An extended exploration of the same region, but somewhat farther north,

was made in 1875, under the auspices of the United States Geological and

Geographical Survey of the Territories. Mr. W. H. Holmes and Mr. W. H.

Jackson subsequently presented notices of the results of their

examinations of the ancient ruins within an area of six thousand square

miles, chiefly in Colorado, but partially also in New Mexico, Arizona,

and Utah. Their joint evidence regarding the immense quantities of

fragmentary pottery seen in the course of their explorations must create

great astonishment. In speaking of the ruins of a village in New Mexico,

situated on the Rio de la Plata, about twenty-five miles above its

junction with the San Juan, Mr. Holmes says, “The soil was literally

full of fragments of painted and ornamented pottery.” Near the same

locality, and while riding through a desert-like district, he observed

“fragments of pottery strewed around,” and “on the high dry table-lands,

on all sides, fragments of pottery were picked up.” Writing of the

Montezuma cañon in Utah, Mr. Jackson says, “As the valley widened it was

dotted in many places with mounds thickly strewed over with the

ever-accompanying ceramic handiwork of the ancient people in whose

footsteps we are following, and occurring so frequently and of such

extent as to excite astonishment at the numbers this narrow valley

supported.” The same writer says, “All who have ever visited this

region, which extends from the Rio Grande to the Colorado and southward

to the Gila, have been impressed with the vast quantities of shattered

pottery scattered over the whole land, sometimes where not even a ruin

now remains, its more enduring nature enabling it to long outlive all

other specimens of their handiwork.”

[Illustration: Fig. 408.--Ancient Corrugated Pottery of Colorado.]

The presence of such immense quantities of fragmentary pottery can

possibly be explained upon the hypothesis that the vessels were liable

to fracture when exposed to the fire, and that those cracking under the

heat were thrown away when taken out of the primitive and open kiln.

[Illustration: Fig. 409--Fragment showing Manner of Making Corrugated

Pottery.]

[Illustration: Fig. 410.--Ancient Corrugated Pottery, from Utah.]

The specimens obtained, both fragmentary and entire, give abundant

opportunity for studying the processes and decoration of these old-time

potters. As illustrating the fertility of their talent for shaping and

ornamenting their wares, Mr. Holmes observes that on one occasion, when

encamped in the Mancos Cañon, he found, within a space of ten feet

square, fragments of fifty-five different vessels, and adds that, “in

shape these vessels have been so varied that few forms known to

civilized art could not be found.” The clay varies according to

locality, in some cases being of an apparently fine quality mixed with

sand and shells, and in others coarse and more friable. All this old

pottery was made by hand, and fired, although no remains of kilns have

been discovered.

[Illustration: Fig. 411.--Handle of Twisted Clay.]

The smaller pieces, such as cups and jars, are usually covered with a

peculiar thin, hard, and smooth glaze or enamel, and then painted. The

larger pieces, which apparently answered the purpose of the Egyptian

amphora, present a rough, corrugated surface, are seldom glazed and

never painted. A specimen of the latter class, found among the _débris_

in one of the cliff-houses of the Mancos in Colorado, is given in the

illustration (Fig. 408). Its rough exterior is to be attributed to the

process of making. The potter began by drawing the clay into strips, and

then commencing at the bottom, wound the strips spirally and pressed

each layer down upon that below it, indenting the outside with a stick

or with his thumb. The illustration (Fig. 409) may serve to elucidate

the method of construction. The inside is perfectly smooth, and so well

are the strips worked together, that they show no division on fracture.

An attempt was made at decoration or variety, by running the strips a

few times round without indenting them and by attaching scrolls or

spirals immediately below the neck. All the pottery of this description

is ancient. A jar of similar construction to the above, but of a better

shape, was found in Epsom Creek, Utah (Fig. 410). The fragment of a

handle (Fig. 411) would appear to indicate that the ancients were

familiar with the well-known cable pattern of modern porcelain

manufacturers. It is made by twisting together three rolls of clay. A

ladle (Fig. 412) and what seems to have been a pipe (Fig. 413) will tend

to show farther the extent of the resources of the aboriginal potters of

the west.

[Illustration: Fig. 412.--Pottery Ladle.]

[Illustration: Fig. 413.--Clay Pipe.]

[Illustration: Fig. 414.--Painted Mug.]

[Illustration: Fig. 415.--Pitcher, from a Grave on the San Juan.]

[Illustration: Fig. 416.--Small Jug, from Ruins on the De Chelly.]

[Illustration: Fig. 417.--(Entire).]

[Illustration: Fig. 418.--(Restored).]

[Illustration: Fig. 419.--(Restored).]

[Illustration: Fig. 420.--(Fragment).]

[Illustration: Fig. 421.--(Extended to show Pattern).]

In the specimens of their painted pottery we have the best means of

judging their art. The painting is generally black laid upon the white

enamel or glaze; and however the color was obtained, it was very

durable. Although the fragments, as we have seen, have lain on the

ground exposed to the action of the weather for at least several

centuries, the color, in very few cases, shows any symptom of decay. In

one piece the white ground has actually worn away, leaving the black

decoration in relief. The designs show a vast amount of ingenuity on the

part of the artists. They are nearly all modifications of the fret and

scrolls. A very common style (Fig. 414) consists of a series of enclosed

squares, the alternate borders being composed of crossed lines and

straight lines, and having undecorated bands between. A remarkably fine

specimen (Fig. 415), both in shape and the simplicity of its

decoration, was taken from a grave on the banks of the San Juan, near

the mouth of the Mancos. Its excellent form, and the throwing of the

classical fret round the widest part of the body, bear witness to an

artistic sentiment of considerable refinement. The artists of the time

appear to have chiefly directed their attention to tasteful combinations

of lines in triangular, rectangular, and other odd forms, in which the

two latter are united or conjoined with straight bands of color. A fine

specimen (Fig. 416) was found in a heap of rubbish at a cave ruin on the

De Chelly. Its perfectly rotund form argues a skill in manipulating the

clay which one can hardly conceive possible without the assistance of

the wheel. For the purpose of farther illustrating the decorations and

shapes, a few fragments are presented in a restored and extended form

(Figs. 417-420). In nearly every case the decoration is on the inside of

the vessel, sometimes covering the entire surface, but more frequently

taking the form of a band round the lip; when it appears on the outside,

it generally consists of a narrower band (Fig. 422). It will be observed

that, so far, we have not met with a single attempt at decoration by

painting animal or floral forms. Mr. W. H. Jackson says that only one

fragment has been found exemplifying such a style (Fig. 423). It was

found in the upper cañon of the Montezuma, and has the figure painted on

the inside. A rudely modelled frog on the outside of a fragment of a cup

(Fig. 424) is from the same district. In this case the ornamentation is

in relief on the outside.

[Illustration: Fig. 422.--Outside Decoration of Ancient Pottery.]

[Illustration: Fig. 423.--Fragment of Pottery, with Painting of Animal.]

It would be interesting to inquire if the modern Moquis of Tegua are the

degenerate descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the cave-dwellings

and cliff houses of the valleys of the San Juan and its tributaries. The

probabilities are in favor of such a supposition, just as the

semi-civilized dwellers in modern Zuni are the descendants of the old

Pueblos. There are evidences of decay scattered throughout the entire

region.

[Illustration: Fig. 424.--Fragment of Pottery, with Frog in Relief.]

[Illustration: Fig. 425.--Painted Water-vessel, found at Tegua.]

In architecture the inhabitants of the present day are certainly

inferior to their old-time predecessors, and in the ceramic art there is

a similar decadence. A very peculiar and altogether exceptional piece

(Fig. 425) was found by Mr. W. H. Jackson among the Moquis of Tegua,

about which its possessors could give him no information. He concluded

that it had been made at Zuni by the Pueblos, and a color of probability

is lent to this supposition by the fact, previously noted, that the

Pueblos of Zuni make use of insect and animal forms in decorating their

pottery. The specimen mentioned is evidently of modern manufacture. The

upper part is white, the lower red, and the figures are red and black.

More nearly resembling, although far inferior to, the ancient works is a

piece (Fig. 426) made by the Moquis of Tegua. The decoration is after

the ancient type, but more crowded and complicated, and covers both the

inside and the outside of the vessel. It is a fair example of the modern

work, of which two further examples are given (Figs. 427 and 428).

[Illustration: Fig. 426.--Pottery of the Moquis.]

[Illustration: Fig. 427.--Modern Pottery, from Zuni. (United States

Geological Survey.)]

The modern Pueblos are exceptional both for the comparative excellence

of their work, and by reason of the fact that they make pottery for the

purposes of trade, as well as for their own use. This appears from

Gregg’s work, published about twenty-five years ago, entitled “Commerce

of the Prairies.” The author says: “They manufacture, according to their

aboriginal art, both for their own consumption and for the purpose of

traffic, a species of earthen-ware not much inferior to the coarse

pottery of our common potters. The pots made of this material stand fire

remarkably well, and are the universal substitutes for all the purposes

of cookery, even among the Mexicans, for the iron castings of this

country, which are utterly unknown there. Rude as this crockery is, it

nevertheless evinces a great deal of skill, considering that it is made

entirely without lathe or any kind of machinery. It is often fancifully

painted with colored earths and the juice of a plant called _guaco_,

which brightens by burning.”

[Illustration: Fig. 428.--Modern Moqui Pottery, from Zuni. (United

States Geological Survey.)]

To revert for a moment to Professor Marsh’s remarks, there appears to be

abundant reason for considering a great proportion of the old pottery of

America as belonging to one class, and that the old inhabitants were

originally of one race. The corrugated ware which we first found in

Colombia reappears among the Pueblo Indians, and has also been found in

Utah. The Indians made it in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware,

Georgia, Florida, and District of Columbia, having probably acquired the

art from their predecessors. Professor Rau says it was widely known in

North America, and Mr. Hartt shows the wide spread of the practice of

coiling throughout South America. The latter states upon authority that

the tribes on the Araguaya River all coil, using the hand, water, and a

bamboo trowel. The same process is found among the tribes of the Orinoco

section. The red and dark brown painted ware we have traced from Peru to

Nicaragua, and thence to the Moqui settlements. The Moquis of Arizona

make great numbers of the shallow ladles with short handles terminating

in animals’ heads, similar to those of Peru. We have seen the Brazilians

and Moquis both using vegetable colors on pottery, and it is probably

only our ignorance of Peruvian and Central American methods which

hinders our tracing these processes back to antiquity. It is difficult

upon any other hypothesis than that of a community of race to explain

these facts. We have said that the Moquis may be descendants of

Mound-builders seeking safety in the west. They may also have come

directly from the south, and having passed the country lying between the

Gulf of Mexico and the Sierra Madre, have reached the Colorado River,

along the upper affluents of which their settlements extend.

An interesting discovery was made some years ago by Mr. Charles Rau on

the Cahokia Creek in Illinois, in the rich alluvial strip of land known

as the “American Bottom.” He there found the place where pottery had

been made by some former inhabitants, and saw the clay-pit, and the

heaps of shells to be ground or broken and mixed with the clay. The

vessels were all round-bottomed, and do not appear to have differed much

in shape from those of the San Juan Valley. The painting deserves

particular notice. It was laid upon the outside so as to cover it, and

sometimes on both sides, and in either black, dark brown, or a beautiful

red, only one color being used on each article. “It is evident that the

coloring preceded the process of baking, and the surfaces thus coated

are smooth and shining, the paint replacing to a certain extent the

enamel produced by glazing.” Covering the entire surface with one color

does not suggest much ingenuity, but on the pieces where incised lines

and indentations form the decoration, there are fuller evidences of

artistic feeling. The lines were either drawn straight round the

vessels, or formed zigzags or figures of greater or less simplicity.

Without insisting upon any relationship between the potters of the

Cahokia and the Mound-builders, Mr. Rau believes the pottery he found to

be equal to that taken from the mounds of the Mississippi valley. Some

of the unpainted vessels were made in basket moulds, and other remains,

such as the fragment of a toy canoe, show that modelling was practised

to some extent. The age of this pottery is left to conjecture.

The same writer quotes from Dumont, who wrote about a century and a

quarter ago, a description of the method of making earthen-ware adopted

by the inhabitants of the large tract of country then called Louisiana.

