f ; STONEWARE 
 
 THE LOW ,)Q:0UNTRIES and GERMANY: 
 
 OR 
 
 I 
 
 ■' (rres (/(’ I "landres " Sfeinseng ': 
 
 ITS PRINCIPAL VARIETIES, AND THE Pl.ACES WHERE IT WAS MANUFACTURED 
 DURING THE XVIril AND XVIlTlI CENTURIES. 
 
 ijy 
 
 M. L. SOI.ON, 
 
 -MITHOK OF “THF ART OF I Ht OLO F.RCLISil l OTlRR." 
 
 ILLUSTRATED lElT/I 2; COPPERPLATE ETC/f/.WS AXD 210 !LLVSTKATIO.VE 
 IN I EXT. DK.-UVN liV THE ,tUIHOK. 
 
 VoL. I. 
 
 LCJNDON : 
 
 printed at the cuts wick press 
 
 AnU to Bh IIAIl FROM THE AuTIIOE, StoKE-UPON-TkEST. 
 
 1892. 
 
THE ANCIENT ART STONEWARE 
 
 OF THE LOW COUNTRIES AND GERMANY. 
 
Of this book have been printed: 
 
 30 Copies on Japanese paper, numbered L—XXX. 
 
 270 Copies on Dutch handmade paper, numbered i—270 
 
 Of which this is No. 
 
THE ANCIENT 
 
 ART STONEWARE 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LOW COUNTRIES AND GERMANY: 
 
 OR 
 
 “ Gr^s de Flandres" ^ "Steinzeug": 
 
 ITS PRINCIPAL VARIETIES, AND THE PLACES WHERE IT WAS MANUFACTURED 
 DURING THE XVIth AND XVIlTH CENTURIES. 
 
 BY 
 
 M. L. SOLON, 
 
 AUTHOR OF “the ART OF THE OLD ENGLISH POTTER.” 
 
 ILLUSTRATED WITH 25 COPPERPLATE ETCHINGS AND 210 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 IN TEXT, DRAWN BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 VoL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR AT THE CHISWICK PRESS. 
 
 1892. 
 
From a Raeren Jug. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 HE times are not yet far from us when a scattered confra¬ 
 ternity of unconventional and ardent collectors began, 
 without other guidance than an intuitive taste, their search 
 for things of beauty amongst the then disregarded master¬ 
 pieces of Art workmanship of past ages, gathering silently 
 and diligently a prodigious and priceless harvest. They 
 called themselves Antiquarians, to the intense merriment 
 of the noble and supercilious bodies of official archaeology; 
 but leaving their academic brethren deeply immersed in 
 the hypogeums and catacombs of the Greeks and the 
 Romans, the adepts of the new faith set their pride on putting aside all acknowledged 
 tradition, and started to look in the most unhallowed spots for the objects of their 
 admiration. One might have seen them one day overhauling the musty contents of a 
 broker’s shop, on another scanning the long undisturbed recesses of some tumble-down 
 castle or the vestry of a ruined country chapel, or even rumaging the boxes and 
 cupboards of the cottagers of a distant village. Seldom did they fail, after a well- 
 planned journey of exploration, to bring to light from the limbo of oblivion some 
 wonderful example of the skill and artistic taste of the ancient craftsmen,—undescribed 
 marvels, which, picked up at first for their great rarity and curiosity, were soon to 
 assume their proper rank amongst the recognized art treasures of the next generation. 
 
 The historical and emblazoned vessels of ancient stoneware had from the first 
 secured a prime share of the thoughtful attention of these all-absorbing collectors. Tall 
 tapering canettes of white ware, chased all over with emblematic devices ; stately brown 
 jugs of architectural profiles, of bronze-like hue, embossed with friezes of elegant figures ; 
 blue and purple paunchy pots quaintly floriated, all of them ranged under the generic 
 and purposely vague and indefinite name of “ Grts de Flandres,” were eagerly sought 
 
 b 
 
VI 
 
 Preface, 
 
 after as an indispensable adjunct to an antiquarian cabinet. They had their places 
 marked on the shelves of the old credences and dressers of carved oak, alternating there 
 with the princely and glittering majolicas of Italy, long before the more homely faiences 
 of French manufacture had been thought worthy of sharing that post of honour, and at 
 a time when all porcelain which was not of Oriental origin, or did not bear the world- 
 known marks of Sfevres or Dresden, was disdainfully passed by as being of little or no 
 account. 
 
 Meantime, and as cabinets and museums were being formed,—the wonder-con¬ 
 taining shrines attracting an ever-increasing crowd of votaries,—new vistas were opened 
 to the Medixval historian ; fresh paths had to be struck in the field of archaeologic lore, 
 small clues were patiently taken up which might lead to the solution of one of the many 
 problems lately propounded to the sagacity of the compiler of unexplored documents in 
 the public or private archives : from that branch of studies, so far neglected, originated 
 the now full-blown Ceramic literature. 
 
 Each specialist took up a different subject, and full light was thrown in succession 
 upon the many centres of artistic production ; pedigrees were worked out and assigned 
 to individual examples of rare workmanship, the vicissitudes of which had been 
 retraced through centuries, back to the time when they left the hands of their makers. 
 Alone these jugs of stoneware, so well worthy of the partiality shown to them from the 
 beginning, were left undescribed, an open problem to all. It was as though one 
 feared that too strict an inquiry into their origin might to some extent dispel the 
 mystery that rendered them so fascinating: history, with its matter-of-fact statements, 
 does indeed often destroy much of the poetry with which tradition or hazy speculation 
 invests the works of past ages, so long as they remain undetermined and anonymous. 
 When a catalogue of a collection of stoneware was attempted, the varieties it comprised 
 were merely grouped according to the shapes and colours of the specimens ; not even a 
 plausible supposition was ever hazarded as to the probable place where they might 
 have been produced; no effort was made to obtain any information concerning their 
 makers. In short, strange as it may appear, the " Gris de Flandres," after having 
 been, amongst the whole range of potteries left to us by the Middle Ages and the 
 following centuries, almost the first ones which the collector had admired and treasured, 
 were to remain the last of all in finding an historian. 
 
 Most ludicrous were the archaeological blunders to which some stoneware pieces, 
 unexpectedly turning up in a chance excavation, gave rise in the learned bulletins 
 published in the beginning of the present century. Their truncated and half obliterated 
 inscriptions afforded food to the ingenuity of many a Celtic professor: proud and 
 happy was he who could squeeze any sense, or nonsense, out of these apparently 
 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 meaningless syllables. One amongst others we shall recall, as equalling the best jokes 
 attributed to unlucky Antiquarians. It is to be found in the “ Mdmoires de I’Acaddmie 
 Celtique” (T. II. vi.), and refers to a common “bartman” of white clay, just unearthed, 
 which bore round the shoulder the well-known inscription : 
 
 AcH GOTT hue DICH ERBARMEN UBER MICH ARMEN. 
 
 “ Oh Lord I have mercy on me, poor man.” 
 
 The translator, beginning the sentence at the middle, construed it in Celtic: 
 
 Erme at ze ermeak atch goti dven dicherbat. 
 
 Of which he gave the meaning as : 
 
 “ This nose is much too small for the foreign Hermes.” 
 
 The early collectors of works of art were, however, doing their best to draw the 
 outside world into sharing their liking for this unclassified pottery. Jean d'Huyvetter 
 was already, in 1824, publishing the catalogue of his collections, of which the “Grfes 
 de Flandres " formed the most important part, and to make up for the lack of 
 descriptive particulars gave outline engravings, perhaps not very faithful representa¬ 
 tions of his pieces, but which could at least supply a tolerable notion of their general 
 forms and decorations. 
 
 A few years afterwards the architect Ch. Minard brought out the ponderous 
 volume describing the contents of the archaeological museum he had formed at Ghent. 
 There also the “ Gr^is de Flandres ” had a special and lengthy chapter devoted to 
 them ; and if the illustrations, due to the same hand which had engraved those of the 
 previous catalogue, were still of a very indifferent correctness, great care and accuracy 
 was bestowed on the letterpress, wherein all the particulars of each number was most 
 minutely described. 
 
 Lastly, in i860, Weckherlin caused his splendid collection to be photographed, 
 and formed, for the benefit of his friends, an album in which all the best types of 
 ancient stoneware were represented. 
 
 But these publications were all equally deficient in point of information, with 
 regard to the places where the ware had been manufactured, the respective ages of 
 undated specimens, and the names of the skilful craftsmen to whom they were to be 
 attributed. The veil is now partially lifted. Much has been found out during the 
 last twenty years, which makes us wonder how such a state of complete ignorance 
 could have lasted so long. In the present day, in all the public museums of Belgium 
 and Germany, the specimens of artistic stoneware are at last grouped and classified 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 according to the various centres to which they belong, and this example is being 
 rapidly followed in other countries. 
 
 An ample harvest of ancient deeds and records bearing on the subject has rewarded 
 the strenuous and well-directed researches of a few writers devoted to the cause they 
 had been, so to speak, the first to take in hand. Each, in his private capacity, took 
 hold of a particular clue discovered by him, tracing patiently the lost track until he 
 at last succeeded in enlightening the whole question. From these individual studies 
 resulted several interesting monographs, which, taken together, constitute an almost 
 complete history of the stoneware of Flanders and Germany. 
 
 Canon Dornbush opens the list with his book on the artistic Guild of the Siegburg 
 potters. The text is grounded chiefly on original materials, sedulously gathered by 
 the author from reliable sources,—the private and official records which lay hidden 
 in the archives of the abbatial town, and the fragments of pottery of all ages, speaking 
 evidences, constantly turning up at a place where once stood so many pot works. It 
 contains a lengthy examination of the eventful annals of the craft of the white 
 stoneware potters, and draws up a suggestive account of the social condition of its 
 members. 
 
 The brown ware and its makers have found a reliable and conscientious historian 
 in Vicairc Schmitz. The tale is exhaustively told, and all that concerns the potters 
 of Raeren and their work is faithfully recorded in the articles he published under the 
 title of " Letters upon the Stoneware of Limburg." 
 
 The same subject has been treated in a masterly manner by Mr. President 
 Schuermans, in a series of pamphlets and detached papers which have appeared in the 
 periodicals of Belgium. Devoting to the archaeological part of the study his deep 
 knowledge of local history, heraldry, old customs and traditions, he succeeded in 
 settling many knotty points, and in re-establishing the true reading of ambiguous 
 inscriptions. The numerous coats of arms, composing the by no means unimportant 
 armory of the brown ware of Raeren, have nearly all been identified and named through 
 his untiring researches. 
 
 On the newly discovered centre of Bouffioux, and the Walloon ware, Mr. Van 
 Bastelaer has exhausted, in four consecutive “ Reports," the enormous amount of 
 information derived from the written documents and original specimens or fragments 
 he had laboriously brought together. 
 
 Mr. W. Muller for Hdhr-Grenzhausen, Messrs. Van de Casteel and Van d’Huyse 
 for Namur, and Mr. Stockhauer for Kreussen, and a few others, have contributed 
 valuable sketches towards the store of knowledge which now lies ready to our hand. 
 When we have added to the list of these works the mention of a host of illustrated 
 
Preface. 
 
 IX 
 
 catalogues of sales published in Germany, all concurring, although in a minor degree, 
 to enlighten this chapter of Ceramic history, so far left in the shade, it will be needless 
 to expatiate any longer upon the important advancement made within the last few 
 years. 
 
 The roll of printed evidence has indeed now attained such lengthy proportions, 
 that, for the convenience of the reader anxious to form a speedy judgment on the subject, 
 a compendious summing up has become a real necessity. It was, at any rate,' the 
 feeling by which we were actuated when we resolved upon venturing to compile a 
 general history of artistic stoneware. Many are the unasked collaborators whom we 
 have pressed into the service of our cause, and taken along with us as guides or com¬ 
 panions during our preliminary journey through the new ground which their fruitful 
 investigations had opened up to the ceramic student, and which was to us, we confess, 
 until then a land thoroughly unknown. With such trusty leaders to assist us on the way, 
 we have grown more and more interested in our pursuit; without them the writing of 
 the present book, which was to be the consequence of such pleasant intercourse, would 
 have been an impossible task. They will excuse us for having helped ourselves so 
 unstintingly out of the unbounded wealth of materials thus placed at our disposal. To 
 lend to the needy should be, in some way, a duty and a pleasure to the wealthy; in this 
 case, besides, his riches are in no way diminished by our borrowing. We shall take 
 great care, as an inadequate acknowledgment of the benefits thus conferred upon us, 
 always to disclose to which authority we are indebted for the fundamental facts upon 
 which we have planned each of our chapters. We could not, however, bind ourselves 
 to fall in with all the premises of the writer, or to follow him always in his 
 argumentation, and we may have in many instances, from proofs adduced, to come 
 to different conclusions. This didactic and speculative part we bring as our own 
 contribution to the completion of the whole scheme, and we acknowledge it to be of 
 very little worth when compared with the bare statement of demonstrative facts. 
 It is not to be expected that in matters of speculation a private opinion should be 
 shared by every one, and we hope that, as far as ours is concerned, it will be taken, 
 as we give it, for what it is worth. 
 
 But our debt of gratitude does not stop at the writers whose works we have put 
 under contribution: it is a pleasant duty to record here the feelings of gratitude 
 we entertain towards such connoisseurs, curators of national museums and private 
 collectors, who have extended to us their most valued assistance, not only in allowing 
 us to study freely the specimens under their care or in their possession, and giving us 
 the benefit of their own experience, but also by causing certain parts of their treasures 
 to be photographed for the special purpose of being reproduced in this book. 
 
X Preface, 
 
 We cannot sufficiently express the sincere recognition of all we owe to the 
 courtesy and liberality of so many learned and accomplished connoisseurs. We must 
 name amongst others : Mr. A. W. Franks, F.R.S., of the British Museum; Mr. T. 
 Armstrong, of the South Kensington Museum; Mr. A. Darcel, Curator of the Musde 
 de Cluny; Mr. H. Schuermans, first President of the Court of Appeal of Li^ge; Baron 
 A. Oppenheim; Burgomaster Thewalt, of Cologne; Mr. A. Pabst, Director of the 
 Kunst und Gewerbe Museum of the same town ; Ritter A. Von Lana, of Prague ; 
 Dr. A. Figdor, of Vienna; Dr. Essenwein, Director of the Germanische Museum at 
 Nuremberg, and many others, who will forgive us if we cannot mention them all, but 
 whom we include in our collective thanks. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 GENERALITIES CONCERNING STONEWARE. 
 
 § I. A glance at the History of Pottery fired “ in Stone ” in various 
 countries before the sixteenth century. 
 
 § II. Technics. 
 
 § III. Potters, Artists, Merchants. 
 
 § IV. Marks. 
 
 § V. Localities of Manufacture. 
 
 B 
 
§ I- 
 
 Antiquity of pottery fired in stone—Characteristics of the ware—Its 
 peculiar glaze—Gr^s de Beauvais and Bremontier tiles—Speculation 
 about the introduction of glazing with salt—Similitude of Rhenish 
 ware to ancient Roman pottery—Small pots carved with human 
 faces—Jacoba Kannetjee—Thumbed feet—Earlier dates recorded 
 in art stoneware. 
 
 The pottery called in English “ Stoneware,” in German 
 “ Steinzug,” and in French " Gr^s C^rames,” has been 
 thus appropriately designated on account of its close 
 resemblance to the natural substance it is intended to 
 imitate. The most ancient specimens especially present 
 the exact colour of sandstone, while all have its hardness 
 and homogeneity of grain ; they are impervious to 
 liquids, and give, when struck, a clear and ringing sound. 
 Amongst the whole range of various kinds of earthen¬ 
 ware pottery, stoneware, although as simple as the 
 simplest of all in its constituent materials, ranks as one 
 of the most perfect, from the technical point of view. It embodies all the practical 
 requirements we expect from an earthenware vessel. With this exception, that it lacks 
 translucidity, its chemical constitution is precisely the same as that of the hard porcelain. 
 
4 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 and, as Brongniart observes, in the case of certain white bodies of stoneware which 
 allow the light to transpierce the thin parts, it is difficult to distinguish scientifically 
 the one from the other. 
 
 It would be idle to look back into the past in order to ascertain at what remote 
 period the first appearance of a pottery can be found to which the name of stoneware 
 may be fitly applied. We may conceive that the hardness and imperviousness which 
 vessels made of clay acquire in various degrees in passing through the fire must always 
 have been considered as their most essential qualities. Consequently, to obtain these 
 two qualities in a high degree must have been the constant preoccupation of the potter, 
 as soon as efforts were made to improve upon the first and simple practices of the 
 primitive handicraft. Experience and observation were not long in showing him that 
 this could be realized by finding a sufficiently resisting sort of clay and submitting it to 
 a very high degree of firing. He had not far to go in his experiments, since the marl, 
 or plastic clay in its native state, fired in these conditions, supplies a body dense, 
 impervious, sonorous, and, however rudely and imperfectly prepared, already possessing 
 the specific requirements; indeed, if we suppose the addition of a little sand, with 
 the view of preventing its cracking or getting out of shape, he was provided with 
 the precise material for making true and good stoneware ; the very same in fact 
 which was, with more or less care brought into its manipulation, in use at the best of 
 times. Therefore, even if we had not abundant proofs, we might safely take it for granted 
 that, wherever pottery had shared in the general advancement of arts and civilization, 
 are to be found many examples of a particular earthenware,—no longer the ordinary terra 
 cotta, showing a partial vitrification of the mass, and which comes rightly within the 
 category of stoneware pottery. We find it in the Egyptian sepulchres in the shape of 
 vases and small objects of hard and dense clay highly fired. In China and in Japan 
 the most hallowed ceramic relics,—curious vessels to which tradition ascribes a pre¬ 
 historic antiquity,—are precisely small pots of coarse but well-characterized stoneware. 
 Whether we examine the works left by the Romans, or by the peoples who have succeeded 
 them in the countries where they had once established their domination, we may be sure 
 to meet with occasional examples of pottery made of refractory clay and fired at a 
 sufficiently high temperature to bring them within the same category. In short, 
 whether of Eastern origin or belonging to Europe, whether left unglazed or covered 
 with enamel, the pottery fired under these conditions offers a peculiar density and semi¬ 
 vitrification of substance, and by these qualities alone specimens of that kind form a 
 group distinctly separate from the common earthenware. 
 
 But were we to descant upon the innumerable varieties of early earthen vessels 
 which may be classed together as stoneware, and pass them all under review, we should 
 
Introduction. 
 
 S 
 
 not find one to which the suitable method of glazing had yet been applied. They 
 are sometimes, it is true, smeared with some glossy coating of ferruginous or alkaline 
 nature, or thickly covered with a semi-opaque enamel, but in that case the glazing is 
 exactly similar to that employed for all other sorts of pottery. 
 
 It was reserved for the German and Flemish stoneware potters of the sixteenth 
 century to effect that crowning transformation. Let us examine some vases of 
 Siegburg and Raeren, and observe how bright, hard, and transparent is the glaze 
 imparted to them by the vaporization of common salt thrown into the oven during 
 the process of firing; this enables us to realize to what integral state of perfection 
 the ware has been brought by this improvement, and we understand that from 
 that period such vases and their congeners stand apart from any other ceramic 
 product otherwise related to them in one point, viz., the semi-vitrification of 
 the mass. 
 
 In fact it is this very “ salt glaze,” so well suited to stoneware, and never employed 
 in any other cases, which makes of the works of the potters of Flanders and Germany 
 and their imitators quite a distinct group in ceramic art. If we adhere to this point 
 we must ignore all previous classification, and eliminate many incomplete varieties 
 heretofore ranged under the same heading, which seem, at first sight, to have their 
 place marked in our study. We shall not admit, for instance, in our well-defined 
 group, the so-called stoneware or “ gr^s " of Beauvais. Although the clay is fired at 
 a very high temperature and may be said to possess the proper characteristic of 
 stoneware, yet it differs essentially from our standard in the aspect and nature of its 
 glazing, which, instead of the thin, vitreous, and colourless coating produced by the 
 salt, is a thick and opaque enamel of a dull blue tint. The name “ Poteries bleues 
 de Savignies,” by which this ware was formerly known, ought not to have been 
 replaced by the one it bears at present,—scarcely more correct, and certainly more 
 liable to create confusion. 
 
 The name of “ Grfes de Beauvais ” is responsible for the mistakes into which 
 French collectors have fallen, and the errors of description of which French authors 
 have been guilty when they have touched upon the subject of stoneware. As in 
 external appearance the blue pots of Savignies are very far from resembling the 
 generality of vases and jugs then known as “ Grfes de Flandres,” they were passed 
 by as common pottery; and German pieces, made for the French market, selected 
 in their stead,—on account of the Royal arms, the fleur-de-lys, and other national 
 emblems they bore,—were pointed out as the probable representatives of the 
 uncertain “ Grfes de Beauvais.” Of this no one had for a long time any suspicion, 
 and as the mis-statement continued to be made by one writer after another, it is 
 
6 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 necessary to say a few words on the subject of blue pottery “ fired in stone, and 
 to describe its distinctive features. 
 
 Now that public attention has been aroused, and the respective works of both 
 countries have been carefully studied and compared, confusion between them is no 
 longer possible. 
 
 The blue pots of Savignies, as we prefer to call them, have become very rare; 
 
 Fig. I. “ Gr£s DE Beauvais.” Coll. Sauvageot. Diam., 17 in. 
 
 indeed for many hundreds of Flemish or German stoneware specimens we could only 
 produce one of these. The few pieces which have come down to us show a Gothic 
 taste of decoration which stamps them as belonging to the fifteenth century, or to 
 the beginning of the sixteenth. All are covered with a thick coating of opaque 
 enamel, smoothing and partly hiding the raised design underneath. By its various 
 intensity of tints, blending with each other, this enamel forms a sort of marbling 
 of a soft and subdued blue colour. 
 
Introdmtion. 
 
 7 
 
 The dish (fig. i) may be taken as a good type of the ware. Our sketch cannot 
 of course convey any idea of the peculiar nature and colour of the glazing, but it will 
 sufficiently exemplify the striking particularities of the style of ornamentation of the 
 “ Beauvaisie ” ware. The centre is occupied by an escutcheon, surmounted by the 
 name Ludovicus in Gothic letters; the arms are those of Louis Villiers de I’Isle Adam, 
 bishop and earl of Beauvais, who died in 1521; we may therefore assume that the 
 dish was made in the first part of the sixteenth century. In the Sauvageot collection, 
 to which it belongs, it was first catalogued among the “ Grfes de Flandres,” it has now 
 been restituted to its legitimate place by the side of the other ancient French pottery. 
 
 For the purpose of comparison, Baron A. Oppenheim has added to his magnificent 
 collection, to which we shall have constantly to refer, a fine hunting-bottle of Savignies, 
 bearing the arras of France and thickly coated with pale blue enamel. It stands out so 
 strangely amongst the select examples of German and Flemish stoneware brought 
 there together, all related to one another by many kindred points, that, were we not aware 
 of the object in view, we might ask ourselves why such an incongruous element has 
 been introduced in a whole otherwise so harmonious in all its parts. 
 
 Several other French products of the same period are open to the same objection. 
 It applies to the tiles “ fired in stone,” but merely coated over with a thin, imperfect glaze 
 which were made in Normandy at about the same period and commonly employed for 
 the pavement of private and public buildings. Tiles of this kind decorated the Ango 
 manor house at Dieppe, and some of them may be seen in the town museum and 
 in many other collections ; they are said to have been manufactured at Brdmontier, near 
 Neuchatel-en-Bray, and parts of the church in the village were, up to a few years ago, 
 still paved with them. An outline design deeply incised constitutes all their decoration ; 
 the blue glaze with which they are covered, sinks into the cavities, darkening and 
 accentuating the whole tracery. (Figs. 2—5.) 
 
 We shall refrain from giving any more examples of French pottery partially 
 vitrified in the mass, since they are all but imperfect stoneware, not being in any case 
 completed by salt glazing. The process was never properly followed up in France; 
 and if it has, of late years, been carried on for the making ware for sanitary and other 
 practical purposes, we know of but one experimental exception, when it was taken 
 advantage of for the production of vases and objects of artistic interest; we mean the 
 now extinct factory of Ziegler at Voisinlieu, near Beauvais. 
 
 ' I 'HE group or branch of stoneware fabrics which forms the subject of this work is 
 still in want of a distinctive name to embrace those different kinds of pottery 
 richly ornamented with reliefs, differing in some points, but all claiming kindred with 
 
8 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 
 one another by reason of a special varnish common to all, obtained by the evaporation 
 of common salt. To all conversant with ceramics this group is clearly defined; but 
 the fact of its having been at first misnamed has caused so many attempts to provide 
 
 Figs. 2—s- Tiles feom the Anoot House, “GRis of BRiMONiiER.” 
 Dieppe Museum. 
 
 a term which would satisfy everybody, that it has become almost a hopeless case ever 
 to settle the generic name under which it should be definitely described. When the 
 early French collectors spoke about “ Grfes de Flandres,” no question was ever 
 
Introduction. 
 
 9 
 
 raised as to what sort of ware was thus referred to ; so the term, so well agreed upon 
 as to its meaning, was confidently accepted, regardless of the inaccuracy of its deriva¬ 
 tion. It shared that incorrectness with many terms which have survived the attacks 
 made against them by the purist. We are tempted to say that we regret to see the 
 name of “ Grbs de Flandres” on the point of disappearing completely, without a good 
 substitute being found or proposed even. The sudden and startling discoveries of the 
 sites of ancient factories once established near the banks of the Rhine have struck it a 
 fatal blow; the infatuation went so far in Germany as to result in a sweeping assertion 
 that stoneware had never been made in Flanders. In vain important centres of 
 manufacture were discovered about the same time at Raeren, at Bouffioux, and other 
 places which were certainly not situated in Germany; this was overlooked and 
 disregarded, and all artistic stoneware decreed to be of German origin. This assertion 
 was brought forth and defended in such an absolute manner, that from that time 
 no one pretending to any knowledge of the subject has dared to continue the use of 
 the term " Grds de Flandres,” lest he should be taxed with ignorance. 
 
 Yet the name had not been adopted without good cause. What was formerly, in 
 a general acception, called “ Flanders," was not confined to the small provinces 
 marked thus upon the maps ; it was generally understood to include all that part of 
 northern Europe extending from Belgium to the banks of the Rhine, and known also 
 as “the Low Countries.” The district which supplied all the brown ware,—that of 
 Raeren,—was situated in the province of Limbourg, then an appanage of the Duchy 
 of Brabant. It was ruled by Flemish laws and the Flemish tongue was spoken by 
 its inhabitants. But the chief reason for which the term has been adopted must be 
 looked for in the fact that stoneware, being shipped abroad from Flemish ports, the 
 pottery must have been named, in the places where it was imported, after the country 
 it was known to have come from. 
 
 The name occurs as early as the sixteenth century, in a document quoted by 
 Dornbush, referring to a barge laden with " Flemish stone pots,” and which happened 
 to have been wrecked and stranded in the Rhine at a short distance from Cologne. 
 This would imply that, in Germany, the production was not equal to the demand, 
 and that the trade was partly supplied by the factories of Flanders, whose goods were 
 duly distinguished from those of local manufacture. 
 
 We have said enough to prove that the term, however condemned it may be in our 
 days, was by no means a new one, and that it was not chosen without grounds; yet to 
 all this must be added the recollection of the circumstances under which it was 
 revived. When public attention was directed anew towards ancient stoneware, it was 
 in Flanders that good specimens turned up in greater quantities, and it was also in the 
 
 c 
 
I o Tke A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 Flemish towns that the amateurs of other countries had the opportunity of admiring 
 them for the first time in the local collections, where they were preserved as undoubted 
 examples of national art. 
 
 At the present day the obloquy of a few dissidents has proved sufficient to throw 
 an appellation once firmly established into discredit, and no individual counter-effort 
 could again bring into fashion the good old term “ Gr^s de Flandres, even in these 
 cases where it would apply most appropriately. 
 
 I T is understood that we must consider as imperfect, from our own point of view, all 
 stoneware made before the introduction of glazing with salt. After the partially 
 vitrified body fired “ in stone ” had received the complement of this peculiar glaze, and 
 from that time only, this pottery cannot any longer be assimilated to terra cotta, and 
 forms a special class in ceramics. 
 
 The method of vesting earthen pots with a hard and transparent coating, obtained 
 by the evaporation of common salt at a high temperature, seems to have been practised 
 at a comparatively recent period, and no instances of an equivalent process are to be 
 found before the sixteenth century, while we find traces of most of the glazes presently 
 in use in very remote antiquity. It has been said that the surface of the Etruscan and 
 Greek vases was made glossy by the action of soda contained in the seaweeds thrown 
 into the kiln during the firing; but these vases are only covered with a thin and 
 tender film, more of the nature of a varnish than a glaze. On the Roman pottery, 
 called improperly Samian ware, the glaze is so thin and so equally spread, that such a 
 result could hardly have been obtained in any other way than by the evaporation of 
 alkalies ; but common salt could not have been employed, because the degree of heat 
 required for salt glazing would destroy the bright tint of the red clay. Besides, the 
 interiors of some vessels show the glaze running down in thick drops, as though a 
 superabundance of the substance had been laid on, and this leaves us in doubt as to 
 whether the ware was at all glazed by evaporation. We cannot therefore look into 
 antique civilizations for the practice of this singular mode of glazing earthen vessels, 
 but must assume that it was introduced at a much later date, and,—in the absence of 
 positive evidence to the contrary,—accept it at least as a probability. 
 
 All that we know tends to demonstrate that the salt glazing originated in the 
 very places where its use was afterwards prosecuted with so much success; it could 
 not have been introduced from another country where the invention left no trace and 
 have spread suddenly, and appear almost at the same period in all the principal centres 
 of Flanders and Germany, however remote from each other. This period can be 
 
Introduction. 
 
 11 
 
 approximately fixed to the first years of the sixteenth century, for before that time we 
 meet with no stoneware vessel covered with a saline glaze. If the surface of some 
 coarse brown pots of anterior date presents a glossy appearance, this was obtained by 
 their being thickly coated, before firing, with the ferruginous deposit found in brooks 
 running through lodes of iron ore, which forms a dark-coloured sort of glazing, of 
 great hardness, still in use in some parts for the commonest description of stoneware. 
 
 While we are rambling in the field of supposition, we may ask ourselves whether 
 the well-known quotation about a certain potter of Schlestadt, who died in 1283, and 
 “ primus in Alsatia vitro vasa fictilia vestiebat,” might not have reference to the 
 discovery of glazing with salt. The question has never been raised before, as these 
 lines were always understood to apply to the ordinary glaze or enamel used for the 
 pottery of the period, and we do not pretend that much importance can be attached 
 to it. We may however incidently observe that vases of earthenware had been glazed 
 and enamelled with lead, tin, or other suitable materials, long before the thirteenth 
 century, and that therefore, at the above-quoted date, a man could scarcely have taken 
 credit for having practised that method for the first time; while the other, in every 
 respect a new departure, was a real innovation, worthy of being recorded to the 
 memory of its discoverer. Although what we believe to be the earliest specimens of 
 glazed stoneware are not quite so ancient, the process may have been discovered as 
 far back as the thirteenth century, and, practised in secrecy, have lingered for a century 
 in some small pot works of the Rhine before being generally adopted. 
 
 In the two most important centres of manufacture it does not immediately 
 assume an equal importance. On the Raeren pots we see it employed from the first, 
 and in all cases to complete the ware, which is never left unglazed; at Siegburg, 
 on the contrary, it seems to have been introduced almost reluctantly, and only when 
 the handicraft had attained its highest point in all other branches; indeed, even at 
 that moment, the best pieces are purposely left dry and without any vitreous covering; 
 it would be rash however to infer from this that to the potters of the former place 
 belongs the priority, if not of the invention, at any rate of the glazing of the ware by 
 means of the evaporation of common salt. 
 
 One might think that the notion of employing such a material for that purpose 
 could not have arisen in places situated so far away from the sea shores, and where 
 salt would be comparatively costly and difficult to obtain; but the facilities of com¬ 
 munication afforded by the navigation of the Rhine disposes at once of this objection. 
 Moreover all the large pot works of Flanders and Germany obtained an abundant and 
 cheap supply of salt from the mines of Unna in Westphalia. When sea salt was used, 
 tradition tells us that it was the red salt, then common in the trade, in which the 
 
12 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 Newfoundland cod-fish had been preserved and which was considered superior to all 
 others in quality. 
 
 To what unexpected misadventure or chance observation this discovery is due 
 becomes almost impossible to imagine. Two centuries ago, after the Staffordshire 
 potters had extensively adopted the method, introduced by the German Elers, of 
 glazing their stoneware with salt, to anticipate any question as to its real origin an 
 anecdote was put in circulation which satisfied the curiosity of any credulous inquirer, 
 and which, in spite of its glaring improbability, has been reproduced since in all 
 histories of English pottery. 
 
 It was said that in 1680 the servant of a certain Palmer, master potter of Bucknall, 
 near Hanley, left an earthen pot full of concentrated brine boiling on a large fire; on 
 returning a few hours afterwards, she found that the liquid by overflowing had run 
 over the sides of the pot and covered it with a hard and shining glaze. She called 
 the attention of her master to this curious accident, and in that way salt glazing was 
 discovered.- But as it is an utter impossibility that the saline vapours could combine 
 with the silica of the clay, so as to form the transparent glaze, anywhere but in a closed 
 oven heated to a very high temperature, and as this could not have happened to a 
 pot heated in the open air, the tale must be relegated to the ranks of those many 
 popular legends which dispose of the origin of every ceramic discovery unaccounted 
 for by history. 
 
 With respect to the stoneware of Flanders and Germany, we are not even put to 
 the trouble of questioning the veracity of any such imaginative records; tradition and 
 written documents alike are silent as to its invention. Either no value was attached 
 to the new process, or it was practised in secrecy. In which latter case the secret was 
 certainly not kept long, for towards the beginning of the sixteenth century, almost 
 year for year, and in divers places, we see the potters of the Rhine as well as those of 
 Limbourg employing it with great success. Having no intimation that glazing with 
 salt had previously been in use in other countries, we are assuredly warranted in 
 believing that the process had its birthplace in these regions, and also that its first 
 application was followed at no distant date by its general adoption; this however 
 remains within the range of plausible deduction, and material proofs are still wanting 
 to establish it as an absolute fact. The tales we are trying to unfold in these pages 
 must perforce be short of their introductory chapter—that chapter which no one has 
 yet attempted to write: “When and where, for the first time, was the hard pottery 
 fired in stone glazed over with saline evaporations ? "—without which no history of 
 stoneware can be considered as complete and definitive. 
 
 If we now bring our observations to bear upon the style and fashioning of the 
 
Introduction. 
 
 13 
 
 ware itself, we shall find that in make and decoration stoneware is closely related to 
 the pottery made long before in the land. We cannot but be struck with the likeness 
 which the sigillated ornamention of the red pottery of Rheinzabern, and other Roman 
 stations of the Rhine, bear to the designs impressed or stamped on the stoneware 
 vases of the sixteenth century. The forms of certain antique vessels made in the same 
 places afford also interesting points for comparison. 
 
 It remains to be ascertained whether this seeming relationship is a mere freak of 
 art, sometimes repeating itself without any conceivable cause, or whether, as we are 
 prompted to believe, traditional handiwork uninterruptedly prosecuted in obscure and 
 debased pot works, has from hand to hand descended from the ancient Roman potters 
 to their successors of the Mediaeval and Renaissance times. That a certain connection 
 exists between the two extreme periods of pot-making on the banks of the Rhine might 
 be made manifest by giving a few examples, but this would scarcely come within the 
 
 Fig. 6. Roman Terra Cotta, 
 Treves Museum. 
 
 Fig. 7. Medi.«val Earthenware. 
 Munich Museum. 
 
 limits of our plan, and we must be content with pointing out striking similitude, 
 which is easily recognized by comparing original works. 
 
 In one common type, however, we can follow an unbroken descent. During these 
 centuries of stagnation, in which the potter’s art remained stationary, a peculiar vase of 
 small dimension continued to be made everywhere almost without variation. It is 
 characterized by an uncouth human face, coarsely incised with the point of a knife on 
 the front of the piece. At first the general form affects the oval of a head, later on it is 
 slightly modified, and is garnished with two or three handles ; under this last shape it 
 was still produced after the stoneware pottery had reached its highest development. 
 A few sketches will show this curious vase in examples taken from periods wide apart. 
 Fig. 6 represents one of these discovered at Trhves, and which belongs to the times of 
 ■the Roman occupation. The museum of Ulm has one of great beauty for size and 
 finish, the prototype of all others. In the Munich museum can be seen a specimen 
 reproduced in fig. 7. It is one of a series found in a vaulted room in a church of the 
 
14 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 town where, in mediaeval ages, it was customary to bring small pots full of corn as 
 votive offerings. The last figure is from an example dug up at Raeren, where they 
 are discovered in great numbers in the deepest trenches. On the sites of nearly all the 
 ancient factories—at Frecken, at Bouffioux, and other places—we never fail to see the 
 same type turning up in the excavations. This cannot result from accident; and we 
 think it not impossible to trace the filiation. 
 
 Not long ago one could still meet in some provinces of Germany erratic bands 
 of brick-makers who still preserved the customs handed down from generation to 
 generation. Half gypsies, half artisans, they were constantly moving from place to 
 place, plying their temporary trade in any locality where a rising and prosperous 
 
 population offered fair prospects of employment. 
 As soon as they had found a suitable bed of clay 
 in the neighbourhood they put up their primitive 
 kilns, and made bricks and tiles until, the demand 
 ceasing, their services were no longer required; 
 then the camp was raised and they betook them¬ 
 selves elsewhere. In this manner was avoided the 
 heavy expense incurred by carrying building mate¬ 
 rials from a distance. A few amongst these rough 
 labourers, more dexterous than their fellows, knew 
 how to fashion sundry objects of fancy, such as 
 pots of strange shapes, with quaintly disposed 
 handles, grotesque figures, etc., the models of 
 which were transmitted from father to son. It 
 may well be that the small vases ornamented with the human face was one of the 
 time-honoured patterns made by the nomad brick-makers as a recreation during the 
 intervals of hard work, and who thus left in many places traces of their sojourn. 
 Sometimes, where they found a vein of clay of exceptionally good quality, they settled 
 more permanently, making earthen pots, for which there were good markets not far 
 from the spot. From among these rough toilers of the clay were probably recruited 
 the first hands required by the sudden development of the factories of stoneware, 
 and the archaic and ubiquitous little vase with the human face seems to indicate that 
 the men did not give up their old traditions on entering on a more settled life. 
 
 The way in which these primitive pieces are fashioned connects them, perhaps by 
 mere chance, with the finest jugs of Raeren make. The body, spheric or oval, is formed 
 of two distinct halves, worked out by hand separately, and stuck together in the middle 
 with diluted clay; the bottom part spreading into a rudimentary foot thumbed all round. 
 
 Fig. 8 . Raeren Stoneware. 
 Trfeves Museum. 
 
Introduction. 
 
 IS 
 
 and the top opening into a wide and shapeless mouth. Building up jugs and vases by 
 means of separate parts, fitted and stuck together where joined, is, curiously enough, the 
 distinctive feature of Raeren workmanship; and, as can be ascertained by comparing 
 the brown vases of Flemish origin, the most happy profiles are those contrived to that 
 end. 
 
 In the Limbourg factories the turner avoided mounting a form in one piece, so 
 that he should have to close it on the wheel, as was customary at Siegburg. In this 
 last-named place one of the most typical as well as most ancient models, the spindle or 
 balustre jug, never shows any joint in the middle, but has its body completed by the 
 hand of the thrower. If anything links it to the small vases concerning which we have 
 just spoken, it is the thumbing of the foot, common to many other types. 
 
 An oft-repeated legend attributes to Jacqueline de Bavibre, the Flemish Countess 
 of Hainault, the making of the most ancient jugs of stoneware. While a prisoner in 
 the castle of Teylingen, between 1433 and 1436, it is said that she liked to occupy the 
 enforced leisure of her captivity by forming with her own hands and firing—probably 
 with the assistance of some practical potter—earthen pots, destined to be thrown away 
 in the moat of the fortress as lasting witnesses of her unjust sequestration. In certain 
 tall jugs of whitish clay, very dense and sonorous in substance, without glaze or orna¬ 
 mentation of any kind, one pretends to find the very work of the fair countess’s hands ; 
 they have been long known in Holland under the name of Jacoba Kannetjees. 
 
 A well-known author who has committed many curious blunders in his 
 over-zealousness to discover ceramic rarities, and who shows himself endowed with a 
 lively imagination somewhat dangerous when dealing with dates and facts, affirms that 
 he has seen specimens bearing the date 1424 (?), and the impressed mark “ Teylingen." 
 As this author is often quoted by unsuspicious writers, whose confidence has here, as 
 in many other cases, been imposed upon, we think it advisable to put others on their 
 guard against such mis-statements. No one has ever seen a genuine piece dated or 
 marked, and moreover the legend of the Countess Jacqueline is in our days somewhat 
 discredited. 
 
 By their form, as well as by the quality of the white clay of which they are made, 
 these jugs seem to bear close relationship to the earliest products of the Siegburg 
 potters. There is good evidence of vessels of the same type having been made in 
 Holland ; at Heterwoork heaps of fragments, indicating, it is said, the site of a pot works, 
 were lately found, but in ignorance of their precise date it is impossible to determine 
 whether priority should be given to Dutch or to German ware. 
 
 The cavities and bosses that the impression of the workman’s thumb has left 
 round the foot of certain pieces are regarded, with a few exceptions, as an indication 
 
16 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 of their antiquity. A few words about this singular practice will not perhaps be found 
 uninteresting. 
 
 It was a remnant of the simple methods which sufficed for the primitive potter. 
 When a piece had been fashioned on the wheel, no cafe was taken to cut it off neatly 
 from the board to which it adhered ; it was simply snatched off, the foot being thereby 
 thrown very much out of shape. The piece had then to be set upright upon a smooth 
 and horizontal surface, sprinkled with a little sand, and with well-calculated pressure, 
 the distorted foot was made to resume its proper shape. When improved fashions 
 were introduced in manufacture, a way was soon found to cut off the work from the 
 table of the wheel by means of a copper wire. The concentric traces of that cutting 
 through the clay may be noticed under the feet of most of the brown stoneware pieces, 
 particularly those of Frecken, where collectors look upon them as a certificate of origin. 
 At Siegburg, faithful almost to the last to time-honoured fashions, the potters were 
 very slow in abandoning the thumbing of the feet; they seem always to have 
 considered the rough waving thus obtained as a very suitable and appropriate means 
 of ornamentation. The first large vases of Raeren, on the contrary, never show any 
 trace of this practice, and the bases, like the tops, are elegantly profiled with neat 
 mouldings. 
 
 As a rule, specimens, either roughly fashioned by hand or made on the wheel, 
 but without any ornamental adjunction obtained from a mould, may be taken as 
 representing in German stoneware the oldest period of manufacture. It must however 
 be remembered that a vast amount of cheap utensils of coarse make, and devoid of all 
 elegance of shape or ornamentation, must have been produced concurrently with the 
 handsomest vases, at any rate in pot works of the lowest class, if not in those in which 
 the richest articles were turned out. External appearance consequently cannot be 
 safely depended upon to settle the probable age of a piece. 
 
 The most reliable information as to what kind of ware belongs to the earliest times 
 is to be found in the results of systematically-conducted excavations. Through that 
 means much has come to our knowledge which the study of specimens and documents 
 would never have revealed.. The superimposed strata of “ ddbris ’’ evidence the 
 various styles as they prevailed successively in each locality. Unfortunately, dated 
 specimens do not appear until the middle of the sixteenth century, and as the spade 
 goes deeper into the trenches the less there is to tell us how many hundred years 
 have passed away since the first heaps of broken pottery were thrown on the spot. 
 
 We gather from old records that at the end of the fourteenth century pot-making 
 was already thriving at Siegburg, where nothing but stoneware has ever been made. 
 But at such an early date, none but very coarse hard pottery could have been 
 
Introduction. 
 
 17 
 
 produced, such as is represented by the oldest discovered fragments. Between these 
 shapeless pots, unglazed, and without any attempt at ornamentation—showing so little 
 impress of taste or originality that their innumerable repetitions seem to have neither 
 age nor country—and the elegantly designed, delicately worked vases which were 
 to succeed them, there is a distance which may perhaps cover several centuries. 
 
 New wants foster the growth of new industries; and the first efforts towards the 
 improvement of stoneware seem to coincide with the increased demand for beer-drinking 
 vessels. 
 
 Towards the beginning of the sixteenth century the coarse malt liquor drunk by the 
 lower classes was transformed into a much improved beverage by the addition of a new 
 ingredient—hops, and, as ale, became of general use in all ranks of society. An old 
 English saying reminds us, that “ The reformation and hops in beer came in at the 
 same time.” Jugs and canettes of neat stoneware were not long in gaining the preference 
 for beer drinking over tankards of metal, goblets of glass, or pitchers of common 
 earthenware, and in Germany at least soon supplanted them altogether. This gives 
 good grounds for fixing the manufacture of the earliest pieces of the newly-improved 
 ware to the second half of the sixteenth century. 
 
 If we have to proceed by conjecture, it is because no dated example has ever been 
 discovered which was not of a comparatively late period, and had not been preceded, 
 according to all probability, by many years of well-settled manufacture. At Siegburg, 
 for instance, by far the oldest established centre, we do not find any inscribed date 
 before the second half of the sixteenth century. The brown ware of Raeren supplies 
 us with the earliest millesim recorded on a vase—viz., the date 1539,—we read it 
 on a fragment covered with fine brown glaze, in the possession of Mr. Hetjens, 
 of Aix-la-Chapelle, neatly embossed in well-formed figures. This is by so many 
 years earlier than any other known reliable evidence, that we might be tempted to 
 question its accuracy, were it not that the fragment has been dug up on the spot by 
 the owner himself. We are told that a brown canette, once in the Spitzer collection, 
 also bore the same date. 
 
 The fact is, we have often to beware of otherwise plausible vouchers, which, not¬ 
 withstanding their undoubted authenticity, would be most misleading if accepted without 
 reservation. Setting aside the numerous cases where, in a partly obliterated inscription, 
 it is possible to mistake one figure for another, we shall take as our example a grey and 
 blue vase, of Raeren make, now in the Cologne Kunstgewerbe Museum, bearing the 
 unmistakable date 1500. (Fig. 9.) The figures are so large and so sharply raised, that 
 any mis-reading is out of the question; such, for instance, that which would be caused 
 by the disappearance of the lower stroke to the first nought, making the date 1590; 
 
 D 
 
18 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 the eye cannot however detect any traces of this part having been rubbed off. Yet 
 in that case only would the inscription tally with the style of the decoration of the vase, 
 which is that of the end of the sixteenth century. If in the year 1500 stoneware was at 
 all made at Raeren, it could not possibly bear the same character as that which 
 distinguishes the work of nearly one hundred years later, or be heightened with bright 
 cobalt blue, an innovation not then introduced. In all such instances an inscribed date 
 stands no longer as an information, but rather as a puzzle, an inexplicable inadver¬ 
 tence, or piece of whimsicality on the part of 
 the maker. Taking it for granted that the 
 arms emblazoned in the medallion are—in a 
 somewhat incorrect form—those of the royal 
 house of Bavaria, they would refer to an im¬ 
 portant personage. Prince Ernest of Bavaria, 
 who had already caused some jugs stamped 
 with his arms to be made at Raeren in 1581, 
 when he was Bishop of Liege, that is to say, 
 before he became Archbishop of Cologne. It 
 may be that this arbitrary date may have had 
 some reference to past events of importance, 
 either for the bishop, or perhaps simply for 
 the potter, and the purpose for which it was 
 recorded may well now escape comprehension. 
 All we know for certain is that the vase 
 belongs to the last part of the sixteenth cen¬ 
 tury, and not to the beginning, and that the 
 inscription has no chronological value in the history of Flemish stoneware. We 
 may therefore accept Mr. Hetjen’s fragment as bearing the earliest date we can 
 ever expect to read on a brown glazed stone pot; indeed, by computing the amount 
 of information we have now gathered together, it would not be possible to place 
 much farther back than the year 1539 the making of the beer vessels, skilfully 
 carved and richly glazed, which form the largest and worthiest part of the stock 
 of artistic stoneware of Flanders and Germany; a group we have tried to isolate 
 from other kinds of pottery equally fired at a very high temperature, and to which 
 we have devoted these pages. 
 
 Fig. 9. From a Raeren Jug. 
 Kunstgewerbe Museum, Cologne. 
 
Introduction. 
 
 9 
 
 § II. TECHNICS. 
 
 Stoneware bodies—Throwing and turning of the ware—The peculiar wheel used by the thrower—Mould¬ 
 cutting—The ovens and the building of the vaults—The firing—Brown or grey colour, and how it 
 was obtained—Painted stoneware. 
 
 HE second section of this rambling preamble, in which our object is to bring 
 
 together the generalities applicable to stoneware, without distinction of class, will 
 treat upon certain points of manufacture indispensable to be known before entering 
 upon the study of the fabrics of each distinct centre. Ways and means differ essentially 
 from those connected with the making of ordinary earthenware, and we shall have 
 a few words to say with regard to the clays employed ; the special methods used for 
 making and decorating the ware; the ovens in which it was fired; and, lastly, its 
 peculiar glazing. 
 
 The body of all stoneware consists simply of plastic clay or—as it is also called— 
 marl, well manipulated by blundging and beating, with which a small quantity of sand 
 has been incorporated. The selection of the clay was, for the old potter, of paramount 
 importance; all the beds differing in quality, no clay was accepted but that which, after 
 careful experiment, had been found the easiest to work out and the least liable to 
 accident in the firing. 
 
 It is in the alluvial formation, that is to say, the superstrata, that marl is found : 
 often it lies quite on the surface of the soil; in other places it is only met with at a 
 depth of two or three hundred feet. In the valley of the Meuse, and along the banks 
 of the Rhine, the beds of white plastic clay are not only inexhaustible, but lie close to 
 the surface, and to these favourable circumstances is due the establishment of so many 
 factories in these districts. For the making of the cheapest pots, dark grey or brown 
 in colour, the commonest sorts of marl were thought sufficiently good to be used 
 in their natural state; indeed they scarcely took the trouble to clean them from gravel 
 and other foreign particles. But the fine white body was obtained only by complicated 
 mixtures of various kinds of clays, knowingly combined, and manipulated with special 
 care. The extreme plasticity of the compound rendered it liable to crack or split, a fault 
 which was remedied by the addition of a little sand, or ground biscuit. When the 
 clay had been diluted, properly mixed, and the surplus water allowed to evaporate in 
 large covered troughs, it was ready for use, and was brought, in small lumps, to the 
 workshop to be fashioned by the thrower. Common jugs and rich vases were all 
 thrown on the wheel, except in later times, when fancy forms were occasionally 
 modelled by hand. 
 
20 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 In the stoneware factories, where old methods had long prevailed, it is only recently 
 that the peculiar and primitive machine used by the thrower has been replaced by a 
 more modern appliance. It was a light and open wheel, of large diameter, ingeniously 
 suspended, and revolving horizontally on an iron pivot. The workman set it in motion 
 by means of a stick, and the impetus thus imparted to the disc lasted long enough to 
 allow him to fashion the piece, without having to give a fresh impulsion. After the first 
 operation of throwing the plain shape had been accomplished, the articles received 
 more or less finish by the addition of mouldings neatly profiled by the turner, not 
 from a settled design, but according to his own passing fancy. Cylindrical or circular 
 forms were rarely departed from. Even the bottles with flattened sides, the favourite 
 shape usually reserved for the best works, were formed with two shallow basins, the 
 rims of which were joined together with diluted clay, and completed with neck and 
 foot; all these parts having been made separately on the wheel. The closed moulds, 
 such as we use in our own time, and which give at a single operation the whole piece 
 and all its raised decoration, seem to have been unknown, or at any rate never used. 
 
 None but open moulds, or, more correctly, dies or matrixes, served to obtain the 
 subjects in relief applied on the best class of work. 'Impressed ornaments were 
 produced by means of small seals, or punches. These matrixes were sunk, like intaglios, 
 in dry clay, hardened afterwards by firing, or, when the finest ornaments were required, 
 into pieces of “ Kehlheimer,” a white stone of very fine grain, resembling that used in 
 lithography, and sometimes in metal or hard wood. This stone must have been 
 expensive or difficult to procure, judging from the sparing manner in which every 
 small block of it was made use of by the mould-cutter; for nearly all the stamping 
 seals cut in that material which have come under our notice, have a different subject 
 engraved on each of their four faces. 
 
 For exceptional works, the reliefs to be applied were pressed directly into these dies, 
 and thus presented a very great sharpness ; but when a subject was to be reproduced 
 an unlimited number of times, moulds were duplicated according to the requirements. 
 To that end a good proof was taken and fired; it was then called by opposition the 
 “patrix,” and upon it fresh moulds were obtained by impression to any number of 
 replica. This operation was not always performed with the necessary care, the models 
 consequently lost much of their neatness, and the subjects created by one master were 
 soon turned into commonplace items, becoming public property in use in all the 
 factories. 
 
 The moulds for the details of ornamentation, whatever might be the shape of the 
 piece they were meant to decorate, were always cut upon a flat field. To allow the proofs 
 pressed in these moulds to be conveniently bent, so as to espouse the curved surface of 
 
Introduction. 
 
 21 
 
 a vase or a jug, they had to be made by small sections, and to hide the joints 
 architectural compartments were formed, with arcades and pillars, separating at regular 
 intervals the principal groups of figures or ornaments. It is owing to this disposition 
 that we often find, on inferior stoneware vases, subjects which should be consecutive 
 distributed with obvious heedlessness as to the proper order in which they ought to 
 stand, some parts being omitted, while others are repeated several times. In like 
 manner inscriptions have been applied in a fragmentary state, and appear bereft 
 of all conceivable meaning, a few isolated words alone remaining of the original 
 sentence. 
 
 Some rare examples are met with of a mould having been taken from some relief 
 work executed by silversmiths or metal-chasers, but we notice that in such cases the 
 style of the piece thus adorned with borrowed adjunctions loses much of the habitual 
 character of stoneware decoration. 
 
 As a rule, we never find on vases belonging to the best period any instance of 
 a decoration improvised on the clay by the hand of the modeller. The “formschneider’s" 
 business was confined to the cutting of the moulds, and he did not, as it appears, 
 interfere with the actual making of the ware. 
 
 The ovens, the ruins of which have been brought to light by the excavations 
 during the last few years, were of a very peculiar construction. As a result of the high 
 degree of heat necessary for the firing, the vault expanded to a great extent, cracked in 
 all its length, and had constantly to be repaired. A curious plan was devised to obviate 
 these casualties. On the top of each side wall was raised a pile of conical pots, fitting 
 into each other; the height was calculated so that, by bending the two opposite piles, 
 they met in the middle, forming over the oven a surbased arch. This operation 
 was repeated, arch after arch being produced, until the whole superficies was covered. 
 As the building progressed, the whole was made fast by the interstices being cemented 
 with fire-clay. It is easy to understand the great advantage offered by this disposition, 
 as it allowed the vault to resume its former standing when, after the expansion which 
 had taken place during the firing, the mass subsided again into its former proportions. 
 A few handfuls of clay then sufficed to put it in order. 
 
 It is a fact worth remembering, that the older a specimen, the harder it is in paste ; 
 a rule from which we can establish that, at the outset, the semi-vitrified state of the 
 ware was considered its paramount quality. This is clearly evinced by the jugs known 
 as Jacoba Kannetjee, and the oldest unglazed pots discovered at Siegburg. At Raeren, 
 although the hardness and density of the productions never equalled in degree that of 
 the Rheinish ware of the earliest period, a good standard of hardness was however 
 maintained to the end. 
 
