Dessert Plates and Dessert Dish (Mason's Patent Ironstone
China) 447
Granite China Vase, marked C J M & Co. 451
Transfer-printed Plates (C. Meigh & Son) 455
Set of Staffordshire Earthenware Vases, richly decorated 455
Group of Nelson Jugs 459
Transfer-printed Plate in Colours, subject--_Steam Carriage_ 463
Old Print, _New Steam Coach_, dated 1827 463
Transfer-printed Jug, representing Stephenson's _Rocket_ 467
Cyder Mug, Transfer-printed, representing Railway Train 467
Doulton Stoneware Jug, with Bacchanalian subject 471
BIBLIOGRAPHY
GENERAL.
Catalogue of British Pottery and Porcelain. By T. Reeks and F. W.
Rudler. 1876. (Out of print.)(Formerly in the Museum of Practical
Geology, Jermyn Street.)
Marks and Monograms on Pottery and Porcelain. By W. Chaffers.
12th Edition. 1908.
Ceramic Art of Great Britain. By Llewellyn Jewitt. 2 vols. 1878.
2nd Edition. 1 vol. 1883.
English Earthenware (made during the 17th and 18th centuries). By
Professor A. H. Church, F. R. S. 1905.
History of Pottery and Porcelain. By J. Marryat. 1857.
History of English Earthenware and Stoneware (to the beginning of
the 19th century). By William Burton, F. C. S. (Cassell & Co.)
1904.
Catalogue of British Pottery, &c., at the British Museum. By R.
L. Hobson. 1903.
Art of the Old English Potter. By M. L. Solon. Folio. 2nd
Edition. 1885.
Old English Pottery. By Mr. and Mrs. Frank Freeth. (Morgan,
Thompson, & Jamison.) £2 12s. 6d. net.
Catalogue of Pottery and Porcelain. (Willett Collection, at
Brighton Museum.) 1905.
Pottery and Porcelain. A Guide to Collectors. F. Litchfield. 1900.
English Pottery and Porcelain. By E. A. Downman. 1896.
History of the Staffordshire Potteries. By S. Shaw. (Hanley.)
1829. Reissue by the _Pottery Gazette_. 1900.
The Chemistry of Pottery. By S. Shaw. (London.) 1837. Reissue by
the _Pottery Gazette_. 1900.
Catalogue of English Pottery and Porcelain. (Alexandra Palace.)
By R. H. Soden Smith. Destroyed by fire. 1873.
Transfer Printing on Enamels, Porcelain, and Pottery. By William
Turner. 1907.
Examples of Early English Pottery. By J. E. Hodgkin and E.
Hodgkin. 1891.
Staffordshire Pots and Potters. By G. W. Rhead and F. A. Rhead.
1906.
Catalogue of a Collection of English Pottery Figures deposited on
loan by Messrs. Frank Falkner and E. J. Sidebotham at the Royal
Museum, Peel Park, Salford. (Manchester.) 1906.
Chats on English China. By Arthur Hayden. (T. Fisher Unwin.)
4th Edition. 1909. (The concluding chapters contain an outline
history of English Earthenware.)
PARTICULAR.
_Staffordshire._
Pre-Wedgwood English Pottery. (Solon Collection.) _Connoisseur_,
December, 1901; February, 1902.
William Adams, an old English Potter. Edited by W. Turner. 1904.
Josiah Wedgwood. By Miss E. Meteyard. 2 vols. 1865-6.
Wedgwood and his Works. By Miss E. Meteyard. 1873.
Memorials of Wedgwood. By Miss E. Meteyard. 1874.
The Wedgwood Handbook. By Miss E. Meteyard. 1875.
Josiah Wedgwood, Master Potter. By Professor A. H. Church. 1903.
Old Wedgwood (1760-1795). By F. Rathbone. Folio; 65 plates in
colour. 1896.
Catalogue of Loan Collection of Wedgwood Ware, Liverpool Art
Club. (Liverpool.) 1879.
Josiah Wedgwood. By Llewellyn Jewitt. 1865.
Handbook to the Tangye Collection of Wedgwood Ware. (Birmingham.)
By F. Rathbone. 1885.
Wedgwood, Josiah--his Catalogue of Cameos, Intaglios,
Bas-reliefs, Busts, and Small Statues, with a General Account
of Tablets, Vases, Escritoires, and other Ornamental and Useful
Articles. (London.) 1787.
Wedgwood, Josiah--his "Catalogue" (as above). Edited by Miss E.
Meteyard. 1873.
John Wesley Busts in Staffordshire Pottery. By C. S. Sargisson.
_Connoisseur_, September, 1907.
Catalogue of the Museum at the Etruria Works, Messrs. Josiah
Wedgwood & Sons, Ltd. By Frederick Rathbone. 1909.(Mr. Rathbone
has arranged the collection of Flaxman's designs, Wedgwood's
original pattern models and experimental "trials.")
_Bristol._
Two Centuries of Ceramic Art in Bristol. By H. Owen. 1873.
_Derby._
The Pottery and Porcelain of Derbyshire. By A. Wallis and W.
Bemrose. 1870.
_Liverpool._
The Art of Pottery, with a History of its Progress in Liverpool.
By J. Mayer. (Liverpool.) 1873.
The Liverpool Potteries. By C. T. Gatty. (Liverpool.) 1882.
_Leeds._
Old Leeds Pottery. By J. R. and F. Kidson. (Leeds.) 1892.
Catalogue of Exhibition of Works of Art in the Cartwright
Memorial Hall, Bradford. 1904.
Old Leeds Ware. By Henry B. Wilson. _Connoisseur_, 1904.
_Swansea._
The Ceramics of Swansea and Nantgarw. By William Turner.
GLOSSARY
=Agate Ware.=--Earthenware made either "solid" or in "surface"
decoration to resemble the veinings of agate and other natural stones.
The "solid" agate ware is produced by layers of different coloured
clays being twisted together and cut transversely. The "surface" agate
ware is splashed and grained decoration on an ordinary cream body.
=Astbury Ware.=--A generic term applied to specimens in the manner of
the Astburys, with raised floral decoration of white on a red unglazed
body.
=Basalt.=--Black Basalt, or "Egyptian" ware, is a solid black stoneware
of great hardness, made by Wedgwood and by his school of followers.
=Biscuit.=--This term is applied to earthenware and porcelain when it
has been fired once. It is after the biscuit stage that decorations in
colour are applied, and the specimen goes to the oven a second time
(see Chapter I.).
=Body.=--The body of a piece of earthenware is the clay of which it is
composed irrespective of the nature or colour of decoration applied to
its surface.
=China.=--This term is applied to porcelain of all classes, whether
true porcelain of hard paste, _e.g._, Chinese, Japanese, Meissen,
Plymouth, Bristol, &c., or artificial porcelain of soft paste, _e.g._,
Sèvres (_pâte tendre_), Worcester, Chelsea, Bow, Lowestoft, &c.
=China Clay.=--The whitest clay known. Obtained in England from
Devon and Cornwall. Used for porcelain, and also for light-coloured
earthenware.
=China Stone.=--Known also as Cornish stone; used in conjunction with
the china clay for porcelain, and employed for stoneware bodies.
=Cream Ware.=--This term applies to all light-coloured English
earthenware from about 1750 to the present day. It varied in character
from the Queen's Ware of Josiah Wedgwood, 1760, to the "chalk body"
used by Wilson at the end of the eighteenth century. Cream ware of
later date when broken shows a pure white body--a puzzling fact to
beginners in collecting.
=Delft Ware.=--A generic term given to earthenware with tin enamelled
surface. True Delft ware was made at Delft in Holland after 1600, but
it was successfully imitated at Lambeth, Bristol, Liverpool, &c.
=Earthenware.=--All ware may be termed earthenware which when in the
_biscuit_ state is too porous for domestic use but requires a coating
of glaze. As a rule, earthenware is opaque, differing in this respect
from porcelain, which is translucent.
=Enamel Colours.=--The colours applied either in painted or printed
decoration _over_ the glaze.
=Elers Ware.=--A generic term used in regard to unglazed red stoneware
with applied decoration in the style of the Elers brothers.
=Glaze.=--The glassy coating applied to earthenware and porcelain.
_Lead-glaze._--The earliest form used in England was known as
_galena glaze_, when sulphide of lead was in powder form dusted on
the ware. Later liquid lead glaze was used, into which the vessels
were dipped.
_Salt-glaze._--Common salt was thrown into the kiln, and the
resultant vapour deposited a fine layer of glaze on the ware.
_Over-glaze._--This term applies to painted or printed decoration
done _after_ the glaze has been applied to the object--_i.e._, over
the glaze.
_Under-glaze._--This applies to decoration, painted or printed,
done _before_ the glaze is applied to the object--_i.e._, when
completed the decoration is under the glaze.
=Ironstone China.=--An earthenware for which Mason took out a patent
in 1813. The body contains a large proportion of flint and slag of
ironstone.
=Jasper Ware.=--A fine hard stoneware used by Wedgwood, and imitated by
his followers. It is unglazed.
=Lustre Ware.=--Earthenware decorated by thin layers of copper, gold,
or platinum (see Chapter XIII.).
=Marbled Ware.=--Ware of a similar nature to agate ware, having its
surface combed and grained to imitate various natural marbles or
granites.
=Marks.=--In earthenware these makers' names or initials or "trade
marks" were usually impressed with a metal stamp. Obviously this must
have been done when the ware was in plastic state; therefore it is
impossible to add such marks after the ware is made, and when present
on old ware they are a sign of undoubted genuineness. Of course a copy
can be made bearing an impressed mark.
Painted or printed marks sometimes occur on earthenware usually of a
later date. Such marks may be under-or over-glaze; the former are not
likely to have been added after the piece has been made.
=Modern.=--English earthenware may be termed "modern" when it is of
a later date than 1850. Though, as is indicated in Chapter XIV., the
modern renaissance in earthenware should be of especial interest to
collectors.
=Over-glaze.=--See _Glaze_.
=Oven.=--The "oven," as the potter terms it, is a specially-built
furnace in which the "saggers" containing the ware are placed during
the firing (see Chapter I.).
=Paste.=--This is another term for the "body" of the ware.
="Resist" Pattern.=--A term in silver lustre ware. For detailed
description see Chapter XIII.
=Sagger.=--A fire-clay box in which the earthenware is placed when
being fired in the oven (see Illustration, Chapter I.).
=Salt-glaze.=--See _Glaze_, and see Chapter VI.
=Semi-china. Semi-porcelain.=--Terms applied to early nineteenth
century earthenware having a very white or chalk body, and having the
outward appearance of china or porcelain. Strongly imitative and false
to the true qualities of earthenware. It is always opaque. Sometimes it
is naïvely termed "opaque china."
=Slip.=--A thick semi-solid fluid composed of clay and water.
=Spurs. Spur mark.=--During the glazing of earthenware "spurs" or
"stilts" of fire-clay are used to support the articles and keep them
from touching each other. "Spur" or "cockspur" marks are found on the
ware where it has rested on these supports (see Chapter IX., p. 298).
=Stoneware.=--A variety of pottery distinct from earthenware, and more
nearly approaching porcelain in its characteristics. Earthenware,
as has been shown, needs a coating of glaze to protect its porous
defects. Stoneware is a hard body needing no glaze. Glazed stoneware is
frequently found, and the glaze employed is usually salt.
=Throwing.=--The art of fashioning shapes on the potter's wheel (see
Illustration, Chapter I.).
=Transfer Printing.=--Printing employed as a decoration on ware by
means of paper which had received a design from a copper-plate, and was
transferred to the surface of the ware (see Chapter X.).
=Under-glaze.=--See _Glaze_.
="Wedgwood."=--This has become a generic term for one or two classes of
ware--_e.g._, jasper and black basalt, which were made by most of the
potters succeeding Josiah Wedgwood. The word has, in common with Boule
and Chippendale become popularly and erroneously used.
=Whieldon Ware.=--A generic term covering all classes of ware of a
mottled, cloudy, or splashed character--_e.g._, tortoiseshell plates,
vases, figures, &c.
I
HOW TO
COLLECT:
A CHAPTER
FOR
BEGINNERS
Chats on Old Earthenware
CHAPTER I
HOW TO COLLECT: A CHAPTER FOR BEGINNERS
Reasons for collecting--What is earthenware?--How
earthenware is made--What to collect--Method of studying old
earthenware--Forgeries--Table for use in identifying old English
earthenware.
To attempt to advance reasons for collecting old English earthenware
is seemingly to commence this volume with an apology on behalf of
collectors. But there are so many persons ready to throw a stone at
others who betray the possession of hobbies differing from their own,
that it is necessary to state that the reasonable collection of old
earthenware is based on sound premisses.
Similar reasons may be given for the collection of old English
earthenware to those that may be advanced for the collection of old
English china. Earthenware may be approached mainly from the æsthetic
side and studied with a view to show the development of decorative
art in this country and the foreign influences which have contributed
to its evolution. The art of the old English potter is of especial
interest to students of ceramic art, as many processes were invented
in this country, and, in spite of periods of decadence, English
earthenware has won for itself a considerable reputation on the
Continent from a technical point of view.
It may be collected as an adjunct to old furniture by lovers of old
furniture who are precisians in regard to harmony in schemes of
decoration. They prefer to see china and earthenware of the same
period as the furniture. A modern set of vases adorning a Georgian
cabinet is like putting new wine into old bottles. So that concomitant
with the love for old furniture, old pictures, and old prints is the
accompanying regard for contemporary china and earthenware.
The "drum and trumpet history" relating the personal adventures of
princes and nobles, and the pomp of courts, or the intrigues of
favourites, sets no store on the apparent trivialities which mark
the social and intellectual progress of a nation. But the scientific
student of history cannot afford to ignore the detailed study of social
conditions which are indicated by the china-shelf. The due appreciation
of the development of costume, of furniture, and of the domestic arts
gives life and colour to the written records of byegone days. A mug or
a jug with an inscription may tell a story of popular party feeling as
pointedly as a broadsheet or a political lampoon.
[Illustration: EXTERIOR OF WORKS, ETRURIA: THE MARL BANK.
_By the courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
The ordinary man sees in the collection of china and earthenware an
interesting hobby. He reads of the prices remarkable specimens bring
under the hammer, and he begins to think that his education has been
partly neglected since he knows little or nothing concerning these art
treasures, which seemingly are attractive to other men of culture
and means.