The passage is here given in full: “After having amassed the proper kind

of clay and carefully cleaned it, the Indian women take shells which

they pound and reduce to a fine powder; they mix this powder with the

clay, and having poured some water on the mass, they knead it with their

hands and feet, and make it into a paste, of which they form rolls six

or seven feet long and of a thickness suitable to their purpose. If they

intend to fashion a plate or a vase, they take hold of one of these

rolls by the end, and fixing here with the thumb of the left hand the

centre of the vessel they are about to make, they turn the roll with

astonishing quickness around this centre, describing a spiral line; now

and then they dip their fingers into water and smooth with the right

hand the inner and outer surface of the vase they intend to fashion,

which would become ruffled or undulated without that manipulation. In

this manner they make all sorts of earthen vessels, plates, dishes,

bowls, pots, and jars, some of which hold from forty to fifty pints. The

burning of this pottery does not cause them much trouble. Having dried

it in the shade, they kindle a large fire, and when they have a

sufficient quantity of embers, they clean a space in the middle, where

they deposit their vessels and cover them with charcoal. Thus they bake

their earthen-ware, which can now be exposed to the fire, and possesses

as much durability as ours. Its solidity is doubtless to be attributed

to the pulverized shells which the women mix with the clay.” It will be

observed that this is practically the same method of construction

described by Messrs. Jackson and Holmes as existing in the San Juan

valley.

In a valuable paper upon “The Stone Age in New Jersey,” by Dr. C. C.

Abbott, of Trenton, and published in the report of the Smithsonian

Institution for 1875, much interesting information is given of the

Indian pottery of that State. Dr. Abbott describes a small round vase

with flaring rim, decorated before firing with lines roughly made with a

pointed stick. He then gives a caution which it is well to bear in mind

when examining the pottery comprehensively styled Indian. The vase is in

size similar to those found in western mounds, but less carefully

ornamented. Difference in decoration is not, however, always a safe test

to apply in order to distinguish the pottery of the Mound-builders from

that of the Indians. “In gracefulness of outline the New Jersey vase is

the equal of that of the Mound-builders, while we have seen a drawing of

a large vase found in Vermont which exceeds in elaborateness of detail

any figured by Messrs. Squier and Davis. The Mound-builders were never

inhabitants of what is now known as New Jersey nor of the State of

Vermont, but pottery is sometimes found in these sections the equals in

some instances of the pottery of the west in style of decoration, while

in all cases it is as hard and durable.” A pipe, the bowl of which

slopes outward and with the underside of the stem flattened, is also

described by Dr. Abbott. It is made of fine yellow clay. A fragment of

another pipe with a quadrangular bowl was made of the paste generally

used by the Indians, a mixture of clay, mica, and shells. Some of the

fragments of pottery are curiously marked with dots and lines. In one

case a spear of grass had been employed to make bead-like studs in rows

on the surface.

A discovery was made a few years ago in Tennessee, by which we learn

something of the Indian processes (Dr. J. F. Wright on “Antiquities of

Tennessee,” Smithsonian Report, 1874). It consisted of an excavation six

or eight feet in diameter, and four or five feet deep, and was

apparently a kiln or oven for baking pottery. Unwrought clay, charcoal,

fragments of pottery, and pieces of bark more or less charred were found

among the sand in the excavation. The pottery was peculiarly marked on

the _inside_, and investigation led to the conclusion that the vessels

had been moulded round an interior core of beech bark, the corrugations

of which corresponded exactly with the impressions on the pottery. The

Maryland Indians (Paper by O. N. Bryan, Smithsonian Report, 1874) are

thought to have baked some of their pottery in nets.

Many others of the Indian tribes practised the fictile art, very few, so

far as is known, being entirely ignorant of it. Moulding in clay was

not, however, a practice likely to commend itself or to offer any

attractions to the nomadic red man, and it fell into desuetude, whenever

the introduction of metal utensils rendered its continued pursuit not

absolutely necessary. Some of the tribes which followed the buffalo

possibly never engaged in it, but left the practice to their

corn-raising brethren (Dr. W. E. Doyle on “Indian Forts and Dwellings,”

Smithsonian Report, 1876). The exceptional tribes of New Mexico and

Arizona, which cannot, as already pointed out, be identified with the

North American Indians, are chief among the few which still continue to

make pottery. We have seen that they adhere in a great measure to the

ancient shapes and primitive decorative patterns. The fact of chief

importance in connection with the old potters of the West and the

processes to which they resorted is their employment of a glaze. It is

considered by Dr. Emil Bessels as the most striking peculiarity of the

pottery found near the ruins. It is regular, very hard, sometimes opaque

and whitish, at others transparent and tinged with blue. Neither this

glaze nor the colors have been accurately analyzed, but of the latter

the reddish-brown and brown are undoubtedly mineral, derived from iron

and manganese. The black was probably an organic substance, such as

charcoal made into a pigment by being mixed with fine clay.

CHAPTER V.

UNITED STATES.

The Future of America.--Obstacles in the Way of

Progress.--Commercial Conditions Illustrated by Tariff.--Expense of

Artistic Work.--Lack of Public Support.--American

Marks.--Misrepresentation of American Wares.--Materials.--Early Use

in England by Wedgwood, etc.--Cookworthy and a Virginian.--Native

Use of Clay.--New Jersey.--Value of Clay Deposit

Illustrated.--American Kaolin.--Vague Use of

Word.--Analysis.--Opinions of American Deposits.

We now approach the potters and artists of the present day. That there

is a brilliant future in store for the ceramic art of America may be

inferred from the rapidity with which it has been pushed forward to the

stage it has already reached. With a limitless wealth of material at his

command, and gifted with enterprise, originality, and taste, the

American artist can look confidently forward to taking his place beside

the best the world has produced.

And here it may be profitable to consider some of the obstacles in his

way. The first of these is commercial. With a high protective tariff the

home manufacturer is barely enabled to compete with the foreign producer

in plain domestic wares. The import duty does not cover the greater

expense of working in this country. Statistics show that in the items of

labor and material the American manufacturer, as compared with the

European, labors under a disadvantage of about one hundred per cent. In

works of art this disadvantage is vastly increased. The makers of the

tariff draw a distinction of only ten per cent. between white granite

and decorated porcelain, or, in other words, they give the makers of

artistic porcelain protection greater by twenty-five per cent. than that

accorded the makers of granite. A distinction to the extent of five per

cent. is drawn in the tariff between undecorated and decorated porcelain

and parian. Art work, therefore, is benefited to the extent of one-ninth

more than plain goods of the same material. It need not be pointed out

that art is thus protected less than workmanship, since the

proportionate cost of artistic work, as compared with skilled and

unskilled labor, is far greater here than in Europe. As a consequence,

there is little to induce manufacturers to turn to art unless some

profit can be drawn from the reputation which it brings. It is not

intended to discuss here the question of protection _versus_ free trade.

The tariff is merely brought forward to illustrate the difficulty of

rearing up something worthy of being called an American art. To

demonstrate this by example, here (Fig. 429) is a porcelain plate made

at Greenpoint on a challenge. It is a copy of a plate now in the

possession of Mr. George Such, of South Amboy, by whom it was purchased

at the sale of the effects of Louis Philippe. The original is from

Sèvres, and is decorated chiefly in gold. The Greenpoint copy was made

in order to test the question whether it were altogether unreasonable to

entertain the hope that American decoration might not--at some future

day, of course--equal that of Sèvres. Those who saw both had some

difficulty in distinguishing the original from the copy, and in some

instances could not do so without examining the ware as well as the

decoration. The copy is a remarkably fine specimen of decorative art,

and would lead us to entertain great expectations regarding the work of

the artist when his skill is devoted to original designs.

[Illustration: Fig. 429.--Greenpoint Porcelain. Sèvres Decoration.]

The challenge made was, therefore, fully answered. Should it be asked

why, under these circumstances, similar work should not be done

regularly, the answer is simple. The existing state of the market, in so

far as the demand for American artistic work is concerned, is such that

prices will barely bring back the actual cost of production. Toward

lessening that cost the efforts of manufacturers must be directed; and

in connection with this subject a remark may be quoted, made by

President T. C. Smith at the Convention of the Potters’ Association:

“Foreign clays can be put down in New York tide-water cheaper than you

can buy Pennsylvania clays, by about fifteen per cent.”

The great expense attending the production of works of art is not,

however, the only drawback with which the American manufacturer has to

contend. It may, in fact, be said that the impediments to the rapid

advancement of ceramic art in America have not yet been touched upon.

They consist of neither the lack of capital, enterprise, experience, nor

skill.

It is a singular fact that while native manufacture advances with rapid

strides, and finds on all sides a public ready to give it a hearty

reception, native art must force its way to recognition. Its first

honors must be won abroad. It must bear a foreign stamp to be accepted

at all in the home of its birth. The cause of this is not far to find.

The American market is a good market, and is so regarded by the world at

large. Foreign artists send their works to it, and are sure of a

welcome. Competition by a native superior is thereby made difficult; by

an equal almost impossible; by an inferior, an absurdity. The foreign

competitor comes branded as a genius, and home critics hesitate about

issuing a verdict in favor of a countryman. They appear to have a lack

of confidence in their own judgment, and would rather endorse or modify

another’s opinion, than take the responsibility of issuing an

independent one of their own. Patrons suffer from a similar diffidence.

On the one hand they see certainty, on the other uncertainty. On this

side is the work of one who has won the praise of all Europe; on the

other, nothing but that of one who makes a direct appeal to their own

discrimination.

Under such conditions it is difficult for an art to struggle into

existence. French art is to a Frenchman the finest and best the world

ever saw. Englishmen support English art because it is their own. They

are satisfied with it, if all the universe should wonder what it is they

nurse and cherish. It is good to them, and that is enough. If their own

opinion should change, it will then have become a curiosity, and

therefore doubly worthy of their care. American art may be good, even

equal to the best, but unfortunately it is American. Receiving no

notice, the artist loses even the benefit of criticism, and concludes

that his own people compliment themselves by believing that no work of

art can be produced among them.

This may appear overdrawn, but the facts are eloquent. It has been said

that, as a rule, Americans take a pride in their own manufactures. That

of pottery is an exception. Almost anywhere granite-ware can be seen

bearing as a mark the royal arms of England, with the motto in full--in

this case very appropriately--_honi soit qui mal y pense_. It is a

curious mark for an American potter, or at first sight seems so. The

ware may have been made at Trenton, or anywhere else in America, and the

explanation is simple. The dealers will not buy it without that mark,

and first suggested its use as they would order a certain style of

decoration. Inquiry among the dealers brings out the whole truth. Their

customers look for the English mark, and finding it, are satisfied.

After this we need not inquire if the English granite-ware is superior

to the American. There is no question of superiority or inferiority, but

only one of the potency of a name.

Again, in the matter of porcelain, that made and decorated in this

country is sold every day for French, German, or English. It is, in

fact, “all things unto all men,” according to the requirements of the

purchaser and the ingenuity of the dealer. In some cases it is bought

plain, and decorated, after it leaves the factory, in the various

foreign styles. No objection is ever made to its appearance, its finish,

purity, durability, or decoration, only it has the misfortune to be

American, and its parentage must be concealed at all hazards, and even

in spite of the manufacturer’s mark. Here, again, there is no question

of quality, but only one of the effect of a name.

To discuss the objectionable part of misrepresentation is away from the

present purpose, and the deduction from these facts is the only thing

now requiring to be made. They argue that upon their merits there are

wares produced in America which, if made anywhere else, would cope with

the corresponding qualities now imported.

For artistic works the struggle is still harder. In their case the test

is not practical, but critical. They demand taste, and not use, to be

appreciated; and, as a consequence, very rarely receive the recognition

to which they are entitled. Art grows slowly, and, especially in a

country so largely interested in commerce as America, is long in

reaching its maturity. Looking at it aright, there is all the more

reason why, when it makes its appearance, it should be received with

warmth and treated with deferential respect, in order that its growth

may be hastened and not retarded. America is, in this respect, an

exception to the nations of the earth. The question may be looked at

from various points of view. The patriotic course would certainly be to

encourage, and not by neglect to stifle, a budding art. If the art be

poor, it stands in all the greater need of encouragement, in order that,

for America’s sake, it may rise to an equality with that of other

countries.

In France, Germany, Prussia, Russia, Italy, China, and England, the

ceramic art received the support of governments and wealthy patrons, and

the result has been recorded. In America such support is neither given

nor required. What is chiefly needed is appreciation. In the Republic

the people are the rulers and patrons. In their hands are both power and

wealth, to be used in the rearing of art, surely with as much

discrimination and judgment as in the monarchies of Europe and the

Orient. We might say from another stand-point that the earliest works in

any branch of the arts are those of the highest value in the future.

They reveal to the historian the foundations of the eminence from which

he views the past, and that eminence America will undoubtedly attain.

The skill now being developed, and the taste now being cultivated, are

the legacy of the present generation to the next, and future attainments

will be but the interest of present struggle and endeavor.

These considerations, however, are, in a certain sense, extraneous. The

American artist and artist-manufacturer demand no exceptionally

favorable position, nor that their works shall be viewed in any other

than a fairly critical and commercial light. Prejudice in art is the end

of criticism; prejudice in commerce is suicidal.

