Athens, on which
are depicted children playing at various games. They also served a
purely decorative use as domestic ornaments, being placed on columns
or shelves; or, in the case of flat cups and plaques, suspended on the
wall. Many of the later Greek and Italian painted vases are very
carelessly decorated on the one side, which was obviously not intended
to be seen.
We come now to the use of vases for religious purposes, dedicatory,
sacrificial or funerary. Of all these uses, especially the last, there
is ample evidence. That vases were often placed in temples or shrines
as votive offerings is clear from the frequent mention in literature
of the dedication of metal vases, and it can hardly be doubted that
painted pottery served the same purpose for those who could only
afford the humbler material. Of late years much light has been thrown
upon this subject by excavations, notably on the Acropolis of Athens,
at Corinth, and at Naucratis in the Egyptian delta, where numerous
fragments have been found bearing inscriptions which attest their use
for such purposes. It was a well-known Greek custom to clear out the
temples from time to time and form rubbish-heaps (_favissae_) of the
disused vases and statuettes, which were broken in pieces as useless,
but it is to this very fact that we owe their preservation. At
Naucratis many of the fragments bear incised inscriptions, such as
[Greek: Apollônos eimi], "I am Apollo's" (possibly a memorandum of the
priest's, to mark consecrated property), or [Greek: ho deina anethêke
tê Aphroditê], "So-and-so dedicated me to Aphrodite." Fig. 14 gives
another example with a dedication to Apollo. At Penteskouphia, near
Corinth, a large series of painted tablets ([Greek: pinakes]), dating
from 600 to 550 B.C., with representations of Poseidon and dedicatory
inscriptions to that deity, were found in 1879. Votive offerings in
this latter form were common at all periods, and tablets painted with
figures and hung on trees or walls are often depicted on the vases,
usually in connexion with scenes representing sacrifices or offerings.
There is no doubt that vases (though not necessarily painted ones)
must have played a considerable part in the religious ceremonies of
the Greeks. We read of them in connexion with the Athenian festival of
the Anthesteria, and that of the gardens of Adonis. They were also
used in sacrifices, as shown on an early black-figured cup in the
British Museum and on a vase at Naples with a sacrifice to Dionysus.
In scenes of libation the use of the jug and bowl (_phiale_) is
invariable.
But their most important use, and that to which their preservation is
mainly due, was in connexion with funeral ceremonies. They were not
only employed at the burial, but were placed both outside the tombs
to receive offerings, and inside them either to hold the ashes of the
dead or as "tomb-furniture," in accordance with Greek religious
beliefs in regard to the future life. Several classes of vases are
marked out by their subjects as exclusively devoted to this purpose,
such as the large jars found in the Dipylon cemetery at Athens, which
were placed outside the tombs, the white Athenian _lekythoi_ of the
5th and 4th centuries B.C., and the large _krateres_ and other vases
of the 4th century B.C. found in the tombs of Apulia and other parts
of southern Italy. Their use as cinerary urns was perhaps more
restricted, at all events as regards the painted vases, though the
custom is well known and is referred to in literature from Homer
downwards. In "Mycenaean" times coffers ([Greek: larnakes]) of clay
were used for this purpose, especially in Crete, where fine painted
examples have been found; but of Greek pottery of the best periods
there are but isolated instances.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Part of vase from Naucratis with dedication
to Apollo.]
The diagrams in fig. 15 show the principal shapes characteristic of
Greek pottery in all but the earliest periods, when the variety of
form was as yet too great to permit of more than the vaguest
nomenclature; each form has its conventional name appended. These
shapes may be classified under the following heads: (1) Vases in which
food or liquids were preserved; (2) vases in which liquids were mixed
or food cooked; (3) those by means of which liquids were poured out or
food distributed; (4) drinking-cups; (5) other vases for the use of
the table or toilet. Thus we have the _pithos_ and _amphora_ for
storing wine, the _krater_ for mixing it, the _psykter_ for cooling
it, the _kyathos_ for ladling it out, and the _oinochoe_ or _prochoos_
for pouring it out; the _hydria_ was used for fetching water from the
well. The names and forms of drinking-cups are innumerable, the
principal being the _kylix_, _kotyle_, _kantharos_, _rhyton_
(drinking-horn) and _phiale_ (libation bowl). The _pyxis_ was used by
women at their toilet, and the _lekythos_, _alabastron_ and _askos_
for oil and unguents.
_Technical Processes_.--Though the Greeks succeeded in making pottery
of a very high order from the point of view of form and decoration,
the technical processes remained throughout of the most
elementary--for glaze was not used at all, the colour was of the
simplest, and the temperature at which the ware was fired was not high
enough to introduce any serious difficulties. As we should expect, it
is possible to trace a gradual improvement in the technical processes
in the direction of greater precision and refinement, for no
vase-painter of the best period could have achieved his decorative
triumphs on wares so coarse in substance and so rough in finish as
those that satisfied his predecessors. As in every other case
technical and artistic refinement went hand in hand. In the earliest
times the clay was used with very little preparation; at all events
before the introduction of the potter's wheel the finish is not to be
compared with that of the early races in Egypt. As the practice
developed no doubt, specially good clays were found in certain
districts, and these became centres of manufacture or the clays were
carried to other established centres. The primitive wares usually
exhibit the natural buff, yellow, grey or brownish colours of other
elementary pottery, and the surface is somewhat rough and possesses no
gloss. Thenceforward it becomes appreciably warmer in tone as it
becomes finer in texture, until it reaches its perfection in the
glowing orange, inclining to red, of the best Attic vases of the 5th
century B.C. In the vases of the later Italian centres the colour
again reverts to a paler hue.
The clay for the potter was doubtless prepared by a system of
sedimentation, so as to get rid of all coarse particles. It was mixed
with water and decanted into a series of vats so that ultimately fine
clay of two or three grades was obtained. Both red and whitish clays
were used, and the best potters gradually discovered that mixtures of
different clays gave the best results. The clay for the Athenian vases
was obtained from Cape Kolias in Attica; and as it did not burn to a
very warm tone, ruddle or red ochre (_rubrica_) was added to it to
produce the lovely deep orange glow that distinguishes the best vases.
Corinth, Cnidus, Samos and other places were also famous for their
clays, and at the first named tablets have been found bearing
representations of the digging of clay for pottery.
[FIG. 15.--Shapes of Greek Vases.]
The improved manipulation of the clays, and the increasing knowledge
that the colour of a clay could be modified by admixture of other
substances such as ruddle and ochre, really paved the way for what is
known as the glaze of the Greek painted vases. This delicate gloss, so
thin as to defy analysis, has been commonly called glaze, but it
cannot be a glaze in the sense of a separate coating of finely-ground
glass superimposed upon the clay. In all probability, as the Greek
potter used finer and finer clays and so was enabled to perfect his
shapes, he found that after a vase had been "thrown" he could get a
closer texture on it by dipping it in a slip of still finer clay
material and then smoothing it down and polishing it on the wheel when
sufficiently dry. But the mixtures he would use for such a purpose--of
very siliceous clay and ochre--would, when they were burnt in the
Greek kiln, not only fire to a beautifully bright colour, but also to
a glossy surface, especially where the flames had freely played about
them; and it is more in accordance with our knowledge to believe that
the exquisitely thin gloss of the finest Greek red vases was produced
in this way, for it seems impossible that it can have been a coating
of any special glaze.
In any case we may state broadly that the body of Greek vases is
always fine in grain, fired hard enough to give forth a dull metallic
sound when it is struck, but seldom fired above a temperature of about
900° C., which a modern potter would consider very low. When broken
the inside is generally found to be duller in colour, and is often
yellow or grey, even where the external surface is red. The material
is exceedingly porous, and allows water to ooze through it (another
proof that it was not glazed). Numerous analyses of the material of
Greek vases have been published, but they tell us nothing of the
secrets of the Greek potter. The results of a great number of these
analyses may be summed up as follows: silica, 52-60 parts; alumina,
13-19 parts; lime, 5-10 parts; magnesia, 1-3 parts; oxide of iron,
12-19 parts. Analyses of a thousand ordinary simple red burning clays
would give a similar result. It is to the glory of the Greek potter
that with such ordinary materials, by the exercise of selection,
patience and skill, he achieved the fine artistic results we see. He
did as much as can be done with natural clay materials, but the glory
of painted colour and glaze, like the later Persian or Chinese, was
not for him.
_Manufacture of Vases_.--The earliest Greek pottery is, like all
primitive pottery, hand-made. The introduction of the potter's wheel
into Greece was the subject of various ancient traditions, but we now
know that it can be easily traced by a study of the primitive pottery
of Crete, Cyprus or Troy. In Cyprus, for instance, the Bronze age
tombs of 2500-1500 B.C. contain only hand-made pottery, but in the
next period (1500-1000 B.C.) we find hand-made and coarse vases side
by side with a more developed kind of painted pottery--the
"Mycenaean"--obviously made on the wheel. It seems probable,
therefore, that the wheel was introduced into Greece about 1500 B.C.;
it was certainly known to Homer, as a familiar allusion shows (_Il._
xviii. 600). It was still a low circular table turned with the hand,
not the foot; representations of its use are seen on several vases of
the archaic period (fig. 16), and they further prove that the vase was
replaced on the wheel for the subsequent processes of painting,
polishing and adding separately modelled parts, as well as for the
original shaping or "throwing."
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Votive tablet from Corinth; a potter applying
painted bands while the vessel revolves on the wheel.]
The method of shaping the vase on the wheel, which is the same as that
still in use, need not be described in detail; the feet, necks, mouths
and handles were modelled separately or shaped in moulds, and attached
while the clay was moist, as is also indicated on a vase. Large and
coarse vases, such as wine casks ([Greek: pithoi]), were always
modelled by hand on a kind of hooped mould ([Greek: kannabos]).
Parts of vases were modelled by hand at all periods by way of
decoration. Even in the geometrical period we find horses modelled in
the round on the covers of vases and later on handles enriched with
moulded figures of serpents twining round them. Such embellishments
are frequently, if not always, deliberate imitations of metal forms,
but the plastic principle is one which obtained in Greek pottery from
the very first, as for instance in the primitive pottery of Troy, in
which the vases are often modelled in human or animal forms; and the
same principle is involved in the common practice of speaking of the
"neck," "shoulder" or "foot" of a vessel. In the best period the
practice of adding moulded ornaments or of modelling vases in natural
forms took a subsidiary place, but examples occur from time to time,
as in the beautiful _rhyta_ or drinking-horns of the red-figure period
(Plate II., fig. 58), or in smaller details such as are seen in
handles enriched with heads in relief, a favourite practice of the
potter Nicosthenes. In the 4th-century vases of southern Italy the
handles are often much ornamented in this fashion, as in the large
_krateres_, where they are adorned with masks in relief.
The system of moulding whole vases or ornamenting them with designs in
relief taken from moulds really belongs to the decadence of the art,
when imitations of metal were superseding the painted pottery. Even
then it is rare to find whole vases produced from a mould, except in
the case of those in the form of human figures or animals (Plate II.,
figs. 57 and 58), which almost come under the heading of terra-cotta
figures, except for the fact that they are usually painted in the
manner of the vases. But in southern Italy the tendency to imitate
metal led to the popularity of ornaments made separately from moulds
and attached or let in to vases otherwise plain. Vases of this period,
with reeded bodies, must also have been made from moulds, as were a
series of _phialae_ or libation-bowls associated with Cales in
Campania (Plate II., fig. 56), which are known to be direct imitations
of metal.
All or nearly all of these vases are covered with a plain black glaze
or varnish, and painted decoration is rare except in the case of those
moulded in special forms or of a certain class made in Apulia with
opaque colouring laid on the varnish. Some of these plain black vases
of the 4th century are ornamented with _stamped_ patterns made with a
metal punch impressed in the moist clay. This decoration is confined
to simple patterns.
After the vases had been made on the wheel they were dried in the sun
and lightly baked, after which they were ready for varnishing and
painting; it is also probable that the gloss was brought out by a
process of polishing, the surface of the clay being smoothed with a
piece of wood or hard leather. On a vase in Berlin a boy is seen
applying a tool of some kind to an unfinished cup, probably for this
purpose; the cup, being shown in red on the vase, has evidently not
been varnished. Many vases are varnished black all over the exterior
(whether decorated with designs or not) with the exception of the foot
and lip.
The process of baking was regarded as one of the most critical in the
potter's art. It was not indeed universal, as we read of sun-dried
vessels for utilitarian purposes, but all the vases that have come
down to us have been baked. The amount of heat required was regulated
by the character of the ware, but was not very high. Many examples
exist of discoloured vases which have been subjected to too much or
too little heat, the varnish having acquired a greenish or reddish
hue. Or again the red gloss is sometimes turned to an ashen-grey
colour, the black remaining unimpaired. Other accidents were liable to
occur in the baking, such as cracking under too great heat, or the
damaging of the shape by vases knocking against one another and so
being dented in or crushed. The form of the oven was of the simplest
(fig. 17). No furnaces have been found in Greece, and only one or two
in Italy, but we have a variety of evidence from vase-paintings. They
were fed by fires from beneath, and the vases were inserted with a
long shovel. They were heated with charcoal or wood fuel, and there
are representations of men poking or raking the fires with
long-handled implements. One vase-painting gives a bird's-eye view, in
horizontal section, of the interior of an oven full of jugs of various
forms. Others have more complete presentations of potteries, with men
engaged in the different processes of vase manufacture, modelling,
painting or supplying the kilns with newly-made wares.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Model of Kiln found in Essex.]
_The Painting of Vases_.--We may distinguish three principal classes
of painted pottery, of Which two admit of subdivision.
1. Primitive Greek vases with simple painted ornaments, chiefly
linear and geometrical, laid directly on the clay with the brush.
The colour employed is usually a yellowish or brownish red passing
into black. The execution varies, but is often extremely coarse.
2. Greek vases painted with figures. These may be subdivided as
follows:--
(a) Vases with figures in shining black on a red glossy ground.
(b) Vases with figures left in the glossy red on a ground of shining
black.
3. Vases with polychrome decoration.
(a) Vases of various dates with designs in outline or washes in
various colours on white ground (these range from the 6th to the 4th
century B.C.).
(b) Vases of various dates with designs in opaque colour laid over a
ground of shining black (ranging from the primitive period to the
3rd century B.C.).
Of these the second group is by far the largest and most important,
including the majority of the finest specimens of Greek
vase-painting, and the following account will deal mainly with the
technical processes by which the most successful results were
obtained. In both the classes (a) and (b) the colouring is almost
confined to a contrasting of the glossy red ground and shining black.
This black varnish (?) is particularly deep and lustrous, but varies
under different circumstances according to differences of locality, of
manufacture or accidents of production. It is seen in its greatest
perfection in the "Nolan" _amphorae_ of the earlier red-figure period,
at its worst in the Etruscan and Italian imitations of Greek vases.
The gradations of quality may be partly due to the action of heat,
i.e. stoving at a higher or lower temperature. It also varies in
thickness. At present no certainty has been attained as to its
composition--Brongniart's oft-quoted analysis cannot be accepted --nor
has any acid been found to have an effect upon it, though the chemical
action of the earth sometimes causes it to disappear.
The method of its use forms the chief distinction between the
black-figured and red-figured vases, but there is a class of the
former which approaches near in treatment to the latter, the whole
vase being covered with black except a framed panel which is left red
to receive the figures. It is obvious that the transition to merely
leaving the figures red is but a slight one. But in all black-figured
vases the main principle is that the figures are painted in black
silhouette on the red ground, the outlines being first roughly
indicated by a pointed instrument making a faint line. The surface
within these outlines being filled in with black, details of anatomy,
dress, &c., were brought out by incising inner lines with a pointed
tool. After a second baking or perhaps stoving had taken place, the
designs were further enriched by the application of opaque purple and
white pigments, which follow certain conventional principles in their
respective use. After a third baking at a lower heat still to fix
these colours the vase was complete.
In the red-figured vases the shining black is used as a background.
But before it is applied the outlines of the figures are indicated not
by incised lines, but by drawing a thick line of black round their
contours. Recent researches have attempted to show that the instrument
with which this was achieved may have been a feather brush or pen, by
which the lines were drawn separately, not concurrently. The other
tools used for painting would be an ordinary metal or reed pen and a
camel's-hair brush, or at any rate something analogous. Thus the
outlines of the figures were clearly marked, and the process is one of
drawing rather than painting, but it was in draughtsmanship that the
best vase-painters excelled. The next stage was to mark the inner
details by very fine black lines or by masses of black for surfaces
such as the hair; white and purple were also employed, but more
sparingly than on the earlier vases. The main processes always remain
the same down to the termination of vase-painting, though the tendency
to polychromy, which came in about the end of the 5th century B.C.,
effected some modifications. The blacking of the whole exterior
surface--a purely mechanical process--took place after the figures had
been completed and protected from accidents by the thick black border
of which we have spoken.
A fragment of an unfinished vase preserved in the Sèvres Museum gives
a very clear idea of the process just described, the figures being
completed, but the back ground not yet applied (fig. 18). There is
also another vase in existence which gives the interior of a
vase-painter's studio, in which three artists are at work with their
brushes, their paint-pots by their side.
[Illustration: (From a photo supplied by the Director of the Sèvres
Museum)
FIG. 18.--Fragment of unfinished red-figured vase]
In the class of vases (3 (a)), with polychrome figures on a white
ground, the essential feature is the white slip or _engobe_ with which
the naturally pale clay is covered. In the archaic vases of the 7th
and 6th centuries B.C., especially in the Ionian centres, as at
Rhodes, Naucratis and Cyrene, this slip is frequently employed, but
with this, difference, that the figures are painted in the ordinary
black-figure method, the only additional colour being purple laid on
the black. We first find polychrome decoration, whether in wash or
outline, in a small class of fragments from Naucratis, of the 6th
century B.C., which technically are of a very advanced character. The
colours used either for outline or wash include purple, brown, yellow,
crimson and rose-colour, but some, if not all, of these colours were
not fired.
In the 5th century this practice was revived at Athens, chiefly in the
class of _lekythoi_ or oil-flasks devoted exclusively to sepulchral
uses. Here the vases, after leaving the wheel and being fitted with
handles, &c., were covered with a coating of white clay. A second
coating of black was applied to the parts not required for decoration,
and the white was then finely polished, acquiring a dull gloss, and
finally fired at a low temperature. The decoration was achieved as
follows: a preliminary sketch was made with fine grey lines, ignoring
draperies, &c., and not always followed when the colours were laid on.
This was done when the first lines were dry, the colour being applied
with a fine brush in monochrome--black, yellow or red--following the
lines of the sketch. For the drapery and other details polychrome
washes were employed, laid on with a large brush. All varieties of red
from rose to brown are found, also violet, yellow, blue, black and
green. Hair is treated either in outline or by means of washes.
Finally, we have to deal with the class of vases (3 (b)) in which
opaque pigments are laid over the surface of the shining black with
which the whole vase is coated. This method is met with at three
distinct periods in the history of vase-painting, separated by long
distances of time.
We first find it in the earlier Cretan or Kamares ware, where it seems
to have been introduced not long after the close of the Neolithic
period, about 2500 B.C., and where it holds its own for about a
thousand years against the contrasted method of "dark on light"
painting, till it was finally ousted by the latter at the height of
"Mycenaean" civilization in Crete. The colouring is very varied,
orange, brown, pink and white being the principal tints employed.
The process appears again at the end of the 5th century in a small
class of Attic vases, which have been regarded as a sort of transition
between the black-figured and red-figured. White and orange-red are
here employed, sometimes with accessory details in purple and black
and incised lines, so that the technique is virtually black-figured,
though the appearance of the vases is often red-figured. Lastly, it
appears in southern Italy as a final effort of vase-painting to
flicker into life again about the end of the 3rd century. Some of
these vases were made in Campania, where the method resembles that of
the Attic class just described, others in Apulia, probably at Gnathia.
The latter have feeble conventional decoration in purple and white
with details in yellow, confined to one side of the vases, and are
also distinguished by the use of ornaments in relief. They were also
occasionally made in Greece proper.
Remarkably few colours were used by the Greek vase painters,
especially in the best periods. The deep purple used for accessory
details was produced from iron oxide, but the red used for lines on
the white _lekythoi_ is an ochre ([Greek: miltos], _rubrica_). The
white also used for accessories is an earth or clay; in the slip
coating of the white ground vases it assumes the consistency of
pipe-clay. Yellow, where used for details on the later vases, is an
ochre, and blue and green are produced from artificial compounds
containing copper. A number of the colours, such as blue, rose and
green, used by the polychrome painters, are obviously artificial
pigments which have not been fired. When gilding was employed it was
laid on over a raised ground of clay finely modelled with a small tool
or brush, and was attached by varnish, not by fire.
_Potters and Inscriptions_.--The potters who made these vases were
mostly--at least at Athens in the 6th and 5th centuries, B.C.--[Greek:
metoikoi], or resident aliens, as their names in many cases imply. We
have an Amasis (an Egyptian name), a Brygus (a Scythian), a Lydus and
a Scythes. The dialect of many of the inscriptions on Attic vases
seems to show foreign influence, though in other cases peculiarities
may be merely due to the use of a vernacular. They formed a gild or
fraternity, and in each pottery there was probably more or less
division of labour, the more simple processes being the work of
slaves. This seems to be implied in the vase-paintings representing
the interior of potteries. Others again "specialized" in different
shapes, and were known as [Greek: chutroplathoi], [Greek:
lêkuthopoioi], and so on.
Over a hundred names of artists are known, found on some five hundred
vases. They go back to about 700 B.C., the earliest names being found
on Corinthian and Boeotian vases; but the majority of the signatures
are found on Attic black- and red-figured wares. Some, such as
Andocides, made vases in which the two methods are combined. The best
known is Nicosthenes, whose signature occurs eighty times. The
ordinary forms of signature are four--(1) [Greek: ho deina epoiêsen];
(2) [Greek: ho deina hegrapsen ]; (3) [Greek: ho deina hegrapse kahi
epoiêsen]; (4) A [Greek: hegrapse]. B [Greek: epoiêsen]. Where [Greek:
epoiêse] alone occurs (as in a signature of Euxitheus), it probably
refers to the master of the pottery who designed the vase and
superintended its production; in other cases the share of the actual
artist is clearly indicated. Some artists, such as Duris and Makron,
sign [Greek: hegrapse] alone; in all cases, the form of signature
affords us a useful guide to their style.
Space forbids the discussion of other inscriptions found on vases,
which include those descriptive of subjects or persons, ejaculations
uttered by the figures, convivial exclamations, or the [Greek: kalos]
names discussed below; all these are painted on the designs
themselves. There is also another class of _graffiti_ inscriptions,
which includes those incised by the owners with their names and
memoranda scratched under the foot, probably made by the potter or his
workmen relating to the number of vases in a batch or "set" and their
price.
_Vitreous and Lead-glazed Wares_.--In Greek tombs a class of pottery
is often found which approximates, more in appearance to porcelain,
but, though often spoken of by that name, it is not porcelain at all,
but is analogous to the Egyptian glazed faience, of which it is in
point of fact an imitation. It is distinguished by the white gritty
material of which it is made, largely composed of sand, and forming
what is sometimes known as "frit" from its semi-vitreous consistency.
The surface is covered with a glaze, usually of a pale blue or cream
colour, but other colours such as a manganese-purple or brown are
sometimes found. Some of the earliest examples of this ware have been
found in Mycenaean tombs at Enkomi in Cyprus, in the form of vases
moulded in the shape of human or animal heads. These exhibit a
remarkably advanced skill in modelling, and are more like Greek work
of the 6th century B.C. Apart from the technique they have nothing in
common with the Egyptian importations so often found in Mycenaean
tombs.
In a subsequent period (8th-7th century B.C.) Egyptian objects in
faience became a common import into Greek cities, such as those of
Rhodes, and to a less degree in Sardinia and southern Italy, through
the commercial medium of the Phoenicians. Flasks of faience occur in
the Polledrara tomb at Vulci (610-600 B.C.) and similar vases with a
pale green glaze at Tharros in Sardinia in tombs of the same date. In
Rhodes, small flasks and jars are found ornamented with friezes of men
and animals in relief, or imitating in colour and design the glass
vessels of the Phoenicians. It also seems probable that the Greeks of
Rhodes and other centres attempted the imitation of this ware (see
fig. 19), for we find faience _aryballi_ or globular oil-flasks
modelled in the form of helmeted heads or animals, which are purely
Greek in style.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Enamelled pottery from tombs in Rhodes, made
under Egyptian influence.]
In the Hellenistic period the fashion was revived at Alexandria, and
under the Ptolemies large jugs of blue-enamelled faience with figures
in relief and bearing the names of reigning sovereigns were made and
exported to the Cyrenaica and to southern Italy. Two of these are in
the British Museum (Egyptian department). The same collection includes
a very beautiful glazed vase in the form of Eros riding on a duck,
found in a tomb at Tanagra, but undoubtedly of Alexandrine make, and a
head of a Ptolemaic queen, with a surface of bright blue glaze.
Subsequently in the 1st century B.C., this so-called porcelain ware
was replaced by a variety of ware characterized by a brilliantly
coloured glaze coating, in which the presence of lead is often
indicated. This ware was principally made at three centres; at Tarsus
in Asia Minor, at Alexandria and at Lezoux in central Gaul. But it was
probably also made in western Asia Minor and in Italy. It is not
confined to vases, being also employed for lamps and small figures;
the vases are usually of small size, in shapes imitated from metal
(Plate II., fig. 59). The colour of the glaze varies from a deep green
to bright yellow, and the inside of a vessel is often of a different
tint from the exterior. Many of these vases are decorated with figures
or designs in relief, others are quite plain. The colours of these
glazes are of course due to the addition of oxide of copper and oxide
of iron to a lead glaze, and they are strictly analogous to the green
and yellow glazes of medieval Europe.[7]
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF GREEK VASE-PAINTING.--It has been indicated in the
section dealing with technical processes that Greek vases may be
classified under four headings according to the character of the
decoration, and this classification may with a slight modification be
adopted as a chronological one, the history of the art falling under
four main heads, under which it will be convenient to describe its
development from the earliest specimens of painted pottery down to the
period when it was finally replaced by other methods of decoration.
These four classes and their main characteristics may be summarized as
follows:--
I. _Vases of the Primitive Period_ from about 2500 or 2000 to 600
B.C., including both the Cretan-Mycenaean epoch and the early ages of
historical Greece. In the former the pottery is either decorated in
polychrome on a shining black ground or conversely in shining black on
a buff ground; in the latter, the decoration is in brown or black
(usually dull, not shiny) on an unglazed ground varying from white to
pale red. In the former again the decoration is marked by its
naturalistic treatment of plant and animal forms; in the latter the
ornaments are chiefly linear, floral or figures of animals; human
figures and mythological scenes being very rare.
II. _Black-figured Vases_ from about 600-500 B.C.; figures painted in
shining black on a glossy ground varying from cream colour to bright
orange red, with engraved lines and white and purple for details;
subjects mainly from mythology and legend.
III. _Red-figured Vases_, from 520 to 400 B.C.; figures drawn in
outline on red clay and the background wholly filled in with shining
black, inner details indicated by painted lines or dashes of purple
and white, scenes from daily life or mythology. With these are
included the vases with polychrome figures on white ground. In these,
which are exclusively made at Athens, the perfection of vase-painting
is reached between 480 and 450 B.C.
IV. _Vases of the Decadence_, from 400 to 200 B.C.; mostly from
southern Italy, technique as in Class III., but the drawing is free
and often careless, and the general effect gaudy; subjects funereal,
theatrical and fanciful. At the end of this period vases are largely
replaced by plain shining black pottery modelled in various forms, or
with decorations in relief, all these being imitations of the metal
vases which began to take the place of painted wares in the estimation
of the Hellenistic world.
I. _Vases of the Primitive Period_.--It has been noted in the
introductory section that it is possible to trace the development of
pottery in Greece as far back as the Neolithic period, owing chiefly to
the light recently thrown on the subject by the excavations in Crete.
These have yielded large quantities of painted pottery of high technical
merit, usually with decoration in polychrome or white on a dark ground,
in what is known as the Kamares ware, covering the period 2500-1500 B.C.
(fig. 20). This was gradually superseded by painting in dark shining
pigments on a light glossy ground during the later Minoan period
(1500-1000 B.C.), forming what is known as the "Mycenaean" style. The
subjects, though chiefly confined to floral ornaments or aquatic plants
and creatures, are marvellously naturalistic yet decorative in their
treatment, often rivalling in this respect the pottery of the Far East.
In the latter part of this period this class of pottery was spread all
over the Mediterranean, and large quantities have been found in Greece,
especially at Mycenae, in Rhodes and other Greek islands, and in Cyprus,
where a series of vases with animals, monsters, and even human figures
shows what is probably the latest development of the pure Minoan or
Mycenaean style.
[Illustration: From _Annual of the British School at Athens_.
FIG. 20.--Minoan or "Kamares" ware, from Crete.]
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Primitive black pottery from the Troad.]
Outside Crete the earliest Greek pottery has been found in Cyprus and at
Troy, with simple incised or painted patterns on a black polished
ground, the vases being all hand-made, and often treated in a plastic
fashion with rude modelling of human or animal forms (figs. 21, 22);
these cover the period 2500-2000 B.C. Early painted pottery, parallel
with the Kamares ware, has been found in Thera and in the important
cemeteries of Phylakopi in Melos. But until the general spread of
Mycenaean civilization and art in the latter half of the second
millennium there is no site except Crete where a continuous and
successful development can be studied.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Primitive red pottery from the Troad.]
About the time which is represented in Greek tradition by the Dorian
invasion (1100 B.C.) the then decadent Mycenaean civilization was
replaced by a new one much more backward in development, making pottery
of a far simpler and more conventional type, the decoration being
largely confined to geometrical patterns to the exclusion of motives
derived from plant forms. This is usually known as the geometrical
style, and the pottery covers the period from about 1000 to 700 B.C. It
is found all over the mainland and islands of Greece, and exhibits a
certain development towards a more advanced stage. The patterns include
the chevron, the triangle, the key or maeander, and the circle, in
various combinations, painted in dull black on a brown ground. In most
places the art advanced no further, but in Boeotia, and still more at
Athens, we can trace the gradual growth of decorative skill, first in
the introduction of animals, and then in the appearance of the human
figure. In the Athenian cemetery outside the Dipylon gate a series of
colossal vases has come to light, on which are painted such subjects as
sea-fights and funeral processions. The human figures are exceedingly
rude and conventional, painted almost entirely in silhouette, but there
is a distinct striving after artistic effect in the composition and
arrangement. In Boeotia the vases do not advance beyond the animal
stage, and many exhibit a tendency to decadence in their carelessness,
as contrasted with the painstaking helplessness of the Athenian artists.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Vase with bands of animals, Oriental in style,
(British Museum.)]
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--Ionic amphora, with contest between Heracles
and Hera, and bands of birds and animals; black, with incised lines.]
In Ionia and the islands of the Aegean such as Rhodes, the art of
vase-painting from the first carried on the Mycenaean tradition, and was
distinguished by its naturalism and originality, and by the bold and
diverse effects produced by variety of colour or novelty of subject. The
ornamentation is at first elementary, consisting of friezes of animals,
especially lions, deer and goats (figs. 23 and 24). These figures stand
out sharply in black against the creamy buff ground which is
characteristic of nearly all Ionic pottery, and details are brought out
by means of engraved lines, patches of purplish iron pigment, or by
drawing parts of the figures, especially the heads, in outline on the
clay ground. Another feature is the general use of small ornaments such
as rosettes and crosses in great variety of form to cover the
background and avoid the vacant spaces which the Greek artist abhorred.
The system of decoration has been thought to owe much to Assyrian
textile fabrics.
One of the best though most advanced examples of early Ionic pottery is
a _pinax_ or plate from Rhodes in the British Museum, on which is
represented the combat of Menelaus and Hector over the body of Euphorbus
(fig. 25); their names are inscribed over the figures, and this is
almost the earliest known instance of a mythological subject, the date
of the painting being not later than 600 B.C. To a slightly later date
belongs another remarkable group of cups with figures on a white ground,
probably made at Cyrene in North Africa. Of these the most famous has a
painting in the interior, of Arcesilaus II., king of Cyrene from 580 to
550 B.C., weighing goods for export in a ship. Others have mythological
subjects, such as Zeus, Atlas and Prometheus, Cadmus and Pelops.
But these vases, though still retaining the older technique, really
belong to the second class, that of black-figured vases, and they belong
to a time when in all Ionian centres this method was being superseded by
the new technique which Corinth had introduced and Athens perfected, to
the consideration of which we must return.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--Early inscribed pinax from Rhodes, with contest
of Menelaus and Hector over the body of Euphorbus.]
For some 150 years Corinth almost monopolized the industry of pottery on
the west of the Aegean. Large numbers of examples have been found in or
near the city itself, many bearing inscriptions in the peculiar local
alphabet. They show a continuous progress from the simplest
ornamentation to fully-developed black-figured wares. In the earliest
(Plate I. fig. 52) oriental influence is very marked, the surface being
so covered with the figures and patterns that the background disappears
and the designs are at times almost unintelligible. The general effect
is thus that of a rich oriental tapestry, and the subjects are largely
chosen from the fantastic and monstrous creations of Assyrian art, such
as the sphinx and gryphon. The vases are mostly small, the ground varies
from cream to yellow, and the figures are painted in black and purple.
Both in Ionia and at Corinth during the early part of the 6th century
the same tendencies are seen to be at work, tending to a unification of
styles under the growing influence of Athens. In Ionia (see above)
figure subjects become more common, and the technique approaches
gradually nearer to the black-figure method. Similarly at Corinth the
ground ornaments diminish and disappear, the friezes of animals are
restricted to the borders of the designs, and human figures are
introduced, first singly, then in friezes or groups, and finally engaged
in some definite action such as combats or hunting scenes. In the last
stages Greek myths and legends are freely employed. A new development,
traditionally associated with the painter Eumarus of Athens, was the
distinguishing of female figures by the use of white for flesh tints. A
somewhat similar development was in progress at Athens, though
represented by comparatively few vases. Here the adoption of Corinthian
and Ionian technical improvements evolved by the middle of the 6th
century the fully developed black-figure style which by degrees
supplanted or assimilated all other schools.
II. _Black-figured Vases_.--At the head of this new development stands
the famous Francois vase at Florence, found at Chiusi in 1844 (Plate I.
fig. 53). Its shape is that of a _krater_ or mixing-bowl, and it bears
the signatures of its maker and decorator in the form "Ergotimos made
me, Klitias painted me." It might be described as a Greek mythology in
miniature, with its numerous subjects and groups of figures all from
legendary sources such as the stories of Peleus, Theseus and Meleager,
or the return of Hephaestus to heaven. All the figures have their names
inscribed.
The general technique of the black-figured vases has already been
described. It may be noted as a chronological guide that the use of
purple for details is much commoner in the earlier vases, white in the
later, but towards the end of the century when the new fashion of red
figures was gaining ground, both colours were almost entirely dropped.
The drawing of the figures is, as might be expected, somewhat stiff and
conventional, though it advanced considerably in freedom before the
style went out of fashion. Many vases, otherwise carefully and
delicately executed, are marred by an excess of mannerism and
affectation, as in the works of the artists Amasis and Exekias (Plate I.
fig. 54). The treatment of drapery is a good indication of date, ranging
from flat masses of colour to oblique flowing lines of angular falling
folds.
The shapes most commonly employed by the Athenian potters of this period
are the _amphora, hydria, kylix, oinochoe_ and _lekythos,_ the
first-named being the most popular. A special class of _amphorae_ is
formed by the Panathenaic vases, which were given as prizes in the
Athenian games, and were adorned with a figure of the patron goddess
Athena on one side and a representation of the contest in which they
were won on the other (fig. 26). They usually bear the inscription
[Greek: tôn Athênêthen athlôn eimiruv] "I am (a prize) from the games at
Athens." Some of these can be dated by the names of Athenian archons
which they bear, as late as the 4th century, the old method of painting
in black figures with a stiff conventional pose for the goddess being
retained for religious reasons.
FIG. 26.--Panathenaic amphora.
The chief interest of the black-figured vases is really derived from
their subjects, which range over every conceivable field, the proportion
of myth and legend to scenes from daily life being much greater than in
the succeeding period. They include groups of Olympian and other
deities, and the various scenes in which they take part, such as the
battle of the gods and giants, or the birth of Athena (treated in a very
conventional manner, as on a fine _amphora_ in the British Museum);
Dionysus and his attendant satyrs and maenads, the labours and exploits
of Heracles and other heroes, subjects taken from the tale of Troy and
other less familiar legends; and scenes from daily life, battle scenes,
athletics, the chase and so on. The same classification of course holds
good for the later periods of vase-painting, with some exceptions. The
proportion of genre-scenes subsequently becomes greater, and some myths
disappear, others rise into prominence, new deities such as Eros
(Love), and Nik[=e] (Victory) appear for the first time, and, generally
speaking, the later subjects are characterized by a sentimentality or
tendency to emotion which is entirely foreign to the conventional
stereotyped compositions of the 6th century artist.
A remarkable feature of the subjects on black-figured vases is that a
stereotyped form of composition is invariably adopted at least for the
principal figures, but minor variations are generally to be found, as,
for instance, in the number of bystanders; and it is almost an
impossibility to find any two vase-paintings which are exact duplicates.
The form of the composition, was partly determined by the field
available for the design; when this took the form of a long frieze the
space was filled up with a series of spectators or the repetition of
typical groups, but when the design is on a framed panel or confined by
ornamental borders the method of treatment is adapted from that of a
sculptured metope, and the figures limited to two or three. In many
cases it is difficult to decide, in the absence of inscriptions, whether
or no a scene has mythological signification; the mythological types are
over and over again adopted for scenes of ordinary life, even to the
divine attributes or poses of certain figures.
[Illustration: Vase by Andocides. Black figures on obverse.
Vase by Andocides. Red figures on reverse.
FIG. 27.]
Among the artists of the period who have left their names on the vases,
besides those already mentioned, the most conspicuous is Nicosthenes, a
potter of some originality, from whose hand we have over seventy
examples, a few being in the red-figure method. He is supposed to have
introduced at Athens a revival of the Ionic fashion of painting on a
cream-coloured ground instead of on red, of which some very effective
examples have been preserved. He was always a potter rather than a
painter, and most of his vases are remarkable for their
forms--introducing plastic imitations of metal vases--rather than for
their painted decoration. Most of the artists of this period, as in the
succeeding one, have left their signatures on cups (_kylikes_), but this
form did not receive so much attention from the painter as at a later
period, and many of these examples bear only inscriptions and no painted
decoration.
III. _Red-figured Vases._--The sudden reversal of technical method
involved in the change from black figures on a red ground to red figures
on black is not at first sight easy of explanation. Some artists, like
Nicosthenes and Andocides, used both methods, sometimes on the same
vase, and there is no doubt that the two went on for some years
concurrently. As, however, no intermediate stage is possible, there is
no question of development or transition. The new style was in fact a
bold and ingenious innovation. It may possibly have been suggested by a
small class of vases in which the figures are painted in the
black-figure _method_, but have the converse appearance, that is to say
they are painted in a thick red pigment on a ground of shining black. It
may therefore have occurred to the artist that he could obtain the same
effect merely by leaving the figures unpainted on the red clay and
surrounding them with the black. The change, must, however, be closely
associated with the career of the artist Andocides, who not only
produced vases in each method, but also several in which the two are
combined (fig. 27). In two or three cases the subject is actually the
same on each side, almost every detail being repeated, except that the
colouring is reversed.
The date at which the change took place was formerly placed well on in
the 5th century, on account of the great advance in drawing which most
of the red-figured vases show, as compared with the black. They were
thus regarded as contemporary with the painter Polygnotus, if not with
Pheidias. But the excavations on the Acropolis of Athens yielded so many
fragments in the advanced red-figured style which must be earlier than
480 B.C., that it has become necessary to find an earlier date for its
appearance. This is now usually placed at about 520 B.C., overlapping
with the preceding period.
The red-figure period is usually subdivided into four, marking the chief
stages of development, and known respectively as the "severe," "strong,"
"fine," and "late fine" periods. Their principal characteristics and
representative painters may be briefly enumerated.
In the _severe_ period there is no marked advance on the black-figured
vases as regards style. The figures are still more or less stiff and
conventional, and some vases even show signs of an analogous decadence.
The real development is partly technical, partly in the introduction of
new subjects. Although the change of style probably had its actual
origin in the _amphora_, as treated by Andocides, the new developments
are best seen in the _kylix_, a form of vase which now sprang into
popularity and called forth the chief efforts of the principal artists.
Its curved surface gave ample scope for skilful effects of drawing and
decorative arrangement, and the earlier painters devoted all their
attention to perfecting it as a work of decorative art. For other
shapes, such as the _hydria_, and _lekythos_, the old method was for a
time preferred.
The most typical artist of the period was Epictetus, and other famous
cup-painters were Pamphaeus, Cachrylion and Phintias. The earliest cups
are decorated in a quite simple fashion like those of the black-figure
period, often with a single figure each side between two large
"symbolical" eyes, and a single figure in a circle in the interior. To
the latter the artist at first devoted his chief efforts, though even
here his scope was at first limited. But although he had not yet
attained to skill in composition, he did discover that the circular
space was well adapted for exhibiting his newly-acquired abilities as a
draughtsman and for disposing figures in ingeniously conceived
attitudes. In all cases the object was to fill the space as far as
possible, a characteristic of all the best Greek art. By degrees more
attention was paid to the designs on the exterior, and the single
figures were replaced by groups, but regular compositions in the form of
friezes telling some story were not introduced until quite the end of
this period. Epictetus was throughout his career a thoroughly "archaic"
artist, but a considerable advance was made by Cachrylion, who stands
on the verge of the succeeding stage.