"Collecting for profit" is a phrase that tickles the ears of many
others. Undoubtedly there have been many who have entered the field of
collecting and regarded their purchases solely as investments. It must
be borne in mind that this class of collector is not to be despised,
inasmuch as when he has mastered his subject (and as there is money in
it he very speedily sets to work to do this) he is a very formidable
rival.
It is absurd to imagine that an amateur, after having given especial
study to a subject such as old earthenware, is not in a better position
to enter the market as a buyer or a seller than he who comes with
little or no training.
It is only reasonable that a man should take an intelligent interest in
the evolution of the ware in everyday use. But it is to be feared that
long rows of cases at the museum with specimens of earthenware behind
glass doors must necessarily be a valley of dry bones to the spectator
unless he bring the seeing eye and the understanding heart to quicken
these dry bones into life.
Enough, perhaps, has been said as a prelude to this volume to show
that various reasons may be advanced to account for the new spirit of
collecting which has become so infectious. It is the hope of the writer
that the following chapters, as an outline of the subject of collecting
old English earthenware, may point the way to a better appreciation of
what is really of value in this field, and will enable the collector
in his search to sift the wheat from the chaff, and him who already
possesses _lares et penates_ of uncertain age to identify them.
=What is Earthenware?=--To know what is earthenware always puzzles
the beginner. A rough-and-ready means of determining the difference
between earthenware and porcelain is to apply the light test. Porcelain
more nearly approaches glass and is translucent--that is, it clearly
shows the shadow of the hand holding it when placed up to the light.
But there are occasions when this test fails; for instance, a block
of porcelain may, as in a heavy figure, be so thick as to render this
experiment impossible. On the other hand, fine stoneware may be partly
translucent in the thinner parts. In early nineteenth-century days a
class of ware, such as that of Mason, is stamped "ironstone china" or
"stone china." This is earthenware of a peculiar nature, having certain
of the properties of porcelain. Similarly, at various times earthenware
has been made which nearly approaches porcelain in its constituents.
Dwight with his stoneware busts and Wedgwood in his jasper ware
produced earthenware of such character as to come close to the border
line dividing earthenware from porcelain.
The potter's art is divided into two sub-heads--porcelain and
earthenware--which latter, for purposes of simplification, includes
stoneware.
[Illustration: A CORNER OF OLD ETRURIA WORKS.
_By the courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
Earthenware is of soft body, is opaque--that is, it cannot be seen
through. Its thinness or its thickness has nothing to do with its
title. Stoneware is equally opaque, but it is as hard as porcelain. It
may be as thick and heavy as a German beer-mug or a stone ginger-beer
bottle, or it may be cream in colour, and thin as a Passover cake, as
in salt-glazed Staffordshire ware, or white and heavy, as in later
stone china. Porcelain may be hard or soft and possesses properties
equally its own, but is outside the scope of this volume.
Practically earthenware is of such porous clay that when fired in the
kiln it is unfit for use, as it is still too porous until it receives
a coating of glaze. Unglazed stoneware, Egyptian black, and Wedgwood's
jasper ware differ from earthenware in this respect, as they do not
receive any glaze, since they are of dense enough body to be used in
"biscuit" or unglazed state.
_Its appearance._ In colour earthenware may be brown or white in
exterior, or brown or white in body as shown when broken. At its best
its style to the beginner may not be suggestive of great difference
between earthenware and porcelain. Similar figures were attempted
in the one material as in the other. In France at Niderviller, at
Marseilles, and at Scieux the potters deliberately set themselves to
make objects in earthenware as delicate and fanciful as were produced
in hard porcelain at Dresden or in soft porcelain at Vincennes.
Clocks, vases, sweetmeat-boxes, and elaborate dinner services lavishly
decorated in over-glaze enamels and gilded, emulated the best work of
the porcelain factories. In Staffordshire the story has been repeated.
So that form is no guide as to what kind of ware a piece may be. In
weight earthenware is lighter than porcelain as a general rule, though
variations in the body make this rule an elastic one. In stoneware, and
ware approximating to this in character, the weight is heavier than
porcelain. All ironstone ware is exceedingly heavy.
_Reasons for its appearance._ The earlier earthenware was brown in
body. The Dutch potters in the seventeenth century covered their
ware with an opaque white tin enamel to conceal the dark earthen
body and to enable them to paint on its surface in imitation of
Chinese porcelain. Stoneware, such as the jugs of early type known
as Bellarmines, is of very vitreous earthenware fired so hard as to
resist acids or the use of a file when applied to the surface. When
glazed this class of ware has salt glaze. Dwight, of Fulham, introduced
white, or nearly white, stoneware into England in his statuettes,
which induced him to claim that he had discovered the secret of making
porcelain. Cream ware followed later, and, perfected by Wedgwood, it
was adopted as the standard earthenware of Staffordshire. It was the
last note in earthenware till the beginning of the nineteenth century,
when the Staffordshire potters invented an earthenware with a white
body more nearly approaching porcelain in appearance. For fifty years
experiments had been carried on, and this cream ware was whitened by a
process called "blueing" by the use of cobalt to whiten the lead glaze.
But the final invention was by Mason with his patent ironstone china,
in which he produced a hard, white body.
=How Earthenware is made.=--A good deal of theory has found its way
into print, but it is not every one, even among collectors, who has
actually seen the various stages through which a lump of clay passes
before it finally takes its place on the table as a teapot or a
breakfast cup.
[Illustration: MILL FOR GRINDING RAW MATERIALS.
_By the courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
It has, therefore, been thought of interest to illustrate a few steps
in the process of this transformation of clay into vessels of utility
and beauty. By the kindness of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, of
Etruria, this series of illustrations appears, and the subjects have
been chosen with a view to showing those processes of the potter
which are practically the same as in the days of the great Josiah.
The first illustration (p. 37) shows an _Exterior View of the Etruria
Works_, with the Cornish stone and the ball clays from Dorset and Devon
and the flints lying in heaps exposed to the sun and frost in order to
"weather." This exposure is considered advantageous, as the longer the
clay is in the open the better it will work when required for use.
The second illustration (p. 41) shows a _Corner of the old Etruria
Works_. The structure is practically the same as in the early days, and
the bottom windows on the right have remained unaltered. The farthest
at the bottom corner on the right was the room of old Josiah.
The third illustration shows the _Mill for grinding raw materials_.
The clays are put into this vat and crushed between two stones. There
is nothing different now from the early days. The old oak beams tell
their story. It is true that steam is now used, but that is all to make
this process differ from that employed a century and a half ago--first
when wind-power was used, as in flour mills, and later when a horse was
substituted.
This grinding is done with water, and the mixture comes out a thick
liquid. The mixing-tank is the next stage. These liquid constituents,
such as ball clay, china clay, flint, &c., according to the formula
of the pottery, are carefully admitted into the tank in correct
proportions and thoroughly "blended" together. The body is now in its
"slip" state, and is pressed and dried to make it more malleable when
not required for casting. In its later stage, in more solid form, it is
ready to be thrown on the potter's wheel.
=The Potter's Wheel.=--We illustrate (p. 40) the ingenious potter who
is known as "The Thrower." It is he who, on a little revolving table
between his knees pressed with his hands, magically transforms the
lump of clay into beautiful shapes. Unfortunately, modern methods are
eliminating the work of "the thrower," whose art dates back to the
remotest past in the East when man first made clay into objects of
beauty. We find the prophet Jeremiah saying, "Then I went down to the
potter's house, and behold he wrought a work on the wheel. And the
vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hands of the potter, so
he made again another vessel as seemed good to the potter to make it."
Old Omar Khayyam brings a moral to bear on the potter and his wheel:
"Surely not in vain
My substance from the common Earth was ta'en
That He who subtly wrought me into shape
Should stamp me back to common Earth again."
And Shakespeare, not to miss a good simile, makes one of his characters
say, "My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel."
[Illustration:
THE THROWER.
Showing the Potter's Wheel.
_By the courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
=The Pottery Kilns.=--The next stage is to convert the vessel thrown
in soft clay, and put aside to dry, into being as a piece of pottery.
There are three ovens, termed the "biscuit," the "glost," and the
"enamel." In the illustration (p. 53) it is seen how the vessels
are put into "saggers," which are boxes of fire-clay piled upon one
another. The doorway is bricked up and plastered, and gradually the
furnace is heated. Practically this "oven" illustrated is typical
of the "biscuit" or the "glost" oven, the difference being in the
temperature applied, the latter being at a much lower temperature.
It may be interesting to mention that a quick oven is three days in
firing and three days in cooling before the ware is removed. For
ornamental and important specimens of a very special nature as long a
period as a month may be taken to fire and half that time to cool. But
of course this is only in exceptional circumstances.
It conjures up a picture of the awful anxiety of some of the great
master potters at the critical moment when the doorway is pulled down
and the contents of the oven are drawn. It is here where the triumph or
the failure of the potter manifests itself.
When taken out of the first oven the ware is termed "biscuit." It is
now ready for glazing. Of course, in such ware as jasper or unglazed
stoneware, basalt, and similar kinds, the "biscuit" state is the final
one, the object being completed.
=The Dipping-house.=--In the illustration (p. 57) it will be seen that
the ware in its "biscuit" state is dipped in liquid glaze in a very
deft manner, after which it proceeds to the "glost" oven to harden this
glaze on its surface.
It is here that great care has to be exercised in keeping the pieces
from coming in contact with each other; spurs and tripods are placed
between each piece to obviate this. The "saggers" in which this
newly-glazed ware is placed are dusted with material infusible at the
lower heat to prevent the pieces adhering to these "saggers." In fact,
as is readily seen, a fine specimen may be easily ruined at any stage.
In undecorated ware, as in the cream-ware examples illustrated (p.
225), this ends the process, and they are complete. But in ware that is
to be decorated _over_ the glaze there is yet another stage before they
are finished.
It will be observed that we are alluding to _over-glaze_ decoration.
But ware may be painted before being glazed,--that is _under-glaze_.
In order, however, not to confuse the beginner at the outset, this has
been described in a later chapter (p. 326).
=The Enamel Kiln.=--After the decorations have been painted upon the
glazed ware it has to be fired in the enamel kiln. A far lower heat
than that of the "glost" oven is required; the flames do not pass
inside the kiln, as in an oven, but are led in flues all round the
kiln. We give an illustration (p. 61) of this for firing colours or
gold _over_ the glaze. As will be seen, the pieces are carefully
protected from contact with each other, and at this last stage it is
quite possible to undo all the patient labour previously employed and
irretrievably ruin a piece.
In this hasty outline of the various processes of the potter much
has been omitted; but, in the main, these illustrations should serve
to kindle a more intelligent interest, even among collectors, in the
earthenware and china which has passed through so many critical periods
in its life-history.
[Illustration:
THE OVEN.
Showing the "saggers" containing ware ready for firing.
_By the courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
=What to Collect.=--This is largely a question of personal
predilection. In general the field of English earthenware may be
divided into nine classes, and the collector who wishes to specialise
will have his individual taste for one or more of these, according as
its technical or artistic qualities appeal to him. This arrangement is
mainly chronological, but obviously one class will overlap others in
point of time. These classes are further summarised in detail in the
table intended for use in identifying old earthenware given at the end
of this chapter.
I. Early English pottery.
II. Delft ware.
III. Stoneware (including Staffordshire salt-glaze ware).
Prior to the inventions of Josiah Wedgwood.
IV. Variegated ware--agate and clouded ware.
V. Cream ware--
(1) Plain.
(2) Decorated by painting.
(3) Transfer-printed.
By far the largest variety of English earthenware,
including domestic ware and figures.
Made by all potters.
VI. Classic ware--the school of which Josiah
Wedgwood is the founder.
VII. Figures (mainly Staffordshire).
VIII. Lustre ware.
IX. Opaque china }
Semi-porcelain } Nineteenth century.
Ironstone china }
=Method of studying old Earthenware.=--To those readers who peruse this
volume without any definite idea of the standpoint of the collector it
should not be left unsaid that the proper study and collection of old
English earthenware require a considerable amount of reading and, what
is of much greater importance, a very practical examination of some
hundreds of specimens. It is this practical experience which alone can
give the beginner the training he requires. It is a complex subject
bristling with unexpected difficulties in regard to technical points
and crowded with apparent contradictions. The bibliography given on pp.
23-25 will enable readers to pursue special studies in greater detail.
The next best thing to handling the actual specimens is to see them.
It cannot here be impressed upon the beginner too strongly that it is
absolutely necessary, in order to educate his eye, that the finest
known examples in the particular classes should be frequently seen.
The national museums, the Victoria and Albert and the British, in
London, both contain splendid collections classified in a very thorough
manner. In the provinces, the following museums among others contain
fine collections, often of richer interest in special subjects than the
aforementioned. For instance, the Public Museum at Liverpool contains
the most representative collection of the various classes of Liverpool
ware. The fine Art Gallery at Leeds is rich in typical examples of the
finest productions in Leeds earthenware. At the Royal Scottish Museum,
Edinburgh, and at the Science and Art Museum, Dublin, there are finely
arranged collections of pottery. At the Castle Museum, Nottingham, at
York, at Norwich, at Bath, at Bristol, at Swansea, at Cardiff, at the
Weston Park Museum, Sheffield, at the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Farnham,
North Dorset, at the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, at Maidstone, at Bury
St. Edmunds, and at Saffron Walden, there are collections which can be
studied.
[Illustration:
THE DIPPING HOUSE.
Showing how the ware is glazed.
_By the courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
In the district of the Potteries itself the following museums have
representative collections of special varieties of Staffordshire ware.
At Hanley, at Tunstall, at Burslem, at Stoke-on-Trent, and at Etruria,
with its Wedgwood Museum, there is material enough to be seen, so that
it may be said that there is little need for the beginner to be
starved for want of opportunities to see fine examples.
=Hints as to Prices.=--It is impossible in such a complex subject as
old earthenware to lay down any hard and fast rules as to prices to be
paid. Specimens vary very considerably in quality, and according to
demand prices fluctuate as in other markets.
