twelve inches in height, and ten inches in length. The face of the
figure of Franklin is exceedingly fine, and is, in a degree, unlike any
other portrait of him that I have seen. It has all the benignancy and
sweetness of expression with which we are familiar, and an added
nobility and intelligence which is more marked and more impressive than
in any other likeness. It is an ideal portrait of Franklin, which must
be regarded with pleasure and interest by every historical student. The
figure of the King is also extremely fine and imposing. The face is
beautiful, the carriage manly, and the half suit of armor, with the long
royal cloak of ermine, form an impressive contrast with the simple
fur-trimmed garment of Franklin, whose figure is slightly bent, but
still impressive. The King holds in his hand a parchment book or scroll
bearing on one leaf in golden letters the words, “Indépendance de
l’Amérique,” and on another leaf, “Liberté des Mers.” This group was
made to commemorate our treaty with France in 1788. It is beautifully
modelled and of highest artistic merit, and must take rank as the most
important relic of our country that has yet been figulated. It bears the
stamp “Niderviller,” and was made at that factory while it was owned by
Count Custine. He had fought with Lafayette in the war for American
Independence, and doubtless knew Franklin. The statue was evidently
modelled from life. Count Custine also gave to Washington the beautiful
tea-service described on page 244 _et seq._ Three only of these portrait
groups of Franklin and Louis XVI. are known to exist; the only perfect
one is owned by William C. Prime, Esq., of New York, and will form part
of the Trumbull-Prime Collection at Princeton; from it the illustration
here given was taken. Another imperfect one is in the possession of
William A. Hoppin, Esq., of Providence; and a third and mutilated
specimen is in the Huntington Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art.
40. Franklin. Medallions. Nini.
Some very good medallions of Benjamin Franklin were manufactured by Jean
Baptiste Nini, who in 1760 entered the employ of M. Leray, or M. de
Chaumont, at Chaumont. Nini was a glass engraver of rare merit, and his
work on these medallions was very beautiful. The fine copper moulds for
his medallions that he employed were melted down into ingots in 1820.
His work may be known by the mark engraved in the soft-paste of “Nini,”
or “J. B. Nini F.”—sometimes with the date. He made at least six
different sizes of medallions of Franklin, some of which bear the date
in relief.
Franklin, writing from Passy in 1779 to his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Bache,
speaks thus of these Nini medallions: “The clay medallion of me you say
you gave Mr. Hopkinson was the first of the kind made in France. A
variety of others have been made since of various sizes; some to be set
in the lids of snuff-boxes, and some so small as to be worn in rings;
and the numbers sold are incredible. These, with the pictures and prints
(of which copies upon copies are spread everywhere), have made your
father’s face as well known as that of the moon, so that he durst not do
anything that would oblige him to run away, as his phiz would discover
him whereever he should venture to show it. It is said by learned
etymologists that the name of doll for the image children play with is
derived from the word idol. From the number of dolls now made of him he
may be truly said, in that sense, to be idolized in this country.”
In several other published letters Franklin speaks of making gifts of
these medallions to his friends, and states that they were made at
Chaumont. Madame de Campan says that they were sold at the palace of
Versailles, and bore this motto, “_Eripuit cœlo fulmen, sceptrumque
tyrannis._”
There are in the Huntington Collection several specimens of these Nini
medallions, that collection containing in all eleven medallions of
Franklin, many of which being unmarked it is futile to attempt to
classify. A Nini medallion having a fine fur-cap portrait sold in the
Governor Lyon sale for ten dollars. Mr. Huntington wrote thus to Hon.
John Bigelow, of Nini and his medallions: “He must have had a certain
vogue in his time, medallions of folks of the superior classes from his
hand still turning up at sales and in curiosity shops. He did two
Franklins—both at the Metropolitan Museum—dated and signed. The smaller
one, with the cap, ‘1777 B. Franklin, Américain,’ was among the earliest
of the Franklin idols made here, and has been numerously reproduced by
French, English, and other engravers. The larger, which is of the more
usual size of Nini’s work, is much rarer, has never been engraved from,
as far as I know, and is to my notion one of the most finely
characterized of all the Franklin portraits—1799 (and in some copies
MDCCLXXIX.; you will find specimens of both in the museum), with
Turgot’s lines for the legend. In his letter to his daughter, Passy, 3d
of June, B. F. writes: ‘The clay medallion of me you say you gave Mr.