The _strong_ period centres round the name of Euphronius, the author of
a really great artistic movement. His capacity for inventing new
subjects or new poses--or otherwise overcoming technical and artistic
difficulties--marks a great advance on all previous achievements, and he
seems to represent the stage of development traditionally associated
with the painter Cimon of Cleonae, the inventor of foreshortening and
other novelties. Thus figures were no longer represented exclusively in
profile, as in the black-figured vases which had made no advance beyond
the conventions of Egyptian art. Ten vases signed by him are in
existence (though it is not certain that all were actually painted by
him), most of them having mythological subjects (fig. 28).
[Illustration: FIG. 28.--Cup by Euphronius.]
Of his contemporaries, Duris, Hieron and Brygus take foremost rank, all
three being, like Euphronius, essentially cup-painters, though they use
other forms at times. For decorative effect and beauty of composition
their vases have never been surpassed. As an example we may quote a
_kotyle_ or beaker in the British Museum signed by Hieron, with a group
of Eleusinian deities. The larger vases of this period are more rarely
signed, but many of them rival the cups in execution, though the
subjects are characterized by greater simplicity and largeness of style.
[Illustration: FIG. 29.--Hydria by Meidias in the style of Polygnotus.]
In _the fine_ style (460-440 B.C.) breadth of effect and dignity are
aimed at, and although cup-painting had passed its zenith, and signed
specimens become rarer, yet, considering the red-figured vases as a
whole, this period exhibits the perfection of technique and drawing. In
many of the larger vases the scenes are of a pictorial character,
landscape being introduced, with figures ranged at different levels, and
herein we may see a reflection of the style of the painter Polygnotus.
One of the finest cups in this style is in the Berlin Museum, it is
signed by the artists Erginus and Aristophanes, and the subject is the
battle of the gods and giants. To the end of the period belongs a
beautiful _hydria_ in the British Museum by the painter Meidias with
subjects from Greek legend in two friezes (fig. 29). Generally speaking,
there is a reaction in favour of mythological subjects.
In the _late fine_ style, which begins about 440 B.C., the pictorial
effect is preserved, but with perfected skill in drawing the
compositions deteriorate greatly in merit, and become at once
over-refined and careless. The figures are crowded together without
meaning or interest. The fashion also arose of enhancing the designs by
means of accessory colours--almost unknown in the previous stages--such
as white laid on in masses, blue and green, and even with gilding.
Athletic and mythological subjects yield place to scenes from the life
of women and children or meaningless groups of figures (fig. 30).
A good example of this style is an _amphora_ from Rhodes with the
subject of Peleus wooing Thetis, in which polychrome colouring and
gilding are introduced. There are also many imposing and elaborate
specimens found (and perhaps made) in the colonies of the Crimea and the
Cyrenaica; in particular one signed by Xenophantus with the Persian king
hunting, and another representing the contest of Athena and Poseidon for
the soil of Attica, both from the Crimea.
Contemporary with the red-figure method is one in which the figures are
painted on a white slip or _engobe_ resembling pipe-clay, with which the
whole surface was covered; the figures are drawn in outline in red or
black, and partly filled in with washes of colour, chiefly red, purplish
red, or brown, but sometimes also with blue or green. This style seems
to have been popular about the middle of the 5th century B.C. and was
employed for the funeral _lekythoi_ which came into fashion at Athens
about that time. These vases, which form a class by themselves, were
made specially for funeral ceremonies and were painted with subjects
relating to the tomb, such as the laying-out of the corpse on the bier,
the ferrying of the dead over the Styx by Charon, or (most frequently)
mourners bringing offerings to the tomb (fig. 31). They continued to be
made well on into the 4th century, but the later examples are very
degenerate and careless.
Of other forms, especially the _kylix_ and the _pyxis_ (toilet-box),
some exceedingly beautiful specimens have come down to us, which show a
delicacy of drawing and firmness of touch never surpassed, although the
lines were probably only drawn with a brush. The technique of these
vases may reflect the methods of the painter Polygnotus and his
contemporaries, who used a limited number of colours on a white ground.
Among them no finer specimen exists than the cup in the British Museum
with Aphrodite riding on a goose; the design is entirely in brown
outlines, and the drawing, if slightly archaic, full of grace and
refinement.
[Illustration: FIG. 30.--Painting from a small toilet-box or pyxis,
showing painted vases used to decorate a lady's room. On the left is a
gilt pyxis with a tall lid, and an oenochoe on a low table; on the right
two tall vases (lebes) on a plinth. All except the pyxis are decorated
with painted figures, and contain flowers.]
In the subjects on red-figured vases we do not find the same variety of
choice as on the black-figured, but on the other hand there is
infinitely greater freedom of treatment. The stereotyped form of
composition is almost entirely discarded, and each painter forms his own
conception of his subject. The class of slim _amphorae_, known as
"Nolan" from the place where they were mostly found, are distinguished
by having the design limited to one or at most two figures on each side,
often on a large scale; these vases are also famous for the marvellous
brilliance of their shining black (fig. 32).
Towards the middle of the 5th century the patriotism of the Athenian
artist finds expression in the growing importance which he attaches to
local legends, especially those of Theseus, the typical Attic hero. He
seems to have been regarded as the typical Athenian athlete or
_ephebus_, and his contests as analogous to episodes of the gymnasium.
Hence the grouping on some vases of scenes from his labours are like so
many groups of athletes (fig. 33), and hence, too, a general tendency of
the red-figured vases, especially the cups, to become a sort of
glorification of the Attic _ephebus_, the representations of whom in all
sorts of occupations are out of all proportion to other subjects.
[Illustration: FIG. 31.--Funeral lekythos showing vases placed inside
tomb.]
We find evidence of this, too, in another form. Many vases, especially
the cups of the "severe" and "strong" periods, bear names of persons
inscribed on the designs with the word [Greek: kalos], "fair" or
"noble," attached; sometimes merely, "the boy is fair." The exact
meaning of this practice has been much discussed, but evidence seems to
show that the persons celebrated must have been quite young at the time,
and were probably youths famous for their beauty or athletic prowess.
Some of the names are those of historical characters, such as
Hipparchus, Miltiades or Alcibiades, and, though they cannot always be
identified with these celebrated personages, enough evidence has been
obtained to be of great value for the chronology of the vases, Further,
the practice of the vase-painter of adopting his own particular
favourite name or set of names has enabled us to increase our knowledge
of the characteristics of individual artists by identifying unsigned
vases with the work of particular schools.
IV. _Vases of the Decadence_.--For all practical purposes the red-figure
style at Athens came to an end with the fall of the city in 404 B.C.
Painted vases did not then altogether cease to be made, as the
Panathenaic prize vases and the funeral _lekythoi_ testify, but at the
same time a rapid decadence set in. The whole tendency of the 4th
century B.C. in Greece was one of decentralization, and the art of
vase-painting was no exception, for we find that there must have been a
general migration of craftsmen from Athens, not only to the Crimea and
to North Africa, but also to southern Italy, which now becomes the chief
centre of vase production. Here there were many rich and flourishing
Greek colonies or Grecianized towns, such as Tarentum, Paestum and
Capua, ready to welcome the new art as an addition to their many
luxuries. In the character of the vases of this period we see their
tendencies reflected, especially in their splendid or showy aspect; the
only aim being size and gaudy colouring.
The general method of painting remains that of the Athenian red-figure
vases, but with entire loss of simplicity or refinement, either in the
ornamentation, the choice of colours, or the drawing of the figures.
Large masses of white are invariably employed, especially for the flesh
of women or of Eros, the universally present god of Love, and for
architectural details. Yellow is introduced for details of hair or
features, and in attempts at shading, nor is a dull iron-purple
uncommon. The reverses of the vases, when they have subjects, are devoid
of all accessory colouring, and the figures are drawn with the greatest
carelessness, as if not intended to be seen. There is throughout a
lavish use of ornamental patterns such as palmettes, wreaths of leaves,
or ornaments strewn over the field (a reversion to an old practice).
[Illustration: FIG. 32.--"Nolan" amphora by Euxitheus (c. 450 B.C.),
figure of Briseis; the other side has Achilles.]
The drawing, having now become entirely free, errs in the opposite
extreme; the forms are soft and the male figures often effeminate. The
fanciful and richly-embroidered draperies of the figures and the
frequent architectural settings seem to indicate that theatrical
representations exercised much influence on the vase-painters. The great
painters of the 4th century may also have contributed their share of
inspiration, but rather perhaps in the subjects chosen than in regard to
style; though the effect of many scenes on the larger vases is decidedly
pictorial, they are chiefly remarkable for their emotional and dramatic
themes.
The influence of the stage is twofold, for tragedy as well as comedy
plays its part. Many subjects are taken directly, others indirectly,
from the plays of Euripides, such as the _Medea_, _Hecuba_ (Plate II.
fig. 60), or _Hercules Furens_, and the arrangement of the scenes is
essentially theatrical. The influence of comedy is seen in subjects
derived from the _phlyakes_, a kind of farce or burlesque popular in
southern Italy, and here again the setting is adapted from the stage,
some vases having parodies of myths, others comic scenes of daily life.
Many vases of this period, especially those of large size, were
expressly designed for funeral purposes. Some of these bear
representations of the underworld, with groups of figures undergoing
punishment. On others shrines or tombs are depicted--sometimes
containing effigies of the deceased, at which the relatives make
offerings--as on the Athenian _lekythoi_. But by far the greater portion
of the subjects are taken from daily life, many of these being of a
purely fanciful and meaningless character like the designs on Sèvres or
Meissen china; the commonest type is that of a young man and a woman
exchanging presents, the presence of Eros implying that they are scenes
of courtship.
The vases of this period are usually grouped in three or four different
types, corresponding to the ancient districts of Lucania, Campania and
Apulia, each with its special features of technique, drawing and
subjects. In Lucanian vases the drawing is bold and restrained, more
akin to that of the Attic vases; in Campania a fondness for polychromy
is combined with careless execution. In Apulia a tendency to
magnificence exemplified in the great funeral and theatrical vases is
followed by a period of decadence characterized by small vases of
fantastic form with purely decorative subjects. Besides these we have
the school of Paestum, represented by two artists who have left their
names on their vases, Assteas and Python. A well-known example of the
work of the former is a _krater_ in Madrid with Heracles destroying his
children, a theatrical and quasi-grotesque composition, and there is a
fine example of Python's work in a _krater_ in the British Museum, with
Alkmena, the mother of Heracles, placed on the funeral pyre by her
husband Amphitryon, and rain-nymphs quenching the flames (Plate I. fig.
55).
[Illustration: FIG. 33.--Cup with exploits of Theseus.]
About the end of the 3rd century B.C. the manufacture of painted vases
would seem to have been rapidly dying out in Italy, as had long been the
case elsewhere, and their place is taken by unpainted vases modelled in
the form of animals and human figures, or ornamented with stamped and
moulded reliefs. These in their turn gave way to the Arretine and
so-called "Samian" red wares of the Roman period. In all these wares we
see a tendency to the imitation of metal vases, which, with the growth
of luxury in the Hellenistic age, had entirely replaced painted pottery
both for use and ornament; the pottery of the period is reduced to a
subordinate and utilitarian position, merely supplying the demands of
those in the humbler spheres of life.
_Collections_.--The majority of the painted vases now in existence are
to be found in the various public museums and collections of Europe,
of which the largest and most important are the British Museum, the
Louvre and the Berlin Museum. Next to these come the collections at
Athens, Naples, Munich, Vienna, Rome and St Petersburg; isolated
specimens of importance are to be found in other museums, as at
Florence, Madrid or the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. Most of the
great private collections of the two preceding centuries have now been
dispersed. In recent years the Boston Museum has raised America to a
level with Europe in this respect; and the Metropolitan Museum at New
York contains a vast collection of Cypriote pottery.
LITERATURE.--Important original articles are to be found in various
archaeological journals such as _American Journal of Archaeology_
(1885, &c); _Annual of the British School at Athens_ (1894, &c.);
_Athenische Mitteilungen_ (1876, &c.); _Bulletin de correspondance
hellénique_ (1877, &c.); _Comptes rendus de la commission impériale
archéologique_ (St Petersburg, 1859-1888); _Gazette archéologique_
(Paris, 1875-1889); _Jahrbuch des kaiserlichen deutschen
archäologischen Instituts, Berlin_ (1886, &c.); _Journal of Hellenic
Studies_ (1880, &c.); _Monumenti antichi_ (Milan, 1890, &c.);
_Monuments grecs_ (Paris, 1872-1898); _Monuments Piot_ (Paris, 1894,
&c.); _Revue archéologique_ (Paris, 1844, &c.). The older works have
been recently superseded by important publications embodying the
latest views such as Hartwig, _Die griechischen Meisterschalen des
strengen rotfigurigen Stils_ (1893); Louvre, _Catalogue des vases
antiques de terre cuite_, by E. Pottier (1896, &c.); S. Reinach,
_Répertoire des vases peints_ (Paris, 1899-1900); H. B. Walters,
_History of Ancient Pottery_ (Greek, Etruscan and Roman), 1905, with
an excellent bibliographical list; also art. "Hischylos" in _J.H.S._
xxix. (1909) p. 103.
ETRUSCAN POTTERY--Parallel with the development of the art of pottery in
Greece runs the course of the art in Etruria, though with far inferior
results; in its later stages it is actually no more than a feeble
imitation of the Greek. The period of time which we must consider
extends from the Bronze age (1000 B.C. or earlier) down to the 3rd
century B.C., when Etruscan civilization was merged into Roman.
The earliest civilization traced in Italy is not, strictly speaking,
Etruscan, but may perhaps be more accurately styled "Umbrian." It is
usually referred to as the "Terramare" period from the remains
discovered in that district in the basin of the Po. These people were
lake-dwellers, barely removed from the Neolithic stage of culture, and
their pottery was of the rudest kind, hand-made and roughly baked. Cups
and pots have been found sometimes with simple decoration in the form of
knobs or bosses, and many have a crescent-shaped handle serving as a
support for the thumb.
The next period, the earliest which can be spoken of as "Etruscan," is
known as the "Villanova" period, from a site of that name near Bologna,
or as the period of pit-tombs (_a pozzo_), from the form of the graves
in which the pottery has been found (see VILLANOVA). It begins with the
9th century B.C. and lasts for about two hundred years. The pit-tombs
usually contain large cinerary urns or _ossuaria_ (containing the ashes
of the dead), fashioned by hand from a badly-levigated volcanic clay
known as _impasto Italico_. These vessels were irregularly baked in an
open fire, and the colour of the surface varies from red-brown to
greyish black. They appear to have been covered with a polished slip,
intended to give the vases a metallic appearance. The shape of the urns
is peculiar, but uniform; they have a small handle at the widest part
and a cover in the form of an inverted bowl with handle (Plate III. fig.
63). Their ornamentation consists of incised or stamped geometrical
ornaments formed in the moist clay in bands round the neck and body;
more rarely patterns painted in white are found. Common pottery is also
found showing little advance on that of the Terramare period except in
variety of decoration. The technique and ornament are the same as in the
case of the urns. They correspond in development, though not in date, to
the early pottery of Troy and Cyprus, as well as to the primitive
pottery of other races, but one marked difference is the general
fondness of the Italian potter for vases with handles.
Sometimes the cinerary urns take the form of huts (_tuguria_), though
these are more often found in the neighbourhood of Rome. One of the best
examples is in the British Museum; it still contains ashes which were
inserted through a little door secured by a cord passing through rings.
The ornamentation suggests the rude carpentry of a primitive hut, the
cover or roof being vaulted with raised ridges to represent the beams.
The surface is polished, and other specimens are occasionally painted
with patterns in white.
In the next stage a change is seen in the form of the tombs, the pit
being replaced by a trench; this is accordingly known as the
"trench-tomb" or _a fossa_ period, and extends from the 8th century B.C.
to the beginning of the 6th. Importations of Greek pottery now first
make their appearance. The character of the local pottery actually
remains for some time the same as that of the preceding period, but it
improves in technique. By degrees an improvement in the forms is also
noted, and new varieties of ornamentation are introduced; there is,
however, no evidence that the wheel was used.
Two entirely new classes of pottery are found at Cervetri (Caere)
belonging to the 7th century. One consists of large jars ([Greek:
pithoi]) of red ware, the lower part being moulded in ribs, while the
upper has bands of design stamped round it in groups or friezes. These
designs were either produced from single stamps or rolled out from
cylinders like those used in Babylonia. The subjects are usually
quasi-oriental in character, and it is not certain that this ware was
made in Etruria, especially as similar vases have been found in Rhodes
and Sicily; either it was imported, or it was a local imitation of Greek
models.
The other class is similar as regards the shapes and the nature of the
clay, but is distinguished by having painted subjects in white outlines
on a red glossy ground. The clay, a kind of _impasto Italico_, was first
hardened by baking, and then a mixture of wax, resin and iron oxide was
applied and polished; on this the pigments, a mixture of chalk and
earth, were laid. The subjects are from Greek mythology or are at least
Greek in character, but the technique is purely Etruscan, and the
drawing is crude and un-Greek in the extreme.
The fourth period shows a close continuity with the third; but the
difference is defined firstly by the appearance of a new type of tomb in
the form of a chamber (_a camera_), secondly, by the all-pervading
influence of oriental art, and to a less extent of that of the Greeks.
The period extends from about 650 to 550 B.C., and is further marked by
the general introduction of the wheel into Etruria and by the appearance
of inscriptions in an alphabet derived from western Greece. In the
earlier tombs the typical local pottery is of hand-made _impasto
Italico_ resembling that of the previous periods; in the later we find
what is known as _bucchero_ ware--the national pottery of Etruria--which
is made on the wheel and baked in a furnace, and shows a marked tendency
to imitate metal.
To this period also belongs the famous Polledrara tomb or Grotto d'lside
at Vulci, the contents of which are now in the British Museum and
include some remarkable specimens of pottery. It dates from about
620-610 B.C. The most remarkable of the vases is a _hydria_, of
reddish-brown clay covered with a lustrous black slip on which have been
painted designs in red, blue and a yellowish white. The colours have
unfortunately now almost disappeared, and it is doubtful if they had
been fired. The principal subject is from the story of Theseus and
Ariadne. This tomb also contained a large wheel-made _pithos_ of red
_impasto_ ware with designs painted in polychrome. In the
Regulini-Galassi tomb at Cervetri (about 650 B.C.) large cauldrons of
red glossy ware were found, with gryphons' heads projecting all round,
to which chains were attached. A similar cauldron from Falerii on a high
open-work stand is now in the British Museum.
We now come to the _bucchero_ ware, which is characteristic of the later
portion of this period, though the earliest examples go back to the end
of the 7th century. Its main feature is the black paste of which it is
composed, covered with a more or less shining black slip. Modern
experiments seem to indicate that the clay was smoked or fumigated in a
closed chamber after baking, becoming thereby blackened throughout, and
the surface was then polished with wax and resin. Analyses of the ware
have proved that it contains carbon and that it had been lightly fired.
The oldest _bucchero_ vases are small and hand-made, sometimes with
incised geometrical patterns engraved with a sharp tool like metal-work.
Oriental influence then appears in a series of chalice-shaped cups found
at Cervetri with friezes of animals. From about 560 B.C. onwards the
vases are all wheel-made, with ornaments in relief either stamped from a
cylinder or composed of separate medallions attached to the vase. The
subjects range from animals or monsters to winged deities or suppliants
making offerings (fig. 34); in other cases we find meaningless groups of
figures or plant forms. These types are found chiefly in southern
Etruria, but at Chiusi (_Clusium_) a more elaborate variety found favour
from about 500 to 300 B.C. The shapes are very varied and the ornament
covers the vase from top to bottom, the covers of the vases being also
frequently modelled in various forms. The figures are stamped from
moulds, incised designs being added to fill up the spaces. The range of
subjects is much widened, including scenes from Greek mythology and
oriental types combining Egyptian and Assyrian motives, which must have
been introduced by the Phoenicians.
[Illustration: FIG. 34.--Etruscan oinochoe, of black bucchero ware, with
figures in relief. (British Museum.)]
Thus the technique of the _bucchero_ wares is purely native, but the
decoration is entirely dependent on foreign types whether Greek or
oriental, and throughout the whole series the tendency to imitate
metal-work is to be observed in every detail, both in the forms and in
the methods of decoration. Some are mere counterparts of existing work
in bronze.
The last variety of peculiarly Etruscan pottery which calls for notice
is the Canopic jar, so called from its resemblance to the [Greek:
kanôpoi] in which the Egyptians placed the bowels of their mummies. They
are rude representations of the human figure, the head forming the
cover, and in the tombs were placed on round chairs of wood, bronze or
terra-cotta. An example of such a jar on a bronze-plated chair may be
seen in the Etruscan Room of the British Museum (Plate III. fig. 65).
Their origin has been traced to the funeral masks found in the earliest
Etruscan tombs. From these a gradual transition may be observed from the
mask (1) placed on the corpse, (2) on the cinerary urn, (3) the head
modelled in the round and combined with the vase, and (4) at last the
complete human figure. The earliest of these jars are found in the
"pit-tombs" of the 8th century B.C., and the latest and most developed
types belong to the 5th century B.C.
The skill shown by the Etruscans in metal-work and gem-engraving never
extended to their pottery, which is always purely imitative, especially
when they attempted painted vases after the Greek fashion. The kinds
already described are all more or less plastic in character and
imitative of metal, except in the case of the Cervetri and Polledrara
finds, which have little in common with anything Greek, and exhibit a
quite undeveloped art. But towards the end of the 6th century B.C., when
Greek vases were coming into the country in large numbers, attempts were
made to imitate the black-figure style, especially of a particular
class of Ionian vases. Imitations of these are to be found in most
museums and may be readily recognized as Etruscan from peculiarities of
style, drawing and subject, as well as their inferior technique (fig.
35).
[Illustration: FIG. 35.--Etruscan Amphora imitating Greek style; parting
scene of Alcestis and Admetus, with Etruscan inscriptions.]
At a later date (4th-3rd century B.C.) they began to copy red-figured
vases with similarly unsuccessful results. With the exception of a small
class of a somewhat ambitious character made at Falerii (Civita
Castellana), of which there is a good example in the British Museum with
the subject of the infant Heracles strangling the serpents, they are all
marked by their inferior material and finish and their bizarre
decoration. The style is often repulsive and disagreeable, as well as
ineffective, and the grim Etruscan deities, such as Charun, are
generally introduced. Some of these vases have painted inscriptions in
the Etruscan alphabet. The latest specimens positively degenerate into
barbarism.
Painted vases of native manufacture are also found in the extreme south
of Italy and have been attributed to the indigenous races of the
Peucetians and Messapians; their decoration is partly geometrical,
partly in conventional plant forms, and is the result of natural
development rather than of imitation of Greek types. Some of the shapes
are characteristic, especially a large four-handled _krater_. They cover
the period 600-450 B.C., after which they were ousted by the
Graeco-Italian productions we have already described.
ROMAN POTTERY.--Roman vases are far inferior to Greek; the shapes are
less artistic, and the decoration, though sometimes not without merits
of its own, owes most of its success to the imitation or adaptation of
motives learnt from earlier Grecian, Egyptian or Syrian potters. They
required only the skill of the potter for their completion, and, being
made by processes largely mechanical, they are altogether on a lower
scale of artistic production.
It has been noted that during a certain period--namely, the 3rd and 2nd
centuries B.C.--ceramic art had reached the same stage of evolution all
round the Mediterranean, painted pottery had been ousted by metal-work,
and such vases as continued to be made were practically imitations of
metal both in Greece and Italy. These latter we must regard as
representing ordinary household pottery, or as supplying to those who
could not afford to adorn their houses and temples with costly works in
metal, a humble but fairly efficient substitute. There is a terra-cotta
bowl of the 2nd century B.C. in the British Museum which is an exact
replica of a chased silver bowl with reliefs in the same collection, and
may serve as an illustration of this condition of things (Plate II. fig.
56).
These imitations of metal were largely made in southern Italy, a
district which enjoyed close artistic relations with Etruria, and we
have already seen that the same principle had long been in vogue among
the Etruscans. Hence it is not surprising that an important centre of
pottery manufacture should have sprung up in Etruria, in the and century
B.C., which for many years set the fashion to the whole Roman world. But
before discussing such products it may be as well to say something on
the technical character, shapes and uses of Roman pottery in general.
_Technical Processes_.--Roman pottery regarded in its purely technical
aspect is in some ways better known to us than the Greek, chiefly
owing to extensive discoveries of kilns and potters' apparatus in
western Europe. It may be classified under two heads, of which only
the second will concern us for the most part as yielding by far the
greater amount of material and interest: (1) the plain, dull
earthenware used for domestic purposes, and (2) the fine, red shining
wares, usually known to archaeologists as _terra sigillata_, clay
suited to receive stamps (_sigilla_) or impressions.
For both classes all kinds of clay were used, varying somewhat in
different regions, and ranging in colour when fired from black to
grey, drab, yellow, brown and red. The clays varied greatly in
quality; most of the pottery made in southern Gaul was fashioned from
the ferruginous red clay of the Allier district, but at
St-Remy-en-Rollat and in that neighbourhood a white clay was used. In
Italy we find a carefully levigated red clay in use, great care being
devoted to its preparation and admixture. But apart from decoration
and style there is a great similarity in the general appearance of the
Italian and provincial pottery made under Roman influence, and it is
often very difficult to decide whether the vases were manufactured
where they had been found or were imported from some famous centre of
manufacture. The secret of the glossy red surface seems to have been
common property and found its way from Italy to Gaul, Spain and
Germany, and perhaps even to Britain.
The manner in which this glossy red surface was produced has been a
much-disputed question, some, as for instance Artis, the excavator of
the Castor potteries in Northamptonshire, claiming that it was a
natural result obtained in the baking, after polishing of the surface,
by means of specially contrived kilns. But it is now generally agreed
that it was artificial. It is true that the Roman lamps and many of
the commoner wares have a gloss produced by polishing only, varying in
colour and brightness with the proportion of iron oxide in the clay
and the degree of heat at which the pieces were fired. But the surface
finish of the finer or _terra sigillata_ wares is something quite
distinct, and reaches a high and wonderfully uniform perfection.
It is possible that the technical secret of the potters of the Roman
world was only a development from the practice of the Greeks, but it
does seem as if the finer Roman wares were coated with a brilliant
glossy coating so thin as to defy analysis, yet so persistent as to
leave no doubt of its existence as a definite glossy coat. Repeated
attempts have been made to determine its nature by analysis, but
chemists ought to have known better, for the coating is so thin that
it is impossible to remove it without detaching much more body than
glaze. Examination shows it to be much more than a surface polish or
than the gloss of the finest Greek vases, and we shall have to wait
for a final determination of its nature until some one who is at once
a chemist and a potter can reconstruct it synthetically. Whatever its
nature and method of production, it is certain that the glaze itself
was a transparent film which heightened the natural red colour of the
clay, until in the finest specimens it has something of the quality of
red coral.
In the manufacture of vases the Romans used the same processes as the
Greeks. They were all made on the wheel, except those of abnormal
size, such as the large casks (_dolia_), which were built up on a
frame. Specimens of potters' wheels have been found at Arezzo and
Nancy, made of terra-cotta, with a pierced centre for the pivot, and
bearing small cylinders of lead round the circumference to give a
purchase for the hand and to aid the momentum of the wheel. For the
ornamental vases with reliefs an additional process was necessary, and
the decoration was in nearly all cases produced from moulds. The
process in this case was a threefold one: first the stamps had to be
made bearing the designs; these were then pressed upon the inside of a
clay mould which had been previously made on the wheel to the size and
shape required; finally, the clay was impressed in the mould and the
vase was thus produced, decoration and all. Handles being of rare
occurrence in Roman pottery, the vases were thus practically complete,
requiring only the addition of rim and foot. The stamps were made in
various materials, and had a handle at the back (Plate III. fig. 64).
The moulds were of lighter clay than the vases, and were lightly fired
when completed, so as to absorb the moisture from the pressed-in clay.
Large numbers of these moulds are in existence (Plate III. fig. 61),
and the British Museum possesses a fine series from Arezzo. Those
discovered in various parts of Gaul have afforded valuable evidence as
to the sites of the various pottery centres, as their presence
obviously denoted a place of manufacture, and the value of this
evidence is increased when they bear potters' names.
Remains of kilns for baking Roman pottery[8] are very numerous in
western Europe, especially in Gaul, where the best examples are at
Lezoux near Clermont, at Châtelet in Haute-Marne, and near Agen in
Lot-el-Gäronne. In Germany good remains have come to light at
Heiligenberg in Baden, al Heddernheim near Frankfort, Rheinzabern near
Carlsruhe, and Westerndorf in Bavaria. In England the best kilns are
those discovered by Artis in 1821-1827 at Castor in Northamptonshire
(see fig. 4).
_Shapes_.--As is the case with Greek vases, a long list of names of
shapes may be collected from Latin literature, and the same
difficulties as to identification arise in the majority of cases. They
may, however, be classified in the same manner; as vases for storing
liquids, for mixing or pouring wine, for use at the table, and so on.
In addition Varro and other writers have preserved a number of archaic
and obscure names chiefly applied to the vases used in sacrifices.
The principal vases for storing liquid or solid food were:--The
_dolium_, a large cask or barrel of earthenware; the _amphora_, a jar
holding about six gallons; and the _cadus_, a jar about half as large
as the _amphora_. The _dolium_ had no foot, and was usually buried in
the earth; it was also used for purposes of burial. The _amphora_
corresponds to the Greek wine-jar of that name, and had, like its
prototype, a pointed base. Many examples were found at Pompeii stamped
with the names of consuls (cf. Hor. _Od._ in. 21. I), or with painted
inscriptions relating to their contents. The _cadus_ is mentioned by
Horace and Martial.
Of smaller vases for holding liquids, such as jugs, bottles and
flasks, the principal were the _urceus_, answering to the Greek
[Greek: oinochoê], the _ampulla_, a kind of flask with globular body,
and the _lagena_, a narrow-necked flask or bottle. Of drinking-cups
the Romans had almost as large a variety as the Greeks, and the great
majority of the ornamented vases preserved to the present day were
devoted to this purpose. The generic name for a cup was _poculum_, but
the Romans borrowed many of the Greek names, such as _cantharus_ and
_scyphus_. The _calix_ appears to have answered in popularity, though
not in form, to the Greek _kylix_, and is probably the name by which
the ornamented bowls were usually known. The names for a dish are
_lanx_, _patina_ and _catinum_. Another common form is the _olla_
(Greek [Greek: chutra]), which served many purposes, being used for a
cooking-pot, for a jar in which money was kept, or for a cinerary urn.
The form of vase identified with this name has a spherical or
elliptical body with short neck and wide mouth. Of sacrificial vases
the principal was the _patera_ or libation-bowl, corresponding to the
Greek [Greek: phialê].
_Arretine Ware_.--The Latin writers, and in particular Pliny, mention
numerous places in Italy, Asia Minor and elsewhere, which were famous
for the production of pottery in Roman times. Pliny mentions with
special commendation the "Samian Ware," the reputation of which, he
says, was maintained by Arretium (Arezzo). Samian pottery is also
alluded to by other writers, and hence the term was adopted in modern
times as descriptive of the typical Roman red wares with reliefs,
whether found in Italy, Germany, Gaul or Britain. But it was only
accepted with diffidence as a convenient name, and as early as 1840
discoveries at Arezzo made it possible to distinguish the vases found
there as a local product, now known as "Arretine" ware. The name
"Samian" has, however, adhered to the provincial wares and at the
present day is often used even by archaeologists. But recent researches
have shown that nearly all the provincial wares can be traced to Gaulish
or German potteries, and, since it is implied by Pliny that "Samian"
pottery is older than "Arretine," the name may now be fairly rejected
altogether, as we have rejected the name "Etruscan" for Greek pottery.
The Romans probably used it as a generic term, just as we speak of
"china," and the real Samian ware is to be seen in the later Greek
pottery, with reliefs, of the 3rd century B.C.
There were, as Pliny and other writers imply, many pottery centres in
Italy, at Rhegium, Cumae, Mutina and elsewhere, as well as at Saguntum
in Spain, but all were surpassed in excellence by Arretium. In more
modern times its pottery came under notice even in the middle ages, and
discoveries were made in the time of Leo X (about 1500) and again in the
18th century. The Arretine ware may be regarded as _the_ Roman pottery
_par excellence_, and its popularity extended from about 150 B.C. down
to the end of the 1st century of the Empire, reaching its height in the
1st century B.C., after which it rapidly degenerated, and its place was
taken by the wares of the provinces. Its general characteristics may be
summed up as follows:--(1) The fine local red clay, carefully levigated
and baked very hard to a rich coral red or a colour like sealing-wax;
(2) the fine red glaze, which has already been discussed; (3) the great
variety of forms employed, showing the marked influence of metal-work;
(4) the almost invariable presence of stamps with potters' names. The
majority of the specimens have been found at Arezzo itself, but there
was a branch of the industry at Puteoli, producing pottery almost equal
in merit, and it was also exported to central and eastern Europe and
Spain.
The earliest examples are of black glossy ware, but the red appears to
have been introduced by 100 B.C., when the first potters' stamps appear.
These are usually quadrangular in form, though other shapes are found,
and are impressed in the midst of the design on the ornamented vases, or
on plain wares on the bottom of the interior. The number of potters'
names is very large, though some appear to have been more prolific than
others, and to have employed a large number of slaves, whose names
appear with their masters' on the stamps. The best known is Marcus
Perennius, whose wares take highest rank for their artistic merit, the
designs being copied from good Greek models. He employed seventeen
slaves, of whom the best known is Tigranes, the stamps usually appearing
as M·PEREN and TIGRAN. The slave-name of Bargates is found on one of his
finest vases, in the Boston Museum, the subject being the fall of
Phaethon. We may suppose that the stamps for the figures were designed
by the masters, but that the vases were actually moulded by the slaves.
Other important artists are Calidius Strigo, who had twenty slaves; P.
Cornelius, who had no less than forty; Aulus Titius, who signs himself
A·TITI·FIGVL·ARRET; the Annii and the Tetii; and L. Rasinius Pisanus, a
degenerate potter of the Flavian period, who imitated Gaulish wares.
The forms of the vases are all, without exception, borrowed from metal
shapes and are of marked simplicity (see fig. 37, Nos. 1, 8, 9, 11).
They are mostly of small size and devoid of handles, but a notable
exception is a bell-shaped _krater_ or mixing-bowl, of which there is a
very fine example in the British Museum, found at Capua and decorated
with the four seasons (Plate III. fig. 62). For the decoration and
subjects the potters undoubtedly drew their inspiration from the
"new-Attic" reliefs of the Hellenistic period, of which the _krater_
just cited is an example. So, too, are such subjects as the dancing
maenads or priestesses with wicker head-dresses, or the Dionysiac scenes
which are found, for instance, on the vases of Perennius. Others again
are distinguished by a free use of conventional ornament, figures when
they occur being merely decorative. There is throughout a remarkable
variety both in the ornamentation and in the methods of composition.
_Provincial Wares_.--The Arretine ware, as has been noted, steadily
degenerated during the 1st century of the Empire, and the manufacture of
ornamental pottery appears to have entirely died out in Italy by the
time of Trajan. Its place was taken by the pottery of the provinces,
especially by that of Gaul, where the transference of artistic
traditions led to the rise of new industrial centres in the country
bordering on the Rhone and the Rhine.
As to the general characteristics of the provincial wares, that is, of
the ornamented wares or _terra sigillata_, the clay is fine and
close-grained, harder than the Arretine, and when broken shows a light
red fracture; the surface is smooth and lustrous, of a brighter yet
darker red colour (i.e. less like coral) than that of Arretine ware, but
the tone varies with the degree of heat used. The most important feature
is the fine glaze with which it is coated, similar in composition to
that of the Arretine; it is exceedingly thin and transparent, and laid
equally over the whole surface, only slightly brightening the color of
the clay. The ornament is invariably coarser than that of Arretine ware,
by which, however, it is indirectly inspired.
The vases are usually of small dimensions, consisting of various types
of bowls, cups and dishes, of which two or three forms are preferred
almost to the exclusion of the rest, and they frequently bear the stamp
of the potter impressed on the inside or outside. Although this ware is
found all over the Roman world, by far the greater portion comes from
Gaul, Germany or Britain, and evidence points to two--and only
two--districts as the principal centres of manufacture: the valleys of
the Loire and the Rhine and their immediate neighbourhood. In the 1st
century A.D. Gaulish pottery was largely exported into Italy, and
isolated finds of it occur in Spain and other parts.
The recent researches of Dr Dragendorff and M. Déchelette have shown
that a chronological sequence of the pottery may be clearly traced, both
in the shapes employed and in the method of decoration; and, further,
that it is possible--at least as regards Gaul--to associate certain
potters' names and certain types of figures, though found in many
places, with two centres in particular, Graufesenque near Rodez
(department of Aveyron) in the district occupied by the Ruteni, and
Lezoux near Clermont (department of Puy-de-Dôme) in the country of the
Arverni. The periods during which these potteries flourished are
consecutive, or rather overlapping, but not contemporaneous, the former
being practically coincident with the 1st century A.D., the latter with
the 2nd and 3rd down to about A.D. 260, when the manufacture of _terra
sigillata_ practically came to an end in Gaul.
[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Bowl of Gaulish ware, with moulded patterns in
slight relief.]
There were also certain smaller potteries, some of which mark a
transition between the Italian and provincial wares, in the north of
Italy and on the Rhine and upper Loire, e.g. St Remy-en-Rollat, and
others of later date, as at Banassac and Montans in the latter district,
but none of these produced pottery of special merit or importance. The
early Rhenish wares are, strictly speaking, of a semi-Celtic or Teutonic
character, while the later German _terra sigillata_, for which the
principal centres were Rheinzabern near Carlsruhe and Westerndorf in
Bavaria, are of similar character but inferior to the 2nd-century
pottery of Lezoux. A mould from Rheinzabern is illustrated, Plate IV.
fig. 66.
[Illustration: FIG. 37.--Shapes used in Roman Pottery. 1-11, Arretine;
18-65, Gaulish and German.]
The ornamented vases produced in these potteries are, as we have said,
almost confined to two or three varieties, which follow one another
chronologically. A shape favoured at first is the _krater_, which has
been mentioned as one of the characteristic Arretine forms; but this
enjoyed but a short term of popularity. Early in the 1st century we find
a typical form of bowl in use, which, following the numeration of Dr
Dragendorff's treatise, is usually spoken of as No. 29. This is
characterized by its moulded rim engraved with finely incised hatchings,
and by the division of the body by a moulding into two separate friezes
for the designs (fig. 36). Its ornament is at first purely decorative,
consisting of scrolls and wreaths, then small animals and birds are
introduced, and finally figure subjects arranged in rectangular panels
or circular medallions. About the middle of the century a second variety
of bowl (known as No. 30; see fig. 37) was introduced; this is
cylindrical in form, and, being found both at Graufesenque and Lezoux,
may be regarded as transitional in character. In the latter half of this
century a new form arises (No. 37; fig. 37), a more or less
hemispherical bowl which holds the field exclusively on all sites down
to the termination of the potteries. In this form and in No. 30 a new
system of decoration is introduced, the upper edge being left quite
plain. The panels and medallions at first prevail, but are then
succeeded by arcading or inverted semicircles enclosing figures, and
finally after the end of the 1st century (and on form 37 only) we find
the whole surface covered with a single composition of figures
unconfined by borders or frames of any kind, but in a continuous frieze;
this is known as the "free" style (Plate IV. fig. 69).
As regards the figure subjects, it may be generally laid down that the
conceptions are good, but the execution poor. Many are obvious
imitations of well-known types or works of art, and the absence of
Gaulish subjects is remarkable. They include representations of gods and
heroes, warriors and gladiators, hunters and animals, the two latter
classes being pre-eminently popular.
The potters' names at Graufesenque are nearly all of a common Roman
type, such as Bassus, Primus, Vitalis; those at Lezoux are Gaulish in
form, such as Advocisus, Butrio, Illixo or Laxtrucisa. This seems to
imply that Roman influence was still strong in the earlier centre which
drew its inspiration more directly from Arretium. But even the purely
Roman names are sometimes converted into Gaulish forms, as _Masclus_ for
Masculus, or _Tornos_ for Turnus. The stamps are quadrangular in form,
depressed in the surface of the vase with the letters in relief; on the
plain wares they are usually in the centre of the interior, but on the
ornamented vases are impressed on the exterior among the figures. The
usual formula is OF (for _officina_) or M (for _manu_) with the name in
the genitive, or F, FE or FEC for _fecit_ with the nominative.
Besides the ordinary _terra sigillata_ with figures produced in moulds
we find other methods of decoration employed. In the south of France,
about Arles and Orange, vases were made with medallions separately
moulded and attached round the body; these have a great variety of
subjects, both mythological and gladiatorial or theatrical, or even
portraits of emperors. There is a remarkable specimen in the British
Museum with a scene from the tragedy of the _Cycnus_, on which Heracles
and Ares are represented, with seated deities in the background (Plate
IV. fig. 67). The date of these reliefs is the 3rd century after Christ.
Of the same date is a somewhat similar ware made at Lezoux. Here each
figure is attached separately to the vase, and the background is filled
in with foliage produced by the method known as _en barbotine_
(slip-painting), of which we shall speak presently. The effect of these
vases, which are mostly large jars or _ollae_ (Plate IV. fig. 70), is
often very decorative, and there is a fine specimen in the British
Museum from Felixstowe, on which the modelling is really admirable.
