relief, and bearded mask under the
spout, and painted with exotic birds
and foliage, butterflies and other
insects in colours in two large and
three smaller panels, in gilt scroll
borders on a dark blue scale-pattern
ground, pink flowers in panels on
the neck 11-1/4 in. high. Christie,
May 8, 1903 147 0 0
Jug, oviform, painted with birds and insects
in scroll panels with gilt borders,
7 in. high. Christie, June 10,
1903 79 16 0
Four old small modelled leaf Dishes,
painted with flowers in the Chinese
taste in blue, crescent mark, and
four others. Puttick & Simpson,
May 28, 1920 2 2 0
Old Worcester teapot and cover painted
with wheel pattern and gilt, 5-1/4 in.
high, a saucer dish, a coffee cup and
two saucers similar, all with square
mark, and a saucer marked Flight
and crescent. Puttick & Simpson,
July 16, 1920 9 9 0
Dessert service, by Flight, Barr and
Barr, painted with named flowers on
white ground, with gilt gadrooned
edges, consisting of a pair of sugar-tureens
and covers, a centre-dish on
foot, ten shaped dishes and twenty-four
plates. Christie, July 5, 1920 42 0 0
Tea service, painted with flowers and
foliage and dark blue panels, in the
Oriental taste, consisting of a teapot,
cover and stand, two cream-jugs,
milk-jug, sugar-basin, two bowls,
twelve coffee-cups, nineteen tea-cups,
thirty-two saucers, two
egg-cups, four circular dishes and
eighteen plates. Christie, July 5,
1920 57 15 0
Tea Service, painted with flowers in
colours, in the Oriental taste, and
dark blue bands, consisting of a teapot,
cover and stand, sugar-basin
and cover, cream-jug and cover,
canister, bowl, two dishes, eight tea-cups,
six coffee-cups, and nine
saucers. Christie, July 5, 1920 71 8 0
Plate, Powder-blue, Dr. Wall period,
octagonal 9 in., with reserve panels
in white with landscape and flowers.
Having mark of crossed swords, together
with imitation Chinese mark.
Sotheby, May 17, 1920 15 10 0
Set of covered Vases and two Beakers,
Dr. Wall period, decorated with vermilion,
green, and gilt; in Chinese
style with flowers and fabulous bird.
Shoulders of vase and rims of covers
and beakers, fine turquoise ground
vase, 10-1/2 in., beakers 6-3/4 in.
Sotheby, June 11, 1920 35 0 0
Pair of Plates, Flight, Barr and Barr.
Views of Barking Abbey and Melrose
Abbey. Scroll borders of mazarin,
blue, heavily gilt. Sotheby, June
11, 1920 4 4 0
Vase, painted with birds in heart-shaped
panels with gilt scroll borders on
mottled dark blue ground, 9-3/4 in.
high. Christie, July 20, 1920 204 15 0
Teapot and cover, painted with wheel
pattern, 5-1/2 in. high, and two bowls,
similar, 4-1/2 in. diameter, square
mark. Puttick & Simpson, July 16,
1920 7 17 6
Teacup, coffee-cup and saucer, of the
same service, a cream-jug, a saucer
dish, square marks, and a chamber
candlestick, crescent mark 7 17 6
Pair of old square dishes, painted with
groups of flowers in dark blue borders
gilt with scrolls, 8-1/4 in. square.
Christie, July 5, 1920 25 4 0
Three Mugs, transfer-printed, with portraits
of the King of Prussia and
military trophies, by R. Hancock,
1757, 4-1/2 in. and 3-1/2 in. high. Christie,
July 5, 1920 17 17 0
Cylindrical Mug, transfer-printed, with
a portrait of Shakespeare and Muses,
4-3/4 in. high; and a smaller ditto,
with a portrait and figure of Fame.
Christie, July 5, 1920 16 16 0
Milk Jug and Cover, and a coffee-cup
and saucer decorated with panels in
pale blue, painted with fruit, with
royal blue and gilt rims. W mark.