If the beginner will make a point of learning his subject and will keep
in touch with a few dealers, he will find that they will readily assist
him to identify his own specimens and systematically aid him in adding
judiciously to his collection. A great deal of offensive nonsense has
been written by fashionable lady journalists, declaiming against the
professional dealer and crediting him with every conceivable trick
under the sun. But the greatest and the wisest of collectors number a
host of dealers as personal friends. A continuous stream of good things
passes through the hands of the dealers who, by incessant handling and
practical study, are able and willing to help the collector and to
solve his difficulties.
_Dealers' prices_ are in many cases surprisingly low considering the
great trouble they have taken to acquire the pieces. It is far better
to procure bargains in this manner, with one's personal knowledge
supplemented by the friendly suggestions of one's favourite dealer,
than to attempt to obtain through private sources "great bargains" from
amateur dealers whose possessions would not, in many cases, bear the
light of day in the open market.
=Forgeries.=--There are many "faked" pieces in existence, and there
are many copies and a great quantity of productions of factories of
to-day who reproduce their old patterns made a century or more ago.
Some of this is made with intent to deceive, and much is merely a trade
movement to supply a known want on the part of the public. But it is
exactly here that the dealer who has a respect for his clients, and
being a business man naturally does not wish to ruin his reputation,
may be of inestimable value in advising the collector.
Mr. Solon, the eminent authority and a practical worker in artistic
pottery, tells in his "Art of the Old English Potter" how, when he was
searching for fine specimens to make his collection, he was deceived by
some sham old slip ware bought at a high figure in a lonely cottage in
a remote district. If the fabricator could lure so studious a collector
into his net, it goes without saying that especial precautions should
be taken by the beginner not to give large prices unless he has a
guarantee or knows the seller's reputation.
Buyers of old delft ware should be careful in examining the decoration
of their purchases. Plain ware, which is not so valuable and is
comparatively common, is decorated in blue, or a coat-of-arms and a
date added, giving a fictitious value to the piece. In fact, such
genuine dated pieces are worth ten times the plain ones. Plain jars
and jugs worth £2 or £3, with the fraudulently added word "Sack" and
the initials "C. R." in blue, may tempt the unwary collector to give
£20. It will thus be seen that this is the most dangerous of frauds,
and difficult to detect unless the collector has handled many decorated
pieces, for the delft itself is absolutely genuine.
[Illustration:
THE ENAMEL KILN.
Showing the ware after being enamelled stacked ready for firing.
_By the courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
Similarly, plain pieces of genuine Staffordshire salt glaze are
enamelled in colours in order to enhance the value, owing to the
fashionable demand for coloured examples. As much as £50 has been
paid by an unfortunate collector for a teapot quite worth this if
genuine old colour work, but unhappily it was, although fine old salt
glaze, quite recently coloured, evidently with fraudulent intentions.
Staffordshire figures that are modern tell their own story, or should
do so, to the collector who has ever carefully examined the potting
and the glaze of fine old examples. Nor is there much excuse for the
blundering collector who cannot readily distinguish between the crude
modern Toby jug with its blatant colouring, so smudgy and smeary with
black stains to impart age, and its genuine prototype.
There are some fairly modelled Toby jugs, of modern origin, one in
particular seated in a corner chair, with a salt-glaze surface. Another
"fake" appeals to the lover of the Whieldon style, and has a mottled
base and hat. But they are, as the expressive term goes, "hot from the
oven." The "Vicar and Moses" was so well modelled by Ralph Wood that it
shared the fate of George Morland's pictures which were copied by his
contemporaries. Ralph Wood's "Vicar and Moses" was copied all through
the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and to-day modern
fabrications repeat the same model _ad nauseam_. Sham Voyez "Fair
Hebe" jugs, made for foolish collectors, are frequently to be seen and
avoided.
Leeds ware has engaged the attention of the imitator. Some of the ware
is made in Germany and is unmarked. But other modern productions exist
stamped "Leeds Pottery," and are imitations of the old Leeds patterns.
There is a tobacco jar in pewter having a shield with the Leeds
coat-of-arms, and raised medallions of a ship and of the patron saint
of the woolcombers. This jar has been of late years copied in cream
ware, and with its lid with twisted handle it has passed as "genuine
old Leeds." But it is nothing of the sort.
In general, earthenware comes off better in regard to forged marks than
porcelain. In the latter, of course, it is the easiest thing in the
world to add the marks, especially when most of them were _painted_.
But in earthenware the majority of marks were _impressed_ in the ware
and this cheats the "faker" of his quarry.
As a matter of fact, the mark should not lead the collector by the
nose. Before seeing any mark a collector should begin to know his
subject so well that the mark is an additional piece of information
which serves to confirm his previous conclusions as to the specimen
under examination. An unmarked example may show every evidence in
modelling, in paste, in colour, and in glaze, of having been made by a
certain potter at a particular date. The only confirmation lacking is
the mark. It is here that marked ware becomes of paramount importance
for purposes of comparison. And it is better to have a genuine marked
piece in one's cabinet, from a business point of view, than a genuine
piece equally fine that bears no signature or trade-mark. But this
craving on the part of collectors for marks has led in the field of
china to a disastrous state of things; marks of one potter have been
added to the productions of another, and no fabricated Worcester china
is worth its salt as a correct piece of forgery unless it bears the
square mark or the crescent.
Happily, in earthenware the question of marks only affects the ware
from Wedgwood's day onwards. The finest specimens of earthenware in
the noted collections throughout the country, of Elers, and Dwight and
Astbury, and Whieldon, and the whole salt-glaze school bear no mark,
for the very simple reasons that the old potters had no "marks." But
they signed their pieces all over, and the touch of these old masters
is immediately intelligible to the trained eye of the collector.
=How to identify old Earthenware.=--The following Table roughly
summarises the field under which English earthenware may be classified.
It is the hope of the writer that possessors of earthenware which
they are unable to identify will, by the help of this Table, be able
to place their pieces under the sub-head to which they belong. The
references given to the chapters dealing with the classes in detail are
intended to point the way to a more extended examination of specimens.
A good general rule for beginners in attempting the proper
identification is to commence by eliminating all the classes of ware
to which the piece obviously cannot belong. Gradually the field
becomes limited to one period, and finally it is narrowed to two or
three factories. But it is only by practice that definite and accurate
conclusions can be arrived at.
TABLE FOR USE IN IDENTIFYING OLD ENGLISH EARTHENWARE.
=I. EARLY POTTERY.= Early examples of green glazed
pitchers and jugs of crude form,
=Mediæval.= 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries.
Domestic Vessels. Costrels (_i.e._, pilgrims' bottles),
flasks with holes at shoulders for
use of cord in carrying.
Ecclesiastical Tiles Ecclesiastical tiles. Incised or
(15th-16th centuries). impressed patterns, raised, inlaid,
or with slip decoration.
Floral, geometrical, heraldic
ornamentation. Figures of men
and of animals (see illustration,
p. 85).
=Slip Ware.= Loving-cups, or tygs, with several
(17th century.) handles, posset pots with spouts.
Lead-glazed, greenish in colour,
with tones varying from purplish-brown
to black (see illustration, p. 89).
Wrotham Ware Wrotham, in Kent, the seat
(1612-1717). of this ware of red body with
slip stamped decorations or incised
ornamentation. A great number of
pieces of this class bear dates covering
a century.
Toft Ware Dishes and posset pots of Staffordshire
(Latter half of origin, Thomas Toft, 1660,
17th century). Ralph Toft, Ralph Turnor, William
Chatterly, Robert Shaw, William
Tabor, John Wright, Joseph Nash,
John Meir and other names appear
on this ware, some being those of
the potters, and others the owner's
name.
(=These varieties of Early Pottery are described in Chapter II.=)
=II. DELFT WARE.= _General Characteristics of Delft
Ware._ In appearance it cannot be
mistaken for any other ware. It
has a brown or grey body, showing
at crumbled edges where the glaze
is chipped off. The surface is white,
and the painting upon it is more
coarse than Dutch examples.
English decorations are mostly
painted under glaze in blue, yellow,
or dull purple.
=Lambeth.= Dishes, plates, salt-cellars, puzzle-jugs,
sack bottles, pharmacy jars
Early examples, 1630. and candlesticks are most ordinarily
found. The enamelled surface of
Van Hamme, potter of Lambeth delft has a pinkish tint.
Lambeth, 1671.
Plates with portraits and dates
(1637-1702), Adam and Eve dishes,
of large size, painted in blue with
this and other Biblical subjects,
"The Journey to Emmaus,"
"Jacob's Ladder," or with Oriental
designs.
Earlier specimens have a purplish
or dull yellow lead glaze at back of
dish.
=Bristol.= Election and other plates dated
1740-1784. Painted tiles and plates
with landscape subjects--Chinese
figures, parrots. _Bianco sopra bianco_
white enamel on greenish ground.
Bowls with purple ground and white
reserved panels with blue decoration.
=Liverpool.= Prior to 1762 all Liverpool delft,
including tiles, was printed.
Early in 18th century,
the principal trade Delft dishes decorated in Chinese
of the city. style. Bowls with ships as decoration.
Druggists' jars.
Transfer-printed tiles by Sadler &
Green, or later by Zachariah Barnes.
=Wincanton.= Similar to Bristol in character. Up to
the present very little is known of this
factory. (See illustration, p. 127.)
(=These varieties of Delft Ware are dealt with in detail in
Chapter III.=)
=III. STONEWARE.= Mottled red-brown colour, mostly salt
glazed, pitted surface like orange skin.
Early Bellarmine Jugs. Having dates and coats-of-arms in
foreign examples; coarser style probably
English.
=Fulham.= White busts and figures. Red, unglazed
ware. Brown jugs and mugs. Marbling on
John Dwight vases and bases, and stamped ornaments
(1671-1703). in relief on teapots.
=Staffordshire.= A generic name for all unidentified
red (unglazed) ware. Teapots, &c.,
Elers Ware. with stamped ornament similar to Dwight.
John Philip Elers, _Prunus_ blossom and Chinese ornament,
David Elers in relief. Turned on lathe and perfectly
(1690-1710). finished. Spouts plain, moulded by hand.
John Astbury Red, buff, orange, and chocolate body.
(died 1743). Similar ware to Elers, with the
ornaments in relief in white pipe-clay.
Made early salt-glaze crouch ware.
Thomas Astbury Followed same style. Little to
(from 1725). distinguish his work from that of
his father.
_Astbury_ is a generic term for all
ware of this nature, with white
stamped ornaments in relief. Many
Staffordshire potters made this type
of ware in latter half of eighteenth
century, and it was imitated at
Liverpool.
=Nottingham.= As early as Dwight's day Morley made
stoneware mugs, and Nottingham ware
Early 18th century holds a high place. The jugs are
sometimes with decorative pierced work,
showing an inner shell which holds the
liquid. The glaze is decidedly lustrous
in appearance, and the colour of the
body is a warm reddish brown.
Discontinued at end of 18th century.
_Bear Jugs_ were a feature of this
factory, and cruder examples were
made at Chesterfield and Brampton.
(=These varieties are described in detail in Chapter IV.=)
=Staffordshire Salt Glaze= Finely potted thin stoneware, surface
like skin of orange, almost as
Astbury and Whieldon translucent as porcelain.
were the pioneers of
this finer stoneware. 1. Plain white or undecorated with
Most of the Staffordshire raised stamped ornament.
potters from 1725-1780
made salt-glaze ware. 2. Plain white body with incised
But this ware was ornament filled in with blue.
supplanted by Wedgwood's
cream ware, which seized 3. Enamelled in colours on a white body.
the market in the last
quarter of the 18th 4. Body colour blue (rare examples by
century. William Littler), enamelled decorations
in black, white, or gold.
5. Pierced ware with decorations in
colour, or undecorated.
6. Ware decorated by transfer printing.
7. Ware with raised ornament, touched
with colour.
Some of this salt-glaze ware is in
colour a slate grey. The sharpest
cut designs and the highest type of
the undecorated ware belong to the
period from 1725-1740. The enamelling
in colours was at its best from 1745-1760.
Salt-glaze ware, in imitation of the
Staffordshire potters, was also made
at Swansea and at Liverpool.
(=These varieties are described in detail in Chapter VI.=)
=Fulham.= Fulham has been the seat of the
(Eighteenth century.) manufacture of stoneware since the
days of Dwight.
Early 18th century. Blue and grey stoneware jugs and mugs,
with initials of Queen Anne or those of
George I., often dated.
Late 18th century. The following are typical--brown stoneware
jugs and mugs with bacchanalian subjects,
or sporting scenes, in relief, inkstands,
brandy flasks of grotesque shape.
In 19th century days "Doulton & Watts,
Lambeth Pottery," is impressed on similar
examples, and in middle 19th century
days, under the guidance of Sir Henry
Doulton, a revival of artistic stoneware
took place, which traditions Messrs.
Doulton carry on at the present day.
=IV. VARIEGATED WARE.= Marbled or agate wares (1740-1756), Dwight
(of Fulham), John Astbury. The earlier
Usually known under surface marbling or combing supplanted by
the generic term of "solid agate" ware--a blending of layers
_Whieldon ware_. of different coloured clays. Early
tortoiseshell plates made by Whieldon.
Tortoiseshell and mottled ware also made
by Philip Christian at Liverpool, at
Leeds, and at Castleford.
_Wedgwood._--Later developments of this
ware--vases and important classic pieces
in imitation of coloured marbles.
_The imitators of Wedgwood._--Palmer,
Neale, and others made this marbled
ware. Neale employed with great success
sprinkled marbling, touched with gold, on
a cream body.
Both Wedgwood and his successors made
"solid agate" and also surface-decorated
ware of cream body.
(=This ware is described in Chapter V. (Whieldon), and in Chapters
VII. and VIII. in regard to Wedgwood and later developments.=)
=V. CREAM WARE.= _Experimental Stage._--Astbury (1725),
Whieldon (from 1740), Warburton (Hot
By far the largest Lane), Baddeleys (Shelton).
variety of English
earthenware. Made _Queen's Ware_ perfected by Wedgwood
by all potters. The (1765). Wedgwood, Turner, Warburton,
standard type of all (Leeds) Messrs. Hartley, Greens & Co.,
subsequent domestic Liverpool, Swansea, Derby.
ware.
_In colour creamy or yellowish white. In
weight light._
Plain or undecorated. Many of Wedgwood's finest cream ware
pieces are undecorated, and Leeds, at
first largely imitative, developed a fine
quality in design and potting, especially
in designs after silversmiths' models.