Other good examples have been found in various parts of Britain.
[Illustration: FIG. 38.--Jar of Castor ware, with reliefs of a stag
pursued by a hound, executed in semi-fluid slip. 6 in. high.]
The "slip-decoration" process is practically unknown in Italy, but it is
found early in the 1st century of our era in Germany, and appears to
have originated in the Rhine district. It is not confined to the red
ware, but in the early German examples is applied on a dull grey or
black background. On the continent its use is almost limited to simple
decorative patterns of scrolls or foliage, but in Britain it was largely
adopted, as in the well-known Castor ware made on the site of that name
(_Durobrivae_) in Northamptonshire. Many of the vases found or made here
have gladiatorial combats, hunting-scenes, or chariots executed by this
method (fig. 38). The decoration was applied in the form of a thick
viscous slip, usually of the same colour as the clay, but reduced to
this consistency with water, and was laid on by means of a narrow tube
or run from the edge of a spatula. The Castor ware appears to date from
the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D.
Painted wares are at all times rare, but were occasionally produced in
Gaul, Germany and Britain. A notable class of such ware seems to have
been produced in the Rhine district, represented by small jars covered
with a glossy black coating, on which are painted in thick white slip
inscriptions of a convivial character, such as BIBE, REPLE, DA VINUM, or
VIVAS (Plate IV. fig. 68). A very effective ware, obviously imitating
cut glass, by means of sharply incised patterns, was made at Lezoux in
both the red and black varieties.
LITERATURE.--Dragendorff in _Bonner Jahrbücher_, xcvi. 37 ff.;
Déchelette, _Vases céramiques de la Gaule romaine_ (1904); Walters,
_Ancient Pottery_, ii. chaps, xxi.-xxiii.; _British Museum Catalogue
of Roman Pottery_ (1908). (H. B. Wa.)
PERSIAN, SYRIAN, EGYPTIAN AND TURKISH POTTERY[9]
Formerly, in all general accounts of the potter's art, it was the custom
to pass over the period between the fall of the Roman empire and the
appearance of the beautiful Persian and Syrian pottery of the early
middle ages, as if the intervening centuries had produced nothing worthy
of note. Even yet the successive steps by which this beautiful art arose
are largely matters of inference and deduction, but it must be borne in
mind that while the Greeks and Romans made singularly little use of
glaze and painted colour, the Egyptians and the inhabitants of Syria and
Mesopotamia had long been noted for their skill in this direction. In
discussing the pottery of these peoples we have already pointed out at
what a very early period they had developed the production of rich and
beautiful coloured glazes--the Egyptians as a jewel-like decoration of
small pieces made in a very sandy paste, or actually carved from stone,
and the Assyrians, on a bolder scale, in their glazed and coloured
brickwork. Though the Egyptian and Syrian empires were overthrown, the
peoples of these countries remained; and, as we are now aware, carried
on their traditional craft, though in a less splendid way. There is
abundant evidence that pottery was made in the Egypt of Roman times and
later with rich turquoise blue and yellow glazes, though the potters had
learned to produce this glaze on a material containing more clay and
less sand than that used in earlier days. We know also that they had
learned that the addition of lead oxide to a glaze enabled such glaze to
be applied on vessels formed from clay which was sufficiently plastic to
be shaped on the wheel. This knowledge was not confined to Egypt, but
appears to have been spread over Syria and parts of Asia Minor; and
throughout the Byzantine empire many forms of pottery were made which
were clearly the starting-points of much of the fine pottery produced in
Europe in later times. We find, for instance, side by side, a
manufacture of bowls, dishes and vases of very simple shape, yet made of
two distinct materials: (1) a whitish sandy body on which turquoise
blue, green or even white glaze, consisting mainly of silicates of soda
and lime, was used either without ornament or with simple painted
patterns in black or cobalt blue under the glaze; (2) similar vessels
made of a lightish red clay, also rather sandy and porous, coated with a
white slip (pipeclay or impure kaolin) covered with a yellowish lead
glaze. These vessels were decorated in a variety of ways: (1)
_Graffiati_; patterns cut or scratched through the coating of white slip
while it was still soft, down to the red ground, so that when the vessel
was glazed it displayed a pattern in dark upon a light ground. (2)
Yellow and red ochre and copper scales were rudely "dabbed" over the
white slip surface, so that when the vessel was glazed it presented a
marbled or mottled appearance with touches of red, yellow, brown or
green, on a yellowish-white ground. (See the section on _Egyptian
pottery_ above.) (3) Oxides of copper or iron were added to the lead
glaze, and the resulting green or yellow glazes were applied to plain
vases or to vessels decorated with moulded reliefs. In all these methods
we see the continuation of old tradition in simpler forms, but we shall
also see that these, in their turn, became the starting-point of much of
the medieval pottery of Europe, particularly of Italy and the other
southern countries.
In the same way, a little farther east, the Persians of Sassanian times
seem to have preserved some of the traditions of the potters of Assyria,
just as they inherited their skill; and the Assyrian device of raising
strong brown outlines round a design to control the flow of coloured
glazes, which is exemplified in the Frieze of Archers in the Louvre, was
carried on by them, for it appears unchanged in the tiles of the Mosque
of Mahommed I. built at Brusa in the 15th century. The intercourse
between the Persian and Byzantine empires at this time must have led to
a general diffusion of technical knowledge among the pottery centres of
the various countries round the eastern end of the Mediterranean, though
our knowledge is too fragmentary to furnish sufficient data for any
definite placing of the progress made. Our information is mainly derived
from the examination of the rubbish mounds at Fostat, or Old Cairo, in
Egypt, by Dr Fouquet, and by eager inquirers like Henry Wallis. Fostat
was built in A.D. 640 by Amr and destroyed in the 12th century;
partially rebuilt, it was given over to pillage in 1252 by a Mameluke
sultan, and all that remains is the Old Cairo of to-day, the rest of the
site being covered with accumulated rubbish heaps. In the same way
Rhagae or Rai, one of the ancient capitals of Persia, the site of which
lies a few miles east of Teheran, was destroyed about 1220 by Jenghiz
Khan. Like Fostat it was partially rebuilt, but was destroyed again in
the following century, so that its existence practically ceased in the
14th century. Rhagae was once an important centre of the ceramic
industry, but this was transferred to the neighbouring town of Veramin,
in the 13th century. Excavations have also been made on the site of
Rakka, near Aleppo, in Syria, and from all these sources, and a few
others of minor importance, much interesting light has been thrown on
the development of the potter's art in these countries during the period
between the 4th and 12th centuries. Yet, until systematic excavations
have been made in Persia, Anatolia, Syria and the Delta, on the same
scale as those which have proved so valuable in Greece, Crete, Cyprus
and the valley of the Nile, we cannot hope to possess sound
chronological data of the developments of the arts in these countries.
Meantime the exact share which should be allotted to each district for
its discoveries will remain ground of contention for scholars of
conflicting schools, though there can be little doubt that Egypt and the
southern part of Syria played a more important part than has generally
been supposed in the development of the potter's art at this period.
_Persian Pottery_.--The most important pottery of the nearer East,
whether considered on its own merits or from the influence it has
exercised on the pottery of later times, is that so highly valued by
collectors under the distinctive name of Persian; though much that
passes under that name may not have been made in Persia. From the 10th
to the 16th centuries the craftsmen of Persia were perfect masters of
decorative design and colour; and, as potters, they possessed a sense of
the forms proper to clay, such as none of the great races of antiquity
ever exhibited. The shapes of Greek pottery speak more strongly of metal
than of clay, but the best Persian work exhibits a feeling for the
material that has rarely been equalled. The shapes are not only true
clay-shapes but they are designed so as best to exhibit the qualities of
the glaze and colour with which they were to be decorated. Certainly
from the 12th to the 16th centuries the pottery of the Persians must
rank among the greatest achievements of the potter's art. The ware was
shaped from various mixtures such as we have already spoken of--but
whether its body was a mixture of white clay with a large proportion of
sand, or some inferior clay that burnt to a yellowish or red tint, and
was surfaced with a fine white coating of siliceous slip, or with a
mixture of soda-glass, clay and oxide of tin, which made it whiter
still--the one aim was to produce a white pottery. On this white
ground--with a coarsish absorbent surface--beautiful patterns, in
conventional floral or animal forms, were deftly painted in
cobalt-blues, manganese-purples, copper-greens and turquoise, with
mixtures for intermediate tints; while a strong brownish-black outline
colour was compounded by mixing the oxides of iron and manganese, to be
turned into a fine, still black by the addition of a trace of cobalt and
later of oxide of chromium. Over this freely painted colour, often used
in broad flat masses, a singularly limpid alkaline glaze, generally of
considerable thickness, was fired until it just fused; and the resultant
effect is of the most rich and brilliant colour relieved on a ground of
slightly toned white. Judging from fragments which have been found at
Rai, and which can scarcely therefore be later than the 13th century, we
find the characteristic Persian style of ornament already developed;
dumpy little figures kneeling, standing or riding on grass between
cypress trees, or animals and birds similarly disposed, with
conventional borders and bands of Cufic inscriptions. Another well-known
type of pattern consists of highly conventionalized floral ornament
which often runs to a beautiful tracery of "arabesque" lines. The
drawing is generally finely outlined with brown or black (a survival of
the ancient Assyrian practice), and in the earliest pieces the flat
washes of colour are laid in only in cobalt-blue, turquoise or green
from copper, and shades of purple and brown from manganese. From the
16th century onwards Chinese influence is strongly felt both in the
designs and in the colour schemes, particularly in the wares painted
with patterns in blue only (fig. 39), which sometimes carry the
imitation of Chinese porcelain so far as to bear forged Chinese marks.
Finally, Shah Abbas I. (1587-1629) is said to have brought a number of
Chinese artificers, among them many potters, to Ispahan, and we find
that Chinese porcelain was largely painted at King-tê-Chên, with blue
decorations in the Persian taste, so that we cannot be surprised at the
growth of a hybrid Perso-Chinese style of decoration. From this period,
however, Persian pottery deteriorated both in its technical and artistic
aspects. Crudely moulded figures in fairly high relief, coloured with
an opaque yellow and green as well as with transparent blue and
turquoise, began to make their appearance, especially on the famous
Persian tiles; and in the 18th century the brown and black outlines of
the drawing (a most valuable decorative resource) vanish, and we get
brighter and more glittering, yet poorer colours, including a rose-red
enamel fired over the glaze, evidently imitated from the Chinese
_famille-rose_ porcelains of the 18th century.
The finest work appears to have been produced from the 11th to the 14th
centuries; yet so imperfect is our knowledge of what is truly Persian,
Syrian or Egyptian, that we are forced to accept many conventional names
that have perhaps little but custom to recommend them. There is, for
instance, an important class of pottery known, until recently, only from
a few remarkably handsome vases, and once called "Siculo-Arab" because
these few examples had been mostly found in Sicily. This ware is
characterized by its fine quality and its distinguished
ornament--leaf-shaped panels with arabesques; interlacing patterns;
striped and dotted bands; friezes of animals or birds amidst flowers and
foliage, inscriptions, &c.; all strongly and firmly drawn in black or
brown outlines and washed in with a very pure cobalt-blue or with
turquoise. In spite of the resemblance of these pieces to the oldest
Persian wares, we know that bowls, dishes, vases and spoilt pieces of
the same kind have been dug up on the site of Rakka near Aleppo; similar
ware has been found at Fostat, together with evidences of local
manufacture, and occasional pieces have been brought from Persia; so
that probably this distinguished ware was made at Rakka in Syria between
the 9th and the 13th centuries, and was afterwards made by Syrian
potters both in Persia and Egypt.
[Illustration: FIG. 39.--Persian Plate painted in blues only. (Victoria
and Albert Museum.)]
_Other Persian Wares_.--We have already spoken of the prevalent use of
coloured glazes in all the countries of the nearer East--from Egypt to
Persia--from remote times, either as the sole colour decoration or in
conjunction with modelled or painted ornament. The fragments from Rai
and Fostat include rich turquoise glazes (derived from the ancient
Egyptian), deep and light-green glazes containing lead and copper,
imitations of ancient Chinese céladon-green, a brownish-purple glaze, a
coffee-brown glaze and a deep cobalt-blue glaze.[10] All these may be
found either on plain vases, or on vessels with modelled ornament; or
covering delicate floral or arabesque patterns painted in white slip or
incised in the paste. Sometimes, even at this early period, there are
traces of applied gold-leaf attached, but not fired, to the glaze.
At a very early period, too, we find those beautiful bowls, dishes and
vases decorated with geometrical or arabesque patterns in a singularly
still underglaze black, and covered with the blue turquoise or green
copper glazes. This characteristic and beautiful ware is common to
Persia, Syria and Egypt in Saracen times, and it was soon prized in
Europe, as is shown by the famous fragment found by the late Mr Drury
Fortnum built into the outer walls of S. Cecilia in Pisa, where it was
apparently placed in the 12th century.[11]
At a later date a shining black glaze made its appearance, and in the
13th century pale and lapis-lazuli blues, while there is a comparatively
modern sage-green glaze found only on pieces bearing patterns modelled
in low relief.
_Persian Porcelain_.--This beautiful and somewhat mysterious ware--often
called "Gombroon" ware--apparently made its appearance in the 13th
century, though the bulk of the known examples are not earlier than the
17th or 18th century. The ware is quite translucent and is of soft and
delicate texture. Unlike Chinese porcelain, it was made from a mixture
of pipe-clay and glass, and was glazed with a soft lead glaze; so that a
fragment of it would melt to an opaque glass in an ordinary porcelain
oven. It is principally met with in the form of dishes, bowls (often
mounted on feet) and saucers. The pieces are generally very thin and are
either perfectly plain or bear flutings or simple wavy patterns incised
in the paste. Most characteristic and beautiful is the decoration by
means of delicate perforations either straight or lozenge-shaped. In the
finest pieces the perforations are filled with glaze, and then they form
a decoration analogous to the well-known "rice-grain" decoration of the
Chinese. Occasional pieces are found decorated with colour, either a
delicate green, producing an effect like pale bright céladon, or the
well-known Persian blue ground; and this is sometimes decorated with
lustre patterns. Nowhere can this rare and delicately beautiful ware be
so well studied as in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
_Lustred Ware_.--The decoration of pottery with iridescent metallic
films is one of the most astonishing and beautiful inventions ever made
by the potter. Hitherto we have seen only coloured clays, coloured
glazes, or colours fired under the glaze, but we are now brought face to
face with a colour effect produced by refiring the finished glazed
pieces, at a lower temperature, with pigments painted upon the glaze
(fig. 40; see also Plate V. 13th-century Persian lustre). How such a
practice originated is probably an idle speculation, but it may have
come through repeated attempts to decorate pottery with gold. If gold
was painted under the glazes of these ancient vases, it would probably
vanish and leave no trace; but gold, alloyed with much silver, applied
over the finished glaze and refired, in the attempt to make it adhere,
may have given the first films of iridescent colour. We know certainly
that before the 13th century the elements of the process had been
mastered, and that the potters of the nearer East had learnt that by
mixing some compound of silver (doubtless the sulphide) with clay, and
painting the mixture on the finished vase, which was refired in such a
way that the pieces were only raised to a dull red heat and were then
exposed to the vapours of the wood-fuel, glowing lustrous patterns were
left on the ware that looked like metal--but metal shot over with all
the hues of the rainbow, golden, rosy, purple and green. Numerous
fragments of this lustred pottery had been disinterred from the site at
Rhagae, and it was therefore assumed that the beautiful process was of
Persian origin, particularly as most of the examples then known bore
designs of distinctly Persian style. We are now inclined to think that
the process really arose in Egypt or in Syria, and was carried eastward
to Persia, just as it was afterwards carried westward to Spain. In
support of this view there is the written record of the Persian
traveller Nasiri Khosrau, who visited Old Cairo in the 11th century
(1035-1042). He was apparently familiar with the pottery of his own
country, and notes all the novel forms that he found in the bazaars of
Old Cairo, which was both a great trading emporium for the traffic of
East and West, and a pottery centre of note. He mentions, specially,
certain translucent bowls of earthenware decorated with colours
resembling a stuff called "bougalemoun," "the tints changing according
to the position which one gives to the vase." Such a description could
only apply to "lustred" pottery, and it would seem as if this process
must have been known in Egypt or Syria before it was practised in Persia
(see Plate V., 13th-century Syro-Persian). In any case the secret was
soon carried to Persia, for we have ample evidence that it was practised
at Rhagae in the next century.
[Illustration: FIG. 40.--Persian Ewer, white ground, with pattern in
brown copper lustre; the upper part has a blue ground. The mounting is
gilt bronze, Italian 16th-century work. (British Museum.)]
The earliest dated example of Persian lustred ware is a star-shaped tile
of the year A.D. 1217 (A.H. 614), decorated with spotted hares,
heraldically confronted, in a ground of lustre relieved by dots and
curls, and surrounded by an inscribed border. A vase in the Godman
collection bears the date A.D. 1231 (A.H. 629), and some of the
well-known "star and cross" tiles from Veramin belong to the year A.D.
1262. The early Persian lustre is chiefly known to us through the tiles
with which the walls of mosques and public buildings were decorated; the
more ephemeral vases, bowls and dishes have survived in smaller numbers
and very rarely in perfect condition. Common motives of decoration were
animals and birds (sometimes showing Chinese influence), the hare and
the deer being favourites; roughly drawn sack-like figures of men and
women, mounted or on foot (probably heroes of Persian legend),
conventional foliage and arabesques. The designs are usually reserved in
a lustred ground, which is relieved by small scrolls, curls and dots
etched in the lustre (as though the glazed piece had been covered all
over with the lustre mixture and the ornament scratched out of this when
it was dry), and showing beneath the ivory-white tin-enamel with which
the early wares are generally coated. The lustre itself when viewed
directly may look like some golden or deep chocolate-brown colour, but
as the piece is turned to catch a side-light this deep colour is seen to
bear a thin iridescent film, which glows with golden, green, purple or
ruby-red metallic _reflets_. On the earliest examples the decoration is
often entirely in lustre, but later, lustre is often used to eke out a
pattern painted with masses of pale cobalt-blue or turquoise under the
glaze. Similar tiles with rather more elaborate ornament bear
14th-century dates, and another variety has parts of the decoration,
more particularly the large letters of the inscriptions, raised in low
relief and heightened with blue. Yet another class, belonging to the
14th century, has a fine dark-blue alkaline glaze, with designs in low
relief, picked out with scrolls and arabesques in white enamel or bold
floral sprays in leaf-gold. Lustre is frequently found applied to the
rich cobalt-blue ground, and there are still existing a few magnificent
vases which show the artistic possibilities of this scheme of
decoration. It should be noted that when the pieces are in the round,
the pattern is usually painted in lustre and not reserved in a lustre
ground as on the flat tiles. In the later examples the tin-enamel was
replaced entirely by white slip, and the lustre decoration continued in
use until the end of the reign of Shah Abbas I. (1587-1629). To the last
period belong many charming bowls, narghilis, cups and dishes in a brown
lustre, with ruby _reflets_, on a white or a deep blue ground; this ware
is pure white in substance and generally translucent, and the pieces are
occasionally signed (see _Persian porcelain_ above).
[Illustration: FIG. 41.--Lamp from the Mosque of Omar.]
_Damascus Ware_.--This time-honoured name (for "Damas Ware" was often
mentioned in medieval inventories, and appears to have included many
varieties of oriental pottery which were highly prized in Italy, France
and England in the middle ages)[12] forms rather a puzzle nowadays for
the archaeologist, for many diverse wares have been included under this
title, some of which were not made at Damascus. Yet Damascus is one of
the oldest cities in the world, and has seen unnumbered dynasties come
and go around its desert-fringed oasis. An important centre of caravan
traffic, a nexus of palpitating life from east and west, north and
south, we cannot wonder if it developed a special pottery of its own,
tinged with something of a cosmopolitan spirit. Formerly the Damascus
wares were treated as a variety of the Persian pottery we have just
described, but the best examples of the class now known under this name
exhibit a mingling of various influences such as we might expect, and
have well-marked affinities both with the Persian wares and those
brilliant productions now commonly recognized as Syrian and Turkish,
while even far-off echoes of Chinese decorative mannerisms are not
wanting. The characteristic Damascus ware of the collector is marked by
its quality; the ground is of very clear white, the colours are pure and
brilliant, and the vessels, whether dishes or vases, are soundly made.
The decoration, which is purely floral or conventional, recalls the more
formal Persian style, but the colours recall those of the Turkish
pottery with one remarkable substitution. The piled-up red-clay pigment
of the latter is absent, but where it would inevitably occur in the
design of a Turkish piece its place is taken by a purple made from
manganese, which is often thin and rather washy in quality. Fine
examples of this famous ware are to be seen in the British Museum and in
the Louvre; its characteristic style of pattern is well shown in the
16th-century Damascus piece reproduced in Plate V. Another splendid
example is the lamp from the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem, also in the
British Museum (fig. 41); and this has generally been classed with the
Damascus wares, though its colouring and its technique belong rather to
Lower Syria or to Egypt. This magnificent piece bears a dated
inscription, "In the year 956 in the month _Jemazi-l-oola_. The painter
is the poor and humble Mustafa." This is reckoned as June A.D. 1549. It
may be remarked that our difficulties of identification are increased by
the fact that, under Arab rule, Syrian and Persian potters were at work
in Damascus, in Old Cairo and elsewhere. Among the Fostat fragments
classified by Dr Fouquet are many bearing the signatures of Syrian
workmen. In the 15th and 16th centuries, too, imitations of Chinese
blue-and-white porcelain became common throughout the nearer East, and
quantities of fragments have been found at Fostat, Ephesus and
elsewhere.
[Illustration: FIG. 42.--Rhodian Jug.]
_Turkish Pottery_.--This beautiful and striking ware, formerly called
Persian, and till lately Rhodian because Rhodes was a known centre of
manufacture, seems to have been fabricated in all the countries overrun
by the Ottoman Turks in the 13th century, so that the name "Turkish," in
spite of some opposition, is now generally applied to it. (See fig. 42;
and the 16th-century Rhodian or Turkish pieces, Plate V.) It has a fine
white body of the usual sandy texture, covered, as a rule, with a wash
of pure white slip; it is painted in strong brilliant colours, chiefly
blue, turquoise, green, and a peculiar red pigment which is heaped up in
palpable relief--the whole of the ornament being outlined with black or
dark green. The ware was glazed with an alkaline glaze of great depth,
so that the colours soften and sometimes run, producing one of the most
brilliant and attractive of all the oriental wares. In certain districts
the white ground was not used, but over it a slip of the red colour
(Armenian bole), varying in strength from bright red to pale salmon, was
laid over the piece, reserving the pattern only in the white slip, which
consequently lies lower than the red ground. Other examples are known
where the ground has been covered with lavender, blue, sage, apple and
turquoise greens, chocolate or coffee-brown, and the sumptuous effect of
the whole was often increased by the application of gold-leaf over the
fired glaze. The decorative motives are distinguished from those of the
Persian wares by a breadth and boldness which are in keeping with the
brilliant, and not always harmonious, colouring. They include, it is
true, the Persian arabesque, the floral scroll with feathery leaf, the
thistle-bloom and the cypress tree, but the naturalistic treatment which
permits immediate recognition of the favourite Turkish flowers such as
the tulip, hyacinth, carnation, fritillary, cornflower and lily (some of
which were imported into Europe by the Turks), is as original and
distinctive as the arrangement of the different elements of the design
is artistic and charming. Other styles of design include formal patterns
and diapers, rarely human and animal figures, and occasionally armorial
devices and ships. Tiles of this ware were extensively used for lining
the walls of public buildings, replacing the carpets and textile
hangings which their designs so freely imitated. Of domestic articles,
dishes are the most numerous, though vases, ewers, sprinklers, jugs,
tankard-shaped flower-holders, covered bowls and mosque lamps are also
plentiful. The tiles are found in all parts of the Turkish empire,
though they were probably made at certain centres, such as Nicaea (which
gave its name to the ware in the 16th century and no doubt supplied many
of the mosques in Constantinople), Kutaia, Demitoka, Lindus and other
centres in Rhodes and Damascus. Individual wares cannot be
distinguished, except in some measure those of Damascus and Kutaia. A
small jug in the Godman Collection has an Armenian inscription stating
that it was made by "Abraham of Kutaia" in the 16th century. A few fine
bowls and vases, painted in a beautiful blue with Persian arabesques and
rosette scrolls, recalling Chinese porcelains of the Ming dynasty, but
of very characteristic appearance, are also attributed to this place;
and later, in the 18th and up to the end of the 19th century, an
inferior ware was largely manufactured here. This late ware usually
takes the form of small objects--plates, cups, jugs, egg-shaped
ornaments, &c.--with a thin, well-potted, white body and slight patterns
of radiating leaves, scale diapers, &c., in blue, black and yellow.
Turkish pottery was at its best in the 16th and the early part of the
17th century, and though good tile work of later date exists, the
general pottery deteriorated before the 18th century. An inferior ware
of poor colour is still produced in Turkey, Persia and Syria, and some
attempt has been made of late to revive the old lustre decoration, but
the results are not likely to be mistaken for those of old times.
_Collections_.--The Victoria and Albert Museum contains the finest
collection of the medieval pottery of the nearer East--the British
Museum collection, though much smaller, has some magnificent examples.
The Cluny Museum in Paris has a never-to-be-forgotten collection of
Turkish pottery, especially plates and dishes. The museums of the
Louvre and of Sèvres have also many beautiful examples. Berlin,
Frankfort and other German towns have collections, but much smaller in
extent. Private collectors in England and France own many fine
specimens, and mention may be made particularly of those owned by Mr
Ducane Godman and Mr George Salting.
LITERATURE.--Fortnum, _Majolica_ (1896) (also in South Kensington
Museum Handbook); Falke, _Majolica_ (Berlin, 1896); Fouquet,
_Contributions a l'étude de la céramique orientale_ (Cairo, 1900);
Karabacek, "Zur muslimischen Keramik," in _Monatsschrift fur den
Orient_ (1884); Lane-Poole, _Art of the Saracens in Egypt_ (1886);
Migeon, _Manuel de l'art musulman_, vol. ii. (1907); Sarre, _Persische
Keramik_; and _Jahrbuch der koniglichen preussichen Kunstsammlung_
(1905), part ii.; H. Wallis, _The Godman Collection_ (1) _Lustred
Vases_ (London, 1891); (2) _The Tenth Century Lustred Wall-tiles_
(1894); _Notes on some Early Persian Lustre Vases_ (1885); _Egyptian
Ceramic Art_ (1898). (R. L. H.; W. B.*)
HISPANO-MORESQUE POTTERY
With the doings of the Moslem potters of the countries round the eastern
Mediterranean fresh in our minds, it is interesting to follow the
westward trend of the Moslem conquests, and see how in their wake there
also sprung up in Spain a ware of high distinction and beauty. The
Iberian peninsula had been the scene of pottery-making from prehistoric
times--a red unglazed ware was made before the dawn of civilization as
finely finished as that found in the Nile valley by Flinders Petrie (see
EGYPT: _Art and Archaeology_), and the Romans had one of their great
provincial pottery centres at Saguntum; but it was only when a great
part of Spain lay under Mussulman rule that artistic and distinctive
pottery was produced. What is by no means clear is how it came to pass
that when the traditional methods, learnt by the Arabs in Egypt and
Syria, were carried westward they should have undergone such a radical
change. Oxide of tin, the opacifying and whitening material in glazes
_par excellence_, was certainly known and used in the East from at least
the 6th century B.C.; the ancient wares are coated with a covering of
white tin-enamel to hide the buff or reddish-coloured clay, and it was
similarly used elsewhere; but its use was sporadic and not general in
those countries, where we find instead a consistent development of the
pottery made with a white slip-coating and a clear alkaline glaze.
Perhaps it was that at this period tin was almost as costly as gold, and
it was only when potters with an oriental training brought their skill
to Spain, where tin abounded, that the relative cheapness of the
material led them to employ it, so far as is known, exclusively. (There
is a wide distinction between the tin-enamelled and the slip-faced
wares, glazed with an alkaline glaze. In the latter, the more oriental
type, the slip-coating is of fine white clay and sand, and this is
finished with a transparent alkaline glaze containing little or no lead:
in the former there is no need of a coating of slip, for the addition
of oxide of tin to a glaze rich in lead gives a dense coating of white
enamel, opaque enough to disguise the color of the clay beneath.) Such
colours as were used for painted patterns were painted over this enamel
coating before it was fired, so that they became perfectly incorporated
with it, and then this ground furnished a splendid medium for the
development of those thin iridescent metallic films that we call
"lustres." The knowledge of this lustre process had been brought from
the East also, where it was used on another ground, and with the growing
use of lustre pigments containing copper as well as silver--until the
red, strongly metallic copper lustre almost ousted the quieter silver
lustres--we get the simple technique of one of the most distinctive
kinds of pottery known.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.--Hispano-Moorish Plate, painted in blue and
copper lustre.]
Briefly, the wares were "thrown" upon the wheel or "pressed" on modelled
forms--handles, ribs and dots of clay, or strongly incised patterns were
often added by hand--and they were then fired a first time. A coating of
the tin-enamel (rich in lead as well as tin) was applied, and on this
coating designs were painted in cobalt and manganese; sometimes these
colours were only used as masses to break up the background. Then the
second firing took place and the piece came from the firing all shining
and white, except where the blue or brownish purple had been painted
(see fig. 43). The lustre pigments, a mixture of sulphide of copper or
sulphide of silver, or both with red ochre or other earth, was then
painted over the glazed surface with vinegar as a medium. The repainted
piece was fired a third time to a dull red heat, and smoked with the
smoke from the wood used in firing, and when cold the loosely adherent
ochre and metallic ash left were washed off, leaving the iridescent
films in all their beauty.
The technical practices of the Spanish potters and the composition of
the lustre pigments are given in Cocks's account of the processes
followed at Muel (Aragon) in 1585. The Manises receipt of 1785
gives:--copper 3 oz., red ochre 12 oz., silver 1 peseta piece, sulphur 3
oz., vinegar 1 qt. and the ashes scraped off the pots after lustring 36
oz.[13] Interesting documents have recently been published concerning
the works executed by the "Saracen," John of Valencia, at Poitiers in
1384, and it is certain, from the list of materials supplied to him,
that he made there tiles that were enamelled and lustred.
The earliest record of lustred pottery in Spain is the geographer
Edrisi's mention of the manufacture of "golden ware" then carried on at
Calatayud in Aragon in 1154. Ibn Sa'id (1214-1286) speaks of the glass
and the golden pottery made at Murcia (city), Almeria and Malaga. From
the 4th century the notices which have come down to us divide themselves
into two main groups relating to the industry (a) at Malaga; (b) at
various localities, but especially Manises in Valencia.
_Malaga_--Malaga was situated within the Moorish kingdom of Granada,
which formed, from 1235 until the late 15th century, the last remnant of
Moorish dominion in Spain. Here under the art-loving Nasride dynasty,
Mussulman arts and learning flourished to an unprecedented degree. In
1337 Ahmed ben-Yahya al-Omarí enumerates, among the craft productions of
Malaga, its golden pottery, the like of which he declares is not to be
met with elsewhere. The Moroccan traveller Ibn Batuta mentions (1350)
the Malagan golden pottery, as does Ibn al-Hatib (1313-1374) of Granada,
in his description of Malaga. The principal monument of the period is
the royal palace of Granada, begun in 1273, and finished during the 14th
century, from which period most of its ornamentation dates. Two vases
were discovered there, of which the existing one, known as the "Alhambra
vase," is admittedly the most imposing product of Hispano-Moresque
ceramic art extant. Its amphora-shaped body (4 ft. 5 in. high) is
encircled by a band of Arabic inscription, above which are depicted
gazelles reserved in cream and golden lustre upon a blue field; the rest
of the body and the prominent handles are covered with compartments of
arabesques and inscriptions in the same colours; and panels on the neck,
divided by mouldings and decorated with strap-work and arabesques. Vases
similar in shape and technique, with ornament of Cufic characters and
arabesques in horizontal rows, are to be found in the museums at St
Petersburg, Palermo and Stockholm. As to the exact date of these,
experts are not agreed. Though presenting all the characteristics of the
14th-century Hispano-Moresque ornament, it seems probable that they were
produced at the same period as the large lustred wall-tile formerly in
the Fortuny (now in the Osma) collection, an inscription upon which is
by some held to refer to Yusuf III. of Granada (1409-1418), not to Yusuf
I. (1333-1354). Another remarkable example is a dish (Sarre collection,
Berlin), which, it is claimed, bears upon its back, in Arabic, the word
Malaga; it is ornamented with eight segmental compartments filled
alternately with strap-work designs and arabesques in lustre. Malaga was
reconquered by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1487, and after this its
industry probably decayed, as it is not mentioned by Lucio Marineo in
1539 among the localities where ceramics then flourished.
_Valencia._--The emirate of Valencia was reconquered by Aragon in 1238.
The history of its lustred ware is known from 1383, when Eximenes (whose
evidence has been erroneously held to date from 1499) mentions the
golden ware (_Obra dorada_) of Manises. Valencian pottery of this kind
was an offshoot of the Malagan industry, as in documents lately
published (ranging from 1405 to 1517) it is repeatedly designated Malaga
ware (_Obra de Malaga_). Its decorative qualities became famous
throughout the whole of Europe and North Africa. The ware was chiefly
manufactured at Manises by the Moorish retainers of the Buyl or Boil
family, lords of Manises, who levied dues upon the output of the kilns,
and occasionally arranged for its sale. It is distinguished as regards
its ornamentation from the pottery of Malaga by the adoption of a more
natural rendering of plant form motives and by the use of armory. The
ware consists of drug pots, deep dishes, large and small plates,
aquamaniles, vases, &c. Some dozen varieties of ornament were employed
during the 15th and early 16th centuries, including mock arabic
inscriptions, various flower or foliage patterns taken from the vine,
bryony, &c., and gadroons. The centres of dishes frequently bear the
arms of a king or queen of Aragon, of the Buyls of Manises, or other
Valencian or Italian families for whom they were made. Great dexterity
is shown in the execution of minute and complicated schemes of ornament
and in the richness of the colour schemes; golden lustre of various
hues, with blue and manganese, form the simple combinations, but the
ruby, violet or opalescent lustre combine to produce with the colours a
wonderful decorative effect. From 1500 the use of blue and manganese was
gradually discontinued and the ornament quickly became nondescript, but
the brilliancy of the lustre pigment nevertheless obtained a wide
popularity for the ware, as is attested by Marineo (1539), Viciana
(1564) and Escolano (1610). After the expulsion of the Moriscoes (1609)
the industry was carried on by those who had escaped deportation or by
Spaniards who had learnt the craft; generally speaking their productions
can be summed up in the word "decadence." In the course of the 15th
century the manufacture of lustred pottery was carried on at various
other small towns near Valencia; in 1484 it was produced at Mislata,
Paterna and Gesarte. It is known to have flourished at Calatayud in
1507, and at Muel, also in Aragon, in 1589. In the Valencia district
much pottery for ordinary use, ornamented with blue on white, was also
produced.
_Majorca._--Scaliger, in 1557, states that Chinese porcelain was
imitated in the Balearic Isles, and that the Italians called these
imitations "majolica," changing the letter in the name of the islands
(then called Majorica) where they originated. The truth would appear to
be that Valencian wares, being exported in Balearic vessels that called
at Majorca on the voyage to Italy, acquired a reputed Mallorcan origin.
There is extant a potter's petition praying for permission to establish
himself in Majorca (1560), in which he states that "Manises ware," &c.,
had to be imported, as it was not made there.
_Collections._--In England, the Victoria and Albert and the British
Museums have fine collections of this ware. At Paris the Cluny Museum
collection, and the Louvre; the museum at Sevres contains many fine
typical pieces. Another good collection is that of the archaeological
museum at Madrid. The Berlin and the Hamburg museums, the Metropolitan
Art Museum at New York and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts also contain
good specimens. The private collections of England, France and Italy
are rich in these wares, among the finest being those of Mr F.D.
Godman (Horsham), and of Don G.J. de Osma (Madrid).
LITERATURE.--A. Van de Put, _Hispano-Moresque Ware of the 15th
Century_ (1904); F. Sarre, "Die spanisch-maurischen Lusterfayencen des
Mittelalters," &c. (in _Jahrbuch der kgl. preuss. Kunstsammlungen_,
xxiv. (1903); G.J. de Osma, "Apuntes sobre cerámica morisca: textos y
documentos valencianos," No. 1, 1906, and "Los Letreros ornamentales
en la ceramica morisca del siglo xv." (in the review _Cultura
Española_, No. ii, 1906; J. Font y Gumá, _Rajolas valencianas y
catalanas_ (1905); J. Tramoyeres Blasco, "Cerámica valenciana del
siglo xvii." (in the _Almanaque, para 1908, del periodico Las
Provincias de Valencia_; J. Gestoso y Pérez, Historia de los barros
vidriados sevillanos (1904); also J.C. Davillier, _Histoire des
faiences hispano-moresques à reflets metalliques_ (1861).
(A. v. de P.)
MEDIEVAL AND LATER ITALIAN POTTERY[14]
Little is known of the potter's art in Italy after the fall of the Roman
empire till the 13th century. The traditions of the Roman potters appear
to have been gradually lost, leaving behind only sufficient skill to
make rude crocks for domestic use and to coat them, if required, with a
crude yellowish lead glaze sometimes stained to a vivid green with
copper oxide. Applied ornament of roughly modelled clay and scratched
designs were the chief embellishments of such wares, which were of the
same class as the medieval pottery of Great Britain and the north of
Europe. In the 12th and 13th centuries, however, contact with Asia
Minor, Syria, Egypt and Spain, where ceramic skill had been highly
developed in fresh directions, as we have seen, introduced into Italy as
well as the rest of Europe those superior wares characterized by a white
surface decorated with bright colours under a brilliant transparent
glaze, and glorified by metallic lustres. The Italian potters did not
long remain unaffected by these influences, but though Persian, Syrian
and Egyptian pottery must have been fairly plentiful in the households
of the wealthy, it was the distinctively Hispano-Moresque wares from
which the potters of Italy drew the inspiration for a new ware of their
own. The technique of a siliceous slip-coating with colour painted on
that and covered with a transparent alkaline glaze, was only sparingly
used, and then not very successfully; it is only the introduction of the
tin-enamel that was turned to fruitful account and led to the production
of the magnificent Italian majolica of the 15th and 16th centuries. In
the same way the practice of lustre decoration might have been learnt
from the Orient, but its late appearance on Italian wares (16th century)
and its evident relationship to the lustres of Spain, rather than to the
earlier lustres of Egypt, Syria and Persia, are further evidence that
though oriental decorative motives gave the Italians certain early types
of design, it is the Hispano-Moresque potters from whom the Italians
learnt the art they were afterwards to develop so splendidly in a new
direction.[15]
All the Italian pottery above the level of common crocks may be
conveniently grouped into four classes.
[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Italian Graffiato Plate, 16th century. (South
Kensington Museum.)]
1. The native wares, made of coarse and often dark-red clay, coated with
a white clay slip (a kind of pipe-clay) and covered with a crude lead
glaze, either yellow or green. The idea of rendering this ware
ornamental, and fitting it for more than vulgar use, led to a great
development of the _graffiato_ process; where, while the vessel, with
its white clay coating was firm yet soft enough, patterns were scratched
or engraved through the white slip to the red body beneath. This
decorative method has been already mentioned several times, for it was
practised during the early middle ages in all the countries from India
to Italy, and the Byzantine potters were adepts in its use. Nor has its
practice ever ceased in Italy, for through all the times when painted
majolica was the ware of the wealthy, this earlier and humbler pottery
was used by those who could not afford the former; and the
gaily-coloured later wares of this kind have a fine decorative quality
of their own. From the depth beneath the present soil at which fragments
of this ware have been disinterred, it is obvious that the method was
widely practised in early times, and no simpler glazed wares are known
except those covered all over with green, yellow or brown glazes. Early
examples have been found all over northern Italy--in Faenza, Florence,
Pisa, &c., and particularly in Padua, where it seems to have been
extensively made. Pavia was another centre of its manufacture, even to
the end of the 17th century, and Citta di Castello must have been noted
for it in the 16th century, for Piccolpasso describes this ware as "alla
Castellana" (see fig. 44). Apparently in the latter half of the 15th
century a sudden advance takes place in the colouring of this
_graffiato_ ware. Instead of the simple glazes, of uniform colour, of
the earlier productions, underglaze colours--green, purple, blue and a
brown of the tint of burnt sienna which passes into a glossy black where
it is thick--were applied in bold splashes under the straw-coloured
glaze, producing a rich and decorative effect by very simple means. As
fine examples of this kind we may mention the dish with the mandoline
players, and one with cupids disporting themselves in a tree, in the
Victoria and Albert Museum; the tazza, supported by three modelled
lions, in the Louvre; and the dish, with figures of the Virgin and two
saints, in the museum at Padua. The ware has often been called, quite
erroneously, _mezza-majolica_. It had nothing to do with majolica, being
the natural development of a much older process; and its manufacture was
carried on all through the period of majolica manufacture and has never
ceased.
