surrounded by a chain of elliptical links containing the names, Hull,
Jones, Lawrence, Macdonough, Porter, Blakey, Beatry, Stuart, Washington,
Perry, Rogers, Bainbridge, Decatur. Above are two clasped hands holding
the chain. On the other side is the American eagle with “E Pluribus
Unum,” and a similar enclosing chain with clasped hands and the names
Brown, McComb, Ripley, Pike, Porter, Miller, Bainbridge, Izard, Van
Rensallaer, Adair, Lewis, Gaines, Scott, Jardson. This pitcher is
globose in shape, and of fine quality of ware.
111. Naval Pitcher. Liverpool.
This print of two men-of-war in a close engagement, appears with various
names. A pitcher is here shown with the words Macedonian and the United
States.
[Illustration: Naval Pitcher.]
112. Perry. Portrait.
A white pottery plate with a black print of the portrait of Commodore
Perry, surrounded by a design of flags, cannon, and a frigate; above the
name “Perry.” The edge is scalloped, with a black border. Impressed
mark, “Davenport.” This design appears on pitcher described in No. 115.
113. Perry. Portrait.
A white pottery plate with a black print. In the centre, a full-length
portrait of Commodore Perry surrounded by a design of flags,
powder-kegs, cannon, and a full-rigged frigate. Above the name “Perry.”
The plate has a scalloped edge with a black border.
114. Perry. Portrait.
A portrait of Commodore Perry with the name O. H. Perry, Esq. On a
ribbon scroll, the legend, “We have met the enemy and they are ours,”
the words of Perry’s famous despatch. Under this, the words, “Hero of
the Lake.” See page 142 for description of Perry at this battle.
115. Jackson. Portrait.
A large globose pitcher with a portrait of Jackson, and the words “Major
General Andrew Jackson.” On the other side same portrait of Perry as No.
112. This print is also seen upon plates.
116. Decatur. Portrait.
A portrait of Decatur on a mug. Above, the words “Commodore Decatur;”
below, on a ribbon, the famous war-motto, “Free Trade Sailors Rights.”
The old ballad says,
“Then quickly met our nation’s eyes
The noblest sight in Nature,
A first-class frigate as a prize
Brought back by brave Decatur.”
117. Lawrence. Portrait. Newcastle.
A portrait of Lawrence in copper-lustre on cream-ware pitcher, with
motto, “Don’t surrender the ship.” His dying words, “Don’t give up the
ship,” have become a national watchword. On the other side of pitcher, a
portrait of Decatur, with his name.
118. Bainbridge. Portrait.
A mug with a portrait of Bainbridge, with words, “Commodore Bainbridge,”
and his characteristic words, “Avast, boys, she’s struck!” Commodore
Bainbridge commanded the Constitution—Old Ironsides.
“On Brazil’s coast She ruled the roost
When Bainbridge was her Captain.”
119. Hull. Portrait.
A pitcher bearing portrait of Captain Hull, and the words, “Captain
Hull, of the Constitution.” On the other side, a portrait with the
words, “Captain Jones, of the Macedonian.”
120. Pike. Portrait.
A pitcher with the portrait of General Z. M. Pike; above it the word
“Pike;” below, his noble words, “Be always ready to die for your
country.” On the other side, a portrait and name, “Captain Jones, of the
Macedonian.” A specimen can be seen in the collection of the Bostonian
Society in the old State-House in Boston.
121. Pike. Portrait.
Same portrait of Pike and same legend as No. 120. On the other side,
portrait of Hull and legend, “Captain Hull, of the Constitution.”
122. Jones. Portrait.
Plate with a portrait of Captain Jones printed in blue in the centre,
with a ship on the left and flags on the right. Black shell border.
Impressed mark, “Davenport.” This description was given me by Mr. Prime.
Jones. Portrait.
See No. 120.
123. Preble. Portrait.
A pitcher with a good portrait of Preble, signed “D,” with a figure of
Fame on one side and the American flag on the other, and the name
“Commodore Preble.” On the other side of the pitcher, a well-drawn oval
print of ships attacking fortifications. Above, the inscription
“Commodore Preble’s Squadron Attacking the City of Tripoli Aug 3. 1804.