The materials for making every kind of ware are found in different parts

of the country, and the industry is for that reason well distributed. As

early as 1766 American clays were imported into England, captains on

their return voyages often taking samples from the Carolinas, Georgia,

and Florida. Many of these reached Wedgwood, who, in allusion to one of

them, says, “It will require some peculiar management to avoid the

difficulties attending the use of it.” He elsewhere avows his

willingness to make all necessary experiments with American clays. These

trials turned out well, as we find him making arrangements for a

regular supply from Ayor, in the country of the Cherokees, about three

hundred miles from Charleston. He desired a monopoly by patent or

parliamentary grant, but ultimately sent out an agent, of whom we learn

nothing more, except that he began his journey to the Cherokee deposit.

In October, 1768, a cargo of Carolina clay reached Liverpool, and the

trade became general both in the Cherokee and Pensacola clays, Wedgwood

apparently giving the preference to the latter. What use he made of it

is not precisely stated. More interesting is the fact that America

contributed to Cookworthy’s invention of natural porcelain in England in

1760. It is said that an American showed Cookworthy, in 1745, specimens

of both kaolin and petuntse found in Virginia, and samples of the ware

made from them. Cookworthy’s own account of it is slightly different,

inasmuch as lie only mentions having seen specimens of the manufactured

china. He says: “I had lately with me the person who has discovered the

china earth. He had with him several samples of the china ware, which I

think were equal to the Asiatic. It was found on the back of Virginia,

where he was in the quest of mines; and having read Du Halde, he

discovered both the petuntse and the kaolin. It is this latter earth

which he says is essential to the success of the manufacture. He is gone

for a cargo of it, having bought from the Indians the whole country

where it rises.” Mr. Cookworthy was not favorably impressed by the

gentleman from Virginia, of whom no more is heard. Nor does it appear

that he returned to England with the cargo, which he thought he could

land there at about sixty-five dollars per ton. There is one purely

American feature of the story, and that is the purchase from the Indians

of “the whole country where it rises.”

The final practical effect of Mr. Cookworthy’s association with this

American was the foundation of the English porcelain industry. The

acknowledgment is thus made in the catalogue of the Museum of Practical

Geology: “The great advance of the porcelain manufacture in England is

due to the discovery of the kaolin of Cornwall by William Cookworthy, of

Plymouth, about 1755. He apparently had his attention directed to the

subject by an American, who showed him samples of china-stone and kaolin

from Virginia, in 1745.” One hundred and thirty-two years later, the

country from which the suggestion came is importing kaolin from that

which received and acted upon it.

New Jersey is the only State of the clay deposits of which we know much

historically or have any precise information. The facts here presented

are gleaned from a report issued by the State Geological Survey, and

will give an idea of the value of our native clays. It is stated, on the

authority of Mr. Samuel Dally, of Woodbridge, that the clay there was

known to the soldiers before and during the Revolution, and that, when

stationed at Perth Amboy, they called it _fuller’s-earth_, and used it

for cleaning their buckskin breeches. In 1800 the South Amboy clay was

dug for making stone-ware, and after 1812 the use of New Jersey clays

for fire-bricks and other refractory materials began. Soon after 1816,

Mr. Price was shipping fire-clay from Woodbridge to Boston, to be used

in making fire-bricks. About 1820, Mr. Jacob Felt, of Boston, bought

fifty tons of Woodbridge clay from Jeremiah Dally, at twenty-five cents

per ton, and so started a regular trade, which was maintained for many

years. The Woodbridge deposit is very rich, and is now extensively

worked, the clay being suitable for different purposes. It can be used

as fire and pipe clay, or for white-ware, and also meets the

requirements of paper-makers. In 1835 the same clay was in use by Howell

& Bros., Philadelphia, for satining wall-paper. Gordon, in his Gazetteer

(1833), speaks of a discovery of extensive beds of white pipe-clay

between Woodbridge and Amboy; but even in 1840 its extent and uses were

not fully known. Coming down to 1855, we find clay for fifty millions of

fire-bricks being taken from the pits at Woodbridge, Perth Amboy, and

South Amboy; 2000 tons for the paper-makers; 2000 tons for making alum,

and a large quantity for fine pottery. In 1868 the aggregate production

had doubled. In 1874 265,000 tons of fire-clay were dug, and brought, at

an estimated average price of $3 50 per ton, $927,000; 20,000 tons of

South Amboy stone-ware clay, at $4 per ton, brought $80,000. These

figures are sufficient for the formation of an opinion of the worth of a

good clay deposit.

With regard to the materials to be obtained in this country, it may be

premised that, from a vague use of words having an otherwise definite

meaning, it has been difficult to obtain satisfactory information upon

some of the most interesting points. The following extract is taken

from a report upon the pottery industry, by the secretary of the United

States Pottery Association to the Industrial Directory for 1876: “The

clay, or kaolin, mines of the United States have been wonderfully

developed the past few years. Rich and inexhaustible beds of fine kaolin

are now being worked in the following States: Delaware--three extensive

deposits; Pennsylvania--three very fine mines are worked, and the whole

of Chester County abounds with as fine a deposit as England can boast;

Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana can boast of rich deposits also now

being worked; New Jersey abounds in ball-clay, common white-ware clay,

and all kinds of fire and retort clays; while Maine, Connecticut, and

Maryland furnish felspar in abundance, and Pennsylvania and Maryland

endless quantities of quartz or silica. Every section of the country,

from the Rocky Mountains to the State of Maine, has raw material in

great variety, as yet unimproved.” In view of these statements, it may

appear singular that the Union Porcelain Works at Greenpoint are

consuming large quantities of imported kaolin. To explain this, we must

believe the word kaolin in the above extract to be applied to the native

clay as found, and before it is freed from any impurity. This belief is

supported by M. Ch. de Bussy, one of the French members of the

International Jury at the Centennial Exhibition. In his report he says:

“Les matières premières pour la poterie sont abondantes aux États-Unis.

Des dépôts de kaolin sont exploités dans un grand nombre d’États,

principalement dans ceux de New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania,

Illinois, Georgia. Plusieurs des matières désignées sous le nom de

_kaolin_ ne sont pas toutefois le produit de la décomposition du

feldspath _in situ_; ce ne sont à proprement parler, que des argiles

blanches qui ne peuvent servir à la fabrication de la porcelaine que par

leur association à du feldspath et du quartz.” He then goes on to say

that the kaolin is not prepared with sufficient care, and that for that

reason the Greenpoint factory uses for its table porcelain a great deal

of English kaolin.

Another reason is that the English clay can always be depended upon, and

that the native, for lack of proper preparation, cannot. The general

conclusions of M. Ch. de Bussy are confirmed by investigations made

here. The above mentioned report by the Geological Survey, embracing all

or the greater number of the clays of the State of New Jersey, gives

much valuable information, and farther substantiates our view. The

following table has been compiled from the data there given, for the

purpose of comparing the imported kaolin with the New Jersey clays, and

thus arriving at the truth upon this point:

+------------+---------+---------+--------+---------+------+--------+-------+

| |Cornwall,|Cornwall.|Standard| Redruth,|Perth | Staten |Washing|

| | England.| | Kaolin.|Cornwall.|Amboy.| Island.| -ton. |

+------------+---------+---------+--------+---------+------+--------+-------+

|Silica | 46.32| 46.29| 46.00| 28.40| 77.10| 92.70| 99.40|

|Alumina | 39.74| | 40.00| 24.11| 17.10| 5.70| 7.80|

|Water | 12.67| | 13.00| 7.90| 4.50| 0.70| 2.60|

|Potash | | | | 0.96| 1.30| 0.35| |

|Line | 0.36| 0.50| 0.33| | | | |

|Magnesia | | | 0.33| | | | |

|Iron | 0.27| 0.27| 0.33| 0.79| | | |

|Titanic Acid| | | | 0.20| | | |

|Sand | | | | 37.80| | | |

| | | | | | | | |

+------------+---------+---------+--------+---------+------+--------+-------+

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

+------------+---------+---------+--------+---------+------+--------+-------+

No. 4.--This clay is used with others to give toughness to vessels

to be exposed to sudden changes of temperature.

Nos. 5, 6, and 7.--In these the silica and sand are added together,

and the alumina includes the iron.

In the selected clays of New Jersey the great preponderance of silica at

once attracts attention, and is to be attributed to the admixture of

sand, which averages about seventy-five per cent. of the mass. Whenever

the silica is present in a greater amount than the standard percentage

given in the table, and particularly when it appears in the form of

sand, the clay becomes less fit for making fine ware. The body is

proportionately coarser. The Jersey clay, therefore, although locally

dignified with the name of kaolin, cannot be used by the manufacturer of

porcelain.

The deposit has been made under less favorable circumstances than that

of south-western England. There nature has to a great extent performed

the washing process, by carrying the decomposed felspar along a valley

and dropping the impurities and coarser ingredients by the way. The

artificial process is simply the counterpart of that of nature. In New

Jersey the clay and quartz-sand are in some places deposited together,

and are then miscalled _felspar_; in others they have been partially

assorted, the fine particles being deposited in one bed, the quartz-sand

in another. An analysis of three specimens of this “felspar” shows the

following ingredients, the decrease of sand and increase of alumina

being especially noteworthy:

Silicic Acid and Quartz-sand...... 75.88 74.00 77.40

Alumina........................... 18.95 17.55 16.07

Water............................. 4.90 6.30 4.30

Iron.............................. 0.49 0.54 0.53

Magnesia.......................... ..... ..... 0.25

Potash............................ 0.15 0.12 0.15

Soda.............................. 0.21 0.21 .....

Titanic Acid...................... ..... 0.90 .....

______ _____ _____

100.58 99.62 98.70

These tables will explain the language of the report, that the New

Jersey “kaolins” are “simply mica-bearing sands,” and that the felspar

“is more properly a kaolin.” “The so-called kaolin is a micaceous sand,

consisting of fine-grained white quartz-sand, mixed with a small and

varying percentage of white mica, in small flakes or scales, and a very

little white clay.” In other words, there is no New Jersey clay entitled

to the distinctive name of kaolin, and the inveterate misapplication of

the word illustrates the difficulty to be encountered by the inquirer

into this matter. M. de Bussy, for example, in the passage quoted, falls

very naturally into the error of classing New Jersey with the “large

number of States in which deposits of kaolin are found.” His mistake,

and the confusion of terms which led to it, makes it all the more

desirable that something definite should be known of the deposits in

other States.

As to the deposits of Pennsylvania and the West, there appears to be

considerable difference of opinion, but the existence of clay for making

every kind of ware, from drain-pipes to porcelain vases, is beyond all

doubt. A partial analysis of Georgia kaolin showed that in the leading

ingredients of silica and alumina it approached very nearly the standard

given in the table. The whole question appears to be one of analysis,

preparation, and experiment, so that when the manufacturers buy clay for

a special purpose, they can depend absolutely upon what they obtain.

Mr. T. C. Smith, of Greenpoint, is so confident of the richness of this

country, that he believes kaolin of the best quality exists in

abundance, and that it will in course of time be an article of export.

At the Centennial Exhibition, Mr. Laughlin, of East Liverpool, Ohio,

appeared as one of the representatives of Western enterprise. He thinks

the varieties of clay in America outnumber those of all the rest of the

world. At East Liverpool all the varieties are used. A new clay found in

Missouri, and expected to be very valuable, has recently been added to

the list. It gives the paste a peculiar softness of color, and lends

additional beauty to the manufactured ware. Mr. Laughlin said nothing of

exporting clays, but thought it highly probable that European capital

would be brought into this country to work the inexhaustible materials

which it contains for every kind of ware. What are wanted to render

these kaolinic treasures available are the enterprise, skill, and

capital to prepare and compound them. It is, at least, suggested that

this is the greater part of the difficulty, and that if the peculiar

qualities of each deposit were more precisely known, if the crude

material were skilfully cleaned, and experiments were systematically

conducted for the purpose of discovering the combinations necessary for

making a true and regular porcelain clay, there would be no necessity

for going away from home for any ingredient of the requisite porcelain

paste. This supposition is borne out by the fact that a few years ago a

number of American potters attempted to make porcelain with kaolin

brought from the South, and in every instance failed. Others have since

met with success more or less complete. Böttcher did not succeed on his

first attempt, and, in fact, it was not until several years after his

death that the best Dresden ware was made. In a similar manner,

experiment alone can enable American potters to avail themselves of the

undoubted wealth of their own country. Meantime, it is noteworthy that

the deposits of all kinds now being worked are of sufficient value to

maintain a number of mills for levigating, drying, and grinding. Several

are on the Susquehanna, in Maryland; at East Liverpool, Ohio; at Fort

Ann, New York; on the Connecticut River; and at Trenton, New Jersey.

POTTERY.

Dependence upon England.--Wedgwood’s Fears of American

Competition.--Norwich.--Hartford.--Stonington.--Norwalk.--Herbertsville.