Sotheby, May 17, 1920 26 0 0
Plate, Powder-blue, Dr. Wall period,
saucer-shaped, of Chinese form, decorated
with exotic birds and insects,
7-1/4 in., square mark. Sotheby, May
17, 1920 13 0 0
Teapot, fluted, with cover, painted with
garlands of flowers, and with marbled
turquoise and dark blue borders and
gilt, crescent mark, 5 in. high.
Puttick & Simpson, July 16, 1920 16 10 0
V
PLYMOUTH
AND
BRISTOL
CHINA
[Illustration: WHITE PORCELAIN GOAT. PLYMOUTH.]
[Illustration: PLYMOUTH SALT-CELLAR.
_At Victoria and Albert Museum._]
V
PLYMOUTH
The name of Plymouth stands high in the records of English china
factories. Its porcelain was the first hard porcelain produced in this
country. Other English chinas melted when placed inside the pieces in
the Plymouth kilns.
Not so well known as Josiah Wedgwood, of the Staffordshire potteries,
William Cookworthy, of Plymouth, Quaker, chemist, porcelain maker,
is worthy of a niche in the gallery of dead princes of ceramic art,
and his is a name that will never be forgotten by those who know the
history behind the old Plymouth vases and mugs and statues.
It is true the enterprise was a failure. It only ran fourteen years,
and was, in 1774, transferred to Bristol. It is true that Lord
Camelford, one of his partners, laments the three thousand pounds
expended on it. But it is more than true that the results of William
Cookworthy’s efforts were no failure.
The brief life history of the Quaker dreamer (we know he must have
been a dreamer, for he translated some of Swedenborg’s works into
English) is remarkable. At the age of fourteen, the eldest of a family
of six fatherless children, he tramped from Plymouth up to London and
commenced his apprenticeship to a chemist. His mother battled on, eking
out her slender means by dressmaking. Later on, when William Cookworthy
came home, his mother lived under his roof and became a leading
favourite with the great people he knew. The poor Devon lad who wearily
tramped to London over down and dale, dreaming golden dreams, came home
to entertain Dr. Wolcot, the famous “Peter Pindar” of vitriolic pen,
Sir Joseph Banks, Captain Cook, and the fighting Earl St. Vincent,
who remarked, “whoever was in Mr. Cookworthy’s company was the wiser
and better for having been in it”; while Smeaton, the builder of the
Eddystone Lighthouse, was an inmate of his house during the erection of
the lighthouse.
In an early letter of Cookworthy’s we find him speaking of a certain
unnamed, strange individual who came to him with some china earth.
“’Twas found in the back of Virginia, where he was in quest of mines;
and having read Duhalde, discovered both the petuntse and kaolin. ’Tis
the latter earth he says, is the essential thing towards the success
of the manufacture. He is gone for a cargo of it, having bought the
whole country of the Indians where it rises.” We hear no more of this
mysterious individual; but we do hear of extensive and painstaking
researches by Cookworthy, till at length he is rewarded by discovering
the very earth he wanted, in Cornwall, on the estate of Lord Camelford.
He established himself at Coxside, at the extreme angle which juts
into the water at Sutton Pool. The buildings subsequently became a
shipwright’s yard, and even then bore the name China House. We wonder,
do they exist now?
The early examples of Plymouth are clumsy, sometimes very coarse and
rough. Experience was wanting in firing. Most of the pieces were
disfigured by fire-cracks. Of those decorated in blue the colour had
run into the glazing. But Cookworthy did one thing—he was the first to
produce cobalt blue direct from the ore.
The white ware of Plymouth, in which is introduced as ornament shells
and seaweed and coral, is very artistic, and is one of the features of
Plymouth, although none of this ware is marked. They mostly consist of
salt-cellars, pickle-cups, and what would now be used to put roses in.
The salt-cellar we illustrate is one of a pair in the Bethnal Green
Museum; it has a plain, white body and cloudy glaze, and is unmarked.