2. _Mezza-Majolica_--This name is accurately applied to certain Italian
wares that made their appearance in the 12th century or even earlier,
when rude patterns--a clumsy star, a rude crossing of strokes or some
equally elementary work--are found painted on a thin white ground
covering a drab body. The pieces, generally pitchers of ungainly forms,
are uncouth in the extreme; the body has been shaped in local clay and
then thinly coated by dipping it into a white slip, which seems at first
to have been of white clay only, though oxide of tin and lead were added
to it even in the 12th century. The colours used for the rude painting
were oxide of copper and oxide of manganese, and the final glaze, which
is generally thin and often imperfectly fused, seems to have been based
on the alkaline glazes of the nearer East. The specimens so assiduously
recovered by Professor Aragnani, some of which, or similar wares, are to
be found in the Louvre, the British and the Victoria and Albert museums,
are typical of the rude work out of which, by a fuller knowledge of
Spanish methods, the painted majolica grew.
3. _Majolica_--For the last three centuries the word majolica has been
used to signify an Italian ware with a fine but comparatively soft buff
body, coated with an opaque tin-enamel of varying degrees of whiteness
and purity, on which a painted decoration was laid and fired. In the
later pictorial wares, a fine coating of transparent alkaline glaze was
fired over the painting to soften the colours--really to varnish them.
The word itself appears to have been derived from the name of the island
Majorca, and was originally applied by the Italians to the lustred wares
of Spain which were largely imported into Italy, probably arriving in
ships that called at or hailed from Majorca, as we do not believe that
the ware was actually made in that island. That the secret of the
tin-glaze, which is the essential feature of Italian majolica, was known
in Italy in the 13th century is practically proved; and there is both
literary and archaeological proof of its use there in the 14th. Mention
of it is made in the _Margarita Preciosa_ published at Pola by Pierre Le
Bon in 1336, and the well-known jug, bearing the arms of Astorgio I.,
discovered under the Manfredi palace at Faenza, must have been made
shortly after 1393. Its development marched side by side with that of
the mezza-majolica, until it practically superseded the latter for
painted wares in the 15th century; but the earliest examples have little
more than an archaeological interest, and it was only after the last
decade of the _quattrocento_ or the first of the _cinquecento_ that it
blossomed into an artistic creation. In its prime the production of
majolica was confined to a very small part of Italy. Bologna on the
north, Perugia to the south, Siena on the west, and the Adriatic to the
east, roughly enclose the district in which lie Faenza, Forli, Rimini,
Pesaro, Cafaggiolo, Urbino, Castel Durante, Gubbio, Perugia and Siena.
Towards the middle of the 16th century Venice on the one hand, and in
the 17th and 18th centuries the Ligurian factories at Genoa, Albissola
and Savona, made majolica of the later decadent styles, while, at the
end of the 17th and in the early part of the 18th centuries, the
southern town of Castelli, near Naples, produced a ware which closes the
period of artistic majolica.
[Illustration: PLATE I
FIG. 52.--CORINTHIAN JAR.
FIG. 53.--FRANÇOIS VASE. (From Furtwängler and Reichhold, Griechische
Vasenmalerei, by permission of F. Bruckmann.)
FIG. 54.--BLACK-FIGURED AMPHORA BY EXEKIAS.
FIG. 55.--VASE FROM SOUTHERN ITALY. Signed by Python.]
[Illustration: PLATE II
FIG. 56.--BOWL MADE AT CALES IN IMITATION OF METAL. (2ND CENT. B.C.)
FIG. 57.--VASE OF 5TH CENT. B.C., MODELLED IN FORM OF HEAD.
FIG. 58.--VASE OF 6TH CENT. B.C., IN FORM OF HELMETED HEAD.
FIG. 59.--FLASK OF VITREOUS GLAZED WARE. (ROMAN PERIOD.)
FIG. 60.--AMPHORA OF APULIAN STYLE, WITH SCENE FROM EURIPIDES'
"HECUBA."]
[Illustration: PLATE III
FIG. 61.--MOULD FOR ARRETINE BOWL.
FIG. 62.--JAR OF ARRETINE WARE FROM CAPUA.
FIG. 63.--EARLY ETRUSCAN JAR. (VILLANOVA PERIOD.)
FIG. 64.--STAMP FOR ORNAMENTING ARRETINE VASE.
FIG. 65.--ETRUSCAN "CANOPIC" JAR PLACED IN BRONZE CHAIR.]
[Illustration: PLATE IV
FIG. 66.--MOULD FOR BOWL OF GERMAN WARE. (2ND CENT. AFTER CHRIST.)
FIG. 67.--MEDALLION FROM VASE MADE IN S. FRANCE, WITH SCENE FROM
TRAGEDY. (3RD CENT. AFTER CHRIST.)
FIG. 68.--JAR OF RHENISH WARE WITH INSCRIPTION. (3RD CENT. AFTER
CHRIST.)
FIG. 69.--BOWL OF GAULISH (LEZOUX) WARE WITH FIGURES IN "FREE" STYLE.
(2ND CENT. AFTER CHRIST.)
FIG. 70.--JAR OF LATER LEZOUX WARE. (3RD CENT. AFTER CHRIST.)]
4. _Lustred Majolica_--This brilliant species of Italian pottery (to
which alone Piccolpasso applied the name majolica) seems to have been
mainly produced at Deruta and Gubbio, though experiments were made at
Cafaggiolo and probably at Faenza and Siena. Considering how much the
Italian majolist owed to the Spanish-Moorish potter, it is remarkable
that this beautiful method of decoration should have made so tardy an
appearance, for the earliest specimens do not appear to be much earlier
than the end of the 15th century, and the process was apparently
abandoned by the middle of the 16th. The lustre wares of Deruta,
probably the earliest made in Italy, have strongly-marked affinities
with their Spanish prototypes; the earlier examples are hardly to be
distinguished from Spanish wares, and to the last the ware remained
technically like the earlier ware, though with perfectly Italian
decorative treatment. Yet the best examples of Deruta silver lustre have
a quality of tone that has never been surpassed; a colour resembling a
wash of very transparent umber bearing a delicate nacreous film of the
most tender iridescence. The Gubbio lustre is best known to us through
the works of Maestro Giorgio, whose distinctive lustre is a magnificent
ruby-red unlike any other. In all probability the lustre process was so
quickly abandoned on the fine painted majolica, because the increasing
efforts to make a "picture" were discounted by so uncertain a process.
When one of the later majolica painters had spent weeks on the
decoration of some vase or dish, with an elaborate composition of
carefully drawn figures, it was not likely that he would care to expose
it to any risks that could be avoided. The risks of the lustre process
were inordinately great--Piccolpasso says, "Frequently only six pieces
were good out of a hundred"--so that its use was relegated only to
inferior wares, and then the process was relinquished and forgotten
until its rediscovery in the second half of the 19th century.
The history of the development of these noble wares is by no means
clear, nor is it always certain what part was played by each town in the
successive inventions of technical methods, decoration and colouring, so
that it is better, in such a general sketch as this, to treat the
subject in its broadest features only. In the earlier painted wares the
only colours used were manganese-purple and a transparent copper-green
as on the mezza-majolica, but early in the 15th century cobalt-blue was
added to the palette, and, later on, the strong yellow antimoniate of
lead, mixed with iron. The decorations at this period were largely
influenced by the wares imported from Persia, Syria, Egypt and Spain,
specimens of which were so prized as to be used for the decoration of
church fronts and the façades of public buildings. The lustre of the
Saracenic wares was not yet understood, but its place was taken first by
manganese and afterwards by yellow. The designs were chiefly
conventional flower-patterns in the Persian or Moorish style,
arabesques, and floral scrolls, the ground being filled at times with
those tiny spirals, scrolls and dots to which the Eastern potters were
so partial. Figures, human and animal, were introduced either among the
formal ornament or only sundered from it by panels, of which the
outlines often followed the contours of the central design (see the
early 15th-century Faenza piece, Plate VI.). The figures were, in fact,
drawn to conform to the outline of the vessel, and not the vessel made
to display the figure-subject as in the majolica of the succeeding
century. The earliest dated example of this period is the pavement laid
down in the Caracciolo chapel in the church of San Giovanni a Carbonara,
in Naples, about 1440. Specimens of these tiles may be seen in the
British Museum, and from their style it has been suggested that they
were made by some Spanish potters brought over to Naples by Queen
Joanna, who was of the royal house of Aragon. To this period also have
been referred the large ovoid jars made to contain drugs or confections,
and decorated with bold scrolls of formal oak leaves enclosing spirited
figures of men or animals, or heraldic devices. These are characterized
by a rich blue colour generally piled up in palpable relief and
sometimes verging on black; the outlines are usually in manganese, and
transparent green is used for details and occasionally even as a ground
colour. This ware has been definitely assigned to Florence on what seem
very inadequate grounds, and it is better to speak of it simply as
Tuscan. Then, essentially Italian ornament began to assert itself, and
it redounds to the credit of the Italian majolist that he soon freed
himself from repeating the styles of the wares from which he obtained
his methods, and produced a distinctive type of ornament of his own. He
revelled in patterns with bold floral scrolls, or those based on
peacocks' feathers (see fig. 45), and then he advanced to concentric
bands of painted ornament, borrowed from classic art yet breathing the
true spirit of the Renaissance; while cable borders, chequer and scale
patterns, bands of stiff radiating leaves, festoons of fruit and
flowers, zigzags and pyramidal scrolls occupied nearly the whole surface
or framed an armorial or emblematic central subject. Figure-subjects
occur with increasing frequency as the century advanced; Madonnas and
other sacred subjects, portraits, and, occasionally, groups of figures
after the early Italian masters, or scenes borrowed from the first
illustrated editions of the classics, gradually encroach on the
conventional borders and occupy more and more of the surface of the
piece. The provenance of these 15th-century pieces still remains
uncertain--Faenza, Forli, Florence, Siena and other places offering
rival claims,--but there is no doubt that from the earliest times Faenza
was the most fertile centre of their manufacture, and almost all the
motives of the _quattrocento_ wares are found on fragments discovered
there or on examples that can be traced to Faventine factories.
[Illustration: FIG. 45.--Early Faenza plate, with peacock-feather
design, in blues, yellow and orange-red. (Victoria and Albert Museum.)]
[Illustration: Early Faenza Potter's mark.
Late Faenza Potter's mark.]
It is customary to treat the enamelled terra-cottas of Luca della
Robbia, the great Florentine sculptor (1399-1482), and his followers,
Andrea and Giovanni della Robbia and other members of the family, as
belonging rather to the domain of sculpture than of pottery, and this is
right, for there is nothing certainly known of the work of this great
sculptor which connects it with painted majolica. The old theory that
Luca invented the tin-glaze is long since exploded; what he did was to
use coloured glazes made with a basis of tin-enamel on his boldly
modelled terra-cottas--a very different thing,--and it is by no means
certain that he was the first to do even that. The Victoria and Albert
Museum is extraordinarily rich in della Robbia ware of every kind; and
one may see there these beautifully modelled figures in high relief
covered with pure white tin-enamel, set in a background of slatey blue
or rich manganese purple and framed in wreaths of flowers and fruit
which are coloured with blue, green, purple and sometimes yellow. There
are altar vases too, of classic shape with low relief ornament, covered
with the same peculiar blue glaze; these are sometimes furnished with
modelled fruit and flowers; and finally there is the rare set of
roundels painted on the flat with figure-subjects typifying the months;
but the attribution of these remains doubtful, and their method is not
that of painted majolica.
A remarkable development took place at the beginning of the 16th
century, and in the forty succeeding years the highest perfection of
manipulative skill, both in potting and painting, was attained.
Artistically regarded, the elaborate and detailed methods of painting
then adopted are too much allied to fresco-painting to be considered as
fit treatment for enamelled clay; but this view was certainly not
accepted at the time, nor is it subscribed to by many modern collectors;
yet, regarded as decorated pottery, the 15th-century majolica, simpler
and more conventional in design and treatment, is eminently preferable.
The ruling families of northern Italy, who now took the industry under
their personal patronage, clearly inclined to the opposite view and
spared no expense to provide subjects for their pot-painters. During
the first two decades the influence of Faenza was paramount, and though
the encroachments of purely pictorial motives are clearly indicated on
the wares, room was still found for ornamental patterns. The broad rims
of the dishes were covered with beautiful arabesque designs, frequently
including grotesque figures, masks, dolphins and cherubs (see the Faenza
Casa Pirota piece, 1525, Plate VI.). Sometimes reserved in the white on
a dark blue ground and shaded with light blue and yellow, sometimes
traced in dark blue on a paler grey-blue glaze (called _berettino_) or
painted in darker tints on a ground of orange or full yellow, the
Faventine arabesques form a conspicuous feature of the early wares of
this century. Honeysuckle patterns and interlaced lines drawn in pure
white on a toned tin-enamel (white on white or _sopra-bianco_
decoration) commonly appear on the sides of the deep wells of the
dishes, while in the centre is a single figure, a coat of arms, or a
small figure-subject. A similar treatment, without the _sopra-bianco_,
was accorded to the fruit-dishes, shallow bowls on low feet, &c., with
moulded gadroons or scalloped sides, which are generally attributed to
Faenza or Castel Durante. The workshops of Siena were also noted for
delicately painted grotesques and arabesques, with a rich
brownish-yellow or deep black ground. At Gubbio, too, the "grotesque"
decoration was practised with marked success. Other developments of this
style are the "_a candelieri_" designs, in which grotesques were
symmetrically arranged round some central subject, such as a candelabrum
or vase, and "_a trofei_" in which trophies of arms, musical
instruments, and other objects were symmetrically disposed, or arranged
in studied disarray throughout the design; these patterns are generally
associated with the wares of Castel Durante and Deruta. Lovers' gifts,
dishes in which the whole space is occupied by a portrait bust of a girl
or man, with the name and a complimentary adjective inscribed on a
ribbon in the background, were common to Faenza, Castel Durante and many
other factories. Elaborate figure-subjects also were attempted early in
the century at Faenza and with no little success, as may be seen from a
dish in the British Museum, which is entirely occupied by the scene of
the death of the Virgin, after a print by Martin Schöngauer, delicately
painted in shades of blue, and dated about 1500.
In the early Faventine school the outlines of the figures are almost
always traced in blue, even when they are laid on the grey-blue
_berettino_ ground, and blue was the prevailing colour of the shading
and details. In the third decade of the century the style affected at
Urbino superseded that of Faenza. The majolica painter's palette was now
complete; in addition to the primitive blue, manganese-purple,
transparent green and yellow, we find black, white, orange, greens of
varying shades, brown, and a great number of intermediate tints obtained
by mixing the standard colours. All the colours of the majolica of the
best periods were painted on the tin-enamel before the final glazing,
and were capable of standing the full heat of the fire. Such a thing as
painting in enamels on the finished ware and refiring them at a lower
heat was unknown before the end of the 17th or beginning of the 18th
century. A true red colour seems to have been beyond the power of most
of the Italian majolists, and was only attained at Faenza, and with less
complete success at Cafaggiolo; the famous red of the Turkish pottery
behaves very indifferently on tin-enamel.
[Illustration: Urbino Potter's mark.]
In the Urbino style, which now became general, the ware was given over
entirely to pictorial subjects, scenes from history or romance,
scriptural and mythological, copied from the compositions of the Italian
painters and usually set in a background of Italian landscape.
Guidobaldo II., duke of Urbino, spared no pains to develop this phase of
the art; the cartoons of Raphael, engraved by Marc Antonio and others,
were placed at the disposal of the pot-painters, as well as the
paintings of Michelangelo, Giulio Romano, Battista Franco, Rosso Rossi,
Perugino, Parmeggiano and many more, and these, together with
engravings by Agostino Venetiano, Marco Dente, Enea Vico and others,
were copied, with more or less fidelity, on the majolica. Some of the
painters, as, for instance, Xanto Avelli, were eclectic in their tastes
and made up their subjects by taking a figure here or there from various
pictures. Thus of three figures on a plate in the British Museum,
painted with the Dream of Astyages, one is borrowed from Raphael and
another from Mantegna. These "_istoriati_" wares reached their zenith at
Urbino between the years 1530 and 1560, when the workshops of the
Fontana family were in full activity; but their popularity was very
general, and skilful painters at many other towns produced specimens
that it is hard to distinguish from those of Urbino. Baldasara Manara
was a prolific painter in this style at Faenza; Pesaro and Castel
Durante were little behind Urbino in the skill of their artists, the
Lanfranchi family in the former town having a well-deserved reputation,
while the founders of the Fontana factories learnt their art in the
latter; and a few pieces of considerable merit bear the name of Rimini
as their place of origin.
There will always remain a large number of specimens of majolica which
cannot be assigned with certainty to any particular factory, partly
because the same style of painting was in vogue at many places at the
same time, and partly because of the itinerant propensities of many of
the painters, whose signed works prove that they moved from place to
place to practise their art. There are, however, a few prominent artists
whose touch is sufficiently well known from the examples that bear their
signatures to enable us to classify a considerable proportion of the
finest pieces. First of these is Niccola Pellipario, the founder of the
Fontana family, who moved from Castel Durante to Urbino in 1519, and
worked at the latter place in the factory of his son, Guido Fontana.
There is little doubt that he was the painter of the famous service in
the Correr Museum at Venice, which marks the transition from the style
of Faenza to that of Urbino, and his free figure-drawing, the oval faces
with strongly marked classical features, the peculiarly drawn knees, the
careful landscapes and the characteristic balls of cloud are easily
recognized in quite a number of pieces in the British Museum (see the
Gonzago Este piece, Plate VI.). His pupil, who frequently signed his
name in full, Xanto Avelli da Rovigo, was one of the foremost Urbino
painters, and his work is characterized by bold colouring and fine
figure-drawing, with a marked fondness for yellowish flesh tints. But
Niccola's grandson, Orazio Fontana (see example, Plate VI.), was perhaps
the most celebrated exponent of the pure Urbino style, and his free
drawing and soft harmonious colouring, in which a brilliant blue is
usually conspicuous, are unequalled by any other majolica painter of the
period.
[Illustration: Venetian Majolica Potter's mark.]
Certain characteristic wares of Faenza have already been noted. Those
with the grey-blue (_berettino_) glaze were principally made at the
factory called Casa Pirota, though inferior imitations were also
produced at Padua, and a blue glaze of paler tint was largely used at
Venice. Dolphins are a frequent motive in the arabesque ornaments of the
same Faventine workshop, and many of the wares are marked with a circle
divided by a cross and containing a dot in one of the quarters. A
capital P crossed with a line or paraph is another Faventine mark, and a
somewhat similar monogram, with an S added to the upper part, is found
in the wares of Cafaggiolo. It has already been stated that a red colour
is peculiar to Faenza and in an inferior and browner tint to Cafaggiolo;
it was used, according to Piccolpasso, at the factory of Vergiliotto in
the former place. At Cafaggiolo, the factory of the Medici family, many
fine pieces were painted, mostly in the Faventine style; a deep blue,
heavily applied and showing the marks of the brush, was freely used in
backgrounds, and delicate running leaf scrolls in paler blue and
reminiscent of Persian style often appear on the Cafaggiolo wares (see
example, Plate VI). Not a little can be learnt from the ornament on the
reverse sides of the dishes and plates; those of Faenza and Siena are
richly decorated with scale patterns and concentric bands; those of
Cafaggiolo and Venice are either left blank or have one or two rings of
yellow. A few pre-eminently beautiful dishes, with central figure
subjects of miniature-like finish in delicate landscapes with poplar
trees in a peculiar mannered style, are probably the work of M.
Benedetto of Siena. Borders of arabesques with black or deep orange
ground belong to the same factory and were perhaps decorated by the same
hand. The dishes covered, except for a few small medallions, with
interlaced oak branches ("_a cerquate_" decoration), are no doubt the
productions of Castel Durante; and a certain class of large dishes with
figure subjects in blue on a toned blue glaze, and sometimes with formal
ornaments in relief, are of undisputed Venetian origin.
[Illustration: Later Cafaggiolo Potter's mark.]
Another phase of majolica decoration began about the middle of the 16th
century and synchronized with the decline of the pictorial style. The
figure subjects were relegated to central panels or entirely replaced by
small medallions, and the rest of the surface covered with fantastic
figures among floral scrolls, inspired by Raphael's grotesques painted
on the walls of the Loggie in the Vatican. The prevailing tone of this
ornament was yellow or orange, and the tin-enamel ground, which is
always more or less impure in colour on Italian pottery, was washed over
with a pure milk-white, known as _bianco di Ferrara_ or _bianco
allatato_, said to have been invented by Alphonso I., duke of Ferrara,
who took an active interest in his private factory founded at Ferrara,
and managed by potters from Faenza and Urbino.
The new style flourished at Urbino, Pesaro and Ferrara; at the
first-named particularly in the workshops of the Patanazzi family, and
lasted far into the 17th century. But the majolica was now in full
decline, partly through the falling off of princely patronage, and
partly, perhaps, owing to a reaction in favour of Chinese porcelain,
which was becoming more plentiful and better known in Europe. The
manufacture, however, never entirely ceased, and revivals of the old
style were attempted at the end of the 17th century by Ferdinando Maria
Campori of Siena, who copied Raphael's and Michelangelo's compositions,
and by the families of Gentile and Grue at Naples and Castelli. The
majolica of Castelli is distinguished by the lightness of the ware, good
technique, and harmonious but pale and rather weak colouring; it
continued into the 18th century. A coarse and inferior ware was made at
Padua and Monte Lupo; and the factories of Faenza were still active,
producing, among other kinds, a pure white ware with moulded scallops
and gadroons. The industry continued to flourish in Venice and the
north. Black ware with gilt decoration was a Venetian product of the
17th century, and at Savona and Genoa blue painted ware in imitation of
Chinese blue and white porcelain made its appearance. In the 18th
century a new departure was made in the introduction of enamel painting
over the glaze, a method borrowed from porcelain; but this process was
common to all the faience factories of Europe at the time, and though it
was widely practised in Italy no special distinction was attained in any
particular factory. In our own days imitations of the 16th century wares
continue to be made in the factories of Ginori, Cantigalli and others,
not excepting the lustred majolica of Gubbio and Deruta; but, compared
with the old pieces, the modern copies are heavy to handle, stiff in
drawing, suspiciously wanting in the quality of the colours and the
purity of the final glaze which distinguish the work of the best period.
[Illustration: Turin Potter's mark.
Savona Potter's marks.]
[Illustration: FIG. 46--Early majolica plate, in blue and yellow lustre
only, made at Pesaro or Deruta, c. 1500. The motto on the scroll may be
Englished as follows: "He who steers well his ship will enter the
harbour." (Louvre.)]
_Lustred Wares._--The lustred wares of Deruta have marked
characteristics, and, though differing in actual treatment from the
Hispano-Moresque, their appearance is eloquent in favour of such a
derivation. The most characteristic examples are large dishes and
plateaux, thickly made and with the enamel on the upper face only, the
back having a lead glaze. They are often decorated (see fig. 46) with a
single figure or bust in the centre (with or without an inscribed
ribbon), which is usually set against a dark blue background which
covers only half the field, while in the other half is a formal flower,
and in the borders are radiating panels with palmettes alternating with
scale pattern, or some other formal design. The whole style is archaic,
the designs being heavily outlined in blue and washed over with a
greenish yellow lustre, with beautiful opalescent _reflets_ recalling
mother of pearl. The lustre varies from this _madreperla_ tint to a
brassy metallic yellow, and parts of the ornament are sometimes modelled
in low relief. In spite of its archaic appearance, the Deruta lustred
wares are scarcely older than the 16th century, and the style was
continued as late as the second half of that century. Deruta pottery was
not always lustred, and some of the pieces signed by the painter El
Frate, who flourished between 1541 and 1554, are without the lustre
pigment, though showing the heavy blue outlines of the lustred wares.
The lustred majolica of Gubbio owes its celebrity almost entirely to the
work of one man, Maestro Giorgio Andreoli, who came thither from Pavia,
with his brothers Salimbene and Giovanni, and obtained citizenship in
1498. His earliest efforts were in the direction of sculpture, and some
of his reliefs in the style of della Robbia are still in existence;
indeed the earliest dated piece of lustred majolica attributed to him is
a plaque of 1501, with the figure of St Sebastian in relief, in the
Victoria and Albert Museum. It is not known whence he learnt the secret
of the beautiful transparent ruby lustre peculiar to Gubbio. A red or
rosy lustre is found in both Persian and Hispano-Moresque wares, and no
doubt the process was learnt from some Moslem potter and developed by
Giorgio to unusual perfection. Golden, yellow, brown and opalescent
lustres were also freely used at Gubbio, the ruby being only sparingly
applied. Finished painted pieces were sent from other factories to
receive the addition of lustre at Gubbio, but these can almost always be
distinguished from the true Gubbio wares, in which the lustre is an
integral part of the decoration. Apart from the lustred enrichment, the
majolica of Gubbio has few distinctive qualities, for its styles were
various and almost all borrowed (see fig 47). The archaic taste of
Deruta, the arabesques and grotesques of Faenza and Castel Durante, and
in a lesser degree the "_istoriato_" style of Urbino, reigned in turn.
Perhaps the most characteristic paintings of Maestro Giorgio are the
central medallions of cups and deep dishes enclosing a single figure of
a child or a cupid in _grisaille_. Giorgio's larger figure compositions,
if indeed his signature in lustre may be taken to imply that he painted
the designs as well as lustred them, show great inequality, some rising
to a very high standard--as the dish with "the Three Graces" in the
Victoria and Albert Museum, and the "Bath of Nymphs" in the Wallace
collection--while in others the figure drawing is quite inferior. The
arabesques and grotesques on the Gubbio wares are usually of great
merit. There are a few known pieces of unlustred Gubbio wares with
figure subjects, painted chiefly in blue and in the style of the early
Faventine artists. After 1517, when we may assume that the lustre
process was thoroughly mastered, the Gubbio wares were usually signed
with the initials or full name of Maestro Giorgio, and a few rapidly
executed scrolls in lustre completed the decorations of the reverse of
the plates and dishes. The master's latest signed work is dated 1541,
and he died in 1552. It is probable that his brother Salimbene assisted
him, and Piccolpasso names his son Vincentio as possessor of the lustre
secret. Possibly the latter was the painter who signed his wares with
the initial N, but this conjecture rests solely on the ingenious, but
unsupported notion that N is a monogram of the first three letters of
the name Vincentio. Other initials, M, D, R, also occur on Gubbio
plates, and the latest dated example of the ware is signed by one
"Mastro Prestino" in 1557, but it has little to recommend it save that
it is enriched with the Gubbio lustres, which after this time entirely
disappear.
[Illustration: FIG. 47.--Gubbio plate, with portrait in ruby lustre and
blue outline. (Victoria and Albert Museum.)]
[Illustration: Gubbio Potters' marks.]
The old majolica shapes are briefly as follows:--among the earliest
are small bowls (_scodette_), often with flattened sides; jugs
(_boccali_) with large lip-spouts, and mouths pinched into trefoil
form; large dishes with gradually shelving sides (_bacili_), or with
flat broad rims and deep centres; akin to these are the plateaux with
a raised flat disk in the centre; small dishes with broad flat rims
and deep though narrow central walls (_tondini_), suitable for handing
a wine-glass or sweetmeats; flat trencher-shaped plates (_piatti_ or
_taglieri_); saucer-shaped dishes on low feet and sometimes with
moulded sides (_tazze_ or _fruttieri_) suitable for holding fruit.
Among the vase forms ovoid shapes with short necks and a pair of flat
handles are common in the Tuscan wares of the 15th century; the jars
for confectionery, drugs, or syrups were often of the cylindrical form
with graceful concave sides known as the "_albarello_," in shape of
Eastern origin, and in name perhaps derived from the Persian _el
barani_ (a vase for drugs, &c.); other vase forms with spouts and
handles were used for the same purpose; ornamental vases after
classical designs (_vasi a bronzi antichi_); and in the best Urbino
period a great variety of fanciful forms--ewers, vases, cisterns,
shells, salt-cellars, ink-pots, &c., with applied masks and serpentine
handles, were made in the exuberant taste of the time. A complex piece
of furniture for the bedside of ladies in childbirth (_vaso
puerperale_) consisted of a bowl with a foot surmounted by a flat
trencher on which fitted an inverted drinking-bowl (_ongaresca_); and
above this again a salt-cellar with cover. Many of these shapes were
suited to daily use, but the richly decorated majolica was designed to
adorn the walls, the _credenze_, table-centres and cabinets of the
rich. This alone could have been the destination of the large dishes
(_piatti di pompa_) with rim pieces for suspension, and the smaller
dishes (_coppe amatorii_) with portraits of young men and girls and
lovers' symbols; and it is inconceivable that the costly lustred wares
of Gubbio or the fine _madreperla_ dishes of Deruta were designed for
anything but decorative use. The ware was in fact an article produced
for the wealthy in the century of Italy's glory, and under no other
conditions could such magnificent and expensive pieces have been made.
_Technical Methods._--This is a convenient place to give an account of
the methods used by the early medieval potters--(1) because they
represent what had been learnt from Roman times to the 16th century,
and indeed to the introduction of modern methods, (2) because, besides
all that a potter could derive from an examination of the wares, we
have ample written accounts of the methods and processes followed by
the Italian majolist. Mr Solon has recently published an epitome of
the account given in Biringuccio's _La Pyrotechnica_ (Venice, 1540),
and there is the memorable MS. of Piccolpasso, a potter of Castel
Durante, now in the library of the Victoria and Albert Museum, which,
besides giving an account of the processes, contains illustrations of
kilns, mills, decorative motives, &c.[16]
1. The potter's clay was prepared from mixtures of various kinds
prepared by (a) beating and picking out coarse particles, (b) mixing
with water, (c) passing through a sieve, (d) drying again into plastic
clay ready for the working potter. The essential point about the
potter's clay of the best tin-enamelled wares, whether Spanish,
Italian, French or Dutch, is that the clays are those known
geologically as "marls," which contain a large percentage of carbonate
of lime. Such clays always fire to a pinky red or buff colour, and
give a ware that is strong and yet light in substance, and on no other
kind of clay does the tin-enamel display its full perfection (see
Deck's _La Faience_). The analyses of certain tin-enamelled wares are
useful as showing the essential constitution of the best pottery
bodies for such purposes.
+----------------+---------+-----------+--------+----------+
| | Delia | Majolica. | Delft. | French |
| | Robbia. | | | Faience. |
+----------------+---------+-----------+--------+----------+
| Silica | 49.65 | 48.00 | 49.07 | 48.65 |
| Alumina | 15.50 | 17.59 | 16.19 | 17.05 |
| Lime | 22.40 | 20.12 | 18.01 | 19.43 |
| Magnesia | 0.17 | 1.17 | 0.82 | 0.27 |
| Oxide of iron | 3.70 | 3.75 | 2.82 | 4.33 |
| Carbonic Acid, | | | | |
| water, &c. | 8.58 | 9.46 | 13.09 | 10.27 |
+----------------+---------+-----------+--------+----------+
2. _Shaping._--The vessels were either "thrown" on the potter's wheel
(which had remained practically unaltered from Egyptian times), or
they were formed by "pressing" thin cakes of clay into moulds, made of
a composition of plaster (_gesso_), bone-ash and marble dust. In the
latter way all shapes that were not circular were made, as well as
those with heavy bosses or gadroons imitated from embossed metal
forms. It is interesting, though not surprising, to note that for the
fine later wares, the roughly thrown vases, when sufficiently dry,
were recentred on the wheel or were placed in a joiner's lathe and
smoothed to a clean and accurate surface. The Greek potters did the
same, and this practice must always be followed where fine painting or
gilding is afterwards to be applied. In the later florid vases of the
Urbino style the piece was built up of thrown parts and moulded parts
(handles, masks, spouts, &c.), luted together with slip when they were
dry enough to be safely handled, and then retouched by the modeller or
vase-maker, a method followed to this day for elaborate pieces of
pottery or porcelain.
[Illustration: PLATE V.
Rhodian or Turkish: 16th century.
Syro-Persian: 13th century.
Rhodian or Turkish: 16th century.
Rhodian or Turkish: 16th century.
Damascus: 16th century.
Persian, lustre and underglaze colour: 13th century.]
3. _The Glaze._--The white enamel which formed at first both the glaze
and the ground for painting upon--_bianco_, as it was called--was
prepared in a complicated way. A clear potash glass (_marzacotto_) was
made by melting together clean siliceous sand (_rena_) and the potash
salt left as the lees of wine (_feccia_). This corresponds to the
alkaline glaze of the Egyptians with the substitution of potash for
soda. Such a glaze alone would have been useless to the Italian
potter, and accordingly the _bianco_ was made by melting together
thirty parts of _marzacotto_ and twelve parts of lead and tin ashes.
The white enamel as used was therefore a mixed silicate of lead and
potash rendered opaque with oxide of tin.
4. Pigments (_colori_) were compounded from metallic oxides or earths;
the yellow, from antimoniate of lead, which was mixed with oxide of
iron to give orange; the green, from oxide of copper (the turquoise
tint given to the Egyptian and Syrian glazes by oxide of copper is
impossible with a glaze of lead and tin); and the greens were made by
mixing oxide of copper with oxide of antimony or oxide of iron; blue,
from oxide of cobalt, used in the form of a blue glass (_smalto_, or
_zaffara_); brownish-purple, from manganese; black, from mixtures of
the other colours; and the rare red, or reddish brown, of Faenza and
Cafaggiolo was probably the same Armenian bole that was used so
magnificently by the makers of the Turkish pottery, but on the white
enamel ground this colour was most treacherous and uncertain. It must
be remembered that many of these colours owe their tint to the lead
used in their composition, or to the grounds containing oxides of lead
and tin on which they were painted. Piccolpasso describes the
preparation and composition of the various colours used in his day.
5. _Coperta_, or transparent glaze. In the later majolica a thin
coating of soft rich glaze was applied over the fired painting to give
a smooth bright surface. This _coperta_ was a soft lead glass
consisting of silica (sand), 20 parts; oxide of lead, 17 parts;
potash, 12 parts; and common salt, 8 parts; fused together and then
finely ground in water.
6. _Methods of Glazing and Decorating._--In the mezza-majolica and the
early majolica it is probable that the clay vessel was dipped in the
white bath to give it an envelope (_invetriatura_) before it was fired
at all; but it must soon have become apparent that it was much better
to fire first the shaped vessel until it was about as hard and brittle
as a clay tobacco-pipe, and then coat it with the white enamel, by
dipping it into a bath or pouring the fluid material upon it. This was
the practice described by Piccolpasso. A coating of white enamel, the
thickness of glove leather, having been obtained, the piece was
carefully taken by the painter, who first etched in the outline on the
absorbent powdery ground, and then shaded the figures, landscapes,
&c., in blue or in a mixture of blue and yellow, adding the other
colours as gradated washes. The vase was then fired a second time to a
heat greater than the first, so that the enamel was melted on the
vessel and the colours sunk into the enamel at one and the same
operation. This method of painting on the unbaked enamel demanded a
bold direct treatment--for alteration or retouching was
impossible--and much of the vigour of the earlier designs is due to
this fact. As the ware became more refined in its treatment it was
felt that this method did not yield a sufficiently brilliant surface,
and so the painted and fired piece was coated with a film of _coperta_
and fired again at a slightly lower temperature to make it smoother
and more glossy. Still pursued by the idea of rivalling the triumphs
of pictorial art, the majolist carried his methods a step farther. The
white enamel coating was fired before painting, giving a glossy
surface on which the painter could draw or wipe out, and so could
execute outlining, tinting, or shading of the utmost delicacy. A film
of _coperta_ was then washed over the painting, and the piece was
fired a third time in the cooler parts of the kiln. In some instances
it is not easy even for an experienced potter to decide which method
has been pursued, owing to the softening of the colours. Generally we
should expect that the later and more pictorial pieces had been
painted on a ground of fired white enamel, and we may be absolutely
certain when delicate white patterns have been "picked out" in a
coloured ground.
Where lustre decoration has been added to a piece of majolica it
indicates, as elsewhere, the use of a special process, and a final
firing at a lower heat. The lustre pigments were the same as those
used on the earlier lustred wares, and these were painted over an
otherwise finished piece. To obtain the lustre effect these were
placed in a special kiln, so contrived that when the pots were just
visibly red the smoke of the burning fuel (rosemary or gorse) was
allowed to play upon them long enough to drive the metallic films
(silver or copper) into the already-fired glaze.[17]
_Collections._--The Victoria and Albert Museum contains perhaps the
most widely representative collection in the world, especially as at
the present time the pieces of the Salting and Pierpont Morgan
collections are on exhibition there. The British Museum collection is
valuable, being rich in "signed" pieces of the first quality. The
Wallace collection and the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford (Fortnum
collection, &c.) are also valuable and contain some remarkable
examples. The Cluny Museum, the Louvre and the museum at Sèvres have
fine collections; while noteworthy pieces are to be found in the
Ceramic Museum at Limoges. In Germany the museum at Brunswick contains
one of the largest collections known, but many inferior and doubtful
examples. Berlin, Munich, Vienna and St Petersburg have noteworthy
collections. In Italy, the Bargello at Florence and the museums of
Venice, Milan, Turin, Faenza, Pesaro, Urbino, Rome and Naples all have
collections, whilst interesting examples of local manufactures are to
be found in many of the smaller Italian towns. The American museums,
especially those in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, have some fine
examples.
LITERATURE.--F. Argnani, _La Ceramiche et maioliche faentine_ (Faenza,
1889 and 1903); D. Bonghi, _Intorno alle Majoliche di Castelli_
(Naples, 1856); Professor Douglas, "Siena," in the _Nineteenth
Century_, September 1900; Hensel, _Essai sur la majolique_ (Paris,
1836); G.I. Montanari, _Majoliche dipinte nella collezione del N.S.C.
Domenico Mazza_ (Pesaro, 1836); L. Frati, _Di un insigna raccolta di
majoliche_ (Bologna, 1844); also _Di un pavimento in majolica_
(Bologna, 1853); J.C. Robinson, _Italian Sculpture of the Middle Ages_
(London, 1862); E. Darcel, _Musée du Louvre: Notice des faïences
peintes_; Drury E. Fortnum, _Contribution to the History of Pottery_
(London, 1868); Delange, _Recueil de faïences italiennes du XV^e au
XVII^e siècle_ (Paris, 1869); M. Meurer, _Italienische Maiolika
Fliesen_ (Berlin); E. Molinier, _Les Majoliques italiennes en Italie_
(Paris, 1883), also _La Céramique italienne au XV^e siècle_ (Paris,
1888); C. Piccolpasso, _I tre libri dell' arte del Vasajo_, Castel
Durante 1548 (original MS.) and translations by C. Popelyn, Paris,
1841 and 1860, also Italian editions of Rome and Milan; V. Lazari,
_Notizia della raccolta Correr_ (Venice, 1859); Drury E. Fortnum, _A
Descriptive Catalogue of the Majolica in the South Kensington Museum_
(London, 1873); Beckwith, _Majolica and Faience_ (New York, 1877); G.
Corona, _La Ceramica_ (Milan, 1878); G. Vanzolini, _Istoria delle
fabbriche di majoliche metaurensi_ (Pesaro, 1879); A. Genolini,
_Majoliche italiane_ (Milan, 1881); Mely, _La Céramique italienne_
(Paris, 1884); J.E. Jacobsthal, _Süd-italienische Fliesen_ (Berlin,
1886); Bertolotti, _Figulini, fonditori, e scultori_ (Milan, 1890); H.
Wallis, _Italian Ceramic Art_ (1897), _The Oriental Influence on the
Ceramic Art of the Italian Renaissance_ (1900), _The Art of the
Precursors_ (1901), _The Majolica Pavements of the Fifteenth Century_
(1902), _Oak-leaf Jars: A Fifteenth Century Italian Ware_ (1903), _The
Albarello_ (1904), also _Seventeen Plates by Nicola Fontana_ (1905),
and _Italian Ceramic Art: Figure Designs_ (1905); Tesorone, _L'Antico
Pavimento delle Logge di Raffaello in Vaticano_ (Naples, 1891);
Columba, _Il "Quos Ego" di Raffaello_ (Palermo, 1895); Drury E.
Fortnum, _Majolica_ (London, 1896); also _Fortnum Collection in the
Oxford Museum_ (London, 1896); O. von Falke, _Majolika_ (Berlin,
1896); also _Sammlung R. Zschille: Katalog der italienischen
Majoliken_ (Leipzig, 1899); Antaldi Santinelli, _Museo di Pesaro_
(Pesaro, 1897); De Mauri, _L'Amatore di Majolica_ (Milan, 1898); E.
Hannover, _De Spanske-Mauriske, og de forste Italienske Fayence_
(Copenhagen, 1906). (R. L. H.; W. B.*)
FRENCH POTTERY FROM THE 15TH TO THE 19TH CENTURY
The pottery of medieval France needs little attention here, for it was,
in the main, similar to that which was made generally in Europe--rudely
shaped vessels of ordinary clay often decorated with modelled ornament
and glazed with yellow or brown lead glaze, or, if coated with white
slip, decorated with bright green glazes, and towards the end of the
15th century with greyish blue. The later specimens of this simple
ware--pronouncedly Gothic in feeling--were often extremely decorative.