Decorated by painting. At first painting was sparely used. The
style of enamelling used on salt-glaze
ware was modified to suit the new cream
ware. Later the colours began to emulate
those of porcelain. Spode, in particular,
copied the latter in earthenware, and
cream ware became richly painted and
gilded.
Transfer-printed. As the invention of transfer-printing and
the perfection of cream ware by Wedgwood
were contemporaneous, the Liverpool
printers decorated all the early cream
ware. But cream ware was subsequently
made as well as printed at Liverpool, and
printed as well as made in Staffordshire
and elsewhere.
=Early Cream Ware.= _Wedgwood._ Enormous variety of domestic
ware, _plain or undecorated_, as in
perforated or basket patterns, fruit
dishes, &c., _painted_ in simple border
designs, and _transfer-printed_ in
red, black, or puce, at Liverpool, for
Wedgwood.
Warburton, William Adams, John Turner,
Spode, and many others made similar cream
ware.
_Leeds._--Great variety of dishes, fruit
baskets, centre-pieces, &c., made of
undecorated cream ware. In addition
painted and transfer printed decorations
were also employed.
=Transfer-printing= _Liverpool_ made cream ware punch bowls
=in blue.= finely decorated in blue.
In imitation of Chinese _Caughley_ produced for a few years
styles, and in earthenware of cream body decorated, in
competition with the characteristic style, by Thomas Turner,
porcelain of Worcester, who introduced the willow pattern in 1780,
Bow, Plymouth, &c. which appears together with similar
Chinese subjects in his early Salopian
_porcelain_.
=Staffordshire.= John Turner (of Lane End) first introduced
(=See Chapter X.=) under-glaze blue into Staffordshire.
Josiah Spode introduced "willow pattern"
into Staffordshire, 1784.
William Adams (of Greengates), 1787, fine
under-glaze blue.
Thomas Minton, 1793, fine under-glaze
blue. Apprenticed to Thomas Turner (of
Caughley).
Adams, Warburton, Spode, and other
Staffordshire potters engaged largely in
this deep blue printed ware.
_Swansea_ had a similar cream ware, which
had painted designs or blue-printed in
imitation of Chinese style, with pagodas,
&c. (See illustration, p. 405.)
=VI. CLASSIC WARE.= =Wedgwood.= _Red ware_ in imitation of
Elers ware, chocolate ware with black
Josiah Wedgwood (born, ornamentation in relief. _White fine
1730; died, 1795). stoneware_ used as plinths of marble ware
and agate vases; this was the experimental
Thomas Bentley, stage of Wedgwood's celebrated _jasper_
in partnership with ware. _Black basalt_, or Egyptian ware,
Wedgwood (1768-1780). fine unglazed stoneware, sometimes used
for tea services, but mainly for busts,
medallions, and vases. _Jasper ware._
Wedgwood's crowning invention. A fine,
unglazed stoneware, white throughout.
Produced either "solid" or "jasper dip,"
in blue (various tones), sage green,
olive green, lilac, pink, yellow, and
black. Used in classic vases, and on
cameos, plaques, &c., with a ground of
one of these colours and relief ornament
in white.
(=See Chapter VII.=)
William Adams (or =Contemporaries of Wedgwood.= Adams,
Tunstall), pupil of Turner, Palmer, Neale and Mayer, all made
Wedgwood (1787-1805). ware of a similar nature to above; all of
fine quality.
Benjamin Adams John Turner's "jasper" was really a
(1805-1820). semi-porcelain.
John Turner (of Lane End) Other potters whose stoneware in jugs and
(1762-1786). Pottery vases, &c., carried on the traditions of
continued by sons. Wedgwood (though in the second flight),
{ H. Palmer (of Hanley), were Birch, Keeling, Clews, Hollins,
{ from 1769. Steel, Myatt, and many others, whose names
{ Neale (1776-1778) are found impressed on ware, betraying the
{ R. Wilson (1778) influence of Wedgwood.
{ Neale & Co.
{ (1778-1787). (=See Chapter VIII. for detailed list.=)
Jacob Warburton (of The _Castleford Pottery_, near Leeds
Cobridge) (1786-1826). (1790-1820), David Dunderdale
(D. D. & Co.) made black basalt ware in
similar style.
(=See Chapter IX. for details.=)
At _Swansea_ (1790-1817) basalt figures
of fine style were made. Etruscan Ware
(Dillwyn & Co.), 1845.
(=See Chapter XII. for marks.=)
=VII. FIGURES.= The body of Staffordshire figures by Ralph
Wood, Neale and Palmer, Walton, Enoch
(Mainly Staffordshire.) Wood, Salt, and other potters, is of cream
ware.
_Leeds_ figures are similar, and
are of the same body as the dessert
centre-pieces and other cream ware.
Most of the Staffordshire figures are
unmarked, but they can be identified
as belonging to one of the following
schools, by comparison with similar
marked examples.
=Salt-glazed Figures.= A class by themselves. Mainly small in
size, and no marked specimen is known.
Bears, cats, birds, and miniature figures
of men, chief designs, and the kneeling
camel modelled as teapot.
=Whieldon School.= Artistic blending of colourings and
(1740-1780.) glazings. Animals, birds, sometimes
classic figures, _e.g._, Diana, Venus,
and Madonna and Child. Miniature
musicians, and satyr head moulded in form
of cup. Early form of Toby jug. (See
illustration, p. 179.)
=Ralph Wood School.= This represents the high-water mark of
Staffordshire figures. _Vicar and Moses_
Ralph Wood (died 1772). group, _Toby Jug_, _St. George and
Dragon_, _Haymakers_, _Charity_,
Ralph Wood, jun. (born, _Neptune_, _Summer_, _Old Age_, &c., all
1748; died, 1795). remarkable for fine modelling and delicate
colouring.
=Wedgwood School.= Many large figures, such as _Ceres_,
_Diana_, _Juno_, _Prudence_, _Fortitude_,
Josiah Wedgwood. _Charity_, _Venus and Cupid_, &c., in
{ Neale and Palmer. cream ware delicately coloured.
{ Wilson.
{ Neale & Co. Other subjects of less classic taste
were produced at Etruria, _e.g._,
Voyez, as a modeller, _Sailor with Cutlass_,
employed at Etruria, and _Girl playing Mandoline_, _Sailor's
by Neale and Palmer. Farewell_ and _Return_ (a pair), _The Lost
Piece_ (after the Ralph Wood model), and
Lakin and Poole. _Elijah and the Widow_, a popular
scriptural subject (a pair). _Fair Hebe_
group modelled as a jug.
=Wood and Caldwell= _Eloquence_ (or _St. Paul preaching at_
=School.= _Athens_), _Descent from the Cross_, and
Enoch Wood other fine pieces display the powers of
(1783-1840). Enoch Wood at his best as a fine modeller.
Wood and Caldwell Other figures, some marked, are
(1790-1818). _St. Sebastian_, _Britannia_, Quin as
_Falstaff_, _Antony_ and _Cleopatra_,
Enoch Wood and Sons reclining figures (pair), _Fire_, _Earth_,
(1818-1866). _Air_, _Water_ (set of four), _Diana_
(similar to Wedgwood); group, _The Tithe
Pig_ (parson, farmer, and his wife and
baby and pigs), with tree and foliage
as background; _Leda and Swan_, _Jolly
Traveller_ (man, dog, and donkey),
_Hurdy-Gurdy Player_, _Sportsman and
Dog_, _Old Age_ (pair), _Lovers_ on
garden bench, tree background, _Tailor
and his Wife_, riding on goats (after
the Dresden model). Busts were also a
noteworthy production of this School.
_Wesley_, _Whitfield_, _Wellington_,
_Emperor of Russia_, _Napoleon_, _Miss
Lydia Foote_, and several marked silver
lustre busts and figures, _e.g._, _Mater
Dolorosa_, _Boys Reading_, &c.
The _Vicar and Moses_ group and other
earlier models were duplicated by this
school, and many _Toby Jugs_ were produced
of bright colouring.
=Walton School.= Continuing the traditions of the Wood
School, Walton and others produced a great
John Walton (of Burslem) number of _Toby Jugs_, following the Ralph
(1790-1839). Wood model, but growing more debased in
form and colouring. _Girl_ with lamb,
_Boy_ with dog, and simple figures
largely made for popular markets.
=Ralph Salt School.= Great fondness shown for village groups,
with figures with tree background
Ralph Salt (of Hanley) (imitation of Chelsea style). In character
(1812-1840). the work of this School differs little
from that of Walton.
(=See Chapter XI. for detailed description.=)
=Leeds School.= Some of the Leeds figures are marked,
(1760-1825.) _e.g._, _Venus_, delicately coloured,
slight oil gilding. Busts were made
such as _Wesley_, and _Rhytons_, or
drinking cups, in form of fox's head.
Rustic figures of _Children_, and other
miscellaneous subjects. _Lion_ couchant,
_Snuff bottle_ in shape of Lady's head.
=Liverpool School.= Largely imitative of Staffordshire
figures. Some excellent busts and figures
Herculaneum were produced. Busts of _Wesley_,
(1794-1841.) _Admiral Duncan_, and Mask Cup moulded
with portrait of _Admiral Rodney_. _Toby
Jug_, man standing upright holding jug of
ale. _Lady_ with bulldog at her feet.
=Salopian.= Earthenware figures of fine modelling are
attached to Caughley, but are unmarked.
Thomas Turner _Prudence_ and _Fortitude_ (large size),
(of Caughley), _Antony_ and _Cleopatra_ (recumbent),
about 1774. _Ceres_ and _Apollo_, and others.
A figure of _Jacobin Pigeon_ sitting
on nest in shape of sauceboat has
the impressed mark =S=.
=Swansea.= _Cows_ and other small figures were
typical of Swansea, but a recumbent
figure of _Antony_ is marked "G. Bentley,
Swansea, 22 May, 1791."
=Sunderland School.= Figures of _Seasons_, set of four female
figures marked "Dixon, Austin & Co."
_Shepherds_ and _Shepherdesses_ and _Bull
Baiting_ groups were also made here. The
potting and colouring are crude, and the
figures are of no artistic interest.
=VIII. LUSTRE WARE.= =Early Copper Lustre.= Richard Frank at
Brislington, near Bristol, crudely
decorated in simple ornament.
=Gold Lustre.= Gold-purple or pink in
colour. Wedgwood used this lustre in
mottled and veined ware with rich effect.
_As an adjunct to other decoration_ this
lustre has been widely used, crudely as
at Sunderland, and with fine effect by
Spode and other Staffordshire potters.
Swansea employed it with great artistic
skill.
=Silver Lustre.= _Plain._ Late 18th
century. Thomas Wedgwood, E. Mayer,
Spode, and others in imitation of silver
designs.
_Decorated._ 1. Silver lustre decorations
painted on other coloured grounds in
combination with subjects in colours,
birds, foliage, &c.
2. Silver lustre as a background with
white, blue, or canary-coloured design.
This unlustred ground, used as a pattern,
is known as the "resist" style, and some
of the most artistic effects are found in
this, and in combination with painting in
colours.
=Copper Lustre.= _Plain._ Early 19th
century. Early and best style thin and
well potted.
_Decorated._ Red or blue or green in
embossed floral design in combination
with copper lustre frequently found.
(=For details of makers and marks see Chapter XIII.=)
=IX. NINETEENTH CENTURY= _Early Experiments._
=DEVELOPMENTS.=
Wedgwood's semi-porcelain, used at first
for the plinths of his variegated vases.
His _Pearl Ware_.
Spode's Felspar China, _Nineteenth Century._
1805.
Spode's Stone China. Josiah Spode the Second in 1805
introduced an opaque porcelain of
ironstone body, which he termed
Haynes' Opaque China _Felspar China_, _Stone China_, and on
(Swansea), invented some of his marks, _New Fayence_.
end of 18th century.
Spode's new ware received rich decorations
Mason's Patent Ironstone in colour, in imitation of Derby and other
China, 1813 porcelains.
Riley's Semi-China. Haynes, of the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea,
invented a similar opaque china at the end
Minton's Stone China. of the 18th century.
Meigh's Stone China. At the Cambrian Pottery in this new hard
white earthenware, floral painting by
trained artists was done in excellent
style on enamelled grounds of chocolate.
Mason, with an earlier softer body, had
followed the Japanese colours in his
jugs, but when Charles James Mason, in
1813, patented his ironstone china, the
jugs took a new form, becoming octagonal,
and their corners were not easily broken
as in the chalkier body.
Long dinner services of a great number of
pieces were made in this ironstone china
richly decorated.
Other Staffordshire makers made stone
china, including Minton, Meigh, Riley,
Clementson, Ridgway, Adams, Davenport,
and many others.
By the time the middle of the century
had been reached, English earthenware
had cast off its own characteristics and
become what so many people to-day believe
it to be--a poor imitation of porcelain.
(=For details and marks see Chapter XIV.=)
II
EARLY
WARE
CHAPTER II
EARLY WARE
Mediæval Tiles (thirteenth to sixteenth centuries)--Slip
Ware--Wrotham (Kent) (1656-1703)--Staffordshire Makers
(1660-1700)--Prices of Early Ware.
As will be seen from the table at the end of the preceding chapter, the
main body of English earthenware to which collectors can give their
attention, belongs chiefly to the eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries. The beginnings of pottery and the first steps towards
perfection in art are always interesting, but in the realm of English
pottery the beginner had better push forward as the subject is a very
complex one, and the general collector is perforce obliged to confine
attention to the later periods.
It will therefore suffice if a hasty survey be made of the chief
earthenware prior to the eighteenth century.
=Mediæval Tiles.=--From the thirteenth century to the dissolution of
the monasteries the ecclesiastical tiles used in England were of a
particularly noticeable character. The tiles vary in size, the earlier
ones, as at Chertsey Abbey, were not more than three or four inches
square. The earlier the tile, as a rule, the smaller is its area. The
tiles were ornamented in various ways. They had incised, raised,
inlaid, or painted patterns. The incised and relief tiles are the most
uncommon, probably being the earlier. The designs are very numerous,
and vary in character in the different abbeys at which they originated.
Specimens have been found at Great Malvern, Denny Abbey in Norfolk,
Castle Acre Priory, Jervaulx Abbey, Lewes Priory, St. Alban's Abbey,
and at Chertsey Abbey, which latter had "one of the finest, if not the
finest, inlaid tile pavement in existence" (Hobson). The Chertsey tiles
are of different shapes, sometimes being round or half-circular to meet
the exigencies of the design, and in general they are very quaint and
original in their conception. The British Museum has some fine examples
of these Chertsey tiles in composite pictures made up of many tiles.