--Sayreville.--South Amboy.--Philadelphia.--Baltimore.--Jersey City.

--Bennington.--New York City Pottery.--Trenton.--Present Extent of

Industry.--Trenton Ivory Porcelain.--Terra-cotta.--Beverly.--Chelsea.

--Portland.--Cambridge.

The few known incidents in the development of the art may be stated as

nearly as possible in chronological order; and, to keep the thread of

the narrative unbroken, reference may at the same time be made to the

early and unsuccessful attempts at establishing the manufacture of

porcelain in conjunction with that of pottery. During the eighteenth

century the records open to our inspection, especially the journals of

the day, make occasional references to imported wares, chiefly of

English manufacture. Mr. Marryat, in treating of English pottery, refers

to the popular indifference in England to the advantages of crockery

over pewter dishes and wooden trenchers. He then says, “The introduction

of stone-ware in the sixteenth century, and of Oriental porcelain in its

imitation delft-ware shortly afterward, and, lastly, the Staffordshire

earthen-ware, gradually expelled pewter dishes and plates, though it is

but recently they have been entirely dismissed.” Popular usage in

America followed a parallel course, and there are many places at which

the substitution of crockery for wood and metal was made within the

memory of persons now living. Mr. J. F. Watson, in his “Annals of

Philadelphia,” describing the furniture of a room of presumably about a

century ago, gives some interesting particulars in regard to this

subject. “One corner,” he says, “was occupied by a beaufet, which was a

corner closet with a glass door, in which all the china of the family

and the plate were intended to be displayed for ornament as well as use.

A conspicuous article in the collection was always a great china

punch-bowl, which furnished a frequent and grateful beverage; for wine

drinking was then much less in vogue. China teacups and saucers were

about half their present size; and china teapots and coffee-pots with

silver nozzles were a mark of superior finery. The sham of plated ware

was not then known, and all who showed a silver service had the massive

metal too. This occurred in the wealthy families, in little coffee and

tea pots; and a silver tankard for good sugared toddy was above vulgar

entertainment. Where we now use earthen-ware, they then used delft-ware,

imported from England; and instead of queen’s-ware (then unknown) pewter

plates and porringers, made to shine along a dresser, were universal.

Some, and especially the country people, ate their meals from wooden

trenchers.” This passage may be taken as affording a faithful view of

American usage in regard to the different points upon which it touches,

not in Pennsylvania alone, of which Mr. Watson is more particularly

treating, but throughout the country. China was still an article of

luxury, in which only the rich could indulge. We are, therefore,

prepared to find that it was not until the close of the last century,

and after the Revolutionary troubles, that crockery assumed any

importance as an article of commerce between England and the United

States. For a long time prior to that period it is reasonable to suppose

that America had been able to satisfy the home demand for all the

coarser wares, and also for bricks; but at the close of the eighteenth

century the manufacture had made little or no progress. It had not

advanced beyond the production of bricks, tiles, and certain kinds of

coarse stone-ware and pottery. It is, to say the least, amusing to find

Wedgwood, in 1765, expressing fears for England’s earthen-ware trade

with America, on account of the establishment of some “new Pottworks in

South Carolina.” “They have,” he said, “every material there, equal if

not superior to our own, for carrying on that manufacture;” and on these

and other grounds he asked if something could not be done to protect the

home manufacture!

Miss Meteyard, Wedgwood’s biographer, relates that in 1766 a Mr.

Bartlem, a Staffordshire potter, emigrated to South Carolina, and having

induced several workmen to join him, began his trade in that State. He

failed there, as he had done in England, and a similar fate befell an

enterprise which had for its object the establishment of china works in

Pennsylvania.

Previous to 1796 both earthen and stone ware were made by Mr. Charles

Lathrop at Norwich, Connecticut; and in 1789 Mr. Samuel Dennis made an

unsuccessful application for State aid in founding a stone pottery in

Connecticut, at which he promised to make ware resembling the

Staffordshire queen’s-ware. The industry was also pursued at Hartford by

Isaac Hanford, at Stonington by Adam States, and at Norwalk. Shortly

afterward, or in the first decade of the present century, ware of an

apparently higher class began to be made in the Eastern States, and

although large quantities continued to be imported from England, the

native wares rapidly improved in quality and increased in quantity.

About the year 1800, Van Wickle’s stone-ware factory was in operation at

Old Bridge, now Herbertsville, New Jersey. The clay used was obtained

from Morgan’s Bank at South Amboy. Two years later a similar factory,

using the same material, was started by the Prices at Roundabout, now

Sayreville, on the Raritan. In 1833 J. R. Watson, of Perth Amboy,

established a factory of fire-brick, and was working it regularly three

years later.

The workshop now carried on by Mr. Richard C. Ramey at Philadelphia is

one of the oldest stone-ware factories in America. It turns out a good

quality of fire-brick and ware for chemical purposes. A few other

Philadelphia firms may here be noticed. Harvey & Adamson make a strong

and durable quality of stone-ware, with a hard vitreous glaze (_grès

cérames_), and artistic terra-cotta. Jeffords & Co., of the same city,

manufacture an excellent grade of fine stone-ware for household

purposes, and table wares. The pieces have usually mouldings in relief,

and are colored brown or yellow on the outside and white inside. The

latter is apparently produced by making use of an _engobe_ of very white

clay. Galloway & Graiff make earthen-ware of various kinds, including

terra-cotta in Greek shapes. Moorhead & Wilson have very extensive clay

works at Spring Mills, and manufacture terra-cotta for building

purposes. They also make terra-cotta vases, after the antique, for

decorators.

At Baltimore good qualities of common earthen-ware and salt-glazed

stone-ware are made by Perrine & Co.

[Illustration: Fig. 430--Jersey City Earthen-ware Pitcher.]

About 1825 a factory of natural porcelain was founded by a number of

Frenchmen in Jersey City. We have a specimen of this porcelain, made in

1826--a small bowl, with excellent body and glaze, and decorated with a

gold band round the outside of the rim. The venture did not prove a

success, and the production ceased within a year or two. In 1829 the

works were assumed by David Henderson & Co., and carried on under the

firm of the American Pottery Company. It was here that the throwing and

turning of earthen-ware upon the English principle was first performed

in America, by William and James Taylor. This was also the first

successful attempt to compete with England, and was made in connection

with the manufacture of a yellow ware. Three years later, or in 1832,

the same potters were making a cream-colored ware chiefly from imported

materials. To the decoration of a white ware the English process of

printing was successfully brought, and a brown earthen-ware, made about

the same date, was variously ornamented with reliefs and colored

enamels. Three specimens of the latter are in the Metropolitan Museum.

One consists of a water-pitcher modelled by Daniel Greatbatch (Fig.

430), with the handle in shape of a hound, and a hunting scene in

relief, and belongs to the earlier period of the factory. About 1845 a

change appears to have taken place in the proprietorship, as we then

find the company consisting of Messrs. William Rhodes (whom we shall

meet again in Trenton), Strong, and M’Gerron. The firm made white

granite and cream-colored ware until 1854. At that time the pressure of

foreign competition was so great that they could not gain a foothold in

the regular trade. Their wares were chiefly sold by peddlers and

itinerant dealers, who were in the habit of going to the factory with

wagons, when they knew that a kiln was to be drawn, and carting off the

goods before they were trimmed. Rhodes resigned in 1854, and went to

Vermont; and the remaining partners sold out, in 1855, to Rouse, Turner,

Duncan & Henry, of whom Messrs. Rouse & Turner are now carrying on the

establishment. The popularity occasionally reached by a single form was,

perhaps, never better exemplified than by the brown pitcher above

mentioned. It is made down to the present time, and has become so

identified with the factory, that, when wishing to send a memento to

his friend Mr. John Haslem, of the Derby Works in England, Mr. Rouse

thought he could not do better than send him one of these pitchers, of a

size larger than ordinary. The present firm have not used any imported

clay for the past fifteen years. They now obtain spar from Connecticut,

flint from Lantern Hill, Connecticut, China clay from South Carolina,

and other clays from New Jersey. The staple of the factory is

granite-ware, for which a peculiar ivory-colored glaze has recently been

adopted. Parian is also made. The Jersey City biscuit is extensively

consumed by decorators, and some new and very handsome shapes have been

designed for this special branch of trade (see Fig. 457).

[Illustration: Fig. 431.--Porcelain Statuette, New York City Pottery.]

Messrs. Lyman, Fenton & Co. embarked, in 1847, in an enterprise at

Bennington, Vermont, which promised to be a commercial success. They

made both pottery and artificial porcelain. The enamel upon certain

specimens of the former in the Metropolitan Museum, and belonging to the

Trumbull-Prime collection, is of a notably good quality. The works

stopped, after running for about twelve years.

The oldest establishment in New York is the Hudson River Pottery, in

West Twelfth Street. It was founded in 1838, and is now carried on under

the firm of William A. Macquoid & Co. The only products, until within a

year ago, were stone-ware and glazed earthen-ware. At that time the

demand by decorators for terra-cotta in the choicest antique forms led

the firm to add it to their list of productions. The experiment was

successful. The paste is fine and well worked.

The “Manhattan Pottery” of Stewart & Co., in West Eighteenth Street, New

York, is engaged chiefly in the production of drain-pipes and

terra-cotta. The former are glazed with “Albany slip,” obtained from the

bed of the Hudson at Albany, which renders them perfectly impervious to

the action of acids.

[Illustration: Fig. 432.--Iron-stone China Plaque.]

[Illustration: Fig. 433.--New York City Pottery.

Lambeth style.]

Mr. James Carr, of the New York City Pottery, after working for some

time with the American Pottery Company, in Jersey City, went, in 1852,

to South Amboy, and founded an establishment for making yellow,

Rockingham, and cream-colored ware. Twenty-two years ago he removed to

his present premises in West Thirteenth Street, New York. Mr. Carr makes

use of six or seven different bodies, all composed of American

materials. Some time ago he made a few pieces, including a tea-service

and two statuettes (Fig. 431) of artificial porcelain, using bone and

kaolin from Chester County, Pennsylvania. The table-pieces are decorated

with festoons of flowers, in pink and green, and a rim of blue and gold.

The statuettes are well modelled and very tastefully colored. The staple

product of the factory is stone china, which is largely sought in

biscuit by decorators. The quality is probably as fine as it is possible

to make stone china, and styles of decoration are followed which are

rarely found on a similar body. Dinner-services are decorated with all

the care usually reserved for porcelain, and many ornamental pieces,

including a series of circular plaques, show admirable taste and

workmanship (Fig. 432). A third quality of ware is called “Semi-china,”

and is nearly as translucent as porcelain. It is made from American

kaolin clay, with a large admixture of felspar. It is decorated in

styles similar to those found upon the iron-stone china. Mr. Carr also

makes statuettes and busts in terra-cotta, of a warm, rich tint, and in

a fine, partially translucent parian. Besides these, the works produce

cream-colored ware and majolica. The latter is made into a great variety

of forms--jars, pedestals, seats, boxes, and cups, the leading colors of

which are a clear deep blue, yellow, and green.

Some of the colors found upon iron-stone china pieces are remarkably

good, notably a fine mazarine blue and a brilliant black. Artistic work

of all kinds is receiving attention. Mr. Carr has made many experiments,

and continues making them with unremitting ardor (Fig. 433). Beginning

to work at a time when the mechanical difficulties in the way of success

seemed insuperable, he gradually extended his efforts as these

difficulties disappeared, and is now reaching toward the higher forms of

the art. The story of his life is the history of modern American

pottery.

The history of Trenton is interesting from the enormous development of

the manufacture in that city within a very short space of time. The

business was begun in 1852, by the firm of Taylor & Speeler. Taylor is

said to have made the first porous cup at Jersey City, for Professor

Morse’s experiments. This honor is also claimed for the Robertsons of

Chelsea, Massachusetts. But leaving that question in the mean time, it

would appear that the Taylor here spoken of is the same whom we have

seen at work as a thrower with the American Pottery Company. The Trenton

firm made yellow and Rockingham ware, with which they were successful

from the first. They also attempted porcelain and parian; but these

wares, though of fine quality, were not received with such favor as to

make their production a commercial success. This resulted, in all

probability, from the difficulties attending the manufacture. Since

their day the business has almost entirely turned toward another class

of white goods, the granite-ware in common use, and for a long time no

attempts to manufacture porcelain were made except in the way of

experiment. This was done by nearly every firm in the business.

Taylor & Speeler were making white granite in 1856, but only to a

limited extent, and in connection with yellow-ware and Rockingham. A

medal was awarded them for the manufacture of superior pottery. This

honor was conferred in 1856, by the Franklin Institute of the State of

Pennsylvania. The medal is now in Mr. Taylor’s possession. As a memento

of the skill shown in the early days of American pottery it will bear

description. It is made of silver, and has on one side the inscription,

“Reward of skill and industry to Taylor, Speeler & Bloor, Trenton, New

Jersey, for china, granite, and earthen ware, 1856.” On the obverse is a

likeness of Benjamin Franklin, and the words “Franklin Institute of the

State of Pennsylvania, 1824.” To Mr. Taylor, the senior partner of the

firm, the credit is due of first firing a kiln with anthracite coal.

