THE
PLEASURES
OF
COLLECTING
[Illustration:
_Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art_
Early American Mahogany Block-Front Cabinet-Top, Rhode Island Style
Desk, 1750-1775]
[Illustration:
THE
PLEASURES
OF
COLLECTING
BY
GARDNER TEALL
Being sundry delectable
excursions in the realm
of antiques and curios,
American, European,
and Oriental
New York
The Century Company
1920]
Copyright, 1920, by
THE CENTURY CO.
TO
MY SISTER
FRANCES COTHEAL TEALL
IN LOVING MEMORY
DEAR READER
Your true collector does not apologize for his hobbies; he exalts their
virtues. Necessity may occasionally compel him to resort to the
camouflage of mid-interest, as when his family is not in sympathy with
his pursuits; or, again, as when fate has placed him in arid communion
with unsympathetic associates, individuals whose personalities have
developed independently of their souls, leaving them pronounced in the
directions they invariably select; directions, in consequence,
invariably divergent from those paths which the true collector loves to
tread.
While not secretive by nature, and by the same nature eager to share his
joys with his fellow-beings, the true collector is endowed, more often
than not, with a certain intuitive perception which enables him to
appreciate the futility of hoping to convert the unequipped infidel to
the solaces of his own faith in the delights of the lares and penates of
another generation, an intuition which warns him to protect his peace of
mind by harmlessly appearing to accept with good grace the
commonplacenesses undoubtedly enjoyed by the many, but with no culpable
renunciation of his own lively interest in the quaint and curious
mementos of the world of yesterdays, a world into which our own to-days
slip, one by one, silently, but as surely followed by our to-morrows.
Was it not Charles Lamb who exclaimed: “Antiquity! thou wondrous charm,
what art thou? that, being nothing, art everything? When thou wert, thou
wert not antiquity,--then thou wert nothing, but hadst a remoter
antiquity, as thou calledst it to look back to with blind veneration;
thou thyself being to thyself flat, jejune, modern! What mystery lurks
in this retroversion? or what half Januses are we, that cannot look
forward with the same idolatry with which we forever revert! The mighty
future is as nothing, being everything! The past is everything, being
nothing!”
Your true collector may often maintain reticence in order that he may
enjoy a normal place in the community, undisturbed by the merely idle
curious, the undeft rummaging of the clumsy, the curt depreciation of
the supercilious, the gushing of the undiscriminating susceptible, or
the skepticism of those who measure the sanity of their fellows by the
canons of their own irrevocable and undeviating limitations, those to
whom no music but the echoes of caverns can appeal. Such are beyond the
pale of any errand in missionary spirit.
The true collector is born, not made. Yet one cannot discover the mirror
without knowledge of the reflection. The contentment to be found in the
acquisition and in the contemplation of the things that are dear to the
heart of the antiquarian and the art-lover is a contentment that is the
gift of the gods, always awarded the intelligent, though not always
disclosed to them.
A friend, then, will be he who discovers to one a treasure like that
which the joy of collecting uncovers. What we read and what we see
pictured for us is precious, indeed, if it holds up to us the image of
that which we immediately know to be congenial to our natural tastes.
And so it is that this little book is not devised for savages, but
tenderly has been nurtured in sympathy with the interesting and the
beautiful things of yesterday. May it find friends among those who love
them as well as among those who love the things of to-day which have
prospered in their heritage from the days of long ago!
The author wishes to express his grateful acknowledgments to those who
have made possible the preparation of this volume--to Messrs. Condé
Nast & Company, Inc., publishers of “House & Garden,” Messrs. Munn &
Company, Inc., formerly publishers of “American Homes and Gardens,” the
publishers of “The Cosmopolitan,” the publishers of “The House
Beautiful,” and the publishers of “The Sun,” New York, for permission to
include in this volume portions of the material contributed by him to
those periodicals; to Dr. George Frederick Kunz, Mr. Richardson Wright,
Mr. Charles Allen Munn, Mr. Robert H. Van Court, Mrs. Elizabeth C.
Lounsbery, Dr. Frank W. Gunsaulus, Mr. Robert Lemmon, Mr. H. E. Bauer,
Miss Mary H. Northend, Mr. André M. Rueff, Mr. T. C. Turner, Mr. William
A. Cooper, Mr. William Francis Phillips, Miss Elizabeth Robinson, Mr.
William C. Clifford, Mr. G. H. Buek, Mr. Frederick H. Howell, the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose photographs have been drawn upon for
illustration, the Brooklyn Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and the New York Public Library, and
to those authors whose works are noted in the Bibliography.
GARDNER TEALL
NEW YORK
June 4, 1920
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I THE PLEASURES OF COLLECTING 3
II COLLECTORS OF YESTERDAY 9
III AMERICAN TABLES 18
IV TEA AND ANTIQUITY 26
V CUP-PLATES 36
VI CHINTZ 42
VII PEWTER 51
VIII SAMPLERS 61
IX WAX PORTRAITS 68
X HAND-WOVEN COVERLETS 74
XI CHAIRS 77
XII ENGLISH DRINKING-GLASSES 84
XIII STUART EMBROIDERIES 94
XIV DELFT 98
XV EARLY DESK FURNITURE 106
XVI CHELSEA 115
XVII WEDGWOOD 125
XVIII SAVING THE PIECES 130
XIX LOUNGING FURNITURE 134
XX SHEFFIELD PLATE 146
XXI STRAW MARQUETERIE 153
XXII CONSOLES 164
XXIII SÈVRES PORCELAIN 170
XXIV EUROPEAN ENAMELS 178
XXV THE ROMANCE OF A POTTER: BERNARD
PALISSY 191
XXVI ITALIAN MAIOLICA 210
XXVII GLASS OF A THOUSAND FLOWERS 218
XXVIII ANTIQUES OF PERSIA AND OF INDIA 227
XXIX CHINESE PORCELAINS 238
XXX CHINESE AND JAPANESE LACQUER 246
XXXI CHINESE SNUFF-BOTTLES 253
XXXII CLOISONNÉ ENAMELS OF CHINA AND JAPAN 262
XXXIII JAPANESE SWORD-GUARDS 270
XXXIV MEDALLIC ART 278
XXXV ENGRAVED GEMS 286
XXXVI FRAUDULENT ART OBJECTS 299
BIBLIOGRAPHY 305
INDEX 319
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Early American mahogany block-front cabinet-top
Rhode Island style desk, 1750-1775 _Frontispiece_
FACING
PAGE
American walnut gate-leg table, 1675-1700 24
American pine and walnut chair-table, 1700 24
American cherry and maple gate-leg table, 1675-1700 24
Late 18th century English tea caddy 25
Late 18th century English tea caddies 25
Ivory and two tortoiseshell 18th century tea caddies 25
Cup-plates 40
Early printed cotton 41
Chinese pewter jar with bronze cover--early 18th century 60
A Swiss pewter wine-flask, Zurich, dated 1766 60
American 18th century sampler 61
A dated English or Welsh sampler, 1787 61
Wax-portrait of Ferdinand I of Sicily, Italian, late 18th century 76
Wax-portrait, subject unknown, Italian, early 18th century 76
Model of an American peg-loom bearing the name of
W. D. Fales of Providence, Rhode Island 77
Handwoven coverlet in bed-chamber of the John Howard Payne House 77
Chippendale mahogany arm-chair, 1760-1780 80
Shield back Hepplewhite arm-chair 80
Louis XIV arm-chair 80
Louis XV arm-chair 80
Three rare Williamite glasses 81
Two English glass rummers engraved with Nelson subjects 81
A small Jacobite Arms rummer 81
Tumbler commemorating coronation of George IV of England 81
Two 18th century tumblers 81
English 17th century stump-work embroidery 96
Dutch delft shelf ornaments 97
Four Dutch delft tiles, 17th century 97
A pair of candlesticks and a vase of 18th century Chelsea 120
Cabinet inset with Wedgwood jasper ware medallions 121
16th century Venetian glass covered cup 136
Double chair-back settee, Chippendale, 1735-1750 137
Settee, Adam style 137
Sofa of the William and Mary period 137
Sheffield plate tray and spoonholder 152
Sheffield plate teapot and coffee-pot 152
Straw marqueterie box, French, 18th century 153
Straw marqueterie box, English, 17th century 153
French console, Louis XIV period 168
French console, Louis XV period 168
Sèvres white bisque statuette of Voltaire 169
Sèvres white bisque bust of Franklin 169
A pair of Sèvres porcelain covered vases 169
Oval dish by Bernard Palissy, 1510-1589 188
Lumières by Bernard Palissy 188
Limoges enamel covered cup attributed to Pierre Raymond 189
Champlevé enamel casket, French, 13th century 189
Early Italian maiolica plates 216
Copies of Roman millefiori glass 217
Two ancient Roman millefiori glass bowls 217
Ewer and basin, Bindri ware, India, 18th century 236
Polychrome Persian tiles, 17th century 236
Chinese porcelain, Kang H’si period, 1662-1723 237
Chinese lacquer vase, 18th century 252
Japanese gold lacquer toilet stand, 17th century 252
Chinese snuff bottles of the Ch’ien Lung period, 1736-1796 253
Chinese cloisonné Palace Censer, Chia Ching period, 1522-1567 268
Japanese armour of the feudal period showing swords
with their sword-guards (tsuba) 269
THE PLEASURES OF COLLECTING
THE PLEASURES OF COLLECTING
CHAPTER I
THE PLEASURES OF COLLECTING
Blessed is the man who has a hobby! declared Lord Brougham; and of all
the hobbies it is doubtful if any are more blessed than those of the
collector of antiques and curios, old prints, coins and medals, rare
books and bindings, and the like. “God never did make a more calm,
quiet, innocent recreation,” good old Isaac Walton said of angling. But
that is true, too, of collecting, which, figuratively speaking, is in
itself a species of the art of angling, of dipping into the quiet pools
of unfrequented places, there to angle for quaint curios and interesting
mementos of bygone days, conscious that though the bait may be small,
the catch may be large--besides, there is the fun of fishing!