The designs found on mediæval tiles consist of the figures of animals,
mythical and heraldic, of birds, of human heads and grotesques, as
well as conventional, floral, and geometric patterns. They are highly
artistic and of great technical excellence.
It is generally believed that the monks made these tiles themselves
in the great religious houses, and possibly some of them may have
had foreign inspiration or have been made here by foreigners. But as
the tiles at Malvern and at Chertsey are finer than any found on the
Continent it opens up a field for conjecture. Mr. Solon says, "I have
often thought that considering the French pavements of the earliest
periods have mostly been found in the provinces then under English
domination, it would be worth while inquiring whether the art of
tile-making had not been imported from England--a point which has never
yet been sifted."
[Illustration:
MEDIÆVAL TILES.
TILE FROM CHAPTER HOUSE, WESTMINSTER.
Probably of the reign of Henry III. (Thirteenth century).
TILE FROM VERULAM ABBEY.
Bearing arms and initials of Sir Nicholas Bacon (1510-1579).
(_By the courtesy of Mr. F. W. Phillips, Hitchin._)
TILE FROM MALVERN ABBEY.
(English, fifteenth century.)
TILE FROM WHITMORE PARK, NEAR COVENTRY.
(Early fourteenth century.)]
So here, then, is a subject ready to hand for the collector willing
to specialise in a branch of ceramic study and collecting not greatly
inquired into, and the way has already been pointed out by experts.
There is every reason why these ecclesiastical tiles should be studied
with as much assiduity as are the Bristol delft painted tiles and those
of Liverpool.
=Slip Ware.=--This ware is peculiarly English and owes little or
nothing to any foreign influences, as no ware like it has ever been
made on the Continent. White or light-coloured clay was used in
the form of "slip," that is, a mixture of water and clay of such
consistency as to be dropped in fanciful pattern upon the darker body
of the ware much in the same manner as the confectioner ornaments his
wedding-cakes with sugar. Candlesticks, cups, tygs (drinking vessels
having several handles for use in passing round), posset-pots, jugs,
besides the large ornamental dated dishes by Toft and others were all
made of this slip-decorated ware.
=Wrotham, in Kent=, claims superiority in the manufacture of this ware,
of which many pieces exist. The earliest Wrotham specimen is dated
1656 (Maidstone Museum). There are other dated pieces, one as early as
1621, of red clay with more elaborate slip decoration than is found
in Staffordshire and elsewhere, and in some cases with fine incised
decoration cut through the white dip and exposing the red body beneath.
But considerable doubt exists as to whether to ascribe some of this
slip ware to Kent or to Staffordshire. It is probable that it was made
at many other places, certainly in Derbyshire, in Wales, and in London.
As some undoubted Wrotham pieces betray a slightly advanced type of
decoration although prior in date to other pieces made elsewhere, it
has been fairly conjectured that the style originated in Kent, and was
brought thither by some foreign refugees from the Continent. But as
it became practised more generally in England it assumed a national
character entirely its own, and took to itself a quaint humour racy of
the soil.
[Illustration:
TOFT DISH, DATED 1671.
(_In the Grosvenor Museum, Chester._)
_By permission of the Proprietors of the "Connoisseur."_]
[Illustration:
POSSET POT, STAFFORDSHIRE, DATED 1685.
Decorated in slip ware, yellow ground, with brown ornament.
Inscribed "William Simpson. His cup."
(_In the collection of Dr. W. L. Glaisher, Cambridge._)]
=Toft Ware.=--The names of Ralph Toft and Thomas Toft appearing on
certain large dishes, usually about eighteen inches in diameter,
decorated in slip in a somewhat crude manner, have given the name to
this class of ware, which at best is peasant pottery. The Tofts had
their works near Shelton in Staffordshire. Similar dishes were made at
Derby and at Tickenhall. The following names occur on examples in the
National and other collections with dates, Ralph Toft, Thomas Toft,
1671; Robert Shaw, 1692; William Chaterly, 1696; Ralph Turnor, 1681;
William Talor, 1700; John Wright, 1707; initials S. M., 1726, _Dublin
Museum_ (possibly Samuel Mayer, of Derby); John Wenter, 1686; I. W.,
1706. The manufacture of this slip ware continued, in more or less
spasmodic manner, throughout the eighteenth century. Pots and jugs had
illiterate inscriptions on them in halting verse, or pious mottoes.
Toft ware, that is, the large dish form, apparently was made solely for
ornament. There is a remarkable Toft dish in the Grosvenor Museum at
Chester, having the inscription in Toft's peculiar orthography, "Filep
Heues, Elesabeth Heues" (Philip and Elizabeth Hughes), signed Thomas
Toft and dated 1671. This is evidently a marriage plate. There is the
royal arms above, a favourite design in Toft ware, probably copied from
some of the more elaborate foreign Bellarmine jugs. The slip potters
had a fondness too for royal portraiture which ended lamentably in
becoming dreadful caricatures of the subject. As many as nine crowned
heads are found on one dish by Ralph Toft, signed "Ralalph To." These
have as much art as the Stuart stump-work pictures in needlework, which
were contemporary with them, in which kings and queens were represented
in no more pleasing manner than on a pack of cards. In speaking of
Toft's portrait dishes in general, and of the Grosvenor Museum example
in particular, Mr. Frank Freeth, no mean connoisseur, says, "It must
not be forgotten that these dishes were ornamental, and intended to
occupy a conspicuous place in the homes of loyal citizens, just as
oleographs of the King and Queen, that one often sees in country
cottages, are made for the purpose in the present day. The same idea
has remained; but the form of its expression has changed."
Looking at slip ware as a whole, one must not be too critical in
regard to its somewhat inartistic appearance. It certainly has a charm
about it which cannot be denied. It is native to the soil, and this
peasant industry (if one can appropriately term it such), is chiefly
to be regarded from the standpoint of what might have been if it had
been allowed to develop on natural and untrammelled lines. But it was
pressed on the one side by stoneware, such as the Bellarmine jugs
and mugs imported from Germany, and it finally succumbed to foreign
delft, which was largely used here prior to the Englishman's determined
attempt, at Lambeth, at Bristol, and at Liverpool (where it was the
staple industry for some time) to make his own wares.
It is the same story with the fine stoneware, the salt glaze of
Staffordshire, which was a magnificent outburst of English art of the
highest order, which fell before the cheapness of Wedgwood's and other
cream ware, after a heroic struggle in its enamelled stage with the
coloured ware of the new English china factories. These precedents
might be continued further up to the present day, when German,
Austrian, and Japanese competition have driven English potters into the
position of attempting to hold their own against foreign art.
It is the opinion of the present writer that the coats-of-arms on the
Toft dishes were a deliberate attempt to copy those frequently found
on the belly of the Rhenish stoneware jugs. From the days of Elizabeth
coats-of-arms and heraldic devices were a feature in these jugs used in
this country. Among those at the British and the Victoria and Albert
Museums, and in the fine collection at the Guildhall, the use of crests
is seen to be a striking characteristic (see illustration, p. 135). As
a conclusive proof that the maker of earthenware had his eye on these
stoneware models, we give as an illustration a jug in _earthenware_
(not stoneware) of Bellarmine form made in England, undoubtedly by an
English potter. The arms on it are those of the Earl of Dorset, not
improbably those of the sixth Earl, Charles Sackville, who lived from
1637 to 1706, and was the author of the well-known song, running--
"To all you ladies now on land
We men at sea indite;
But first would have you understand
How hard it is to write"--
written in 1665, when he attended the Duke of York as a volunteer in
the Dutch war, and this song he composed when with the fleet on the eve
of battle.
[Illustration:
EARTHENWARE JUG.
Copy of Rhenish Bellarmine or Greybeard form.
With the arms of the Earl of Dorset.
(Late seventeenth century.)
(_At the British Museum._)]
There is a sort of heraldic touch about some of these Staffordshire
dishes of the Toft class. The same idea seems to have possessed
the workers of the Stuart stump-pictures in needlework, which
were contemporary with these dishes. Coins and medals and Stuart
marriage-badges are evidently the source from which Toft and his school
on the one hand, and the gentle needlewoman on the other, derived their
inspiration in design. Various animals and birds are used symbolically
with great freedom. The caterpillar and butterfly nearly always
accompany needlework portraits of Charles I., and the unicorn was the
device of his father James I. There seems some similarity to this idea
in the use of the _Mermaid_ in the dish by Thomas Toft. Another dish of
his, entitled "The Pelican in her Piety," depicts that bird with her
young, the idea being that the pelican used to feed her brood with her
own blood. The Latins called filial love _piety_, hence Virgil's hero
is always termed _pius Aeneas_. "Ralph Simpson" is another name found
on this pelican dish.
We give an illustration of a fine posset-pot of Staffordshire origin,
dated 1685, in slip ware, with yellow ground and conventional ornament
in brown, with dotted work. It is inscribed, "William Simpson, His
Cup." It has three handles and three loops, and is quite a typical
piece of this class of ware. It recently sold for fifty-five pounds (p.
89).
_Metropolitan Slip Ware._--There is a slight distinction between pieces
made in London and found during excavations, and those discovered
elsewhere. The slip decoration is lightly done and there is a tendency
to incised decoration of conventional floral design. One noticeable
feature in this type of ware is its inscriptions, written in doggerel,
always of a pious nature. "When this you see, Remember me,--Obeay
God's word"; or "Drink faire, Don't sware"; or "Be not hyminded but
feare God, 1638." This class of ware savours strongly of the Puritan
influence, and it is evident that the potters who made these pieces
were of the "Praise God Barebones" order of visionary, not uncommon
at a time when books with titles like the following appeared, "Some
fine Baskets baked in the Oven of Charity, carefully conserved for
the Chickens of the Church, the Sparrows of the Spirit, and the sweet
Swallows of Salvation."
It seems absurd in regarding the productions of this school of English
slip workers, from middle Stuart days down to the early years of
the eighteenth century, to consider that Vandyck had painted his
galleries of beauties; that Hollar, with his etching needle, had
drawn a long procession of figures in costume, thousands of etchings
which surely must have caught the eye of some Toft or some Simpson.
There was Grinling Gibbons working his artistic profusion in wreaths
of flowers and fruit carved in wood, and there were the treasures
of the silversmith, to say nothing of the sumptuous furniture that
was beginning to make its way in England. But these slip ware dishes
seem to stand somewhat like the Jacobean chairs made in Yorkshire and
Derbyshire, of the same date, apparently unaffected by any of the
æsthetic movements of the period. Simply and naturally, and, be it
said, crudely representing the artistic aspirations of the ordinary
craftsman when he was left to himself, it is _naïve_, standing as it
does for English native art at a time when Bernard Palissy, the French
potter, had been dead a hundred years.
EARLY WARE PRICES.
WROTHAM WARE. £ s. d.
Loving cup, four handled, fine specimen,
decorated in slip; initials W.L.R. and
H.I.; dated 1656. Sotheby, January, 1906 56 0 0
Wine jug, brown with yellow slip,
inscribed Samuel Hugheson and dated 1618;
8 in. high. Sotheby, June, 1906 10 0 0
Cradle, with inscription, "Mary Overton,
Her cradle, 1729." Puttick and Simpson,
May, 1908 17 0 0
TOFT WARE.
Plate (17 in. diameter), with figure of
soldier, in relief, with sword in each
hand; trellis border; dated 1677. Warner,
Leicester, March, 1906 86 0 0
SLIP WARE.
Brown posset-pot, two handled with lid,
inscribed "William and Mary Goldsmith,"
date incised "June ye 7th, 1697"; 9 in.
high. Bond, Ipswich, April, 1906 15 0 0
Dish, bearing royal arms of England,
inscribed "G. R. 1748"; 18-1/2 in.
diameter. Sotheby, June, 1906 21 0 0
Posset-pot, three handled, inscribed
"Robert Shaw." Sotheby, June, 1906 35 0 0
Posset-pot, larger, inscribed "God save
the Queen 1711." Sotheby, June, 1906 26 0 0
Posset-pot, two handled, inscribed "Iohn
Taylor, 1690." Sotheby, November, 1907 12 15 0
Dish, slip decorated and salt glazed,
inscribed on rim, "Joseph Mosson, the
Best is not too good for You 1727."
Sotheby, May, 1908 13 10 0
Dish, trellis pattern, on rim in brown
and yellow slip, portraits of Charles
II. and Catherine of Braganza; inscribed
with maker's name "George Taylor";
17-1/2 in. diameter. Sotheby, May, 1908 53 0 0
Posset-pot, yellow ground, conventional
ornament in brown, with dotted work,
inscribed "William Simpson, His Cup."
Dated 1685. Sotheby, December, 1908
(see illustration, p. 89) 55 0 0
III
ENGLISH
DELFT
CHAPTER III
ENGLISH DELFT
What is Delft?--Its foreign origin--Introduction into
England--Lambeth Delft--Bristol Delft--Liverpool Delft--Delft
Tiles printed at Liverpool by Sadler and Green--Wincanton
(Somerset)--Prices of English Delft
Delft, of all earthenware, is, so to speak, the most earthen, and
presents an object lesson to the student. It accurately conforms to
the technical definition as to what constitutes the difference between
earthenware and porcelain. It consists of a porous body (in the case
of Dutch delft very porous, as we shall see later), covered by a thick
coating of white, opaque enamel.
The porous nature of its body makes it light in weight, and the tin
enamel which covers the brown body enables the potter to paint upon
this white surface designs, usually in blue. This decoration is over
the enamel, if it were under this opaque enamel, that is, on the brown
underneath body of the ware, the coating of this white enamel would
obliterate the designs. After a piece has been fired to the biscuit
state and dipped in white enamel and painted upon when dry, it is, to
preserve the painting, fired a second time, when it receives a thin
surface of transparent lead glaze.
=Its Foreign Origin.=--Its name is derived from the town of Delft in
Holland. It was about the year 1602 that Dutch potters invented this
class of ware in their attempts, in common with all the other European
potters, to produce some ware as decorative as the porcelain which had
been brought to Europe long before by the Portuguese traders, and now
was being largely imported by the East India Dutch merchants.
