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[Illustration: WEDGWOOD PORTLAND VASE]
POTTERY
AND
PORCELAIN,
_FROM EARLY TIMES
DOWN TO THE PHILADELPHIA EXHIBITION OF 1876_.
BY
CHARLES WYLLYS ELLIOTT.
WITH ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS, AND THE MORE IMPORTANT MARKS
AND MONOGRAMS.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
549 & 551 BROADWAY.
1878.
COPYRIGHT BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
1877.
PREFACE.
What we have attempted has been to gather and present, in a way to be
easily understood, the most important facts respecting "Pottery and
Porcelain."
The study of this interesting subject has for more than a century been
constant in Europe, and notably so during the last twenty-five years. A
correct knowledge of it may now almost be called a liberal education. In
the United States something has been done; and the public mind is now
asking, "What is it that makes 'pottery and porcelain' so attractive to
scholars, statesmen, women, and wits?"
In some degree we have answered this question. My part of the work has
been to gather where I could such historical and technical facts and
such illustrations as seemed most valuable, not only to the student but
to the collector.
Many of these came from Europe, of course, where since Queen Anne's day
the love of "old china" has at times risen to enthusiasm. But I have
drawn from our own collections whenever it has been possible. In the
preparation and engraving of the illustrations I hope the judicious
critic, as well as the judicious public, will give due credit to the
publishers and their artists, who, it seems to me, deserve great praise
for having so well done what they have undertaken to do. Permit me to
say a word for _collectors_.
Busy men who are making railways and coal-pits, under the pleasing
illusion that they are developing the country more than the rest of us,
are apt to think a man with any hobby except that of making money is
wasting his time.
I would like to remind the reader that there are a few--many of them
young men and young women too--who have money enough for all reasonable
wants, and who do not care to waste time and life in getting _more_
money, for which they have no special uses; these persons find a
perennial occupation in the study, the comparison, the purchasing, the
collecting, of all that will illustrate their subject of study--their
hobby. Around this subject of pottery and porcelain may be grouped, if
one so pleases, all the habits, the wants, the inventions, the growths,
of human society.
Some have yet a notion that the study of the politics and the fightings
of man is most important; others, how man came to be an Arminian or an
Augustinian; others, whether the sun is or is not gradually cooling
down, and must finally cease to be, or whether, on the contrary, its
flames are fed by the self-sacrificing stars.
Without detracting from their labors, I beg leave to say that my great
hobby or central fact being the _home_, I hold that whatever makes that
interesting, beautiful, or useful, is, or should be, interesting,
beautiful, and useful, to all the world. I believe that what we call
politics, or government, is only valuable in that it helps to create and
to protect desirable homes; all the rest--all the speeches, and
processions, and crownings, and court-balls, and receptions, and
dinners--are "leather and prunella."
Therefore I believe the "art of living" is first and foremost; to know
how to make _this_ life comfortable and beautiful is all-important. Yet
there is not a teacher of this great art in all the land, although
"professors" are legion.
We may well ask, when we go to a house: "What have they there to tell
us--what to show us? What have they collected to interest, to please, to
instruct?"
If a person has only many bonds bearing coupons locked up in his
safe--delightful as the fact may be to him--what pleasure or
satisfaction is that to us?
But if in that house are gathered all the interesting examples of any
growth of Nature or of Art, what a pleasure to go there!--they may be
beetles, or butterflies, or stones, or shells, or silvers, or
porcelains. I thank God that here is a man who can and does collect--one
who does care for something which I too care for.
I wish, therefore, that every young man and young woman would get a
_hobby_ early in life to which he or she can at any time devote some
spare time and spare money. _Ennui_, the demon who afflicts the idle, is
thus exorcised, and vice loses its charming power.
The collector, too, does not waste his money. There is not a collection
of pictures or of minerals, of birds or of butterflies, of chinas or of
books, of armor or of gems, of laces or of tapestries, if made with
ordinary care and knowledge, but is worth more--often ten times or fifty
times more--than it has cost. Even in a pecuniary way, therefore, the
hobby is productive; and the collection is not only as interesting, but
it is as good as gold.
OUR COLLECTIONS.--Of collections of porcelain and pottery one must of
course look for great exhibitions to the museums of Europe--such as the
Kensington Museum, in London; the Cluny, in Paris; the Green Vaults, in
Dresden; the Oriental, at Leyden--and to private collections, such as
the Rothschilds have made at London and at Paris, to Lady Schreiber's,
and many more, in England.
What are accessible to us are the private collections of some of our own
people.
In New York, Mr. WILLIAM C. PRIME's collection is quite large, numbering
some four thousand pieces. It is particularly devoted to the porcelains
of Europe, and is an excellent collection. In it are some four or five
complete dinner-services of old Dresden and Sèvres porcelain, and many
single pieces which rank high.
Mr. S. P. AVERY's collection of Oriental porcelains is the most complete
we have, and is very rich in all the departments, especially the
Chinese. His pieces of "celestial blue" number more than any other
single collection in this country.
In the Loan Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art have been
exhibited many examples from Mr. Prime's collection of porcelains, and
about five hundred pieces of Oriental ware from Mr. Avery's, of nearly
every distinctive style made in China and Japan in their best times.
The collection of Mr. ROBERT HOE, Jr., is extremely choice in its
admirable specimens of Oriental porcelain. Its egg-shells, crackles, and
"celestial blues," are not to be excelled. In this collection are also
examples of other styles, among them some of the best of old Dresden.
Mr. W. L. ANDREWS, of New York, has a very choice collection of Oriental
porcelain, probably the best in the country, and, containing the most of
the "rose-back" and other "egg-shell."
Mr. EDWARD CUNNINGHAM, of Milton, Massachusetts, has many superb vases,
some of them of great size, obtained by himself in China.
In Albany, Mr. J. V. L. PRUYN has several complete dinner-services of
Sèvres porcelain, made for King Louis Philippe, one large service of
Lowestoft, and many other individual and interesting specimens. Some of
his examples of Sèvres painting cannot be surpassed. He has also a small
breakfast-service of "celestial blue," mounted in silver, which is
excellent.
In Boston, Mr. G. W. WALES's collection is very varied and rich. He has
excellent examples of Oriental and of European porcelains, and some
perfect pieces of "celestial blue." Many of his best specimens are on
loan in the Boston Art Museum.
Mrs. ANSON BURLINGAME's collection of Chinese porcelain, at Cambridge,
made while in China, is not large, but it has in it some of the best
examples of the "green," the "celestial blue," the "rose," and the
"chrysanthemum." Some of these have been exhibited in the Loan
Collection in Boston.
Dr. F. W. LEWIS and Mr. E. S. CLARKE, of Philadelphia, have small and
good collections, particularly devoted to Oriental porcelains.
Mr. W. S. VAUX and Dr. LEWIS have made interesting exhibitions of the
pottery of Greece and of Italy.
Mr. JOSEPH A. CLAY, of Philadelphia, has a small and valuable collection
of early Peruvian pottery, of the period before the Spanish Conquest.
There is also a varied collection of South and North American Indian
pottery in the Peabody Museum at Cambridge.
There may be, and probably are, in the United States many interesting
collections of which I know nothing. I am told that Mr. WALTERS, of
Baltimore, and Mr. PROBASCO, of Cincinnati, both have many very rare and
valuable pieces; but, I regret to say, I have had no opportunity of
seeing them.
I do not doubt that the love for these fine works of man's hand will
grow, that more and more small collections will be begun, and that time
will make them large and valuable and interesting.
A word of caution may be said to guard against imitations, which abound
in Europe. I hear now that the Chinese and Japanese are learning, all
too quickly, our Christian ways of counterfeiting, and are likely to
better the instruction.
In conclusion, I implore our people not to fill their houses with
imitations of old things--not even when the antiques are good is it
desirable to encourage porcelain-painters in that sort of thing: when it
comes to copying antiquity which is _poor_, it is inexcusable; and when
we reach the _counterfeiting_ of the antique, it smacks of baseness.
For this sort of thing we, the public, are responsible. The painter
paints what will sell.
No gentleman or lady should consent to be shabby, or to help other
people along that facile road. Let us keep our eyes open to any and all
_new_ work which is good, and especially to all which shows originality
and courage on the part of modelers or of painters. Let us moderns
admire the good in the Orientals, but let us worship our _own_ gods, and
dare and do for ourselves.
As far as practicable, I have in these pages pointed to examples, and
have illustrated by such as are owned in this country; so that many
persons who wish to examine these interesting works of fictile art may
see them for themselves.
The public collections are of course all open; and I am glad to say that
private collectors seem willing and ready to open their collections to
students as much as possible. It is human and pleasant to wish that
others should enjoy what we enjoy.
_Marks_, and especially upon porcelain, are not the most important
thing; but still they are important, and to many are most satisfactory.
I have therefore included in this volume all the prominent ones; so that
the book will be found useful not only to the collector at home, but
also to him who travels abroad.
The traveler who has a wise hobby gets a thousand times more pleasure
from his travels than he who has no purpose except change of place and
aimless movement. I suggest to the man who has none to try "pottery and
porcelain."
As to _prices_ of porcelain, etc., I have given those paid at actual
sales whenever I could find them; they will be of service to buyers and
collectors, as something of a guide to what they may safely pay.
_Books_ which may be referred to, and especially such as may be found in
some of our public libraries, are given at the end of the volume.
I hope the public will buy this book, and also good pottery and
porcelain.
_C. W. E._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
UNGLAZED POTTERY.
The Pottery of the Stone Age.--The Lacustrine Dwellings.--Vases of the
Bronze Age.--Peruvian Pottery.--Mexican Pottery.--Pottery of Western
Mounds.--The Cesnola Collections.--Roman Pottery.--Saxon and
Scandinavian Pottery.--The Pottery of Ancient Gaul--of Ancient
Germany.....PAGE 13
CHAPTER II.
UNGLAZED POTTERY.--THE GREEK VASE.
Palaces of Homer's Heroes.--The Ceramicus at Athens.--Egyptian
Pottery.--Etruscan Tombs.--Good and Bad Vases.--Age of Vases.--Various
Styles.--The Archaic Style.--The Fine Style.--Beauty a Birthright.--Aspasia's
House.--Names of Vases.--The Cup of Arcesilaus.--Number of Extant
Vases.--Their Uses.--The Greek Houses.--Greek Women.--Greek Men.--The
Hetairai.--Etruscan Vases.....29
CHAPTER III.
UNGLAZED POTTERY AT THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1876.
Unglazed Water-Colors.--Clay Sketches.--Japanese Clay Figures.--Spanish
Pots.--Italian Peasant Pottery.--Egyptian.--Turkish.--Mexican.--Watcombe
Terra-cotta.--Copenhagen Pottery.....63
CHAPTER IV.
GLAZED POTTERY.--GRÈS DE FLANDRE, FRENCH, GERMAN, ETC.
Definition of Glaze.--Varnish.--Enamel in Egypt, Babylon.--The Arabs and
the Moors.--Grès de Flandre.--Cologne, Regensburg, Baireuth, Neuwied,
Grenzhausen, Coblentz.--Holland.--Beauvais.--Flanders.--Apostle-Mugs.
--Graybeards.--"Bellarmines."--"Pottle-Pots."--Modern Work.--Doulton
Stone-ware.--Early German Stone-ware at Breslau.--Hirschvogel.
--Nuremberg.....69
CHAPTER V.
GLAZED POTTERY.--MOORISH, PERSIAN, RHODIAN, ETC., ETC.
The Arabs in Spain.--Cordova, Granada, Seville.--Enamel and
Lustres.--Hispano-Moresque.--The Alhambra.--Tiles.--Vase of the
Alhambra.--Malaga.--Majorca and Maiolica.--Rhodian Pottery.--Damascus
Pottery.--Persian and Arabic Pottery.--Persian Porcelain.--Persian and
Arabic Tiles.....81
CHAPTER VI.
GLAZED POTTERY.--ITALIAN MAIOLICAS.
The Word Maiolica, or Majolica.--Italian Renaissance.--The Dark
Ages.--The Crusades.--The Mezza-Maiolica.--The True Maiolica.--Luca
della Robbia.--Urbino.--Xanto and Fontana.--Raffaelesque Ware.--Mr.
Fortnum.--Prices to-day.--Gubbio.--Maestro Giorgio.--The
Lustres.--Castel-Durante.--Faenza.--The Sgraffito.--Forli, Venice,
Castelli, etc.--Castellani.--Maiolicas at the Centennial.....95
CHAPTER VII.
FRENCH FAIENCE.--PALISSY WARE, AND HENRI-DEUX WARE.
Bernard Palissy.--The Catholics and the
Huguenots.--Saintes.--Figurines.--The Centennial
Exhibition.--Prices.--Henri-Deux--where made--when.--Copies at
Philadelphia.--List of Pieces extant, and Prices.....123
CHAPTER VIII.
FRENCH FAIENCE.--NEVERS, ROUEN, BEAUVAIS, ETC.
Number of Manufactories.--Their Rise and
Decline.--Nevers.--Prices.--Beauvais.--Rouen.--Moustiers.--Strasbourg,
or Haguenau.--Marseilles.--Sarreguemines.--Sinceny, Nancy, Creil,
Montpellier.--Paris.--Paris to-day.--Limoges.--Deck.....138
CHAPTER IX.
DUTCH DELFT AND ENGLISH EARTHEN-WARE.
Delft, Number of Fabriques.--Haarlem.--Paste.--Great
Painters.--Violins.--Tea-Services.--A Dutch Stable.--Broeck Dutch
Tiles.--England.--Queen Elizabeth.--Pepys's Diary.--Brown
Stone-ware.--The Tyg.--Lambeth Pottery.--Fulham Pottery.--Elers.--Elizabethan
Pottery.--Stoke-upon-Trent.--Josiah Wedgwood.--Cheapness.--Queen's-ware.
--Jasper-ware.--Flaxman.--Cameos.--Basalt.--The Portland Vase.--Prices.....153
CHAPTER X.
THE PORCELAIN OF CHINA.
Difficulties.--The Porcelain Tower at Nanking.--First Making of
Porcelain.--Kaolin and Pe-tun-tse.--Marco Polo.--Portuguese
Importation.--The City of King-te-chin.--Jacquemart's Groups.--Symbolic
Decoration.--Inscriptions.--The Ming Period.--The Celestial Blue.--The
Celadons.--Reticulated Cups.--The Crackle.--Various Periods.--Individualism.
--Marks and Dates.....175
CHAPTER XI.
THE PORCELAIN OF JAPAN.
Corean Porcelain.--Katosiro-ouye-mon.--The Province of Idsoumi.--Styles
prevailing in Japan.--Marks.--Japanese Blue.--Indian Porcelain.--Dutch
East India Company.--Egg-shell and Crackle.--Mandarin China.--Kaga
Ware.--Satsuma Ware.--Japanese Art.--The Philadelphia Exhibition.....210
CHAPTER XII.
THE PORCELAINS OF CENTRAL EUROPE--DRESDEN, BERLIN, HÖCHST, ETC.
Dresden China.--Porcelain in Europe.--The Alchemists.--Augustus
II.--Böttger.--Tschirnhaus.--Experiments.--Kaolin discovered.--Höroldt
and Kändler.--Fine Art, or Decorative Art.--Lindenir.--Angelica
Kauffmann.--Rococo-Work.--Collectors.--Marcolini.--Prices.--Marks.--Berlin.
--The Seven Years' War.--Frederick the Great.--Prices.--Marks.--Vienna.
--Stenzel.--Maria Theresa.--Lamprecht.--Prices.--Marks.--Hungary.--Herend.
--Fischer.--Marks.--Höchst, or Mayence.--Ringler.--Marks.--Frankenthal, or
Bavarian.--Carl Theodor.--Melchior.--Prices.--Marks.--Fürstenburg, or
Brunswick.--Von Lang.--Prices.--Marks.--Nymphenburg.--Heintzmann and
Lindemann.--Prices.--Marks.--Ludwigsburg, or Kronenburg.--Fulda.
--Hesse-Cassel.--Switzerland.--Marks.....229
CHAPTER XIII.
THE PORCELAIN OF FRANCE--ST.-CLOUD, CHANTILLY, SÈVRES, ETC.
Hard and Soft Porcelain.--Discovery of Kaolin.--St.-Cloud.--_Pâte
Tendre._--Marks.--Rouen.--Small Manufactories.--Marks of
same.--Chantilly.--Scéaux-Penthièvre.--Niderviller.--Marks.--Limoges.
--Sèvres.--Flower-Work.--Hard Porcelain, _Pâte Dure_.--The Grand Monarque.
--Florid Taste.--Boucher.--Vieux Sèvres.--Three Vases.--Greek Vases.--Prices
at Bernal Sale.--Chemists.--Colors used.--Collections.--Art
Museums.--Alexandra Brongniart.--Marks and Dates.....253
CHAPTER XIV.
THE PORCELAINS OF SOUTHERN EUROPE--ITALY, SPAIN, ETC.
Florentine, or Medicean.--Is it a True Porcelain?--The House of
Medici.--Marks.--Doccia Porcelain.--The MarquisGinori.--Beccheroni.--Present
Work.--Marks.--Venice.--Vezzi.--Cozzi.--Marks.--Turin.--Gioanetti.--Marks.
--Nove.--Terraglia.--Marks.--Capo di Monte.--Naples.--In
Relief.--Marks.--Spanish Porcelain.--Buen Retiro.--Marks.--Portugal.....274
CHAPTER XV.
THE PORCELAINS OF ENGLAND.
Bow.--Chelsea.--Derby.--Chelsea-Derby.--Lowestoft.--Worcester.--Chamberlains.
--Plymouth.--Bristol.--Pinxton.--Nantgaraw.--Swansea.--Turners.--Coalport.
--Coalbrookdale.--Herculaneum.--Shelton, New Hall.--Rockingham.--Spode,
Copeland.--Place.--Daniell.--Minton.--Prices and Marks.....288
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PORCELAINS OF NORTHERN EUROPE.
Holland and Belgium.--Oriental
Trade.--Weesp.--Marks.--Loosdrecht.--Amstel, Old and New.--Marks.--The
Hague.--Marks.--Lille.--Mark.--Tournay.--Marks.--Sweden.--Gustavus
Adolphus and Charles XII.--Marieberg.--Rörstrand.--Marks.--Denmark.
--Copenhagen.--Marks.--Russia.--Peter the Great.--Catherine II.--Marks.
--Tver.--Gardner.--Moscow.--Popoff.--Gulena.--Mark.--Poland.--Korzec.....319
CHAPTER XVII.
POTTERY AND PORCELAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
The First Porcelain made here.--Bonnin and Morris.--Franklin
Institute.--William Ellis Tucker.--Tucker and Hemphill.--Thomas
Tucker.--General Tyndale.--Porcelain of T. C. Smith and Sons.--Early
Advertisements.--Josiah Wedgwood.--Lord Sheffield's Report.--Alexander
Hamilton's Report.--History of Norwich.--Samuel Dennis, New
Haven.--Isaac Hanford, Hartford.--Gallatin's Report.--The "Washington
Pitchers."--Lyman and Fenton, Vermont.--Rouse and Turner, New
Jersey.--Potteries at Trenton.--In Ohio.--The Centennial
Exhibition.....331
POTTERY AND PORCELAIN.
CHAPTER I.
UNGLAZED POTTERY.
The Pottery of the Stone Age.--The Lacustrine Dwellings.--Vases of
the Bronze Age.--Peruvian Pottery.--Mexican Pottery.--Pottery of
Western Mounds.--The Cesnola Collections.--Roman Pottery.--Saxon
and Scandinavian Pottery.--The Pottery of Ancient Gaul--of Ancient
Germany.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--_Bowl of the Stone Age._]
So ancient is the potter's art that it may be said to have begun with
the beginnings of man. A belief exists still in Silesia that there is a
mountain out of which cups and jugs spring spontaneously, as the
mushrooms shoot from the moist soil of the plains. Interwoven, then, as
pottery is with the history of the race, having relations daily and
hourly with man's universal and greatest vocation--the preparation of
the food which supports and continues _life_--it has had and will have
an interest as vital as it is wide-spread.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--_Vase of the Stone Age._]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--_Vase of the Bronze Age._]
MAN A COOKING ANIMAL.--Man is the only cooking animal, so far as I know.
It is easy to believe that archaic man, when he began to evolve from the
animal state, at once began to invent, and that, after he had discovered
the uses of fire, the first need was of vessels which could be used upon
the fire to seethe and boil.
And what do we find?
THE REINDEER AGE--THE STONE AGE.--Of prehistoric times, when the
reindeer roved free over Europe, even to the shores of the
Mediterranean, in the Stone age, even when man lived in caves and was
only able to fashion things with stones, a few pots have been found,
showing how early his wants led him to fashion things of clay.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--_Vase of the Bronze Age._]
The LACUSTRINE DWELLINGS of the Stone Age have given up a few traces of
men. The remains of lake-dwellers have been found mostly in Switzerland,
but somewhat in Ireland and Scotland. These reveal a people who built
their huts for safety upon piles or upon fascines anchored in the small
lakes. A variety of interesting things, consisting of spear-heads,
knives, hatchets, etc., have been found, some of flint, some of bone,
and some of bronze. Among these, which pertain to our subject, are a few
pots of clay, which have survived the gnawing tooth of Time.
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--_Bronze Age._]
In Figs. 1 and 2 are to be seen two of these. They are coarse and
clumsy, and are of blackish-gray clay, hardened in the sun or in an
insufficient fire. They are not turned upon a wheel, but show marks of
the fingers impressed in the soft clay. Yet we cannot but be struck with
the faint attempt at decoration to be seen on the foot of one of them,
even in that era of savageness.
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--_Bronze Age._]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--_Bronze Age._]
The BRONZE AGE yields up pottery which does not yet show the invention
of the potter's wheel. The work is still moulded by the hand, but the
clay is better, and the forms begin to show clear indications of a
sense of proportion and a considerable degree of choice. The shapes are
in greater variety, and some of them certainly are good. Of the five
examples (Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7) none are very bad, and two (Figs. 3
and 4), if not three, are excellent.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--_Peruvian._]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--_Peruvian._]
The pointed bottom appears here as it does in the early forms of the
Greek amphora; and, as the illustrations show, this involves a necessity
for a further invention in the tripods upon which they rest. I have seen
no explanation of this more difficult construction, and can think of
none. It is certainly no easier to make the pointed than the flat
bottom, and it certainly is not so useful. Why, then, was it so common?
I can only suppose that when _first_ made the point was intended to be
thrust into the ground; but the moment they had hit upon the flat
bottom, that moment the point, I should fancy, would have been
abandoned; but it evidently was not. Perhaps they loved the _old_ as
some of us do, not because it was good, but _because it was old_. Who
can tell?
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--_Ancient Peru._]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--_Ancient Peru._]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--_Ancient Peru._]
How early the varied decoration showed itself we cannot know, but in
many examples of early fictile work, the meander, the chevron or
saw-tooth, and the fret, now called the Greek fret, are sure to
appear--and among the most diverse and distant nations; so, too, the
forms and the uses of the vessels.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--_Ancient Peru._]
Do not these things show that man develops everywhere along a
corresponding line? They have not copied from one another, but a like
want has produced a similar result in all.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--_Ancient Peru._]
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--_Ancient Peru._]
As we approach the historic ages, we find among the Egyptians, the
Mexicans, the Peruvians, the Greeks, the Assyrians, the Romans, the
Gauls, the Germans, the use of the potter's wheel, one of the earliest
machines made by man. Of the Egyptian and Greek pottery I shall have
something to say in a chapter upon the "_Greek Vase_."
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--_Roman Cup._]
The MEXICAN pottery, sometimes called _Aztec_, is usually of reddish
clay, and the vessels are almost identical in form and decoration with
those of the Peruvians, which will appear in their place. They are of
great variety, and must have been made in large numbers. The Mexicans
also made grotesques and idols of clay, which are usually hideous, and
are intended to be; for the gods of evil were those they feared and
worshiped most. These potteries are of unglazed clay, as are all those
we are now treating.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--_Roman Vase._]
The civilizations which organized themselves in Mexico have always been
an interesting and curious study. When Cortez and his conquering,
gold-seeking white men reached the high lands of the beautiful interior
(1517), they found the splendid city of Mexico, built over and along the
shores of the inland lake, and stretching toward the foot-hills which
protect it from unfriendly winds. Here the Aztecs had organized society.
They had succeeded to the Toltecs, a prosperous, industrious, and
probably a peaceful people--a people coming from the warmer South, and
unable to cope with the more hardy Aztecs, who came down from the North.
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--_Roman Vase found at London._]
These Aztecs had not only developed the arts of architecture and
painting, as well as most of the mechanic arts; they had also reached to
a literature, to laws, to a religion most elaborate and splendid; and
they had not neglected to conquer and tax surrounding tribes, and make
them pay tribute, as all the "great" white nations of the world have
done. But all their civilizations, laws, religions, arts, were swept
into ruin by the conquering hand of Cortez and his successors.
And what have we now in Mexico? What has come of the destruction of the
great Indian races there? What but greed, anarchy, cruelty, ruin? It
would be a curious speculation now to picture what that country--the
most beautiful and most bountiful--might now be in the hands of its own
people, and with a government which could protect life and make labor
safe. As it is, its life and its art give us nothing to look at or to
enjoy.
Must man always destroy first in order that he may build up, and then be
himself destroyed? No remains have come to us of glazed pottery
belonging to these times; and it is probable that, their wants being
fewer, their climate milder, and their food simpler, invention was not
so much on the alert as it might have been in a colder and harsher
climate. That these races were for some unknown reason superior to those
living farther to the north, none will doubt when they know what they
accomplished as compared with the Indians of the United States.
The PERUVIANS were the most cultivated and comfortable nation upon the
Western Continent when Pizarro (1531) invaded, and, I may say, destroyed
them. Indeed, when we read the accounts given of them by the Spanish
writers themselves, we have only another proof that what we call
"carrying to other peoples the blessings of civilization and
Christianity" means rather the cursing them with cruelty and greed.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--_Vase. Pottery of Ancient Gaul._]
A large collection of their pottery was shown at the United States
Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, and there is a sufficient and most
interesting exhibit of it in the Peabody Museum at Harvard in Cambridge.
In this collection, also, are to be found many examples of like unglazed
pottery found in the Western mounds of the United States by Professors
Shaler and Carr, who for some years have been engaged in researches in
Kentucky and at other points in the West.
Upon some examples of this American pottery (Figs. 8 to 15) are to be
seen decorations in color, mostly red, black, and brown; and it would
seem impossible that these colors should have lasted through so many
centuries, if they were not fixed by fire, and therefore were mineral.
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--_Pottery of Ancient Gaul._]
The decorations, too, were somewhat varied, but in none which I have
seen do they go beyond the elementary styles already mentioned.
The production of idols and fantastic vases, animals and grotesques,
must have been extensive, as so many of these have already been found;
indicating that they must have been common in their day. Examples of
this fantastic decoration and modeling are seen in Figs. 12 to 15--and
in Fig. 14 is an approach to portraiture. In one (Fig. 15) is seen the
double-bellied bottle, so much in use in China and Japan. The
twin-bottles seen in Figs. 8 and 9 are good examples of a fancy which
evidently pleased potter and people in those "good old Peruvian times."
A most singular fact is mentioned by Demmin, that on one of their
_casseroles_ the handle is clearly the phallus, symbol of life, found on
Egyptian sculptures, and once worshiped.
One curious fact is asserted by the French _savants_,[1] that there is
abundant evidence to show that through a long succession of years,
perhaps three thousand, the character of these American potteries grew
less and less pure and simple, and more and more debased and vulgar;
which one can well believe, when we see everywhere that whole nations,
some of them calling themselves civilized, have gone the same road,
downward from the good to the bad, and not upward toward the true and
the beautiful.
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--_Ancient Gaul._]
The opening of the CESNOLA collections, at the New York Museum of Arts,
shows us a vast number of early potteries which are as yet hardly
classified or understood. Many of them bear marks of Assyrian or of
Phoenician inspiration; and among them are rude vessels closely
resembling those of Peru, and also many grotesque forms of vases and
animals, such as mark the early attempts at Art in other nations. That
collection should be examined by those who are interested in this
subject.
The hand-book published by the Museum is full of condensed information,
and should be carefully preserved.
