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Title: Chats on English China
Author: Hayden, Arthur
Language: English
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* * * * *
COMPANION VOLUME BY THE SAME AUTHOR
CHATS ON
ENGLISH EARTHENWARE
_With Coloured Frontispiece and 150 Illustrations
and Tables of over 200 Illustrated Marks._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. HOW TO COLLECT: A CHAPTER FOR BEGINNERS
II. EARLY WARE
III. ENGLISH DELFT
IV. STONEWARE
V. EARLY STAFFORDSHIRE WARE—THOMAS WHIELDON: HIS
CONTEMPORARIES AND SUCCESSORS
VI. SALT-GLAZED WARE, STAFFORDSHIRE
VII. JOSIAH WEDGWOOD
VIII. THE SCHOOL OF WEDGWOOD
IX. LEEDS AND OTHER FACTORIES
X. TRANSFER-PRINTED WARE
XI. STAFFORDSHIRE FIGURES
XII. SWANSEA AND OTHER FACTORIES
XIII. LUSTRE WARE
XIV. LATE STAFFORDSHIRE WARE
INDEX
CHATS ON
ENGLISH CHINA
BOOKS FOR COLLECTORS
_With Frontispieces and many Illustrations._
CHATS ON ENGLISH CHINA.
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CHATS ON OLD FURNITURE.
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CHATS ON OLD PRINTS.
(How to collect and value Old Engravings.)
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CHATS ON COSTUME.
By G. WOOLLISCROFT RHEAD.
CHATS ON OLD LACE AND NEEDLEWORK.
By E. L. LOWES.
CHATS ON ORIENTAL CHINA.
By J. F. BLACKER.
CHATS ON OLD MINIATURES.
By J. J. FOSTER, F.S.A.
CHATS ON ENGLISH EARTHENWARE.
(Companion volume to “Chats on English China.”)
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CHATS ON AUTOGRAPHS.
By A. M. BROADLEY.
CHATS ON PEWTER.
By H. J. L. J. MASSÉ, M.A.
CHATS ON POSTAGE STAMPS.
By FRED. J. MELVILLE.
CHATS ON OLD JEWELLERY AND TRINKETS
By MACIVER PERCIVAL.
CHATS ON COTTAGE AND FARMHOUSE FURNITURE.
(Companion volume to “Chats on Old Furniture.”)
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CHATS ON OLD COINS
By FRED. W. BURGESS.
CHATS ON OLD COPPER AND BRASS.
By FRED. W. BURGESS.
CHATS ON HOUSEHOLD CURIOS.
By FRED. W. BURGESS.
CHATS ON OLD SILVER.
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CHATS ON JAPANESE PRINTS.
By ARTHUR DAVISON FICKE.
CHATS ON MILITARY CURIOS.
By STANLEY C. JOHNSON.
CHATS ON OLD CLOCKS AND WATCHES.
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CHATS ON ROYAL COPENHAGEN PORCELAIN.
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CHATS ON OLD SHEFFIELD PLATE.
(Companion volume to “Chats on Old Silver.”)
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
* * * * *
BYE PATHS OF CURIO COLLECTING.
By ARTHUR HAYDEN.
With Frontispiece and 72 Full page Illustrations. 21s. net.
LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN, LTD.
NEW YORK: F. A. STOKES COMPANY.
* * * * *
[Illustration: WORCESTER VASE.
From the Collection of the late Lady Charlotte Schreiber
in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
_Reproduced by permission of the Board of Education._]
CHATS ON
ENGLISH CHINA
BY
ARTHUR HAYDEN
AUTHOR OF “CHATS ON ENGLISH EARTHENWARE,”
“CHATS ON OLD SILVER,” ETC.
[Illustration: _Bloor Derby Teapot_]
WITH 150 ILLUSTRATIONS
T. FISHER UNWIN LTD
LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE
_First Edition_ 1904
_Second Edition_ 1906
_Third Impression_ 1907
_Third Edition_ 1909
_Fifth Impression_ 1910
_Sixth Impression_ 1912
_Seventh Impression_ 1917
_Eighth Impression_ 1919
_Fourth Edition_ 1920
(_All rights reserved_)
TO
JOSEPHINE HAMILTON
PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION
A certain amount of necessary revision has been given to the volume.
The prices obtained at public auction for representative examples have
been brought up to date, and ten new illustrations have been added.
ARTHUR HAYDEN.
_September, 1920._
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
This edition has been slightly revised and corrected. Throughout
the volume many new illustrations appear in place of those in the
first edition, and their selection has been made in order to show
more clearly the characteristics of the china as dealt with in the
letterpress.
In addition to these, twenty new illustrations have been added, and
I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to Messrs. Wedgwood & Sons, by
whose courtesy I am enabled to reproduce examples from their museum
at Etruria, and fine examples after Flaxman, including specimens of
dinner-ware which are now being manufactured by the firm from the old
designs by that artist.
I have similarly to acknowledge my obligation to Messrs. W. T. Copeland
& Sons, of Stoke-upon-Trent (the successors of Spode), for several
illustrations of the ware from their factory, and to Messrs. Minton for
some fine specimens of their productions.
It is my hope that this improvement will make the volume more useful as
a practical working handbook for the collector.
To the great number of enthusiasts who have written to me in connection
with this volume and with the _Dilettante_ pages in the _Lady’s
Pictorial_, I tender a grateful and appreciative acknowledgment.
ARTHUR HAYDEN.
_March, 1906._
AUTHOR’S NOTE
In regard to English Earthenware, which appeals to a wide circle of
collectors, I have, in response to many readers who have written to me
on the subject, prepared a companion volume to this, entitled “Chats
on English Earthenware.” The subject is treated from a collecting
point of view, and a large number of carefully selected photographic
reproductions of typical examples illustrate the letterpress.
Those who are interested in the outline sketch of English Earthenware
given in the concluding chapters of this volume, and desire greater
detail, will find a completer record in the companion volume.
A. H.
_January, 1909._
* * * * *
[Illustration: BOW TEAPOT.
With leaf as spout, and grape-vine handle.]
PREFACE
This little volume has been primarily written with a view to enable
the possessors of old china to determine the factories at which
their ware was produced. A modest attempt has been made to show that
the china-shelf is a record of men’s triumphs and failures, and the
fantastic shepherds and shepherdesses, lustrous bowls, queer printed
dishes, and bizarre decorated jugs, may be regarded by a reflective
mind as so many symbols representing something less perishable than the
clay of the potter.
These “Chats” originally appeared in the pages of _Our Home_. In
collecting them in volume form I trust that they will appeal to a wider
circle of readers.
Never was a greater interest taken in Art, and the growth of popular
literature has developed a taste for objects of art in the home. The
china-shelf is now regarded as worthy of keen and discriminating study.
Its treasures, often heirlooms, have been brought into the light of
day, and amateur collectors can now be numbered by thousands.
I am enabled to include a useful feature in the list of prices
obtained at recent sales, by kind permission of the proprietors of the
_Connoisseur_, whose “Sale Prices,” published monthly, is most valuable
to the collector.
It is hoped that the Bibliography of works on china and pottery may
be of use to those who wish to study the subject more deeply, and a
copious Index will prove useful for ready reference.
The “Chats” relating to Lustre Ware, Old English Mugs, and Wedgwood are
not upon English china, but deal with earthenware; they are included in
the volume in order to increase its scope and usefulness.
My thanks are due to Mr. W. G. Honey, of Cork, for kindly allowing me
to reproduce specimens from his collection which was exhibited at the
Cork Exhibition. I am indebted to Mr. A. Merrington Smith, Fine Art
Dealer, of Lowestoft, for information concerning the recent unearthing
of moulds and fragments of china on the site of the old factory at
Lowestoft, a discovery of very great value. By permission of the
Coalport Company I am giving specimens of their modern productions and
some of their marks not published before.
ARTHUR HAYDEN.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE xi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv
BIBLIOGRAPHY xxi
GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED xxiii
CHAT
I. OLD DERBY 1
II. CHELSEA CHINA 27
III. THE BOW CHINA FACTORY 49
IV. OLD WORCESTER 67
V. PLYMOUTH AND BRISTOL CHINA 91
VI. THE LOWESTOFT FACTORY 111
VII. COALPORT 133
VIII. SPODE AND HIS SUCCESSORS 149
IX. NANTGARW AND SWANSEA 163
X. MINTON 179
XI. OLD ENGLISH EARTHENWARE 191
XII. LUSTRE WARE 219
XIII. LIVERPOOL WARE 235
XIV. WEDGWOOD 247
INDEX 279
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FRONTISPIECE.
Worcester Vase. From the Collection of the late Lady Charlotte
Schreiber in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
CHAT I.—OLD DERBY.
PAGE
Bloor Derby Teapot v
Early Crown Derby Cup and Saucer 3
Old Derby Marks 7
Derby Figure Group 9
Crown Derby Pastille-burner 11
Crown Derby Mug and Saucer 13
Bloor Derby Marks 16
Crown Derby Vase and Bloor Derby Pastille-burner 17
Later Derby Marks 20
CHAT II.—CHELSEA CHINA.
Chelsea Figure 27
Figure of Carpenter 29
Chelsea Vase in British Museum 31
Chelsea Marks 34
Chelsea Marks 35
“Foundling” Vase 38
Derby-Chelsea Marks 39
CHAT III.—THE BOW CHINA FACTORY.
Bow Vase, with Cover _Facing page_ 48
Bow Inkstand 49
Bow Figure 50
Bow Marks 53, 54
Bow Plate and Teapot 56
Bow Cups 57
Bow Marks 60
CHAT IV.—OLD WORCESTER.
Early Blue and White Worcester Plate _Facing page_ 66
Old Worcester Transfer-printed Group 67
Old Worcester Marks 70
Old Worcester, King of Prussia Mug 73
Worcester Dish 77
Flight and Barr Marks 78
Chamberlain Marks 78
Kerr and Binns Marks 79
Grainger, Lee and Co. Marks 79
Scent-bottle (Chamberlain) 80
Grainger, Lee and Co. Vases 81
CHAT V.—PLYMOUTH AND BRISTOL CHINA.
White Porcelain Goat _Facing page_ 90
Salt-cellar, Plymouth 91
White Porcelain Dish, Plymouth 94
Vase, Plymouth 95
Plymouth Marks 96
Bristol Porcelain 97
Bristol Vase and Cover _Facing page_ 98
Bristol Marks 100
Bristol Cup and Saucer from Edmund Burke’s Service 102
Bristol Vase 103
CHAT VI.—THE LOWESTOFT FACTORY.
Lowestoft, Panels of Dish (detail) 111
Lowestoft Sauce-boats, with Fragment of Mould 113
Blue and White Delft Marriage Plate 114
Old Lowestoft Cups and Saucers 117
Dated Lowestoft Mug 118
Interior of Old Lowestoft Factory (Digging for Moulds) 122
Toy Teapot and Cream Jug 123
Dated Lowestoft Mugs and Jug 125
Lowestoft Blue and White Jug 128
Inkstand 129
CHAT VII.—COALPORT.
Two-handled Cup, richly gilded 133
Old Coalport—Covered Cup and Saucer 135
Caughley, Old Blue Mug 137
Early Marks 139
Coalport Vase 141
Coalport Marks 142
Latest ditto 143
Old Coalport Vase 145
CHAT VIII.—SPODE AND HIS SUCCESSORS.
Copeland Vases 149
Spode Plates 151
Spode Pastille-burner 152
Spode Marks 154
Spode Plate 155
Copeland Marks 156
Copeland Plates 157
CHAT IX.—NANTGARW AND SWANSEA.
Swansea Vase 163
Nantgarw Plates 165
Nantgarw Dish 167
Fine Swansea Vase and Cover _Facing page_ 170
Swansea Marks 171
Swansea Plate 172
Swansea Vase (Dillwyn’s Etruscan Ware) 173
CHAT X.—MINTON.
Minton Vase _Facing page_ 178
Minton Dish 181
Minton Marks 182
Minton Vase 183
Later Minton Marks 184
Lion Ewer (Henri II. Ware) 185
Minton Candelabrum 186
Majolica Plaque 189
CHAT XI.—OLD ENGLISH EARTHENWARE.
Bust of Prince Rupert 191
Sunderland Jug 193
Old Jug—John Bull 198
The Vicar and Moses 199
Sunderland Frog Mug 203
Old Delft Mug (dated 1631) 206
Group of Old English dated Ware 209
Old Puzzle Jug 212
Marks on Mason’s Ware 216
Group of Mason’s Jugs 217
CHAT XII.—LUSTRE WARE.
Silver Lustre Jug 219
Copper Lustre Jugs 221
Group of Copper Lustre Ware 222
Copper Lustre Bust 223
Copper Lustre Jugs 225
Copper Lustre Jug 226
Silver Lustre Sugar-bowl 227
Silver Lustre Jugs 228
Silver Lustre Teapot 229
Silver Lustre Jug (White Decoration) 231
Gold Lustre Jug 232
CHAT XIII.—LIVERPOOL WARE.
Liverpool Delft Punch Bowl 235
Old Liverpool Tiles 237
Early Liverpool Marks 240
Liverpool Marks 241
Old Liverpool Mug 243
Old Liverpool Jug (two positions) 244
Liverpool Mug 245
CHAT XIV.—WEDGWOOD.
Wedgwood Dinner Plates 247
Wedgwood. Jasper Cup and Saucer 249
Whieldon Tortoiseshell Ware 251
Wedgwood Terra-cotta Vases 256
Wedgwood. Jasper Vase 258
Blue Jasper Vase and Pedestal 259
Plaque designed by Flaxman. Mercury uniting the
hands of England and France 260
Portland Vase 261
Wedgwood and Bentley Mark 269
Old Wedgwood Teapot 271
Wedgwood Plaque. Designed by Lady Diana
Beauclerk _Facing page_ 278
ADDITIONAL PLATES IN THIRD EDITION.
Bow Teapot _page_ xi
Derby Figure of Peacock _Facing page_ 20
Chelsea Figures of Birds ” ” 34
Chelsea Figure and Candlestick _Facing page_ 40
Pair of Bow Figures ” ” 54
Bow Cups ” ” 60
Worcester Plate ” ” 68
Pair of Worcester Vases ” ” 70
Rare Lowestoft Coffee-Pot ” ” 120
ADDITIONAL PLATES IN FOURTH EDITION. 1920.
Derby Cups and Saucers _Facing page_ 22
Chelsea Dishes ” ” 36
Chelsea. Pair of Groups, Dancing Figures ” ” 42
Bow. Figure of Britannia ” ” 52
Bow Teapot, Chinese Style, and Plate _page_ 56
Worcester Teapot _Facing page_ 68
Worcester Mug, Transfer printed ” ” 76
Lowestoft Jug (1772), Mug (1792) _page_ 125
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GENERAL.—Catalogue of Specimens of British Pottery and Porcelain in
the Museum of Practical Geology. 1876. (Out of print.)
(This Collection is now at the Bethnal Green Museum.)
Marks and Monograms on Pottery and Porcelain. William Chaffers.
(The last edition, 1901, contains over 3,500 Potters’ marks
of all the well-known European and Oriental factories.)
Ceramic Art of Great Britain. 2 vols. Llewellyn Jewitt. 1878.
The China Collector’s Pocket Companion. Mrs. Bury Palliser.
(Containing marks only—arranged in order.)
Old English Pottery. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Freeth. (Morgan, Thompson,
& Jamison.)
English Porcelain. A. H. Church. 1904.
English Earthenware. A. H. Church. 1884.
Art of the Old English Potter. By M. L. Solon.
History of Old English Porcelain. By M. L. Solon. 1903.
History and Description of English Porcelain. By Wm. Burton.
Cassell & Co. 1902.
History and Description of English Pottery. By Wm. Burton. 1906.
Examples of Early English Pottery. John Eliot Hodgkin, F.S.A., and
Edith Hodgkin. 1891.
Pre-Wedgwood English Pottery (Solon Collection). _Connoisseur_,
December, 1901; February, 1902.
Pottery and Porcelain, A Guide to Collectors. F. Litchfield. 1900.
Catalogue of English Porcelain at British Museum. R. L. Hobson.
1905.
Guide to English Pottery and Porcelain at British Museum. R. L.
Hobson. 1910.
Catalogue of Schreiber Collection at Victoria and Albert Museum. B.
Rackham. 1915.
* * * * *
PARTICULAR. Bow, Chelsea, and Derby Porcelain. William Bemrose.
1898.
Bristol, Two Centuries of Ceramic Art in. Hugh Owen. 1873.
Chelsea China. _Connoisseur_, March, 1903.
Bow Porcelain. _Burlington Magazine_, vol. xxv., 1914.
Bristol Porcelain. _Burlington Magazine_, vol. xx., 1912.
Old Derby China Factory. John Haslem. 1876.
Liverpool, The Art of Pottery in. Joseph Mayer. 1855.
Liverpool Catalogue of Pottery and Porcelain. P. Entwistle. 1907.
The Liverpool Potters. C. T. Gatty. 1882.
Lowestoft. _Connoisseur_, April, 1903; October, 1903. _Queen_,
Christmas number, 1903. _Lady’s Pictorial_, Dec. 30, 1905.
Lowestoft China. By W. W. R. Spelman. (Jarrold, Norwich.) 1906.
Lustre Ware. _Connoisseur_, November, 1902.
Saltglaze Teapots, Old English. _Connoisseur_, February, 1903.
Staffordshire Potteries, History of the. S. Shaw. 1829.
Swansea and Nantgarw, The Ceramics of. William Turner. 1897.
Toby Jugs and their Near Relatives. _Lady’s Pictorial_, Jan., 1906.
Transfer Printing on Pottery. _Burlington Magazine_, vol. vi.,
1904-5.
Wedgwood, Life of Josiah. Miss Meteyard. 1865.
—— Memorials of Miss Meteyard. 1874.
—— _Connoisseur_, May, 1903.
—— A. H. Church. (Portfolio Monograph.)
Worcester China. A Century of Potting in the City of Worcester. R.
W. Binns. 1877.
Worcester China. A Record of the Work of Forty-five Years
(1852-1897). R. W. Binns. 1898.
Old Worcester. _Connoisseur_, October, 1902.
Worcester Porcelain. R. L. Hobson. 1910.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED
_Biscuit._—The first stage of china after being fired. It is white
and porous, and ready for decoration. Its surface resembles that
of an ordinary clay pipe.
_China._—A term used to include all porcelains.
_Earthenware._—All ware that, in contradistinction to porcelain, is
not translucent.
_Glaze._—The glassy substance applied to the surface of pottery and
porcelain.
_Lead Glaze._—The porcelains of Bow, Chelsea, and other early
factories contained as much as 40 per cent. of oxide of lead.
Modern chinas contain less than half that, and some glazes are
“leadless.” As to the terrible results of the use of this glaze
on the health of the potters, see Report of Professors Thorpe
and Oliver to Home Office on subject (C. 9207, 1899).
_Over-Glaze Decoration._—Decoration after the surface has
received its transparent glaze. This decoration admits of a
wider range of colours. On hard paste, such as Plymouth, it
stands flat on the surface; on soft paste, such as Bow, it is
partly incorporated.
_Under-Glaze Decoration._—Decoration applied to the unglazed
surface when in biscuit state; the whole is then covered with
transparent glaze and refired.
_Ironstone China._—A term invented by Mason, who took out a
patent for his ware. It is not china, but is a heavy class of
earthenware highly decorated. It was generally adopted by other
Staffordshire makers.
_Moulds._—The models from which china is made. These are of plaster
of Paris.
_Opaque._—Incapable of transmitting light. This distinguishes pottery
from porcelain.
_Paste._—The body or material of which porcelain is made.
_Hard._—China which, on being broken, shows a sparkling surface
like that of a flint stone, and is impervious to any staining
by colour applied to it. Plymouth and Bristol and New Hall are
the only true hard-paste porcelains of this country.
_Soft._—China which, on being broken, shows a porous surface
capable of absorbing colour.
_Porcelain._—Commonly called china; is distinguished from pottery by
being translucent.
_True Porcelain_ is made from a mixture of two
minerals—_petuntse_, or “china stone,” and _kaolin_, or “china
clay,” with nothing artificially added; _e.g._, Chinese,
Dresden, Plymouth, and Bristol chinas.
_Glassy Porcelain_, containing an artificial admixture of glass
to give the paste translucency; _e.g._, Chelsea, Bow, Nantgarw,
Pinxton.
_Bone-ash Porcelain_, of which Spode’s china is an example.
_Pottery._—A term used to include all the earthenwares.
_Printing._—Formerly, in old chinas, all the coloured decorations
were painted. Now, by use of various mechanical devices, women
and girls are employed to transfer printed patterns on modern
china.
_Transfer-printing._—A process used at Liverpool by Sadler and Green,
and at Worcester, in which the design from an engraved copper
plate was transferred to specially prepared paper and applied
to the ware. Black and brown were the main colours used (see
Illustrations, pp. 244-5 and facing p. 76).
_Translucent._—Transparent. All porcelains, when held up to a strong
light, are translucent, in varying degree, according to thickness
of paste.
I
OLD
DERBY
[Illustration: EARLY CROWN DERBY CUP AND SAUCER.
_In Victoria and Albert Museum._]
CHATS ON ENGLISH CHINA
I
OLD DERBY
It is not too much to hope that the eyes of some reader will stray into
these pages as a wanderer in a strange land, one whose interest in
china has never been awakened. We hope to lure such a wight with sweet
cajolery. If perchance we can get him to examine one or two dainty
specimens of old blue china we shall have him enmeshed in our toils. If
he be an artist he will not escape from the enchantment of Derby and of
Worcester. If he be a mere business man, here is an item from Messrs.
Christie’s catalogue of a sale on January 14, 1902: “Coffee-pot and
cover, Worcester. Painted with figures, birds, and flowers, in colours
in Chinese taste, and with alternate dark-blue scale-pattern panels—£28
7s.” And this, mark you, is an ordinary item selected at random, a
business sample, if you will.
Mr. Andrew Lang, in one of his “Ballades in Blue China,” has cunningly
put into rhyme a poet’s reason for his love of china:—
“There’s a joy without canker or cark,
There’s a pleasure eternally new;
’Tis to gloat on the glaze and the mark
Of china that’s ancient and blue,
Unchipped all the centuries through,
It has passed, since the chime of it rang,
And they fashioned it, figure and hue,
In the reign of the Emperor Hwang.”
We should be less than human if we did not point the moral by quoting
the delicious sentences of a City man (one can hardly imagine Charles
Lamb a City man journeying daily to Leadenhall Street!) concerning—
“Those little, lawless, azure-tinctured grotesques that, under the
notion of men and women, float about, uncircumscribed by any element,
in that world before perspective—a china teacup.... Here is a young and
courtly mandarin handing tea to a lady from a salver—two miles off.
See how distance seems to set off respect. And here the same lady, or
another—for likeness is identity on teacups—is stepping into a little
fairy boat, moored on the hither side of this calm garden river, with a
dainty, mincing foot, which, in a right angle of incidence (as angles
go in our world), must infallibly land her in the midst of a flowery
mead—a furlong off on the other side of the same strange stream!”
And now, having brought you thus far, reader, will you not journey with
us and learn something of the magic and the mysteries of old china? We
are a goodly company, and if you have a fine eye, a pretty fancy for
your own taste, and a keen zest for a bargain, join hands with us.
Derby holds a high place in the history of British porcelain, inasmuch
as it was here that its manufacture was matured, and the ability and
perseverance of three generations of the Duesbury family raised the
productions to the level of those of the great European factories.
It is generally believed that the manufacture of china first sprang
into existence at Derby in 1750, about a year or so before the works at
Worcester were established. There is a tradition that the first maker
was a Frenchman, who lived in a small house in Lodge Lane, and who
modelled and made small articles in china, principally animals—cats,
dogs, lambs, sheep, &c.—which he fired in a pipemaker’s oven in the
neighbourhood.
About this time there were some pot works on Cockpit Hill belonging
to Alderman Heath, a banker, and the productions of the Frenchman,
probably a refugee, having attracted notice, an arrangement was
made between him and Heath and Duesbury by which the manufacture of
porcelain would be carried on jointly. This man’s name, to whom the
absolute honour of commencing the Derby China Works belongs, was Andrew
Planché. A deed exists by which a partnership for ten years was entered
into by the three above named. Planché found the skill and secret
knowledge, Heath the money (£1,000), and Duesbury the ability to carry
out the scheme.
Besides this deed there is no other record of the Frenchman, as the
firm became known as “Duesbury and Heath,” and apparently the usual
fate of the poor inventor overtook Planché.
William Duesbury was of Longton Hall, in Staffordshire, and was the
son of a currier. By trade he was an enameller. Entries in the family
Bible, in the possession of the Duesburys, prove that in 1755 he
removed to Derby to carry on the newly-acquired business “in ye art of
making English china, as also in buying and selling all sorts of wares
belonging to ye art of making china.”
Records of the kinds of china manufactured and sent to London are
interesting. There were blue fluted boats, mosaic boats, sage-leaf
boats, fig-leaf sauce-boats, octagon fruit plates, vine-leaf plates,
coffee cups, flower vases, blue strawberry pots, standing sheep, cats,
honeycomb jars, coffee-pots, butter-tubs, Chelsea jars, teapots,
figures of Mars, Minerva, &c., Spanish shepherds, candlesticks, and, of
course, many varieties of plates and dishes, and cups and saucers.
Once or twice the name of the firm appears as “Duesbury and Co.,” but
it is more usually “Duesbury and Heath.” Finally, it became Duesbury
only.
[Illustration:
1750.
Earliest Mark
(In gold).
Under Royal Patronage.
1773.
Marked in blue.
1782-1830.
Early—marked in puce.
Later—blue, red, green, & black.
OLD DERBY MARKS.]
Coming to the marks which were used, in our illustration we have
arranged them in chronological order, the earliest being at the top.
The mark used in the earliest days is not certain, but in all
probability the letter D, when in gold, is one of the first used. It
is, however, exceedingly rare to find a piece thus marked. This letter
D may equally stand for Derby or for Duesbury.
From 1770 to 1773, the script initial [Illustration: D] and the anchor
known as the Derby-Chelsea or the Duesbury-Chelsea mark was introduced,
as William Duesbury had purchased “the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory,
and its appurtenances and lease thereof,” on February 5, 1770, and made
this addition to the Chelsea anchor. This mark of the Derby-Chelsea
period is usually in gold, and was used both at the factory at Chelsea
and at Derby. Examples of this period are of comparative rarity, and
are eagerly sought after by collectors.
The Derby-Chelsea marks are given in the “Chat” on Chelsea (p. 39).
The works at Chelsea were not finally discontinued till 1784, when they
were destroyed by Duesbury, the kilns and every part of the factory
pulled down, and what was available sent off to Derby. About the year
1773, a [Illustration: D] and a crown were used. This mark is mostly in
blue, but sometimes in puce, light red, or green. This crown was added
by Royal permission, because the factory had been honoured by Royal
patronage.
Will my readers note that in the earlier pieces of Derby and
Crown-Derby china the crown is carefully jewelled; in the later
productions of the Duesbury period the mark was rudely executed, and
the crown was hastily pencilled.
[Illustration: DERBY FIGURE GROUP.
Lady and gentleman dancing. Decorated in rich colours and gilded.]
Of the introduction of the cross daggers and six spots, about
the year 1782, there is the tradition that it was a defiance to all
manufactories except three, viz., those of Sèvres, Dresden, and Berlin.
[Illustration: CROWN DERBY PASTILLE-BURNER (4 IN. HIGH).
_In the Collection of the Author._]
We give as a headpiece a typical example of early Crown-Derby. It
represents a two-handled covered cup and saucer decorated with the
well-known rich blue and gold border and festoons in pink. It is marked
in puce with jewelled crown. This specimen is from the national
collection now at the Bethnal Green Museum.
The vase we reproduce is 6-1/2 in. high and has the crown and crossed
batons and dots, which mark has been photographed and appears in the
illustration (p. 17). It is richly decorated and a good specimen, as is
the smaller vase, or pastille-burner, with masks, and similarly marked
(p. 11).
These two specimens, together with the Crown-Derby mug and saucer,
decorated in tomato red and gold, are from the collection of Mr. W. G.
Honey, which was on view at the Cork Exhibition.
The first William Duesbury died in 1785. His son, William, who had
for the last few years been in partnership with him under the firm of
Duesbury and Son, succeeded him. This second William Duesbury increased
the fortunes of Derby china with astonishing rapidity. The King and
Queen, and the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.), and the leaders
of fashionable society were among his customers. There was a craze for
a time, and titled ladies painted flowers and other pictures on the
porcelain supplied to them by the Derby factory. It was afterwards
fired and finished for their own special use.
Of these ladies, Lady Margaret Fordyce, Lady Plymouth, and Lady Aubrey
executed some beautiful drawings, which probably still remain in their
families. Lord Lonsdale had twenty-four plates painted with landscapes
in Cumberland after his own sketches, and many other noblemen and
gentlemen did the same.
[Illustration:
_W. G. Honey._] [_Cork._
CROWN DERBY MUG AND SAUCER.
(Tomato red and heavy gold decoration.)]
[Illustration: MARK ON ABOVE MUG (IN RED).]
On the death of Duesbury the second, his widow married his late
partner, a Mr. Michael Kean, an Irishman, and clever artist. This was
in 1798. But Kean hastily withdrew from the concern when the third
William Duesbury came of age, who for a time carried on the factory
under the firm of “Duesbury and Sheffield.” In 1815 the premises passed
into the hands of Mr. Robert Bloor.
It was in the year of Waterloo that the third William Duesbury, and
last of the great family of potters who had established the factory,
leased the premises to Mr. Robert Bloor, who had been a clerk to his
father, and had carried on the business during Mr. Duesbury’s minority.
Ultimately the entire business passed into the hands of Mr. Bloor, and
the name of Duesbury disappears from Derby records.
For some years up till about 1825 or 1830, Mr. Bloor used the Old Derby
mark, the crown, cross daggers with dots, and D beneath, but about that
period he discontinued it, and adopted instead a mark with his own
name. It is well for readers to note that down to the discontinuance
of the old mark, it had invariably been done with a pencil, but those
adopted by Mr. Bloor were printed.
In our illustrations of the other marks used at Derby we place them in
chronological order. The first printed mark used under the Bloor régime
was the circle enclosing the crown, and the words “Bloor, Derby,”
printed around. In some specimens, of a little later date, the mark is
a trifle larger, and the crown more carefully designed. Another mark
used occasionally about the year 1830 was the word “Derby” enclosed in
a scroll; while on some other specimens of about the same date, or a
little later an old English D, surmounted by a crown, is marked, or the
word “Derby” in Roman capitals on a ribbon, appears beneath the usual
crown.
[Illustration: BLOOR DERBY MARKS.]
We now come to a rather painful chapter in the history of the Old
Derby, practically a series of misdoings, which terminated the glorious
career of so famous a manufactory. It is interesting to see when trade,
with its somewhat ruthless methods, comes into conflict with art, with
her finer susceptibilities, how art has to go to the wall. It was the
same story at Derby.
[Illustration: CROWN DERBY VASE.
With panels, and painted with floral design in colours.
(Height 6-1/2 ins.)
Mark illustrated showing Crown, crossed batons and dots and letter D.]
[Illustration: BLOOR-DERBY PASTILLE-BURNER.
Having perforated lid. Decorated in colours and richly gilded.
(Height 5 ins.)
With mark illustrated below.]
Before Bloor’s time it had been the unvarying plan of the Duesburys—so
particularly jealous were they of their reputation, and of maintaining
the highest possible character of the Derby ware—to allow only perfect
goods to leave the premises. However trivial the fault, the articles
were not considered good enough to send out in the name of Derby.
These damaged wares had accumulated to a very large extent at the
manufactory. Mr. Bloor, who was not a rich man, and who was filled with
the very laudable desire to make the Derby concern successful, and who,
moreover, had to pay off his purchase money by instalments, caught at
the chance of disposing of this accumulation of Old Derby stock. Here
it was that his trade instincts overcame his love of the fine arts.
Better far had it been if the whole buildings had been consumed by
fire, and the old stock destroyed, than that the damaged goods should
have been foisted upon the public. But it fell about otherwise, and Mr.
Bloor disposed of the Derby failures by auction at the different large
towns. By this means he amassed great sums of money, which brought
him immediate capital, but which was the death-blow to Derby ware.
The old Derby was eagerly bought, but this temporary success resulted
in permanent and never-to-be-remedied evil. Seeing how readily the
public bought up the Derby ware, the temptation arose to produce large
quantities of the ware specially for the auction rooms. The Duesburys
would have risen in their graves had they known of these proceedings;
but Fate avenged them, for the decline of the Derby factory commenced
from this moment.
We give, also from Mr. W. G. Honey’s collection, a fine example of
Bloor Derby china; it is five inches in height, and is marked with a
crown and the words “Bloor, Derby,” in circle around (p. 17).
In 1845 Mr. Robert Bloor died, followed in the next year by his brother
Joseph, who had assisted him for many years. For a little while the
works were in the hands of a Mr. Clarke, who finally discontinued them
and sold most of the models to the Staffordshire manufacturers. The
end came in 1848, when a number of the workmen left Derby for ever and
migrated into Staffordshire and Worcester. Here, then, is the end of
the Old Derby works.
Old Derby china will, therefore, be seen to be divided into two
periods—the great Duesbury period and the declining period when Bloor
became a factor.
[Illustration: LATER DERBY MARKS.]
A word or two to readers who possess specimens of later Derby may be of
interest. Among our marks will be seen several other names connected
with Derby. In 1848, when the works were closed, a number of the old
hands were actuated by the desire to continue the making of china at
Derby They, therefore, under the name of Locker and Co., started a
little manufactory, and adopted the design we give.