22 
 
 The Ancietit Art Stofieware. 
 
 The firing of an oven of small dimensions lasted five or six days. Nothing 
 but light vrood was used, and the oven was brought to almost the highest degree of 
 heat that can be produced under the conditions; it may be estimated at from lOO to 
 120 degrees of Wedgwood’s pyrometer. Gradually, and through experimenting upon 
 more fusible sorts of clay, the temperature was lowered, in order to diminish the 
 percentage of losses and bring down the cost of production. We observe that in the 
 stoneware of more recent date the partial vitrification is much less advanced than in 
 the early specimens just referred to ; a natural consequence of the modification brought 
 about in the method of conducting the firing. 
 
 A single operation was required to fire the ware and fix the glaze upon it. 
 When the heat reached its climax, the loading of the oven-mouths with fuel was 
 momentarily suspended, and salt was thrown into the incandescent furnace through 
 holes practised for that purpose in the top of the vault. The fumes of the salt, combining 
 with the alkali of the clay, covered the ware contained in the oven with a coating 
 of hard, thin, transparent glaze. In approaching the blazing fire-mouths the heat was 
 so intense that the men had to wrap themselves in wet cloths from head to foot. 
 After the salting had taken place, in order to drive away any smoke or injurious 
 vapours, a sharp and brief fire was again raised, and it is at that moment, it is said, 
 that was developed the fine brown colour, so remarkable on the stoneware. Its 
 success was considered to be due to the practice of a cunning trick, known only 
 to experienced firemen. The exact cause of this colouring has never been satisfactorily 
 explained. Goods fired in an oven, and under exactly the same conditions, are not 
 stained with it in an equal proportion; we find it developed on certain parts and not on 
 others ; on the outside of a vessel, for instance, and not on the inside. We can only 
 observe that the brown colour seems to increase under the influence of the flames, 
 loaded with wood ashes, which act on the oxide of iron contained in the clay, in all 
 the parts of the oven where they have been allowed to circulate. In every case, when 
 two pieces have stood in close proximity, the parts protected from the direct contact of 
 the flame remain colourless. 
 
 Tradition has kept the recipe employed in the pot works of Bouffioux; the 
 method consisted there in abstaining from throwing in more than one load of salt, in 
 giving a final and sharp stroke of firing, and taking care afterwards to close hermetically 
 every aperture. Elsewhere it was recommended, as a good means of obtaining a fine 
 brown tint, to throw on the fire, with the last load of wood, a few shovelfuls of birch 
 bark well impregnated with brine; while some potters were wont to dip the ware in 
 ground iron ore in suspension in water, or else to rub it with black lead. This last 
 and most effective process was, we think, very widely adopted, wherever the clay 
 
Introduction. 
 
 23 
 
 was not sufficiently ferruginous to develop a natural colour; on grey pieces, partially 
 stained with a well-defined zone of brown, we can plainly see that it has been obtained 
 in this way. On some examples of dark ware we observe a superficial coating which, 
 of a fusible nature, has turned black and metallic in appearance, and blurred out all the 
 raised detail. On other instances, the outer surface is covered with minute brown spots, 
 caused by the glaze segregating into clots on the light ground of the clay. All these 
 various effects are signs that artificial colouring had been practised. 
 
 Many authors maintain the incorrect opinion that the stoneware owed its rich 
 bronze hue merely to the high firing it underwent. This could not be so, a look at 
 some of the oldest specimens, which, although most highly fired, never exhibit the 
 brown colour, will convince us. The white tint and the grey colour, always preferred 
 as a ground for the ware enhanced with blue and purple enamels, resulted from a 
 different manner of conducting the firing. Instead of closing tightly all the oven- 
 mouths to rarify the air at the final moment, after having given an abundant salting, 
 all the blaze and embers were quickly removed from the fireplaces, and aperture left 
 full open to allow a free circulation of the air through the oven. We must remark 
 about the blue and purple enamels,—which alone could stand the temperature required 
 for glazing,—that they were not painted on, but were merely a staining applied with a 
 rag soaked in the colour. These enamels ran down so freely during the salting, that 
 any work of the brush would have been hopelessly destroyed. 
 
 The painter, in connection with stoneware, only appears in later times, with 
 the new processes adopted in the Kreussen workshops. But the painted decoration 
 is practised only after the firing of the piece has been completed, and is fixed on the 
 surface by the moderate heat of a small kiln ; it does not therefore differ from the 
 usual method of enamel painting on glass or porcelain, and it can hardly be considered 
 as a legitimate process of stoneware decoration. We shall not extend further our short 
 account of the peculiarities connected with the making of stoneware, being unwilling 
 to'embark on a technical treatise; but we must add in concluding, that in the present 
 century, when all manufacturing processes have undergone complete renovation, those 
 employed by the old potters of Flanders and Germany are still followed with hardly 
 any change in all the places where stoneware is still manufactured. 
 
24 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 § III. POTTERS, ARTISTS, AND MERCHANTS. 
 
 The respective part assumed by the practical man and his collaborator, the decorative 
 
 pLery-Comparison between the condition of the potters of Siegburg and those of 
 cutte^Jan Emens, artist and master potter-Of the engravings reproduced on the J 
 
 of some shapes-The merchant-Trade centralized in large towns-Commercial reguktions-Armoned 
 ware manufactured through the agency of the dealer—Merchants' names stamped on the ware. 
 
 HEN a work of art, even of minor order, proves sufficiently 
 attractive to command our sustained attention, our 
 thoughts are soon and instinctively turned towards the 
 unknown one who may have executed it. Many queries 
 arise in our mind respecting the time, place, and 
 conditions in which the artist may have lived and worked. 
 His very name becomes to us a matter of interest. We 
 long to be able to bring together the whole sum of works 
 left us by the same man, that we may follow him, step 
 by step, the length of his career, and the admiration we 
 feel for his higher achievements will make us look with sympathy even on his feebler 
 attempts. 
 
 The research is a complex one when we bring our investigations to bear upon the 
 subject of Art Pottery. However simple an ornamental earthen pot, it is seldom the 
 product of the ingenuity and talent of a single individual. Without taking into account 
 the accumulated experience handed down to their followers by preceding generations, 
 —of which any work we are trying to analyze is partly the result,—many hands have 
 assisted in the completion of this single object. The potter’s art is eminently a 
 collective one. Two leading characters take, in the conduct of the workmanship, a well- 
 appointed part. An inspiring spirit brings into play, and directs towards the final 
 success, the many agents working conjointly under his guidance; this is the master, 
 the practical man. He must possess the knowledge of the regular and well-tried 
 processes of the craft, and be gifted besides with a searching and inventive mind, 
 always on the alert to improve them by fresh discoveries. By his side works the 
 artist, taking a no less important part in the production, who possessed of an 
 impulsive intellect, and served by a skilful hand, is bound to exert his capacities 
 to bring out of the materials placed at his disposal the most suitable and varied effects. 
 What is exactly the participation taken by each of them in the duplex result of their 
 joint efforts ? In many instances this is easily defined, in others our curiosity is at 
 
Introduction. 
 
 25 
 
 once put off the scent. Often it happens that the name of the one, either the potter’s 
 or the artist’s, finds itself completely merged in the name of the other. Fame is 
 loath to share her favour equally between them, and the whole merit is for ever after 
 credited to him who has chanced to be for the moment the most successful of the 
 two. 
 
 This is not exactly the case with the art of stoneware. In a general survey of the 
 facts connected with its history we are struck with the differences which distinguish it, 
 on that very point, from the other branches of ceramic art. From the crowd of master 
 potters and modellers known to have effectually contributed to the improvement of that 
 pottery, in their respective localities, no transcendent name comes to the front, 
 condensing in his all-absorbing celebrity the whole of his contemporaries and the credit 
 due to their individual efforts. 
 
 To pronounce the noble name of Luca della Robbia, is to bring immediately to 
 memory the long array of enamelled terra cottas treasured up in the churches and 
 palaces of Italy ; the mere mention of Palissy recalls a world of French pottery, quaintly 
 designed and richly coloured with variegated glazes; and the whole amount of the 
 productions of the English potters resumes itself, in foreign countries, in the name of 
 the great Wedgwood. But when we come to stoneware potters we miss such shining 
 personalities ; we find ourselves in most cases confronted by a guild, grafted upon trade 
 companies of an antiquity often out of record—an arbitrary institution which enshrouds 
 the individuality of all its members under a thick veil. 
 
 At Siegburg, for instance, it is a closed community, in which each private member 
 works for the good of all; the professional success that one may achieve—exceptional 
 workmanship or valuable discovery, a new material, an improved method—all turn to 
 the honour of the Guild. Siegburg, with a whole population of potters, has well kept 
 in the old register the list of the most notorious of the masters who held office in the 
 council from the earliest period; but the names on the registers, and such initials as 
 we find impressed on the ware, agree but seldom together. It is only as a rare exception 
 that we can associate with certainty the leading names of the craft with any of the 
 works which came out of their hands. Intermixed with the inscriptions and the 
 relieved ornaments, monograms are found in plenty, but they often happen to be those 
 of the model maker—an outsider whose name is never entered in the transactions of the 
 Guild. This discrepancy leaves entirely to guess-work the task of deciding to whose 
 credit may be brought the making of most of the masterpieces of stoneware. 
 
 At Raeren, on the contrary, each master being independent, several of them have 
 taken great care to make themselves known to posterity in a private capacity, but 
 never as leaders of the trade. The progress of art pottery through the course of ages 
 
 E 
 
26 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 does not follow, as a rule, the advance of other branches of decorative art. The contents 
 of tumuli and barrows, the only remaining vestiges of the dawning days of civilization, 
 have no other fictile work to show us,—by the side of glass and metal cups, already 
 elegant of form and of skilful workmanship,—than rude and ill-shapen urns, often of 
 unbaked clay. Kneading the mud with his hands into the rude and constantly repeated 
 forms of an unseemly vessel, the same as his fathers have kneaded before him, the potter 
 may remain for centuries tied to the condition of the lowest of labourers. But let one 
 day, through a happy concourse of circumstances, his imagination at last awake, let his 
 fingers run upon unwonted and graceful profiles, suddenly multiplying and perfecting 
 forms and designs ; invention and dextrous handling at once come into play, and the 
 barbarous pitcher, doomed to be broken without regret, is turned, step by step, into an 
 elegant ewer, a graceful vase, admired by all and treasured by its possessor. Then the 
 coarse labourer disappears, and an ingenious and skilful artisan takes his place. If it 
 happens that nature has let the art-mantle fall upon a privileged one amongst these 
 humble artisans, the horizon open to his onward progress is limitless. Through the 
 impulse of his genius a manual trade will soar in the high regions of esthetic beauty; 
 the inspiration of his mind, the touch of his masterly hand, will ennoble the unworthy 
 material. In a Greek amphora we have the loftiest manifestations of man’s intuitive 
 sensitiveness to the mysterious canons of purity of line and harmony of proportion. 
 Yet the vase has sprung from an inauspicious source—the crude jar of the primeval 
 tribes living on the soil ; a human work indeed, but of such a low order, that it is inferior, 
 as a token of industry, to the performance of many nest-building creatures of the 
 animal world. 
 
 Practical improvements must of course keep pace with the rising idealism and 
 artistic intent; much has to be attended to within the range of material requirements. 
 The choice and manipulations of clays and their mixture; the tools employed; the 
 construction of ovens and the methods of firing them ;—all have to be carefully studied 
 and constantly altered. At times the manifold cares that fall to the lot of the potter 
 may stand in the way of the development of his skill as an artist, and when he realizes 
 at last that plastique must intervene as a crowning factor in the completion of his work, 
 he resolves to summon to his assistance the trained hand of a professional modeller. 
 It is to that combination of talents that we owe many of the stoneware vases of 
 Flanders and Germany. 
 
 As soon as the progressive pot-makers of Siegburg and Raeren saw that their 
 productions still remained deficient in these qualities of attraction and pleasantness 
 which art alone can impart to the finest materials, they began to call in their midst a 
 few sculptors used to delicate workmanship, a class of artist already very important in 
 
Introduction. 
 
 27 
 
 large towns, where they assisted in making stone, wood, or metal beautiful with rich 
 and clever carvings. 
 
 From the first, stoneware was bound to become elaborate and artistic in treatment. 
 The cost of firing alone, and the salt, then a dear material, made it much more 
 expensive to manufacture than ordinary earthenware ; to bake properly vases of large 
 dimension, a high fire had to be kept up for five or six days. Even a plain and 
 unadorned piece was consequently an article of some value; to sell it at a remunerative 
 price, and make it fit to suit the taste of the better class of customers for whom it was 
 intended, it became indispensable that the new ware should join to the good quality of 
 an improved material the attraction of interesting and well-finished workmanship. 
 
 It fell partly to the share of the “ Formschneider ” to attain this result and realize 
 these expectations. These extraneous assistants had of course a large part in the 
 direction taken at that moment by the art of the stoneware potter. Yet to the master 
 reverts unquestionably the merit of the general conception, and he is responsible in 
 particular for the tracing of the forms. He made them rise on the wheel under his 
 fingers, following his own fancy, with no other guidance than a few measures taken by 
 the compasses, and varying endlessly the complicated profiles. Then, when the ware 
 had been turned, it was he also who, pressing separately subjects of his choice from 
 amongst the stock of models prepared for that purpose, stuck them on the form so as 
 to embellish and complete it. 
 
 To the modeller was left the care of preparing those subjects and their moulds; but 
 he does not seem to have had anything to do with the design of the pieces; we do not 
 know of a single vase conceived as a whole, modelled and moulded in a single operation. 
 So far was it from being so, that the subjects, always fragmentary, appear to have been 
 executed without any settled destination ; seldom, to our regret, do they agree in size and 
 proportion with the pieces they adorn. Many of the moulds have been discovered, all 
 of them carved on a flat surface; and it was after the proof had been taken, still wet from 
 the mould, that it was applied by pression to the ground of the vase until it espoused 
 perfectly the curve of the form. 
 
 The principal artist engaged as collaborator by the potter was the "Formschneider” 
 or “ Cartemaker,” a name given to those who carved or engraved the wooden blocks or 
 matrixes used in many industries for stamping leather, paper, wax, horn, or other 
 materials. From the fact that he kept in the pot works the professional name he worked 
 under in connection with other trades, we might infer that he was only incidentally 
 associated with the craft. Many specimens of the workmanship of the formschneider 
 in their various applications are to be seen in the museums of Germany; the most 
 curious amongst them being perhaps those elaborate forms with which the housewives 
 
28 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 of the past centuries used to impress on their pastry strange and complicated patterns 
 and subjects. We must apologize for bringing forth such commonplace examples, our 
 reason is that they are common in museums, where no one can have failed to notice them ; 
 some are not without interest, and they give an exact notion of the moulds, far more rare 
 to meet with, employed by the potters to press and stamp the relief-work applied to stone¬ 
 ware ; indeed many of them have long passed for potters’ moulds. Instead of wood, the 
 materials used for carving the latter were either small slabs of dry clay, or of a peculiar 
 sort of tender stone of dense and very fine grain, into which medallions, masks, rosettes, 
 subjects in panels or friezes, were delicately engraved, after the manner of die-sinking. 
 
 The number of the leading mould-cutters who devoted their talents to the 
 decoration of stoneware pottery must necessarily have been very limited. There 
 was no comparison to be made between their condition and that of the bulk of the 
 operatives, as is shown by the accounts preserved in the old registers, where we see 
 the cost of the ware and the prices paid to the different classes of men working at 
 the trade. 
 
 On an occasion when the Siegburg magistrates had to petition the Duke of Cldves 
 Berg for the renewal of certain privileges, they thought it advisable to propitiate 
 beforehand the favour of the officers of the ducal household by a handsome present of 
 ware, and accordingly ordered some sets of jugs to be embossed with the Duke’s arms. 
 The cost of cutting the new moulds necessitated by the commission made the bill sent 
 in by the Guild amount to i8o marks, lo shillings, a sum quite out of keeping with 
 the insignificant prices asked for the best jugs of current make. Such heavy expenses 
 as these would of course have placed beyond the reach of the common pot-makers the 
 production of many new models in the course of a year. The tariffs were low, and only 
 in the case of an extraordinary commission could they indulge, after paying wages, in 
 any additional expenditure. Moreover the mould-cutter could, in a few weeks, supply 
 a sufficient quantity of subjects to serve an important factory for the production of 
 novelties during a whole year. As to the pot works of the lowest class, they turned 
 out ware principally plain, or adorned with such coarse medallions as the master 
 himself prepared to the best of his abilities. 
 
 All this considered, and if we remember that the best period of artistic stoneware 
 does not extend—for Siegburg and Raeren—beyond the course of eighty years at the 
 outside, we may conceive that a very limited number of clever hands sufficed to produce 
 all the models employed by the potters for the decoration of their work. We cannot 
 therefore expect, large as the industry was, to find the names of many regular modellers 
 connected with it. 
 
 In the archives of Raeren have been preserved the record of several “ Form- 
 
Introduction. 
 
 29 
 
 Schneiders ” and “ Cartemakers ” who worked for the brown ware, and their names will 
 be found in the chapter devoted to that manufacture. They were more numerous at 
 Siegburg, but there we cannot learn anything in particular about them. They never 
 signed a piece in full, and the written documents are silent as to their names, and the 
 conditions in which they stood relatively to the master. 
 
 Notwithstanding the high prices paid for models, the calling of a formschneider was 
 at times a precarious one, his services being only occasionally required ; consequently 
 it happened that more than one of them, who had begun in the district as hired assistants, 
 started business on their own account, and became successful master potters. We 
 shall have to tell farther on how Jan Emens, who has been one of the most prominent 
 masters of Raeren, had at first supplied the leading potters of the place with moulds and 
 models, but soon took to producing his graceful inventions at his own risk and for his 
 own profit. Under these conditions he was enabled to turn out more novelties than his 
 competitors. While others were dependent on the costly co-operation of a professional 
 modeller, he could, with his own unassisted talent, constantly renew the stock of subjects 
 required for the decoration of his ware. Had the Raeren potters been at that time con¬ 
 stituted into a regular guild, such an enterprise on the part of an outsider would have 
 been impossible ; but when Jan Emens undertook to manufacture stoneware as a master, 
 after having worked as an assistant, the trade was still open and free. It was only 
 later on, and just as the industry was entering its period of decline, that it was turned 
 into a close corporation, to which only the sons of the masters could be admitted. 
 
 In that busy centre, just placed under the unexpected conditions of an ever- 
 increasing prosperity, where the processes of the handicraft were practised in the light 
 of day, and at a time when experienced hands could already be found in plenty, nothing 
 was easier for other modellers than to attempt what Jan Emens accomplished with 
 such a marked success. 
 
 The style of ornamentation of the formschneider does not exactly recommend itself 
 by a strong originality ; but since the Italian majolica decorator has never been taken 
 to task for having mostly painted well-known subjects borrowed from contemporary 
 engravings, we think that an equal indulgence may be extended to the modellers who 
 have decorated the ancient stoneware. We cannot help wishing it had been otherwise, 
 yet it must be acknowledged that only on rare occasions do we see them indulge in a 
 subject of their own imagination; as a rule, they contented themselves with more or 
 less distant interpretations of popular woodcuts and engravings. 
 
 There was no lack of prints published for the use of industrial artists ; numerous 
 are the contemporary sets of ornamental designs engraved for that purpose. The itinerant 
 image-seller took the care of making them known all over Europe. Palissy deplores 
 
30 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 in his book, that the best works of Italian and German masters had, in his days, already 
 been vulgarized to such an extent that they could be obtained for next to nothing; he 
 states, among other instances, that in the fairs and markets the beautiful prints of the 
 life of the Virgin by Albert Durer were sold commonly at two farthings apiece. 
 
 What we call the small masters of France, Germany, and Flanders, have all been 
 laid under contribution. Hans Sebald Beham and Henry Aldegrever have furnished to 
 the mould-cutters models for peasant dances and scenes of country life, mythological 
 corteges, and other subjects of figures forming round the vases most suitable friezes. 
 In the “ Wappenbucks,” namely, that of Virgilius Solis, they found the material of their 
 heraldic display. They borrowed amply for their cartouches strapwork, arabesques, 
 flowers, and other ornamental details from the elegant compositions of Etienne de 
 VAtilne, of Orleans; from the patterns for goldsmiths, published in Paris by Gidion 
 L'Egari, and the “Incrustations” designed and engraved ysy Balthazar Silvius; and 
 from the works of Floris, yironie Cock, Lidfrinck, Vredeman de Wriesse, Adrien 
 Collaert, and many others whose designs they reproduced on stoneware. 
 
 Once a copy of “Reusnerius Emblemata, Cologne, 1569 ” passed through the writer’s 
 hands, and it bore signs curious enough to lead him to imagine that it was one of the 
 reference books used in the old factories, and that the copy had actually belonged to the 
 same Jan Emens, the potter artist, whom we have just had occasion to mention. It was a 
 small volume, containing rude woodcuts by Jost Amman and Virgilius Solis, the designs 
 of which have often done duty on the ware. On the binding was inscribed the date 1588, 
 and the book had been interleaved throughout for the convenience of its possessor, who 
 had marked it on the fly-leaf with the initials I. E. S. H. Many other interpretations can 
 of course be suggested, but in a book of that kind, and of such a date, these letters might, 
 we thought, be read as meaning: Ja^i Emens, Schneider and Hafner, or “Jan Emens, 
 Sculptor and Potter.” 
 
 We are consequently warned against expecting much individuality in the style of 
 the ornamental devices embossed on the stoneware, since they were, as a rule, borrowed 
 from all sources. But we shall find much to make amends for trivial details, and 
 gratify our craving for originality, if we direct our attention to the forms of the 
 vessels. Nay, these latter have often been denounced as overstepping the limits of 
 allowable fantasy. 
 
 A purist may certainly gaze disdainfully at the inordinate proportions of some 
 vases and fountains, masterpieces of the Raeren art, criticise the ungainly loftiness of the 
 tapering canettes of Siegburg, and condemn the unprecedented and extravagant combina¬ 
 tions of the annular jugs. Still it must be granted that all these peculiar shapes have, at 
 least, the merit of representing the taste and customs of the period to which they belong; 
 
Introduction. 
 
 31 
 
 it is clear that they were the normal outgrowth of progress under existing conditions ; a 
 consequence of the teaching imparted to the potter by the works of art with which he 
 was surrounded ; and an exaggerated expression of the ruling fancies of the moment. 
 
 Every branch of industrial art develops itself in following a regular course, and 
 the phases it has to traverse occur successively and in the same order. First, none but 
 rudimentary forms, easy to make, handy to use, will be produced, and the practicability 
 of the work will only be considered. These earliest types shall certainly exert a lasting 
 influence on the subsequent productions of the same locality. We may recognize them 
 as having been the basis of all further improvements. For a long time afterwards we 
 shall find these types merely modified by the application, on the outer surface, of 
 decorative embellishments. At last, beauty and richness of ornamentation will take 
 precedence over convenience and utility of form, and, to satisfy that desire for novelty 
 which ever urges us onward, will then stimulate the invention of eccentric and 
 irregular shapes, and we shall see the artist setting his ambition on creating unique 
 specimens which, if deficient from a rational point of view, will at least give credit to 
 his imaginative powers. 
 
 This yearning towards relentless change, unfortunately not always an aspiration 
 towards better things, is however a natural feeling with which we have to reckon. 
 The general public, with its supreme exigencies, its constant craving for something 
 new, demands to be interested and amused ; and, in spite of all difficulties, its claims 
 must be satisfied. 
 
 Besides, we do not know whether such a feeling is to be altogether condemned. 
 Often in his searches after what is simply New, man meets with what is really Good. 
 
 The fragile and inexpensive material out of which an earthen vase is formed 
 suggests a ready substitution when the object gets broken or has ceased to please ; on 
 that account casual experiments in the way of startling novelties are particularly 
 applicable to the work of the potter. It has always been so understood, and on no 
 other art work do we see the transient fashion of the past so strongly accentuated as 
 on the fictile productions of all countries. 
 
 To this very sense of novelty and fantasy attached to earthenware vessels was 
 probably due their introduction in the households of the wealthy. This happened as 
 soon as clay pots began to be made in such an improved fashion, and with such an 
 amount of fine handiwork lavished on their vulgar material, that the elegant article could 
 no longer be classed with the crockery used by common people. From that moment, 
 the possession of fresh sets of jugs illustrated with the latest devices, and drinking- 
 cups bearing, as a warrant of their newness, the embossed date of the current year, 
 became a recognized luxury amongst the members of the higher classes; and on 
 
32 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 a well-appointed table such vessels contributed not a little to the amusement of 
 the guests. 
 
 In certain old chronicles, where are recorded the descriptions of sumptuous 
 banquets given by princes and celebrated personages, we read that at the end of the 
 repast, as a climax to the revelry, pages and knights, in high humour, broke and flung 
 through the windows all plates, jugs, and drinking vessels which had been used during 
 the feast. Such mad frolics being expected, earthenware utensils had of course to be 
 provided, yet it became the magnificence of the host that they should not be quite 
 valueless articles and a discredit to his table; thus highly ornamented ware was 
 manufactured for public banquets, which was never expected to be used more than once. 
 
 We must not, however, be understood to imply that fine pottery was generally . 
 intended for the benefit of those whose pleasure it was to hasten the fated end of all 
 pottery. Against these exceptional fits of foolishness we must set the custom prevailing 
 already in every household, where the master had his favourite drinking pot of stone¬ 
 ware, mounted with parcelgilt silver or stamped pewter, according to his condition, 
 reserved for his own use, and which had often been his father’s before it descended to 
 him. The selection of the jug had not been made without due consideration, as befits the 
 choosing of a lifelong friend. It had to be of the finest material and of the best make, 
 and the more peculiar and elaborate in decoration it was, the more it suited the fancy of 
 its future owner. To satisfy his most fastidious patrons the potter had to contrive 
 vessels of unique design, the boldness of which was sure to be their highest 
 recommendation in the estimation of those who would have rejected anything easily 
 obtainable by the ordinary purchaser. In that respect the stoneware potter stood at a 
 disadvantage in comparison with the majolica or glazed earthenware makers: these 
 had no difficulty in obtaining, with the bright colours at their disposal, variegated and 
 startling effects; the former was limited to shapes and reliefs as a means of creating 
 fresh attractions for the eye. 
 
 So, by the side of a most regular and never-changing production, on special occasions 
 forms were tormented into extravagant profiles, and the formschneider, called upon to 
 supply their completive embellishments, was recommended to choose the most telling 
 subjects he could imagine. 
 
 We have said that the time and country to which they belong are most vividly 
 reflected in the masterpieces of stoneware. One can see at a glance that, in his 
 endeavour to attain beauty through excessive richness of detail, the potter was only in 
 accordance with the feeling pervading all German art at that period, and the same 
 dictate which prompted the goldsmith to twist, curl, pierce, and cut the metal into an 
 infinity of acute and intricate foliage and scrolls; the stone-carver to sink, open, and 
 
Introduction. 
 
 33 
 
 undercut his complicated traceries, or the writhing folds of the draperies of his contorted 
 figures,—directed also the hand of the mould-cutter, crowding in the smallest space as 
 many details as could be engraved by his sharp chisel. 
 
 The manufacture of ornamental stoneware extended, during a hundred and fifty 
 years approximatively, over a large area in Northern Europe, from Flanders to South 
 Germany. In each country the mould-cutter has, as might be expected, adapted his 
 style to the prevailing taste. His handiwork, stiff and formal in Teutonic Rhineland, 
 is free, brilliant, and pompous in Limburg, still fresh from Spanish domination. 
 Latterly, with the growing demand for coloured ware, the part of the mould-cutter falls 
 into insignificance in the factories of Grenzhausen, where geometrical designs, depending 
 for pleasant effects upon the contrast of the blue and purple tints of the grounds replace 
 applied reliefs; until at last moulds and models are almost dispensed with in Bavaria, 
 where the decorative work is confided to the enamel painter. In due place the 
 individual part reverting to the leading artist, in connection with the development of 
 the new industry in each of the centres, will be examined and retraced at length ; we 
 shall for the present take leave of both master and modeller to speak of the influence, 
 so far unsuspected, exerted over the whole trade by a third personage, acting often as 
 the mainspring of business—the merchant. 
 
 In all places where public records of the doings of the craft have been preserved, 
 we find the merchant urging and controlling the potter, advising him as to the direction 
 he shall engage in at a time when, a change supervening in public taste, he had to 
 replace by new forms and patterns the old stock gone out of fashion. Sequestered in his 
 distant village, the pot-maker heard little of the requirements of the capricious inhabitants 
 of large towns. Confident in the experience of the merchant, who knew best how to meet 
 fresh wants and new fancies, he seldom did otherwise than obey his suggestions. The 
 middleman, a rich and influential tradesman, whose stores were situated sometimes far 
 away in foreign countries, paid regular visits to the manufacturing districts, and settled 
 then with the council of the Guild what sort of ware should be made purposely for him. 
 New models were discussed and tried, and, in some instances, when he wanted to secure 
 the absolute property of a special pattern, he agreed to take as much of it as one or more 
 pot works could produce, on condition that the same article should not be supplied to 
 anyone else. Each merchant had, of course, quite a different class of customers to 
 satisfy, and consequently was wont to ask for special subjects. He brought with him 
 inscriptions, particular devices, badges or coats of arms, which he ordered to be stamped 
 on the pieces he required. To that effect each supplied his own sketches and designs 
 for the guidance of the mould-cutter, who carried them out, often in his own way, and 
 generally without interesting himself much as to the destination of his work. When the 
 
 F 
 
34 
 
 The A ndent A rt Stoneware. 
 
 commission had been duly completed and delivered, and after a few years had gone by, 
 those special moulds, discarded for a time, were again taken up and employed as 
 commonplace ornaments for the cheap ware; and this is how it happens that so many 
 heterogeneous elements are now found associated on the same piece—a medley well 
 calculated to discourage the archaeologist who should endeavour to explain the 
 incomprehensible conjunction. 
 
 Central warehouses were established at Cologne and at Aix-la-Chapelle for the trade 
 with the North, The old merchants—in this acting as those of our days—took the 
 greatest care to conceal from their customers the names of the places where the goods they 
 sold could be obtained first hand ; for that reason the stoneware was long known by the 
 name of the town in which the stores were situated—the white as Cologne ware, and the 
 brown or blue as “ Gr6s de Flandres.” Barges laden with the products of the Siegburg ' 
 factories sailed constantly up and down the Rhine towards the depdts of Mayence, 
 Andernach, and Cologne. From Raeren they were carted away to Aix-la-Chapelle and 
 the chief .towns of Flanders, where the retail trade alone was supplied ; long trails of 
 heavy waggons left periodically for these destinations, and a large proportion of the 
 population of the village was, it is said, engaged in the traffic. 
 
 In the centres where the craft was ruled by official regulations, and where the 
 merchant could only transact business with the councils of the guilds, the statutes 
 contained special provisions introduced in his favour and for the safeguard of his 
 interests. Thus the Siegburg potters had placed themselves under the interdiction of 
 selling any pots, within a very large area of country round the town, to any private 
 party or unrecognized customer, lest it might prove detrimental to the dealers, who 
 monopolized between their hands the wholesale trade. From this direct interference of 
 the merchant with the production, and in consequence of the exceptional kind of 
 commissions they brought to be executed for the foreign market, resulted some anomalies 
 which would otherwise remain unaccountable. For instance, we see jugs made for 
 German families amongst the productions of the Flemish factories, and, amongst those 
 of Rhineland, vessels stamped with the coats of arras belonging to the nobility of 
 Flanders. As one is often prompted to fix the probable origin of a piece from the arms 
 or inscriptions it bears, it is well to point out that often little reliance can be placed on 
 such indications: in the case of a piece whose make offers all the characteristics of 
 Flemish ware, the presence of a German name or escutcheon does not at all, as it is 
 often argued, settle the question of its having been manufactured in Germany. 
 
 Such work was often executed at a great distance from the town where it had been 
 ordered. In the stores of the merchant, where could be found samples coming from all 
 the principal factories, the noble customer, asking for a set of drinking vessels stamped 
 
Introduction. 
 
 35 
 
 with his arms, was made to select the form, style, and colour he preferred from the 
 patterns submitted to him. His choice might fall either upon a white jug or upon a 
 brown one, and each sort being the speciality of a different country, the dealer had to 
 forward the order to the place where alone it could be executed. 
 
 In many remarkable specimens the name of the merchant is seen in full letters in 
 the most prominent place, while the modest initials of the maker hide themselves from 
 our gaze amongst the scrolls and foliages of the decoration. This might, at times, also 
 mislead us as to the authorship of the piece, had we not learned from experience what 
 faith can be placed upon these purposely deceptive indications, of which we shall farther 
 on give several curious examples. 
 
 Although the master potter was not altogether, under such circumstances, at liberty 
 to indulge at all times in works of his own fancy, and was generally hampered, in the 
 making of marketable articles, by many arbitrary specifications, he had nevertheless 
 his days of freedom and independence, when he ventured to originate, either an 
 occasional masterpiece displaying the full extent of his abilities, or a new model for 
 reproductions of which he hoped to induce one of the annual visitors to give a large and 
 liberal order. 
 
 In the following pages the merchant will reappear more than once, and we shall 
 endeavour to bring out more definitively the part played everywhere in the progress of 
 this industry by this important personage. 
 
 Joint Mark of two Merchants trading in Partnership. 
 
36 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 § IV. MARKS. 
 
 Initials stamped on the ware and their various significations—An enigmatic mark—Of its adoption from the 
 sixteenth and to the eighteenth century by several branches of the trade—Examples taken from 
 stoneware vessels ;—from other art works ;—from English and Irish tokens—Speculations to which the 
 mark has given rise—Other graphic signs—Potters’ marks—Their rare occurrence on the Siegburg ware— 
 Raeren pieces often inscribed with full names—Marks and names seldom to be seen on the works of the 
 Grenzhausen potters. 
 
 ARKS, monograms, and initials abound on the vessels of 
 stoneware. The difficulty of their interpretation has 
 already been hinted at. As soon as we approach the 
 subject, we become aware that they cannot be considered 
 in the same light as those we find on other pottery ; and 
 that above all, we must guard against taking them all as 
 potters’ marks. 
 
 Those we can read with certainty give us to understand 
 that great circumspection must be exercised before we 
 decide on a doubtful case. Two or three initials, which 
 we might expect to stand for a name, may have here quite a different signification and 
 be nothing else than an abbreviated inscription referring to the subject represented on 
 the vase. A few examples are necessary to illustrate their irregular meaning. 
 
 On the large vase of the Kensington Museum, where the works of Mercy are 
 represented, each subject is surmounted by two or three capital letters; these are 
 simply the initial letters of the words of the explanatory legend: H. S. stands for 
 Hungrigen Speisen, Feed the hungry; D. D. R., Durstigen drunken, To give drink 
 to the thirsty; N. K., Nackten Kleiden, Clothe the naked, etc. 
 
 On some pints bearing the arms of the town of Dantzig, the escutcheon is flanked 
 by the two letters JV. D., which simply mean Wapen (von) Dantzig, —the Dantzig 
 arms. 
 
 The personages for whom the piece was made are often designated upon it by 
 their initials, and the interpretation of these is greatly facilitated by the coat of arms 
 which they accompany. Thus the inscription E. V. E. A., on the bottle given 
 elsewhere (fig. 123), where the armorial bearings of Eynatten are also emblazoned, can 
 easily be read as “Herman von Eynatten, Abbot” In other instances, when such 
 letters are not elucidated by an accessory testimony, the problem is almost impossible 
 to solve. 
 
 Sometimes it is a merchant who gives to his trade-mark the appearance of being 
 
Introdtiction. 
 
 37 
 
 that of the maker. The name of Quellin Pardicque, amongst others, figures on many 
 jugs of brown ware, round a complicated medallion purporting to be the arms of this 
 worthy merchant of Liege, who subsidized several pot works at Raeren and Bouffioux. 
 Similar examples are too numerous for us to quote them all, and we must pass on to a 
 curious sign of very frequent occurrence on the stoneware, and which has up to the 
 present remained unexplained. 
 
 It affects the appearance of the figure 4, but in reality is a sort of rudimental sign 
 formed by a vertical line drawn up to the point where it turns down diagonally, and 
 then on the horizontal, there crossing the first line at right angles. We insist purposely 
 on its geometrical construction, because we think the simplicity of such a mark, which 
 the most clumsy hand could easily trace upon a label or package, has been the only 
 cause of its selection and long usage in international commerce. In Flanders and 
 Germany we find it stamped, not only stone pottery, but also on all kinds of 
 manufactured objects, and occurring in connection with many branches of the trade, 
 each maker or trader adding his private sign or monogram to the invariable figure. 
 There is no doubt that it was the badge of a very important association of merchants, 
 extending its ramifications all over the world. To have a right to use it appears to have 
 been held a great honour. We know of several instances of some rich merchant who, 
 having married a lady of noble family, was proud to quarter the arms of his spouse with 
 the professional 4, when he could not boast of a coat of arms of his own. The origin 
 and true meaning of the figure may prove to be a fresh field for investigation, and 
 we hope that the many examples presented hereafter may induce some 
 inquisitive spirit to undertake the task of finding out the last word of 
 the enigma, which, simple and plain as it may seem, has not, as far as 
 we know, as yet been given by anyone. 
 
 Fig. 9A. Embossed upon a small Siegburg jug, of the balustre form. 
 
 Fig. 10. On a Siegburg jug of rich workmanship (the piece has 
 been etched on Plate L). The shield, held by an angel, seems borrowed 
 from some chased work of silver, and it contained probably a coat of 
 arms in relief; this has been scraped off by the potter, and in its stead 
 he has deeply incised with a knife two signs : one the private mark of 
 the maker, or perhaps the possessor of the piece; the other, the regular 
 4, but turned to the right instead of the left.—In the British Museum. 
 
 Fig. II. On a brown pot of Raeren, on which it forms the 
 central ornamentation.—In the South Kensington Museum. 
 
 Fig. 12. On another Raeren jug. Completed with the monogram of Jan Emens, 
 modeller, potter, and probably also, merchant. 
 
 Fig. 10. 
 
38 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 Fig. 13. Another form of the mark of the same potter, with the 4 again turned 
 to the right. This reversed position, noticeable also in the above example, is extremely 
 rare. Such intentional alteration of this well-established figure suggests that a sort of 
 commercial imposition may have been attempted. If so, it would not be an isolated 
 case. A trader, in modest circumstances, and with no legal right to a much-esteemed 
 and well-protected mark, may have thus adopted the nearest imitation of it, with the 
 hope of palming it off on the public as genuine. 
 
 Fig. 14. Another variation of the preceding monogram, this time on a Siegburg 
 balustre jug. Here the first of the two letters may be taken either as H or I E, and, if so, 
 this would be a counterfeit of that of Jan Emens, whose name had in his time become 
 celebrated enough to be worth taking advantage of, even in an unfair manner. He never 
 worked in the Siegburg factories. 
 
 For other and more regular potters’ marks, where the same sign stands out as the 
 principal feature, we shall refer the reader to the chapter on Raeren, in which several 
 interesting examples are sketched and described. Those we shall now give have no 
 reference to pottery, but, for the sake of comparison, are taken from various objects 
 representing almost all classes of artistic handicrafts. 
 
 Fig. 15. From a large pewter dish, embossed with a rich decoration and 
 the portrait of Duke Augustus I. of Saxony, who died in 1586.—In the Musde 
 Sauvageot. 
 
 Fig. 16. Painted on a stained glass window in the same museum. 
 
 Fig. 17. On a Limoge enamel in the Cluny Museum. E. Molinier, who gives 
 this mark in his “ Dictionnaire des Emailleurs,” has, curiously enough, read it upside 
 down, and overlooking the important feature of the monogram, has mistaken the 
 inverted top part for an A, while in its proper position it is in reality a W. 
 
 Fig. i8. On an oil painting by Lucas Granach, representing Calvary, in the 
 Leipzig Museum. By the side of the kneeling figure of one of the donors are placed 
 
Introduction. 
 
 39 
 
 two shields, emblematic of his trade. One contains a hammer and a pickaxe, the other 
 our sign, but slightly differing in the tracing. 
 
 Fig. 19. On a covered silver cup of large dimensions, to be used by the master 
 at the state banquets during his tenure of office, and presented to the Guild by its maker, 
 the watchmaker and silversmith, Leinweber.—\n the Stuttgart Museum. 
 
 Fig. 20. The mark of Jacques Geubels, a famous tapestry weaver, established at 
 Brussels in the beginning of the seventeenth century ; it is found woven on all works 
 
 Fig. 16. Fig. 17. Fig. 18. Fig. 19. Fig. 20. 
 
 Fig. 21. The trade-mark of Joannis Siberch, an English printer. It is found on 
 the title-page of “ Galeni Pergaraensis," etc,, printed at Cambridge in 1521. This 
 is the earliest dated example of the figure we have so far noted. 
 
 We might multiply the examples, and go through 
 almost the whole range of manufactured articles, but 
 we must now speak of the still more numerous instances 
 in which this mysterious cypher comes in as a prescriptive 
 password incidental to wholesale business transactions, 
 and is assumed by notable merchants in combination 
 with their own private mark. 
 
 The old engravings representing views of seaports 
 with ships being loaded and unloaded, market-places, 
 scenes in shops and storehouses, seldom fail to show 
 us casks, boxes, and packages on which the sign is 
 conspicuously branded. 
 
 It is stamped on the covers of commercial registers and ledgers, and is seen figured 
 on many tokens issued by tradesmen. 
 
 Figs. 22—25 reproduce large monograms imprinted in gold on the sides of huge 
 ledgers, sumptuously bound in morocco, of which the Germanic Museum, Nuremberg, 
 possesses a remarkable collection, ranging in date from 1600 to 1681. 
 
 The sign is common enough on the brass and silver tokens of Great Britain 
 
 Fig. 21. 
 
40 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 to establish the fact that it was well recognized throughout the United Kingdom, 
 and that its presence added an additional guarantee to the value of the fiduciary 
 coins. 
 
 Fig. 26 was issued at Norwich 
 in 1667, by N. Spendlove, merchant 
 grocer. 
 
 Fig. 27. Brass tokens of Jn. 
 Fieldings, grocer and tea merchant of 
 Manchester in 1793. In the book pub¬ 
 lished by Conders in 1799, “Arrange¬ 
 ment of Provincial Coins,” from which 
 
 Figs. 22~25. 
 
 we borrow this example, the cypher surmounting a heart-shaped shield is described 
 as being the recognized mark of the East India Company. Here we find the figure 
 adopted by this powerful trade association, the initials of which can be seen 
 inscribed between the branches of the central X. It was in this form marked on all 
 
 Fig. 26. 
 
 Fig. 27. 
 
 Fig. 28. 
 
 Fig. 29. 
 
 chests and packages of tea sold by the company or its agents, but whether restricted to 
 that article, or employed for all classes of imported goods, we are not now in a position 
 to state. 
 
 In Ireland the number of tokens with this mark is still greater than in England. 
 Boyne, in his “Tokens issued in the Seventeenth Century in England, Wales, and 
 Ireland, 1858,” gives many of them, from which we select the most ancient in date 
 (fig. 28). They are generally connected with tavern keepers or dealers in colonial 
 goods. Some writers have ventured to give an evasive explanation of the origin of this 
 universal badge of commerce in ancient times, and instead of seeking for an historical 
 clue to its earliest introduction, pretend to see in it a sort of disguised emblem. Thus 
 to some it was a distorted form of the monogram of the early Christians, to others the 
 symbol of the Holy Trinity, and again it has been thought from its resemblance to a 
 mast with its spread sail, to be emblematical of the maritime trade. We do 
 
Introduction. 
 
 41 
 
 not think much importance can be attached to any of these suggestions. All that remains 
 averred is that it was a sort of masonic sign, betokening a superior control, or carrying 
 with it certain privileges appertaining to a large commercial brotherhood, and by means 
 of which the affiliated members recognized each other in foreign countries. Far from 
 attributing to it any symbolic signification, we feel inclined to believe that it was merely 
 a graphic and arbitrary sign, all the more readily adopted, as we have just said, from 
 the facility with which it could be traced with a single stroke by any unskilled hand. 
 In addition to the 4, many other graphic signs are met with on the stoneware—circles, 
 crosses, stars, arrow-heads, etc. ; but as each of them occur often in isolated cases, they 
 must be considered as the private marks of independent manufacturers or traders. 
 
 Fig- 29, taken from a Siegburg canette with religious subjects,—Joseph, Abraham, 
 etc.,—is a good example of the kind. 
 
 To understand the utter impossibility of connecting any of these innumerable sign- 
 manuals with the name it once represented, we must remember that in olden times 
 each common workman used to adopt a peculiar mark for the purpose of distinguishing 
 the work of his own hand from that of his fellows; in old buildings, for instance, we 
 notice that each stone has been incised by the cutter, not with letters, but with a sign 
 of the same description. 
 
 If we are late in coming to the actual marks of master potters, it is because they 
 constitute in reality a small percentage among the variety impressed on the ware. 
 Many reasons may be found to account for it, the chief one being that the pot-maker 
 was seldom in direct relation with the private customer. What interest, for instance, 
 could he have found in stamping with his name his own productions in a place like 
 Siegburg, where matters were so settled that he was compelled by the regulations to 
 remain an anonymous member of the Guild. In the council alone was vested the right 
 to receive, orders in bulk from the dealer, and to make subsequently the repartition 
 between the masters in proportionate lots, so that no one might take an undue 
 advantage over another. Not a name appears in full on any specimen of white ware, 
 with the exception of a few extraordinary works, perfected by one master for his own 
 satisfaction, and preserved in his house as a family keepsake. To this custom must 
 be attributed the making of a fine jug now in the Thewalt collection, unfortunately 
 broken, on a fragment of which we read the names of one of the leading potters of 
 the abbatial town, Christian Knutgen, and of his wife. We shall do no more for the 
 present than mention this rare example of a signed piece of Siegburg manufacture; 
 a full description of it will be found in due place. Of all the monograms inscribed 
 upon so many other specimens, Dornbush, registers of the Guild in hand, has not been 
 able to name one with absolute certainty. 
 
 G 
 
42 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 With regard to the Frechen potters we are left completely in ignorance. 
 
 At Raeren the individuality of a few notable masters disengages itself from the 
 obscure crowd of common pot-makers established all round them, and following as 
 close as they could upon the track of their leaders. Owing to the care they have taken 
 in inscribing their names upon their works of predilection, we are now enabled to form 
 a commensurate idea of the merits and peculiarities of such eminent artists as Jan 
 Emens, Baldem Menniken, and many others, with whom we shall soon become more 
 closely acquainted. It is however to be deplored that the facility possessed by their 
 less talented compeers in pirating their best types and using their discarded moulds 
 for the production of unworthy imitations, leaves us often in doubt whether certain 
 inferior specimens, although bearing their initials, are really genuine works of the 
 masters. 
 
 Eventually a masterpiece, well worth signing, is found inscribed only with the 
 Christian name of its maker. Intended evidently for an intimate friend, such indication 
 has been thought sufficiently precise by the giver; for us it is scanty information to be 
 told that “John or Christian made it." The case however is different with respect 
 to the large brown jug etched on Plate XIV, where the long Scriptural inscription 
 imprinted all round terminates with these words: “ Johannes Kannenbecker me fecit.” 
 The name of Kannenbecker, adopted subsequently by his descendants, became the 
 patronymic of a family still in existence. Marks become again more and more scarce, 
 and at last disappear altogether in the factories of Hohr-Grenzhausen, where the 
 industry, extinct in old centres, revived once more. But there the potter seems too 
 preoccupied with manufacturing in large quantities, after an established standard, 
 good and sound trade articles, to indulge in occasional performances of fanciful or 
 artistic works to gratify his professional vanity. Hardly have a few signs and 
 monograms of undecided import been discovered on the many thousand pots of all 
 sorts left us by the prolific makers of blue and purple stoneware. It is not however 
 our intention to register in this book all the marks appertaining to stoneware. Mr. H. 
 Schuermans has already, with his indefatigable zeal in the cause of the “ Grfes de 
 Flandres,” accomplished the task in his “ Mille Inscriptions des Vases de Grfes dits 
 Flamands.” Reproductions of those offering some particular interest will however 
 be annexed, as the tale goes on, and when they may be of service in assisting the 
 narration. 
 
Introduction. 
 
 43 
 
 §V. LOCALITIES OF MANUFACTURE, 
 
 Raeren— Cologne—Frechen — Langerwehe — Siegburg—Altenhar—Meckenheim—Dreyhausen—Hbhr-Grenz- 
 hausen — Namur—Bouvigne and Dinant—Lausitz—Bouffioux—Nuremberg—Kreussen—Altenburg— 
 Thalburgel—Saltzburg—Bunzlau. 
 
 LUSTER INC together on certain spots, where they 
 formed an important centre of industry, or scattered in 
 distant and lonely situations, stoneware factories have 
 at times existed all over the territory of Flanders and 
 Germany. Along the course of the Rhine, where the ware 
 found its birthplace, they are particularly noticeable by 
 their number and the degree of eminence attained by 
 some of them. Taking the river as a centre, we have 
 roughly marked out (fig. 30) the position they occupied 
 on the map with respect to the large towns of the 
 Rhineland ; a glance at our sketch will facilitate the study of at least that part of the 
 general list given hereafter of the principal localities where stoneware of any artistic 
 pretension has been manufactured. Going from north to south we find : 
 
 Raeren, near Aix-la-Chapelle. This designation comprises several smaller villages 
 in the vicinity, and all busy with the making of brown stoneware ; their names will be 
 given in the chapter devoted to that cradle of the real “ Grfes de Flandres ” to which 
 so many other factories subsequently owed their existence. 
 
 Cologne itself had for a time some pot works within its walls; the fact, so far denied 
 by all writers, has now been placed beyond doubt by the discovery of an oven and its 
 contents in the very centre of the city. 
 
 Frechen, at some distance from Cologne, on the road to Duren. In this place and 
 in the above, only brown ware, bearing a great likeness to the early productions of 
 Raeren, was manufactured. 
 
 Langerwehe, between Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle. A factory emulating the style 
 in vogue at Raeren at a late period; inscribed pieces revealed its existence. A large 
 grey and blue jug with the arms of Madgbourg, preserved in Rhinestein Castle, and 
 another of the same kind now in the Berlin Museum, bear the name of Tihnan Wolf, 
 who is said to have worked there as master potter about 1661. Nothing more 
 being known of the place, or of the master, we shall make no further reference 
 to it. 
 
44 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 Siegburg, a few miles inland, on the right bank of the Rhine and opposite to Bonn. 
 Thoroughly Germanic in the character of its productions, which consist of white ware. 
 
 This important centre is quite distinct from those before-mentioned, and with it must 
 be connected many branches where work was prosecuted after the same style, such as : 
 
 rlItenhar, an old burg near Remagen on the Rhine, where white ware was also 
 made in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. 
 
Meckenheim, situated at a short distance on the left bank of the Rhine. Concerning 
 the potters of these two localities little is known, beside the fact that they were 
 Siegburg people, who left the mother town during the troubles of the war to settle 
 in a less disturbed region. Dornbush, who had been kept acquainted with the result 
 of chance excavations made on the spot, says that the Meckenheim ware was of 
 a light grey colour, and simply decorated with such conventional patterns as may be 
 obtained by incising the wet clay with a many-dented scraper. We give an example of 
 it in fig. 31, observing at the same time that 
 this particular scratching in of flowers and 
 leaves in fan-like shape has been adopted in 
 later times by many other factories. 
 
 Dreyhausen, near Coblentz. The Mayence 
 Museum possesses a large number of jugs dug 
 up in that locality. All are of dark red clay, 
 resembling that of the earliest pieces of Sieg¬ 
 burg. By their shape they must also be con¬ 
 nected with the last-named place. They are of 
 the balustre type, and adorned with an un¬ 
 limited number of handles, each carrying a 
 mobile ring; when agitated, the rings, clinking 
 against the sides of the jug, give out a clear, 
 lively sound, by which the drinker drew the 
 host’s attention to the emptiness of his glass. 
 
 Few collections are without a specimen of this 
 ware, and Dreyhausen must have kept the 
 speciality of their making for a very long time. 
 
 Varying only as to their size, they never depart from the same general notion. (Fig. 32.) 
 Many still retain their silver mountings, the workmanship of which often indicates the 
 second half of the sixteenth century, but they denote also in other cases a much less 
 ancient period ; indeed, judging from the style of these mounts, the dates seem to extend 
 over two centuries. 
 
 Hohr-Grenzhausen, opposite Coblentz, now in Nassau, a few miles inland. 
 Here the industry, imported at first by the workmen driven away from Siegburg and 
 Raeren, was destined to reach an enormous development, and the productions of this 
 centre \yere, in their altered character, to be subsequently imitated by all the stoneware 
 potters of Flanders and Germany. We are still far from knowing all the factories 
 which must be considered as direct offshoots of those established at Grenzhausen 
 
 Fig. 31. Meckenheim Ware. Height, lo in. 
 
46 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 and the adjoining villages; the following, however, must be particularly mentioned; 
 though, situated out of Rhineland, no place could be found for these in our map, nor 
 for those that follow. 
 
 Namur, in Flanders proper, the productions of which are almost undistinguishable 
 from their models. 
 
 Bouvigne and Dinant, where a certain Everhart de Pont is said to have 
 manufactured the same sort of stoneware with blue and purple enamels, after the 
 method used at Hohr-Grenzhausen. 
 
 Lausitz, in South Germany. The name of this province has but lately been added 
 to the list of localities where the making of stoneware was successfully carried on. 
 From an identified example, now in the Kunst and Gewerbe Museum at Cologne 
 
 Fig. 32. Dreyhausen Ware. Frankfort Museum. Fig. 33. Lausitz Ware. Cologne Museum. 
 
 Height, II in. 
 
 (fig. 33), we see that the style of decoration closely followed that adopted by the 
 potters of Nassau. It is the same scrolling and flowering scratched in the clay, 
 and enhanced by manganese enamel; but the clay is of a very different quality, 
 being of a peculiar reddish-brown colour, sufficient in itself to distinguish the ware 
 from all others. The specimen here reproduced was completed, probably by one of 
 its former possessors, with an incongruous pewter mount, bearing the date 1579. It 
 would be difficult to attach any importance to that deceitful adjunction in the presence 
 of the decoration scratched over the piece, which clearly indicates the latter part of the 
 seventeenth century. Another peculiarity of the workmanship is that the field, left 
 between the scrolls, is worked out with bold hatching. The history of industrial 
 
Iniroduction. 
 
 47 
 
 art in the region now under study, will probably disclose the names of more factories, 
 the products of which remain still confounded with those of other origin. 
 
 Bouffioiix and Chaielet^ in the Walloon country, close to Charleroi; centre of 
 an important industry. Beginning with the imitation of the brown ware of Raeren, 
 and never developing any marked originality, the products of this place afterwards 
 competed seriously with the cheaper articles made at Grenzhausen, from which they 
 could in many cases scarcely be distinguished. 
 
 Nuremberg, the probable seat of manufacture 
 of embossed pieces, decorated with bright enamels in 
 the style of Hirshvogel. 
 
 Kreussen, in Bavaria, in the vicinity of Bey¬ 
 routh. The brown ware of the early period was 
 soon altered into an enamelled one, totally differing 
 from anything made before, and on which the 
 harmonious tints, so far adhered to, are replaced by 
 hard and crude colours. 
 
 AItenburg, and a few other localities in Saxony. 
 