The pottery of the ROMANS went wherever their armies went. Thus it is
found in France, in England, in Germany, in Spain, etc., etc. This Roman
pottery has been found where excavations have been made, in Italy, in
France, in England, along the Rhine, and in other places. It is
distinguished as being more heavy and clumsy in form than that made in
Greece, and the color of the clay is red, lighter or darker. The best of
the Roman ware is often called _Samian_, because it was supposed to
resemble that made at Samos in Greece, though it is quite different. The
finest pieces approach to the color of sealing-wax, and have a lustre
thin and brilliant, which has given rise to some dispute whether or not
it is the result of an applied mineral varnish, or whether it is the
product of careful hand-friction, developed and perfected by a high
heat. The varnish, if such, is so thin that it has not been possible to
analyze and decide upon it.
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--_Ancient Gaul._]
This red Samian or Roman much resembles the polished red ware made
to-day in Egypt--of which a collection was shown in the recent
Philadelphia Exhibition, and this bore no varnish.
One thing remarked as to this Roman pottery is, that it is never
decorated with designs or ornaments in one or more colors. The
decoration is sometimes incised, but more often is in relief. This is
curious, too, as those master-potters, the Greeks, used colors in their
designs. These pieces are to be seen in the museums of Paris, London,
and elsewhere. The example engraved (Fig. 16) is a cup on which the
decoration is in relief, and the fillets and bands are carefully moulded
on the potter's wheel.
Figs. 17 and 18 were found in excavations made in 1845 in the city of
London, and are excellent examples of this pottery. They are now in the
Museum of Geology at London.
Fig. 17 is a sort of vase, or perhaps a drinking-cup, and is ornamented
with the head of an animal. It is described as of "a pale red with a
darkish-brown varnish."
Fig. 18 is called the "Cup of Samos," resembling so much as it does the
work made at Samos. While these pieces were found in the earth beneath
the city of London, many others have been found elsewhere; and much is
believed to have been made at the old Anglo-Roman town of Caistre, in
England, where remains of many furnaces have been unearthed.
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--_Ancient Gaul._]
Roman pottery has been found on the banks of the Rhine, near Bonn,
Coblentz, Mayence, in Baden, etc., etc.; in France, at Auvergne, and at
other points.
This finer work is supposed to date about the first century of our era.
It is classed by M. Demmin as being made at Arezzo, the ancient Aretium,
in Tuscany.
COMMONER styles of Roman pottery were made, and many examples of these
have been found of a coarser clay, and varying in color, gray, black,
and yellow, or light paleish red; sometimes with a black or brown
varnish. These were doubtless made for the common uses of the kitchen.
The drinking-cups of this pottery often bore inscriptions, such as
_Ave_, welcome; _Vivas_, live; _Bibe_, drink; _Vive, bibe multum_, live
and drink much, etc.
[Illustration: FIG. 24.--_Ancient German._]
Pottery was undoubtedly made by the Saxons, the Scandinavians, the
Gauls, and the Germans, before the coming of Roman armies and Roman
potters. Of these early remains examples have been found in the
_barrows_ of England, and in other excavations.
M. Cleuziou published a work in 1872, "La Poterie Gauloise,"[2] warmly
and strenuously claiming for the Gauls an art and a pottery before the
coming of the all-grasping Romans; who, he asserts, not only stole their
country, but also have claimed to be their benefactors and civilizers
when they were not. I cannot, of course, discuss the question here. The
engravings given (Figs. 19, 20, 21, 22, 23) are quoted by M. Figuier,
from whom I take them, as examples of this early and curious work. Some
of these certainly seem to indicate an inspiration original and quite
different from what we see among the Romans. Later, and after the coming
of the Romans, there were produced in Gaul vases and other articles,
which may well be called "_Gallo-Romaine_," or _Gallic-Roman_.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.--_German Pottery._]
[Illustration: FIG. 26.--_German Pottery._]
The GERMAN potters also produced at a very early day large quantities of
pottery, which has a character of its own. That it must have been very
extensively made and used is evident from the many specimens exhumed in
various parts of Germany; in such numbers, indeed, that the peasantry
have a profound belief they are the work of the dwarfs, and that they
sprout spontaneously like mushrooms, as I have said. The examples we
present are more simple than most of the Roman work, and the decoration
is more severe. (Figs. 24, 25, 26.)
Pots, vases, and children's toys, are also found in tombs in various
parts of Germany, some of which show decided marks of art.
In some of these are found the ashes of the dead, in others bones broken
up, and so preserved.