RUSSIA, DENMARK, AND SCANDINAVIA.
Scandinavian Pottery allied to Teutonic.--Hand-shaped
Vessels.--Primitive Kiln.--The Eighteenth Century.--St. Petersburg:
Its Porcelain.--Moscow.--Rorstrand.--Marieberg.--Modern Swedish
Faience.--Denmark.--Kiel.--Copenhagen.--Imitations of
Greek.--Copenhagen Porcelain.
The prehistoric pottery of the Scandinavians is, in its general
character, allied to the Teutonic. It is curious to find Brongniart
describing methods of shaping vessels by hand and burning them in a
hole, with hay for fuel, as being still practised in Scandinavia, which
it is quite probable have been transmitted from generation to generation
for untold centuries. A dark-gray, calcareous, coarse paste and
herring-bone decoration are met with in the vessels of the Stone Age.
Others apparently of the same age were thrown on the wheel. The
hut-shaped urn also occurs, and rare specimens are surmounted by a
cover.
[Illustration: Fig. 300.--Russian Faience. (D. Collamore.)]
From these ancient times we may descend at once to the eighteenth
century. In 1700 Peter the Great established some Delft potters at St.
Petersburg, and a private workshop is mentioned as existing at Revel,
but little is known of either. Peter the Great was also desirous of
founding the porcelain industry within his dominions, but does not
appear to have made any farther progress than bringing together a
collection of Chinese porcelain with Russian decoration. In 1756
Elizabeth established a workshop near the capital, and some years later
it was enlarged by Catherine II. About sixty years ago a number of
Sèvres artists were imported, and from that time down to the present a
very superior natural porcelain has been made. In 1756 an establishment,
also for making natural porcelain, was founded near Moscow. The royal
works made no contribution to the Centennial Exhibition, but some
porcelain was exhibited of fine translucent paste and most extravagant
price. Single cups and saucers, of fine body, but not characterized
either by remarkable elegance of shape or beauty of decoration, were
offered for $20. Some small plaques of majolica were also exhibited, of
careful workmanship and tasteful ornamentation. The St. Petersburg
porcelain made at the royal works is so high in price that it is said to
be bought only for the Court. The Russian faience (Fig. 300) of the
present time is decorated in styles altogether peculiar. It illustrates
the ardent desire manifested for some years past throughout Russia to
rear a distinctively Muscovite school of art. Natural porcelain has been
made at Korzec, in Poland, since 1723.
[Illustration: Fig. 301.--Swedish Faience Stove. (Wm. Astor Coll.)]
The first Swedish faience factory was established at Rorstrand in 1727,
and is still running; and in 1750 a second enterprise was set on foot at
Marieberg, also in the neighborhood of Stockholm. The earlier Rorstrand
wares resemble those of Delft. The decorations are in some cases
delicate and well designed. More lately Sweden has produced a great
variety of very beautiful faience. At the Centennial Exhibition we had
an opportunity of making acquaintance with the Stockholm potters through
works not less surprising than artistic. The imitations of Palissy’s
_Rustiques figulines_ may be passed over. The most interesting pieces
were of what was called “black northern faience,” the paste of which is
a skilfully manipulated fine dark-brown clay. Many of the tea-sets and
vases might easily have been mistaken for porcelain. A peculiar and very
effective ornamentation consisted of blue, gilt, red, and white floral
designs, the white enamel having a charming pearly appearance, and the
blue studs resembling turquoises. One of the best specimens of this
faience was a fireplace (Fig. 301) elaborately decorated with pale-blue
and green, of delicate shades mingled with gilt. In both design and
color this work was of itself sufficient to establish the character of
Swedish ceramic art. It was accompanied by a pair of gigantic candelabra
(Fig. 302) of a similar style. A quaintly formed vase was surrounded by
medallions illustrative of the life of the old Vikings, from the time
when the boy played with his father’s sword to that when the war-worn
hero was laid in his grave. The design was excellent in conception and
execution.
[Illustration: Fig. 302.--Swedish Faience Candelabrum. (Wm. Astor
Coll.)]