 Brown and white ware, but more commonly of a 
 saffron yellow colour; sometimes decorated with rude 
 patterns formed with drops of staniferous enamels. 
 
 Thalburger, near Yena. Grey ware with high 
 reliefs, stained with flowing blue of a dark and dull 
 tint; an illustration of this ware will be found 
 farther on. 
 
 Saltzburg, in Bohemia. Polychrome ware with 
 reliefs of figures; often roughened all over the 
 surface with minute shavings of clay, sprinkled on 
 the piece while in a wet state. Fig. 34 here given 
 provides a good illustration of this peculiar process. 
 
 We shall now bring to a close this very in- 
 
 Fig. 34. Saltzburg Ware. 
 
 complete list with a short description of the so- Bon oppenheim coii 
 
 called stoneware made at Bunzlau, near Liegnitz in 
 
 Silesia, which cannot altogether be passed over in silence, although in the double point 
 of view of manufacture as well as of decoration it can hardly find its place by the side of 
 specimens of the better characterized and more artistically made kinds of stoneware we 
 have just enumerated. As far as the body is concerned, it is in truth rightly named ; it 
 is made of a peculiar clay found on the spot, red or dark brown in colour, and. 
 
48 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 when fired, of great density and hardness. The ornamentation consists of applied 
 reliefs of the simplest order, pressed in white clay, and sometimes enhanced with 
 touches of bright colours or gilding. Its peculiar glaze differentiates it completely 
 from ordinary stoneware. This glaze is uncommonly glossy, flowing, and transparent, 
 and is obtained from the vitreous refuse left in the furnaces after the melting of the iron 
 ore; the substance is used in its natural state, merely ground into dust and sieved over 
 the ware. The Bunzlau vessels offer the advantage of being fireproof, differing in 
 this respect from the salt-glazed stoneware (which, as we know, cannot stand a brisk 
 change of temperature), and on that account coffee- and tea-pots and pans of common 
 use in the household have been extensively produced. Very few can be commended as 
 evincing artistic merits. On the jug given in fig. 35 we have the reproduction of the 
 best type of articles belonging to the earliest period of manufacture—the second part of 
 the last century. 
 
 Fig. 35 - Bunzlau Ware. Demmier Coll. 
 Height, 10 in. 
 
SIEGBURG. 
 
 I I. ITS HISTORY. 
 
 Priority of Siegburg in the making of stoneware—History of the town—The potters 
 of the fourteenth century — The Ulgass — Potters’ guilds — The charters — 
 Patronage of the abbots and religious communities—Private life and customs— 
 Principal families—Marks. 
 
 I II. THE WARE. 
 
 Early vessels—First ornamented ware—Red ware—Black jugs—Salt-glazing intro¬ 
 duced—Subjects of figure and coats of arms—The name of stoneware rightly 
 applied to the Siegburg pottery—Balustre vases—Candlesticks—Small figures— 
 “ Mietwerke ” or exceptional works—Common ware—Fancy shapes—Canettes, 
 or Schnelles—Anti-catholic subjects—Emblazoned pieces—Historical portraits— 
 Mythological scenes-—Peasant dances—Jugs—Stability of the style of manu¬ 
 facture—Variety of ornamental subjects—Hunting bottles—Period of decadence 
 —Modern imitations. 
 
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o the white stoneware we shall give the first place in 
 our studies. On all accounts it claims precedence. 
 Its annals go farther back towards mediaeval times 
 than those of any other centre of stoneware potteries, 
 and none of them could boast of productions sur¬ 
 passing it in purity of style, as well as in perfection 
 of workmanship. We all know those white vessels 
 of elegant shape,—quaintly and preciously chiselled 
 with images of holy personages or pagan gods; 
 biblical scenes or mythological allegories; heraldic 
 shields displaying pompous coats of arms, or mys¬ 
 terious floriations and nondescript animals of emble¬ 
 matical import,—all so fascinating and full of interest. To look over a choice collection 
 of these incomparable relics of the old potter of the Rhine soon captivates our mind 
 in the same manner as when we turn over the leaves of those wonderful manuscripts, 
 where the whole feeling of the Middle Ages lives in the illuminations elaborated by 
 the patient and learned hands of unknown scribes. Long was it known among 
 antiquaries under the name of “ Cologne ware.” 
 
52 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 This generic designation, accepted for want of a better, is no longer recognized, 
 since the true place of manufacture has at last been discovered; and the honour of 
 being the birthplace of the white and richly embossed stoneware of the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries must now be restored to the town of Siegburg, of which it shall 
 henceforth bear the name. 
 
 point of antiquity we have every cause to believe that 
 the productions of Siegburg stand before any other. 
 The result of the excavations leave no doubt as to the 
 very remote period at which a plain and coarse pottery 
 “ fired in stone ” was made at that place. The works 
 of many hundreds of years have thickly accumulated, 
 in superimposed layers of fragments, in such a 
 manner that, according to the depth they are buried, 
 we can form an idea of their respective ages. It is a 
 matter of regret that the deepest strata do not afford 
 any clue to the exact age of the vessels and fragments 
 they contain ; neither data nor inscriptions, nor even 
 an attempt at decoration of any particular style, 
 distinguish these plain and imperfect pots from one 
 another. We must observe that this first period of 
 The Arms or Siegburg. undecorated Stoneware has no corresponding one in 
 
 other centres; in all other places where stoneware has been discovered buried in the 
 soil, ornamental specimens of comparatively late character are mixed up with what we 
 may take as marking the very first times of local manufacture. 
 
 At Siegburg, when one comes to the strata in which the ware begins to present 
 more interesting features, and where ornamented work makes its appearance on many 
 of the pieces, we notice that the work is very primitive in character, and bears an 
 appearance of antiquity never exhibited by any of the oldest ornamented examples 
 dug up on the site of other factories. 
 
 It is on the Siegburg ware that we can retrace the Gothic feeling in its earliest 
 expression, inspired by the work of contemporary wood- or stone-carving; the archaic 
 style of that early beginning will never be completely effaced, but will continue to 
 pervade the productions of the potter, even when decorative art has been transformed 
 in all its other branches; and the very works of mature ages will afford us additional 
 proofs of a very remote commencement. At Siegburg alone do we see the ways and 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 S3 
 
 methods of the craft in its infancy, persisting to the very end. Obsolete shapes and 
 traditional notions, forgotten everywhere else, remain there unaltered generation after 
 generation, in defiance of the changes supervening in the ruling fashions of the times. 
 The case is quite different with respect to other places, where we find the reigning 
 influence of a new taste at once distinctly indicated. Perhaps these conditions can be 
 accounted for if we accept the assumption that the Flemish factories of Raeren were 
 established long after those of Siegburg had been in existence; at a time when the 
 Italian style was asserting its powerful sway all over Northern Europe, and the 
 Renaissance art was already in full bloom. It was easier for those who were not 
 hampered by the trammels of a long-standing past and firmly-established customs, to 
 produce works in keeping with the then prevailing taste; while, on the other hand, 
 the Siegburg potters, although willing to perfect in some respect their rude handicraft, 
 could not altogether do away with their antiquated fashions, and would not discard the 
 time-honoured traditions handed down to them by their forefathers. But the best 
 argument to be adduced in favour of the priority of Siegburg in the making of stone¬ 
 ware rests on this fact, that, amongst the oldest fragments found in the deepest trenches, 
 nothing has ever been discovered which did not show its true constitutive quality, viz., 
 the hardness and sonority of the body, due to a semi-vitrification of the whole mass. If 
 in the excavations in other localities one meets with earthen vessels to which a 
 corresponding antiquity can approximately be ascribed, they all belong to ordinary 
 pottery—porous, brittle, unglazed, or covered with a plumbiferous varnish; except at 
 Siegburg, this sort of pottery forms generally the lowest layer of dibris and cast-away 
 pieces, indicating the site of an ancient pot works, wherever stoneware is found buried 
 near to the surface. 
 
 The annals of the town, and the documents preserved in its archives, also 
 strengthen the opinion that Siegburg undoubtedly was the cradle of stoneware manu¬ 
 facture, and it is necessary that we should give a short sketch of the history of the town 
 as well as of the extraordinary vicissitudes it underwent while that large confraternity 
 of potters was at work within its walls. Historical events in that unhappy country are 
 too closely connected with the fate of the craft to be passed over and left unrecorded. 
 
 S IEGBURG, the see of an ancient abbey, is situated a few miles inland from the 
 left bank of the Rhine. A small stream, the Sieg, once navigable, but now obstructed 
 with sand, ran through the town and established water communication with the main 
 river, which it joined at a small distance from Bonn. 
 
 Owing to the dissensions always rife among the lords and princes whose possessions 
 
54 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 bOi'defed on the abbey lands, these had always remained a sort of neutral ground, an 
 oasis of peace and plenty in the midst of a much-troubled region, and a long succession 
 of abbots had been for centuries allowed to rule undisturbed over their small dominion. 
 Many a one of these turbulent neighbours would fain have enriched his patrimony 
 by annexing to his fief that desirable town, so busy and prosperous ; many envious 
 glances were cast at its towering donjon, its well-fortified stronghold, and its unbroken 
 belt of strong, high walls; but each had to keep his covetousness within bounds, 
 lest any attempt to gratify it should at once turn against him the wrath of his united 
 rivals. And so, till the end of the sixteenth century, the abbot presided alone over the 
 destinies of Siegburg. Under his paternal and peaceful government its ever-increasing 
 trades were grouped and incorporated under wise regulations; its productions began to 
 be known far and wide; merchants came periodically, imparting a fresh impetus to 
 business, and soon all in the little town told a tale of comfort and even of wealth. 
 Taxes were all but nominal, and the free exercise of commerce was fostered by the 
 numerous privileges enjoyed by all the local industries. 
 
 With a view to assist the promising outlook of his already flourishing town, as 
 early as 1309 the then ruling abbot had obtained from the Counts of Berg an exemption 
 for the abbey’s vassals of all payments and tolls when crossing over that part of the 
 Berg’s territory lying between Siegburg and the Rhine. Nearly a century before, in 
 1225, the burgesses had been franked of the customs duties of the town of Cologne, 
 and a little later on of those of Bonn. Cologne and Siegburg, to cement their friendly 
 commercial intercourse, were constantly exchanging courtesies and civilities with one 
 another. Thus the potters introduced in their statutes an exception in favour of 
 Cologne to the article forbidding the continuation of work in the factories during a 
 certain part of the year; a commission sent by an inhabitant of Cologne might be 
 executed at any time. In return, Cologne had granted from the fifteenth century to the 
 natives of Siegburg the right to dwell in the city without being bound, during the first 
 two years, to have their names entered upon the rolls of any corporation, as other 
 strangers were bound to do within the first three days following their arrival. This 
 formality entailed on any person wishing to reside for a certain time in Cologne, either 
 for pleasure or business, not only some trouble, but also the payment of a heavy tax. 
 
 The last years of the sixteenth century mark the beginning of the tribulations that 
 befell the town of Siegburg, so far so quiet and prosperous. 
 
 For more than half a century, from the year 1581, war raged almost unceasingly in 
 Rhineland ; no sooner had the fate of battles settled a quarrel between two belligerent 
 armies, than new foes appeared on the scene, bringing along with them homicidal strife 
 and withering desolation on that ill-starred territory. As often as fresh hostilities were 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 55 
 
 resumed, the invaders never failed to loot and ransack the city of Siegburg, one of the 
 first they encountered on their march. The potters’ quarters stood immediately behind 
 the outside walls, and during a siege suffered most severely. It is grimly ludicrous 
 to think of such warehouses, stored with fragile and valuable goods, bearing the first 
 brunt of an all-destroying assault, yet such was the predicament in which they were 
 placed; and to this may be added that the enemy, after having gained an entrance 
 within the walls, had always found it convenient to take up his quarters in this very 
 suburb while preparing to storm the central fortress. Yet during half a century the 
 potter continued to ply his trade, notwithstanding these adverse circumstances. Such 
 a state of things may well be described as “ potting under difficulties.” 
 
 In the year 1581 Siegburg experienced for the first time the horrors of falling into 
 the hands of a reckless conqueror, and of being ransacked by an undisciplined host of 
 partisans. This was during the civil war following on the apostacy of Trusches, 
 Archbishop of Cologne. 
 
 A few years later on, in 1587, the Spaniards laid siege to the town, and on its 
 surrender committed all kinds of depredations; the “ Aulgass,” or potters’ quarter, 
 suffered particularly from their violence, and was burnt to the ground. 
 
 Then, in 1615, came the troops of the Elector of Brandenburg, which forced their 
 way into the city, and although they did not make of it their permanent abode, did not 
 depart without leaving behind them disastrous traces of their passage. 
 
 But the year 1632 was to bring the fatal blow to the prosperity of this already 
 much-tried town, resulting in the utter ruin of its industry. The General Baudisin, 
 who was in command of the Swedish army, bombarded, destroyed, and razed some of 
 the best quarters, and having taken the citadel by storm, garrisoned it with a party 
 of ill-disciplined soldiers, who, during the three years of their occupation, terrorized 
 the whole country, burning, pillaging, and wrecking, at intervals, all that had been 
 spared by the previous wars. 
 
 Up to that deplorable year 1632, the pot works had made a good stand against ill 
 fortune and the disturbing consequences of these repeated and calamitous invasions. 
 The abbot’s coffers were full, the Guild of the potters was rich, and the payment of a 
 handsome ransom often helped to divert the wrath of the enemy. A few of the ovens 
 might have been knocked down during the rush of the first attack, but they were 
 soon rebuilt when the danger had passed over and peace was once more re-established. 
 The productions of these times, fashioned and decorated with the same amount of care 
 as those belonging to the best years of calm and prosperity, do not betray any trace of 
 decline. But the Swedish occupation, and the dire condition to which the vanquished 
 were reduced by their victors, was a visitation from which they never recovered. 
 
The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 S6 
 
 All was over with the noble industry which had made Siegburg glorious and wealthy : 
 disheartened and impoverished, the potter was never more to reproduce his choice 
 models, those fanciful masterpieces, the offsprings of his creative imagination. The 
 ornamented and artistic stoneware became from that moment a thing of the past. 
 
 Although the fortifications had been re-erected by the new rulers, what master 
 potter could muster sufficient courage to return to the old quarter, now a heap of 
 ruins, and build new works, only to be again destroyed during the next inevitable 
 siege of the town ? Chroniclers tell us that they all abandoned the town, dispersed 
 in all directions, with the exception of three, still bound to their native place by 
 affection or interest. The greater number are said to have reached the hills, far away 
 from the track of the wars they had such good cause to hate and fear. In all 
 probability a few of them started, in their new places of abode, small pot works, 
 where they were able to carry on their oid trade on a very modest scale, and make a 
 precarious living by selling their goods in the neighbouring viilages. Of course, 
 there could be no more question of artistic stoneware, and marketable utensils only 
 were to be produced under such conditions; of such uninteresting articles hardly 
 any record has been kept. We find traces of a few of the migrating potters from 
 Siegburg among the vast number of operatives who, at the same period, came over 
 from different points to assist in the promising enterprises and profit by the brilliant 
 opening offered to stoneware makers on the Grenzhausen land by the Counts of 
 Isemburg and Wied. 
 
 The potters were not alone in flying away from the town after these crushing 
 disasters; the greater and better part of the inhabitants,—those, at least, who found 
 it in their power to do so, — also deserted it, rather than bend beneath the 
 hateful rule of foreign masters; and, years afterwards, when the days of Swedish 
 occupation were gone by, neither threats nor proffered favours could induce them to 
 return. 
 
 In the year 1636, the abbot, much grieved at seeing the city bereft of its 
 inhabitants, attempted vainly to promulgate an edict by which it was enacted that 
 all burgesses who persisted in living abroad, and who still owned estates and house 
 property within or without the walls, should be liable to have all their land and 
 properties confiscated and taken possession of by the chapter, if they did not return to 
 occupy them within a year. Notwithstanding the extreme severity of this measure, 
 perhaps even on that very account, no one took heed of it, and in the streets, as much 
 deserted as heretofore, no attempt was made to reconstruct the tumble-down houses 
 and the ruined public buildings. 
 
 Even strangers, so zealously guarded against by the old regulations, were invited 
 
57 
 
 Siegburg. 
 
 to come and assist in forming the nucleus of a fresh population. Against all the 
 rules of the Guild, we see the Abbot Jean von Bock-zu-Pattern admitting to the craft in 
 1654 a certain Everard Lutz, just arrived from the parish of Ehrenbrestein, and who 
 had never belonged to the town of Siegburg. The appeal to strangers of every 
 nationality took a definite shape in another proclamation of the same abbot, dated 1659, in 
 which it is promised that any foreigner, willing to settle and carry on his trade or vocation 
 within the dominions of the Abbey, shall be granted total exemption from all duties and 
 taxes during a term of ten years. It does not appear, however, that the allurement of 
 such advantages had the required effect in restoring to the potters’ quarter its departed 
 life and activity. The later excavations on that site have brought to light the 
 foundations of numerous important buildings, which had been left in the same ruined 
 state as they were when the armed invaders retired, leaving all waste and barren 
 behind them. 
 
 We have never come across a good specimen of Siegburg ware bearing a date pos¬ 
 terior to 1632, and all leads us to conjecture that such pots as were made after that time 
 were of the commonest sort, and in no way worthy to be compared with the works of 
 former days. No more skilful artists amongst the few artisans still plying their trade in 
 the place; no more art works amongst the vulgar crocks which sufficed to answer 
 the wants of an impoverished country; and although we can follow the traces of the 
 potters’ Guild for more than a century afterwards, the craft stood then in such reduced 
 circumstances, that not much more remained of the once mighty confraternity than an 
 empty name, and the vain recollection of a glorious past. 
 
 We find in the official documents that in 1643 only three masters were inscribed 
 on the roll of the craft, and that the number of ovens full of goods fired in the 
 year amounted to four only. How could, in fact, the industry revive, when we 
 see the inhabitants steadfastly refusing to return, even at the risk of forfeiting their 
 property, and when all inducements offered to strangers by the abbatial authority, 
 with a view of reconstituting the population, were ineffectual? It is true the 
 political situation of the country, far from coming to a settlement, was going from 
 bad to worse, and the poor town of Siegburg had more than her share of the hard¬ 
 ships and miseries befalling a country devastated by a century of uninterrupted 
 warfare. Occupied in turns by the army of the Palatinate, by the imperial troops, 
 and by the French soldiers during the Thirty Years’ War, she was on each occasion 
 exposed to the rapacity and extortion of the combatants; until, towards the end 
 of the seventeenth century, the number of burgesses had dwindled down to 
 under one hundred. Still, the memory of bygone times never ceased to haunt 
 the minds of the abbots, hoping against all hope, that they should again see 
 
58 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 the noble old craft flourish as of yore beneath their benevolent rule. With that view, 
 Bernard von Westrem, in 1706, summoned to his council all that remained of masters 
 and best men, and after having discussed the matter with them, attempted to frame for 
 the guidance of the Guild fresh statutes, better suited to meet the requirements of 
 a new situation. We do not know that this attempt to instill a new life into a 
 dead body was attended with a satisfactory result. The traditions of the good old 
 times, long disregarded and forgotten, could not easily be revived, and get the better 
 of the vulgar style of work the craftsman had fallen into; nothing but common pots 
 of the most modest kind were then manufactured, and if the ware was in any way 
 decorated, it was merely by some scratched-in patterns, stained with blue and purple 
 enamels in imitation of the coloured ware brought into fashion by the Grenzhausen 
 factories. 
 
 In the year 1806 the Duchy of Berg fell under French domination, and all guilds 
 or trade corporations were abolished ; that of the potter, or at least what remained of it, 
 shared the same fate. A few ovens had, however, been left standing, and in the 
 wretched workshops attached to them some unskilled artisans—perhaps the direct 
 descendants of the ancient masters—continued to make stoneware pots and bottles of 
 the lowest and most worthless description. 
 
 While closely associated with the political events we have briefly recorded, the 
 Guild of the potters has, at Siegburg, a history of its own. Its ponderous archives 
 will, when thoroughly sifted and deciphered, enable us to follow its progress step by 
 step through long ages. It will form one day an unbroken diary; the pages already 
 re-constituted have put us in possession of many precious facts relating to the uses 
 and customs of the members of the community, and the exact conditions, artistic and 
 commercial, under which the workmen carried on their avocations at different periods. 
 To these private annals we must now revert, and record what is known of the Siegburg 
 potters from the earliest infancy of the craft. 
 
 The excavations on the banks of the Sieg have supplied us with almost pre¬ 
 historic vouchers of the antiquity of the pottery in the land. By laying open the 
 bosom of the earth we trace there, link by link, an unbroken chain of evidence, the 
 end of which is lost in the dimness of uncertain centuries. We must give up any idea 
 of fixing, even approximatively, the age of these undetermined specimens, but they go 
 far to prove that nowhere else can be found traces of the same trade so persistently 
 attached to the soil from time immemorial. In due place we shall describe and 
 illustrate what belongs to those earliest of all fabrics of stoneware. We cannot expect 
 much from the actual vouchers, from the historical point of view; it is in the written 
 documents that we shall find our first reliable information. For instance, we ascertain 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 59 
 
 from a deed referring to the sale of some land in the year 1384, that potters were at that 
 date already settled on the spot, the plot of land in question being described as “ hereditas 
 inter figulos.” In any other place such an occurrence would not have much importance, 
 as it might be taken as applying only to common earthenware makers, but we must not 
 forget that, as a fact, nothing but real stoneware was ever made in or around Siegburg. 
 Contemporaneous, or even earlier documents, in great numbers, contain many a mention 
 of properties situated in “ vico figulorum dicto Uylgassen.” This name of Uylgasse, 
 or Ulgass, was never afterwards altered, and the street or, quarter occupied by the 
 potters from times immemorial is still in our days known under the same name. We 
 have good evidence that even then the master potter was not a wretched workman, 
 a kneader of mud, as was often the case elsewhere ; but that on the contrary, he was 
 a man of means, and ev£n of importance in the town. The names of some of them 
 appear, as far back as the beginning of the fifteenth century, connected with somewhat 
 important transactions in the buying or selling of land, or in the records of pious 
 foundations. Thus, we see the name of a “ Knuytgin figulus ” inscribed in the registers 
 of the convent of Bodingen, in 1427, as one of the founders and benefactors of 
 that charitable institution. We shall in what follows frequently meet with the 
 Knuytgins, or Knutgens, in association with the history of the Guild, to which that 
 family supplied a long list of masters and counsellors. This is one of the most notable 
 amongst the many patronymics which can be traced many centuries back on the rolls of 
 the Siegburg potters. They might well be proud of their ancestry, even in their time 
 of decline. In what other ceramic centre, may we ask, could the noble artisan see behind 
 him such an array of ancestors, each handing down to his son his respected trade, 
 till it had at last descended to him ? Many titled houses might have envied so long 
 and unquestionable a pedigree. 
 
 If we are somewhat in the dark as to what kinds of pots were manufactured 
 by the elder Knuytgin and his contemporaries, we know as a fact that their work 
 already enjoyed and deserved high consideration, and that Siegburg pots were sent as 
 presents to noble patrons and ladies of rank. We read in the municipal registers of 
 accounts preserved in the archives this entry, dated 1459: “ To offering to Madame de 
 Berg a set of earthen pots ; to paying a special messenger to carry them to Nydecken ; 
 together, 4 marks.” Secondary evidences of the antiquity of the trade are found in a 
 still more ancient deed, drawn in 1439, where we find the ponds of “ Klinkenberg ” 
 already mentioned. The inference that can be drawn from this is forcible enough, 
 since it has been ascertained from other sources that these ponds were disused clay pits, 
 left to fill with water after the beds of potters’ clay had been exhausted. 
 
 We can scarcely realize the insight this simple and telling statement gives us 
 
6 o 
 
 V 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 into the mysterious past of the Siegburg potters, and what must have been the 
 magnitude of production, since already, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, the soil 
 had been excavated to a sufficient depth to form several small lakes. 
 
 In order to account for such wonderful excavations, it would hardly be sufficient to 
 suppose that nomad tribes of brick-makers had, at a time when building was brisk in 
 the neighbouring town, settled their hovels and primitive kilns there. Even had they 
 used up for their bulky work a great part of the material abstracted from the quarries, 
 to them alone, and to their occasional occupation, could not be attributed such a 
 transfiguration of the soil. We should still have to imagine that a large agglome¬ 
 ration of sedentary workers of the clay was established in the next city from a very 
 early period, who were also wont to fetch from the same place their supply of raw 
 material. 
 
 We assume, in a general way, that the coarse pottery found in the deepest trenches 
 opened in the potters’ quarters was produced by these early makers. But how are 
 we to connect any of these specimens with the jugs spoken of in the old documents ? 
 Between fragments so similar in appearance, and yet so wide apart in ages, it is almost 
 impossible to discriminate. This we say, having in mind the vases we know to have 
 been offered to the Duchess of Berg; what sort of vases they may have been, in spite 
 of the yieldings of the excavations, still remains an open question. 
 
 On the roughest bits of what we may take as representing the most ancient form 
 of manufacture, we already find the distinctive characteristics of the much-improved 
 pottery which was to succeed them long afterwards. Far from being common earthen¬ 
 ware, they are fired at a very high temperature. 
 
 The older an example, the harder it is ; the tall grey jugs with tundish-shaped tops, 
 for instance, known as Jacoba Kannetjees, are as dense as real hard stone, and ring like 
 metal. In the shapes, as in the substance, there is little variation during the course of 
 several centuries, and the common articles differ but little, whether they belong to the 
 most ancient times or to the comparatively more modern and most advanced period. 
 Inscriptions, or associations with coins or other objects which could fix their date, are 
 still wanting. 
 
 The Ulgass, as we have already said, had been from all times the quarter occupied 
 by the potters. The name comes from the Latin “ 011 a,” a pot, from which “ Ull ” in 
 low German; even now a workman potter goes by the name of “ Ulner among the 
 people of Rhineland. It was a long street, lying to the north-east of the town, five 
 minutes’ walk from the fortified walls, and closed at both ends by barriers and gates. 
 All goods carried out of those limits had to pay the toll, and the duties to which they 
 were subjected. Duties and toll were very light, and the care of levying them was 
 
Siegburg. 61 
 
 intrusted to a lessee, generally one of the potters of the Ulgass, who tendered for it 
 yearly. 
 
 Good plastic clay lies almost everywhere in and about Siegburg, and the 
 configuration of the ground all around the town still shows how many places have 
 been dug into and upturned for the purpose of extracting it. A plot of land in the 
 vicinity of the Ulgass—or rather, as it was called afterwards, the Aulgasse—is still 
 known as the “ Dakaul,” or clay pits. 
 
 The most ancient accounts, still preserved in the town, go back to the year 1427, 
 and on these the names of certain potters already appear in connection with some taxes 
 to be paid by them to the excise. However anciently the trade may have been practised 
 in the town, it was not from the first recognized and incorporated as a regular craft. It 
 was only in the first years of the sixteenth century that the potters were united 
 into a guild, approved and regulated by the chapter of the Abbey and the magistrates 
 of the town. Its first official charter was granted to them at that time. 
 
 While all the other trades had long occupied the attention of the governing 
 bodies of the abbatial town, and received their statutes and regulations, the potters, 
 as it seems, had been neglected and forgotten, being looked upon, no doubt, as folks of 
 too little importance to deserve the same recognition. They were, by-the-by, treated 
 exactly in the same way in every town of Europe. The various branches of trades and 
 arts and crafts had everywhere been united into close corporations since mediaeval times, 
 the potters alone had not yet been found worthy to form a separate company of their 
 own, but were associated with such recognized trades, the work of whose members 
 was in some way connected with their own. Thus we find in the registers of most 
 of the large towns, even late in the sixteenth century, brick-makers and workmen 
 in terra cotta ranged under the builders’ banner; those whose business it was to 
 decorate pottery, either with painting or modelling, joined the group of the painters and 
 sculptors; and if any pot-maker or tile manufacturer had attained to such a high 
 position as to employ a large staff of workmen, and had created a connection sufficient 
 to sell his goods wholesale, he was allowed to join the rich company of “Sellers of 
 glass and earthen pots." The Siegburg potters were, we believe, the first amongst 
 their brothers of other countries to receive charters of incorporation. The preponderance 
 of this important community was recognized by the honour tardily paid to them 
 in that manner. We have abundant proofs that it had been duly earned by a long 
 spell of efficient and commendable labour, which had gone not a little towards 
 increasing the wealth and prosperity of the town. Although incorporated at a 
 later date than the other trades, as soon as they received their first statutes the official 
 records of the Guild began to be entered in the town registers; and we see, from the 
 
62 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 evidence supplied by these registers, that the potters’ Guild had a powerful voice in the 
 management of public business, and assumed without contest a leading position among 
 the rival guilds. 
 
 The earliest of those written regulations, enacted to unite all the potters, masters 
 and men, into a close corporation, as well as the modified forms of subsequent statutes, 
 have been preserved to us. From the wise foresight and the precise accuracy with 
 which all possible eventualities are, from the first, anticipated and provided for, we may 
 judge that these were not mere speculative rules, but rather the sanction of old 
 established customs, which the official document confirmed and legalized. In no 
 way are they, as is generally the case, a mere transcription of the rules adopted by 
 other guilds; they contain, on the contrary, a sequence of original dispositions, all 
 inspired by the practical spirit of the masters themselves, and admirably adapted to the 
 minute requirements of the trade. These statutes, which it is our purpose to pass 
 cursorily under review, are five in number. 
 
 1. —The first and original charter, preserved in the Kuhrbuck of the town of 
 Siegburg; this bears no date, but we may safely assume that it must go back to the 
 first years of the sixteenth century. 
 
 2. —1516. Statutes approved by the Abbot Gerard von Plettenberg. 
 
 3. —1531. Statutes approved by the Abbot Jean von Furstenberg. 
 
 4. —1552. Statutes approved by the Abbot Herman von Watchendonck. 
 
 S-—1706. Statutes approved by the Abbot Frank Bernhart von Westrem. 
 
 Of these five documents. No. 4, granted in 1552, is simply a textual reproduction 
 of the two preceding ones, and no more than their official recognition given by a new 
 abbot on the occasion of his being raised to that dignity; we shall therefore dismiss it 
 once for all ; neither shall we have much to say about No. 5, which, having been enacted 
 by the abbot in the vain hope of reviving in his town an industry then practically 
 extinct, is for us of little importance. 
 
 They are all given in extenso in Dornbush, “ History of the Artistic Guild 
 of Siegburg,” and also in the translation of the above in the “ Beffroi ” by 
 Mr. Weale; the reader who may wish to study them in the original must refer 
 to these works, as we cannot here give more than a few extracts of the most 
 interesting articles they contain. Besides the statutes, a host of records and documents 
 of all sorts concerning the town of Siegburg and her guild of potters are scattered 
 _ in some of the State Archives of Germany. Those of Dusseldorf and Berlin 
 alone possess thousands of authentic deeds and registers, which, when sifted, will 
 settle many questions as yet undecided. Most of the information we possess 
 up to this day has come to us through the unimpeachable records preserved in 
 
Siegburg. 63 
 
 the town hall and in the church, and which have been sedulously investigated by the 
 antiquaries. 
 
 Although all new regulations were discussed and framed by the master in council, 
 it was—as appears by the list given above—the abbot who granted and promulgated 
 them. He acted as grand master, and his sanction had to be obtained whenever any 
 modification was considered necessary. He was also supreme judge in cases of serious 
 infractions of the rules; and any difference arising between two masters, which the 
 council was unable to settle to the satisfaction of both parties, had to be brought before 
 him. This was an honour reserved to the potters alone by the abbot, who had 
 constituted himself their patron and protector; all litigations between the members of 
 the other trade-guilds were tried before the city magistrates. 
 
 Each of the statutes reproduces the most important clauses of its predecessors. 
 In all great stress is laid upon the qualifications indispensable,—first, to be received 
 as an apprentice, and afterwards to be allowed to settle in business as a master. This 
 indispensable qualification, without which no one could be admitted into the trade, 
 was that he should be the lawful son of a master or workman, and have been born in 
 Siegburg. 
 
 It was expressly forbidden to all masters to take a foreign workman into his 
 service, lest, by his discovering the secrets of the trade, the making of a pottery so far 
 unrivalled in other places might be transported elsewhere. These restrictions are all the 
 more significant, as showing in what high consideration the potters’ trade was held at that 
 time, that we do not find any similar prohibition in the Kuhrbuck with regard to any of 
 the other guilds of the town. This part of the regulations was always strictly obeyed by 
 the masters, and it was only at a time when the craft was at the last extremity that the 
 abbot himself urged that a few exceptions should be made to this prohibition. But he had 
 to issue a special decree to provide for the admission to mastership of a certain Everard 
 Lutz, a native of Ehrenbrestein, and this at a time when the Guild was composed of very 
 few members. A little later, in 1675, the articles were still rigorously observed : Peter 
 Zander, one of the masters, having taken a stranger into his employ, his colleagues 
 lodged a complaint against him, and he was sentenced to deposit with the council a 
 sum of one hundred florins as security that the man would not divulge any of the 
 secrets he might discover. 
 
 From 1552 the ordinary business of the Guild was managed by four masters, 
 elected by the whole craft; each year two new members took the place of the retiring 
 ones. Their functions were to see to the strict observances of the regulations, and to 
 pronounce on such petty cases of litigation as did not come within either the high 
 jurisdiction of the general council, or that of the abbot, The executive was vested in 
 
64 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 two officers or bailiffs, whose duty it was to recover the fines ; to put in distraints on 
 the goods of offenders who did not comply with the judgments; and to cry out the 
 proclamations and convocations to the meetings. 
 
 The craftsmen were divided into four classes, viz., apprentices, labourers, work¬ 
 men, and masters. 
 
 An apprentice was bound for six years to his master, who as a general rule was 
 his own father. For each apprentice thus engaged the master was called upon to 
 pay a duty, partly in cash and partly in wine. A similar duty, also in wine and money, 
 was due by the workman who, having gone through his years of probation, was 
 promoted to a mastership by the decision of the whole craft mustered together for the 
 solemnity. 
 
 A man wishing to qualify as a workman had first to undergo a rigorous examination: 
 he had to satisfy the council that he was proficient in throwing and turning all sorts of 
 shapes ; that he could make moulds for the applied reliefs, and also press these reliefs, 
 and neatly fix them on the surface of the ware. Some still more accomplished 
 probationers added to these initiatory requirements a complete knowledge of all the 
 other parts of the art. They were examined on the following points, and were asked to 
 show that they had mastered the most delicate operations of manipulating the clay: 
 that they could contrive a new ornament, design a novel and special shape, or cut in 
 the stone or in the dry clay the dies with which small ornaments were stamped on the 
 form ; that they knew how to place the ware in the oven and fire it; in short, that they 
 were able, in case of emergency, to take the master’s place and overlook all operations. 
 However, the artistic part, the execution of the best models, was never intrusted 
 to the common workman, clever though he might be; this was reserved for the 
 “ formschneider,” an independent specialist, who was not bound to any particular 
 factory, but left one master for another as soon as his services were no longer 
 required. 
 
 As to the master, before he obtained his certificate he had to show that he was 
 conversant with all the branches of knowledge connected with manufacture, as his duty 
 was to overlook the work done by his men in every detail. He reserved to himself the 
 care of selecting the best sorts of clays and sands, as well as of all other raw materials, 
 and of superintending their preparation. All the finished ware passed through his hands 
 for examination; after he had satisfied himself that each article was well made, good, 
 and sound, it was, under his own supervision, set in the oven, and to no one would he 
 ever intrust this last important duty of conducting the firing. The labourers shared 
 between them the roughest and most menial part of the work; they dug out the 
 clay, blunged, diluted, and marched it; they prepared it to the required consistence. 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 6S 
 
 ready to be put on the wheel by the thrower; they attended to the firing, under the direc¬ 
 tion of the master, feeding the mouths of the oven at proper intervals; drawing out 
 the ware as soon as it began to cool; repairing the damage done by the firing to the 
 brickwork; in short, doing on the premises all the odd jobs for which they were 
 constantly wanted. To these labourers must be added a good number of carters and 
 woodmen, most of them outsiders, who, not being accepted as regular men, were allowed 
 access into the precincts of the works only after they had taken the oath never to divulge 
 anything they might witness within; for this reason they went by the name of " sworn- 
 in folks." 
 
 We gather from the above enumeration that the staff of people employed was 
 nearly as numerous as that necessary for the carrying on of a modern manufactory, 
 and that the times were already far gone when the old potter discharged by himself, or 
 with the assistance of an apprentice, the multifarious duties and performances connected 
 with the conduct of his trade. 
 
 The most stringent rules had been laid down to establish a close solidarity 
 between all members, and preclude all individual encroachment which might prove 
 detrimental to the welfare of the community. In return for the many privileges 
 conceded to them, the masters were expected to comply with the long list of obligations 
 and restrictions carefully drawn up with a view to regulate all their business doings and 
 dealings; and from these well-defined lines no one could swerve or demur. 
 
 The number of ovenfuls that a master was entitled to fire during each year was 
 previously fi.xed, according to the number of hands he kept in his employ; on no 
 consideration, however, could more than sixteen ovenfuls be granted to the same 
 master for a complete year. In the event of one of his workmen having died, or 
 having left since the beginning of the working year, the four jurors, forming the ruling 
 committee, could decide that his firings should be reduced to such number of ovenfuls 
 as they thought proper. All the works were placed under the control of the four jurors. 
 Every fortnight it was their duty to go the round of the quarter to see that all was right 
 according to the regulations, and especially that no master exceeded the number of firings 
 allotted to him. Even the time-honoured and simple manner in which the reckoning was 
 kept is preserved to us in the original document. A stick of wood, hanging by the 
 oven door, was each time notched with a knife by the comptroller: the accuracy of the 
 account could not be contested by anyone. 
 
 A general tariff for all articles to be manufactured in the following year was duly 
 fixed by the council; no potter could of himself reduce or increase these prices; 
 moreover he was bound to deliver none but goods of good make and quality. The 
 Guild had prospered so much since its incorporation, that, in the tariffs revised in 1552, 
 
 K 
 
66 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 the prices of most of the articles were raised to exactly the double of what they were 
 in 1516. 
 
 In the same way wages were settled beforehand. No workman or labourer could be 
 engaged under special conditions which should be above or below the established scale ; 
 no presents of any sort, either in goods or in kind, wine or garments, were allowed to 
 pass between masters and men. Sizes and capacity were to conform with the legal 
 standard kept at the Guild Hall, and all pots were to be condemned which did not 
 contain the exact measure. The charter of 1552 introduced a more pliant clause with 
 regard to sizes, recommending only that, as far as possible, pots of a dimension over 
 the usual standard should not be manufactured. 
 
 The utmost circumspection presided over that part of the statutes dealing with 
 an eventual over-production, which unrestrained would infallibly lead to the debasement 
 of the quality of the ware and to the discredit of the Guild. It is therefore prescribed that 
 all work shall be suspended between Martinmas and Ash Wednesday; and that no 
 one shall be permitted in any season to work by candlelight. One exception to the 
 aforesaid rule is made however with regard to especial commissions sent in directly by 
 princes and noblemen, or by the burgesses of the town of Cologne, who, through a 
 mutual agreement, had long enjoyed that favour. The legislation, having in view the 
 necessity of putting a check to over-production, had wisely set apart for a temporary 
 rest such moments as were less favourable to faultless and profitable work, namely: 
 evenings, when the insufficient means of getting artificial light could by no means serve 
 as a substitute for the light of day; and winter months, during which a hard frost might 
 casually destroy the labour of weeks. 
 
 All cases of contestations, offences, or trangressions, were investigated and 
 tried in the first instance by the council of the Guild; but while all the other 
 trades could only appeal against the decisions of their fellow-masters before the 
 civil magistrates, the potters enjoyed the privilege of bringing their grievances and 
 arguing their suits before the abbot, who, having heard both parties, pronounced a final 
 judgment. 
 
 The penalties inflicted on delinquents and transgressors consisted in slight or heavy 
 fines, to be acquitted, according to circumstance, in wine or in cash. Were not the fines 
 forthcoming immediately after the sentence, in case of their amounting only to a small 
 sum, the quarter-masters or bailiffs proceeded to the house of the offender and seized 
 his wheel, carrying it away with them, to return it only on his discharging the debt. 
 But if a heavy penalty were in question, it was recovered through the agency of 
 the ordinary police officers. The highest punishment to which a member could 
 be condemned was expulsion from the Guild ; but such a severe measure could 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 67 
 
 not be carried into eflect without the sanction of the abbot. In the event of one 
 or more of the members of the community committing a serious misdemeanour, the 
 abbot could mulct the whole craft in heavy damages, as responsible for anything that 
 occurred through want of vigilance and supervision on the part of the overlookers. 
 Thus, one instance is recorded of the Abbot Wilhelm von Hochkirchen sentencing the 
 Guild to a fine of 600 gold florins ; the judgment, being final, is not even motived, and 
 whatever the misdeed may have been, it is only described as a “serious offence.” 
 The rates levied by the Abbey were in themselves insignificant. The town had a 
 right to exact certain duties on all goods carried out of the gates; but it had been so 
 managed that those duties reverted in part to the coffers of the Guild. The lease of 
 the toll being offered by auction every year between the masters, they had all come to 
 an understanding not to outbid the one amongst them who was selected to be the next 
 lessee, so the toll was held by one of their fellows, virtually on behalf of the craft. 
 This was put an end to in 1579, after which year the burgesses of the town kept the 
 toll-gate within their own hands. 
 
 Besides acquitting the above taxes, the potters were also bound to present yearly 
 to the abbot, as a token of respect and submission, a selection of their best goods, 
 and to supply the Abbey with drinking vessels of the ordinary sort. When we have 
 added that on some occasions they had to send to the neighbouring magnates a few 
 handsome samples of their art, with a view to conciliate the favour and protection 
 of a powerful patron, we shall have recorded the whole extent of the very moderate 
 taxation the Siegburg potter had to bear. 
 
 The part of the statutes regulating commercial transactions was also very com¬ 
 plicated : we shall extract from them such provisions as appear worthy of attention; 
 they denote with what care and foresight the potters guarded against any eventual 
 emergency which might result in the town of Siegburg losing the monopoly of the 
 white stoneware trade. 
 
 No one was allowed to sell on credit, within the limits of the quarter, above 
 the value of half a florin ; the maximum was however raised later on to six florins. 
 
 When a buyer declared himself unable to settle immediately his purchase in cash, 
 and offered to deposit goods as a guarantee, he could do so on his security being 
 accepted by the four jurors. Corn was taken in payment as cash, and so was wine; 
 barters and bargains were thus much facilitated. 
 
 No one could buy stoneware in the works for the purpose of selling it in the town 
 shops; the potters reserved to themselves the right of displaying for sale and retailing 
 all their products in the Aulgasse, where it could be bought by the inhabitants for their 
 private use, or by foreign dealers. These could carry it away themselves, after they 
 
68 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 had satisfied the council that they were intended for distant places, or arrange for the 
 goods to be sent to them at their own cost and risks. Any ware exposed for sale in 
 the town was liable to be forfeited. 
 
 The Guild had established several branch offices and warehouses in the adjacent 
 provinces, viz., at Oberplass and St. Cyriaque, in the Duchy of Berg; at St. Apollinaris 
 and Weillen in the Duchy of Juliers ; and also at Treves and Cologne. 
 
 The outside trade was carried on under curious conditions most interesting for 
 us to examine. Above all, they seem to have been planned with the idea of preventing 
 all potters from embarking in speculation on their own private account, and mixing in 
 any way with selling and buying, so that they might devote all their efforts to the 
 improvement of the handicraft. Members of the Guild were forbidden to carry away, 
 either by water or land, any goods of their own making or bought from others, for the 
 purpose of selling them at Dusseldorf or Andernach, or any intermediate towns. 
 
 The Cologne merchants, who purchased the largest quantity of the pottery made at 
 Siegburg, bought it on the understanding that they should resell it only in foreign parts, 
 and never in Cologne or in the surrounding villages or towns, under the penalty of 
 being refused any ware in the future. Any private customer desirous of buying a few 
 articles of the much-admired white stoneware, was expected, if he lived within a certain 
 distance, to come and fetch it from the potters themselves, that these might benefit by the 
 retail price. But whether these recommendations were ever respected, is somewhat 
 difficult to believe; we fear, on the contrary, that they were daily broken by all parties. 
 
 Bringing to the town market pottery manufactured abroad was also forbidden, for 
 fear it should enter into competition with the local trade. This prohibition, the effect of 
 which would have been to deprive the manufacturers of any chance of seeing what 
 progress was being made in other countries, had its corrective in this, that when the 
 annual fair came round, goods of all nations were allowed to be exposed for sale free of 
 duty in the market, and all sorts of curiosities appeared there for a time. 
 
 The exportation to foreign countries was settled between the hands of the merchants 
 of Cologne and a few other towns of the Low Countries and North Germany; these acted 
 as middlemen, and gave large commissions or bought wholesale the yearly productions 
 of one or several pot works. It was through their agency that the “ Cologne ware,” 
 as it was then called, was exported all over northern Europe, even so far as Sweden 
 and Norway, where a great many pieces are still found in our day. Each of these 
 tradesmen was anxious to obtain and keep to himself the sole right of trading in stone¬ 
 ware with a certain towm. We see, for instance, Thierri Dulman, of Cologne, enjoying 
 the privilege of supplying with white pots the retailers of the town of Hamburg up 
 to 1599, in which year his right was transferred to his fellow-townsman, Thierri Strauss. 
 
Siegburg. 69 
 
 All contracts for large supplies of goods were arranged by the council of the Guild, 
 and were usually made for a period of twelve years; during that time the customer 
 agreed to take, from such masters as he was authorized to deal with, a given quantity of 
 certain pieces, for a price fixed beforehand. The council in its turn promised that 
 neither the same articles, nor indeed any other ware, should be sold to any other dealer 
 inhabiting the town in which the other party to the contract was established. What was 
 manufactured for him bore the arms of the country or the city for which they were 
 destined, as well as his initials or trade-mark. 
 
 On the upper Rhine and on the Moselle, in the north and in the south of Germany, 
 each province had its own town agent corresponding with the Guild, and dealing with 
 it under similar conditions. 
 
 Unfortunately the wise provisions which were to secure a fair participation of the 
 profits of the community to all its members, and hinder them from taking undue 
 advantage of each other, were no sooner enacted than they were infringed on all sides. 
 The complaint lodged by the potters in 1564, against their fellow-master, Peter Kniitgen, 
 shows with what laxity the regulations were observed, when they were not completely 
 disregarded. He was accused of having sold his goods directly to some foreign dealers 
 not approved by the Guild, and who were debarred—according to the established rules— 
 from the privilege of purchasing any Siegburg white ware on account of their being 
 known to be regular buyers of brown and other kinds of stoneware. Besides, by means of 
 underhand dealings, Kniitgen was said to have forwarded and sold in the Oberland, 
 or upper Rhine, more ware on his own account than all the other masters taken 
 together. Merely denying the truth of the accusation, he denounced in his turn 
 the members of the council as having knowingly violated twelve articles of the statutes. 
 The contending parties appeared before the Abbot Herman von Wachtendonck, who 
 had no little trouble in pacifying the quarrel and bringing about a compromise. It was 
 at last decided that, in the future, all masters should dispense with the agency of the 
 middleman, and for all business done along that part of the Rhine lying higher than 
 Andernach, should henceforth deal directly with the customer. Two masters, selected 
 for that purpose, were to take charge of a yearly consignment, and carrying it by boats 
 into the Oberland, dispose of it along the banks of the river to the best advantage 
 for the makers. This was tried, and proved unsuccessful. Production was increasing, 
 more expensive articles were manufactured, and the two masters found it difficult to get 
 rid even of the small stock contained in their boats. The new plan having proved a 
 failure, It was not long before they reverted to the intermedium of the regular dealer, 
 and solicited once more his wholesale commissions, ready to accept it on his own 
 conditions. A monopoly for the upper Rhine trade was applied for and granted to 
 
70 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 Christian Spitzgrosz, of Siegburg, and Christian Rietsetzer. An agreement having 
 been duly passed and signed between the consignees and the master potters, not one 
 single clause of it, as it appears, was ever observed by the latter parties. The quarrel, 
 as it is reported, throws a curious light on the business habits, not to say on the 
 honesty, of the worthy folks of 1590. A few days after the conclusion of the contract, 
 Rietsetzer denounced the Guild before the court of noblemen for refusing to adhere to 
 the conditions set down in their agreement. He complained that, having ordered 
 14,000 pots to be delivered to him, he could not obtain more than S,ooo; meantime, he 
 added that he knew of a merchant in Cologne to whom 28,000 had been forwarded, in 
 defiance of all his rights, and probably because the Cologne merchant had offered to 
 take the ware at a premium. 
 
 Most of the restrictions in the conduct of business, which had been made in 
 prosperous times, remain conspicuous in all the first charters; but they are struck off 
 from the last statutes given in 1706, at a moment when the stoneware trade was all but 
 extinct in the town, and when efforts were attempted to revive it against all hope. 
 
 Public taste had become indifferent to the elegant white ware jugs, well glazed 
 inside, and displaying outwardly the dull sharpness of their elaborate reliefs. One 
 class only of customers remained to be satisfied—that of the wine growers and brewers, 
 who, in years of plenty, were still in want of common stoneware bottles to store and 
 sell their wines and beer. The making of jugs and mugs for the country tavern, 
 common jars for the household, and—lowest of low articles—the mineral water bottle, 
 sufficed for many a year to protract the wretched existence of the craft. But of the 
 wretched conditions under which it was lingering during the eighteenth century little 
 could be said which would offer any interest; for this reason we shall here take leave of 
 the statutes, after having extracted from them all that we think might concern the 
 reader. 
 
 The powerful organization of the artistic craftsmen of Siegburg, also emulated in 
 some degree in other places, is without parallel in the whole history of stoneware, and 
 its action was strongly assisted by the prudent and paternal government of the abbot, 
 supreme chief and patron of the Guild. Everywhere in Germany we find the 
 Church dignitaries closely associated with the development of the stoneware industry, 
 showing their appreciation of jugs and pots of fine workmanship, and lending a helping 
 hand to their makers. Hence the vast number of vases and vessels emblazoned with 
 the arms of monasteries and the escutcheons of celebrated bishops and abbots which 
 we meet with at every step. 
 
 During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance the monk appears to have stood, in 
 many lands, the friend and protector of the potter. The quiet inmates of the convent 
 
 
71 
 
 Siegburg. 
 
 valued much for their own use those earthen pots, which cost little, and kept the wine 
 cool, while such brittle utensils could hardly have been accepted in the guard-room and 
 the tavern, where, on account of the rough handling they received, jugs of metal or 
 wood were much preferred. As to the wealthy nobleman, full of pride and ostentation, 
 he continued for a long time to drink out of fine glass or precious metal, despising 
 anything made of common clay, like the pots used by the lower classes. 
 
 For the refectories of religious communities were made those large pitchers and 
 handled jars of extraordinary size. Some of them served at meal-times to bring up the 
 wine from the cellars ; others were left in the cells of the brethren with the necessary 
 supply of water for the day. These big jars are generally decorated with crucifixes and 
 religious subjects or emblems, which leave no doubt as to their destination. 
 
 Not only was the monk the friend and patron of the potter, but he was also at times 
 his fellow-worker in the workshop ; often had he been his predecessor at the wheel and 
 at the ovenside, and to him did he stand, in many localities, as a teacher and master. 
 It was the religious orders which introduced for the first time polychrome pottery in 
 building decoration, and fashioned with their own hands the richly-devised tiles they 
 employed as pavement in the sacred edifices. The processes were imported in northern 
 Europe by travelling friars coming back from Italy, where these pavements seem to have 
 originated in the imitation of the ancient Roman mosaics. We must expect that, in 
 some instances, one of the lay brothers, first employed by the monks as assistant, may 
 have endeavoured to imitate what he had seen done in the convent, and had established 
 close by a workshop of his own, to profit by their advice and protection. It is said, 
 however, that some religious confraternities, jealous -of their professional secrets, refused 
 to communicate them to anyone; others, on the contrary, fostered the creation of the 
 industry on their own land, and contented themselves with keeping the right of doing 
 on their premises such pottery as they stood in want of for their private use. At 
 Siegburg, more than anywhere, the interests of the Abbey and those of the workshop 
 were intimately linked together; this, however, when the abbot granted to the potter, 
 by special charter, the exclusive privilege of tile and brick-making within the limits of 
 his dominions, did not prevent him from reserving to himself the right of employing at 
 his will any workmen he might choose to make such tiles and bricks as were required 
 for keeping in repair the buildings of the Abbey and its dependencies. 
 
 The intercourse between the abbot and his potters was constantly kept up. In 
 all difficult contingencies of private or public import he was consulted as a father, or a 
 supreme ruler; he was appealed to as a judge when a litigious case could not be brought 
 by ordinary means to a settlement, and his conciliatory decisions were always respected. 
 His directing spirit is recognized in the style adopted by the modellers, and to 
 
72 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 him was probably due the selection of those religious subjects recalling to the 
 mind some plain teaching of virtue or moral, which, repeated over and over again, had 
 become the commonplace illustration of the ware. The percentage of four pots he 
 exacted from each ovenful fired allowed him to keep a regular control over the quality 
 of manufacture. Besides this regular tax, he received every year, on particular 
 occasions, a gift of the best vases, made for him by the cleverest makers, and presented 
 on behalf of the craft; in addition to the usual amount of common ware with which 
 they were bound to supply the monastery. 
 
 The good feeling which united the monk and the potter at Siegburg can also be well 
 traced, not only in the abbatial town, but also in places where the craftsman was in no 
 ways bound to the ecclesiastical authority. At Raeren the independent masters kept 
 on the best terms with their neighbours, the abbots of Cornely-mtinster, and many are 
 the fine jugs they made, adorned with the coat of arms of these high dignitaries, and 
 presented as a token of deference and respect. In the very midst of their active com¬ 
 munity stood the priory of Brandenburg. The brethren of St. Johan of the Cross, who 
 occupied the convent, took a keen interest in the works of the industrious pot-makers; 
 it is said that they associated themselves in some way with their labours by assisting 
 them with advice in the matter of shapes and decorations, and with the gift of models 
 and engravings, of which their education and high standing allowed them to make a 
 good selection. Owing no doubt to the recommendation and patronage of these two 
 religious houses, drinking vessels were made at Raeren for an endless number of 
 convents and monasteries. Illustrious personages, abbots and priors, bishops, and even 
 cardinals, connected with these convents, did not disdain to order from the potter jugs 
 or vases stamped with their armorial bearings, and to give to the modest pot of clay a 
 place on their lordly tables by the side of the gold tankard. Many emblazoned and 
 costly specimens made for the clergy—mostly the masterpieces of their makers—are 
 still found in large numbers, and to many of them we shall have occasion to refer 
 in good time. By the number of countries and provinces represented by the medallions, 
 they show a commercial connection extending over all Flanders and Germany. 
 