The American Squadron under Commodore Preble consisting of the
Constitution 44 guns 2 Brigs & 3 Schooners 2 bombs & 4 Gunboats
Attacking the City and Harbour of Tripoli Aug 3, 1804. the city was
defended by Batteries Mounting 115 Pieces of heavy Cannon & the Harbour
was defended by 19 Gunboats 2 Brigs 2 Schooners 2 Gallies and a Zebeck.
the city Received Great Damage Several of the Tripolitan Vessels were
sunk 3 of their Gunboats taken & a Great Number of Men Killed.” On the
front of the pitcher is the American spread eagle and the words,
“Herculaneum Pottery, Liverpool.”
124. Trophy.
Pitchers printed in lustre and purple with a trophy of arms and the
verses,
“United & Steady in Liberties Cause,
We’ll ever defend our Countries Laws.”
Under the nose the legend,
“May the tree of Liberty ever flourish.”
125. Macdonough. Bombardment of Stonington.
A pitcher of cream ware with a black print entitled “The Gallant Defense
of Stonington Aug 9th 1814.” It represents that famous defence when the
inhabitants of the town, with one gun successfully resisted the attack
of the British force of several vessels, sinking one ship and driving
off the others. Underneath, the legend, “Stonington is free whilst her
heroes have one gun left.” On the other side is the print of a ship with
the words, “United States Frigate Guerriere, Com. MacDonough bound to
Russia July 1818.” Mr. Prime says that a citizen of Stonington who went
to Russia on public service in the Guerriere ordered these pitchers in
Liverpool. He may have made the drawing of the battle for the engraver.
Macdonough. Victory on Lake Champlain.
Dark blue print on Staffordshire ware. See No. 188.
126. Naval Battle.
A globose pitcher printed in vermillion with a design of a naval battle.
Underneath, the words “The Wasp and The Reindeer.”
127. Militia. Liverpool.
A Liverpool pitcher, twelve inches in height, bearing an oval medallion
with design of cannon, flags, etc., with a man in full militia uniform.
Above, this legend, “America! whose Militia is better than Standing
Armies.” At base, within the medallion, “May its Citizens emulate
Soldiers, its Soldiers Heroes.” Below all, the lines:
“While Justice is the throne to which we are bound to bend
Our Countries Rights and Laws we ever will defend.”
Under the nose of the pitcher is the spread eagle, with this legend,
“Peace Commerce and honest Friendship with All Nations Entangling
Alliances with None; Jefferson.” This pitcher is printed in black and is
painted in colors. It was made in 1808, in Liverpool, for a Narragansett
sea-captain.
DeWitt Clinton. Portrait. Erie Canal.
See No. 166.
DeWitt Clinton. Monogram.
See No. 172.
DeWitt Clinton. Eulogy.
See No. 168.
128. Steamship.
Printed in red on a cream-ware tea-service. On the large pieces are two
views, one a steamship at sea, with land and a fort in distance. The
ship floats American flag, and has the smoke-stack nearly as tall as the
mast. The other view, a ship flying American flag over the British,
approaching a shore upon which lies an anchor. An American eagle on the
shore holds a laurel branch among the stars. The scroll border is in
purple lustre. This is apparently Newcastle ware. Specimens can be seen
at the rooms of the Essex Institute, in Salem.
129. Liberty Medallion. Head.
Embossed head of Liberty on Castleford teapots. The same head used on
gold coins of United States of 1795.
130. Liberty Medallion. Figure.
Embossed figure of Liberty seated. Found on Castleford wares.
131. American Eagle. Medallion.
Embossed eagle and shield on Castleford wares. Same as die on United
States gold coin of 1797.
132. Harrison. Pitcher. American Pottery Co.
This pitcher is the most interesting piece of American pottery bearing
an historical design that I have ever seen. The dealer who offered it to
me asserted that only six were ever manufactured. He also said that he
could easily procure dozens of Washington pitchers that were _two
hundred years old_, but that I would find it hard to get a _colonial_
pitcher with a picture of Harrison on it. To this latter assertion I
warmly agreed. It was six-sided, bulging in the middle to a diameter of
about nine inches, about eleven inches in height, and with a foliated
handle and scalloped lip. It was of coarse-grained brownish pottery,
darker in shade than Liverpool ware. On four of its sides the pitcher
bore a view of a small log-cabin above a good portrait of Harrison, with
the words, “The Ohio Farmer W. H. Harrison.” Below all, a spread eagle.