This first employment of a white enamel on a brown earthenware was
clearly due to the very natural desire on the part of the potter to
procure some surface upon which his decorations in colour would show
well in contrast. All primitive potters have passed through several
stages of evolution. Brown ware was at first plain, then it received
scratched or incised decoration. Searching for greater contrast the
potter applied his ornament in relief in white, as in slip ware, or he
added coloured glazes, as in the Tudor miniature jugs.
But it seems that sooner or later the light background for the painted
decoration must have become an ideal to strive for. It is, in effect,
the same necessity which induces the signboard painter to cover his
brown panel with a white background prior to painting in letters of
red or blue some attractive announcement. But with the models of the
Chinese potter now constantly before him the Dutch potter commenced at
once to imitate them.
[Illustration:
LAMBETH DELFT JAR.
Painted in blue, with arms of Apothecaries' Company with crest
mantling and supporters. Motto--Opifer: Quæ: per: orbem: dicor;
oval shield below with arms of City of London.
(11 inches high, 27-1/4 inches greatest circumference.)
(_In the collection of Mr. Robert Bruce Wallis._)]
But pleasing as is the Dutch delft in its fine colours, incorporated
as they are with the enamel and glaze and giving the rich tone so much
admired by collectors, and faithfully copying the form of the Nankin
models, it falls short of these Oriental prototypes in many important
respects. It is admittedly an imitation of the _appearance_ of
porcelain, and not an imitation of the qualities peculiar to porcelain.
The Dutch potter in his delft did not, as in the case of other European
potters, essay to copy the body of porcelain, and arrive at true hard
white paste, as did Meissen. Apparently he took his earthenware,
and with the limitations in technique in its working he produced a
colourable imitation, in appearance only, of his blue and white Chinese
models, and very fine some of these early seventeenth century Dutch
delft pieces are, and highly prized by collectors.
But delft in comparison with porcelain may be said to be very similar
to veneered furniture in relation to solid specimens. The veneer in
the one case and the enamel in the other disguises something inferior
beneath.
=Introduction into England.=--There is no doubt that, prior to its
manufacture in this country, a great quantity of Dutch delft was
imported and in general use in the middle years of the seventeenth
century. In dealing with delft ware, in connection with the various
types of earthenware at different periods of the history of the
potter's art it must be borne in mind that delft was entirely of
foreign origin. It owed everything to the inventiveness of the Dutch
potters, and it gained very little when it became acclimatised in
England, although it was manufactured here until the closing years of
the eighteenth century, when Wedgwood's cream ware drove it off the
market as a cheap and serviceable ware.
Naturally the close connection of the royal house of England with
Holland accelerated the fashion of storing delft in closets and making
considerable use of its rich colours as a decorative effect on
sideboards and buffets. The lac cabinets and the fine blue and white
delft jars at Hampton Court testify to the influence that the advent of
William of Orange had on the taste of the country from the memorable
year of 1688, when he landed at Torbay.
Delft was presumably being made in this country fifty years before that
by Dutch refugees, but the thirties of the seventeenth century was
not a very happy time to inaugurate the birth of a new branch of art
in England. The rumblings of the civil war were in the air. It was in
1642 that Charles precipitated matters by going with an armed force to
the House of Commons to arrest five members; and seven years later he
lost his head in Whitehall. It is not until the last years of Charles
II. that there appears to be any documentary evidence connected with
the actual manufacture of delft in England. John Ariens van Hamme,
evidently a Dutch refugee, a potter working at Lambeth, took out a
patent for making "tiles and porcelain after the way practised in
Holland." The word "porcelain" was used somewhat indiscriminately at
this date and apparently meant anything having the appearance of the
wares coming over in large numbers from the East, imported by our East
India Company.
[Illustration:
LAMBETH DELFT WINE BOTTLE.
Inscribed "SACK WKE 1652."
(_At British Museum._)]
[Illustration:
BRISTOL DELFT WARE.
(About 1784.)
Representing balloon ascent, two figures in car, with
Union Jack flying.
(_In the possession of Mr. W. L. Yeulett._)]
=Lambeth Delft.=--To Lambeth must be accredited the best results of
English delft ware. The glaze is thinner and whiter than is used
elsewhere and the tone of the blue is less crude. It is difficult to
differentiate between the work of Dutch refugees and of English born
potters. Drug pots and sack bottles formerly imported from Holland
began to be made at Lambeth. Some of these bottles are dated and
the dates upon them range from 1649, the year of the execution
of King Charles I., to 1664, during the early years of the reign of
Charles II., the year in which New York, then New Amsterdam, a Dutch
settlement, was surrendered to the English.
There are not a great number of these authentic dated sack bottles
known. Lambeth must also be credited with the series of plates having
dates and initials, and with some of the "blue dash" chargers or
dishes. These are usually decorated with blue dashes clumsily applied
round the edge, sometimes brown is used instead of blue. In the centre
of the dish is generally a figure, often on horseback, and the foliage
of the trees in the background is done with a sponge hastily applied.
The range of colours used is not great--blue, green, orange, puce,
and brown. Sometimes four colours are found on one dish, but not
infrequently the decorator has been content with two, in addition to
blue, which is nearly always present.
The following are among the subjects found on these dishes, which are
usually about thirteen inches in diameter:--Charles I., Charles II.,
James II., William and Mary, William on foot or on horseback, Queen
Anne, the Old Pretender, Duke of Marlborough, Duke of Monmouth, and
the celebrated Adam and Eve dishes, in which Eve was represented as
Queen Mary giving a kingdom to her husband, represented by an orange as
a pun on his royal house. Although portraits of Charles I. appear in
this series, they are not contemporary, and were probably not made at
Lambeth until after about 1670, and their manufacture continued for a
little over a quarter of a century, that is, until the opening years of
the reign of George I.
That delft was made in England a little earlier than 1672 is proved
by the fact that in that year a royal proclamation forbade the
importation of "painted earthenware" to compete with the same
production "but lately found out in England." Here is an instance of
trade protection, but it should be borne in mind at that date we were
at war with the Dutch, who were in that year defeated off Southwold Bay.
Something should be said about the characteristics of this Lambeth
delft. The body is fairly hard and the tin enamel or glaze is often
found on the back of the piece; when this is not the case the back has
received an application of yellowish lead glaze. The English clay being
less spongy than that of Holland, did not take the enamel well, and
often shows the colour of the body in pink lines through the glaze.
English delft, owing to the glaze not being incorporated, is crazed on
the surface. In regard to dated sack bottles, great caution should be
exercised in buying them, as genuine examples of plain undated bottles
have been skilfully redecorated by fraudulent hands, and the words Sack
or Canary, together with a date, added.
There is an element of doubt about much of the Lambeth delft ware,
as it is certain that some of the patterns were copied by the
Staffordshire potters, and some of these copies are so faithfully done
as to puzzle experts, but many of the cruder dash series of dishes and
platters may safely be attributed to Staffordshire.
[Illustration:
CANDLESTICK, LAMBETH DELFT.
Inscribed W E 1648.
(_At Victoria and Albert Museum._)]
[Illustration:
OLD DUTCH BRASS CANDLESTICK.
(Seventeenth century.)
(_In the collection of the Author._)]
In the illustration of a dated candlestick, with the initials W.E.
and coat of arms, and dated 1648, from the National collection at
the Victoria and Albert Museum, it will be seen that the authorities
attribute an earlier date to the manufacture of delft at Lambeth
than the above-mentioned royal proclamation in 1672 would seem to
warrant. But so learned an authority as Professor Church is of the
opinion that "a considerable manufactory existed there at least as
early as 1631." It is interesting to compare the style of this delft
candlestick with a brass one of early Dutch manufacture, which at any
rate shows that the design, as well as the method of manufacture, was
derived from Holland.
Pharmacy jars, decorated in blue and plain white delft, were also
made at Lambeth; of this latter there are many small jugs and puzzle
jugs, and a variety of fancy pieces. We give an illustration of a very
interesting Pharmacy Jar with the arms of the Apothecaries' Company,
and with motto inscribed. A shield below has the arms of the City of
London.
=Bristol Delft.=--There is no doubt that the delft of Bristol has not
yet been thoroughly exploited. Farther removed from the influence of
a constant stream of Dutch examples, the potters took some of their
designs straight from Oriental models. Richard Frank and Joseph Flower
are two potters who had works at Bristol. They are known to have
manufactured delft as early as the opening years of the eighteenth
century, contemporary with Lambeth, when the industry at this latter
place was in full swing, and delft was made at Bristol until the
middle of the reign of George III., after which delft was no longer
fashionable.
It is not easy to distinguish between the productions of Frank and
Flower, nor is it less difficult in some instances to state definitely
whether a piece is Bristol, or Liverpool, or Lambeth, and we might add
Staffordshire. There is a very interesting delft plate decorated in
blue, representing a balloon ascent. In date this is about 1784 and it
may be attributed to Bristol or Liverpool (see illustration, p. 107).
But as a rule it is held that Bristol delft is bluish in tint, and has
a more brilliant and even surface. The ware is decorated with Oriental
landscapes, and a considerable number of tiles were made and painted
for use as pictures in the fireside in old Bristol houses a century
and a half ago. Bowen, John Hope, Michael Edkins, and Thomas Patience
are some of the painters who worked at the Frank pottery. There is one
subject picture representing Hogarth's _March to Finchley_, and it was
certainly executed more than once as there is one set consisting of
forty-two tiles and another of seventy-two tiles of the same subject.
A peculiarity of some of the Bristol delft is the ground of powdered
purple or brown with white panels, having a decoration in blue. We
illustrate a bowl of this type of ware, which, although not having the
white panel, is representative of this class as the fish is on a white
ground with outline decorations in blue (see p. 115).
Another fine style of decoration is that known as _bianco sopra
bianco_, that is, a pattern of foliage or sprays of flowers enamelled
in white upon a dull, greenish-white ground (see illustration, p. 115).
[Illustration:
BRISTOL DELFT PLATE.
Decorated in blue in middle and _bianco sopra bianco_ around border.
(_At Victoria and Albert Museum._)]
[Illustration:
BRISTOL DELFT BOWL.
Ground of powdered purple. Decorated with fishes in white and blue.
(_In the possession of Mr. S. G. Fenton._)]
There are many dated pieces of Bristol delft with initials, bowls,
marriage and election plates, and sometimes tile pictures. At the
Victoria and Albert Museum there is a fine plate with the initials
E.M.B., and dated 1760, the initials being those of the painter,
Michael Edkins, and his wife Betty. This was made at the factory of
Richard Frank, and was presented to the National collection by the
grandson of the painter.
In the collection of pottery at the Bristol Museum there is an example
attributed to Brislington which in colouring is slightly duller than
the Bristol examples. Connoisseurs of Bristol delft divide the ware
into the earlier period prior to 1735, when the decoration followed
Dutch prototypes, and they attribute much of the thinner or finer
potted examples to Joseph Flower, but after that the Bristol potters
struck out for themselves, and imparted more originality in their ware.
Landscapes appeared on the ware, but not seen through Dutch eyes, and
a slight variation was given to the form of the bases of the bowls and
plates, falling into line with typical shapes employed by other English
potters.
We illustrate a very remarkable piece of Bristol delft which is dated
1740, and bears the initials I.F., which may probably stand for Joseph
Flower, whose factory was on the quay at Bristol. This plate, which
is 13-1/2 inches in diameter, has a painted illustration with the
inscription in a medallion, "A Voyage to the Moon, by Domingo Gonsales
from the Ile of Tenerife."
We do not know what is the particular story connected with the making
of this plate, nor why such a subject should have been chosen. But
there is no doubt that the painter of the plate took his design from
a book entitled "The Man in the Moone, or a Discourse of a Voyage
thither, By Domingo Gonsales, The Speedy Messenger." We give a
facsimile of the title-page. This was a romance written by Francis
Godwin, bishop of Hereford, and in the second edition of 1657, the
title-page has the addition, "By F.G.--B. of H." There were many
editions of this book, which became very popular. A French edition
under the title of _L' Homme dans La Lune_, is dated 1671, and has the
same illustration as the first English edition, with the exception of
the inscription on the medallion.
This is not the place to give details of this interesting volume,
which describes in language as faithful as that of Defoe, the voyage
of Domingo Gonsales, a shipwrecked Spanish adventurer, from Teneriffe
to the Moon in a car he invented, which was carried by a flock of wild
geese he had trained in his solitude. After a stay of a year in that
country, and meeting with adventures with the inhabitants of that
kingdom, he sets sail for the earth and lands in China. He by great
fortune hears of some Jesuit fathers hidden away in Far Cathay, who
welcomed him, "much wondering to see a lay Spaniard there," and by them
his story is committed to writing.
Written in 1638, the following sentence in the _Preface_ sounds quite
modern, "That there should be Antipodes was once thought as great a
paradox as now that the Moon should be habitable. But the knowledge of
this may seem more properly reserved for this, our discovering age."
There is no doubt that the book had a very considerable circulation,
and it is not improbable that Swift knew of it and incorporated some of
the ideas of the author in his "Gulliver's Travels," which appeared in
1726. But it is not easily explained why this delft plate, dated 1740,
bears the inscription and illustration of a volume published nearly a
century earlier.
[Illustration:
BRISTOL DELFT DISH.
Inscribed "A Voyage to the Moon by Domingo Gonzales from the Ile of
Tenerife."]
[Illustration:
REVERSE OF DELFT DISH.
Marked I F and dated 1740. (Diameter 13-1/2 inches.)]
(_In the collection of Mr. W. C. Wells._)
=Liverpool Delft.=--Collectors of Liverpool delft would like to ascribe
many pieces to that city. But, unfortunately, the difference between
this and the other English delft is not so defined. One has to take
the style of subject largely as a guide for the origin. There is a
large punch bowl at the Victoria and Albert Museum which may certainly
be attributed to Liverpool. It was painted by John Robinson at Seth
Pennington's factory. A similar bowl is in the Mechanic's Institution
at Hanley. It is painted in blue with a three-masted man-of-war inside
the bowl. The flag is touched with red. The exterior shows an array
of military trophies. It is somewhat confusing to collectors to know
that the fine punch bowls of Seth Pennington, with his renowned blue
colouring, are of delft, earthenware, and of _china_. These latter are
of great rarity and value.