Similar shapes are believed to have been made at Bow. We reproduce a
dainty piece, a shell dish of beautiful design, and ask—was Cookworthy
a failure?
During the latter part of the fourteen years that Plymouth produced
her china, Cookworthy, then nearing his seventieth year, thought
to emulate Sèvres and Dresden, and employed several artists for
decoration. He engaged the services of a French artist named Soqui
from Sèvres, and he and Henry Bone, of Plymouth—one of his own
apprentices—produced some finely-painted birds and flowers.
[Illustration: WHITE PORCELAIN DISH—PLYMOUTH.]
The mark of the Plymouth china is blue on the early clumsy pieces,
and later was neatly drawn in red, sometimes blue. It is the chemical
symbol for tin, being doubtless adopted by Cookworthy to denote that
his materials came from the tin district. It is like the figure four,
with a little curved loop at the beginning.
[Illustration: VASE (16 IN. HIGH), PLYMOUTH.
_In the Fry Collection at Bristol._]
We reproduce a fine specimen of a splendid vase, hexagonal shape,
sixteen inches high, in the possession of the Fry family at Bristol. It
is richly decorated with festoons of finely modelled raised flowers,
with painted butterflies and borders. This was the forerunner of the
exquisite Bristol vase made by the firm which bought Cookworthy’s life
secrets.
Devon and Plymouth suggest Elizabethan days and one man’s name flashes
uppermost, but—
“Drake he’s in his hammock, but a thousand mile away
(Capten, art tha sleepin’ there below?),
Slung atween the round shot in Nombre Dios Bay,
An’ dreamin’ arl the time o’ Plymouth Hoe.”
But there are heroes of peace and the arts of peace and that art of all
arts, the art of self-effacement and William Cookworthy is one.
[Illustration: PLYMOUTH MARKS.]
[Illustration: BRISTOL PORCELAIN.
Under-glaze Mandarin Decoration in Blue.]
BRISTOL.
For several centuries earthenware was made at Bristol, and a very
fair quality of blue delft was produced there, but it is not of the
old potteries of Bristol that we shall speak, but of the manufacture
which was transplanted from Plymouth to Bristol. We have related the
struggles of William Cookworthy to establish Plymouth porcelain. The
strenuous efforts to perfect the china were carried on by Richard
Champion, of Bristol, merchant, who bought Cookworthy’s patent, and
established the manufactory of hard porcelain at Bristol. Champion had,
it appears, been associated with Cookworthy as partner when the works
were at Plymouth.
In 1775, when Champion presented a petition to the House of Commons to
be granted the patent right for a further period of fourteen years to
himself, he was vigorously opposed by Josiah Wedgwood, who represented
that by granting a patent to Champion, it would be detrimental to
trade and injurious to the public, urging, among other grounds, that
“the use of the natural productions of the soil ought to be the right
of all.” Wedgwood presented a memorial to Parliament, and a fierce
controversy ensued. “Much might be said on both sides,” as Sir Roger De
Coverley observes, and much _was_ said on both sides.
At first blush it seems hard that Cookworthy and Champion, who found
the earth and worked hard at developing the manufactory in the West,
should have no protection given to their secret. But Wedgwood, who
speaks with authority, urged that when he invented his Queen’s Ware
he did not apply for a patent, which would have limited its public
utility. “Instead of one hundred manufactories of Queen’s Ware, there
would have been one; and instead of an exportation to all quarters of
the world, a few pretty things would have been made for the amusement
of the people of fashion in England.”
Without going further into the details of a controversy which trenches
upon questions of political economy two facts stand out, and the reader
can judge of them as he will. The patent was granted by Parliament to
Richard Champion, who was subsequently ruined, and left England to die
in South Carolina; and secondly, hard paste was made at Plymouth and
Bristol (never before or since in England), while the manufacture of
the less difficult soft-paste porcelain and of pottery was carried on
by the Staffordshire factories and Wedgwood.
[Illustration: BRISTOL VASE AND COVER.