 Let us not forget to record, while we are on this topic, the good understanding 
 maintained, a little later on, between the chapter of St. Lambert of Liege, and their 
 neighbours, the potters of the Walloon country. It was indeed the worthy canons who, 
 trying to raise the level of an otherwise inartistic manufacture, caused to be executed nearly 
 all the armoried ware, and most of the best class pieces, ever produced at Bouffioux. 
 We should indeed have a long list to draw were we to enumerate the less significant 
 instances of a particular pot works, started away from great manufacturing centres, and 
 kept up principally through the patronizing agency of the local convent. 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 73 
 
 A /TOVING within the narrow bounds of a close suburb, with as little latitude as 
 strict hierarchy and stringent legislation would leave to individual enterprise, the 
 potters of the Aulgasse formed a large family or clan, the constitution of which 
 approached very nearly to that of their friends and patrons the monks of the Abbey; 
 an exceptional state of things even in these times of exclusive castes and social 
 impediments. Each potter was also an agriculturist, and had his little plot of land, 
 which the time allotted for leisure by the statutes amply allowed him to cultivate. 
 In this manner they bettered their lot materially. They grew wine and corn, and 
 cash not being always abundant, they could make their payments in kind; corn 
 and wine having legal currency in the place. The potters mixed very little with their 
 fellow-citizens except on public festivities, when they took precedence of all other 
 bodies ; and in the fulfilment of some civic duties, such as military service, to which, like 
 all other burgesses, they were bound in case of emergency. The town kept no regular 
 soldiers up to the first years of the sixteenth century. It was a rare occurrence for a 
 master to seek a wife outside the precincts of the old quarter; brought up in the trade, the 
 widow was generally able, if the husband happened to die before her, to continue the 
 business. Consequently the practice of the craft remained confined to a very limited 
 number of families ; looking over the registers we find the same names appearing over 
 and over again during hundreds of years. It could not obviously be otherwise, since the 
 masters’ sons alone were allowed to learn the trade and, after they had duly served 
 their time of probation, to set up in business. A master without children, who wanted to 
 adopt as heir and successor a nephew or close relation, might do so with the sanction of 
 the council, but on condition that the youth should henceforth assume the name of his 
 adoptive father. We can therefore follow through the records of the Guild the long 
 pedigree of each family; and not only do we become acquainted with the names of 
 the leading manufacturers, but we also learn those of their more modest compeers. 
 Yet we remain completely in the dark as to the share each particular man took 
 in the improvement of the craft, and as to any point by which it would be possible 
 to discriminate between the works of the most celebrated master and those of his least 
 important competitors. The marks and initials, so plentiful on the Siegburg ware, 
 bring us no assistance in this respect. Hardly any of them tally with the names given 
 in full in the registers, and an exhaustive study of the lists obliges us to acknowledge, to 
 our disappointment, that monograms are, as a rule, only merchants’ marks, or the 
 initials of an unknown model-maker, and not those of the potter. In other.places 
 we might depend upon some specimens being found inscribed with the full name of the 
 maker to serve us as a guide towards the identification of all similar work, but at 
 Siegburg signed examples have so rarely turned up that we cannot expect to obtain 
 much information through such means. 
 
 L 
 
74 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 Dornbush, while giving the transcription of several lists of names, acknowledges 
 at the same time that they have been of little use to him in his endeavours to identify 
 the actual works of the various masters. Only in very few cases do the initials marked on 
 the ware happen to agree with the names found on the register; even then, nothing tells 
 us that we are right in associating unreservedly those names with the pieces bearing 
 corresponding initials. The following examples may be taken as the less problematic 
 instances of these speculative attributions. 
 
 Monograms where the letter K is seen in conjunction with other letters, such 
 as P.K., C.K., etc., may represent the different members of the Knutgen family— 
 the most important and numerous amongst the Siegburg potters. We have seen 
 that, in 1427, one of their ancestors is mentioned in a deed of gift as “ Knuytgin 
 figulus ” ; from generation to generation they continued to hold a prominent position 
 in the Guild, in connection with which we find at all times many masters of the name. 
 One Christianus Knutgen has signed in full—a very rare occurrence—a work of his hand, 
 discovered in the excavations, and a fragment of which, embossed with the name 
 in large Roman letters, is now in the possession of Burgomaster Thewalt, of Cologne. 
 It is of yellowish white ware, thickly glazed, and adorned with neat little figures of 
 Renaissance style, combined with floriated ornaments in the pure German Gothic taste. 
 The ware is white, and the reliefs are clouded over with flowing azure blue. By the side of 
 the maker’s name stands that of Tringen Vinckelst, which we may take as the name 
 of his wife. From the association of these two names we may infer that the piece was 
 intended as a family heirloom, presented to his bride by the gallant potter, perhaps on 
 their wedding day. What remains of it tells of a special work, which, if whole, would 
 perhaps have been unsurpassed for beauty and finish of detail. Evidently no pains had 
 been spared to make it worth being preserved as a lasting testimony of the conjugal 
 devotion and professional ability of its maker. The date, if ever there was one upon 
 it, is missing; but on a pint, with the marriage feast of Cana, dated 1568, we find the 
 initials C. K., probably standing for Christian Knutgen. By comparing the style of both 
 specimens, we should say that the fragment is by many years the earlier of the two. 
 Proud as he was to affix his name in full letters to this most valued sample of his 
 workmanship, Christian Knutgen was never again tempted, any more than his colleagues, 
 to do more than sign with his initials any of the articles, whether rich or ordinary, which 
 he made daily for the trade. 
 
 On many occasions we come across the names of different members of the 
 same family. One of them, Bertram Knodgen, deserves a special mention, as having 
 settled in the land of Wied, where he became the founder of the stoneware industry at 
 Grenzhausen and Hohr. 
 
I. V. and H. V. may represent the masters Johan and Hans Vlach (or Flach), who 
 signed the convention regarding the sale of ware in the Oberland in 1564- No less than 
 six masters bearing the same name also signed the same document. 
 
 Hans Higler, one of the prominent masters, who worked in 157° following 
 years, may be recognized, it is said, in the mark H. H., found on many subjects, viz. : 
 The History of the Prodigal Son, The Annunciation, The Crucifixion, The Resurrection, 
 A Peasant Dance, The Good Shepherd, a bust of Phillip II. of Spain, the Imperial arms, 
 and many other escutcheons. But, on the other hand, we know of a schnelle, or pint, 
 embossed with King David, St. Helena, and King Artus, which bears the name of Hans 
 Haiv in full; to the same individual, whether he was the maker or simply the merchant, 
 might then also be referred all the pieces bearing the initials H. H. 
 
 Z, which makes part of certain monograms, may stand for Zeimans or Simon, also 
 one of the leading families, mentioned in connection with the trade as early as 1500. 
 
 O, accompanied with other letters, may mean some of the Omians, whose name, 
 spelt sometimes Oem Johan, or Uncle Johan, appears for the first time in 1487. 
 
 But it would be idle to linger long over these doubtful speculations, and in contrast¬ 
 ing the Siegburg ware with that of Raeren, where each piece of importance was stamped 
 with the signature in full or with the initials of its maker. We may conclude that very 
 little importance can be attached to any " sigle" or sign whatever, which could in other 
 centres be taken as a potter’s mark. 
 
 Within the above pages we have tried to present in mere outline a succint history 
 of the abbatial town and of its artistic Guild, also a brief sketch of the conditions under 
 which the potters lived and worked under the patronage of their abbot, and the stringent 
 rules of their statutes ; and we had, to our regret, to omit many of the accumulated facts 
 and circumstantial particulars contained in the monograph we owe to the successful 
 researches of Abbd Dornbush. We advise the reader, whose interest may have been 
 awakened by our imperfect narration, to revert to the source from which we have derived 
 most of our information, and he will easily find means of supplying our shortcomings. 
 
 Following the order we intend to adopt in all the succeeding chapters, we shall 
 now proceed to study the ware in itself and for itself. First, we shall consider it with 
 regard to its general characteristics; then, choosing for description some typical 
 specimens of different styles and periods, we shall attempt to draw, pieces in hand, such 
 inferences as will enable us to trace the course of the art through its development and 
 decline. By means of these examples, and the observations they can suggest, we may 
 expect to arrive at a knowledge unobtainable through the perusal of the lengthiest and 
 most authentic documents. 
 
T ^ 7E have already had occasion to observe that, in every locality where stoneware 
 ’ ' was subsequently to be manufactured, the earthenware, brittle and porous in 
 substance, either unglazed, or varnished with a soft lead glaze, had been for centuries the 
 precursor of the improved pottery fired “in stone,” or, in other words, partly vitrified in 
 the mass. At Siegburg exceptionally (a fact curious enough to be insisted upon at the 
 risk of repeating ourselves) this mode of high firing seems to go back as far as the very 
 first appearance of the potter and his art in the region. Dig as deep in the soil as one 
 may, so long as fragments of pots are found they all exhibit the same qualities of hardness, 
 sonority, and semi-vitrification which distinguish the “ Grfes Cdrames ” or stoneware. 
 
 Layer upon layer, the hand of the pot-maker has everywhere let fall speaking 
 vouchers of his permanent occupation of the land ; and now, upturning bed after bed 
 the ddbns left untouched since the day they were thrown away as worthless, we bring 
 to light in their proper order the successive periods of manufacture, and are enabled 
 to realize the improvements and modifications by which they are each characterized. 
 
 For this by no means small assistance to our researches we are indebted to one of 
 the regulations of the Guild, which all potters had to conform with. The refuse of the 
 pot works, the imperfect pieces condemned to be destroyed, were not carried away at 
 any time, or thrown on any spot each master might have chosen. Periodically the 
 council settled on which place they should be deposited, and fixed the day when the 
 removal was to be effected. The deep trenches left after the clay had been abstracted 
 were generally utilized for that purpose. So the refuse accumulated on the same 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 77 
 
 spot; the loads shot down in one year covering the heaps cast there the year before; 
 and this went on until the excavation was completely filled. Strict watch was kept 
 over the ground, lest some pilfering stranger might come and overhaul the heaps in 
 search of ornamental fragments that might be appropriated and made use of as ready¬ 
 made models. The same precaution was observed by the old potters of Staffordshire 
 for the disposal of their broken ware, which was always carted away, at night to some 
 distant place. 
 
 We are lost in speculation as to the probable antiquity of the pottery lying most 
 deeply buried beneath the thick covering heaped upon it by the superimposed leavings of 
 untold generations. We cannot accept without reserve the opinion of Dornbush, that 
 nothing of what has yet been found can be considered anterior to the thirteenth 
 century. We do not see why there should have been any interruption between the 
 Roman " figulus,” who implanted the art of turning and baking the clay in Rhineland, 
 and the native “ Eulner " who succeeded him. Much of what the soil gives back to us 
 must necessarily belong to that intermediate period. 
 
 Of all the chapters of Ceramic history, the one relating to medireval times is 
 the most hazy and unsatisfactory; to pronounce, in the present state of our know¬ 
 ledge, between a specimen of the thirteenth century and another which may be its 
 elder by several centuries, is almost an impossibility. On these rudimentary shapes, 
 without any kind of decoration to give us the assistance of a well-defined style, it is 
 rash to decide ; all attribution rests, after all, on supposition alone. The diggings have 
 been so far confined to the Aulgasse quarter; at a short distance from that place the 
 result might be different, and works of a decided Roman origin might be discovered. 
 But even taking for granted that the small vases found at the bottom of trenches are 
 not older than the thirteenth century, this would still leave a very early beginning 
 to the stoneware manufacture of Siegburg. 
 
 In figs. 36—39, placed at the head of this chapter, we have a good average 
 representation of the most ancient pottery found in the Aulgasse. All that lies at that 
 depth is of coarse make, brown or dark grey in colour, unglazed, and devoid of any 
 attempt at ornamentation except some occasional rough knobs, beads, or clumsily 
 incised lines. They are, with slight variations in profiles and proportion, of small size, 
 of the urn or jar form, wide-mouthed, and without feet or handles. The example here 
 given illustrates sufficiently what we have just said about their lack of special features ; 
 and unless coins or other precise credentials are conjointly discovered,—and we do not 
 know of any find of such a description having ever taken place in connection with the 
 accumulated refuse of the potters,—nothing warrants us in ascribing them to any fixed 
 historical epoch. Were we to judge only by comparison, they are so like in appearance 
 
78 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 the votive vases found in the tombs of the ancient Franks and Teutons, that we 
 might be tempted—ranging all under the same head—to consider them as belonging 
 to the Carlovingian era. After this precursory period, without limitation as to 
 antiquity, we find the first steps towards improvement well marked by striking modifi¬ 
 cations in the manufacture, no longer rough and clumsy; and in the shapes, more 
 practically and elegantly designed and made, of articles henceforth to be applied to the 
 many requirements of the household. We see the first example of a real “jug”; its 
 elongated body is surmounted by a graceful neck, it is garnished with one or more 
 handles, and stands upon a spreading foot which bears all round its rim the impress of 
 the thumb of its maker—the jug, in short, of the regular pattern, such as will be repro¬ 
 duced, side by side with the ever-varying forms of vases and pots, with scarcely any 
 alteration for hundreds of years to come. This brings us to the first years of the 
 fifteenth century, according to the classification of Dornbush; but, as far as we are 
 concerned, we think that such pieces as those just described, and all their congeners, 
 might, with all plausibility, be placed far back into the previous century. Most of them 
 show no traces of glazing ; but unglazed ware was always manufactured at Siegburg. 
 Their tints vary from dark red to brown, and from dusky grey to black, according to 
 the kind of clay employed and the chances of firing, The ware remains no longer 
 plain, but shows a pretence to embellishment; the devices are still very modest in their 
 scope, nothing more than a central rosette made of raised dots, or a strip of clay coiled 
 round the shape and indented with the point of a tool. A very curious pot decorated 
 in this manner was dug up in Cologne during the building of the Wallraf Richard 
 Museum, and figures in Dornbush’s work. 
 
 Not until towards the end of the fifteenth century do we see stoneware moving 
 boldly on the way to the rapid improvements which resulted in the refined and thoroughly 
 perfected style of artistic designs, and faultless methods of manufacture, we so justly 
 admire in the productions of the middle of the following century. The clay used by 
 the potter of the third period is fine and well-prepared ; it becomes lighter in tint, 
 although we do not yet meet with any specimen of pure white, nor with any traces of 
 salt-glazing. Another piece, also given by Dornbush as an example of that early 
 improved ware, is adorned with three faces in high relief, of very fine character, 
 although still of very rude make, and of coarse clay ; it shows, nevertheless, some taste 
 on the part of the maker, who has evidently borrowed the elements of its decoration 
 from some admired carving of wood or metal. This example, again, comes from the 
 excavations made while building the museum at Cologne. The intermediate period, 
 when the ware, although no longer plain and devoid of interesting features, did not yet, 
 however, display the profuse and original materials of ornamentation characterizing so 
 
79 
 
 conspicuously the productions which were soon to follow these imperfect attempts, might 
 be determined by the intervention of minute subjects, figures, or ornaments, borrowed 
 here and there, and made use of without much discrimination, as the only available 
 means of embellishment. No longer satisfied with the traditional grotesque faces, 
 or the strips or lumps of clay twisted or notched, the potter, awakening to the sense 
 of his inferiority, bethought himself of taking moulds from small subjects carved 
 in wood or chased in metal, and obtaining from them clay impressions, easily applied 
 and fixed on the ware. In the case of an exceptional performance, when some¬ 
 thing out of his usual track was demanded of him, 
 no other way to secure success was open to him 
 than the borrowing of such models as were daily 
 produced by experienced chasers and carvers in the 
 wealthy and luxurious towns of the Rhine. Many 
 examples still remain to illustrate these first steps 
 towards a complete transformation in the art of 
 the stoneware potter. We have in fig. 40 a small 
 pot of that transitory epoch. Arising from mean¬ 
 ingless generality, great pains have been taken to 
 make of it an article not of use, but of fancy. A 
 number of rudimentary handles, each furnished 
 with a mobile ring, still made by hand in the old 
 way, but complemented by the application of small 
 figures of a saint holding a cross, acorns and birds, 
 were the means of obtaining the desired effect. 
 
 Of such pieces whole specimens are rare, but the 
 diggings bring forth many fragments of similarly- 
 shaped vases; the diminutive figures of saints 
 impressed upon them are of pure Gothic style, and of great fineness of treatment, 
 as though they had been taken from objects of gold or silver. Perhaps—as there 
 is little likelihood of the potter having many opportunities of casting moulds on the 
 valuable works of the silversmith—we had better say that he has found models for 
 his figures of saints on the pious medals finely struck in lead or brass which, through 
 convents and churches, were largely distributed among the people. We may ask 
 ourselves whether it was by appropriations of the same kind that the stoneware pots 
 sent in 1489 to the Duchess of Berg, then residing at Niedigen, had been decorated? 
 We are prompted to believe it, for the usual kind of ware made at the time—judging 
 from the coarse specimens yielded by the excavations—was not by any means worthy 
 
8 o 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 of being offered to a princess. Through similar means alone could the set of vessels 
 intended for this presentation have been completed and beautified sufficiently to be 
 regarded as a valuable gift sure to be accepted by a noble lady. We cannot say, 
 however, that this supposition can be substantiated by any known instance of very 
 elaborate work being made at that early date by the stoneware potter. The record of 
 these presents makes us surmise that, exceptionally, and by some means or other, the 
 ware could be brought to a degree of excellence of which we can form no idea from the 
 pieces of that period so far known to us. In all contemporary specimens we find little 
 pretence at ornamentation, still less at beauty ; the progress already accomplished in all 
 
 other branches of art industries had not yet been 
 shared by the potter’s art, which was still in its 
 slumber, although ready to awake to the sense of 
 its own capabilities. 
 
 A peculiar sort of red ware is commonly found 
 amongst the productions belonging to the period 
 extending between the fourteenth to the first years 
 of the sixteenth century. The vessels, clumsily 
 formed by hand without the assistance of the 
 wheel, out of a coarse and unprepared red clay, are 
 mostly of the urn and cup shape; they are not 
 covered with any glaze, but their surface is slightly 
 shining through the action of the high tempera¬ 
 ture to which they were submitted in the firing. 
 Some rare examples come out of the general range 
 of plain shapes, and are fashioned in the form of 
 animals, or adorned with uncouth figures. Fig. 41 
 may be counted amongst the earliest specimens 
 of this ware. The statutes of 1516 speak of the “ Roitkroichen,” or red jugs, and 
 from this we may infer that at the beginning of the sixteenth century they were still 
 extensively manufactured. We do not know for what reason the red ware was so 
 much appreciated, unless it were on account of its colour; but when it ceased to be 
 manufactured at Siegburg, where it was replaced by the white stoneware, the potters of 
 Dreyhausen, near Coblentz, made these red jugs their speciality, and continued to 
 make them in the peculiar shapes originated at Siegburg (see fig. 32). 
 
 The tints vary from Indian red and violet to dark purple. These gradations of 
 colour are due to the hazards of an ill-regulated mode of firing, which affected in 
 different degrees the oxide of iron contained in the clay. As the ware in the oven 
 
 Fig. 41. Thewalt Coll. Height, 6 in. 
 
Sieghirg. 
 
 8i 
 
 was not protected from direct contact with the flames, its outward colour was greatly 
 affected according to the place it occupied. 
 
 The difficulties connected with the building of a perfect oven were never completely 
 overcome at Siegburg, and even at the time when workmanship had attained to its 
 highest point of excellence, if we have to regret any shortcomings in the ware, it is 
 attributable to faulty firing. Bright patches of pinkish or orange colour are often noticed 
 on some of the best pieces made of white clay ; these accidents are attributable to the 
 fact that the material was never completely free from a certain percentage of iron, 
 which was developed by the flames under certain circumstances. Bad firing can also 
 account for other imperfections or blemishes, often observed on the highest class 
 of ware, such as the strange inequality of the glazing. One piece may be on one 
 side almost deprived of glaze, while on the other it trickles down in heavy drops 
 and accumulates in thick waves at the base. Well-constructed ovens and a better 
 management of the fires would have remedied all this. 
 
 Although most of the types of the dark red ware indicate a very remote period, we 
 find associated with them, and made of the same material, a few shapes belonging un¬ 
 questionably to a much more advanced stage of manufacture. Prominent amongst them 
 are the small balustre jugs with a tundish-shaped top, with or without their unlimited 
 number of handles—for centuries afterwards the favourite form of the Siegburg potter. 
 
 Black pots, made of the same clay, are also found in association with the red ware ; 
 but as they are of rare occurrence, they may be considered as occasional cases, rather 
 than as representatives of a kind of pottery regularly manufactured. On this point, 
 however, it would be difficult to pronounce definitely, because in all places where the 
 making of stoneware has once been centralized we generally find a small number of 
 black jugs amongst the oldest productions, and it may be that their use was more 
 general than we are led to believe by the odd specimens which have come down to us. 
 
 As soon as the white clay began to be generally employed, and the ways of firing 
 it sufficiently improved, the style of manufacture may be said to have been finally 
 settled. This occurred, according to all appearances, about the second quarter of the 
 sixteenth century, and from that time forth very few alterations took place in the 
 making of the Siegburg stoneware. This is also the date of the appearance of the 
 first salt-glazed specimens; but the white potters never seem to have been at much 
 trouble to take full advantage of this improvement, and they never mastered completely 
 its application ; consequently they always preferred, for their best works, the unglazed 
 state, which leaves all their sharpness to the details of the embossed reliefs ; and to the 
 last they remained partial to pure biscuit. It is not unworthy of attention to notice 
 that the earliest attempts at imparting to the biscuit a vitreous covering were not 
 
 M 
 
82 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 directed towards obtaining it by means of common salt. Many ancient specimens 
 testify to the fact that ordinary lead ore was first and alone employed on white stone¬ 
 ware. The example given on fig. 42, represents one of the early types we find 
 enamelled with a thick coating of “ galena,” or ordinary pottery glaze. 
 
 Siegburg was a particularly well selected place for the making of stoneware. 
 White clay in thick strata lay all over the region. This clay is a plastic marl, highly 
 refractory, and even in the natural state of an extraordinary homogeneity, free from 
 stones or other foreign particles. The kind found in the woods of Lomarer was of very 
 superior quality, as it was, however, difficult of extraction, it could not be used for 
 cheap articles, but only for the best class of goods. 
 
 In the same ratio as the tint of the ware gets nearer to pure white, the relief 
 
 ornamentation gets finer in design and in neatness 
 of execution. The clay, selected with great care, 
 is better and better refined and manipulated ; the 
 ways of fashioning it are perfected in every detail; 
 consummate skill presides over all the operations 
 of throwing and turning the shapes, not that these 
 are ever made smooth, as scraping with a tool 
 would make them; on the contrary, the work¬ 
 man is very particular about leaving fresh and 
 untouched the concentric rings that his finger has 
 regularly and smoothly marked from top to 
 bottom. Forms are getting tall and elegant, and 
 their outlines are gracefully profiled, each part 
 being separated by a sharp moulding. Already 
 the workman allows his imagination to run loose upon all kinds of fanciful novelties, and 
 ingenious traceries and applied accessories of his own contrivance. He does not place 
 under contribution any longer chasings or carvings of metal, stone, or wood, and disdains 
 using any more undue appropriations. Thenceforth the dies and moulds he requires 
 are cut by his own hands, and subjects are made in the style and of the size best suited 
 to the particular piece he intends to decorate. 
 
 His first attempts were directed towards the cutting of Gothic traceries, for which 
 he found his models in the intricate and ever-varied details of the architecture of his 
 country; notwithstanding the lack of testimony to that effect, we can assume, from 
 the state of the diggings, that such patterns preceded by many years the introduction 
 of historical scenes and figure subjects; these latter, moreover, are so well stamped 
 with the taste of the Renaissance period that they eould not be ranked by any means 
 
 Fig. 43. White Ware grazed with Galena. 
 Coll, A. Figdor. Height, 6 in. 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 83 
 
 among early productions. We can ascribe approximatively to the year 1530 the first 
 appearance on the white ware of friezes and panels containing subjects with personages, 
 and put back to the second half of the century the moment when they began to be 
 preferred to any other kind of ornamentation for the higher class of vases and vessels. 
 
 A remarkable drinking pot of small dimensions, of the shape common to the 
 generality of pots of that size manufactured at Raeren, but very rarely found at 
 Siegburg (fig. 43), may represent the first successful application of figure subjects to 
 the white ware. Its elegant design is quite unique in character; in perfection of 
 carving it is second to none. So neat are the reliefs, so bright and smooth is the 
 texture of the clay, that it brings to our mind 
 the recollection of some ivory carvings of the 
 same period. Indeed we cannot help fancying 
 that imitating one of these ivories has been 
 the aim the potter has striven to attain. 
 
 Round the cylindrical shape, eight cupids in 
 graceful attitudes are drinking, dancing, and 
 playing musical instruments. Shall we say 
 that we do not accept without reservation the 
 attribution of that piece to Siegburg manu¬ 
 facture? It is, we think, mainly grounded 
 upon the fineness and the light colour of the 
 clay; but the same whitish tint and fine 
 texture are certainly not foreign to many 
 undoubted examples of Raeren ware. If we 
 look at it from another point of view, its heavy 
 shape, and the full and rounded modelling of 
 the small figures, as well as the quality of the glaze, will be found in favour of a Flemish 
 rather than a German origin. But we shall bow for the present to the verdict of those 
 who are better able than ourselves to give an opinion on this point, and accord to this 
 perplexing specimen its place in this chapter. The very numerous coats of arms 
 impressed on the Siegburg stoneware may also be said to have made their appearance 
 at a comparatively late period ; not a single escutcheon is found on the early specimens ; 
 but this explains itself clearly enough. Although there was in Germany, during the 
 Middle Ages, a superabundant use of armorial bearings upon all articles intended for 
 the upper classes, the pottery was at first made for the people only, and had no 
 occasion to bear distinctive marks. Consequently it was only when the ware had been 
 sufficiently perfected, and made beautiful enough with costly workmanship to be 
 
 Fig. 43. Thewalt Coll. 
 
84 
 
 1 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 attract the attention of the noble and wealthy, that coats of arms made their appearance, 
 and for that reason we must only look for them on late specimens. Moreover by their 
 style we could only with difficulty ascribe to any of the escutcheons which we have 
 found impressed on the white ware any earlier date. Not one amongst them recalls 
 the stiff and well-defined elements of the heraldic canons of the fifteenth century; 
 each shield, on the contrary, cut out, curled, and convoluted in every possible 
 way, bears the unmistakable impress of the taste prevailing towards the middle of the 
 sixteenth. The presence of a coat of arms assumes, consequently, a great importance 
 on the Siegburg manufacture—it fixes accurately the age of the most richly adorned 
 specimens with which they are always associated. An emblazoned vase can have 
 no connection with the vast amount of pottery buried in the subjacent strata of the 
 soil; it belongs to the late period of manufacture, and marks the acme of perfection. 
 
 "V X 7 E have hinted higher up at the peculiar jugs with a tundish neck and pinched 
 ’ ' foot, which may be called of balustre shape, found amongst the early examples 
 of red ware. This shape has the rare recommendation of not having been made 
 anywhere else, and belongs in proper to Siegburg, where it originated, and where it 
 was, with evident partiality, repeated without interruption as long as stoneware-making 
 flourished in the place. The new processes of decoration applied to it sufficed at all 
 times to give variety to the form, which remained almost the same in all cases. 
 These characteristic vases enable us to retrace the main phases through which the 
 ware passed, from the early attempt to the perfect work, as is demonstrated by the four 
 examples of the same type, figs. 43—47. They are well worth our examination, as 
 embodying the greatest part of the observations we can make on the peculiarities and 
 merits of the Siegburg stoneware. 
 
 Obviously derived from the architectural balustre, these pieces had been so formed 
 with the intent of recalling a stone pillar, and so deserve unreservedly the name of 
 “ stone pottery." This coincidence might be attributed to the fact that the first sculptor 
 engaged by the potters to contrive and design the shapes of that newly-improved ware 
 was one of the clever stone-cutter artists who assisted in the embellishment of the 
 churches and public buildings, and of whom there was such a numerous school at 
 Cologne and other cities of the Rhine. Certainly nothing could have better suggested 
 and deserved the appellation of “ stone pottery” than these singular small vases made of 
 a light grey clay, which does not require the covering of a vitreous glaze to render it 
 impervious to water, and of a texture sufficiently hard and coarse to resemble closely the 
 grain of natural stone. The way in which they are cut into, moulded, filleted, fluted, 
 and carved in the mass, still adds to the likeness, and one might well mistake them, at 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 8S 
 
 first sight, for objects cut out of the material they imitate. Let us compare them 
 with any other kind of earthenware; in all other cases we shall find the raised details 
 of the ornamentation softly rounded by the supple finger of the modeller, while 
 here, on the contrary, it is as though the hard substance had been roughly hewn 
 by a hand plying chisel and mallet in the fashion habitual to the stone-cutter. This 
 would by itself support the assumption that the cradle of that special kind of pottery, 
 which from its earliest appearance had received the name of “ stoneware,” must 
 be looked for at Siegburg and nowhere else. Under the same name a brown variety 
 was most successfully manufactured in several other places (we mean the brown stone 
 of Raeren and Frecken); but although produced under the same conditions, or nearly 
 
 Fig. 45- 
 
 Fig. 44. 
 
 so, as the white ware, it was never recognized at Siegburg as legitimate “stoneware," 
 and none of the masters there ever attempted to make it. 
 
 In all probability the brown ware—at least in its perfected state—came only 
 second in the field, as a competitor with a successful speciality. The lack of the right 
 sort of clay, or perhaps a lucky coincidence in the hazards of firing turned to good 
 account by a sagacious and enterprising craftsman, may have led to the acceptance 
 of the handsome brown colour as a substitute for the unobtainable white. As a 
 matter of course, these dark productions received the name of the original “stone¬ 
 ware ” merely on account of the similarity existing between the hardness of both their 
 substances, and notwithstanding the difference in colour, which took away much of 
 the correctness of the expression. 
 
 On the first jug, fig. 44, has been graved by hand, with a bold stroke of a sharp 
 tool, a many pointed and acutely cut out Gothic-looking leaf, which, springing from the 
 
86 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 foot, spreads and coils itself all round the shape. Similar foliages serve as unique 
 means of decoration on a large number of pieces of various calibres, from the smallest 
 spice pot to the largest water pitcher of the balustre form; and, as is always the 
 case with all freehand workmanship, never exactly alike in their dispositions. 
 
 Our second figure (45) is one of those small puzzle jugs which elicit the wonder of 
 anyone who sees their curious contrivance for the first time; the perforated sides, 
 apparently pierced through, seem to make the vase unfit to contain any liquid. But a 
 nearer inspection discloses that the outer shell, into which the tracery has been bored, 
 is only the covering of the real receptacle. Were we to ground our estimation on its 
 pure Gothic style,—a geometrical pattern copied from some oriel window; one, perhaps, 
 of the church of the Abbey,—we might be tempted to point out this example as a work 
 of the Middle Ages ; but we know by experience that little reliance can be placed on the 
 style of its decoration to determine the age of a piece of pottery, and that at Siegburg— 
 whether they be ogival or Renaissance in character—we must refer all those showing 
 an attempt at ornamentation to a period not earlier than the sixteenth century. It is 
 unnecessary to observe that the Gothic art has long persisted and prevailed in Germany: 
 long after it had completely disappeared from the works of other countries, it continued 
 to be honoured by a constant application, and to show itself still conspicuous and 
 paramount in the medley mixture of heterogeneous elements successively introduced in 
 architecture and decoration, in compliance with the exigencies of the changes in public 
 taste. 
 
 More than any other the next jug (fig. 46) recalls to the mind the sculptured pillars 
 so profusely resorted to in the German architecture of the sixteenth century. The 
 same arcatures, the same gadroons carved over the body of the balustre, which ends, 
 bottomwards, in a slender spindle and rests upon the regular pedestal, whilst the top 
 expands into a sort of well-rounded cup forming the requisite capital. One or more 
 handles were later on added to the shape; but these of our present examples are devoid 
 of anything that would impair their architectural figure. 
 
 On fig. 47 a diamond-shaped diaper covers all the central part; the imbricated 
 lozenges, sharply sunk with a steel blade, catch the glimmer of the light on their acute 
 angles in a manner that no moulded pattern could ever equal. This mode of cutting 
 at sharp angles into the clay was constantly taken advantage of, as contrasting most 
 brilliantly with the raised subjects employed conjointly. Here a small medallion, 
 pressed separately, has been added after the cutting-in had taken place. It bears a 
 merchant’s monogram, surmounted by the enigmatic 4 and the date 1588. Amongst 
 the early balustre vases must be classed the lofty candlesticks, always affecting the 
 same type on a much larger scale. Their height exceeds by far the largest productions 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 87 
 
 of Siegburg. Articles of such important size and remarkable workmanship must 
 always have commanded the consideration of their possessor, and many of them have, 
 for that reason, been preserved to us. Nevertheless, we must not infer from the 
 number still in existence that such elaborate and costly performances were often 
 repeated; all of them bear indubitable marks of having been exceptionally perfected 
 with the view of being presented to some noble patron. 
 
 In every respect the candlestick was the masterpiece of its maker. It was destined, 
 on festive occasions, to be placed in the centre of the dining-table, where, admired by 
 all, it answered the double purpose of bearing the lights, and of containing in its vast 
 capacity a good supply of wine, flowing through a metal tap fixed at the base. We are 
 
 Fig. 46. Balustre-shape Jugs. Fig. 47. 
 
 disposed to believe that some of these lofty vases must have made part of the yearly 
 offering of earthen pots and wax the Guild was bound to render into the hands of the 
 abbot as a token of respect and loyalty. On certain occasions,—when, for instance, the 
 year had been a prosperous one; or, when after a vintage good and abundant, the sale of 
 jars and flagons had been largely increased in consequence; or else in moments of 
 difficulty, when the necessity arose of obtaining the grant of a special favour from the 
 abbot,—instead of the jugs of regular pattern or the common wax candles brought 
 under ordinary circumstances, it was decided that a wonderful vase, half fountain, half 
 candelabra, should be offered, regardless of its cost. The making of it was intrusted to 
 one of the cleverest hands, and no trouble was spared to render it worthy of this special 
 purpose. The day having arrived, the wax candles were placed in the sockets, and the 
 
88 
 
 The Ancient Art Stcmeware. 
 
 masterpiece was carried in state to the Abbey upon a velvet covered hand-truck. It 
 formed the central trophy, and contributed not a little to enhance the splendour of 
 
 the procession of the members of the craft 
 mustered for the solemnity. 
 
 A fine example, the best perhaps of all 
 known candlesticks, is preserved in the 
 Trfeves Museum ; the applied reliefs with 
 which it is decorated are plentiful, well 
 arranged, and of great sharpness and delicacy. 
 Another in the South Kensington Museum 
 comes only second to it. Both have the arms of 
 the empire, the double-headed eagle, and those 
 of the Duke of Cleves-Berg, patron and pro¬ 
 tector of the Guild. Both are here represented 
 on figs. 48 and 49. In the Museum of An¬ 
 tiquities at Brussels another specimen, in 
 perfect preservation, is preserved, with bands 
 of silver elegantly chased. In the collection of 
 P. Leven, of Cologne, was also a candlestick 
 of similar shape and proportion, but offering 
 the peculiarity of a hollow pipe let into 
 the handles, and making each candle socket 
 communicate with the bottom of the vase, 
 in the manner of the ordinary puzzle jug. 
 In order to drink out of it, one had first to 
 take out the candle, and then draw the liquor 
 through the tube. 
 
 We have said that the balustre vase, 
 although one of the first imagined and in¬ 
 dulged in by the Siegburg potter, remained 
 at all times his favourite shape. By the side 
 of the specimens described above—some of 
 which represent the oldest period of decorated 
 rig. 48. Candlestick. Treves Museum. white Stoneware we shall place a few others 
 
 Height, 36 in. , • i • i i 
 
 of the same type, showing that, with the excep¬ 
 tion of the affixed ornamentation in relief, it had undergone in later times but very little 
 modification. » 
 
89 
 
 Identical in its general outline, the adjunction of a large number of loops, stuck all 
 over the body, after a manner that we have had the occasion to notice in one of the 
 earliest fabrics, gives to the large jug (fig. 50) quite a peculiar look. Labour has been 
 lavished upon it in impressed and raised work, and two appropriate medallions placed 
 on the shoulder, between the two larger handles, complete the scheme of decoration; 
 these medallions are impressed, one with the coat of arms of the unknown nobleman 
 to whom the vase was presented, and the other 
 with the figure of his patron saint, St. Sebastian. 
 
 By its artistic treatment it equals the finest piece 
 of white stoneware, and we may take it as having 
 been one of the choicest performances of one of the 
 cleverest masters. Comparing it with specimens 
 of the same order, we may, in the absence of an 
 inscribed date, ascribe it to the last years of the 
 sixteenth century. 
 
 An almost identical piece, the jug of the 
 Frohne collection, reproduced on fig. 51, will serve 
 us as a good authority ; although undated, it bears 
 an inscription which fixes the time of its making ; 
 
 LoTHARIUS . DEI . GRAT . ARCHISP . TREVER . 
 
 S . R . I . PER GALL . ARCHICAN . PRI . ELECT.— 
 
 “ Lotharius dei gratia archiepiscopus Trever— 
 
 Sacri romani imperii per Galliam archicancellarius 
 princeps elector.” 
 
 Lothario of Metternich, whose armorial bear¬ 
 ings are represented on the front of the vase, was 
 Archbishop of Treves from 1599 to 1623, the 
 piece could not therefore be anterior to the first 
 years of the seventeenth century. The Abbey of Siegburg had a provostship established 
 at Treves, and no doubt it was through the good offices of the monks that the potters 
 were favoured with a special commission, which must have been, as a matter of course, 
 executed with all possible care and in the best style. 
 
 For a still later instance of the same balustre shape we shall again refer the reader 
 to Dornbush’s work, where one of them is figured (Plate III., No. 6), bearing the date 
 1632, the very year in which the town was destroyed by the Swedish army. 
 
 A general remark to be made about thefcelection of shapes for so long adhered to 
 
 N 
 
 Fig. 49. Candlestick. South Kensington 
 Museum. 
 
90 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 by the Siegburg potter, is their practical simplicity. Limited for the most part to 
 those which can be formed on the wheel by the thrower, they depended for 
 pleasantness and variety on the happy combinations of incised patterns and applied 
 reliefs. The percentage of subjects in the round—either pressed or modelled by hand— 
 was always very small. In early times it consists principally of small figures or 
 statuettes in high relief, the front part of which is given by a mould of one single 
 
 shell, while the back is roughly made by hand. 
 In that manner were produced Virgins and 
 saints, in which an important trade was carried 
 on. Such figures were bought eagerly by the 
 faithful at the gates of the churches, and carried 
 away by pilgrims as mementoes of their visit to 
 a holy shrine. Coarse and vulgar articles, to 
 be sold for a trifle to the million, they have 
 shared the fate of all cheap and common things, 
 and have almost all disappeared, although at 
 one time they were found in every house or 
 cottage all over Germany. The excavations 
 alone have, in many places, restored to us such 
 a large number of earthen figures in great 
 variety, that we cannot underrate the important 
 part these pious simulachres played in the 
 religious practices of the faithful in certain 
 holy spots, and in connection with some special 
 feasts and ceremonies of the Church. Amongst 
 many others we shall mention those dug up at 
 Nuremberg, which are of great interest on 
 account of their evident antiquity. Whether 
 they were the product of local pot works, or were sent over from Siegburg or any other 
 manufacturing centre, we do not however pretend to decide. They are made of fine 
 white clay, so as to resemble the wax figures which, at a higher cost, were used for the 
 same purpose. We give here two curious examples of these figures for the sake of 
 comparison with the Siegburg ware, to which, owing to the quality of the clay, they 
 bear a close likeness (figs. 52, 53). 
 
 One represents a warrior, wearing the hood and coat of mail of the thirteenth 
 century; a hole bored through this curious object indicates that it was to be affixed to 
 a wax candle or to the railings of a shrine. The other is a full-length figure of a 
 
 Fig. 50. Balustre Jug. Felix Coll. 
 Height, 16T in. 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 91 
 
 Virgin, provided in the centre with a cavity of 
 circular form, and of the size of a small coin. We 
 recognize in this one the votive figure in use 
 during mediaeval times. At the funeral cere¬ 
 monies they were deposited on the coffin by the 
 parents and friends of the deceased, and the coin 
 they contained was retained as fee by the Church. 
 The pagan tradition of surrounding the corpse 
 with earthen images survived in this Christian 
 custom. Similarly when a marriage was solem¬ 
 nized, the assistants offered to the Church small 
 vases full of corn, and containing also a coin as 
 an omen of good luck. One of these vases has 
 already been represented by fig. 7. The identified 
 Siegburg figures of Virgins and saints do not 
 possess the peculiarity of the central receptacle 
 for a small coin—the antique observances had 
 long been foregone, and they were made only to 
 be kept in the household, or presented to children 
 as objects of piety. 
 
 With them must be classed the small 
 drinking vessels—bell-shaped goblets, having no 
 feet to stand upon, and which had in consequence 
 to be emptied as soon as filled, and upturned on 
 the table. They are surmounted by a characteristic 
 figure of a drinker, partly made by hand, with the 
 assistance of a single shell mould for the front 
 part of the subject. Two of them are here repro¬ 
 duced on figs. 54 and 55. Such curious relics are 
 only to be found in the excavations, and when 
 discovered in the soil very seldom turn up in such 
 perfect condition. 
 
 In the possession of Mr. Hetjens, of Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, to whom they belong, can also be seen 
 a most elaborate group of figures in half round, 
 of the same class of workmanship, representing 
 the Last Judgment. We can but take it as an 
 
 
 
 f % 
 
 Fig. SI. Jug with the Arms of 
 Metternich. Frohne Coll. 
 Height, ni in. 
 
 Figs. 52, 53. Very ej^rly Figures of 
 White Clay. 
 
 Nuremberg Museum. 
 
92 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 exceptional instance confirming the rule of the scarcity of such oddities, the freak of an 
 individual fantasy, and by no means as a regular item of production. We shall not 
 attempt to describe the multitudes of figures and varied details crowded up amongst 
 rocks and clouds, which form an unshapely heap, more remarkable for its strange 
 and uncouth disposition than for any artistic merit. 
 
 The random classification we ^have been obliged to adopt—the chronological, or 
 indeed any other order having been found impossible to follow—brings now under our 
 
 Fig. 54. Hetjens Coll. 
 Height, 9 in. 
 
 Fig. 55. Drinking Vessel. Hetjens Coll. 
 Height, 9 in. 
 
 notice one of the most refined and perfect works of the artistic potter of Siegburg 
 (Plate II.). Two conspicuous handles figuring dragons or nondescript animals mark 
 its place among pieces built up with parts modelled in the round. 
 
 Admirable in all respects, the ring bottle from the collection of Dr. Albert Figdor, 
 of Vienna, departs entirely from the then accredited notions. It is the creation of some 
 anonymous master, who has for once indulged in a composition very different from 
 the usual run of the oft-repeated types of his brother craftsmen. Is it for his own 
 gratification, as an ambitious and spirited man, fond of his art, that he has thus 
 endeavoured to leave the beaten track ? All tends to make us surmise as much. 
 It is seldom that amongst this heraldic pottery, as one might almost call the Siegburg 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 93 
 
 stoneware, we meet with a work of such important scope which does not exhibit 
 any armorial bearings. Had it been a presentation piece, dates and initials would 
 not fail to appear in some part to record the fact; of any such signs, however, it is 
 altogether devoid. As to its being one of the articles made for common trade, we could 
 not for an instant entertain the idea. The only remaining supposition is that it is a 
 certificate work, made by a very clever workman with a view to obtaining his 
 mastership. 
 
 Although such exceptional objects as hunting bottles in fancy shapes, high 
 candlesticks, or, in a word, all the extra-ornamented vessels which have been preserved 
 to us still in good number, do not appear in the list of goods commonly manufactured, 
 the statutes of 1552 contain however some provisions concerning the making and selling 
 of such works. They were known under the general name of “ Mietwerke.” It is said 
 that a “ miete ” was worth one hundred fine “ beckers ” (mugs or pints). All that was 
 made with a superior style of workmanship, or of larger capacity than the regulation 
 sizes set down in the register as standards of manufacture, belong to that category. 
 Executed only upon order, by special hands, they were not considered as trade goods, 
 but as masterpieces, and their arbitrary price, debated between the parties, might 
 attain to a hundred times the highest figure fixed by the ^tariffs. Our bottle would 
 certainly have been ranged under that head, and even in our time be valued at a 
 hundred times the price of an ordinary Siegburg bottle. A hollow ring, flattened on 
 its front and inside faces, so as to show better the covering of delicate embossments, 
 and surmounted by a tall cylindrical spout, constitutes the body of the vase. On 
 each side two monsters, half crocodile, half lizard, lend the flowing curves of their 
 vigorous outlines to form handles of surpassing grace and power. Two dragons 
 of smaller dimensions are twisted round the narrow, tapering neck. Two masks 
 with human features of antique character connect the central ring with the neck and 
 the foot. 
 
 In harmony of proportion, as well as elegance of contour, the design equals, in 
 our estimation, the boldest and happiest conceptions of the Renaissance art. The clay 
 is not of the best white sort—rather of a drab colour, unequally glazed ; the glaze has 
 accumulated on some parts in such thickness as to become almost opaque, and is 
 irradiated with opalized blue tints. Probably thin touches of white tin enamel had 
 been partially applied, of which only faint traces remained after the firing. We regret 
 that our engraving can neither give credit to the harmonious effect of the whole, 
 nor to the delicately raised medallions which adorn all the faces of the ring. 
 
 Before dismissing the subject of pieces formed of parts pressed in separate moulds, 
 we shall present here (fig. 56) one of the most striking examples of those rare fabrics: 
 
94 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 a group of three owls perched back to back on a small perforated globe standing on a 
 high pedestal. Again a “ Mietwerke ” or workman’s masterpiece, bearing no coat of arms 
 or monogram to indicate any particular destination. All we have said above applies to 
 this group. It is evidently, and above all, a mere ornament, although a light placed 
 
 in the inside would permit of its use as a night 
 lamp ; in this it fulfilled the condition of utility, 
 seldom lost sight of by the stoneware potter, to 
 whom an art work without a distinct application 
 would have appeared almost nonsensical. The 
 night bird, full of mystery, and emblematic of 
 wisdom and solitude, has often exercised the 
 skill of the mediaeval artist. In old pottery of 
 all classes its presentment is the subject of many 
 choice and elaborate works. 
 
 Common goods were all plainly thrown on 
 the wheel, handles and spouts being formed by 
 hand, and only in the case of a superior article 
 subsequently embellished by the application 
 of delicate bands of ornaments. The compul¬ 
 sory simplicity of a practical shape, as well as 
 the restricted use of stoneware, did not give 
 scope to great variety. We must recollect that, 
 by its inability to stand any sudden change 
 of temperature, stoneware was limited to the 
 making of wine and beer vessels. Dishes 
 and plates, tureens, and other accessories of 
 the dining-table, are completely unknown at 
 Siegburg. 
 
 The list of the different kinds of pots 
 drawn by the council in the prosperous year of 
 
 Fig. 56. South Kensington Museum. /• 1 
 
 Height, 10 in. 1552 , lor the guidance of the makers, com- 
 
 prises, however, thirty-two items. We have 
 unfortunately very few means to guide us through that obsolete nomenclature. 
 Nothing is there to tell us which of the forms we have become acquainted with will 
 answer to such names as " Counsellors’ pints,” “ Nuremberg pots,” " round work,” 
 “white wine jug,” and so on, with many other names still more unintelligible. Not 
 only are we unable to identify them severally, but we doubt much whether, by 
 
95 
 
 Siegburg. 
 
 reckoning the varieties we may take to be pieces of daily manufacture, we could arrive 
 at establishing thirty-two different types. What constituted the staple articles of 
 the trade seem to rest upon the scanty number of models, hardly modified during the 
 successive periods during which they have steadily done duty. These do not, of course, 
 include any of the exceptional objects created by individual fancy, and of which a stray 
 specimen turns up every now and then, to show us that something else was done besides 
 the current items enumerated in the list settled by the council. Small cruet pots, 
 united together in groups of three, intended to contain salts and spices ; liquor flasks with 
 long slender necks, and with double-looped handles (figs. 57—59); flower holders and 
 flower pots, diminutive oil bottles or scent flagons; hand-warmers in the shape of a 
 prayerbook, that ladies could carry in their sleeves ; drinking vessels of every description, 
 even reproducing chalices and church vases, such as the one figured in Dornbush—all 
 these, and many others, stand apart from the classification we have adopted. 
 
 A T the head of all standard shapes must be placed the tall slender pint, the best 
 known perhaps of all Siegburg productions. Made by all makers in enormous 
 quantities, and specially exported by the merchants, they found their way all over 
 Europe. Not one of the first ceramic collections was without a few samples of these 
 representatives of the early white and sharply embossed pottery, which was none 
 the less admired for the mystery which has surrounded their origin and history for so 
 long a time. This pint is still called a “ schnelle ” in German, and under the same 
 name it is also designated on the earliest lists of works. The shape, a tall cylinder, 
 gradually narrowing towards the top, is familiar to all; base and brim are encircled 
 within a few concentric bands, or hoops, the intervening space being devoted to the 
 display of complicated subjects of figures or ornaments in low reliefs. Out of this 
 most convenient receptacle the beer drinker could quaff his favourite liquor, or sipping 
 it leisurely, find the beverage fresh and pleasant to the last drop. The beerhouse pot 
 of this description was of course made of the legal size, but many fancy ones took 
 all possible proportions, from the child’s mug to the lofty and capacious tankard, 
 recalling by its magnitude the old cygenetic horn, the pride of the feudal baron. Yet, 
 however long established and time honoured may have been the use of the drinking 
 horn amongst noblemen and soldiers, our schnelle, in spite of a certain likeness, was 
 not, we think, derived from it. We find its vulgar prototype in a far more common 
 drinking vessel—the small wooden barrel or mug in use in all cellars and taverns, 
 made by the cooper in the same way as casks, by means of thin staves of wood, 
 secured at the top and bottom by metal or wicker hoops. This antiquated wooden 
 pot offers the true model of the schnelle, and the circles moulded on the neck and base 
 
96 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 reproduce faithfully the original disposition. In England, in the same times, wooden 
 mugs circled with iron were used everywhere to the exclusion of earthen pots. Jack 
 
 Figs. 57, 58. Small Flask. British Museum. 
 
 Cade, in “Henry VI.,” refers to them when he says: “There shall be in England 
 seven penny loaves sold for one penny; the three-hooped pots shall have ten hoops.” 
 
 In all stoneware centres schnelles were manufactured 
 in cheap and costly articles, but only at Siegburg did 
 the shape preserve its primitive character. Its proportions 
 remained tall, slender, and tapering towards the top. This 
 original type was gradually modified everywhere else. At 
 Raeren it soon took the form of a cylinder, still of a good 
 height, but almost vertical; at Grenzhausen it became by 
 degrees wider and lower; while, at last, it was turned into 
 a broad and flat sort of can by the potters of Kreussen. 
 
 To enumerate and describe the complete list of em¬ 
 blems and images embossed upon the Siegburg schnelles 
 would afford material for a special work, in itself full of 
 interest, on account of the variegated range of subjects 
 such an iconography would necessarily embrace. Our 
 restricted scheme does not allow us to do more than group 
 ^ them into categories, and insist for one moment upon the 
 few best defined examples we shall select for description. 
 The religious scenes, as one may expect from the potters of the abbatial town, by 
 far exceed all others in number, principally those taken from the Bible; the New 
 
 Fig. 59. Small Flask. 
 Museum. 
 
Siegburg. 97 
 
 Testament supplying only a small proportion of the subjects. In all branches of art 
 sacred history was the inexhaustible source whence painters and sculptors drew their 
 inspiration; but here there was a direct cause in the abundance of scriptural designs 
 the influence of the abbot and of the monks can be traced in their selection. In the 
 many replicas of certain parables, largely predominating over others, more than 
 haphazard choice is noticeable; the teaching they bring under the eye of the drinker 
 contains a moral intended to warn him against the evil consequences of intemperance 
 and dissipation, and particularly against all the vices which follow in the train of 
 drunkenness. One of the best-known patterns, for instance, presents us with 
 allegorical figures of Pride, Lust, and Gluttony, with suitable inscriptions : 
 
 De Hoffarticheit . Hoffart ein Bossart . ANNO 1591. 
 
 De Unkvischheit. 
 
 De Gulticheit . Gulticheit gleich . mann . einner sas. 
 
 “ The proud man is an ill-natured one.” “ Gluttony makes a pig of a man.” 
 
 It is the voice of the Church penetrating into the drinking tavern ; a sound sermon 
 written upon a pint of beer. To the profligate, for instance he who squanders his riches 
 in the gratification of his desires and the glorification of his vanity—the virtue of 
 charity, and his duties towards the poor, are gently called to mind by a picture of the 
 history of Lazarus and Dives. What subject could convey a more opportune teaching 
 to the forgetfulness of the great and wealthy, and in what better place could it be 
 presented to him than at his festive banquets ? Many are the modellers who have, each 
 in his own way, interpreted this same parable on stoneware pots, all treating it 
 with a decided predilection. The unknown “ formschneider,” F. T., the same artist who 
 has signed with his monogram some of the finest moulds of Siegburg, amongst others 
 the three scenes of the history of Saul, one of the most remarkable of all schnelles, 
 claims the authorship of the model we have selected for reproduction (fig. 60). Our 
 sketch, we hope, will render unnecessary our descanting upon the high merits of the 
 whole composition and the elegance of design of each figure. It is a work that a 
 master would be proud to acknowledge as his own. It bears the date 1559. 
 
 Amongst other schnelles, where the same scenes have been represented with different 
 treatment, we must specially mention one of smaller size, hardly inferior in quality 
 to the one figured above. It is due to another anonymous artist, P. K., under which 
 initials it has been thought that the potter Peter Knutjen should be recognized. The 
 shape of the schnelle being invariably the same in most cases, we have thought it 
 needless to reproduce more than the panels with which they are decorated, and we 
 have also preferred to give it in its development just as it stands on the model or 
 
 o 
 
 -.J-W 
 
98 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 mould used by the potter; the proof taken out of it was, as we have said, fixed on 
 the shape after having been pressed flat. The moulds are not uncommonly found in 
 the excavations; they are of greater sharpness than any copies, and, when possible, 
 
 we have drawn our sketch from the mould itself. 
 
 The division of the design into compart¬ 
 ments, adopted as a means of giving more rich¬ 
 ness and interest to the piece, results sometimes 
 in a very curious medley of subjects, with no 
 possible connection between them. Let us take, 
 for instance, the schnelle etched on Plate III., and 
 we must give up any idea of explaining the wanton 
 juxtaposition of such personages as “ Venus,” 
 “ David and Goliath,” and “ Lot and his Daugh¬ 
 ters.” The reason of so anomalous an assemblage 
 can be found only in the random use of the dis¬ 
 carded moulds of one of the best masters, made 
 by some unscrupulous potter having no models of 
 his own. The threefold repetition of a subject 
 on the same piece, so frequently noticed, must 
 also indicate a second-rate maker; a really good 
 schnelle always presents three different panels. 
 
 An approximate idea of the variety of re¬ 
 ligious subjects may be formed by the perusal 
 of the German catalogues of sales, where the 
 ware is, as a rule, properly described; but we 
 do not think our object would be furthered by 
 a long and bare nomenclature. We shall, how¬ 
 ever, append here a desultory list of the best 
 and most frequently recurring models of re¬ 
 ligious scenes. 
 
 From the Old Testament: The Garden of 
 Eden, The Temptation, Adam and Eve banished. 
 The Sacrifice of Noah, The History of Joseph, 
 
 Fig. 6o. Lazarus and Dives. 
 
 From a Schnelle in the Germanic Museum, 
 Nuremberg. 
 
 Ruth and Boaz, Abraham and the Angels, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, Solomon, 
 David, Joshua, The Conversion of Saul, Samson and Delila, The Land of 
 Canaan, etc. 
 
 From the New Testament: The Annunciation, The Nativity, The Marriage of 
 
Cana, The Last Supper, The Flagellation, Ecce Homo, The Crucifixion, The 
 Resurrection, St. John, St. Helena, etc. 
 