Hopkinson was the first of the kind made in France.’ This must be the
one with the cap. If the Ven. F. is correct in his statement, it would
curiously seem that his friend Chaumont set Nini at him as soon as he
caught the artist, to start (we should now say inaugurate) his furnace
at Chaumont with the likeness of his friend.”
41. Franklin. Medallion. Wedgwood.
This appears in Wedgwood’s Catalogue of 1787 under the head of
“Illustrious Moderns.” It was made in black basalt and blue and white
jasper. There appear to have been two of these portraits; for at the
sale of the collection of Dr. Gibson, in London, March, 1877, a blue
jasper medallion of Dr. Franklin, by Wedgwood & Bentley, was sold for
£12 12s., while one with the fur-cap by Wedgwood sold for £11. Specimens
can be seen in the Huntington Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, and in the Trumbull-Prime Collection at Princeton.
42. Franklin. Cameo. Wedgwood.
In Wedgwood’s Catalogue of 1787. Made in white on colored grounds, and
in pure white.
43. Franklin. Intaglio. Wedgwood.
This is named in Wedgwood’s Catalogue of 1787. It was smaller, to be
used as a seal, and was of black ware highly polished. One may be seen
in the Trumbull-Prime Collection.
44. Franklin. Oval Plaque. Bristol.
This medallion of Franklin is upon one of Richard Champion’s exquisite
flower-plaques. This plaque is considered by Owen to be “the most
important” of Champion’s work. Champion was an ardent admirer of America
and Americans, and his special veneration for Franklin evidently
impelled him to produce this elaborate work. It is eight and a half
inches in length, and seven and a half in width, the portrait bust being
surrounded immediately by a laurel wreath tied with a bow-knot, and
outside the laurel wreath by a rich wreath of roses and lilies in highly
raised and most delicate work. Another specimen of the same medallion is
known to exist upon a plain ground plaque, and has often been attributed
to the Sèvres manufactory. One of these flower-plaques with the bust of
Franklin was exhibited at the Loan Collection in New York, in 1889, by
Dr. Caspar Wister Hodge, of Princeton, N. J. Rev. Dr. Hodge was the
grandson of William Bache, the grandson of Franklin. Dr. Hodge’s mother
was born in Franklin’s house in Philadelphia, and her account of the
flower-plaque was that it was made at the Sèvres manufactory and was the
gift of Louis XVI. to Benjamin Franklin; that it had been sent to
America by private hands, in connection with a similar one of George
Washington, which was surmounted by a gilt crown; and that the
messenger, in officious democratic zeal, picked off the crown with his
penknife before delivering the medallion.
Dr. Hodge said it was a complete surprise to him, and it could not have
been a very pleasant one, when he offered the plaque for exhibition in
New York, to be told that it was Bristol china, and was not unique. Of
course these latter facts might be so without destroying the other part
of the family tradition—that it was a royal gift; but it is far more
probable that Richard Champion presented this choice specimen of his
work to Franklin, for in a letter to Champion, written from Paris,
January 2, 1778, the unknown writer speaks of a visit to Franklin, and
says: “He begs his compliments and is much obliged for your present,
which arrived in perfect safety. He says that there is a good likeness
with Wedgwood & Bentley’s, only with this difference, that he wears his
hair, which is rather straight and long, instead of a wig, and is very
high in his forehead.”
In the Lewis sale of Washington relics, held in Philadelphia, in
December, 1890, there was sold an “oval porcelain plaque with a bust of
Benjamin Franklin in a wreath of china roses and lilies, 8½ inches by 7½
inches.” This I believe to have been the one which tradition in the
Hodge family says came over to Washington. Some of the Bristol
flower-plaques had a crown above the medallion; one in Mr. Edkin’s
Collection is illustrated in Owen’s “Two Centuries of Ceramic Art in
Bristol.” The Franklin plaque sold in Philadelphia for ninety dollars—a
price to make an English collector groan with envy—while the one in Mr.
Edkin’s Collection (from which is taken the engraving in Mr. Owen’s
book) sold in England in 1874 for £150. Dr. Hodge had an insurance of
one thousand dollars offered to him on his Franklin plaque when it was
in New York.
45. Franklin. Medallion. Neale & Co.
The head of Dr. Franklin in pottery, by Neale & Co., Hanley. It is an
oval medallion.