[Illustration: DERBY FIGURE OF PEACOCK.
Richly painted and gilded. Tail in natural colours. Marked D in red.]
Mr. Locker died in 1859, and the works were then carried on in the
name of Stevenson and Co. Finally we have the name of Courtney, who
appears to have been one of Bloor’s agents. Messrs. Stevenson and
Hancock adopted the last mark for their wares, after persuasion by
connoisseurs, who objected to the use on modern Derby of the old mark
of the crown, cross daggers, and [Illustration: D]. The legacy which
the Bloors and some of the modern successors left to the name of Derby
is not a very happy one. The tampering with the marks, or the bartering
of modern as old, or the disposal of damaged stock, all go to lessen
the faith of the public. As the years go on, the china buyer becomes
more discerning, and is not that blind monster which manufacturers too
often imagine him to be.
In the hurried sketch we have given of the decline of Old Derby we
have little to say of the wonderful biscuit ware which was one of the
secrets of Derby, which secret has now been lost. The biscuit figures
produced in the best days of Derby are unsurpassed for fineness of
modelling and beauty of finish. It was in experimenting to find how
Derby produced this biscuit that Copeland discovered his celebrated
Parian ware.
There is a peculiar pleasure to the lover of things old and things
true in the unravelling of the complicated chain which environs an old
factory such as Derby. The lives and ambitions of men, fathers, sons,
and grandsons, are bound up with the traditions of the firm. Then trade
had somewhat the air about it of the old mediæval guilds. There were
secrets which no money could buy. All this lies on the china shelf for
you to read, if you care to. Perhaps when your erring maid drops your
Derby cup and saucer you will philosophically remember that it is not a
cup and saucer, but only as the autumn leaves that are strewn on the
grave of Duesbury, the potter—just a symbol to remind you that man’s
creations, after all, turn to dust and ashes. But all that is very
mournful, and mayhap one shall find you later busy with fish-glue and
brush, at which pastime you will need to be a philosopher too.
CHARACTERISTICS OF OLD DERBY CHINA.
With a history such as that of Derby, general characteristics cannot be
laid down, but certain typical patterns were made at Derby. A favourite
pattern was the “French sprig” or “Chantilly,” technically termed “129
sprig” at the Derby works, being an imitation of the Angoulême china,
painted with a forget-me-not or small blue cornflower, and a gold sprig
laid on the white. This is of frequent occurrence on fluted cups.
Deep blue borders with gold leafage and simple festoons in pink was a
characteristic decoration of early Crown Derby. The “Japan” patterns of
Derby during the last years of the eighteenth century and early years
of the nineteenth, were profusely decorated with blue and red, and
often richly gilded.
[Illustration: OLD DERBY CUP AND SAUCER.
Japan pattern.]
[Illustration: OLD DERBY CUP AND SAUCER.
Japan pattern.]
SALE PRICES.
CROWN DERBY.
£ s. d.
Bowl, circular and pierced cover, gilt
ram’s head handles, on tripod, decorated
with flowers in Oriental taste
on alternate red and green panels,
10 in. high. Christie, January 30,
1902 9 9 0
Pastille-burners and covers, pair, gilt
claw feet and with masks round the
rims, painted with flowers in the
Oriental taste and with dark blue
and gold panels. Christie, January
30, 1902 7 17 6
Figure, a girl with a basket of fruit
carrying a bunch of grapes, 7-1/4 in.
high. Christie, February 5, 1902 11 11 0
Peacock, with flowers in relief, on
plinth, decorated, 6 in. high. Foster,
February 13, 1902 11 11 0
Cup, cover and saucer, two-handled
(from Nelson service). Debenham,
Storr & Sons, April 14, 1902 7 0 0
Vases, set of three, with beaker-shaped
necks, painted with landscapes in
panels on dark blue ground richly
gilt with arabesque foliage, and with
white and gold handles, 10-1/2 in. and
12-1/2 in high. Christie, April 6, 1903 30 9 0
Figures, pair, shepherd and shepherdess.
Sotheby, May 4, 1903 63 0 0
Vases, pair, campana-shaped, with
Satyr’s mask handles, painted with
roses, poppies and other flowers in
colours on a gold ground, 18 in. high.
Christie, May 28, 1903 38 17 0
Dessert service with centre with sprays
and bouquets of flowers, painted by
Billingsley. Two tureen covers and
stands, seven dishes and twelve
plates, marked. Sotheby, June 11,
1920 20 0 0
Pair of figures of a boy and girl, with dog
and goat, 6-1/4 in. high; and a Derby
figure of Neptune, with a dolphin,
7-1/2 in. high. Christie, July 5, 1920 12 12 0
Biscuit group, of Nymphs festooning a
bust of a Satyr, 13 in. high. Christie,
July 5, 1920 8 18 6
Six Plates, painted with rosebuds in the
centres. Christie, July 5, 1920 6 6 0
Cylindrical mug, painted with a view,
“On the River Trent,” in panel,
and gilt with foliage, 5 in. high.
Puttick & Simpson, July 16, 1920 3 13 6
BLOOR DERBY.
Vases, pair, shaped, decorated in gold
and painted continuous landscapes,
scroll handles and gilt mask terminals,
11-1/2 in. high (marked “Bloor,
Derby”). Edwards, Son & Bigwood,
Birmingham, May 13, 1902 9 19 6
Dessert service, painted with flowers in
the Oriental taste, in red, blue, and
gold, by Bloor, consisting of centre-dish,
on foot, sugar-tureen, cover
and stand, and nine shaped dishes.
Christie, July 21, 1902 65 2 0
Vase, large, by Bloor, painted with a
view of Temple Bar and a group of
flowers, in two large panels, on dark
blue and gold ground, 21 in. high.
Christie, December 5, 1902 21 0 0
Dessert service, painted with bouquets
of flowers on white ground, and
the borders gilt with vases and arabesques,
consisting of an ice-pail,
cover and liner, centre-dish on foot,
eight dishes and six plates. Christie,
July 5, 1920 17 17 0
Set of three vases, painted with flowers
in the Chinese taste in dark blue
panels, gilt snake handles, 6-3/4 in. to
8-1/4 in. high. Puttick & Simpson,
July 16, 1920 8 18 6
Set of four vases of flowers, on scroll
bases, with gilt paw feet, 6-3/4 in. high.
Puttick & Simpson, July 16, 1920 12 12 0
II
CHELSEA
CHINA
[Illustration: CHELSEA FIGURE.
With candelabrum.]
[Illustration: CHELSEA FIGURE OF CARPENTER WITH BAG OF TOOLS.
_In Victoria and Albert Museum._]
II
CHELSEA CHINA
The origin of Chelsea china is like that of the celebrated Charles
James Harrington Fitzroy Yellowplush, “wropped in mystry.” The
southwestern corner of London has always been connected with the making
of pottery in some form or another. To-day Messrs. Doulton carry on
the tradition of Lambeth and Vauxhall. Battersea was famed for its
enamelled ware, and Fulham had a factory established by John Dwight,
M.A., of Christ Church, Oxford, the inventor of porcelain in England,
to whom a patent was granted in 1671 for his manufacture of porcelain
and stone ware.
Tradition, with a light heart, circulated the fable that the origin of
the Chelsea works was owing to the clay that was brought as ballast in
ships from Chinese ports. In a “Life of Nollekens” this absurdity finds
its way into print, but for all that it is utterly without foundation.
“The cunning rogues produced very white and delicate ware, but then
they had their clay from China, which, when the Chinese found out,
they would not let the captains have any more for ballast, and the
consequence was that the whole concern failed.”
Equally foolish and erroneous statements have been made about other of
the English factories, and the difficulty of sifting real facts from a
mass of chaff in such factories as Bow or Lowestoft is very great.
In the early days of Chelsea, and, by the way, the exact date of the
establishment of the factory is not known, the clay was obtained from
Cornwall. Dr. Martin Lister, in a work published in 1699, mentions the
fact that an inferior kind of porcelain was made at Chelsea, probably
little better than opaque glass. It is known that a manufactory of
glass was set up at Chelsea by some Venetians under the auspices of
the Duke of Buckingham. It is interesting to note that the Chelsea
mark of an anchor is identical with that of Venice. In 1745 the
works at Chelsea had attained a Continental fame, inasmuch as the
French company, in petitioning for the establishment of a factory at
Vincennes, urged that its aim was to counteract the importation of
English and German ware.
[Illustration: CHELSEA VASE. 24 IN. HIGH. (DATE 1762.)
Representing the Death of Cleopatra.
_In British Museum._]
1745 is a very convenient date, as we then come on surer ground.
The earliest dated example of English porcelain known has the word,
“Chelsea, 1745,” scratched on it under the glaze, and is also marked
with a triangle. We reproduce this mark in our list of Chelsea marks.
Life was given to the Chelsea factory by the patronage of George II.,
who did much to encourage its work. He procured workmen, models, and
materials from Saxony and Brunswick, and thus enabled Chelsea to enter
into competition with the best designs and productions of Dresden and
Sèvres. The Duke of Cumberland took a warm interest in the factory, and
contributed an annual sum to its revenue. In 1750 we find the Chelsea
works in the hands of Nicholas Sprimont, a foreigner of considerable
artistic taste, who established the reputation of Chelsea. The best
period of Chelsea ware is from this date till the year 1765. Porcelain
made between these two dates is always much sought after, and brings
considerable sums under the hammer. For instance, in February, 1902, at
Christie’s, a Chelsea teapot, painted with birds and trees in colours,
in spiral panels, with borders of gilt flowers, fetched £96 12s., and a
pair of vases, 11-1/4 inches in height, square shaped, the four panels
painted with male and female Chinese figures, sold for £588. In July,
1902, a figure of a Chelsea shepherdess, brought £33 12s.
There is little doubt that at this time there were being manufactured
at Chelsea some very fine specimens of porcelain. Horace Walpole
writes, in 1763, “I saw yesterday a magnificent service of Chelsea
china, which the King and Queen are sending to the Duke of Mecklenburg.
There are dishes and plates without number, an epergne, candlestick,
salt-cellars, sauce-boats, tea and coffee equipages, _et cetera_. In
short, it is complete, and cost £1,200.”
[Illustration:
(Embossed oval).
(In gold or red).
(Later marks).
(Anchor & cable).
[Chelsea Marks].]
One pleasing feature is the fact that Mr. Sprimont made a handsome
fortune by his skill and industry as a director. During his time, it
is said that “the china was in such repute as to be sold by auction,
and as a set was purchased as soon as baked, dealers were surrounding
the doors for that purpose.” This fanciful scene of competing dealers
striving to secure a specimen of Chelsea almost before it was cooled
from the furnace is too picturesque to be literally true.
We reproduce a figure of a carpenter, eight inches high, coloured,
marked with anchor in red (p. 29). This specimen of Chelsea is now at
the Bethnal Green Museum. We give an illustration of a beautifully
decorated vase in the collection at the British Museum, representing
the Death of Cleopatra. The French style of design is singularly
evident in this example (p. 31).
[Illustration: CHELSEA FIGURE.
Aquatic bird preening his plumage.]
[Illustration: CHELSEA FIGURE.
Marked with anchor in red.
(Height, 8 inches.)]
[Illustration: CHELSEA FIGURE.
Marked with raised anchor painted red.
(Height, 6-1/2 inches.)]
Of the marks on Chelsea china, it may be observed that the earlier
specimens, in the days when they imitated blue and white Oriental
models, are unmarked. Later the anchor appears, embossed in a raised
oval, impressed on the bottom of the piece, and bearing the anchor in
relief. Various forms of the anchor are used, and in varying colours,
apparently according to the caprice of the workman, who drew it with
his hair-pencil. Red is the colour most commonly used, and the best
pieces are mostly marked in gold, with the anchor more carefully drawn.
[Illustration:
(In gold on best pieces).
(Mark on milk jugs in form of goat).
Chelsea 1745
(Earliest dated example)
[Chelsea Marks].]
Specimens with the double anchors are very valuable, as this was a mark
only used on very high-class pieces.
The triangle is one of the marks of Bow, and the little milk-jugs in
the form of a goat, decorated with raised flowers, were attributed to
Bow, on account of this mark, but the last mark we give shows beyond
dispute that the triangle was also used as a Chelsea mark.
Having told of the rise and progress of Chelsea, we have regretfully
to chronicle its fall. The following contemporary advertisement is
mournful reading: “To be sold by auction, by Mr. Burnsall, on the
premises, some time in March next (1764), at the Chelsea Porcelain
Factory, everything in general belonging to it, and all the remaining
unfinished pieces, glazed and unglazed; some imperfect enamelled ditto,
of the useful and ornamental; all the materials; the valuable and
extensive variety of fine models in wax, in brass, and in lead; all
the plaster moulds, and others; the mills, kilns, and iron presses;
together with all the fixtures of the different warehouses; likewise
all the outbuildings, etc., etc. And, as Mr. Sprimont, the sole
possessor of this rare porcelain secret, is advised to go to the German
spaw, all his genuine houshold furniture, etc., will be sold at the
same time.
“N.B.—Soon after, when everything is sold belonging to the manufactory
and the large warehouse cleared, there will be some most beautiful
pieces of the truly inimitable Mazarine blue, crimson, and gold, that
Mr. Sprimont has thought deserving finishing; that will be sold at
Chelsea, as the whole remaining and the last produce of that once most
magnificent porcelain manufactory.”
This was in 1764, but no purchaser came forward, and the factory
lingered on till 1769, when again we find it advertised, and the end
of Chelsea china is very near, Mr. Sprimont having entirely left off
making the same. Josiah Wedgwood had some idea of purchasing some of
the Chelsea china: “There’s an immense amount of fine things,” he
writes to Bentley. But at this date, Mr. William Duesbury, of the Derby
manufactory, took over the Chelsea works as he had previously taken
over those of Bow, and carried them on for some years until 1784,
when he pulled down the buildings, and removed all that was useful to
his factory at Derby, and thus the manufacture of Chelsea china came to
an end.
[Illustration: CHELSEA DISHES.
Painted with tropical birds in brilliant colours.
(Width, 12-1/2 in.).]
The earliest examples of Chelsea china were in imitation of the
ordinary blue Delft patterns, but later, Oriental patterns were very
successfully copied, both in blue and white, and in mixed colours.
Both Sèvres and Dresden were then adopted as models, and with very
fine results. The colours were remarkably vivid, and only skilful
artists were employed, the specimens they turned out being exquisitely
decorated and finely conceived. The fine vases in the French style
in imitation of Sèvres, with _gros bleu_, crimson, turquoise, and
apple-green were made from 1760 to 1765.
Later, debased French forms were copied and an over elaboration was
employed which marked the decadence of Chelsea. This over elaboration
in art often marks the period of its decline. When wood engraving
attempted to copy the refinements and delicacy of steel engraving it
exceeded its limitations. To-day the glass-blower of Venice commits the
same blunder when he, with false art puts lace patterns on his glass
ware.
[Illustration: THE “FOUNDLING” VASE.
_In the Collection of the Earl of Dudley._]
The two most important specimens of Chelsea china, both from their
size and quality, are undoubtedly the “Chesterfield” vase, and the
“Foundling” vase. They are two feet high, with bold _rococo_ scroll
handles, surmounted by dome-shaped covers; they are painted with
pastoral subjects on white medallions. The reverse sides are painted
with exotic birds of rich plumage, and the body or ground of the vase
is of a rich _gros bleu_ colour. The former was bought for £2,000 by
the Earl of Dudley, and the latter, which was a gift to the Foundling
Hospital, was sold by the Governors to the same nobleman, and they are
now both at Dudley House. We give an illustration of the celebrated
“Foundling” vase.
The raised flowers arranged in vases and ornamental figures were a
feature of Chelsea ware; butterflies, bees, and other insects were
introduced among the leaves, and the modelling was always well done.
We reproduce a characteristic piece of Chelsea with delicate work, and
exhibiting many of the individualities of Chelsea design (p. 27).
[Illustration: Derby-Chelsea Marks.]
[Illustration: Mark Copied from Chinese ——.]
As the earliest specimens of Chelsea were unmarked they can only be
judged by the body, the general style of workmanship, and the glaze.
The ordinary Chelsea marks we have already given, but we now give the
marks which were used by Mr. Duesbury for a time when he was proprietor
both of the Derby works and those of Chelsea. This ware is known as
“Derby-Chelsea” ware, and is very much sought after. There are some
finely enamelled plates in the Victoria and Albert Museum with the mark
we give. They are magnificent specimens of the Derby-Chelsea and are
scarcely distinguishable from their Oriental prototypes except in the
softness of the paste.
It is interesting to remember that Dr. Johnson thought he could
discover a means of further perfecting the Chelsea china. He applied
to the proprietors, who allowed him to fire his compositions in their
ovens at Chelsea. The worthy lexicographer attended there about
twice a week and stayed all day, accompanied by his housekeeper, who
brought a basket of provisions with her. Nothing, however, came of the
experiments.
In taking leave of Chelsea we must remember that its success was an
encouragement for the formation of manufactories in other parts of the
country during the closing years of the eighteenth century. The workmen
trained there under Sprimont found their way to Derby and to Worcester,
and to parts of Staffordshire, and carried their experience with them.
If for nothing else Chelsea deserves to be remembered as an art centre;
and although Sprimont broke down in health and had to go to the “German
spaw,” and leave his pictures to be sold at Christie’s, for all that,
Chelsea spelt success.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CHELSEA CHINA.
The glaze is a softer milky white, and is not so thick as that on Bow
pieces. It is carefully finished in every detail. The figure subjects
are not so crudely painted as those of Bow. Three spots unglazed are
sometimes found on Chelsea plates and dishes, caused by the three
points on which pieces have rested. Chelsea china is remarkable for
its great weight. The bases and rims, particularly of smaller
pieces, are ground quite smooth. Just above the rim black specks and
small tears of the coagulated glaze are noticeable. As in Bow, an
insect or spray was sometimes cleverly painted over flaws and defects.
[Illustration: CHELSEA FIGURE AND CANDLESTICK.
Man playing bagpipes.]
SALE PRICES.
CHELSEA. £ s. d.
Vases, pair, oviform, of tall, slender
form, slightly fluted, with mottled
dark blue ground, richly gilt with
pheasants and other birds and foliage,
and with white and gold scroll
handles, entwined with groups of
fruit and flowers, painted in rich
colours, 16-1/2 in. high. Christie, May 2,
1902 756 0 0
Teacup and saucer, painted with exotic
birds and fruit, and with alternate
mottled dark blue panels with gilt
borders. Christie, July 18, 1902 23 2 0
Inkstand, with sand vase and pen-box,
dark blue ground, gilt with flowers,
surmounted by a figure of a lamb.
Christie, November 14, 1902 26 5 0
Plates, twelve, with turquoise and gilt
scroll borders, each painted with
exotic birds and foliage in three
compartments, in claret-coloured riband
borders, butterflies and other insects
in the centre; gold anchor mark.
Christie, January 23, 1903 65 2 0
Boar’s-head dish, forming a bowl, cover
and stand, painted in natural
colours, the dish moulded with an
oak branch, rushes, and knife in
relief, on a maroon and gold ground,
10-3/4 in. high, 22 in. long. Christie,
May 8, 1903 94 10 0
Vases, pair, flat-shaped hexagonal,
with small necks, spreading lips,
and white and gold scroll handles,
each vase painted with a group of
Bacchantes and Satyrs in a landscape,
in upright panel on maroon
ground, and gilt with birds, festoons
of flowers and scrolls, 7-3/4 in. high.
Formerly the property of Sir Robert
and Horace Walpole. From Lord
Cadogan’s Collection, 1865 (£155).
Christie, February 27, 1903 304 10 0
Group of two birds on a tree-stump—raised
anchor mark, 4-1/2 in. high.
Christie, July 5, 1920 48 6 0
Figure of Justice, 11 in. high. Christie,
July 5, 1920 9 9 0
Pair of candlesticks, with figures of
Mars and Venus standing in flowering
arbours, 8 in. high. Christie,
July 5, 1920 9 9 0
Candlestick, the stem encrusted with
flowers, and with a figure of Cupid
holding a heart at the base, 9 in.
high. Christie, July 5, 1920 6 16 6
Pair of candelabra, with figures of a
shepherd and shepherdess leaning on
balustrades, holding a bird-cage and
bird, with a lamb and dog at their
feet, 9-1/2 in. and 11 in. high. Christie,
July 5, 1920 28 7 0
Figure of Minerva, 13 in. high. Christie,
July 5, 1920 5 5 0
Plate, the centre painted with a bouquet
and sprays of flowers, the border
with exotic birds, modelled and gilt
with foliage scrolls; gold anchor
mark, 8-3/4 in. diameter. Puttick &
Simpson, July 16, 1920 5 5 0
Plate, painted with exotic birds and
branches; and one, with green
scroll border. Christie, July 20, 1920 10 10 0
Two Plates, painted with birds and
insects on white ground, with white
and gold scroll borders. Christie,
July 20, 1920 6 6 0
Pair of Figures of a shepherdess, with a
lamb, and a youth, with a letter,
on plinths encrusted with flowers;
7-1/2 in. high. Christie, July 20, 1920 8 8 0
Three Figures, of Erato, Calliope and
Thalia, on plinths encrusted with
flowers, modelled by Roubilliac,
impressed R., on scroll pedestals
painted with butterflies, 15-1/4 in.
high. Harland-Peck Sale. Christie,
June 23, 1920 283 10 0
Set of Three Vases and Covers, painted }
with Venus and Cupid, Apollo }
and Daphne and other subjects in }
panels framed with gilt garlands of }
flowers on claret-coloured ground, }
and with small panels enclosing }
landscapes and birds on the reverse, }
the necks pierced with shells }
and scrollwork, and with scroll }
handles and feet, 17 in. and 14 in. }
high. Christie, July 22, 1920 } 6310 0 0
}
Two Pairs of Vases and Covers, _nearly }
similar_, painted with Venus and }
Cupid and Leda and the Swan, }
14-1/2 in. and 15-1/2 in. high }
Cup on circular foot, decorated with
birds and flowers, 4-3/4 in. Sotheby,
May 17, 1920 8 10 0
Dish, painted with flower-sprays and
animals in colours, the borders
moulded with trellis and scrollwork,
14-1/2 in. diameter. Christie, July 5,
1920 9 19 6
Pair of groups for candlesticks of birds
in elaborate floral borders on scroll
bases, inscribed “The Cock and the
Jewel” and “The Vain Jackdaw,”
with handles and places for sconces.
Sotheby, May 17, 1920 41 0 0
Pair of miniature figures of a shepherd
and shepherdess, 3 in. high. Christie,
July 12, 1920 21 0 0
Two Figures of Birds, 2-3/4 in. and 2 in.
high. Christie, July 12, 1920 5 5 0
DERBY-CHELSEA.
Coffee-cups and saucers, pair, painted
in green and gold festoons and
Cupids in lake; gold mark. Sotheby,
May 4, 1903 25 10 0
Teacups and saucers, pair, fluted and
painted with sprays of flowers in
green, with alternate crimson panels,
gilt, with foliage. Christie, June 16,
1903 52 10 0
Derby-Chelsea Figure of John Wilkes,
11-1/2 in. high. Christie, July 5, 1920 12 12 0
Derby-Chelsea Figure of a youth, playing
drum, on gilt scroll plinth, 8-1/2 in.
high. Christie, July 12, 1920 10 10 0
Pair of Derby-Chelsea Figures of children,
emblematic of Autumn and
Winter, 4-3/4 in. high. Christie, July
12, 1920 11 11 0
Derby-Chelsea Teapot cover and stand,
painted with garlands of flowers in
green, in radiating panels with pink
ribbon borders, 5-1/2 in. high, teapot
with gold mark. Puttick & Simpson,
July 16, 1920 7 17 6
Pair of Derby-Chelsea Figures of Shakespeare
and Milton on oblong white
and gold pedestals, 12 in. high.
Christie, July 5, 1920 15 15 0
Pair of Derby-Chelsea Figures of a boy
and girl, with cat and dog, 6 in. high.
Christie, July 20, 1920 22 1 0
Two Derby-Chelsea Figures of children,
carrying baskets of flowers, 6-1/2 in.
high; and a figure of a child, with
a wreath of flowers, 6 in. high.
Christie, July 20, 1920 17 17 0
Pair of Derby-Chelsea Figures of a boy
and girl with dog and cat, 8 in. high.
Christie, July 5, 1920 12 12 0
Derby-Chelsea group of four children
around an obelisk, 9-1/2 in. high.
Christie, July 5, 1920 6 6 0
Derby-Chelsea Figure of a youth, seated
with an eagle beside him, 9-1/2 in. high.
Christie, July 5, 1920 10 10 0
Derby-Chelsea group of a shepherd and
shepherdess, with a lamb and grapes,
8-1/2 in. high. Christie, July 5, 1920 11 11 0
Derby-Chelsea Figure of Milton on
scroll base, 12-1/2 in. high. Puttick
& Simpson, July 9, 1920 5 5 0
Derby-Chelsea group of the Continents,
modelled by John Whitaker, 11-1/4 in.
high. Puttick & Simpson, July 16,
1920 17 17 0
[Illustration: CHELSEA CHINA (1750-1760).
Pair of groups of two figures. Harlequin dancing with a girl. Painted
in delicate colours.
(Height, 8-3/4 in. Mark, an anchor in red.)]
III
BOW
[Illustration: BOW VASE, WITH COVER.
(Finely decorated in colours.)]
[Illustration: BOW INKSTAND (DIAMETER 4 IN.).
“Made at New Canton, 1751.”
_At the Victoria and Albert Museum._]
III
THE BOW CHINA FACTORY
In this “Chat” we shall treat of the wonderful porcelain made at Bow,
or “New Canton,” as the makers called their factory on the banks of the
Lea. It was established about 1730, and it ceased about 1776. That is
to say, it commenced with the reign of George II. and continued for a
short time during the reign of George III. Pope was not dead, Fielding
was writing his novels, Burke was electrifying the country with his
genius, the great Doctor Johnson was in the midst of his Dictionary,
David Garrick was holding the town in a spell by his art, and Sir
Joshua Reynolds was, with his brush, perpetuating the beauties of his
day, while Burns and Scott, Wordsworth and Coleridge, and Byron,
Thackeray, and Dickens were then in the unborn future.
[Illustration: BOW FIGURE (6 IN. HIGH).
Woman playing _pastorella_.
_At the Victoria and Albert Museum._]
So this porcelain of Bow comes to us direct from the eighteenth
century. We have been taught to regard the eighteenth century as a
period of lace-ruffles and wigs, of powder and of patches, of dull,
insipid ladies, of hard-drinking squires, of rough soldiers—a century
with little or no love of art, when Shakespeare had been almost
forgotten. Of its china, certainly, we call up only a picture of ugly
grinning monsters, and little meaningless gee-gaws—snuff-boxes and
patch-boxes, and china handles for walking-sticks; but a glance at
what Bow produced dispels so crude an idea at once, and, let us hope,
for ever. Bow, in its own field, is worthy to stand by the side of what
Sir Joshua has left us, and what Gainsborough bequeathed to posterity
as poetic memories in paint and canvas of “dead women, loved and gone.”
As in our other “Chats” on Derby and Worcester and Chelsea, so with
Bow, we shall have to tell of the human lives that have gone to the
making of these fragile porcelain figures, all that is left to us of
dead men’s life-work—which Polly or Molly or Elizabeth Ann may demolish
by a fatal twist of the feather-brush. A patent was taken out by Edward
Heylin, in the parish of Bow, and Thomas Frye, of the parish of West
Ham, in 1744, for a new method of manufacturing “a certain mineral,
equal to, if not exceeding in goodness and beauty, china or porcelain
ware imported from abroad. The material is an earth, the produce of
the Cherokee nation in America, called by the natives _unaker_.” In
1749, Thomas Frye took out, alone, a second patent “for a new method of
making a certain ware, which is not inferior in beauty and fineness,
and is rather superior in strength, than the earthenware that is
brought from the East Indies, and is commonly known by the name of
China, Japan, or Porcelain Ware.”
A word or two concerning Frye. Our Irish readers will be glad to
learn that he was born at Dublin, in 1710. He came to London in
1738, when, he painted a portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales
for Saddlers’ Hall. At the establishment of the Bow factory he took
the management. To bring the china to perfection, he spent fifteen
years of his life among furnaces, which had so bad an effect upon his
health that his constitution nearly broke down. In 1759 he had to go
to Wales for a change of air, and in 1760 he returned to London, and
we find him taking a house at Hatton Garden, where he executed some
important mezzotint engravings—which, as Mr. Rudyard Kipling observes,
“is another story.” He died of consumption in 1762. Perhaps Oliver
Goldsmith had him in mind (who knows?) when he wrote his line—
“There the pale artist plies his sickly trade.”
To ladies it will be especially interesting to read that Frye had two
daughters, who assisted him in painting the china at Bow.
[Illustration: BOW CHINA.
Figure of Britannia with medallion of George II.
(Decorated in colours, on rococo base.)]
Readers will, before now, have come to the conclusion that the study
of old china is not superlatively easy, and that the question of marks
is at the best a vexed one. Should there be any who have any lingering
doubts on this point, they will speedily join the majority when they
come to consider the bewildering marks of the Bow factory. These same
marks, be it said, have puzzled experts who have denied each other’s
conclusions, though with hardly as much vehemence as the late Mr. Bret
Harte’s learned society “Upon the Stanislaus,” who engaged in conflict
“with the remnants of a palæozoic age” in shameful manner—
“And the way they heaved those fossils in their anger was a sin,
Till the skull of an old mammoth caved the head of Thompson in.”
[Illustration: Bow Factory—Marks.]
We give one set of the known marks of the Bow factory, later we shall
give another set no less puzzling. It is difficult to attempt to offer
any definite conclusions, or to do more in the space at our disposal
than to state that these are marks known to have been used at Bow, and
are upon specimens in the national or well-known private collections.
The letter B and the drawn bow, of course, explain themselves. The
crescent in blue and the sword and anchor in red occur together on a
china figure of a sportsman with a gun. It is conjectured that the
introduction of a dagger may have been due to the fact that both
proprietors were freemen of the City of London, and the dagger, as is
well known, is part of the City arms. The triple mark of the anchor
with the vertical and horizontal daggers, by some collectors is
ascribed to early Chelsea, by others to Worcester; it is a disputed
point.
[Illustration: BOW FACTORY MARKS.]
The little figure we reproduce (on p. 50) is of a woman playing the
_pastorella_. It is one of a pair of figures. The other represents a
man singing. Each figure is marked in red with both anchor and dagger.
The _pastorella_ represented in the figure was a musical instrument
in general use previously to the introduction of the spinet. It may
be remarked that at the back of each of these figures, near the base,
a square hole has been pierced before glazing, for the purpose of
receiving a metal stem supporting nozzles for candles. As this square
hole is said never to be found on similar Chelsea pieces, it has come
to be regarded as a distinctive feature of old Bow figures.
[Illustration: PAIR OF BOW FIGURES.
Musical Subjects.
Man with flageolet and drum, Woman with triangle.
Marked with anchor in red, cross in blue.]
Among the various articles made at the Bow factory may be enumerated
the following, which have been taken from the account-books of the
factory: Shepherds and shepherdesses, cupids, fluter, fiddler,
harlequin, columbine, pierrot or clown, tambourine player, Dutch
dancer, woman with chicken, birds on pedestals, swans, boars,
squirrels, goats, as well as many miscellaneous articles for general
use, such as salt-boxes, candlesticks, mugs, pickle-stands, &c. We
reproduce an inkstand, four inches in diameter, of white glazed
porcelain decorated with flowers, which decoration we call attention
to as being characteristic of Bow. An inscription appears at the top:
“Made at New Canton, 1751” (p. 49).
Since Chaucer’s day, Stratford-le-Bow has come down to us in rhyme, for
the poet playfully pokes fun at the good nun in his “Canterbury Tales”:—
“And Frenche she spake ful fayre and fetishly
After the scole of Stratford-atte-Bow,
For Frenche of Paris was to her unknowe.”
But should china collectors who travel down the Great Eastern Railway
wish a further fillip to remind them of Bow, sundry soap and candle
factories, with stench so strong that it knocks at the railway windows,
will arrest their straying thoughts. The literary reader may, when he
catches glimpses of the brown and oily ooze of the River Lea, think of
Coleridge’s lines to Cologne and the River Rhine.
And here at Bow linger still the memories of the old factory—a century
old—where Quin as Falstaff was turned out in porcelain, and Garrick
posed as Richard III. in a china figure. A match factory stands on the
site of the old Bow China factory, but there is still a “China Row” to
suggest the old days of “New Canton” and its wares.
[Illustration: BOW TEAPOT.
Decorated in underglaze blue, in Chinese style. (Height 8-1/4 ins.)]
[Illustration: BOW PLATE.
Decorated with oriental floral design in overglaze colour in red,
green, and blue. (Diameter, 8-3/4 in.).
_In the collection of the Author._]
The discovery is interesting of fragments of old Bow porcelain, and
portions of “saggers” on the site of one of the kilns while digging a
drain from the match factory.
[Illustration: BOW WHITE CHINA CUPS HAVING RAISED MAYFLOWER PATTERN
AFTER CHINESE DESIGNS.
_Victoria and Albert Museum._]
The children of the neighbourhood were observed to have as playthings
bits of broken china of a high-class and delicate ware, never emanating
from the china shops of Bow, and Mr. Higgins, attached to the match
factory, henceforth kept strict watch over the excavations, and careful
examination unearthed a number of broken specimens of the Bow ware. He
and his sister carefully arranged the broken pieces, and they form an
excellent authority, these trays of broken china, for determining the
paste and glaze, and identifying the decoration and designs of Bow. By
means of this find it was possible to classify many doubtful pieces of
china in well-known collections hitherto wrongly attributed to other
factories. This discovery by excavation was followed many years later
by a similar find at Lowestoft.