The factory is now called the Trenton Pottery Works. Mr. Bloor joined

the original firm of Taylor & Speeler in 1854, and retired in 1859. Soon

afterward Mr. Speeler sold out to John F. Houdayer, and in 1870 the firm

consisted of Mr. Taylor and John Goodwin. A year later Mr. Goodwin was

bought out by his son, James H. Goodwin, and Isaac Davis, the latter of

whom soon afterward acquired Goodwin’s share, and in 1875 became sole

proprietor by purchasing Mr. Taylor’s interest. Mr. Davis, like several

others of the older Trenton potters, is an Englishman, and the fact is

noteworthy, in view of the opposition to goods of American manufacture.

It shows how blind was the prejudice which, there being no question of

the excellence of American materials, will not concede to an Englishman

in America the skill and ability of the same Englishman in England. Mr.

Davis went to Trenton from Staffordshire in 1862, worked first with

William Young & Sons, formed a copartnership with George Lawton, upon a

capital of $300, joined the Glasgow Pottery Company, and then, as we

have seen, bought an interest in the firm of Taylor & Goodwin.

The first to make cream-colored ware for the market were William Young &

Sons, Astbury & Millington, who comprised the firm which, in 1853, laid

the foundation of an industry which has since attained to enormous

dimensions. They had large orders for strawberry bowls from a trucker

near Rocky Hill, and these they fired in Taylor & Speeler’s yellow-ware

kiln. The business, although greatly increased, has not changed its

character, and is at the present time carried on by William Young’s

sons.

Of the original partners Astbury formed a copartnership with Mr.

Maddock, and the present firm is Astbury & Maddock, of which the latter

is the only surviving partner. Its chief product is sanitary and

druggists’ ware, and experiments are also made with American

kaolins--those of Missouri, Pennsylvania, and other States--with a view

to the manufacture of a true American porcelain. Decorating and printing

are now receiving a considerable amount of attention. Mr. Millington,

also of the old firm, resigned, and founded the pottery now bearing his

name.

The first pottery fitted up for the exclusive manufacture of white

granite and cream-colored ware was that of Rhodes & Yates, in 1859, at

the present City pottery, on Perry Street. This Mr. Rhodes is the same

one who was partner in the Jersey City pottery. On going to Vermont, in

1854, he established the manufacture of white-ware, and remained there

until the fall of 1859, when he joined Mr. Yates in a new enterprise in

Trenton. The previous history of the City pottery is a story of

continuous changes. At one time it was occupied by William Young & Sons,

who were making porcelain hardware trimmings. In 1853 it was purchased

by Mr. Charles Hattersley, and in 1856 passed into the possession of Mr.

Yates, who leased it to James and Thomas Lynch. For two years they

occupied it as a drain-pipe factory, and in 1859 it was assumed by Mr.

Yates, in partnership with Mr. Rhodes. In putting granite and

cream-colored ware upon the market, the firm had many obstacles to

overcome. Chief among them was the all-prevailing prejudice of dealers

and consumers in favor of imported goods. Success, however, came in

course of time. An entrance was forced into the market, and other firms

which rapidly sprung into existence seconded their efforts in securing

for Trenton a remunerative recognition in the white-ware trade. Meantime

several changes took place in the firm of Rhodes & Yates. Mr. Higginson

became leading partner, and in 1865 the firm was Yates & Titus, which

was changed, in 1870, to Yates, Bennett & Allen, and in the fall of 1875

to the City Pottery Company, of which Mr. Yates and Mr. John Rhodes--a

son of William Rhodes--are two of the partners. The period of seven

years between Taylor & Speeler’s venture and that of Rhodes & Yates may

be called the infancy of the Trenton manufacture. Since that time the

production has increased year by year, and Trenton well deserves the

title conferred upon it of “The Staffordshire of America.” Its annual

productive capacity is about two and a half millions, and during 1876

the actual production was about $1,750,000. There are, in all, nineteen

potteries in the city, and several decorating establishments. To

illustrate what is now being done, and to indicate the new channels

which the industry is seeking, a few of the leading factories may be

referred to.

The Etruria Pottery Company is now working the factory built, in 1863,

by Messrs. William Bloor, Joseph Ott, and Thomas Booth. Mr. Booth

retired in 1864, and was succeeded by G. S. Burroughs, who, in 1865,

withdrew and made way for J. Hart Brewer. In 1871 Mr. Bloor retired, and

the firm of Ott & Brewer remained in possession until January, 1878,

when the Etruria Pottery Company was organized. Until 1876 the staple

products of the factory were white granite and cream-colored ware. Its

ivory porcelain and parian will be noticed hereafter.

The Glasgow Pottery of John Moses & Company sends out an immense

quantity of white granite and cream-colored ware, and experiments are

also conducted, chiefly with Pennsylvania kaolin, with a view to making

porcelain. That now regularly made is called semi-porcelain, and many

trial pieces have a pure translucent body and excellent glaze.

The firm of Coxon & Co. was founded, in 1863, by Mr. Charles Coxon, and

is now composed of his widow, J. G. Forman, and S. M. Alpaugh. Mr. Coxon

began with cream-colored ware, and conjoined it with white granite

toward the end of 1863. Since that time the firm has produced both

qualities.

One of the later establishments is the Mercer Pottery, built in 1868, of

which Mr. James Moses is sole proprietor. Besides the common grades of

earthen-ware, stone china and semi-porcelain are made and decorated.

There is a decided tendency here toward the production of a finer

quality of ware, and of styles of decoration possessed of artistic

merit.

At the Arsenal Pottery Mr. Joseph Mayer manufactures Rockingham and

brown stone-ware, and is in the possession of a number of excellent

designs. Of the remaining Trenton potteries--the East Trenton Pottery

Company, the American Crockery Company, Joseph H. Moore’s, the Greenwood

Pottery Company, and the Millham--it is unnecessary to give details.

Within the past two or three years all have been turning their

attention to work of a more or less artistic character, some directing

their efforts more particularly to decorating, and others to the

perfecting of a body which shall enable them to compete with the

manufacturers of porcelain. In the latter respect the Greenwood company

has met with gratifying success, and has given their ware the name of

“American China.”

It will thus be seen that the history of modern American art and

manufacture does not extend much beyond a century. Progress has been

rapid, and the trade has developed with gigantic strides.

It is estimated that there are in all seven hundred and seventy-seven

pottery establishments in the United States, including those for all

kinds of ware, from terra-cotta to porcelain. All, or nearly all, these

have sprung up within twenty-five years, and many of them since the

Civil War. The productive capacity of some of the leading centres may be

judged from the number of kilns they require. At Trenton there are

fifty-seven kilns; at East Liverpool, forty-six; at Cincinnati, twelve;

at Flushing and Greenpoint, Long Island, eleven; at Pittsburg six; or

there are at sixteen seats of the industry, and excluding terra-cotta

manufactories, one hundred and seventy kilns. The capital invested by

the forty firms, members of the Potters’ Association, is upward of four

millions, an amount vastly increased by the remaining seven hundred and

thirty odd establishments throughout the country. White granite-ware, an

abomination in point of art, but eminently useful, is made at other

places in this country besides Trenton in great abundance. The only

manufactory of white granite and cream-colored ware in the Eastern

States is that of the New England Pottery Company at East Boston. It was

established in 1854.

A display was made at the Centennial Exhibition of what was called

“Ivory Porcelain,” from the Etruria Pottery of Ott & Brewer, Trenton. It

has a hard, semi-translucent body, and clear, smooth boracic glaze. It

bears a close resemblance to Mr. Carr’s semi-china, and is substantially

the same ware that is now receiving attention from many of the other

Trenton potters. It may be said to mark the first stage on the way to a

true American porcelain. By exhibiting it at the Centennial Exhibition,

Ott & Brewer were really the first to draw the public attention to this

new departure in American manufacture. Its distinctive name is taken

from its soft, ivory-like tint. The advantages claimed for it are, that

while it answers all the purposes of china, its manufacture is less

expensive, and permits its being put upon the market at a much lower

price; that it equals the average china in point of both utility and

appearance; and that its consistency is such that it can be made into

more graceful or less clumsy shapes than granite. Experience alone can

dispose of these claims. It is fired, like granite-ware, hard in the

biscuit and soft in the gloss-kiln, from which it would appear that the

glaze and paste are not homogeneous, as in natural porcelain.

Practically, however, this new ware represents a great and substantial

improvement in the manufacture of a general domestic article. All the

component ingredients of both paste and glaze are found in America.

[Illustration: Fig. 434.--Parian Vase. Etruria Pottery Company.]

At Ott & Brewer’s, also, are to be discovered the first glimmerings of

what may be called an art, in the studio of Mr. Isaac Broome, an

American artist of considerable repute and skill. Mr. Broome devoted

himself to both painting and sculpture before turning his attention to

ceramic art. Some years ago he established a terra-cotta workshop in

Pittsburg; but the locality was unfavorable, and the enterprise was

abandoned. A similar venture in New York city also failed.

Several months prior to the Centennial Exhibition he was employed by

Messrs. Ott & Brewer to design and model certain works in parian. These

were exhibited at Philadelphia, and were very favorably received. The

improved kiln previously described (see page 79) was built after his

plans, and under his personal direction for firing the works turned out

of his studio. Of these one of the best was suggested by Mr. J. Hart

Brewer, and consists of (Fig. 434) a pair of vases in parian designed to

illustrate the national game of base-ball. Great variety of detail is

attained without detriment to a certain severity of outline. From a

narrow base the body contracts quickly to its smallest girth, and thence

expands gradually to the top. Round the foot of each vase, and standing

on the supporting pedestal, are arranged three figures of base-ball

players, modelled after a thoroughly American ideal of physical beauty,

embodying muscular activity rather than ponderous strength. The

attitudes are very well chosen, and invest the figures with an

appearance of life and vigorous action. A series of clubs belted round

with a strap ornaments the stem of the vases, and some exquisitely

wrought leaves and berries are woven round the top. The orifice is

covered by a cupola or dome, composed of a segment of a base-ball, upon

which stands an eagle. These vases are the work of a genuine artist, who

has surrounded a general design of great merit with many finely executed

and suggestive details.

[Illustration: Fig. 435.--Pastoral Vase. Etruria Pottery Co.]

[Illustration: Fig. 436.--Faun’s Head Bracket. Etruria Pottery Company.]

The same artist’s “rustic,” or “Pastoral,” vases (Fig. 435) illustrate a

different order of ideas. Here the surface is covered with mouldings in

relief, composing a design partly suggested by mythology, partly

original. It carries us back to the golden age of the poets. A female

figure, which might be that of Flora or Proserpina, dances to a satyr

who plays a musical instrument. The details are all in perfect

harmony--the dancing goats, the grape-vines, the leaves, rustic

wood-work, and goat’s-head handles. A tasteful finish is given to the

decoration by a fluting running round the upper part of the neck to the

lip. To produce a good effect, work of this kind, all in relief and

uncolored, demands the nicest finish, and a design which shall lean

neither toward scantiness on the one hand, nor overloaded ornamentation

on the other. In both respects Mr. Broome has been fortunate. The

decoration relieves without destroying the fine outline of the vase.

[Illustration: Fig. 437.--Parian Vase. Etruria Pottery Company.]

Mr. Broome’s “Fashion” vases (Fig. 437) are embellished with some very

fine illustrations of the fashions of a century ago and also of the

present time. Of these the shapes are exceedingly quaint and uncommon,

and the figures in low relief are very highly finished.

Besides these, Mr. Broome has modelled a great number of the heads and

busts which have always been the staple of workers in parian. Some are

original, others are reproductions from the antique. To the former class

belongs an ideal Cleopatra (Fig. 438). The artist has chosen a full and

sensuous type of beauty, vastly different from that adopted by recent

painters who have ventured to portray upon canvas the charms which

melted the stern Cæsar and enslaved Antony. Somehow one associates the

style of beauty represented in Mr. Broome’s bust rather generally with

the land of Egypt than specially with the conquests of Cleopatra. This

may result from a familiarity with less truthful conceptions, and in

that view implies a decided merit. The artist has in details followed

history as closely as it seems possible for him to have done, and has

wisely preferred study and research to giving his imagination a free

rein. Imagination, or an American model, might have led him to present a

higher type of beauty, but neither would have led him to produce a

distinctively Egyptian Cleopatra. Accepting his ideal, it is worked out

with unmistakable talent, and with the most painstaking attention to

workmanship.