Avignon, Beauvais and Savigny are the best-known centres of this truly
national manufacture, and, as we might expect in French work, the
reliefs are often sharp and well designed. Evidence accumulates that
from time to time the princes and great nobles imported Spanish or
Italian workmen to make special tiles for the decoration of their
palaces or chapels. The duke of Burgundy brought Jehan de Moustiers and
Jehan-le-Voleur, "_ouvriers en quarrieaux peints et jolis_," in 1391, to
paint tiles for his palaces at Hesdin and Arras in the north, and we
have already referred to the tile-work in the Spanish fashion made at
Poitiers by John of Valencia, the "Saracen," in 1384 for Duke Jean de
Berry.[18] Other instances might be multiplied but that this foreign
work left little or no traces on contemporary French pottery. Even at a
later date, when Francis I. brought Girolamo della Robbia from Italy to
decorate his "Petit Château de Madrid" in 1529, or when Masseot
Abaquesne, about 1542, manufactured at Rouen the painted tile pavements
for the château of Ecouen, the cathedral of Langres, and other places,
nothing came of the imported methods; the works were executed and left
no traces on the general pottery of the country. During the 16th
century, however, two remarkable kinds of pottery were made in France of
distinctive quality, and both eminently French--the Henri-Deux ware and
the pottery of Bernard Palissy and his imitators.
_Henri-Deux_, _Oiron_ or _St Porchaire_ ware, for all these names have
in turn been applied to the enigmatic and wonderful pottery, specimens
of which are now valued at more than their weight in gold, was once
believed to have been made by the librarian Bernard, and his assistant
Charpentier, for their patroness Helène de Hangest about 1529 at her
château at Oiron, near Thouars.[19] A few years ago this theory was
discarded in favour of one which assigned them to some unknown potter of
St Porchaire in the same region;[20] but even of this theory there is
insufficient proof, and we are left in doubt both as to the maker and
the place of origin. All we know is that the ware dates from the reign
of Henry II., and that it was probably made somewhere near Oiron, as
most of the specimens have been found in that district. The work is _sui
generis_, for it had no direct ancestry, neither did it leave any mark
on contemporary French pottery. Sixty-five pieces of the ware (see fig.
48) are known to be in museums and private collections; the Louvre and
the Victoria and Albert Museum have the best collections of their kinds,
but the Rothschilds still hold the greater number of examples. The ware
is fashioned in a simple whitish pipeclay, and ornamented with
interlacing strap-work patterns, typical of the period, inlaid in
yellow, buff or dark-brown clay. The forms are generally graceful, but
some examples are over-elaborate and overloaded with modelled ornament.
The pieces were designed to serve as candlesticks, salt-cellars, tazzas,
ewers, holy-water pots and dishes. After the vessels had been "thrown"
and "turned" to a perfect shape, metal tools, such as were used by the
bookbinders and casemakers of that day, were pressed into the clay, so
as to form sunk cells of ornamental tooling. These cells were carefully
filled with finely-prepared slips of other clays, that would burn
yellow, buff or dark-brown; and when the whole was dry the piece was
carefully smoothed again, and moulded reliefs were attached, or touches
of colour were applied. After being fired the ware was glazed,
apparently with the ordinary lead glaze of the time carefully prepared
and fired again. At a later period the ornament was not inlaid in this
elaborate manner, but was simply painted, as indeed it might all have
been so far as decorative effect is concerned.
[Illustration: FIG. 48.--Tazza of Oiron pottery. (Louvre)]
[Illustration: Oiron Potter's mark.]
_Palissy Ware._--Bernard Palissy was a genius of original talent, but,
at the hands of his literary admirers, he has gained a legendary rank as
one of the great potters of the world which his pottery does not
warrant. He is supposed to have spent sixteen years in the search for
the white enamel which was being used all the time in Italy and
Spain--probably he was searching for the mystery of Chinese
porcelain--and when he settled down to make the "Palissy ware," he did
nothing more than carry to perfection the methods of the village
pot-makers of his own district. On a hard-fired red clay he disposed
groups of moulded plants, shells, fish and reptiles, painted them with
crude green, brown and yellow colours, and glazed the whole with a
well-prepared lead glaze. His style soon had numerous imitators, like A.
Cléricy and B. de Blémont, who executed works quite as good as those of
their master; but their works also vanished and left no permanent
impression on the general trend of French pottery.
Meantime Italian, and, it may be, Spanish potters strayed over the
French border and attempted to introduce the manufacture of their
tin-enamelled wares; for we know of the works of Gambin and Tardessir of
Faenza, established at Lyons about 1556; of Sigalon at Nîmes in 1548; of
Jehan Ferro at Nantes about 1580, and other sporadic efforts. The needed
impetus came, however, when the Mantuan duke, Louis de Gonzague, became
duke of Nevers in 1565; and we find Italian majolists, working under
princely patronage, planting their decadent art in the centre of France.
The first efforts met with little success until, with the appearance of
the Conrades from Savona, who were domiciled in Nevers in 1602, we get
the genuine ware of Nevers. Naturally the first productions, whether of
the Conrades or their predecessors, were in the style of the debased
majolica of Savona, but the body and glaze of the ware is harder, the
colours are not so rich, and the execution is less spirited. The first
departure from Italian traditions is seen in the ware of the so-called
"Persian style" of Nevers--probably adopted from contemporary work in
Limoges enamels on metal--where conventional and fanciful designs of
flowers and foliage, birds, animals or figures were thickly raised in
white enamel on a ground of bright, intense cobalt-blue glaze. After the
middle of the 17th century the Italian style of design appears to have
been entirely replaced by pseudo-oriental patterns painted in blue or in
polychrome, but really imitated from the "Delft" copies of Chinese and
Japanese porcelain. When Rouen and Moustiers became famous for their
distinctive wares Nevers copied their designs also, and on a gradually
descending scale the manufacture continued to the end of the 18th
century, when France was flooded with the rude _Faiences patriotiques_
from this centre.
[Illustration: FIG. 49.--Dish of Rouen enamelled pottery, painted in
blues and deep red.]
The genuine French tin-enamelled ware, freed from the traces of Italian
influence, first developed itself at Rouen under the famous Poterats in
the later part of the 17th century. A new scheme of ornamentation was
gradually evolved in the daintily-designed scalloped and radiating
patterns adapted from oriental fabrics, lace and needlework, and from
the ornamental devices of contemporary printers. These designs, having
been skilfully drawn on the pieces, were filled in with bright blue,
strong yellow, light green, or a bright bricky-red in palpable relief,
applied as flat washes or in fine lines; and the result was a gay and
sparkling ware much superior in decorative value to the later Italian
majolicas (see fig. 49). So successful was this Rouen ware that rival
factories were quickly started at Saint Cloud, Sinceny, Quimper, Lille,
and other places in the north. Saint Cloud and Lille made fine pottery
of this class at the end of the 17th and in the early 18th century. It
was imitated at Nevers, the potters' marks shown being those of J.
Bourdu and H. Borne. In the south of France, Pierre Clérissy established
the industry at Moustiers in 1686, and, though the early Moustiers ware
bears a strong resemblance to the debased Italian majolica of the time,
the Moustiers painters soon left that behind, and on a glaze of
inimitable whiteness and softness they deftly pencilled blue patterns
based on the engravings of designs after Berain, Marot and Toro. At a
later date Olerys, who had been to Alcora to introduce the French
faience into Spain, returned to Moustiers and introduced a pale
polychrome style very inferior to that of Rouen. These pieces are
covered with patterns outlined in blue and filled in with yellow, pale
green and light purple. Olerys is also said to have introduced the
grotesque style of Moustiers, founded on the caricatures of Callot.
Other factories were started from Moustiers, such as those at Apt, Ardus
and Montauban, and even at Narbonne, Bordeaux and Clermont-Ferrand; just
as the northern factories had sprung from Rouen.
[Illustration: Nevers Potters' marks.]
We have already seen at Nevers the introduction of patterns in the
Chinese style, and the same course was increasingly followed at all the
French factories during the 18th century. At Strassburg a fresh impetus
was given in this direction when, about 1721, Charles Hannong introduced
the practice of painting his white tin-enamelled ware with the on-glaze
colours used by the porcelain painters. This process enabled the French
potter to produce many colours unobtainable by his older process, and
moreover helped him to make his wares look more like the coveted
porcelain, then becoming the rage all over Europe. This new departure
marks the end of the best period of French faience, but so successfully
did it meet the demands of the time that it gradually displaced the old
method of decoration where the colours were painted on the raw glaze and
fired along with it. Factories sprang up for the manufacture of this new
ware in the first half of the 18th century at Niederviller, Lunéville
and Sceaux, and it was quickly adopted by the older factories at Rouen,
Sinceny, Marseilles, &c. With its general adoption the old French
faience, developed from the Italian stock, departed, to make way for a
tin-enamelled imitation of _famille-rose_ porcelain. But this last style
was not of long life. The wealthy classes were no longer patrons of
pottery but of porcelain, and when, after 1786, the newly perfected
English earthenware was thrown upon the French market, the French
faience-makers had to give up their works, or adopt the manufacture of
this neater and, for domestic purposes, more suitable form of pottery.
This change, together with the disturbances of revolutionary times,
brought artistic pottery in France to a standstill, and we shall treat
of its revival during the last forty or fifty years in a subsequent
section.
_Collections._--The Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum
contain typical examples; but not such collections as are to be seen
in the Cluny Museum, the Louvre, the museum at Sèvres, or the French
provincial museums at Rouen, Limoges, Marseilles, Lille, St Omer, &c.
LITERATURE.--Deck, _La Faience_ (Paris, 1887); Gasnault and Garnier,
_French Pottery_ (Victoria and Albert Museum Handbooks, 1884); Le
Breton, _Le Musée céramique de Rouen_ (Rouen, 1883); Milet, (?)
_Historique de la faience et de la porcelaine de Rouen_ (Rouen, 1898);
Pottier, _Histoire de la faience de Rouen_ (Amiens, 1870); L'Abbé H.
Requin, _Histoire de la faience artistique de Moustiers_, tome I^er
(Paris, 1903); M.L. Solon, _The Old French Faience_ (London,
1903)--the best survey of the whole subject, with a very full
bibliography. The various volumes of the _Gazette des beaux-arts_
contain many valuable original articles. (W. B.*)
GERMAN, DUTCH AND SCANDINAVIAN POTTERY
In northern Europe until the time of the Renaissance the making of tiles
is the only branch of the potter's craft of artistic rank. The pavement
tiles of Germany of the Gothic period, examples of which have been
found in the valley of the Rhine from Constance to Cologne, often bear
designs of foliage or grotesque animals full of character and spirit.
Their decoration is effected either by impression with a stamp of wood
or clay, or by "pressing" the tile in a mould to produce a design in
relief. The surface is sometimes protected by a lead glaze--green, brown
or yellow--but is generally left unglazed.
Glazed tiles with relief ornament were also made as early as the 14th
century for the construction of stoves, such as have continued in use in
Germany to the present day. About 1500 a development took place in the
combination of glazes of different colours on a single tile. In the
middle of the 16th century Renaissance ornament appears in place of
Gothic canopies and tracery, and blue and white enamels begin to be used
in combination with lead glazes of other colours. Figures in the costume
of the period, or shields of arms, in round-arched niches are a
favourite motive alike in the stove tiles and in the wares of similar
technique known as _Hafnergefässe_, which have been wrongly attributed
to Hirsvogel of Nuremberg. These were made not only in that city but
also in Silesia and at Salzburg, Steyr, and elsewhere in Upper Austria;
their manufacture continued into the 18th century.
Imitations of Italian majolica with polychrome painting on a white
enamelled ground were first made in southern Germany about 1525, and it
is with these wares that the name of Hirsvogel should really be
associated. The same style survived for more than a century and a half
in the stoves and pottery made by the Pfau family at Winterthur in
Switzerland, from the end of the 16th century onwards. An interesting
development is exhibited by certain rare productions, of Silesian
origin, dating from about 1550, with decorations in coloured enamels
which are prevented from flowing together by a strong outline incised in
the clay.
_Stoneware_.--The most important feature of the history of German
pottery is the development of stoneware along the valley of the Rhine.
This ware is of a highly refractory white or grey body of intense
hardness, glazed by the introduction of salt into the kiln when the
highest temperature was reached. It was exported in large quantities
through the markets of Cologne and Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) to England,
France and other parts of northern Europe. The frequent occurrence in
its decoration of the arms of foreign cities and princes shows that the
German potters were alive to the requirements of foreign customers.
The oldest centre of this manufacture seems to have been at Siegburg
near Coblenz, where the white stoneware peculiar to the neighbourhood,
made from local clay, must have been made and exported in considerable
quantities at least as early as the 15th century; plain beer-jugs of
that date with cylindrical neck and slightly swelling body have been
unearthed in London and the eastern counties of England. In the 16th
century an artistic development took place, and the potters were formed
into an exclusive gild under stringent regulations. The manufacture
lasted till the sack of the town by the Swedes in 1632, subsequent
attempts to re-establish it being unsuccessful. This ware, of a creamy
white colour, generally thinly glazed and only rarely coloured by
staining with cobalt blue, is decorated by impression with small stamps
or by the application of reliefs pressed from separate moulds. The
motives include sacred and classical figure subjects, portraits of
contemporary sovereigns, and armorial bearings, with accessory foliage
in which a survival of Gothic feeling is often perceptible.
Characteristic forms are the high tankard (_Schnelle_) and the ewer with
long spout (_Schnabelkrug_), but the fancy of the potter also found
expression in various quaint or extravagant forms.
At Raeren in the duchy of Limburg this industry attained importance
about 1550, and was continued for over seventy years; 1539 is the
earliest date known to occur on this ware. The pieces were of two kinds,
brown-glazed and grey; the latter usually decorated with blue. The
favourite form is a baluster-shaped jug with heraldic designs or a
frieze of figures round the middle. The subjects are from Scripture
history or contemporary peasant life as interpreted by Hans Sebald Beham
and the German and French "Little Masters." Examples are known bearing
dates and names or initials of mould-cutters, among them Ian Emens and
Baldem Mennicken; but it must not always be inferred that a piece is as
old as the date introduced in its decoration, for the same set of moulds
might be used for many years.
Another important centre in the 16th century was at Frechen near
Cologne. Round-bellied jugs known as _Bartmänner_, from the bearded mask
applied in front of the neck, covered with a brown glaze, which in later
examples is often coagulated into thick spots, were first made here
towards the end of the 15th century, and continued to be the staple
product well into the 17th. The jugs of this type, known as Greybeards
or Bellarmines, which were exported in profusion to England, Scandinavia
and the Low Countries, were mostly made here. At Cologne itself there
were also factories, probably before the 16th century, the later
productions of which resemble those of Frechen.
During the 17th and 18th centuries the busiest stoneware centre was the
district surrounding Höhr-Grenzhausen in Nassau known as the
Kannebäckerländchen, where artistic ware was being made before 1600.
Soon after that date manganese purple was first used in the decoration
in addition to cobalt blue, and henceforward colour in combination with
impressed and incised ornament tended more and more to supersede
decoration in relief. Figure subjects gave place to rosettes, foliage on
wavy stems, and geometrical patterns. Vessels of large size and
fantastic shape appear beside the standard forms of the earlier
factories. In the 18th century the forms of beer-vessels became
stereotyped in the globular jug with cylindrical neck and the
cylindrical tankard, while tea and coffee pots, inkstands and other
vessels, hitherto unknown, began to be made. A stoneware manufacture
dating back to the middle ages existed at Creussen in Bavaria. The
productions of this district during the 17th and 18th centuries consist
of tankards of squat shape, jugs and jars, of a dark red body, covered
with a lustrous dark brown glaze, frequently painted after the first
firing in brilliant enamel colours with figures of the Apostles, the
electors of the Empire, or other oft-repeated motives. Imitations of the
wares of Raeren and Grenzhausen were made at Bouffioulx near Charleroi;
other minor centres of the manufacture were at Meckenheim near Cologne
and Bunzlau in Silesia.
As in England, so in Holland (by Ary de Milde and certain Delft potters)
and in Germany, attempts were made with some success, early in the 18th
century, to imitate the Chinese red stoneware, known as _boccaros_. The
early efforts of Böttger, the discoverer of the secret of true
porcelain, at Meissen, belong to this category. His red ware is of such
hardness that it was cut and polished on the lapidary's wheel. For some
time after the manufacture of red ware at Meissen had ceased, a glazed
brown ware of less hard body with gilt or silver decoration was made at
Bayreuth. The products of other minor factories of this class cannot now
be identified.
Mention may be made of the lead-glazed peasant pottery, such as the
bowls produced at Marburg with quaint symbolical devices modelled in
relief and applied. Slip-covered wares with _graffiato_ decoration,
apparently of indigenous growth and not inspired by foreign examples,
were made well on into the 19th century near Crefeld and elsewhere in
Germany, at Langnau in Switzerland, and by German emigrants in
Pennsylvania. In Holland a peculiar green-glazed ware was made in the
18th century with pierced geometrical decoration recalling the Dutch
carved woodwork of the period.
_Delft._--One of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of pottery
is the appearance about 1600, in a highly developed state, of the
manufacture of a tin-enamelled earthenware at Delft. It was introduced
in that town by Herman Pietersz of Haarlem, but whence he learned his
art is unknown. The faience-makers (_plateelbackers_) were one of the
eight crafts of Delft which formed the Gild of St Luke founded in 1611.
About 1650 a great development took place, and till the latter years of
the 18th century, when its faience was ousted by the more serviceable
wares of the English potteries, Delft remained the most important centre
of ceramic industry in northern Europe. The ware is of fine
buff-coloured clay, dipped after the first firing in a white tin-enamel,
which formed the ground for painted decoration; after painting, this was
covered with a transparent lead glaze and fired a second time, so that
in its technique it belongs to the same class as the painted Italian
majolica and the old French faience. At its best it is rightly ranked
among the greatest achievements of the potter's art.
Characteristic of the first period are dishes and plaques in blue
monochrome with somewhat overcrowded scenes of popular life in the style
of the engravings of Goltzius. Imitations of the oriental porcelain
imported by the Dutch East India Company were introduced about 1650 by
Aelbregt de Keizer and continued for some time among the finest
productions. At the same time the earlier tradition was developed in the
finely painted landscapes and portraits of Abraham de Kooge and
Frederick van Frytom. Other potters of the best period were Lambartus
van Eenhorn and Louwys Fictoor, makers of the large reeded vases with
Chinese floral designs in polychrome, Augestyn Reygens, Adriaen
Pynacker, and Lucas van Dale; to the last are attributed the pieces with
yellow decoration on an olive-green enamel ground. The rare examples
with polychrome decoration on a black ground in imitation of Chinese
lacquer are the work of Fictoor and Pynacker. With the 18th century came
a largely increased demand and a consequent deterioration in artistic
quality. The rise of the German porcelain factories had its effect in
the introduction of overglaze painting fired in a muffle kiln, typified
by the work of the Dextras, father and son. This innovation, by which
the Delft potters attempted to compete with European porcelain,
contributed to the ruin of their art by eliminating the skilled touch
required for painting on the unfired enamel. The ware frequently, but
not invariably, bears a mark derived from the sign of the factory (the
rose, the peacock, the three bells, &c.), or the name or initials of its
proprietor.
A small faience factory was started by Jan van Kerkhoff about 1755 at
Arnhem; its productions were of good quality, chiefly in the rococo
style, marked with a cock.
The exportation of the Delft ware to Germany occasioned the rise of
numerous factories in that country for making faience in imitation of
the Dutch. Among these may be named Hanau (founded about 1670),
Frankfort and Cassel. Others, such as Kiel and Stralsund, drew their
inspiration from the productions of Marseilles and Strassburg (q.v.). At
Nuremberg a factory was founded in 1712, which was but little affected
by extraneous influences; among its characteristic productions are
dishes with sunk decoration in the form of a star, and jugs with long
necks and pear-shaped bodies, often spirally fluted. Similar wares were
made at Bayreuth. The Dutch and French styles were carried by German
potters into Scandinavia; factories were established at Copenhagen in
1722, at Rörstrand and Marieberg near Stockholm in 1728 and 1758, and at
Herrebøe in Norway about 1759.
At the close of the 18th century the influence of imported English
earthenware was strongly felt. In Holland workshops were established for
painting the English cream-coloured ware with subjects suited to the
Dutch taste; and in Germany cream-coloured wares and _steingut_ in
imitation of Wedgwood's productions were manufactured at Cassel, Proskau
and elsewhere. The "Delft" ware of Holland during the 17th century was a
beautiful decorative ware, in which the Dutch painters caught
successfully the spirit, and often the very colour value, of Chinese
blue and white porcelain. Its fame spread over the whole of Europe, and
its styles were readily imitated by the potters of all other countries
who made a similar ware. Even the polychrome Delft, though not nearly so
beautiful as the "blue and white," is strongly decorative, and one sees
in the polychrome faience of northern France and of Germany more than a
trace of its influence. When this ware was supplanted by English
earthenware it was a clear instance of a ware that was technically
superior displacing a more artistic product.
[Illustration: PLATE VI.
Calaggiolo: 16th century.
Faenza. Casa Pirota, 1525.
Urbino. Decorated by Orario Fontana.
Urbino. 1525 (?). A plate of the famous Gonzaga Este service.
Faenza: early 15th century.]
_Collections._--For German wares the German museums are naturally
best. The museums at Munich and Nuremberg contain splendid collections
of the tin-enamelled and peasant wares of South Germany. Cologne has a
wonderful collection of the Rhenish stoneware, and Berlin and Hamburg
have good general collections. Copenhagen and Stockholm are especially
good for Scandinavian wares, and Zürich for Swiss. There are also good
collections of German stoneware in the Victoria and Albert and the
British museums, and in the Cluny Museum, the Louvre, and the museum
at Sèvres; but there are no notable collections of the German
tin-enamelled wares out of Germany. The wares of Delft may be best
studied in the museums at the Hague and Amsterdam. There is an
interesting collection at the factory of Thooft and Labouchère in
Delft. The principal museums in England, France and Germany all have
fair to good collections of this renowned ware.
LITERATURE.--For tiles and peasant pottery, see Forrer, _Geschichte
der europäischen Fliesen-Keramik_ (Strassburg, 1900; chapters on the
Netherlands and Germany); Walcher von Molthein, _Bunte Hafnerkeramik
der Renaissance in Österreich ob der Enns und Salzburg_ (Vienna,
1906); Hafner, _Das Hafnerhandwerk und die alten Öfen in Winterthur_
(Winterthur, 1876-1877); Barber, _Tulip-ware of the Pennsylvania
German Potters_ (Philadelphia, 1903). For stoneware, see Solon, _The
Ancient Art Stoneware of the Low Countries and Germany_ (London,
1892); Van Bastelaer, _Les Grès wallons_ (Mons, 1885). For Böttger's
red ware, see Berling, _Das Meissner Porzellan_ (Leipzig, 1900), chap.
iii. For Dutch faience, see Havard, _Histoire de la faïence de Delft_
(Paris, 1878), and article by same author on "La Faïence d'Arnhem" in
_Gazette des beaux-arts_, 2nd series, vol. xx. (1879). For German
faience, see von Falke, _Majolika_ (Berlin, 1896), and articles by
Stieda, "Deutsche Fayencefabriken des 18. Jahrhunderts," in
_Keramische Monatshefte_, vols. ii. and iii. For Scandinavian pottery,
see Nyrop, _Danske Fajence og Porcellainsmaerker_ (Copenhagen, 1881);
Stråle, _Rörstrand et Marieberg_ (Stockholm, 1872); Grosch,
_Herrebøe-Fayencer_ (Christiania, 1901). Excellent accounts of most
branches of the subjects are given by Brinckmann, _Das hamburgische
Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe_ (Hamburg, 1894). (B. Ra.)
LATER WARES OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
We shall only deal at length here with those important kinds of pottery
that have exerted real influence on the historical development of the
art. Offshoots from the main stem that have developed little or no
individuality can only be briefly mentioned. When the characteristic
Spanish-Moorish lustre wares ceased to be desired by the wealthy they
rapidly sank into insignificance, though as a decorative peasant pottery
their manufacture never really ceased and has been revived again in our
day. The course of pottery importation was changed and the now
fashionable Italian majolica was brought into Spain in the 16th and 17th
centuries, as Hispano-Moresque wares had followed the opposite course
two centuries earlier. Besides the influence which these imported wares
had on the Spanish potters, a number of wandering Italian majolists
found their way into Spain, so that we find the use of painted colour,
particularly blue, yellow, orange, green and purple, making its
appearance at various centres, around Valencia, at Triana near Seville,
&c., but the most important manufacture was at Talavera in the centre of
the peninsula. The best of this ware recalls the late Italian majolica
of Savona, and the influence of Chinese porcelain designs, probably
filtered through to the Spanish potters by the then popular enamelled
Delft wares, is very apparent. The potteries of Talavera are mentioned
as early as 1560, and they continued at work, with varying fortunes,
down to the end of the 18th century. Many and varied wares were
produced, including tiles as well as pottery; the most common pottery
pieces are dishes, bowls, vases, _tinajas_, holy-water vessels,
drug-pots, and hanging flower vases, together with moulded and painted
snails, owls, dogs, oranges, almonds, walnuts, and every kind of fruit.
Apart from the poorer colour the baroque style of ornament also rendered
the ware much inferior to that of Italy or of France. The popular
Talavera wares were imitated elsewhere in Spain, and a number of
factories existed at Toledo in the 17th century, but their wares are
very inferior. In the 18th century, besides debased imitations of this
ware, some coarse but striking pottery was made at Puente del Arzobispo
near Toledo.
An interesting offshoot from the Talavera potteries is to be found in
the tin-enamelled wares made at Puebla, Mexico, from the early 17th
century. It is said that Spanish potters were settled at this place by
the Dominicans soon after 1600; and the making of a debased form of
Spanish majolica continued there for nearly two centuries. See Barber's
"Tin-Enamelled Pottery," _Bulletin of the Philadelphia Museum_, 1907.
During the 18th century determined efforts were made by King Charles
III. and by the famous Count Aranda to improve the Spanish pottery
wares, as well as to introduce the manufacture of porcelain. The efforts
of the king led to the foundation of the porcelain works at Buen Retiro
near Madrid, which will be mentioned later, and considerable success
also attended the revival of strong copper lustre, like that of the late
Hispano-Moresque wares; but the finest tin-enamelled wares were those
made at Alcora in the important factory founded by Count Aranda in 1726,
which continued in operation down to the French wars. For his purposes
the count brought from Moustiers, then one of the famous French pottery
centres (see above), Joseph Olerys, a well-known pot-painter. He went to
Alcora as chief draughtsman and designer, having charge of a number of
Spanish potters and painters. Olerys introduced the Moustiers style of
decoration, and the glaze and body of the Alcora wares of the best
period recall the fine quality of Moustiers faience. It is only fair to
add that Olerys in his turn learnt the use of various delicate yellow
and green colours from the Spaniards, and when he returned to France in
1737, having acquitted himself most honourably, he introduced this new
style of delicate polychrome decoration at Moustiers. The mixture of
motives and ideas that animated the duke and his potters may be seen by
the following list of wares produced about 1750. Vases of different
shapes; small teapots; teapots and covers, Chinese fashion; teapots and
covers, Dutch fashion; cruets, Chinese style; entrée dishes;
salt-cellars, Chinese style; _escudillas_ (bowls) of Constantinople;
_barquillos_ (sauce-bowls), Chinese style; cups, plates, and saucers of
different kinds with good painted borders in imitation of lace-work, and
finally fruit-stands, salad-bowls and dishes, trays and refrigerators.
Later in the century the manufacture of porcelain was introduced here,
as well as white earthenware made in imitation of the productions of
Wedgwood, and the tin-enamelled wares flickered out in Spain as they did
elsewhere.
The manufacture of a kind of debased majolica was also practised in
Portugal from the 16th century down to our own times; but the ware never
attained to any distinction and is little known outside that country.
The best-known specimens were made at Rato, near Lisbon, where a factory
was founded in 1767 under the patronage of the court.
Mention must be made of the unglazed native pottery of Spain and
Portugal, for wine-jars, water-jars and bottles, cooking pots, and other
domestic utensils are still made in these countries for ordinary
domestic use, in traditional forms and by methods of the most primitive
kind. Many of these vessels, especially the _tinajas_ (wine-jars) and
water-coolers, are based on ancient, classical or Arab forms, and in
every country market-place it is still common to see groups of vessels,
in unglazed pottery of fine shape and finish, exposed for sale--a very
different state of things from what obtains in France, Germany, and
particularly in England, where the primitive methods of the peasant are
being imitated by those who ought to know better. From the 16th to the
18th century a special kind of unglazed pottery vessels known as
_buccaros_ was extensively made both in Spain and Portugal. The body of
the ware is unglazed, whitish, black or red, according to the special
kind of clay. The curious point about this ware is that, if we may
believe contemporary documents, the vessels were delicately scented,
like a ware imported from Mexico; and the soft vessels are said to have
been eaten--a custom common enough in certain parts of Central and
Southern America. (See M.L. Solon, _The Noble Buccaros_, 1896.)
(W. B.*)
ENGLISH POTTERY FROM THE 16TH TO THE 18TH CENTURY[21]
[Illustration: FIG. 50.--Saxon cinerary urns; the stamped patterns are
shown]
[Illustration: FIG. 51.--Common forms of medieval pottery; the upper
part of the slender jug is covered with a green vitreous lead glaze; the
other is unglazed with stripes of red ochre.]
The course of pottery manufacture in England followed, generally rather
in the rear, that of France, Germany and other northern countries.
Before the coming of the Romans much pottery of the late Stone age and
the Bronze age was made in Britain. The Romans introduced their more
advanced technique, and, besides importing Italian and Gaulish pottery,
they founded numerous centres of pottery manufacture, as at Upchurch,
Castor, Uriconium, &c. With the departure of the Roman legions their
simple, yet comparatively advanced, pottery vanished, and Saxon and
early Norman times have left us little but wares resembling those of the
Germanic and Frankish productions (fig. 50). The early middle ages
passed without much improvement, and, though rare specimens--like the
ewer in the form of a mounted knight in Salisbury Museum--proved that
glazed wares were made in this country, the general run of our medieval
pottery vessels never soared above the skill of the travelling brick or
tile maker.[22] The monastic tile-makers, with their strong, Gothic tile
pavements, produced artistic work of a very high order; but the patrons
of the common potter remained content with his rudely made and simply
glazed pitchers, flagons, dishes and mugs (see fig. 51). Even in the
16th century the excellence of English pewter probably acted as a
barrier to the introduction of finer pottery, and it was only the
importation of foreign wares--Italian, German, Dutch and French--that
stirred up our native clay-workers to the possibilities of their art. In
early Tudor times there was some importation of Italian majolica as well
as of the Hispano-Moresque pieces, and the religious wars as well as the
constant intercourse with the Low Countries brought over to the eastern
counties not only the stonewares of the Rhineland and the "Delft" wares
of Holland, but also emigrant potters from those countries who tried to
practise their native crafts amongst us. The Civil War appears to have
been unable to check this new spirit, for we have the evidence of dated
examples to show that various immigrants went on quietly practising
their trade along the Thames side, in what were then the outskirts of
London, and probably in the eastern counties and Kent as well. It seems
probable that the earliest influence was an Italian one, but before this
was firmly domiciled it was supplanted by that of the Dutch and Germans.
The first wares of an improved kind that were made in England are so
closely related to the German stonewares and the "Delft" wares that it
is often difficult to determine whether actual specimens are of English
or foreign origin. The first, and in some senses the greatest, of
English potters was John Dwight, an educated man, who had held the
office of secretary to three successive bishops of Chester, and who
obtained a patent in 1671 for the manufacture of certain improved kinds
of pottery. We have no knowledge where Dwight acquired his skill in the
potter's art, for when he obtained his patent he was residing at Wigan
(Lancashire), far removed from the districts where foreign potters had
settled. About 1672-1673 Dwight set up a factory at Fulham, where he
resided till his death in 1703. He was always an eager experimenter, and
from his diaries it seems certain that he was searching after the, then,
mysterious Chinese porcelain. We have no grounds for believing that he
ever attained success in this search, for his known productions may be
grouped into two main classes: (1) Hard-fired red stoneware--mostly
small vessels, teapots, mugs, &c., in imitation of the Chinese
buccaros.[23] (2) Whitish, grey, or drab salt-glazed stoneware made in
imitation of, and often not to be distinguished from, the wares of the
Rhineland. But Dwight produced a considerable number of modelled
portrait-busts, statuettes, &c., all in stoneware of various tints,
which entitle him to a place in the very first rank of potters. The
portrait-bust of Prince Rupert (British Museum), the statuettes of
Meleager (British Museum), of Jupiter (Liverpool), &c., are worthy of a
sculptor of the Italian Renaissance, while the recumbent effigy of Lydia
Dwight (Victoria and Albert Museum) is one of the most beautiful works
ever executed by an English potter.
Meantime the manufacture of tin-enamelled pottery, in the style of
"Delft," was prosecuted with increasing industry in London on the south
side of the river, and particularly at Lambeth. By the end of the 17th
century the same imitation "Delft" wares were made at Bristol and
Liverpool, continuing until, in the closing years of the 18th century,
tin-enamelled earthenware was abandoned in favour of the perfected
English cream-colour. There is a strong family likeness in all this
English "Delft," whether made at Lambeth, Bristol or Liverpool. The body
of the ware is harder and denser than in the tin-enamelled wares of the
continent, and is not so suitable for its special purpose, as it is
generally deficient in lime. The decoration is usually painted in cobalt
blue of good tone, though inferior in softness and richness of tint to
that of the best Delft pieces; polychrome painting was not so common,
and it differs from that of the Dutchmen in the greater prevalence of a
pale yellow colour and the general absence of any good red like that
found on the polychrome wares of Delft, Rouen, Sic.
German stoneware also received a well-merited share of attention long
before the time of Dwight, and it is often impossible to distinguish the
grey and brown ale-jugs, greybeards, &c., presumably of English
manufacture in the 17th and early 18th centuries, from their German
prototypes. Fulham remained an important centre of this manufacture, and
a fine brown stoneware was largely made at Nottingham as early as 1700;
in each case the manufacture continues in neighbouring districts to this
day.
The development of a native English pottery took place in North
Staffordshire. A growing community of peasant potters, who manufactured
some strongly decorative English wares by very simple means, was
established here from the middle of the 17th century. Rudely fashioned
dishes, jugs, bottles, &c., were shaped in the local red-burning brick
clays, and, while the pieces were still soft, simple but effective
decorative patterns were drawn upon them in diluted white clay (slip),
trailed on through a quill or from a narrow-spouted vessel. This ancient
and world-wide process (for it was used by the Ptolemaic Egyptian, the
Roman and the Byzantine potters) has furnished the peasant potters of
every European country with characteristic wares, but nowhere was it
used with greater skill than in England. The English slip-decorated
wares are often spoken of as "Toft ware," because Thomas Toft, living in
what is now Hanley (Staffordshire) boldly signed and dated many of his
pieces (1670, &c.); but similar wares were made at Wrotham in Kent, in
Derbyshire, Wales and elsewhere. The repute of the Staffordshire
district must have spread by the time of the Revolution, for soon after
1690 John Philip Elers, a Dutchman of good family, settled there and
began to make a superior pottery to any previously made in the district.
Elers is generally described as a great inventor who brought all kinds
of knowledge into the district, but the only wares he is known to have
made were singularly like those of Dwight, and, quite recently, records
of a lawsuit in which Dwight charged Elers and some other Staffordshire
potters with suborning his workmen and infringing his patents have been
brought to light. It is certain that, from the time of Elers, the
Staffordshire potters made great advances in the fabrication of their
wares, and during the 18th century they evolved two distinctively
English kinds of pottery, (1) the white and drab salt-glaze, (2) English
earthenware.
_Staffordshire Salt-glaze._--It is uncertain when and how the
Staffordshire potters learnt that a highly siliceous pottery could be
glazed by throwing common salt into the kiln at the height of the
firing, for the practice had originated in the Rhineland more than a
century before. Many writers have maintained that the practice was
introduced by Elers, but this is uncertain. Early in the 18th century a
fine, white, thin, salt-glazed ware was made in Staffordshire, in many
quaint and fanciful forms largely influenced by Chinese porcelain--still
an object of wonder and mystery. Teapots, coffee-pots, tea-caddies,
plates, dishes, bowls, candlesticks, mugs and bottles were made in great
variety, and at its best the ware is a dainty and elegant one, so that a
brisk trade was developed in the district, and, for the first time, a
distinctively English pottery was exported to the continent and to the
American colonies.
_English Earthenware._--The manufacture of tin-enamelled pottery
scarcely obtained a foothold in Staffordshire, but the invention of the
white salt-glazed ware paved the way for one of the greatest revolutions
in the potter's art that the world has ever seen. This was nothing less
than the abandonment of the ordinary red or buff clays with a coating of
white slip or of tin-enamel, and the substitution of a ware white
throughout its substance, prepared by mixing selected white-burning
clays and finely-ground flint (silica).[24] The change has generally
been associated with Wedgwood, most famous of English potters, but he
really only perfected, along with his contemporaries, the Warburtons,
Turners and others, the work of half a century's experiment and
discovery. The ware compared most favourably, from the point of view of
serviceableness, neatness and mechanical finish, with all that had gone
before it, and as the tin-enamelled wares had almost everywhere in
Europe sunk to the position of domestic crockery--for the Chinese,
German, French and English porcelains had displaced it with the
wealthy--this better-fashioned and more durable English ware gave it its
final death-blow. English earthenware in its various forms was to be met
with all over Europe, from London to Moscow, and from Cadiz to
Stockholm; and, aided by emigrant English potters, the continental
nations soon began a similar manufacture for themselves. Everywhere this
great change was encouraged by the growing fondness for mechanical
perfection, and it is not without a sigh that a lover of pottery can
witness the gradual disappearance of the painted tin-enamelled
wares--degenerate survivals though they were of Italian majolica, French
faience and Dutch "Delft"--before the unconquerable advance of another
form of pottery which in its inception was based on technical rather
than artistic qualities, especially as nearly a century passed before
the new material was turned to artistic account.
By general consent the name of Josiah Wedgwood has been pre-eminently
associated with this great change, and with good reason, for though he
had many contemporaries who equalled or even excelled him in certain
kinds of pottery, no other potter ever approached him in the range of
his products and the varied applications to which he turned the exercise
of his remarkable talents.[25] True, he soon abandoned the simple
Staffordshire wares, coloured with mottled glazes or clay-slips, to
which the names of Astbury or Whieldon are commonly attached, but the
varied productions of his factory united the best work of a district
fruitful in new kinds of pottery, with something especial to Wedgwood
himself. Thus he adopted and improved the green and yellow glazes which
had come down from medieval times (see the cauliflower ware piece, Plate
X.), and gave a new direction to their use in his green-glazed dessert
services, candlesticks, &c. He carried on the manufacture of hard-fired
red-clay teapots, mugs, coffee-pots, cream-jugs, &c., introduced by
Elers; and, along with his fellow-potters, he invented drab, grey, brown
and other colours in similarly hard-fired unglazed bodies. He neither
invented nor alone perfected the Staffordshire cream-coloured
earthenware, but he made it so well that his "Queen's ware" was the best
of its class. He undoubtedly invented the Jasper ware, in which on
grounds of unglazed blue, green, black, &c., white figures and
ornamental motives, adapted from the antique by Flaxman, Webber and
other sculptors, were applied; and he even attempted to reproduce the
painted vases of the Greek decadence in dry colours painted over a hard
black body.
Wedgwood's "Jasper ware," his most original production (see Plate X.),
differed both in nature and composition from all the species of pottery
that had preceded it. In an attempt to obtain the qualities of the
finest porcelain biscuit, Wedgwood discovered, after years of
experiment, that by mixing together a plastic white clay and "cawk" or
barytes he could obtain a "body" which might be "thrown" on the wheel or
"pressed" in moulds, and which, while it fired to a white and
sub-translucent pottery, was capable of being coloured, by the usual
metallic oxides, to various shades of blue, green, yellow, lilac and
black. The ware resembled "biscuit" porcelain in that it needed no glaze
to render it impervious to water, and it thus marked the culmination of
those "dry" or unglazed wares that had been so largely made in China,
Japan and Europe, where the quality resides in the fired clay material
without any adventitious aid from a glaze. The general practice was to
make the body of the vessel of a coloured material and to ornament this
with applied figures or ornamental reliefs, in "white" of the same kind,
"pressed" from intaglio moulds and then applied by wetting the surface
and squeezing--leaving the fire to unite the vessel and its applied
ornament into one piece. Sometimes the ornament was in a coloured clay
applied on a white body, and we get in the same way black on red, buff
on red or black, and red or black on buff and drab bodies. The variety
of bodies produced by Wedgwood and his followers in this way is
exceedingly great, and is only to be equalled by the diversity of their
application, for the pieces made include plaques, vases, plates, dishes,
jardinières, bulb-pots, teapots, cups and saucers, inkstands,
scent-bottles, buttons, buckles, and, in a word, every kind of thing
that could be made in clay. Many of the applied designs, whether of
figures or ornament, were very beautiful in a way, being copied or
adapted from Greek and Roman gems, vases, &c. At their best they are
marvellous for the precision and delicacy of their execution, and it is
impossible to imagine that anything better could have been done in this
style. So perfectly did they represent the taste of their period that
attempts were made at Sèvres, Meissen, Berlin and Buen Retiro to produce
something of the same kind in porcelain; but none of these can be
compared with the works of Wedgwood, or his great contemporary Turner
(see Plate X.), in beauty of colour or perfection of workmanship.