It is interesting to note that among the fragments found, not a single
piece is of Delft or common earthenware, but all are of porcelain.
The designs of many of them are of Chinese landscapes, with flowers,
figures, and birds. Their general character may be gathered from sketch
of four examples. They are all painted in blue with the exception of
a cup painted with green leaves and crimson-lake flowers. None of the
pieces is printed, but all are painted with a brush. The other two
illustrations we give are of china ornamented in relief, the favourite
pattern being the mayflower. Each of these Bow cups is a typical
example. The design stands out very sharply, and is raised from the
surface of the china. The cups are rather heavy for their size.
Among the _débris_ were found many pieces of an ornamental character, a
salt-cellar beautifully modelled, formed of three shells, with smaller
shells and seaweed between, but the upper shell to hold the salt is
missing. Pieces of dishes, evidently intended to hold sweetmeats, were
unearthed from this sewer hole, with finely designed corals and shells
and seaweeds. Some natural shells were also found, which had evidently
served the artists as models. Two china pug-dogs were discovered with
collars bearing roses on them.
Bow paste is exceedingly hard, and the fracture when it is broken is
close and compact. The pieces as a rule are very heavy for their size,
but many of the cups and saucers are almost of egg-shell thinness.
The colour is milky white. Should any of our readers be possessed of
Bow china, they may ratify its origin by carefully examining it, if
possible, under a magnifying glass. On scrutinising the blue pieces
it will be found there is a peculiarity in the glaze, which arises in
this manner. At that time blue was the only known colour that would
bear the intense heat of the kiln. It was always painted on the biscuit
before being dipped in the glaze. It is found that certain portions
of the blue, however slight, are apt, while the glaze is in a fluid
state, to spread over the surface, giving it a blue tinge. The other
colours as well as the gold were painted over the glaze, and set in a
kiln of lower temperature. Hence the blue, being _under the glaze_, is
imperishable, and the other colours from frequent use get rubbed off.
We have given a number of marks used at Bow; we supplement that list by
two others, one of which is exclusively composed of signatures actually
used by Thomas Frye himself.
Although none of the ware unearthed at Bow was printed, yet printed
ware did come from there. In all probability it was sent to Liverpool
to have the transfer engravings, so much in vogue when Bow flourished,
put on the china. As early as the year 1756 this was done, for certain
entries appear in the Bow books: “One pint _printed_ mug: a sett
compleat of the second _printed_ teas.” Or it is possible that they
were sent to Battersea to be printed. It is not a far cry from Bow
to Battersea. Transfer printing on enamel was in vogue at Battersea
before 1755. Horace Walpole, writing to a friend in 1755, says, “I
send you a trifling snuff-box, only as a sample of the new manufacture
at Battersea, which is done with copper-plates.” But Battersea and
Battersea enamel—that is another story.
[Illustration: Bow Factory
Various Signatures of Thomas Frye.]
It is to be hoped that this “Chat” on old Bow china will have helped
readers, to whom Bow is a name, to form some idea of what went on
there more than a century ago. The china cabinet holds more mysteries
within it than many a good housewife dreams of. It will be seen that
the difficulties of china-collecting are legion. At the modern find at
Bow, lovers of china ought to be grateful, for it enabled many vexed
questions to be settled, but what is Bow and what is Chelsea still
puzzles experts. In all probability Bow, Bristol, and another very much
debated factory, Lowestoft, will continue to offer traps and snares and
pitfalls for the unwary collector (or misshapen falsities attributed to
them) till connoisseurs are no more and collecting days are done.
The find in 1903 at Lowestoft is as important as the find at Bow, but
it is exceedingly unlikely that any more facts will ever come to light
respecting these old factories; every available source of information
has been tapped and all that can be known concerning them is known.
The potters who made the exquisite shapes, the artists who painted the
roses on bowl and beaker, have long since departed with the roses of
yester-years. Their life-work is scattered. Much of it, perhaps most of
it, is gone for ever. Each cup and each dish of the long-dead artist is
like “a good deed in a naughty world.” To-day, with a handful of facts,
collectors and connoisseurs wrangle together over theories.
[Illustration: BOW CUP AND SAUCER.
Embossed pine cone ornament and green band.]
[Illustration: BOW CUPS.
The celebrated quail pattern; floral decoration, gilded, birds touched
with blue. Middle cup, floral design in crimson and green.
_In the Collection of the Author._]
Disputes have been held as to the origin of certain pieces of puzzling
technique. Some experts have believed them to be Chelsea or Longton
Hall. Even the “Craft Bowl,” one of the earliest pieces of Bow china,
now at the British Museum, is known to have been decorated in a kiln at
Kentish Town.
CHARACTERISTICS OF BOW CHINA.
Body and glaze often defective, pattern so arranged as to cover flaw.
Insects often introduced for this purpose to hide imperfections.
Coarse, chalky white ware, covered with glaze much pitted and speckled.
The bottom often shows three marks representing points on which piece
rested in kiln. The glaze is thickly applied, and fills up interstices
of raised patterns. The body and glaze varied; the earlier pieces have
a yellow tinge in the glaze. The bottoms of some basins and dishes are
often twice as thick as the sides. The ware, owing to large amount of
lead used, is discoloured.
SALE PRICES.
BOW. £ s. d.
Figures, pair, emblematical of Autumn
and Winter, 7-1/4 in. high. Christie,
February 4, 1902 16 16 0
Groups, pair, a drummer and piper, 10
in. high. Christie, February 4, 1902 48 6 0
Figures, pair, of a girl and youth, with
bagpipes, a dog and flowers, 7-1/2 in.
high. Christie, April 25, 1902 16 5 6
Groups, pair, with figures of a Chinaman,
child, and monkey; and the
companion, on scroll plinths, 9-1/2 in.
high; rare mark, B, intertwined
with the anchor and dagger.
Christie, June 20, 1902 42 0 0
Cream-jug, with flowers in relief,
coloured; impressed triangle mark.
Christie, June 24, 1902 25 4 0
Ink-stand, with ink-vase, sand-box,
candlestick, and pen-tray, painted
with landscapes and insects, the pen-tray
surmounted by a group of a
goat and two children, 9-1/2 in. wide.
Christie, July 2, 1902 17 6 6
Cream-jugs, two, with goats and bee in
relief. Christie, November 28, 1902 16 16 0
Figures of parrots, pair, holding fruit
and perched upon stumps of trees,
resting on tripod scroll, bases encrusted
with flowers, the birds are
painted in natural colours, height
7-1/2 in. and 6-1/2 in. Sotheby, November
11, 1902 33 0 0
Statuette, on scroll base, of a boy playing
a drum, painted in colours, with
gilding and encrusted with jesmine
at sides, modelled by Tebo, height
10 in. Sotheby, November 11, 1902 16 10 0
Figure. Bacchus squeezing grapes in cup,
11 in. high. Sotheby, May 17, 1920 19 0 0
Figure of girl carrying basket, and her
apron full of flowers, 5-1/8 in.
Sotheby, May 17, 1920 6 15 0
Figure of a child, emblematic of Winter,
6-3/4 in. high. Christie, July 20, 1920 8 18 6
Figure of Cupid, kneeling before a
flowering tree with a bird in the
branches, 8 in. high. Christie, July
5, 1920 4 4 0
Figure of two birds, perched on flowering
branches, 6-1/2 in. high. Christie,
July 5, 1920 6 6 0
Pair of Figures of Neptune and Pomona,
7-3/4 in. high. Christie, July 5, 1920 14 3 6
Figure of Jupiter, with an eagle and
thunderbolt, 6-1/2 in high. Christie,
July 5, 1920 8 8 0
Figure of Minerva, richly coloured, on
scroll plinth encrusted with flowers,
13-1/2 in. high. Christie, July 5, 1920 14 14 0
A nearly similar figure on white scroll
plinth. Christie, July 5, 1920 5 5 0
Pair of octagonal dishes, painted with
quails and flowering plants in the
Hizen taste, 9-1/2 in. wide. Puttick &
Simpson, July 16, 1920 10 10 0
Figure of Neptune holding a vase, and
with dolphin, on wave base, 7-3/4 in.
high. Puttick & Simpson, July 16,
1920 8 18 6
Figure of Minerva on pierced scroll base,
outlined with turquoise and gilt,
red anchor and dagger mark, 8-1/2 in.
high. Puttick & Simpson, July 16, 1920 15 15 0
Pair of Figures of a boy and girl, wearing
Eastern costumes, and with dog
and lamb, on shaped bases, with
three scroll feet, red anchor and
dagger mark, 6 in. high. Puttick
& Simpson, July 16, 1920 19 19 0
IV
OLD WORCESTER
[Illustration: EARLY BLUE AND WHITE WORCESTER PLATE.
(Marked with crescent.)
_In the Collection of the Author._]
[Illustration: OLD WORCESTER SUGAR-BASIN AND CREAM JUGS.
(Transfer-printed in black.)]
IV
OLD WORCESTER
In old Worcester china there lies a magic that appeals to the collector
of fine copies and adaptation from Nankin and other Chinese porcelain.
The real old blue colouring of Worcester has a charm about it which
cannot be reproduced nowadays. There is something personal about the
productions of the old factories; the workman was proud to make his
mark at the bottom of the plate or bowl he had created, much in the
same manner as the masons who built Fountains Abbey left each man his
mystic sign on each stone he carved.
If the reader chooses to weave a romance of airy nothingness on an old
cracked bowl of Worcester blue there is substance enough, if he has the
mind to do so. Mr. Austin Dobson, in one of his charming villanelles,
has taught us how much lies in the dreamy depths of a plate with queer
Chinese blue figures on it:—
“‘Ah, me! but it might have been!
Was there ever so dismal a fate?’
Quoth the little blue mandarin.
‘Such a maid as was never seen?
She passed, though I cried to her, “Wait.”
Ah, me! but it might have been!
‘I cried, “O my Flower, my Queen,
Be mine!” ’Twas precipitate,’
Quoth the little blue mandarin.
‘But then ... she was just sixteen,
Long-eyed—as a lily straight—
Ah, me! but it might have been!
‘As it was, from her palankeen,
She laughed—“You’re a week too late!”
Quoth the little blue mandarin.
‘That is why, in a mist of spleen,
I mourn on this old blue plate.
Ah, me! but it might have been!’
Quoth the little blue mandarin.”
[Illustration: WORCESTER PLATE SCALE PATTERN.
Fine painted Flowers in reserved panels. Having square mark.]
[Illustration: WORCESTER TEAPOT.
Powder blue ground with white reserves decorated in blue.]
We have already given the story of old Derby china, and when Derby
and Chelsea and Bow were establishing for themselves a reputation,
Worcester was engaged in experimenting in the same direction in the
person of one Dr. John Wall, a physician of that city. He was a
man of considerable taste, and besides being a clever practitioner,
he was a practical chemist, and an artist of some ability. One of his
paintings hangs in the hall of Merton College, Oxford, of which he
was a Fellow. He was an etcher, and designed stained-glass windows;
one of his windows is at Oriel College. What William Duesbury was to
Derby and the foundation of the china factory there, and what Josiah
Wedgwood was to Staffordshire, that was Dr. John Wall to Worcester.
His was the guiding intellect of the Worcester enterprise, which
culminated in 1751, about a year after Derby had been established, in
the establishment of a manufactory of porcelain in the “faithful city.”
These were restless times, very troublesome then to domestic England,
and having an influence upon art. Only six years prior to this the
Pretender had invaded England with an armed force, and had penetrated
as far as Derby. Party feeling ran very high. It has been asserted
that the industry was introduced to Worcester for political reasons,
so that the Georgian party might gain votes in the county against the
Jacobites, who were strong in Worcester. It seems certain enough that
Dr. Wall began his experiments merely for the love of the study, but
whether he was used by politicians, or whether he used them, is of no
moment to us; suffice it to say that the Worcester Porcelain Company
was founded in 1751, and among the prominent co-operators with Dr. Wall
were William Davies, an apothecary, and Edward Cave, the founder of
the _Gentleman’s Magazine_. This latter was of inestimable use to the
factory for advertising their wares.
[Illustration: Old Worcester Marks.
1751-1776.]
[Illustration: Old Worcester Marks.]
The earliest Worcester productions were based entirely on Chinese
models. Small cups, without handles, of Oriental design were decorated
under the glaze in blue. All the characteristics of the Nankin ware
became those of Worcester. Slowly and surely they attempted with
complete success some of the more brilliant colours of Eastern
ceramic ware, notably from the Japanese.
[Illustration: PAIR OF WORCESTER VASES.
(Dr. Wall period with square mark.)
Finely painted exotic birds in colour.]
The early ware of Worcester may be known by a peculiar greenness of
hue in the body of the china. The first mark used was the letter W in
some form or another. This letter may stand either for Wall or for
Worcester, as D marked on Derby china may stand either for Duesbury,
the founder, or for Derby. We reproduce several of the earliest
Worcester marks. About the same time a crescent was used, which is
believed to have been adopted from the arms of the Warmstrey family, in
whose ancient mansion the factory was first started.
The first two letters, [Illustration: W], in script, were used when
the factory was under the direction of Dr. Wall, who died in 1776. The
capital W was marked in blue on early printed china. The crescent in
outline was one of the earliest marks, while the second crescent filled
in with blue, under the glaze, occurs on blue-printed china, which was
invented about 1755.
Among other early Worcester marks are assimilations and variations
of certain Chinese characters, probably from the models which the
Worcester potters copied. Of the square marks, it may be observed
that they do not always occur on Chinese patterns. Occasionally, too,
a crescent in red is found with one of these squares in blue. Of the
other ornate and curiously Eastern adaptations, it may be that they
were workmen’s signatures, but they are only found on old Worcester.
The love for Oriental flourishes is shown by a series of numbers.
Examples from 1 to 9 are known. We reproduce the numbers 1, 4, 5, 7.
In 1756 the important invention of transferring printed impressions
from copper plates was introduced at Worcester. It is debatable
ground whether Battersea, Liverpool, or Worcester invented it. But in
1757 it had arrived at a wonderful state of perfection at Worcester.
The engraver, Robert Hancock, was employed. Valentine Green, the
great mezzotint engraver, was his pupil. A mug bearing the head of
the King of Prussia, and dated 1757, is held to be one of the most
characteristic pieces of this period.
Thomas Carlyle has a graphic description of one of these King of
Prussia mugs, which piece of prose is worth giving in full, for we do
not often see the historian of the French Revolution in the character
of a china connoisseur:—
“There stands on this mantelpiece,” says one of my correspondents, the
amiable Smelfungus, in short, whom readers are acquainted with, “a
small china mug, not of bad shape, declaring itself, in one obscure
corner, to be made at Worcester, ‘R. I., Worcester, 1757’ (late in the
season, I presume, demand being brisk); which exhibits all round it a
diligent potter’s apotheosis of Friedrich, hastily got up to meet the
general enthusiasm of English mankind. Worth, while it lasts unbroken,
a moment’s inspection from you in a hurrying along.
[Illustration: OLD WORCESTER MUG. (HEIGHT 5-3/4 IN.)
(Transfer-printed in black.)
With portrait of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia.
(Signed with initials of Robert Hancock), and Anchor.]
“Front side, when you take our mug by the handle for drinking from
it, offers a poor, well-meant china portrait, labelled, King of
Prussia: copy of Friedrich’s portrait by Pesne, twenty years too young
for the time, smiling out nobly upon you; upon whom there descends with
rapidity a small Genius more like Cupid, who had hastily forgotten his
bow, and goes headforemost on another errand, to drop a wreath far too
small for ever getting on (owing to distance, let us hope), though
the artless painter makes no sign; and indeed both Genius and wreath,
as he gives them, look almost like a big insect, which the King will
be apt to treat harshly if he notice it. On the opposite side, again,
separated from Friedrich’s back by the handle, is an enormous image
of Fame, with wings, filling half the mug, with two trumpets going at
once (a bass, probably, and a treble), who flies with great ease; and
between her eager face and the unexpectant one of Friedrich (who is
180 deg. off, and knows nothing of it) stands a circular trophy, or
imbroglio of drums, pikes, muskets, canons, field flags, and the like;
very slightly tied together, the knot, if there is one, being hidden
by some fantastic bit of scroll or escutcheon, with a Fame and _one_
trumpet scratched on it; and high out of the imbroglio rise three
standards inscribed with names, which we perceive are intended to be
names of Friedrich’s victories; standards notable at this day, with
names which I will punctually give you.
“Standard first, which lies to the westward or leftward, has ‘Reisberg’
(no such place on this distracted globe, but meaning Bevern’s
_Reichenberg_, perhaps), ‘Reisberg,’ ‘Prague,’ ‘Collin.’ Middle
standard curves beautifully round its staff, and gives us to read
‘Welham’ (non-extant, too; may mean _Welmina_ or Lobositz), ‘Rosbach’
(very good), ‘Breslau’ (poor Bevern’s, thought a _victory_ in Worcester
at this time!). Standard third, which flies to eastward or right hand,
has ‘Newmark’ (that is, _Neumarkt_ and the Austrian bread-ovens,
December 4th); ‘Lissa’ (not yet _Leuthen_ in English nomenclature);
and Breslau again, which means the capture of Breslau city this time,
and is a real success, December 7th to 19th; giving as the approximate
date, Christmas, 1757, to this hasty mug. A mug got up for a temporary
English enthusiasm, and for the accidental instruction of posterity.
It is of tolerable china, holds a good pint, ‘to the Protestant hero
with all the honours,’ and offers, in little, a curious eyehole into
the then England, with its then lights and notions, which is now so
deep-hidden from us, under volcanic ashes, French revolutions, and the
wrecks of a hundred very decadent years.”
This mug bears the letters “R. H.” on it, the initials of the engraver.
In addition to this portrait of Frederick the Great there were others
engraved of George II., George III., Queen Charlotte, the Marquis of
Granby, and William Pitt. The full signature of Robert Hancock is often
found on garden scenes and Watteau-like subjects.
We illustrate as a headpiece a group of two cream-jugs and a
sugar-basin with black Worcester transfer-printed subjects on them.
[Illustration: WORCESTER MUG.
(With subject in Watteau style transfer, printed in black.)
_In the collection of Author._]
[Illustration: WORCESTER DISH (MARKED WITH BLUE CRESCENT).
_In Collection of Mr. W. G. Honey._]
Leaving poetry and coming to fact, we arrive at the beginning of the
second period in the history of the Worcester factory. Dr. Wall, the
originator of the works, had died in 1776, and it must be borne in
mind by the collector that from about the year 1764, when the Chelsea
works became disorganised, up to the death of Dr. Wall, some of the
most exquisite creations of Worcester were produced. Several of the
Chelsea artists had come to Worcester, and mugs of a choice apple-green
were made in imitation of the Sèvres ware, but none of these bear the
Worcester mark. Vases with rich _bleu-de-roi_ ground and salmon-scale
markings, with exotic birds of rich plumage, of varied and elegant
design, belong to this period, and command at the present day very
high prices. Donaldson and O’Neale were two of the best painters, and
painted some of the finest Worcester vases so much sought after. At
the Victoria and Albert Museum, in the collection of the late Lady
Charlotte Schreiber, there are some particularly fine examples.
[Illustration: Flight & Barr Marks.
Chamberlain Marks.]
We reproduce a fine Worcester dish (10-3/4 in. by 8-3/4 in.) from the
collection of Mr. W. G. Honey, recently at the Cork Exhibition. This
specimen is an excellent example of the best period, and is marked with
a blue crescent.
In 1783 the works passed into the hands of Mr. Thomas Flight, who,
together with his two sons, Joseph and John, raised the manufactory
to some eminence. In 1788, George III., with Queen Charlotte, visited
the works, and the title “Royal” was added to the mark, above the
word “Flight.” Later on, in 1791, Mr. Martin Barr joined the concern,
the firm becoming “Flight and Barr.” It should be noted that Mr.
Chamberlain, the head of the decorating department of the old factory,
never came under the Flight _régime_, but established a factory of his
own at Worcester. We give in order of date the various marks used both
by his factory and that of the Flights.
[Illustration: Kerr and Binns Marks.
Grainger, Lee and Co. Marks.]
These two factories continued as rivals until 1840, when they
amalgamated, and the two firms formed one company. The name of Flight
and Barr disappears, and the business being carried on at Messrs.
Chamberlain’s premises, the new Worcester mark became “Chamberlain &
Co.” In 1850 Mr. W. H. Kerr joined the company, and for a little while
the firm was known as “Chamberlain, Lilley, & Kerr.” In 1852 another
change took place, Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Lilley retired, and Mr. R.
W. Binns entered into partnership with Mr. Kerr. From that time the
manufactory, under the management of Kerr & Binns was known as “W. H.
Kerr & Co.” It is important that the collector should know all these
transitions in the ownership and management of the Worcester works,
which has a continuous history of nearly a hundred and fifty years, a
record not reached by any other English factory.
Besides the above-mentioned two main streams of Worcester porcelain
manufacture, there is yet another firm which was established in
1800 by Thomas Grainger, nephew to Mr. Chamberlain. The firm became
Grainger, Lee & Co., and afterwards G. Grainger & Co. We give their
marks, together with the other Worcester marks, to enable our readers
to identify any specimens they may possess. One of the marks in the
Kerr & Binns period requires explanation. The circle with the letter W
radiating from the centre was especially designed for solely marking
the productions of the factory made for the use of Queen Victoria and
the Royal household.
The scent-bottle which we give as illustration has double sides,
the outer being ornamented with perforated work, painted and gilt.
The neck is beautifully decorated with flowers on a yellow ground.
It is marked “Chamberlain’s Worcester.” It is an elegant piece, and
very characteristically shows, for instance, in the double sides and
perforated work, the influence of Chinese models. This specimen is at
the Victoria and Albert Museum.
[Illustration: SCENT-BOTTLE.
CHAMBERLAIN-WORCESTER.
_In Victoria and Albert Museum._]
A set of three vases (15-1/2 in. high), marked “Grainger, Lee, & Co.,
Worcester,” have views on them of Camden Place, Bath, Redcliffe Church,
Bristol, and St. Vincent’s Rock, Bristol.
[Illustration: SET OF WORCESTER VASES.
Grainger & Co. Early Nineteenth Century.
_Left._ Bath, Camden Place. _Centre._ Redcliffe Church, Bristol.
_Right._ Bristol, St. Vincent Rock.
(Marked in script, Grainger, Lee and Co., Worcester, with titles also
in script.)]
About the time of the Exhibition of 1851 there was great energy
displayed by the Worcester factory. Especially noticeable were the
enamelled vases, dishes, and ewers. This Worcester enamel is a
variety of Limoges work (the Limoges being on copper and the Worcester
wholly porcelain), which consists of applying semi-opaque white enamel
of varying strength, produced by superimposing more or fewer layers in
gradation upon a deep rich ground of blue. These enamels were designed
to copy the fifteenth and sixteenth century work, and succeeded very
well in their object. Later, Worcester essayed to produce jewelled
porcelain, in which Berlin and Vienna had excelled a century before. It
won especial praise at Paris in the 1867 Exhibition, and became a great
financial success.
Whether it be with the Limoges ivory or with the newer Japanese
designs which entered into the later Worcester productions, the Royal
manufactory of the “faithful city” has always held its own with the
foreign rivals and competitors at international exhibitions. At Berlin,
Paris, Vienna, at Philadelphia, at Chicago, the success of modern
Worcester is evidence enough of its vitality.
CHARACTERISTICS OF OLD WORCESTER CHINA.
In the early period a simplicity characterised the productions.
“Mandarin” designs from Chinese models prevailed. These old Worcester
under-glaze blue pieces have a tone unlike any other English factory,
and more nearly approach the Oriental quality of depth. Blue and
white dishes with pierced borders, and open basket-work dishes were a
feature.
Transfer printing _over_ the glaze is one of the characteristics of the
factory.
In the second period of Worcester were produced the elaborate vases in
the style of Dresden and of Sèvres, the finest examples of Worcester.
The third period of over-elaboration in decoration marks the decline of
Worcester.
The porcelain is thin and of very beautiful quality, having an
ivory-like texture. There is a greenish tint in the paste when
subjected to a strong light.
The varieties of bodies used at Worcester from time to time make any
generalisation obviously impossible. It is only by handling specimens
that the true feeling of Worcester may become instinct in a collector.
SALE PRICES.
WORCESTER. £ s. d.
Dish, circular, the centre painted with
butterflies, the border with exotic
birds in panels, and butterflies in
medallions in borders of dark blue
and gold, 10 in. diameter. Christie,
February 4, 1902 54 12 0
Cups and saucers, pair two-handled, with
exotic birds and insects in medallions,
in gilt foliage borders on dark
blue scale ground. Christie, February
4, 1902 90 6 0
Bowl, the exterior painted with exotic
birds, flowering trees and insects in
scroll panels, with gilt borders on
dark blue scale-pattern ground, gilt,
with foliage, the interior painted
with birds on white ground; 11 in.
diameter; square mark. Christie,
May 2, 1902 152 5 0
Plates, pair, painted with groups of
flowers and fruit in the centre in
rich crimson scroll-pattern borders
gilt with flowers and foliage, 9 in.
diameter. Christie, June 20, 1902 35 14 0
Cup and saucer, two-handled, painted
with birds and insects in shaped
panels, on pale canary scale-pattern
ground. Christie, July 9, 1902 22 11 6
Dessert dish, centre, scale-blue ground,
painted with exotic birds, foliage and
flowers in white panels of unusual
shape, and surrounded by festoons
of flowers and lattice designs in
chased gold, also painted with
flowers in colours at back. From
the service made for Lady Mary
Wortley Montague. Sotheby, November
11, 1902 101 0 0
Plates, pair, painted with festoons and
sprays of flowers in panels with gilt
scroll borders on dark blue scale-pattern
ground. Christie, November
28, 1902 35 14 0
Teapot and cover, scale-blue ground,
painted in panels of exotic birds,
square mark. Sotheby, May 4, 1903 33 0 0
Dish, large circular, painted with exotic
birds, branches and insects in scroll
panels with gilt borders, 13 in.
diameter, with dark blue scale-pattern
ground. Christie, May 28, 1903 132 16 0
Jug, large, moulded with foliage in low
relief, and bearded mask under the
spout, and painted with exotic birds
and foliage, butterflies and other
insects in colours in two large and
three smaller panels, in gilt scroll
borders on a dark blue scale-pattern
ground, pink flowers in panels on
the neck 11-1/4 in. high. Christie,
May 8, 1903 147 0 0
Jug, oviform, painted with birds and insects
in scroll panels with gilt borders,
7 in. high. Christie, June 10,
1903 79 16 0
Four old small modelled leaf Dishes,
painted with flowers in the Chinese
taste in blue, crescent mark, and
four others. Puttick & Simpson,
May 28, 1920 2 2 0
Old Worcester teapot and cover painted
with wheel pattern and gilt, 5-1/4 in.
high, a saucer dish, a coffee cup and
two saucers similar, all with square
mark, and a saucer marked Flight
and crescent. Puttick & Simpson,
July 16, 1920 9 9 0
Dessert service, by Flight, Barr and
Barr, painted with named flowers on
white ground, with gilt gadrooned
edges, consisting of a pair of sugar-tureens
and covers, a centre-dish on
foot, ten shaped dishes and twenty-four
plates. Christie, July 5, 1920 42 0 0
Tea service, painted with flowers and
foliage and dark blue panels, in the
Oriental taste, consisting of a teapot,
cover and stand, two cream-jugs,
milk-jug, sugar-basin, two bowls,
twelve coffee-cups, nineteen tea-cups,
thirty-two saucers, two
egg-cups, four circular dishes and
eighteen plates. Christie, July 5,
1920 57 15 0
Tea Service, painted with flowers in
colours, in the Oriental taste, and
dark blue bands, consisting of a teapot,
cover and stand, sugar-basin
and cover, cream-jug and cover,
canister, bowl, two dishes, eight tea-cups,
six coffee-cups, and nine
saucers. Christie, July 5, 1920 71 8 0
Plate, Powder-blue, Dr. Wall period,
octagonal 9 in., with reserve panels
in white with landscape and flowers.
Having mark of crossed swords, together
with imitation Chinese mark.
Sotheby, May 17, 1920 15 10 0
Set of covered Vases and two Beakers,
Dr. Wall period, decorated with vermilion,
green, and gilt; in Chinese
style with flowers and fabulous bird.
Shoulders of vase and rims of covers
and beakers, fine turquoise ground
vase, 10-1/2 in., beakers 6-3/4 in.
Sotheby, June 11, 1920 35 0 0
Pair of Plates, Flight, Barr and Barr.
Views of Barking Abbey and Melrose
Abbey. Scroll borders of mazarin,
blue, heavily gilt. Sotheby, June
11, 1920 4 4 0
Vase, painted with birds in heart-shaped
panels with gilt scroll borders on
mottled dark blue ground, 9-3/4 in.
high. Christie, July 20, 1920 204 15 0
Teapot and cover, painted with wheel
pattern, 5-1/2 in. high, and two bowls,
similar, 4-1/2 in. diameter, square
mark. Puttick & Simpson, July 16,
1920 7 17 6
Teacup, coffee-cup and saucer, of the
same service, a cream-jug, a saucer
dish, square marks, and a chamber
candlestick, crescent mark 7 17 6
Pair of old square dishes, painted with
groups of flowers in dark blue borders
gilt with scrolls, 8-1/4 in. square.
Christie, July 5, 1920 25 4 0
Three Mugs, transfer-printed, with portraits
of the King of Prussia and
military trophies, by R. Hancock,
1757, 4-1/2 in. and 3-1/2 in. high. Christie,
July 5, 1920 17 17 0
Cylindrical Mug, transfer-printed, with
a portrait of Shakespeare and Muses,
4-3/4 in. high; and a smaller ditto,
with a portrait and figure of Fame.
Christie, July 5, 1920 16 16 0
Milk Jug and Cover, and a coffee-cup
and saucer decorated with panels in
pale blue, painted with fruit, with
royal blue and gilt rims. W mark.
Sotheby, May 17, 1920 26 0 0
Plate, Powder-blue, Dr. Wall period,
saucer-shaped, of Chinese form, decorated
with exotic birds and insects,
7-1/4 in., square mark. Sotheby, May
17, 1920 13 0 0
Teapot, fluted, with cover, painted with
garlands of flowers, and with marbled
turquoise and dark blue borders and
gilt, crescent mark, 5 in. high.
Puttick & Simpson, July 16, 1920 16 10 0
V
PLYMOUTH
AND
BRISTOL
CHINA
[Illustration: WHITE PORCELAIN GOAT. PLYMOUTH.]
[Illustration: PLYMOUTH SALT-CELLAR.
_At Victoria and Albert Museum._]
V
PLYMOUTH
The name of Plymouth stands high in the records of English china
factories. Its porcelain was the first hard porcelain produced in this
country. Other English chinas melted when placed inside the pieces in
the Plymouth kilns.
Not so well known as Josiah Wedgwood, of the Staffordshire potteries,
William Cookworthy, of Plymouth, Quaker, chemist, porcelain maker,
is worthy of a niche in the gallery of dead princes of ceramic art,
and his is a name that will never be forgotten by those who know the
history behind the old Plymouth vases and mugs and statues.
It is true the enterprise was a failure. It only ran fourteen years,
and was, in 1774, transferred to Bristol. It is true that Lord
Camelford, one of his partners, laments the three thousand pounds
expended on it. But it is more than true that the results of William
Cookworthy’s efforts were no failure.
The brief life history of the Quaker dreamer (we know he must have
been a dreamer, for he translated some of Swedenborg’s works into
English) is remarkable. At the age of fourteen, the eldest of a family
of six fatherless children, he tramped from Plymouth up to London and
commenced his apprenticeship to a chemist. His mother battled on, eking
out her slender means by dressmaking. Later on, when William Cookworthy
came home, his mother lived under his roof and became a leading
favourite with the great people he knew. The poor Devon lad who wearily
tramped to London over down and dale, dreaming golden dreams, came home
to entertain Dr. Wolcot, the famous “Peter Pindar” of vitriolic pen,
Sir Joseph Banks, Captain Cook, and the fighting Earl St. Vincent,
who remarked, “whoever was in Mr. Cookworthy’s company was the wiser
and better for having been in it”; while Smeaton, the builder of the
Eddystone Lighthouse, was an inmate of his house during the erection of
the lighthouse.
In an early letter of Cookworthy’s we find him speaking of a certain
unnamed, strange individual who came to him with some china earth.
“’Twas found in the back of Virginia, where he was in quest of mines;
and having read Duhalde, discovered both the petuntse and kaolin. ’Tis
the latter earth he says, is the essential thing towards the success
of the manufacture. He is gone for a cargo of it, having bought the
whole country of the Indians where it rises.” We hear no more of this
mysterious individual; but we do hear of extensive and painstaking
researches by Cookworthy, till at length he is rewarded by discovering
the very earth he wanted, in Cornwall, on the estate of Lord Camelford.
He established himself at Coxside, at the extreme angle which juts
into the water at Sutton Pool. The buildings subsequently became a
shipwright’s yard, and even then bore the name China House. We wonder,
do they exist now?
The early examples of Plymouth are clumsy, sometimes very coarse and
rough. Experience was wanting in firing. Most of the pieces were
disfigured by fire-cracks. Of those decorated in blue the colour had
run into the glazing. But Cookworthy did one thing—he was the first to
produce cobalt blue direct from the ore.