_At the Victoria and Albert Museum._]
During the struggle between Wedgwood and Champion one curious
incident occurred. When the Bill was before the House of Lords for
discussion, one of Champion’s witnesses left London for Bristol without
permission. As it was necessary to bring him back at once, as the end
of the session was at hand, he was recalled by an “express,” which
travelled the 240 miles to Bristol in twenty-seven hours!
In 1775 was passed (15 George III., cap 52) “an Act for enlarging
the term of Letters Patent granted by his present Majesty to William
Cookworthy, of Plymouth, Chymist, for the sole use and exercise of
a discovery of certain materials for making Porcelain, in order to
enable Richard Champion, of Bristol, merchant (to whom the said Letters
Patent have been assigned), to carry the said discovery into effectual
execution for the benefit of the public.”
So we shortly find the Bristol factory in full swing. The stock of
Plymouth, and the tried workmen, were transferred to Bristol. First
of all, attention was paid to common blue and white ware as likely to
demand a ready sale, and to be profitable. As in the case of Worcester
and other factories, Champion took Oriental models, and some of his
ware is confounded with other makers who used the same models. The
blue was of good colour, and dinner, tea, and coffee services, as well
as jugs and mugs, were turned out, sometimes marked with the Bristol
cross, but oftentimes without any distinguishing mark at all, to the
confoundment of the latter-day collectors.
Bristol was very successful in imitating the commoner forms of Chinese
ware. We reproduce a teapot and cup and saucer. It will be observed
that the cup follows the original model, and has no handle.
[Illustration: Bristol Marks]
The usual mark of Bristol was a plain cross, sometimes in blue,
sometimes in red, and often in neutral tint, or slatey-grey. The
crossed swords of Dresden, accompanied by the Bristol cross and the
figures 10, appear on one specimen.
Some of the following marks which we give have been assigned to
Bristol. Figures sometimes occur as well as the cross; these are
believed to denote the painters engaged on the piece, and are often
marked in red. On one known Bristol piece, a date occurs. But to
collectors of Bristol porcelain there is one test which also applies in
more marked degree to the Plymouth ware; this is the series of spiral
ridges which may often be observed on the surface of the ware when held
in reflected light.
We have alluded to the somewhat heated controversy between Josiah
Wedgwood and Richard Champion, who had transferred the plant from
Plymouth and had applied for an extension of Cookworthy’s patent to
himself. Josiah Wedgwood, we think somewhat unfairly, alleged that
both Plymouth and Bristol factories were still in an experimental
stage; he belittles their art, which “neither the ingenious discoverer
nor the purchaser, for want, perhaps, of skill and experience in this
particular business, have been able, during the space of seven years
already elapsed, to bring to any useful degree of perfection.”
This is not the place to enter into the merits of a dead conflict
between Staffordshire and Bristol. That Bristol was not merely an
experimental factory is more than proved by the specimens which have
come down to us, specimens, be it said, that are more eagerly sought
after than many of Wedgwood’s productions, since they are of hard
porcelain which Staffordshire never made, and which hard paste has
never again been made in England, either before or since.
One of the choicest examples of the highest art of Bristol is preserved
in the national collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. It is
stated to have been “the best that the manufactory could produce.” It
was made in 1774-5, within a few months of the establishment of the
works at Bristol. This example is interesting too, as being one of
the few examples of the Bristol works, of which the exact date can be
ascertained.
In the year 1774 Edmund Burke was nominated for Bristol, the capital
and richest city of the west. A fierce election contest followed, in
which Burke was returned as one of the members. During this election
he was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, of Bristol, and it was then
that Burke ordered a splendid set of china from Champion. We reproduce
the cup and saucer of this service. It is profusedly and massively gilt
in dead and burnished gold, the wreaths of laurel being in green, which
was Burke’s electioneering colour.
[Illustration: CUP AND SAUCER, BRISTOL.