It is obvious nowadays that much of this work was inspired by mistaken
motives; that it was founded on an imperfect view of ancient art; and
that it was marred by its mechanical ideals; but it must be remembered
that it was in perfect harmony with the spirit of the times, and that
while it emphasizes for us the pseudo-classic taste of the late 18th
century, it marks an advance in the technical skill of the potter, which
is simply astounding. The co-ordination of labour, which had gone
further with the Greek and the Italian potter than is generally
supposed, was now brought to a climax. Mechanical appliances were
introduced for the performance of many portions of the potter's work
that had hitherto been indifferently performed by rude and exhausting
manual toil; and while the application of mechanism was pushed too
far--so that in the first half of the 19th century we find the most
inartistic pottery the world has ever seen--we must regard this even
more as a cyclic movement of human feeling than as the work of any
individual, or group of men. The late 18th century marks the period when
pottery was no longer produced, as Italian majolica, the Henri-Deux
ware, the Palissy wares, the best faience of Nevers, Rouen, Moustiers,
Delft or Nuremberg had been, for the noble or the wealthy, but when it
was largely in demand by the poorer classes, anxious in their turn to
have a useful ware which should imitate the more costly porcelain used
by the great. France, Germany, Sweden, Russia, and later the United
States, all followed in the wake of the English potters, and the
printing-press was applied in all countries to produce elaborate
engraved patterns in blue, brown, green, &c., in order to get an
effective-looking ware in harmony with the spirit of the times, and at
the same time cheaper in price than the simple painted patterns of the
vanquished tin-enamel.
_Collections._--The British and the Victoria and Albert Museums
naturally contain the most representative collections of English
pottery. The museums at Liverpool, Bristol, Burslem, Hanley and
Nottingham, also have good collections, while Birmingham, Manchester
and Stoke-upon-Trent may be mentioned. The Guildhall Museum, London,
is rich in early wares found or made in London and its vicinity.
Continental collections of English pottery are meagre in the extreme
and badly described, even in the ceramic museums at Sèvres and
Limoges. The collection at Dresden is interesting, as it was purchased
from the collection made by Enoch Wood, a Staffordshire potter. In
America, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of
New York, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts at Philadelphia,
contain interesting examples of wares exported to America in the late
18th and early 19th centuries.
LITERATURE.--The earliest compilations, such as Jewitt's _Ceramic Art
in Great Britain_ (1878), and _Life of Josiah Wedgwood_ (1865);
Chaffers, _Marks and Monograms_ (1863; 9th edition revised, 1900);
Meteyard's _Life of Wedgwood_ (1865-1866), and Shaw's _History of the
Staffordshire Potteries_ (1829; reissued London, 1900), must always be
of interest as original sources of information; but the later works,
such as Church, _English Earthenware_ (1884; new edition, 1906);
_Josiah Wedgwood_ (1894, reissue 1903 and 1907); Solon, _Art of the
Old English Potter_ (1883; 2nd ed., 1885); Hobson, _Catalogue of
English Pottery in the British Museum_ (1903); Burton, _English
Earthenware and Stoneware_ (1904), are the best authorities.
(W. B.*)
CHINESE POTTERY AND PORCELAIN[26]
In China, as in every other country where pottery-making has been
practised for centuries, we find a natural progression from primitive
pottery akin in shape, decoration and manufacture to the pottery of
other primitive races the world over. We find too the early use of
bricks, tiles, &c., as in Egypt and Assyria; and then the usual
succession of domestic utensils, funeral vases, and vessels for
religious ceremonials. There is nothing to show that the potter's wheel
made its appearance in China earlier than elsewhere, and the Chinese
potters have used the simple methods of carving and "pressing" from
moulds which preceded the use of the potter's wheel, even more than
other nations. In books of the Chow dynasty (1122-249 B.C.) the
difference between the processes of "throwing" and of "pressing" from
moulds is clearly described,[27] and it is instructive to note that many
early as well as late forms of Chinese pottery are remarkably like their
works in bronze. In the same way there is no definite date to which we
can refer the introduction of glazed pottery. The earliest specimens of
glazed ware known are referred by the Chinese to the times of the Han
dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220), a date much later than that of the
earliest glazed wares of Egypt and Assyria. Remembering the intercourse
between China and the West, at times historically remote, it is not
impossible that the idea of coating a vessel of clay with a glaze was
carried into China from Chaldaea or Assyria. In any case the Chinese
developed the potter's art on their own lines, for we have ample
evidence that from very early times they fired their pottery to a much
higher temperature than was common in the west of Asia, and so
discovered types of glaze and of pottery that remained for centuries a
mystery elsewhere. The glazed wares of the Han dynasty already mentioned
are quite unlike any contemporary pottery produced in Syria, Egypt or
Europe, for the body of the ware is so hard that it can scarcely be
scratched by a knife, and the dark-greenish glaze has become iridescent
by age as though it contained oxide of lead. The easily-fired friable
wares of Assyria, Egypt and Greece seem to have had no attraction for
the Chinese, and the glazes on their hard-fired wares were naturally
different from those already described. The Chinese appear to have been
the first potters in the world to discover that at a sufficiently high
temperature pottery can be glazed with powdered felspathic rock mixed
with lime. At first these glazes were used on any ordinary refractory
clay which might burn red, drab or buff; but in this technique lay the
germ of Chinese porcelain, the most advanced form of pottery the world
has yet seen. It is necessary to consider the pottery that preceded
porcelain, for not only was it the matrix out of which porcelain grew,
but in certain districts of China, where the necessary materials for
porcelain are not found, similar wares have been manufactured without
intermission to the present time. Naturally, in progress of time, the
technique of this pottery has been greatly improved, both by
developments in the preparation and mixture of the clays, the shaping
and modelling of the wares, the introduction of coloured enamels or
glazes, and the like. Dr Bushell, who is our great authority on the
Chinese arts and handicrafts, rightly seizes on two outstanding types of
Chinese pottery other than porcelain which have exercised considerable
influence on the doings of European potters.
1: _Yi-Hsing-Yao_.[28]--This is the pottery, generally of unglazed
fawn, red or brown stoneware, made at Yi-hsing-hsien in the province
of Kiang-su. Articles of every kind are made in these fine-coloured
clays, but the general forms are dainty and skilfully finished pieces,
such as small teapots, cups, saucers, dishes, trays, water-bottles and
wine cups. This ware was largely manufactured under the Ming dynasty
(A.D. 1368-1643) and later.[29] It was imported into Europe by the
Portuguese, who applied to it the name _boccaro_, formerly given only
to a scented terra-cotta brought from Mexico and Peru.[30] This
pottery and Chinese porcelain were wide asunder as the poles in nature
as well as origin, but the potters of northern Europe regarded every
kind of pottery coming from the Far East as a species of porcelain,
and the manufacture of red teapots, mugs, bowls, cups, &c., in
imitation of the Yi-Hsing-Yao was widespread during the late 17th and
early 18th centuries under the name of red porcelain. Dwight, Elers
and Böttger are notable names in this connexion.
2. _Kuang-Yao_.--The name given by the Chinese to the pottery made in
the province of Kwang-tung. There are several centres of manufacture
in this extensive province, but for the purposes of this article it is
sufficient to state that the best-known of these wares are dense,
hard-fired and glazed stonewares, which are always dark-coloured grey,
red, brown or blackish. They are usually glazed with thick, variegated
or opalescent glazes, grey, blue, green, yellow or red, but flecked,
veined and streaked with other tints. The wares are so like the
productions of the Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1279) that modern pieces are
often confounded with the more precious productions of that epoch. One
of the first lessons to be learnt by the student of Chinese pottery is
that, with great reverence for their own antiquities, the Chinese of
every period have endeavoured to reproduce the famous wares of their
ancestors, and often with such skill as to deceive the most expert.
Even when the manufacture of porcelain was at its highest in
King-tê-chên, the potters in other parts of China carried on the
production of glazed or unglazed pottery in coloured clays, and,
further, the directors of the imperial factory from time to time
strove to reproduce the most archaic wares that could be found in the
Empire.
[Illustration: PLATE VII
Chinese. Sang de Boeuf.
Chinese. Flambé.
Chinese. Turquoise glaze "crackled."
Purple Soufflé.
Coral red.
Peach blow. Pigeon's blood.
Lemon yellow.
Apple green.]
_Porcelain._--By this word we distinguish broadly all those pieces of
pottery in which the body of the ware is vitrified and translucent, and
also, broadly speaking, in which the material is white throughout,
unless minute quantities of metallic oxides have been definitely added
to colour it. It is impossible to draw any hard and fast line between
porcelain and stoneware, for both may be thoroughly vitrified and
translucent in thin pieces--but generally the stonewares are drab, red
or brown in the colour of the fired clay, and they seldom exhibit the
precious quality of translucence. If the body of a piece of pottery is
not even vitrified, however hard it may be, it is terra-cotta or
earthenware. The Chinese, accustomed from a very early period to fire
their pottery to a high temperature, produced vitrified stonewares
before any other nation. Moreover, they glazed these stonewares with
fusible mineral substances, and from that stage the natural refinements
of methods must necessarily have produced porcelain. In regions where
beds of primary clay were found, the body of the ware would burn whiter
than elsewhere, and a mixture of limestone or marble with the felspathic
rock would give a glaze of greater purity and brilliance and one that
was more readily fusible and Would spread better over the whole piece.
How many centuries were needed before a ware white enough and
translucent enough to be now classed as porcelain was produced we cannot
know; but the process was certainly one of gradual evolution. Some
Chinese writers in their zeal for ancient things have ascribed to remote
periods the production of wares of this class. Where authentic specimens
are not to be found it is necessary to proceed with caution, and
literary evidence alone cannot be deemed sufficient to settle such a
difficult point. The balance of opinion at the present time is that
something worthy of the name of porcelain was made during the Tang
dynasty (A.D. 618-907), but we have no pieces earlier than the Sung
dynasty (A.D. 960-1259), and the majority of these are perhaps more
fitly described as stoneware than as porcelain.
Under the Sung dynasty China enjoyed great material prosperity, and all
the arts were cultivated assiduously. Pottery of distinguished merit was
made in many districts, and much of it has been classified as porcelain
because the body is whitish and vitrified, though it is much inferior in
finish and in translucence to the perfect white porcelain of later
times. It is necessary to realize, too, that we have no record of any
pottery with painted decoration until perhaps the very end of the 13th
century; such ornament as was used consists entirely of designs incised
or modelled in the clay. But the principal decoration is to be found in
the varied coloured glazes with which the wares, whether stoneware or
porcelain, were covered. The glaze is never clear and white as at later
times; it is generally uneven, imperfectly fused and presents all the
marks of an imperfect technique. The nearest approach to white is found
in an opalescent grey which shades off to greenish and bluish tints. The
glazes of this period which are most highly valued are the _céladons_, a
family of cool bluish or yellowish greens of indescribable depth and
softness. Besides the _céladons_ which are the most uniform in tints of
the Sung glazes, we get many shades of palish lavender, brownish yellow
and brownish black, but these are all subtly or boldly mottled,
splashed, clouded or veined with strange tones of red, blue, purple,
opalescent grey and black. The most famous of these now very rare Sung
wares were the stonewares of Chunchow, remarkable for their rich and
varied glazes, the black variegated glazed wares of Fu-kien province,
"hare's fur cups" and "partridge cups" of collectors, and the four
principal wares that may be called porcelain, viz.--the _Ju-Yao_, made
at Ju-chow in Honan; the _Kuan-Yao_ (Kuan = "official" or "imperial"),
made first at Pien-chow and afterwards at Hang-chow; the _Ko-Yao_, made
at Liu-t'ien; and the _Ting-Yao_, made at Tung-chow in Chih-li.
This was the period when Chinese porcelain became known beyond its
native country, for the first mention of porcelain outside China appears
in the writings of a Mahommedan traveller, Sulaiman, who visited China
in the 9th century and wrote: "They have in China a very fine clay with
which they make vases which are as transparent as glass; water is seen
through them";[31] and its first appearance in the west is always given
as A.D. 1171 (or 1188), when Saladin sent a present of forty pieces to
the sultan of Damascus. From this time onwards an export trade was
developed, particularly in the _céladon_ wares of Lung-chüan, a city in
the south-west of the province of Chehkiang. This famous ware, the
"green porcelain" of the Chinese, probably made as an imitation of jade,
exists mostly in the form of thick heavy dishes, bowls and jars, bearing
incised or fluted patterns, and coated with a remarkable thick green
glaze of indescribable softness of tone. Though the body of the ware is
white when it is broken through, any parts not covered by the glaze have
a reddish-brown colour due to the unrefined paste, and when the ware was
reproduced in later times this reddish-brown tint had to be imitated
artificially. The ware was highly prized both in China and Japan, in the
islands of the East Indies, and in all Mahommedan countries. In Persia
it was largely used, and specimens of it have been recovered during the
last century from the east coast of Africa and as far west as Morocco.
"Archbishop Warham's cup" at New College, Oxford, which is the first
specimen of Chinese porcelain to reach England that we can now produce,
is a _céladon_ bowl with a silver-gilt mount of the time of Henry
VIII.[32]
The Sung dynasty was overthrown by the Tatars under Kublai Khan
(grandson of Jenghiz Khan), and the power remained in Tatar hands until
1368, when the great native dynasty of the Mings was established. During
this period (Yuan dynasty), roughly a century, one can say little of
ceramic progress, for the wares of the period are singularly like those
of Sung times. But two important changes took place which had a marked
influence on the subsequent development of Chinese porcelain--(1) the
concentration of the industry at King-tê-chên, which was consummated in
the early years of the Ming dynasty; (2) the introduction of painted
decoration under a white transparent glaze, the idea of which (and
perhaps the necessary cobalt mineral) was brought from Persia.
King-tê-chên was already a pottery centre when its factories were
rebuilt in 1369 by Hung-Wu, the founder of the Ming dynasty, who made it
the imperial factory, so that the best porcelain workers were attracted
thither, and in the other old centres the industry was abandoned or some
earlier manufacture was continued, as in the southern province of
Kiang-su. In the province of Fu-kien a distinct kind of porcelain
manufacture has also continued. We have already mentioned the black
glazed cups, "hare's fur," &c., made in this province in Sung times,
and, while King-tê-chên was to be the scene of the developments of the
coloured and painted porcelains, Te-hwa in Fu-kien perfected the
manufacture of the famous and beautiful white porcelain in bowls,
dishes, cups and statuettes, best known under its French title of _blanc
de Chine_.
The earliest painted Chinese porcelains, which are referred to the
beginning of the Ming period, though some of them may be older, speak
strongly of ideas imported from the west of Asia. The pieces are massive
both in form and substance, and the ornament, consisting of figures
mounted or on foot, animals, bands of diaper or foliage, or pendant
necklaces, is strongly silhouetted by a raised outline recalling the
decorative methods of the Assyrian brickwork. The technical methods also
recall the methods of western Asia, for the ware was fired before it was
glazed, and then yellow, turquoise, green or purple glazes, similar in
nature to the glazes of Egypt, Syria and Persia, and quite unlike the
Chinese Sung glazes, were filled into the outlined spaces and melted at
a lower temperature. The Grandidier collection in the Louvre, the
Franks collection at the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum,
as well as all the great private collections of Chinese porcelain,
contain samples of this primitive and archaic-looking ware.
The great stream of porcelain decoration was, however, to take an
entirely different direction. The Persian pottery with its brilliant
painted decorations in blue, green and purple on a pure white ground,
exercised its natural fascination over men as keen in colour-sense as
the Chinese potters. With the concentration of the industry at
King-tê-chên, and the rapid improvement in technical skill and knowledge
that followed, the production of a fine porcelain with a transparent
white glaze was perfected. Of all the colours used by the Persian
pot-painter the only one that would endure the fierce fire of the
Chinese porcelain was the blue obtained by using the ores of cobalt, and
with this colour, and a wonderful blood-red obtained from copper, the
foundation of Chinese painted porcelain was laid. It would be idle to
try and fix any specific date for this important development, which took
more than a generation to perfect, but it is reasonably accurate to say
that the blue and white painted porcelains were unknown in the 13th
century and were fully developed at the beginning of the 15th century.
Chinese collectors prize most highly the blue and white of the reign of
Suen-tê (A.D. 1426-1435), of Chêng-hwa (1465-1487), and next of Yung-lo
(1403-1424). It is interesting to note that the colour used during these
reigns is spoken of as "Mahommedan" blue, so that it was evidently
brought from some country to the west. This 15th-century blue and white
porcelain is admittedly the finest of its class, and though the Chinese
never abandon an old method and have continued to make blue and white
porcelain, often of very good quality, the later wares, fine as they may
be, rarely equal these.
The under-glaze red, an invention of the Chinese, has already been
mentioned, and this most difficult of all ceramic colours was largely
used during the same period. At first it appears as a general ground
colour for the outside of bowls and cups, then vessels were made in
special forms (persimmon fruit, &c.) to display its qualities, finally
it was used either alone or in conjunction with blue in painted designs
under a white glaze of exceptional quality. A Chinese connoisseur of the
15th century describes one of his pieces as being decorated with "three
red fishes on a white ground, pure as driven snow; the fish boldly
outlined and red as fresh blood, all with colour so brilliant as to
dazzle the eye."
Other characteristic wares which made their appearance in Ming times are
the marvellous "eggshell" porcelains, called by the Chinese "bodyless"
from their extreme thinness. As early as the reign of Yung-lo
(1403-1424) these delicate wares were in high repute, and their
manufacture has been continued ever since with varying skill and
success. In spite of their extreme thinness the specimens have designs
of dragons in the midst of clouds and waves, inscriptions, &c., engraved
in the paste before firing. In the fine white specimens the design is so
delicate that it is barely visible until the vessel is filled with
liquid or held to the light. Others were covered with a coloured glaze
which serves to accentuate the design, and the most prized of these are
the yellow pieces made during the reign of Hung-Chi (1488-1505) and
Chêng-tê (1506-1521).
Another wonderful variety of Chinese porcelains which made its
appearance at this period is the well-known perforated ware, commonly
spoken of, from the shape of the perforations, as "grain of rice"
porcelain, though the Chinese have exhibited consummate skill in the
manufacture of perforated pieces of all kinds. Sometimes the
perforations are left clear, but in the rice-grain pattern the incisions
are generally filled up with the melted glaze so that they become like
so many windows in the walls of the piece. We have already seen that the
Persian potters used a similar method of decoration in the 16th century,
but we are unable to say at present whether the device originated in
China or in Persia. Its use in both countries is only an additional
proof of the intercourse between eastern and western Asia.
It is only toward the end of the 16th century that we find the first
examples of porcelain decorated with colours fired over the glaze. It
seems probable that the practice grew out of the use of enamels on
metal, which had spread from Byzantium to China, and which the Chinese
developed with remarkable skill. It is important to remember that the
very nature of the glaze of Chinese porcelain, necessitating such a high
temperature to melt it, severely restricted the under-glaze palette to
cobalt-blue and the glorious but uncertain copper-red. To obtain the
rich polychromatic schemes of the potters of the West some other means
must be found, and so the device was adopted of taking a finished piece
of blue and white and decorating it further by very fusible colours
painted over the fired glaze and then attached to it by refiring at a
lower temperature equal only to that used by the enameller on metals. At
first the on-glaze or enamel colours were applied as thin washes, as in
the Ming (_San ts' ai_) three-colour decoration of green, purple, and
yellow. Then we get the Ming (_Wan-li Wu ts' ai_) five-colour scheme, in
which the same three colours are combined with an over-glaze red and all
are painted over a skeleton pattern in under-glaze blue. This
development, as its name implies, only took place in the reign of Wan-li
(1573-1620).
At this time King-tê-chên must have produced a very large quantity of
porcelain. The requirements of the court were enormous, for in 1583 one
of the supervising censors, remonstrating with the emperor, declared
that one year's demands comprised over 96,000 pieces; and Dr Bushell
writes: "The colossal production of the reign of Wan-li is shown by the
abundance of porcelain of this time to be found in Pekin at the present
day, where a garden of any pretensions must have a large collection of
bowls or cisterns for goldfish, and street-hawkers may be seen with
sweetmeats upheld by dishes a yard in diameter, or ladling syrup out of
large bowls, and there is hardly a butcher's shop without a cracked
Wan-li jar standing on the counter to hold scraps of meat."
Such profuse orders may be accountable for the fact that the wares of
this reign are inferior both in material and workmanship to the wares of
the preceding and also of later periods, but the influence of the
growing export trade doubtless told in the same direction. For several
centuries the native Chinese porcelain had been exported to all the
neighbouring countries, and through Persia and Cairo to the West. No
long time elapsed before the Chinese adopted forms, colours and
decorations for these export wares, not in accordance with Chinese
usage, but presumably more suited to the tastes of the foreigner. Hence
the Persian and Syrian style of the painted blue decoration of the 15th
and 16th century wares found in other Asiatic countries. Now, for the
first time, there came a direct European demand, and cargoes of ware
were brought to Europe by the Portuguese and afterwards by the Dutch,
which were increasingly decorated in fashions foreign to Chinese taste.
The production of these export wares slowly modified the taste of the
Chinese themselves and paved the way for the new styles of the late 17th
and early 18th centuries.
The political troubles which marked the downfall of the Ming dynasty
definitely separated the first great period of Chinese porcelain from
its second and culminating period. The works at King-tê-chên were
destroyed more than once in the 17th century, but in spite of these
difficulties the potters must have remained, for the reigns of K'ang-hi
(1662-1722), Yung-chêng (1722-1735), and K'ien-lung (1736-1795) covered
a century and a half, within which the high-water mark of artistic
production was reached and passed. It is only possible here to sketch in
broadest outline the course of this Renaissance, which has formed the
subject of many learned works.
It is characteristic of the Chinese mind that during this period, when a
spirit of eager experiment was abroad, the productions of their ancient
kilns should receive no less attention than the new methods of
decoration in on-glaze colours, while at the same time many of the
discoveries of the later Ming days were carried on to perfection. The
first remarkable productions of the reign of K'ang-hi, the famous green
and blood-red _Lang-yao_ glazes, were made in the attempt to produce
glazes like those of old times. With the more carefully prepared body
and glaze the results are strikingly different and, as we think,
superior, for it is difficult to believe that any example of the
"sacrificial" red of the reign of Suen-tê can have been as glorious as
the red _Lang-Yao_, the crown of all that group of glazes known from
their general colour as _sang de boeuf_ (see example, Plate VII.). In
the same way the traditional blue and white of the Ming period was
continued with the greatest skill, and, if the blue pigment be not so
pure as that of the 15th century, the decorative effect of the blue and
white of the reign of K'ang-hi (see example, Plate VIII.) has never been
equalled in Europe. The subjects of the blue and white pieces of this
period are very varied, including religious, ceremonial, battle and
hunting subjects, homely scenes such as ladies and children amusing
themselves in gardens, or animals, birds, dragons and other fabulous
monsters disporting themselves in clouds or waves. The so-called
"hawthorn ginger jars" form a class by themselves in the opinion of
modern collectors (see the plum-blossom jar, Plate VIII.), a specimen
being sold at the Louis Huth sale (1906) for £5900. The fertility of the
painters was remarkable, and a collection of the blue and white of this
reign offers a fine feast of ceramic colour from the harmonious relation
between the tones of the white and the blue, especially when it is seen
_en masse_, as in the famous Dresden collection.[33]
The practice of painting the ground of a piece in blue so that the
pattern was reserved in white (even artfully heightened by the use of
slip) dates from Ming times, but the grounds of powder-blue appear to
have originated at this time. The cobalt-pigment was not applied by a
brush, but was blown on through a tube, one end of which was covered
with fine muslin, in a rain of minute drops. This ground was either
carried over the whole piece so as to give the effect of a vibrating
blue glaze--in which case it was generally covered with conventional
designs pencilled in ground-up gold-leaf over the glaze--or panels were
reserved in white on which floral designs were afterwards painted in
on-glaze colours.
In the same way the decoration in underglaze red was revived or
re-introduced, and probably the finest pieces of this ware, as of so
many others in our great European collections, date only from the
beginning of the 18th century. Eggshell wares and pierced or reticulated
pieces were made to great perfection, and the coloured glazes in light
green, turquoise, purple and black (see Plate VII.) reached their
height. The early glazes of this type appeared in Sung times (see
above), but on the finely prepared K'ang-hi wares much more striking and
brilliant colour effects were obtained. As in old times, for the
production of some of these glazes a departure was made from the general
Chinese methods. The vessels were first fired to the "biscuit" state,
and then soft alkaline glazes coloured with copper or manganese were
fired over them at a much lower temperature so as to give the
"peacock-blue," "kingfisher-green" and "aubergine-purple" glazes. Many
varieties of single-coloured glazes were made by covering a white glazed
piece with on-glaze colour, and in this way new shades of coloured
glaze, such as the coral-reds (Plate VII.), were obtained. The various
brown or bronze-coloured grounds, so well known in the so-called
"Batavian" porcelain, were obtained by coating the piece with a slip of
some ochreous clay under the usual white glaze. Even these methods do
not exhaust the fertile resources of the potters of this period, for
they carried on concurrently the style of decoration in overglaze
colours, first in the schemes characterized by the predominance of a
vivid green enamel (_famille verte_; see Plate VIII.), and finally, in
the 18th century, in the schemes in which rose, pink and purple colours
predominate (_famille rose_; see Plate VIII.). It is probable that these
latter colours, which owe their tint to gold, were introduced into China
from Europe, but the Chinese employed them whole-heartedly, until in
fact they largely ousted all the earlier types of colour decoration.
During the reign of Yung-Chêng (1723-1735) the diverse styles seem to
have been finally struggling for mastery. Yung-Cheng was an ardent
collector of ancient Chinese porcelains, and he sent to King-tê-chên
specimens of the most ancient wares, whether of pottery or porcelain, to
be reproduced, while at the same time he and his court patronized the
wares in foreign styles and colours (Japanese and European.)
The struggle continued practically to the end of the 18th century, but
in spite of certain brilliant inventions, such as the "iron-rust" and
"tea-dust" glazes of the reign of K'ien-lung in harmony with old Chinese
effects, what we must regard as the inferior decorative style triumphed,
and we see the gradual disappearance of the ancient methods in favour of
(1) wares of a beautiful white body decorated only with on-glaze
colours, principally those of the _famille rose_, and (2) a very large
production of inferior wares, made in European shapes and decorated with
on-glaze painting and gilding to suit the European taste of the 18th
century.
This "armorial" china, so much of which was once foolishly ascribed to
Lowestoft, has little to commend it. The material is seldom of the best
quality, and the Chinese rendering of European arms and crests, or stiff
copies of European engravings surrounded by quasi-oriental borders of
diaper, &c., does nothing to recommend it. A great deal of this ware,
though manufactured at King-tê-chên, was decorated at Canton, and the
school of pottery decorators founded there by reason of this export
trade also produced a certain number of pieces in pure Chinese taste,
especially some of the ruby-backed plates and dishes and the small cups
and saucers decorated with deftly-painted designs of cocks, peonies, &c.
It must be pointed out that the great change implied in the replacement
of patterns painted in blue under the glaze by those painted in colours
over the glaze profoundly influenced the style of painting. In the
earlier wares the treatment is bold and vigorous as becomes true pottery
colour, and the softening of the colour by the melting glaze adds to the
artistic charm of the result. Painting on a fired glaze is like painting
on glass--fine lines, delicate drawing, and skilful stippling or
cross-hatching are just as natural in this method as they are impossible
or uncertain in the other. Naturalism of rendering takes the place of
conventional decorative treatment, and elaborate minuteness of finish
supplants the broad freedom of direct brushwork. During the 18th century
the same leaven was at work on the porcelains of China and of Europe,
the East influenced the West, and the West in its turn bore down the
East. If Chinese porcelain remained superior to its European
counterfeits, it was because the Chinaman was still the better potter
and had a longer tradition of decorative art behind him.
There is little to be said of Chinese porcelain during the 19th century.
The European demand was practically killed by the growth of porcelain
works at home, and the imperial patronage, so great a factor in the
production of artistic wares, was fitful and uncertain. Tao-Kwang
(1821-1850) gave some attention to porcelain, and the pieces made for
him and marked "_Shen-te-t'ang_" are valued by collectors. The so-called
Peking bowls of his reign (made of course at King-tê-chên) are also of
repute. But the political difficulties of China left little leisure for
the cultivation of the arts; the successive wars with France and England
served only to scatter the splendid wares of the past (see the Musée
Chinoise at Fontainebleau), and during the reign of the next emperor
Hien-fêng (1851-1861) the T'aipings overran the province of Kiang-si and
destroyed King-tê-chên and its factories. Since then the town has been
rebuilt and is once again producing Chinese porcelain. Tempted doubtless
by the high prices now paid in Europe and America for examples of the
Chinese porcelains of the 18th century, modern copies of the
single-coloured, _sang de boeuf_, _flambé_ and other glazes are being
made, while the highly prized "hawthorn" jars and black-ground vases are
receiving the same undesirable attention.
_Materials and, Manufacture of Chinese Porcelain._--For many centuries
after its first appearance Chinese porcelain differed from every other
known species of pottery both in its material and its manufacture.
While the pottery of all other countries was generally made of
coloured clays mixed only with sand or broken "shards" and fired at a
comparatively low temperature, Chinese porcelain was compounded from
the purest white clays, sand and fusible rock; it was glazed with
fusible rock, and it was so hard fired that the entire mass became
vitrified and translucent. The germ of the manufacture lay in the
discovery of large masses of primary clay (kaolin) mixed with
finely-ground felspathic rock (petuntse), both of which were carefully
washed, levigated and purified. The body of Chinese porcelain varied
from time to time within wide limits, but, broadly speaking, it always
consists of purified kaolin, petuntse and quartz (sand), mixed in
various proportions, sometimes with additional ingredients, according
to the quality of ware desired. For the glaze the purest and cleanest
portions of the felspathic rock (petuntse) were selected and mixed
with lime--all being ground to fine powder. The lime causes the glaze
to melt at a lower temperature than would be necessary for petuntse
alone. The lime also gives the Chinese glazes their luscious softness
of aspect and the faint greenish or bluish tone, while it enabled them
to receive the later decorations in piled-up enamels, impossible on
the harder European porcelain glazes of the 18th century. The
finely-prepared glaze was applied to the clay vessels, before they had
been fired, either by dipping, by painting, or by insufflation; and
then glaze and body were fired together at a very high temperature.
For certain glazes--turquoise, purple, &c.--which were not of the
felspathic type, the vessels were first fired to the "biscuit" state,
and the glazes were then applied and fired at a much lower
temperature--the usual practice of the potters of other countries.
When painted wares in blue and red were first introduced, the
necessary pigments were painted on the pieces before firing, the glaze
was applied over them, and then all was finished at one and the same
firing. With the later enamel colours the piece was first fired as
above described, and the fusible colours were then painted on the
glaze, which was of course like glass. A second firing at a lower
temperature fused these on-glaze colours to the ware. For information
on Chinese materials and methods the reader is referred to the letters
of Père d'Entrecolles in the collection of Jesuit letters known as
_Lettres édifiantes et curieuses_. The English reader will find
reliable translations of the essential parts in Bushell's _Oriental
Ceramic Art_, Dillon's _Porcelain_, and Burton's _History of
Porcelain_. Later information will be found in Brongniart's _Traité
des arts céramiques_, especially in the 3rd edition, 1877; and in an
article by G. Vogt, _Bulletin de la Société d'encouragement pour
l'industrie nationale_, April 1900, pp. 530-612.
_Collections._--The Franks collection in the British Museum; the
Victoria and Albert Museum, where the famous collection of Mr George
Salting has for years been displayed, together with the collections
belonging to the museum. Paris, the Grandidier collection at the
Louvre; the collection at the Musée Guimet; the Sèvres Museum.
Fontainebleau, the Musée Chinoise. Dresden, the Porcelain
Collection--the oldest in Europe. Boston, the Museum of Fine Arts. New
York, the Metropolitan Museum containing the Garland and other
collections. Washington, the Hippisley collection; as well as
magnificent private collections, at the head of which is that of the
late W.T. Walters of Baltimore.
LITERATURE.--The older European works on Chinese porcelain have been
superseded by the later books. The following list contains the best
recent books:--S.W. Bushell, _Oriental Ceramic Art_ (New York, 1897;
text separately 1899); _Chinese Porcelain before the present Dynasty_
(Pekin, 1886); _Chinese Art_, vol. ii., Victoria and Albert Museum
Handbooks (1906); Brongniart, _Traité des arts céramiques_ (3rd
edition, with valuable supplements by Salvétat, 1877); Dillon,
_Porcelain_ (1900); Sir A.W. Franks, _Catalogue of Oriental Pottery
and Porcelain_ (1878); Grandidier, _La Céramique chinoise_ (1894);
Griggs, _Examples of Armorial China_ (1887); Hippisley, _Ceramic Arts
in China_ (Smithsonian Institute, Washington, 1890); Hirth, _Ancient
Chinese Porcelain_ (Leipzig, 1888); Julien, _Histoire et fabrication
de la porcelaine chinoise_ (Paris, 1856); Meyer, _Lung-chuan Yao, oder
alter Seladon Porzellan_ (Berlin, 1889); Monkhouse, _History of
Chinese Porcelain_ (1901); O. du Sartel, _La Porcelaine de Chine_
(Paris, 1881); Burton, _Porcelain_ (1906); Bushell and Laffan, _The
Garland Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of New York_ (1907).
(W. B.*)
EUROPEAN PORCELAIN TO THE END OF THE 18TH CENTURY
Europe can claim no share in the discovery of porcelain, the white and
translucent pottery _par excellence_, for when the first specimens of
Chinese porcelain were brought to Europe, perhaps as early as the 11th
or 12th century, they excited the greatest wonder and admiration. Cairo
was at this time the great mart for the exchange of the products of East
and West, and from this centre porcelains were sent into Europe. Nasir i
Khosrau, the Persian traveller, who visited Old Cairo in A.D. 1035-1042,
was evidently acquainted with Chinese porcelain, and he also speaks of a
translucent ware made at Fostat (Old Cairo) which may well have been the
progenitor of the glassy porcelains of Persia, as well as of those made
in Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries. In A.D. 1171 the famous
Saladin sent from Cairo a present of forty pieces of Chinese porcelain
to the sultan of Babylon; and from that time onwards we have frequent
records of pieces of this exotic pottery finding their way into the
treasuries of European princes. With the renewed attention paid to the
potter's art in Europe after the 14th century, it was but natural that
efforts should be made to imitate a material so mysterious and
beautiful. But knowledge of Chinese materials and methods was _nil_, and
for a further two centuries all that Europe manufactured in the shape of
translucent pottery was the artificial porcelain made with glass, which
can only be looked upon as a substitute for true porcelain. In Italy
during the 16th century, and in France during the century from 1670 to
1770 roughly, this artificial porcelain was made and developed. At
Meissen in Saxony the famous Böttger made a true porcelain from
materials analogous to the Chinese about 1710-1712, and this manufacture
was pursued in Germany, Austria and elsewhere in Europe (even in France,
the home of the artificial glassy porcelain, after 1770), so that by the
end of the 18th century, when Chinese porcelain had reached and passed
its zenith, the manufacture of a similar material was well established
in Europe, and the glassy porcelains had been generally abandoned. The
only country which offered any departure from this general rule was
England. The earliest English porcelains were derived from the French,
and, like them, owed their translucence to the use of glass. Efforts
were made at Plymouth and at Bristol (1758-1781) to introduce the
manufacture of porcelain, like the Chinese and its German counterparts,
but these failed and the English potters finally invented a third kind
of porcelain, in which calcined ox-bones were added to the clay and
ground rock to give a white translucent porcelain capable of receiving
any form of decoration. This distinctively English porcelain, perfected
about 1800, is not only the principal kind made in England in our own
times, but its manufacture has been adopted, to some extent in France,
Germany and Sweden, as well as in the United States.
It is impossible to describe these various efforts of European potters
without a certain amount of overlapping, for during the 18th century all
the three kinds of European porcelain were struggling for supremacy. It
is advisable, therefore, to keep clearly in mind which kind of porcelain
is in question, for many problems of manufacture and decoration are
absolutely determined by the nature of the materials.
If we could trust to documentary evidence alone, the earliest European
porcelains were made at Venice in 1470, and again in 1519; while we also
read of its manufacture at Ferrara in 1561.[34] Unfortunately,
documentary evidence alone is not conclusive, and the first European
porcelain, known from actual specimens as well as by documentary
evidence, was that made at Florence in the laboratory of Francesco de'
Medici, between 1575 and 1585. Specimens of this rare porcelain are to
be found only in great museums and private collections, where they rank
among our chief ceramic treasures. They show clearly that the Florentine
potters never fully mastered their difficult material, for the ware is
always imperfect and compares indifferently in whiteness and
translucence with fine porcelain, while the glaze is neither smoothly
melted nor free from defects. Obviously the effect of Chinese blue and
white porcelain was aimed at, the decorations, reminiscent of the style
of the Persian pot-painters, being executed in cobalt blue alone. These
rare and interesting pieces bear distinctive marks; for at their period
the use of painters' marks or monograms had become fairly general on
artistic pottery in Europe. One of the best known marks is the "palle"
or balls of the arms of the Medici family, bearing the letters "F M M E
D II." for "Franciscus Medici Magnus Etruriae Dux II."; while other
pieces have a rude representation of the Great Dome of Florence and the
letter "F."
[Illustration: Florentine Potter's mark.]
[Illustration: PLATE VIII.
Chinese. K'ang-hsi period.
Chinese. Black ground. K'ang-hsi period.
Chinese (_Famille Verte_). K'ang-hsi period.
Chinese (_Famille Rose_). Ch'ien-lung period.
Chinese. Plum-blossom jar. K'ang-hsi period.]
Fortunately, too, besides the few specimens of Florentine porcelain that
have survived to our day a manuscript has been found in the
Magliabechian Library at Florence which states that the paste was
composed of 24 parts of sand, 16 of a glass (powdered rock crystal 10
and soda 8), and 12 parts white earth of Faenza. To 12 parts of this
mixture 3 parts of the kaolinic clay of Vicenza were to be added, and
the pieces glazed with a lead glaze, or sometimes with the tin-enamel of
the Italian faience maker. We are in the presence, therefore, of a
material unlike Chinese porcelain in every respect, the Florentine
porcelain being the first of a long line of European porcelains the
artistic qualities of which were obtained by mixing a large quantity of
glass with a small quantity of clay, so that they may almost be regarded
as a species of glazed and painted glass. The technical methods used in
their manufacture and decoration, however, were those of the potter and
not of the glass maker.
With the death of Francesco de' Medici in 1587 it seems probable that
this wonderful innovation came to an untimely end, and we hear no more
of porcelain in Italy for more than a century. During this century
(1587-1687) there can be no doubt that efforts were made all over Europe
to discover the secret of porcelain manufacture; but the first reliable
date we can point to is 1673, when Louis Poterat, a faience maker of
Rouen, obtained a privilege from the French king for the manufacture of
porcelain in that town. The Rouen porcelain in turn ceased with the
death of Poterat in 1696. Authentic specimens are extant in the shape of
salt-cellars, mustard pots and some few vases, the latter of
considerable size. The pieces are usually decorated in blue with
patterns in the Rouen style and were evidently painted by an expert
faience painter. In composition, the porcelain of Rouen, like that of
Florence, was of the artificial or glassy type, and shortly afterwards a
similar ware made its appearance at the faience works of St Cloud near
Paris, and at various works in the city of Paris. Well-known pieces,
bearing the marks here shown, formerly supposed to be the earliest
specimens of French porcelain and the work of Poterat at Rouen, are
probably experimental pieces made in Paris after the date of Poterat's
discovery, as they differ in important particulars from his ware.
[Illustration: Paris Potters' marks.]
[Illustration: St Cloud Potters' marks.]
Once firmly established in France, this manufacture, under the patronage
of the French court or of some great French noble, rapidly assumed a
position of importance. The works at St Cloud received letters-patent
from Louis XIV. in 1696, and the manufacture was continued there down to
1773. The appearance of the St Cloud porcelain is very characteristic,
for though the paste has a yellowish tinge it is of fine quality with a
clear and brilliant glaze. The first efforts appear to have consisted in
frank imitations of the much-prized Oriental wares, and white pieces
decorated only with branches of flowering plum in relief, or pieces
modelled with imbricated or scale pattern or with delicate flutings,
were made. The earliest colour decoration was naturally in under-glaze
blue, and while quasi-oriental designs were largely used, the commonest
feature is the prevalence of painted borders like those used on the
faience of Rouen and St Cloud. At a later date decoration in over-glaze
colours and gilding was also employed, and though the ware never reached
to such a pitch of excellence as that of the Royal Manufactory at
Sèvres, the St Cloud porcelain is one of the most distinctive French
porcelains of the 18th century.
_German Porcelains._--While the glassy porcelains of France were being
developed at St Cloud, success of a more permanent order was reached in
Germany. Augustus the Strong, elector of Saxony (1670-1733), had formed
an extensive collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelains, still to be
seen in the Dresden Museum, and he had established experimental pottery
works, bringing skilled potters from Holland and elsewhere. His chief
investigators appear to have been Tschirnhaus and Böttger, both
alchemists, and it was the glory of the latter to be the first European
to produce a porcelain like the Chinese, both in the nature of its
materials, and in the appearance of its paste and glaze. It may be
surmised that Böttger was guided toward this momentous discovery by
information brought from China, though such an idea is always stoutly
denied by German authorities, who, with pardonable pride, claim that
Böttger at the age of twenty-four succeeded where all other European
experimenters had failed. He was certainly working at the problems
offered by the exotic wares of China, for his first production was an
extremely hard redstone-ware--often erroneously called "Böttger's red
porcelain"--resembling the Chinese "boccaros" or red teapots of the
Yi-hsing potteries. He had been anticipated in this direction by Dwight
of Fulham, but the red pottery of Böttger was so intensely fired that it
became dense enough to be cut and polished by the lapidary as if it were
a piece of jasper or carnelian. It was first offered for sale at the
Leipzig fair of 1710, and for many years it enjoyed great popularity, as
well as the undesirable honour of wide imitation. At the same time
(1710) Böttger exhibited a few crude specimens of greyish-white
porcelain. Imperfect pieces were on sale in 1713, and by 1716 its
manufacture was definitely established, though the pieces were still far
from perfect. Böttger died in 1719, having had the rare fortune, in his
short and eventful life, to establish in Europe the manufacture of true
porcelain.