The white ware of Plymouth, in which is introduced as ornament shells
and seaweed and coral, is very artistic, and is one of the features of
Plymouth, although none of this ware is marked. They mostly consist of
salt-cellars, pickle-cups, and what would now be used to put roses in.
The salt-cellar we illustrate is one of a pair in the Bethnal Green
Museum; it has a plain, white body and cloudy glaze, and is unmarked.
Similar shapes are believed to have been made at Bow. We reproduce a
dainty piece, a shell dish of beautiful design, and ask—was Cookworthy
a failure?
During the latter part of the fourteen years that Plymouth produced
her china, Cookworthy, then nearing his seventieth year, thought
to emulate Sèvres and Dresden, and employed several artists for
decoration. He engaged the services of a French artist named Soqui
from Sèvres, and he and Henry Bone, of Plymouth—one of his own
apprentices—produced some finely-painted birds and flowers.
[Illustration: WHITE PORCELAIN DISH—PLYMOUTH.]
The mark of the Plymouth china is blue on the early clumsy pieces,
and later was neatly drawn in red, sometimes blue. It is the chemical
symbol for tin, being doubtless adopted by Cookworthy to denote that
his materials came from the tin district. It is like the figure four,
with a little curved loop at the beginning.
[Illustration: VASE (16 IN. HIGH), PLYMOUTH.
_In the Fry Collection at Bristol._]
We reproduce a fine specimen of a splendid vase, hexagonal shape,
sixteen inches high, in the possession of the Fry family at Bristol. It
is richly decorated with festoons of finely modelled raised flowers,
with painted butterflies and borders. This was the forerunner of the
exquisite Bristol vase made by the firm which bought Cookworthy’s life
secrets.
Devon and Plymouth suggest Elizabethan days and one man’s name flashes
uppermost, but—
“Drake he’s in his hammock, but a thousand mile away
(Capten, art tha sleepin’ there below?),
Slung atween the round shot in Nombre Dios Bay,
An’ dreamin’ arl the time o’ Plymouth Hoe.”
But there are heroes of peace and the arts of peace and that art of all
arts, the art of self-effacement and William Cookworthy is one.
[Illustration: PLYMOUTH MARKS.]
[Illustration: BRISTOL PORCELAIN.
Under-glaze Mandarin Decoration in Blue.]
BRISTOL.
For several centuries earthenware was made at Bristol, and a very
fair quality of blue delft was produced there, but it is not of the
old potteries of Bristol that we shall speak, but of the manufacture
which was transplanted from Plymouth to Bristol. We have related the
struggles of William Cookworthy to establish Plymouth porcelain. The
strenuous efforts to perfect the china were carried on by Richard
Champion, of Bristol, merchant, who bought Cookworthy’s patent, and
established the manufactory of hard porcelain at Bristol. Champion had,
it appears, been associated with Cookworthy as partner when the works
were at Plymouth.
In 1775, when Champion presented a petition to the House of Commons to
be granted the patent right for a further period of fourteen years to
himself, he was vigorously opposed by Josiah Wedgwood, who represented
that by granting a patent to Champion, it would be detrimental to
trade and injurious to the public, urging, among other grounds, that
“the use of the natural productions of the soil ought to be the right
of all.” Wedgwood presented a memorial to Parliament, and a fierce
controversy ensued. “Much might be said on both sides,” as Sir Roger De
Coverley observes, and much _was_ said on both sides.
At first blush it seems hard that Cookworthy and Champion, who found
the earth and worked hard at developing the manufactory in the West,
should have no protection given to their secret. But Wedgwood, who
speaks with authority, urged that when he invented his Queen’s Ware
he did not apply for a patent, which would have limited its public
utility. “Instead of one hundred manufactories of Queen’s Ware, there
would have been one; and instead of an exportation to all quarters of
the world, a few pretty things would have been made for the amusement
of the people of fashion in England.”
Without going further into the details of a controversy which trenches
upon questions of political economy two facts stand out, and the reader
can judge of them as he will. The patent was granted by Parliament to
Richard Champion, who was subsequently ruined, and left England to die
in South Carolina; and secondly, hard paste was made at Plymouth and
Bristol (never before or since in England), while the manufacture of
the less difficult soft-paste porcelain and of pottery was carried on
by the Staffordshire factories and Wedgwood.
[Illustration: BRISTOL VASE AND COVER.
_At the Victoria and Albert Museum._]
During the struggle between Wedgwood and Champion one curious
incident occurred. When the Bill was before the House of Lords for
discussion, one of Champion’s witnesses left London for Bristol without
permission. As it was necessary to bring him back at once, as the end
of the session was at hand, he was recalled by an “express,” which
travelled the 240 miles to Bristol in twenty-seven hours!
In 1775 was passed (15 George III., cap 52) “an Act for enlarging
the term of Letters Patent granted by his present Majesty to William
Cookworthy, of Plymouth, Chymist, for the sole use and exercise of
a discovery of certain materials for making Porcelain, in order to
enable Richard Champion, of Bristol, merchant (to whom the said Letters
Patent have been assigned), to carry the said discovery into effectual
execution for the benefit of the public.”
So we shortly find the Bristol factory in full swing. The stock of
Plymouth, and the tried workmen, were transferred to Bristol. First
of all, attention was paid to common blue and white ware as likely to
demand a ready sale, and to be profitable. As in the case of Worcester
and other factories, Champion took Oriental models, and some of his
ware is confounded with other makers who used the same models. The
blue was of good colour, and dinner, tea, and coffee services, as well
as jugs and mugs, were turned out, sometimes marked with the Bristol
cross, but oftentimes without any distinguishing mark at all, to the
confoundment of the latter-day collectors.
Bristol was very successful in imitating the commoner forms of Chinese
ware. We reproduce a teapot and cup and saucer. It will be observed
that the cup follows the original model, and has no handle.
[Illustration: Bristol Marks]
The usual mark of Bristol was a plain cross, sometimes in blue,
sometimes in red, and often in neutral tint, or slatey-grey. The
crossed swords of Dresden, accompanied by the Bristol cross and the
figures 10, appear on one specimen.
Some of the following marks which we give have been assigned to
Bristol. Figures sometimes occur as well as the cross; these are
believed to denote the painters engaged on the piece, and are often
marked in red. On one known Bristol piece, a date occurs. But to
collectors of Bristol porcelain there is one test which also applies in
more marked degree to the Plymouth ware; this is the series of spiral
ridges which may often be observed on the surface of the ware when held
in reflected light.
We have alluded to the somewhat heated controversy between Josiah
Wedgwood and Richard Champion, who had transferred the plant from
Plymouth and had applied for an extension of Cookworthy’s patent to
himself. Josiah Wedgwood, we think somewhat unfairly, alleged that
both Plymouth and Bristol factories were still in an experimental
stage; he belittles their art, which “neither the ingenious discoverer
nor the purchaser, for want, perhaps, of skill and experience in this
particular business, have been able, during the space of seven years
already elapsed, to bring to any useful degree of perfection.”
This is not the place to enter into the merits of a dead conflict
between Staffordshire and Bristol. That Bristol was not merely an
experimental factory is more than proved by the specimens which have
come down to us, specimens, be it said, that are more eagerly sought
after than many of Wedgwood’s productions, since they are of hard
porcelain which Staffordshire never made, and which hard paste has
never again been made in England, either before or since.
One of the choicest examples of the highest art of Bristol is preserved
in the national collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is
stated to have been “the best that the manufactory could produce.” It
was made in 1774-5, within a few months of the establishment of the
works at Bristol. This example is interesting too, as being one of
the few examples of the Bristol works, of which the exact date can be
ascertained.
In the year 1774 Edmund Burke was nominated for Bristol, the capital
and richest city of the west. A fierce election contest followed, in
which Burke was returned as one of the members. During this election
he was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, of Bristol, and it was then
that Burke ordered a splendid set of china from Champion. We reproduce
the cup and saucer of this service. It is profusedly and massively gilt
in dead and burnished gold, the wreaths of laurel being in green, which
was Burke’s electioneering colour.
[Illustration: CUP AND SAUCER, BRISTOL.
_From service ordered by Edmund Burke._]
Each piece, as will be seen, bears the monogram of Mrs. Smith, “S. S.”
interlaced, formed of wreaths of roses in pink and gold, and also the
arms of the family. This service is marked with the usual Bristol cross.
It is obviously absurd to have asserted that such china was merely
experimental. The collector of to-day has more than hall-marked Bristol
porcelain. Recently, at Christie’s Auction Rooms, £168 was paid for
two small cups and a tea tray, and, alas! Cookworthy and Champion died
unsuccessful men. If they are recognised to-day as martyrs to the
ceramic art, their own generation were somewhat stiff-necked to their
genius and enterprise.
[Illustration: BRISTOL VASE (12-1/4 IN. HIGH).
_In the Fry Collection._]
The vase which we reproduce shows to what perfection the manufacturers
had reached. Among the decorators of Bristol was Henry Bone, afterwards
an R.A., and miniature enameller to the Royal Family. Bone was
apprenticed to Champion for seven years, dating from January, 1772.
This vase, in the possession of the Fry family of Bristol, is of
hexagonal shape and is 12-1/4 inches in height. The landscapes are
excellently painted, and it has well-modelled female busts on two
of its sides, from which hang festoons of raised flowers in white.
This vase and the other splendid and almost priceless vases in the
possession of the same family are not marked. It appears that although
only Champion’s name appears on the documents in connection with
the Bristol factory, he had partners who assisted him financially,
one of whom was Joseph Fry, whose only return, when the factory was
discontinued, for the money he had sunk into the concern, was the set
of vases now in the hands of his descendants.
We now come to the last act of Bristol. Wedgwood writes to Bentley in
a letter, dated August 24, 1778, concerning Champion’s failure: “Poor
Champion, you may have heard, is quite demolished; it was never likely
to be otherwise, as he had neither professional knowledge, sufficient
capital, nor scarcely any real acquaintance with the materials he was
working upon. I suppose we might buy some _Growan Stone_ and _Growan
Clay_ now upon easy terms, for they have prepared a large quantity this
last year.”
His patent right was sold by Champion to a company of Staffordshire
potters who continued the manufacture at New Hall for some little
time until the ordinary soft paste was allowed to supersede Champion’s
hard paste. So ended the triumphs of Bristol and Plymouth. It appears
that from November, 1781, to April, 1782, Champion left his native
city to superintend the works of the china company who had purchased
his rights. But Edmund Burke came to his rescue, and, conjointly with
Burke’s son Richard, Champion was appointed deputy paymaster-general.
Champion occupied official apartments in Chelsea Hospital. In July a
change of ministry lost him his post, but in April, 1783, he regained
it, only to resign on the fall of the famous Coalition Ministry in
January, 1784. In October, 1784, he left England for South Carolina,
where he became a planter. Seven years after leaving England he died of
fever, and lies buried in the New World.
There is nothing to be said—his fate was the fate of so many
enthusiasts and workers in the field of art. Nobody has ever unveiled
a monument to Champion’s memory or to Cookworthy’s memory. Nobody has
designed a stained-glass window to record their ceramic triumphs.[1]
Their monument—and it is a lasting one—lies on the china shelf; the
votaries of Plymouth and of Bristol porcelain need no spark to quicken
their fire.
We know Browning’s “Waring” and his unfulfilled promise of greatness,
and how the friend who has lost him, “like a ghost at break of day,”
wishes him back—
“Oh, could I have him back once more,
This Waring, but one half-day more!
Back, with the quiet face of yore,
So hungry for acknowledgment
Like mine, I’d fool him to his bent.
Feed, should not he, to heart’s content?
I’d say, ‘To only have conceived,
Planned your great works, apart from progress,
Surpasses little works achieved.’”
And the world would call back its neglected and unrequited men of
genius if it could, and herein lies the principle that makes china
command high prices—these conscience-prickings are the tribute
posterity pays.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PLYMOUTH AND BRISTOL PORCELAIN.
Among special features of Plymouth and Bristol china, spiral ridges
are to be seen, though often barely noticeable, running from the base
transversely around the body of piece, more noticeable in basins and
teapots, at an angle of 45°. The china of these factories is often
untrue owing to imperfect firing, and is frequently cracked at base.
The Bristol decorators had a partiality for wreaths and festoons of
laurel in green, interspersed with detached bouquets of flowers. The
Bristol glaze is rich and creamy white, and upon examination a series
of minute depressions, somewhat similar to the bubbles on Oriental
glaze, may be discovered.
SALE PRICES.
PLYMOUTH. £ s. d.
Bowls and covers, pair, formed as doves
on their nests. Christie, February 5,
1902 7 7 0
Shell sweetmeat-dishes, two, painted
with flowers in colours in the Chinese
taste, and encrusted with coloured
shells and seaweed; and a smaller
white ditto. Christie, February 5,
1902 5 5 0
Tankards, pair, painted with birds, trees
and flowers in colours. Christie,
February 5, 1902 46 4 0
Mug, bell-shaped, 5-1/2 in. high, painted
exotic birds and continuous landscape
in brilliant colours (marked
with Plymouth mark). Edwards,
Son & Bigwood, Birmingham, May
13, 1902 12 0 0
Plymouth shaped Mug, painted with
exotic birds and branches, and with
gilt border, marked, 4-1/4 in. high.
Puttick & Simpson, July 9, 1920 13 13 0
Plymouth Mug, painted with birds and
branches, 5-1/4 in. high; and a Plymouth
Sauce-boat, painted with
flowers in the Oriental taste. Christie,
July 5, 1920 19 19 0
BRISTOL.
Teacups and saucers, two, and a small
tray, painted with medallion heads
in gilt borders and festoons of green
laurel-wreaths between; and a
bowl and cream-jug nearly similar.
Christie, February 4, 1902 168 0 0
Teapot and cover and bowl, painted
with bouquets of flowers. Christie,
February 28, 1902 7 15 0
Dishes, oval-shaped pair, painted with
festoons and sprays of flowers, in
colours, gilt edges. Christie, February
28, 1902 16 16 0
Bowls, pair, fluted, painted with bouquets
of flowers, 11-1/4 in. diameter.
Christie, July 2, 1902 28 7 0
Cabaret, decorated with festoons of
foliage in green and horizontal gilt
lines, consisting of oval plateau, teapot,
sucrier and covers, milk-jug,
and cup and saucer; mark, Dresden
crossed swords. Christie, July 2, 1902 27 6 0
Figures, pair, of a lady with tambourine,
and a gentleman with a lyre, 11 in.
high. Christie, June 10, 1902 5 10 0
Figures, Mars and Minerva, 13-1/2 in. high.
Christie, June 20, 1902 19 19 0
Figure of a Nymph, allegorical of
“Water,” 10-1/2 in. high. Christie,
July 2, 1902 10 10 0
Teacup and saucer, painted with portrait
medallions, green laurel festoons,
gilt lines, and the interlaced
initials R. S. Part of service made
by Champion for Sir Robert Smyth.
From the Edkins Collection. Christie,
June 16, 1903 37 16 0
Bristol china Teapot and cover, decorated
with birds on branches and
insects, inscribed Mary Cowling,
1771. Sotheby, May 17, 1920 29 0 0
Bristol china deep Dish, octagonal, with
floral festoons, deep blue edge and
centre, 8-3/4 in. Sotheby, May 17,
1920 3 6 0
Two Bristol Plates, painted with
festoons of flowers in colours on
white ground, 8 in. diameter. Christie,
July 5, 1920 9 9 0
Bristol Plaque, painted with a bouquet
of flowers, inscribed “J. Pardoe,
Bristol,” 9-3/4 in. by 5-1/2 in. Christie,
July 20, 1920 18 18 0
Bristol figure of a girl, carrying a basket
of flowers, 4-1/2 in. high. Christie,
July 12, 1920 10 10 0
FOOTNOTES:
[1] A Cookworthy Window was placed in the Guildhall, Plymouth, about
1840, during the mayoralty of Dr. Cookworthy, grandson of the potter.
VI
THE
LOWESTOFT
FACTORY
[Illustration: THREE PANELS FROM LOWESTOFT POWDER-BLUE OCTAGONAL DISH.
(Marked with imitation Chinese mark in blue.)]
[Illustration: LOWESTOFT SAUCE-BOATS (BLUE and WHITE).
(With fragment of Mould from which they were made.)]
VI
THE LOWESTOFT FACTORY
We have dealt with Worcester and with Derby, with Chelsea and with Bow.
Of the latter, we told of the difficulty of determining the marks, and
of accurately naming the china; but what are we to think of a factory,
which we may term the “Mrs. Harris” among china factories, inasmuch as
some people with no less scepticism than Sairey Gamp’s friend, believe
it did not exist at all. The legends of Lowestoft are many and varied,
but we think we shall succeed in presenting some sort of rational
account of the factory to our readers, which may dispel many notions,
perhaps wrongly, held by those to whom “Lowestoft” is a myth and the
collecting of it a snare and a delusion.
[Illustration: BLUE AND WHITE DELFT MARRIAGE PLATE, WITH INSCRIPTION.
(Dated 1755.)]
It is stated that a Dutch sailor, wrecked on the coast, in return
for the hospitality of a gentleman who brought him to his house, was
instrumental in pointing out the value of the white earth which he
discovered on the gentleman’s estate. It is certain that the sand on
the coast of Suffolk at Lowestoft is of great purity, as compared with
that of other parts of the country, and, when the Lowestoft works were
closed, the Worcester factory availed themselves of it in making their
best porcelain.
There are certain plates of reputed Lowestoft manufacture, dated 1752
and thereabouts, bearing the names of Quinton, of Yarmouth, Parrish,
of Norwich, and other local families. These plates are of earthenware
body, with coarse decorations in blue, and having a yellow rim. They
were made to celebrate the marriage of the persons named on them. In
the one we reproduce, specially photographed for this volume, the
inscription runs: “Henrÿ and Marÿ Qu̓inton, Yarmou̓th, nor f f: olk.
1755.” This lettering, with the two dots over the letters y, and the
peculiar placing of the commas over the letters u, is conclusive
evidence that it was written by a foreigner, and presumably plates such
as these were made in Holland to order of some shipmaster.
One of the owners of the original factory was Robert Browne, who died
in 1771, when the management was undertaken by his son—also Robert
Browne—who made great experiments in pastes. There is a story of how
Robert Browne the second paid a visit to London disguised as a workman,
and by secreting himself in a barrel, was enabled to watch the mixing
of the ingredients forming the paste of Chelsea or of Bow.
The presence of coats of arms upon genuine known pieces of Lowestoft
may have caused some confusion, which has continued to the present
day. At the end of the last century a great deal of Oriental china
was made having coats of arms of English families upon it. Although
Lowestoft bore no resemblance in its body to Oriental ware, people
came to suppose that, in some way or another, the ware was brought in
its unfinished state from the East, and then decorated and re-fired
at Lowestoft. With the exception of Plymouth and Bristol, Lowestoft is
the only factory in England which is credited with producing the true
hard-paste porcelain, as made in the East; all other old English chinas
are of soft paste, and a great deal of our wares are earthenware, for
instance, Wedgwood. But the claim that Lowestoft made hard paste has
never been substantiated by facts.
Lowestoft may be divided into two parts, the first dealing with the
early period when blue and white ware was made, and the second period,
when a finer and higher class of goods, with heraldic designs and
floral intricacies, were introduced. At one period of its history the
paste of Lowestoft appears to have been harder than that of Bow or
Chelsea. Roughly, just a half of a century saw the rise and fall of
Lowestoft. It was established from 1756, and in 1802 the factory had
ceased.
Many families in the Eastern Counties to this day possess specimens
of the Lowestoft china with names and dates painted on them. This
china with names or initials upon it, or bearing a date, in addition
to its personal value is of historic interest in determining periods
of manufacture. We give a highly interesting and very rare pair of
dated cups and saucers, with unusual decorations, vine leaves in gold,
clusters of grapes in red, and tablet in centre with inscription, “M.
and E. Calder, Norwich, 1776,” rich blue glaze and gold bands.
Among other dated specimens of Lowestoft white and blue ware is a fine
bowl, with Chinese figures of mandarins painted in blue, and inscribed
at the bottom with the name, “Elizabeth Buckle, 1768.” This Elizabeth
Buckle is known to have been an eccentric old dame, and the service, of
which this bowl is a remnant, was made for her by her nephew, Robert
Allen. This Allen was one of the worthies of Lowestoft. In 1819, in
his seventy-fourth year, he executed a design for the East window
of the Parish Church (we know not whether it is still in existence
at Lowestoft). In acknowledgment of this service, a silver cup was
presented to him, with the inscription: “A token of respect to Mr.
Robert Allen from his fellow-townsmen of Lowestoft, for having, at the
advanced age of seventy-four, gratuitously and elegantly ornamented the
East window of their Parish Church. Ann. Dom. 1819.”
[Illustration:
_By courtesy of Mr. F. U. Yallop, Lowestoft._
OLD LOWESTOFT CUPS AND SAUCERS.
Red and gold decoration. (Dated 1776.)]
After the closing of the Lowestoft works, Allen put up a small kiln at
his own house, where he carried on operations on a limited scale. He
bought the unfinished ware from Mr. Brameld, of the Rockingham factory,
and painted it and refired it, selling it himself afterwards.
[Illustration]
We reproduce a design of a mug painted by Thomas Curtis for his father
and mother, whose names appear on it. It is said that Curtis was
formerly employed at Dresden, and that he was a “silent partner” in the
Lowestoft works. Many other examples of blue and white exist with dates
and names upon them, and there is more than enough evidence to show
that, short as was the history of the Lowestoft factory, it did good
work.
We shall now proceed to give an account of the wonderful decorative
qualities of a great artist in Lowestoft china, whose works now are
worth many pounds, but whose latter days, when he was blind, were spent
in poverty.
We have dealt with the earlier ware made there—of the blue and white
porcelain and of the delft ware probably made in Holland; we now come
to the higher and finer products of Lowestoft, over which so many
debates have taken place. It has been held that this ware was decorated
at Lowestoft, but that it was real Oriental body imported in its
half-finished state from the East, and only painted and re-fired in
this country. However, on the signed testimony of one of the workmen,
it is positively stated that no Oriental porcelain ever came into the
factory at Lowestoft to be decorated. “No manufactured articles were
brought there to be painted, and every article painted in the factory
had been previously made there.”
The question, too, of hard paste being made at Lowestoft is now
disproved; among all the recently discovered fragments is nothing of
hard paste.
The theory that porcelain came over from China through Holland to
Lowestoft, if it be examined, does not hold water. First, it would not
have paid, especially as then a large duty existed on china imported,
whereas Lowestoft china was produced at a fairly cheap cost, and
supplied to the public to compete with Worcester, and Derby, and the
Staffordshire makers. Again, when the Lowestoft factory broke up, there
would naturally have been a lot of unfinished Oriental porcelain in its
white state, prior to the decoration, thrown on the market. What became
of it all in 1802? Nobody ever seems to have seen any white china
bowls, or white tea services, or white vases.
But there is a certain amount of mystery about Lowestoft, and a great
quantity of ware exists both in this country and abroad, which is
classed as Lowestoft china, but which is really Oriental porcelain with
British armorial bearings.
In fact, the little factory has provided a considerable field for
speculation as to what it did and what it did not produce. For so small
a factory there is quite a literature in magazine articles, and one
volume has been written upon it. The factory started about 1765, and
closed down in 1802. When it closed its kilns and heaps of shards were
hurriedly buried, it extinguished the hope of an art that promised
to be greater. The abandonment of an art industry always breaks some
hearts. There is just one fleeting glimpse of one of the old painters
when teacups and roses were no longer wanted.
Perhaps some of our readers will look under the rose and read a story,
sad enough, but true of many a craftsman at the end of the day. One
old artist who, by your leave, ladies, painted red roses and twined
chains of rosy wreaths, who put smiles and sunshine with his artful
brush on to your tea services, had a very aching heart at the end of
the journey. Fate herself twined a chain of grey roses for him. He was
blind and poor. In his old age, he laboured, a broken-down old man, in
the heat of the sun. A couple of donkeys given to him out of charity
enabled him to bring water into Lowestoft. A beggar, he would slake
a beggar’s thirst. “Wreaths of roses”—there is something gruesome in
the sound of the words. Handle your china cups with more tenderness:
human lives have gone to the making of them. The white-hot furnace and
the minute brush-mark of your rose petal turned a man’s day to dark
night. Roses and wreaths of roses, and behind them all—tears.
[Illustration: RARE LOWESTOFT COFFEE-POT.
Decoration in Oriental style in blue.
_In the possession of Mr. Merrington Smith, Lowestoft._]
The writer is able to confirm the above statements respecting
Lowestoft by information which has been courteously supplied by a
kinswoman of the celebrated designer of the bouquets of roses on the
Lowestoft porcelain. The first clay was discovered by Mr. Luson of
Gunter Hall in 1756 (now the estate of Miss Fowler), who sent a small
quantity to London to ascertain its quality. Upon trial it was found
to be excellent, and Mr. Hewlin Luson procured workmen and erected a
temporary kiln on his estate near the old Warren Houses on the Dunes
north of Lowestoft. A good deal of jealousy was aroused and trade
rivals attempted to wreck the scheme and tampered with the workmen
engaged. After a year’s struggle a company was formed who purchased
some houses in Bell Lane, now Crown Street, and established a factory.
In December, 1902, an interesting discovery was made on the site of
the old Lowestoft factory. The kiln for drying malt of Messrs. Morse,
brewers, is actually the old kiln in which the Lowestoft ware was
fired, and upon the flooring of this being removed to make a drain,
several moulds and fragments of china were found. I am especially
indebted for many curious touches of Lowestoft colour and much
information concerning this find to those present while the digging
operations were going on.
[Illustration:
_Copyright._] [_A. Merrington Smith, Lowestoft._
INTERIOR OF THE LOWER ROOM OF THE OLD LOWESTOFT CHINA FACTORY.
Digging for Moulds, July, 1903.]
This important discovery led to a complete investigation of the old
site, and, largely owing to the enterprise of Mr. A. Merrington Smith,
of Lowestoft, steps were taken to commence excavations. These resulted,
in July, 1903, in the further find of several bushels of broken moulds
and fragments of china. We give an illustration of the scene when the
moulds and fragments had been discovered.
Among these fragments are some decorated pieces ready for glazing,
which cannot be washed, as the colours, of course, come off. There are
glazed fragments in blue and other colours. There is quite a variety
of handles for cups, mugs, &c., and there are cups made without
handles. There are some birthday tablets, and some clay pipes with
heraldic devices made for William Harvey, of Yarmouth. One small piece,
evidently part of the bottom of a cup, has a crescent marked in blue;
but this does not prove that Lowestoft used the crescent as a mark; in
all probability it is the fragment of some Worcester piece they had for
purposes of copying.
[Illustration: OLD LOWESTOFT (BLUE AND WHITE).
Toy Teapot and Cream Jug (2 in. high). Inkstand (dated 1791).]
There are also unglazed fragments for basket-work, and Lowestoft
figures, unglazed, ready for firing. There are ribbed tea-cups and cups
with cornflower decoration. Among other fragments are a great number of
toy teapots and toy cups only an inch or two in height, decorated in
blue. We give an illustration of this toy ware painted under-glaze in
blue.
The bulk of these moulds and fragments are in the possession of W. Rix
Spelman, Esq., of Norwich, and it is to be hoped that careful study and
research will, by means of these indisputable facts, re-establish the
reputation of Lowestoft—
“Defamed by every charlatan
And soil’d with all ignoble use.”
Mr. Crisp, of Denmark Hill, London, possesses some of the moulds which
were disinterred at the first discovery on the Lowestoft site. He has
had china made in them and baked, and has presented the results to the
British Museum, where they are now exhibited. They seem too poorly made
to show to advantage the delicate patterns in relief.
The headpiece (p. 113) shows two sauce-boats, blue and white, with
raised decoration. It will be seen from the fragment of mould,
photographed with them, how exactly this newly discovered mould helps
to identify the pieces.
Among the fragments is part of a teapot mould, on which is the date
1761. Chaffers, in his authoritative work on china, remarks of
Lowestoft that some of the larger pieces bear traces of having been
“made in a mould,” and here, just a hundred years after the factory
ceased, comes corroborative evidence.
[Illustration: BLUE AND WHITE LOWESTOFT MUG (SOFT PASTE).
With fisherman drying herrings.
Inscribed “John Cooper, 1768.”
Reverse of mug.
With Lowestoft fishing smack.]
[Illustration: LOWESTOFT CHINA.
Jug, decorated with floral festoons at rim, and having medallion with
inscription: “Sam Cubitt Lowestoft 1772.”
Mug, inscribed: “Mary Curtis.
May love continue
Aand happiness increase
Live in Love and die in peace
1792.”
Both decorated in blue overglaze.]
There is an interesting mould for an oval perforated basket, such as
Bow and Chelsea produced, with diamond spaces to be cut out; and upon
one of the fragments of a mould for a sugar basin appears the most
delicate tracery and exquisite designs in leaves and scrolls, and
prominent among the decoration is the Japanese chrysanthemum.
All East Anglians and lovers of old Lowestoft will be pleased at this
piece of new evidence in favour of the theories held concerning the old
factory, whose reputation has been well-nigh blasted by thousands of
spurious imitations made in France—literally covered by vulgar design
and more vulgar coats of arms.
We are able to reproduce some genuine old Lowestoft. A remarkable
piece is the old mug, about 6 in. high, depicting an old fishwife
with bellows under her arm, and holding a spit of herrings. This is
decorated in blue and white. On the reverse side of mug is a fishing
boat. At the bottom it bears the name “John Cooper, 1768.” Under the
scroll of the handle are the letters “R. P.,” probably signifying that
it is the work of Richard Philips, a painter at the Lowestoft factory.
Unfortunately it is damaged, as will be seen by the illustration,
but for all that it is a specimen of considerable value. The jug we
illustrate, having the “Mandarin” decoration common to Worcester and
Bristol, is a fine example of Lowestoft under-glaze blue painting. It
bears the figure 5 upon it as a mark. It may be observed that many of
the Lowestoft pieces of blue and white bear a striking resemblance to
old Worcester. At first blush one is inclined to believe them to be
Worcester, but the blue is not quite the Worcester blue, and the glaze
tells its own story. There are pits and dimples, and little raised
surfaces here and there, particularly under the bases of cups, that are
characteristic of Lowestoft.
[Illustration: LOWESTOFT BLUE AND WHITE JUG (5 IN. HIGH).
(Marked with workman’s mark. Figure 5.)]
“A Trifle from Lowestoft,” a legend which is a familiar one on
Lowestoft ware, is an inkstand, with floral design in that shade of
red peculiar to Lowestoft but so difficult to describe in words. The
decoration on this piece is especially characteristic of the factory,
and we ask readers to make a note of it.
[Illustration: LOWESTOFT CHINA INKSTAND.
(Floral Decoration in Red.)]
There are certain marks on undoubted Lowestoft pieces which the
writer has examined. The letter “R,” which might be the signature of
Redgrave the painter. On another piece the letter “H” appears under
the rim, which may stand for Hughes. The letters “R. P.” on the mug we
illustrate (p. 125) may equally stand for Richard Powles or Richard
Philips. On one piece two L’s appear back to back ([Illustration: Two
L’s back to back]). Is this Luson, Lowestoft? While on other pieces
appear the mark [Illustration: X with one dot above and one dot to the
right] in red and in blue.
CHARACTERISTICS OF LOWESTOFT CHINA.
The china is soft paste, and is often very badly potted. The blue is
inclined to run. There is a gritty appearance in places on the glaze,
which is spotted as if by sand. In some of the blue decorated pieces,
where a flight of birds is introduced, the crescent moon (like the
Worcester crescent mark) has been put in almost as a challenge to
Worcester. One especial feature is the green hue of the glaze settled
under the rims of saucers and basins and cups. The paste often has
little bumps on it, and a mound in the centre of base under rim. Roses,
set back to back, appear on Lowestoft pieces. The red of Lowestoft is
of a peculiar quality, approaching puce in some specimens, and varying
from mauve pink to carmine.
SALE PRICES.
LOWESTOFT. £ s. d.
Bowl, 10-1/2 in., painted in flowers, with
trees and cattle. S. Mealing Mills,
Norwich, December 3, 1902 7 5 0
Mug, decorated in blue, with figure
holding spit of herrings. Fishing
boats on reverse side, inscribed
“John Cooper, 1768.” Signed
“R. P.”—Richard Philips, a painter
at Lowestoft. Messrs. Notley, Lowestoft,
July, 1903 (illustrated p. 125) 11 0 0
Mug, painted in blue, with inscription—“Add
to knowledge, temperance
(_Peter II_), James Last of Saxmundham,
1769.” Christie, March 8, 1904 16 10 6
Bowl, painted with pastoral subjects, in
panels, foliage, scrolls in red, and
inscription inside, dated 1774.
Christie, April 8, 1904 26 5 0
Bowl, large, painted with medallion
views in brown and with ribands and
foliage round the border in dark
blue and gold. Diameter, 13-1/2 in.
Christie, March 2, 1905 6 0 0
Mugs, two, roughly decorated with blue,
and inscribed below “Abi^m Moore,
August 29, 1765.” Christie, April 7,
1905 5 5 0
Lowestoft china, ten teacups and
eight saucers decorated with border
and sprays of flowers in crimson,
red, blue, and green. Sotheby,
May 17, 1920 5 0 0
VII
COALPORT
[Illustration: TWO-HANDLED CUP, RICHLY GILDED, WITH BLUE AND WHITE
PANELS. COALBROOKDALE. MARKED CBD.]
[Illustration: COVERED CUP AND SAUCER, OLD COALPORT. IN SÈVRES STYLE.]