 As a curious counterpart, we shall place here 
 the series of anti-Catholic pieces—stinging satires 
 directed against the clergy, and particularly against 
 the monks. In the abbatial town, where the abbot 
 himself extended his supervision over each potter 
 and his work, pints and jugs were manufactured with 
 scurrilous images upon them, attacking not only 
 convents and friars, but the Catholic religion itself. 
 
 We could hardly realize it, did we not remember 
 that the trade depended almost entirely on orders 
 coming from distant parts, and that a commission of 
 this sort, given in secrecy, could be made surrepti¬ 
 tiously, and be smuggled out with the ordinary goods. 
 
 One of them, a small schnelle with allegorical pictures 
 of " Superstition,” must have had an immense success 
 all through Protestant Germany, so great is the 
 number of copies that are still found in our days. 
 
 It bears three different subjects, two of which we give 
 only (figs. 62, 63). One, the Hydra of Superstition, 
 a monster whose three heads represent the Pope, the 
 Sultan, and a winged face said to be Antichrist. The 
 other is the Temptation of Christ. It is completed 
 with a third scene, in which we see Christ tilling the 
 ground of a garden where the trees are laden with the 
 insignia of power and emblems of wealth ; and while 
 the toiler goes on with his work, prelates, priests, and 
 monks are busy pulling at the branches and gather¬ 
 ing the golden fruits. The inscriptions run thus ; 
 
 Pack dich teufel in intrum. Unkrevt 
 
 WILL ICH AuSROTEN UND WERFEN ES INS FEUR. 
 
 " Depart from me, Satan.” “ I will uproot the 
 weeds and throw them into the fire.” 
 
 At Raeren this schnelle was imitated in brown 
 ware, with a slight variation as to the shape; besides, the moulds having been cut the 
 same way as the relief models, the subjects are necessarily reversed in the proof. 
 
 Fig. 61. 
 
 From a Schnelle in the Nuremberg 
 Museum. 
 
 
 1 
 
lOO 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 Raeren, pre-eminently Catholic, a village surrounded by convents, and where 
 Protestantism has never penetrated, followed in this respect the example of Siegburg. 
 We know several models of the same order, whereon the misdeeds and crimes the 
 priesthood and religious communities of the Roman Catholic Church were accused of 
 by the reformers are depicted with the most unequivocal and, we should say, revolting 
 
 Fig. 62. The Temptation. 
 
 Fig. 63. The Hydra of Superstition. 
 From a Schnelle in the Berlin Museum. 
 
 crudity. Amongst others we shall mention the jug preserved in the Kunst Gewerbe 
 Museum at Berlin. This is not an anonymous performance, as one might expect—the 
 authorship is boldly acknowledged by Jan Emens, who has put his well-known initials 
 in a conspicuous place. A frieze, divided into ten compartments, unfolds before our eyes 
 a series of scenes which we find impossible to describe, still less to reproduce, and where 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 lOI 
 
 priests and friars are seen playing the principal parts. A jug of similar purport belongs in 
 proper to Siegburg, and the varied subjects of which it is composed are found together, 
 or impressed separately on small pieces; one of them is a fine balustre pot, in the 
 Hetjens collection, on which we see an infuriated monk threatening with a dagger a 
 woman who tries to repulse him. 
 
 As a matter of fact, virulent attacks against friars and the clergy in general were of 
 common occurrence in Catholic countries long before the Reformation. The Gothic 
 churches are covered with satirical sculptures, all betokening the degree of freedom 
 allowed to public opinion to stigmatize hypocrisy and vice in whatever exalted position 
 of life they were suspected to be rife. An artist following the bent of his own imagination 
 in delineating the Last Judgment, never failed to introduce, in the thick cluster of 
 reprobates claimed by the flaming abyss, a good sprinkling of popes, cardinals, bishops, 
 and other ecclesiastical dignitaries. This does not appear to have been considered 
 derogatory to the dignity of faith and religion in themselves; and such pictures 
 were everywhere exhibited for the edification of worshippers in cathedrals and chapels. 
 
 Yet such flagrant disrespect towards the heads of the Church could hardly have 
 been tolerated at Siegburg, at a time when religious strife was raging with intense 
 fierceness, and when part of the population was still left blind and fettered in the 
 bondage of ignorance and superstition. The crime of witchcraft was particularly 
 hunted out and visited with atrocious punishment: in this small town an inoffensive 
 citizen might, on the slightest suspicion, be arrested and sent to the stake. The potters, 
 no more than other inhabitants, could escape from the malignant prosecution of a few 
 bloodthirsty fanatics, who derived power and profit from their cowardly accusations. 
 The year 1638 saw the horrors of barbarous atUo-da-fds, the repulsive narratives of 
 which have been minutely preserved in local histories. We find the name of Thierry 
 Knutgen, master potter, amongst those of the last victims ; he was the eleventh who, in 
 the space of six wdeks, was burned alive for sorcery and witchcraft. 
 
 But a sarcasm directed against the priesthood was, after all, a venial offence, and 
 was punished in a more lenient manner. In the event of an impious or scurrilous 
 work made by an unknown hand being discovered, the Guild could, as responsible for 
 the misdeeds of any of its members, be mulcted a heavy fine. Thus it is recorded 
 that, pursuant to a judgment rendered by the abbatial court towards the end of the 
 sixteenth century, the whole craft in its solidarity had to pay a sum of 600 gold florins 
 as atonement for an unmentioned misdemeanour. In the absence of any explanatory 
 considerations, showing cause for the unwonted severity of this sentence, we may 
 have some reason to surmise that it followed upon the discovery of clandestine manu¬ 
 facture, by one or several masters, of such objectionable and prohibited articles. 
 
 t 
 
102 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware, 
 
 
 Another important class may be formed of the armorial schnelles. A special 
 work will one day have to be written on the armoury of stoneware vessels; here 
 we can only broach the subject. Heraldic devices play an important part in the 
 decoration ; it is rare to find an example of a vase or a drinking vessel out of the common 
 
 run which has not its complement of shields and 
 armorial bearings. Many escape identification 
 for want of indication of metals and colours; 
 nevertheless, archaeologists have already succeeded 
 in naming a certain number of them, belonging 
 for the greater part to German families, and also, 
 but in much smaller proportions, to houses of 
 foreign extraction. The commercial connections 
 of the Siegburg Guild were more regularly esta¬ 
 blished with Germany proper and the south; 
 Raeren, on the contrary, had extended its trade 
 northwards with Flanders and the other countries 
 of Europe ; consequently, while we see a constant 
 occurrence of the double-headed eagle of the 
 Empire on the white stoneware, the arms of the 
 great powers—England, France, Spain, and 
 Sweden—are much less frequent than on the 
 brown ware of Raeren. 
 
 Although it is well averred that emblazoned 
 vases were, as a rule, made purposely to be pre¬ 
 sented as a gift, or upon the special order of the 
 personage whose cognizance they bore, yet the 
 innumerable repetitions of certain shields do not 
 permit the assumption that they had all the same 
 private destination. If we find, for instance, the 
 arms of Cleves-Berg upon most of the superior 
 fabrics of the Siegburg potter, and may infer 
 that these were made for one member of that noble family, we see them also affixed 
 to a host of minor pieces evidently entering the common range of trade goods. 
 Remembering that, independently of their allegiance to the abbot, the inhabitants owed 
 homage and duties to the Duke of Cleves-Berg, within whose dominions the town 
 was situated, we have no difficulty in presuming that one of these duties consisted 
 in affixing the ducal arms upon certain products of their trade as a token of vassalage 
 
 Fig. 64. Arms of Cologne. 
 
 South Kensington Museum. Height, ii in. 
 
103 
 
 Siegburg. 
 
 and respect. This custom, to which the French potters were bound in the fifteenth 
 century, must also have been followed in Germany. B. Fillon, in “ L’Art de terre 
 chez les Portevins ” (p. 50), quotes an agreement made at Villeneuve, between the 
 potters and their lord, in which the former agree, “ not only to present yearly 
 a masterpiece of their own making, but also to affix the coat of arms of the 
 said lord upon all pots of a price exceeding three 
 ‘ solds,’ under a penalty of a fine for each case of non- 
 compliance with the agreement.” This would suggest a 
 very good reason for the presence of the escutcheon of 
 Cleves-Berg upon so many ordinary pieces, and also upon 
 those of a higher class, where it is found associated with 
 the arms of other noble families of the German states 
 and towns for which ware was manufactured. The 
 names of these countries and towns would form a long 
 list, out of which we may mention the following: Saxony, 
 
 Wurtemberg, Brunswick, Augsburg, Bremen, Cologne, 
 
 Hamburg, Nuremberg, etc. (Figs. 64, 65.) 
 
 Certainly, if we take the degenerated fabrics of the 
 last period, when old moulds were taken up and made 
 use of promiscuously, the appearance of one or more 
 coats of arms on a pint or a vase loses all significance ; 
 but when trade was at its best, and a certain control 
 was exerted over all makers and their works, we believe 
 that at Siegburg an armoried medallion indicates a 
 private destination of the piece upon which it is em¬ 
 bossed. Here the neighbouring gentry took pride in 
 having drinking vessels stamped with their arms, and, 
 dispensing with the intervention of the merchant, pre¬ 
 ferred to deal directly with the potters. Of this the 
 account books of the Guild contain repeated proofs. They had to bear the expense 
 of costly moulds being cut expressly after their own shields, as well as with the date 
 of their making; the price of the moulds are charged to the customer in the registers, 
 and it was understood that these moulds were not to be employed on any other 
 occasion. Sometimes an unscrupulous master attempted to defraud a customer with 
 regard to the cutting of these special moulds, and to palm off in their stead some old- 
 fashioned pattern, but they were liable to be summoned before the council to answer for 
 the fraudulent substitution. 
 
104 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 From a document preserved in the archives we become acquainted with a case of 
 this kind. It is a complaint lodged in 1597 by Adolphus, Lord of Eymnich, respecting 
 certain armoried jugs just forwarded to him, and which bore a millesim seven years out 
 of date. According to the specification of the contract, they ought to have been marked 
 with the date of the current year; he therefore requested that the potter should be 
 compelled to take back the unsatisfactory ware, and to deliver in exchange another set 
 duly armoried and dated according to the agreement. 
 
 Under the domination of foreign princes who ruled in succession over the Low 
 Countries, each courtier, each government official, affected to display in his household 
 the arms of the then existing power, hence a certain number of vases embossed with 
 the royal escuteheons of all these countries ; but to meet with what we might term an 
 “ historical piece ” is a rare, almost an unknown occurrence. It is somewhat disap¬ 
 pointing to the archaeologist, in search of some graphic document which might 
 illustrate the stirring times the potters had to live through, to have to acknowledge, 
 after an exhaustive review, that not a single historical event has ever been recorded 
 upon their ware. We must not expect to meet with a single subject, or inscription, 
 alluding even indirectly to the victories or defeats, devastations and deliverances, 
 which had so often convulsed the country. 
 
 In the midst of the revolutions that took place around them, the potters continued 
 to work out on their jugs and pints their favourite subjects, drawn from the Bible and 
 the mythology. A few foreign coats of arms are about all that remains to tell us that 
 they had taken any notice of the changes accomplished in their time. To these may be 
 added a few rare portraits of princes or captains, but made use of with the same precau¬ 
 tion used at Raeren,—where such historical figures are however to be found in greater 
 quantities,—the potter, putting aside his own political feelings, took great care to place 
 upon the same vase the portraits of victors and vanquished on a footing of equality, 
 in order that his preference, if he had any, might remain safely concealed. 
 
 Fig. 66 represents Henry II., King of France, a full-length figure of good style. 
 This schnelle, of masterly execution, has on the other side Philip II. of Spain, also in 
 full length, and both are accompanied with the royal arms of their respective countries. 
 It is signed with the same initials, F. T., which never appear but on superior models. 
 Replicas of this fine piece are of great rarity. 
 
 Another rare schnelle, signed with the familiar initials H. H., is adorned with 
 the portrait of Henry IV. of France, and the arms of Navarre. 
 
 Three figures, no doubt of historical importance, are embossed on a schnelle, 
 or canette, of smaller dimension ; one of them is here reproduced on fig. 67. They are 
 richly attired in the Spanish fashion, and bear sceptres and olive branches in 
 
Siegburg. 105 
 
 their hand. Underneath each figure is inscribed a short sentence in mixed Latin and 
 Low German, which reads like the promises of a prince addressing his newly conquered 
 subjects : 
 
 JusTiciA Zert. Pax ich Begert. 
 
 Veritas halt wert. 
 
 No initials, date, or armorial bear¬ 
 ings assist us in identifying the illus¬ 
 trious personages represented by the 
 artist. The vague aspirations expressed 
 in the inscriptions towards Justice, 
 
 Peace, and Truth, were common feelings 
 entertained in these troubled times by 
 all people in the Low Countries ; from 
 these words we cannot therefore derive 
 any precise information. Still the piece 
 comes unquestionably within the range 
 of those we have called " historical.” 
 
 When it was made these portraits were 
 probably known to all, and in them 
 were at once recognized the heroes of the 
 moment. By the number of copies still 
 in existence, we see that it must have 
 been a popular model. Pottery offers us 
 innumerable instances of a piece made 
 with the view of being distributed among 
 the people, like a medal or a print, to 
 spread the dawning popularity of an alien 
 sovereign, or of the new governor of a 
 province ; this one had, in all probability, 
 been ordered to answer such a purpose. 
 
 It is precisely when we chance to 
 meet with a specimen of this sort, so full 
 of interest in its historical associations, 
 that we cannot help regretting the scarcity of subjects which would allow us to follow, 
 recorded on the clay, the social and political vicissitudes through which the potter lived 
 and worked. 
 
 Fig. 66. SCHNELLE WITH FIGURE OF HeNRY II. 
 South Kensington Museum. Height, ii in. 
 
 P 
 
io6 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 A last portrait must be added to this short list, the most interesting of all when 
 taken in connection with the Siegburg potters. It is the half-length figure of their 
 
 patron, the Duke of Cleves-Berg, repre¬ 
 sented in full armour, duly inscribed and ac¬ 
 companied with his well-known coat of arms. 
 
 But if the group of historical pieces is 
 a very limited one, we must say that, in 
 another order of ideas, subjects of all pos¬ 
 sible description have been put under con¬ 
 tribution for the adornment of the schnelles. 
 Mythological scenes have been employed 
 with marked predilection ; it may even be 
 said that, intended for a higher class of 
 patrons — ordinary customers troubling 
 themselves very little as a rule about 
 Olympian gods and their doings—they 
 exhibit generally a superior treatment. The 
 best hands were intrusted with the cutting 
 of the moulds, and these latter were reserved 
 to complete the richest and most elaborate 
 articles. Such pieces as the schnelles with 
 the Feats of Hercules, or the Judgment of 
 Paris (fig. 68), are, for style of design as well 
 as for finish of execution, equal to the best 
 works of white stoneware. Unfortunately 
 copies do not often turn up, and, like other 
 good works, they are in a minority in the 
 crowd of more ordinary specimens. 
 
 A set of figures after Virgilius Solis : 
 Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Juno, and other 
 deities, framed into complicated borders 
 with strap-work of Italian taste, must be 
 mentioned as common to Raeren and Sieg¬ 
 burg. Such replicas showclearlythat neither 
 centre was above pirating the successful 
 In point of number, however, mythological 
 
 Fig. 67. Unknown Personage. 
 Museum of Antiquities, Brussels. 
 
 models introduced by the competitors, 
 subjects are not to be compared with religious or heraldic ones. 
 
Scenes of common life, where one sees the peasants carousing at the tavern, or 
 disporting themselves at the dance,—realistic pictures such as were so much to the 
 taste of the merry Fleming,—are altogether absent from the drinking pots intended 
 for the more sedate frequenter of the German beer hall. 
 
 Noblemen carrying a falcon on the fist, noble dames holding a symbolical flower, 
 in stiff attitudes and stately costumes, sometimes adorn the sides of a large pitcher 
 duly emblazoned in the centre, but never are they asso¬ 
 ciated with any vulgar character, peasant or soldier. We 
 cannot put down to the credit of the Siegburg modeller 
 the frieze of the celebrated “ Peasants’ Dance,” which 
 belongs in proper to Raeren, and although often made 
 in white ware, was only the copy of a well-known pattern 
 of brown ware, made only with a view to compete with the 
 original. This subject—or any others of the same kind— 
 is never found on the schnelles; it was reserved for jugs 
 imitative of the brown ware types, as well in form as in 
 decoration. The model used at Siegburg was not however 
 a mere cast taken from a Raeren one; it was cut direct, 
 probably from Beham’s engraving, and signed by H. H. 
 in 1591 : the master who marked with these initials is said 
 never to have worked out of Siegburg. 
 
 Upon a jug in the Munich National Museum, sepa¬ 
 rate groups taken from the same Peasants’ Dance appear, 
 this time in connection with the arms of Mayence and a 
 figure of Justice. Pieces made by a potter to be offered 
 as a friendly gift to some parent or acquaintance, and 
 suitably inscribed, however common in other places, are 
 here extremely rare; upon this one the maker has written 
 
 the words: Nickels Hans sorgen mei 1579, “Nicholas John remember me.” It 
 bears the monogram L. W., better known at Raeren than at Siegburg, but yet 
 occasionally found at the latter place. If the potter who marked with that sign really 
 came from the Flemish centre to execute an occasional work, we have the explanation 
 of a dedication quite unusual at Siegburg; as a rule, an armoried shield or a monogram 
 is the only sign denoting a private destination ever seen on any work of white 
 stoneware. The same mould-maker, L. W., has also affixed his initials and the date 
 •593 on a fine frieze comprising several groups of figures engaged in the agricultural 
 occupations of the four seasons of the year. 
 
 Fig. 68. Anc. Coll., Pickert. 
 
io8 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 T F a single category were to be formed of those handled pots to which the German 
 collector applies, in a general way, the name of “ Krug,”—imperfectly translated 
 into English by the word “Jug,”—it would include types of a very wide-apart 
 character. The series would comprise examples of all periods and styles, and the 
 vulgar and coarse article made for the market-place would have to be classified by the 
 side of the finest masterpieces of the art. In shape the “krug” ranges from the tall, 
 narrow-footed balustre vase, to the low, squat, broad-bellied pitcher;—from the heavy, 
 rough, and unornamented water-pot, to the refined ewer, gracefully profiled, daintily 
 chased, and elegantly completed with long spout and curved handle. 
 
 The order we have so far adopted brings us now to describe the group formed by 
 the jugs. Yet the “ Schnabell Krug,” or spouted jug, to which we have just referred, 
 can hardly be said to belong to the same class as the vulgar pitcher; it deserves, at all 
 events, to be named before all others. In good English, and with our modern notions, 
 this shape would bear quite another name. We should be tempted to believe that it 
 was used to contain hot beverages; it is the nearest approach to the vessel we are 
 used to call a coffee-pot. But we know that stoneware was not intended to contain 
 hot liquids, and those spouted jugs were probably intended to serve old wine, costly 
 liquors, and cordials. The name of “ ewer ” is therefore the name which should be 
 applied to them. 
 
 Nothing seems to have been spared to make of some of those ewers the most 
 perfect examples of white stoneware, and almost an equal amount of commendation 
 can be bestowed upon the generality of these favourite performances of the best and 
 most talented craftsmen. It was for such delicate and minute traceries as cover the 
 handles and spouts of the ewers that dies and matrices were, at great cost, sunk in 
 hard and fine-grained stone. The friezes, running round the cylindrical neck and upon 
 the medial part of the body, equal in grace and power the happiest designs of the 
 Renaissance ornamentist; in fineness of treatment, in chiselling of details, one can say 
 that they surpass any work for which clay has been employed as material. The 
 grinning mask in high relief, hiding the junction of the spout, is, as a rule, of great 
 beauty; the top and bottom of the body, which otherwise would have shown traces of 
 the thrower’s hand, are boldly cut in with a blade in a diamond-shaped diaper; finally, 
 the lines of the mouldings are sharply finished on the wheel. We had for 
 reproduction the choice of several very remarkable examples of the same class, yet we 
 have not hesitated in selecting the one etched on Plate IV., an incomparable gem belonging 
 to Mr. Thewalt, burgomaster of Cologne. It was made for Daniel of Merlaw, provost 
 of St. Michel (Coemiterium) and Zell, which is thus recorded in the inscription in 
 exerque of a medal, impressed with a coat of arms, affixed to the shoulder of the vase: 
 
109 
 
 Siegburg. 
 
 Daniel von Merlaw capit . cem . zu fold (Fulda) . prbst zo zell . A. 
 
 Two other jugs with long spouts of simpler description, but still much above the 
 ordinary class of trade goods, will be found farther on, figs. 72, 73. 
 
 The drinking pots of balustre shape deserved to be treated separately, and a few 
 pages have already been devoted to these most original and distinctive productions of 
 the white stoneware potter; we have no need therefore to revert to them in this place. 
 Conjointly with the balustre pot—which represents the local type—many other beer 
 vessels were manufactured of a more commonplace form, better suited to answer, as a 
 table requisite, the notions generally accepted in other German provinces. We mean 
 the jug proper,—the real jug,—to which no more dignified name can be applied; the 
 vessel which is neither a vase nor an ewer; whose plain form does not aim at being 
 elegant and attractive, but is meant to look serviceable and handy. For this reason, 
 perhaps, although capable of receiving any amount of adornment, that jug was not often 
 selected by the best makers as affording a suitable ground for the display of exceptional 
 workmanship. We do not go so far as to assert this to be a rule; if so, we should 
 have to acknowledge that there is an unlimited number of exceptions to it. It is an 
 observation suggested to us by the recollection of the very different treatment the same 
 piece would have received at the hand of the Raeren potter. One may say, from the 
 comparative study of the works of both centres, that at Siegburg, the smaller the piece, 
 the richer it is in its surface decoration ; at Raeren, on the contrary, the larger the vase, 
 the finer and the more costly is the work bestowed upon it. There is no denying that 
 the masterpieces of brown stoneware are all to be found amongst jugs of unusual 
 capacity, and that such important models are one and all far from being unique, but, 
 on the contrary, found so often duplicated as to show us that they were counted 
 amongst the regular productions of the manufactories. 
 
 Generally speaking, the bulky pitcher made at Siegburg affected the plain shape of 
 the jar; its outline runs, unbroken by any fillet or moulding, from the narrow neck 
 to its broad base, and the whole shows no more artistic pretensions than become a 
 modest and practical household utensil. Two or three circular medallions are stuck 
 on the broad expanse of the body, and, according to the subject they represent, these 
 medallions seem to indicate the destination of the huge vessel. Is it the Crucifixion, 
 or other religious subject ?—we may then take the pitcher as having been one of the 
 simple appointments appertaining to the monastic cells, where it contained the water 
 for the use of their pious inhabitants. Is the subject of the medallion a more worldly 
 one?—we may see in that particular example the convenient beer pot in which that 
 beverage was brought from the cellar in sufficient quantity to refresh a large number of 
 guests. 
 
I lO 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 The style of the applied ornaments departs notably on large jugs from that used 
 on the schnelles, and never are the same subjects reproduced on both shapes. Instead 
 of long bands, containing complete scenes stuck in one piece, separate figures, broad 
 leaves, rosettes, or animals are neatly cut out, and disposed on the ground, so as to 
 form a pleasant arrangement. We do not know of a single “ canette ” on which the 
 scheme of decoration has been carried out by means of fragmentary details. This, on the 
 
 contrary, was the plan followed 
 in forming on the large jug illus¬ 
 trated on fig. 69 the stately array 
 of noble dames, in gorgeous attire 
 and with Scriptural names, which 
 is displayed on each side of the 
 well-known escutcheon of Cleves- 
 Berg. We must add that the 
 same method is adhered to for all 
 pieces of similar shape. 
 
 These shapes are almost exact 
 reproductions of the most ancient 
 water-pots. Since the mediaeval 
 era, no modification has been 
 introduced in the proportions or 
 profiles of these most handy 
 vessels. Designed upon the best 
 notion of practicability, none of 
 the more elegant forms imagined 
 afterwards could supersede them 
 in the estimation of the sensible 
 
 Fig. 69. B'”” Oppenheim Coll. Height, 14 in. 
 
 housewife who went through the 
 market-place in search of a pitcher 
 of convenient size, easy to fill, handy to carry, and standing firm on the bottom. The 
 coarse material was in the course of ages improved into a fine stoneware body, the 
 fashioning perfected, but the form was so well adapted to the requirements that it 
 could not be altered ; a more or less elaborate treatment of the designs devised for its 
 outward embellishment sufficed to make the old jug keep up with new taste. 
 
 All pottery in early stages of manufacture evinces so sure a feeling of rationalism 
 that it is rare to see the standard types of antiquity disappear completely from the 
 works of advanced civilization. If we wanted another example to illustrate this 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 111 
 
 principle, we should find it in the jug, fig. 70, also derived from the ancient terra cotta 
 pitcher, but this time one of small dimensions. A glance at our sketch will enable us 
 to judge of its probable capacity. The differences between it and the larger pot have 
 been dictated by the different use it was to be put to. It is a drinking vessel for the 
 table; there was no necessity to swell the sides to make it hold more than one draught, 
 therefore it is tall instead of bulky; but to be conveniently filled the aperture had to be 
 enlarged in proportion to the largest diameter, so instead of terminating in a narrow 
 neck, the top is broad and widely opened. 
 
 Modern crockery offers many proofs of the real 
 merit of such shapes ; they have not yet been 
 discarded by the potmaker, and will never be 
 replaced by better ones. 
 
 This last example is not of a model com¬ 
 monly found at Siegburg, nevertheless its 
 decoration remains truly characteristic. It was 
 made for the trade of some distant province. 
 
 The arms of Austria spread their broad shield 
 on the front of the piece, surmounted by the 
 figure of an angel. This angel is often added 
 to escutcheons where it is quite out of keeping 
 with the other heraldic bearings; we have seen 
 it on fig. 69 forming the crest of the arms of 
 Berg. Perhaps it is their own device that the 
 potters liked to introduce in this peculiar man¬ 
 ner, as a stamp of origin ; an angel stood, as we 
 know, in the arms of the abbatial town. A long 
 inscription, a much rarer instance at Siegburg Fig. 70. Felix Coii. Height, io| in. 
 
 than in other centres, is disposed on the 
 
 shoulders of the jug, impressed in two bands, slanting in a curious way. It reads thus : 
 
 U CH . GOT . WE . GERN . ICH . WISEN . WOLT . FUR . WEM . ICH . MICH . HUIDEN . 
 SOULT. “ O God ! would that I knew against whom I am to guard myself." 
 
 Inferior goods were not destroyed, but, in pursuance of a long-established custom, 
 all defective pots made during the year—the sale of which was strictly forbidden by the 
 regulations—were given away to the poor on the feast of St. Annon. Each pauper 
 who on that day received a jug from the Guild, could bring it to the Abbey and have 
 it filled with good beer. Happy was the one to whose lot had fallen a broad and 
 
I 12 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 capacious pitcher, for the understanding was that every jug should be filled to the 
 brim. Indiscreet postulants, attempting to abuse the abbot’s liberality, must have 
 brought to the tap too many jars of unreasonable size, for the chronicles relate that 
 a condition had to be laid down that, although every pot should continue to be “ filled 
 to the brim ” as had been promised, yet those only which could be lifted with one 
 
 arm should be allowed to be carried away. 
 
 As a contrast of richness of workmanship between 
 a large and a small piece, we could not choose a better 
 example than the one etched on Plate I. It is a jug 
 undeniably, in the true acceptation of the word, yet it 
 will stand comparison with the handsomest testimonial 
 pieces of all forms ever made at Siegburg. 
 
 The only criticism we may pass upon it is that 
 not one of the details with which it is so richly clad is 
 the work of the potter or of his formschneider. All 
 the flowers, birds, and stags, in high relief, decorating 
 the shoulder of the vase, as well as the delicate 
 subjects of figures in landscape which form the central 
 frieze, have been evidently borrowed from silver- 
 work. It is in all points a piece exceptional and rare, 
 almost an anomaly, and by no means an article of 
 current trade. A very prominent shield,—again 
 supported by an angel modelled in pure Gothic style, 
 —contains a monogram, which tells of a private 
 destination. The shield, also an impression from 
 metal-work, contained originally an embossed coat 
 of arms; this has been carefully scraped for the 
 occasion, and in its place the trade-mark of some 
 merchant, probably the one for whom the jug was 
 intended, has been incised by hand (see fig. lo). This jug bears no other mark or 
 monogram; it is not dated, and the lid is of plain pewter. 
 
 One of the wealthy dealers with whom the Guild traded so extensively may have 
 had it executed under his own superintendence, and to gratify a whim of his own ; he 
 may himself have lent to the potter the valuable silver piece to be imitated, and from 
 this impressions and moulds had been taken of all the details to be reproduced in clay. 
 It formerly made part of the Bernal collection. 
 
 Other jugs of small size show suffieient richness of workmanship to stand as a 
 
 Fig. 71. B°“' Oppenheim Coll. Height, gi in. 
 
Siegburg. 113 
 
 flat contradiction to our previous observation concerning the apparent disregard in 
 which the jug is held by the Siegburg potter as an ornamental object. Still, we must 
 observe that, when they are not unique examples like the one engraved on Plate I., 
 all jugs are, as a rule, late works, made to imitate, often to reproduce exactly, the 
 brown ware of Raeren. In the Oppenheim collection can be seen a white stoneware 
 replica of the Electors jugs, a type so peculiar to Limburg; and in other museums 
 the peasant dances, coming from the same sources, are preserved in many duplicates. 
 A small specimen of the Flemish 
 form is given on fig. 71. The abbot 
 represented on the shield denotes its 
 conventual destination, and the date 
 1600 inscribed on the field shows 
 that it belongs to a rather late period. 
 
 However interesting may be these 
 loans or piracies, as one may like to 
 call them, we prefer dwelling on the 
 original specimens, evincing a style 
 racy of the soil. 
 
 Still we cannot pass without 
 mention another suggestive impor¬ 
 tation. The full-bellied beer-pot,—to 
 which a bearded face stuck under 
 the spout had caused the name of 
 “Bartman” to be given,—a type so 
 extensively made in every manufac¬ 
 turing centre, could not be altogether 
 missing at Siegburg. But we must 
 hasten to say that it is there of great rarity, and only to be met with in a few stray 
 examples, all of high-class order. 
 
 The one we have selected for reproduction on fig. 72 resembles so closely the 
 “Bartman” of Frechen,—in which locality it was the staple article of trade,—that 
 judging only from our sketch, no one would hesitate in ascribing it to that well-known 
 factory. 
 
 It has decidedly the same mask with flowing beard ; the familiar oak branch with 
 stamped-in leaves and acorns : nothing is changed. We recognize even the diminutive 
 bird which forms the central feature of the leafy ramification so often indulged in 
 on the brown ware. But doubt is no longer possible when we stand in the presence 
 
 Q 
 
 Fig. 72. “Bartman.” South Kensington Museum. 
 Height, 14 in. 
 
The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 114 
 
 of the piece itself; the white clay of which it is made is an undeniable certificate 
 of origin. We must however look at it as an exceptional instance amongst the 
 generality of white stoneware vessels. Its chief interest lies in the fact that it proves 
 once more the interchange of workmen which, in spite of stringent prohibitions, 
 took place between the various manufacturing districts. For such a similitude can 
 only be explained by the fact of a potter who had learned his trade with the Frechen 
 people coming accidentally to import his usual mode of working in the factories of 
 Siegburg. 
 
 Another example of this foreign type is etched on Plate VI. This time the form 
 and the indispensable mask alone remind us of the “Bartman.” The body of the pot 
 is adorned with three medallions, richly carved in the habitual style of the Siegburg 
 “ formschneider.” They represent the half-length figure of Solomon and the Queen of 
 Sheba in fanciful oriental costumes, and surrounded with luxuriant scrolls of foliage and 
 ornamentation. Both the above jugs may be taken as costly and exceptional articles. 
 The common beer-bottle, with no other decoration but the grinning mask, made every¬ 
 where else for the tavern and the village inn, does not enter the range of regular 
 productions in the pot works of Siegburg. 
 
 '' I 'HE constant intercourse kept up between the different districts does not seem to 
 have seriously influenced the character of local manufacture, beyond the repetition 
 in one place of a model successful in another. Time-honoured traditions were not 
 easily replaced by new fashions ; so ways and means remained unaltered in the factories 
 where they had originated. Simple as they were, the processes established during the 
 first years of improved production satisfied for ever after the quiet and easy-going 
 stoneware maker. From the time when we see the white ware of Siegburg beginning 
 to be embellished with application of ornamental reliefs, up to the destruction of the 
 town by the Swedes,—when all good work ceased to be made,—we cannot find 
 any marked movement, either progressive or retrograde, in the state of the handicraft. 
 During a century almost the higher standard is maintained; but there is no sign of 
 any striking modification intervening to impart a little freshness to the immutable style 
 of manufacture. 
 
 As far as technics were concerned, the potter living in those primitive times had 
 few difficulties to contend with ; the making, as well as the decoration of the ware, were 
 confined to a few simple processes, easily mastered. All he had to do, and cared to 
 do, was to follow the revered traditions he had received from his forefathers. To 
 introduce any audacious change in the antique secrets of the craft would have been 
 accounted little short of desecration. If we compare specimens belonging to extreme 
 
Siegburg. 115 
 
 periods, we see, for instance, the rough throwing of the clay, as it was practised by 
 the ancestors, persevered in and still practised by the sons of their grandsons. The 
 last of the balustre jugs shows, just as the first ones had shown centuries before, the 
 coarse ridges left by the impression of the workman’s finger. Never was the scraping 
 tool of the turner—which would have made it smooth like a Raeren jug—applied to the 
 uneven surface. These inequalities are visible on the sides of all pots, even when they 
 are partially concealed by the deep incisions cut into the clay with a sharp blade, so as 
 to form a lozenge-shaped diaper, or by the superposition of the thin bands of clay 
 covered with embossed ornaments, bent and made to espouse the curve of the piece, 
 after they had been pressed in separate moulds. 
 
 The primitive matrix or mould of a single shell was never improved upon. 
 The notion of constructing a complete mould by means of parts cunningly joined 
 together, into which a whole vase or figure could be pressed and finished on all 
 its faces at one operation, never penetrated into the factories. On that account 
 models pressed in the round were not produced. The nearest approach to a sculptural 
 object was obtained by combining and sticking together fragmentary portions, pressed 
 separately; of such works we have given several examples in the beginning of this 
 chapter. 
 
 Pottery of the primitive period and of the roughest kind is often fashioned by the 
 finger of man into the representation of natural objects, but we cannot call to mind 
 having ever come across a piece made at Siegburg at the best of times which was 
 completely modelled by hand. 
 
 Painting, or anything indicating the use of the brush, even so little as the tracing 
 of a name or of an inscription, seems never to have been thought of. Staining with 
 metallic oxides, which alone could have transformed the outward look of the ware, was 
 in truth resorted to, but almost reluctantly, and with great parsimony. Oxides of 
 cobalt, manganese, and iron—pigments turned later to such good account by the 
 Grenzhausen potters—were known and sometimes used; but no pleasant effect ever 
 resulted from the clumsy spots of brown or blue with which some pieces were 
 occasionally daubed. Far from bettering them, this heavy patching of colour often 
 disfigured the raised traceries they were meant to improve. Such is the case with the 
 elegant ewer given on fig. 73, where the fine details carved on the cuirass of the warrior, 
 and the features of the grinning mask under the spout, disappear under a thick coating 
 of brown paste, spoiling all the delicacy of the workmanship. 
 
 From this example, and many others, one can easily understand why such an 
 imperfect method of introducing one or more colours was not generally adopted. 
 
 The effect obtained by a superficial rubbing of powdered " Zaffre ” is more 
 
116 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 satisfactory, and certain specimens are thus happily clouded with a light blue tint which 
 enhances still more the delicacy of the reliefs. This process was much more extensively 
 employed in the Raeren factories, from which it had probably been borrowed, and can 
 hardly be brought to the credit of any master of the Siegburg Guild. 
 
 The white faience, then coming to the front in other parts of Germany, must have 
 at one moment preoccupied the mind of the stoneware potter; and to resist a dreaded 
 competition, he tried to make use of the stanniferous enamel which made the faience 
 
 so white and glossy, On some 
 of the big pitchers above de¬ 
 scribed, we notice broad touches of 
 opaque enamel, running over the 
 sides of the piece in heavy drops 
 of bluish colour. The application 
 is only partial and irregular, and 
 often all traces of it disappear 
 in the firing. Only a few im¬ 
 perfect experiments show that the 
 practice was attempted for a short 
 time. 
 
 As a rule, the Siegburg potter, 
 proud of the white ground of his 
 ware, was rather averse to hide 
 it under any staining or coloured 
 glaze, and he left this subterfuge to 
 those who could not boast of such a 
 
 Fig. 73. Jug Stained WITH Brow Cologne Museum, pure material. He is Certainly at 
 
 his best when he confines himself 
 to his unglazed and richly embossed white clay, and we must ask nothing more 
 of him. 
 
 Notwithstanding the scantiness of technical processes employed, we cannot tax the 
 vessels of white stoneware with being short of interest and lacking variety. Invention 
 and originality are, on the contrary, the distinctive qualities of the innumerable works 
 contributed by the chief craftsmen to whom was intrusted the care of upholding the 
 good name of the Guild. The repetition of a well-known form was always avoided in 
 the case of a piece intended for a special purpose, and the choice of subjects provided 
 for its completion was so large, that of many of them not two examples are known. 
 
 It is to be observed that very few articles, even those of a common order, are left 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 plain or insufficiently decorated. If we look at the brown ware in the aggregate, we shall 
 find the greater number of the small jugs or pints with no more than a single medallion 
 impressed upon their smooth bodies ; on the schnelles, and other small vessels of white 
 ware, it is a rare exception if the scheme of decoration, however simple it purposed to be, 
 does not spread all over the surface. The applied bands of embossed subjects were a very 
 expeditious and inexpensive mode of embellishment, and they were unsparingly made 
 use of when the shape of the piece 
 
 was best suited to receive them. 
 
 When a complicated profile 
 would have rendered such applica¬ 
 tion impracticable, great finish 
 could still be imparted to the piece 
 by a well-calculated combination 
 of incised patterns cut by hand, and 
 by rosettes or arabesques impressed 
 with seals in the wet clay. Fig. 74 
 is a very good illustration of this 
 particular kind of work. 
 
 In the act of 1552 these two 
 operations are referred to under the 
 names of “ Geschniiten" and “ Ge- 
 drucktenwerk," or “cut in ” and 
 “impressed work." It is added that 
 either one or the other method 
 may serve for the completion of 
 ordinary goods, but that only on 
 articles of superior class should they fig. 74. jug with impressed work. Arc. Coil, Oedon. 
 
 ^ ■' Height, 9 in. 
 
 be conjointly employed. 
 
 Fanciful vases of eccentric shapes, masterpieces of the art, made for presentation, or 
 by special commission, anything in short that came out of the regular trade pots, the list 
 of which was every year drawn by the council, was placed out of the pale of general 
 regulations. Such works were held as having nothing in common with the daily 
 productions of the journeyman, and their makers were considered as independent 
 artists. The Herrenwerkleuten, or “lords’ artisans,” as they were called, enjoyed 
 many privileges, denied to all other members of the craft. For them there was no 
 restriction of time; they could work at any hour they pleased, and during the season 
 when work was suspended in all the factories. No tariff was imposed on them ; 
 
The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 ii8 
 
 their charges, it is said, were very heavy; the price for a new model had to be 
 discussed with the artist, and settled by mutual agreement, before the work was 
 undertaken. 
 
 Lofty candlesticks, elegant ewers, schnelles of extraordinary size or exceptional 
 workmanship, were all works of the “lords’ artisans.” 
 
 Their favourite performance is, perhaps, the long-necked bottle, displaying on both 
 its flattened faces the many-quartered escutcheon of the high and mighty personage to 
 whom it was to be humbly presented. Considering their princely destination, we can 
 expect these special works to have been executed with an unusual display of skill and 
 care, and certainly none of those which have been preserved to us fall short of our 
 expectation. They should, all and severally, deserve to be here described and 
 reproduced; but our limited space does not allow us to give more than a selection, 
 which cannot pretend to supply an adequate idea of the excellence and variety of the 
 many specimens belonging to that class. (See Plates VI. and VII., and fig. 75.) 
 
 Perforated lion heads, or loops, provided along the sides for the purpose of 
 suspension, intimate that they were meant as hunting or harvest bottles. Not that 
 their lordly possessor can be supposed to have ever slung them across his shoulder and 
 carried their heavy weight through woods and fields; yet they may have been often 
 brought into use. They made part of the baggage brought by the valets to the 
 meeting-place in the forest, where the hunting party joined at midday to partake of 
 a rustic repast spread on the grass in some shady nook, and during the hasty collation 
 the welcome flagon was passed from hand to hand. At the harvest feast, when the 
 labour of the fields was at an end, the lord and master, accompanied by his family, was 
 wont to drink with the peasants ; while barrels of beer and casks of wine were staved 
 in for the refreshment of the thirsty crowd, the large stoneware flask did duty at the 
 extemporary board at which sat the noble party presiding over these festivities. In 
 ordinary times the curious earthen vessel stood on the dresser shelves in the banqueting 
 hall of the castle, where it was far from cutting a bad figure, even by the side of rare 
 glass and costly plate. 
 
 All sets of ware prepared to be forwarded as presents by the abbot, by the 
 magistrates of the town, or by the potters themselves as a propitiatory accompaniment 
 to a request, or a compliment addressed to a powerful patron, included one of these 
 wonderful bottles, so well suited to show off the heraldic devices (Plate VI,). The town’s 
 old accounts tell us of the heavy costs incurred by the municipality for the cutting of 
 special moulds with rich coats of arms and their bearings of figures and animals. Such 
 extra models were always understood to be reserved for the solitary occasion, and on no 
 account to be afterwards vulgarized by appearing on the common ware ; and this is the 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 119 
 
 reason why we find that the finest subjects are also the rarest; many remaining unique, 
 and never found but once. 
 
 Silver mountings often increased the intrinsic value of art work. To very 
 few pieces, unfortunately, 
 have the valuable settings 
 been preserved; the greed 
 of some needy Philistine 
 having long ago converted 
 them into hard cash. The 
 pear-shaped gourd of the 
 Weckerlhin collection (fig. 
 
 75) has escaped the doom 
 of the majority, and still 
 proudly shows its silver 
 chain passed through the 
 appointed rings ; it is dated 
 1586, and has an unknown 
 coat of arms repeated seve¬ 
 ral times, with the mono¬ 
 gram M.G. 
 
 When offered to a less 
 important personage,—one 
 of the religious fathers of the 
 Abbey, for instance,—in¬ 
 stead of armorial bearings, 
 
 Adam and Eve, or other 
 biblical subjects, adorned 
 the centre, invariably ac¬ 
 companied, however, by 
 heraldic lions, the usual 
 support of the shields 
 (Plate VII.). 
 
 On the flat-faced hunt- Fig. 75. harvest bottle. South Kensington Museum. 
 
 Height, 16 in. 
 
 ing bottle we find occasion¬ 
 ally the earliest of the decorative expedients of the white stoneware potters taken up at 
 a late period, and exposed in the most open manner,—we mean the overcastings of the 
 reliefs from metal-work. All the front part of a specimen of this class, in the Cologne 
 
I 20 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 Museum, is occupied by a cast taken from a tazza of repoussd silver, chased by an 
 artist of the Cellini school. It is unnecessary to repeat, that such hybrid productions 
 lose all the character of real pottery works, and we have no cause to regret that they are 
 not more numerous in the collections. 
 
 The annals of the craft carry us far beyond the dispersion of its members in 1632. A 
 semblance of a Guild remained constituted, and the reports of the council continued to 
 be entered in the registers, but with the destruction of the town the making of the artistic 
 stoneware of Siegburg came abruptly to an end. No specimen worth our attention is 
 known to bear a posterior date. No doubt the old style persisted for some years’, but 
 as there was no demand for richly-decorated articles, the manufacture soon sunk to the 
 lowest level, and we have no means for ascertaining what sort of common articles could 
 be still produced. 
 
 All we know is, that three master potters only remained in the town after its final 
 destruction; the majority of their former companions had emigrated to better lands. 
 We cannot feel much interested in the ware they may have produced, when we hear 
 that those three lonely masters represented all the craft, and that their joint efforts did 
 not succeed in firing more than four ovenfuls in the whole year. When assembled in 
 council, their deliberations had all reference to the disposal of the wretched bottles they 
 still managed to turn out, a point over which they were constantly quarrelling. 
 
 Up to our days a few workshops have continued to exist, conducted by descendants 
 of the old families. Common utensils for the neighbouring towns are all that can be 
 now found in a place once at the head of the industry. About fifty years ago a private 
 attempt was made by a local potter to revive the departed art. A certain Lowenich 
 undertook to take up the making of the embossed canettes and balustre jugs just at the 
 point where his ancestors had left it two hundred years before. The same clay was 
 there at hand, old moulds turned up every day from the ruins of the old suburb, it is 
 not therefore to be wondered at if, under such conditions, he succeeded in reproducing 
 some old models with sufficient accuracy to deceive for a time the judgment of many 
 collectors. Those^imitations have found their place in museums and collections, where 
 no one thinks of suspecting their authenticity. 
 
 In many instances, however, the fraud is easily detected; it is when the forger, 
 with too great a confidence in his creative powers, instead of a servile copy of a genuine 
 old piece has given us a work of his own imagination. A well-known example of this 
 kind is exhibited in a public museum, as a warning to those still unaware of the 
 existence of such barefaced impositions. It is a large jug of a fancy shape, which, this 
 time, does not claim relationship with any known shape of ancient stoneware. The 
 embossed subjects, freely distributed all over the ground, form such a ludicrous medley 
 
UP>' 
 
Siegburg. 
 
 I2I 
 
 as to arouse at once the suspicion of the most confident looker on. We have in it a 
 good supply of coats of arms belonging to places and periods never before associated 
 together; but the most curious part of the design is the introduction of a figure of J oan 
 of Arc, accompanied by a long and extravagant inscription on the deeds of the Maid 
 of Orleans. 
 
 A comprehensive survey of the progress of the art at Siegburg can only be 
 obtained by a visit to the collection formed by Mr. H. Hetjens. If the national 
 museums of Europe can boast of possessing the most celebrated masterpieces of 
 the craft, in the Hetjens collection a host of specimens of minor importance, snatched 
 from the soil, may be said to represent the whole manufacture in all branches and 
 at all times. We are amazed at the enormous quantity of fragments, once picked 
 up by the shovelful in the excavations, and now properly classified, so as to exhibit 
 a sample of almost every model ever produced. What may have become of the 
 lost vases represented here by a small shard, is a question which suggests itself 
 at the sight of the many subjects we notice for the first time; and what must have 
 been the number of admirable productions of which not even a fragment has come 
 down to us ? 
 
 It is a rare pleasure to overhaul the contents of a collection formed, not at 
 
 the auction rooms, but out of the genuine discoveries of its owner. A brief 
 
 description of it will not here be out of place. 
 
 Beginning at the cellars of the house, we find the ground disappearing under a 
 thick layer of broken pots, brought over from Siegburg and deposited there just as 
 they were. A preliminary selection has already taken place; what remains consists 
 chiefly of portions of vases, handles, necks or feet, heaped up according to shape- 
 On the first story we enter the workshops, where all that was of special value has 
 
 been stored up: shelves bend under the load of heavy pieces; drawers are left 
 
 open, overfull with smaller bits; the floor itself is strewn with specimens in 
 course of restoration. Order and method have presided over this apparent 
 chaos. Fragmented subjects belonging to one model are packed up together. With 
 incomparable skill the genius loci cuts out, grinds, fits, and joins as many pieces 
 as are necessary to reconstitute a vase in its entirety. Any odd subject of interest 
 is neatly cut out into shape, and goes to swell the contents of an immense cupboard, 
 fitted with trays like a coin cabinet, and where they are arranged by series : the 
 coats of arms; the friezes and panels; the masks; the ornamental details; etc., 
 in short, a world of medallions and reliefs, which, taken in connection with the 
 vases exhibited in the Museum Room, forms an unparalleled collection we wish all 
 lovers of stoneware had the good fortune to visit and admire. 
 
 R 
 
RAEREN. 
 
 § I. HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 
 
 The birthplace of brown stoneware—Present aspect of the district—First searches 
 instituted to discover the place.where brown ware was manufactured—The Vicaire 
 Schmitz—Earliest records—Small jugs with figures of Royal personages—Date 
 1539 a fragment—Bartman with date 1550—Ware made for the English 
 markets—Grey and blue ware—The potters—Their patrons of the religious orders— 
 Regulations and statutes—Manufacture and customs of the trade—The potters at 
 work and at play—Ovens—Baldem Mennicken and Jan Emens—Engel Kran— 
 Everard Kalf—Jan Allers, etc.—Marks of potters—Merchants. 
 
 % II. THE WARE. 
 
 Early period—Jugs with cylindrical cerces—Peasant dances and scenes of common 
 life—Scriptural and mythological subjects—Electors’ jugs and historical pieces— 
 Fountain of Treves—Schnelles or pints—Common ware—Kaiser jugs—Presenta¬ 
 tion pieces—Pilgrim bottle of Cornelimiinster—Imitations of Siegburg ware—Jugs 
 with the coats of arms of local families—Fancy pieces—Annular jugs—Parallel 
 between Raeren and Siegburg. 
 
 
■•V 
 
 .-■y - v~ 
 
 X '■ 
 
 .V L.',.-; JUiiii-ic. f 'i ii • t. ■ 
 
 
 
ECOND to none, the fabrics of Raeren stand, like 
 those of Siegburg, unrivalled in their specialities. 
 Each place was the cradle of a very distinct class 
 of production ; and if all the white stoneware made 
 subsequently in Germany may be said to have 
 its source in the early works of the potters of the 
 abbatial town, the brown pottery of Raeren must 
 be considered as the fountain head of all Flemish 
 stoneware. All other factories are but ramifications 
 of these two old and important centres, to which 
 history shows them to have been more or less 
 directly related. 
 
 But it would be a more difficult task to establish what connection, if any, ever 
 existed between the early makers of white and brown ware; the striking contrast 
 presented by their works would induce one to believe that they started in their trade 
 wholly independent of each other. The difference does not lie so much in the 
 disparity of the clay employed at Raeren and at Siegburg, causing a ware of a special 
 
126 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 colour to be exclusively manufactured, as in the manifest originality of the shapes and 
 the style of ornamentation always adhered to in each of these places. Notwithstanding 
 a few successful patterns made conjointly at a late period, the art of the two countries 
 preserved to the end its characteristics. We have seen the members of the Siegburg 
 Guild remain faithful to the models created by their ancestors ; it is equally true that 
 the native taste of the Flemish potter has never been permanently influenced by the 
 works of his German competitor. 
 
 T he parish of Raeren belonged to the province of Limburg. This province made 
 part of that ill-defined territory which was usually referred to as the “ Low 
 Countries,” or “ Flanders.” After having remained an appanage of the Duchy of Brabant 
 up to 1814, it was, on the recasting of that part of the map, incorporated into Germany. 
 The stoneware of that district is then truly and beyond dispute of Flemish birth, and 
 can well, even now, be styled “ Grfes de Flandres.” Much has been said about a few 
 inscriptions written upon the ware in bad German, but this would not tell for much 
 against the appellation, considering that against these can be set a greater number of 
 other inscriptions written in good Flemish. The Flemish language was generally 
 spoken in Limburg, still, owing to the proximity of the frontier, German was not 
 unfamiliar to some of the inhabitants. 
 
 Nothing of what we see now-a-days of the surrounding country would make us 
 suspect that it was once covered with manufactories; that in this smiling landscape, 
 where barns, stables, and farmsteads cluster at every fold of the shady hills and at every 
 bend of the running brooks, once the fire and smoke of hundreds of chimneys darkened 
 the atmosphere, and that the refuse, constantly cast away by the ovens in activity, 
 smothered far and wide all vegetation under its hideous and sterile scurf. On our 
 visit to this classical ground, when we passed through the village as it now stands, we 
 realized how it was that the present inhabitants had lost all memory of the trade of their 
 forefathers, and why archaeologists and amateurs had remained so long without suspect¬ 
 ing its importance. While Canon Dornbush was prosecuting his investigations on the 
 Siegburg stoneware, all information that came within his notice had reference to the 
 white pottery he had traced to its birthplace, but all was silent about the many vases 
 of dark clay covered with a bright brown glaze, also admitted into every ceramic 
 collection, and as much admired as their better known contemporaries. Of that brown 
 ware nothing had hitherto been known; and the place of its origin was not even 
 suspected. He wondered, with good cause, that in the mass of documents he perused 
 no allusion to brown pots had ever met his eye; this mystery aroused his curiosity. 
 
 Raeren, a small, insignificant village, never had a history of its own like the 
 
Raeren. 
 
 127 
 
 abbatial town, and its name, when it appears in any document or topographical work, 
 is spelt in many strange and misleading ways; little or nothing about its former 
 industry is to be discovered through such channels. A curious instance of incorrect 
 information is to be found in Rits, “ History of the Lower Rhine,” Aachen, 1824. 
 The author mentions the viliage, and calls it Schuttolckens Raeren; he adds “ that it 
 took its name from a poor man who, with the clay found in that part of Limbourg, used 
 to make pots, and was wont to hawk them himself about the country.” No doubt this 
 refers not to any of the atfcient potters who once plied their craft on the spot, but 
 rather to one of their poor descendants who still, at the time of the publication of the 
 book, practised by himself, and unaided, a trade then almost extinct. 
 
 In some other works the village is designated under the name of “ Kanne Roren,” 
 or Pots Roren; and this name, met with several times, awoke at last Dornbush’s 
 perspicacity. He asked himself whether this “ Pots Roren ” might not be the cradle of 
 that brown ware the origin of which had so far baffled his investigations. As soon as 
 he had entered into communication with the curd of Raeren, the veil was lifted and the 
 mystery at an end. The surnames impressed on the vases and sent by him to his 
 correspondent, were at once recognized as belonging to families still existing in the 
 land, although they had long since relinquished the vocation of potters. Then the true 
 meaning of the celebrated inscription, which had perplexed and misled so many, came 
 out in its simplicity. This inscription runs thus : 
 
 MeSTER . BaLDEM . MeNNICKEN . POTENBECKER, WONENDE ZO . DEN 
 Roren . in Leiden . Gedolt . 1577. 
 
 So far the reading of the above had resulted in very ludicrous translations; such 
 as “ Master Baldem Mennicken, potter, resident at Leyden, at the sign of The 
 Fountain,’^^^^ others quite as fanciful and far-fetched, since it was only a question of 
 a potter living at Roren (Raeren), and who had appended to his name the philosophical 
 sentence “ In leyden gedolt,” “ Patience in troubles ” ! 
 
 From that time nothing more was required than to follow the thread so happily 
 discovered, and it was then that Mr. Vicaire Schmitz undertook to institute systematic 
 searches all over the parish. He called forth the recollections of the oldest 
 inhabitants, consulted the public registers and family deeds, and at last directed a few 
 preliminary diggings, the result of which proved most promising. This took place at 
 the end of the year 1874. Stimulated by this happy start, he brought all his influence 
 to bear upon his parishioners to induce them to help him energetically in his 
 investigations. One Sunday, as the whole congregation was mustered before the 
 church gates, he spoke to them to that effect, and made them aware of the benefit that 
 
128 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 would accrue to them from any discoveries they might make. He told them that the 
 ware buried all around in the soil was of such value, that not only whole pots, but 
 even fragments would find ready purchasers; he urged them therefore in their 
 own interest to set to work at once. His advice was acted upon to the letter, and 
 trenches were up in every direction in the whole parish. Soon there was not a 
 place, where an abnormal swelling of the ground indicated that some heap of refuse 
 might probably have been deposited, that was left undisturbed by the spade of the 
 excavator. The harvest turned out to be the most profitable that the poor peasants 
 had ever obtained from their fields. Dealers and collectors came over from all parts of 
 Germany. But by reason of the high prices offered by these visitors outbidding each 
 other to secure the smallest find, the instigator of this search for treasures, Vicaire 
 Schmitz, had to withdraw from the contest and remain satisfied with such minor 
 fragments as were occasionally presented to him by his grateful parishioners. The 
 collection he was able to form under the circumstances became, however, a small 
 museum, if not of high market value, yet of great interest with respect to the history of 
 the local manufacture. It was through the sagacious examination and classification 
 of these fragments—comprising broken vases, coats of arms, inscribed medallions, and 
 incomplete friezes or figure subjects, an assemblage in which, although in an imperfect 
 form, all types and models were represented—that he succeeded in reconstituting the 
 long-forgotten history and determine the distinguishing features of the brown ware of 
 Raeren. Eventually he embodied the results of his observations in a series of interesting 
 papers published in 1879 in the “Bulletin des Commissions Royales d’Art et 
 d’Archdologie de Belgique.” They form an interesting monograph, to which we are 
 happy to acknowledge our indebtedness for most of the historical particulars to be 
 found hereafter. We must not forget to record the assistance he received from Mr. 
 President Schuermans, who explored in his behalf the national archives, and supplied 
 him with information gathered from sources different from those to which Vicaire Schmitz 
 could have access. Mr. Schuermans published at intervals, in the same periodical, 
 several learned papers from which we have also largely borrowed. Mr. James Weale, 
 the distinguished archajologist who has devoted part of his life to the study of Mediaeval 
 art in the Low Countries, took also a share in these early labours. An intimate friend 
 of Canon Dornbush, he had promised him not to lose sight of the then pending question of 
 the origin of the brown stoneware. The inscription we have quoted above was to be also 
 his starting point; but again an incorrect interpretation of the word Roren caused him 
 at first to work on the wrong track, making him look for traces of old pot works on 
 the banks of the Roer, a tributary of the Meuse, and also on the Ruhr, an affluent of the 
 Rhine. Baffled, but not conquered, his sagacity remained on the alert, and he too, one 
 
Raeren. 
 
 129 
 
 day came to the conclusion that the Roren of the inscription was no other than the 
 Limburg village of Raeren. He decided on taking the journey to ascertain the truth 
 of his supposition, and arrived on the spot just as the preliminary investigations were 
 being instituted. Some successful excavations conducted by him solved the problem at 
 once; he then left them to be continued by other hands important work, claiming his 
 attention elsewhere, prevented him from prosecuting his searches any further in that 
 quarter. 
 
 The ground is far from being exhausted; interesting finds will still, we hope, be 
 made at Raeren, although the energy with which the diggings were first carried on makes 
 important discoveries now a matter of greater difficulty. At the outset the mere 
 scratching of the soil was rewarded by the finding of some curious fragment; while deep 
 excavations were often crowned with unexpected success. More than once the pickaxe 
 reopened ancient trenches in which long rows of unbroken vases lay buried beneath 
 a thick covering of clay. They were pieces condemned by the overseer as unfit for 
 sale on account of their showing some slight imperfections. At Siegburg all imperfect 
 work was given to the poor ; at Raeren the custom of the trade sentenced them to be 
 destroyed. Yet the potter was often loath to smash wantonly the fruit of his labour, and 
 preferred to bury it in secret, leaving to fate the care of bringing it to light again; 
 hoping, perhaps, that at some future time these pots might reveal to posterity what had 
 been the talent and skill of their maker. And, in fact, they did one day come forth from 
 their grave, and stand before our admiring gaze just in the same state as they were when 
 buried centuries before. A thin fire-crack, a twist in the neck, a slightly crooked foot, 
 had been the sole cause of their rejection. Such insignificant blemishes could mar but 
 little the rapture and gratification of the excavator, when he chanced to come across a 
 long row of such complete specimens, the fragments of which would have amply satisfied 
 him. We need hardly say that they were eagerly sought by collectors who had begun to 
 bring together selections of Flemish stoneware. A descendant of the old potters, Mr. J. 
 Mennicken, of Eupen, was one of the first to form a comprehensive collection of the works 
 of his forefathers ; residing in the neighbourhood, he had the pick of all discoveries, and 
 could thus secure objects of the greatest interest. Mr. H. Hetjens, who conducted at 
 his own expense important excavations at Raeren, as he had done at Siegburg, has 
 formed the largest collections of fragments. Large quantities have also passed into the 
 hands of M. President Schuermans, Vicaire Schmitz, and many others. A very curious 
 selection can be studied in the K. Kunst und Gewerbe Museum of Berlin, to which we 
 are indebted for most of the potters’ marks reproduced in this chapter. 
 
 s 
 
130 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 Rise, Progress, and Decline of the Trade. 
 
 T he local chronicles do not, unfortunately, go far enough back in Mediaeval times 
 to inform us whether pot works existed there at a very early period. The first 
 mention of a potter’s name in ancient documents occurs in i486 ; it is a deed of sale of 
 some land situated at Titfeld, bought by a certain Peter Wilde, “ Kruchenbecker ; 
 many other names of “ Jugbackers” appear subsequently in the official acts preserved 
 in the archives, but the name of Wilde does not reappear in any of them. These early 
 records tell us very little concerning the state of the craft at the end of the fifteenth 
 
 century; we regret to add that those of a 
 later date throw scarcely any more light upon 
 its most flourishing period. It is only with 
 the year 1619 that documentary informa¬ 
 tion is at last obtainable, in the form of the 
 first regulations the members of the craft 
 framed for their own guidance, when they 
 decided to constitute themselves into a close 
 Guild, after the trade had remained for so 
 long free and open to all. To recoilstitute 
 the various phases of its existence before the 
 promulgation of these statutes, we can rely 
 only on the comparative study of the ware, 
 and we must leave to speaking specimens the 
 telling of their own tale. 
 
 Peter Wilde and his contemporaries 
 had very likely nothing to do with the 
 Fig. 76. HetjensCoii. Height, ji m. Ornamented stoneware; their production was 
 
 limited to the common earthenware which, 
 
 from time out of record, was made almost everywhere—jugs and pots of small sizes, 
 garnished with rough handles, and incised with crossed lines in most primitive patterns. 
 The foot is always impressed with the thumb of the workman ; this bossy and waved 
 foot is a peculiar feature common to most of the mediaeval pottery of northern Europe. 
 Were it not that some of the oldest specimens are already fired at a very high degree of 
 temperature, nothing in these clumsy jugs could foreshadow the fine brown ware that 
 was soon to result from such an unpromising starting-point. 
 
 The result of the excavations show plainly that, contrarily to what has happened 
 in other places, this initiatory period was of short duration; the roughly-fashioned 
 
Raeren. 
 
 131 
 
 and ill-formed earthen pots were, almost without transition, transformed into vases of 
 refined material and of perfect workmanship. Judging from the way in which they lay 
 mixed in the diggings, hardly the lapse of a few years can separate the two styles of manu¬ 
 facture. We have no reason to question the authenticity of the fragment in the possession 
 of Mr. Hetjens, bearing the date 1539. Its fine brown tint, the brightness of its glaze, 
 vouch for the degree of perfection stoneware-making had already attained. Yet only a 
 little time could have elapsed since the 
 
 rude fabrics of the commencement had 
 received their first improvements. We 
 see from other evidence that the earliest 
 ways and means were still resorted to by 
 the generality of pot-makers, and the more 
 common ware, which was made at the 
 same time as the dated fragment, offers 
 no perceptible variation in their primitive 
 fashioning from the undecorated jugs of 
 the beginning. 
 
 In the deepest strata of buried refuse, 
 mixed with fragments of the plainest 
 and commonest ware, are found small 
 drinking-vessels with some pretence at 
 ornamentation, so stiff and uncouth in 
 appearance that we might be tempted to 
 believe them at least a century older than 
 they are in reality. They are clumsily 
 embossed with personages dressed after 
 the fashion of the knave of old playing- 
 cards, and standing in the attitudes of the 
 doughty knights and noble dames repre¬ 
 sented on the earliest woodcuts (fig. 76). 
 roughly handled by the potter as the early undecorated pots with which they are found 
 associated. A still more antique semblance is imparted to them by the Gothic 
 inscription placed sometimes by the side of the figures. 
 
 Upon one example, given here (fig. 77), we find a clue to the date at which such 
 curious pieces were really made. One of the princes represented upon the vessel is 
 Phillip II. of Spain, son of Charles V., to whom is given the title of King of England. 
 As this prince bore that title only between 1555 and 1556, after his marriage with Queen 
 
 Fig. 77. Soil Coll. Height, 5-| in. 
 
 In point of make, they have been just as 
 
132 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 Mary, our specimen could not possibly be anterior to those years, and yet for rudeness 
 of treatment, we might say even for archaic feeling, one would feel inclined to see in it 
 the work of some mediaeval image-carver. It is necessary therefore, in the face of this 
 curious example, to be always on guard against mere appearance in the question of dates 
 and speculative attribution. 
 
 There is, happily, an end to bare conjecture as soon as we come to the next period, 
 when the practice of cutting into the moulds the date of their making set in, and was 
 soon generally adopted. The earliest instance of it is found on a small bartman, studded 
 all over with impressed rosettes forming a diaper ground, preserved in the Kunst und 
 Gewerbe Museum of Cologne. It is dated 1556, and bears on the front the mark 
 reproduced on fig. 78. 
 
 Through this charming specimen we become acquainted with the improved 
 condition the trade had already reached in the second half of the sixteenth century. 
 
 From that time onward there were very few vases of any 
 importance made without the inscription of the year, if not of its 
 actual manufacture, at least of the cutting of the moulds employed 
 in its decoration. By this means we can easily follow the march of 
 the industry through the long years of its established prosperity. 
 We are however obliged to acknowledge that, in the first dated 
 specimens just mentioned, we get as perfect examples of brown 
 ware as ever came out of the kilns of the Raeren potter; the sub¬ 
 sequent improvements were more particularly directed towards a 
 
 Fig. 78. 
 
 greater beauty of design and richness of ornamentation. In the year 1565 the best masters 
 were already at work. The names of those who made themselves more conspicuous 
 amongst their contemporaries, Baldem Mennicken and Jan Emens, begin to appear in 
 1568, and remain in evidence till 1592. Then the number of ovens erected in the place 
 was augmenting from year to year, and the ever-increasing production could not keep 
 pace with the demands of the merchants who exported the new ware to the north 
 countries of Europe. In England we see a certain William Simpson addressing a 
 request to Queen Elizabeth towards 1570, in which he complains that “one Garret 
 Tynes, a straunger, lyvinge in Aeon, in the partes beyond the seas, being none of her 
 Maiestes subjectes, doth buy upp all the pottes made at Cullein, called drinking stone 
 pottes and he only transporteth them into this realm of England and selleth them,” 
 etc., and he therefore asks to be granted the privilege of introducing himself these “stone 
 pottes ” into England. Although the merchant of Aix-la-Chapelle might also have sold 
 the white ware of Siegburg, the brown ware was particularly appreciated, as we can 
 judge from the number of jugs of that kind which, mounted in chased silver, have 
 
Rderen. 
 
 133 
 
 become heirlooms in many English families. Not long ago, the royal arms and 
 monograms with which they are sometimes decorated were thought sufficient to mark 
 them as being of British manufacture; now that the diggings of Raeren have brought 
 to light, not only similar pieces, but also the moulds of all their medallions and coats 
 of arms, this idea cannot any longer be entertained. The jug given on fig. 79 is one 
 of that special manufacture intended for the foreign market; it bears different subjects 
 on its three faces, viz.: the royal arms of England, the crowned monogram E. R. 
 (Elizabeth Regina), with the repeated date 1576, and the maker’s mark, I. E. 
 (Jan Emens). 
 
 We cannot have better proof of the 
 importance importation had attained at that 
 time than the large number of stoneware 
 bottles still to be found in England. 
 
 Raeren did not keep very long the monopoly 
 of the foreign trade, and had soon to divide 
 it with the competitive centres of Frechen, 
 and, later on, of Bouffioux, where works 
 were started for the very purpose of taking 
 a share in the success of the original brown 
 ware by means of inferior imitations. As 
 a compliment to the foreign customer, the 
 ware was inscribed with sentences in what 
 was thought to be his own language. 
 
 Thus we have the following maxim, Fig.79. HetjensCoii. Height, 7 in, 
 
 translated from the German one: 
 
 DrINCK . VND . BATE . GoD . AND . HiS . COMMANDEMENT . (nIC) NOT . VERGAET. 
 
 where we can easily recognize the spelling of a Flemish workman writing an English 
 sentence just as he pronounced it. Also the motto of the Garter thus written : 
 
 HoNI . SOIT . QUI . MAE . PENSE . EiLSABET . DeI . GrATIA . ReGINA . ANNO I594. 
 
 In the Low Countries, and in Germany itself, Raeren had absolutely secured the 
 market for the brown stoneware, which had at once obtained great favour with the 
 public. As Siegburg could not produce it at all, and the small factories on the 
 Rhine turned out only very common articles not fit to stand the comparison, the 
 Flemish potter supplanted the German on his own ground, and sent all over the 
 empire drinking vessels stamped with the arms of the towns for which they had been 
 
134 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 manufactured. Cologne, Mayence, Frankfort, Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck, Amsterdam, 
 Deventer, Maeseyck, Li^ige, and many others, are represented on the Raeren armoried 
 jugs. Of a fine vase inscribed with the names of all the provinces of Holland, and of 
 another bearing the escutcheons of the Swiss Cantons, a sufficient number of replicas 
 is still in existence to denote a large trade with these countries. With France, where 
 makers of earthenware pots and dishes abounded as early as the sixteenth century, 
 and which besides was not a beer-drinking nation, the importation could not be 
 carried on so extensively; yet we have good evidence that there also a commercial 
 connection had been firmly established. 
 
 Jugs after the French shapes, vases 
 with portraits of royal personages, were 
 expressly manufactured. A very fine 
 bottle of the Weckherlin collection, pho¬ 
 tographed in the series of pieces pub¬ 
 lished before its dispersion, but now, 
 we think, destroyed, is reproduced here, 
 fig. 8o, as an example of the superior 
 articles made for the French market. 
 
 The figure in full length of Henry III. 
 of France stands in the middle, accom¬ 
 panied with the medallions of Charles 
 V., Phillip H. of Spain, and their 
 Queens, placed on each side. It bears 
 on the neck the millesim 1568, and 
 on the central part 1573, which must 
 be the date of the specimen itself, 
 the mould used for the top band 
 having been borrowed from an anterior 
 
 model Height, 16 in. 
 
 Even so far away as Sweden and 
 
 Norway the Raeren jugs were exported by the merchants and made the object of a 
 regular trade. The important collection of Mr. Widerberg, of Christiania, is said 
 to have been formed almost exclusively with specimens picked up in cottages and 
 private houses of the small towns of the country, where, a few years ago, they were 
 still found in plenty. So large had become the sale of Flemish ware in these 
 northern parts, that several factories were started at Helsinborg in Scany; and soon 
 home-made articles replaced those previously introduced from abroad. It is needless to 
 
R(ieren. 
 
 135 
 
 say that many of the stone pots now found in Sweden and Norway may therefore 
 come from these local factories, and not, as it is believed, from the old centres, whose 
 productions they resemble closely. 
 
 During these times of prosperity, commencing towards 1560, and up to 1619, the 
 date of the first statutes, there is no sign of falling off in the constant improvement of 
 the ware, the energy displayed in renewing the stock of moulds and models, or in the 
 taste evident in their application to fresh and fanciful forms. Through modifications 
 brought in the mode of firing, a stoneware of light grey colour was manufactured for 
 the first time in the latter part of the sixteenth century. On the light grey ground the 
 oxide of cobalt produces a pure and brilliant blue, instead of the dull and dark 
 tint it gives to the brown clay. This was an important innovation; through its 
 adoption the ware became more gay and pleasant to the eye, and a new impetus was 
 given to the industry of the district. The grey and blue jugs were to remain for 
 centuries afterwards the favourite beer-drinking vessels, when the brown ware had long 
 been given up for the making of fancy articles. 
 
 Social Condition of the Potters. 
 
 O WING to the dearth of local chronicles, we know but little about the customs 
 and habits of the Flemish potters at the outset of their industry, and during 
 the first period of prosperity which followed it. Much is left to our imagination 
 to realize how different must have been the existence of these independent artisans, 
 living and working in freedom in their rural village, and the life of the formal 
 member of the Siegburg Guild, at work under strict rules, behind the high walls of 
 the old abbatial town. 
 
 The middle of the sixteenth century sees the craft of Raeren composed of a small 
 number of operatives, each struggling to the best of his ability to introduce taste 
 and refinement into their coarse manufacture; while at Siegburg at a corresponding 
 period existed already a numerous and well-organized corporation of skilled and 
 happy town-folks, producing in solidarity, and having since many years brought 
 the practice of their trade to a point of perfection they could hardly hope to surpass. 
 
 Many circumstances, however, stood in favour of the country potters. In their 
 out-of-the-way district, over-crowding and over-producing—the constant fear of the 
 townsman—had not to be guarded against. All requisites were at hand and in 
 plenty; clay and fuel forming, on the spot, an inexhaustible supply. Therefore, 
 far from keeping away the stranger, so much dreaded everywhere else, anyone was 
 welcome to join the settlement and assist with his individual effort in the development 
 
, 2 6 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 of the promising industry. Under such conditions we can understand how it came 
 to pass that, in a short time, they found themselves the competitors of the celebrated 
 masters of Germany. But in their newly-altered fortunes the same feelings of inde¬ 
 pendence and liberty continued to guide the Flemish potters in the conduct of their 
 business. The trade remained open to all, with the exception of a few conditions 
 and restrictions agreed upon by the masters amongst themselves to regulate their 
 commercial intercourse. There was no rule, no law, that was not self-imposed, 
 and no civil authority had a right to interfere and impose their observance. To 
 obtain experienced workmen and entice them from any of the already established 
 factories, presented great difficulties; the staff of a Limburg pot works was then 
 of necessity recruited in the locality. The farm supplied the common labourer, and 
 all serviceable lads were pressed into apprenticeship, to become, after careful training, 
 the best hands of the workshops. Such an aggregate of artisans, nearly all born 
 on the spot, was consequently bound to form a sort of clan, growing year after year 
 more and more inclined to exclusiveness. They mixed little with the inhabitants 
 of the towns, with whom they had little to do; business with the outer world was 
 conducted by the merchants with whom they principally used to deal; and m the 
 rare instances when they had to communicate with private customers, the transactions 
 were generally effected through the intervention and goodwill of the religious fathers 
 of the neighbouring convents, namely, the Brothers of St. John of the Cross, who 
 resided at Raeren, and the monks of Corneli-Miinster of Aix-la-Chapelle. Through 
 these patrons they obtained recommendations to high and powerful dignitaries of the 
 Church, and commissions for the supply of stoneware pottery to large communities. 
 To the same benevolent protectors they owed also the occasional loan of engravings 
 or relief models, from which they drew inspirations and actual materials for novelties 
 in their own art. Yet we regret to say that these kind patrons and well-wishers could 
 not, as it appears, extend their moral direction beyond the limits of work and 
 business; as a matter of fact they exercised scarcely any influence at all over the private 
 lives of the pot-makers and their public behaviour on festive occasions. Once let 
 loose after work, the jolly potter knew no restraint, and at last things came to 
 such a pass that the local magistrates thought it their duty to interfere with the 
 reckless drinking, brawling, rioting of the operatives, and the extravagant expenses to 
 which they were generally addicted. In 1580 Philipe Lomont, “ Drossart of the 
 ban of Walhorn, in whose jurisdiction Raeren was situated, tried to make an example 
 of one of them, and summoned before the court one of the leading masters to 
 answer for the scandalous life he was accused of living, to be sentenced to see his 
 name struck off the rolls, and be expelled from the craft.” A threat which was 
 
Raeren. 
 
 137 
 
 never carried out, as the name of the delinquent continued to appear on the registers 
 for many years after. 
 
 This propensity to fighting, drinking, and squandering his wages on the part of 
 the potter when at play, is touched upon by one of the articles of the first statutes; 
 but it consists merely of good advice and warning on the consequences attending a 
 dissolute life; it ends, as if the case were almost hopeless, with the remark; “ That 
 the present statutes have been enacted mainly with the view of maintaining a good 
 standard of manufacture, rather than to regulate the private conduct of the members 
 of the Guild.” 
 
 Statutes and Rules of the Trade. 
 
 TD EFORE the year 1619 no written law had yet imposed its rule and brought any 
 restrictions upon the initiative and freedom of the pot-maker of Raeren, and 
 under that state of things, very unusual in the sixteenth century, his business had 
 expanded and flourished marvellously. Of course it is not to be expected that, in 
 those times, a body of artisans would have worked so long together at the same trade 
 without having tacitly adopted a few regulations, settling in a matter-of-fact way some 
 of the principal points of general interest. When, through an unknown cause, the 
 masters decided to replace their old liberty of action by the stringent and complicated 
 legislation of a constitution framed upon the pattern of the one in force at Siegburg, 
 they did not forget to state in the first article of their new statutes that for more than 
 fifty years previously the members of the craft had virtually recognized the necessity 
 of uniting their efforts by forming themselves into a brotherly association. 
 
 A succint analysis of the statutes of 1619 and 1760, the first of which is merely 
 the official sanction of long-approved customs, will do much to make us understand 
 the conditions of the trade in its brightest period, and with what simplicity it was at 
 first administered; complications in the rules being only introduced at a period when 
 the industry had begun to decline. 
 
 The first charter, preserved in the imperial archives in Berlin, is composed only of 
 ten articles, all of which were reproduced in that of 1760, granted by Maria Theresa. 
 This second charter contained thirty-eight additional articles, providing for all 
 emergencies, and settling all debatable questions which formerly were adjudged upon 
 by the council of the Guild, in accordance with the custom of the craft. The original 
 document, written in old Flemish, was discovered by Mr. Vicaire Schmitz amongst the 
 papers of an ancient Raeren family. Mr. H. Schuermans has given a French translation 
 of it in the “ Bulletin de I’lnstitut Archdologique Liegois.” We transcribe hereafter its 
 principal provisions. 
 
 t 
 
138 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 Every two years a general assembly of all the potters was to proceed to the election 
 of the council or governing body; it consisted of seven directors, three of which held 
 the functions of registrar, collector, and mayor or president; a minor official was also 
 appointed with the title of “ ecoutete,” a sort of clerk or bailiff, who convened the meetings, 
 collected the fines, etc., and represented the executive. All transgression of any of the 
 ten articles of the first statutes was to be punished by a fine of eighteen gold florins. In 
 the winter, work was to be suspended from All Saints to the 17th of March, the feast of 
 St. Gertrude. At Siegburg the same rest was observed between Martinmas and Ash 
 Wednesday. But this enforced interruption in the labours of the workshop was not 
 intended to be a time of idleness ; ovens were repaired, new tools were made, and new 
 models prepared. Each master had to fetch from the quarries the supply of clay 
 required for the following year, and such leisure as was left to him after he had attended 
 to these various occupations he devoted to the tilling of his fields and garden. This 
 was by no means an unimportant part of his daily business, for we perceive that at 
 Raeren every one was as much an agriculturist as a potter. In a case of urgency, when 
 an important order was not completed by the end of the working year, and ran the risk 
 of being left in sufferance, leave could be obtained to work for a fortnight beyond that 
 time. All night-work was prohibited, and a fine of eighteen gold florins was imposed as 
 a penalty for any infraction of this rule ; this was considered a matter of such importance, 
 that in the second charter this heavy penalty was maintained. 
 
 The masters’ sons only, residing in the parish, were permitted to enter the craft as 
 members. 
 
 A son was bound to work with his father up to the age of twenty-six, at which age 
 he was allowed to settle in business and work on his own account. One exception 
 however was made for orphans, who, on attaining their twentieth year, were permitted 
 to establish themselves. 
 
 No candidate could obtain his master’s certificate unless he had satisfied the 
 council as to his fitness and ability, and had presented a satisfactory masterpiece, the 
 work of his own hands. 
 
 Only certificated masters could manufacture and sell the ware. Any workman who, 
 in the face of this prohibition, attempted to fire and sell stoneware pots on his own 
 account, was liable to a fine of eighteen gold florins, and to be debarred for ever from 
 working at his trade within the district. 
 
 In accordance with the right granted to the Guild by the Act of 1619, the clay 
 required by the master potters could be extracted from any land belonging to the parish 
 or to the state, on condition that the ground was levelled again and left in good order after 
 the extraction of the clay. At the beginning of the working year, the clay being ready 
 
 
Raeren. 
 
 139 
 
 for removal to the workshops, it was allotted by the council between all the masters. 
 Each one had to render an accurate account of the share he had received the previous 
 year, and to state whether it had all been used; in the event of his having manufactured 
 a quantity of pots not equivalent to his grant of clay, his next supply was reduced by 
 the amount supposed to be still in his hands. 
 
 The council was empowered to settle all disputes arising between the members; they 
 could, however, appeal from their decision to the magistrates of the Ban of Walhorn. 
 
 Owing to a most singular state of things, which in itself denotes how completely 
 the Raeren potters worked on the co-operation principle, there is no mention in the 
 statutes of any private factory; the ovens, erected at any place which best suited the 
 convenience of the surrounding workshops, are represented as public property, and we 
 are told that they were kept in repair at the public cost. 
 
 Each master, or master’s widow without children, was entitled to three-quarters of 
 an oven, or 225 feet, each oven being reputed 300 feet in capacity. This allocation was 
 increased by an eighth of an oven for each child depending on its parents. The officers 
 of the Guild received, in consideration for the trouble they incurred in fulfilling their 
 gratuitous offices, either an eighth or a quarter of an oven over and above the portion 
 to which they were entitled by their right as masters of the craft. 
 
 The seven masters composing the council watched over the strict observance of 
 the statutes, periodically inspected the workshops, and, occasionally, even the private 
 dwellings of the workmen, to assure themselves that no fraudulent manufacture of 
 stoneware was stealthily carried on. 
 
 The charter ended with various dispositions concerning the sale of the ware; the 
 taxes and duty to be paid to the Guild ; and the obligation for each master to set down 
 in the common register a written statement of all sales and commercial transactions with 
 his customers, whom he was bound to furnish with a detailed certificate of guarantee for 
 the good quality of the goods he had delivered. 
 
 As it often occurred that the masters had to complain that an unfair competition 
 threw on the market cheap and vile imitations which were offered as genuine Raeren 
 ware, the last articles of the statutes of 1760 go so far as to determine the form and sizes 
 of three selected types to which all masters shall have henceforth to confine their manu¬ 
 facture, and never on any consideration be permitted to depart from. These special 
 patterns being registered as private property of the Raeren Guild, no one would be 
 allowed to copy them, and thus would be established the guarantee of authenticity the 
 potters were anxious to impart to their own productions. We must not forget that the 
 promulgation of the first statutes by Albert, Archduke of Brabant, concurs with the 
 commencement of the Thirty Years’ War in 1620; and from that time forth things 
 
140 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 went from bad to worse. They did not see, it is true, like the potters of Siegburg, 
 their works and ovens destroyed by the combatants, but the invasion practically cut 
 off all communication, and their industry, from want of an outlet, was ruined, like most 
 of the other industries of the country. Consequently, after the year 1620, the artistic 
 excellence of the Raeren ware was no longer maintained ; large and rich vases were still 
 made at intervals, but by means of the old models ; we see no more important moulds 
 cut, and inscribed with a posterior date, and after 1630 there was scarcely any pretence 
 even at producing richly-ornamented stoneware. The Guild was not however extinct 
 for all that, although gradually diminishing in importance; one after anothei, the 
 masters left the place to try their fortune on new ground, and those who remained, 
 with hardly any workmen to assist them, limited their productions to such common 
 crocks as were saleable in the immediate neighbourhood. We find them reduced 
 to this precarious state, when, in hope of inducing a revival of their former prosperity, 
 the Raeren potters submitted to the sanction of the Empress Maria Theresa the 
 new regulations proposed by the Guild. The charter was granted in 1760, but it 
 proved a poor remedy for the evils from which they suffered, and failed to restore any 
 vitality to their trade. A report drawn four years afterwards, in 1764, by the inspector 
 of manufactories, tells us plainly to what a degree of debasement and decline the industry 
 had then fallen. It records the sad fact that the whole craft was found to consist of 
 only eight masters; four residing at Raeren and four at Neudorf; all firing their ware 
 in common. Nevertheless, for many years afterw'ards stoneware-making persisted in the 
 land, dragging on a precarious existence. No other industry had supplanted the old one, 
 and the inhabitants still depended upon it for a scanty living. In i8o6, says Thomassin, 
 it gave employment to about 130 hands ; this number gradually dwindled, until finally, 
 in 1850, they fired an oven for the last time at Raeren. 
 
 Not a vestige of the old factories, not a single oven in ruins, remains to-day; the 
 last one having been pulled down in 1881. It belonged to Mr. Mathias Mennicken, 
 who made use of it, not to fire pottery, but—so passes away earthly glory—for the 
 humble purpose of calcining lime ! 
 
 A few years ago, more as an experiment than as a regular trade, Mr. Sichel, a stone 
 quarry proprietor, erected a kiln or two on his grounds. There, between blasting and 
 hewing huge blocks of rock, he devotes his leisure to turning, decorating, and firing 
 clever reproductions of old'tyP^s of brown stoneware. So clever indeed are his spurious 
 masterpieces, for which the actual ancient moulds are often used, that they have become 
 a subject of lucrative speculation for the unscrupulous curiosity dealer, and of well- 
 grounded apprehension to the timorous collector. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 141 
 
 Manufacture. 
 
 J N point of technics the Raeren brown ware had been raised by its makers almost to 
 
 the highest perfection. No special methods were however used which were not 
 afterwards employed at other places, but nowhere have they yielded such effective and 
 superior results. Salt-glazing, generally so faulty at Siegburg, was here completely 
 mastered ; from the first the ware had been remarkable for the rich bronze colour of its 
 glaze. Potting difficulties—such as the making of pieces of extraordinary size, or of an 
 elaborate and delicate description—were daily attempted and surmounted. The exca¬ 
 vations show how a small imperfection sufficed for a piece to be thrown away on the 
 rubbish heap; and through the relentless supervision of the overseers, a high standard 
 was maintained. 
 
 All we have said at another place about the general process of manufacture of 
 brown stoneware applies principally to the fabrics of Raeren; we shall not therefore 
 have to record any departure from the usual mode of fashioning and firing the ware, but 
 the way of conducting business and managing the work offered some peculiarities proper 
 to the locality, which, as well as the usages and customs of this brotherly craft, it is not 
 without interest to relate. 
 
 The development of the stoneware industry having made of a rural hamlet a 
 populous and active centre, the authority of the council elect was recognized as 
 paramount over all the territory lying round the clustered villages of Raeren, Neudorf, 
 Titfel, and Merols. In the council were vested some rights, established at first by 
 tradition and custom, and subsequently sanctioned by the charter of 1619. The potters 
 were very jealous to assert and exact these prerogatives against all opposition, and 
 on every occasion when an attempt was made to resist them. Amongst others, they 
 upheld to the end their ancient privilege of digging for clay upon whichever spot they 
 might select for that purpose. The privilege had been granted to them under the sole 
 condition that they should not interfere with plantations and crops, that they should 
 fill up the exhausted pit, and give compensation to the owner when damage had 
 been done within the limits of private property. This right was exercised in such a 
 high-handed manner as to give rise to endless litigation between the potters and the 
 landed proprietors of the district; after protracted and costly lawsuits the difference was 
 generally settled in the end by arbitration. 
 
 The soil of Raeren itself supplied the commonest clay, from which rough kitchen 
 and drinking utensils, in use amongst the peasants, were only made. In certain places, 
 here and there, a vein of reddish clay was found, which was reserved for the making 
 of certain covered pots called “ Kraussen ’’; a special form in great demand in the 
 
142 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 towns of North Germany. But for choice articles, such as the pieces made by the able' 
 workman when applying for a mastership, also for special sets of rich vases ordered by 
 the nobility, or intended as presents, a finer clay was required; this was found at a 
 short distance, in the parish of Eynatten. It was of difficult extraction, the strata 
 lying at a depth of twenty-five or thirty feet. From a shaft, sunk straight down to the 
 level of the bed of clay, lateral underground galleries had to be cut and enlarged until 
 the required quantity of material was abstracted and brought to the surface. 
 
 It was during the winter season, when work in the shops was stopped, that this 
 digging for clay took place. At the same time the provision of fuel was cut down in the 
 surrounding woods, brought to the works, and stocked under the sheds ; new ovens 
 were built, and old ones repaired or demolished. This in itself gave occupation to many 
 hands. It is said that at one time the number of ovens standing in the four villages 
 amounted to two hundred. 
 
 Thus it appears that all the necessaries of manufacture were at hand on the spot; 
 with the exception of the salt for glazing, obtained from Unna in Westphalia, and the 
 oxide of cobalt, then known as “ Prussian blue,” which came from Leipzig. 
 
 The mention of Cobalt blue brings to mind the fact that, if there" is a technical 
 innovation the Raeren potter may claim as his own, it is the method of staining the 
 ware with blue glaze. Even the early brown pieces shows its application, still in an 
 imperfect state, but at a time when it had not been tried in any other place. This 
 oxide was not known in Germany so early as in the Italian States, where it was regularly 
 employed by the majolica painters at the end of the fifteenth century. It was only in 1540 
 that the Saxon Christofer Schiirer is reported to have discovered the ore in the mines 
 of Schneeberg; he succeeded in melting it with glass for the first time, and produced 
 with the mixture glass vessels of a fine blue colour. The discovery must, therefore, 
 have very soon been turned to good account by the Limburg pot makers. Other 
 centres hastened to take advantage of a happy notion which did so much to enliven the 
 dulness of stoneware ; but one must be guarded, let it be said by the way, against 
 accepting the opinion, accredited by some authors, that the use of blue glaze originated 
 in the Grenzhausen factories. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 143 
 
 Fig. 81. From a Grey and Blue Jug. Figdor CoU. 
 
 Potters at Work and at Play. 
 
 "Y^^HEN came the feast of St. Gertrude, on the 17th of March, and before work was 
 resumed, there was a general merry-making of three days’ duration. A meeting 
 of the whole craft was convened to proceed to the election of new officers; after which, 
 the members duly returned assembled in council and proceeded at once to discuss the 
 business of common interest and to settle the allotting of the share each master was to 
 receive on the operations of the following year. Banqueting and dancing were the 
 order of the day; friendly calls, social duties and congratulations, adjournment to the 
 next beer-house, protracted wakes, terminating invariably in a general fight, constituted 
 the festivities. We can see an accurate represensation of the principal scenes of these gala 
 days embossed on the friezes of the brown ware; the peasants dancing, and the topers 
 drinking at the inn, have all been duly represented on the jugs. If we have to regret 
 that these pictures are not altogether the original conception of a native artist, we must 
 still acknowledge that, when the engravings of the German master were chosen for 
 
144 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 reproduction, the jolly potter, to his intense satisfaction, had recognized in them a 
 striking likeness to himself and his compeers tripping it on the village green, or 
 discussing the last brew at the roadside inn ; after they had passed through his hands 
 he had instilled in their interpretation much of his own spirit. The rejoicings and 
 rioting over, work was resumed all over the district. Labourers diluted the clay and 
 marched it in shallow troughs, beat it with the flail upon a brick-built area, removed 
 carefully every pebble or foreign particle, and having shaped it into square blocks, 
 piled these under a shed, where they remained until required by the workmen. A few of 
 the implements used in these various operations are represented on the potters’ arms. 
 In the workshops master and men rectified and regulated the wheels; the mould-cutter 
 engraved the models required for the execution of the orders of the season—armoried 
 medallions with the shield of some noble customer, or fancy subjects bearing the trade¬ 
 mark of the patronizing merchant; the thrower got up the shapes on the wheel, and 
 when ready passed them to the finisher, who disposed upon the empty spaces bands 
 of figures and ornaments, rosettes of stamped or raised work, and at last completed the 
 piece with handles or spouts. The goods being ready, marked, and well dried, they 
 were brought to the firing place. We have already alluded to the strange conditions 
 under which all ware was fired at Raeren ; a local custom we believe to be without an 
 equivalent in any other manufacturing centre. No private oven was attached to the 
 working premises of the masters ; on a central site large ovens were built, kept and fired 
 at common expense, and remained common property. Special provisions introduced in 
 the statutes fixed the exact portion of an oven to which each master was entitled ; he was 
 not obliged to fill it at one time, but could bring his work by installments to successive 
 firings until he had made up his allotted share. Consequently an ovenful contained the 
 work of many masters, each contributing his contingent of ware to be fired. In this we 
 can trace a survival of a system established at the outset, when each potter worked single- 
 handed and could only turn out a small quantity of pots. He associated himself with 
 his neighbours, and with their united productions gradually filled an oven which was fired, 
 when ready, for their joint benefit. From the necessity created in this manner, and in 
 order that each maker might recognize at a glance the articles belonging to him, arose 
 probably the practice, so constant at Raeren, to mark the ware with names and monograms. 
 
 With regard to the commonest pots, upon which a mark seldom appears, we may 
 assume that the minor factories had each adopted one or two special shapes, and each 
 keeping to his speciality, no contestation as to the ownership of the ware could arise 
 when, the oven being opened, its contents were distributed amongst the potters waiting 
 to claim their work. 
 
 Vicaire Schmitz gives a translation of a curious document still preserved by the 
 
Raeren. 
 
 145 
 
 descendants of the writer, which, under the form of advice addressed by an experienced 
 father to his son about to enter into business, contains much valuable information 
 concerning the best rules for building an oven, and the precautions to be observed in the 
 conduct of firing. It is signed by Mattheis Peitz, an old Raeren master potter, and 
 dated 1746. 
 
 We see in it that the oven is to be oblong in shape, nine yards long and three 
 broad, and that it should be built on slanting ground, so that the top end should stand 
 two feet higher than the front part. Without entering into all the minute particulars 
 connected with the construction, we cannot however forget to mention the peculiar 
 vault with which it was roofed in. In a preceding chapter we have described in detail 
 how this vault was formed of a succession of arches, constructed by means of earthen 
 pots fitting into each other, and cemented with clay. A double wall of blue stone 
 protected the whole building, in the same way as the “ hovel ” surrounds an English 
 earthenware oven. 
 
 All the goods being placed in, the furnaces being loaded with wood, and before 
 setting fire to them, the curd was called to ask a blessing upon the venture ; the present 
 incumbent still remembers having blessed the last ovenful at Raeren in 1850. 
 
 The firing lasted forty-eight hours ; after the necessary time for cooling had elapsed 
 the doors were opened, and each potter claimed his own work. All imperfect articles 
 were condemned to be destroyed by the master who acted as overseer during the 
 examination of the ware; the destruction of any piece not faultless having been made 
 obligatory by the statutes. 
 
 Did the result of the firing prove a happy one, it was made the occasion of rejoicing 
 amongst those who had an interest in its success. Friends were invited to a feast, each 
 being expected to bring his contribution in kind to the repast, which was to be prolonged 
 far into the night. These fraternal banquets remained customary as long as potters 
 worked at Raeren ; and we hear that they were kept up in a very modest fashion, the fare 
 consisting mainly of rice boiled in milk, highly spiced with cinnamon, and served in a 
 large bowl into which each guest dipped his wooden spoon in turn, and of an unstinted 
 supply of gingerbread as an extra delicacy. The account of these gatherings, and of the 
 frugal fare thought sufficient for a festive day, tells us much about the more than modest 
 condition of the every-day life of the operatives in a stoneware factory, and it clearly 
 evidences the feelings of sociability and good fellowship which actuated the little 
 confraternity at work or at play. 
 
 u 
 
'HE task of tracing, through his particular works, the 
 share that falls to each master, in raising to the level of 
 an art the rude handicraft of his ancestors, so perplexing when 
 undertaken in connection with the Siegburg ware, becomes at 
 Raeren comparatively easy. From the crowd of names, handed 
 down to us by the public registers and private documents, a few 
 striking individualities stand out conspicuously, throwing the 
 others into insignificance. The care they took to sign and date 
 their pieces allows us to follow several of the masters through 
 their whole career. 
 
 Concerning some of them, unfortunately we are still left in uncertainty as to the 
 exact part they may have taken, and we are not sure whether we must consider them as 
 having actually been working potters, or merely " cartemakers ” or “ formschneiders,” 
 that is to say, artists and mould-cutters. In many cases the potter himself is answerable 
 for all the work and deserves all credit for its merits; independently of the modellers, who 
 possibly assisted him, he may, in our estimation, be accounted a real artist, often of great 
 taste and judgment. The course through which a stoneware vase passes from its beginning 
 to its completion, shows that the original notion, the tracing of the form, is always due 
 to the turner, who builds it up on the wheel between his fingers according to his passing 
 fancy. Then if the same man proceeds to adorn it with the application of certain 
 relieved ornaments which he chooses out of a stock of decorative materials, consulting 
 only his own taste, he may to all intents and purposes be considered as the author of the 
 work before him. With some few exceptions, moulds and models do not look as if made 
 with the idea of fitting a given shape of vase or jug ; they were executed rather in an 
 arbitrary manner, as fragments of useful proportions with which any number of combi¬ 
 nations might be obtained, and which might be made to fit any of the pots most usually 
 
Raeren. 
 
 147 
 
 manufactured. To that effect the subjects were engraved on flat surfaces; and the 
 potter required from the “ cartemakers ” only a few sets of medallions, friezes and masks, 
 together with a certain number of bands, ornamented with egg and dart, acanthus leaves, 
 etc., to relieve large spaces and narrow mouldings. These various elements he could 
 arrange afterwards on his vases according to his fancy. In these flat moulds a very thin 
 proof was pressed of the subject selected; this was bent so as to espouse the shape of 
 the part to be decorated, and made to adhere to it with diluted clay. We are bound to 
 confess that in many instances the selection appears to have been made somewhat at 
 random, as the respective proportions of the applied subject and the place it occupies 
 have not always been carefully calculated. This is the reason why we find the divisions 
 of the gadroons placed on the inferior part of the vases so incorrect and irregular, also 
 why in the friezes, composed of a series of scenes or compartments, some of the 
 subjects are repeated twice, while others are omitted altogether. 
 
 On pieces made by the master’s own hands we see none of these gross over¬ 
 sights disfiguring an otherwise elaborate piece. There is no lack of what we may 
 consider as original types, carefully planned beforehand, and in the decoration of 
 which nothing enters but what conduces to the harmonious composition of the whole. 
 The leading craftsman was constantly busy in producing new models, one following 
 immediately upon the other; to this the numbers of totally different pieces signed 
 by the same hand bear witness; and in a case where we have to deal with a master 
 potter who is also his own modeller, we have good reason to wonder at his extra¬ 
 ordinary powers of production. When engaged in a new work, the sets of models 
 employed for the previous one became useless to him, and these were then handed over 
 to the ordinary workmen; these men, not much above common labourers, certainly 
 did not put their pride in combining applied details with so much discrimination 
 as the master, and were, for instance, perfectly indifferent as to placing side by side 
 on the same piece fragments bearing two, and even three, different dates. There is no 
 denying that a favourite frieze appears over and over again on the ware, yet we 
 cannot say that it often occurs in conjunction with an identical shape, or with the same 
 set of accessory ornamentation. A regular pattern was not then, as now, settled by 
 the master to be reproduced exactly by his men; great latitude seems to have been 
 left to each man in the variations he might like to introduce into a recognized type. 
 For the shape he was not bound to obey accurately any given profile; curves and 
 mouldings came out under his tool in endless modifications; for the decoration he 
 could select out of a large stock of moulds the bands and medallions which would 
 best suit a given surface. As a consequence of this practice, each piece had an 
 interest of its own, none being the exact reproduction of another. This holds true, as 
 
148 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 a general rule, with regard to the average of ornamented stoneware vases. In the case 
 of the exceptional production by a master of one of those first-rate pieces we have just 
 alluded to, the subjects employed were never thrown into the common stock. Therefore 
 here, as at Siegburg, where it was obligatory to destroy models made upon order, the 
 best friezes and figures have remained also the rarest of all; but at Raeren it seems 
 merely owing to the reluctance of their maker to vulgarize what he considered his 
 masterpieces. 
 
 If we take it for granted that there is no exception to the rule that the “carte- 
 maker ” trained in large towns was an independent auxiliary, and came only incidentally 
 to assist the potter in the most artistic part of the work, his interference makes it 
 difficult to assign the exact share of merit to be awarded to the latter. But in the 
 Limburg factories things were different in this respect; we know that several of the 
 leading masters were always their own cartemakers, and that many could dispense 
 with the services of the professional modeller, whom others had to engage to enable 
 them to keep pace with their more talented competitors. 
 
 Two well-defined personalities stand out amidst the group of Raeren potters, 
 Baldem Mennicken and Jan Emens. Both worked at the same period, each has left 
 impressed on his works the stamp of his strong individuality, and can claim for 
 himself the undivided authorship of all the best specimens which bear his signature. 
 
 Noble and severe in shape, sober in adornment, the mighty ewers of Baldem 
 Mennicken, with their towering neck surmounted with a classical lion’s head in 
 bold relief, and the broad expanse of their body girdled with an imposing array of 
 princely and royal coats of arms, surpass, perhaps, in style and beauty all the best types 
 of brown stoneware vases. No other by their side could show an equal purity of 
 outline, and harmony of proportions; such an elegant simplicity of ornamentation 
 combined with so much perfection of workmanship (fig. 85 and Plate IX.). 
 The master would not willingly have signed any of the fantastic little pots with 
 pleasant subjects and jovial devices, so much to the taste of his neighbours; his 
 preference is markedly inclined towards more serious and formal productions. To his 
 reflective mind h jug is something more than a meaningless vessel, intended at the 
 best to amuse a party of convivial revellers. The severity of the form is enhanced 
 by the melancholy tone of the religious and philosophical sentences he has most 
 frequently inscribed on it. It is he who had chosen for his motto : In Leiden Gedolt :— 
 “ Patience in troubles." On one vase he describes himself as Armer Man :—“ Poor 
 man”; another time he engraves a prayer on the piece he is making: BI . MEI : 
 Baldem . Mennicken . Jesus . Christus . Erbarm . dich . minner: —"Unto 
 me, Baldem Mennicken, Jesus Christ be merciful!” Most lugubrious is the jug on 
 
Raeren. 
 
 149 
 
 which, with death present to his mind, he modelled the crosses and tombs of a 
 churchyard, and wrote over it the Latin sentence: 
 
 NaSCENTES MORIMUR finis QU^ (si(^ AB ORIGINE PENDET. 
 
 There is no doubt about this being the work of his old age ; he signed it: M. der A. 
 (Mennicken der Alte), “ the old ” or “ elder ” ; 
 one of his marks, but which he used very seldom. 
 
 He is said to have represented himself as St, 
 
 Paul, a profile head of a man of middle age, 
 with flowing beard and curly hair, inscribed: 
 
 B. M. Anno 1575. 
 
 On the suite of figures he selected most 
 usually to adorn the bands and friezes of his 
 brown jugs the same sternness prevails in 
 choice of subject and severity of execution; 
 they are rudely carved and ungraceful allegories 
 of virtues and sciences, each designated by its 
 name in large Roman letters : 
 
 Grammatica. Dialecta. Retorica. Ari- 
 (me)tica. Musica. Geometria. Caritas. 
 
 Spes. Justicia. Prudentia. Temperentia. 
 
 Fortuna. 
 
 In all the above examples the inner feelings 
 of the man reveal themselves through his 
 works. The clay he fashioned has kept more 
 than the impress of his hand; to it he has 
 communicated something of his soul and spirit, 
 and we are moved with compassion at the 
 lamentation of the “armer man.” The Men¬ 
 nicken family holds first rank among those con¬ 
 nected with the making of stoneware at Raeren; 
 
 we find some of its members established in the earliest times on record, and from that 
 time forth it never ceased to occupy a prominent position in the craft. The first 
 stone pot-makers in the land must have counted a Mennicken amongst them, but the 
 dates associated with the name on the ware do not go farther back than 1575. We 
 must not forget to say that the date is found upon specimens denoting a well- 
 
 Fig. 85. Ewer by Baldem Mennicken. 
 Anc. Coll. Felix. Height, 25 in. 
 
ISO 
 
 The Ancient Art Sto?ieware. 
 
 established manufacture, having long since reached its highest degree of improvement. 
 Some pieces marked with the initials of a Mennicken, and dated 1559, are said to be 
 in existence, but none of them have come under our notice; whether the reading is 
 correct—a point which may always be questioned with regard to so early a date— 
 
 and whether the figure 7 has not been taken for a 
 5, both being so nearly alike in German inscrip¬ 
 tions, we have not been able to ascertain. Baldem 
 Mennicken “ the old " seems to have been the head 
 of the long race of potters who bore his name. 
 The family house, erected close to the pot works 
 which have long since disappeared, is still standing 
 opposite the church. It is known as “ Bald’s 
 Haus” or Baldem’s house, and the excavations in 
 the adjacent grounds have been productive of a 
 large quantity of fragments, chiefly of large vases of 
 brown ware, or of grey relieved with blue. Many 
 of these vases bore his name in full letters, to which 
 is often added Von Rorren, by way of giving his 
 address; an information nearly all stoneware makers 
 have been careful to conceal. Some of the frag¬ 
 ments disinterred on the same spot show the names 
 of modellers : J. Emens, Robert Thievin, and others. 
 It does not follow, however, that the old Baldem 
 ever, of a certainty, had recourse to their assistance ; 
 his successors, who worked long after him in the 
 same place, and did not produce models of their 
 own, may have mixed together the discarded sub¬ 
 jects they borrowed from various sources. 
 
 Another potter of the same name, and supposed 
 to be the brother of the preceding, has marked his 
 works: I. M. DirJonge: 1575, or Jan Mennicken 
 the younger. This is also found accompanying reli¬ 
 gious and philosophical inscriptions, somewhat of the same turn as those of Baldem. To 
 this worthy is supposed to have been dedicated a jug bearing the following inscription ; 
 
 Fig, 86. From a Jug 
 a the Kunstgewerbe Museiun, Berlin. 
 
 Fig. 87. From a Jug 
 in the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin. 
 
 Johan van Holle der Jongen Drink Here in Codes nam und eat mix 
 
 FREIDEM HERUM GANG. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 151 
 
 “ John the younger of the Holle [this was a locality situated in Raeren], drink in the 
 name of God and pass it freely round." 
 
 The numbers of medallions found on the brown ware containing potters’ marks 
 which include one or more letter M’s 
 are considered as indicating different 
 members of the same family. The three 
 M’s of fig. 86 are said to represent 
 Merten Mennicken, and M. F. (fig. 87) 
 to stand for Fast Mennicken. 
 
 Jan Baldems or Baldms, who has 
 signed some vases with the date 1596, 
 was probably a son of the old Baldem, 
 who took his father’s Christian name 
 as his surname to distinguish himself 
 from his numerous relatives and name¬ 
 sakes ; this was a very common custom 
 at the time, and he became Baldemson, 
 or by contraction “ Baldems.” A curious 
 canette, reproduced on fig 88, and which 
 once made part of the Huyvetter col¬ 
 lection, has handed down to us an 
 example of the strange style of this last 
 master. 
 
 We can readily imagine, when we 
 observe the rude and almost grotesque 
 treatment of the central medallion, that 
 Jan Baldems, less ambitious or in poorer 
 circumstances than many of his con¬ 
 temporaries, would not, or could not, 
 engage the services of a professional 
 " cartemaker,” and that, to the best of 
 his untutored ability, he cut his moulds 
 and models himself. A common en- p. „ - 
 
 graving was to him a sufficient guide 
 
 to carve such a subject in low relief; this one must have been borrowed from some of 
 the rude woodcuts the clergy used to distribute amongst the children of poor people. 
 The scene is depicted with all the simplicity of these primitive illustrations. We see 
 
152 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware- 
 
 Lazarus dying in peace, a woman in tears praying by his bedside, and his dog howling 
 at his feet. Above the reclining figure of the dying man the image of his soul is borne 
 to heaven by angels, and through the parting clouds the Almighty bends down to 
 receive it. This medallion constitutes the only relieved decoration; there are no 
 more lions’ heads, recollections of the antique; no rich bands of ornament imitated from 
 the masters of the Renaissance; from beginning to end it is the real work of the potter 
 left to his own devices. All the ground is enriched with ramified stems, engraved by 
 hand in the mass, each branch being terminated with a fleuron deeply stamped in 
 with a seal: blue enamel has been rubbed all over the piece, but so as to stain only the 
 level surface, and to leave untouched the grey colour of the clay within the cavities of 
 the engraved design. 
 
 We have already named Jan Emens as one of the most eminent representatives 
 of the potter’s art at Raeren. His name would indeed stand foremost if we consider 
 the fertility of his productions and the versatility of his talent. His well-known mono¬ 
 gram so often meets our eye on good or indifferent specimens of brown stoneware, that 
 all seems at one time to resolve itself in his personality. This master forms a most 
 decided contrast with the old Mennicken, and we can hardly think of bringing them into 
 comparison, so wide apart do they stand from each other ; one takes pride in remaining 
 formal and severe in all his conceptions, while the other endeavours to contrive nothing but 
 what is graceful and pleasing. We feel bound to acknowledge him as a precious chaser of 
 minute details, an embroider of arabesques, an ingenious inventor of intricate strap-work, 
 if not always a classical limner and searcher for pure and sober forms. When Baldem 
 Mennicken’s stately ewers represent him to our mind as a stern and austere Puritan, 
 what comes from the hand of Jan Emens speaks of an amiable, ingenious, vivacious 
 spirit, actuated by the desire to charm and please. 
 
 The number of subjects he has signed, either with his full name or with his initials, 
 proclaim him by far the most prolific of all stoneware modellers. There is no style of 
 subject befitting stoneware that he has not treated, and always with the same elegant 
 facility. In their turn, and to meet all demands, he has taken up heraldic devices, 
 bands and medallions of renaissance ornament, figures in panels and long friezes, 
 religious or mythological allegories, or scenes of peasant life; in short, subjects of 
 every possible description. He went so far as to place his initials upon some 
 questionable designs which would have been better left unexecuted. 
 
 A record of all that has already come under our notice would make a long list, but 
 it could not be a complete one. Amongst stray pieces and fragments occasionally 
 turning up, many models signed by him are still day after day discovered, which had so 
 far escaped attention. The popular engravings of Aldegrever, Virgilius Solis, Stephanus 
 
Raeren. 
 
 153 
 
 de Laune, Theodore de Bry, and all the group of the small masters of his time, have 
 supplied the designs for a large part of his basso-reliefs; a few special subjects however 
 may be considered as the fruit of his own imagination. We shall have occasion to find 
 his name associated with a great number of the specimens described in the following 
 parts of this chapter, so we need not accompany this short notice with any figures 
 representing selected examples of his talent; a little farther on they will occur on every 
 page. 
 
 The artistic knowledge he has displayed in all his works precludes the notion of his 
 having been educated as a potter in the village of Raeren, and induces us to assume 
 that, trained in a large centre, probably Cologne, he came to offer his services in the pot 
 works of the rising little locality. 
 
 He may first have worked with the Mennickens, and in this way would be explained 
 the presence of their two monograms on certain vases; but having soon mastered the 
 secrets of the trade,—the craft being then free and open to all,-—rather than remain the 
 ill-paid servant of a potter, he probably soon established himself on his own account. 
 One of his earliest marks—on a jug of the Weckherlin collection, adorned with the busts 
 of the twelve Apostles, in the style of Baldem Mennicken—^is composed of his initials, 
 to which is added an M ; a combination which might mean that for a time a partnership 
 had existed between them. On the pieces signed and inscribed by him the dates we 
 have noted range from 1568 to 1592; Mr. Schuermans however, our best authority, 
 places the period of his productions between 1556 and 1603. 
 
 A jug or ewer of unwonted dimensions, now in the National Museum at Munich 
 (fig. 89), is the earliest work we have seen inscribed and dated with his own hand. 
 From the inscription we gather that it is a friendly present intended for some one 
 inhabiting Cologne ; it runs thus ; 
 
 ICH BEN EIN GROSE KAEN 
 WAN ICH BEN FOEIL WINS G 
 E DOEN DAN KONNEN SICH W. 
 
 AEL IRE DREI AEN MICH BEGOEN EN 
 D DAT, GESCHVIT OP EINEN HOGENB 
 ERCH BONDER FALEN DER MICH WAE. 
 
 These lines, incised in the clay in big letters about one inch in height, cover all 
 the cylindrical part of the vase ; nothing whatever by way of applied ornamentation 
 enters in the decoration but two lions’ heads in high relief, not pressed in a mould, but 
 modelled by hand; one surmounts the neck and the other is placed in the centre, the 
 inscription running right and left of it. On the cheeks of the higher one the maker has 
 impressed his initials, I. E.; on those of the other the date 1568. On the posterior 
 face, underneath the handle, three words are written in cursive characters, which we have 
 not been able to decipher, and “ Kolen 1568.” 
 
There is enough in this piece to excite our curiosity. First, the absence of any of 
 the applied ornaments Jan Emens was so fond of lavishing on his work; and 
 secondly, the presence of the very same lions’ heads by means of which we usually 
 recognize the vases of the elder Mennicken. These two observations go far towards 
 
 making good the supposition that at one time 
 the two best potters of Raeren worked conjointly, 
 and that, at the early date of 1568, Jan Emens, 
 who had just joined the eminent master, either 
 as apprentice or partner, was intent only on ac¬ 
 quiring the practice of the trade, and, using 
 only such models as were ready at hand, had 
 not yet begun to design and carve his graceful 
 subjects. 
 
 It is not long after this, however, that we 
 find him in the full maturity of his talent. That 
 he soon took the lead in the artistic industry of 
 the place, his works amply testify. Far from 
 considering himself a common workman, he 
 took care to make it known, through the in¬ 
 scriptions on one of his vases, that he had full 
 consciousness of the worth of an artist. 
 
 Dey kunst haet altiit ey(ne)n vyantk 
 
 DAT SYN DY GENIGE DYE DER KVNST NYT. 
 ENWETEN NOCH EN ERKENNEN. I. E, 
 
 “ Art has its enemies,—those who ignore, 
 or fail to understand art.” 
 
 Another also most characteristic motto, 
 bearing testimony to the artistic pride of the 
 stoneware maker, is found on a very elaborate 
 frieze, where the escutcheon of the town 
 of Cologne, together with four other shields, 
 figure, surrounded with graceful volutes of foliage and flowers. 
 
 DiT is EIN KVNST DIE KVMPT AVS GOTTES GVNST. WeR DIE KVNST NOCH SO 
 SCHON SO MOSSEN SEI SICH GEFFEN ZV DEN DOT. 1 578.” 
 
 “This is an art emanating from the grace of God; but were the art even more 
 beautiful it is nevertheless doomed to destruction. 
 
 Fig. 89. Jug by Jan Emens. 
 Munich Museum. 
 
'Vt 'Vi. 
 
 •:>V. U;' 
 
 
 ••.*1, •■; y. 4 
 
 
 '■* .r ' ' '*• 1,'^ ■ - V- -i 
 
 ■ . „ ‘. *. 'i ••'*' ''V 
 
 ' , . ^ V. . ..‘V ■ ^ 
 
 ‘ - '■ ^ i,* ^ . ' ■. <' 
 
 . ■ - - ■ . ^ - » T » ■ 
 
 lilU-j 
 
 ^ *. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ('■ 
 
 ■■ .v>‘v:. 
 
 
 -c:. 
 
 . 4 ' 
 
 ...r' 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i'-'jf’ 
 
 
Raeren. 
 
 iSS 
 
 Jan Emens was also the head of a long succession of master potters who settled in 
 the district, or emigrated to Flanders and Germany, where we find his descendants in 
 several places. At Raeren the family has still some representatives, but the patronymic 
 has become altered into Emons or Emonts. 
 
 Of inferior notability were the following masters. 
 
 Engel Kran, whose name appears on the earliest lists, soon accompanied by that 
 of his son Ballis or Balthazar Kran. On the local registers is preserved the record of 
 certain charitable donations with which both had endowed their parish church : the 
 family was of some importance in the craft, and gave several masters to the council. 
 The monograms, not yet identified, which consist of a K associated with other letters, 
 viz., I.K.—G.K.—F.K.—P.K., etc., may represent some members of the Kran family. 
 Engel Kran, the best known among them, put his name in full upon one of the 
 many friezes representing the “ Elistory of Susanna and the Elders.” On this account 
 he is generally believed to have been his own “ cartemaker.” This, however, seems to 
 us far from being as yet a settled point. It would be strange that a modeller of such 
 ability should have signed only a single subject, and that his name should not be found 
 anywhere else but on the vase we are now referring to. Why not attribute it to a 
 practical mould-cutter,—Jan Emens, for instance, who is well-known to have supplied 
 many of the potters of the district with similar models, and who, besides, has also 
 signed in full another “ History of Susanna,” differing only in size and in some 
 insignificant details ? 
 
 The inscription of the vase is as follows : 
 
 DiT . IS . DEI . SCHONE . HEISTORIA . VAN . SviSANNA . INT . KORTE . EIT . 
 GESNEIDEN . ANNO 1584. EnGEL KrAN. 
 
 Too much stress has been laid upon the word “ gesneiden ” being associated with 
 the name of Engel Kran; if it may be taken as signifying ” carved by,” it may also 
 refer to the subject of the sentence, and be read thus : “ This is the beautiful history of 
 Susanna in the garden, Itere carved." 
 
 As a master potter Engel Kran had a perfect right to affix his name, as a trade¬ 
 mark, to a model cut for him by the “cartemaker.” At any rate, he never made any 
 pretence at having decorated a whole piece with his own hand ; and on the “ Susanna ” 
 vases we notice that all the smaller subjects accompanying the large frieze are signed 
 by other modellers. One of the finest examples of the type, formerly in the Huyvetter 
 collection, has the regular inscription, terminating with the name of the potter; but 
 the monogram of Jan Emens, inscribed on a shield above it, occupies a still more 
 
156 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 conspicuous position. On the face of that mark it would be difficult to affirm that Jan 
 Emens is not, after all, responsible for all the artistic part of the work, although the 
 vases may, at the same time, be marked by the manufacturer (Plate VIII.). 
 
 All the Krans seem to have repeated the same subject, one after the other. Between 
 1576 and 1637 we see it marked I.K.—E.K.—P.K.— F.K.—G.K.; initials which stand 
 with greater probability for the mark of the potter than for that of the modeller. 
 
 Everard Kalf. a contemporary of the above master, had taken to himself as 
 allusive arms “a calf grazing” (fig. 90). This mark is found on brown pieces, not of 
 
 Fig. 90. Berlin Museum. 
 
 Fig. 91. Brussels Museum. 
 
 the highest class, but of good marketable ware. Round the medallion runs the 
 following sentence: 
 
 In codes gewalt is mein vnderhalt. Everhart Kale 1589. 
 
 " To the power of God I owe my maintenance.” 
 
 Jean Alters. This name, or the corresponding initials, appears on many 
 medallions, panels, or bands of finely-chased reliefs, where birds and flowers are 
 gracefully combined with branches and foliages. Although Jean Alters worked 
 principally for the Raeren potters, he never settled permanently in the place, and his 
 name was never inscribed on the registers; by his signed productions alone are we 
 made aware of his connection with the craft. He enjoyed a certain consideration 
 amongst his fellows, for the very shield considered as the potters’ coat of arms 
 was designed by him, if we trust to the two letters J. A, placed on each side (fig. 91). 
 We may accept him as a good personification of the true “ cartemaker ” ; an itinerant. 
 

Raeren. 
 
 157 
 
 artist, finding pleasure and profit in shifting his quarters from one factory to another. 
 His master for the time being benefited by the experience he had acquired with 
 another, therefore he was always readily engaged ; and he did not scruple to transfer 
 from place to place, either a practical method, or a happy suggestion for some new 
 pattern he might have picked up in the course of his wanderings. A striking contrast 
 to that of the steady worker at the wheel, was his Bohemian life; no one knew exactly 
 whence he came, and when he vanished, after a short and productive stay, no one 
 cared much to know whither he went. How it happened that the unicorn he had 
 adopted as his crest, and his name in full, 
 were placed upon the ware manufactured 
 by others, is not so easily accounted for. 
 
 We give here a small bottle with his 
 private mark impressed on the sides 
 (fig. 92). The inscription, Jean Allers, 
 shows signs of having been partly oblite¬ 
 rated on the pot, and looks as if the re¬ 
 liefs had only faintly reappeared after the 
 firing. On many specimens bearing this 
 mark we have made the same observa¬ 
 tion, and the name, when it shows at all, is 
 difficult to make out, an attempt having 
 evidently been made to scrape it off. For 
 instance, on the pretty band of figures 
 and ornaments reproduced on fig. 83, 
 however sharp and neat all the other 
 details may be, the name of the maker 
 has been so tampered with as to be¬ 
 come almost illegible. The design has been introduced into the decoration of a grey 
 and blue vase, the most important part of which is signed by Jan Emens; it is a long 
 and curious frieze, which will be found on figs. 80, 81. 
 
 On a fine jug of the Cluny Museum (Plate X.) we recognize once more the shield with 
 the unicorn, embossed on the bottle given above; this time, not only has the name of 
 Jean Allers been taken off, but it has been replaced by that of Leven Colein (Cologne?). 
 The Leven were one of the notable families in Cologne. P. Leven was one of the first 
 who, in the beginning of this century, had formed a collection of ancient stoneware. 
 
 Fragments bearing Jean Allers’ mark have been dug up at Bouffioux. He may, or 
 may not, have worked for a time in the Walloon factories, but these fragments can hardly 
 
 Fig. 92. Bottle by Jean Allers. 
 Germanic Museum, Nuremberg. Height, 7 in. 
 
158 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 Fig. 93. Berlin Museum, 
 
 be taken as a conclusive proof. All those which have been found are so very inferior 
 in neatness of detail to what we know to have been done by him at Raeren, that 
 we have good cause to suspect them of being second-rate impressions taken from 
 
 the Limburg models. 
 
 The designs signed Jean Allers are generally 
 inspired from the engravings of the small masters, 
 particularly of Theodore de Bry; although they 
 are seldom dated, we have met with his name 
 accompanied by the date 1594. 
 
 Melsior Honckeboar. This name appears 
 on some pieces belonging to the best period, 
 which bear the medallion here appended (fig. 93), 
 where the initials M. H. are surmounted with the 
 enigmatic 4. Whether this personage was a 
 potter, or simply a merchant, remains uncertain ; 
 it is not probable, however, that he ever worked at 
 the trade, for his name is not to be found upon any 
 of the registers of the craft. The presence of the 
 commercial sign over his monogram makes us 
 disposed to accept the latter hypothesis. 
 
 The mark of H. H. designates a model-maker 
 whose work is found at Siegburg as well as at 
 Raeren. In the preceding chapter we have given 
 our reasons for considering him an itinerant 
 artist, placing his talent at the services of the 
 master potters of the two centres, and not an 
 established manufacturer, like Hans Higler of 
 Siegburg, to whom the monogram is sometimes 
 attributed. D. P. R., combined with a pair of 
 compasses, are considered by Vicaire Schmitz as 
 the mark of Dores, Pietz, Raeren, a master potter 
 who worked about 1591, the date inscribed on the 
 medallion (fig, 94). 
 
 Jean Liefrinck is known to have supplied some moulds to the potters towards 1580, 
 and he is described as a “ formschnyder,” a designation much more appropriate to a 
 mould-cutter than that of “ cartemaker,” more generally used. A namesake of his was 
 an established bookseller at Antwerp, and it has been thought that both Jean Liefrincks 
 
might be one and the same man, inasmuch as the suite of “ compartments ” engraved 
 by Floris, and often reproduced on Raeren ware, had previously been published by the 
 Flemish bookseller. We prefer however to see in them two distinct personalities. The 
 trade of a mould-cutter required quite a special training; 
 the moulds had to be sunk, like dies or matrices, and 
 even an engraver on metal or wood, as the latter may 
 have been, could not easily have undertaken them. The 
 title of “formschnyder,” given to the former in old docu¬ 
 ments, precludes the idea that he merely sent drawings 
 or sketches which were cut afterwards by other hands. 
 
 This however was the case with Jerome Cock, 
 engraver and designer, also of Antwerp, who is said to 
 have occasionally supplied models for the ornamenta¬ 
 tion of the Raeren stoneware ; his name however is not 
 found impressed on any specimens, and he can not 
 have done more than send sketches to be copied by the 
 practical modellers. 
 
 A great many potters’ marks still await identifi¬ 
 cation ; of the following ones, interesting on account of their probable reference to 
 members of the craft, very little can be said. 
 
 Fig. 95. Berlin Museum. 
 
 Fig. 96. Brussels Museum, 
 
 Fig. 97. Brussels Museum. 
 
 G. B. (fig. 95) is found on vases adorned with seven large medallions in the style of 
 Baldem Mennicken (fig. 85), also upon an annular jug of the Felix collection, with the 
 date 1602. This and the following mark are united on the small medallion given on 
 fig. 84. 
 
 W. E. and W. A. D. P., with the potters’ arms and other initials, may be the sign of 
 the Willems family (figs. 96, 97). 
 
Fig. loo. Cluny Museum. 
 
 Fig. loi. 
 
 each side of an arm holding a jug by the handle, over the motto “Putgen ute” (?), which 
 perhaps constitutes the trade-mark of some brewer, or the sign of some inn which had 
 its drinking-pots made at Raeren. 
 
 H. L., with the 4, on a large vase of the Musde d’Antiquities, Brussels (fig. 99), is a 
 mark with reference to which we cannot hazard any supposition. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 i 6 i 
 
 A. R., with the 4, on a curious medallion, round which we read ; “ In this ring will 
 I stick my lance, should I break it in the attempt.” (Fig. 100.) 
 
 A. H. P., on a jug with the twelve Apostles. 
 
 E. F., with the 4, on a vase bearing the arms of Claude Hannot, Drossart of 
 Walhorn, 1623—1634. 
 
 P. E., over a cartel containing a badge formed with the 4 piercing through a heart, 
 and terminated with an L. Round the medallion is inscribed “ Espoir me confort jusque 
 a la morte 1607,” a motto already assumed by the master W. E. in 1594; also in 
 connection with the 4. (Fig. loi.) 
 
 L. W., mark of one of the cleverest " formschneiders ” who worked at Siegburg 
 as well as at Raeren. He never signed in full, and no name on the potters’ registers 
 corresponds with these initials. 
 
 G. K., with a triangle, appears on a globular jug, decorated with a diaper of 
 rosettes,—formerly in the Minard collection. It might be attributed to one of the Krans. 
 The above by no means exhausts the list of marks and initials impressed on the 
 brown ware, but we think it unnecessary to record the odd letters not open to any other 
 explanation than that they stood for the name of the person to whom the piece had 
 been presented. 
 
 Merchants. 
 
 "DEFORE relinquishing the subject, we have yet to deal with another kind of 
 marks—those of the merchants. Wholesale dealers, in order to keep the sale of 
 stoneware in their countries or provinces in their own hands, entered into a contract 
 with the council, by which they promised to take a certain number of ovenfuls every 
 year, and exacted in return that all goods made for them should be stamped with 
 their name, so that they might be retailed as articles of their own manufacture. We must 
 not wonder, therefore, at seeing upon a fine specimen the name of a celebrated dealer of 
 the times spreading itself in large letters over the most conspicuous part, while that of 
 the maker is dissimulated under obscure initials hidden in some corner of the decora¬ 
 tion. It has always been a rule of the trade—and we believe the custom even now is 
 not obsolete—that the merchant or store-keeper should monopolize an article much 
 in demand by the retailers, and moreover should endeavour to conceal as much 
 as possible the sources from which he derived his supply, in order to impede the direct 
 communication of the consumer with the producer. To give oneself as the real maker 
 was one of the common stratagems employed, and we see this subterfuge resorted 
 to on the stoneware. 
 
 Y 
 
i 62 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 Upon three-handled vases of the best class, and also upon important pieces of 
 other shapes, is sometimes found a shield bearing a chevron cantoned with three 
 grapes, two in chief and one in point, and having as a crest two racquets with 
 vine branches. These are the “armes parlantes” of a certain Robert Thievin. 
 (Fig. 102.) His name—so that none should ignore it—is inscribed round the medallion, 
 and to it has been added the qualification of “ cartemaker.” He was a tradesman of 
 some standing, first at Antwerp and next at Lihge, where he settled definitely in 
 business. From his coat of arms and his surname, evidently a contraction of 
 “ tient vin,” or “keep wine,” we may reasonably conclude what had been the condition 
 of his family, if not actually his own. At all events, if he still sold wine and 
 
 kept a tennis court, he may also have added to his 
 business the sale of stoneware jugs and vases, just 
 then at the best moment of their success. By means of 
 the mark he caused to be impressed on the ware he sold 
 he obtained a certain monopoly ; soon all Flanders was 
 made acquainted with the name of Robert Thievin of 
 Antwerp or Lihge, and customers came to him from all 
 parts to obtain the fine vases bearing his mark. We shall 
 not deny him the honour of having supplied the potter 
 with a sketch of his “ coat of arms ” executed on his 
 order, and this perhaps in his eyes was sufficient to 
 warrant his taking the title of “ cartemaker.” But if we 
 recollect that his name does not appear upon any other 
 model than the shield with the vine branches, and that 
 this shield is used always in connection with subjects 
 carved by well-known artists, such as Jan Allers, or with potters’ marks like that of 
 the master of the M. M. M., etc., we imagine that we can see through the dealer’s 
 transparent artifice; the practice need not astonish us, inasmuch as it has been by 
 far distanced by the Robert Thievins of our days. 
 
 A few years ago, in the house inhabited by him at Lihge in 1590, a stained glass 
 window was discovered bearing his arms, together with an inscription styling him 
 Robert Thievins, “ Maitre de Cdans,” “ master of this house.” This alone denotes 
 a social standing much above that of an ordinary “cartemaker.” 
 
 More straightforward was his fellow-townsman and gossip Quellem Pardicque, 
 who, if he also caused his goods to be stamped with his name, did not arrogate to 
 himself any other quality than that of merchant and burgess of Lihge. He styled him¬ 
 self in other documents “ Purveyor to the Bishop Prince Ernest of Baviera.” All 
 
Raeren. 
 
 163 
 
 the best class articles sold at both stores came from Raeren, but for common pots the 
 shrewd dealers preferred to patronize the neighbouring manufactories of Bouffioux, 
 where good imitations were manufactured at a much lower rate. They did not, of course, 
 take the public into their confidence, and such private commissions as were given upon 
 a nice sample of Raeren ware, were, for the sake of increasing the profit, entrusted for 
 execution to the makers of Bouffioux. The excavations in the latter place have afforded 
 us abundant evidence of these transactions ; we find there many medallions reproducing 
 those originating from a more artistic centre, and particularly those of Robert Thievin 
 and Quellem Pardicque. The customer cared but little to know whence the ware came ; 
 it was convenient for him to choose a pattern 
 out of a town dealer's stock, and there, without 
 further trouble, order special vessels to be stamped 
 with his name or his cognizances. Had he been 
 obliged, in order to obtain them, first to dis¬ 
 cover the obscure place where they were manu¬ 
 factured, and next to enter into direct commu¬ 
 nication with the makers, the probabilities are 
 that we should never have seen such a large 
 number of vases bearing emblems and coats of 
 arms. If the noble families belonging to the 
 province of Li^ge are so profusely represented 
 on the brown stoneware, it is undoubtedly owing 
 to the presence of these two shops in the chief 
 town. 
 
 Fig. 103. Mettlach Museum. 
 
 While Robert Thievin stamped the goods 
 which made the object of his trade with his 
 
 truly heraldic device, his compeer satisfied himself with an ornamented medallion 
 having but little pretension to look like a coat of arms, and round which were written 
 the business-like inscriptions: 
 
 A. Quel. Pardisc. marchant de pot de voire de Liege. Pardisc fils de 
 Stein. 1603. And also: Quellem Pardicque marchant Borgor A Liege. (Fig. 103.) 
 
 A few years afterwards Pardicque left the town to establish himself at Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, the nearest city to Raeren, where the trade was centralized, and where he may 
 have prosecuted on a larger scale the exportation of brown ware. 
 
 If we insist upon the part played by the dealer in the development of the 
 industry, it is because it has been hitherto completely overlooked; yet it is not 
 
The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 164 
 
 without interest to trace its influence; and, moreover, there is much in the story 
 of stoneware which would remain inexplicable but for the interference of the 
 merchant. 
 
 During the most brilliant period of stoneware manufacture at Raeren and at 
 Siegburg the merchant, owing to his widespread connection, stood as the pivot 
 on which the industry revolved. For the selection of subjects and coats of arms 
 which were to be impressed on the ware in the course of the following year, the potter 
 waited for the advice of the man of business. 
 
 Often the latter brought over his own sketches, according to his own requirements, 
 and they were executed under his direction. Although he willingly bought a model 
 newly created by some local artist, he insisted above all upon being supplied with 
 subjects for which he anticipated a ready sale in the town or country in which he was 
 established. 
 
 The names of the London merchants, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
 are well known to all who are conversant with the history of English pottery. No 
 book on the subject forgets to mention Garnet Tynes, of Aix-la-Chapelle, who imported 
 the brown jugs stamped with the Royal arms of England, and the two partners, 
 Thomas Rous and Abraham Cullen, who, in 1626, applied for the privilege of manu¬ 
 facturing in London the ware they had hitherto received from abroad. Another 
 tradesman has left us the record of his name impressed on some brown beer jugs, on 
 which we read: 
 
 W. Barret—Handyard — in Holburn—London 1668. 
 
 The manufacture of no other pottery has ever been regulated to such an extent by 
 the demands of the foreign markets. If we except the Chinese porcelain, on which 
 many European monograms and coats of arms were executed through the agency of 
 the East India Company, the vases of Flemish and German stoneware are the only 
 ceramic productions on which we find the arms of all countries, England, France, 
 Spain, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Hungary, Denmark, etc.,—regularly produced for 
 the trade ; not to speak of the names and heraldic cognizances of many noble families 
 belonging to those distant lands who ordered their vessels in Flanders and Germany 
 through the medium of the dealers. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 § II. THE WARE. 
 
 A GREAT amount of complementary information may be derived from the ware 
 itself. Proceeding as we have done in the preceding chapter, we shall now pass 
 the most characteristic types under review. The field is a vast one; specimens of 
 beauty and of historical interest awake our curiosity at every step, many of which, 
 much to our regret, will have to be passed over, in order that we may devote 
 sufficient attention to a few selected examples remarkable for their exceptional merit 
 or as illustrating a peculiar style; either giving rise to a fresh question or settling a 
 doubtful point. 
 
 The earliest period, respecting which we have already had occasion to say a few 
 words, began late and did not last long; its productions consist principally of small 
 vessels, already of good stoneware, but of very rude and uncouth workmanship. In 
 shape they have little to distinguish them from the common pottety made at the time 
 in Flanders, Germany, and Holland. Setting aside the early jugs embossed with 
 primitive images of kings or noble ladies,—sketches of which have been given in 
 figs. 76, 77, and which offer undeniable instances of particularity,—we find the following 
 types :—the straight-necked jug, with the spreading foot impressed by the thumb of the 
 maker, just as it is found at Siegburg; the bottle, wreathed over with a tree-branch 
 garnished with leaves and rosettes, which were for a long time the staple decoration of 
 the Frechen ware; and lastly, the three-handled cups with the human features roughly 
 incised in the clay, such as they are found at Bouffioux, and indeed almost everywhere. 
 But these will not detain us long, inasmuch as they soon disappear to make room for a 
 range of original forms created by the men of the soil, and which, persevered in to the 
 last, constitute the happiest representatives of the peculiar style of the Flemish potter. 
 
The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 166 
 
 We must remember that before 1619, during the most prosperous times, the craft was 
 a free one ; no Guild regulations interfered to hamper private initiative, and a potter was 
 at liberty to bring out any fanciful form he might imagine without waiting for the sanc¬ 
 tion of the council; therefore a great variety distinguishes the vases of brown stoneware. 
 
 We do not mean to say that every article manufactured at Raeren was stamped 
 with the same mark of originality; alive to the necessity of keeping up an unrelenting 
 competition with their contemporaries, every shape of pot, successful in other places, 
 was also produced, but seldom, if ever, identical in detail. The public had adopted 
 a few standard patterns, and, before any novelty was to be thought of, people had to be 
 supplied with their favourite drinking vessels. Consequently the cylindrical schnelle 
 and the flattened harvest bottle of Siegburg were made by the side of the jug with 
 the bearded face, or Bartman of Frechen; finally, when the blue and purple stoneware 
 of Grenzhausen came into fashion, Raeren began immediately the manufacture of 
 similar articles heightened with the two colours. 
 
 But foreign types were of but accidental production. It is only fair to state that 
 the handsomest vases which can be laid to the credit of the Flemish potter are 
 precisely those the form of which belong to him alone. Amongst those, first rank 
 must be given to the large vases, ewers, or jugs—as one may please to name them— 
 composed of a vertical cerce placed between two demi-spheres, forming the egg of the 
 vase; the inferior half resting on a somewhat broad foot, while the upper part is 
 surmounted by a narrow neck, cylindrical in shape like the cerce. On the central band, 
 as on that of the neck, are stuck complicated friezes of figures and ornaments pressed 
 in sharp moulds. The architectural profiles are turned on the wheel; shoulder and base 
 are generally impressed with lines and patterns, produced by the application of small 
 seals or dies. The design of that shape results directly from certain ways and 
 conveniences in the fashioning of all vessels with narrow apertures, adopted from the 
 first by the potters. The ancient operatives evidently did not like to face the difficulty 
 of diminishing towards the top the diameter of a piece, "or, as it is termed, to close, it 
 on the wheel; therefore, when they had to turn a globular jug, it was made by means of 
 two half-spheres stuck together in the middle; of this the oldest specimens give us 
 innumerable proofs. In the days when the turner had attained to the highest 
 proficiency this method was not completely discarded, and “closed” pieces were still 
 made in three parts, namely, the neck, the cerce, and the base united together, 
 and forming thus a much larger object than it would have been convenient to turn in 
 a single piece. On this peculiar shape the whole history of Raeren manufacture 
 is illustrated, for it was made almost at all times and in all styles, and all the best 
 masters have produced and signed it. All the finest models, all the richest friezes with 
 
Raeren. 
 
 personages, were destined to embellish the cylindrical cerces, which alone showed 
 them to advantage; whether it was the noble vase of which a unique copy only was 
 ever to be perfected, as, for instance, 
 the masterpiece of Jan Emens, the 
 jug with the Centaurs and the Lapi- 
 thes (see Plate XL), or whether it was 
 the most popular picture ever pro¬ 
 duced at a small cost for the general 
 public,—^the ever-successful subject 
 of the “ Peasants’ Dance.” In our 
 random examination of the ware, we 
 could not do better than take this 
 shape and the subjects represented 
 upon it as our next station; we shall 
 first describe those decorated with 
 the frieze just named,—the “Peasants’ 
 
 Dance.” (Fig. 105.) 
 
 They are of all sizes and quali¬ 
 ties ; the scene is embossed in large 
 or small figures of good or indifferent 
 character, either signed by a master, 
 or clumsily carved by the commonest 
 hand. Copied in the first instance 
 from a print engraved by Hans Se- 
 bald Beham, of Nuremberg, by dint 
 of being reproduced from one mould- 
 cutter by another it soon lost all 
 likeness to the original. More than 
 thirty models, variations of the same 
 type, have already been counted. 
 
 The masters who signed L.W., I.M., 
 
 G.E., I.E., H.H., etc., have all given 
 us their own interpretations. Not 
 only did they take liberties with the 
 
 design, but, with the desire of rendering their work more realistic, they did away 
 altogether with the original meaning attached to the composition. In its earlifer 
 form it is meant as a burlesque personification of the course of the year; twelve 
 
 Fig. 105. Ceramic Museum, National Factory, S6vres. 
 Height, 22 in. 
 
The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 168 
 
 figures, in the costumes of the period, and representing the twelve months of which 
 they bore the names, are depicted dancing vigorously to the strains of the music 
 discoursed by the sun and the moon. This allegory was rather too recondite to please 
 both makers and buyers of drinking pots, and, as a matter of course, the picture was 
 soon transformed into one of real life by the addition of humorous inscriptions. It 
 became a village dance, and all the performers, dubbed with local names, were 
 supposed to have been taken from amongst the friends and neighbours of the potter. 
 Some of the inscriptions begin with an injunction to the musician, addressed by 
 the name of the accredited piper of the village: 
 
 GeRET DU MUSS DAPER BLASEN. 
 
 “ Gerald, thou must blow mightily.” 
 
 On others we get the list of the dancers with their recognized nicknames. They 
 are: Jan Ront H(oo)t. “John of the round hat.” Claes saigh sin. “Nicholas 
 the good-tempered.” X. (?) Lippen loer. “ The loose lips,” or always ready for 
 a glass, etc. Their fair partners are designated by their proper names: Ann 
 Elizabeth Faes, Philippina Wuit, etc., selected probably amongst the most popular 
 frequenters of the village green. 
 
 Through the sentences engraved above their heads by the mould-cutter we are 
 made acquainted with the feelings and sayings of all these good people. The “ curd,” 
 who had his place marked in all festivities, is not the least excited in the sport, and is 
 made to say: 
 
 Fry . VF . spricht . bastor . ich . verdans . dy . kap . mit . den . kor. 
 
 “ Faith I says the pastor, I will dance away my cap and my cassock.” 
 
 The labourer, coming last in the train in his working clothes, and carrying his 
 flail on his shoulder, shouts out the threat: 
 
 WeR . SIN . KOEPT . WILT . HALDEN . GANSZ . DER LAS DEN HUNDEN ER .. 
 Br(ve)fT . ENDE DEN BUREN EREN DANSZ. G. E. IS9O. 
 
 “ He who will keep his head whole, must leave to the dog its sport, and to the 
 peasant his dances.” 
 
 At other times the inscriptions have a more general turn, such as : 
 
 t 
 
 VeR . MOSEN BLASEN DEI BUREN DANSSEN ENDE SPRENGEN UF . WERREN SEI 
 RASSEN. 
 
 “ We must blow away 1 ” it is the musician who speaks, “ the peasants dance and 
 jump as if they were mad.” 
 
Raeren. 
 
 169 
 
 DiS MONAT . SEIN . GETHAM . WOLAVF . GRED . WIR . FANGENS . WIDERUM. 
 
 “ The months are at an end. Let us go, Gerald, we must begin again.” 
 
 Others verge somewhat on rudeness, these we shall omit to transcribe. 
 Thoroughly Flemish in their spirit, they anticipate the “ Kermess ” painted by 
 Rubens, Teniers, and most of the masters of the Flemish school. Notwithstanding 
 the imitations afterwards made elsewhere, they remain quite peculiar to Raeren ; yet 
 there is little probability of their having ever been manufactured, as it is often said, for 
 the use of the peasants themselves, any more than the pictures just alluded to were 
 intended to adorn the walls of the beerhouses where Brawer or Van Ostade were wont 
 to find their models. The costly workmanship of some examples put them out of the 
 reach of simple country folks. Few of these handsome jugs remained in the district; 
 the majority were sent to the large towns, where the wealthy citizen shewed a marked 
 preference for representations of the vulgar merrymakings of rural life. 
 
 So great was the demand for jugs with “ Peasant Dances,” that the Raeren friezes 
 were soon imitated at Siegburg, where, amongst the religious and formal subjects of 
 the German potter, they look very much out of place. On the brown ware the dances 
 appear frequently as early as 1575 ; on the white pieces the dates inscribed on the same 
 friezes do not go farther back than 1589; there is therefore no doubt as to which factory 
 had the priority in producing them. In both places the moulds are signed with the 
 same monograms, L. W. and H. H.; the same artists having here, as in many other 
 instances, repeated the same subject for different masters. 
 
 We do not know whether these somewhat fastidious repetitions resulted from a 
 continual state of keen and unfair competition being kept up between rival factories, or 
 whether, on the contrary, models were, like the ovens, considered as public property. 
 Be that as it may, it does not appear that the council, whose charge it was to watch over 
 the interests of the members of the craft, ever interfered with any potter reproducing 
 almost exactly a model introduced by his neighbour. The only condition a master 
 was bound to comply with was to have a mould, differing in size from the original, 
 executed expressly for his private use. Therefore no objection could have been raised 
 against a " cartemaker ” for repeating as many replicas of a given subject as might 
 be asked from him by the potters who wanted to produce it, on condition that each 
 replica was of a different size. . 
 
 A curious transformation of the dances is the rare jug—one copy of which is in 
 the Hetjens collection—on which the dancing couples are all monks and nuns in their 
 conventual habits;—another addition to make to the number of satirical pieces directed 
 against the clergy. 
 
 z 
 
The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 170 
 
 When trade was all but extinct at Raeren, and the Grenzhausen ware took the 
 lead, the vogue for friezes of dancing figures was not exhausted; and in the land of 
 Wied they were also commonly manufactured. But there it was not always the 
 uncouth clodhopper and rustic wench who formed the bouncing groups; they were 
 replaced by smart ladies and gentlemen dressed in rich costumes, jumping and 
 capering like the merry peasants, and not a whit less frolicsome in their 
 deportment. 
 
 The Raeren vase we have selected for reproduction (fig. 105), although very 
 elaborate, is not perhaps one of the best examples of Baldem Mennicken’s work, whose 
 name and motto, “ In Leiden Gedolt,” it bears. It is so overloaded with details that it 
 may, perhaps, be taken as one of the made-up pieces manufactured either by his sons 
 or his brother with the moulds left by the old potter. The frieze of the dance is 
 signed L. W,, and dated 1578. 
 
 The design of Sebald Beham is most accurately reproduced by a professional 
 modeller, and not by one of the cartemakers, upon a very curious canette, or pint, of 
 black clay in the possession of Mr. A. W. Franks. After having said that it is of 
 German manufacture, it would be difficult to add any information that would fix the 
 exact time and place of its production. What strikes us chiefly in this puzzling specimen 
 of a ware so far unnoticed by any writer, is its close resemblance to the black basalt 
 of Josiah Wedgwood, and the similarity of treatment observed in both cases. It is 
 the same way of sticking the figures one by one on the ground of the piece, and of 
 completing the decoration, top and bottom, by the same engine-turned pattern. To the 
 English collector it may be interesting to recall the fact that the first examples of black 
 ware, decorated with applied reliefs, were made in England by the brothers Elers, who, 
 no doubt, brought this method, with many others, from their own country. Through 
 their intervention we might, therefore, connect in a curious way the black basalt of the 
 great English potter with the stoneware of Germany. The piece is very highly finished, 
 and very hard in substance : it bears the monogram H. D., so far unidentified. We 
 know only one other example of the same black stoneware. It is also a canette, 
 in the National Museum at Munich. The figures embossed upon it, also well 
 modelled and sharply pressed, are this time a standard-bearer, in the costume of 
 Albrecht Durer's Lanceknechts, to whom a girl presents a full tankard. Upon an 
 applied shield we find the two letters G. S. twice repeated, and a pair of shears ; initials 
 and emblem referring probably to the name and trade of the party who had been 
 presented with the piece. 
 
 But we must return to the vases with cylindrical cerces, adorned with pictures of 
 common life; the drinking scenes, like the dances, must naturally be included in that 
 
Raeren. 
 
 171 
 
 Fig. 106. From a Grey and Blue Jug. Berlin Museum. 
 
 class. A convivial gathering at the village inn is depicted on the vase, fig. 107; 
 on each side of a long table the drinkers are seated, as if intending to make a night of 
 it, but their wives, determined to wait for them no longer, come in a body to fetch the 
 belated husbands home by force. Signed I. E. Another frieze shows us the wives 
 chastising the drunkards (fig. 106), with the sentence: 
 
 SoE GOET DES DY FOL SUPERS ES MOS SEIN. I. M. 
 
 “ So goes the punishment of the drunkard ; it is 
 only right that it should be so.” 
 
 Upon another vase, inscribed “ Die buren 
 HOCHZE iT,” we have the representation of the pea¬ 
 sant’s marriage feast. 
 
 A very curious frieze by Jan Emens (figs. 81, 82) 
 unrolls to our gaze consecutive pictures illustrating 
 the chief features of the peasants’ festivities. The 
 sketch will render our giving a detailed description 
 of the various scenes of which it is composed 
 unnecessary. Their realistic treatment may have 
 caused many copies of the piece (now extremely 
 rare) to be destroyed by chance possessors less 
 inclined than were our worthy grandsires to accept 
 good-humouredly such patent infractions of pro¬ 
 priety and seemliness. Let it be said at once, to 
 the credit of our potters, that subjects of a coarse 
 or licentious character are rare exceptions to the 
 rule which makes of a stoneware jug a speaking exponent of morals and philosophy 
 by the maxims inscribed upon it; a propagator of religious and classical history 
 through the images with which it is decorated. 
 
 Many are the philosophical sentences to be found engraved on the Raeren drinking 
 pots, and the teaching they convey takes the most serious turn. Thus, round a 
 medallion having a death’s head in the, centre, we read : 
 
172 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 OCH . LEIBER . LESSER . BESEICH . MICH . (WA)T . DOV . NOV . BIS . DAT . BEN . YCH 
 GEWEST . (wa)t . YCH . NOV . BEN . DAT . MOST . DOV . WER. 
 
 " Look at me, dear reader; what thou art, so have I been; what I am, so wilt 
 
 thou be.” 
 
 Sometimes they take the form of an advice to a young man : 
 
 YuNGER . GESEL . HAT . DICHT . WERN . VERFUL . NIT . DEINEN . DRIM . BIST . DEN . 
 
 FRUWEN . NIST . SU . HULT . SO . STET . DU . WOL. 
 
 “Young fellow, stand fast, do not give way to 
 thy passions ; do not be so friendly with the women, 
 it will be much better for thee.” 
 
 The above is found on vases the centre of which 
 is occupied by a medallion containing the pelican, 
 emblem of charity (fig. io8). Two replicas of the same 
 model are preserved in the South Kensington Museum, 
 one in brown clay, the other in grey, lightened with 
 blue; both of them are dated 1599, and bear the ini¬ 
 tials of the maker, H. K.; the decoration is completed 
 with the coats of arms of Spain and of Burgundy. 
 
 It is hardly possible to enumerate the scriptural 
 subjects embossed on vases of the same shape ; there 
 is, however, between Raeren and Siegburg, a well- 
 marked difference in the spirit of their treatment, and 
 especially in their selection. We notice, for instance, 
 that the favourite subject on Flemish ware is one 
 which never appears on the white German vases; 
 it is the “ History of Susanna and the two Elders.” 
 It is well known that all Flemish artists of the 
 Renaissance were singularly fond of rendering, each in his own way, that biblical 
 episode. They painted it on stained glass windows; embroidered and weaved it on 
 cloth and in tapestry ; they carved it in metal and wood : one of the finest works of stone 
 carving of the period, the chimney of the “ Franc ” at Bruges, is decorated with that 
 subject in bass-relief. 
 
 In the Susanna jugs we have undeniable “ Grfes de Flandres in the most 
 complete acception of the term; made on Flemish soil, their artistic decoration is 
 thoroughly pervaded by Flemish spirit; and if we wanted a proof that their makers 
 
 Fig. 108. South Kensington Museum. 
 Height, 16 in. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 173 
 
 intended them for the use of their countrymen, we should find it in the inscriptions, 
 written in the Flemish language : 
 
 Dit is DEI SHONE HEISTORIA VAN SuiSANNA INT KORTE EIT GESNEIDEN. 
 
 The inscription, which varies slightly according to the models, is followed by the 
 name or initials of the maker, with dates ranging from 1576 to 1637 ; the success with 
 which the subject continued to be received having induced all the leading potters to 
 bring out their own version of it. 
 
 Even among German collectors, at the moment when the infatuation following 
 upon the archaeological discoveries concerning the origin of stoneware went so far as to 
 make them deny the existence of any important factories besides those situated along 
 the Rhine, the “ Suzannakruge,” and vases of the same shape, had still kept their 
 significant name of “ Flandrishe steinzeug.” 
 
 Our etching is taken from a good average specimen of these vases. The story is 
 related in six or eight compartments, according to the size of the piece, each of them 
 comprising several figures ; they are carved with the brilliant and bold treatment of a 
 Renaissance bronze, which has little in it that recalls the usually more formal 
 workmanship of the stoneware " formschneider." If the name of Engel Kran is 
 inscribed on the frieze, we have already stated our reasons for believing he was 
 probably the potter and not the artist; the mark of Jan Emens, with his initials, 
 appear on a small shield placed on the neck, accompanied with an inscription borrowed 
 from another model, called the “ Pfennig” jug : 
 
 LyFDEN . GEIT . BOV . EN . ALE . DENCK . NIEN . SPRICKT . DIG . PENNINCK . ICH . 
 BEN . SOE . LYF . EN . SOE . (we)rT . DAT . IDER . GEB. 
 
 “ Love goes before everything; no, says the penny, I am so precious and so dear 
 that I am preferred by all.” 
 
 This mark cannot be taken as conclusive evidence that Jan Emens is the author of 
 the subject placed underneath; but on two replicas of the “History of Susanna” 
 we have his name duly signed: once J. E. M., 1583, that is to say, one year earlier 
 than the Engel Kran frieze; and on a larger model, Jan Emens (in full), 1585; this 
 latter being by far superior to any other in design and sharpness of execution, and also 
 the most difficult to meet with. 
 
 Let us note, by the way, that it is upon one of the Engel Kran vases that Demmin 
 thought he could read the date 1444. Having never taken the trouble to verify the 
 correctness of this curious reading, he has more than once in his book mentioned the 
 
174 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 brown stoneware vase with the “ History of Susanna” as affording, by its early date, a 
 convincing proof of the priority of German art pottery to all other. 
 
 A rare frieze of exceptional beauty represents King Solomon with his train of 
 courtiers and soldiers on their journey to meet the Queen of Sheba; a work of grand 
 style, but without mark or inscription. For a long time it was thought to be unique ; 
 
 other copies have since been found, and the 
 subject in reduced proportions is seen on 
 some jugs in connection with other scenes, 
 namely, on the vase with the Centaurs and the 
 Lapiths of Jan Emens, which will be described 
 later. (Plate XL) Always on this same shape 
 we find, signed by Jan Emens, the five fol¬ 
 lowing subjects in separate compartments: 
 Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Lot and his 
 daughters, Noah building the Ark, and Abra¬ 
 ham and Isaac, dated 1583. Also with the 
 same mark, and dated 1587, the History of 
 Joseph. 
 
 Six pictures representing the parable of 
 the Prodigal Son, without date or mark, but 
 supposed to be by the master H. H., who 
 worked principally at Siegburg (fig. 109). The 
 History of John the Baptist, dated 1580, is 
 also attributed to the same master ; the divi¬ 
 sion between each compartment, formed by 
 trees instead of arcatures, is one of the 
 peculiarities of his style. 
 
 We shall lastly mention, to bring to a 
 close our list of religious subjects, those 
 taken from the New Testament. They also 
 are veiy numerous, and we shall quote at random: The Childhood of Christ, in six 
 pictures,—The Miracles,—The Last Supper,—The Crucifixion,—The Apostles,—The 
 Evangelists,—The Works of Mercy, etc. 
 
 Passing now to the mythological subjects and allegories, we notice that the Raeren 
 potter has also freely indulged in the representation of pagan gods and goddesses for 
 the adornment of his cylindrical cerces. Copied with great freedom, as a rule, from the 
 engravings of the German small masters, they are treated with quite a special care, and 
 
 Fig. 109. South Kensington Museum. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 175 
 
 Fig. no A. From a Grey and Blue Jug. Ritter von Lanna Coll. 
 
 count amongst the best productions. They are from the hands of the same masters as 
 the religious and other scenes, and are generally accompanied by Latin inscriptions, most 
 often difficult of interpretation; an observation which applies, let it be said, to all 
 inscriptions on stoneware, whether they be written in Flemish, German, or any other 
 language. The reason is probably that the “ formschneider ” was more ready with his 
 chisel than his pen ; and when he had to engrave backwards in his mould an inscription 
 unintelligible to him, he was liable to commit many errors and strangely alter the text. 
 
 Jan Emens has again signed the frieze given on fig. no. The procession is 
 marshalled somewhat in the fashion of the pageants of the times ; it is composed of two 
 triumphal cars, drawn by horses and oxen, and attended by several Olympian divinities 
 —Mercury, Mars and Venus, Saturn, etc. The figure which closes the march is a 
 personage in Renaissance costume, said to be the portrait of the artist himself. Another 
 procession, this time signed with the initials H. H., has another set of deities, with 
 Bacchus and Silenus as a central group. 
 
 To the same category belong also the vases with the nine Muses, each standing 
 under an architectural portico, and those with the seven planets, and the four elements. 
 
 Fig. 1 10 B. 
 
176 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 As a rule, mythological subjects are treated as separate medallions, framed in 
 Renaissance borders redundant with ribbands and garlands, cut out and convoluted with 
 the exuberant profusion of detail so dear to the decorative artist of the period. The 
 illustrated editions of Ovid’s “ Metamorphoses,” and of the minor poets, supplied the 
 models; the rough woodcuts with which they were adorned being admirably adapted to 
 be effectively rendered by the chisel of the " formschneider.” He succeeded in producing 
 in imitation of them some fine reliefs, but evidently was not equal to accomplishing a 
 correct transcription of the accompanying 
 Latin distichs; these are so curiously muti¬ 
 lated as to offer in many cases hardly any 
 sense. We shall particularly mention: 
 
 Diana and Acteon,—Apollo killing the Ser¬ 
 pent,—Daphne changed into a Laurel,— 
 
 Minerva and the Muses, etc. All these have 
 been carved in separate medallions, so that 
 they might be introduced in all schemes 
 of decoration. (Fig. in.) They are most 
 frequently found applied to the vases of tall 
 ovoid form, either singly or in sets, in the 
 manner illustrated by the fine ewer of 
 Baldem Mennicken already given (fig. 84). 
 
 Amongst the mythological vases, the 
 one etched on Plate XL is uncontestably 
 the finest, as well as the rarest, of all. Its 
 shining surface is covered with a deep and 
 metallic glaze of a rich brown tint, not 
 unlike the patine of a Florentine bronze; 
 the elaborate frieze of figures is of un¬ 
 common sharpness in all its details; it is clear that the moulds employed for 
 its decoration were then used for, the first time, and that every line which required 
 more precision has been carefully touched up by hand. The simple and pure 
 outline of the profile recalls to our memory the noble ewers of the first period; and 
 although the vase was evidently intended as a masterpiece by its makers, it has 
 none of the tawdry adjuncts, the over-crowding of which later on was made to pass 
 for beauty. One might perhaps regret the superposition of a double frieze of figures 
 when one might have been sufficient, and yet from the contrast in the workmanship 
 between the two subjects a very good decorative effect results. Jan Emens has 
 
 Fig. III. From a Brown Jug. British Museum. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 177 
 
 surpassed himself in the conception and execution of the main battle-scene which gives 
 its name to the piece: “ The Centaurs and the Lapiths at the marriage feast of Thesus 
 and Pirythotis.” The figures, of quite unusual size, are powerfully drawn, and the 
 whole scene is instinct with action and movement. On the upper part of the vase, so as 
 to form an ornamental border to the largest frieze, has been placed a reduction of the 
 also rare model of “ Solomon advancing with his retinue of soldiers, in Roman costume, 
 to meet the Queen of Sheba.” The cylindrical neck is covered with the following 
 inscription, of which we have not been able to obtain a translation : 
 
 PiRITHOVS . HEFT . GETROVT . TOT . BEN¬ 
 DER . VROWE . HIPPODAYMEN . HEEPTTER . 
 SYN (?). GENOT . DIE. SENTAVREN . WARWT . 
 QVAM . GROTEN . ROW . WANT . DIVERS . 
 
 DAER . SYN . GEBIEVEN . DOOT . DIET . 
 GEVECHT (?) . DAER . YS . GEWORDEN . 
 GROOTER . THE . SEVS . MOEST . HIR . DEN . 
 DOOT . VERWACHTEN . 1576 . I . E . 
 
 It was no easy matter to pass through the oven a piece of this magnitude and 
 obtain it free from cracks or flaws; it was often attempted several times before 
 success was secured. In the case of this particular vase the diggings at Raeren have 
 afforded us certain proofs that a satisfactory copy was not achieved without trouble. 
 During the excavations directed on the spot by Mr. Hetjens, fragments of two or 
 three imperfect replicas were turned up, and by carefully piecing them together their 
 possessor hopes to reconstitute at least one complete piece. It is more than probable 
 that Jan Emens, after these unfortunate mishaps, never repeated the experiment, 
 and remained satisfied when he had succeeded in obtaining a perfect copy, all the 
 more precious for being the only one in existence. 
 
 Such an admirable piece of workmanship must always have been highly valued 
 and treasured by its consecutive owners, it is not therefore to be wondered at that it 
 should have been carefully preserved for centuries and come down to us uninjured. 
 Had any duplicate ever been made it would in all probability also have been saved from 
 destruction, and discovered ere this. 
 
 A most popular model, repeated in numberless copies, was the frieze of the 
 “ Electors.” PI. XII. Round the vase, on the central band, are ranged seven half-length 
 figures standing under architectural arcatures, each holding its respective escutcheon. 
 They are the seven electors of the empire, by whom the Emperor of Germany was 
 elected at Frankfort. As the coat of arms without metals or colours might not 
 have been a sufficient indication of their names and titles, each personage is further¬ 
 more designated by means of initial letters inscribed over his head. Thus we have, 
 starting from the left: 
 
 A A 
 
178 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 B, Z. V. T. R. (Bischoff zu Trier), “ Bishop of Trhves.” 
 
 B. Z. V. CoLN. (Bischoff zu Coin), “ Bishop of Cologne.’ 
 
 B. Zv. Me. (Bischoff zu Mentz), “ Bishop of Mayence.” 
 
 Rom. Kai. (Romish Kaiser), “ Roman Emperor.” 
 
 Pa. Gra. (Paltz Graft), “ Count Palatine of the Rhine.” 
 
 H. Zv. S. (Hertzog zu Sachsen), “ Duke of Saxony.” 
 
 Bra. Bvr. (Brandenburg Burgrave). 
 
 Every variety of ornamental accessory accompanies this frieze on the pieces where 
 it appears as central subject; these pieces are most varied, ranging from the modest 
 pitcher to the handsome ewer, and they are accordingly left very simple, or most 
 elaborately treated. The presentment of the members of the mighty conclave found 
 favour with all classes of society. When the Elector jug was handed round the table, 
 where loyal German burghers were discussing after dinner the politics of the day, each 
 picture furnished in turn the topics of conversation. The pot-maker could supply any 
 one with a jug illustrated with a subject suited to his turn of mind. The believer and 
 the moralist had each his choice of religious or emblematic designs, and we see that 
 neither the nationalist nor the politician was forgotten. In Germany, where the jug 
 was of course most in demand, it was never extensively manufactured; was it because 
 the Raeren model was so much appreciated, that imitations had no chance of success > 
 At any rate, Siegburg only produced it in a few rare examples, and we do not know 
 that a single instance of an Elector jug made at Grenzhausen has ever been reported. 
 It is scarcely worth mentioning the coarse mugs with portraits of the electors, painted 
 at Creussen a century afterwards; they have nothing in common with the type we are 
 now describing. 
 
 Without pretending to give the extreme dates of the production of the jugs in 
 brown or grey ware decorated with the seven figures, we may, however, say that those 
 which have come under our notice range between 1580 and 1632. As usual, they are 
 inscribed with various marks and initials, but with the exception of the well-known 
 monogram I. E.,—Jan Emens,—which occurs on'one of the largest and best models, we 
 cannot undertake to discover the meaning of such marks as H. W., I. H., I. K., M. O., 
 etc.; in most cases they have reference to the owner of the piece. 
 
 Subjects recalling historical events or social institutions of the country are, 
 unfortunately, restricted to a very limited number, and, as we have just observed, 
 it is curious to find the Elector jug, so closely connected with Germany, remaining the 
 speciality of the Flemish potter; on the other hand, he seems to have cared little to 
 record on his work the important phases of his own history. There was assuredly 
 
Raeren. 
 
 179 
 
 Philip II., King of Spain. 
 
 Henry III., King of France. 
 
 Henry “ Le Balafr^,” Duke of Guise. 
 Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayence. 
 Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. 
 Gustavus Vasa, King of Sweden. 
 
 Fig. 112. Grey and Blue Ware. Frohne Coll. 
 Height, loi in. 
 
 ample scope in the disturbed times through which he worked either to celebrate by a 
 special model some great event,—a decisive victory, the accession of a new ruler, etc.,— 
 or to express in a short inscription the hopes he entertained when the fate of his country 
 seemed at last to be settled. It is disappointing to find that he has only on very rare 
 occasions engraved in the clay a few portraits or a few words of historical import. We 
 cannot say, however, that, like at Siegburg, 
 allusions to the foreign rulers who succeeded 
 each other in the Low Countries were never 
 introduced in the decoration of a jug. Fo¬ 
 reign kings, celebrated princes and generals, 
 are represented on many of the choicest per¬ 
 formances of the Raeren potter. But we are 
 at a loss to understand how he came to place 
 victors and vanquished side by side on the 
 same vase, without any reason for bringing 
 together these different personages, unless 
 it be as a retrospective glance at bygone 
 times, or a sad memento of all the miseries 
 and vicissitudes which poor Flanders had 
 undergone when bowed down beneath the 
 oppression of her successive conquerors. 
 
 Let us, for instance, read the names in¬ 
 scribed on the portrait medallions brought 
 together in an uniform series round the vase 
 given in fig. 112. We recognize in succession 
 the following personages; 
 
 They are marked with the initials of Jan Emens, and of this curious assemblage 
 many replicas are known. A most remarkable copy, in the “ Musde Sauvageot,” bears 
 on the flat part of the handle the incised letters M. V., probably those of the workman 
 
i8o 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 who executed the work. The same series is found again on an admirable vase 
 preserved in the Trfeves Museum. 
 
 The title of " King of Vases ” has become 
 a by-word amongst collectors to designate a 
 large fountain, formerly in the Hu3rvetter col¬ 
 lection, and now in the South Kensington 
 Museum. But if this ambitious title of “ King 
 of Vases ” had to be bestowed upon a work 
 in stoneware which surpasses all others by its 
 important dimensions, the striking originality 
 of its design, and the neatness and finish of its 
 ornamental reliefs, none could lay a better claim 
 to that designation than the fountain of Trfeves, 
 fig- II 3 - 
 
 This vase, made of the finest clay, is of a 
 delicate grey colour, soberly stained with blue 
 enamel of light azure tint. With the exception 
 of the portraits, which were not executed pur¬ 
 posely for this piece,—since we have already 
 seen them do duty upon another historical jug 
 by the same maker,—none of the applied details 
 are open to the reproach of having been em¬ 
 ployed on previous occasions. The critic who 
 finds fault with the too frequent repetition on 
 stoneware jugs of a certain number of models, 
 could not tax the elegant caryatides, and the 
 engarlanded pillars supporting the curiously 
 castellated entablement, with being hackneyed 
 and uninteresting devices. 
 
 Having carved these moulds expressly for 
 the purpose of embellishing his masterpiece, Jan 
 Emens, who has signed it in several places, took 
 great care that they should not serve afterwards to 
 adorn any inferior work, and they were probably 
 destroyed after he had made use of them. 
 
 Upon an armorial medallion placed under the central arcature, and which denotes 
 a particular destination, is inscribed the date 1591. As we do not know of any 
 
 Fig. 113. Treves Museum. Height, i8i in. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 i8i 
 
 production of Jan Emens signed and dated after the year 1592, this piece may be said 
 to mark the end of the artist’s career; he was then, at any rate, in the plenitude of his 
 talent, and he has evidently brought all the resources of his long experience to bear on 
 this fountain,—a model of workmanship which was then without equal, and was not 
 to be surpassed. 
 
 In one respect it is not quite satisfactory. In the course of firing the vase has 
 undergone an unseemly distortion which hinders us from fully appreciating the well- 
 calculated harmony of its proportions. Such were the difficulties the stoneware potter 
 had to contend with in making pieces of this size, that the master dare not try this 
 one over again; so remote were the chances of obtaining a faultless copy, that this 
 imperfect attempt remained the solitary production of a magnificent model. 
 
 While expressing a regret that inscriptions relating to contemporaneous events 
 should so seldom be seen on the ware, we have added that they were not however 
 altogether missing. An interesting jug was manufactured at the time when Maurice 
 of Nassau was fighting to obtain the sovereignty of the Low Countries, with the view 
 of gaining more partisans to his cause. It bears a sentence which could not fail to 
 have appealed powerfully to those populations oppressed by foreigners: 
 
 Den . D PRENSSEN . VAN . ORRANIEN . WASER . VAN . DVTSEN . BLVOT.— 1 596. 
 
 “The princes of Orange are of German blood.” 
 
 We cannot construe the presence on the same canette of the escutcheons of all the 
 other belligerent powers—Sweden, France, and Spain—otherwise than as a reminder 
 that none of these powers had a right to reign over the country when they could find 
 a German ruler in Maurice Duke of Nassau. 
 
 In a globular jug of the Oppenheim collection we welcome a truly historical 
 specimen. Upon it are represented the Archduke Albert of Austria, then govenor of 
 Brabant in which province Raeren was, as we know, included, and his wife Isabella of 
 Spain, with the date 1602. 
 
 Maurice of Nassau is again glorified on another jug with cylindrical cerce, on 
 which the single word Pax is inscribed in the centre of a frieze composed of the 
 portraits and coats of arms of warlike celebrities. The word refers to the truce concluded 
 in 1609 between the two antagonists Maurice of Nassau and the Marquis of Spinola, 
 who are both there represented. As usual, the figures of the most important personages 
 are accompanied by those of the Kings of France, Spain, Denmark, and that of the 
 Roman Emperor; but if the vase was really designed in commemoration of the long- 
 expected peace, we are at a loss to understand what share these monarchs were supposed 
 
Fig. 115. Brown Ware. 
 Frohne Coll. Height, ii in. 
 
 to have taken in bringing about the cessation of hostilities, 
 or on what other grounds they could have been introduced 
 in the composition. 
 
 The vases on which the Spanish occupation is humor¬ 
 ously called to our mind through a series of grotesque 
 soldiers, may perhaps come also under the head of historical 
 pieces. Captains in sumptuous Spanish attire, and in bom¬ 
 bastic attitudes, evident caricatures of the hated foreigner, 
 are represented under richly ornamented arcades. To each 
 of the figures is affixed a nickname borrowed from the 
 romances and comedies of the period, where the matamore 
 is made to play a ludicrous part. This last frieze is also 
 signed by Jan Emens. From the style of its decoration, 
 somewhat similar to that of the Trhves fountain, it may be 
 classed amongst the last works of the master. (Fig. 114.) 
 
 So far our description of subjects has been confined to 
 the friezes which illustrate the vases with verbal cerces; 
 we shall now bring the list to a close, altMigh it is 
 very far from being exhausted. In concluding, we shall 
 once more insist on this point,— a very characteristic 
 one in the Raeren manufacture,—that however elaborate in 
 workmanship and important of dimension, these vases were 
 currently produced, and few of them were made as nnique 
 and exceptional works. So many replicas of the finest 
 models are still in existence, that we may safely consider 
 them as having been the regular productions of the best 
 factories. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 183 
 
 A FTER the large jug, which takes first rank amongst the brown ware vessels, 
 the pint or beer drinking pot, which corresponds to the German schnelle, 
 demands our attention. This shape does not assume at Raeren anything like the 
 importance it takes at Siegburg. The pint mug or canette forms only a small percentage 
 in the aggregrate number of articles produced in the Limburg pot works. While 
 artistic reliefs are lavished on the decoration of a jug, the drinking mug seldom shows 
 an equal richness of treatment, and is most often made 
 rather as an article of use than of fancy. 
 
 Exceptions may be found in the imitations of the 
 white ware patterns, which, in richness of detail and 
 brilliancy of execution, do not yield to the choicest 
 examples. A tall schnelle of brown ware, preserved in 
 Rheinstein Castle, can creditably stand comparison with 
 any Siegburg piece of the same order. The shape 
 is alike tall, slender, and tapering; the reliefs, repre¬ 
 senting the story of Tobias, in many compartments, are 
 carved with great neatness, and in the same style as the 
 German types ; but this schnelle, as well as a few others 
 seen occasionally in museums, must be regarded as an 
 unsupported attempt to compete with rival factories, 
 undertaken by a single master, and not at all as the 
 standard production of the place. 
 
 The lofty proportions of the Siegburg schnelle is 
 soon modified at Raeren into a short and almost 
 vertical cylinder; architectural mouldings replace the 
 hoops, originally figurated at both ends ; and instead of 
 the upri^jj bands of ornaments, with which the whole 
 form uselfco be covered, a central medallion and a few 
 insignificant items are deemed a sufficient embellishment 
 (fig. 115). Fancy shapes become abundant; the vessel is fashioned with affThe quaint¬ 
 ness of profile that the turner can imagine to impart to the ductile clay. An elegant 
 and original design of a drinking pot of the period is shown here in fig. 116. 
 
 Religious subjects are no longer chosen to endow the jug with picturesque interest, 
 but emblems and armorial bearings survive as means of decoration, and assume, on the 
 sides of the drinking mug, more importance than ever. Every one who could boast a coat 
 of arms,—a distinction by no means limited in Germany to the nobility,—^was proud to 
 see it figuring on all objects intended for his private use. We must expect, therefore, 
 
 Fig. 116. Brown Ware. 
 Brussels Museum. 
 
184 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 to find an innumerable quantity of heraldic devices stamped on the stoneware vases. 
 In one private collection alone a list has been drawn up of more than two hundred 
 armoried medallions, belonging to families in all ranks of life. Many of these 
 medallions have been named by Mr. H. Schuermans, who has embodied his patient 
 and fruitful researches in several learned papers published in the annals of the archaeo¬ 
 logical societies of Belgium, and to which we refer the reader interested in heraldic 
 science. 
 
 Guilds and other corporate bodies made it a rule to use none but drinking vessels 
 stamped with their badge or cognizance at their state banquets. We still recognize 
 
 Fig. 118. Frohne Coll. 
 
 Fig. 117 - 
 
 many of these earthen jugs, on which inscriptions and emblems bear evidence that they 
 had been manufactured by order of some trade corporation. 
 
 The Raeren potters, like members of all other trades, must have provided the 
 banqueting-room of the guild with special sets of jugs ; the arms they had adopted are 
 seen on many pieces of brown or grey and blue ware. It is a shield containing several 
 of the tools used by the potters, and two pots placed on either side of a monogram formed 
 of the three letters W. A. P., with the date 1601 (fig. 97). The same medallion appears 
 surrounded with various sentences which, we must confess, have little reference to the 
 potters or to their trade, unless they are the mottoes chosen by the master represented 
 by the monogram, and who may have made and presented the ware to the craft- 
 
Raeren. 
 
 i8s 
 
 These inscriptions, written in the Flemish dialect, are of such uncertain signification 
 that Verhelst, for instance, in the catalogue of the Huyvetter collection, translates 
 GhEEF . EEN . VERGELUCK . EN . DAT . HEM . TOC . DE . HOORT by “This makes 
 US happy and all that follows,” while Vicaire Schmitz gives it as meaning, “Give 
 to every one his due,” 
 
 In accordance with a long-established custom, the Fleming preferred to the narrow 
 schnelle of Germany the broad-bellied pitcher, of all sizes from the small jug which 
 contained a measure of beer equivalent to a 
 pint, to the capacious vessel placed in the 
 centre of the table when a party of friends 
 were assembled together, and from which 
 each guest took a draught in turn. For that 
 reason the jug was always the standard form 
 of the Raeren factories, and the pint jug, 
 in particular, the staple article of regular 
 trade. 
 
 The simple and handy shape of the 
 Flemish drinking jug is very characteristic, 
 and enables a Raeren jug to be recognized 
 at first glance amongst those of other origin. 
 
 Many varieties might be described, but it will 
 suffice to give here sketches of the most often- 
 recurring types. 
 
 The plainest shapes are also the simplest 
 in their ornamentation. A jug of the best 
 period, although made of the best clay and 
 fashioned with the greatest care, was often 
 left without any complement of artistic work. Height, n m. 
 
 Fig. 117 belongs to that class. 
 
 When made on private order, they do not fail to exhibit the badge or coat of arms 
 of their owner, even if the medallion is not accompanied by any other embellishment. 
 We find an example of these armoried jugs in the one shown in fig. ti8, made for the 
 family of Proist, of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
 
 Those of the highest class reproduce on a reduced scale the schemes of decoration 
 adopted for the largest vases (fig. 119). The medallions impressed upon the front of 
 the drinking pot are often meant to create amusement amongst the drinkers, and 
 embody some satirical or humorous idea. On fig. 120, the Spanish Bravado, who in the 
 
 B B 
 
i86 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 conquered land was constantly made an object of ridicule, is again represented. 
 Round the figure of a soldier holding an empty bag are inscribed the following 
 lines : 
 
 ICH . BEEN . EIN . KELT . ICH . HAF . DEN . BUIDEL . 
 GELDERLOSS , BEEN . ICH . ALTOS . ALEO . MOCTEN , SEI. 
 WEISSEN . AL . OLSIT . DIT . LEISSEN . 1585, 
 
 “ I am a hero, I have the purse, yet I am always 
 penniless ; so may have been all those who read this.” 
 
 This jug has a companion on which a miser is 
 depicted carrying a heavy bag on his shoulders. We 
 give here a separate sketch of the subject; it bears 
 the following inscription : 
 
 DeR . GITZ . BUCH . NEMMER . ZO . FRIDEN . 
 IS . HAT . ER . VOL . SACK . TORN . UND . KEIST. 
 
 “ The miser is never satisfied, even when his 
 sack and safe are full.” (Fig. 121.) 
 
 Fig. 122 is more in the shape of a jug made to 
 pour from than to drink out of, and was probably 
 intended to contain wine. 
 
 The pint jug represents the commonest article 
 of daily trade. Within this group we include the 
 cheap bottles and pitchers made for the village inns 
 and the customers of the lower class. Their use 
 spread amongst all people, and there was no poor 
 cottager who did not keep a set of stone pots on 
 his mantel-shelf. Many collectors delight now in the 
 possession of one of those simple and unpretentious 
 beer-pots, which, notwithstanding the low price for 
 which they were sold, are always of good make, hard 
 of substance, and covered with shiny glaze. 
 
 It is needless to say that the plebeian pint jug 
 could, at times, receive an exceptional amount of 
 workmanship without deviating very much from the shape usually confined to the 
 commonest article ; the potter perfected it occasionally into a most refined piece, and 
 we are not without a few examples of it. To be counted amongst pots of popular 
 use, yet belonging to a higher class of goods by the singularity of their design, are the 
 
 Fig. 120. Brussels Museum. 
 
 Fig. 121. Hetjens Coll. 
 
Fig. 122. Anc. Minard Coll. 
 
 so-called “ Kaiser Jugs ” (Plate XIII. and fig. 123). 
 
 A curious anecdote is current about the origin of 
 this name and the cause of their being garnished 
 with three handles. 
 
 At the time when the Limburg forests 
 abounded with wild deer and game of all kinds, 
 the Emperor Charles V. was wont, it is said, to 
 follow the sport in the neighbourhood of Raeren. 
 
 When passing through the village, he would dis¬ 
 mount before the threshold of'the inn to refresh 
 himself and exchange a few words with the land¬ 
 lord. This worthy, no doubt one of the leading 
 potters of the place, improved the opportunity by 
 setting before the eyes of his majesty some choice 
 samples of the local handicraft, trying to interest 
 him in its welfare and further development. Once 
 as the daughter of the house was coming forth, 
 holding in her trembling hand a jug of foaming 
 beer, the august visitor pleasantly remarked how 
 difficult it was for him to take hold of it, since its 
 one handle was already appropriated. “This 
 might be obviated,” he observed, " if the potters 
 would supply each pot with two opposite handles.” 
 
 The suggestion was readily acted upon, and 
 on the following season, when the day of his 
 periodical visit came round again, it was in a 
 handsome two-handled jug that the draught of 
 fresh beer was brought to the Kaiser; but the 
 blushing girl, forgetting previous injunctions, held 
 it this time with a handle in each hand! The 
 device was obviously an incomplete one, and the 
 case remaining as awkward as before, his majesty 
 suggested laughingly that the number of handles 
 should be increased to three, so that at least a 
 spare one should remain for him to take hold of. 
 
 Accordingly, and in furtherance of the imperial suggestion, the three-handled jug was 
 contrived, and received the name of “ Kaiser jug. 
 
 Fig. 123. Frohne Coll. Height, ii in. 
 
i88 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 A large water pitcher, shaped on the same principle as those made at Siegburg 
 for the use of the convent’s refectory, and decorated in the same manner with religious 
 subjects, will be found etched on Plate XIV. It is only 13 inches in height, but 
 unusually broad, and therefore of large capacity. The long inscription impressed in 
 the clay, by means of mobile types, does not tell us to what monastery it was 
 presented, but records, at any rate, the name of the maker : 
 
 Anno Domini i6.xxni den xviii July . habe ich das geschreiben . Laudate 
 Dominum quoniam bonus, quoniam in seculum misericordia ejuo Reges de Saba 
 
 VENIUNT . AuRUM, THUS, MYRRHAM OFFERUNT.—JOHANNES KaNNENBECKER ME FECIT. 
 
 Circular medallions with the Nativity, thrice repeated, alternate on the body with 
 fine arabesques imprinted with small punches, similar to those used by bookbinders. 
 It is not rare to see water pitchers of the same proportions, but very few are so 
 handsomely finished as the present example. They were the speciality of some master, 
 perhaps of the Kannenbecker who formed one of the chief families of Raeren. The 
 glaze is, as a rule, of very dark brown, and it is spotted with big patches of blackish 
 blue. Each master followed a special method of firing the ovens. Although the same 
 material—oxide of cobalt—was used in both cases, it produced a bright azure tint on the 
 grey ware fired under the influence of a free current of air, whilst when the brown ware 
 was baked in the closed ovens the want of oxygen caused the cobalt to retain a dark, 
 blackish colour. The earliest specimens show this imperfect development of the blue, but 
 the date of the big jug, 1623, proves that the mode of firing to which it is due was not 
 given up, even after the light grey and blue stoneware had been brought to perfection 
 in some factories. 
 
 TN spite of the few cases recorded above of the occasional rich ornamentation 
 of plain shapes, it remains none the less a rule that at Raeren, as in all other 
 manufacturing centres, high-class workmanship goes along with unusual shapes. It is 
 chiefly upon quaintly and especially designed vases, such as the circular flattened 
 bottles, the fanciful ewers, the annular jugs, in short upon the rarest contrivances in 
 the way of form, that the potter preferred to display to the utmost degree his artistic 
 and professional capabilities. 
 
 What we have said about the elegant travelling or harvest bottles of white ware, 
 to be noticed at Siegburg as being most often the masterpieces of their makers, applies 
 also to the specimens of the same order made in the brown ware of Raeren. They are 
 all presentation pieces, specially elaborated with the view of making them worthy of 
 the acceptance and admiration of a powerful patron, from whom some favour was 
 begged and expected. The armorial bearings—always the principal feature of the 
 
ii»i«iiir iiin'inn-grr^'r''m 
 
Raeren. 
 
 189 
 
 decoration—have, in most cases, reference to noblemen and church dignitaries residing 
 m the neighbourhood who had no doubt interested themselves in the prosperity of 
 the potters and had exerted some influence on the condition and development of the craft. 
 On the bottle or “Gourde,” fig. 124, we have the arms of one of the abbots of 
 Cornell Munster, a monastery which stood near Aix-la-Chapelle, in proximity to Raeren. 
 From the initials, E. V. E. A. 1628, in¬ 
 scribed above the escutcheon, we gather 
 that it was made for “ Erman Von 
 Eynatten, Abbot ” ; this personage had 
 ruled over the community since 1620, 
 when the bottle was .offered to him. We 
 must recollect that it was on the Eynatten 
 territory that the potters used to dig out 
 the fine whitish clay required for the 
 making of the highest class articles. It 
 was consequently of great moment to 
 them to keep on good terms with the 
 lords of the land. 
 
 No doubt this specimen represents 
 the best style of work that could be ob¬ 
 tained in 1628, that is to say, at a time 
 when the end was fast approaching, and 
 when the best “ formschneiders,” like Jan 
 Emens and his contemporaries, had long 
 since ceased to produce new models. 
 
 The heraldic medallion is the only applied 
 ornament; it is supplemented only with 
 graceful carving by hand of a pattern 
 of wiry stems, each branch terminated 
 with a “ fleuron " stamped with a seal in the wet clay. All the ground is stained with 
 bhight cobalt blue, while the floriated design, deeply sunk, remains of the grey colour 
 of the clay. The sides of the bottle are supplied with four loops, allowing a chain to be 
 passed through them for the purpose of slinging it on the shoulder. 
 
 The record of another prior of Corneli Munster has been found on a fragment dug 
 up at Raeren. The inscription, incomplete and much obliterated, has however been 
 reconstituted by Mr. Schuermans, who gives it as : 
 
 Joan Andreas a Cortenbach prior monasterii indenorum. 
 
 Fig. 124. Germanic Museum, Nuremberg. Height, lot in. 
 
190 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 The fragment bears the arms of the Cortenbach family, and the Joan Andreas referred 
 to was prior of Corneli Munster up to 1639. 
 
 Another patron of the potters had his arms emblazoned upon a gourde of the 
 same type, perhaps of a better class than the former, and which—although not dated 
 —must be anterior by a few years; by its superior style it seems to belong to the best 
 
 period of manufacture (fig. 125). The 
 letters E. V. R.—D. O. refer us to a 
 certain “ Edmond von Reuschenberg, 
 Deutschen Ordens.” The Teutonic order, 
 of which this Edmond von Reuschenberg 
 was commander, had established a branch 
 house at Siesdorf, a few miles north of 
 Raeren. To such a distinguished and 
 important neighbour the potters had cer¬ 
 tainly an interest to show some courtesy, 
 and, in exchange for his patronage, to 
 present him with some suitable testi¬ 
 monial. This bottle, probably a collective 
 offering from the craft, is on a par with 
 the finest examples of the potters’ skill; 
 no trouble was spared to make it worthy 
 both of the donors and of him who was 
 to receive it. Its clever workmanship 
 made a pot of common clay equal in value 
 to the most sumptuous vessels wrought 
 in precious metal. 
 
 In the village itself, and in the midst 
 of the pot works, was situated the convent 
 Fig. 125. Anc. Coll. Discb, Height, 171 in. of the Croisiers monks of Brandenburg. 
 
 We have every reason to believe that the 
 good fathers kept up a constant intercourse with the masters, and that they were 
 supplied by them with stoneware drinking and other utensils required for the use of the 
 community. No record of this connection would however have existed, had it not been 
 for the fine grey and blue jug in the Berlin Museum, which has the arms of the priory 
 stamped in the front, with the date 1605 (fig. 126). This copy appears to be so far 
 unique,—not a single fragment of the same medallion having ever turned up in the 
 excavations. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 191 
 
 From all Catholic countries distinguished visitors came to the monasteries and 
 convents of Limburg. All were shown over the pot works, and could not fail to take 
 
 + Johan Mintzenberg prior Carmel. 
 
 The convent here in question is that of the Car¬ 
 melites of Frankfort, and the prior, desirous of 
 obtaining from the Raeren potter some special 
 vases and jugs to adorn his table, must have 
 chosen from amongst the precious vases in his 
 possession a small silver cruet of the kind used 
 in the celebration of sacred rites, and have in¬ 
 structed the makers to reproduce it in clay. The 
 mode of proceeding is evident: such an exact 
 copy of a sacred vessel departs too much from the 
 usual run of stoneware pots to be regarded as 
 having ever been a coihmon article of trade. 
 
 Let us not forget to mention two other distant patrons of the Flemish pot-makers 
 
 Fig. 127. MeurerColl. Height, ii in. 
 
 a lively interest in the manufacture of the 
 curious and handsome stone pots made only in 
 that place. The facility thus afforded to them of 
 giving their orders direct to the maker induced 
 many to have special sets of drinking vessels made 
 with their own crest or coat of arms; these they 
 took away along with them on their return to 
 their own country, not merely as curiosities from 
 a foreign land, but also as things of beauty. The 
 ware could be fashioned under their eyes, as 
 their taste and fancy suggested; if they had a 
 preference for a certain shape not usually pro¬ 
 duced in the works, the customers could give 
 the design or model to be followed, and thus 
 obtain a set of earthen pots which would suit 
 their tastes, and be, besides, unlike anything 
 ever made. An unmistakable instance of such 
 a practice is offered to us in a small jug (fig. 
 127) bearing in exergue of the medallion the 
 inscription : 
 
 Fig. 126. Berlin Museum. 
 
192 
 
 The Ancient Art Stcmeware. 
 
 who occupied a high position in the ecclesiastical hierarchy,—Adam von Bicken, 
 Archbishop of Mayence, the inscribed portrait of whom has been embossed on many 
 pieces of brown ware, and Balthazar Reiner de Brde, Abbot of St. Martin the Great, of 
 Cologne, for whose private use and that of his convent so many jugs were made, 
 stamped with his crest and motto, that samples of them are still to be seen in many 
 collections. They all bear the applied medallion shown in fig. 128, with the inscription : 
 
 Balthasar . Rhine . A . B . Ab . Mar . Spes . mea . Deus. 
 
 Either the potters have unduly appropriated the medallion, or the abbot was such 
 
 a popular character in Cologne that his fellow- 
 citizens purchased willingly any jug bearing his 
 crest and device, but we find it impressed on 
 pieces of all shapes, where it is associated with 
 other subjects that have nothing to do with that 
 worthy personage. On the very specimen from 
 which we have taken our sketch the corresponding 
 medallions happen to be the well-known badge 
 supposed to represent the potters’ arms. 
 
 We have full evidence that, besides the 
 above-named dignitaries in the religious orders, 
 and many others whose names we cannot record 
 here, the potters counted amongst their pro¬ 
 tectors and constant customers the Archbishops 
 of Cologne, Mayence, Trdves, and indeed almost 
 all the bishops of Flanders and Germany. 
 
 The monastery of St. Cornelius, Corneli Munster, situated near Aix-la-Chapelle,. 
 and therefore at a short distance from Raeren, attracted to its shrine an immense crowd 
 of pilgrims. In the treasures of the convent were preserved a great number of holy 
 relics, including the Sacred Tunic, most devoutly revered, although six others were 
 known to be in existence at the time; and through the hallowed precincts flowed a stream 
 of miraculous water, said to cure all the evils to which flesh is heir. We have seen the 
 arms and names of some of the priors stamped on the ware; to the Raeren potters had, 
 also been entrusted the making of such portable flasks as were filled at the spring with 
 holy water, to be carried away by the pilgrims, or forwarded abroad to believers unable 
 to come and drink it on the spot. Of the many thousands of these pilgrim bottles 
 constantly distributed amongst the devotees of Northern Europe, a single one has come 
 
 Fig. 128. Brussels Museum. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 193 
 
 down to us, it is now in the British Museum, and we give it here (figs. 129, 130), 
 represented on its two faces. 
 
 There is no clue to its probable date, although we have good cause to believe that 
 it belongs to the early period. A desire of emulating the Siegburg ware pervades the 
 style of workmanship. The clay is made as light as the Raeren clay would allow, so 
 as to resemble the white stone, and the subjects have none of the clumsiness of the 
 early Flemish works. The softly rounded treatment of the highly-relieved figures do not 
 recall the bold and hard touch of the professional “ formschneider ” : if we are right in 
 our conjecture, the model must have been contrived at the suggestion of the fathers of 
 
 Fig. 129. Fig. 130. 
 
 Pilgrim Bottle, with the Patron Saints of Corneli Munster. British Museum. 
 
 the Abbey, who directed that, instead of the indifferent work of an unknown mould- 
 cutter, impressions should be taken from some reliefs wrought in “ repoussd ” on one of 
 the silver reliquaries preserved in the treasury; in that manner the cast obtained from 
 the chosen subjects became a most suitable adornment for the intended bottle. Perhaps 
 also these subjects may have been borrowed from the official seals of the Abbey, and are 
 merely a reproduction of the wax bulla appended to the deeds and muniments issued 
 by the religious authority. Whether this last construction be the true one, may 
 probably be easily ascertained by consulting the records of the Monastery, a research 
 which it has not been in our power to undertake. 
 
 The front part shows the two patron saints of the world-renowned sanctuary, St. 
 Cornelius and St. Peter; the one distinguishable by the symbolic horn he holds in his 
 
 c c 
 
hand, the other by his emblematic keys; each has his own coat of arms placed under¬ 
 neath, the horn, and a five-pointed star respectively. On the reverse an angel displays 
 the holy tunic, offered at the Abbey to the veneration of the faithful; below it the 
 imperial arms of Germany. On the neck, and cut by hand as a private mark, we have 
 the enigmatic 4 on one side; on the other an embossed rosette reproducing one of 
 
 the rich clasps, composed of precious stones 
 skilfully mounted, which were usually worn 
 on the ecclesiastical vestments of the period. 
 
 An inscription in Gothic letters, running 
 in the outer band of the circular subject, 
 informs us most distinctly of the destination 
 of the small bottle. The lettering of course 
 has been added by the potter, who scraped oft 
 in the mould such ornamental wreath as 
 framed the original subject, to sink in its 
 stead the appropriate legend necessary to 
 indicate on the flask the sacred source of its 
 contents. The corresponding wreath has 
 been left untouched on the other side. 
 
 Only an approximate translation can be 
 given of the inscription, written in Low 
 German and with an obsolete spelling; it 
 runs thus ; 
 
 COEPT I FLES VAN AkEN TER SPOET EN 
 HOOT d'iN HERLICH WATER TES GOET. 
 
 “ Buy a bottle of Achen ” (Aix-la- 
 Chapelle), “ for on that spot flows God’s holy 
 water.” 
 
 Pig. 131. 
 
 South Kensington Museum. 
 
 The style of the workmanship is so unlike 
 anything ever made at Raeren that the piece was for a long time attributed to 
 Siegburg, until several fragments of the same flask having been discovered in the 
 excavations at the first-named place, doubt could no longer exist as to its origin. 
 Siegburg having undoubtedly been the first in the field, to imitate its products was 
 often the ambition of its competitors. Of this we find a most striking example in a 
 fine circular bottle with flattened faces, bearing the arms of Saxony, once in the 
 Huyvetter collection (fig. 131). The master, Jan Emens, has been at great trouble to 
 
Raeren. 
 
 19s 
 
 endow his work with all the peculiar qualities extolled by the admirers of the white 
 ware; not only did he use a special kind of grey clay of the lightest tint, but also he 
 has, in the treatment of the reliefs, emulated successfully the sharp style of the best 
 " formschneider ’’ who worked in the abbatial town. 
 
 In the spouted jug (fig. 132) the imita¬ 
 tion is still more flagrant, the profile of the 
 piece, as well as the ornamentation raised and 
 incised all over the surface, are so evidently 
 copied from a Siegburg model, that, were it 
 not for a marked difference in the clay, no 
 one would ever think of attributing it to 
 Raeren. An obvious recollection of the early 
 " wiedercomc” of white ware is also notice¬ 
 able in the small goblet surmounted with a 
 figure in the Flemish costume of the seven¬ 
 teenth century (fig. 133). 
 
 Excepting the members of religious 
 orders who have, in great numbers, been 
 supplied with jugs stamped with their arms, 
 small account seems to have been taken of 
 the noblemen inhabiting the district. No 
 lord had there a right to impose upon the 
 independent potters the obligation of stamp¬ 
 ing the best class of ware with the armorial 
 bearings of their powerful liege, as we have 
 seen the custom existing at Siegburg with 
 regard to the Duke of Cleves-Berg. Occasion¬ 
 ally do we find the arms of some governor 
 or “ Drossart” of the province; but they are, 
 as a rule, impressed upon commonplace jugs 
 
 of good make, but which have nothing of the importance of the stately testimonials 
 presented by the craft to their spiritual lords, whose patronage was much more valuable. 
 Thus the shields of Phillip Lomont and his wife occur sometimes on unpretending 
 pieces. During the most flourishing period of manufacture, from 1587 to 1598, Phillip 
 Lomont administered all the region round Raeren, as “ Drossart ” of the ban of 
 Walhorn. His castle stood on the very spot where the new church has been erected, 
 and he was, as may be expected, the most important inhabitant of the town. But the 
 
 Fig. 132. 
 
 Anc. Coll. J. Paul. Height, 94 in. 
 
influence of such local officers did not extend far from the centre of their juris¬ 
 dictions, and no great favour could be expected from them; therefore they were not 
 treated, as it appears, any better than ordinary private customers, and no exceptional 
 piece of fancy shape appears ever to have been made in their intention. 
 
 A solitary record has also been preserved on the ware of another governor of the 
 province, Arnold Shuyl, who succeeded Lomont as Drossart of Walhorn in 1598; it 
 is no more than a simple fragment stamped with his arms, found in the soil among the 
 ddbris: the initials A. S. D. W. leave no doubt as to its 
 identification. 
 
 From 1623 to 1634 Claude Hannot held the office 
 in his turn, and this is also recorded on the ware by a 
 medallion bearing his arms and the inscription : 
 
 Claude Hannot Drossart du hault banck de 
 Walhorn. 
 
 All the neighbouring gentry had, at one time or 
 another, caused sets of drinking vessels to be made in 
 stoneware with their respective heraldic bearings ; Mr. 
 Schuermans, in his interesting paper, " Les poteries de 
 Raeren aux armes des gouverneurs et des nobles du Lim- 
 bourg,” has given an exhaustive list of them. Few 
 amongst those armoried pieces come out of the ordinary 
 run of drinking utensils, and they possess little artistic 
 interest, the decoration consisting mainly of the heraldic 
 medallion embossed on the front. We must, however, 
 make an exception in favour of a jug, which is at once 
 of great local importance and of some artistic pretension. 
 It is said to commemorate the union of one of the 
 magnates of the district, Peter von Swartzenberg, with the noble dame Marguerite 
 Krummel von Nechtersheim, in 1566. We cannot for one instant entertain the idea 
 that the jug, a sketch of which is here shown (fig. 134), was made at such an early date, 
 for we know that only brown, and no grey and blue ware, had up to that time 
 been produced. This remarkable specimen happens to be precisely of the fine grey 
 and blue ware of the latest period, and if it really refers to the parties above named, a 
 conciliatory way of explaining the apparent discrepancy existing between the date of 
 the event and the style of the piece would be to assume that it had been prepared to 
 commemorate their golden wedding half a century later. 
 
 Fig. 133. 
 
 Small Drinking Vessel. 
 Thewalt Coll. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 197 
 
 The shape is more eccentric than well-proportioned; the g'ood traditions have 
 all but disappeared, and the disconnected details of the decoration are strewn at 
 random over the whole surface. The 
 central part is occupied by a circular 
 medallion, where the married couple are 
 represented standing under a canopy of 
 vine-leaves; the gentleman holding a 
 glass of wine in his hand, and the lady 
 being attended by a dwarf playing the 
 hurdy-gurdy. On the field over their 
 heads are inscribed the initials P. S.,— 
 
 “ Peter Swartzenberg,”—without which 
 the identity of the personages could not 
 be established. An angel, a figure of St. 
 
 John, several times repeated, and some 
 cherubs’ heads, may all be emblematical of 
 the marriage ceremony, but the costumes 
 of the figures indicate the beginning 
 of the seventeenth century, and the general 
 character of the decoration denotes clearly 
 the last moments of the artistic pottery 
 of Raeren. We can safely say that on no 
 other example is so plainly evidenced and 
 illustrated the transitory style which 
 unites the latest works of the Flemish 
 potters working on their own land, with 
 those they were to produce a short time 
 afterwards when they settled at Grenz- 
 hausen; this emigration of a large part 
 of the craft will be dealt with in one 
 of the following chapters. It is enough 
 to cast a glance at our sketch to 
 recognize at once the very palmettes and 
 rosettes, the cherubs’ heads, and all the 
 
 applied details which were soon to constitute the principal elements of decoration 
 adopted by the potters of the land of Wied. As to the names of three Dutch 
 towns inscribed on the front of the jug by the side of three armoried shields,— 
 
 Fig. 134. 
 
 Grey and Blue Ware. South Kensington Museum. 
 Height, 18 in. 
 
198 
 
 The A ncient A rt Stoneware. 
 
 Fig. 135. B®”* Oppenheim Coll. 
 
 ZwoL, Kampen, Deventer, —the only explana¬ 
 tion that presents itself to our mind is that the 
 worthy couple may at one time have lived in 
 these towns, or perhaps that they possessed 
 some property in that country. These are 
 “r^bus” that could be solved only through an 
 intimate acquaintance with the private life of 
 the personages. This vase is by no means the 
 only instance of the name and arms of Peter 
 von Swartzenberg and his wife appearing on the 
 stoneware, and their escutcheon is represented 
 in several collections on pieces made expressly 
 for them, duly inscribed with their names in fnll letters. A circular flask of the 
 Oppenheim collection bears in addition the date 1587, which removes all doubt as to 
 the precise time at which they were manufactured (fig. 135). 
 
 It is principally at the late period that the 
 skilful craftsman, when not employed in turning 
 out his regular supply of commonplace patterns 
 to satisfy the demands of the every-day trade, 
 seems fond of leaving the beaten track for a 
 while to follow the dictates of his whimsical 
 imagination. The novelties which he created 
 under that impulse were all unique per¬ 
 formances ; hence their scarcity. Neither do 
 they, however highly perfected in their work¬ 
 manship, come, as a rule, within the range of 
 formal testimonials, a class so well represented 
 by the typical ewer of lofty proportions, and the 
 orthodox travelling or harvest bottle. Seldom 
 inscribed or armoried, they look more private 
 in their character; it is as though the maker, 
 when bent in contriving them, had no other 
 aim in view than his own pleasure and satis¬ 
 faction. Here we have, for instance, on fig. 136 
 a real masterpiece of the craft which is neither 
 signed or inscribed. It is an interpretation of 
 
 Fig. 136. Brown Ware. B®“-Oppenheim Coll. , , 
 
 Height, Min. the bird of wisdom very different from the 
 
Raeren. 
 
 199 
 
 conventional owls of Siegburg. Although far from being naturalistic in its treat¬ 
 ment, it evinces, however, an evident desire of approaching as near as possible to 
 nature ; a feeling which always distinguishes the Flemish potter from his German 
 brother. The movable head is strangely animated, and the expression is still 
 enhanced through the eyes and beak being touched up with opaque white and black 
 enamel. Over the body, plainly fashioned by hand, imbrications of feathers of 
 different sizes have been stuck, one after another, so as to form the plumage. 
 
 F**?- 137 - Grey and Blue Ware. Museum of Antiquities, Brussels. 
 
 A charming jug, also unique (fig. 137), has been designed in imitation of a 
 fanciful cannon. It is mounted on pewter wheels, and could be pushed along the 
 table. Two long spouts, disposed on the upper part, suggest one of those curious 
 puzzle pieces out of which two liquids, wine or water, could be poured at will by 
 those acquainted with the trick. Like the above piece, this has neither arms nor 
 monograms to intimate that it was made for a particular destination. 
 
 Other puzzle jugs, with elaborately pierced necks, a mystery to the uninitiated and 
 a source of merriment for the guests; pocket flagons in the shape of a prayer-book 
 
200 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 (fig. 138), also used as hand-warmers by the ladies, who, in the winter, carried them 
 in their muffs, as well as many other curious and amusing contrivances, can be ranged 
 under the same head. 
 
 The masterpieces made by the able workman aspiring to be elected a master are 
 not to be looked for at Raeren before the year 1619, the date of the incorporation of the 
 craft. Late pieces of exceptional merit, and which show neither coat of arms nor 
 inscription to any noble patron, may alone be considered as having been executed 
 
 under such circumstances; among 
 this number may be counted the large 
 fountain in the Kensington Museum 
 with the “ Lanceknechts,” and the 
 one in the Sauvageot Museum, repro¬ 
 duced on fig. 139. It is not without 
 interest to notice that this latter bears 
 precisely the date of the year of the 
 incorporation, 1619. An event of such 
 importance could not fail to put each 
 member on his mettle, each trying 
 to outdo his neighbour; we find 
 through dated specimens that their 
 competitive efforts resulted in the 
 most elaborate and complicated mas¬ 
 terpieces that could be fashioned by 
 the cleverest hands. 
 
 The present example is, from top 
 to foot, covered with an exuberance of 
 details never before indulged in on 
 the richest vases of the preceding 
 period. The arrangement of the 
 central ornament, where perforations alternate with lions’ heads in high relief, alone 
 retain something of the refined taste of the Renaissance artist. The frieze is divided 
 into twenty compartments, in which the story of the Good Samaritan in eight pictures 
 is several times repeated; over and underneath the band of subjects runs a German 
 inscription, but so broken and incomplete that it would be difficult to restitute its sense 
 did we not know the text of the parable: “Which of these three in thy opinion was 
 neighbour to him that fell among robbers ? But he said, He that showed mercy to him. 
 And Jesus said unto him, Go and do thou in like manner. (St. Luke, ch. x.) 1619.” 
 
 Fig. 138. Hand Warmer. Sauvageot Coll. 
 Height, 5 in. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 201 
 
 The “ Lanceknechts ” fountain, almost of the same proportions and presenting the 
 same redundance of applied ornaments, is also made of grey clay enhanced with 
 blue enamel. 
 
 No one will question the justice of 
 regarding the two flattened bottles of grey 
 and blue ware, now in Baron Oppenneini 
 collection, as masterpieces of the craft. 
 
 One of them has been engraved on Plate 
 XV. The master potter himself is, if 
 we are not mistaken, represented, arms 
 akimbo, in the centre of the piece. He 
 wears a rich costume; a chain encircles 
 his neck, and a sword hangs at his side. 
 
 Two letters, T. W., are stamped on each 
 side of the figure ; there is little doubt as 
 to their being those of the maker, al¬ 
 though his full name has not yet been 
 disclosed to us. On the companion bottle 
 the monogram T. W. is stamped on the 
 side of the neck, in a way that denotes 
 clearly a potter’s mark ; the same initials 
 are also stamped, but in a reversed order, 
 on the prayer-book (fig. 137). A richly 
 framed label, on the back of the first 
 bottle, bears the word “Abraham” 
 raised in large letters; this may be the 
 name of a friend to whom the potter 
 thus presented a twofold memento—a 
 specimen of his skill and his own portrait 
 carved in the clay. 
 
 The second bottle is evidently in¬ 
 tended to make a pair with the first. 
 
 The general design is identical; but here 
 
 the middle part of the radiated fluting, which covers the body of the piece, is 
 occupied by a medallion containing a figure in Roman costume, holding a spade 
 in the hand and leaning against a cross. A strange sentence is inscribed round the 
 subject: 
 
 Fig. 139. Grey and Blue Ware. 
 
 Height, 27 in. 
 
 Sauvageot Coll. 
 
 D D 
 
202 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 Dl . GeDOLD . HAT . AL . ZEIT . GENOG . UND . GEIN . NOT . HAT . SI . NOR . 
 EIN . BIES . BROD. 
 
 " Patience is always satisfied, and does not complain as long as she has a piece 
 of bread to eat.” 
 
 The idea of a drinking vase bearing such a maxim having ever been offered to a 
 patron or protector could not be entertained, and one cannot be wrong in recognizing 
 in these interesting specimens the friendly testimonial of a Raeren man to one of his 
 neighbours. 
 
 Never was the Raeren potter urged so far ahead in the field of fancy than 
 when, forgetting awhile his daily beaten track, he contrived those pieces of eccentricity 
 known as annular jugs. At first formed of a single hollow ring, supported by an 
 elegant foot and surmounted with a slender neck, the notion was soon varied by the 
 addition of another complete ring crossing the first at right angles, or by half a ring 
 being grafted on the whole one, either on the front or at the back, vertically or 
 horizontally—in short, with such a variety of dispositions as to make almost of each of 
 these jugs a peculiar and unique specimen. At all events, it is in such a light that we 
 may regard the few rare examples that have come down to us. If we add to their merit 
 of originality and scarcity the fact that each of them, as though it had been the 
 favourite production of its maker, is tastefully covered with a profusion of neat and 
 well-applied reliefs, we can easily understand the admiration with which they are 
 regarded by all collectors, and why the happy possessor of an annular jug treasures it 
 as the gem of his whole show. The puzzle plan has been adopted in their combination, 
 each ring being made to contain a different liquid, which can only be drunk by using 
 a certain stratagem. 
 
 They are all made of light grey clay heightened with bright blue, and the subjects 
 impressed on them are generally the same as we have seen on the vases. At the time 
 when they began to be manufactured the brown body was being abandoned as old- 
 fashioned for articles of artistic pretensions. So blue and limpid is the blue of the 
 glaze that, at the moment when the pot works of the land of Wied were exclusively 
 credited with the production of this fine colour, all the ring jugs had been attributed, 
 without exception, to Hohr-Grenzhausen. The infatuation is now over; but we may 
 well wonder how it could ever have survived in the face of the numerous examples 
 of Siegburg, and especially of Raeren manufacture, which show from early times the 
 unquestionable use of cobalt on the ware. Even before the mode of firing was altered 
 in order to bring out the brilliancy of the blue, we see it employed on the early brown 
 ware, where of course it remained dull and of blackish hue. On- the white ware it 
 
Raeren. 
 
 203 
 
 developed always a pure azure tint, and it showed the same quality on the grey 
 ware of Limburg. The secret of obtaining this fine blue glaze was a tradition 
 preserved amongst a few potters’ families, and the secret, it is said, was very jealously 
 guarded. One specimen, bearing the arms of the Count of Wied, went far to strengthen 
 the theory of the Grenzhausen origin ; but the arms of that family were so often em¬ 
 bossed on the Raeren ware that their presence 
 does not of necessity settle the attribution. 
 
 The fig. 103 has been taken from a fine bottle 
 of undoubted Limburg ware, now in the 
 South Kensington Museum, and the same 
 medallion appears on a piece of similar shape 
 in the Sauvageot collection. None but well- 
 known Raeren models have been employed 
 in the decoration of annular jugs, and if 
 any doubt still subsisted as to their origin, 
 a close examination of the clay itself and 
 other technical features of original speci¬ 
 mens—to say nothing of the dates and local 
 marks exhibited by some of them—would 
 soon settle the question to the satisfaction 
 of all connoisseurs. 
 
 Two most elaborate examples of the 
 highest order are to be seen in the Museum 
 of Antiquities at Brussels. A sketch of 
 one of these is give here (fig. 140). The 
 combination consists of two complete rings 
 intersecting each other vertically. On the 
 front part of the piece are stamped the 
 arms of Amsterdam and of Saxony; both 
 probably arbitrarily chosen by the work¬ 
 man without any other purpose but that of adornment. The side ring is covered with 
 figures of Spanish soldiers marching with drum and flag. 
 
 The other jug is formed of a whole ring to which one half ring has been fitted 
 horizontally, so as to project on the front, while at the back a similar segment serves to 
 unite the neck with the foot. The same march of soldiers is repeated again upon the 
 piece, with the addition of the arms of Spain and the two potters’ marks given previously 
 in figs. 94, 95. A simpler jug of the same type is shown in fig. 141: to the whole ring 
 
 Fig. 140. Grey and Blue Ware. 
 Museum of Antiquities, Brussels. Height, i6 in. 
 
204 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 forming the face of the piece a fragmentary one has been added on the reverse side, 
 decorated this time with the figures of the electors of the empire, and several 
 grotesque masks often seen on Raeren ware. This latter has neither inscription 
 nor date. 
 
 In the Minard collection two annular jugs, richly ornamented, bear the arms and 
 name of the nobleman for whom they were made. They are both inscribed: 
 
 “ Rickwin van Essen herr tot Swanenberg, 
 Anno 1633.” At this date art pottery was almost 
 extinct in the district, so these may be taken 
 as odd works made exceptionally by one of the 
 last masters, who still strove to keep up the fame 
 and credit of the departing craft. 
 
 These most interesting specimens will be the 
 last ones we shall have to describe; after them 
 we find nothing but the common beer pots, 
 Ihe only products of a manufacture suddenly 
 fallen to decay. But before leaving the subject 
 of Raeren and its stoneware, we would like to 
 present, as a recapitulation of the present chapter, 
 a few observations bearing upon its idiosyncratic 
 character, suggested by a comparison between 
 it and the ware made at Siegburg at a contem¬ 
 poraneous time. 
 
 We have seen that, in both centres, the 
 typical forms adhered to until the very end are 
 precisely those which the potter had himself ima¬ 
 gined at the outset for the display of his earliest, 
 and often of his best, decorative workmanship. 
 Those thus originated in each place have nothing 
 in common with each other, and would in them¬ 
 selves suffice to establish a line of demarcation between the works of the two countries. 
 
 But the well-marked contrast does not stop at a peculiar choice of forms, it also 
 makes itself conspicuous in all details contributing to their completeness. In the six¬ 
 teenth century art was, in all central Europe, looking up to Italy for inspiration, and 
 obeying the dictates of that pleiade of masterly spirits whose combined artistic 
 achievements had suddenly started from the sunny south a movement widely spreading 
 into the northern countries. Flanders had not remained obdurate to the changes thus 
 
 Fig. 141. Grey and Blue Ware. 
 Oppenheim Coll. 
 
 Height, 15 in. 
 
Raeren. 
 
 205 
 
 inaugurated, and we notice that Raeren, in its modest capability, likewise followed in 
 the van of progress. None of the most ancient pieces of brown ware may be said to 
 affect the Gothic stiffness which characterizes to the end the white ware of Siegburg. 
 There, indifferent to all extraneous evolution of the artistic world, the potter remained 
 immersed in the contemplation of the dry, angular, and formal sculptures carved on 
 the stone walls of the German cathedrals. The gilt and painted teredos, crowded with 
 quaint figures in the hieratic and formal attitudes dear to the masters of the Cologne 
 and Mayence schools, were studied by him as the most admirable models. To set 
 forth in a more forcible way the inherent disparities between the Flemish and German 
 fabrics, and which separate the ones from the others, we shall place side by side two 
 comprehensive specimens of both wares, say, for instance, a brown glazed vase of 
 elaborate profile and of glossy, shining surface, and a stiff and formal schnelle of dull 
 and colourless biscuit. By confronting together these two examples,—the extremes of 
 the scale formed by the various types of stoneware,—we shall deduct a few general 
 remarks applying, as a rule, to all intermediate degrees. 
 
 Let us select on one hand, as a representative of the art of Raeren, one of the 
 typical vases the middle part of which is occupied by a frieze of many figures. The 
 “ Susanna jug,” previously described, will as well as any other serve our present 
 purpose. 
 
 We must recapitulate the most salient features by which such a vase distinguishes 
 itself from other works of pottery, in order to elicit its striking and peculiar merits. 
 Before we come to examine it in detail, the general effect has already attracted and 
 fixed our attention ; we are forced to admire the rich tints of its brown colour, rivalling 
 in deepness of tone that of an old Italian bronze. Looking at it more closely, we shall 
 have to praise the material as well as the workmanship;—the fineness of the clay, the 
 hardness and transparency of the glaze, the skill with which the form has been 
 fashioned on the wheel, and the ornamented reliefs applied. Then, as we look at it under 
 different aspects, our eye grows more and more fascinated by the ever-changing effects 
 of glimmer and shade created by the rays of light clinging in silvery threads to the sharp 
 outlines, and adding depth to the shadows of the cavities and receding parts of the bold 
 carving. Simplicity, it is true, has not presided over the delineation of the somewhat 
 complicated profile; still, the proportions of the various segments, which, staged over 
 each other, constitute the form, are not without grace and harmony. From the straight 
 and perpendicular cylinder placed between the two graceful curvatures of the shoulder 
 and the nether cup, results a very happy contrast. To attenuate the abrupt manner in 
 which this stiff band breaks the ove of the vase, a double set of architectural mouldings, 
 chased with delicate work or accentuated from place to place with deep perforations, is 
 
2o6 
 
 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 cunningly interposed: they form for the principal picture a well-befitting frame. In 
 the picturesque subjects embossed on the frieze we shall find matter for consi¬ 
 deration ; our interest is however captivated furthermore by inscriptions which tell 
 us something of the maker of the vase, or testify at any rate to the pride he felt in 
 acknowledging it as a work of his hand. As if it was not sufficient that the eye should 
 be charmed by graceful forms and evanescent effects of colour, we find there also food 
 for the mind. The work is no longer an anonymous one,—a name, a date, a short 
 sentence, will put the historian on the track of long-forgotten old craftsmen and the 
 times they lived in. 
 
 But if now, from the Raeren vase we have just attempted to describe and analyze, 
 we pass to an equally good representative of Siegburg ware, and submit it in its turn 
 to our critical examination, we see at once that we cannot expect to find there any of 
 the particular qualities which we have recognized and extolled in our former example t 
 indeed, in the present one, we shall observe merits of a very different order. 
 
 The object of our selection will be the slender schnelles, or canettes, of white ware, 
 genuine types of Germanic pottery. We are bound to acknowledge that the piece is far 
 from being attractive at first sight. Its surface is of a deadened white, harsh and cold, 
 like the stone from which the ware has taken its name. The brightest ray of light 
 would fail to communicate to it any brightness or animation. In form it is but a 
 rudimentary vessel, with neither foot nor neck, on which no sets of mouldings, no 
 angular or rounded profiles, come to interrupt the straight and formal line that runs 
 from top to bottom. One may say that, in the present case, form is reduced to 
 its most insignificant expression. Nevertheless, if we continue our scrutiny, we shall 
 soon discover, under this unpromising appearance, sterling qualities which place this 
 vessel on a par with the most highly-praised works of the potter of all ages. In the 
 first place, the clay it is made of surpasses in fineness of grain and density of texture 
 all other clays used for the making of earthenware, and better than any other it retains, 
 after the highest firing, the most minute details of the workmanship. In an artistic 
 point of view the sharp and stylish carving with which the schnelle is illustrated will 
 afford ample scope for our admiration; but it is not by their artistic treatment alone 
 that these carvings speak to the imagination; it is, above all, by the choice of the 
 subjects and the deep meaning they seem to convey that our interest will be awakened. 
 Let us take, for instance, the allegory of the virtuous and the worldly man, represented 
 on a rare schnelle, a copy of which was formerly in the Minard collection. 
 
 The whole tale is developed with that abundance of accessory details the artists of 
 Mediaeval times were so fond of lavishing on their mystic conceptions. Through a 
 rent in the clouds the figure of the Almighty appears holding in His hands the ends of 
 
Raeren. 
 
 207 
 
 two long strings, by means of which He draws to Himself the heart of one of the two 
 personages kneeling in the centre of the composition. While one holds up his heart 
 towards heaven, his companion seems to throw away his own in exchange for earthly 
 goods, represented accumulated at his feet, and in every part of the surrounding 
 scene—noble palaces and stately gardens, crowns and sceptres, open purses and 
 coffers filled with gold, jewels and vases of precious metal, in short all the riches of 
 the world to which he has enslaved himself. But we have to regret that the teaching 
 this picture is intended to convey stops at its plastic representation ; not a word of 
 inscription is added to assist us in understanding the recondite allegory, all is left to 
 our own reflection and sagacity. The same lack of information is felt still more 
 deeply with respect to the maker of this extraordinary piece ; in his indifference to the 
 good opinion of the succeeding generations he never thought of marking his work with 
 his name or with any sign which might supply us with a clue to his identity. It is 
 the most telling example to contrast with a Flemish jug : here there is no feast for the 
 eye, none of the softly rounded embossments on which the light plays so pleasantly, 
 but a low relief work harshly carved in with a sharp and stiff chisel, delineating every 
 detail with the same firmness and the same accuracy. The more we look at it, however, 
 the more it engrosses our mind; if it does not appeal to our senses, it excites in us a 
 dreamy feeling of curiosity never to be satisfied completely. Although it tells nothing 
 of its maker, by the very absence of his name, and by the strange selection of that 
 mysterious subject, it affords us nevertheless an insight into his social condition and 
 that of all his brethren in the craft. We can trace the influence that the neighbouring 
 monastery exercised over the work of the artisan, and observe that in the same way 
 that the personality of the monk was merged in the order to which he belonged, so the 
 potter's individuality was absorbed in his Guild. We come to the conclusion that none 
 of its members ever attempted to claim as his own any of his most meritorious 
 achievements, but each remained satisfied to see the credit he deserved personally 
 redound to the greater glory of the commonwealth, and we give up all hopes of ever 
 knowing his private history. For a moment the faith and creeds of a far distant 
 time arise before us through a short contemplation of a mere earthen pot. 
 
 We cannot expect to recognize these characteristics impressed in an equal degree 
 on all the productions originating from one or the other centre. A Raeren piece is 
 not, of neeessity, sure to charm us by richness of colour, elegance of form, and effective 
 carvings ; all subjects embossed on the Siegburg ware will not invariably awake in us a 
 train of religious or philosophical thought. Still, the contrast between the Flemish and 
 German works remains clearly emphasized in some unmistakable points. We shall 
 find, as a rule, the ornamented brown jug picturesque of aspect and attractive to the 
 
2 o 8 The Ancient Art Stoneware. 
 
 eye; in its decorative treatment we shall trace, if we are allowed to say so, something of 
 the spirit of the Italian masters permeating, as it were, the whole conception—subject, 
 as a matter of course, to such modifications as southern art would necessarily undergo 
 when transplanted in another country. 
 
 On the other hand, whatever may be the class of subjects we happen to find on these 
 schnelles of white ware, they will always be linked together by the style of execution. 
 An unmitigated Gothic tradition asserts itself in all designs; they represent the genuine 
 Germanic feeling, that no foreign notions can influence, and which prevails to the end, 
 even in the cases were copies from Renaissance models were timidly introduced in 
 deference to the fashion of the times. 
 
 This perhaps too lengthy appreciation of two very different styles of pottery has 
 not been drawn, let it be understood, with the intent of disparaging either of them; 
 far from it; we hope, on the contrary, that our observations may confirm the reader 
 in any personal liking he may entertain either for the productions of Raeren or for 
 those of Siegburg.