Franklin. Relief Portrait. Dresden.
See No. 29.
46. Franklin. Statuette. Wood.
This pottery statue is fifteen inches in height, and is neither very
impressive nor well modelled. One in the Huntington Collection is
colored, Poor Richard being gayly attired in gray coat, yellow
waistcoat, and pink breeches. He carries his hat under his left arm, and
a scroll in his left hand. Another in the same collection is precisely
like it, save that the head only is colored. It is labelled, in gold
letters, “General Washington.” This mistake easily arose, for the
statuette of Washington, described in No. 24, is exactly like this
Franklin statuette except the head, which in the latter has flowing
natural hair. A number of these Franklin statuettes bear the name of
Washington, and it does not matter much, for they do not closely
resemble either of the great Americans. This statuette is attributed to
Ralph Wood or Enoch Wood, of Burslem. There are three of these figures
in the Trumbull-Prime Collection, dressed in vari-colored garments, one
being much smaller, about thirteen inches in height. But for the right
arm being more extended, it would appear that the original mould had
become worn and a new one cast, which in shrinking made this reduction
in the size of this figure. One of these statuettes of Franklin in the
S. L. M. Barlow Collection was sold in 1890 for forty-two dollars.
47. Franklin. Statuette.
In the Catalogue of the Museum of Practical Geology, Number G. 374, is
described thus: “Statuette of Dr. Franklin painted in colors. Height,
13¼ inches. Mounted on square marbled pedestal with oval yellow
medallions in relief; unmarked. This may be a Salopian figure.” One of
these statuettes is in the Huntington Collection; the medallions being
in blue and white. Dr. Franklin wears in this case white breeches, blue
waistcoat, scarlet coat, a blue ribbon with an order, and a long ermine
cloak. This statuette is rather funny, though at first glance it is
quite impressive. The Doctor, comparatively devoid of pendulous chin,
stands erect and beautiful, with his head thrown back with a most
imperious and even imperial air, to which the ermine cloak gives added
weight and zest. He is so erect and so slender that we hardly know him.
But when we glance at his feet, the impression of youthfulness and
beauty vanishes. With feet several sizes too large for his figure, and
gaudy light green slippers several sizes too large even for those feet,
we turn away to our familiar good old dewlapped man with the fur-cap,
and like him better than this splay-footed, ermine-cloaked plantigrade.
48. Franklin. Statuette.
Parian figure about seven inches in height. The likeness is good, though
the feet are abnormally narrow and pointed; unmarked. A copy may be seen
in the Huntington Collection.
49. Franklin. Statuette.
Pottery figure about seven inches in height, leaning on a pink pedestal
decorated with raised white eagles. The coat is black, breeches yellow,
and waistcoat pink. This gayly garbed slim young fellow does not at all
resemble our own Franklin. The statuette is unmarked. A specimen may be
seen in the Huntington Collection.
50. Franklin. Statuette.
This pottery figure is fifteen inches in height, and is in feature and
figure and dress like No. 46, and was evidently modelled by the same
hand. It is a poor thing, and bears but little resemblance to Franklin.
A dilapidated specimen is in the Huntington Collection.
51. Franklin. Mirror Knob.
Print of Franklin in black on oval porcelain plaque in a mirror knob.
For description of these knobs see page 159 _et seq._
52. Franklin. Fur-cap Portrait.
Round plate with fluted border, with splashes of purple and yellow like
No. 81. In the centre a good rendering of the fur-cap portrait of
Franklin. In the Huntington Collection.
53. Franklin. Fur-cap Portrait.
Plate with pierced border like No. 82. Well-painted portrait in centre.
In the Huntington Collection.
54. Franklin. Portrait. Dresden.
A Dresden plate with flower border and good portrait of Franklin. In
Huntington Collection.
55. Franklin. Bust.
Small bust of Franklin in bisque, mounted on a yellow and gold pedestal.
Marked “Francklin.” In Huntington Collection.
56. Franklin. Bust.
A bust of Franklin in what appears to be modern majolica. In Huntington
Collection.
57. Franklin. Bust.
White pottery bust glazed, about ten inches in height. Around the base a
wreath of laurel. In Huntington Collection.
58. Franklin. Bust.
White porcelain bisque bust, five inches in height, mounted on dark blue
and gold stand. In Huntington Collection.