VII
COALPORT
The history of Coalport porcelain manufactured in Shropshire on the
banks of the Severn is worth the telling, and those readers who are
possessed of specimens of the older ware issuing from this factory will
be glad to hear of its first beginnings.
Unlike some of the other great manufactories, Coalport, we are happy
to say, is still in existence. Bow and Chelsea, Nantgarw and Swansea,
Bristol and Plymouth have disappeared. The potter’s wheel is silent,
and the brush of the artist has been laid aside for ever. Long since
the potters have turned into clay themselves. At Bow, where the
exquisite ware was produced on the banks of the Lea (“New Canton,”
as the manufactory styled itself), a match factory stands on the old
foundation. Instead of delicate and fragile cupids they now make
matches, but of the kind more associated with Lucifer than with Cupid.
With Derby and with Worcester, Coalport can boast that it was
established in the middle of the eighteenth century. Indeed, there
is evidence that the Salopian china made in Colebrookdale is taken
from the same beds of clay which fifteen hundred years ago supplied
the Romans with material for their white ware, for their jugs, their
mortaria, and their bowls, which are constantly being unearthed at
various spots in the valley of the Severn.
The site of the first works was at Caughley, where a small pottery was
begun about 1754. Early in its history the names of Brown, Gallimore,
and Turner occur. In my “Chat” on the great Worcester factory I showed
that Dr. Wall was the leading spirit who infused life into the concern,
and it would appear that Thomas Turner was in some measure induced to
emulate him, and it is seen on comparison that the early examples of
Caughley were very similar to those of contemporary Worcester. The
patterns were principally confined to blue flowers and decorations
on a white ground. From 1756 to 1776 the manufactory attained a
great excellence. There exists a mug bearing the date 1776, and the
name “Francis Benbow.” There is a nautical ring about the name. One
recollects Admiral Benbow and his gallant deeds; our Francis Benbow was
a bargeman, for whom the mug was made, but his name will go down to
posterity on this Caughley mug, as it is the most perfect specimen of
its kind.
We give a reproduction of this mug, and readers will observe the anchor
marked over the name, and we would call especial attention to the
nature of the decoration upon the mug. Dated chinas of old manufacture
are specimens very worthy of notice, as they are much sought after, and
in many cases are being reproduced with the old dates upon them.
[Illustration: CAUGHLEY. OLD BLUE MUG.
(Inscribed and Dated 1776.)]
The excellence of Turner’s porcelain and the invention of the beautiful
dark blue of the Caughley china, attributed to him, brought the
factory into great prominence. But great secrecy was employed in its
manufacture, and the place hidden away in the hills was an ideal spot
for a manufactory wishing to be self-contained and free from prying
strangers. In 1780 was produced the celebrated “Willow Pattern,” which
is in demand even at the present day, and has been copied by all the
other manufactories. The “Blue Dragon,” another favourite pattern,
originated at Caughley, and it was here that the first blue-printed
table service was made in England. It was made for Thomas Whitmore,
Esq., of Apley Park, near Bridgnorth, the pattern was called the
“Nankin.” It is interesting to note that Thomas Minton, of Stoke,
assisted in the completion of this service, being articled as an
engraver there.
Until the end of 1790 Messrs. Chamberlain, of Worcester, had their
porcelain in the white from Thomas Turner, of Caughley. As an instance
of the great secrecy employed by Turner, we may say that he used to mix
all the bodies himself, but afterwards instructed his sister how to do
it. It may add an additional zest to your old white and blue Caughley
ware to know that a woman who could keep a secret was intimately
associated with its manufacture.
In 1780 Turner, who had paid a visit to France to study the foreign
methods, brought back with him a number of skilled artists and workmen.
About this time, too, Mr. John Rose, who had learned the art of pottery
under Turner, left him to establish a factory of his own at Jackfield.
Jackfield, it may be noticed in passing, is one of the oldest potteries
in the country. As early as 1560 entries occur in the parish registers
of Stoke-upon-Trent of potters “from Jackfield.” In a disused coal mine
here, some years ago, a brown mug was found which bore the date 1634.
Jackfield was noted for some of its black decanters of superior glaze,
and up to quite a modern date made a yellow glazed earthenware.
Finally, the competition between Mr. Rose and the old Caughley works
became so great that the old factory was swallowed up by the new one,
and Coalport became the headquarters and the name of the firm became
John Rose and Company, Mr. Turner withdrawing from the business.
The exact dates are as follows: Between 1780 to 1790 John Rose
established his works at Coalport (he was only at Jackfield for a few
years). He carried on these and the Caughley, which he purchased in
1799, up till 1814, when Caughley was finally discontinued.
[Illustration: Early Marks.]
All these are very dry facts which you must master in order to
understand the specimens on your china shelf. There is an additional
interest, it always seems to me, in knowing of the men and women
who gave their lives to the perfection of an industry. There are in
existence portraits of Thomas Turner and his wife, and we should
particularly like to see the likeness of the lady who secretly mixed
the chinas. Perhaps some of our readers may come across some family in
Shropshire who may possess them.
With regard to marks, unfortunately not all the specimens of Caughley
were marked. The above are some of the varieties of the crescent
occurring on some of the ware, and show pretty clearly the transition
from a half-moon to the engraved C. The word “Salopian” is sometimes
impressed, and on one known specimen is the name “Turner.” Various
forms of the letter “S,” sometimes with a cross, are used.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the written name “Coalport”
was used, though not extensively, and another mark, the letters “C.
D.,” standing for Colebrookdale, was also used, but somewhat sparingly.
In 1820 both Swansea and Nantgarw factories were incorporated with
Coalport, and Messrs. Billingsley and Walker, well-known names in the
history of English china manufacture, came to Coalport. In 1820 Mr.
Rose received the gold medal of the Society of Arts for his Felspar
porcelain, and this date is a turning point in the history of Coalport.
At this time Coalport began to establish a reputation for its
excellence, which placed it on a level with the other great
manufactories—a reputation, be it said, that has increased as time has
gone on. We reproduce a handsome vase of Coalport manufacture, richly
decorated with pink and gold, on a blue ground. Its elegant form is
typical of the ware at its best period.
At the present moment the productions of Coalport, both old and modern,
are unequalled in their domain. The old traditions of the firm are
still maintained, and the ware of to-day is of the highest possible
artistic merit and excellence.
[Illustration: COALPORT VASE.
(Blue Ground, richly Decorated in Pink and Gold.)]
By the kindness of the proprietors of the Coalport manufactory, we
are enabled to give some further account of the modern ware, and to
reproduce illustrations of the later marks used and of the sumptuous
plates turned out at the present day from Iron Bridge, in Shropshire.
In the year 1820, the first year of the reign of George IV., Mr. John
Rose obtained the gold medal of the Society of Arts for his “improved
glaze for porcelain.” At this time a mark was adopted on some of the
ware, “Coalport Improved Felspar Porcelain,” enclosed in a wreath of
laurel. Surrounding the wreath are the words “Patronised by the Society
of Arts.” The name “I. Rose and Co.” is marked underneath. If any of
our readers have any porcelain having this mark, they will notice how
good is the paste and how excellent the glaze.
[Illustration: Coalport Marks.]
Just prior to the mark above alluded to, the word Coalport was used
and sometimes the letters “C. D.”—standing for Cole-Brook-Dale. Other
marks of a later date are a monogram formed of the letters “C. B. D.,”
and the same enclosed in a circle with the word “Daniell, London,” an
eminent firm acting as agents and connected with the sale of the ware
in London. This firm had depôts in Bond Street and in Wigmore Street,
and there is in the national collection a plate with _bleu-de-roi_
ground, enriched with gilding, one of a service executed by command of
Her Majesty the late Queen Victoria for presentation to the Emperor of
Russia. This service was exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851.
In the centre of the plate is painted the Order of St. Andrew, while
the body is ornamented with Russian orders painted on ivory-coloured
ground in six compartments.
We now come to a very curious mark which may have puzzled some of our
readers, but which is easily explained. It is a scroll somewhat like
that which stands for the word “and”—&. Within its curves appear the
three letters “C. S. N.” Upon examination it will be found that the
aforesaid curves really make two letters, viz., “C. and S.,” which
stand for _Coalport_ and _Salopian_, while the other three letters
stand for _Caughley_, _Swansea_, and _Nantgarw_—the whole emblematical
of the development of the manufactory and its absorption of the smaller
factories.
We give an illustration of the various marks placed in order of date
used, up to and including the one now in use by the firm. Our readers
may be able to form some idea by comparison of the dates of their
specimens.
[Illustration: LATEST COALPORT MARKS.]
It must be observed that much of the earlier Coalport was unmarked,
while—we blush to have to print it—some of the ware imitated the double
“L” mark of Sèvres, and the “C” and anchor of Chelsea and the crossed
swords of Dresden, so successfully as to delude the unwary collector.
The celebrated egg-shell porcelain of Coalport ranks among the most
marvellous china ever produced in this country. It is rarely marked
with any letters or signs, but it carries upon it a signature of
perfection of manufacture and exquisite symmetry of design such as no
other factory dared emulate, and no other factory has since approached.
These tiny cups and saucers (the cup follows Chinese models by having
no handle) are gems of ceramic art, and happy is the collector who can
number one or two good specimens in his china cabinet.
The well-known “Willow Pattern,” first manufactured here, is from a
Chinese model. It is still manufactured by the Coalport Company, and
is one of their stock patterns. It appears on a list of some forty
patterns, which can be and are manufactured without the use of lead.
Readers may find the words “Leadless Glaze” on some of their quite
recent purchases in modern china. The terrible effects of lead on the
workpeople in china factories is a subject which has received the
attention of Parliament (see p. xxiii). But in passing it is highly
satisfactory to find that the Coalport Company turn out, without
special order, forty patterns entirely “leadless.” Any one who is
specially desirous of having “leadless glaze” on any other of the
Coalport ware may do so by ordering it.
To come down to the very latest marks, there are three that have been
in use. The first in the seventies, the second in the eighties, and
the last, now solely used, was adopted some twelve years ago with the
addition of the word “England” to meet the requirements of the American
Tariff Act, which made it compulsory for foreign goods to be thus
stamped.
[Illustration: OLD COALPORT VASE.
(Decorated in pink and white. Marked CBD.)]
The first has the words “Salopian, Coalport,” in a scroll, which has
within it the old mark of Caughley, a crescent with “A.D. 1750” beneath
it, and in addition the letters “C. S. N.,” in scroll as before alluded
to, and having the date, “A.D. 1790,” underneath. This is a very
complicated mark, and is not generally known.
The second is a crown with the word “Coalport, A.D. 1750,” underneath.
The third is the same with the addition of the word “England.”
In conclusion we may quote the fact, to give our readers some idea of
the quality of the ware now being exported by the Coalport Company,
that some of the dinner ware sent to America costs no less a sum than
£5 per plate, while there are even more sumptuous and magnificent
specimens of their manufacture which cost £15 each plate. One of these,
amongst others, is a plate with a coloured design painted after Sir
Joshua Reynolds’ celebrated portrait of Mrs. Robinson.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CAUGHLEY AND COALPORT CHINA.
_Caughley._—The early pieces, printed in under-glaze blue, resemble the
early Worcester blue and white; but Caughley is whiter in appearance,
and the blue has not the mellowness of old Worcester. Introduction of
“Willow pattern,” and similar designs, and the “Broseley dragon.”
_Coalport._—“Chantilly sprig,” “Tournay sprig,” “Worm sprig,”
introduced by Billingsley from Pinxton. A maroon ground, introduced
by Walker from Nantgarw about 1822. The deep mazarine blue of Derby,
reproduced at Coalport, is quite equal to Derby pieces in tone.
The rich ground colours of old Sèvres porcelain were copied with
great success at Coalport, particularly the turquoise blue and the
_rose-du-Barri_.
SALE PRICES.
CAUGHLEY. £ s. d.
Tea and coffee service, fluted, flowers in
blue and gold and dark blue and
gold borders, 31 pieces. Christie,
January 30, 1902 7 7 0
Vases, pair, 14 in., decorated with raised
flowers and gilt, and choicely painted
in birds and Watteau subjects. Gudgeon
& Sons, Winchester, April 3, 1902 15 10 0
COALPORT.
Bowl and cover, two-handled, encrusted
with branches of coloured flowers
and foliage, 11 in. high. Christie,
April 4, 1902 16 5 6
Coalport vase, with gilt decoration on
turquoise ground, 10-1/2 in. high.
Christie, July 5, 1920 17 17 0
Pair of Coalport vases and covers,
painted with panels of flowers in gilt
scroll borders on dark blue ground,
the covers surmounted by figures of
children with garlands of flowers,
17 in. high. Christie, July 20, 1920 40 19 0
VIII
SPODE AND
HIS SUCCESSORS
[Illustration: COPELAND VASES.
Cobalt-blue ground, painted panels of Flowers and Landscapes. Raised
border, richly gilded.
_Reproduced by courtesy of W. T. Copeland & Sons, Stoke-on-Trent._]
[Illustration: SPODE EARTHENWARE PLATES.
(May-blossom on dark blue ground, and tropical bird and flowers on
canary yellow ground.)
_In the Collection of the Author._]
VIII
SPODE AND HIS SUCCESSORS
The chain of potters is complete from the day on which Josiah Spode
was apprenticed to Whieldon in 1749. The entry in the old account book
runs: “1749, April 9th. Hired Siah Spode, to give him from this time to
Martelmas next 2s. 3d., or 2s. 6d. if he deserves it, 2nd year 2s. 9d.,
3rd year 3s. 3d.” The successors to Spode, Messrs. Copeland, have done
much to develop the manufacture of English porcelain in the nineteenth
century, and at the present day they are producing china of the highest
excellence.
The first Josiah Spode established a factory at Stoke-upon-Trent about
1770. Some of his earliest productions bear the name “Spode” impressed
in the paste. Those of my readers who have blue willow-pattern plates
with this mark upon them are the possessors of some of the first plates
of that pattern made. About 1780 the willow pattern was introduced by
Turner at Caughley, and very shortly afterwards, in 1784, Josiah Spode
was turning out at Stoke his blue printed plates. Some of his china is
printed in black, and pieces of this black printing are much sought
after by collectors, but they must bear the word “Spode” impressed on
them.
[Illustration: OLD SPODE PASTILLE-BURNER.
(Red body with black ornaments in relief.)
_At Victoria and Albert Museum._]
The vase which we reproduce from the collection at the Victoria and
Albert Museum is a pastille-burner having perforated cover; it is
mounted on tripod stand formed by three dolphins on triangular base;
it is red in colour and ornamented in black in relief. It has the
impressed mark “Spode,” and is earthenware, but we give it here on
account of its fine form.
On the death of old Josiah Spode, in 1798, his son Josiah continued
the business, and commenced the manufacture of porcelain, which he
improved by the addition of bone-ash and of felspar. He died in 1827,
and was succeeded by his cousin, Josiah Spode. This third Josiah Spode
died a few years afterwards, at which date the name Spode practically
disappears from the firm.
Josiah Spode the second was the most successful potter of his day.
It is pleasing to be able to record that he acquired a considerable
fortune—a lot not often within the reach of potters, successful or
otherwise.
About the year 1805 he introduced a fine ware which he termed opaque
porcelain. This ware became very popular and was of excellent
manufacture. While Nelson was fighting the French at Trafalgar, and
breaking their naval pretensions, Josiah Spode was inflicting a
commercial blow upon that unhappy country. Spode—and in his wake came
other Staffordshire manufacturers—inundated France and other countries
on the Continent with this new stone china of his, which entirely
superseded their fayence. This injury was a very real one to the poor
potters of France, inasmuch as a great number of them had to abandon
the manufacture.
We have already alluded to the impressed mark =Spode= or SPODE. On
some of the finer pieces the name is painted in red, and sometimes it
is written in gold, as in our third mark in an angular hand, running
upwards. The stamped mark usually in red, “Spode’s New Fayence” and
“Spode Stone China,” appears on the ironstone ware. Oftentimes the mark
is not stamped on the middle of the plate underneath, but at the side,
while sometimes the name is both stamped and impressed. Besides the
marks we give there are more than half a dozen other forms used by the
factory, but all of them containing the word “Spode,” and therefore not
presenting difficulties to the collector.
[Illustration: SOME SPODE MARKS.]
Of three marked Spode plates in possession of the writer, of typical
Spode decoration, which was largely influenced by Japanese art, we
give two as a headpiece. It will be observed that the left-hand plate
in the headpiece, which has a vivid blue background, is fretted with a
geometric pattern as a design. This is intended to represent ice, and
the may-flowers of the covering decoration are intended to convey, by
the Chinese artist who invented it, the symbolic meaning of young love
being chilled by adversity. The other plate in the same illustration
is of a brilliant canary-coloured ground, covered with a gossamer-like
network of cobwebs, above which bird and flowers are painted.
The third plate shows very strongly the influence of the East in its
method of decoration; but instead of pagoda and delicate curves,
the English artist has almost brutally placed a piece of European
architecture on the other half of the plate, which by its incongruity
mars the remainder.
[Illustration: SPODE PLATE.
(Decorated in blue and red and gold.)
_In the Collection of the Author._]
We must turn aside from Spode, and introduce our readers to his
successors, the Copelands. One word in passing. Those who have
specimens of Spode ware will do well to remember that his was a great
factory, not so well known as Derby and Worcester, but a formidable
rival of theirs. Not many months ago at Christie’s a pair of Spode
vases, square shaped, decorated with landscapes, birds and flowers in
the Chinese style, forty-two inches, brought £21.
[Illustration: MARKS OF MESSRS. COPELAND.]
The list of marks used by Messrs. Copeland will show at a glance the
changes in the title of the firm. In 1833 the firm became Copeland,
late Spode, and the china was marked accordingly.
There are a good many other marks besides those we give, but all are
more or less similar, with slight variation to those we produce. A
word of explanation is necessary as to the mark “C. and G.” This is
frequently accompanied by the words, “New Blanche,” “Royal Opal,”
“Saxon Blue,” or “New Japan Stone,” according to the composition or
decoration of the ware.
[Illustration: SPODE WILLOW PATTERN PLATES.
_By courtesy of Messrs. W. T. Copeland & Sons._]
About the date of the International Exhibition of 1861, many purely
English novelties were attempted. Mistletoe, holly, and simple popular
designs were then in favour and were produced. Nobody could possibly
mistake the homely robin or the holly-wreath decoration for that of
any other country than ours. There is a suggestion of roast beef and
plum-pudding and Christmas fare. All purely English art is homely,
whether it be the Staffordshire potter’s farmyard quadrupeds that adorn
the cottage mantelshelf, or the old blue dinner services of our great
grandmothers. It is a debatable point if that is the highest art, but
there it is. Ruskin would have had some hard things to say about it,
and maybe William Morris preferred the potsherd of an Italian shepherd.
The fact remains that it is _our_ art, and whatever we may in our
innermost hearts wish it to be, we have to take it and study it as we
find it.
Before leaving the subject of these later and more modern chinas we may
say, in passing, that the firm of Messrs. Copeland have done more than
any other existing firm to maintain the traditions of a great factory.
They have adhered to early designs, and all through the nineteenth
century their record has been an exceedingly high one. It was Messrs.
Copeland who first introduced, in 1845, their Parian ware, a very near
approach to true porcelain. The writer has seen a Copeland and Garrett
plate which in appearance was fully equal to Derby at its best period.
CHARACTERISTICS OF SPODE CHINA.
Spode ware is well potted, and feels to the touch like turned ivory.
It can readily be distinguished from any of the glassy porcelains. It
is light in weight. In design it follows Japanese more than Chinese
models. The glaze is very even and smooth.
SALE PRICES.
SPODE.
Vase and cover, octagonal-shape, decorated £ s. d.
with flowers in Oriental taste
in colours and gold, 24 in. high.
Christie, January 14, 1902 5 15 6
Vases, five, purple, crimson, and gilt
decoration. Foster, January 9, 1902 9 5 0
Basket and cover, dark blue and gold
ground, and painted with bouquets
of flowers. Sotheby, February 24, 1902 6 2 6
Dishes, two, oblong shaped, decorated
in the Japanese taste, blue, red,
and gold. Hepper & Sons, Leeds,
February 5, 1902 3 15 0
Spill-vases, pair, gold ground, painted
in flowers. Hepper & Sons, Leeds,
February 5, 1902 2 0 0
Cake-plates, three, gilt and painted landscapes,
“The Church and Castle of
Scurlogstown, Co. of East Meath,”
“The Remains of Wolvesey Castle,”
and “The Bridge and Priory, Newtown,
Co. of East Meath” (marked
“Spode”). Edwards, Son & Bigwood,
Birmingham, May 13, 1902 10 10 0
Dessert service, apple-green border,
gilt, each piece painted in flowers
and fruit, consisting of one tall compôte,
seven oval dishes, four leaf-shaped
ditto, two sauce-tureens,
covers and stands, and seventeen
plates. Bennett & Son, Dublin, June
18, 1902 27 10 0
Dessert service, decorated in Oriental
colourings, 37 pieces. Brady & Sons,
Perth, September 1, 1902 16 16 0
Dinner set, decorated with sprays,
leaves, and flowers, comprising 119
pieces. Brady & Sons, Perth, September
1, 1902 25 0 0
Dinner set, decorated in scarlet, blue,
green, and gold, comprising 133
pieces. Brady & Sons, Perth, September
1, 1902 45 0 0
Tea service, gilt and decorated, 45
pieces. Jabez Jones & Sons, Preston,
December 15, 1902 28 7 0
Vases and covers, pair, large square
shaped, decorated with landscapes,
birds and flowers in the Chinese
taste in sunk panels on dark-blue
ground, gilt with foliage, and with
dragon handles in high relief and
figures on the covers, 42 in. high,
on wood pedestals, painted white.
Christie, December 19, 1902 21 0 0
Pair of Spode pastille-burners and
covers, painted with flowers in the
Chinese taste on dark blue ground,
supported by three gilt dolphins, on
triangular bases, mark in red, 7 in.
high. Puttick & Simpson, July 9, 1920 6 6 0
Set of three Spode vases, gilt with foliage
scrolls on dark blue ground, and
with scroll handles, outlined with
gilt. Puttick & Simpson, July 9, 1920 5 15 6
COPELAND.
Vases, set of three, rich blue, gilt, white
scroll handles, and painted in colours,
with wild flowers, centre vase
15 in. high, side vases 13-1/2 in. high
(marked “Copeland & Garrett, Felspar
Porcelain, late Spode”). Edwards,
Son & Bigwood, Birmingham,
May 13, 1902 26 0 0
Dessert service of 24 pieces, pink ground,
decorated with gold, the centres
painted in panels of hunting and
other sporting scenes, each different,
marked “Copeland and Garrett,”
centre compôte, two oblong, two
oval, and four circular side dishes,
and fifteen plates. De Rome &
Son, Kendal, May 13, 1903 18 0 0
IX
NANTGARW
AND
SWANSEA
[Illustration: SWANSEA VASE.
(With flowers painted by Billingsley.)]
[Illustration: NANTGARW PLATES.
Richly decorated in colours and gilded.]
IX
NANTGARW AND SWANSEA
The history of these two factories in Wales is bound up together.
Billingsley, the chief flower-painter of Derby, was the founder of
the little factory at Nantgarw, a small village a few miles north of
Cardiff.
His was a restless, roving career. In other “Chats” we have alluded to
him. Apprenticed at Derby under Duesbury, he left there in 1796, to
commence the manufacture of porcelain at Pinxton. In 1801 we find he
had left Pinxton and was engaged upon the decoration of Staffordshire
porcelain at Mansfield, in Nottinghamshire. He is next described as “of
Torksey,” which is near Gainsborough. At Worcester he engaged himself
under Messrs. Flight and Barr, and was employed on flower-painting from
1808 to 1811.
Billingsley was known as “Beeley” at this time. Monetary difficulties
had compelled him to take precautions against his arrest for debt.
About this time, too, together with his son-in-law, Samuel Walker, he
appears to have visited the Coalport Factory and erected a new kiln,
the invention of Walker.
Of late, a considerable interest has been shown in the porcelain of
Nantgarw and Swansea. Collectors have ascribed to it artistic qualities
greater than those of Worcester or Derby. The lovers of Nantgarw, and
those connoisseurs who collect this and no other porcelain, will not
admit that it is in any way inferior to the greatest factories that
have existed in this country, and compare it to Sèvres.
Recently at Christie’s Auction Rooms a dessert service of Nantgarw
manufacture brought £128 2s. Each piece was painted with a bouquet of
flowers in the centre, the borders with raised white scrolls, painted
with birds and flowers. This service consisted of centre dish, on feet,
four square-shaped dishes, two-leaf shaped dishes, seventeen plates and
two small plates. This works out at nearly £4 15s. each piece.
At another London auction room, seven Nantgarw plates, painted with
birds and bouquets of flowers in border, all with impressed mark, in
December last brought under the hammer, £97, which is nearly £14 each
plate! After this it is useless to deny that Nantgarw is a factory
which must be reckoned with from a collector’s point of view.
[Illustration: NANTGARW DISH (12 IN. IN LENGTH).
_Marked “Nantgarw, C. W.”_
(Pink ground; raised white floral sprays; richly gilded scrolls.
The centre white, with handsome fruit and flower piece painted by
Billingsley.)]
Great stress has been laid by those who affect the collecting of
Nantgarw on its whiteness and transparency. By its detractors this is
said to be its fault—that it is too white and too cold to compete with
the older productions of the better-known factories. Of course only
experts come to blows on this matter. Whether it is too glassy and too
cold, and lacking the mellow warmth of the older glassy porcelains,
matters little to the modest collector who desires to have Nantgarw
represented in his or her scanty collection.
It may be observed in passing that the distinguishing feature of
Nantgarw is the elaborate painting of flowers and fruit on the pieces
manufactured there. We reproduce a beautiful Nantgarw dish, marked
“NANTGARW. C. W.,” with pink ground, having garlands of raised white
flowers bound with a knot, and encircled with richly gilded scrolls.
The centre is white, with a handsome floral piece from the brush of
Billingsley. The roses are exquisitely drawn, such as no other ceramic
artist ever drew them; and the pear, of a warm, luscious brown, has all
the bloom of the natural fruit upon it.
Mr. Dillwyn, of the Swansea works, has left us an interesting
memorandum concerning the proprietors of Nantgarw. He says:—
“My friend Sir Joseph Banks informed me that two persons, named
Walker and Beeley, had sent to Government, from a small manufactory
at Nantgarw (ten or twelve miles north of Cardiff), a specimen of
beautiful china, with a petition for their patronage, and that, as one
of the Board of Trade, he requested me to examine and report upon that
manufactory. Upon witnessing the firing of a kiln at Nantgarw, I found
much reason for considering that the body used was too nearly allied
to glass to bear the necessary heat, and observed that nine-tenths of
the articles were either shivered, or more or less injured in shape by
the firing. The parties, however, succeeded in making me believe that
the defects in their porcelain arose entirely from imperfections in
their small trial-kiln, and I agreed with them for a removal to the
Cambrian Pottery, at which two new kilns under their direction were
prepared. While endeavouring to strengthen and improve this beautiful
body, I was surprised at receiving a notice from Messrs. Flight &
Barr, of Worcester, charging the parties calling themselves Walker and
Beeley with having clandestinely left an engagement at their works, and
forbidding me to employ them.” This was in 1814, and it was in the same
year that Billingsley and Walker entered the service of Mr. Dillwyn at
Swansea and commenced to make the beautiful china, highly decorated and
of exquisite finish.
In concluding our remarks on Nantgarw we may observe that this factory
was not finally abandoned till 1820. From 1812 to 1814 is its first
period, when Billingsley and Walker and Young (of whom we shall have
more to say later) were all at Nantgarw. Its second period is when the
trio appear there again from 1817 to 1819. Billingsley and Walker then
left for Coalport, and Young carried on the works till their close.
[Illustration: FINE SWANSEA VASE AND COVER. HEIGHT, 14-1/2 IN.
(Richly decorated and gilded. With exquisite flower painting.)]
The only marks that appear on the china are the word “Nantgarw” with
the letters “C. W.” underneath, which in all probability meant China
Works, but which by some collectors are said to denote the name of
the artist. This is impressed in the china. Sometimes the word
“Nantgarw” is found in red, but this must be regarded with suspicion,
as a great many forgeries have been perpetrated in this china owing to
its rarity and the favour which it finds with collectors.
[Illustration: Swansea Marks.]
Swansea has a more extended history. In the middle of the eighteenth
century a small manufactory of earthenware existed here. This gradually
grew into the “Cambrian Pottery,” which, at the beginning of the
nineteenth century, passed into the hands of Mr. Lewis Weston Dillwyn,
a Fellow of the Linnæan Society and author of works on botany.
[Illustration: Swansea Marks.]
Before Mr. Dillwyn’s day a fine opaque china was produced at Swansea,
but under his management and guidance the china assumed a more artistic
appearance.
W. W. Young, whom we spoke of as having come over from Nantgarw, was
especially skilful at painting flowers and birds, butterflies and
insects, and sometimes shells. Some of the pieces of Swansea bear his
name upon them. Young was also employed by Mr. Dillwyn to illustrate
his works on botany and natural history.
[Illustration: SWANSEA PLATE (8 IN. HIGH).
Marked “SWANSEA,” in red.
(White ground, finely decorated with red roses.)]
Besides Young and the two Nantgarw flower painters and decorators,
there was at Swansea Baxter, who was considered one of the cleverest
painters on china of his day. He came originally from Worcester and
eventually returned there. Some of the subjects from the canvases of
Sir Joshua Reynolds were successfully copied by him. Baxter was at
Swansea for three years, and while there decorated a service with
garden scenery in the style peculiarly his own. There was Morris, a
clever fruit painter, and Beddoes, a noted heraldic painter, and, above
all, Billingsley, the first flower painter of his day.
[Illustration: SWANSEA VASE.
Stamped “Dillwyn’s Etruscan Ware.”
_In Collection of Mr. W. G. Honey._]
About the year 1820 the Swansea factory was discontinued and the whole
of the moulds and appliances were transferred by Mr. John Rose to
Coalport. Since that date no china has been made at Swansea. Some of
the marks that we give are of a later date than 1820, and are upon
earthenware.
Among the marks of Swansea will be seen the oblong mark stamped on
“Dillwyn’s Etruscan Ware.” This ware was introduced in 1848, and was of
a fine rich red body. On this was printed, in black outline, Etruscan
figures, borders, and other details. The general surface was then
painted over, with the exception of the figures and designs within the
black outlines. The result was that the figures were left the original
red of the body and the effect was extremely good. The illustration we
give is of a specimen in Mr. W. G. Honey’s collection, late at the Cork
Exhibition.
The older pieces stamped with the above-mentioned mark are sought
after. Later the name and title of the firm changed and passed into the
hands of Messrs. Evans & Co. Besides the manufacture of white, and blue
and white china, they supplied Ireland and the West of England with
agate earthenware, and a good deal of it found its way to America. No
trade-mark was used by them.
CHARACTERISTICS OF NANTGARW AND SWANSEA CHINA.
_Nantgarw_ porcelain is of very fine texture; it has a glassy
appearance, and when held up to a strong light, such as an incandescent
electric globe, it exhibits a number of small bubbles, like pin-holes,
in the body. It is inclined to have the glaze cracked in parts with a
network almost like Chinese crackle ware. Some of the thinner pieces
will be found to be not quite true, being slightly warped or bent,
owing to its uncertainty in the kiln.
_Swansea_ china is frequently decorated with birds, butterflies, and
shells, drawn from nature by W. W. Young. Much of it is of a glassy
nature like Nantgarw; but later the Swansea ware was of a duller,
heavier nature, and having a hard white appearance.
SALE PRICES.
NANTGARW. £ s. d.
Plates, seven, painted with birds, bouquets
of flowers in border, all with
impressed mark. Foster, December
4, 1902 97 0 0
Dessert service, each piece painted with
a bouquet of flowers in the centre,
the borders with raised white scrolls
painted with birds and flowers, consisting
of centre dish, on foot, four
square-shaped dishes, two leaf-shaped
dishes, seventeen plates, two
small plates. Christie, January 23,
1903 128 2 0
Plate, painted with border of stippled
gold and roses, the centre painted
with a pastoral landscape, figures
and sheep, exhibited at the 1851
Exhibition. De Rome & Son, Kendal,
May 13, 1903 27 16 6
Plates, pair, painted with groups of
flowers, in gilt borders, and birds in
centre; impressed mark. Sotheby,
May 4, 1903 33 0 0
Plate, the centre with three roses, and
the rim with rose festoons on a
dotted gold ground, impressed
mark. Sotheby, May 17, 1920 18 0 0
Pair of Plates, painted with flowers
and fruit, and the borders moulded
with scrolls in relief, impressed
mark. Christie, July 20, 1920 26 5 0
SWANSEA.
Jug, painted with bouquets and wreaths
of flowers and gilt, and with a shield
of arms, 10 in. high; and a pair of
plates with a wreath of flowers, impressed
mark. Christie, February
18, 1902 17 6 6
Jug, moulded with leaves, and with
flowers and butterflies in green and
colours, 10-3/4 in. high. Christie, February
5, 1902 8 8 0
Dessert Service, painted with cornflowers
and with gilt edges,
consisting of centre dish, on foot;
eight oblong, four shell-shaped and
four octagonal dishes; pair of
sugar tureens, covers and stands;
thirty plates; eighteen small
plates. Christie, November 21,
1902 65 2 0
Swansea china covered Porringer and
Saucer, finely decorated with flowers
in natural colours on a dotted gold
ground. Sotheby, May 17, 1920 14 0 0
Swansea Dessert Service, painted with
named flowers with gilt foliage and
trellis work round borders, consisting
of pair of sugar-tureens and
covers, four octagonal dishes and
twelve plates. Christie, July 5, 1920 25 4 0
A pair of Swansea small vases, painted
with panels of flowers on dark blue
ground, richly gilt, and with swan
handles, 7 in. high. Christie, July
20, 1920 22 1 0
X
MINTON
[Illustration: MINTON VASE.