On the bottom of the pitcher was printed in black, “Am. Pottery Manf^y
Co., Jersey City.” It is the only piece of American ware with printed
decorations similar to Liverpool ware that I have ever seen.
133. Columbian Star. Jno. Ridgway.
This plate, which is printed in light blue, is popularly known as the
“Log-cabin” plate. In the centre is a domestic scene of a log-cabin with
open door, and a woman and child are seated outside watching a man who
is ploughing a field in the foreground. A “lean-to” joins the house,
beneath which stands the cider barrel of “hard cider.” A man in the
background is chopping stumps. A small river bears a canoe with a single
figure. Across the stream is a flagstaff with an American flag.
Pine-trees are grouped near the cabin, and abundant smoke rises from the
chimney. The border is composed of large stars set in a firmament of
small ones. The inscription is, “Columbian Star. Oct. 20, 1840. Jno.
Ridgway.” It will be remembered that William Henry Harrison was elected
President in the fall of 1840. This plate is owned by Mrs. Nealy, of
Washington, D. C.
XVII.
STAFFORDSHIRE WARES
No ceramic specimens are of more interest to the American china
collector than the pieces of dark blue Staffordshire crockery that were
manufactured in such vast variety of design, and were imported in such
great numbers to America in the early years of this century. Their
beauty of color—the color called by the Chinese “the light of heaven,” a
blue like the lapis the Bishop wished for his tomb at St. Praxed’s, a
tint unexcelled and hardly equalled in modern wares—makes them a
never-ceasing delight to the eye; and the historical character of the
decoration frequently adds to their interest and value. Mr. Prime wrote
in 1876 of these pieces of crockery, “they have ceased to be common, are
indeed becoming rare, and collectors will do well to secure good
specimens.” Since that year specimens have become rarer and more
valuable still. The Staffordshire pieces that date from the year 1830 to
1850, though still printed with American views, are lighter and duller
in tint of blue, and are more frequently stamped in green, pink, sepia,
chocolate, black, or plum color. The designs, as well as the colors, are
weaker, as if fading gradually and dying into the vast expanse of
dead-white crockery and china which spread its uninteresting level over
the tables of country folk for the quarter of a century that elapsed
before the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, that turning-point in
household art decoration in America.
[Illustration: Pickle Leaf.]
The shapes of the pieces of table-ware also became degraded, and were
not so graceful as the Staffordshire tea and dinner sets of the first
quarter of this century. One specially pretty piece that came with many
dark blue dinner sets of the latter-named date was the low fruit-dish
with its tray, both with pierced basket-work borders. The pickle leaves
also were gracefully shaped. The pitchers, both of the table and toilet
sets, were graceful, and “poured” well, that most important, and
ofttimes lacking, attribute of pitchers. Both basins and pitchers of
toilet sets were, however, inconveniently small. There was also not the
monotony of design which we find nowadays on sets of china. I mean that
all the pieces of a set were not stamped with the same design. I am
convinced that the tea-sets, such as the familiar Tomb of Washington and
Tomb of Franklin design, seldom were furnished with a set of plates
bearing the same decoration, but consisted only of teapot, water-pot,
creamer, slop-bowl, sugar-bowl, and occasionally two cake-plates. The
copper-lustre china tea-sets of the early part of the century seldom had
tea-plates like the rest of the sets.
[Illustration: Philadelphia Library Plate.]