The life of Böttger reads like a page of romance, and the story of the
subsequent development of porcelain manufacture throughout the German
empire is hardly less romantic. When the importance of Böttger's
discovery was recognized, he and his workmen were removed from Dresden
to the Albrechtsburg, a fortress situated at Meissen some 16 m. away, so
that the manufacture could be conducted with the greatest secrecy. All
concerned were practically state prisoners, and this extreme rigour
doubtless defeated the end in view, for workmen escaped from time to
time, and professing, more or less truthfully, a knowledge of the
manufacture, found patrons among the German princes all eager to gain
reputation as experimenters in the new art of porcelain. Some of these
wandering "Arcanists," like Ringler and Hunger, and the men who learnt
from them, travelled all over the empire, and the following list of
dates will show how porcelain factories sprang up from the parent
factory at Meissen:--
Meissen 1710 | St Petersburg 1744
Vienna 1718 | Berlin 1750
Ansbach 1718 | Nymphenburg 1758
Bayreuth 1720 | Ludwigsburg 1758
_Meissen._--Although the factory which was founded at Meissen as a
result of Böttger's discovery remained on its old site until 1863, the
porcelain made there has been commonly known as Dresden porcelain;
probably because Dresden was the seat of the Saxon court, and the
enterprise was conducted at the expense of the electors of Saxony. So
jealously were the secrets of this factory guarded that when Napoleon,
the master of Europe, sent Brongniart to investigate the methods in use
at Meissen in 1812, the elector of Saxony had to release Steinauer, the
director, from his oath of secrecy before he would explain the
processes. Meissen porcelain, therefore, affords us the best example by
which we may follow the changes of fashion and taste that governed the
styles of porcelain decoration in Europe during the 18th century. The
early Meissen porcelain was made from the kaolin found at Aue, near
Schneeberg, and while there is no mention of any other material, we may
be sure that clay and felspathic rock, analogous to the Chinese _kaolin_
and _petuntse_, were obtained from the same quarries, and were used
together. Until after the death of Böttger in 1719 it cannot be said
that the venture was more than a _succès d'estime_. The specimens
preserved in the Dresden Museum show that the pieces were generally
thick in substance and clumsy in shape, being often made from the moulds
that had been designed for Böttger's red-stoneware. Naturally enough
these early examples were inspired by Chinese models, both in shape and
decoration. As at St Cloud, white pieces with modelled decoration were
common. Unlike the contemporary French glassy porcelains, the
decorations in under-glaze blue were very imperfect, the blue colour
being much run and blistered; and when attempts were made at decoration
in enamel colours (i.e. colours fired on the finished glaze) the result
was unsatisfactory, as, owing to the refractory nature of the hard
felspathic material, these colours frequently scaled off. The later
success of the Meissen factory must be attributed to Herold or Höroldt
(who joined the staff in 1720 as a colour maker and painter), and to
Kandler, a sculptor, who came to the works in 1731. In the hands of
these two men the forms and decorations, still largely based on Chinese
and Japanese models, assumed a definitely European style, while the
composition of the body and the glaze, and the application of colours
and gold, were brought to perfection. Herold was appointed director of
the works a few years after 1720, and retained that post until 1765,
while Kandler was chief modeller from 1731 to 1775. The years from 1730
(when the work definitely emerged from its experimental stage) to 1775
(when Kandler died) mark the most distinctive period of the Meissen
porcelain. In the estimation of collectors also the Meissen porcelain of
this period is the most valuable, and genuine examples of _Alt-Meissen_
command high prices in the sale rooms, especially in Germany. This
appreciation was quite as apparent in the 18th century, for by 1740
Meissen porcelain had won the greatest renown in Europe, and was
actually exported by way of Constantinople over the Mahommedan countries
of the Nearer East. It is frequently described by contemporary writers
as being far superior to the porcelain of China, and so great was its
vogue between 1740 and 1750 that as many as 700 workmen--a large number
for those days--were employed, and the industry brought large profits as
well as great reputation to the Saxon court. Each year saw some fresh
departure from the original inspiration of the work, some fresh
innovation of European style in design. After 1730 the rude
reproductions of Chinese forms and decorations in white or blue and
white were replaced by imitations of the Imari porcelains, especially
those decorated in the style of Kakiemon. Here Meissen was running a
race with Chantilly in setting the fashion for the dainty decorations in
red and green and gold which spread in time to all the porcelain
factories of Europe. Gradually European _motifs_ became predominant. The
simple oriental forms were replaced by distinctively European shapes
with architectural mouldings, handles and feet. Instead of the dainty
Japanese patterns, we perceive the gradual introduction of "Rococo"
scroll-work (as interpreted by the Germans) to form a framework or
border for miniature-like paintings of landscapes, ruins,
figure-subjects, hunting scenes, &c., executed in the limited palette of
on-glaze colours then available. Further evidence of the departure from
oriental influence is to be found in the numerous "armorial" services
produced between 1730 and 1740; and at the same period we find the first
appearance of a style of decoration that has persisted to our own times,
as a means of passing off pieces with small flaws in body or glaze, by
hiding them among sprays of naturalistic flowers, with an occasional fly
or some other winged creature thrown with seeming artlessness over the
surface of the piece. This idea, though it seems to have been first used
at Meissen, was so useful to the potter that it became general, and a
device originally adopted to cover faults of manufacture was elevated
into a distinct style of decoration by later European factories (e.g.
Strassburg, Niederviller, &c.).
The talents of Kandler were applied in ambitious but unsatisfactory
attempts to produce life-sized figures of the twelve apostles, an
equestrian statue of Augustus the Strong of heroic proportions, and many
models of animals intended for the decoration of the Japanese palace at
Dresden. Many of these latter are to be seen in the Dresden Museum, and
create an unfavourable impression of the taste of their period. The fame
of Kandler is better perpetuated (see example, Plate IX.) by the little
statuettes and groups of figures and animals that flowed in a steady
stream from his facile hand; for though these figures have prettiness
rather than grace, and _flair_ rather than style, they are instinct with
the spirit of the middle 18th century, and were eagerly imitated or
boldly copied at every factory in Europe. Only in the _biscuit_
porcelain figures of Sèvres, and in some few of the portrait figures of
Derby, do we find anything artistically superior. These Meissen
statuettes look their best when they are simply in white; many are
grotesque and ugly, and the colour decorations are usually in very poor
taste, the harsh, shining colours contrasting unpleasantly with the
pronounced white of the porcelain.
Mention must be made of the use of modelled flowers at Meissen.
Originating in the simple application of modelled branches of prunus,
&c. in imitation of the white porcelains of Fu-kien, the method
developed until we get not only the characteristic "May-flower"
decoration (see example, Plate IX.), but also independent sprays and
bouquets modelled in porcelain and coloured with the utmost mechanical
precision. It is not quite clear whether this production of porcelain
flowers was first perfected at Meissen or at Vincennes,[35] but it was
largely practised at both places.
Toward the end of this period, vases, candelabra, mirror-frames and
clock cases were modelled in the most _outré_ rococo forms with applied
scrolls, shells and flowers. These pieces had their modelled details
picked out in gold and colours, while the success of the French styles
of decoration is still further shown by the copies of Watteau figures
and groups on the more important vases, dishes and plates. Frederick the
Great made sad havoc with the prosperity of Meissen during the Seven
Years' War. He looted the factory both in 1759 and 1761, and is said on
the latter occasion to have carried away to Berlin both models, working
moulds and many workmen. This misfortune marks the end of the most
distinctive Meissen porcelain, for after this time Sèvres became the
most important porcelain factory in Europe, and the later productions of
Meissen were, for the most part, German versions of the styles initiated
at the French royal factory. From 1764 to 1774 Dietrich, a painter, was
at the head of affairs, while a Frenchman named Acier succeeded Kandler.
They introduced the neo-classical style, which was spreading like a
blight all over Europe, and this departure was perfected under the
directorship of Count Marcolini (1774-1814), when Meissen, fallen from
its high estate, was content to follow the lead of Sèvres.
After the Marcolini period there is nothing to be said of Meissen. The
old productions of the factory had become valuable, and the custom of
reproducing them, marks included, was adopted. Such a practice was not
likely to lead to further progress, and, though the factory was removed
from its old site in the Albrechtsburg in 1863, it cannot be said to
have added anything to the progress of European porcelain during the
19th century.
[Illustration: "Dresden" Potter's mark.]
During the initiatory period the "Dresden" pieces bore the monogram
"A.R." interlaced (Augustus Rex), and between 1712 and 1716 pieces
intended for sale and not for the use of the court were marked with
the sign of Aesculapius (a snake twining round a staff). From about
1720 two crossed swords, painted in blue under the glaze, with or
without accompanying stars, crosses, &c., formed the general mark, but
the mark has been so often used on other porcelains that, in itself,
it is of slight value as a means of identification.
_Vienna._--The first mention of the manufacture of porcelain in Vienna
occurs in 1718, when a Dutchman, Claude du Paquier, was granted a
patent. He had secured two runaways from Meissen, Stölzel and Hunger,
yet little progress was made until after 1744, when the factory was
bought by the empress Maria Theresa. At first the traditional styles of
Meissen were continued, but the characteristic Viennese porcelain was
produced after 1785. In this ware figure-painting, rich ground colours
and elaborate gilding are associated in an unmistakeable manner.
Leithner, who was chemist and colour maker at this period, succeeded in
producing a more extensive and brilliant palette of colours than was in
use at any other European porcelain factory in the last quarter of the
18th century; and the gilding was rich and elaborate. Apart from its
technical merits the ware has nothing to recommend it, for the styles of
decoration showed pronounced neo-classical influence, and lacked the
saving merits of the French work in the same style. The works was closed
in 1864, on account of the heavy expenses, and collectors should be
reminded that many spurious imitations, the product of small Viennese
factories, are to be found on the market.
[Illustration: Wegeli's mark.]
_Berlin._--The first Berlin porcelain was made by W. Casper Wegeli,
aided by workmen from other German factories, as early as 1750. This
business was unsuccessful and came to an end in 1757, but its
productions are highly prized on account of their rarity. Success only
came when Frederick the Great brought workmen, moulds and materials from
Meissen in 1761, and, becoming proprietor of the works in 1763, founded
the Royal Berlin Porcelain Manufactory. Though Meissen workmen and
methods had been imported, and the Meissen style governed the earliest
productions, Frederick's well-known _penchant_ for French art was
doubtless responsible for the fact that the rococo style of decoration
was more determinedly followed here than elsewhere in Germany. The
colour schemes of this ware are unusually simple, pieces being seldom
decorated in more than three colours, while a rose-coloured enamel, a
favourite colour with the great Frederick, is quite characteristic. The
Royal Berlin Factory passed under a cloud in the troubled condition of
the Prussian monarchy during the early years of the 19th century, and
down to 1870 it was content to follow in the wake of Sèvres like most of
the other European factories. Since about the year 1880, however, it has
developed into the most scientific of European porcelain works, and it
was here that Seger manufactured his special porcelain, made to
reproduce the qualities of the finest Japanese wares. In spite of this
scientific success it must be remarked that the late Berlin porcelain is
artistically disappointing, being too exuberant for our taste and
recalling anything rather than porcelain in its treatment.
_Minor German Factories._--It is unnecessary to describe the
productions of all the German porcelain works of the 18th century, for
not only is there a strong family likeness, but all the works aimed at
producing pieces comparable with those of Meissen, Vienna or Berlin.
In every case the industry was established under the patronage or at
the direct charge of princes or great nobles, anxious to emulate the
success of the elector of Saxony or the king of Prussia, and generally
the enterprise came to an end with the death of a patron or from his
unwillingness to sustain the continued drains upon his purse.
The factory at Höchst was started about 1720 by wanderers from
Meissen, but it was only carried to a successful issue through the
patronage of the archbishop-elector of Mainz after 1746. The general
style of Höchst is a palpable imitation of the contemporary wares of
Meissen, but this factory was noted for its excellent figures and
groups, especially those modelled by Melchior (1770-1780). He
modelled, at Höchst, more than three hundred figures, as well as many
portrait medallions. The works came to an untimely end during the
French invasion of 1794.
Frankenthal had a porcelain factory (founded by the Hannongs of
Strassburg) in 1756, and patronized by Karl Theodor, elector palatine
from 1762 to 1795, when the French invasion put an end to its
activities. Melchior, the sculptor, came here from Höchst after 1780,
and elaborate pieces in the current styles of Sèvres and Dresden were
made.
Nymphenburg, near Munich, had a factory which was made a royal factory
in 1758 by Max Joseph III. of Bavaria. The ware was of fine quality,
but without special distinction. Melchior came on here about 1800,
remaining till his death in 1825; his Nymphenburg figures are as
highly esteemed as those he modelled at Höchst and Frankenthal. In the
early years of the 19th century elaborate painting became the rule
here, as at the other royal factories, and copies were made on
porcelain of some of the famous paintings in the Munich galleries. The
works is still in existence, in the hands of a private company, who
unfortunately sell many reproductions of the 18th-century wares.
Ludwigsburg, some 9 m. from Stuttgart, had a porcelain factory from
1758 to 1824, liberally subsidized by the dukes of Württemberg.
Highly-finished painting was the rule at this factory, and because the
ware bore a crown as one of its marks, it has rather foolishly been
called "Kronenberg" porcelain.
Fürstenberg was the factory patronized by the dukes of Brunswick.
Experiments were made as early as 1746, but little ware was produced
before 1770. Fürstenberg set itself to imitate all the best-known
styles of the day, and its only distinctive productions are its
"biscuit" statuettes and medallions. The factory remained in operation
until 1888, but as the moulds were then sold by auction, imitations of
the old pieces are now common.
Other 18th-century German factories were those of Fulda, Bayreuth,
Cassel, Ansbach, Kloster-Veilsdorf, Wallendorf and Limbach.
Mention must also be made of the work of certain famous decorators,
like Bottengruber and Preussler, who decorated both German and
oriental pieces; while Busch, the canon of Hildesheim, produced
effects like fine engraving by etching the glaze with a diamond and
rubbing black colour into the lines.
While France and Germany were each developing their own particular type
of porcelain, it was only natural that the kings and princes of other
countries should strive to emulate them in the manufacture of this still
rare and highly esteemed form of pottery. Naturally, perhaps, the
countries to the north and east seem to have been influenced most by
German methods, whilst those to the south and west followed the French
example.
_Holland._--The earliest Dutch factories were started as early as
1704, first at Weesp near Amsterdam, and afterwards at Oude
Loosdrecht. The mark of this factory occurs as M: O.L., or M.o.L.
After 1782 the works was removed to Nieuwe Amstel, but the "Amstel"
porcelain came to an end with the French invasion. The ware resembled
the German both in material and decoration. The best porcelain made in
Holland was produced at a factory at the Hague, founded some time
after 1775. There is a choice collection of this ware in the Gemeente
Museum at the Hague. No porcelain appears to have been made in Holland
after about 1810 until 1890 or later.
_Denmark._--It has been stated that porcelain of the German type was
made in Copenhagen as early as 1731, but there is no definite record
of the production of true porcelain until about 1772, when potters,
modellers and painters from some of the German works founded the
enterprise which was taken over by King Christian VII. in 1779 and
converted into a royal factory. Fostered by the king's patronage, fine
porcelain of pronouncedly German style was largely made down to the
end of the 18th century. The collection in the castle of Rosenburg
contains many examples of the work of this period. In the early years
of the 19th century the Empire style of decoration was adopted, and
the artistic influence of Sèvres became paramount. Large sums of money
were continually required from the crown to maintain the establishment
until, in 1867, it was sold into private hands to get rid of an
encumbrance. The subsequent new-birth of the existing royal Copenhagen
porcelain works must be noted in the next section.
_Sweden._--The history of Swedish porcelain in the 18th century is
connected with the factories at Rörstrand and Marieberg, both in the
environs of Stockholm. Tentative experiments were made at both these
places before 1760, but these came to an end by the close of the 18th
century, though the Rörstrand works was reopened some fifty years ago
and will be subsequently referred to. The Swedish porcelains were of
two kinds, one a true felspathic porcelain like the German, and the
other a glassy porcelain resembling that made at Mennecy in France. It
is interesting to note that the decorative styles in both cases are
distinctly French in character.
_Russia._--Peter the Great is said to have projected a porcelain
factory at the suggestion of his ally Augustus the Third of Saxony,
but the scheme was not carried into execution until the days of the
empress Elizabeth. Catherine II. subsidized the work in prodigal
fashion, but although she brought over French artists, the Russian
porcelain more closely resembles its German than its French prototype.
In the early years of the 19th century the imperial Russian factory
followed the example of Sèvres in producing costly dinner services and
extravagant vases of large dimensions.
Small independent factories were started in the neighbourhood of
Moscow: one by an Englishman named Gardner about 1780, and another by
A. Popoff. Besides producing ordinary table ware these Moscow
factories sent forth a considerable number of statuettes, the most
interesting being those representing Russian peasant types.
_Hungary._--The one Hungarian porcelain factory of note is that at
Herend, which was founded about 1830 by Moritz Fischer. At this
factory copies of oriental porcelain were made that have deceived many
collectors, though the pieces are usually impressed with the word
"Herend" in the paste.
_Switzerland._--Little porcelain has been produced in Switzerland, and
considering the geographical position of the country it seems natural
that porcelain of the German type should have been made at Zurich and
of the French type at Nyon on the lake of Geneva, but these
productions are of no particular importance.
_French Porcelains._--The beginnings of French porcelain at Rouen and St
Cloud have already been mentioned, as they preceded Böttger's discovery
of true porcelain; but as nothing was known in France of the methods and
materials used by the German porcelain makers, the artificial or glassy
porcelain held sway in France through the greater part of the 18th
century. The next important factory after St Cloud was that founded at
Chantilly about 1725 under the patronage of the Prince de Condé, an
enthusiastic collector of Chinese and Japanese porcelains. One
distinctive feature of the Chantilly porcelain is its imitation of the
Japanese Imari wares of the 17th century, especially those bearing
delicate patterns in the Kakiemon style. This imitation was not confined
to the decoration alone, but great efforts were made to reproduce the
delicious tender whiteness of the original ware, by covering the body of
the soft porcelain with a coating of the tin-enamel used by the French
faience makers. Similar imitation of the Kakiemon style of decoration
became the rage all over Europe, and was largely followed at Meissen and
in England as well as in France; but no European imitations equalled
those of the famous Chantilly ware.
[Illustration: Lille and Chantilly Potters' marks.]
Other porcelain factories were started at Mennecy-Villeroy and at Lille,
but the most important French factory was that founded at Vincennes
about 1740, not only because of the many beautiful pieces produced
there, but also because the works was taken under the direct patronage
of the king in 1753 and was transferred to Sèvres in 1756, becoming
ultimately the most important porcelain factory in Europe.
Fortunately we have documentary information of the exact composition
of the artificial porcelain (_pâte tendre_) of Sèvres, and a brief
account of its manufacture will serve to explain how all the glassy
porcelains of Europe were made. The potter commenced by preparing a
glass or frit, melting together pure sand, alum, sea-salt, gypsum,
soda and nitre. The clear portions of this frit were powdered and
washed with boiling water, and the working clay was compounded by
adding to such powdered frit a small quantity of chalky clay or marl
and sometimes pure chalk as well. This mixture was ground in water
until the fluid was as fine as cream, and it was then boiled to a
thick paste which was so little plastic in itself that black soap or
parchment size was added to it to give it enough plasticity for the
workman to be able to shape it. Vases and other pieces were made from
this paste by pressing cakes of it in plaster moulds of considerable
thickness. After pressing, the pieces were dried and were then either
turned on a lathe or rubbed down with sand-paper to reduce them to
sufficient thinness; while handles, spouts or other ornaments in
relief were applied with a lute of slip, as is customary with every
other species of pottery. The fragile objects were then fired into
what is known as the "biscuit" condition; the most difficult part of
the whole process. During this firing the pieces frequently went out
of shape because of the excessive shrinkage of the material and its
tendency to soften as it approached the melting point of the frit.
Consequently an elaborate system of "propping" the pieces had to be
resorted to, and even then a very large proportion became deformed.
When the porcelain was drawn from the oven after the first firing, the
supports were removed and the pieces were rubbed with sand to clean
the surface, and were then coated with glaze by sprinkling with a
brush; the glaze being a fusible glass very rich in lead. The glaze
coat was melted by refiring the piece at a lower temperature; and it
was frequently necessary to repeat this process several times in order
to get a perfectly even and brilliant result. The difficulties of such
a process were enormous, and it was only by the financial support of
wealthy patrons, or of the state, that such a method of manufacture
was ever carried on for any length of time. At its best the material
is an exceedingly beautiful one, lending itself especially to
decoration in on-glaze colours, and the pieces produced at Vincennes
and at Sèvres, between 1745 and 1770 or thereabouts, form a distinct
class by themselves. Skilful chemists like Hellot and Macquer were
employed to direct the operations, and many beautiful ground colours,
such as the famous _gros-bleu, bleu de roi, rose Pompadour_, pea-green
and apple-green were invented.
_Sèvres Porcelains._--The forms of the Sèvres porcelain are exceedingly
varied. Many of the older shapes were designed by Duplessis, the king's
silversmith, and, as is perhaps natural, are more proper to metal than
to pottery; but the French glassy porcelain is such an artificial
material in every respect that such a point should not be strained too
far. Owing to the want of plasticity in the paste the pieces were always
made in moulds of plaster of Paris, while in many cases they were
moulded in separate parts and these united together with metal screws or
mounted in bands of chased ormolu. Table services made for actual use
were usually painted on a plain white ground with the full palette of
on-glaze colours (or enamels) and much rich gilding. The decorative
pieces such as vases, candelabra, jardinières, &c., were decorated in a
much more sumptuous fashion by covering the greater part of the piece
with a ground of one of the rich enamel colours previously mentioned,
reserving only panels in white on which delicate miniature-like
decorations of the most varied kind were subsequently painted and fired
(see fig. 52; and examples of Sèvres, Plate IX.). Such collections as
the Wallace at Hertford House, or the Jones Bequest in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, show at once the variety and perfection to which the work
attained.
[Illustration: FIG. 52.--Sèvres vase, _pâte tendre_; green body and gilt
imitation mounting. (Victoria and Albert Museum.)]
This Sèvres porcelain is entirely devoid of the broad decorative
treatment and rich full colour of any of the great kinds of fine pottery
or porcelain. Artistically considered, it has no place beside the
triumphs of the Chinese or Persian potters, or of the Italian majolists.
Its shapes are too formal, and are not sufficiently imbued with a sense
of the qualities of the material. The ground colours defy every natural
tendency of pottery colour for they are even, flawless and mechanical,
with none of the palpitating richness that comes so naturally from the
potter's processes. The paintings, whether of flowers, birds or
figure-subjects, are extraordinarily skilful regarded as miniatures, but
as examples of pottery decoration they cannot be compared to the swift,
apparently careless, brushwork of the great masters of earlier times. So
pronounced was the demand of the period for smooth even finish that such
ground colours as _gros-bleu_ and _bleu de roi_, where the colour
naturally came varied and uneven, were subsequently decorated with small
diapers or lines of gold in the form of _[oe]il de perdrix_ or
_vermicelle_, so as to produce a more regular and even effect. The most
elaborate and costly of all the varieties of old Sèvres is what is known
as "jewelled Sèvres," which is richly sown with imitation jewels, such
as turquoises, pearls and rubies, closely resembling the real stones.
These imitation jewels were in every case set in beautifully chased
mountings of gold, and in the museum at Sevres are to be found examples
of the punches and other tools used in making these mounts. On account
of the enormous expense involved in the production of such costly
triumphs of skill, examples of jewelled Sèvres are rare even in the best
collections, but the English student is fortunate in the fact that the
Wallace collection contains a considerable number of them.
[Illustration: Sèvres Potters' marks, 1753 and 1772.]
Many reasons--the prestige attaching to a Royal Manufactory, the
knowledge that the porcelain was produced regardless of cost, the
mechanical perfection of its colours, gilding and decoration, as well as
the fact that the glassy porcelain was abandoned as too costly and risky
after about 1780--have all conspired to raise the prices which modern
collectors are prepared to pay for fine examples of _vieux Sèvres_. It
is doubtful whether even the prices paid for paintings by old masters
have advanced so rapidly as those paid for Sèvres porcelain of the best
period. In the 'seventies of the 19th century it was deemed worthy of
remark that a sum of £10,000 should have been paid at public auction for
three old Sèvres vases; thirty years later one such piece would probably
fetch the same price. It should be added that the extravagant prices now
paid for Sèvres porcelain, which is much more a triumph of technical
than of artistic skill, have led to an extensive system of "faking" and
even forging specimens which are purchased at high prices by amateurs.
Beautiful as the old Sèvres porcelain was, those who were responsible
for its manufacture could not fail to recognize that the porcelain made
at Meissen and other German factories was both harder and whiter in
substance, more truly resembling the oriental porcelain in every
respect. It was also known that these German porcelains were not so
difficult, and therefore so costly to manufacture as the French, and all
these causes combined to make the directorate of Sèvres unremitting in
their efforts to discover in France natural materials analogous to those
used by the German and Chinese potters. Père d'Entrecolles, the famous
Jesuit missionary, had forwarded to France long before an account of the
methods used by the Chinese, as well as samples of the materials they
employed; and after many years' research Millot and Macquer discovered
the precious materials at St Yrieix near Limoges (see Auscher, _History
of French Porcelain_, pp. 77-81). The first experimental pieces of this
French porcelain, similar in material to the German and Chinese, appear
to have been made about 1769; but it was some years after this before
the manufacture of the new product was firmly established, and then to
the end of the 18th century more and more of the hard porcelain and less
of the glassy porcelain was made at Sèvres. Speaking broadly, we might
say that after 1780 comparatively little of the original French
porcelain was made in France; and from that time to this practically all
French porcelain has been of the same type as the German porcelain, viz.
made with china clay and felspathic rock. This technical change in the
nature of the materials had a profound influence on the artistic
qualities of French porcelain, and the change was doubtless accentuated
by the neo-classical rage which followed on the discovery of Herculaneum
and Pompeii. The influence of antique vase shapes and of modern
renderings of Greek motives in design spread over Europe like a plague,
and whether in France, Germany or England the last quarter of the 18th
and the first quarter of the 19th century mark a definite period in
pottery design and decoration. The introduction of hard-paste porcelain
rendered the manufacture of large vases and other pieces possible; and
after 1780 we find the manufactory at Sèvres engaged in the production
of enormous vases 5 or 6 ft. in height, a manufacture which has been
continued there to this day. About the same time, too, we find the first
production of large plaques or slabs of porcelain on which copies of
well-known pictures were painted in enamel colours. The earliest of
these slabs were in soft-paste porcelain, but in this material it was
only possible to make them of quite modest dimensions; with the
introduction of hard-paste porcelain very large slabs were manufactured,
and a series of these are to be seen in the museum at Sèvres.
The most artistic of all the productions of Sèvres are undoubtedly the
"biscuit" figures and groups. These were modelled with great skill by
many of the best French sculptors of the day, such as Pajou, Pigalle,
Clodion, La Rue, Caffieri, Falconet, Boizot, Julien, Le Riche, &c. The
best of these Sèvres "biscuits" have a real artistic value which places
them in a class quite apart from the German porcelain figures made at
Meissen, Frankenthal and Höchst.
_Paris_.--Although during the reign of Louis XV. many privileges and
prerogatives had been given to the Sèvres manufactory, such as the
exclusive right to gild or paint in colours on porcelain, the
breakdown of the monarchical régime, which was rapidly accelerated
after the accession of Louis XVI., led to the establishment in Paris
and its environs of a number, of factories for the production of
hard-paste porcelains more or less in open rivalry with the royal
manufactory of Sèvres. In order that the royal edicts might be more
easily evaded, most of these factories were placed under the patronage
of one of the French princes of the blood or even of Queen Marie
Antoinette. There is little need to dwell on the doings of these
Parisian factories, but the productions of the best of them, such as
those of Clignancourt (patronized by Monsieur, the king's eldest
brother); Rue Thiroux (patronized by Queen Marie Antoinette); Rue de
Bondy (patronized by the duc d'Angoulême), compare not unfavourably
with those of Sèvres itself.
It is impossible to do more than mention the other important French
factories at Mennecy, Sceaux, Bourg-la-Reine, Strassburg,
Niederviller, Marseilles, Limoges and Caen. In the disastrous years
of the French revolution (between 1789 and 1800), such of these
factories as had survived came to an untimely end, even the royal
factory at Sèvres passing through a kind of lingering death between
1792 and 1801, and it was not until Napoleon decided to revive the
glories of Sèvres that modern French porcelain really came into being.
Just as the manufacture of German porcelain spread into Holland,
Denmark, Sweden, Russia, &c., we find the manufacture of a glassy
porcelain analogous to the early French arising in Belgium, Italy, Spain
and England. The materials and methods were so like those used in France
that it would be ridiculous to claim for them an independent origin,
even were we unable to prove by documentary evidence that workmen
trained in the French factories had migrated into those countries.
_Italy_.--In Italy we have the factories at Le Nove near Bassano
(1762-1825); Doccia near Florence (founded in 1735 by the marchese
Carlo Ginori, and still carried on by the same family); and
Capo-di-Monte near Naples (1736-1820); with minor factories like those
at Vinovo, Treviso, and the Volpato factory at Rome. The most
important of these were the factories at Doccia and Capo-di-Monte. The
porcelain made at Doccia was famous for its soft translucent texture,
so that it lent itself beautifully to the production of white glazed
porcelain figures resembling in quality the white pieces of Fu-kien.
[Illustration: Capo-di-Monte Potters' marks; 1736, 1759, 1780.]
The factory at Capo-di-Monte was under the direct patronage of Charles
III., king of Naples. The earliest and best of its productions are in
pure white, probably made in imitation of Chinese white pieces, though
modelled in the form of natural shells supported by corals and
seaweed. Figure-modelling was also largely practised, and besides
groups of statuettes and figures in conjunction with vases, we have
the typical Capo-di-Monte examples in which vases, cups, saucers,
plates, &c., are covered with groups of figures modelled in high
relief on a minute scale. This trivial style of work is greatly
admired because of the minuteness of its execution. At a later period
the works was removed to Portici and ultimately to Naples, but after
about 1770 the classic style was adopted for the shapes and
decorations. The factory came to an end as late as 1820.
[Illustration: Buen Retiro Potters' marks.]
_Spain_.--Charles III. of Naples ascended the throne of Spain in 1759
and took with him to Madrid many of the workmen from the Capo-di-Monte
factory, as well as the best moulds and models. He established a new
china factory in the gardens of Buen Retiro, a palace outside Madrid.
As long as Charles III. lived immense sums were lavished on this
factory, and the ware was not allowed to be sold, but was either used
for the decoration of the royal palaces or for presentation to other
European sovereigns. Enormous vases were made, following the example
of Sèvres, and these were often filled with bouquets of flowers
modelled in porcelain. The most famous productions of this factory,
however, were the plaques and slabs of porcelain used for lining the
walls of certain rooms in the royal palaces. Two of these rooms still
remain, and are frightful examples of the Spanish _rococo_ style. The
factory was entirely destroyed in 1812 during the French war, and
since that date no porcelain of any importance has been made in Spain.
_English Porcelains of the 18th century._--There can be no doubt that
whatever experimental work may have been conducted by our early English
potters, such as the famous John Dwight of Fulham, nothing like an
established manufacture of porcelain existed in this country prior to
about 1740-1745. There are records of many tentative experiments before
this date, but no real history. Between 1745 and 1755 important
porcelain works were established at Chelsea, Bow, Worcester and Derby,
and when we examine the productions of these factories it is impossible
to avoid the conclusion that the processes had been imported from
France. The early English porcelains, like all the French porcelains of
that date, were composed of artificial or glassy mixtures.
We may take the early productions of Bow and Chelsea as typical of the
earliest English porcelain of which there is any definite record. The
material was a mixture of pipe-clay, sand from Alum Bay in the Isle of
Wight, and glass, while the glaze was a fusible English flint-glass rich
in lead. It is obvious, therefore, that we are dealing with substances
very similar to those used in the glassy French porcelain (see above),
and such mixtures were very difficult of fabrication, being subject to
great loss in the process of firing. In the other European countries
the manufacture of porcelain was almost invariably carried on at the
expense of some royal or princely patron; in England, however, the
manufacture was not subsidized in this way, and it is probably for this
reason that at a very early date we find the English porcelain-makers
experimenting with other materials than glass and clay in order to make
their processes more certain. In a patent taken out in 1749 by Thomas
Frye of the Bow works we find mention of the use of bone-ash--the
material that was to make English porcelain a distinct species by
itself. From 1750 onwards there can be little doubt that, though a large
proportion of glass was still used in the composition of the English
porcelains, bone-ash was more and more introduced into the paste in
order to obtain a more refractory material; yet it was not until about
1800 that Josiah Spode of Stoke-upon-Trent abandoned entirely the use of
glass and composed his porcelain of china clay, bone-ash and felspathic
rock for the body, glazing it with a rich lead glaze, and so laid the
foundation of distinctively English porcelain. The material has many
merits both from the useful and artistic points of view; it is much more
easily fabricated than the old glassy porcelains, it endures better for
ordinary table use than any other kind of porcelain, and it permits the
fullest range of decoration.
Before entering upon a detailed notice of the important English
factories of the 18th century, something should be said of the various
influences that were at work in determining what the porcelain-maker
should do, both in the way of shape and decoration. The eyes of all men
were, of course, turned first to the porcelain brought from the far
East; and in the early efforts of the English factories, as of those of
France and Germany, we notice a predominance of white pieces or of
pieces decorated with paintings in under-glaze blue alone, obviously
inspired by the current importations from China. Bow and Chelsea
produced large quantities of ware of this class, and in the early days
of the Worcester factory little else was made there than white, or blue
and white pieces closely simulating the Chinese. Another oriental
influence was to be found in the Imari patterns of Japan, particularly
those in the style of Kakiemon. It has been noted that Meissen,
Chantilly and other continental factories had already created a vogue
for these reproductions of Japanese decorations, and in our own country
Bow, Chelsea and Worcester followed suit. The later Imari patterns,
heavily decorated with blue and red and gold for the use of "the
foreigner," furnished another popular style for Worcester and Derby, and
the vogue of these English "Japan" patterns, in the last quarter of the
18th century and the first half of the 19th century, was so great that
they represent a large proportion of the output of our English porcelain
works during that period. The productions of the German and French
factories also exerted a profound influence on English potters; so that
throughout the 18th century English porcelains largely consisted of
imitations of the foreign wares brought into the country by the wealthy.
We can only point to one method of porcelain decoration which
undoubtedly arose in England. This is the method of transfer-printing,
whereby patterns printed on paper from engraved copper plates are
transferred to porcelain or pottery and subsequently fired, either under
or on the glaze. At the best these printed patterns are in no way
superior to the stencilled work of modern oriental porcelain, while, at
the worst, European and American printed patterns have been perhaps the
most inappropriate decoration ever applied to porcelain in the world. It
has been generally urged on behalf of transfer-printing that it enables
elaborate effects to be produced at a small cost and so brings decorated
pottery within the reach of the humblest. The truer view is, that the
simplest brushwork patterns, or even no pattern at all, would be
preferable to the tawdry results that the cheapest forms of
transfer-printing have rendered possible.
_Chelsea._--Between 1750 and 1770 the Chelsea factory was the most
important of all the English porcelain works, and fine specimens of this
period command high prices in the saleroom to-day. We know little of the
origin of this important factory, though it is believed to have been in
existence from some time after 1740 to 1784, when it was finally
demolished and some of the workmen and part of the plant were removed
to the then important works at Derby. The first manager was one Charles
Gouyn, who was followed by a Mr Sprimont before 1750. Sprimont retained
possession of the works until 1769, and died in 1771. It was during his
management, from 1750 to 1770, that the finest and most characteristic
pieces of Chelsea porcelain were made.
Although the styles in vogue at Chelsea are extremely varied, little was
produced there that was really English in character. The earliest pieces
appear to have been either in pure white or in white decorated with
paintings in under-glaze blue. The goat-and-bee cream jugs, crawfish
salt cellars, the shell and rockwork salt cellars, jugs, sauce boats,
small cups and saucers of this type are fairly plentiful. Then came the
decorations, mainly in red and gold, of the Kakiemon style, followed by
reproductions of the brocade patterns of Imari porcelain. Afterwards we
find the appearance of table wares modelled in imitation of leaves,
animals, fruits, birds and fishes, apparently adopted from current
French and German practice.
In another direction the influence of Meissen was also shown by the
production of statuettes (see in Chelsea figure, Plate X.), and of the
small modelled trinkets, scent-bottles and toys of which there is such a
fine collection in the British Museum. In the latter days of the factory
(say after 1758) we find Chelsea following in the wake of Sèvres in the
production of large and elaborate rococo vases, with pierced necks and
covers, scroll-work bases and interlacing handles such as are to be seen
in the Jones Bequest in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Pieces of this
elaborate kind are overlaid with rich grounds of Mazarine blue,
turquoise, pea-green, or the famous Chelsea claret-colour, while white
panels are reserved framed with gilt scrolls and painted in enamel
colours with flowers, birds or figure-subjects in absolute rivalry with
the pieces manufactured at Sèvres.
The Chelsea works appears to have come to an end through the ill-health
of Sprimont, and it was sold in 1769-1770 to Duesbury, the proprietor of
the Derby works. He carried on the establishment from 1770 to 1784, but
in this period a great change is noticeable in the product of the
factory. The "rococo" forms and decorations of the true Chelsea
porcelain were replaced by works in the neo-classical style already
rendered popular by the success of Josiah Wedgwood, and the
Derby-Chelsea porcelain is quite a distinct production from the early
works of Chelsea. The most distinctive mark of the Chelsea porcelain is
an anchor--either embossed in the paste or painted in gold or colour.
Often the anchors occur in pairs, and it is frequently associated with
other marks such as a dagger or a cross. Some of the Derby-Chelsea
pieces are marked with a conjoined D and an anchor.
[Illustration: Chelsea Potters' marks.]
_Bow._--The date of the establishment of the factory at
Stratford-le-Bow, in what is now the East End of London, is quite
uncertain, but in 1744 Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye, who were connected
with this factory, took out a patent for the manufacture of porcelain.
The materials mentioned in this patent are not such as would produce
porcelain at all, and it appears likely that the specification was made
purposely defective. In 1748 a further patent was applied for in which
we get the first mention of bone-ash, so that from the technical point
of view the wares made at the Bow factory are of the utmost importance
as indicating the experimental beginnings of our English porcelain in
which bone-ash plays such an important part. In 1750 the works at Bow
belonged to Messrs Weatherby & Crowther, and was then known as "New
Canton," and as 300 workpeople were employed, the operations must have
been conducted on a large scale; but ultimately, from causes that can
only be surmised, the partnership was dissolved and the business failed,
so that in 1775 the works was bought for a very small sum by the William
Duesbury already mentioned, who transferred part of the plant and moulds
to his more prosperous works at Derby. It would appear from what we know
of the factory and its productions that the business was conducted on
simpler lines than at the Chelsea works. We have, for instance, no
elaborate vases in imitation of Sèvres, and no important groups of
figures which might challenge rivalry with Meissen. We find, as is
common with all the early porcelain factories of Europe, first the
production of white pieces with modelled reliefs, or of pieces painted
with under-glaze blue in imitation of Chinese porcelain. Then followed
the well-known "Quail," or "Partridge," and "Wheat-sheaf" patterns in
red and green and gold in imitation of the Japanese patterns; and the
manufacture of table ware decorated with these simple yet bright and
pleasant devices seems to have formed the greater part of the work at
the factory. Many figures and statuettes were also produced at Bow, but
they are fewer in number and less cleverly made and decorated than the
contemporary productions of the Chelsea factory. We may surmise that
there was considerable rivalry between these two works situated on the
outskirts of the metropolis, for we find the "anchor" mark, which is the
best recognized mark of Chelsea porcelain, often occurring on specimens
that from internal evidence or from the piece itself we should rather
attribute to Bow. The Bow marks are not very certain, but some of the
likeliest are here given.
[Illustration: Bow Potters' marks.]
_Worcester._--The third of the early English factories, and ultimately
the most important of all, was that founded at Worcester in 1751 by Dr
Wall, a man of unusual attainments, and a number of his friends. How Dr
Wall came to learn the secret of porcelain making is absolutely unknown,
but even assuming that he acquired some information from wandering
workmen it is certain that the Worcester porcelain was soon developed on
original lines. The nature of the paste and the glaze of the early
Worcester productions, as well as the sobriety of their decorations,
stamp this factory as the first where Englishmen really developed a
native porcelain. Between 1751 and 1770, the first period of Worcester
porcelain, the prevalent influence was that of Chinese blue-and-white,
and the pieces of that period are rightly esteemed by collectors for
their artistic quality. Probably nowhere in Europe, certainly nowhere in
England, was oriental blue-and-white more carefully studied, and a
collection of this blue-and-white Worcester is most satisfactory from
the aesthetic point of view. The productions at this time were tea and
coffee services, bowls, dishes, mugs and plates. The cups were usually
made without handles in imitation of the oriental practice, but large,
two-handled covered cups for caudle, broth and chocolate were also made
during the early period. Many of these larger cups bore an embossed
pattern resembling a pine-cone, possibly imitated from a shape produced
at St Cloud; while openwork dishes, plates and fruit baskets were also
made in imitation of a popular Meissen fashion.