It is unnecessary to particularize farther. The Etruria Pottery Company

have made a good beginning, and in directing the efforts of their

artists it is to be hoped that they may not allow the commercial success

of copies of the antique to divert attention from such works as those

described. The paste employed is fine, compact, and hard, and assumes in

some pieces the clear and polished appearance of marble. Its precise

composition is not known. The paste is, as in the usual case, poured in

a fluid state into plaster moulds, which absorb the superfluous water.

Oxides are used to vary the color of the casts, and a number of tints of

great delicacy and beauty have been secured.

[Illustration: Fig. 438.--Cleopatra, in Parian.]

American terra-cotta must be briefly dismissed. At the Centennial

Exhibition an extensive assortment was shown from works situated in many

parts of the country. One or two makers displayed an utterly misguided

taste in attempting something original. Others appeared to confine

themselves to the well-known Apollo Belvederes, Niobes, and other

antique subjects. Garden vases and ornaments were meritorious as a

class; but whatever artistic work may be produced in some quarters, in

others art is only budding, and will take some time before it blooms

into flower. Some excellent work in terra-cotta is executed in

Philadelphia and New York, and has been referred to above. Of the

hundreds of other factories throughout the country few have done

anything distinctive. One or two might possibly be mentioned, such as

the Halm Art Pottery Company, of Sandy Hill, New York, which are

gradually drawing away from the commonplace, and may be expected, sooner

or later, to possess an artistic individuality. Among Eastern workshops

may be mentioned those of Beverly, Portland, North Cambridge, and

Chelsea, Massachusetts. A great deal of the red terra-cotta of Beverly

is consumed by decorative artists and students. The Portland terra-cotta

is well known both for excellence of body and beauty of shape. The paste

is unusually fine and close in texture, and is excellent under the

brush. The North Cambridge establishment also turns out ware of a high

quality. The designing department is evidently under skilful and

competent supervision, and the forms have an antique grace which never

loses its charm. As in the case of Beverly, the products of both these

workshops are well adapted to the purposes of the decorator.

Chelsea demands a larger share of our attention for styles of work in

terra-cotta unique among American products. The establishment is at

present carried on by Robertson & Sons, under the name of the “Chelsea

Keramic Art Works.” The firm consists of J. Robertson and his two sons,

A. W. Robertson and Hugh C. Robertson. The workshop was founded on 1st

June, 1868, by A. W. Robertson, for the production of English

brown-ware. He was joined by his brother, and the chief wares made at

that time were fancy flower-pots. J. Robertson was admitted to the firm

by his sons on 1st June, 1872, and affords a good instance of the wide

experience it is possible to compress into one lifetime. Mr. Robertson

was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, and first worked in the Fife pottery,

at Dysart, where his father was head workman. He there acquired a

knowledge of modelling and mould-making, and at the age of sixteen was

engaged by the Watsons of Prestonpans, Mid-Lothian, then the leading

fine-ware factory in Scotland. He next tried the North of England, and

worked as modeller and mould-maker at several factories, gaining

experience and proficiency, and ultimately took the management of a

small red-ware pottery, where he introduced both white and printed ware,

“smeared black” and “lustred” ware. On leaving, he tried manufacturing

on his own account for a time, and then accepted the position of

superintendent of a black-ware factory at North Shields. He arrived in

America in 1853, and worked first in a factory at South River; then with

Mr. J. Carr, at South Amboy, and afterward at Thirteenth Street, New

York; next with Speeler, Taylor & Bloor, at Trenton; and lastly as

manager of the East Boston pottery. His next step was to join his sons

at Chelsea, each of whom has had a more or less varied career, and is

expert in at least one branch of the business. Since the establishment

was opened, a great many experimental pieces have been made of different

materials, sizes, and shapes. What are known as porous cones were made

some time ago for chemical purposes, and are of so open a body that the

breath can be drawn through them with ease. We have already seen that

Jersey City claims this discovery. The credit is probably due to both,

as they appear to have arrived at the same result by independent

courses. Work of a more purely artistic character was tried about eight

years ago, but, commercially speaking, without success. A second attempt

was made in 1873, and the production has been continued down to the

present time. The artists and collectors of Boston soon discovered

certain qualities in the Chelsea potters and their works deserving

recognition. They may possibly have reached the conviction that Chelsea

is to be numbered among the places where artists value their work solely

according to its truth, excellence, and beauty. Without affecting to

disregard commercial considerations, they succeed in giving their art

the precedence. It is not, therefore, a matter of surprise either that

they should have convinced a section of the public that Chelsea can do

noble service in the cause of American art, or that many excellent works

should bear its mark. Allusion may first, however, be made to certain

matters with which the Robertsons allow their attention to be diverted

from more serious pursuits. They have been inspired by Doulton’s

treatment of stone-ware to make certain small pieces of fine

earthen-ware of a gray color faintly tinged with blue, and very

brilliantly glazed. The decoration consists of incised designs. The

pieces do not bear a very close resemblance to Doulton ware, but are in

themselves decidedly attractive. The Robertsons, having mastered the

fundamental secret of the Haviland process, viz., of applying the colors

upon the unbaked clay, have, in the second place, brought out a few

pieces after the style of the Limoges faience. Their success here is

limited by a palette which must be considerably enriched before the

effects of the French ware are reached.

[Illustration: Fig. 439.--Chelsea (Robertson) Terra-cotta.]

[Illustration: Fig. 440.--Chelsea (Robertson) Terra-cotta.]

The best Chelsea works are in red and white unglazed earthen-ware. Of

these we give two illustrations (Figs. 439 and 440). Some of the forms

are original, and others are after the Greek, Italian, and other types.

The decoration consists of designs graved in the paste, of mouldings in

relief, and of carvings in relief. The application of moulded ornaments

to the surface has been practised in all ages, and the Chelsea work does

not demand special comment, although many of the designs are attractive

and simple. The carving in relief belongs to a different order of work.

Instead of being moulded, the ornamentation of leaves or flowers is

carved out of clay laid upon the surface of the vase while still moist

from the hands of the thrower. The effect is similar to that obtained by

mouldings, but the work is finer, the details more highly finished, and

the outlines sharper and clearer. Of the designs in these and the pieces

decorated with mouldings, the best are those in which leaves either lie

across the vase or form a calyx from which it rises upward. The absence

of color allows the attention to rest solely upon the fidelity with

which every detail is rendered. If this be the quality of work with

which the Robertsons tested American taste eight years ago, it is not

easy to understand why they did not succeed.

PORCELAIN.

Philadelphia.--William Ellis Tucker.--Bennington.--Jersey

City.--Greenpoint.--Decorating Establishments.--Metal and

Porcelain.

The history of American porcelain is necessarily brief. The impetus

toward the higher branches of the art, emanating from Europe, in due

time reached these shores. It affected the rapidly developing enterprise

of the citizen of the young Republic, and touched his faith in the vast

and varied resources of his country. Previous to the achievement of

independence, however, and during the early colonial intercourse with

England, an incident occasionally transpired not without interest in our

narrative. When Mr. Richard Chaffers died in Liverpool, and his

porcelain establishment was closed, many of his workmen came to this

country. In 1771 it was reported in England that a large china

manufactory was established in Philadelphia, where “better china cups

and saucers are made than at Bow or Stratford.” It may astonish many who

are not acquainted with anything in American ceramics beyond the

competitive spirit which rules the business, to find that more than a

century ago it had left England behind in the race!

[Illustration: Fig. 441.--Philadelphia Natural Porcelain.

(Trumbull-Prime Coll., New York Metropolitan Museum.)]

There appears to be no longer any doubt of the existence of a porcelain

factory in Philadelphia about the year 1770, and that, therefore, the

report alluded to above was “founded on fact.” Advertisements have been

discovered which go far toward settling the question. They promise work

equal to that of Bow, and are therefore in all probability the basis of

the rumor above mentioned, which was current in England a year later.

How long the works were carried on is not known.

[Illustration: Fig. 442.--Philadelphia Natural Porcelain.

(Trumbull-Prime Coll., New York Metropolitan Museum.)]

The next porcelain venture was made in the same city, between 1816 and

1830, by William Ellis Tucker. Tucker began as a decorator, and, after a

series of experiments, made first a non-translucent ware of good

quality, and then natural porcelain (Figs. 441 and 442).

[Illustration: Fig. 443.--Bennington Artificial Porcelain.

(Trumbull-Prime Coll., New York Metropolitan Museum.)]

His works were originally situated behind his father’s china store in

Market Street, and afterward at the corner of Market, Schuylkill, and

Front streets. One serious impediment to success was a treacherous

workman, who did all he could to frustrate his employer’s design. His

first experiment was to cut the handles off the pieces when placing them

in the kiln. His next was to wash the seggars with felspar, which melted

in the kiln and fastened the wares to the bottom of the seggars. When

Tucker first made porcelain for the market is not recorded, but in 1827

he was honored with a silver medal by the Franklin Institute of the

State of Pennsylvania. Some time prior to Tucker’s death, in 1832, Judge

Hemphill had been admitted as partner, and subsequently carried on the

factory, in connection with Thomas Tucker, a brother of the founder, for

a few years. He then sold out. Thomas took the works in hand alone in

1837, and kept them running for about a year, when the production

ceased. The products of the factory were chiefly table wares. The paste

and glaze were both excellent, but the form and decoration would not

permit of competition with imported china. The workshop went down for

want of public support, and also on account of the alleged impossibility

of securing the services of skilled artists. We have already seen that

Lyman & Fenton conjoined the making of artificial porcelain (Fig. 443)

with that of pottery at Bennington, Vermont. This factory is chiefly

remarkable as the first from which figures in biscuit were turned out.

We have also noticed the Jersey City enterprise of Henderson & Co.

Several attempts to produce porcelain were made at Greenpoint, Long

Island. In 1848, Mr. Charles Cartalege met with some success in the

manufacture of knobs and buttons, but in no table ware. Altogether it is

probable that about a dozen different establishments were founded for

the purpose of inaugurating the manufacture of a native porcelain. They

generally succeeded in making a few pieces, and then stopped for lack of

patronage. The honor of first establishing the industry upon a

successful basis, and of turning out a commercial ware, is to be

ascribed to Mr. Thomas C. Smith, of the Union Porcelain Works,

Greenpoint.

Mr. Smith is an American, whose ancestors arrived in the Eastern States

about one hundred and fifty years ago. He was brought up as a mechanic,

and first went into the porcelain manufacture in 1857, under a company

composed of a number of Germans who had started the business about three

years previously. At this time several small kilns existed in

Greenpoint, like that of Cartalege, for the purpose of making door-knobs

and other hardware trimmings. The paste then used was compounded upon

the principle of the English artificial paste, and contained a large

proportion of burned bones or phosphate of lime. This was the

composition used by the Germans with whom Mr. Smith connected himself.

These Germans, through dishonesty and want of knowledge of the business,

soon brought the concern into trouble, from which Mr. Smith tried to

extricate it by acting as manager for a time, but the derangement and

prostration of trade, caused by the outbreak of the Civil War, compelled

the company to wind up its affairs. Mr. Smith, being the largest

creditor, became the purchaser, his intention being to bring the

porcelain enterprise to an end, and make the property available for some

other purpose. Meantime he went abroad. At the time when the second

battle of Bull Run was fought he was in France, and it was there the

idea grew upon him that there was a good opportunity for establishing

the porcelain business in his native country. So complete was the change

in the formation of his plans, that he immediately turned his attention

to making such inquiries as might subserve his purpose, among the great

workshops of France and England. When he returned home, his intention of

abandoning the manufacture of porcelain disappeared, and he decided to

embark anew. The experiments which followed were attended with much

anxiety. Up to November, 1863, the old bone body had been retained; but

in 1864 Mr. Smith stopped using it, and directed his attention solely to

the production of a natural kaolinic porcelain like that of China or

Meissen. His experiments extended over about two years. The first pieces

were uneven and the vitrification was incomplete. This arose from an

ignorance of the correct composition required for success. Farther

trials were more encouraging, and in 1865 he succeeded in making a plain

white-ware, which he could place upon the market. Mr. Smith prides

himself upon one fact, that, unlike any one of the European

establishments, from that of Florence downward, he succeeded without aid

either from a wealthy patron or from government.

[Illustration: Fig. 444.--Century Vase. Greenpoint Porcelain.]

In 1866 he first began to decorate, with one English and one German

artist. By availing himself of odd fragments of information, he not only

improved his decoration, but discovered some European usages, the

prevalence of which he had not suspected. One of these was that Dresden

ware was sent in large quantities to England to be decorated, and was

afterward returned to Dresden and sold as Meissen ware. On one occasion

he bought in Europe a Meissen porcelain cup decorated with blue, red,

and gold. On returning home, he broke the cup, and put one of the pieces

in his porcelain furnace, to see if the colors would stand the heat to

which his own were exposed. When it was withdrawn the red had

disappeared, a thin, almost imperceptible line was all that was left of

the gilt, and the blue had run into streaks and blotches. This little

experiment taught him that he was contending with difficulties, in

firing his colors, which European makers had not thought it necessary to

meet. That he has succeeded is marked by the extension of his works,

which cover about an acre of ground, and give employment to about one

hundred and seventy people. All his porcelain is decorated by his own

artists. Mr. Karl Müller is the chief designer and modeller, and brings

a long experience as a sculptor to bear upon his studies in clay. He is

a German, whose art education was mainly acquired in Paris under the

tuition of the ablest artists of Europe. His predilection for the

potter’s art led him to associate himself with Mr. Smith. Before doing

so, in 1874, he modelled three terra-cotta figures of base-ball players,

in different attitudes suggestive of athletic activity.

[Illustration: Fig. 445.--“Kéramos” Vase. Greenpoint Porcelain.]

[Illustration: Fig. 446.--Greenpoint Biscuit Porcelain.]

The ingredients of Greenpoint porcelain are the kaolins of Cornwall,

Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Georgia; felspar from Maine and Connecticut;

and quartz, also from Connecticut. These are compounded according to the

purpose for which the paste is to be used. In that for table ware the

proportions are: kaolin, 37; felspar, 33; quartz, 30. For the glaze:

felspar, 15; lime, 15; kaolin, 12; quartz and broken porcelain, 58. The

paste made into hardware trimmings contains a greater proportion of

American kaolin than that for table ware. As to the merits of the latter

it is thus spoken of by M. Ch. de Bussy, from whose official report we

have already quoted: “The porcelain of Greenpoint is second to none in

quality of paste and hardness of glaze. Most of the articles are heavy,

and may be compared in form with that which in French commerce is known

as _limonade_: we have, however, seen thinner pieces, such as tea and

coffee cups, well made, and which would figure honorably among the

productions of Europe (bien fabriquées, et qui pourraient figurer

honorablement parmi les productions d’Europe).” Mr. Karl Müller’s first

work of art was a “Century Vase” (Fig. 444), designed by Mr. Smith for

the Centennial Exhibition. Bison heads form the handles; medallions

decorate the front and back, and below them is a belt of gold with small

bison, walrus, ram, and other animal heads arranged at intervals. The

base is surrounded by a series of medallions or panels, representing, in

white relief, Indians, a soldier of the Revolutionary era, the Tea Scene

in Boston Harbor, and other historical incidents. The body is painted in

blue, red, and gold. The artistic character of the vase can be

sufficiently studied in the engraving. The decoration, it will be

observed, consists in part of paintings on the flat, and in part of the

reliefs already mentioned, which give a meaning to the distinctive

title, “Century Vase,” chosen for the piece. It illustrates the

national progress of a century.

[Illustration: Fig. 447.--“Song of the Shirt.” Greenpoint Biscuit

Porcelain.]

When Mr. Longfellow wrote his poem “Kéramos,” it is hardly probable that

he contemplated the possibility of supplying a subject to the art of

which he sang. The poet wrote of the potter, and the potter has

illustrated his song. The poem had no sooner appeared than it was made

the groundwork of an illustrative vase (Fig. 445). As in the “Century

Vase” history is represented by periods and leading events, so in the

“Kéramos” vase the history of ceramic art is represented by the leading

contributions to its continuous progress. In panels on the base the

potters of all ages are seen at work--Egyptian, Greek, and modern. Above

these, on the body, are reliefs illustrative of the pottery of Peru,

Italy, France, Spain, England, and other countries. As we turn it round,

the advance of ceramic art is seen as in a diorama, and amidst the

various scenes appears in relief the bust of the poet whose song

inspired the work. The form of the vase is singular, simple, and severe,

but well suited to the artist’s treatment of his subject. Its rigidity

is considerably softened by the quaint, projecting feet and the figures

they support, and by the decoration surrounding the flaring top.

[Illustration: Fig. 448.--Greenpoint Porcelain.]

Among the other productions of Greenpoint is a series of statuettes,

groups, and animal figures, which were first made in a non-translucent

hard clay, of a light but warm brown or buff, and afterward in porcelain

biscuit. The material first used is dense and non-vitrifying, more

nearly resembling terra-cotta than parian. It is well suited to the

production of statuettes and groups, in the modelling of which

unmistakable talent and originality are displayed. We can in this

department, better perhaps than in any other, appreciate the spirit

permeating the designing-room at the Union Works. The rule appears to be

to study the antique, but instead of copying or reproducing the works of

the ancients, to follow their example in choosing subjects from the

every-day life of the artist’s own time. We nowhere see a copy of

ancient statuary or feel a breath of borrowed inspiration. Every subject

is taken from modern literature, or from life in America in the

nineteenth century. One piece (Fig. 447) has under it the words “Stitch!

stitch! stitch!” and presents us with a softened illustration of Hood’s

poem. We say “softened,” because the artist has preferred--wisely or not

we will not now determine--to tone down the unutterable misery of the

picture, in which the “woman sat in unwomanly rags, plying her needle

and thread.” The unspoken weariness and mingled longing and resignation

are here, but the squalor and wretched poverty are rather suggested by

the broken box upon which the needle-woman sits, than forced upon our

notice. If we accept what was evidently the artist’s working canon, that

the literal realization of human wretchedness has no place in art, then

we must also accept the work as a fitting counterpart to that of the

poet. In any case the conception is praiseworthy, and the execution

skilful. Another group was suggested by Poe’s “Raven:”

“And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted--_nevermore_!”

The bust of Pallas stands, with the raven on its shoulder, upon a

pedestal, in front of which lies a veiled figure. The piece is, we have

said, suggested by the poem, of which it is in no sense a literal

interpretation. A third group consists of a nude boy and dog, and tells

its little story truthfully and forcibly. The attitudes and modelling

are alike excellent.

[Illustration: Fig. 449.--Greenpoint Porcelain.]

[Illustration: Fig. 450.--Greenpoint Porcelain. (E. Bierstadt Coll.)]

Other pieces, such as a procession of frogs and turtles with shouldered

“pitcher-plants,” illustrate the humorous side of the artist’s genius

(Fig. 448). The subject appears to be a favorite one, as we find it

variously treated in porcelain also. The other statuettes particularly

deserving of notice are a stone-mason, two firemen--one of the old

_regime_ and one of the new--and a bust of Forrest as William Tell.

These specimens will suffice, with what was said above, to indicate the

direction in which this branch of art at Greenpoint is being extended.

[Illustration: Fig. 451.--Poets’ Pitcher. Greenpoint Biscuit Porcelain.]

There has yet to be considered the staple product of the Union Works,

viz., its household porcelain. The paste is, as we have seen, of good

quality, and the manufactured ware is strong and serviceable. One of the

great obstacles in the way of the success of other enterprises--the lack

of skilled artists--Mr. Smith has overcome, and now employs a number of

decorators whose work augurs well for the continued prosperity of the

establishment. We have seen one set (Fig. 449), composed of a circular

tray, sugar-bowl, milk-pitcher, and teacups, which is entirely

praiseworthy in both design and workmanship. The prevailing color is

lavender, into which are wrought, in the form of birds and flowers,

delicate tints of blue and yellow. The effect of the whole is soft and

pleasing, and is heightened by the graceful design of the pieces, and

the fine translucent body upon which the decoration is laid.

[Illustration: Fig. 452.--Greenpoint Porcelain.]

We cannot here point to any style as being particularly distinctive of

the workshop. The taste of the decorators is broad and catholic.

White reliefs are occasionally used with fine effect in the

ornamentation of pitchers and cups. One of the latter shows white

figures in relief upon pale grounds.

The cup is of a very graceful shape, and a miniature Columbia supported

by an eagle forms the handle. A pitcher in biscuit (Fig. 451) is

surrounded by heads of distinguished poets in relief. In this case also

the shape is excellent, and the mouldings, including the subsidiary

decoration, are admirably finished.

[Illustration: Fig. 453.--Greenpoint Porcelain. View of Memorial Hall.]

The painting upon some of the plates is deserving of particular notice.

They can only be referred to individually, as we have seen that no

leading style has been adopted under which they could be treated of

collectively. There is no uniformity either in the merit of the designs

or decorations. One has for centre-piece a view of Memorial Hall (Fig.

453), and, set in a rim of deep crimson, oval medallions with similar

views. The drawing is very careful, and the colors well assorted. On

another style a flower or a fern covers the bottom and falls upon the

rim, which has no other decoration. Others have views of a windmill

(Fig. 455), a cottage embowered in foliage painted in monochrome, or

fruit. In some we find delicacy, and in others the work of a brush

unaccustomed to search for subtleties of tint or the more refined

expression of which color is capable. Fortunately the latter are the

exception and the former the rule.

[Illustration: Fig. 454.--Greenpoint Porcelain.]

To examine the methods of the artists of Greenpoint, the plate (Fig.

452) may be referred to. The flowers forming its decoration may be

found by almost any country roadside. Gathered as they grew, they were

taken to the decorating-room, and were there transferred to porcelain.

Apart altogether from the artistic result, there is a principle in such

a manner of seeking designs deserving of attention. We have seen that in

Japan the secret of the infinite variety of art lies in the close

sympathy between the artist and nature. He turns to his promptress on

all occasions for inspiration and suggestion. It must be so everywhere.

The boundless wealth of form and color found in nature confers an

equally boundless variety upon the art in which it is reflected. The

conventional is limited by human ingenuity: the natural has no limit.

[Illustration: Fig. 455.--Greenpoint Porcelain. Painted by J. M.

Falconer.]

[Illustration: Fig. 456.--English Porcelain. Decorated by Mrs. Hoyt. (D.

Collamore.)]

As a final example of table ware let us instance a plate (Fig. 454)

decorated in gold, blue, red, green, yellow, and pink, so sparingly that

only a close examination brings out the real richness of the coloring.

In the first place, the decoration lies entirely upon the rim, with the

exception of two circles of gold and blue. The design consists of

crossed branches painted in blue and gold, with insects and brightly

feathered birds. The effect is exceedingly soft, the delicacy of the

colors being as pleasing to the eye as it is satisfactory in point of

taste. The mark of the Greenpoint porcelain is an eagle’s head with the

letter S--the manufacturer’s initial--through the beak.

Besides the manufacturers and the artists employed in their

establishments, many persons make a business of decorating earthen-ware

and porcelain, and within the past few years many more have been

attracted to this branch of art. It is regularly taught by two New York

institutions, the Decorative Art Society and the Ladies’ Art

Association, and has many devotees both in the East and West. Much of

the work executed by these artists is highly creditable; and there is a

great deal that never reaches the public eye, which is marked by both

delicacy and originality.

One of the regular professional establishments is that of Warrin &

Lycett, of New York. The example here given (Fig. 457) is Jersey City

earthen-ware, and was painted by Mr. Warrin, who has had an experience

of about fifteen years as a decorator. The colors are bright, and are

very happily blended. The ground is a shade of light green, and the

flowers are painted in their natural colors. At this workshop success

was reached some time ago in a very delicate operation, that of

transferring photographs to porcelain.

[Illustration: Fig. 457.--Jersey City Earthen-ware. Decorated by

Warrin.]

Mr. John Bennett, formerly the Director of the Faience Department of the

Doulton factory at Lambeth, has within the past year settled in New

York, and is now turning out decorated faience after the styles seen in

the English original. He uses imported Lambeth biscuit, and has erected

a kiln in connection with his studio for firing the decoration. It is

his intention, in course of time, to use American clays, in order to

obviate the necessity of importing biscuit, and at the same time to

obtain new shapes made after his own designs. Among his best ground

colors are pale yellow, pale blue, and a rich brown tinged with red.

The latter is very effectively used with leaves and flowers drawn over

the piece in shades of green and yellow. All Bennett’s pieces have an

even and brilliant glaze. After what has been said of Lambeth faience,

no attempt need here be made to characterize the art represented by this

ware. It will be, as indeed it deserves to be, admired; and America

ought to be congratulated upon the acquisition of so good a

representative of the Lambeth school of decorators.

[Illustration: Fig. 458.--Bennett Faience. (D. Collamore.)]

The tile-piece at the opening of the book devoted to America (page 391)

was painted by Mr. F. T. Vance, of New York. The drawing is excellent,

and the design is original and decidedly meritorious. The arrangement of

the figures gives a life to this and other pieces by the same artist

entirely lacking in the styles of tile-painting, which consist of a

repetition on each tile of the same design, or of varied but independent

designs.

[Illustration: Fig. 459.--Bennett Faience. (D. Collamore.)]

[Illustration: Fig. 460.--Lambeth Faience. Decorated by Bennett.]

[Illustration: Fig. 461.--Plate Painted by Mr. John M. Falconer.]