It was only the most popular and universally widespread designs, such as
that of the Landing of Lafayette or the Pilgrim, or the Boston
State-House, that were found on all the pieces of dinner services and
sold together. Sets were formed, usually having the same border, with
different designs on the different-sized plates. We found in the summer
of 1891, under the eaves of an old farm-house in Worcester County, a
painted blue sea-chest which contained a sight to make a china hunter
both smile and weep. The dust of years covered the chest, the floor, the
ladder-like stairs that led to the attic. Every step of the staircase
had to be cleared for our climbing entrance of the accumulated and
forgotten autumn stores of what had been ears of seed-corn, but were now
only rat-nibbled cobs, bunches of cobwebbed herbs, broken chairs, dried
and withered gourds and pumpkins. The house-mistress frankly
acknowledged that she hadn’t “been up garret for years,” she had been
“so poorly and tissicky.” We smiled when we opened the lid of the chest
and saw the familiar and much-loved color, the color of our guiding star
in our search, the rich, dark blue. But we grieved as we lifted the
pieces out, for fully half of them were broken. There was an entire
dinner service of the “Beauties of America,” set of J. & W. Ridgway. All
had the same medallion border that is here shown on the Philadelphia
Library plate. As the chief beauties of America in those days were not
fair maids, but almshouses, all the larger dishes and tureens bore
monotonously ugly views of square and many-windowed almshouses. The
views on the gravy tureens, with their little accompanying platters,
were all of the Exchange at Charleston; the large platters were of the
Capitol at Washington; the smaller, of the Boston Hospital. The twelve
dinner plates bore a view of New York City Hall; the breakfast-plates
were of the Philadelphia Library; the soup-plates all bore the view of
the Boston Octagon Church; little plates six inches and a half in
diameter had a view of the Boston Insane Hospital; the pickle leaves and
handleless bowls of the ladles were still different, bearing a small,
unnamed house with the same border. Tumbled in a crushed heap in the
corner of the chest was the saddest sight of all, a superb old Worcester
cream-pitcher, four pieces of Plymouth porcelain, an India china
tea-set, three Pilgrim plates, all broken, surmounted by two heavy
tankards which the owner thought were pewter, but which were solid
silver. They are all there still, huddled in sad fragments in the old
blue chest; and the Staffordshire dinner set also, for the owner, though
ignorant of the value of the crockery and china, of their number even,
and their condition, still “couldn’t spare them” when we asked to buy
the whole pieces and thus rescue them from the sad fate of their
brothers. The wife was deaf and poor and sick, and the husband looked
sicker and poorer still, but both were stubborn, good-temperedly
stubborn, in their assertion that they “couldn’t spare them.” We sat
down in the dust of the floor and begged; we raised our offer to city
prices; we offered to send another dinner set of French china to replace
the Staffordshire one, but all in vain; we drove away and returned again
to use fresh entreaties; the owner did not care for the “old crockery;”
scorned the assertion that the tankards were silver, and threw them
carelessly back into the chest; had no association with the pieces, no
sentiment against selling them; but he “couldn’t spare them.”
It is difficult to find a full dinner set of the old Staffordshire dark
blue ware. The scattering of families and consequent division of
property, the destruction through every-day careless use, have seldom
left so full a set as the one just described. The Ridgways issued
another set of views of the various colleges and buildings of English
universities. The stamp on the back was in blue, a pointed oval, about
three inches long, with words, “Opaque China, J. & W. Ridgway;” in the
centre of the mark was the individual name of the building in the
design.
A great number of these pieces appeared in the antique shops in the
winter of 1890, through the sale of the dining-room furnishings of an
old hotel in Baltimore, which must have consisted largely of this set of
college views. The owners sold all the old blue and white table
crockery, the old substantial and beautiful Sheffield plated trays and
tea-sets, and bought nice new American “hotel ware” and shining
electro-plated silver.
The name Cambridge on many of these University plates enabled some
unscrupulous or ignorant dealers to palm off the college views of that
University to a few thoughtless buyers, at high prices, as views of
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Mass. Views of private residences in
London are frequently found in America with the same border as the
University pieces, a wreath of convolvulus broken by pretty cameo-like
medallions of boys playing with goats.
All these English views are exceedingly useful for wall decorations,
especially for high shelves, or as a background for lighter-colored bits
of china, where it is not necessary that the design of the decoration
should be carefully distinguished; and their vast variety makes them a
constantly interesting subject for investigation and purchase. I have
seen one collection of over two hundred Staffordshire plates bearing
each a different English view, and I have seen many scores—perhaps
hundreds—still different.
Some of the richest pieces of color are the dark blue plates printed
with the “Wilkie Designs,” such as the well-known Letter of
Introduction, and the much sought after Valentine design. The Don
Quixote series is also good. Equally glorious and resplendent in color
are pieces bearing the Dr. Syntax designs. I have seen only plates and
tureens with the latter. These Syntax plates have an additional source
of interest in the wit of the humorous scenes that they represent. “Dr.
Syntax’s Noble Hunting Party,” “Dr. Syntax Upsets the Beehive,” “Dr.