The method of decorating porcelain with transfer prints was introduced
at Worcester as early as 1756, when Robert Hancock, an engraver, came
from York House, Battersea, where the process was first employed for the
decoration of the Battersea enamels. The early Worcester prints
comprised portraits of celebrities of the time (the Frederick the Great
mug), or adaptations of the works of great artists such as Gainsborough
and Watteau, or copies of current engravings or sporting prints. The
first printing was done in black or purple, and transferred on to the
fired glaze, and it was not until about 1770 that the process of
printing in blue under the glaze was perfected. It is interesting to
note that for many years this process of transfer printing was developed
side by side with the older method of porcelain painting, and until the
end of the 18th century the processes appear to have been used at
Worcester quite independently. The closing of the Chelsea factory in
1770 led to the migration of some of the Chelsea painters to Worcester,
and from about that date a considerable amount of Worcester porcelain
was decorated on the glaze with enamel colours and gilding after the
styles that had been rendered popular at Chelsea and Bow. It is only
fair to remark, however, that the Worcester patterns are always
distinguished by a certain English character both in the style and the
workmanship (see example, Plate X.). The first and most artistic period
of Worcester porcelain came to an end before 1783, when, after the death
of Dr Wall, the works passed under the control of Thomas Flight and his
two sons, who had been jewellers. The Flight influence was soon
noticeable from the fact that the new shapes were more and more based on
those of Sèvres and Meissen, while the decoration became more mechanical
and precise as befitted the work of jewellers rather than potters. King
George III. and Queen Charlotte visited the works in 1788 and bestowed
upon the firm the privilege of styling themselves "China Manufacturers
to Their Majesties," since when the works has always been known as the
Worcester Royal Porcelain Works. In 1793 Martin Barr was taken into
partnership; the "Flight & Barr" period, so well known to collectors,
lasted until 1807.
[Illustration: Early Worcester Potters' marks.]
Another Worcester porcelain works was in existence after 1784, viz. the
Chamberlain factory, which was working in rivalry with the original
establishment; but its productions are of no particular artistic merit,
and in 1840 the two firms became amalgamated, and so gave rise to the
present Worcester Royal Porcelain Co. The most noteworthy feature of the
productions of both the Worcester works at the end of the 18th century
were the "Armorial" services made for various royal and noble families,
and those adaptations of Imari patterns known as "Old Japan."
_Derby._--Experiments in the manufacture of porcelain appear to have
been made at Derby as early as 1750 by a French refugee, Andrew Planché;
but the business, which was afterwards to attain such a great
development, was only founded in 1756 with William Duesbury as its
manager. Duesbury was originally a decorator of china figures in London,
and his career proves that he was a man of great industry and energy,
for within twenty-five years he not only built up a large business at
Derby, but he absorbed the decadent works at Bow and Chelsea, so that in
the last quarter of the 18th century Derby was the most important china
manufactory in England. As is so often the case, a commercial success
like this implied the absence of any distinct artistic impulse. The
porcelain produced at Derby is for the most part only an echo of the
successes of Meissen, Sèvres, or the earlier English factories. It is
only fair to remark that a very deep and rich under-glaze blue was
attained at the Derby works, and that this was associated with very
mechanical painting of birds and flowers and with gilding of exceptional
quality. At this factory, too, the old Japan patterns were imitated with
exceptional vigour, until "Crown-Derby Japan" became a standard trade
name for this clobbered oriental style.
[Illustration: Derby Potters' marks.]
Mention has already been made of the "biscuit" porcelain figures made at
Derby, which are superior in style to anything else made in-Europe in
the 18th century except the "biscuit" porcelains of Sèvres. The Derby
"biscuits" of the best type range from 1790 to 1810, and the finest
specimens have a "waxy" surface, though there is little or no sheen and
every detail remains as crisp as when the figure left the hand of its
maker. The most famous of these figures are the portrait medallions and
statuettes of British generals and admirals which were modelled by an
artist named Stephan. Spengler, a Swiss, modelled numerous groups
adapted from the drawings of Angelica Kaufmann, while a workman named
Coffee seems to have modelled only rustic figures and animals.
_Plymouth and Bristol._--The porcelain factories at Plymouth and
Bristol are mainly noteworthy because they were the only English
factories in which a true porcelain strictly analogous to the Chinese
was ever manufactured. William Cookworthy, a Quaker druggist of
Plymouth, was greatly interested in attempting to discover in Cornwall
and Devonshire minerals similar to those which were described in the
letters of Père d'Entrecolles as forming the basis of Chinese porcelain.
After many years of travel and research he ascertained the nature of the
Cornish stone and Cornish clay, and in 1768 he founded a works at
Plymouth for the production of a porcelain similar to the Chinese from
these native materials. Readers interested in this abortive enterprise,
from which such great results were afterwards to come, can only be
referred to the general histories of English porcelain, for the factory
was removed to Bristol in 1770 and was shortly afterwards transferred to
Richard Champion, a Bristol merchant, who had already been dabbling in
the fashionable pursuit of porcelain making. Champion's Bristol factory
lasted from 1773 to 1781, when the business had to be sold to a number
of Staffordshire potters owing to the serious losses it had entailed.
The Bristol porcelain, like that of Plymouth, was always a true
felspathic porcelain resembling the Chinese, but made from the china
clay and china stone of Cornwall. It is, therefore, harder and whiter
than the other English porcelains, and its cold, harsh, glittering glaze
marks it off at once from the wares of Bow, Chelsea, Worcester or Derby.
The Bristol porcelain resembled that of Meissen quite as much in its
style of decoration as in the nature of its materials. One can point to
nothing distinctly English about it, and if specimens now command very
high prices in the salerooms it is on account of their rarity rather
than of any intrinsic quality or beauty that they possess.
Table ware of various kinds formed the greater part of the production of
the Bristol works, but a considerable number of figures are known, in
many cases obviously copied from those of Meissen, and a few large
hexagonal vases similar in style to specimens produced at Chelsea and at
Worcester. The most distinctive pieces made at the Bristol factory are
certain small plaques or slabs in "biscuit" porcelain, usually bearing
in the centre a portrait medallion or armorial bearings surrounded by a
wreath of skilfully modelled flowers. Good examples of these choice
productions are to be seen in the British Museum.
[Illustration: Plymouth, Bristol, Champion and Swansea marks.]
The Plymouth factory is supposed to have adopted as its general mark the
alchemical symbol for tin. This mark was also used to a limited extent
at the Bristol factory, though the general Bristol mark was a cross or a
copy of the crossed swords of Meissen. The Staffordshire potters who
bought the rights of the Bristol porcelain factory from Champion
established a works at Shelton, near Stoke-upon-Trent, in Staffordshire,
under the name of New Hall Porcelain Co., but they never manufactured
anything of artistic account.
_Minor English Factories._--A number of other porcelain factories were
founded in England in the latter half of the 18th century, but none of
these produced ware of any particular merit. The porcelain made at
Longton Hall by William Littler (1752-1758), always clumsy and ugly in
form, is interesting for a splendid blue colour characteristic of the
factory. This small venture was ultimately absorbed by William
Duesbury.
The colony of potters established in Liverpool also made a certain
amount of porcelain, as well as "Delft" and other earthenwares, and
the Liverpool Museum contains some good examples of their productions.
A little factory at work at Lowestoft in the last quarter of the 18th
century has attracted much more attention than it deserves, because
certain writers foolishly attributed to it large quantities of
"Armorial" porcelain which had, undoubtedly, been made in China.
Recent excavations have established the fact that this factory was
only of minor importance, and was mainly occupied in producing cheap
wares in rivalry with, and even in imitation of, those of the more
important English factories.
Towards the end of the 18th century the manufacture of English
porcelain spread into the Staffordshire potteries, and the firms of
Spode, Davenport and Minton became the most important English
factories of the early 18th century. For notices of the minor English
factories of the late 18th century and early 19th century, such as
Caughley, Coalport, Swansea and Nantgarw, the student is referred to
the special works dealing with the history of English porcelain.
_Collections._--The British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum
contain the best general collections of English porcelain. The museums
at Bristol and Liverpool contain examples of the local wares; while
the museum at the Worcester Royal Porcelain works has an admirable
collection of the wares of that factory. Many noteworthy private
collections are in existence, of which we may mention those of Mr
Dyson Perrins, Mr Cockshutt and Mr Trapnell.
LITERATURE.--Alex. Brongniart, _Traitié des arts céramiques_ (1844);
Jacquemart, _Histoire de la céramique_ (Eng. ed. 1873); Jännicke,
_Grundriss der Keramik_ (1879); Dr Brinkmann, _Handbook of European
Porcelains in the Hamburg Museum_; Marryat, _History of Pottery and
Porcelain_ (1857); Jewitt, _Ceramic Art of Great Britain_ (1878);
Auscher, _A History and Description of French Porcelain_ (1905);
Burton, _A History and Description of English Porcelain_ (1902);
Dillon, _Porcelain_ (1904); Solon, _Old English Porcelain_ (1903);
Burton, _Porcelain_ (1906); R. Almstrom, _Lervarorna och deras
Tillverkning_ (1903). (W. B.*)
POTTERY AND PORCELAIN DURING THE 19TH CENTURY
The development of the manufacture of pottery and porcelain in Europe
and America throughout the 19th century need not be treated in such
detail as the history of its growth up to that period, for modern means
of communication and the general diffusion of knowledge have tended to
destroy the individual character which was so marked a feature of the
pottery of different countries in previous centuries. The 19th century
was distinctly the century of machinery, and, for the most part, it
witnessed the displacement by mechanical processes of those methods of
handicraft which made the older pottery individual and interesting even
in its simplest forms. Collectors are prepared to pay very large sums
for choice examples of the potter's art of bygone centuries, but it is
doubtful if much of the pottery of the 19th century will ever be
collected for its intrinsic merits, though it may be preserved as an
illustration of the spirit of the age.
In preceding sections of this article the development of the brightly
painted tin-enamelled wares and the gaily decorated porcelains of
various European countries have been traced down to the end of the 18th
century, because that date marks, quite distinctly, the period when the
old handicraft of the potter was for various reasons displaced by
organized manufacture. The disturbed economic condition of Europe in the
last quarter of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars of the early
19th century proved disastrous to most of the pottery and porcelain
works where artistic wares were made, and the disturbance of traditional
methods was completed by the superior mechanical perfection and
cheapness of the English earthenware introduced by Wedgwood and his
contemporaries. The English pottery was neater, more perfectly finished
and more durable than the painted tin-enamelled pottery of the
continent. It vied in finish with the expensive continental porcelains,
and for nearly half a century it carried all before it, not only in
England, but throughout the world. An intelligent observer, M. Faujas de
Saint Fond, writing in the beginning of the 19th century, remarks of
English pottery that "Its excellent workmanship, its solidity, the
advantage which it possesses of sustaining the action of fire, its fine
glaze impenetrable to acids, the beauty and convenience of its form, and
the cheapness of its price, have given rise to a commerce so active and
so universal, that in travelling from Paris to Petersburg, from
Amsterdam to the farthest parts of Sweden, and from Dunkirk to the
extremity of the south of France one is served at every inn upon English
ware. Spain, Portugal and Italy are supplied with it; and vessels are
loaded with it for the East Indies, the West Indies, and the continent
of America."[36] It was calculated that at this time three-fourths of
the pottery manufactured in England was sent abroad. Such a state of
things was not likely to continue, and in most of the European
countries, after the settlement of 1815, such of the older factories as
had survived, or new factories specially created for the purpose,
adopted English methods of manufacture. In many cases experienced
Staffordshire potters were procured to direct these works, and so far as
ordinary domestic pottery was concerned, the first half of the 19th
century witnessed the establishment in every country of Europe and in
the United States of America of pottery works managed by Englishmen,
where earthenwares were made after the English fashion. We shall refer
presently to the survival or revival of the older styles of pottery and
porcelain, but the English influence was undoubtedly paramount, with one
or two notable exceptions, down to 1850, or even later. England itself
witnessed a notable development of its pottery manufacture, which became
more and more aggregated in that district of North Staffordshire
designated emphatically "The Potteries," where, in spite of later
developments, from two-thirds to three-quarters of all the pottery and
porcelain made in the British Isles is still produced. This
concentration of the industry in England has resulted in a race of
pottery workers not to be matched elsewhere in the world, and while it
was the supply of cheap coal and coarse clay which first gave
Staffordshire its pre-eminence, that pre-eminence is now retained as
much by the traditional skill of the workmen of the district as by the
enterprise of its manufacturers.
[Illustration: PLATE IX.
Sèvres. Pâte-tendre, c. 1757, painted by Falot and Morin.
Meissen. May-flower vase mounted in ormolu. Pâte-dure.
Meissen. Crinoline figure (Kandler), Pâte-dure.
Sèvres. Pâte-tendre, c. 1756.]
While we must admire, from the economic point of view, the methods of
manufacture which have placed England in the first rank as a
pottery-producing country, inasmuch as they have brought within the
reach of the humblest domestic utensils of high finish and great
durability, it is impossible to say much for the taste or art associated
with them. Neatness, serviceableness and durability, English domestic
wares undoubtedly possess in a degree unknown to any earlier type of
pottery, but the general use of transfer-printing as the principal
method of decoration, and the absence of any distinctive style of
ornament, must cause them to take a low rank in comparison with the
wares of past centuries, when mechanical perfection was impossible and
rich colour and truly decorative painting were the chief distinctions of
the pottery of every country. The London International Exhibition of
1851 is generally supposed to indicate the low-water mark of art as
applied to industry; it should rather be regarded as marking the period
when many of the old handicrafts had been extinguished by the use of
mechanical appliances and the growth of the factory system, and when the
delight of men in these current developments was so great that they were
regarded as triumphs in themselves, when they were only "means to an
end."
Since that period the development of pottery and porcelain has followed
two main directions: (1) an attempt on the part of manufacturers to
produce the most artistic results possible with modern processes and
methods, and (2) the interesting and valuable efforts of those
individual potters in every country with whom art was the first
consideration and commercial production was disregarded.
Though the English pottery factories were of such paramount importance
in the first half of the 19th century, it must be remembered that some
of the oldest factories in Europe were still alive and active. The royal
factories in Sèvres, Meissen, Berlin, Vienna, St Petersburg and
elsewhere, surviving the wreck of the Napoleonic Wars, continued at the
expense of their respective states, to produce porcelains which were the
legitimate development of their work during the 18th century.
_Meissen and Berlin._--At Meissen, efforts were made to improve the
technical process in use, but, unfortunately, the old Meissen wares had
already become valuable, and they were reproduced, marks included, until
all initiative was destroyed, and the factory continued to live, mainly,
on its old reputation.
At Berlin, the financial troubles of the Prussian monarchy throughout
the early years of the 19th century were severely felt, so that a
cheaper class of porcelain was manufactured. The only innovations that
can be ascribed to the factory during this period, though highly
esteemed at the time, form striking examples of the artistic decadence
of the period. Such was the lace-work decoration made by dipping lace in
porcelain slip so that on firing the thread burned away, leaving a
porcelain facsimile; another was the production of slabs of porcelain
modelled in such a way that on viewing the piece by transmitted light it
appeared like a picture painted _en grisaille_.
From the artistic point of view there is little to be said for the
majority of productions of the Berlin factory, but nowhere in the world
has greater attention been paid to the technical and scientific problems
of porcelain manufacture, and this establishment has rendered the
greatest service in the development of the important chemical and
electrical industries of Germany by the splendid appliances it has
invented for scientific use.
Since 1870 the works, removed to Charlottenburg, have been conducted
with very great enterprise. It was here that Seger perfected his soft
porcelain based on the glazes and bodies of the best Japanese
porcelains, and here also he developed the manufacture of copper-red
glazes in imitation of the old _sang-de-boeuf_ and _flambé_, glazes of
the Chinese, at the same time establishing some of the scientific
principles underlying their production. At Berlin, too, all the modern
methods of decoration, whether in coloured glazes, raised enamels, _pâte
sur pâte_, the elaborate paintings of flowers, birds or figures, or the
use of crystalline glazes, have been followed with great success; but
the factory has never yet given any special impetus or new direction to
the decorative side of porcelain.
_Vienna._--Few European factories were so little affected by the general
trend of affairs as the royal factory at Vienna. We have already
referred to the elaborate paintings and rich gilding which became the
distinguishing feature of its wares towards the end of the 18th century,
and this style, once perfected, seems to have been continued with little
change. It has been stated by a renowned German authority, that the
Viennese porcelain was at its best between 1785 and 1815. During this
period the plan of painting copies of pictures on porcelain was
developed to its utmost, and this, in combination with the richest
gilding, marks the apotheosis of Viennese porcelain. The factory came to
an end in 1864, but collectors should be warned that a flood of cheap
porcelains, decorated in modern Viennese workshops, and therefore styled
"Viennese porcelain," has during the last twenty years overwhelmed the
English and American markets.
_Sèvres._--The important part played by the Royal French manufactory at
Sèvres has already been sketched. During the troublous years of the
French Revolution the works practically came to a standstill, and under
the Directory it was a question whether this manufactory, along with
certain other state establishments in France, should be closed.
Napoleon, however, decided that for the glory of France and as a means
of encouraging its porcelain industry, seriously threatened by the
English potters, the establishment at Sèvres should be conducted as a
national factory. By a splendid coincidence Alexander Brongniart, a man
of great natural ability, and a noted scientist, was appointed director,
and retained that post under the successive governments of France until
his death in 1847. In the hands of Brongniart the establishment at
Sèvres became at once a school of research and a centre of practical
accomplishment--the influence of which was felt throughout Europe. Its
products were obviously inspired by the demands of successive French
monarchs and their courts. It ministered to the grandiose ideas of
Napoleon, who demanded pieces that were to speak of his victories, and
after every campaign a fresh table service or new suite of vases was
produced to commemorate the emperor's successes. The most striking piece
of this kind was the vase made to commemorate the marriage of Napoleon
and Marie Louise in 1810. It was designed by Isabey and was modelled
with figures in bas-relief. The principal group contains not less than
115 such figures, while the subsidiary group, representing the
acclaiming populace, contains between 2000 and 3000 figures. This vase
was three years in making, and is said to have cost something like
£1250. Unfortunately this was not a solitary example of the productions
of Sèvres, for under every successive government of the 19th century the
factory has been called to produce enormous vases which are to be found
in the rooms or corridors of every palace and museum in France, and
while these pieces represent wonderful technical skill, both in their
manufacture and the decorations with which they are covered, very few of
them possess either spontaneity or charm. They are correct, frigid,
cold, and compare most unfavourably from the artistic point of view
with the masterpieces of oriental pottery.
Everything was carried out on the grand scale, and once again the
influence of Sèvres became paramount in Europe, and its styles of
painting and decoration were eagerly followed from 1830 to 1870 by all
those European potters who were attempting to make anything beyond
useful domestic wares. As an instance of its aims in the period between
1830 and 1850, large sums were spent in the production of great slabs of
porcelain many feet in area; on which were painted copies of some of the
famous portraits and other pictorial masterpieces in the galleries of
the Louvre. A number of these are preserved in the museum at Sèvres, and
must always excite admiration and even wonder at their technical
accomplishment.
The most noticeable invention of Sèvres in the middle part of the 19th
century was the _pâte sur pâte_ decoration in which porcelain clays of
various colours are used as the artist's medium. The idea appears to
have been adopted from an old Chinese vase by Robert, the chief painter,
and at the London International Exhibition of 1862 some small cups
decorated in this method, by Gely, were first shown. The most successful
work in this style was, however, that produced by M. Solon, who worked
at Sèvres until 1870. In that year he came to England and was employed
at Minton's, where for about thirty-five years he continued this method
of work, one of the few artistic and beautiful styles of pottery
decoration of the 19th century. As practised by M. Solon the _pâte sur
pâte_ decoration took the form of paintings of figure subjects or dainty
ornamental designs in white slip on a coloured porcelain ground of
green, blue, dark-grey or black. On such grounds a thin wash of the slip
gives a translucent film, so that by washing on or building up
successive layers of slip, sharpening the drawing with modelling tools,
or softening or rounding the figure with a wet brush, the most delicate
gradations of tint can be obtained, from the brilliant white of the slip
to the full depth of the ground. This method was rapidly adopted by all
the principal European factories, though nowhere was it carried to such
perfection as at Sèvres and at Minton's. M. Taxile Doat has executed
many extraordinary pieces in this style of decoration at Sèvres, and in
the British Museum there is a large vase of his, presented by the French
government at the beginning of the present century. One great feature of
French porcelain manufacture during the 19th century was the development
of the industry at Limoges and the neighbouring district of central
France. Limoges was a small centre of porcelain production in the period
between 1780 and 1850, but after the latter date it rapidly developed
into a pottery centre second only in importance to that of the Potteries
district in England. We can do no more than mention this fact, because,
for the most part, the activities of Limoges have been devoted to the
production of pottery commercially, rather than pottery as an art.
The Franco-German War proved a disaster for Sèvres, and all work came to
a standstill for a time. The existing manufactory, which was almost
completed before the outbreak of the war, was opened by Marshal MacMahon
in 1876, but for many years the work was continued under great
discouragement. Between 1879 and 1889 attention was paid to the study
and imitation of old Chinese methods, and this resulted in the
reproduction of many of those Chinese glazes which had hitherto been the
despair of European potters.
At the Paris Exhibition of 1900 the display made by Sèvres was perhaps
the most notable feature of the magnificent collection of ceramics
gathered there. The collection included many varieties of porcelain,
both hard and soft paste, decorated in all the current styles of the
period; under-glaze painting, on-glaze painting, flambé glazes and
crystalline glazes, but most beautiful of all were the magnificent
groups of "biscuit" figures designed as table garnitures by some of the
best French sculptors of the time.
_English Progress._--The demand for elaborate specimens of painted
porcelain was at its height throughout Europe between 1851 and 1880, and
this demand was undoubtedly fostered by the series of international
exhibitions held during that period, when every European pottery works
of note produced large and costly specimens of porcelain or earthenware,
smothered with painting and gilding. Every famous manufactory produced
something beyond the ordinary, but undoubtedly the first of European
factories during this period was that of Messrs Minton at
Stoke-upon-Trent. M. Leon Arnoux, a descendant of the Arnoux's of Apt,
an old family of French potters, was at this time the technical and
artistic director of Messrs Minton's works, and he was the only pottery
director during the 19th century who could in any sense be compared with
M. Brongniart of Sèvres. M. Arnoux combined in a remarkable degree
artistic with technical skill, and under his management the works of
Messrs Minton became the greatest centre of ceramic art in Europe.
Skilful modellers, like Jeannest, Carriere-Belleuse, and Protat, and
pottery painters such as A. Boullemier, Moussill, E. Lessore and L.
Solon were engaged at this factory and produced many of the most
characteristic European decorations of the middle of the 19th century.
To this period, too, we must refer another English invention, that of a
special porcelain known as "Parian." This in its finest expression was a
"biscuit" porcelain used for the production of statuettes and groups
rivalling the finest 18th century "biscuit" figures of Sèvres and Derby.
It seems probable that this Parian was first made at the works of
Copeland and Garratt, at Stoke-upon-Trent; but it was immediately
adopted at Minton's, Wedgwood's, and at Worcester; and each of these
firms used it in a distinctive way. Glazed Parian was also manufactured
at the Belleek Porcelain Works in Ireland (the only Irish porcelain
works of any note), and later its manufacture was developed by the
Worcester Royal Porcelain Company, Moore Brothers of Longton, and other
English manufacturers until it became an important branch of the English
porcelain made in the period under review.
_Japanese Influence._--At the Paris Exhibition of 1867 the great
collection of the applied arts of Japan took Europe by storm, and there
was an immediate outbreak of adaptations of Japanese art in Europe once
more; not as in the 18th century, when the old Japanese patterns were
copied or frankly imitated, but a European-Japanese style arose, based
on the methods and ideas of the great Japanese painters and draughtsmen,
the workers in metal, in iron, in lacquer and in silk. In England the
Worcester Royal Porcelain Company produced a series of elaborate and
skilful pieces inspired from this source, which for perfect and minute
execution must be ranked before all other European works of their kind.
The most admirable result of this revived interest in Japanese art was,
however, developed at the Royal Copenhagen works, the productions of
which are not only famous all over the world, but have set a new style
in porcelain decoration which is being followed at most of the
continental factories. By the use of the pure Swedish felspar and quartz
and the finest china clays from Germany or Cornwall a material of
excellent quality is prepared, and on this naturalistic paintings of
birds, fishes, animals and water or northern landscapes and figure
subjects are painted in delicate under-glaze blues, greys and greens.
The Royal Copenhagen works has also produced a profusion of skilfully
modelled animals, birds and fishes, either in pure white, or delicately
tinted after nature, with the same under-glaze colours.
Not only have Berlin, Sèvres and other European factories adopted the
modern Copenhagen style of decoration, but the Japanese are now
imitating these skilful productions which were originally inspired by
their own early work.
_Stonewares._--Mention must be made of the revival of the manufacture of
artistic stonewares by Doultons of Lambeth, and Villeroy and Boch, the
great German potters. Doultons, besides reviving the older forms of
English stoneware, made some entirely new departures, and their pieces
with designs etched in the clay are admirable examples of the right use
of a refractory material. Villeroy and Boch reproduced the old Rhenish
stonewares, and many interesting new departures in addition, but mostly
in German forms that have not commended the wares to other nations.
[Illustration: PLATE X.
Chelsea porcelain; 1745-1770 Figure after Watteau.
Worcester Porcelain; c. 1760-1770.
Whieldon and Wedgwood, cauliflower ware; c. 1750-1760.
Wedgwood's jasper; c. 1780.
Turner's jasper; c. 1780.]
_Artistic Results._--While the great potteries of Europe have been
employed in improving their methods of manufacture and in consolidating
their knowledge on the technical and scientific side, so that they are
able to produce pottery more perfect in shape, with a higher degree of
finish and greater certainty of result than was ever known before, it
cannot be said that the artistic results have been commensurate with the
labour expended. Fortunately, however, the success of these important
industrial concerns in stereotyping modern production has incited a
considerable number of clever men, either potters or artists, to become
artist-potters and producers of individual wares, often recalling the
works of the great schools of bygone centuries. This movement, which
to-day has its exponents in every European country as well as in the
United States of America, originated in France between 1840 and 1850,
when the formation of the earliest ceramic museums and the new-born
interest in the old French faience led to various attempts at
pottery-making by the old methods of handwork and rule of thumb.
Avisseau of Tours (1845), Pull of Paris (1855), and Barbizet (1859)
began to make pieces in the style of Palissy, and Ulysse of Blois (1863)
revived painted faience in imitation of that of Nevers. Slowly a demand
for painted pottery was created among collectors and amateurs, and in
France and other countries artists began to dabble in the painting of
pottery. In some cases the artist retained his freedom, painting pieces
obtained from some pottery manufacturer, which he sold on his own
account after they had been decorated and fired; or he became attached
to a particular factory and his productions were sold by the potter; or
the artist became an amateur potter, and either worked alone or
encouraged other artists to co-operate with him.
It is impossible to do more than mention a few of the prominent men in
each class, whose works were not only esteemed in their own day, but are
also likely to be regarded always as among the distinguished productions
of the 19th century. Emile Lessore and Chapelet were both painters who
were attracted by the technique of the potter. For some time they bought
specimens of pottery from a small manufacturer named Laurin at
Bourg-la-Reine, and after a time they definitely forsook pictorial art
for that of the potter. Lessore painted in underglaze colours in a
delicate sketchy style figure-subjects, mostly adapted from old
engravings. He worked for a short time at Sèvres, and then, like so many
other French pottery artists of this period, he came to Minton's in
England, and finally entered into an engagement with the old firm of
Josiah Wedgwood & Sons which continued almost to his death (1860-1876).
On their fine cream-coloured earthenware he sketched many thousands of
fanciful designs which had a great vogue in the 'seventies and 'eighties
of the last century. Chapelet pursued a very different course. His first
innovation was a method known as "Barbotine" or slip-painting, in which
coloured clays were used "impasto," often in considerable thickness, so
that after the work had been fired and glazed it bore some resemblance
to an oil painting. For a few years this style of decoration became the
rage all over Europe, but it fell into contempt almost as rapidly as it
had found favour, and is now only used for the decoration of common
wares. Ultimately, Chapelet gave up painting and applied himself to the
discovery of technical novelties. He was apparently the first European
potter to produce flambé glazes after the manner of the Chinese, and a
fine collection of these productions of his is preserved in the museum
at Sèvres.
The greatest of all the French innovators was, however, Théodore Deck,
who had been trained as a working potter and was led to forsake the
management of an ordinary tile and pottery business in Paris to
experiment on his own account. He started a little workshop in the
Boulevard Montparnasse in Paris and rapidly gathered round him a number
of young painters all eager to experiment in the magnificent colours
which Deck with his passionate love of Persian and other oriental
pottery could place at their disposal. Within a few years this venture
was so successful that Deck was known all over the civilized world as a
great potter, and his original creations, painted by men like Ranvier,
Collin, Ehrmann, Anker and other artists, were readily purchased by the
lovers of ceramic art in every country. The crown of his career came in
1887, when he was appointed director of the National Manufactory at
Sèvres, for he was the only practical potter who had ever occupied that
position; but he died in 1890 before he had been able to impress his
personality on the work of Sèvres.
The same movement that was active in France found its exponents in other
countries as well. In Italy and the south of France the last quarter of
the 19th century witnessed a revival of Italian majolica and of lustre
decoration. Prominent in this direction were the productions of
Cantegalli of Florence and of the Massiers of Golfe-Juan near Cannes;
while in England William de Morgan created an artistic sensation by his
tiles and vases decorated with lustres, or with painted colours
recalling those of the Persian and Syrian potters of the middle ages.
This departure in England was, however, followed up by many
manufacturers who were keenly alive to the possibilities of pottery
colour, and Mr Bernard Moore, of Longton, Maw & Company of Jackfield,
and Minton's of Stoke-upon-Trent, produced much excellent work, in tiles
and vases inspired from the same oriental sources.
Meantime, in America there had been growing up a manufacture of pottery
after the approved methods, in Trenton, New Jersey; East Liverpool,
Zanesville and Cincinnati (Ohio). To all these centres English workmen
had been attracted, and earthenware after the current English styles was
manufactured; but, as was the case in Europe, individual efforts were
made to produce artistic pottery. The first and best known of these
artistic departures was that of the Rookwood Pottery at Cincinnati, and
again it was an amateur, Mrs Bellamy Storer, who founded an enterprise
which has since produced some very original work. From 1880 to 1889 the
work was mainly carried on at the expense of this lady, but since that
date the enterprise has been self-supporting, and the Rookwood pottery
has become known throughout the world.
The latter half of the 19th century also witnessed the development of
new branches of pottery manufacture for sanitary purposes--and it is not
too much to say that much of the improved sanitation of modern dwellings
and towns has been rendered possible by the special appliances invented
by potters for these purposes. In this direction the English potters
undoubtedly led the way, and not only have their methods been imitated
abroad, but English manufacturers have also established large works in
Germany, France and the United States of America. Varieties, too, of
hard-fired pottery, comprising earthenwares, stonewares and porcelains,
have been invented for use in the chemical and electrical industries.
But these belong to the great modern branch of pottery manufacture, not
to pottery art. In the same way, the revived attention paid to the
various forms of pottery for the interior and exterior of buildings
belongs rather to the question of mural decoration than of pottery.
At the beginning of the 20th century we find England and Germany the
leading pottery manufacturing countries; Germany excelling in the amount
of its output, and England in the fineness and finish of its
productions. France, in addition to the National Manufactory at Sèvres,
as much as ever divorced from commerce, has its porcelain industry at
Limoges and large manufactories of tiles and earthenware in many
departments; while there are also a number of artist potters like
Lachenal, Dalpayrat, Delaherche and Taxile Doat who make purely artistic
pottery in hard-fired stonewares (_grès_) and porcelain, while the
production of decorative stonewares for building purposes has been
developed by such firms as Bigot, Boulanger and E. Müller. A great
development has also taken place in the production of decorative pottery
and tiles in Holland. The famous Delft works, besides producing
quantities of painted blue and white earthenware (made in the English
and not in the old Dutch fashion), has been experimenting largely in the
development of crystalline and opalescent glazes and in lustres, while
the Rozenburg factory at the Hague and a factory at Puramerende, near
Amsterdam, have made some distinctive but rather bizarre painted pottery
and porcelain. The success of the Royal Copenhagen factory has already
been mentioned, and this success led to the foundation of Bing &
Gröndhal of Copenhagen, who largely follow the styles of decoration
initiated at the Royal works. In Sweden there are two important
factories at Rörstrand and Gustafsberg. Under the accomplished director
of the Rörstrand factory, Mr Robert Almström, a great variety of
products have been successfully manufactured, including hard-paste
porcelain, English bone china, earthenware, majolica and stoves. Italy,
Spain and Belgium have also important modern pottery works.
In the United States of America there are large establishments for the
manufacture of earthenware, bone china and tiles, all after the English
fashion, while in addition there are a number of experimental kilns at
work producing artistic pottery. The Rookwood factory has already been
mentioned, but the wares produced at the Grueby factory and by Mrs
Robineau and T. Brouwer are also worthy of note. (See "Report on
American Art Pottery," pp. 922-935 of _Special Reports of the U.S.
Census Office, Manufactures_, pt. iii., 1905.)
_Technical Pottery Works._--It is only possible to give a selection of
the best of the modern standard works dealing with the technical side
of pottery production. Brongniart, _Traité des arts céramiques_ (3rd
ed., Paris, 1877), with notes and additions by Salvétat; E. Bourry,
_Traité des industries céramiques_ (Paris, 1897); Théodore Deck, _La
Faïence_ (Paris, 1887); A. Granger, _La Céramique industrielle_
(Paris, 1905); E.S. Auscher, _La Céramique cuisant à haute
température_ (Paris, 1899); _Technologie de la Céramique_ (Paris,
1901); _Les Industries céramiques_ (Paris, 1901); Seger, _Gesammelte
Schriften_ (Berlin, 1896; Eng. trans., Eastern, Pa., U.S.A., 1902);
Langenbeck, _The Chemistry of Pottery_ (Easton, Pa., U.S.A., 1895);
William Burton, _Porcelain_ (London, 1906). (W. B.*)
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The archaeologist is frequently puzzled as to the place of origin
of some example of ancient pottery--was it made in the district where
it was found, or had it been imported from some other centre? When we
possess a sufficient body of analytical data obtained by the use of
one general chemical method, an analysis of a fragment will
frequently enable such a question to be answered, where now all is
doubt and speculation. But the analytical results published hitherto
are often not worth the paper they are printed on for such a purpose,
the older methods of silicate analysis being only approximate.
[2] It must always be borne in mind that, side by side with the
production of artistic wares in all countries, the traditional craft
of the village pot-maker continued, and has probably been less
interfered with than is generally imagined, except in the British
Isles. Any country market-place in Spain, Italy, Greece, France,
Germany, or Holland is provided to-day with a simple peasant pottery
little removed in its forms, its decorations, or its technical skill
from the country work of the middle ages. In England the cheapness of
machine-made pottery has largely destroyed such village industries.
[3] _I tre libri dell' Arte del Vasajo_, by Cipriano Piccolpasso of
Castel Durante, A.D. 1548.
[4] The earliest glazed objects found in Egyptian tombs (once
dignified by the name of Egyptian porcelain) are hardly to be called
pottery at all, though we have no other name for them. The material
is largely sand held together by a little clay and glass.
[5] Foreign pottery had been imported into Egypt at least as early as
the XIIth Dynasty, e.g. the Cretan polychrome ware of the Middle
Minoan period (Kamares style) found at Medinet Ghuraib ("Kahun") and
the Cypriote (?) "punctuated" black ware from the same site, and from
Khata'anah (17). The date between the XIIth and XIIIth Dynasties is
certain (14), but the Middle Kingdom Egyptians do not seem to have
imitated these earlier foreign forms. British Museum, No. 17,046, is,
however, probably an instance of an Egyptian idea imitated by the
foreign potter (17).
[6] Some of these figures appear to have been made with a mixture of
sand, clay and coloured glass which produced a real glassy
porcelain--the earliest porcelain of which we have any record.
[7] On this subject see in particular Mazard, _De la connaissance par
les anciens des glaçures plombifères_, a scientific and valuable
monograph (1879); also Rayet and Collignon, _Hist. de la céramique
grecque_, p. 365 (or _B.M. Cat. of Roman Pottery_, Introduction).
[8] For a full description and lists of such kilns see Walters,
_Ancient Pottery_, ii. 443-454.
[9] See examples in colour on Plate V.
[10] A peculiarity of the Persian and allied blue glazes, of many
shades, is that they appear to have been produced not by dissolving
the colouring matter in the glaze, but by coating the white ground of
the ware with a thin wash of some cobaltiferous substance--probably
an earth containing varying proportions of cobalt, manganese and
iron--and then melting a thick alkaline glaze over it.
[11] See Drury Fortnum, _Archaeologia_, vol. xlii.
[12] Specimens of Turkish and other Eastern wares exist with
elaborate English silver mounts of the time of Elizabeth, and these
were doubtless included under the name of "Damas Wares."
[13] See Riaño, _Spanish Arts_, Victoria and Albert Museum Handbook,
pp. 149-151; and _Sobre la manera de fabricar la antigua loza dorado
de Manises_ (1878).
[14] See examples in colour, Plate VI.
[15] There is ample documentary evidence to prove how largely the
lustred pottery of Spain was imported into Italy from the 12th
century onwards; and it is important to note in this connexion that
almost all the fine examples of Hispano-Moresque in our modern
collections have been obtained from the palaces of ancient Italian
families.
[16] Piccolpasso, _I tre libri dell' arte del Vasajo_, dated 1548. It
has been several times translated both into modern Italian and
French. The English reader will find an excellent abstract of this
interesting MS. in the volumes on _Majolica_ by Drury E. Fortnum.
[17] For a full account of the lustre process see Franchet, _Comptes
rendus_ for December 1905, and W. Burton, _Society of Arts Journal_,
2846, vol. lv., 1907.
[18] See Magne, _Le Palais de Justice de Poitiers_ (Paris, 1904);
also Solon in _Burlington Magazine_ (November 1907).
[19] See B. Fillon, _Les Faiences d'Oiron_ (1862).
[20] See E. Bonaffe, _Les Faiences de Saint-Porchaire_ (1898).
[21] See examples in colour, Plate X.
[22] An excellent summary of the remains of English medieval pottery
will be found in Hobson's "Medieval Pottery found in England,"
_Archaeological Journal_, vol. lix.
[23] Böttger at Meissen made a similar ware as his prelude to the
discovery of white porcelain, but this was after Dwight's death.
[24] For a discussion of the stages through which this was achieved
the reader is referred to special works, such as Prof. A.H. Church's
_English Earthenware_, and W. Burton's _English Earthenware and
Stoneware_.
[25] It is amusing or annoying to find in European museums the wares
of Wedgwood, Turner, Adams and one of the Leeds potteries, all lumped
together as "Wedgwood," and yet one can hardly wonder at it,
remembering how much has been written of Wedgwood and how little of
the other English potters of the 18th century.
[26] See examples in colour, Plates VII. and VIII.
[27] S.W. Bushell, _Chinese Art_ (Victoria and Albert Museum
Handbooks, ii. 5-6).
[28] _Yao_ is the Chinese term equivalent of the English "pottery" or
"ware."
[29] See Brinkley, _Japan and China_, ix. 353-365.
[30] Solon, _The Noble Buccaros_ (Stoke-upon-Trent, 1896).
[31] M. Reinand, _Relation des voyages faits par les Arabes et les
Persans dans l'Inde el à la Chine dans le IX^e siècle_ (Paris, 1845).
[32] The suggestion has been made that the _céladon_ wares found in
Western countries were made by Moslem potters and not by the Chinese,
but this theory is not generally accepted. On this point consult
Karabacek, "Zur muslimischen Keramik" in _Österreichische
Monatsschrift für den Orient_, vol. x., 1884; A.B. Meyer, "Über die
Herkunft gewisser Seladon-Porzellane" under "Über die Marta banis,"
ibid. vol. xi., 1885; Hirth, _Ancient Porcelain_ (1888), and Bushell,
_Oriental Ceramic Art_ (1899).
[33] It is of interest to note that the "Delft" of Holland, also a
product of the 17th and early 18th centuries, makes the nearest
approach in quality to the blue and white porcelain of the Chinese.
[34] See Drake, Sir W., _Venetian Ceramics_; and Davillier, Baron
Ch., _Les Origines de la porcelaine en Europe_.
[35] A perfect _tour de force_ in this inartistic style of work,
preserved in the Dresden Museum and formerly attributed to Meissen,
has been shown to be the work of Vincennes. See _Gaz. des
beaux-arts_, September 1904.
[36] _Travels in England and Scotland_ (Eng. trans.), vol. i. p. 97.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 6 - "Celtes, Konrad" to "Ceramics"" ***
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