Another maker of delft punch bowls was Shaw, but it is not easy to
determine with exactitude to which factory to ascribe some of these
delft bowls, and there is room for considerable inquiry and exhaustive
research to be made into the early history of the Liverpool potteries
in general, as much information is needed to settle controversial
points.
=Delft Printed Tiles.=--It is here that Liverpool stands pre-eminent
in the transfer printed delft tiles. As early as 1750 Sadler and Green
discovered the transfer printing by means of adhesive paper placed
on previously inked copper-plates and laid on the earthenware as a
decoration in black or in red, and sometimes puce. The signature of
the engravers appears on some specimens, _J. Sadler, Liverpool_; _J.
Sadler, Liverpl._; _Sadler, Liverpool_; _Green, Liverpool_; or _Green_.
The invention was invaluable as a decoration for china and earthenware
in lieu of painting. The following affidavit was made in 1756 by John
Sadler and Guy Green that they "without the aid of or assistance of any
other person or persons, did, within the space of six hours, to wit,
betwixt the hours of nine in the morning and three in the afternoon
of the same day, print upwards of 1,200 tiles of different patterns
at Liverpoole aforesaid, and which, as these deponents have heard and
believe, were more in number, and better and neater, than one hundred
skilled potmakers could have painted in the like space of time in the
common or usual way of painting with a pencil, and these deponents say
that they have been upwards of seven years in finding out the method of
printing tiles, and in making tryals and experiments for that purpose,
which they have now, through great pains and expense, brought to
perfection."
There is no doubt that this invention revolutionised the decoration
of all wares. In regard to the controversy which has arisen as to the
prior claims of Battersea for its transfer decorated enamels, and of
Worcester for similar decorations by Hancock, the whole matter has
been exhaustively dealt with by Mr. William Turner in his "Transfer
Printing on Enamels, Porcelain, and Pottery," in which the case for
each claimant is minutely analysed.
[Illustration:
TITLE PAGE AND ILLUSTRATION.
From volume, "The Man in the Moone," published in 1638.
(_In Library at British Museum._)]
Sadler and his partner Green conducted a large business in this
transfer printing for other factories as well as, of course, for the
Liverpool delft and other wares. Sadler apparently left the partnership
somewhere between 1769 and 1774, so that the signature on the tiles by
him gives the date of their printing. Green carried on the business
until 1799, and so great was the fame of the firm that cream ware was
sent from Etruria and by other Staffordshire potters to be printed at
Liverpool, and up till 1799 Wedgwood's successors still continued the
practice of having their cream ware printed by Green.
Liverpool tiles obviously differ from Bristol tiles inasmuch as
the former were printed after 1756, but of course before that date
Liverpool delft tiles must have been painted as they were elsewhere.
There are many series of the Sadler and Green period, one notable one
being a number of actors and actresses, including Garrick, Foote, Mrs.
Abington, Mrs. Yates, and others, in character.
Fable illustrations from Æsop and others were largely printed, and some
of Wedgwood's plates have been decorated in red, with fable subjects
some five inches square, which, in spite of the festoons in which they
are set, cannot escape from seeming what they are--square tile-subjects
applied to the decoration of a round plate--and the result is not
pleasing.
Among the signed pieces of Sadler and of Green, if any difference in
style can be discerned in the results, it is indicated by the subjects
they chose. Sadler's name appears on pastoral subjects with luxurious
foliage and with dainty rustic scenery, while Green seems to have had a
fondness for Oriental groups with a framework of fantastic furniture.
The best collection of Liverpool delft in this country is in the museum
at Liverpool.
At this museum may be seen the printed work on delft tiles of a later
Liverpool potter, Zachariah Barnes, who was only twelve years of age
when Sadler and Green commenced their tile printing, but who lived till
1820, and had a considerable business in printing wall tiles of fine
character.
=Wincanton Delft.=--A delft factory existed at Wincanton (Somerset),
and recent excavations have brought to light material proving the class
of ware made there. Nathaniel Ireson is believed to have started
the works about 1730. There are examples of this delft bearing the
name "Wincanton," and dated 1737. One specimen has the name Nathaniel
Ireson, and is dated 1748. One of these dated plates is in the National
Scottish Museum at Edinburgh, which we are enabled to reproduce as an
illustration. It is decorated in blue, with the arms of the Masons'
Company, and inscribed "Js. Clewett," and dated 1737. At the back of
the dish are painted sprays of blossom, and it is marked "Wincanton."
This is a remarkable specimen.
=Tudor Jugs.=--Though earliest in date, we mention this last, as the
ware is not true delft. This is a class of Elizabethan ware, mostly
small jugs some five or six inches in height, of brown-and-blue mottled
surface. The exterior has all the appearance of Cologne stoneware, but
the pieces bear a closer relationship to delft; they have a tin glaze,
whereas the stone Cologne ware has a salt glaze. They are exceedingly
rare and valuable, and some of them are mounted with silver bearing
Elizabethan hall-marks. They are disclaimed by continental authorities,
who refuse to acknowledge them as belonging to their factories, and
they apparently were made in England. A great deal of mystery surrounds
their origin, and no doubt further research will at some future date
determine the history of these specimens which, under various fancy
names, such as "Tiger" pattern, due to their peculiar mottling, bring
considerable prices under the hammer.
[Illustration:
WINCANTON DELFT DISH.
With arms of Masons' Company. Inscribed "Js. Clewett 1737."
BACK OF DELFT DISH.
Showing the mark "Wincanton."
(_At the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh._)]
To bring the story of English delft to a conclusion, it may be said
that it had an ephemeral life as a ware for domestic use, until it was
dethroned by Staffordshire salt glaze ware, which held the field until
Wedgwood's cream ware drove this latter from the market.
DELFT PRICES.
LAMBETH. £ s. d.
Dish, octagonal, decorated in blue and
white, bearing arms of Routledge family,
with motto, _Verax atque probus_,
dated 1637. Sotheby, February, 1906 7 0 0
Coronation mug, 3-1/2 in. high, portrait
of Charles II., inscribed and dated "C.
2nd R., 1660." Bond, Bristol, April, 1906 38 0 0
Set of six plates inscribed "What is a
Merry Man," &c., all dated 1734. Sotheby,
June, 1906 41 0 0
Vessel modelled in form of cat, painted
in blue, dated 1657. Sotheby, June, 1906 20 0 0
Plaque, with arms of Apothecaries' Company
in blue. Christie, November, 1906 9 19 6
Wine bottle, inscribed "Sack, 1650," in
blue. Sotheby, May, 1908 15 15 0
Plate with blue decoration on border, and
C
initials A E, 1698. Sotheby, April, 1908 3 3 0
STAFFORDSHIRE.
Delft dish painted with tulip and with
blue dash border, 13 in. diameter; another
with head of Charles II., and inscribed
"The Royal Oak"; another inscribed G L.
1680. Sotheby, December, 1908 1 12 0
BRISTOL.
Plates, small, ordinary style, from 7s. 6d.
to 1 0 0
Dishes, larger size, ordinary style,
from £1 to 2 0 0
Plates, small, with initials and dated,
from £1 10s., upwards.
Dishes, larger size, with initials and
dates, or of especial interest, from £2
to £5 and upwards.
LIVERPOOL.
(Similar prices to those of Bristol.)
Puzzle jug painted in blue, with verse.
Puttick and Simpson, December, 1905 3 12 6
TUDOR JUGS.
These jugs vary in character, but are
always of some rarity, and range in
value from £10, as a minimum price,
upwards. With hall-marked silver mounts,
in date from 1530-1600, they are greatly
sought after. The West Malling Jug is the
most famous specimen that has been sold
of recent years.
The description is as follows,--
Fulham delft or stoneware, splashed
purple, orange, green, and other
colours. With silver mounts, having
London hall-mark, 1581. Height, 9-1/2
in. Strong probability that it is
nothing more than an old sack-pot.
Sold at Christie's, February, 1903 £1,522 10 0
IV
STONEWARE
CHAPTER IV
STONEWARE
Cologne Ware and Bellarmines--John Dwight of Fulham
(1638-1703)--The Brothers Elers, working in Staffordshire
(1690-1710)--John Astbury (1679-1743)--Thomas Astbury--Fulham
Stoneware--Nottingham Stoneware--Prices of Stoneware.
Stoneware in point of date is prior to delft in its beginnings, and
it had in its subsequent development a longer life than delft. It has
already been shown (Chapter II.) how broken is the history of the
evolution of the potter's art in England in the Middle Ages. There
are great gaps which divide the period of the mediæval tiles from the
more or less peasant pottery known as slip ware. It is not until the
seventeenth century had well advanced that the manufacture of stoneware
took its place as an industry.
To the beginner it should be explained that stoneware is coated with a
glaze by means of common salt. It is extremely hard, and has a surface
in old and admired specimens like the skin of an orange being pitted
with minute depressions, or in finer and thinner ware being like the
surface of leather or chicken skin. The ordinary ginger-beer bottle
is stoneware, and although serving in a humble capacity, is often
found to be perfect in the technique of salt glazing. In old jugs of
seventeenth-century manufacture, the mottled colouring and distinctly
pleasing surface varying in tone from warm brown to reddish-yellow, is
exceptionally attractive to collectors who import a love for technique
into their hobby.
Undoubtedly the Bellarmine, or Greybeard, jug was in use in this
country for a considerable period. References abound in old plays.
Ben Jonson, in his "Bartholomew Fair" (Act IV.), makes Captain Whit
say, "He has wrashled so long with the bottle here, that the man with
the beard hash almosht streek up hish heelsh," in simulation of the
speech of a man who has well drunken. But it must be concluded that
this stoneware, or Cologne ware, was largely imported, and was never
greatly made in this country until John Dwight, of Fulham, took out his
patent in 1671. There are pieces bearing Elizabethan dates and coats
of arms, as, for instance, the small brown cruche in the Schreiber
Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, with the initials "E. R."
and the date 1594; and the fine Bellarmine jug in the British Museum,
with the arms of Queen Elizabeth, and dated 1594. We illustrate a fine
stoneware Bellarmine jug, of the late sixteenth century, having a coat
of arms with crown and Tudor roses. The character of some of these
jugs differs from continental examples. This may have been due to a
desire on the part of the consumer for vessels of that type, but there
seems some likelihood that the commoner sorts were made here, and it is
conjectured that Fulham was the chief place of their manufacture.
[Illustration:
STONEWARE JUG. BELLARMINE OR GREYBEARD.
Having arms with Tudor roses. (Late sixteenth century.)
(_At British Museum._)]
[Illustration:
STONEWARE JUGS WITH ROYAL ARMS AND
PORTRAIT MEDALLIONS OF WILLIAM AND MARY.
The left-hand jug with portrait of Queen Mary is attributed to Dwight.
(_In the collection of Mr. F. W. Phillips, Hitchin._)]
In the group of fine Bellarmine jugs illustrated, the characteristics
of the ware are shown. The decorations begin to assume a national
feeling, and the jugs differ in form from the continental type. The
fine specimen of grey stoneware with the portrait medallion of Queen
Mary is attributed to Dwight. The inscription runs "Maria. D. G. Mag.
Brit. Franc, et. Hib. Regina." The right hand jug in the group has a
raised medallion portrait of William III.
The Bellarmine, or Greybeard or Longbeard, is so called from the head
which appears on the neck of the jug, which mask is always referred
to in a satirical manner as being the likeness of Cardinal Robert
Bellarmin, who rendered himself obnoxious by his opposition to the
reformed religion in the Low Countries.
These old examples of foreign stoneware, miscalled _grès de Flandres_,
are known to have been made at Raren, at Siegburg, at Grenzhausen, near
Coblenz, and later in the seventeenth century they were made at Namur.
The fact that they were imported and not made here appears from the
petition of William Simpson, merchant (_Lansdowne MSS._) to Queen
Elizabeth: "Whereas one Garnet Tyne, a strainger living in Acon, in the
parte beyond the seas, being none of her Majestie's subjects, doth buy
up all the pottles made at Culloin called Drinkynge Stonepottes & he
onlie transporteth them into this realme of England & selleth them; It
may please your Majestie to graunt unto the sayd William Simpson full
power & only license to provyde, transport, & bring into this realme,
the same or such like Drynkynge pots"; the petitioner adds that "no
Englishman doth transport any potte into this realme," he also gives a
promise "as in him lieth" to attempt to "drawe the making of such like
potte into some decayed town within this realme, whereby many a hundred
poore men may be set a worke." Thirty years later Letters Patent were
granted to Thomas Rous and Abraham Cullyn in 1626 for the sole making
"of the stone pottes, stone juggs, & stone bottles, for the terme of
fourteene years for a reward for their invention."
Here, then, are sufficient facts to show how largely the importation
and manufacture was in foreign hands, and the finer specimens must
undoubtedly be assigned to foreign potters.
=John Dwight.=--In 1671 a patent was taken out by John Dwight for
"the mistery of transparent earthenware, commonly knowne by the names
of porcelaine or China and Persian ware, as alsoe the misterie of
the stoneware vulgarly called Cologne ware." It appears from this
patent that he had "invented and sett up at Fulham, several new
manufactories." There is no doubt that John Dwight was one of the
greatest, if not the greatest of English potters. His magnificent
life-size bust in stoneware of Prince Rupert, now in the British
Museum, excites the wonder and admiration of modern potters. The
technical excellence he displays in his fine stoneware, which is of a
grey-white or pale fawn colour, and is salt glazed, is as remarkable a
triumph of modelling as it is of skill in potting. To quote Professor
Church in regard to Dwight's busts and figures, "They stand absolutely
alone in English ceramics. They are the original and serious work of an
accomplished modeller. The best of them are instinct with individuality
and strength, yet reticent with the reticence of noble sculpture."
[Illustration:
STONEWARE BUST OF JAMES II.
By Dwight, of Fulham. (About 1686.)
(_At Victoria and Albert Museum._)]
[Illustration:
DWIGHT STONEWARE FIGURES.
Children reading.
(_At British Museum._)]
The illustration of the bust of _James II._ (p. 139) is not so well
known as the famous _Prince Rupert_, nor is it of the same superlative
power; but it is a fine example of stoneware.
The two figures illustrated of _Children Reading_ have just been added
to the national collection, and exhibit the mastery of Dwight over his
medium.