Syntax Painting the Portrait of his Landlady,” “Dr. Syntax Star-Gazing,”
“Dr. Syntax Reading his Tour.” These I have seen, and there are
doubtless many others. They were printed from a set of pictures drawn by
Thomas Rowlandson, one of the most celebrated designers of his day of
humorous and amusing subjects. They were drawn to illustrate a book
published by William Combe, in 1812, called “Dr. Syntax’s Tour in Search
of the Picturesque.” A second tour, “In Search of Consolation,” appeared
in 1820. This was also illustrated by Rowlandson. A third tour, “In
Search of a Wife,” was printed the following year. These books had an
immense and deserved popularity. Not only did these Staffordshire plates
appear, but a whole set of Derby figures were modelled—“Dr. Syntax
Walking”—“In a Greenroom”—“At York”—“Going to Bed”—“Tied to a
Tree”—“Scolding the Landlady”—“Playing the Violin”—“Attacked by a
Bull”—“Mounted on Horseback”—and were sold in large numbers. The
Staffordshire plates have survived in greater variety in this country.
Doubtless they were imported in larger quantities than were the Derby
figures.
Strangely enough, no Biblical scenes are represented on these
Staffordshire plates, save one with a print of the Flight into Egypt.
Other interesting forms of ware manufactured in Staffordshire were the
old drinking-mugs known as “Tobys.” They were seated figures of rummy,
old, red-nosed fellows with drinking-mugs in their hands. They wore
usually cocked hats, the hat forming the lip of the mug. They were gayly
dressed in high colors, and were sometimes twelve and even fourteen
inches in height. A terrible damper has been put, within a few years, on
the joy of collecting these “Tobys,” by the fact of their reproduction
in vast numbers after precisely the old models, and in precisely the
same colors. Of course, the modern Tobys are very shining and new, and
upon examination are easily distinguished from the old ones; but when a
closet-door in an antique shop suddenly and most unadvisedly swung open,
the sight of a row of twenty or thirty Tobys, all precisely alike, did
not seem to enhance the value of the asserted-to-be-unique specimen on
the shop shelf, nor make me very warm about purchasing further
specimens, were they old or new.
It is impossible to obtain any information in England about this dark
blue earthenware, or “semi-china,” which was made for so many years in
such vast quantities for the American market. The Staffordshire pottery
works have all changed owners; the plates from which these wares were
printed have all been lost or destroyed; the present owners of the works
are ignorant of the existence even of these printed American pieces.
There are almost no specimens to be seen in English collections, not
even of pieces bearing English views; none for sale in English shops;
and even in so exhaustive, extended, and careful a treatise on the
ceramic art of Great Britain as that of Mr. Jewitt, he does not speak of
them, and evidently is ignorant of the wares, the stamps, and marks. A
careful search throughout the Staffordshire region developed absolutely
not one fact about these “American historical pieces;” and I may add
that a collection of Staffordshire ware bearing both American and
English views is now being gathered in America for presentation to the
Museum at Burslem, and consequent enlightenment of English collectors
and manufacturers. Hence it is plain that each American collector must
be a law to himself with regard to marks; or rather, American collectors
must unite and form a new table of marks of “American pieces.” I will
specify a few that I find on my Staffordshire pieces.
A circular impression about an inch in diameter, with an inclosed circle
having in the centre the word “Warranted,” and a spread eagle bearing a
thunderbolt and laurel leaf. In the quarter-inch ring inclosing this
inner disk are the words, in capital letters, “T. Mayer. Stone.
Staffordshire.” Accompanying this impressed stamp is always found (on my
pieces) a very spirited rendering in dark blue of the American eagle,
bearing a laurel branch in his right claw, and a bunch of arrow-like
thunderbolts in his left. He measures two and three-quarters inches from
tip to tip of wings, has an American shield on his breast, and a ribbon
bearing the words “E Pluribus Unum” in his mouth. The lighter, clouded
background has thirteen white stars. This mark is the richest in color
and best in drawing of any that I have seen. This T. Mayer was, I judge,
the Thomas Mayer who had the Dale Hall Staffordshire works from 1829,
and of whom Shaw speaks as having made the best specimen of solid
earthenware ever produced at that time—a vast table. This stamp and mark
are given by neither Chaffers nor Jewitt, nor Phillips and Hooper. The
marks E. Mayer, and E. Mayer & Son, are frequently seen. These firms
were in existence from 1770 to 1830 in Hanley.