Mr. John M. Falconer, of Brooklyn, is an artist who has devoted himself

very successfully to ceramic decoration. Some of his designs on

Greenpoint porcelain (see Fig. 455) are very pleasing, and the coloring

is chaste and well handled. A more ambitious work is that given below

(Fig. 461), an appropriate wedding-gift to an artist’s daughter. The

distance toward which the bride and groom are walking is rose-hued, and

the church-spire and foliage partake of the effect. Roses are strewn

along the path. A heavy knotted white sash forms a curtain and encloses

the scene. Above, in a lunette of dark blue bordered with white pearls,

is a golden-haired Cupid holding a box of wedding-cake, with the names

of the lady and gentleman on the lid. The border of the plate is a deep

flat pink, with a narrow outer line of white. The plate is remarkable

both as a work of art and for the delicate manner in which, as a gift,

it conveys the congratulations and good wishes of the giver. Some of his

works, besides the one above alluded to, are in the possession of Mr. T.

C. Smith; and others, both in camaïeu and polychrome, are entitled and

owned as follows: “Independence Hall,” Rev. Morgan Dix, D.D.; “The Old

Clothing Store, Boston,” Mrs. C. F. Blake; “Albert Durer’s House,” and

“The Oldest House in St. Louis, Missouri,” Charles Brown, Troy, New

York; “Shakspeare’s House,” Edward Green, New York; “A Smoke Fancy,”

“Autumn, Montclair, New Jersey,” “Church at West Point,” “Moonlit

Lake,” Aaron Vail, Jr., Troy, New York; “Crescent Moon,” John Gale,

Esq.; “Killearn Manse, Scotland,” Hon. M. B. Macleay, New York; “The Old

Tower, Newport,” Mrs. S. P. Avery; “Across the Water,” F. A. Bridgman,

Paris; “At Montreal,” George H. Boughton, London; “At Wilmington, North

Carolina,” Mrs. J. P. Whitehead, Newark, New Jersey; “Old Castle,

Sunset,” Alfred Jones, Yonkers, New York; “The Philosopher,” Rev. L. L.

Noble, Annandale, New York; “Moonlight,” Charles Parsons, Montclair, New

Jersey; landscape, and a set of two blue and one yellow vases, Hon.

George B. Warren, Jr., Troy, New York. Mr. Falconer has the advantages

of a cultivated taste and well-trained skill to help him win such a

reputation as might induce him to substitute, even to a greater extent

than at present, porcelain or pottery for the more perishable canvas.

[Illustration: Fig. 462.--Limoges Porcelain and Silver. (Reed & Barton,

N. Y.)]

[Illustration: Fig. 463.--Copeland Porcelain and Silver. (Reed & Barton,

N. Y.)]

There remains to be noticed an artistic combination in which, although

it has long been practised in Europe, American workmen have recently

succeeded in producing exceptionally fine effects. Reference is made to

the combination of metal and porcelain. We have seen with pleasure

slender and exquisitely wrought stands of silver and gold, in which

delicately painted French porcelain dishes and basins are converted into

card-receivers, flower-stands, and fruit-dishes. A great deal of taste

can be displayed in the selection of colors to suit the metal, as well

as in the deeper harmony which reproduces in silver or gold the flower

stems on the porcelain. Chinese porcelain, in rich colors--green, pink,

and blue--is similarly treated. Pieces of the Green family are

tastefully set in silver and gold, the mouldings on the bands of metal

corresponding with the painted borders of the porcelain.

From such specimens of a double art we turn to others less rich, but

scarcely less attractive. Faience vases are mounted in bronze and

brightly burnished brass, and derive a new character from the

association. Works of this class show that, while it is possible to

define the limits of the field peculiar to ceramic art, its place in

household decoration cannot be specified with equal precision. Already

it has entered into effective alliances with the arts of the

silversmith, goldsmith, the workers in the baser metals, of the

enameller, the carver, and the cabinet-maker. In these several relations

it is not now intended to follow it farther. They would lead to the

consideration of many arts essentially distinct, and as foreign to each

other as to that whose history has led us from the sun-dried bricks of

Egypt to the porcelain of Greenpoint.

[Illustration: Fig. 464.--Worcester Porcelain and Silver. (J. W. Britton

Coll.)]

INDEX.

Abaquesne, Marreot, 281.

Abraham, Copeland’s director, 383.

Abubeker, 191.

Adam, director at Vincennes, 314.

Adobes, 396.

Africa, 213, 216, 217, 241.

Agapenor, 201.

“Agate” ware, 361.

Agostino, assistant of Luca della Robbia, 253, 263.

Agyllos, 241.

Ahriman, 190.

Ainos, 163.

Akai, 161.

Alabastros, 225.

Alambra, 203.

Albany slip, 457.

Alcora, 239.

Alençon, 53, 317.

Alexander the Great, 190, 200.

Algeria, 216.

Alhambra, 235, 236, 247.

Ali, 191.

Alluaud, director at Limoges, 321.

Amasis, 200.

Amathus, 201, 204.

Amazon, tribes on, 417.

Ambrosio, son of Andrea della Robbia, 253.

America, 391-487

(_see_ South America, Central America, Mound-builders,

Indians, United States).

American china, 463.

American clays, 446, _et seq._

American Crockery Company, Trenton, 462.

American Pottery Company, 455.

Ameya, 160.

Ammon, 85.

Amphora,--æ, 24, 27, 90, 222, 224.

Amstel, 343.

Andrea della Robbia, 253.

Anglo-Roman pottery, 354.

Anglo-Saxon pottery, 355.

Anspach, faience, 330;

porcelain, 341.

Antonio, artist at Ferrara and Faenza, 262.

Antwerp, majolica, 331.

Aphrodite, 201.

Apostle mugs, 336.

Apries, 200.

Apulia, 221, 265, 293, 295.

Arabesque, origin of, 213.

Arabs, 189, 190, 213, 214, 217, 218, 233, et seq., 273.

Araguaya Indians, 438.

Archaic Greek vases, 229.

Arequipa, 410.

Aretine ware, 246.

Arita, 161, 172, 176, 179.

Arizona, 429, _et seq._

Arsenal Pottery, Trenton, 462.

Artaxerxes, 190.

Articulated vase, 153.

Artificial porcelain, invented in Europe, 52;

classification, 55, 56, and meaning of term 57;

analysis, 61;

difficulty of its manufacture, 81;

Chinese, 122;

Persian, 122, 196;

Spanish, 238;

Italian, 265, _et seq._;

French, 312, _et seq._;

English, 376, _et seq._;

American, 457, 458, 471, 472.

Aryballos, 226.

Arystichos, 226.

Asia Minor, 211, 213, 214, 215.

Askos, 224.

Assyria, --n, 32, 63-65, 97-102, 198, _et seq._, 220, 426;

porcelain, 100.

Astarte, 202, 204.

Astbury, English potter, 360;

uses calcined flint, 361.

Astbury & Maddock, Trenton, 460.

Aster decoration, 130.

Athieno, 203.

Aubry, M., director at St. Clement, 311.

Aue, kaolin of, 53, 337.

Augustus II., director at Meissen, 338.

Augustus III., director at Meissen, 338.

Auteuil, Haviland’s workshop at, 287.

Avisseau of Tours, 277.

Awadji, 171.

Awata, 167, 171.

Aztecs, 423.

Azulejos, 216, 233, 236, 239;

Minton’s, 366, 368.

Babel, 22, 101.

Babylon, 65, 97.

Babylonia, 64, 98.

Bacchus, 21, 22.

Baden, porcelain of, 340.

Bahia, 416.

Bagnall, 360.

Baireuth, 330; porcelain, 341.

Balboa, 418.

Balearic Islands, 236, 248

(_see_ Majorca, Minorca, Iviça).

Baltimore, Maryland, 455.

Banko-yaki, 171.

Banks & Turner, 382.

Barberini Vase, 363.

Barbin of Mennecy, 313.

Barbizet of Paris, 277.

Barcelona, 234, 237.

Barlow, Arthur, 371.

Barlow, Hannah B., 371.

Barr, Martin, Worcester, 380.

Bartlem, potter in South Carolina, 454.

Basaltes, Wedgwood’s, 364.

Battersea, 380.

Battisto Franco, 257.

Battus, 216.

Beauvais, 273.

Becker, workman at Höxter, 341.

Belgium, 331;

porcelain, 343.

Belleek, Ireland, porcelain of, 388, _et seq._

Benedetto, artist at Siena, 255.

Bengrath Oppal, director at Meissen, 338.

Bennett, John, New York, 483.

Bennington, Vermont, 457;

porcelain, 472.

Benten, 162.

Berlin, 338, 341, 342.

Bernardo Buontalenti, inventor of Medicean porcelain, 268.

Bernart, Jehan, 279.

Beverly, Massachusetts, 468.

Beyerlé, Baron de, 310.

Biagio, artist at Faenza and Ferrara, 262.

Bikos, 223.

Billingsley, or Beely, 387.

Bingley, Thomas, 376.

Binns, R. W., director at Worcester, 380.

Birkenhead, 375.

Biscuit, meaning of, 53.

Bis-ja-mon, 162, 163.

Bissen, Danish sculptor, 349, 351.

Bleu fouetté, 132.

Blois faience, 308.

Bloor, Ott & Booth, Trenton, 462.

Bloor, Robert, 379.

Bloor, Trenton potter, 460.

Blue-and-white porcelain of China, 123, _et seq._;

of Japan, 126, 175.

Blue of the sky after rain, 122, 131.

Blunger, 67.

Boccaro, 119.

Boileau, director at Sèvres, 314.

Bone, enameller (Plymouth), 377.

Bordeaux, 312;

porcelain, 320.

Böttcher, 52, 336, 337, 452.

Bourg-la-Reine, 288, 302, 303, 304.

Bow china, 377, 379, 471.

Boyle, John, partner of Minton, 366.

Bracquemond, M. and Mme., 288, 291, 295, 322.

Bradwell stone-ware, 360.

Bramelds of Swinton, 386.

Bramfield, J. and W., 376.

Brazil, 413, 414-417.

Breslau, 329.

Brewer, J. Hart, Trenton, 462, 465.

Brichard, Eloi, director at Vincennes, 314.

Bricks, 88, 89, 98, 101, 106, 220, etc.

Brick stamp, 88, 101.

Bristol pottery, 373;

porcelain, 376, 386.

Britain, Great, and Ireland, 352-390.

Brongniart, director at Sèvres, his classification, 54, 55, 315, 316, 318.

Broome, Isaac, Trenton artist, 464, _et seq._

Brosely pottery, 375.

Brown, Westhead, Moore & Company, 388.

Brühl, Count, 338, 339.

Brussels, 331;

porcelain, 343.

Buddha, 110, 111.

Buddhism, 111, 161.

Buen Retiro, 238.

Bunsen, 85, 241.

Burroughs, G. S., Trenton, 462.

Burslem, 360;

Wedgwood at, 362.

Butler, Frank A., 371.

Byzantium, --ine, 241, 248.

Caballito, Peruvian, 409.

Cabuahuil, 421.

Cairo, 214.

Caistor ware, 354.

Caldas, 239.

Caldwell & Wood, 364.

Callimachus and the Corinthian order, 301.

Caltagirone, 247.

Camaïeu, 123, 282, 333.

Cambrian Pottery, 387.

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 468.

Cambyses, 29, 200.

Camillo, artist at Ferrara, 262.

Campania, 241.

Campbell, Colin Minton, 360, 368.

Capo di Monte, 268, 269, 270.

Carolina, clays, 440, 447;

works in, 454.

Carr, James, New York, 458, 463.

Cartalege, Charles, Greenpoint, 472.

Casa Pirota, 261.

Castel-Durante, 257.

Castellani collection, 185, 243, 247, 252, 261, 262, 266.

Castelli, 264.

Catto, artist at Faenza and Ferrara, 262.

Caughley, 387.

Céladon, 116, 131, 150, 161, 179, 195, 197.

Celts, --ic, 274;

Irish, 353.

Central America, 418-424.

Ceramic art, its origin, 19, _et seq._;

etymology of “ceramic,” 22, 49;

general view of, _see_ Introduction;

its struggles in America, 444, _et seq._

Cesnola, General L. P., 199, 202, _et seq._

Chaffagiolo, 255.

Chaffers, Richard, 374, 471.

Chamberlains of Worcester, 380.

Chambrette, Jacques, Luneville, 310.

Champion, Richard, 376, 386.

Chang-ti, 110, 111.

Chanon, Commissioner at Sèvres, 315.

Cha-no-yu, 160.

Chantilly, porcelain of, 313.

Chapelle of Sceaux, 311.

Chaplet, artist, 288, 302.

Chelsea-Derby, 379.

Chelsea (England) porcelain, 377, _et seq._

Chelsea (Massachusetts), 459, 468, _et seq._

Cheou-lao, 111, 162.