There is no doubt that John Dwight is coming into his own. Among the
fathers of English pottery there are Dwight and Elers, and Astbury
and Whieldon, and Josiah Wedgwood, and the greatest of these is
unquestionably Dwight. Dr. Plot, in his "History of Oxfordshire,"
published in 1677, passes this eulogy upon him: "He has so advanced
the _Art Plastick_, that 'tis dubious whether any man since Prometheus
have excelled him, not excepting the famous Damophilus and Gorgasus
of Pliny." And yet this Dwight is reported to have destroyed most of
his formulæ and many of his papers connected with his inventions in
the hope that his descendants would not engage in so unprofitable a
business.
It is not known when Dwight was born; 1638 is the conjectured date.
He was M.A. and B.C.L. of Christ Church, Oxford, and was secretary to
the Bishop of Chester. Between 1671 and 1676 he settled at Fulham. It
appears that he had previously established a factory at Oxford with
considerable success. He died in 1703, and the pottery was continued
by his son Samuel, who died in 1737. The works were carried on by his
widow, and subsequently by William White, who married her, and the
pottery remained in the hands of the White family until 1862.
Of his portrait busts and statuettes, the Victoria and Albert Museum
and the British Museum have about thirteen examples, and there is a
fine statuette of _Jupiter_ in the Liverpool Museum. Besides this
class of ware, he certainly made stoneware jugs of the Cologne type,
and red-ware teapots. He was known to use small raised ornaments on
this ware, produced by the use of metal stamps. His vases have marbled
decorations, and he was fully aware of the use of pounded flint, which
gave his ware a porcellanous character, "a discovery which was not
apparently known to the Staffordshire potters until about 1720."[1]
[Note: 1 "Guide to English Pottery and Porcelain in the British Museum," R.
L. Hobson.
In relation to Dwight and his patents, new light has been thrown
upon the originality of the work of the Brothers Elers in their
secretly-guarded factory at Bradwell Wood. All earnest students are
indebted to Professor Church for his recent researches to establish
Dwight's reputation, which go a great way towards dethroning the two
Dutch brothers Elers, who have been hitherto regarded as the pioneers
of Staffordshire fine pottery.
[Illustration:
COFFEE POT, ELERS RED UNGLAZED WARE.
MUG, RED UNGLAZED WARE, PROBABLY MADE BY ELERS OR DWIGHT.
(_At British Museum._)]
[Illustration:
ELERS RED WARE TEAPOT.
(_In the collection of Mr. F. W. Phillips, Hitchin._)]
=Elers Ware (1690-1710).=--There is a great deal of mystery surrounding
the name and fame of the two Dutchmen, John Philip Elers and David
Elers. They came to this country as did so many of their countrymen in
the latter part of the seventeenth century. Earlier, Dutch refugees
had fled hither on account of religious persecution, and later, when
William of Orange came over, his court attracted many of his countrymen
of distinguished birth. Martin Elers, the father of our two Dutchmen,
had been ambassador to several European courts. John Philip his son
was "the godson of the Elector of Mentz, after whom he was named, and
was held at the baptismal font by Queen Christina of Sweden."[2]
[Note: 2 "Staffordshire Pots and Potteries," G. W. and F. A. Rhead.]
There is no reason to believe that they had any patronage from the
court themselves, but their sister was granted a pension of £300 a year
by William, and she subsequently became the second wife of Sir William
Phipps, founder of the house of Mulgrave, the title of Earl of Mulgrave
is now borne by the Marquis of Normanby, whose family name is Phipps.
However aristocratic they were, it is certain that they had
considerable practical knowledge in order to embark in business and
carry on a pottery.
They prepared the red clay of Bradwell in a far more scientific manner
than had any Staffordshire potters prior to that date, and by the lathe
they turned forms far thinner than could be done on the wheel. Wherever
they had gained their technical skill, they placed for the first time
the wares of Staffordshire on the same plane as Böttcher's work of
Meissen, or the models of the old Chinese potters.
We have already shown that they engaged some of Dwight's workmen from
Fulham, and that they infringed Dwight's patents in respect to the
Cologne jugs and red teapots. This does not accord with the fables
hitherto industriously repeated in every succeeding volume dealing
with china, that the Elers employed imbeciles in their factory, in
order that their trade secrets might be jealously guarded. It is true
that Twyford and John Astbury learned all that they wanted to know
by gaining employment at the Elers pottery at Bradwell, and there is
little doubt that in so doing they simulated a stupid indifference as
to the new methods of stamping china ornaments by metal stamps and of
the lathe work employed on the red teapots.
Both black and red teapots were made by Elers and ornaments in Chinese
style added in relief. These ornaments were stamped with a metal die
and laid on the vessel, several dies were used for portions of the same
teapot. The connecting portions such as the stalks between two sprigs
were finished by hand. This red ware was unglazed. As most people are
familiar with Wedgwood's black, basaltes ware, it is useful to know
that, except in colour, the wares are almost identical in point of
external appearance and to the sense of touch. Some of this red tea and
coffee ware or "old china," as it was called, is marked with a seal in
imitation of Chinese marks. The red teapots of small dimensions sold
for ten to twenty-five shillings apiece, and David Elers had a shop in
the Poultry in Cheapside, where he sold them.
The Elers left Staffordshire in 1710, so that their pottery lasted only
twenty years. In view of the fact that Dwight complained about their
manufacture of stoneware jugs and mugs as being subsequent to his, it
would seem doubtful if they can still be accredited with the invention
of this old ware or with the introduction of salt glaze into England.
Undoubtedly this early class of hard red stoneware, almost approaching
porcelain in character, will have to be thoroughly reviewed with the
object of assigning to Dwight what is his, and to the Elers, and to
Aaron, Thomas, and Richard Wedgwood what is theirs, to say nothing of
Richard Garner, and of John Morley, of Nottingham, who confessed to
copying Dwight's "browne muggs."
The subsequent history of the Elers may be interesting in passing. John
Philip is believed to have been in some way connected with the foreign
glass works at Chelsea, established by Italian workmen, under the
patronage of the Duke of Buckingham, as early as 1676. He afterwards,
with the assistance of Lady Barrington, set up as a glass and china
merchant in Dublin, and became successful. David Elers remained in
London.
=John Astbury.=--We have seen that the Elers' secret became known in
Staffordshire to Twyford, and to John Astbury, and this latter together
with his son carried on the same style of manufacture. As a general
rule it is held that the ware of the earlier Astbury is not so sharp in
its details as was the careful work of the Elers. His ware is of red,
fawn, chocolate, and orange colour. His ornaments followed the style
of Elers in being stamped, but he made them of Devon or pipe-clay,
which has a cruder effect in white upon the darker grounds. He died in
1743. His son Thomas Astbury commenced potting in 1723, and his work
is so similar to that of his father, that considerable doubt exists as
to which pieces may safely be attributed to the father. It is certain
that the son experimented with the bodies of clays until he produced a
"cream colour," afterwards improved by Josiah Wedgwood in his renowned
cream ware. We illustrate (p. 149) an Astbury teapot in date about
1740, with an orange-coloured glaze body having design in relief in
white. The other Astbury ware teapot is of slightly later date, and has
a coffee-brown body with white and green floral ornaments in relief.
The Porto Bello bowl in the British Museum, of red clay with white
stamped ornaments in relief of a group of miniature ships in battle
array, made to celebrate the capture of Porto Bello by Admiral Vernon
in 1739, is held to be a typical example of the work of the elder
Astbury.
As a rule, black or red specimens having the name of Astbury impressed
upon them are attributed to Astbury the second. But it must be borne in
mind that for want of more exact knowledge, all red ware with stamped
ornaments applied in relief and with indications of plain engine
turning has been generically termed _Elers ware_, and it is quite
certain that later than Astbury junior's day red ware with wavy lines
was made. Similarly the type of ware with white applied ornament in
relief has been termed _Astbury ware_. The elder Astbury, in addition
to the stoneware, made crouch ware, a term employed for the earlier
forms of the fine delicate stoneware known as salt glazed. The younger
Astbury introduced the use of flint into his ware in or about 1723.
Collectors should be cautioned not to assign plates and dishes marked
ASTBURY, to Thomas Astbury. They are cream ware, and decorated in blue
with Chinese patterns, and belong to a much later period.
Mention should be made of Ralph Shaw, of Burslem, who made brown or
chocolate ware dipped in white pipe-clay, which afterwards was worked
upon with a tool to display the dark body beneath. There is a jug in
the British Museum (Franks Collection) which is thus decorated with
birds and foliage. Twyford, the colleague of Astbury the elder, when
with the Elers, seems to have applied himself to the use of white
decoration, sometimes the red and brown ware is wholly coated inside
with pipe-clay, and this is supposed to be his work.
[Illustration:
ASTBURY TEAPOT.
Orange glazed body, pattern in relief. (About 1740. Height 4 inches.)
(_At British Museum._)]
[Illustration:
ASTBURY WARE TEAPOT.
Coffee brown body, white and green floral ornament in relief. (About
1750.)
(_At British Museum._)]
With the advent of Josiah Wedgwood came the strong classic influence
upon his plastic art, and in his various classes of stoneware (dealt
with in Chap. VII.) considerable variety was introduced both in
design and in colouring. Among the most notable of the contemporaries
and successors of Wedgwood who successfully produced high-class
stoneware, the following may be mentioned: William Adams, Turner,
Elijah Mayer, Neale, Palmer, Birch, Keeling, and Toft, Hollins, Wilson,
Spode, Davenport, and Dunderdale of Castleford, and the Leeds Pottery
and the Swansea Pottery both made basalt in black ware (see Chap.
VIII., The School of Wedgwood).
=Fulham Stoneware.=--In the eighteenth century Fulham became noticeable
for a type of mug similar to that illustrated (p. 153), bearing the
initials "W.G." and the date 1725. Another series made at Fulham are
the jugs usually marked with the initials "A.R." and "G.R." belonging
to the days of Anne and of George I. A great many exist of the
fuller-bodied shape, with initials inscribed "G.R." Formerly on museum
shelves these were attributed to Fulham, but it is now generally held
that this form was imported from the Continent, and belongs to the
_Grès-de-Flandres_ class. The true Fulham contemporary form is that
which we illustrate (p. 153).
The manufacture of stoneware continued for a century, and in the
nineteenth century many fine specimens were being made by various
potters, and Messrs. Doulton, of Lambeth, still continue to make
stoneware vases and jugs and other vessels of an ornamental character.
=Nottingham Stoneware.=--John Morley, of Nottingham, was cited in 1693,
as one of the persons who infringed Dwight's patent for stoneware.
Evidently the same family of potters carried on the business, for in
1726, Charles Morley was a maker of brown stoneware jugs and mugs.
There is a brown bowl at the Victoria and Albert Museum bearing this
date. The Castle Museum at Nottingham possesses some fine examples
of brown stoneware. The dates of jugs and mugs vary from as early as
1700 to the last quarter of the eighteenth century. Nottingham ware is
smoother in its surface than old Staffordshire, only slightly showing
the orange skin texture so noticeable in the other stoneware. It is
rich warm brown, sometimes inclining to red and sometimes to yellow in
colour. Bear jugs are a feature of Nottingham stoneware, but they are
not peculiar to that pottery, as they were also made in Derbyshire and
Staffordshire. The Nottingham stoneware is excellently potted and, of
course, is salt glazed, the glaze having a slightly lustrous appearance.
The examples most familiar to collectors belong to the late eighteenth
and early nineteenth centuries. The bear jugs may be either of plain
surface or may have the rough grained exterior formed by minute
particles of clay. They frequently have a collar around the neck, and a
chain to which is attached a rattle. A rarer form represents a Russian
bear hugging Bonaparte, who wears a big plumed hat. Puzzle jugs with
incised ornament, and tall loving-cups of large size, are another
noticeable production; many of these are inscribed with names and dates.
[Illustration:
FULHAM STONEWARE MUG.
(Dated 1725. Period of George I.)
With embossed ornament of dogs, &c., and medallion portraits.]
[Illustration:
FULHAM STONEWARE JUG.
Raised medallion with crown and G.R. (Period of George I.)
Incised decoration filled with blue.]
STONEWARE--PRICES.
BELLARMINES. £ s. d.
The prices of this class vary in ordinary
examples, plain, or of slight decoration,
from 15s. to 1 10 0
Bellarmines with English arms of especial
interest are of considerably greater
value, though not always of English
origin. Exceptional pieces bring exceptional
prices.
DWIGHT.
All specimens of Dwight are extremely
rare. It is impossible to say what a
Dwight stoneware figure or bust would
realise at auction, but certainly a very
high figure.
ELERS.
Elers teapots, &c., are rare. The smaller
lighter coloured teapots of the true
Elers ware are worth as many half-sovereigns
as the later coarser examples
are worth shillings.
ASTBURY.
A similar difficulty arises in attempting to
state prices for Astbury stoneware.
Fine examples rarely come into the
market.
FULHAM.
G. R. jugs ascribed to Fulham may be
bought from 15s. to £1 10s., according
to condition and decoration. The
large jugs and mugs with medallion
busts of William and Mary, inscribed
and dated, vary in price from £3 to
£5 and upwards.
NOTTINGHAM.
Bear jugs of coarse type may be procured
from £1 10s. to 2 10 0
Tall Loving Cups, inscribed with name and
date, vary from £2 to 5 0 0
The Russian Bear model hugging Bonaparte
is worth £5 or more.
Nottingham ale jugs, dated and inscribed,
have realised £12 under the hammer.
V
EARLY
STAFFORDSHIRE
WARE
THOMAS
WHIELDON:
His Contemporaries
and his
Successors
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
XVIIITH CENTURY.
_Anne_ 1704 Gibraltar taken by Sir George Rooke.
(1702-1714) Marlborough gained victory of Blenheim.
1711-1714 Addison published the _Spectator_.
_George I._ 1715 Rebellion in Scotland.
(1714-1727) The Old Pretender landed at Peterhead.
1715-1719 Pope translated Homer's _Iliad_ into
English verse.
1719 Defoe's _Robinson Crusoe_ published.
1721 The South Sea Bubble burst; thousands of
families ruined.
_George II._ 1742 Fielding's _Joseph Andrews_ published.
(1727-1760) 1748 Richardson's _Clarissa Harlowe_.
1749 Gray's _Elegy in a Country Churchyard_.
1750 Fielding's _Tom Jones_ published.
1755 Dr. Johnson's Dictionary published.
1757 Clive laid the foundation of the Indian Empire.