_From service ordered by Edmund Burke._]
Each piece, as will be seen, bears the monogram of Mrs. Smith, “S. S.”
interlaced, formed of wreaths of roses in pink and gold, and also the
arms of the family. This service is marked with the usual Bristol cross.
It is obviously absurd to have asserted that such china was merely
experimental. The collector of to-day has more than hall-marked Bristol
porcelain. Recently, at Christie’s Auction Rooms, £168 was paid for
two small cups and a tea tray, and, alas! Cookworthy and Champion died
unsuccessful men. If they are recognised to-day as martyrs to the
ceramic art, their own generation were somewhat stiff-necked to their
genius and enterprise.
[Illustration: BRISTOL VASE (12-1/4 IN. HIGH).
_In the Fry Collection._]
The vase which we reproduce shows to what perfection the manufacturers
had reached. Among the decorators of Bristol was Henry Bone, afterwards
an R.A., and miniature enameller to the Royal Family. Bone was
apprenticed to Champion for seven years, dating from January, 1772.
This vase, in the possession of the Fry family of Bristol, is of
hexagonal shape and is 12-1/4 inches in height. The landscapes are
excellently painted, and it has well-modelled female busts on two
of its sides, from which hang festoons of raised flowers in white.
This vase and the other splendid and almost priceless vases in the
possession of the same family are not marked. It appears that although
only Champion’s name appears on the documents in connection with
the Bristol factory, he had partners who assisted him financially,
one of whom was Joseph Fry, whose only return, when the factory was
discontinued, for the money he had sunk into the concern, was the set
of vases now in the hands of his descendants.
We now come to the last act of Bristol. Wedgwood writes to Bentley in
a letter, dated August 24, 1778, concerning Champion’s failure: “Poor
Champion, you may have heard, is quite demolished; it was never likely
to be otherwise, as he had neither professional knowledge, sufficient
capital, nor scarcely any real acquaintance with the materials he was
working upon. I suppose we might buy some _Growan Stone_ and _Growan
Clay_ now upon easy terms, for they have prepared a large quantity this
last year.”
His patent right was sold by Champion to a company of Staffordshire
potters who continued the manufacture at New Hall for some little
time until the ordinary soft paste was allowed to supersede Champion’s
hard paste. So ended the triumphs of Bristol and Plymouth. It appears
that from November, 1781, to April, 1782, Champion left his native
city to superintend the works of the china company who had purchased
his rights. But Edmund Burke came to his rescue, and, conjointly with
Burke’s son Richard, Champion was appointed deputy paymaster-general.
Champion occupied official apartments in Chelsea Hospital. In July a
change of ministry lost him his post, but in April, 1783, he regained
it, only to resign on the fall of the famous Coalition Ministry in
January, 1784. In October, 1784, he left England for South Carolina,
where he became a planter. Seven years after leaving England he died of
fever, and lies buried in the New World.
There is nothing to be said—his fate was the fate of so many
enthusiasts and workers in the field of art. Nobody has ever unveiled
a monument to Champion’s memory or to Cookworthy’s memory. Nobody has
designed a stained-glass window to record their ceramic triumphs.[1]
Their monument—and it is a lasting one—lies on the china shelf; the
votaries of Plymouth and of Bristol porcelain need no spark to quicken
their fire.
We know Browning’s “Waring” and his unfulfilled promise of greatness,
and how the friend who has lost him, “like a ghost at break of day,”
wishes him back—
“Oh, could I have him back once more,
This Waring, but one half-day more!
Back, with the quiet face of yore,
So hungry for acknowledgment
Like mine, I’d fool him to his bent.
Feed, should not he, to heart’s content?
I’d say, ‘To only have conceived,
Planned your great works, apart from progress,
Surpasses little works achieved.’”
And the world would call back its neglected and unrequited men of
genius if it could, and herein lies the principle that makes china
command high prices—these conscience-prickings are the tribute
posterity pays.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PLYMOUTH AND BRISTOL PORCELAIN.