It is not improbable that the Swedish works may be involved in some such
confusion as that which surrounded the early wares of Delft. Thus we
find, in 1729, Rorstrand invested with the monopoly of making porcelain
of delft, _i. e._, faience. In 1735 the privilege included _fayence
fine et pate dure_, and in 1759 Dr. Ehrenrich was privileged to make
porcelain and faience at Marieberg. Some of the Marieberg wares are in
excellent taste, showing exquisitely modelled flowers and fruit in
relief. It is singular that when, in 1780, the stock at Marieberg was
sold off, some of it was disposed of in London under the name of delft.
The works at Rorstrand closed in 1788. A kind of faience having a
resemblance to the Swedish is manufactured near Christiania, in Norway
(Fig. 303). It is made into table services, and the decoration partakes
largely of the classical character so widely prevalent in the North.
[Illustration: Fig. 303.--Norwegian Faience, Schwarzenhorn. (W. B.
Dickerman Coll.)]
Denmark was first known by the productions of Kiel, of which the thin
paste is carefully prepared, and the paintings are highly commendable.
The Greek imitations by Madame Ipsen, of Copenhagen, have been an
agreeable surprise to Americans. Greek vases are imitated at this
establishment with equal fidelity and beauty. The world appears never to
tire of these forms, and the amateurs of America are to-day busily
engaged in attempting to follow the potters of Denmark, England, Brazil,
and we know not of what other countries. The widow Ipsen’s works are
certainly well executed; and standing among them at the Centennial
Exhibition, it was hard to realize that one was under the flag of
Denmark. There were many there which we might have addressed, with
Keats:
“What leaf-fringed legend haunts about your shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the vales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these?”
Both form and ornamentation were as purely Greek as those of any pottery
unearthed by the antiquary. The biga, quadriga, scenes from the Iliad
and mythology, appear just as they do on the works of the master potters
of antiquity.
[Illustration: Fig. 304.--Ipsen Terra-cotta. (Ovington Bros. Coll.)]
What has been said of the Ipsen factory might be applied with equal
truth to the terra-cotta works of Wendrich & Sons, also of Copenhagen.
Greek vessels of every description, and illustrating both ancient Greek
and modern Danish styles of decoration, bear their name, and can be
fully studied in such a collection as that of Mr. T. Schmidt, at the
Danish Consulate, New York. The Danish imitators, in rivalling each
other, have left most, if not all, of their competitors far behind, and
the fact leads us to consider at greater length the circumstances which
led a people apparently so distantly removed from the Greeks in genius,
to follow them in this particular branch of art.
First among these was the weighty influence everywhere felt of the
greatest of Danish artists, the sculptor Thorvaldsen. In him we have an
instance of a single man turning, in a measure, the current of thought
of an entire people. The titles of his works show the subjects which
touch his artistic sympathy. Instead of the Scandinavian Odin, Thor,
Baldur, Sigurd, Freia, Brunhild, or Gudrun, we have Apollo, Mercury,
Venus, Hebe, Ganymede, and the heroes of the Iliad. Thorvaldsen was
fascinated by the classic art of Greece, and it obliterated from his
memory the mythology and legends of the North. While he gave us Hebe, it
was reserved for his pupil and successor, Bissen, to give us the more
truly national Valkyrie.
[Illustration: Fig. 305.--Ipsen Terra-cotta Lekythos. (Ovington Bros.
Coll.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 306.--Danish Terra-cotta. (Ovington Bros. Coll.)]