59. Franklin. Portrait. Dresden.
A portrait of Franklin on a great cylindrical covered jar, twenty inches
in height and eight inches in diameter. The portrait is good, though the
mouth is exaggeratedly small and the chin exaggeratedly remultiplied. It
is surrounded by a well-painted wreath of flowers.
Franklin. Figure on Pitcher.
See No. 17.
Franklin. Fur-cap Portrait.
See No. 13.
Franklin. Emblem of America Pitcher.
See No. 98.
60. Franklin. Tomb.
This design was printed in dark blue on dinner, breakfast, tea, and
toilet services in vast numbers. In such large numbers, in fact, that
the pieces with this design are cheaper than any others bearing the
names of any historical personages. I have bought a large teapot for a
dollar, cups and saucers for a dollar, etc. This might be classed among
the Lafayette prints, but as we are not sure that the seated figure is
intended for Lafayette, and Franklin cannot escape the formal witness of
his inscribed tomb, we place it in this place in the list. A teapot
bearing this print is here shown.
[Illustration: Tomb of Franklin Teapot.]
61. Franklin. Print. Fur-cap Portrait.
This print is in black on pitchers and bowls. It is the fur-cap portrait
with the glasses. The legend reads: “Benj^n Franklin Esq. LL.D. and
F.R.S., the brave defender of the country against the oppression of
taxation without representation—author of the greatest discovery in
Natural Philosophy since those of Sir Isaac Newton, viz.: that lightning
is the same with the electric fire.” See No. 18.
62. Franklin. Portrait.
A full-length print of Franklin on mug, with various maxims of Poor
Richard’s.
63. Franklin. Portrait.
A light blue print of Franklin found on toilet services. The philosopher
is seen flying his famous kite.
64. Dr. Franklin’s Maxims.
Plate of cream ware with relief border of scrolls and scallops
intertwined, with words in ornamental capitals, “Fear God: Honour your
Parents.” In the centre is a green print of a view of the inside and
outside of a shop, with figures. Those within are working, those without
are idle. Above, the words, “Dr. Franklin’s Maxims.” Below, the maxims,
“Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee,” “If you would have your
business done, go; if not, send.” This plate is in the possession of
Mrs. Nealy, of Washington, D. C.
65. Franklin’s Morals. Staffordshire.
Dark blue plate with waving edge, and dainty border of fruit, shells,
and flowers. In the centre a man carrying a large key. Houses and a
bridge in the background. On the back of the plate the words,
“Franklin’s Morals, ‘The used key is always bright.’”
66. Franklin. House at Passy.
Upon a beautiful Sèvres vase at the Executive Mansion in Washington is
seen a view of Franklin’s house at Passy.
67. Franklin. Portrait Plaque.
Oval plaque of Italian majolica marked with inscription, “Cortoni Fab
Alari. Beniamino Franklin, C. Brunacci Depinse.” In the Huntington
Collection. There are also three other majolica plates and plaques in
this collection bearing portraits of Franklin.
I may say, in conclusion, what I have already shown in detail, that
there can be no better opportunity of studying the face of Franklin, as
shown in pottery and porcelain, than in the Huntington Collection. There
are eleven relief medallions, eleven enamels, nine busts, six statues,
and a large number of plates and plaques. You can also compare these
ceramic portraits with innumerable bronzes, engravings, art gems,
cameos, gold and silver and pewter work bearing the same serene,
benignant face, and with some very funny though unintentional
caricatures of Franklin by Japanese and Chinese artists, in some of
which the well-known fur-cap has been transformed into a close crop of
short woolly curls.
XV.
DESIGNS RELATING TO LAFAYETTE
I have never seen in America any pieces of English pottery or porcelain
bearing the name, portrait of Lafayette, or any reference to him that
could be assigned to an earlier date of manufacture than 1824, the time
of Lafayette’s last visit to America. It is worthy of note, however,
that the Lafayette pieces of crockery that were printed to commemorate
and illustrate that memorable visit and that triumphal journey are, as a
rule, in a much better state of preservation, freer from marks of fierce
assaulting knives, barer of nicks and cracks, than other American
historical pieces of the same date. The great veneration and affection
felt by all Americans for the noble character of Lafayette, and their
gratitude for his assistance in times of war, were doubtless the cause
of the careful preservation of the pieces relating to him and printed in
his honor. The fine platter shown on page 294, which is the clearest,
darkest, “Landing” print I have ever seen, was always kept carefully
wrapped in an ancient hand-woven “flannel sheet,” and laid away in an
upper drawer of a high chest, a “high-boy,” in a New England farm-house,
until it was ruthlessly removed from its honored seclusion of half a
century, and hung on the wall of my dining-room.