Mazarin blue ground, raised and chased gold scrolls. First half 19th
century.
(_By permission of Messrs. Mortlock, Oxford Street._)]
[Illustration: MINTON DISH, _pâte-sur-pâte_, BY M. L. SOLON.
_By courtesy of Messrs. Minton & Sons._]
X
MINTON
Messrs. Minton, of Stoke, in Staffordshire, manufacture pottery,
porcelain, and majolica. By this latter, that massive ware, of bold
design and bolder ornamentation and positive colours, principally
blues, yellows, and greens, Minton’s at the Paris Exhibition of 1855
created quite a sensation, and won universal admiration.
Ten years before the commencement of the nineteenth century Thomas
Minton established his factory at Stoke-upon-Trent. Only earthenware
was manufactured at Stoke Works up till 1798, chiefly ordinary white
ware, ornamented with blue, in imitation of Nankin china. From about
1799 down to 1811 a semi-transparent china was also made, but was
abandoned as unprofitable. In 1817 Mr. Minton’s two sons entered the
firm. In 1821 the manufacture of china was again resumed; about
this time, too, a very marked improvement was noticeable in Minton’s
printed earthenware; the body was whiter, and the glaze was more highly
finished.
We give the two early marks of the firm down to 1837. These were
usually in blue, and very often had a number underneath. In these
earlier examples the flowers and other decorations were painted. They
very shortly became mostly printed designs, except in elaborate pieces,
and the personal character of the ordinary china grew, in consequence,
of less interest.
[Illustration:
[Minton and Boyle
1837]
[1851.]]
Sometimes “M. and C.” (the C. standing for Company), with an impressed
stamp “BB.” or “BB. New Stone,” occurs. BB. signifies “best body.” A
design of passion-flowers printed in blue is a favourite subject.
In 1836 Mr. John Boyle was admitted a partner, on the death of Thomas
Minton; the firm became then Minton and Boyle, and the marks were
accordingly changed. After continuing for five years Mr. Boyle went
over to the Wedgwoods.
[Illustration: MINTON PORCELAIN VASE.
(_Exhibited at Paris Exhibition_, 1867.)]
Mr. Minton was subsequently joined by his nephews, M. D. Hollins
and Colin Minton-Campbell. The second Minton seems to have been of
considerable business ability. In his father’s day fifty hands were
employed at Stoke, but in his time the factory employed no less than
1,500. The various branches he developed were earthenware, and ordinary
soft porcelain, hard porcelain, parian, coloured and enamelled tiles,
mosaics, Della Robbia ware, majolica, and Palissy ware.
It will be seen from the accompanying illustrations how highly
decorative Minton porcelain is. The vase we reproduce was one of the
most admired specimens of china in the Paris Exhibition of 1867.
What is known as the ermine mark (the dark trefoil with the three
dots), either indented or painted in gold and colours, has been used on
porcelain since 1851, and since 1865 the word “MINTON,” impressed, has
been used for both china and earthenware.
[Illustration:
[Used since 1868].
M. & Co.]
In 1868 the globe, with the word “MINTON” across it, was first used,
and all the firm’s works subsequent to that date are so stamped. In
1872 the design was registered, and frequently a rhomboidal stamp
occurs either without or in addition to the globe mark, which has the
letter R in the centre, denoting that the particular pattern of china
is “Registered” as a design. This rhomboidal mark occurs on chinas
other than Minton’s, and is a feature of modern china.
“Minton, Hollins & Co.” are a firm at Stoke largely engaged in
manufacturing encaustic and majolica tiles. They are an offshoot of the
main branch.
The illustration we give of the lion ewer is a fine example of Minton’s
reproduction of the celebrated Henri II. faïence. This wonderful ware
is of distinct character and ornamentation, differing from every other
kind of pottery. It was made at Oiron, in France, from 1524 to 1550.
There are less than one hundred known pieces. Five pieces are in the
Victoria and Albert Museum. Two are in the Louvre. Some of the pieces
are valued at over £3,000 each. Who shall say that there is no romance
in old china and pottery when vases and ewers, tazzas and salt-cellars,
have pedigrees as long as a race-horse’s, and whose whereabouts are as
well known as that of a reigning prince?
[Illustration: MINTON. LION EWER.
Reproduction of “Henri II. Ware.”]
The plaque of painted majolica is a good specimen of what Minton can
do. It was made about 1865, as was the lion ewer alluded to on p.
184, and the candelabrum is also of the same period. There is a fine
fountain executed in Minton majolica; it is 36 feet high and 39 feet in
diameter. At the summit there is a group, larger than life size, of St.
George and the Dragon. It was one of the features of the International
Exhibition of 1862; it now embellishes the scanty grass plot in front
of the Bethnal Green Museum.
[Illustration: MINTON. PORCELAIN CANDELABRUM.]
Some fine old Sèvres pieces have been copied by Mintons, and great
fidelity has been shown in reproducing the old ground colours of
rose-du-Barri, gros-bleu, turquoise, and pea-green. Chinese porcelain
has been imitated with especial success. The most notable artistic
achievement is the _pâte-sur-pâte_ work, by M. Leon Solon. The coloured
background is worked upon in white clay, and the delicate modelling of
figures in this material is of great artistic beauty. Each result is a
personal creation of the potter which cannot be duplicated.
SALE PRICES.
MINTON. £ s. d.
Vases, pair, gold wreath handles, with
panels of Cupids in gold and pink
on an ivory ground, 16-1/2 in. high;
and a vase nearly similar, by A.
Birks. Christie, January, 1902 42 0 0
(_These first nine items were from
the Colin Minton-Campbell Collection._)
Vases, pair, and covers, nearly similar,
with fruit in the Oriental taste on
brown ground, by A. Green, 46 in.
high. Christie, January, 1902 15 4 6
Vases, pair, beaker-shaped, painted with
lilies and grasses in colours and gold
on dark-blue ground, richly gilt, by
Leroi, 33 in. high. Christie, January,
1902 33 12 0
Vases, pair, with Cupids and flowers in
white and colours on black ground,
in coloured and gilt borders, by L.
Birks, 33 in. high. Christie, January,
1902 63 0 0
Vases, pair, oviform and covers, the
bodies encircled by four shaped
medallions in relief, suspended by
gilt cords and oak foliage, alternately
painted with camp scenes in the
Moran School and trophies-of-arms,
apple-green borders; the ground of
the vase _gros bleu_ with marble decoration
in gold, the whole executed in
the style of old Sèvres, by Boullemin
and Leroi, 21 in. high. Christie,
January, 1902 162 15 0
Cup and saucer, with panels of figures,
vases and festoons of drapery in
white on a sage-green ground, by
Solon. Christie, January, 1902 11 0 6
Candlesticks, pair, decorated in grisaille
and gold in the taste of Limoges
enamel, 12 in. high. Christie, January,
1902 6 6 0
Dish, on pedestal, with a figure of
Fortune in white on sage-green
ground, by Solon, 11-1/4 in. diameter.
Christie, January, 1902 17 6 6
Jardinières, pair, fan-shaped, with
panels of figures and exotic flowers
in colours on a Rose-du-Barry
ground, painted in the taste of old
Sèvres, by Leroi, 7 in. high. Christie,
January, 1902 63 0 0
Vases and covers, pair, Solon ware, by
Minton, with Classical figures and
Cupids in arabesque borders, in
white on a sage-green ground, richly
gilt, 15 in. high. Christie, April 17,
1903 22 1 0
Pair of Minton pilgrim bottles and
stoppers, decorated with Cupids in
white on blue medallions, in the
manner of Solon, on pink ground
richly gilt, 9-1/2 in. high. Christie,
July 5, 1920 7 7 0
Minton Sèvres pattern vase and cover,
painted with panels of flowers and
trophies on green ground, 15 in.
high. Christie, July 5, 1920 9 9 0
[Illustration: MINTON. PAINTED MAJOLICA PLAQUE.]
XI
OLD ENGLISH
EARTHENWARE
[Illustration: BUST OF PRINCE RUPERT.
Made by John Dwight in Fulham Stoneware about 1671.
_At British Museum._]
[Illustration:
_W. G. Honey._] [_Cork._
SUNDERLAND JUG.
(Two positions.)]
XI
OLD ENGLISH EARTHENWARE[2]
It requires a word of apology for including the following “Chats” on
earthenware in a volume bearing the title “Chats on English China,” but
as the chief end of this little volume is to render to the beginner
such aid as may be useful in the determination of the various classes
of china, it was thought desirable in his interest to treat somewhat
generally of earthenware in this and the succeeding chapters.
Earthenware suggests pots and pans, and the word is redolent of kitchen
smells, but a Wedgwood teapot or a Toby jug, though earthenware they
be, are worth the having. Pottery is the poor relation of porcelain.
The one comes in silks and satins, in purple and fine linen; the other
in cotton gown, like Phyllis at the fair.
The following remarks may lend a zest to dusting days, and, mayhap, the
poor relation may be invited to come down from the top shelf in the
kitchen to occupy a niche in the drawing-room.
It is to be hoped that what has already been said on china may have
created a taste in the reader for the inventions of the potter. A blue
bowl may convey a world of meaning, and may be fragrant with memories
of the eighteenth century, if one cares to peer beneath the surface.
To the uninitiated it will be a blue bowl—and ugly maybe at that. To
some the potter’s art is as dead a thing as was Nature’s message to
Wordsworth’s insensate:—
“A primrose by a river’s brim
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more.”
That it is not always easy to determine where a piece of china may have
come from we have already shown, even if it be “A Present from the
Crystal Palace.” The ordinary mind may possibly imagine some hitherto
unknown factory away at Sydenham, but the legend “Made in Germany”
underneath instantly dispels that illusion.
It is necessary here to state that the world of _bric-à-brac_ is
divided into two parts—earthenware or pottery, and china or porcelain.
All that is not earthenware is porcelain, and all that is not porcelain
is earthenware. One may liken it to prose and poetry; what is not one
must be the other, as Monsieur Jourdain discovered after he had spoken
prose for forty years without knowing it. To continue the simile, some
of Ruskin’s prose writings approach as near to poetry as do Wedgwood’s
finer wares to porcelain.
Porcelain is produced by the artificial mixture of certain minerals
known by their Chinese names of _kaolin_ and _petuntse_, or their
English ones of china-clay and felspar. The former is infusible under
the greatest heat, the latter is not, but unites in a state of fusion
with the china-clay, making a paste or “body,” which is hard, and, when
broken, shows a smooth, vitreous fracture. Those who have attempted to
mend old china must have noticed how different the broken surface is
from that of pottery with its rougher edges.
Strictly speaking these “Chats” on earthenware ought to have appeared
at the commencement of the volume, for earthenware comes first
chronologically. In passing we will glance for a moment as to how
porcelain came into Europe.
Porcelain was first invented by the Chinese some two centuries before
Christ. It reached Europe as the Eastern civilisation penetrated to the
west, and for hundreds of years vain attempts were made by potters to
reproduce the fineness of porcelain with its beautiful glaze and hard
paste. At Venice, at Florence, in France, and in Spain, during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, an approximate success had been
arrived at; soft paste had been developed to its furthest limit, but
the real ingredients of the Chinese hard paste were unknown.
Accident, however, completed what centuries of industry had attempted.
From perruque to porcelain seems a far cry, but the story is worth
telling.
John Schnorr, an ironmaster, riding near Aue, observed that a soft
earth adhered strongly to his horse’s hoofs. Considering that this
earth might be used as a substitute for wheat flour as hair powder,
he carried some away with him, and it was subsequently sold in large
quantities for this purpose at Dresden, Leipsic, and other places. This
_kaolin_ (the base of hard paste) continued to be known as “Schnorr’s
white earth.”
Johann Friedrich Böttcher, chemist to the Elector of Saxony and King
of Poland, discovered the secret about 1709. One morning, on taking up
his wig, he noticed it was much heavier than usual. He was informed by
his valet that a new kind of hair-powder had been used. This was the
ironmaster’s white earth. Böttcher was convinced that he had discovered
at last the base of porcelain.
This was the foundation of the manufacture of porcelain at Meissen, and
the factory then established has supplied the world with Dresden china
ever since.
So great was the secrecy at first, that Böttcher and his assistants,
when Charles XII. of Sweden invaded Saxony, were removed by the
Elector for greater safety to the castle at Königstein, where they
were practically imprisoned. Even the clay was sealed up in barrels
by dumb persons, and every workman was required to take a solemn oath
not to reveal the secret. “Be silent unto death” was the motto of the
establishment.
How the method of manufacture and the secrets of Meissen finally became
known to other countries, and how manufactories came to be set up at
Vienna and Petersburg, is one of the romances of trade.
So much for the early history of porcelain in Europe. During this
period the art of the potter had not made very great progress in
England. These “Chats” have shown of the heroic attempts to emulate the
success of Meissen, but it was slow, uphill work to reach the heights
of Worcester and of Derby in porcelain and of Wedgwood in earthenware.
Stoneware mugs were more in accordance with the taste of our
forefathers than pewter pots for drinking purposes, a comparatively
modern prejudice. A variety of mugs called Longbeards, largely imported
from Low Countries, were in general use during the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries at inns for serving all the customers. The name
“Bellarmine” was sarcastically given them in reference to the cardinal
most conspicuous in opposing the Reformed faith in the Netherlands,
the potter representing, with grotesque art, his Eminence with short
stature and rotund figure.
[Illustration: JOHN BULL JUG.
Blue and white (10-1/2 in. high).
_From Collection of Mr. W. G. Honey._]
It is but a short step from the ware imported from the Low Countries to
the pottery of Staffordshire. The celebrated pattern of the Toby jug
is well known. Dickens, in “Barnaby Rudge,” makes Gabriel Varden ask
Dolly to “put Toby this way.” Uncle Toby himself might have suggested
the design, but it is said to be derived from one Toby Philpot, “a
thirsty old soul as e’er drank a bottle or fathomed a bowl.” We give,
from Mr. W. G. Honey’s collection at Cork, two fine specimens—one an
old Staffordshire jug (10-1/2 in. high), representing John Bull, and
marked “I. W.”; the other, the well-known pattern of the Vicar and
Moses (9-1/4 in. high). This latter is the work of Ralph Wood, of
Burslem, and was frequently reproduced by later potters. Both these
pieces are blue and white.
[Illustration:
_W. G. Honey._] [_Cork._
THE VICAR AND MOSES.
Blue and white (9-1/4 in. high).]
Of Josiah Wedgwood, the English Palissy, we deal in a separate “Chat.”
A whole volume could be written about him and his work. His busts,
magnificently produced in black basalt, his cameos and gems, with
which the name of Flaxman must be coupled, his white terra-cotta, and
his cream-coloured earthenware, known as Queen’s ware (first made for
Queen Charlotte), may be ranked among the most important factors in the
history and development of the potter’s art in England.
Of the most important of the other Staffordshire potters, perhaps
the name of Spode is the best known. After 1798, Spode the younger
commenced to make porcelain.
Concerning Liverpool, to which we devote a separate “Chat,” it seems
remarkable to read that in 1754 the making of pottery was the staple
manufacture of the city. “The blue and white earthenware almost vie
with china,” so says an eighteenth-century journal.
John Sadler conceived the idea of transferring prints from copper on to
pottery, and struck out a new line in printing on earthenware.
Another factory, called the “Herculaneum Pottery,” was started on the
Mersey side by Messrs. Abbey and Graham in 1794. The making of china
was started here in 1800.
About the end of the eighteenth century, a potter named Absolon had
works at a place called “The Ovens” at Yarmouth. The work consisted of
decorating the articles which were manufactured elsewhere, and very
little more is known about it.
At Swansea both pottery and porcelain were made. In 1750 works were
established, and in 1790 “Cambrian Pottery” became quite well known.
In the early part of the next century a superior kind of ware, called
“Opaque China,” was made.
Leeds pottery is well known. At one time it had quite an extensive
Continental trade, and the pattern-book of the pottery was issued in
several languages. Alas! now it is the French and the German and the
Japanese pottery books that are issued in several languages.
It is largely cream-coloured ware and such articles as candlesticks,
teapots, mustard-pots, cruet-stands, tea-canisters, and sugar-basins,
with covers, together with the usual dinner and tea services, that were
manufactured.
Bristol claims to have made pottery at a period as remote as Edward I.
Wherever excavations have been made in the city, along the north bank
of the river from Bristol Bridge to Redcliffe Pit, remains of pottery
and shard heaps have been discovered.
Joseph Ring, in 1787, successfully imitated the Queen’s ware of
Wedgwood and the best Staffordshire pottery. Ring’s cream-ware is thin
and well made, the edges being remarkably sharp, and the fluted pieces
very regular and well defined. It is generally yellower than either
Wedgwood’s cream-ware or the Leeds pottery. Both of these have coloured
bodies, but Ring’s Bristol ware has a white body, the yellow surface
tint being obtained by means of a glaze.
The mugs and jugs of Newcastle and Sunderland are much sought after on
account of their quaint inscriptions.
By kind permission, we reproduce some fine specimens of this ware from
the collection of Mr. W. G. Honey, of Cork, which were on view at the
Cork Exhibition. Many of these jugs have a frog in the interior of the
vessel. As the liquor is drunk the creature appears to be leaping into
the drinker’s mouth.
The mug in commemoration of the cast-iron bridge across the Wear bears
the date 1793. We give three positions of the mug, and in the inverted
one the frog can be plainly seen. On the reverse side are the following
lines:—
THE SAILOR’S TEAR.
“He leap’d into the boat
As it lay upon the strand,
But, oh, his heart was far away
With friends upon the land.
He thought of those he lov’d the best
A wife and infant dear:
And feeling fill’d the sailor’s breast
The sailor’s eye—a tear.”
Nottingham, too, has produced some excellent earthenware. Wrotham, in
Kent, had an old-established factory. A dish in the British Museum is
dated “Wrotham, 1699.”
[Illustration: SUNDERLAND FROG MUG.
(Two positions.)
_From Collection of Mr. W. G. Honey._]
[Illustration:
_W. G. Honey._] [_Cork._
SUNDERLAND FROG MUG.
(Showing interior.)]
London and its environs has given birth to several celebrated
potteries. Fulham pottery has a worthy history. Letters patent were
granted in 1671 to John Dwight, for the “misterie of transparent
earthenware, commonly knowne by the names of porcelain or China and
Persian ware, as alsoe the misterie of the stone ware, vulgarly called
Cologne ware.” There was, too, a pottery at Mortlake. “Kishere,
Mortlake,” is the mark generally used. Isleworth had a small factory at
Railshead Creek, Isleworth. Much of the coarse pottery made here was
known as “Welsh ware.”
Lambeth pottery is well known, the art productions of Messrs. Doulton
having done much to popularise their ware. In the middle of the
seventeenth century certain Dutch potters settled at Lambeth, and
made pottery tiles. Lambeth delft ware had quite a reputation in the
eighteenth century.
Some particularly quaint devices appear on the old English jugs and
mugs during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. They were used
by the common people who could not afford silver and for whom glass
was too expensive a luxury. They succeeded the old leathern jacks and
leathern bottles, and played no inconspicuous part in social gatherings
both at home and in alehouses. Many of the mugs have two (and sometimes
as many as four) handles, which were made to supply the needs of
several drinkers.
These English mugs possess little artistic merit, but they come as a
very interesting link in the history of the manufacture of pottery
in this country. One would have thought that the conquering Roman
who settled in various colonies in our islands would have left some
permanent mark on our pottery; that the Norman, who possessed some
artistic skill, or peradventure the Spaniard who settled in the West in
Armada days, would have taught the Anglo-Saxon a lesson in pottery;
but it appears that the principles of art fell upon very stony ground
in these islands.
[Illustration: OLD ENGLISH DELFT MUG.
(Dated 1631.)
_At Victoria and Albert Museum._]
In the national collection in the Bethnal Green Museum is a
barrel-shaped mug (5-1/2 inches high), which we reproduce; it is
painted in blue with birds and flowers, and inscribed “William and
Elizabeth Burges, 24th August, 1631.” This delft mug is believed to be
of Lambeth manufacture.
A mug of elegant shape was quite recently dug up in some excavation
near Bishopsgate Street, London, for the Great Eastern Railway
extension. It bore the inscription—
“The gift is small,
Good will is all,”
and was dated 1650, which conjures up pictures of crop-eared ’prentice
lads and mercers of busy Chepe, and junketings at the fair by London
Bridge in days when train-bands and Ironsides were as integral a part
of City history as were the C.I.V.’s of a year or so ago.
Brown and chocolate-coloured body with yellow dotted decorations is a
very common form of this old English ware. A Posset Mug, dated 1697,
bears the inscription: “The best is not too good for you”—evidently
a present of some sort, although much of this class of ware was in
common use in taverns, as the inscriptions go to show. We reproduce
this dated Posset Mug in the accompanying illustration; next to it, on
the lowest shelf, is an old Fuddling Cup. On the top shelf is a Cradle
with incised decoration. The other cradle has slip decoration by Joseph
Glass, 1703; while beside it is an old Posset Pot inscribed “God bless
Queen Ann.” These specimens are reproduced by the kindness of Mr. S. G.
Fenton, of Cranbourne Street, W.
Puzzle jugs were known in the time of Henry VIII. There is a puzzle
jug at the Bethnal Green Museum, which was made by Mr. John Wedgwood,
great-uncle to Joshua Wedgwood, and is dated 1691. The principle of
the puzzle is that there are three spouts, each projecting from a tube
which runs round the rim and down the handle to the bottom of the
vessel. The top of the neck being perforated, it seems impossible to
obtain any of the liquor without spilling it. The secret is to stop two
of the spouts with the fingers while drinking at the third.
Other forms are the Tyg, a tall cup, with two or more handles, and
decorated either with names or initials; and the Piggin, a small
shallow vessel some few inches high, provided with a long handle, and
used for ladling out the liquor brewed in the tyg. The doubled-handled
tygs are generally called “parting-cups,” while those with more than
two handles pass under the name of “loving-cups.” The word tyg comes
from the Anglo-Saxon “tigel,” or tile, and survives in the word
“tilewright” and other corruptions common in Staffordshire.
Some of the puzzle jugs bear interesting doggerel lines upon them. One
runs—
“What though I’m common and well known
To almost every one in town?
My purse to sixpence if you will
That if you drink you some do spill.”
Not a very good recommendation for a jug, but a very profitable
alehouse amusement from mine host’s point of view.
Another bears the lines—
“In this jug there is good liquor,
Fit for either priest or vicar;
But to drink and not to spill
Will try the utmost of your skill.”
[Illustration:
_By courtesy of Mr. S. G. Fenton, Cranbourne Street._
GROUP OF OLD ENGLISH DATED WARE.]
There is a very quaint inscription on a four-handled goblet, possibly
a christening cup. It is dated 1692, and has the sides decorated with
rough devices. Attached to one of the sides is a whistle; the mug
has written upon it in atrocious spelling—
“Here is the geste of the barley corne;
Glad ham I the child is born.”
The orthography of potters in the age before School Boards is something
to marvel at. Apparently the following is the gift of an amorous
potter to his lady-love. I. W. has gone the way of all lovers, but the
little mug he made for his sweetheart lies on the museum shelf, an
object-lesson to all “golden lads and lasses” who, as Herrick’s fair
daffodils, “haste away so soon.”
“Ann Draper, this cup I made for you, and so no more.—I. W.”
Dated 1707, in the days of the great Marlborough.
Some mugs have the precept, “Obeay the King,” while others bear the
superscription, “Come let us drink to the pious memory of Good Queen
Anne.” One or two utter the toast, “God Save King George.” A Gossip’s
Bowl, dated 1726, has the couplet—
“I drink to you with all my hart,
Mery met and mery part.”
Another old mug, doubtless sent as a present, has the words—
“As a ring is round
And hath no end,
So is my love
Unto my friend.”
There is one quaint piece of advice given to all lovers who wish for
success in their love affairs. It is on a level with the Shakesperian
methods adopted in the conquest of Kate in the “Taming of the Shrew”—
“Brisk be to the maide you desire,
As her love you may require.”
[Illustration: OLD PUZZLE JUG.
(Dated 1691.)
_Victoria and Albert Museum._]
Some of the pronunciation is as curious as the spelling. We know Pope
makes “tea” rhyme with “day,” as does the modern Irishman; but in the
following lines “join” is evidently pronounced “jine”—
“Come, brother, shall we join?
Give me your two pence—here is mine”
—an invitation issued to the frequenters of some inn where the brown
jug bearing the inscription had an abiding place.
Another mug essays to point a moral while the toper is draining its
contents. The potter who would strew his moral lessons in stoneware
had about as much sense of the ludicrous as the gentleman who used to
mark the London pavements with the text “Watch and Pray,” which he had
printed in reverse on the soles of indiarubber shoes he would wear. On
the bottom of a drinking mug the notion is quaint enough—
“When this you see,
Remember me—
Obeay God’s Word.”
For our part, we prefer the following, which has a truer ring about it—
“Drink faire,
Don’t sware.”
A large bowl of Bristol delft bears on it “Success to the British Arms.”
A fine breezy inscription, dated 1724, smacks of the hunting field. One
can hear the rollicking voices of the eighteenth-century squires such
as Randolph Caldecott loved to depict. Only two lines, but they ring in
one’s ears as a message from the good old times—
“On Bansted Down a hare was found,
Which led us all a-smoaking round.”
Not classical English, perhaps, any more than that of the ladies from
town who declare in the family circle of the Vicar of Wakefield that
they are in a “muck-sweat.”
A set of six plates bear a line of the following inscription on each—
“What is a merry man?
Let him do what he can
To entertain his guests
With wine and merry jests;
But if his wife does frown
All merriment goes doune.”
There is an exceedingly interesting Fulham ware flip mug, which bears
an inscription on it showing that it once belonged to Alexander
Selkirk, from whose adventures Defoe built up his story of “Robinson
Crusoe.” Doubtless this mug accompanied the Scots sailor to the lonely
island of Juan Fernandez when he set sail with the Cinque Ports galley—
“Alexander Selkirke. This is my one.
When you take me on board of ship,
Pray fill me full with punch or flipp.—1703,”
which suggests that it may have been a parting present from one of his
friends.
Jugs and mugs with portraits of Nelson are not uncommon. A quart jug
in white ware with crimson border has a man-of-war in full sail on
one side, and on the other a copy of West’s picture of the “Death of
General Wolfe,” probably made by Thomas Wolfe, of Stoke-on-Trent, who
was related to the general. On one mug is a view of the Thames Tunnel
and a portrait of the engineer Brunel, to commemorate the opening
in 1843. We give as a headpiece a Sunderland jug from Mr. Honey’s
collection, having floral decorations in purple lustre, and having on
one side a picture of the “_Columbus_, the largest ship ever built.”
On the reverse side are two jolly tars, and the inscription runs—
“Thus sailing at peril at sea or on shore,
We box the old compass right cheerly;
Toss the grog boys about, and a song or two more
Then we’ll drink to the girls we love dearly.”
Mugs seem to have in former days been manufactured to celebrate some
political event or great victory. There were the coronation mugs of the
present Czar of Russia, at the distribution of which so many peasants
lost their lives. The Transvaal War produced no china mementoes.
Mafeking buttons and ticklers are more representative of modern feeling.
To us these old English mugs are as the dry bones which, if one is
only skilful enough magician, resolve themselves into dream-pictures,
historically accurate enough, of our forbears of the eighteenth
century. Our children’s children, when they come to examine our
everyday ware, will find little else to observe save the legend “Made
in Germany.”
The field of English earthenware is very large and very diverse. We
have been prohibited by space from saying anything of salt-glaze ware,
of Elers, or of Astbury, and we regretfully have to pass on without
touching Leeds ware. But we give an interesting illustration of a group
of Mason’s jugs of the celebrated “Patent Ironstone China.” The largest
of these jugs is 9-1/2 in. high. This is not a complete set, as the
writer knows of the existence of a jug of smaller size, and another
size between the second and third largest, which make a set of eight.
[Illustration:
[Earliest mark 1780].
[Later Marks].
[Stamped in blue—1813].
MARKS ON MASON’S WARE.]
We give, too, a set of marks used by the firm of Mason, from the early
days till the factory ceased. In the advertisement mentioned below he
says, “The articles are stamped on the bottom of the large pieces to
prevent imposition.”
Miles Mason established his pottery at Lane Delph, in Staffordshire,
about 1780. “Miles Mason, late of Fenchurch St., London,” so runs his
advertisement in the _Morning Herald_, October 1, 1804, “having been
a principal purchaser of Indian porcelain, till the prohibition of
that article by heavy duties, has established a manufactory at Lane
Delph, near Newcastle-under-Lyme.” The “Ironstone China” was patented
by Charles James Mason in 1813. It consisted in using the slag of
ironstone pounded with water together with flint, Cornwall stone, and
clay, and blue oxide of cobalt. The ware is usually outlined with
flowers in transfer printing, and painted and gilded by hand. Some of
Mason’s blue plates are in colour equal to old blue Delft. On account
of its handsome decorative effect it is rapidly rising in value.
[Illustration: GROUP OF MASON’S JUGS.
(Largest 9-1/2 in. high.)
_In Collection of Mr. W. G. Honey._]
SALE PRICES.
STAFFORDSHIRE. £ s. d.
Jug, Bacchanalian, 13 in. high, figures
in bold relief of “Bacchus” and
“Pan” supported by a barrel with
grotesque animal handle and dolphin
spout, in rare colours and highly
glazed by Voyez, Cobridge, 1788.
Edwards, Son & Bigwood, Birmingham,
May 13, 1902 15 0 0
Vase, Etruscan, 18 in. high, snake-and-mask
handles, marked S. A. & Co.
(Alcock & Co). Edwards, Son &
Bigwood, Birmingham, May 13, 1902 10 0 0
MASON’S WARE.
Vase 27 in., decorated with flowers and
gilt, and ornamented with gilded
head handles supporting a cornucopia
and mermaid. Gudgeon &
Sons, Winchester, April 3, 1902 8 5 0
FOOTNOTES:
[2] “Chats on English Earthenware,” the companion volume to this, deals
in detail with the subject of earthenware as outlined here.
XII
LUSTRE
WARE
[Illustration: SILVER LUSTRE JUG.
_In the Collection of Mr. W. G. Honey._]
[Illustration:
_W. G. Honey._] [_Cork._
COPPER LUSTRE JUGS.
(4-3/4 in., 6-3/4 in., 7-1/4 in. high.)]
XII
LUSTRE WARE
The old Spanish golden red and canary coloured lustrous dishes with
Moorish ornamentation, and the wonderful Italian majolica, with its
copper and purple and amber surfaces glowing like beaten metal, are
probably the early masters from which our English potters took the idea
which they adapted to the decoration of their pottery.
In this chapter we shall treat solely of English lustre ware. It is
roughly divided into three classes—copper, silver, and gold.
The copper or brown lustre was made at Brislington, near Bristol, as
early as 1770. Compared with the Spanish lustre dishes, it is more
rudely ornamented and poor and inartistic in form compared with their
Arabic designs. Our English copper lustre, or “gilty” ware, as it is
called in some parts of the country and in Ireland, may be sub-divided
into two classes. The plain copper lustre, in which the jug, or dish,
or teapot is entirely covered with the copper lustre; and secondly, the
partially lustrous ware, in which some portions of the pottery are in
relief and are coloured with some bright pigments, or left white.
[Illustration: GROUP OF COPPER LUSTRE WARE.]
[Illustration: COPPER LUSTRE BUST.
(15-1/2 in. high.)
_From the Collection of Mr. W. G. Honey._]
In the group of lustre ware, which we reproduce, with the exception of
the centre dish, all the pieces are copper lustre. The three fine jugs
are decorated with turquoise blue, as are also the two cream jugs.
This blue, though it comes out white in our illustration, is of a deep
turquoise. On the top shelf, the jug to the right is decorated with red
as well as blue. It will be observed that the spouts of the jugs are in
the form of a man’s head with long beard, and the handle is the figure
of a man’s body. The scenes depicted on them are typically English in
treatment. A castle in background and a shepherd with his flock in
foreground. The small lustre cup has simply a rough-surfaced band of
white running round it. The whole form a representative group of this
class of ware.
[Illustration:
_W. G. Honey._] [_Cork._
COPPER LUSTRE JUGS.
(4-1/4 in., 6-1/2 in., 7-1/2 in. high.)]
The best period in the copper lustre is in the first years of the
nineteenth century, before the introduction of colours in conjunction
with the coppered surface. It may be observed in passing that the art
of producing copper lustre has continued in a spasmodic manner down to
the present day, the latter specimens being of a rougher exterior and
of a coarser finish.
[Illustration: COPPER LUSTRE JUG.
(8-3/4 in. high.)
_From the Collection of Mr. W. G. Honey._]
By the kindness of Mr. W. G. Honey we are enabled to reproduce some
fine examples of lustre ware from his collection on view last year at
the Cork Exhibition. The copper lustre bust, 15-1/2 in. high, is a
perfect example of lustre ware at its highest level. This specimen has
no equal in any of the public collections. Two other illustrations, one
of which appears as a headpiece, giving half a dozen forms of copper
lustre jugs, are from the same collection. While the copper lustre jug,
8-3/4 in. high, is a beautiful specimen of fine modelling.
[Illustration:
_W. G. Honey._] [_Cork._
SILVER LUSTRE SUGAR-BOWL.
(3 in. high.)]
With regard to silver and gold lustre, that in all probability became
extinct for a little time, but in recent years the great demand for
silver lustre has produced a corresponding supply, manufactured abroad
for the English collector, but it is very inferior and easily detected
from the early examples by its coarse and dull surface and slovenly
finish.
The places where lustre ware is known to have been manufactured are at
Brislington, by R. Frank, about 1770; at Etruria, by Wedgwood, in 1780;
and by Wilson, in Staffordshire, in 1785; also by Moore & Co. and Dixon
& Co., at Sunderland, about 1820.
Swansea, at the Dillwyn pottery (of which we spoke in our “Chat” on
Swansea), also, about 1800, is known to have produced lustre ware.
[Illustration:
_W. G. Honey._] [_Cork._
SILVER LUSTRE JUGS.]
Different processes were employed in producing the lustre, but they
all consist in reducing the metal from a state of combination, by
dissolving it in some chemical, and depositing it in a particularly
thin layer on the surface of the pottery, so that it exhibits its
characteristic lustre without burnishing. As may readily be supposed,
the amount of platinum used for the silver ware, and gold for the
purple or gold lustre, is extremely small.
[Illustration: SILVER LUSTRE TEAPOT.]
Of the silver or platinum lustre very many fine examples exist, and
it is extremely popular owing to its similitude to old English silver
or plate. The sugar bowl we reproduce, with beaded pattern and fluted
design, is quite in the style of the Sheffield plate of the Georgian
period. Of the three silver lustre cream jugs, that in the extreme
right is of the same design, while the other two show at a glance the
beauty of form that silver lustre in its best period reached.
Other varieties of this silver lustre are quite plain, as in the teapot
we reproduce (p. 229), which is an example of a slightly later period.
This is a fine specimen of the unornamented variety of silver lustre
which is undistinguishable from silver. In fact the highly burnished
surface of such a teapot as this cannot be obtained on silver, the
lustre is of a richer and deeper quality. Alas! it possesses the
dangerous property of dissolving, like a fairy gift, into nothingness.
Elfin gold will turn into a circle of whirring, dancing, mocking
leaves, and if your wondrous lustre teapot slips to the ground, it lies
a heap of brown earthenware fragments.
One word in passing to collectors of this ware. Do not wash your
specimens any more than you can help, as warm water has a deleterious
effect on the lustre, and tends to make it less brilliant; we recommend
our readers to polish their lustre ware with a soft cloth, and we wish
them absolute and entire freedom from all mishaps. Treat the ware
lovingly and kindly, it will never come again; the potters who made it
are dead, the modern imitator is but a poor imitator, fraudulent at
heart and feeble in result; if cunning lie in his heart it is not in
his finger-tips, for, of a truth, his hand has lost its cunning.
Besides the plain silver lustre, there is a decorated variety which is
very handsome, and much sought after. Sometimes the ground is of silver
lustre decorated in white, and sometimes the ground is white with an
elaborate pattern of foliage, of fruit, or of birds, woven in silver
thread. The rarest of this variety is the silver pattern on a canary
ground.
[Illustration: SILVER LUSTRE JUG (5 IN. HIGH).
(White Decoration.)
_From the Collection of Mr. W. G. Honey._]
The first method, with the design left in white, was produced in
handsome and highly artistic styles, and there is a pattern known as
the “Resist” pattern which is much sought after.
From Mr. W. G. Honey’s collection we have selected a very good example
of this silver lustre with design in white. This is of the “Resist”
pattern, its artistic excellence speaks for itself.
[Illustration: GOLD LUSTRE JUG
(Raised coloured flowers.)
_From the Collection of Mr. W. G. Honey._]
With regard to gold or purple lustre, the middle dish in the group
in our illustration is gold lustre ware, and is probably of Swansea
manufacture. Wedgwood produced a gold lustre of remarkable brilliancy.
The dish above alluded to is decorated with stags and staghounds, but
in some of the gold undecorated examples, such as Wedgwood’s, covered
with a mottled ruby-gold lustre, the effect was due entirely to the
shape and to the lustre.
The reason that this variety is called gold or purple lustre is that in
the lights it shines like gold, and the rest of the pattern in those
pieces decorated with flowers and floral pattern, glows with a rich
purple.
This purple lustre shows more signs of the hand of time than any of the
other lustres, and it is nearly always found to be partially worn off.
We give an interesting example of a jug with gold lustre ground and
raised coloured flowers from Mr. W. G. Honey’s collection.
* * * * *
NOTE.—Lustre ware is more fully treated in a chapter in the companion
volume, “Chats on English Earthenware.”
XIII
LIVERPOOL
WARE
[Illustration: LIVERPOOL DELFT PUNCH BOWL.
(Decorated with military trophies in blue, and having three-masted
man-of-war inside.)
Diameter, 20-1/2 in.
_At Victoria and Albert Museum._]
[Illustration:
_In possession of Messrs. Fenton & Son._
OLD LIVERPOOL TILES.
(Transfer-printed in black.)]
XIII
LIVERPOOL WARE
It is the hope of the writer of these “Chats” that Worcester and
Derby, Bristol and Plymouth, Bow and Chelsea have become something
more than mere names to the readers who have followed our journeyings.
The china-shelf has been shown to hold the monuments of men’s lives.
Behind the delicate pencillings and the shower of rose-leaves lies many
a tragic story. Liverpool and its ware is not the least of the great
landmarks in the history of English ceramic art.
In entering on the threshold of the history of Liverpool, and of
the printed ware stated to have been first produced there, we find
ourselves in the midst of a controversy. If discussions upon points
of china-collecting were waged physically, the opponents in their
heat would have demolished each other long ago with their own china
collections, but luckily, they have confined themselves to hurling
opinions and nothing more tangible. Philosophically, they have agreed
to differ, and have parted good friends, to renew the argument another
day, or they have each gone to his last home and the echoes of the
conflict have come down to us, and fresh battles are fought over the
theories of dead collectors. Up till quite recently a wordy war was
being waged over Lowestoft, and the laurels of that much-disputed
factory were in great danger of being snatched away.
To John Sadler, of Liverpool, is generally ascribed the honour
of having discovered the useful art of printing on pottery from
copper-plate engravings. He was the son of Adam Sadler, a printer,
in Liverpool, who had formerly served as a soldier under the Duke of
Marlborough in the wars in the Low Countries. John Sadler carried on
the business of an engraver in Harrington Street, and having noticed
that some of his waste prints were used by children to stick on to
fragments of earthenware obtained from the potteries, he commenced
experiments with a view of extending this application to the purposes
of decoration.
He associated himself about the year 1750 with Guy Green, who had
succeeded to the printing business of Adam Sadler.
The secret of the manner in which an engraving was transferred from a
copper-plate to the rounded surface of a bowl or a teapot, was well
kept, but it was fairly obvious that in some way or another the design
was transferred to paper and then retransferred to the china object to
be decorated.
Sadler and Green, after working at the discovery, applied for a patent.
The value of the invention can best be understood by the following
affidavit made by John Sadler and Guy Green, in 1756.
“I, John Sadler, of Liverpoole, in the county of Lancaster, printer,
and Guy Green, of Liverpoole aforesaid, printer, severally maketh oath,
that on Tuesday, the 27th July, inst., they, these deponents, without
the aid or assistance of any other person or persons, did, within the
space of six hours, to wit, betwixt the hours of nine in the morning
and three in the afternoon of the same day, print upwards of 1,200
earthenware tiles of different patterns, at Liverpoole aforesaid, and
which, as these deponents have heard and believe, were more in number,
and better, and neater than 100 skilful pot painters could have painted
in the like space of time in the common and usual way of painting with
a pencil; and these deponents say that they have been upwards of seven
years in finding out the method of printing tiles, and in making tryals
and experiments for that purpose, which they have now, through great
pains and expense, brought to perfection.”
Two printers doing the work of a hundred tile painters! The stupendous
nature of the invention is seen in the light of this statement. Caxton
never made a greater discovery when he set his type moving, and the
illuminated manuscripts of the monks became the printed page in the
hands of the common people. Josiah Wedgwood, with characteristic
foresight, saw the value of the work of Sadler and Green, and his
waggons made weekly journeys from Staffordshire up to Liverpool laden
with his Queen’s ware to be decorated in the new style.
[Illustration:
[Established 1710].
[Pennington 1760].
[Transfer Printing]
[1756]
EARLY LIVERPOOL MARKS.]
To come back to the controversy for a moment, it is claimed that
Worcester was first to produce printed china. There is at the Bethnal
Green Museum a printed mug of Worcester, dated 1757. It will be
remembered that the date of Sadler and Green’s affidavit was 1756. But
a claim is made for a third factory—Battersea. There is a letter from
Horace Walpole to Bentley, dated 1755, in which he says: “I shall send
you, too, a trifling snuff-box, only as a sample of the new manufacture
of Battersea, which is done from copper-plates.” There are also dated
pieces of this Battersea enamel with the design printed upon them,
dated as early as 1753 and 1754. In all probability Worcester derived
the secret from Battersea, as Robert Hancock, of Worcester fame, who
signed some of the older pieces, was formerly an engraver at Battersea.
[Illustration: LIVERPOOL MARKS
(1756-1822).]
In spite of this fact there is every reason for believing that at
Liverpool, Sadler and Green independently discovered the art of
printing on china, as their affidavit declares them to have been
engaged upon it for seven years, which takes them back to 1749.
[Illustration: LIVERPOOL MARKS
(1822-1841).]
Of the earlier potters of Liverpool, we have little space to deal
in this “Chat.” Chaffers, a contemporary of Josiah Wedgwood, and a
formidable rival of the Staffordshire potter; Thomas and Samuel Shaw;
John Pennington, celebrated for his punch-bowls and for a very fine
blue ware, are all well known to collectors of Liverpool ware. We
give the marks of these factories, and of other Liverpool makers:
Philip Christian (1760-1775), W. Reid & Co. (1756-1760), Herculaneum
Pottery (1790-1841). Staffordshire had its Etruria and Lancashire its
Herculaneum. In the earlier days of the potter classic names were much
in vogue. A favourite pattern in Herculaneum china was a series of the
towns of England printed on the pieces, with the name in a medallion at
the bottom of the piece. The bird is the liver, being the crest of the
city of Liverpool, and was used at Herculaneum by Messrs. Case, Mort &
Co. in 1833. The anchor mark is between this date and 1841, when the
factory ceased.
When it is remembered that Wedgwood had his ware printed by Sadler and
Green and that Bow sent to Liverpool to have the Liverpool designs
transferred to the Bow china, it is easy to understand how complicated
it becomes to determine with exactitude how little or how much was
actually printed at Liverpool, because there came a time when the
secret leaked out and when other factories besides Liverpool and
Worcester began to print their own wares.
We reproduce a Liverpool mug, printed in brownish red colour,
representing a lover and his lass. It is typically English in treatment
and design, and it is this quality which makes Liverpool printed ware
so interesting. There is nothing like it in any of the Continental
wares. The quaint and delicate English pastoral scene breathes of the
eighteenth century. The refrain might run:—
“Phyllida, my Phyllida!
She takes her buckled shoon,
When we go out a-courting
Beneath the harvest moon.
. . . .
The ladies of St. James’s!
You scarce can understand
The half of all their speeches,
Their phrases are so grand:
But Phyllida, my Phyllida!
Her shy and simple words
Are clear as after rain-drops
The music of the birds.”
[Illustration:
_In possession of Mr. S. G. Fenton, Cranbourne Street._
OLD LIVERPOOL MUG (4 IN. HIGH).
(Printed in brown.)]
Or take the old Liverpool jug with the landscape printed in black on
one side, and the humorous heads, entitled “Courtship and Matrimony,”
on the other; which heads, by the way, will our readers kindly turn
upside down to gather what the acid doggerel written underneath alludes
to. It is a pity the jug is not perfect, but the top has a metal band
which remedies the broken spout. The lines underneath the heads run:—
“When two fond fools together meet,
Each look gives joy, each kiss is sweet,
But wed, how crabb’d and cross they grow
Turn upside down and you will know.”
[Illustration: OLD LIVERPOOL JUG (7-1/4 IN. HIGH).
(Transfer-printed in black.)
Landscape and Heads entitled “Courtship and Matrimony.”
_From the Collection of Capt. H. F. Maclean._]
We reproduce as a headpiece two exquisitely black printed Liverpool
tiles. It is true they are badly damaged, but their quaint designs were
worth the preserving. The one with the gallant sportsman firing at a
deer at very close range is queerly out of perspective. The other tile
is a typically English rural scene, and pity it is that more of our
rustic scenery has not found its way to our national china.
[Illustration: LIVERPOOL MUG (6 IN. HIGH).
(Transfer-printed and partly coloured after glazing.)
_From the Collection of Capt. H. F. Maclean._]
Another of our illustrations is that of a Liverpool mug with subject
entitled “The Tithe Pig,” in which the vicar appears to have come
off worst in a wordy encounter with two of his parishioners. There
is a grim humour about many of the eighteenth-century decorated mugs
and jugs which are a record in ceramics of party strifes and of
long-forgotten social enmities.
It will be seen that the Liverpool printed ware has in it an element
of decoration which some of the other wares do not possess. Many of
our readers doubtless possess specimens of this black or brown printed
ware, mugs, or tiles, or teapots with old-world scenes upon them like
the landscapes of our illustration. Shepherds and herds, fifers and
fiddlers and dancers, village-green sports, lads and lasses “dancing
the hays”—these are the homely scenes transferred from the old
copper-plates.
XIV
WEDGWOOD
[Illustration: WEDGWOOD DINNER PLATES FROM DESIGNS IN FLAXMAN’S
SKETCH-BOOK. PRODUCED OVER 100 YEARS AGO AT ETRURIA, AND STILL MADE BY
THE FIRM.
I. Strawberry. II. Lag and Feather. III. Feather border.
IV. Bell-flower and leaf pattern.
_By courteous permission of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
[Illustration: WEDGWOOD JASPER CUP AND SAUCER.
_By courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
XIV
WEDGWOOD
The pottery made in England did not exhibit any marked characteristic,
nor was it of much artistic value until Josiah Wedgwood, by his genius,
raised Staffordshire ware to such a degree of perfection that it was
universally used on the Continent of Europe.
Josiah Wedgwood, the youngest of a family of thirteen, was born in
1730, and came of a race of potters. There were Wedgwoods, potters,
at Burslem, in the seventeenth century. We give an illustration of a
puzzle jug having the inscription, “John Wedg Wood, 1691” (see p. 212).
Young Josiah left school at the age of nine and was apprenticed to
his brother. At eleven, he had a most virulent attack of small-pox,
which left him a weakling. Later on in life, he had to have one of
his legs amputated owing to a weakness which he always had after
his first terrible illness. Physically handicapped from the start,
Josiah Wedgwood—wooden-legged though he was for over a quarter of a
century—was the prince of English potters. His genius was coupled with
great business capability. His inventions were eminently successful.
Starting with £20, which his father left him, he died worth over half a
million.
Thoroughness seems to have been his policy, and prosperity always
attended him. He interested himself in getting an Act of Parliament for
better roads in the vicinity of the Staffordshire potteries. He cut the
first sod of the Grand Trunk Canal.
His aim was a glorious one. “Let us make all the good, fine, and new
things we can,” he said to his partner Bentley once, “and so far from
being afraid of other people getting our patterns, we should glory in
it, and throw out all the hints we can, and, if possible, have all the
artists in Europe working after our models.”
He allowed no imperfect thing to leave his factory. It is a quaint
scene one conjures up of the potter who, when going through his works,
used to lift the stick he leant on and smash to pieces some offending
dish or vase, saying, “This won’t do for Josiah Wedgwood.”
The beginnings of Wedgwood ware were simple enough. In 1752, Josiah
left Burslem to go to Stoke, where he was engaged in manufacturing
knife-handles and like objects in imitation of agate and tortoiseshell.
Subsequently he entered into partnership with John Harrison, of
Newcastle, and their wares were made at Stoke. In 1754, Wedgwood
and Harrison entered into partnership with Thomas Whieldon at Little
Fenton, the most eminent potter of his day. Shortly after Harrison
disappears from the partnership. This connection between Whieldon
and Wedgwood was a most important one. Their principal manufactures
were tortoiseshell plates and dishes, cauliflower jugs, teapots with
crabstock handles, and agate knife-handles. While with Whieldon,
Wedgwood produced a new green earthenware, highly glazed and decorated
with flowers and fruit, which was mainly used for dessert services.
[Illustration: CUP AND SAUCER.
WHIELDON TORTOISESHELL WARE.]
The tortoiseshell ware now known by Whieldon’s name is very beautifully
made. Usually the plates and dishes are hexagonal or octagonal in
shape, with very finely moulded edges, and having a mottled and
variegated arrangement in colour, which more resembles marble than
tortoiseshell.
Wedgwood made snuff-boxes, and various trinkets intended to be mounted
in metal. These productions of his were coloured to represent precious
stones. When the jewellers of London and Bath were shown these wares,
they considered them a valuable discovery, the secret of which they
could not discover. But learning the low price at which Wedgwood
was intending to sell them they grew less favourable, probably from
thinking the imitation would ruin the sale of genuine jewels.
We learn, too, that Wedgwood at this time was so incapacitated from
attending to his business, owing to the remains of his old complaint,
that he was obliged to communicate the secret of the method and
proportions of his mixtures to a workman.
The ware manufactured by Whieldon, both during his partnership with
Wedgwood and afterwards, are of good quality, and are highly prized by
collectors. A tortoiseshell plate costs a sovereign to-day.
Of course none of these early wares of Wedgwood are marked. We shall
show how he laid the foundation of his manufactory, which he called
“Etruria,” after the Italian home of the famous Etruscans, whose work
he admired and imitated.
What Wedgwood did for Staffordshire is shown best in the following
sentence by M. Faujas de Saint Font in his “Travels,” who says,
speaking of the Wedgwood ware: “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 furthest part of Sweden, and from Dunkirk to
the extremity of the South of France, one is served at every inn with
English ware. Spain, Portugal, and Italy are supplied, and vessels
are loaded with it for the East and West Indies and the continent of
America.”
Leaving the biographical side of the subject, we come to the actual
productions of Josiah Wedgwood. We left him in partnership with
Whieldon. That partnership ended, he commenced manufacturing on his
own behalf. He speedily found that one pottery was not enough to
satisfy his tireless energies. He became the owner of two. In 1762, he
presented Queen Charlotte with a breakfast service of cream-coloured
earthenware. In return he received the title of “Potter to her
Majesty,” and his Queen’s Ware became a great success. Every fortnight
a waggon left Burslem for Liverpool with a freight of this ware, to
be decorated by Messrs. Sadler and Green by their transfer process at
Liverpool.
About this time he took his cousin, Thomas Wedgwood, into partnership,
and later Thomas Bentley, of Liverpool, a man of great taste, who
exercised no inconsiderable influence upon the style of design of the
new pottery at Etruria. A man of wide reading and culture, it was he
who supplemented Wedgwood’s practical efforts by his theories. It was
always Wedgwood first, but Bentley was an ideal second. He took no
part in what Wedgwood termed the “useful” side of the manufactory, such
as, for example, the manufacture of Queen’s Ware and other articles
for everyday use. Bentley’s partnership was only concerned with the
“ornamental” side of the pottery, such as the manufacture of vases and
works of art.
In 1769 Etruria was opened, and Josiah Wedgwood might have been seen at
the potter’s bench and Thomas Bentley at the wheel, and their united
labours produced the first vase, having an inscription which runs:—
JUNE XIII., MDCCLXIX.
ONE OF THE FIRST DAY’S PRODUCTIONS
AT
ETRURIA IN STAFFORDSHIRE,
BY
WEDGWOOD AND BENTLEY.
ARTES ETRURIÆ RENASCUNTER.
The subject of decoration is Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides,
and was a forerunner of those classical pieces which have made Wedgwood
as honoured a name in Europe as that of Palissy the Frenchman, of Lucca
del Robbia the Italian, or of Böttcher the German.
The range of the Wedgwood ware may be gathered from the fact that in
one of the catalogues the productions are divided into twenty distinct
classes. It is not our intention to enumerate these, but they comprised
series of medals and medallions of the Cæsars, the Roman emperors,
the heads of the Popes (consisting of no less than two hundred and
fifty-three medallions), a hundred heads of the kings of England and
France, together with “heads of illustrious moderns.” In addition to
these there were admirable busts, some being twenty-five inches in
height, of Lord Chatham, Cornelius De Witt, John De Witt, Plato, and
many more. These were in black basaltes, durable as marble. Lamps and
candelabra of antique forms were produced from “two shillings apiece to
five guineas.”
In passing, we may refer to the above fact to show why Wedgwood or any
other ware varies in value so much at the present day. Obviously a
two-shilling lamp will not be as valuable as a five-guinea one. Readers
learn that certain china has fetched a large price in the auction-room.
Sometimes they erroneously infer that other china they possess, which
bears the mark of the same factory, is equally valuable. The above
will point the moral of the story. It is a fact that cannot be too
often insisted upon that the great factories turned out productions by
the ton, many of them intended for ordinary everyday use, and though
bearing their mark, yet not valuable from the collector’s point of view.
There are, of course, other reasons why china is or is not valuable,
but this is a very solid reason too often overlooked. To be able
to differentiate the good from the bad, “that is the question.” To
know that a specimen is good is one thing, to give the reason why is
another. When the reader begins to do this he or she is already a
connoisseur.
In order to give a fairly proportionate idea of what Wedgwood ware is,
we quote a list and description of six different kinds of ware in his
own words:—
“1. A _terra-cotta_; resembling porphyry, granite Egyptian, pebble, and
other beautiful stones of the silicious or crystalline order.
[Illustration: WEDGWOOD TERRA-COTTA VASES
_In Museum at Etruria._
_By courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
“2. _Basaltes_ or black ware; a black porcelain biscuit of nearly the
same properties with the natural stone; striking fire with steel,
receiving a high polish, serving as a touchstone for metals, resisting
all the acids, and bearing without injury a strong fire; stronger,
indeed, than the basaltes itself.
“3. _White porcelain biscuit_, of a smooth, wax-like surface, of the
same properties with the preceding, except in what depends upon colour.
“4. _Jasper_; a white porcelain biscuit of exquisite beauty and
delicacy, possessing the general properties of the basaltes, together
with the singular one of receiving through its whole substance,
from the admixture of metallic calces with the other materials, the
same colours which those calces communicate to glass or enamels in
fusion—a property which no other porcelain or earthenware body of
ancient or modern composition has been found to possess. This renders
it peculiarly fit for making cameos, portraits, and all subjects in
bas-relief, as the ground may be of any particular colour, while the
raised figures are of a pure white.
“5. _Bamboo_, or cane-coloured biscuit porcelain, of the same nature as
No. 3.
“6. A _porcelain biscuit_, remarkable for great hardness, little
inferior to that of agate. This property, together with its resistance
to the strongest acids and corrosives, and its impenetrability by
every known liquid, adapts it for mortars and many different kinds of
chemical vessels.
“These six distinct species, with the Queen’s Ware already mentioned,
expanded by the industry and ingenuity of the different manufacturers
into an infinity of forms for ornament and use, variously painted and
embellished, constitute nearly the whole of the present fine English
earthenwares and porcelain which are now become the source of a very
extensive trade, and which, considered as an object of national art,
industry, and commerce, may be ranked amongst the most important
manufactures of the kingdom.”
Of these various wares we give illustrations. The three vases we
reproduce are fine examples in imitation of porphyry and other precious
stones (see p. 256). The material is so hard that it can be worked
upon by the lapidary, and takes as fine a polish as the real stone it
resembles.
[Illustration: WEDGWOOD JASPER VASE.
_By courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
Of the celebrated basaltes or black ware, sometimes called Egyptian
ware, the vase we reproduce as the first made at Etruria was of this
class, and we give two other examples.
We give two very beautiful specimens of the Jasper ware. This wonderful
ware was made in seven colours: blue, lilac, pink, sage-green,
olive-green, black, and yellow. Specimens of this last colour are very
rare.
[Illustration: WEDGWOOD BLUE AND WHITE JASPER VASE.
_In Museum at Etruria._]
“Future ages may view the productions of the age of George III.
with the same veneration that we now behold those of Alexander
and Augustus,” writes Wedgwood of his cameo portraits, with fine
enthusiasm.
[Illustration:
_Reproduced by kind permission of Messrs. Wedgwood & Sons._
WEDGWOOD PLAQUE (designed by Flaxman).
L’ENTENTE CORDIALE.
Mercury uniting the hands of England and France.]
Having dealt with the biographic side of Wedgwood ware, and of the
genius of the great Josiah Wedgwood, and having enumerated the various
classes of ware originated by him, we come now to the consideration of
his classic wares, of which the wonderful replica of the Portland Vase
stands as the most notable example.
[Illustration: THE BARBERINI OR PORTLAND VASE.
(Copied by Josiah Wedgwood.)
_In British Museum._]
In passing, we mention the celebrated service of Wedgwood made for the
Empress Catherine II. of Russia, which took eight years to complete.
It consisted of 952 pieces, of which the cost was about £3,000. This
splendid service had upwards of 1,200 views of the seats of noblemen
and gentlemen in various parts of England. A large service for Queen
Charlotte of views in black enamel of palaces and seats of the nobility
took three years to execute.
To his celebrated “Jasper” ware, Wedgwood devoted immense and
never-ending skill to bring it to its final perfection.
The use to which he put this jasper is well illustrated in his series
of beautiful portrait medallions. We reproduce a design of a plaque
by Flaxman, representing the hands of France and England being joined
together by the god Mercury.
Wedgwood was enabled, by the patronage of noblemen who possessed fine
classic examples and gladly lent them to the great potter, to copy
some of the finest specimens of the old art of the Greeks. He was thus
enabled to produce the celebrated “Dancing Nymphs” and the “Head of
Medusa” from Sir William Hamilton’s collection; and to other great
collections he was similarly indebted.
In 1787, the collection of the Duchess of Portland came under the
hammer. The sale included the celebrated Barberini Vase, which was dug
up by order of the Pope Barberini, named Urban VIII., about the first
quarter of the seventeenth century. This urn contained the ashes of the
Roman Emperor Alexander Severus and his mother, and had been deposited
in the earth about the year 235 A.D.
The body of this vase, now known as the Portland Vase, which was
composed of glass, is a rich dark blue, approaching black. The
snow-white figures which appear on it are in bas-relief. It is a
magnificent example of ancient art.
At the sale above alluded to, the Duke of Portland and Wedgwood were
contesting hotly for possession of the vase. The price had reached a
thousand guineas. At this moment the Duke, crossing to Wedgwood, asked
him why he wished to possess the vase, to which the potter replied that
he was desirous of copying it. The Duke immediately offered the loan of
the piece, and the vase was thus knocked down to the Duke of Portland,
and Wedgwood borrowed it from the owner for a twelvemonth.
The subsequent history of the vase is interesting. The Duke of
Portland, as one of the trustees of the British Museum, allowed it to
be exhibited there. In 1845 a fanatic dashed this priceless gem to
pieces with a stone. Owing to the defective state of the law he escaped
with a very slight punishment. But so great a sensation did the affair
cause that an Act was at once passed by Parliament making similar
offences punishable by terms of imprisonment. The pieces of the vase
were skilfully joined, but the fractures are still visible, as will
be seen from our illustration. It is now in the “Gold medals room” of
the British Museum, and by its side is one of the fifty copies which
Wedgwood made for subscribers at fifty guineas apiece. The vase itself
once changed hands for eighteen hundred guineas, and one of Wedgwood’s
copies fetched two hundred and fifteen guineas in 1892.
The body used for this vase was black jasper, a body used on but three
other occasions. The figures on it were worked up and cut to the utmost
degree of sharpness and finish, by the seal and gem engraver—a striking
piece of reproduction. The original moulds are still in existence, and
Messrs. Wedgwood still produce copies both in black and in a deep blue
ground. But the price is in shillings and not in guineas nowadays.
Among the various catalogues issued by Wedgwood, some were issued in
Dutch and in French. There is one, dated 1775, which contains a perfect
little essay to the possible buyer of his ware. From the point of view
of the potter and artist, he gives reasons for the genuine work of art
costing more money than an unworthy and feeble imitation.
Wedgwood writes so simply and naturally that it is worth the perusal
of all who love china for china’s sake, to ponder over what the master
potter says:—
“The proprietors of this manufactory hope it will appear to all those
who may have been pleased to attend to its progress, that ever since
its establishment it has been continually _improving_ both in the
variety and in the perfection of its productions.
“A competition for _cheapness_, and not for _excellence of
workmanship_, is the most frequent and certain cause of the rapid decay
and entire destruction of arts and manufactures.
“The desire of selling much in a little time without respect to the
_taste_ or _quality_ of the goods, leads manufacturers and merchants to
ruin the reputation of the articles which they manufacture and deal in;
and whilst those who buy, for the sake of a fallacious saving, prefer
mediocrity to excellence, it will be impossible for manufacturers
either to improve or keep up the quality of their works.
“This observation is equally applicable to manufacturers and to the
productions of the Fine Arts; but the degradation is more fatal to the
latter than the former, for though an ordinary piece of goods, for
common use, is always dearer than the best of the kind, yet an ordinary
and tasteless piece of ornament is not only _dear_ at any price, but
absolutely _useless_ and _ridiculous_.
“All works of art must bear a price in proportion to the skill, the
taste, the time, the expense, and the risk attending the invention and
the execution of them. Those pieces that for these reasons bear the
highest price and, which those who are not accustomed to consider the
real difficulty and expense of making _fine things_ are apt to call
_dear_, are, when justly estimated, the _cheapest_ articles that can be
purchased; and such as are generally attended with much less profit to
the artist than those that everybody calls _cheap_.
“There is another mistake that gentlemen who are not acquainted with
the particular difficulties of an art are apt to fall into. They
frequently observe that a handsome thing may be made as cheap as an
ugly one. A moment’s reflection would rectify this opinion.
“The most successful artists know that they can turn out ten ugly and
defective things for one that is beautiful and perfect in its kind.
Even suppose the artist has the true idea of the kind of beauty at
which he aims, how many lame and unsuccessful efforts does he make in
his design, and every part of it, before he can please himself? And
suppose one piece is well-composed and tolerably finished, as in vases
and encaustic paintings, for instance, where every succeeding vase, and
every picture, is made not in a mould or by a stamp, but separately
by the hand, with the same attention and diligence as the first, how
difficult must it be to preserve the beauty of the first model.
“It is so difficult that without the constant attention of the master’s
eye, such variations are frequently made in the form and taste of the
work, even while the model is before the workman, as totally to change
and degrade the character of the piece.
“_Beautiful forms_ and _compositions_ are not to be made by chance; and
they never were made nor can be made in any kind at a small expense;
but the proprietors of this manufactory have the satisfaction of
knowing, by a careful comparison, that the prices of many of their
ornaments are _much lower_, and of all of them as _low_ as those of
any other ornamental works in Europe, of equal quality and bisqué,
notwithstanding the high price of labour in England, and they are
determined rather to give up the making of any article than to degrade
it. They do not manufacture for those who estimate works of ornament
by their _magnitude_, and who would buy pictures at _so much a
foot_. They have been happy in the encouragement and support of many
illustrious persons who judge of the works of Art by better principles;
and so long as they have the honour of being thus patronised, they
will endeavour to support and improve the quality and taste of their
manufactures.”
Such were Wedgwood’s ideals, and he raised the making of pottery
in England into a fine art. The inscription on his monument at
Stoke-upon-Trent shows the esteem with which his contemporaries held
him.
Sacred to the Memory of
JOSIAH WEDGWOOD, F.R.S. & S.A.,
Of Etruria, in this County,
Born in August, 1730, died January 3rd, 1795,
Who converted a rude and inconsiderable manufacture
into an elegant art and an important
part of national Commerce.
By these services to his country he acquired an
ample fortune,
Which he blamelessly and reasonably enjoyed,
And generously dispensed for the reward of merit
and the relief of misfortune.
His mind was inventive and original, yet perfectly
sober and well regulated;
His character was decisive and commanding, without
rashness or arrogance;
His probity was inflexible, his kindness unwearied;
His manners simple and dignified, and the cheerfulness
of his temper was the natural reward of the
activity of his pure and useful life.
He was most loved by those who knew him best,
And he has left indelible impressions of affection
and veneration on the minds of his family, who
have erected this monument to his memory.
The marks used by the Wedgwoods have been few. It is usually the
name Wedgwood, occurring in various sized type from time to time. In
passing, we may say that the manufacture of china was never attempted
by the great Josiah. _His work was earthenware and not porcelain._ But
some of it had many of the qualities of china, the more delicate ware
being nearly semi-transparent, as is china. About the year 1808, and
only for a few years, was china made at Etruria, and then not to any
extent; consequently specimens are very scarce. The mark on this china
is the name WEDGWOOD in small capitals printed in red or blue.
[Illustration]
On all other wares the name WEDGWOOD is impressed, in some specimens in
large capitals, in others in small capitals, WEDGWOOD.
Sometimes, though rarely, the name occurs in ordinary type, Wedgwood.
On other pieces the name occurs thus:—
WEDGWOOD
ETRURIA.
During the period when Bentley was associated with Etruria the
following were impressed:—
WEDGWOOD
& BENTLEY.
or
Wedgwood
& Bentley.
The general mark used during this period was a circular one, the
letters on which were raised and not sunk as in the others.
The marks WEDGWOOD & CO., or simply the word WEDGEWOOD, are both
spurious, and were used by Messrs. William Smith and others of
Stockton, against whom the firm at Etruria obtained an injunction
restraining the imitators from using the name “Wedgwood,” or
“Wedgewood” with an additional _e_. This was in 1848.
Of the varying vicissitudes of the Wedgwoods since the days of the
great Josiah, we have had no space to allude. But it is sufficient
proof that he laid a very sure foundation to a fine business, inasmuch
as the firm is in flourishing condition at the present day, and from
1870 have made splendid porcelain.
His Queen’s ware, which he made for the Queen Consort of George III.,
was the prototype of the ordinary dinner ware of to-day. We reproduce
a quaint old Wedgwood teapot with queer design upon it, representing
the mill to grind old folks young.
It is a far cry from Queen Charlotte to President Roosevelt, but it is
surely a singular record of a great firm that the Wedgwoods made the
new service of china to be used on State occasions at the White House.
The design has been copyrighted, thus ensuring its exclusive use. It
is of simple gold pattern, bearing the great seal of the United States
enamelled in colours upon it. The set consists of over a thousand
pieces, and was ready early last year.
In the conclusion of the journey round the china shelf in this series
of “Chats,” the writer trusts that they have stimulated the interest of
the readers in their old china and have helped to solve certain dark
riddles, and to give pedigree to “family jars.”
[Illustration: OLD WEDGWOOD TEAPOT.
The Mill to grind Old Folks young.]
SALE PRICES.
WHIELDON. £ s. d.
Box and cover, formed as a melon.
Sotheby, February 24, 1902 3 0 0
Teapot and cover, hexagonal in shape,
with Chinese figures in panels, the
whole decorated in translucent
colours. Sotheby, February 24, 1902 5 15 0
Group, “Summer Arbour,” with two
seated ladies, top surmounted by a
bird, unusual colour. Edwards, Son &
Bigwood, Birmingham, May 13, 1902 28 0 0
Group, small, two figures, “The Lovers,”
rare colours. Edwards, Son & Bigwood,
Birmingham, May 13, 1902 11 10 0
Diamond-shaped teapot and cover,
painted with buildings, figures, and
scale ornament in brilliant green
and lake; and a pair of double
sauce-boats, painted with figures
and flowers in blue in the Chinese
taste. Christie, January 12, 1903 17 17 0
WEDGWOOD.
Bust, black basalt, nearly life size, David
Garrick. Christie, February 4, 1902 37 16 0
Cabaret, blue jasper, with reliefs of
Nymphs and Cupids, consisting of
teapot and cover, two basins, cup
and saucer and oval plateau; and a
black basalt copy of a lamp.
Christie, February 4, 1902 6 6 0
Chatelaines, three old English cut steel
and seven ditto clasps, set with blue
and white Wedgwood plaques, in
oval frame. Christie, February 4,
1902 81 18 0
Pendants and clasps, nine, cut steel,
set with Wedgwood plaques, with
Nymphs and Cupids; and one other
piece. Christie, February 4, 1902 36 15 0
Plaque, oblong, blue jasper, with figures
sacrificing at an altar, festoons of
flowers above, 4-1/2 in. by 10-1/2 in., in
gilt frame. Christie, February 4,
1902 8 18 6
Portrait medallions, eight, of Addison,
Hon. W. Hastings, &c., in octagonal
frame, and eight smaller plaques
with classical subjects. Christie,
February 4, 1902 71 8 0
Teapot and cover, light blue jasper
ground, with white relief subjects.
Sotheby, February 24, 1902 4 4 0
Vase, of classical design, the front
ornamented with a group of Cupids
dancing, in relief; Wedgwood & Bentley.
Sotheby, February 24, 1902 15 10 0
Vases and covers, pair, two-handled, light
blue and white, with raised figures
and other emblems, representing
Music and Dancing, having mask-head
handles, 18 in. high. Alexander,
Daniel & Co., Bristol, May 7, 1902 13 0 0
Vase, the Portland, or Barberini, a fine
example, and one of the earliest, in a
dark slate-blue body, the reliefs
harmonising in tone with the field,
on revolving stand, with metal tripod,
mirror, &c. Christie, June 11, 1902 399 0 0
Vase and pedestal, the vase of granulated
ground, with reliefs of Flaxman’s
Muses, leafage, &c., scroll handles,
a figure of Pegasus on cover; the
pedestal of square form, fluted, with
reliefs of the Four Seasons; vase
15 in., pedestal 8-3/4 in. high. Christie,
June 11, 1902 33 12 0
Vase, on triangular base, supported by
three Atlas figures, reliefs of arabesque
scroll, festoons, &c., figure of
Cupid on cover, 13 in. high. Christie,
June 11, 1902 63 0 0
Medallions, three, Venus and Adonis,
and Cupid riding upon a swan;
black ground, white relief; Wedgwood
& Bentley. Christie, June 11,
1902 54 12 0
Medallion, large oval tri-coloured: The
Triumph of Achilles at Troy, green
ground, border on black. Christie,
June 11, 1902 24 3 0
Portraits or Heads of Illustrious Moderns.
Portraits, framed singly:—Hippocrates
and Terence, Wedgwood
& Bentley, metal frames;
Frederick the Great, Wedgwood &
Bentley; and Prince Charles Stuart,
metal frames; Marie Antoinette,
Prince Paul of Russia, and Mrs. Barbauld,
one Wedgwood & Bentley,
metal frames; Inigo Jones, black
basalt, high relief, and Alexander,
an early terra-cotta portrait, in
colour; Joseph II., and Dr. Benjamin
Franklin, in white biscuit; Sir
Isaac Newton, Admiral Keppel, and
a male portrait, looking left, in white
jasper, &c., one Wedgwood & Bentley;
General Eliott (Lord Heathfield),
circular, white, and J. P. Elers,
in a copper-lustred frame; Joseph
Priestley, Unitarian Minister, a portrait,
in glazed pottery, and Dr. Black, in
blue and white. Christie, June 11,
1902[3] 1,500 0 0
Figures, pair, large black. Foster,
December 23, 1902 19 8 6
Teapot and cover, sage-green, and basin,
with groups of classical figures,
Nymphs, Cupids, and foliage in
relief. Christie, December, 1902 16 5 6
Vase and cover, oviform, blue jasper,
decorated with rams’ heads in relief,
and cameo figured panels, on
plinth, 13-1/2 in. Foster, November
27, 1902 7 10 0
Vase and cover, campana-shaped, blue
jasper, with a frieze of Cupids
sacrificing, masks, laurel-branches,
and a wreath of vines under the lip;
on octagonal-shaped pedestal, with
figures of griffons at the corners,
with classical frieze, 20 in. high.
Christie, July 10, 1903 210 0 0
Wedgwood lustre ware wall ornament,
in shape of a nautilus shell and a
lustre plate, both marked. Sotheby,
May 17, 1920 10 10 0
Black and white jasper copy of the
Portland vase, numbered 60, 10-1/2 in.
high, on bronze stand, with hoof feet,
and marble pedestal with mirror top.
Sotheby, May 17, 1920 21 0 0
Black basalt bust of Newton, on circular
pedestal, 12 in. high; another,
of the same, 6-1/4 in. high; and a bust
of Seneca, 10-1/4 in. high. Sotheby,
May 17, 1920 5 5 0
Blue and white jasper copy of the Portland
vase, 10-3/4 in. high. Sotheby,
May 17, 1920 3 3 0
Dessert service, modelled as leaves, outlined
with green, and with gilt borders,
comprising an oval centre dish
and stand, two sauce tureens, covers
and stands, a sauce ladle, twelve
dishes in four shapes, and twelve
plates, impressed mark, 33 pieces.
Puttick & Simpson, July 9, 1920 8 18 6
Blue jasper oval jardinière, decorated
with acanthus foliage and honeysuckle
ornament, 10 in. wide; and
a figure of Britannia, 9-1/2 in. high,
on gilt-wood plinth. Christie, July
12, 1920 8 8 0
Three blue jasper candlesticks, with
figures of Nymphs holding cornucopia-shaped
nozzles, 10 in. and 10-1/2 in. high.
Christie, July 12, 1920 8 8 0
Blue jasper oval plaque, by Wedgwood
and Bentley, 11-1/4 in. by 8 in.; and
three smaller ditto, with Bacchanalian
and amatory trophies in relief.
Christie, July 12, 1920 50 8 0
Two blue jasper plaques, with Muses
in relief, 5 in. by 7 in., in metal-gilt
frames; a plaque, with Hebe, by
Wedgwood and Bentley; and two
others. Christie, July 12, 1920 12 12 0
Oval blue jasper plaque, with the Infant
Academy, in gilt frame; an oblong
plaque, with the Marriage of Cupid
and Psyche, 5-3/4 in. by 8-1/2 in.; and a
circular plaque, with Cupid sharpening
his arrow. Christie, July 12, 1920 19 19 0
[Illustration:
_Designed by Lady Diana Beauclerk._
_By kind permission of Mr. F. Rathbone._
WEDGWOOD PLAQUE. THE YOUNG PAN.]
FOOTNOTES:
[3] This collection of portraits, by Josiah Wedgwood, is undoubtedly
the most important one ever gathered together. Many are unique—all are
of interest, as faithful _facsimiles_ in a permanent material that
cannot be affected by time or climate.
INDEX
Abbey and Graham, “Herculaneum” (Liverpool), 200
Absolon, potter, Yarmouth, 200
Allen, Robert (Lowestoft), 117
America, clay from, used at—
Bow, 51
Plymouth, 92
“Amherst, Japan,” as a mark, 182
Anchor as a mark—
Bow, 54
Caughley, 137
Chelsea, 34, 35
Liverpool, 241
Venice, 30
Worcester, 73
Angoulême sprig pattern imitated by Derby, 22
Arms, coats of, on china—
Lowestoft, 115
Oriental china, 115, 120
Aubrey, Lady, designs on Derby painted by, 12
“B” as a mark, 53
“B. A. E.,” initials on Liverpool bowl, 246
“Ballades in Blue China,” quoted, 4
Bamboo ware (Wedgwood), 257
Banks, Sir Joseph—
friend of Cookworthy, 92
letter concerning Billingsley and Walker, 169
Barberini Vase (Wedgwood), 260, 261, 263
Basaltes (Wedgwood), 256
Bath, Camden Place, view on Worcester vase, 80
Batons, crossed, as a mark, 7
Battersea, 29
printing, Horace Walpole on, 240
Baxter (painter), Swansea, 172
“B B” as a mark, 182
Beauclerk, Lady Diana, design for Wedgwood plaque, 277
Beddoes (painter), Swansea, 174
Bee and goats jug—
Bow, 62, 63
Chelsea, 35
Bellarmine—mugs thus named (Low Countries), 197
“Benbow, Francis,” name on Caughley mug, 137
Bentley, Thomas, partner with Wedgwood, 253
Bethnal Green Museum—
Minton majolica fountain at, 186
pieces reproduced from collection at—
Bow, 49, 50
Chelsea, 29
Crown Derby, 3
Plymouth, 91
Spode, 152
Staffordshire delft mug, 206
Wedgwood Puzzle-jug, 212
Worcester, 80 (removed to Victoria and Albert Museum)
Billingsley, flower painter, 140, 165
at Nantgarw, 169
at Swansea, 170
Bird (as a mark), Liverpool, 241
Biscuit, definition of, xxiii
Biscuit ware (Derby), 21
Biscuit, white porcelain (Wedgwood), 257
Bloor, Robert (Derby), 15
Bloor Derby—
illustrations of—
tea-pot, v
vase, 17
marks, 16
Sale Prices, 24
Blue dragon, introduced at Caughley, 138
Blue-printed table service, the first made in England, 138
Bone-ash porcelain, definition of, xxv
Bone, Henry (Plymouth), 94
Böttcher, J. F. (Dresden), 196
Bow, =49-65=
characteristics of Bow china, 61
discovery of fragments of china, 57
marks, 53, 54, 60
paste, 59
printed wares at, 60
Sale Prices, 63
Bow china illustrations of—
figure, 50
ink-stand, 49
Boyle, John (Minton), 182
Brameld (Rockingham), 118
Brislington, copper lustre at, 221
Bristol, =97-109=
blue delft, 97
characteristics of, 106
end of factory, 104
Sale Prices, 107
Bristol china, illustrations of—
cup and saucer, 102
“Mandarin” decorated, 97
vase, 103
delft bowl, 213
pottery, 201
St. Vincent’s Rock, view on Worcester vase, 80
British Museum—
Portland vase, 264
recent Lowestoft acquisitions at, 124
specimen reproduced from collection at (Chelsea), 32
Browne, Robert (Lowestoft), 115
Brunel, portrait of, on mug, 214
Buckingham, Duke of, connection with Chelsea, 30
“Buckle, Elizabeth,” name on Lowestoft china, 117
“Burges, William and Elizabeth,” names on delft mug, 206
Burke, Edmund—
cup and saucer from service ordered by, 102
encouragement of Richard Champion by, 105
Bust, copper lustre, 227
“C” as a mark (Caughley), 140
“Calder, M. and E., Norwich,” names on Lowestoft, 116
“Cambrian” as a mark, 171
“Cambrian-Argil” as a mark, 216
Cambrian Pottery (Swansea), 170, 171
Camelford, Lord, clay on estate of (Plymouth china), 91
“C and G” as a mark, 156
Carlyle quoted on Worcester china, 72
Carpenter, with tools, figure of (Chelsea), 29
Case, Mort & Co. (Liverpool), 242
Catherine II. of Russia, Wedgwood’s service for, 263
Caughley, =135-147=
marks, 140, 143
old blue mug, 137
Sale Prices, 147
Cave, Edward, of Worcester, 69
“C. B. D.” as a mark, 142
“C. D.” as a mark, 140
Chaffers, Richard, Liverpool, 240
mark of, 240
Chamberlain—
marks of, 78
scent-bottle, 80
Worcester, 78
Chamberlain, Lilley & Kerr, Worcester, 79
Champion, Richard—
Bristol, 97-106
his death in America, 105
Wedgwood’s opinion of, 104
Chantilly sprig pattern (Derby), 22
Charlotte, Queen, Wedgwood’s service for, 253, 263
Chelsea, =29-47=
best period of, 33
characteristics of china, 40
decline of, 35
illustrations of—
figure of carpenter, 29
“Foundling” Vase, 38
openwork vase, 27
Vase in British Museum, 31
marks, 34, 35, 39
marks imitated at Coalport, 143
Sale Prices, 42
Cherokee Indians, clay from, used at Bow, 51
“Chesterfield” Vase (Chelsea), 37
China, definition of, xxiii
Christening cup, 208
Christian, Liverpool, 241
Clay—
from Virginia (Plymouth), 92
from the Cherokee Indians, (Bow), 51
Lowestoft, used at Worcester, 114
Cleopatra, death of (Chelsea vase), 32
Coalport, =135-147=
Billingsley at, 165
Chelsea, Dresden, Sèvres marks imitated at, 143
illustrations—
plate (modern), after Sir Joshua Reynolds, 145
two-handled cup and saucer, 135
vase, 141
marks, 140, 142, 143
Nantgarw and Swansea incorporated with, 140
Sale Prices, 147
service made for Emperor of Russia, 142
Colebrookdale, 136-8
Cook, Captain, friend of Cookworthy, 92
Cookworthy, William (Plymouth), 91-96
“Cooper, John,” name on Lowestoft china, 127
Copeland—
discovery of Parian ware by, 21, =156-158=
excellence of ware of, 151, 158
illustration, plates, 157
marks, 156
Sale Prices, 161
Copeland & Garrett, marks of, 156
Copeland, W. T. & Sons, marks of, 156
Copper Lustre Ware—
best period of, 225
illustrations of, 221, 222, 223, 225, 226
Courtney (late Bloor), Derby china, 20
Cradle, old English earthenware, 207
Crescent as a mark—
Bow, 54
Caughley, 140, 143
Lowestoft, 130
Worcester, 70, 71, 78
Cross as a mark—
Bow, 53, 60
Bristol, 100
Caughley, 140
Lowestoft, 130
Crossed daggers, Derby mark, 8, 9, 11
Crown Derby—
illustrations of, 3, 11, 13, 17
marks, 7, 8, 16, 20
peculiarities in crown mark, 8
Sale Prices, 23
“C. S. N.” as a mark, 142, 143
Cumberland, Duke of, contributes annual sum to Chelsea, 33
“Curtis, James and Mary,” names on Lowestoft mug, 118
Curtis, Thomas (Lowestoft), 181
“C. W.” as a mark, 169
“D” as a mark, 7, 8, 39
Dagger as a mark, 54
“Daniell” as a mark, 142
Davies, William (of Worcester), 69
Delft, blue—
Bristol, 97
illustration of (Old Staffordshire), 206
Lowestoft, 115
Della Robbia ware copied by Minton, 184
Derby, =3-25=
biscuit ware, 21
cause of decline of, 16
characteristics of, 22
illustrations of—
Bloor Derby, v, 17
Crown Derby, 3, 11, 13, 17
marks—
Bloor Derby, 16
Crown Derby, 7
Sale Prices—
Bloor Derby, 24
Crown Derby, 23
Derby, Chelsea, 46
Derby-Chelsea, 8, 39
marks, 39
Sale Prices, 44
De Witt, Cornelius, portrait of (Wedgwood), 255
De Witt, John, portrait of (Wedgwood), 255
Dillwyn (Swansea)—
Etruscan ware, 171, 174
illustration of, 173
lustre ware made by, 228
marks of, 171
Dixon & Co. (lustre ware), Sunderland, 228
Dobson, Mr. Austin, quoted, 68
Donaldson, painter, Worcester, 78
Doulton, Messrs., Lambeth, 29, 205
Dragon blue, introduced at Caughley, 138
Dresden copied—
at Chelsea, 37
at Worcester, 84
marks imitated at Coalport, 143
origin of factory at, 196
Dudley House, Chelsea vases at, 39
Duesbury, William—
the first, 6, 8
the second, 12
the third, 15
Duesbury & Sheffield (Derby), 15
Dwight, John, 202
the inventor of porcelain in England, 29
Earl St. Vincent, friend of Cookworthy, 92
Earthenware—
definition of, xxiii
old English, 193-218
Egyptian ware (Wedgwood), 258
“England,” use of word on modern china, 144
English slip ware, 208
English ware universal on Continent, 253
Etruria, 253
first vase produced at, 254
Etruscan ware, Dillwyn (Swansea), 171, 174
illustration of, 173
Evans & Co., Swansea, 174
“F” as a mark, 53
Falstaff, Quin as, Bow figure, 55
“Fayence, Spode’s new,” 154
Felspar porcelain (Coalport), 140
Minton & Boyle, 182
Flaxman, design on Wedgwood (France and England), 260, 263
Flight & Barr, 78
Billingsley, painter, with, 165
marks, 78
Flight, Thomas (Worcester), 78
marks of, 78
Flora, Bow figure of, 64
Fordyce, Lady Margaret, designs on china painted by, 12
“Foundling” Vase (Chelsea), 37, 38
Frank, R., Brislington, 228
Frederick, Prince of Wales, portrait of, painted by Frye, 51
Frederick the Great (Worcester mug)—
Carlyle’s description of, 72
illustration of, 73
French sprig pattern (Derby), 22
Frog mug, Sunderland, 203
Frye, Thomas (of West Ham), 51
as a mezzotint engraver, 52
various signatures of, 60
Fuddling cup, 207
Fulham pottery, 202
flip-mug, Alexander Selkirk, 214
Garrick, as Richard III., Bow figure, 55
George II., patron of Chelsea, 33
German workmen brought to Chelsea by George II., 33
Glass, Joseph, potter, 207
Glassy porcelain, definition of, xxv
Glaze—
definition of, xxiii
leadless, 144
Globe as a mark, 184
Goats and bee jug (Bow), 62, 63
Chelsea, 35
Gold lustre ware, 232, 233
jug, 232
Grainger, Lee & Co., Worcester, 81
marks, 79
Green, Guy, Liverpool, 238
“H” as a mark, Lowestoft, 129
Hancock, Robert, engraver, 72, 76
Hard paste, definition of, xxiv
Hard porcelain—
first manufacture of, in England, 91
made at—
Bristol, 97, 98
New Hall, 105
Plymouth, 91
Harrison, John, 250
“Harvey, William,” name on Lowestoft, 123
Henri II. faïence, copied by Minton, 185
Herculaneum Pottery (Liverpool), 200, 241
Heylin, Edward (of Bow), 51
Hogarth, “Midnight Conversation” of, Liverpool bowl, 246
Hughes, Lowestoft, 129
Ironstone china—
Mason, xxiv, 216
illustrated, 217
Isleworth, 205
“I. W.” as a mark, 199, 211
Jackfield, factory at, 138
Japan patterns used at Derby, 22
Japanese influence on Spode, 155
Derby, 22
Jasper ware (Wedgwood), 257
illustrations of, 249, 258, 259
Johnson, Dr., experiments of, at Chelsea factory, 40
“K & B, Worcester,” as a mark, 79
Kaolin, xxv, 195
Kean, Michael (Derby), 15
Kerr & Binns (Worcester), 79
King of Prussia mug, Carlyle’s description of, 72
Kishere, Mortlake, 205
“L,” two letters, mark on Lowestoft, 130
Lamb, Charles, on Old China, 4
Lambeth, Dutch potters at, in seventeenth century, 205
Lane, Delph, 216
Lang, Mr. Andrew, verse quoted, 4
Laurel wreath on Bristol china, 106, 107
Lead glaze, definition of, xxiii
Lead, large amount used in Bow glaze, 62
Leadless glaze, xxiii, 144
Leeds pottery, 201
Limoges enamel, copied at Worcester, 83
Lister, Dr. Martin, 30
Liverpool—
pottery once its staple manufacture, 200
Queen’s Ware (Wedgwood), decorated at, 253
Liverpool ware, =237-246=
illustrations of, 237, 243, 244, 245
marks, 240, 241
Sale Prices, 246
tiles, 245
Locker & Co. (late Bloor) (Derby), 20
Longbeards, mugs thus named (Low Countries), 197
Lonsdale, Lord, Derby service, sketches made by, 12
Lowestoft, =113-132=
birthday tablets, 123
Bow and Chelsea copied by, 127
characteristics of, 130
coats of arms on, 115
delft, old, attributed to, 115
errors concerning, 115, 119
illustrations of, 113, 117, 118, 122, 123, 125, 128, 129
marks, 127, 129, 130
moulds and fragments recently discovered, 122
old factory, site of, 121
Oriental influence on, 127
origin of, 114
Sale Prices, 131
spurious imitations made in France, 127
Worcester, its resemblance to, 127
Luson, Hewlin (Lowestoft), 121
Lustre ware—
copper, 221-227
gold, 232, 233
silver, 227-232
illustrations of—
copper, 221, 222, 223, 225, 226
gold, 232
silver, 227, 228, 229, 231
“M” as a mark, 182
“M & B” as a mark, 182
“M & Co.” as a mark, 184
Mandarin decorated porcelain—
Bristol, 97, 99
Lowestoft, 116, 127
Worcester, 83
Marriage plates, 114, 115
Mason, Charles James, 216
Mason, Miles, mark of, 216
Mason Patent Ironstone China, xxiv, 215, 216
illustrated, 217
marks, 216
Sale Prices, 218
Mayflower, in relief, Bow pattern, 58
Meissen, origin of factory at, 196
Mill to grind old folks young, 271
Minton, Thomas, 181-2
Minton Ware, =181-189=
faïence, 181
illustrations, 183, 185, 186, 189
majolica, 186
marks, 182, 184
reproduction of Henri II. ware, 185
Sale Prices, 187
Minton & Boyle, mark of, 182
Minton-Campbell, Colin, 182
Sale Prices of his china collection, 187
Minton, Hollins & Co., 184
Moore & Co., lustre ware, Sunderland, 228
Morris, painter, Swansea, 174
Mortlake, pottery at, 205
Mottoes on earthenware, 206, 208, 211-214
Moulds, xxiv
disinterment of, at Lowestoft, 122
illustration of, 113
Nankin pattern, Caughley, 138
Nantgarw, =165-171=
characteristics of, 175
founders of, solicit Government patronage, 169
glassy nature of, 169
illustrations of, 166, 167
marks, 169, 170, 171
Sale Prices, 176
Nelson, portraits of, on jugs, 214
New Canton, title of Bow Factory, 49
Newcastle mugs and jugs, 201
“New Fayence, Spode,” 154
Nollekens, Life of, quoted, 30
Nottingham, 202
Oiron faïence (copied by Minton), 185
Old folks, mill to grind young, 712
O’Neale, painter, Worcester, 78
Opaque, xxiv
porcelain (Spode), 153
Oriental models copied—
at Bow, 58
at Caughley, 137
at Chelsea, 35, 37, 39
at Coalport, 144
at Worcester, 67, 70, 85
by Minton, 181
by Spode, 154
Oriental—
marks on English china (Chelsea), 39
Worcester, 71
porcelain, having English coats of arms, 115, 120
Over-glaze, xxiv
“P” as a mark, 240
Palissy ware copied by Minton, 184
Parian ware (Copeland), 158
how discovered, 21
“Parrish” (of Norwich), name on delft plates, 115
Parting cups, 208
Paste—
definition of, xxiv
hard, 91, 97, 98, 105
Pastille-burner (Crown Derby), 11
Spode, 152
Pastorella, woman playing the (Bow), 50, 53
Pennington, mark of, 240, 241
Perdita (Mrs. Robinson), portrait of, on modern Coalport, 146
Petersburg, 197
Petuntse, xxv, 195
Philips, Richard (Lowestoft), 127, 129
Piggin, 208
Pinxton, Billingsley at, 165
Planché, Andrew, originator of Derby works, 6
Plato, portrait medallion of (Wedgwood), 255
Plymouth, =91-96=
characteristics of, 106
illustrations of, 91, 94, 95
marks, 94, 96
Sale Prices, 107
Plymouth, Lady, designs on Derby painted by, 12
Porcelain—
definition of, xxv, 195
_hard_—
at Bristol, 97, 98
at New Hall, 105
at Plymouth, 91
first manufacture of, in England, 91
Porphyry (Wedgwood), 256, 258
Portland vase, 260, 261, 263
Portrait medallions (Wedgwood), 255, 274, 275, 276
Posset-mug, 207
Posset-pot, 207
Pottery, definition of, xxv, 194
Powles, Richard (Lowestoft), 129
Prices, why old china commands high, 106
Printed table service, first blue, made in England, 138
Printing on china, xxv
Printing transfer—
at Battersea, 240
at Liverpool, 237, 239
at Worcester, 72
Purple lustre ware, 232
Puzzle jugs, 207
illustration of (Wedgwood), 212
Queen Charlotte, Wedgwood service for, 200, 253, 263
Queen’s Ware (Wedgwood), 253, 270
importance of, in history of ceramics, 200
Quin as Falstaff, Bow figure of, 55
“Quinton” (of Yarmouth), name on delft plates, 115
“R” as a mark, 184
initial on Lowestoft, 129
Redgrave (Lowestoft), 129
Reid & Co. (Liverpool), 241
“Resist” pattern (lustre ware), 231
“R. H.”, signature on Worcester mug, 72, 76
Richard III., Garrick as, Bow figure, 55
Ring, Joseph, Bristol, 201
Robinson, Mrs. (Perdita), portrait of, on modern Coalport, 146
Rockingham, unfinished ware from, sold to Robert Allen (Lowestoft), 118
Rose, French refugee, painter at Lowestoft, 118
Rose, John (Caughley), 138-9
establishes the Coalport factory, 139
Swansea factory purchased by, 174
Rose, I. & Co., marks of, 142
“R. P.,” initials on Lowestoft, 127
Russia—
Catherine of, Wedgwood service made for, 263
Emperor of, modern service made for (Coalport), 142
“S” as a mark, 140
Saddlers’ Hall, portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales, at, 51
Sadler, John (Liverpool), 138
signature on tile, 246
Sadler & Green, 239
Wedgwood’s Queen’s Ware decorated by, 253
Sale Prices—
Bloor Derby, 24
Bow, 63
Bristol, 108
Caughley, 147
Chelsea, 42
Coalport, 147
Copeland, 161
Crown Derby, 23
Derby—
Crown, 23
Bloor, 24
Chelsea, 42
Lowestoft, 131
Mason’s Ware, 218
Minton, 187
Nantgarw, 176
Plymouth, 107
Spode, 159
Staffordshire, 218
Swansea, 177
Wedgwood, 272
Whieldon, 272
Worcester, 85
Salopian, 136
marks, 140
Schnorr, John (Dresden), 196
Schreiber, Lady Charlotte, collection of, 78
Selkirk, Alexander, his mug, 214
Sèvres—
artist from, at Plymouth, 94
copied—
at Chelsea, 37
at Coalport, 143
at Worcester, 77
marks of, imitated at Coalport, 143
“S. H.” as a mark, 20
Sharp (Stevenson, Sharp & Co.), Derby, 20
Shaw (Liverpool), 240, 241
Shylock figure (Chelsea), 41
Silver lustre ware, 229-231
illustrations of, 227, 228, 229, 231
modern imitations of, 227
Slip ware, old English, 208
Smeaton (builder of Eddystone Lighthouse), friend of Cookworthy, 92
Soft paste, definition of, xxiv
Soqui, Sèvres artist at Plymouth, 94
Spode, Josiah—
the first, 151
the second, 153
the third, 153
Spode ware—
characteristics of, 158
illustrations of, 151, 152, 153
marks, 153, 155
Sale Prices, 159
supersedes French wares on the Continent, 153
Sprig, Angoulême—
Chantilly pattern (Derby), 22
imitated by Derby, 22
Sprimont, Nicholas, at Chelsea, 33
Square seal as a mark (Worcester), 71
Staffordshire earthenware—
illustrations of, 198, 199
Sale Prices, 218
Stevenson & Hancock, 20
Stevenson Sharp & Co., 20
Stone china—
Minton, 182
Spode, 154
Sunderland, 201, 202, 214
frog mugs, 202
illustrations of mugs and jugs, 193, 203
Swansea, =171-174=
characteristics of, 175
chief painters at, 173
illustrations of, 172, 173
marks, 171
sale of factory to John Rose (Coalport), 174
Sale Prices, 177
Swords, crossed, as a mark, 20
“T” as a mark, 60, 63, 100
Temple Bar, view of (Bloor Derby vase), 25
Terra-cotta ware (Wedgwood), 256
Thames Tunnel, view of, on mug, 214
Tiles—
enamelled Minton, 184
printed Liverpool, 237, 239
Tithe pig—subject on Liverpool mug, 246
“To” (signature of Tebo), as a mark, 60, 63
Toby jug, 197
Tortoiseshell ware, 250, 251
Toy sets, Lowestoft, 124
Transfer-printing, xxv, 72
illustrations of Liverpool, 237, 243, 244, 245
Worcester, 67, 73
Translucent, xxv
Triangle as a mark, 33, 35, 39
Trident as a mark, 171
True porcelain, definition of, xxv
Turner—
dark blue Caughley, 136, 137
mark of, 140
Tyg, 208
Unaker, 51
Under-glaze, xxiv
Venice—
anchor as mark, 30
workmen from, at Chelsea, 30
Vicar and Moses, Staffordshire figure, 199
Victoria and Albert Museum—
Bow, 57
Oiron faïence, 185
Worcester, 78
Vienna, 197
Vincennes, origin of, 30
Virginia, clay from (Plymouth), 92
“W” as a mark, 71, 79
Walker, Samuel, 140, 165
at Nantgarw, 169
at Swansea, 170
Wall, Dr. John—
founder of Worcester, 69
his death, 77
painting by, in Merton College, Oxford, 69
Walpole, Horace, quoted—
on Battersea printing, 240
on Chelsea, 33
Wear, cast-iron bridge across (Sunderland mug), 202
Wedgwood, Josiah, 249, 250
art of the potter, views concerning, 265
monument to, at Stoke-on-Trent, 268
opinion of, concerning Richard Champion, 104
opposes Cookworthy and Champion’s patent (Bristol), 97
Wedgwood catalogues, 265
Wedgwood Ware, =249-278=
early imitation of jewels, 252
illustrations of, 207, 249, 256, 259, 260, 277
lustre ware, 228
marks of, 269, 270
printed at Liverpool, 240
Queen’s Ware, 253
Sale Prices, 272
Wedgwood & Bentley, marks of, 269
Wedgewood, spurious mark imitating Wedgwood, 270
Welsh ware, Isleworth, 205
Whieldon, Thomas, 251
illustration of Whieldon ware, 251
Spode apprenticed to, 151
White porcelain biscuit (Wedgwood), 257
Willow pattern plate, introduced at—
Caughley, 137
Spode, 152
Wilson (Staffordshire), lustre ware, 228
Wolcot, Dr. (“Peter Pindar”), friend of Cookworthy, 92
Wolfe, General, death of, on jug, 214
Wood, Ralph (Burslem), 199
Worcester, =67-90=
Billingsley, flower-painter at, 165
characteristics of old, 83
illustrations of, 67, 73, 77, 81
marks, 70, 71, 78, 79
Sale Prices, 85
Wrotham, Kent, 202
Yarmouth, pottery at, 200
Young, W. W., painter, Nantgarw, 170, 171
_Printed in Great Britain by_
UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON
* * * * *
[Transcriber’s note: the following changes have been made to this text.
Frontispiece: Schrieber changed to Schreiber—Lady Charlotte Schreiber.
Page 45: Sotherby to Sotheby—Sotheby, May 17, 1920.
Plate facing page 76: Wattean to Watteau—Watteau style transfer.
Page 108: or to of—bouquets of flowers.
Page 143: comparision to comparison—comparison of the dates.
Page 281: Sevrès to Sèvres—Chelsea, Dresden, Sèvres marks.
Page 286: facfory to factory—establishes the Coalport factory, 139.]
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