A second reason may have been the possession of a fine pale-buff clay
admirably adapted for imitating the antiques of Greece. “In texture,”
says Boutell, “it is so fine that it is capable of producing bas-relief
medallions not larger than cameo gems, in which the figures have the
sharpness of the gems themselves, with a surface of exquisite and
silk-like softness.” On the one hand was the material, on the other the
Thorvaldsen museum presenting “the noblest models for using it with the
happiest effect.” The way to antiquity having thus been opened up, the
Danish potters widened the range of their art, and found in Etruria and
Egypt abundant models for imitation. Our classification must be of the
most general character. Forms are reproduced with the most perfect
fidelity, and the natural color of the buff clay changes through tints
of warm brown and red to black, according to the original. The
ornamentation is exceedingly varied. On some of the vases are subjects,
taken from the pottery of Greece, painted in red upon a black ground, or
in black upon buff, as we find them in Greece. These comprise the first
class, and are in the strictest sense reproductions of the antique. In
others, while the accessory decoration is Greek, the subjects are taken
from the sculptures or bas-reliefs of Thorvaldsen or Flaxman. The
“Triumph of Neptune” of the latter, and the many works of the former,
being purely classical in conception and feeling, are in perfect
harmony with the motive animating the artists of Denmark. There is a
third class, in which the leading designs are essentially modern, and no
strict rule is followed in accessory decoration. Thus, an amphora after
the Greek, in form and accessories, has a central design taken from
Thorvaldsen’s bas-relief “Autumn.” Egyptian amphoræ and other
black-glazed vases are painted with naturally tinted bouquets of
flowers, and thus in form and ground-color alone suggest the antique. At
times the several styles are mingled. The colors most extensively used
are red of several shades, gold, blue, white, buff, and black.
[Illustration: Fig. 307--Wendrich Terra-cotta. (T. Schmidt Coll.)]
Leaving the southern antique, the Danish potters have also reproduced
the prehistoric vessels of their native land in several simple and
elegant forms. The originals were found in the tombs of the ancient
Danes, and supply their descendants with an opportunity of perpetuating
an art essentially Norse. The national side of Danish art is also seen
in many of the terra-cotta statuettes and medallions. We pass over the
copies of Thorvaldsen’s classical sculptures in order to reach the
comical figures, full of humor, character, and feeling, of the elfish
Nisser of the old Norsemen. The statuettes of these elves, and many
quaint little figures of peasants, fishermen, and the like, are very
attractive, both intrinsically and as reflections of Danish old-time
superstition and Danish life. One of the Nisser appears upon the top of
a flower-stand, and we meet with them again in the paintings upon
porcelain.
A warm, satisfying quietude and an elevation of tone pervade these works
in terra-cotta, which, added to their artistic merits, commend them to
the student of household decoration, and insure a welcome from all who
can appreciate their mingled softness and chaste dignity.
Taking Danish porcelain as a whole, it is both of good quality and
tastefully decorated. The paste is pure, fine in texture, and carefully
worked. In thin pieces, which approach very nearly the egg-shell of the
East, the body is extremely translucent, and the glaze is smooth, hard,
and even. This quality comes in fluted services, decorated under the
glaze with delicate patterns, generally floral, in blue camaïeu. In
thicker pieces greater strength is gained without any sacrifice of
quality. Styles of decoration more peculiarly European occur in great
variety, and illustrate the Danish artist’s capacity for handling the
richer colors of the porcelain painter’s palette. Flowers, birds,
insects, and landscapes are seen in medallions edged with gold; and
cupids or Nisser, as grotesque as those in terra-cotta, are represented
in every conceivable attitude. The flower pieces are drawn with feeling,
and the coloring follows that of nature as closely as the medium will
allow. In the figure pieces the attitudes are, as a rule, expressive,
and suggestive of life and motion. Many of Thorvaldsen’s works, and some
of those of Bissen and Jerichau, have been reproduced in biscuit
statuettes and bas-relief medallions. While lacking the warmth of
terra-cotta, the porcelain biscuit is sharp in outline and soft in
color.
[Illustration: Fig. 308.--Copenhagen Porcelain. White, Shaded with Blue.
(Mrs. John V. L. Pruyn Coll.)]
Porcelain was made at Copenhagen (Fig. 308) in 1760, where a Frenchman
named Fournier established a workshop. In 1772 another establishment was
founded, or that of Fournier was revived, by the Minister of Justice,
Muller, assisted by a fugitive from Fürstenburg, named Von Lang. In 1775
it was taken into the hands of the Government, and is now called the
Royal Porcelain Works. Many ornamental pieces and works in biscuit are
issued of different decrees of merit.