During the triumphal journey of Lafayette through this country in 1824,
ladies, in honor of him, wore sashes and belt-ribbons printed with his
name and likeness, gloves with his portrait stamped upon the back, and
medallions with laudatory inscriptions relating to him fastened upon
their neck-ribbons and necklaces; while men and boys wore Lafayette
medals, medallions, and buttons. Of all these tokens few now remain; but
the various Lafayette plates and pitchers form lasting mementos of the
visit of the “Nation’s Guest.” Few families in New England appear to
have had more than two or three of the Lafayette pieces, but in the
vicinity of New York persons purchased whole dinner services, especially
of the “Landing” pattern. Mrs. Roebling owns the remains of an entire
set purchased by her father, General Warren. Mr. William C. Prime also
owns an entire service.
La Grange, the home of Lafayette, was a familiar scene to Americans, for
many transparencies and paintings of the château were exhibited during
Lafayette’s tour in 1824, and two views of it appear on plates and
platters. With these I continue the list of historical designs and
subjects.
68. Lafayette. La Grange. Enoch Wood & Sons.
This is a dingy and poorly printed view of the gloomy entrance to the
château, with its great fir-trees, an engraving of which is seen in
Cloquet’s “Recollections of Lafayette.” The blue is good in tint, though
the print is indistinct. It has a poor, confused shell border. On the
back the stamp of Enoch Wood & Sons, and the mark “La Grange, the Home
of Lafayette.” A plate with this design is here shown.
[Illustration: La Grange Plate.]
69. Lafayette. La Grange 2. Wood.
The superb platters with this print bear on the back, in a wreath of
laurel, the stamp “Southwest view of Lagrange, the residence of Marquis
La Fayette,” also the impressed stamp of Wood. The color is of the
richest dark blue tint, a true “lapis to delight the world.” Across the
top of the platter the border is formed in a graceful design of grapes
and vine leaves. On the left the border is composed of finely drawn
stalks of hollyhocks. On the right a tree and foliage form the border.
On the lower rim is a design of fleur-de-lis and roses. The view of the
château is different from No. 68, the whole front of the house being
shown. A broad expanse of lawn fills the foreground, across which two
dogs are running. Up a path on the left walk a man, woman, and child. I
have never seen but two pieces bearing this design, both large platters
twenty-three inches long. I purchased one for $12, which large price was
unwillingly paid; but as I had never seen nor heard of any pieces
bearing such a design, I could not bear to lose it when I believed it to
be unique. Within a week after this purchase I saw the second and better
platter and bought it for $1.50, and now I expect to find many another
piece with this “Southwest view of Lagrange.” I give these prices to
show the impossibility of assigning a definite value to those “old blue”
Staffordshire pieces. One of these platters was obtained through the
sale of the old dining-room furnishings of Barnum’s Hotel, in Baltimore.
70. Lafayette. Medallion.
This design is the head of Lafayette in blue on a white porcelain plate,
with the surrounding words, “Welcome, Lafayette, the Nation’s Guest and
our Country’s Glory.” The plate has an embossed border similar in design
to that upon some New Hall plates in my possession. It is unmarked. The
portrait is exceedingly ugly and mean.
71. Lafayette. Portrait.
A pitcher of stone-ware printed in blue, with a portrait of Lafayette on
one side, with this legend, “In commemoration of the visit of Lafayette
to the United States of America in 1824,” and a wreath entwined with
these words, “Lafayette, the Nation’s Guest.” On the other side a head
of Washington. Beneath the nose of the pitcher a spread eagle, and the
terse sentence, “Republicans are not always ungrateful.” One may be seen
in the Trumbull-Prime Collection. I have also seen several for sale in
city “antique shops.”
72. Lafayette. Medallion.
Medallion portrait of Lafayette and similar one of Washington on common
white stone-ware mug. Some of these mugs also have the date 1824, not
the year of manufacture apparently, but the date simply of Lafayette’s
visit to America.
73. Lafayette. Medallion.