In “Le Jardin d’Epicure,” Anatole France has written: “People laugh at
collectors, who perhaps do lay themselves open to raillery, but that is
also the case with all of us when in love with anything at all. We ought
rather to envy collectors, for they brighten their days with a long and
peaceable joy. Perhaps what they do a little resembles the task of the
children who spade up heaps of sand at the edge of the sea, laboring in
vain, for all they have built will soon be overthrown, and that, no
doubt, is true of collections of books and pictures also. But we need
not blame the collectors for it; the fault lies in the vicissitudes of
existence and the brevity of life. The sea carries off the heaps of
sand, and auctioneers disperse the collections; and yet there are no
better pleasures than the building of heaps of sand at ten years old, of
collections at sixty. Nothing of all we erect will remain, in the end;
and a love for collecting is no more vain and useless than other
passions are.” Anatole France might well have added Sir James Yoxall’s
observation, that “good for health of mind and body it is to walk and
wander in by-ways of town and country, searching out things beautiful
and old and rare with which to adorn one’s home.” Indeed, collecting has
aspects other than the one of discovery, of acquisition, of
entertainment, or of furnishing a pastime: it has its utilitarian one as
well.
There is an undeniable and oftentimes indefinable charm about a home in
which well-chosen antiques and curios form part of the decorative scheme
and become part of its furnishing and adornment. Many collectors have
become such through an increasing interest in old furniture, rare china,
early silver, and other classes of antiques and curios, inspired in the
beginning by the acquisition of some object of the sort, personal
contact with which has served as an example of the pleasure which
collecting holds in store for one. The true collector is not merely “a
gatherer of things,” indifferent to the guidance of a discriminating
taste. Rather, when he finds an object at hand, he considers it from
many points of view--its historical value, its significance in the
development of the arts, its anecdotal interest, its worth as a work of
art, and its workmanship.
The intuitive sense will carry the _amateur_ a long way, but
connoisseurship will depend upon knowledge. Those persons who are
absolutely indifferent to the whys and wherefores of things,
uninterested in any effort to discover the “story” of an object, bored
by its history or unappreciative of its beauty, are hardly likely to
become collectors, though accident and the chances of fortune may throw
interesting things into their possession. Neither are they likely ever
to become as Thackeray, who, in “Roundabout Papers,” said of a certain
antique and curio shop: “I never can pass without delaying at the
windows--indeed, if I were going to be hung, I would beg the cart to
stop, and let me have one look more at the delightful _omnium
gatherum_.”
Now, it often happens that we find a collector-in-embryo--one who has a
desire to start a collection, but fancies it an undertaking requiring
very special qualifications--asking: “How could I hope to become a
collector when I know so little about the subject I think I should be
interested in? Then I fear good things cost too much, and that real
bargains have long ago vanished from the mart.” To such a one the reply
can truthfully be made that it is by no means difficult for the beginner
to acquire definite and valuable knowledge on any subject in the
collector’s field that may chance to interest him.
The way one learns to collect (and that means the way one learns about
the things worth collecting) is by collecting. Contact with the objects
themselves is necessary to connoisseurship, just as it is one of its
pleasures. The collector learns more about Oriental porcelains, old
English china, Dresden figurines, French enamels, Russian brass, Italian
laces, or Bohemian glass by having a few representative pieces of them
at hand for study than he could learn, so far as helpful knowledge
fitting him to judge is concerned, from volumes on the subject. While
this contact with actual objects is necessary in developing a
connoisseurship (one may have it visually in museums or have access to
private collections; the shops, too, will teach one much), all the
accessible writings on the subject should be consulted, as comparative
study increases the interest and confirms or corrects one’s personal
deductions and opinions.
Supremely fine examples of old furniture, china, silverware, bronzes,
miniatures, and the like, have not often been “picked up for a song.”
The collector must remember that the pastime of collecting is not one of
recent development. Indeed, the ancients were collectors of the rare,
curious, and beautiful. The Medici were renowned for gathering in their
places _objets de virtu_, and few collectors of note of to-day could
outvie the enthusiasm of Horace Walpole, who turned Strawberry Hill into
a veritable museum. All this goes to show how keenly sought for have
been all art objects of unusual importance. Naturally, when rare
occasion brings them to the mart they command high prices. However, it
is not for one to despair because he cannot collect museum pieces, to
cry for those things which have little to do with the pleasure of
collecting beyond the interest their contemplation affords. That the
by-paths which the collector may tread are literally bristling with
bargains _is_ true. Certainly the small collector need not become
discouraged. For instance, the author continually finds within the
boundaries of New York city alone numerous objects that any collector of
limited means could acquire with rejoicing heart. One day it is a yellow
Wedgwood mustard-pot for two dollars, another day a _genuine_ Paduan
medal for fifty cents; then a Persian lacquer mirror-frame for a dollar,
and a Japanese sword-guard by Umetada, signed, for half as much! It adds
to the interest of collecting that while the collector soon learns where
to look for things, he constantly meets with them also where they are
least expected, and the country holds as many treasures hidden away for
the keen collector as does the metropolitan stronghold.