Among special features of Plymouth and Bristol china, spiral ridges
are to be seen, though often barely noticeable, running from the base
transversely around the body of piece, more noticeable in basins and
teapots, at an angle of 45°. The china of these factories is often
untrue owing to imperfect firing, and is frequently cracked at base.
The Bristol decorators had a partiality for wreaths and festoons of
laurel in green, interspersed with detached bouquets of flowers. The
Bristol glaze is rich and creamy white, and upon examination a series
of minute depressions, somewhat similar to the bubbles on Oriental
glaze, may be discovered.
SALE PRICES.
PLYMOUTH. £ s. d.
Bowls and covers, pair, formed as doves
on their nests. Christie, February 5,
1902 7 7 0
Shell sweetmeat-dishes, two, painted
with flowers in colours in the Chinese
taste, and encrusted with coloured
shells and seaweed; and a smaller
white ditto. Christie, February 5,
1902 5 5 0
Tankards, pair, painted with birds, trees
and flowers in colours. Christie,
February 5, 1902 46 4 0
Mug, bell-shaped, 5-1/2 in. high, painted
exotic birds and continuous landscape
in brilliant colours (marked
with Plymouth mark). Edwards,
Son & Bigwood, Birmingham, May
13, 1902 12 0 0
Plymouth shaped Mug, painted with
exotic birds and branches, and with
gilt border, marked, 4-1/4 in. high.
Puttick & Simpson, July 9, 1920 13 13 0
Plymouth Mug, painted with birds and
branches, 5-1/4 in. high; and a Plymouth
Sauce-boat, painted with
flowers in the Oriental taste. Christie,
July 5, 1920 19 19 0
BRISTOL.
Teacups and saucers, two, and a small
tray, painted with medallion heads
in gilt borders and festoons of green
laurel-wreaths between; and a
bowl and cream-jug nearly similar.
Christie, February 4, 1902 168 0 0
Teapot and cover and bowl, painted
with bouquets of flowers. Christie,
February 28, 1902 7 15 0
Dishes, oval-shaped pair, painted with
festoons and sprays of flowers, in
colours, gilt edges. Christie, February
28, 1902 16 16 0
Bowls, pair, fluted, painted with bouquets
of flowers, 11-1/4 in. diameter.
Christie, July 2, 1902 28 7 0
Cabaret, decorated with festoons of
foliage in green and horizontal gilt
lines, consisting of oval plateau, teapot,
sucrier and covers, milk-jug,
and cup and saucer; mark, Dresden
crossed swords. Christie, July 2, 1902 27 6 0
Figures, pair, of a lady with tambourine,
and a gentleman with a lyre, 11 in.
high. Christie, June 10, 1902 5 10 0
Figures, Mars and Minerva, 13-1/2 in. high.
Christie, June 20, 1902 19 19 0
Figure of a Nymph, allegorical of
“Water,” 10-1/2 in. high. Christie,
July 2, 1902 10 10 0
Teacup and saucer, painted with portrait
medallions, green laurel festoons,
gilt lines, and the interlaced
initials R. S. Part of service made
by Champion for Sir Robert Smyth.
From the Edkins Collection. Christie,
June 16, 1903 37 16 0
Bristol china Teapot and cover, decorated
with birds on branches and
insects, inscribed Mary Cowling,
1771. Sotheby, May 17, 1920 29 0 0
Bristol china deep Dish, octagonal, with
floral festoons, deep blue edge and
centre, 8-3/4 in. Sotheby, May 17,
1920 3 6 0
Two Bristol Plates, painted with
festoons of flowers in colours on
white ground, 8 in. diameter. Christie,
July 5, 1920 9 9 0
Bristol Plaque, painted with a bouquet
of flowers, inscribed “J. Pardoe,
Bristol,” 9-3/4 in. by 5-1/2 in. Christie,
July 20, 1920 18 18 0
Bristol figure of a girl, carrying a basket
of flowers, 4-1/2 in. high. Christie,
July 12, 1920 10 10 0
FOOTNOTES: