YALE UNIVERSITY
ART LIBRARY

A MANUAL

OF

OTTERY AND TORCELAIN

FOR

American ^Collectors.

BY

JOHN H. TREADWELL.

NOTE TO THE READER
The paper in this volume is brittle or the
inner margins are extremely narrow.
We have bound or rebound the volume
utilizing the best means possible.
PLEASE HANDLE WITH CARE

A MANUAL

Pottery and Porcelain

for

American .Collectors.

JOHN H. TREADWELL.

NEW YORK:
G . P. PUTNAM & SONS
London : Sampson Low & Co.
1S72.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by
JOHN H. TREAD WELL,
In the Office of tlie Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

nzT

LiANGE, LlTTLK & HlLLMAN,
PBINTBB8, ELECTliOTYPEKS AND STBREOTTPEB*.
108 to 114 Wookteii Sr., X, Y.

preface

The very few years during which public interest has been
growing in this country to an appreciation of fictile wares
could scarcely suffice to bring forth an exhaustive and detailed
literature. Our public are just awaking to a comprehension
of the Old World's advance and superiority in arts which
we have yet scarcely attempted ; but they have in their
graves the honored dust of ages: and experience, with them,
is of a thousand years ; our history may be one in which the
arts shall not be measured by this toilsome time.
In collating these pages the author has had recourse to
those authorities of the Old World which are there regarded
as standard, and as it may be of interest to the reader to
make a further excursion in this domain, a few authors' names
may assist his journey among the books. In the field of
Ancient Pottery, Birch's history is complete, although this is
not a part absolute of ceramic art; still it is essential if we
choose to follow its interesting historical progress. Among

iv PREFACE.
the works most frequently referred to in the following pages
are those of M. Brongniart, M. A. Jacquemart, M. Augusts
Demmin, and Dr. Graesse.
From the little but excellent "Guide de V Amateur" of
the latter were selected the few marks and monograms which
accompany these chapters ; I regret that the large expense of
transfer only deterred the publication of his entire list of
twelve hundred.
Among English works, those of Mr. Chaffers and Joseph
Marryat have proved most serviceable as chronological rec
ords, while other volumes of local and detailed accounts, like
Binn's " Century of Pottery in the City of Worcester" have
afforded material for their proper localities. Without these
aids this book could not have been prepared, and my indebt
edness to them is here most insufficiently acknowledged.
I must also thank those who have assisted me by letter,
and by placing at my disposal their libraries and various col
lections. Particularly would I mention Mr. W. C. Prime,
whose long and scholarly attention to the Old World monu
ments has familiarized him with the subject which I had in
hand : of his extended inquiry I frequently availed myself,
much to the advantage of these pages. My obligations are
also due to Mr. Clarence Cook, whose thorough knowledge
of art at home and abroad has been of great service to me.
The rapidly growing taste of our people will in some
future day, when we have in our own land a Worcester and

PREFA CE. v
Sevres and South Kensington, demand a more exhaustive
treatment of this subject. There is a brilliant aesthetic future
awaiting our new country, and perhaps even this generation
may witness the time when the arts, both fine and useful,
with the growth of intelligence and taste, shall absorb the
minds of our people and draw them away from the unworthy
and intoxicating pursuits which too much occupy them to-day.
If the present volume shall assist to this development, its
usefulness will be all-sufficient.

CONTENTS.

¦ ..

PAOB
PREFACE,  3

HISTORY OF POTTERY.
INTRODUCTION,  13
Egypt,  20
Greece,  22
Etruria,  26
ROMANO-BRITISH PO TTER Y— 27
Samian Ware,  28
Asia Minor,  31
Persia,  33
HISPANO-MOORISH POTTERY, ... 38
Malaga,  42
Sicily,  43

viii CONTENTS.

PAGE

ITALIAN POTTER F, '  44
Majolica Ware,  51
Forms Employed by the Italians, . ¦ • 5 6
FRENCH POTTERY,  6i
Beauvais, Nevers, Moustiers, Rouen, Palissy,
Henry II. Ware,  65
GERMAN POTTERY—
Soft Ware,  81
Hard Ware,  84
D UTCH POTTER Y—
Delft,  87
Amsterdam,  90
ENGLISH POTTERY,  91
POTTER Y MARKS— Fac-similes, .... 103
Catalogue,  106

HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
INTRODUCTORY,  109
ORIENTAL PORCELAIN—
China,  m
Japan,  IIS

CONTENTS. ;x
B UR OPE AN PORCELAIN—
Germany,  118
England,  125
Italy,  132
France,  137
PORCELAIN MARKS— Fac-similes, . . .147
Catalogue,  150
MARKS AND MONOGRAMS, . . . .151
BRONGNIARTS CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, . 157

POTTERY

PORCELAIN DEFINED

_o_^<^»o-

In the catalogue of fictile wares there are two distinct
provinces which are easily confounded by the casual ob
server. Of similar exterior appearance, attainable through
the same general processes, and utilized in forms common
to each, it is not strange that they should pass undistin
guished. The difference between the two is so marked
as to command for each a separate and distinct considera
tion. Each has its individual character, each its own
peculiar properties and history ; they are allied to each
other only in so far as primitive and imperfect productions
are allied to ultimate perfection in the same province. In
pottery we find form and color, but the question of a
wider sphere of usefulness to be gained by the addition of
firmness, hardness and strength, was only to-be answered
by the discovery of porcelain. In the course of history,
pottery has attained, in some instances, such a texture and
degree of perfection as to resemble very closely the ordi
nary porcelain, yet the exterior features of each ware are
such that the practised eye can readily determine the
province of any piece which may be brought under its ob
servation ; one test however is infallible, that is, fracture.

POTTER Y AND PORCELAIN DEFINED. 1 1
Pottery breaks and exhibits a coarse, rough edge ; not
having been exposed to heat sufficient to produce vitri-
faction, it still retains the granular features of baked clay.
Porcelain cleaves off with a smooth, sharp fracture, show
ing no material difference between the edges and surface,
it occupies the intermediate position between pottery and
glass. In their historic order and the order which they
are generally reviewed, they stand :
i. Pottery — Including Majolica, Fayence, etc.
2. Porcelain — Including China-ware, Dresden, Sevres,
etc. The word Fayence, or Faenza, according to Fairholt,
" is a collective word, or name, for all the various kinds of
earthenware and glazed porcelain," though it has come
to be considered, and very justly, significant only of pot
tery. The little town of Faenza, near Bologna, was at
one time famous for its production of this ware. Porce
lain was then unknown in Christendom, except as a rare
article of import from the Orient. The word porcelain is
from the Portuguese, porzellana, a cup.

DISTINCTIVE FORMS OF POTTERY.

Pottery is produced in two forms, soft and hard, this
difference being produced by composition and the degrees
of heat to which it is subjected. Common building-brick
is soft, fire brick is hard. Pipkins, pans, etc., are soft,
while crockery, such as Queen's-ware and Ironstone gen
erally, are hard. Soft pottery is the most ancient, and
its peculiar characteristics are — soft paste, which may be
scratched with a knife or file ; composed of clay, sand or
chalk. These soft wares are of four kinds :
' -r ° ' ( Most ancient, of Egypt, Greece
3." GlazeT5' j and Rome-
4. Enamelled.
The manufacture of this latter ware was commenced
at a period only shortly anterior to the introduction of
ceramic art into Christian countries.

INTRODUCTION.

HISTORY OF POTTERY.
f I THE oldest, and probably the most useful, of the in-
-*- dustrial arts claims a degree of attention and study
which has never been accorded it in this country.
Intimately associated as it is with every age and
nation within and without the pale of continuous history,
bearing as it does, in many instances, the solitary records
of extinct peoples, full of interest and instruction, whether
considered in the light of a science or as a medium for
the expression of art, it seems strange that we have so far
neglected it as to grant it only a passing recognition. It
•lies in the strict thoroughfare through which we must by
necessity travel to the attainment of what the Old World
terms " a critical knowledge of art." If we would come
to a good understanding of Art, we must at least regard
her attributes. Doubtless there are many who will regard
the contemplation of a poor baked jar with somewhat of
contempt, or disdain to look upon Etruria when they
might behold Raphael. Raphael himself had not this
same disdain, and what exalted him may be just what
we neglect.
Topics which have long exercised the talents and
tastes of all Europe we cannot becomingly disregard.
Keenly sensitive as we are, every influence from that di
rection is felt by sympathy here, and excites our attention

14 INTRODUCTION.
as being worthy among our pursuits of knowledge. The
study of the world's fictilia deserves an eminent place in
our annals of history and art. Our own hemisphere even
absolutely thrusts upon us materials. of which we have not
yet availed ourselves. The subject of ceramics, as prac
tised here in ages far anterior to our own, remains unstud
ied, unknown. Numerous as are the evidences, no one
has ventured upon that long and arduous study which
can alone unfold the mystery in which it is involved.
In chronological order it would perhaps not be correct
to mention what is termed the "Peruvian ware" of Amer
ica just here, but if we were to allow that that is oldest of
which least is known, we might begin this history with a
description of the quaint and curious pottery found in
the southern part of our own continent.
In character and form it perhaps more closely resem
bles the Egyptian than any other. A collection of about
fifty pieces, sold in New York City some years since, and
afterwards, I believe, transferred to the Museum of "Cor
nell University," contained a variety of exceedingly inter- ¦
esting and curious pieces, none of them however of so large
a size as some to be seen elsewhere. There are also sev
eral pieces in the Museum of the New York Historical
Society. Duplicates of the same design are seldom met,
and this one fact would go far to prove that the use of
the mould was unknown, everything being wrought by
hand. The ware is generally thin and light, being of a
dark brown or blackish color : the surface has a peculiar
metallic appearance, as if it had been purposely polished,
or become so by long use. In the vicinity of the Incas
Territory it is most abundant, it frequently being associ
ated with their tombs and burial places. Throughout
the whole inhabited portion of South America it is

INTRODUCTION. le
still found in considerable quantities, as also in Central
America and Mexico, and as far north as Texas, where
traces of it become lost.
At the foot of Ometepec, a mountain island of Lake
Nicaragua, lies an enormous monolith, or deified stone:
surrounding this is an incredible amount of debris, made
up mostly of broken vessels of pottery, some in such
a state of preservation that the form may still be dis
tinguished. The island is an abrupt, volcanic moun
tain, jutting directly out of this inland sea about fifteen
miles distant easterly from Virgin Bay, this being the

No. 1. A Peruvian Y£ater Vessel.
nearest point on this coast. It seems probable that its
commanding position and appearance — its height being
about two thousand feet — suggested to the natives its
propriety as a house for this deity, and that these broken
vessels and remnants of old pottery are the tributes of
devout pilgrims to its shrine. The small value of mere
conjecture confronts us severely when we try to go fur
ther than this. As regards origin, mode of production,
or artizan, we are totally in the dark, and can only confine
ourselves to bare description.
Most of the specimens now known are water-vessels
of small capacity, but curious and interesting design, simi
lar to the one in cut number one. Nearly all these small
pieces are copies of animate forms, birds, monkeys, and

1 6 IN TROD UCTION.
fish being most frequent, and these are exhibited in atti
tudes grotesque, extraordinary, and repulsive. Some of
the bird pieces are so formed as to emit sounds when
water is poured into or out of them, or by breathing into
them : these, however, are not so common.
Throughout Central America and the adjacent coun
try almost all the hollow-ware in use among the natives
is provided by Nature herself, — gourds, of all sizes and
shapes, being very generally applied to the wants of the
household. The one and almost the only piece of pot
tery used there at the present day is the bibulante, or
water cooler, which is of porous material, and keeps the
water at a temperature of refreshing coolness through
constant evaporation, which is maintained by the percola
tion of the contents. Curiously enough, this simple ves
sel is almost an exact reproduction of the Egyptian
chooleh, both in form and purpose. To make this latter
more effective, it was constantly fanned with palm leaves,
and evaporation thereby facilitated. These are in use also
in Andalusia, where they are termed alcarazzas.
Another striking similarity of form between the
Egyptian and ancient American pottery is the double
bottle : in fact nearly all the pieces of Peruvian ware are
double, being two distinct vessels, which are joined at the
sides, and, by means of a syphon, have one orifice. No
reason can be given why this form was in such general
use except that they might be more conveniently car
ried. Still more interesting is the fact of its common
adoption by two antipodal points, Egypt and America.
The oriental, gourd-shaped, pilgrim's bottle is another
form very generally employed by both.
M. Jacquemart, in his " Merveilles de la Ceramique,"
thus discourses regarding American pottery ¦

INTRODUCTION. \ 7
" If there be in this country a series of earthen monu
ments interesting to study, they are those which connect
it with the ancient people of the world which we call in
our ignorance New. In their ambitious frenzy the West
ern nations rushed upon this virgin continent. They
annihilated the aborigines, without even seeking to know
their origin, and, after having taken all the gold they
were able to demand from the treasures of the unhappy
Indians, they left it to Nature to spread a veil of luxuriant
tropical vegetation over the ruins of an extinct civiliza
tion. It remained to some adventurers of our day to dis
cover by chance the unforeseen witness of this civilization.
In 1750 two Spaniards visited the monuments of Guate
mala, and related their discoveries without awakening in
any great degree the public attention. It was not until
1805 and 1808 that some earnest explorers undertook the
study of the ruins of Milta and Palengue. At last M.
Alcide d'Orbigny, in his voyage to Peru, discovered to
the public an entire new series of works, being witness to
the artistic intelligence of the ancient people. It is not
our province to speak of the pyramids and temples of the
New World, neither to call attention to the structural re
semblance between these and the Egyptian monuments.
But we claim a connection even more direct and apparent
between the American pottery and Greek and Etruscan
ware. Of a paste sometimes red, very fine, strong and
lustrous, sometimes black or grayish, a little less fine, and
rendered lustrous by friction, it is often ornamented by
reliefs, by engravings, and even upon the red earth by
designs in black appearing to be analogous with ink.
Some pieces are covered with a glazing of greenish or
reddish brown, with metalloid reflections. But the mere
fabrication is not the only striking and interesting feature

j8 INTRODUCTION.
of these potteries : more astonishing are the artless imita
tions through which is perceived a rare intelligence of art,
and the figurative vases whereon the American people
have left us most remarkable historic evidences of them
selves. It is difficult at present to trace the origin of the
greater part of'the pieces displayed in the collection, how
ever : by analogy of types and materials, this may be
clearly enough distributed among the distinct tribes. The
most ancient belonged in Central America, particularly
Guatemala, and those go back to a very remote antiquity.
The works found in sepulchres and vaults are principally
plates and urns of red clay, placed on the ground or in
niches : each of these vases contain human bones sur
rounded with lime and mortar. The crypts or tumuli of
Milta and Palengue contain, beside the red pottery, some
gray earthen-ware, very strong."
M. Jacquemart attempts no detailed description of the
ware, either historic or otherwise : a circumstance which
certainly reflects little credit upon our own interest and
research. He found no authority to bring to his aid.
The largest specimens of ancient pottery found in this
country are the funeral jars, in which human remains
were deposited. Several of these have been found in
Brazil and elsewhere on this continent : here again the
likeness to the Eastern custom impresses us.
In this direction alone there is ample material for
study and conjecture : here are comparisons more inter
esting and more suggestive than can be found in other
evidences of the first inhabitants of our continent, — proofs
more conclusive than can be obtained through other tan
gible sources.
Further research remains for the archaeologist and
student of this obscure history. Truths so useful and

IN TROD UCTION. ! g
important cannot remain long uninvestigated : the impul
sive progress of our day demands that every source of
knowledge should be made available and yield its fruit.
A subject like this, which has long exercised the tal
ents and ability of scholars abroad, we, sensitive as we
are to foreign impulses, cannot long pass unrecognized.
What has exalted itself to a high degree of importance
among the cultured people of Europe must at last excite
our attention as being worthy of an eminent place in
our annals of history and of art.
The far antiquity of the potter's work commands for it
no ordinary attention. Were this to be the primal stand
ard of eminence, it would stand first among the arts of
the world ; even such great authority as Winckelmann
has admitted it to this degree : " clay is the first material
in all nations, and pottery the most ancient of all arts,"
he remarks, and real evidences will not allow us to doubt
his statement.
In the contents of the tombs we find still more tangi
ble proofs. In the Sanscrit " Mahabharata" is probably
the earliest mention of the art made in profane history.
Here, one Satiavan, an artist in clay, is spoken of as a
" modeler of horses." Doubtless his work was done long
before Homer's heroes figured in the world's history.
The potter's wheel, Pliny claims, is the invention of
Hyperbois, a Corinthian ; but this statement is at once
proved false by the Bible, which mentions it at a period
long before this. Indeed one of Israel's earliest kings
is mentioned as having employed a master-potter.
The remnants of these times are too obscure and
rarely met to afford foundations for any consecutive re
view. Authorities claim diversely, according to their
particular prejudices, and the result of all is that this

20 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
pottery is too remote, too little known, to be chronolog
ically considered. The first country where we find any
good foundation for the commencement of a history is
Egypt.
EGYPT.
THE people which built and wrought a history which
they failed to write could scarcely do else than convey to
us by their handiwork abundant evidences of their en
deavors in the various thoroughfares through which, by
necessity, they were obliged to develop their arts. Their
tombs, burial places, and other inclosures are pregnant
with material proofs of their industry and indomitable
energy, and most prominent among the various relics
there found are those belonging in the catalogue of
ceramics. Denon remarks that the arts of other nations are only
the spoils of the Egyptians, but the scholars of Greek his
tory declaim almost as stoutly for Greece, — yet impartial
consideration would doubtless allow to Egypt a well-
established precedence in the application and use of fictile
wares. Good authorities represent that crockery-ware
was invented by the Egyptians, who introduced it into
Greece in the year 1490 B. C, and in one hundred years
from that time it was in general use.
The first form that Egypt gave to clay was of exceed
ing simplicity, being nothing but plain beads of earthen
ware, in their natural red color, and used only for personal
ornament. These constituted, according to a French
author, their bijouterie. How long this primitive form
continued without improvement it is impossible to state;
but probably the next step was the application of glazing,

INTRODUCTION. 2I
which was of green or blue color. The earliest approach
to significant form is the clay ScarabEeus.or sacred beetle,
and peculiarly crude representations of Isis, with the
hawk's head-cap, and Osiris.
Often as the Scarabseus has been repeated by them it
is not surprising that this, as a very simple figure, should
have been attempted. These also were worn as orna
ments in the shape of amulets, bracelets, and seal rings —
a hole being bored through them longitudinally to admit
of a cincture by which they were secured. The specimen

Fig. 2. Eig. 3.
An Egyptian Scaratens of Pottery.
given in cut number two was taken from a ring found in
one of the Egyptian tombs, upon a mummy's finger, this
representing the size of the original. Both the back of
the beetle and the reverse, showing the hieroglyphic
inscription, are here exhibited.
Another form of pottery frequently met among these
remains, and doubtless of very great antiquity, is the cin
erary urn, a conical vessel in which reposed the ashes of
cats, the ibis, the ichneumon, and other sacred animals,
these also being deposited in the tombs ; but the utmost
excellence to which the Egyptians succeeded in this art is
found in their vases, some of which are far from uncomely
in shape, although the decoration is crude and conven
tional, the colors used being chiefly brick red, blue and
green, sometimes applied in outline to produce the fig
ures commonly known in Egyptian portrayal.

22 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
Cut number four is a fragment of an Egyptian vase in
the collection of the late Mrs. W. C. Prime, showing the

No. 4.— Fragment or an Egyptian Vase.

decorations, red on a white ground. One extraordinary
feature of these wares is the enamel. A blue enamel of
cobalt, now unknown in the arts, is of such exceeding
hardness as to produce sparks when applied to the
emery wheel. This probably accounts for the freshness
and perfection in which some of the specimens have
reached their present age.

GREECE.
1490 B. C.
THE scholars of Greek history are loud in their asser
tions of Greek priority in all the arts ; and if iri her fictilia
they fail to find external evidences sufficient upon which
to base their assertions, they reply, " he is the inventor of
the art who first practices it artistically." To Greece
really belongs the honor of giving the first real impetus.
to artistic expressions in clay, for the mould was invented
by a Greek practician who first discovered the art of pro-

INTRODUCTION. 2,
ducing any number of copies from one original. Here
originated the process, which was carried forward to such
remarkable perfection.
The reddest and most ancient wares were produced at
Sicyon, at Corinth the coarse, black ware, while Athens
presented the lightest and most elegant, having the most
perfect forms which are accepted as the standards of
excellence to this day.
The decorations were mostly in black, being silhou
ettes of those exquisite groups, figures and heads known
in their mythology and classic literature : these were fre
quently accompanied by borders in representation of the
laurel, ivy, and vines, their peculiarity being that each leaf
was formed with a single stroke of the brush.* This one
fact affords considerable assistance in the detection of
counterfeits ; the freedom of the originals is lost by
repeated touching.
With the exception of the paintings at Herculaneum,
Pompeii and Stabia, Greek art found no expression more
f
perfect than that exhibited upon the vases from her
souterrains. There are four methods very generally used in the
determination of the relative ages of the Greek vases :
I. The most ancient are decorated with historical
characters, the figures being black, upon a red ground.
2. The toilet, dances, and games, are represented.
3. Details of the subject portrayed evidence the age.
Clisthenes reduced the two poles of the car to one, conse
quently a car with two poles antedates these.

* For faithful representations of these forms the reader is referred to
Owen Jones' " Grammar of Ornament."

24 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
4. The vases of Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabia are
all black and varnished, none painted : these are more
recent.*

No. 5.— A Greek Vase.
A vase of ware, answering to the first of these classifi
cations, is given in cut number five : others are of more
elaborate and elegant form, exhibiting a more advanced
stage of the art, as, for instance, the Barberini or Portland
vase, which is probably the most beautiful of existing
forms. This vase, as being the most celebrated, the most
valuable and the most beautiful in existence, is worthy
of more than a passing consideration here. It was dis
covered in the sixteenth century in the Monte del Grano,
about three miles from Rome, where it had been depos-

* The art of decorating vases with painting must have been lost before
Pliny's time. He mentions the fact that the painted Greek vases were of
greater value than the Murrhine vases. The production of fictile vases was
extensive at his time, but even before him, during the period of the Empire,
painted vases were termed " opens antiqui."

INTRODUCTION.

25

ited in a sarcophagus, and from which it was transferred
to the Barberini palace, and became known as the Bar-
berini Vase. It afterward came into the possession of an
English gentleman, who disposed of it to Sir Wm. Hamil
ton, and it was by him sold to the late Duchess of Port
land ; hence it is now termed the Portland Vase. The
family have since deposited it in the British Museum,
where it rests as a single and noble monument, elo
quently asserting the high state of ceramic art, and the
art of design, which was attained in its own unknown
era. It is nine and three-quarters inches high, with a cir-.
cumference of twenty-one inches and three-quarters, but
notwithstanding its inferior size among all the large and
elegant vases which surround it, this stands in imperial em
inence. It is composed of two bodies of vitrified paste —
approaching glass — of different color, but nicely united in
two distinct strata, like a cameo, the outer strata of white,
which serves in the formation of figures, the under strata
being of deep blue, which throws forward the figures in
fine relief. The whole is wrought with extreme precis
ion, the workmanship, in every part, being most perfect.
It is unnecessary here to explain a design which has long
been discussed by antiquaries and scholars of eminence
abroad, few of these being of concurrent opinion. The
last and most accepted of these explanations was ad
vanced by Dr. Darwin, the philosophic-poet, who de
scribes the design as representing part of the ceremonies
of the Eleusinian mysteries. He divides the vase into
two compartments. The first is emblematic of moral life,
and expressed by a Libitina seated upon ruins beneath
a tree of deciduous leaf. She holds an inverted torch,

26 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
and two companions with her seem to express the terror
with which humanity gaze upon death.
The next compartment is immortal life, represented
by a hero entering the gate of Elysium, conducted by
Divine Love and received by Immortality, who is to pre
sent him to Pluto, the judge of what company he is fit to
keep in Elysium. How true this rendition may be, its
general acceptance by the world of critics must bear tes
timony. Certainly the idea is full of grace, and worthy
the poet's mind. That this vase contained the ashes of
Alexander Severus and Julia Mammcea, Darwin denies.
In form and design the Greek vases have never been
exceeded. They are to-day the true standards of excel
lence, regarded by all as the climax of artistic effort, — the
chefs d'ceuvre of antique ceramic art, by comparison with
which we judge of modern success.

ETRURIA.

1050 B. C
DEMARATUS, a father of Tarquin— says Pliny-
brought the art of pottery into Etruria. The peculiarity
of Etruscan ware is its fineness, which was probably
attained by a careful selection of soil, to the exclusion of
all gross particles and sandy substances. The lathe or
wheel, with other apparatus similar to that used in Delft
at the present day, were probably employed in its
manufacture, and the utmost care was bestowed upon it
before it was subjected to heat. A white earth was
generally used, to which was afterward applied the

INTRODUCTION. 2jr
Mangancsia Vitriariorum, a bolar earth, which assumed,
upon burning, a deep red color; the black was then
applied, which, by cutting away and tracing in various
forms and figures, revealed the red background.
This mode of procedure was not strictly adhered to,
but the variation was slight ; and the fact of a monotonous
repetition of form somewhat mars the interest which
would otherwise attach itself to this ware. Wincklemann
calls all the Etruscan work Campanian,* but as Campania
was part of Etruria the distinction seems almost frivo
lous. Of the Etruscan or Campanian vases those of Nola
seem to reach the highest degree of excellence, whether
regarded as matters of design or workmanship. Beside
the customary unshaded colors of black and red, these
have sometimes an enamel or varnish of various hues,
laid on with a peculiar instrument ; the white, black, or red,
was afterward added, and the contour or ornament traced
thereon. Ordinarily the vases are of black ground, and
the ornaments entirely of red, or some other color,
relieved by white chalk. Occasionally the hands, feet, and
faces of figures were tinted with pink, but these tints are
not frequently found, and it is probable that the art was
not in extensive use. These are among the few of the
very antique vases which bear a mark designating the man
ufacture ; ahd the significant figure most generally found
is a rose, impressed. Other marks are known, but this was
most extensively used. In the United States there are at
least two extensive collections of Etruscan vases, one of
which is, I believe, owned in Boston, and about to be pre
sented to some public repository there ; the other is in
the hands of a New York collector.
* See Amaduzzi, Epl. Alphab. Etrusc. III. preef. § 7. p. 89.

28 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
The origin of Etruscan ware has been, and is, a matter
of doubt. To the time of Wincklemann every one had
assigned it to the country from which it derives its name,
but this daring innovator and far-searching scholar denies
in toto its local origin, and the fact that it is found most
profusely, not only in various parts of Italy, but in Sicily,
and amid the ruins of all Greece, bears him out. Winck
lemann, Boettiger, and Millin all ascribe it to Greece,
and the following identifications confirm the propriety of
their conclusions : The subjects which ornament the
vases are all taken from Greek history, fabulous and real.
With little exception they illustrate Greek manners, and
the inscriptions found upon them are universally in the
ancient Greek characters. Some of the vases were
wrought in Etruria proper, but by Greek artists who
early settled in Campania, upon the borders of the Adri
atic, and there carried to infinite perfection an art which
they brought from their own land.

ROM ANO— BRITISH POTTERY.
SAMIAN WARE.
55 b. c.
IN no locality of the world has the subject of Roman
pottery been more thoroughly investigated than in Eng
land. With the materials immediately at hand, and re
corded history to aid in the research, better advantages
could scarcely have been offered.

INTRODUCTION. 2g
The ceramist has but to dig the foundations of his
house in London to find the evidences necessary to the
beginning of a history of Roman occupation. Defiant of
time and decay, these little remnants of the household
and the arts of England's first invasive possessors, lie far
beneath the present surface of her landscape. London,
through her perseverance and eager adaptation of every
principle which affords the slightest addition to her his
tory and the world's enlightenment, has not allowed this
valuable opportunity to escape. Not only in this, but in
all the domain of fictilia, English minds of unquestionable
ability have doubtless done more to elucidate and classify
than those of any other country of like sympathies and
civilization. In speaking of London, Chaffers remarks : " Every
generation has left some token of former habitation, how
ever insignificant, and traces of the early British, Roman,
Saxon, Norman, and early English races may be dis
covered by the attentive observer  Evidence of
Roman occupation is always manifested by the discovery
of numerous fragments of a beautiful coralline red ware,
commonly known as Samian* These are discovered
twelve or fifteen feet below the present level of London
city, among undoubted Roman remains."
These combined facts led to the formation, in Lon
don, of a society of practical geology*, whose labor it be
came to develop the sources of information which these
opportunities offered. Their success, as a body of investi
gators, has proved most useful and interesting. The vasa
* So named after the Island of Samos in the Ionian Sea. Homer men
tions the island under the name of Cephallinia.

30 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
fictilia of England have become an important accessory
to local history, as well as a valuable contribution to the
records of this art as practised by the ancient Latins.
Among all the ancient wares previously mentioned, little
or nothing is known regarding the artizan or constructor,
but upon these specimens the name of the producer
is frequently met, in the usual Latin form of abbrevia
tion. The St. Martin-le-Grand vase bears the inscription
— OF. VITAL, or, Offichia Vitalis ; from the workshops
of Vitalis. Throughout England and the continent the color of
this ware is the same, and this has been the source of
much discussion regarding the original locality of its
manufacture. In the work of M. Brongniart, " Traite des Arts Cer-
amiques," he says : " This resemblance in respect to text
ure, the density, and above all the color of this ware, in
every country, is a sort of enigma difficult to solve in a
satisfactory manner, for when we consider the number of
places at a great distance from each other where it is dis
covered, and the difference of soil in each, the difficulty
arises how the Roman potters could everywhere make a
paste so exactly similar, with materials so necessarily dif
ferent, for it cannot be supposed they would carry with
them their paste for making these vessels. It may, how
ever, be supposed that choosing a spot where they could
procure a clay, colorless, and adapted to furnish a paste
sufficiently dense, they gave it the nasturtium red color,
by introducing a portion of ochre."
The mould and lathe, or potter's wheel, were both in
use among the artizans who produced this ware, as the
marks of both are plainly visible upon many of the speci-

IN TROD UCTION. 3 1
mens, and the style of decoration was in relief only.
Roman mythology furnished subject material, with games,
gladiatorial combats, hunting subjects and field sports.
Animals are also introduced, and there are some copies
of existing statues showing that even then these statues
were held in high repute. Amphorae, poculse, and ves
tal lamps are also found among these remains, these all
being the table-ware and articles of domestic use among
the Romans. The ware was devoted to ornament as
well as memorial pieces, and statuettes of graceful and
pleasing design have also been found, although not in
such profusion as pieces of utility. I have reviewed the
Roman fictilia as Romano-English, because it is best
known through these English sources and their mediums
of diffusion. Doubtless much of the ware from the
Island of Samos is of earlier date than that found in Eng
land, and of course antedates the Roman occupation, but
the historic research of this ground is not so thorough as
that of the countries which lie within more convenient
reach of modern inquest.

ASIA MINOR.

2247 B. C.
We are touching a chord which reverberates far back
into that uncertain past where amid the dim relics of
magnificence we find those first products of the potter's
hand — the Babylonish bricks.
" Let us build a city and tower, and make us a name,"
is the cry of Nimrod's people ; the rest-is known to every

32 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
Bible student. The ancient city of Smyrna has proba
bly been engaged for a greater length of time in the man
ufacture of pottery than any other locality on the face of
the globe : her pottery is first and last among the present
examples. To the collector the ceramic wares of Asia Minor are
valuable on two accounts : first, their great antiquity and
consequent historic interest ; second, the intimate con
nection of this locality with Persia, which country be
came the medium for the introduction of ceramic art into
Christian territory. How thoroughly intermingled were
these two nations is implied by the fact that "between
the Tigris and the Indus were spoken the Persian dia
lects, which differed from the Semitic not only in their
vocabulary and phraseology, but also in their elements
and construction." A land thus affected in her language,
by incursion, could not but imbibe some of the arts of
those who invested her border, and fictile material was
one of the most important in these two : the fayence of
Persia being far in advance, however, of the Asiatic work.
The foliated ornamentation of the Babylonish bricks is
not without its parallel. In the Persian product we see it
reproduced variously, but in the same general form.
At the island of Rhodes we find another city vastly
engaged in the manufacture of pottery. A ware here for
merly produced, covered with an enamel of turquoise
blue, is interesting as affording a repetition of the same
art practised in Egypt.
In the collection of the late Mrs. Wm. C. Prime
is a curious ewer or pitcher, which is reproduced in cut
number six. This vase, probably produced within the
last century, exhibits the slow advance of the art in Asi-

INTROD UCTION.

atic countries. It is about fourteen inches in height.

33
The

lip or spout of the pitcher is formed by the gargoyle

No. 6. — A Modern Ewer op Asiatic Pottery.
which surmounts it : the only other ornamentation is a
few leaves and flowers near the base, these being in bold
relief. The ewer is covered with a yellowish lead glaze
unevenly distributed, and the ornamental work is in dull
tints of yellow, red, and green.
This ewer, purchased in Asia, was probably made
either at Smyrna or Rhodes.

PERSIA.

2l6o B. C.
IN all the countries of the Orient the ceramic histo
rian is in that singular position where he is unable to

34 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
assign any date to first works. Remote as is the antiq
uity of all their arts, this one seems encumbered more
than all the rest with peculiar obscurity which the power
of present authorities fails to penetrate.
The wares of Persia must remain possessed of the
same interest as that attached to those of Asia Minor, a
matter of curious inquiry ; of value to the historian, but
to the ceramist who desires a chronological statement it
affords little or no satisfaction. Persia bears the credit of
having reached considerable perfection in her productions.
" Viola done deux poteries en presence : la porcelain
Kaolinique ou a pate dure, et la faience. Mais ce mot
meme, qui chez nous a une valeur technique absolue, ne
conserve pas la meme invariabilite en Perse. La faience
est d'ordinaire une terre cuite A pate tendre recouverte
d'un email opaque compose d'etain et de plomb ; dans
l'lran, elle peut affecter au moins trois formes particulieres
qui la rapprochent plus ou moins de la porcelaine."*
It was through Persia that porcelain first became
known in more occidental lands. When Pompey took
home his spoils of war, among them were the famous
Vasa Murrhina — of disputed composition.
These, if imitations of stone, must have been most
exquisite and perfect, but the locality of their manufac
ture has never been positively ascertained. Pliny de
scribes them as being gem-like, and of exceeding bril
liancy ; purple and white mingled with irridescent colors
of the rainbow, and made from a stone found in Caram-
ania, Persia. Pompey introduced them into Rome with
the treasures of Mithridates. Whatever may have been
* " Merveilles de la Ceramique." Premiere Partie. p. 205.

INTRODUCTION. 35
the opinions of former investigators, modern science
rather assigns these vases a position among the manu
factured articles of the Orient ; yet there are none of these
preserved to admit of actual investigation. It is thought
that they were lost through deliquescence, upon exposure
to the atmosphere, as were a number of rings and brace
lets taken from Egyptian mummies. This can alone
account for the fact that not one remains, and at the
present time they are known only through the medium
of history. In the collection of the late Mrs. Wm. C. Prime there
are some exceedingly interesting specimens of Eastern
ceramic art — produced within the period of the Christian
era. These are egg-shaped, and an illustration of one of

No. 7.— An Egg or Persian Pottery.
CProm the Grotto of the Nativity at Bethlehem.)
them is given here in cut number seven. The one from
which this illustration is taken was an ornament of an
ancient lamp in the grotto of the Nativity at Bethlehem.
M. Jacquemart mentions and illustrates one of precisely
the same kind : " Un de nos savants amis dira les mer-
veilles de la verrerie, depuis les temps antiques jusqu'd
nos jours, et il mentionnera, parmi les suprenants sped-

36 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
mens de cet art au treizieme siecle, les lamps suspendues
dans les mosquees de I'Asie Mineure, de I'Egypt et de la
Perse. Or, les trois chaines de suspension de ces lamps
virennent aboutir a un ceuf, qui, tres-souvent, est en
faience siliceuse. Voici l'un de ces ceufs dont le decor
est des plus interessants ; l'influence chretienne s'y mani-
feste par de nombreuses croix et des figures de cherubins,
evidemment imitees de celles qu'on voit encore sur les
pendentifs de la coupole de Sainte-Sophie, a Constantino
ple. Le style, en passant de Byzance d Brousse ou a
Nicee, n'a rien perdu de sa simplicite primitive, et il de-
vait se perpetuer dans l'ecole du mont Athos, ou ou le
retrouve anjourd' hui.*
These eggs, it seems, are most sacredly considered
among the Arabs and oriental Christians, and carefully
guarded, some virtue being attached to them as accesso
ries of their places of adoration. The color of the en
amel — which is quite hard — is a dirty white, the decora
tion being in blue and yellow, shaded, as shown by the
illustration. If we were to allow the Orient that due consideration
which attaches to priority, an ordinary volume would
scarcely contain the result.
First in everything that pertains to the arts, produc
tive and ornamental, we can find here the study of all
schools up to our own time. That we originate nothing,
the most careless student of the antique arts can prove.
Crude and imperfect as may have been many of their
products, yet the idea was there, and wanted only the ap
plication of more skilled workmanship, a wider range
of materials, and more complete implements, to make it
* " Merveilles de la Ceramique." Premiere Partie. p. 199.

IN TROD UCTION. 3 7
as chaste and beautiful as our own copy. There is no
thought of the ancient artist which has not its reflex and
effect upon the productions of our own time.
In the catalogue of nations engaged in the manufac
ture of fictile wares, China is probably the most ancient
which has continued steadily at the work from the re
motest period to the present date. She has carried the art
to a higher degree of excellence, and understood the
methods, at a day far anterior to any record we possess.
This, however, becomes rather a portion of the chap
ter upon porcelain than that of the less advanced form of
pottery. One feature which renders both pottery and
porcelain valuable and interesting to the collector is the
mark, or monogram, establishing its date, place of manu
facture, and frequently the artist. How many of our col
lectors are acquainted with the Chinese characters suffi
ciently to establish correctly any of these ? how many are
conversant enough with the habits and characteristics of
those ingenious Orientals to distinguish between a genu
ine mark of antiquity and its nice counterfeit ?
If the arts of the Chinese are what we conceive them
to be, and the value of their work what we as well as they
know it is, we cannot but think that they would well un
derstand our Christian trick of counterfeiting. Hardly
one man in our land is conversant with the Chinese lan
guage, while the languages of all Europe, and the charac
ters of each, are well known. Under these circumstances
it is scarcely possible that we should, as yet, definitely
locate the details of a country regarding which we know
so little, and which can only be conveyed to us in a frag
mentary and desultory way by tongues which refuse any
language but their own.

HISPANO-MOORISH PO TTER Y.

1019 A. D.
Under the leadership of Yahye-Ben-Aly, the Moors
achieved a series of successes seldom granted to a people
not given to united effort. Little record remains of their
wandering history which culminated in the invasion of
the Spanish border. Regarding their immediate origin
and progress there is nothing left of interest save those
splendid structures which occasionally mark the line of
their operations, and which we find best represented in
their last and greatest work, that great monument to fic
tile art, the " Alhambra" at Granada. In this exquisite
piece of acrhitecture we find the germ of an industry
which, once planted on enlightened Christian soil, grew to
its present magnificent proportions. Christianity, while it
forgot them, absorbed their art. The advance of the
Moors is everywhere defined by their free employment
of pottery as a medium of decoration. Although their
knowledge of the use of metallic oxides was exceedingly
primitive, yet the design and decoration of their tiles and
ornamental plates is artistic and pleasing, while the pres
ent vividness of the color is sufficient evidence of its
permanency.

SPAIN.

39

Fac-similes are given in cuts numbers 8, 9 and 10 of
three oriental tiles, which we select from a large variety,
comprising upwards of fifty specimens, in the collection
of the late Mrs. W. C. Prime, of New York. It is difficult
to determine the date or place of manufacture of these

Tiles of Arabic Decoration.

specimens, which have rarely fallen under the examina
tion of Europeans interested in ceramic history. But
whether from Damascus, Rhodes, or elsewhere, they show
the characteristics of the Arabic decoration, and serve
our purpose to illustrate the style of decoration employed
prior to, as well as for some time after, the Moorish occu
pation of Spain. These came from ancient Mameluke
tombs near Cairo.
The enamel of these tiles is of hard paste,' not purely

*Q HISTORY OF POTTERY.
white; the designs are arborescent, terminating with
buds or blossoms, curved lines forming a checker-work
with ornamented centres, or diagonal lines, with similar
effect. Other designs much employed by them were equally
excellent, but executed in that peculiarly incorrect way
which illustrates the imperfect knowledge of art — poverty
of materials, and want of precision ; the geometric inaccu
racy being noticeable in those specimens where the sec
tions of the drawing do not balance each other, the true
centre and the apparent centre being much at variance.
The colors most used in their decorations are blue and
green ; red and yellow is occasionally introduced, but not
so profusely. The tiles given in the drawings are about
eight inches square, but so far as regards shape or size
these are no criterion. Various forms, triangular, round,
and mitred to fit corners, are in existence. By this means
they were adapted to every irregularity, and thus intro
duced among the decorative effects of buildings, the
square tile being principally used for flooring or paving.
We are not, however, obliged to look to the tiles
alone for the specimens of the Moorish work; their vases
also bear evidence of great skill and taste. Among these
the most celebrated is known as the " Alhambra Vase."
It was the first and most superb of those specimens
exhibiting that peculiar iridescent lustre of decoration
which, as among the lost arts, marks it of immediate
value and interest.*

* Imitations of this lustrous decoration were exhibited in the last Paris
Exposition, but the work fell so far short of successful imitation that it met
with little or no approval.

SPAIN.

41

The "Alhambra Vase" measures four feet three
inches in height, and was found under the pavement of
the palace from which it derives its name, with a com
panion similar to itself. The latter was accidently de
stroyed, and the one now in existence might have been
had it not been rescued from its neglected corner by
hands which had more regard for art than the Spaniards
possess. Before Ferdinand and Isabella reclaimed their Granada
estate in 1492, the art of pottery-making had distributed
itself pretty extensively over other parts of the country,
having been carried thither by straggling Moors who had
deserted the fortunes of their leading commander. The
people of Spain themselves attempted little in its manu
facture, but Christian influences were brought to bear upon
it, which somewhat affected its general character. More
breadth of effort, and greater variety of designs in form,
were the immediate consequence, while the main princi
ples of decoration were still retained. Thus we find,
among the remains of the Moors in that country, vases
and other vessels bearing Christian inscriptions, and mark
ing another era in the production of pottery which is
termed the " Moorish- Catholic," — this change being
brought about, of course, by religious influence, and
probably prompted by the patronage of the Spanish
Church, which invested some of its vast wealth in the
new art.
The vase exhibited in cut number eleven, for which
I am indebted to the admirable work of M. Jacquemart,
is of Moorish work, and bears a Christian inscription,
accompanied by emblems peculiar to the Church and the
infallible mark of its period — the iridescent lustre.

HISTORY OF POTTERY.

No. 11.— A Moorish Vase with Christian Inscription.

MALA GA.
The contiguity of Malaga to the city of Granada,
beside the fact that it was a seaport carrying on an exten
sive trade with the east, rendered it a place most appro
priate for the extensive production of Moorish ware.
Ibn-Batoutah, who wrote about the year 1350, says: "At
this place is manufactured the beautiful gilded pottery
or porcelain which is exported to the most distant
countries." It was probably about this period that the
vase of the Alhambra, and tiles, or azuelos, were manu
factured at Malaga. This factory survived the fall of
Granada, and continued until the middle of the sixteenth
century, about which time the Valencia factory seems to
have assumed its mantle. The little island of Majorca,

SICIL Y.

43

of which I will speak more at length in the Italian chap
ter, was also extensively engaged in pottery work.
SICIL Y.
THE Siculo-Moresque work of this locality, although
coming within the era of those which we have just con
sidered, occupies an individual position, in that it possesses
features which differ entirely from the work of the Span
ish Moors. Its composition was also finer and whiter. All
the enamels of the Sicily ware are blue, and the ornamen
tation consists of scroll-work, displaying the usual metal
lic lustre. Here we find almost the first evidence of
marks and monograms employed as characters for the dis
tinction of the ware.
A large plate in the Museum at Sevres bears a
Roman capital G, with other characters attached, which
may be the Arabic symbols. So far as identification by
this means is concerned, there is, of course, nothing by
which a conclusion might be reached. Many fine speci
mens of the Siculo-Moresque ware are extant in the
Eastern capitals, but, so far as I am acquainted, there are
none in this country, which fact is not to be mentioned
of this ware alone.

ITALIAN POTTERY.

The first instance in which pottery attaches itself to
a recognized school of art occurs in Italy. In merit and
value it improves more upon this soil, where, treated by
eminent hands, it became a vehicle of artistic expression,
which has given it a value not inferior to canvases
and frescos of the same period. While these latter
are less available to foreign seekers, the beautiful vessels
of pottery, with their decorations, as bright and fresh as
when they first left the workman's hands, have found lodg
ment and appreciation in galleries distant from their
native soil.
At present the Majolica ware — most celebrated of the
Italian work — is only to be procured at the sales of great
and choice collections, where works of art occupy the
principal place. At the sale of Prince Napoleon's collec
tion, which took place May 9th, 1872, several genuine
pieces of this ware were offered, which commanded prices
far beyond the reach of ordinary purchasers. I append a
short list of some of the specimens ; — the exact price which
they brought I am unable to state.
Catalogue, Number 241. — A fine pilgrim bottle, with
satyr's-head handles, and the subject of David and Goli
ath on one side, and the Philistines attacking the Israel-

ITAL Y.

45

ites on the other ; attributed to Alfonso Patanazzi.
Circa, 1560.
Catalogue, Number 247. — A fine bowl, on foot, with
snake handles ; in the inside Fabius ordering the golden
vases of the Samnite ambassadors to be thrown into the
lake of Thrasimene ; the outside and foot covered with
landscape and buildings in very 'rich colors; by Orazio
Fontana. Circa, 1550.
Catalogue, Number 251. — A plate, with sunk centre,
and the descent of Orpheus into Hell ; very rich colors,
with metallic lustre. Inscribed on the back, " Fra Xanto
A de Rovigo. Urbino, 1532."
The existence of a majolica factory at Caffagiolio has
been somewhat doubted by various authorities, but these
doubts were dispelled by the discovery upon the ware it
self of absolute testimony which placed the fact beyond
question. One example of this ware we find in Prince
Napoleon's collection.
Catalogue, Number 256. — A fine large dish with raised
centre, on which "is the Salviati coat-of-arms : argent a
bandes bretelles de gueules ecartele d'or a trois monts
d'azur ; surrounded by a border of foliage in various colors ;
the border of the dish has ornaments in blue, on white
ground, and scrolls with motto, " Semper vivat ;" on the
back a monogram, and the words " In Cafagibollo.
Circa, 1560."
This will discover at once to the critical eye a new
value, and to the uninitiated, the immediate consequence
of marks and monograms, which, when authentic, affect
pottery and porcelain exactly in the same ratio as they
would canvas, panel, or fresco.
I have ventured upon these brief introductory words

46 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
as a preparation to the most important period of the his
tory of pottery-making, where under new treatment and
Christian inspiration it undergoes a complete revolution,
and presents itself in fit company with Italian master
pieces in other departments of art.
As early as the ninth century the Saracens had colo
nized in Sicily and Apulia, and they were expert potters.
When expelled from the Spanish dependencies, they
sought refuge in the Papal States. Italy had thus twice
thrust upon her the opportunity of forming a practical ac
quaintance with the potter's art, but we have no substan
tial evidence of her real acceptance until two centuries
after the introduction of the Moorish work — six hundred
years after the arrival of the Saracens, so we take up the
history where we may follow it with consecutive precision.
How the art of pottery-making was introduced into
Italy is a question. That it came by the Moors there is
no doubt ; but vagarious as were their movements, there
seems no certainty of its direct import.
An Italian antiquary of distinction, Passeri by name,
claims the discovery and introduction of the ware for
Pesaro. His claim is not well established, and the fact that
every Latin country asserts the same individual distinc
tion, adds to the doubt.
Still another and more valuable testimony is the fact
that the first wares of Italy exhibited the splendid metal
lic lustre which identifies the Moorish work. This alone
would seem to bespeak its Moorish extraction. The
records of history itself almost decide the question.
In the year A. D. 1113 the Crusader galleys departed
from Pisa on their errand of deliverance. After various
vexatious delays and mishaps, and a sanguine but victo-

ITAL Y. 47
rious struggle at Ivica, they succeeded in reaching the lit
tle Island of Majorca, where the encroaching Moors had
held in long and toilsome bondage their Christian brothers.
Here the scenes of their former struggle were renewed,
and the prisoners of the infidels released. Their work
finished, the triumphant galleys returned to Pisa, laden
with valuables and the products of art of their van
quished enemy. Probably not least among these were the
tiles and plates which were most extensively produced at
Majorca, and the poor prisoners who held the secret of
their making. In the summer of the year 1115, the gal
leys reached their native port.
That Majorca ware had even then become famous is
evidently a fact, and Mr. Dawson Turner, writing from
Pisa in the year 1825, says :
" After having returned to the conservatory the keys
of the Campo Santo, he was kind enough to show me
several specimens of plates from Majorca, imbedded in
the walls of sundry churches in the city, to which they
form singular ornaments. It was a custom at Pisa, with
the warriors returning from the crusades, and stopping at
Majorca, to bring home this peculiar earthenware, by
way at once of testimony and trophy.
" They are accordingly only to be found in the oldest
buildings in the style that we in England would call Nor
man. In San Sisto and Sta Apollonica they are on the
west front, and a row of them is also to be seen running
along the sides under the cornice. In San Francisco are
some near the top of the Campanile, which is very lofty.
I afterwards observed others in the walls of two churches
of about the some date at Pavai."*
* From " Murray's Handbook of North Italy," in the description of
" Pavia."

48 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
Most of these plates were of a bright green, decorated
with the customary Moorish designs. Only four of the
original plates remain in the walls of San Sisto, all the
rest having been spirited away, and rudely painted plaster
substituted in their places. On page 16 of Mr. Marryatt's
admirable work, illustrations are given of these four.
For a long time these precious plates remained venera
ted by the Italians as trophies of the success of the cru
sades and extermination of the infidels from Christian
borders. Passeri alone records the art of pottery-making in Italy
as early as the thirteenth century. He affixes the date
1492 to the introduction of Majolica ware, and states the
place of introduction — Pesaro, but we will glance at
another portion of Italy.
Every art reverts to its presiding genius. Some one en
dowed with the attributes of success has carried it from
the footstool to the throne, where one becomes the
patron master, and the other the pattern which we may
follow and emulate.
The fifteenth century was destined to reveal the man
and his works which should ever after remain the sym
bols of Italian success. Under the warm, tropic sun of
Italy, every art grew in magnitude, beauty, and value.
Favored by a people given to these employments, and
encouraged by the patronage of over wealthy churches
and noblemen, the art of pottery-making could not long
remain in the one position given it by the less enlight
ened Moors ; it must be advanced and elevated. Demand
always is met by some answer; if not immediate, then
eventually ; and in the person of Luca della Robbia we
find the artist who first felt the call of Italy for greater

ITAL Y.

49

eminence in the new industry, where art and utility
formed an alliance at once powerful and happy.
Luca della Robbia was born in the city of Florence
in the year 1400. Following successively the careers of
a goldsmith and sculptor, in the latter of which he at
tained extraordinary success, we find him at last propos
ing to himself the question of producing his works in
baked clay, covered with a glazing, as offering a sub
stance in the workman's hands more pliant and quite as
durable as the marble itself. His first discovery was the
use of stanniferous enamel, the hardest glaze then in use,
and his first production was a bas-relief of the Resurrec
tion, which he finished about the year 1438, and which
was placed above the bronze doors of the Duomo, which
were also of his design.
This first production was in white enamel, except the
groundwork of blue tint. His next step was the applica
tion of color. Says M. H. Barbet de Jouey: "Luca was
right when he animated enamelled sculpture with color ;
but he was too prodigal of it : the huge masses of Floren
tine architecture are particularly severe and stiff, and the
alternate black and white layers of stone would produce
the' effect of mourning draperies if the monuments of the
middle ages had not been enlivened by mosaics 
On the grand facade of Or San Michele he (Luca) placed
large medallions, which shine out with subdued brilliancy
from the walls, without framework or cornice, affording as
much pleasure to the eye as a tuft of flowers on a neg
lected ruin."
Luca employed, and was succeeded in his work after
his death, which took place in 148 1, by several relatives
of the same family name, and their work was similar, but
4

5o

HISTORY OF POTTERY.

neither so effective nor so excellent. In cut nnmber
twelve is given an illustration of Della Robbia ware, in
the collection of the late Mrs. W. C. Prime. The figures
in this specimen are of ivory white, upon a ground of deli-

No. 12.— A Madonna and Child.
Luca della RoDDia.

cately tinted blue, the entire piece is about sixteen inches
in height, and of proportionate width.
Reverting again to Pesaro we find the town still en
gaged in the manufacture of Mezza-Majorca, but laboring
under the disadvantageous circumstances of Moorish in
fluences, and therefore wanting in delicacy and beauty.
Under the patronage of the houses of Maltesta, Sforza,
and Urbino, it still continued, its main beauty being the
" mother pearl " lustre, which has never been surpassed.

ITAL Y. 5 i

MAJOLICA WARE,
The derivation of the word " Majolica" has long been
discoursed upon. One important fact which would lead
somewhat to a correct inference is that " the word was
not used down to the time of Piccolpasso (Circa, 1550) to
denote every species of stanniferous glazed, painted pot
tery, but was rather understood to refer to lustre pig
ments, or at any rate to the lustred ware." This
would incline us to the conclusion that the name came
from a source coincidental with the lustred or iridescent
ware, which was Majorca. This being the most proba
ble of all the advanced theories, it is unnecessary to refer
to those which rise in conflict with it. It is also known
as Faenza — from which, through the French, we get our
word fayence : it was so called after a little Italian town
engaged in the Majolica manufacture. Between the
years 1500 and 1540 we find the first period in which Ma
jolica ware flourished.
The predominating features of this era are relics of the
Moorish taste- improved and added to by such artists as
Timoteo della Vite, and Raffaelle dal Colle, under the pat
ronage of wealthy houses. Previous to the year 1530 we
find little but the rude work of the Mezza-Majolica.
Some of the best work of this later period was made by
Maestro Giorgio, who, like Luca della Robbia, was also by
profession a sculptor. From his hands emanated several
bas-reliefs, but his best work is found among the plates.
Upon these " he used a golden yellow and a ruby red,
which have all the iridescence of the Mezza-Majolica."
Another eminent artist was Francesco Xanto of Rovigo

,j2 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
(1518-1537), who was the last artist working in the man
ner just described. Toward 1550 the fiery ruby red
declined, and became numbered among the lost arts.

No. 13.— A Majolica Vase.
Bernal Collection.
In cut number thirteen is represented a "splendid
vase, with elegant handle, ornamented with a sphynx and
masks, painted in bright colors with the brazen serpent.
Presumed date about 1550, 15 inches high, 5^ inches in
diameter." This vase sold in the Bernal collection for
eleven hundred dollars. I give the price in order to con
vey some idea of English estimation of the Majolica ware.
England gave to one form of the Majolica the im
mortal name of Raffaelle ware — after Raffaelle Sanzio da
Urbino. Whether he actually bestowed his own hand
upon Majolica work or not, is a question which we are
not prepared to consider, but that his own designs are
found upon numberless pieces, the works themselves are
sufficient proof.

ITALY. 53
It also derives its name from Raffaelle dal Colle, and
Raffaelle Ciarla, who lived with and after the great artist
first mentioned. The principal subjects employed in the
decoration of Raffaelle ware are scriptural, many of them
having been taken from the Marc Antonio prints, and
from great masters living at that time. " Raffaelle's fresco
of the ' Triumph of Galatea,' is found on several pieces,"
varying somewhat from the original, and executed by
copyists who were employed upon the work. Italy was
then leading the world in all the arts, and it is not sur
prising that she bestowed upon this some of her mastery.
Aside from the decorative work, the form of the Ma
jolica ware is exceedingly graceful and effective. The
convents in the period of which we speak were very gen
erally employed in the adaptation and production of
materia medica, and in them are to be found, even now,
pharmaceutical vases which may have been used as arti
cles of ornament or containing vessels. Some of these are
quite elaborate, others more severe and practical in form.
The factories where Majolica was produced are classed
as follows :
i. Gubbio, 4. Faenza, 7. Caffaggiolo,
2. Urbino, 5. Forli, 8. Venice,
3. Castel Durante, 6. Deruta, 9. Castelli.
These with several minor factories were all engaged in
the same industry. It is unnecessary here to enter into
any detailed description of each, all being similar to the
specimens and work which we have described, and a
thorough knowledge of this, as of every other ware, is
only to be obtained by practical acquaintance.
The collector anywhere, even in the country where it
was produced and is most abundant, must not be de-

C4 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
ceived by the enormous quantity of counterfeits which are
thrust upon him. Bear in mind that genuine pieces are
 " As rare
As wings upon a cat,
Or flowers of air,"
and should one present itself, there are competent judges
present who would secure it at once. Little of the real
Majolica is to be found except in the great museums
of Europe, and among private collectors whose means are
abundant and taste and knowledge unquestioned.
An acquaintance with the marks, various inscriptions
and characteristics of every ware is the fundamental prin
ciple which must govern the collector. Some of the
pieces are signed in full, others bear dates, localities and
inscriptions, others, still, monograms and hieroglyphic fig
ures. Most of them are painted in blue upon the back or
bottom of the piece, but the collector must also bear in
mind that counterfeiting is not impossible.
One circumstance we notice in connection with the
Majolica ware, and that is, its peculiar inadaptability to
general household uses, its immediate sphere being more
particularly confined to architectural ornament and artis
tic effects. Take, for instance, Passeri's description of the
work of an unknown artist at Pesaro, as rendered by Mr.
Marryatt. " These dishes," says Passeri, " are of a flesh-
colored clay, very thick, clumsy, and of large dimensions.
The circular projection, giretto, around the back of them
is perforated with two holes to admit a string for sus
pending them, being intended for show, not for use.
The b*ick of the dish is covered with a yellow glaze ; the
front decorated with half-length portraits of princes who
reigned before 1500. The rim is ornamented with an im-

ITALY. 55
bricated, checkered, or chevron pattern ; blue and yellow
are the colors employed, and these are highly iridescent.
The uniform treatment of these large dishes, the disposi
tion of color, the pattern of the rim, all indicate them to
have been made by the same artist who flourished at
Pesaro at the end of the fifteenth century."
Throughout all the records of the Majolica ware, we find
it constantly under the patronage, support and direction
of the Italian nobility themselves. That they thoroughly
appreciated it is evinced by the watchful and jealous
care which they bestowed upon it, and transferred its in
terests from one to another. If the information which has
reached our time is reliable, very few pieces escaped the
custody of noble houses, it being even then of great money
value. " Guidobaldo II., lord of Pesaro and of Siniga-
lia, of Montefeltro, and of Castel Durante, Count and Pre
fect of Rome, fourth Duke of Urbino, protected, with his
greatest fervor, the art of Majolica decoration which Al-
phonse d'Este had held to be of such great importance
that he exclusively directed his attention to the discovery
of beautiful and refined secrets in art, and finished by
composing the famous white color of the Dukes of Fer
rara. He collected all he could of Raphael's original draw
ings, and any engravings of his works ; excited the imagin
ation of the men of science whom he employed to com
pose ingenious sentences and mottoes, and appropriated
the services of Battista Franco, whose sketches were so
successfully copied by ceramic art."
The prevailing direction of the Italian mind of that
age was toward art. Everything that could be ennobled
was vigorously grasped and borne to an eminence never
before attained ; — utility was hid behind their enthusiastic

56 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
endeavor to satisfy that visual sense which had gradually
been growing to a position which has since been, and
probably ever will be, regarded as the standard.
FORMS EMPLOYED BY THE ITALIANS.
In existing specimens of the Majolica ware we find
less elaborateness of form, less elegance, than we might
be led to expect' in the presence of such eminently excel
lent decoration. While the Italians were not insensible
to outside influences, they cautiously accepted what they
thought best, but preferred to invest their productions
with their own imagery, and place upon them, if possible,
the recognizable impress of their own reviving genius.
It is not impossible that their intense dislike for the
Moors and their traditions led them to abandon Moorish
forms at a period soon after the introduction of their
work. Luca della Robbia's work was a bold step toward
the naturalization of the art of pottery-making in Italy.
There was no trace of the " infidel " work here, but a true
and perfect identification with the country which stood
at the head and front of the Romish church ; accepting
her characters and symbols as the right subjects for ex
pression and study. The forms employed by the Italians
were as distinct and characteristic as possible, and they
were few. Vases, ewers, and plates make up nearly the
whole catalogue, and the patterns are few by which the
art could be possibly degraded to the general menial
services of the household or the workshop. In later
years we find it gradually descending to this inferior but
practical position. This, however, after the last spark of
eminent artistic merit had been extinguished.

ITALY. 57
One of the few forms borrowed from the ancients was
the pilgrim bottle, seemingly a great favorite among all ages
and nations. This, as its name implies, was a vessel for the
carriage of liquids, being flattened at the sides for greater
convenience. The ancients carried them slung about the
neck by a strap, but those of Italian production were evi
dently intended for ornament, as many of them are decor
ated with the most exquisite arabesques, and the designs
of Raffaelle. In Prince Napoleon's recent sale, mentioned
in the introduction to this chapter, there were two of
these pilgrim bottles. The modern copies, though very
beautiful, are not of great value. Several of these have ¦
been brought to this country, and found very ready
acceptance. A favorite manner of relievo decoration and outline
among the Italians was the grotesque. A ewer in the
possession of the Baron de Rothschild is exceedingly rich
in this character. An illustration of this ewer can be found
in Mr. Chaffers' " Chefs d'Oeuvre of the Industrial Arts,"
page 52. Among the curious and very interesting Majol
ica productions are the amatorii, or love plates. These
generally bore the portraits of the ladies to whom they
were presented, with inscriptions calculated to express
the affection of the donor.
" On one we find a heart, transfixed with a sword and
an arrow, over a burning flame, bedewed by tears falling
from two eyes above."
" One is mentioned by Passeri, signed by Maestro
Giorgio — a female head, having beneath Daniella Diva,
and above, a wounded heart, with Oime.
Very frequently these amatorii were used as moral
souvenirs, both the inscription and decoration being of a

,g HISTORY OF POTTERY.
moral instead of affectionate character. - One is mentioned
as having upon it a picture of a lady teaching a little
child to read, and the inscription: Virtus in atione
consiste. The marriage services of Majolica, then exceedingly
popular, were made up of pieces similar in character to
those just mentioned. A curious little service for the use
of invalids consisted of five pieces, compactly put together,
and thus forming a neat little ornament. Taken apart, it
furnished — I, a soup basin ; 2, a plate ; 3, a cup ; 4, a salt
cellar ; and 5, a cover. These were set upjon a little table,
after use restored to their original places.
The pottery work of Italy occupies the largest space
in all the extant authorities upon the subject of ceramics.
It is unnecessary here to enter into a description so
succinct and exhaustive. Abler pens will accomplish that
work when amid the vast population of our country will
be found enough of the interested element to guarantee so
extended a labor. Europe has long and faithfully en
gaged herself in the advancement of all the arts, and her
literature upon the subject of fictile wares, although com
paratively not extensive, is thorough and profound, com
plete and excellent, whether we consider it in a literary
light or as an authority. In our first steps we can scarcely
expect to reach so far. M. Jacquemart, in his " Merveil-
les de la Ceramique," gives a list of the celebrated artists
engaged upon the Majolica work. Mr. Marryatt's book
upon " Pottery and Porcelain " introduces all the Italian
terms employed to distinguish their wares. It is scarcely
the province of this book to venture so far when we can
not find at present in our country examples to illustrate
or verify the statements and make them of greater inter-

ITALY. 59
est and value. In decoration lies the chief interest and
importance of the early Italian pottery.

No. 14.— A Pesaro Plate.
(From the collection of the late Mrs. Prime.)
The Italian wares of greatest importance and value
are those of Gubbio, Urbino, Pesaro, and Caffaggiolo.
The two former of these derive their value from the fact
that they bear the work of two great artists — Maestro
Giorgio Andreoli at Gubbio, and Raffaelle at Urbino ;
and they differ from each other in that, while the_ Gubbio
ware maintains the metallic lustre, the productions of
Urbino do hot — at least it is not so general. It is not
generally considered that all the decoration of the Gub
bio ware was executed by the hand of Maestro Giorgio,
but that other artists were employed to carry forward his
designs and give to them the tints peculiar to all his pro
ductions, the bright ruby red lustre being almost infalli
ble evidence of his work. His works are generally signed
at the back in the ruby or gold lustre with the initials
M. G., very clumsily executed with the brush.
The great master who conveyed to the Urbino wares
the designs of Raffaelle was Francesco Xanto Avelli. All

60 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
his works are signed in initial, or with the abbreviated
name, and upon some of them is to be found the ruby red
lustre, executed, according to the best authorities, at the
workshop of Maestro Giorgio, Avelli not being ac
quainted with the art.
Of Caffaggiolo mention has been previously made, but
these three factories are mentioned here as representing
the important localities where Italian pottery was pro
duced. Specimens of these being rarest and most eagerly
sought for, the collector must bear in mind that it is the
artist, and not form or composition, that regulates the
value of Italian pottery.

FRANCE.

Two interesting facts are to be noticed in the historic
progress of ceramic art. One is, its continued and close
alliance with religious events ; another, its constant pro
tection by crowned heads or royal houses. The emolu
ments, efforts, and patronage of these latter alone main
tained it and elevated it to the high degree pf excellence
which has caused it to be classed among the great arts of
the middle ages and the renaissance. This royal patron
age is a distinction which it alone enjoyed up to the dis
solution of the French empire in 1870. We have traced
the progress of pottery through the struggles of the cru
sades into Italy, where it was extensively employed in
ecclesiastical decoration, and where, under the vigorous
efforts of princely houses, it long maintained an eminence
which would scarcely have been reached under less en
couraging circumstances. At last we find it in France,
where, from its first introduction almost to the present
day, it has enjoyed constant and individual attention from
the personages who have sat over her destinies and held
the sceptre of power ; not only this, we also find the bold
est Huguenot her most untiring and successful potter.
The wares of France are interesting for two reasons : their
historic connection, and their ultra and effective beauty of

62 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
design. They are just far enough removed from foreign
influences to give them an individuality and a rarity which
probably surpasses even the Italian productions ; at least
one of her wares, the Oiron, enjoys the solitary distinc
tion of being unobtainable.
While the effect of the Della Robbia and Cellini
school is visible upon this extraordinary ware, enough of
French versatility has been introduced to identify it
with the country with which it is associated ; and all its
specimens bear testimony to that love of detail and nice
appreciation of completeness which everywhere identi
fies the French decoration. French pottery is endowed
with another feature which we have hitherto failed to dis
tinguish, and that is a multiplicity of forms, destinations,
and adaptations. Where Italy was satisfied with few
things, France must have everything ; consequently we
find in her catalogue structures of pottery and the small
est articles adapted to household economy, either in the
way of ornament or service. France has ever been a na
tion given to trifling things ; a propensity for niceness and
prettiness has often reacted upon her when brought in
contact with the hard, practical ideas of other nations. It
is in this feature that she excels when we consider her
productions in pottery. She found in it a plaything
which afterwards rose, or fell, to the level of a great in
dustry ; she first invested it with merit, then with power ;
and where nations about her treated it as a valuable ad
dition to their commercial affairs, she accepted it as a new
medium upon which skill and genius might exercise and
achieve their loftiest ambitions ; consequently we find in
France more really elegant and artistic pottery work than
in Germany or Holland.

FRANCE. 63
Pottery generally improves or retrogresses in quality
according to the locality in which it is manufactured ; this
is owing sometimes to her manner of treatment of the clay,
but generally to the quality of the clay itself. In Italy
the clay was not of the finest quality, while in France,
through effort and the advantages of a greater variety of
soil, we find the plain baked pottery of a composition and
texture far more beautiful and durable. These are invalua
ble advantages when considered in connection with form
and relievo ornament, and in these two branches the
French work particularly excels. A favorite earth in the
construction of pottery was the terre de pipe, its pure
whiteness and fineness affording excellent qualities which
went far towards perfecting the French styles of decora
tion. It was this earth which was so successfully applied in
the Oiron, or Henri II. ware; scarcely any other could
have been used- in the production of such sharp outline
and delicacy as we here find.
M. Jacquemart, at the outset of his chapter upon the
"Renaissance Francais," remarks the difficulty encoun
tered in trying to separate the ceramics of the middle ages
from that of the revival— a difficulty which does not con
front us in the history of Italy. Rabelais mentions the
"blue pottery of Savignies," but we have no evidences
that this ware had any immediate connection with the
high artistic work which followed it ; nor is there any indi
cation of the influence of Italian productions over the
French work, except in the two features previously men
tioned ; indeed, in the manipulation of clay these ideas
would have come by natural evolution, the production of
models and bare forms seeming to be the natural desti
nation of such a pliant material as soft clay.

64 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
In France we lose the presence of great artists to be
come acquainted with great artizans, whose work it was
to carry forward by experiment and limited scientific
knowledge the methods of manufacture. Such a man was
Palissy, whose hard, practical genius led him not only to
more homely delineation, but to improvement in every
part, while with his severe productions he still maintained
the French love of the beautiful.
While Luca della Robbia portrayed the spiritual sense,
Palissy clung to the harmonies of visible objects, each
meeting with the same perfection and success in his
own sphere.
The collection of Mr. Bernal, sold in London in 1855,
was in many respects the most remarkable then owned in
England ; even this, complete as it was, contained none of
the Oiron, or Henri II. ware. One or two of the other
pieces I mention here, to convey to the reader some in
formation as regards value and so forth. Number 1986
of the catalogue was "a very fine dish," of curious early
ware — -a lady and a gentleman in the centre, surrounded
by arabesques and cupids on festoons of foliage, the de
sign slightly raised on buff ground, 20 inches in diameter.
Sold to the British Museum for two hundred and thirty
dollars in gold.
Number 2076 was " A circular dish," on a foot — a
lizard in the centre, and a very rich border, \z\ inches in
diameter. Sold to Baron Gustave de Rothschild for
eight hundred and ten dollars in gold.
This plate last mentioned was badly broken, but had
been repaired ; one simple fact gave it its great value — it
was made by Bernard Palissy.

FRANCE.

FRENCH POTTERY.

65

Beauvais. — Nevers. — Moustiers. — Rouen. —
Palissy. — Henry ii. Ware.
In the domain of French pottery we commence our
excursion at a point where dates and statements are rather
vague, where the genius and aspirations of the great
nation had not yet been unfolded. So far back as the
year 121 3 " poteries et merceries qui se vendoient dans la
ville de Beauvais "* are mentioned in a deed, but Jacque-
mart inclines to doubt all these dates, and in fact excludes
them as not pertinent.
There is, however, in the Sevres Museum a pilgrim
bottle bearing the fleur-de-lis, and the inscription, Charle
Roy, in crude letters of the Gothic alphabet. This might
lead us to believe in its French origin, and M. Brougniart
assigns it to the Beauvais factory in the reign of Charles
VIII., who ascended the throne in 1483.
There is also another specimen of the presumed
Beauvais ware of the same period in the Imperial Library
at Paris. This was probably destroyed during the Com
munist conflagration ; it bore the date 1 5 1 1 .
However conclusive these evidences may seem, they
must be accepted cum grano sails, because in those ages
the complimentary presentation of works of art was com
mon with the imperial heads of those nations which were
upon good terms with each other, and it is possible that
these pieces just mentioned were a properly inscribed gift
from some other nation. Brougniart, however, prefers to
* Cocheris, Documents manuscrits de la Picardie.

66 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
think differently, and such eminent authority we must
accept. Again, at Avignon are found traces of native pottery
work. Its origin is quite doubtful ; for although it bears
no resemblance to the Italian work, the Popes once re
sided here, and it is not impossible that through them
it was introduced. The Bernal collection contained a few
of these pieces, which commanded a considerable price at
the sale.
To approach more definitely the history of pottery in
France we come at once to Nevers, where we find an im
mediate but not at all positive link which associates it
with the Majolica work of Italy. The almost constant
antagonism existing between France and Italy at that
time would scarcely have led to the introduction of Ital
ian arts, but the arrival at the French court, in the latter
part of the sixteenth century, of Catherine de Medicis
would certainly have urged much toward such a result.
Of the house of Urbino, under whose protection the Ma
jolica work was carried to regal magnificence, and ac
quainted with the beauty and value of pottery produc
tions, she undoubtedly urged upon her liege and the court
generally the establishment of works which should enjoy
similar privileges in her new abode. A near relative of
hers, and prince of the same house, brought with him,
upon his elevation to the Nevers dukedom, a few of the
Italian Majolica workmen.
These were interesting but bloody times ; between the
intrigues of the court, plottings and counterplottings, and
almost successive wars, art and refinement in France
seem to have flickered in a sort of languishing perpetuity.
The court was too absorbed with its beautiful decoys

FRANCE. fiy
and volleys of threats ; it was fighting for its existence
against enemies foreign, while a foe more fatal to its wel
fare dwelt in its own halls of council ; all the arts were
fluctuating uncertainly, devoid of the impress of native
genius, until later years taught France the folly of disre
gard. Not until 1640 do we find the Nevers faience be
coming the vechicle of true French expression.
To illustrate the epochs, Mr. Marryatt divides the
Nevers faience as follows :
1. Italian traditions, 1600 to 1660.
f Persian style, 1630 to 1700.
2. ^Japanese and Chinese style, 1650 to 1738.
IjFranco-Nivernais style, 1640 to 1789.
Three subdivisions characterize each of these epochs :
" 1. Polychromatic decoration. 2. Camaieu.* 3. Enam
elled sculptures."
In the Nevers faience we find the French mind assert
ing itself, although probably imitating Orazio Fontana
and the Urbino school— and with many features that re
mind us of Luca della Robbia ; still we find here the ten
dency" to delicate gracefulness and grotesque ornament,
which is scarcely observable in the sober productions of
Italy: The bold, heavy bas-relief inclines toward the
Delia Robbia work, the rich painting and color becomes
subdued, and while exhibiting less of the great master,
still asserts itself by its more accurate delineation.
The most eagerly sought of the Nevers wares are
those made in imitation of stone. Of these the lapis-
lazuli, a rich blue ware, seems most characteristic ; Mr.
* Cama'ieu formerly meant a piece graved in relief, or cameo. The term
is now 'more frequently appliedto apainting in monochrome '(of one ' color),.
in grisaille, black, blue, green, or red. (Marryatt.)

68 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
" Marryatt speaks of it as being, unexceeded iri brilliancy by
any other pottery. The decoration consisted in the fan
tastic arrangement of birds and flowers after the Persian
manner, the colors being mostly white and yellow.
This wandering and borrowed style of decoration ter
minated with the copies of Chinese and Japan wares.
France dropped mythology and the old school of the
Renaissance only to adopt the more advanced ideas
which her progress demanded. Even then the red flag
was an element in _ her political affairs, and " Liberte,
Egalite ou Mort," an axiom felt not only in her halls of
legislation, but having its direct influence upon her arts as
well. Pottery became a medium for spreading the Re
publican contagion throughout her borders ; plates bear
ing emblems, inscriptions and patriotic designs calculated
to touch and influence the minds of the people, were pro
duced at Nevers. This became known as the " Fayence
Patriotique," and undoubtedly its influence upon the
public mind was decided and permanent.
Of the smaller works of France engaged in the produc
tion of pottery it is unnecessary for us to speak at length.
As is generally the case, they followed closely in the foot
steps of the parent factory. Lyons, St. Cloud, Agen,
and Sceaux Penthievre were each at times engaged
in the practice of this art, but neither of these were ini
tial points. Their work dates from the middle of the
sixteenth to the latter part of the eighteenth century,
following each other almost successively in the order just
named. The wares of Moustiers, a remote mountain town of
the Alpine district, remained, until quite recently, con
founded with those of other factories, although mention

FRANCE.

69

of them has been made by writers more than a century
since. Pierre Clerigsy, an industrious fabricator, stood at
the head of these works, and so successfully were they
carried on that in 1743 they commanded the royal atten
tion, and Clerissy's successor and relative received perma
nent distinction from the hands of Louis XV. The deco
ration consisted principally in mythological subjects,
scrolls, ciphers, interlaced chimaera, flowers, amorini, and
insects. The pieces were mostly of 'monochrome decora
tion, the color being a dense blue, until innovations
brought in the polychrome, and classical subjects were
introduced as central figures. The Moustiers work has
excited much interest and discussion, not only from its
questionable origin, but in consequence of its merit
both in design and color. The enamel here used was all
stanniferous, and there was no terre-cuite work such as
found at Lyons and other factories engaged upon the
bas-relief productions. The finest specimens are plates,
platters, and ewers.
Sinceny [aisne), Niderville, Strasburg, Hagenau, and
Luneville are also portions of France engaged at times
in the manufacture of pottery. These can be more readily
distinguished by their marks than by description.
At Rouen new impulse seems to have been given to
the art of pottery-making. In color, fashion, and execu
tion it exceeds all other French faience, and it is not im
probable that the sight and knowledge of these first
prompted Palissy to his great work, which put the climax
upon the art in France. The Rouen pieces are mostly
large, of elegant and characteristic design, with poly
chrome decoration, red, blue, and yellow predominating,
but with an intermixture of various hues, which serve to

j0 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
remind us of the Flemish school of painting.* The first
period of the Rouen ware was not sp profuse in forms
and applications ; while it improved upon, it partook of
some of the features of the Nevers work, dark blue deco
ration upon a light blue ground being frequently employed.
But to advance a little we find it expanding into noble
proportions, — great vases, fountains, busts, and chimney-
pieces having. succeeded the conventional plates and plat
ters of an earlier period. The color and design most fre
quently employed upon this later work was that called
"a,- la come" the cornucopia, from which .issued in rich
luxuriance the floral decoration. Here were produced both
species of pottery — the terra-cotta with a soft lead enamel,
and faience with the enamel of tin. Rouen pottery was the
first French pottery which really introduced itself to the
court, Louis XIV. having provided himself with a full
service of this ware when he sacrificed his silver plate to
assist indefraying. the expenses of his incessant wars.
We approach a period in the history of French faience
where history and romance "combine with individual self
sacrifice to make it at once "interesting and painful. That
men of genius have toiled, and ever will, with desperate.
persistency in the prosecution of unattained results, we-
cannot deny; but that they will sacrifice everything- to
the dear scheme towards which they bend, we can fairly1
question. We1 may search the records ofhistory and fic
tion and not find one life to instance complete abrogation
of self so vividly marked as is that of Bernard Palissy, the
Huguenot potter. Where a man becomes so absorbed in
* This is accounted forby the fact that many pf the workmen employed
here were from Delft, having been brought over by Nicolas Poirel ; this also
explained the imitations of oriental wares which were here produced.

FRANCE.

71

his work as to forget the bare routine of living, to close
his sense to everything but ¦ the evolving genius within,
we may conclude that this is the pattern which surpasses
fable. His townsmen crying at him " mad man ; " the
halter of intolerance hanging over his head because of his
conscientious and manful assertion of. the truth ; a home
better described as a spot of desolation than a serene
shelter ; by. turns preaching, praying, writing, working —
always sad, — what might we expect from a life like this ?
Failure ? No ; a success which won for him an immortality
both in the temporal and the eternal spheres. . Born — no
one knows where, but probably— at Chapelle Biron, about
the year 1509, among a people famous in love and war, he
was brought up like one of those strange waifs which dart
into history only when they have earned their place. Sur
rounded with the most homely and unprogressive condi
tions, he commenced life at the kilns, employed as an or
dinary workman in the art oi Verrerie. His education
Was mostly limited to painting and drawing upon glass,
that being the dominant industry of his neighborhood,
"a royal art," as he termed it. Here he thought, la
bored, and lived during his earlier years.
" Artistic taste," says Bentley, in his " Celebrated Char
acters,"— which always iri the first instance connects itself
with religious worship, as if it were anxious to return to
its source and exalt itself by its association with things
divine — dawned on the mind of the young potter from
the . splendid gothic designs of the colored windows of his,
cathedral. He knew that this glass, which allowed the
sunbeams to pass into the church, and exhibited the won
derful scenes of the Bible and the Gospel, consisted only of
earth and sand most carefully tempered by the hand of

72 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
man, purified and hardened by the fire, and made trans
parent as rock-crystal by processes resembling magic.
From that day, the earth he loved so well seemed to him
mere mud ; his imagination put before him a wonder to
imitate and others to discover. He quitted his potter's
kiln, and apprenticed himself to some workmen in glass,
who at that time ranked almost with the nobility, on
account of the science and dignity of their art.
His knowledge of drawing and aspirations soon led him
to abandon the strict formula of his fellow workmen, and he
commenced telling the truth as he saw it in Nature. The
fauna and flora offered him good subjects, and among the
ferns and lizards of his native haunts he doubtless im
bibed his first longing impulses ; and perhaps Montluc,
who bore the scars and disfigurements of many battles,
poured into his young ears the element of ambition.
Palissy became a wanderer, and his mind commenced
inquiring, absorbing, studying. Now detained by some
new method of learning, attracted by everything that led
to a more eminent mental condition, decoyed by alchemy,
and entranced by all that was beautiful and great in art,
everything came to the young aspirant except fortune ;
and with that singular unconcern which characterizes
every exalted genius, money and the wants of existence
were the last considerations. The protest of fourteen
imperial cities of Europe against the Papal authority
opened a new avenue for labor, and won him to its princi
ples, and the Concordat between Leo X. and Francis I.
placed upon Palissy's heart the indelible seal of opposi
tion, the presence of which to the end of his days he man
ifested with his lips. Although this had transpired in
his earlier years, its effect was growing with him, and the

FRANCE. ^
burning words of Jean Cauvin (Calvin), a few years later,
served to impress it more deeply.
In the year 1538 Palissy took to himself a wife at the
little town of Xaintes or Saintes, where he had for some
time resided. A man multiplies his chances for sorrow
as he increases his sources of happiness ; as with all of us,
so was it to Palissy.
" The way's not easy where the prize is great,
I hope no virtue where I smell no sweat,"
says truthful Quarles, and the toils of our potter were no
exception to the couplet. Between glass painting and
surveying, Palissy managed to get along after a fashion.
It was not a fashion that we would call luxurious, for the
village patronage of either of these could not have been
over much, and with an increasing family he found him
self unable to meet the appeals for support and comfort.
His house was situated in the outskirts of the town,
and with that quaint humor frequently met in his re
corded words he says : "At night I heard the dogs bark
ing on one side, and the owls hooting on the other."
Palissy's eye and heart were enraptured by the sight of
an Italian earthen cup which came under his 'observation,
and he writes: "It was turned and enamelled with so
much beauty that from that time I entered into contro
versy with my own thoughts, recalling to mind several
suggestions that some people had made to me in fun
when I was painting portraits. Then, seeing that these
were falling out of repute in the country where I dwelt,
and that glass painting was so little patronized, I began
to think that if I could discover how to make enamels, I
could make earthen vessels and other things very pret-

74 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
tily, because God had gifted me with some knowledge of
drawing." He acknowledges himself entirely ignorant
of the knowledge of clays and art of pottery facture, but
reasons thus : " Item — The glass-workers must cease
from their work, for they have no means of melting the
ingredients of their glass except . in vessels of earth-
{terre). The goldsmiths, founders, all melting, of what
ever sort or kind it may be, would be at an end, and
there would not one be found who could dispense with
clay. Look also at the forges of the farriers and lock
smiths, and you will see that all the said forges are made
of bricks ; for if they were of stone they would be con^
sumed. Look at the furnaces ; you will find they are
made of earth ; even those who labor upon earths use
earthen furnaces, as tilers, brickmakers, and potters ; in
short, there is no stone, mineral, or other matter which
could serve for the building of a furnace for glass, lime, or
any of the before-named purposes, which would last for
any length of time. You see, also, how useful common
earthen vessels are to the community ; you see, also, how>
great is the utility of earth for covering houses. You
know that in many regions they know nothing of slate,
and have no "other covering than tiles ; how great do you
suppose the utility of earth in making conduits from our
fountains? It is well known that water which flows
through earthen pipes is much better and wholesomer
than that which is brought through leaden channels.
How many towns are there built of bricks, inasmuch as
there are no means of getting stones to build them with? "*
Witness by what gentle and seductive words and facts he
endeavors to justify himself in making the hazardous
* Discours AdnV.rables, pp. 293-294. H. Morley's translation.

FRANCE.

75

attempt, for when he wrote this he was too poor a man
to. purchase the simplest instruments with which to begin
his experiments, and too much in want to live the while
they were in progress. Even under such discourage
ments as these he went to work ; a small furnace was
erected in his back yard to aid him in his experiments.
Palissy's chief desire was the discovery of an enamel
similar to that which he had seen in the Italian cup
which so captivated him.
Amid such discouragements as those which he
labored almost any one would have desisted from the
work after few attempts ; not so with our determined and
enthusiastic potter. Although we may justly doubt the
expediency and justice of his efforts, he diminished the
supplies of his already frugal board to supply the raven-
pus appetite of his furnace — what ought to have gone for
bread went for fuel to feed his. furnace ; and not until he
had sacrificed the floor of his cabin to this all-devouring
medium did he discover that discontents, unhappiness,
and reproof met him in his own home. He was reduced
to absolute penury and want ; meanwhile, the potters
abroad smiled at his ill success and courted his further
patronage of vessels which he was to destroy in his
experiments. The life of Palissy would lead us to extremes which
imagination could scarcely exceed ; but without detailing
his patient and suffering devotion through years of toil,
we arrive at length at those days and nights without rest
where success hung upon the momentous results of his
last effort. Proscribed by the religious dictum of the
prevailing church, scorned by his fellow-men, penniless
and starving, hated by his wife and family, we find him at

76 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
last triumphant, for forth from his little furnace came
the unmistakable evidences of absolute success. He
says : " When I had dwelt with my regrets a little because
there was no one who had pity on me, I said to my soul,
' Wherefore art thou saddened, since thou hast found the
object of thy search ? Labor now, and the defamers will
live to be ashamed.' "* Palissy's discovery was contem
poraneous with another circumstance which boded him
no little trouble — the persecution of the Huguenots ; but
worse than all, his wife, discouraged at his fruitless efforts,
became an enemy, and the wails which follow would
pierce the heart of any but a stoic. As if to crown his
life with more glory than awaited a poor potter at the
advanced age of seventy-six, he was thrown into the
Bastile, where, by the grace of God, only four years
awaited his admission to the majesty of the Master whom
he had so devoutly served.
Palissy ware is peculiar, partially from its individuality
of decoration and partially from its color. He copied
everything from nature ; with faithful exactness he repro
duced in color and form the designs which nature pre
sented. Leaves, lizards, eels and shells were, with him,
favorite subjects ; occasionally he introduced paysage dec
oration, but rarely. The dish purchased by the Baron
Rothschild, which I have mentioned in the introduction,
was made up entirely of aquatic animals and plants.
Most of the ornaments upon this ware are in relief, for,
after he had discovered the enamel, he at once employed
himself in the school which first engaged his faithful labor,
the delineation of natural objects.
* H. Morley's translation. To those who would enjoy a book which is
at once truth and fable I recommend Mr. Morley's " Life of Palissy," which
enters fully into the wonderful episodes of his career.

FRANCE.

77

In this country there are a few pieces of Palissy ware.
One is an uncolored piece in the collection of Miss Eliza
Quincy, in Boston — a nautilus shell, supported upon a
beach of shells. This piece is wanting in the rich color of

No. 16.— A Palissy Shell Vase.
Palissy's later ware ; but another, in the possession of Mr.
Gibson, of New York, is reproduced here in the above
cut. From its similarity in color to the Italian work,
the ware is sometimes confounded with majolica, but the
eye, once practised, readily distinguishes between the two.
One extraordinary ware engages our attention as we
close our consideration of the French fayence. It is
known as the Fayence de Oiron, or, Henri Deux ware, and
possesses the singular characteristics of a compromise be
tween the hard and soft paste wares. It is also termed
" Faience de Diane de Poitiers." Here we find the im
press of both the Delia Robbia and Cellini schools, but
with greater attention to the details of finish and elabora
tion. Mr. Marryatt says " the paste of this ware is a
true pipe clay, very fine and very white ; the glaze thin
and transparent, and of a yellowish tint. Its style of dec-

78 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
oration is unique : a flat ornamentation, consisting of ini
tial letters, interfacings, arabesques, engraved on the paste,
and the cavities filled in with colored pastes, so as to pre
sent an. uniform smooth surface of the finest inlaying, re
sembling the niello or damascening of metal work. These
inlaid ornaments appear to have been produced by tools
used by book-binders, and it has been remarked that the
patterns bear great resemblance to the works of Grolier
and Maioli. These patterns are sometimes disposed of in
zones of yellow ochre, with borders of dark brown, some
times of a pink, green, violet, black or blue ; but. the dark
yellow is the predominating color."
Aside from this niello-like decoration, this ware has
designs upon it in bold and elegant relief, consisting of
natural objects, heraldic ornament, wreaths, and that char
acteristic decoration of the French wares — masks.
In the' introduction to this chapter some intimation
has been given of the extreme rarity and value of this
ware. Not alone on account of its historic connection
does it derive this distinction ; its beauty and excellence
alone would command for it a consideration which no
other ware can claim. One small piece in the collection
of the Comte de Pourtalis was disposed of at his sale, in
1865, for 1 100/., or towards six thousand dollars of our
money. The piece of which an illustration is given in
cut No. 17 on the following page, is from the collection
of Sir Andrew Fountaine. There are in existence only
about sixty pieces of the ware, and all of these, with the
exception of three or four, are held in the great public
collections of England and the Continent. There are no
specimens in this country. The production of the ware
dates between the years 1529 and 1568. It was first orig-

FRANCE.

79

mated in the chateau of Oiron, by Helene de Haugest, an
old lady, and after her death her son maintained it until
the Huguenots destroyed the chateau and its contents.
It is not to be supposed that the history of French
pottery concludes with one chapter. When Christian
countries become acquainted with an art or industry, it is
not in the regular order of things that they should forget
or abandon an occupation which renders service to all
mankind.

No. 17.
The arts of the past may' become honorable on ac
count of exceptional beauty and rarity. They may as
sume a place which modern productions cannot aspire to ;
it is the "pass on" of marching ages which draws and
fixes our attention to them as indexes of the genius of
men before us.
While we may still retain the art of production, we
cannot retain exceptional features ; and though we might
copy to a nicety, yet the copy could never aspire to the

80 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
eminence of an original. This reason it is which inspires
us to new developments rather than the reproduction of
old works; originality, not imitation, commands our ap
proval most ; the disciple cannot receive the credit which
pertains to the master.
We have watched France in these various attitudes,
first timidly venturing upon a territory which belonged
to others, then abandoning all this to launch out into a
bold and perfect originality which will forever character
ize her fictilia, place it where we may. Radical minds,
like Palissy's, have served to fill France with genius and
with misfortune ; passion invented and controlled, where
cooler minds would have let well enough alone. France
might have been without revolution, but she would have
been without that corresponding feature — great art.

GERMAN POTTERY.
SOFT WARE.
PROFUSE as is the literature of Germany, we must yet
turn to French authors to find a more concise record of
her ceramic arts than her own language can present.
Germany, which has so recently swept into a mammoth
existence, has found her way to this triumph, not through
a fine sense of the poetical and spiritual predominating in
her people, but by the gradual and unerring growth of
utilitarian principles taught per force throughout her bor
ders. Catch the Saxon where you may, his apprecia
tion of the practical is always uppermost. William III.
apprenticed the Crown Prince to a tanner, and now the
Crown Prince sends his eldest son to a book-binder ; not
that either may have the necessities for labor thrust upon
him, but that the practical world of industry may be
known in the court as well as among those subject to it.
This inherent love of utility makes only a short chapter
for her arts as regards pottery. Its principal feature is a
dignified age rather than any great merit as regards its
artistic properties.
Germany claims for herself the discovery of the art of
pottery-making so far back as the year 1278, more than a
century before Luca Della Robbia was born ; but M.
Demmin* prefers not to recognize this claim, and takes
* "Guide de 1' Amateur de Faiences et Porcelaines, Paris, 1867."
6

g2 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
up his discourse at a point where dates are less obscure,
and the evidences more tangible. Even then, he finds
specimens of great antiquity and considerable beauty —
commencing with Saxony and the North. " Throughout
a large part of North Germany," says Mr. Marryatt, "es
pecially Brandenburgh and the lands bordering on the
Baltic, the potters' art was not limited to the manufac
ture of portable vessels. Terra-cotta, moulded and glazed,
was employed for architectural purposes throughout a
large district where stone was scarce and costly. Both
the exterior and interior of buildings in Danzig, Lubeck,
Rostock, Wismar, and Stralsund, and even the reeded
piers of the churches, are formed of moulded bricks, dat
ing from the fourteenth century. The fronts of the houses
are varied with glazed and unglazed moulded bricks, and
elaborate Renaissance ornaments are executed in this
manner, covered with a green glaze, dating from the mid
dle of the sixteenth century. Luneburg is rich in exam
ples of this variety of the art, where the spire of the prin
cipal church is of terra-cotta open work, and the chief
houses are protected in front with posts, bearing coats of
arms of their owners, of the same material. At Branden
burg the transepts of the church of St. Katherine have
immense screens of rich, open tracery of clay, baked and
glazed, in dark color green, with statuettes of the same
material, in niches. The date of this church is 14^1."
Throughout Germany, wherever we find the glass
painters, there we also find some one of them engaged
upon pottery work. The Hirschvogels, of Franconia, are
a fair example of those who extended their work in this
direction. Veit, the elder of these, who labored between
the years 1441 and 1525, produced all his works by hand,

GERMANY.

83

without the aid of a mould ; on this account his ornamen
tal work is especially fine, — the green enamel seemed
most his favorite, and his vases, beside being ornamented
with grotesques and acanthus leaves in relief, occasionally
have portrait medallions upon them.
It is not impossible that he conceived his ideas of pot
tery work from Luca Della Robbia, as he lived contempo
raneously with him, and was. also a traveller in Italy. The
Nuremburg potters were famous for their glazed tiles
used in the manufacture of stoves. According to Mr.
Marryatt, " they are generally composed of slabs, twenty-
seven inches by twenty-five, enriched with ornaments and
figures in bas-relief, of a fine character, some after the
school of Holbein. The prevailing color is a deep copper
green, sometimes blended with brown and yellow. They
bear various dates. In the Museum at Sevres are two of
these slabs, in which the figures are of white, upon a
ground of varied brilliant colors. One has the hair gilded,
a style of ornament very rare in this kind of pottery."
The school of Swabia excels the Franconian work.
Hans Kraut here produced several works of merit, the
most celebrated of these being the tomb of the Knights
of St. John, at Villingen, which was erected in 1536, to
the memory of Wolfgang de Miismiinster, commander of
the order. It is a large bas-relief, representing the bat
tle of Rhodes.
The' circumstance of Hans Kraut being an artist,
denied him the privilege of a burial in the Villingen ceme
tery, the superstitious people of that day deeming an
artist a necromancer, a fact which affords us considerable
evidence regarding the small proportion of artistic Ger
man ware of that age.

84 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
Some new impulse beside that of mere practical value
was needed to elevate the German pottery to the stand
ard of the work of the Latins. The reader will notice how
abruptly we break the artistic sequence when we leave
the Latin countries and enter those which form the foun
dations of our modern civilization. Italy and France both
bent their energies to the elevation of every industry
sympathetic with their ideas of art, ornament and beauty.
Germany, with very few exceptions, applied it at once
to the general economy of every-day life ; progress, with
her, meant usefulness and availability. Had they proper
stones for building purposes, the result might have been
no pottery ; had they a more convenient material with
which to manufacture stoves, they would not have used
tiles of clay. Granted that the inevitable destination of
pottery work was entirely practical, and consequently of
exceeding value, still the fact of its extreme applicability
to works of art cannot be made subservient to this fea
ture.

HARD, OR STONE WARE.
At least one element of the German character had
considerable influence over her pottery work, and that
element was their convivial propensity. Perhaps no
nation on the earth has produced more pots, mugs, can-
ettes and jugs, than the nation over which Gambrinus
exercises his greatest influence. These were produced
mostly in the grescer ame* or stone ware. This ware was
of ancient Eastern origin, and was first produced among
the western countries in Germany.
* M. Brongniart, " Description Methodique de Musee Ceramique.'"

GERMANY.

85

If we are to judge the capacity of the German stom
ach by some of those jugs, we can easily find a reason
why the ware of these forms was so exceedingly popu
lar. Upon the Rhine they were termed " bearded-jugs,"
or "bearded-men " (Barmanekes), for the reason that all of
them were ornamented by at least one head of a man,
with a flowing beard in relief.
The ware itself is of very close texture, grayish and
not porous ; having been subjected to high heat, it is
somewhat vitreous, and consequently impregnable to
liquids. " According to tradition, Jacqueline, Countess of Hai
nault and Holland, the most lovely and intrepid woman
of her time, after retirement to the Castle of Teylingen,
near Leyden, where she had gone after surrendering all
her estates to Philip, that she might save her husband's
life, employed her leisure time in the charge of a manufac
tory of stone ware, and is said to have thrown flasks of
this pottery into the Rhine, that they might in after ages
be deemed marks of antiquity. Hence, these pots are
called Jacobak-antetjes." The old German custom of
drinking from a vessel and then flinging it away after the
pledge or toast, so that it might never be used again,
probably gave rise to the tradition.
A finer ware than that which we have just considered
is known under the erroneous name of "Gres de Flandre ; "
" but," remarks M. Demmin, " if Flanders ever made any,
its place of manufacture is unknown, and almost all the
pieces bear inscriptions, arms and monograms of German
derivation." Still another and more beautiful style is known as
" Poterie deluxe," and was exceedingly fine in color, form

86 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
and ornament. Scripture subjects predominate in this
class. This was the highest eminence which German pot
tery reached, and occupied the period between the years
1500 and 1620. The glaze was generally of salt. In con
sidering the stone-ware of Germany we are verging closely
upon the territory of true porcelain ; indeed,' the art of
pottery-making declined after the year 1620, and ceramic
art did not revive until the succeeding century, when
Bottcher's series of discoveries revolutionized the system.

HOLLAND. DELFT.
FAMOUS among the potters of the world are those of
the Low Countries: their industry, thrift and wonderful
productiveness won for Delft, in England, the cognomen
of " Parent of Pottery."
Here again we look in vain for the graceful attributes
bestowed upon it by the Latin nations. Some evidences
of an appreciation of its worth as an artistic medium are
apparent, but as M. Taine asserts, all the arts of the Low
lands were affected by the dead, unbroken level of her
territory; there were no hills, no dells, no picturesque
spots where the public mind might be drawn from the
endless flatness, the dykes and the canals, which so dis
gusted Voltaire, and which prove so monotonous to every
tourist. The Dutch workmen saw little else in pottery
but an eminent fitness to all the grosser purposes of trade
and household economy.
In Holland six great centres, beside Delft, were at one
time engaged in the manufacture of pottery — Haarlem,
Hoorn, Overtoom, Utrecht, Beilen, and Amsterdam ; all
of these producing and exporting enormous quantities.
So great was the quantity sent to England that Delft
became a name commonly applied to every piece of
opaque fictile ware, the cheapness of the ware havino-

88 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
recommended it to common use in the humblest house
hold. " Ces faiences sont inferieures, au point de vue artis-
tique, a celles de Niirnberg de la meme epoque, quant au
modelage. Un grand defaut, qui se rencontre aussi dans
les potiches de Delft, c'est que le meme sujet se trouve
reproduit sur les deux pendants, repetition qui leur ote
iine partie de leur valeur."* Repetition and want of
variety characterizes the Dutch as well as the German
Pottery. Aside from any artistic value, the wares of Holland
have a historic record which leads us back to remoteness.
According to Haydn these people were engaged upon
pottery work so far back as the year 1310. The most
intelligible statements regarding its age are derived from
notices of its importation into countries foreign ; thus the
records of Hull, England, contain statements regarding
imposts levied upon it so far back as the time of Henry
IV., tiles, earthen vessels and images, constituting the
bulk of these invoices.
Evelyn, in his diary, mentions a chime of bells which
he went to a friend's house to hear, made at Delft, of that
thin and delicate sonorous ware in imitation of the Orien
tal porcelain, which was then the perfect model for emula
tion of the Delft workmen.
Rouen and Delft were rival competitors in fictile work,
and it was at this time that Delft called to her aid such ar
tists as Berqheur,*f* William Vandevelde,*]: Jan Strur,§ and
Van de Meer.§ Almost any one familiar with the Flem-
* Guide de L'amateur, M. Auguste Demmin, p. 88. As with the Ger
man pottery, so with the Dutch. It is best described by French authors.
\ Landscapes. % Marine Subjects. § Humorous designs.

HOLLAND.

89

ish school would recognize the original decoration of the
Dutch pieces. Their extensive commerce with the Orien
tal countries brought to their knowledge the great excel
lence of the Chinese and Japanese porcelain. Although
utterly unable to equal its quality and finish, they suc
ceeded admirably in copying the decoration ; and so nicely
is this done that the two can scarcely be distinguished
except upon intimate acquaintance. It is the blue ware,
principally, which found its way to foreign countries ; and
even in our own land, to-day, we find it among the treas
ured relics of our ancestors.* " This pseudo-Oriental
ware," remarks Mr. Marryatt, "was covered with a glaze
or enamel of great beauty, of a bluish tinge, presenting a
smooth surface, showing paintings, chiefly in blue, in imi
tation of the Oriental." Most of the decoration of the
artists previously alluded to was ploychrome, the blue
decoration being introduced because they could favorably
compete with the Oriental products, and find a market for
their wares far below the price of those which were im
ported. Among the varieties of articles produced in Hol
land, tile-work seems to have been most extensively
patronized, and these were decorated mostly in mono
chrome of blue or brown, with scriptural subjects ; indeed,
an old Dutch mantel-piece was a sort of illustrated family
bible; its quaint and curious pictures might both attract
the eye and lead the mind.
Vases seem to have excited less admiration ; at least
they are fewer in number, although not entirely wanting
in beauty. The ware made at Delft during the sixteenth century
* From Delft, England and India, came most of the blue ware which
we find in America. The blue decoration was a common favorite with all.

q0 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
was marked with an R, crossed by a sword ; after that
period no mark was affixed.
A manufactory, established in the latter part of the
eighteenth century, at Amsterdam, is distinguished by a
cock painted in blue.

No. 18.— A Pia's Head or Delpt Wake.
(Purple enamel, surmounted by a morning-glory in polychrome.)
The number of specimens of Delft ware extant is very
great — especially the plates, are frequently met with, and
easily procurable. Many of these bear initials and mono-
grams with dates, and were probably made for private use,
as facility and cheapness was a character which is infre
quently met among the pottery manufactories of those
early days.

ENGLISH POTTERY.
AFTER a long sojourn among countries which use lan
guages strange to us, it is pleasant at last to arrive where
we may feel at home, — among the English people, —
where both literature and acquaintance, to say noth
ing of like sympathies, will aid us vastly in our journey
ings through the world of fictilia.
Archaeological study has a peculiar fascination for the
English student, consequently her research and its results
are more extensive than those of any other nation ; be
tween individual and combined effort every thread of
evidence has been woven into a fabric which affords a still
growing fund of information. The brief consideration
which we have given the Romano-British ware is only a
hint of the extensive labor accomplished by the English
Society of Practical Geology. It is scarcely our province
to enter at length upon a subject the local interest of
which is more important than its direct bearing upon our
modern civilization ; and while England is justly proud of
her antiquity and its remains, we, of the New World and
a new age, look more intently upon the consecutive pro
cession of the arts and impulses which attend us now.
The middle age of England was singularly deficient
in the art of pottery-making, so extensively practised
before the Saxon assumption of her soil ; and even so late

n2 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
as the reign of Queen Elizabeth, very few pottery vessels
were in use, — leather, pewter and silver, or wood, furnish
ing the ordinary utensils for domestic or other use. Some
French visitors to an English ale-house of that period
went home with the report that the Englishmen all drank
out of their boots, they having mistaken the " small jacks"
or leathern mugs, for the other commodity.
At Lewes, Lincoln and other points, specimens of pot
tery work have been found and presumably located as
productions of the reigns of Edward II. and Edward III.
These are mostly grotesques and bearded pieces of no
artistic merit.
Between the years 1642 and 1649 a company of Delft
potters, living in Fulham and Lambeth, produced the first
enamelled pottery of which we find any record. Upon
the pieces here produced they employed little decoration,
most of them bearing only the date and initials of their
producer. In the British Museum is a dish of this ware
copied from Palissy ; the colors are yellow, blue, brown
and green, and the subject a Venus and Cupid, with the
seasons painted in the border.
Flanders bears the credit of having stimulated Eng
land in the art of pottery-making, and it is from the
Netherlands that workmen came to establish what after
ward grew to be the great pottery mart of Staffordshire.
Staffordshire, if we were to give it the attention which
it deserves, would, in itself, occupy a large and interesting
chapter, for, in point of fruitfulness and earnest work, no
other locality has surpassed it ; and the avidity with which
England seized upon these productions only encouraged
them to more extensive labor. Demmin pronounces it
the epoque actuelle of English pottery, and dates the com-

ENGLAND. g,
mon work in the year 1466, and the glazed pottery in the
year 1650; the first well-known workmen being Ralph
and Thomas Toft, who labored at Burslem. The first
innovation upon English soil was the substitution of salt
glaze for the lead which had been previously employed.
The imitation of Japan red ware, which ware was exten
sively imported into Europe, was for some time* carried
on, but finally relinquished owing to the want of a proper
clay. A more significant and original pattern followed after
the discovery by Astbury of the secret of producing white
wares. An accident* led to vast improvements in English
pottery, and the manufacture of white earthenware at
once offered an opportunity for the application of any
desirable tint by the proper admixture of metallic oxides.
Agate, tortoise-shell, drab and cream-colored wares fol
lowed, and the clay being cast in moulds, ornamental
work in relief and intaglio was easily applied. An appre
ciation of the eminent adaptability of pottery to the fine
arts led England to an exalted position in this industry, f
* A flint was calcined to cure a disease in the eyes of Astbury's horse,
and he, observing the white powder, immediately experimented with the
same, and the result was white pottery.
f The history of the English potteries is thus epitomized in " Shaw's Chem
istry of Pottery " : " Mr. Thomas Toft introduced fire-brick clay ; Mr. W.
Saus, manganese and galena ; John Palmer and William Adams, common
salt and litharge ; the Elers brothers, red clay or marie and ochre ; Josiah
Twyford, pipe clay ; Thos. Astbury, flint ; Ralph Shaw, basaltes ; Aaron
Wedgwood, red lead ; Wm. Littler, calcined bone earth ; Enoch Booth,
white lead ; Mrs. Warburton, soda ; Ralph Daniel, calcined gypsum ; Josiah
Wedgwood, Esq., barytes ; John Cookworthy, decomposed white granite ;
James Ryan, British kaolin and petuntse ; Ladler and Green, glaze-print
ing ; Warner Edwards, biscuit painting; Thomas Daniel, glaze enamelling;
Wm. Smith, burnished gilding ; Peter Warburton, printing in gold ; John
Hancock, John Gardner, and Wm. Hennys, lustres ; Wm. Brooks, engraved
landscapes and printing in colors ; Wm. Wainwright Potts, printing by ma-

„4 HIS TOR Y OF PO TTER Y.
Than Josiah Wedgwood, probably, no other man of
modern times has labored more effectually to elevate pub
lic taste ; in return, he received not only a competence,
but an honorable perpetuity, which has carried his name
beyond his own time and nation. Born at Burslem, in
Staffordshire, his education was only such as was bestowed
upon ordinary boys of his time and locality. At an early
period of life, he was crippled by small-pox, which so
injured his left leg as to make amputation necessary.
This threw him out of employment from his brother's
workshop, where he had been engaged as a thrower in
the manufacture of ordinary pottery work. If in one
sense this mutilation was a misfortune, it proved in an
other the direct impulse to that work which afterward
made him famous, for, finding himself wanting employ
ment, he immediately applied himself to the production
, of little ornaments of pottery, made in imitation of varie
gated stones, such as jasper and agate.
At the age of twenty-nine, having been about the
world a little, he settled himself once more at Burslem,
and commenced work in a small manufactory of his own ;
a second and third factory followed this, as his trade'
grew more prosperous.
Still laboring with his own hands, he made a service
of table ware for Queen Charlotte, that the work of his
potteries might thereafter be known as " Queen's ware."
Through Mr. Bentley, who became his partner, he was
introduced to eminent patrons, through whose interest
and care he gradually became conversant with the more
chine ; Wm. Machin and Wm. Bourne, printing flowers, figures, etc., by
machine." Attention to this exposition of the progress of the art in Eng
land will greatly aid the intelligent observer in locating each of the pro
cesses.

ENGLAND. ge
exalted subjects of artistic production, they loaning him
antique vases, cameos, medals, and seals, for reproduction
after his inimitable manner.
A man with one leg always has more friends than a
man with two, and it may not have been impossible
that the friendship of these good people commenced with
pity to mature into esteem, for he had intrusted to his
conscientious care some of the richest and choicest works
of art to be found in the cabinets of England. The
Duchess of Portland, finding him her competitor for the
possession of the Barberini Vase, yielded her claim, while
he engaged himself in reproducing its beautiful figure.
A useful life is marked by two characteristics, its pro
ducts and its benefices ; the two make the balance of great
ness, and the royal summit of genius is best exampled
when including them. A tomb-stone eulogy fails to sup
ply the lack of either. ,
Be it said, to the praise of our great English potter,
that as his work evinced that rare and beautiful faculty
of appreciation, it was also the prototype of his charac
ter. Take the numerous published histories of his life,
and with one accord they pronounce his work perfect, his
character all symmetry, simplicity and sweetness. While
surrounded by that ever-jealous element, the workers and
the theorists, upon artistic subjects, he yet won to himself
the estimable consideration, the affection, of all who
viewed art either from a critical or a practical stand
point. The rude boy of Burslem, born under the disad
vantageous influences of harsh dialect and unprogressive
education, grows to be at early manhood a master of art,
with a scholarly knowledge of its various attributes and
applications. From the humble companionships of his

gS HISTORY OF POTTERY.
early home we find him at last arrived at that position
which commands, by its own majesty of presence, first
attention, ultimately respect.
Of Wedgwood's Queen's ware many very beautiful
specimens exist, and are highly prized by collectors. With
the labor of every day he improved and enlarged upon his
previous efforts ; not content with his own energetic and
intellectual attention, he called to his assistance the best
artists of his time, most illustrious among whom was Flax-
man, whose labors in the designs of pottery and ornamen
tation are among the best testimonies to his eminent
genius and capabilities. One of the most successful results
of his engagement was a set of chess-men, designed from
medieval characters and executed in that purely artistic
style which marks his every product.
In the year 1769 Wedgwood opened his pottery works
at Etruria. So great had become his repute, and so ex
tensive the demand for his wares, that the Burslem works
could not meet the requirements. Not only at home, but
throughout the civilized world he had become so well
known, and his products were so eagerly sought, that some
foreign nations prohibited their importation, while they
were only admitted to others under heavy impost, their
moderate price and excellent quality having offered a
crushing competition with the more expensive wares of
other lands.
Of the class of his products most popular among
other nations, the exquisite cameos — copies of modern
and antique classical subjects — seem to have been eagerly
sought, and certainly they were worthy of the patronage
which they received, for nothing more beautiful or per
fect has ever been produced in pottery than these. If a

ENGLAND.

97

potter of ancient Campania could have walked through this
new Etruria he might have found with astonishment the
work of his time ennobled, exalted and perfected. Strange
it was that all the rest of the world passed through its
ceramic experiences, and yet waited for England at this
late day to revert to the true school of ceramic decorative
art. Wedgwood not only employed the old designs, but
discovered the art of painting upon unglazed surfaces, a
reproduction of the same work as practised by the Etrus
cans. Most of the ware commonly known is of this des
cription, the figures and ornamentation in white upon a
ground of delicate blue or purple, the whole entirely with
out glazing.

llNilllil
2p=A -%i&Amm

No. 19.— A Vase of Wedqwood Wake.

A vase of Wedgwood ware, recently brought to this
country, is reproduced in cut number 19. In this instance
the groundwork is of blue, but two of a different pattern,
which came with it, are in purple. All the figures and
decorations are in white relief.
7

q8 HISTORY OF POTTERY.
The ordinary effect of production in such vast quan
tities, and with such rapidity, would have been a gradual
decline both in quality and work, but the work of Wedg
wood experienced no such calamity ; his conscientious
ness kept pace with every advance step of his manufacto
ries, and nothing was suffered for a moment to affect the
sterling excellence of the work.
Wedgwood's philanthropy, his high-minded and thor
ough appreciation of the material he had in hand, led him
only to the appropriation of his greater prosperity to the
perfecting of its every attribute; else we might have
found him, like too many of the prosperous men of our
time, playing upon an old reputation. His catalogue of
ornaments, published in 1777, and taken from Egyptian,
Greek and Roman subjects, both mythological and his
torical, amounts, in number, to twenty-one hundred and
one pieces. No ordinary industry and study was required
to the obtaining of these alone. A sixth edition of
the same catalogue " occupies," according to Mr. Jewett,
" seventy-four closely printed pages, the list of subjects
being printed in double columns."
From the first catalogue we can excerpt three provin
ces in the art of pottery-making exhaustively explored by
Wedgwood :
1. " A composition of terra-cotta resembling porphyry,
lapis-lazuli, jasper and other beautiful stones of the
vitrescent or crystalline class."
2. " A fine black porcelain having nearly the same prop
erties as the basaltes, resisting the attacks of acids, being
a touchstone to copper, silver and gold, and equal in hard
ness to agate or porphyry."
3. "A fine white biscuit ware, or terra-cotta, polished"
and unpolished."

ENGLAND. gn
In later years one or two more species were added to
this catalogue, but none of greater artistic merit, the prin
cipal one being a ware called bamboo or willow-ware,
which was wrought into shapes like baskets or plates and
covered with a glaze to suit the color of the subject imi
tated. So eager was Wedgwood to avail himself of every
opportunity which might advance his wares that, having
seen from America a specimen of beautiful white clay, he
at once engaged the exhibitor to procure him a quantity
of it ; a few tons were subsequently carried on the backs
of mules from a great distance in the State of South Car
olina to the port of Charlestown, and from thence shipped
to him. No clay equal to this in purity has been found
in England, or anywhere in Europe, except in quantities
too small to be made available.
Wedgwood died in 1795, leaving behind him a name
which in England is the synonym of true greatness, good
ness and usefulness. His native country has never ceased
to praise her " father of pottery," and whether we view
him in the light of a master workman or in the type of an
unselfish, philanthropic citizen, striving earnestly and suc
cessfully for the benefit of all, both socially and politically,
we, too, of like language, must admit him to the same
standard. The principal mark employed by Wedgwood upon his
wares was his name impressed in small capitals, or some
times the name of his firm, WEDGWOOD & Bentley. In
spurious pieces of this ware one more E is introduced
between the G and W ; the parties using this name were
restrained by injunction shortly after they commenced
operations.

IOO HISTORY OF POTTERY.
Lambeth, Fulham, Bristol, and Leeds were all at one
time more or less engaged in the manufacture of pottery,
but we pass these to consider the wares of Liverpool, upon
which John Ladler first practised the art of printing in
1753.* This art offered a facility for decoration which
had not been approached before, but like all other me
chanical processes the artistic merit of the work deserves
little consideration as an innovation in the science of pot
tery manufacture ; however, it is worthy of notice. The
process consisted simply in the transfer of printing and
illustrations from paper to the material in hand, and the
specimens exhibited, consequently, all the characteristics
of a wood engraving. In America this ware seems to
have met with much favor; the numerous speciinens
found here will testify to its extensive use. After the
war of the Revolution the potters of Liverpool, with
tradesman-like foresight, caused to be produced a vast
number of pieces inscribed with patriotic sentences, coats
of arms and emblems calculated to suit the taste of the
citizens of the new republic. These were shipped to this
country, and a large number still remain. A pitcher in
the collection of the late Mrs. Wm. C. Prime has upon
one side an American eagle,, surmounting a scroll, upon
which is printed, " SUCCESS TO THE UNITED STATES OF
America." A tea-pot, in my possession, has a picture of
Mount Vernon, and over it, " Mount Vernon, residence of
-the late Gen. Geo. Washington."
Wedgwood, himself, sent much of his ware to Liver
pool, where it received this decoration ; it is frequently
found upon his "Queen's Ware."
* Liverpool had then been engaged three-quarters of a century in the pro
duction of pottery, she having begun her work in 1674.

ENGLAND. I0I
At Lowestoft we find one of those obscure manufac
tories, regarding which little is known through the source
of local investigation ; and the want of a designating mark
forces it into a still denser obscurity. It seems that for
a considerable time they labored under the disadvantage
of the ignorance of glazing. This was, however, after
ward discovered by an exceedingly novel method of scien
tific research. A Lowestoft gentleman, by the name of
Browne, was induced to hide himself under a hogshead at
the Chelsea pottery-works, and there watch through the
bung while the chemist prepared his glazing for the fire.
Mr. Browne's experiment ended in the conveyance of the
entire secret to Lowestoft, which at once commenced the
production of pottery with a glazing. The Lowestoft
decoration, which was very excellent, is best exampled
upon pieces of the Oriental ware, — having procured the
pieces in white they applied their own colors. Mr. Mar
ryatt says : " The borders are frequently very minute
and elaborate, and the wreaths, festoons, or groups of
flowers, are equally delicate in their proportions. As was
the custom at Chelsea, so at Lowestoft, quantities of plain
white porcelain were imported from China and then
painted and decorated, and sold as the productions of this
manufactory.'' From the time of its introduction to the present day,
England has been most extensively engaged in the pro
duction of pottery. That the demand for ornamental
wares has met with no diminution, we have only to turn to
present evidence to prove. From the hands of Mr. Min-
ton many very excellent pieces find their way to public
acceptance and approval. But the day of great discover
ies and rapid advances seems to have passed ; old designs,

102

HISTORY OF POTTERY.

long known and always prized, seem to be with little va
riation the model of the modern workman ; even these,
however, are skilfully and pleasingly treated ; they are
forms which never suffer by age and association ; they are
like friends whose worth increase as- we know them the
better. This closes our review of an ancient and honorable
employment, which has rendered to the world inestima
ble service. A chapter here upon the art of pottery-mak
ing in America might be fitly introduced, but with the
exception of a few good pieces exhibited at the last Paris
Exposition, from Baltimore, Md., no evidences are at
hand upon which to form a detailed statement.
The art has been practised here for at least one hun
dred and fifty years, and doubtless will soon expand itself
to the proportions and aspire to the merits of wares in
other countries, the taste of our people having met with
very rapid growth in the past half decade. The whole
some influence of foreign travel has doubtless added not
a little to this result, and that will be no mean event
when America shall assume her position in the arts and
have her niche assigned in the ceramic galleries of Europe
and the Orient.

POTTER Y MARKS,

103

\5-)<

fc I

if 33

JC-A
• 7 VrDtxvo.

-er

10

12

io4

POTTERY MARKS.

13

14

O+A '58 Z

15

*B

16

17

18

19

il $* &
32 33

POTTERY MARKS

105

*l4 aII1<<

24

25

26

4

27

to

28

Si

29

30

31

CATALOGUE OF THE MARKS OF POTTERY.

i. Italy — Gubbio. Maestro
Perestino.
2. Italy — Gubbio, 1536.
3. Italy — Gubbio. Maestro
Cencio, brother of Maes
tro Giorgio.
4. Italy — Gubbio.
5. Italy — Gubbio.
6. Maestro Perestino. Italy —
Gubbio.
7. Italy — Urbino. Francisco
Xanti Avelli, of Rovigo.
1532-
8. Italy — Urbino. Same artist.
9. Italy — Urbino. Maestro
Giorgio.
10. Italy — Orazio Fontana.
Urbino.
11. Italy — Urbino. 1523.
12. Italy — Nicolo da Urbino.
iS21-
13. Urbino — Italy.

14. Italy — Pesaro. Arabesque
work.
15. Italy — Pesaro.
16. Italy — Faenza.
17. Italy — Faenza.
18. Italy — Faenza.
19. Italy — Faenza, 1525-1527.
20. Italy — Faenza, 1800.
21. Italy — Faenza, 1525.
22. Italy — Faenza, 1520.
23. Italy — Faenza.
24. Italy — Faenza.
25. Italy — Turin.
26. Venice.
27. France — Nevers.
28. France — Rouen. Period of
Louis XIV.
29. France — Bernard Palissy.
1589.
30. France — Moustiers.
31. France — Moustiers.

Nearly all the pottery marks of England bear the pro
ducer's name, and in many cases the place of manufac
ture ; hence they are readily recognizable, and for this
reason they are omitted from this catalogue. The marks
of European pottery are generally distinct and definite.
Those of Italy and France are less so, owing to the
remoteness of their production. The mark of the Oiron
Fayence, of France, can be found upon the title page.

PORCELAIN.

PORCELAIN.

INTRODUCTORY.
We enter upon what in Christian nations is a compar
atively modern art. The Orient claims it far back in those
ages when the arts and industries of the Occident were
only "just escaping from barbarous effort," and with that
singular selfishness which characterizes nations refusing
intercourse with races distinct from themselves, the Orien
tal people refused to transmit to others the secret of por
celain manufacture.
Christendom has the credit of discovering, through its
own superior intelligence, most of the arts employed by
the ancients of pre-christian times, thus giving us two ini
tial points for almost every industry. In ceramic grada
tion, porcelain occupies the intermediate position between
pottery and glass. Pottery is opaque and non-vitreous ;
it is sometimes with, sometimes without, a vitreous glaze.
Porcelain, being made from fusible material, is vitrified
and translucent. Thus, by fusing pottery, or reducing

UO PORCELAIN.
glass to semiopacity, we obtain porcelain. In experiment
ing for the discovery of porcelain, both methods were
tried, but the former proved most successful.
The infusible ingredients of pottery combined with
the fusible ingredients of glass produce porcelain. Porce
lain is divided into two classes, and distinguished by a
variation in the glazing. -
Hard PASTE (pate dure) is the form in which we or
dinarily meet it ; this will not yield to the knife.
SOFT paste {pate tendre) is easily scratched by the
knife, and it also has a waxy feeling ; this last form is
most generally employed upon pieces of lavish decoration.
A knowledge of these two classes is utterly indispensa
ble to the connoisseur or expert.

ORIENTAL PORCELAIN.

CHINA.
The obscurity which surrounds the language and tra
ditions of China would incline us to mark with the inter
rogation point every affirmation contained in English or
French literature regarding her porcelain. Not that the
study of Chinese wares has not been as extensive as cir
cumstances would allow, but, rather, the want of absolute
fact and sympathetic intercourse seem to present impassa
ble barriers in the way of authentic statement.
There are probably no Americans or Europeans liv
ing who can repeat or distinguish all the letters or char
acters of the Chinese alphabet, and it is these which are
used upon their wares. All the published observations
thus far upon the subj'ect, are based upon the statements
of the few who visited the country as missionaries, led
thither by a generous desire to convey their truths rather
than study the habits, economy, and technique of a
people entirely strange to them.
Europe was made acquainted with the wonderful
progress of Chinese ceramic art through the Portuguese*
who in 1 518 introduced the Chinese wares. That the
Oriental workmen were acquainted with porcelain manu-
* It is from the Portuguese word porzettana, a cup, that we get our
English word porcelain, consequently it would seem that cups were the first
specimens introduced.

II2 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
facture at a remoter period than this we cannot doubt, for
among the remains of the Egyptian tombs are those won
derful little bottles with Chinese inscriptions which have
baffled the research of all scholars to the present time.
Many ingenious theories have been advanced regarding
their importation into Egypt and their use ; nothing sat
isfactory, however, can be gleaned from these, and they
remain mere theories. The bottles themselves are quite
small, the largest being scarcely more than two inches in
height ; they are oblong, flattened at the sides, where
upon the glazing is printed an inscription in Chinese char
acters. Chinese scholars state that these inscriptions locate
them about the years 33 and 43 B. C. Bottles similar in
form and with the same inscriptions are sold in the Chi
nese shops to the present day, and are used as containing
vessels for snuff and medicines.
To enumerate and classify the enormous variety of
wares found in China would be a labor involving perhaps
more trouble and intricacy than would prove of interest
to the general reader. The fact of its existence in large
quantities is proved by its frequent presence in shop win
dows: the class which we here find, however, is not of
that rare order which meets the approbation of collectors.
Among' the most interesting of all the Chinese work is
the old crackle, now so extensively imitated. This was
produced in several varieties. " The colors are white,
gray, green, brown, yellow, crimson, and turquoise ; the
last is considered rarest, but those of a nice color and pale
blue appear to be the oldest." This cracked appearance
is not in the glazing itself, but produced by the material
underneath. The mixed blue and white porcelain of Nankin is also

CHINA.

"3

of very ancient production. The acquaintance with col
ors which the Chinese obtained through the Europeans,
afterward revived its manufacture. In the Orient this
porcelain is much valued, and it occupies the place of
honor among table wares, being used at nearly all the
feasts of the nobility. Its fineness and value is deter
mined by its general quality and the presence of a pale buff
color introduced upon parts of the piece. When we
leave flowers and insects to approach the art of landscape-
sketching, with the introduction of figures, as delineated
upon the Chinese porcelain, we introduce a pretty well
known characteristic — its oddity and faults are obvious to
every observer ; these proceed from the want of a correct
knowledge of drawing, and the fact that each feature was
the work of a different artist whose conventionalities
were not easily adapted to perspective and modification.
We find figures of the same natural size larger in the
background than in the foreground — houses with inmates
whose heads are as large as the window-sash. Porcelain
of a later date, feeling the effect of European intercourse,
shows a great improvement upon that j'ust described.
It may also be recognized by the introduction of borders
commonly used by the European artists. Large quanti
ties of plain white ware were transported to Chelsea, and
there decorated, but this can generally be recognized by
a careful examination of the details.
A species of ware known as " grains of rice" we must-
.not neglect to notice. Devoid of color, under ordinary ex
amination it would pass for plain white ware, but closer
inspection reveals upon the material under the enamel a
fine tracing, or tool-work, which is just a shade or two
darker than the surface, produced by no color, but a

H4 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
variation in the thickness of the enamel. The work is
very effective and beautiful.
As a triumph of the genius of the ceramic artists of
the East, we must not neglect to mention the Porcelain
tower of Nankin, known perhaps to every American who
has examined the pictures in his geography. It was
originally commenced by King A-you, in the year
833 B. C, but, through a series of accidents, not com
pleted until A. D. 143 1. During the Taeping rebellion
it was totally destroyed, and no fragment remains to
mark its former site.
The wares of China which can be designated and
located by peculiarities in the decoration, are thus epito
mized by Mr. Chaffers : " The acorus, an aquatic plant,
painted under the foot of a vessel, designates it as the
manufacture of Kiun, of the finest quality; date, 960 to
963 A. D. Two fishes painted under the foot of a vessel
indicate the porcelain of Long-thsiouen ; 969 to 1106.
A long, thin iron nail, projecting beneath the foot of a
vase, covered with enamel, indicates certain porcelain of
Iou-tcheou ; 969 to 1 106. The sesame flower painted be
neath the foot also indicates this porcelain. Two lions
playing with a ball, painted in the centre of the vase, in
dicate the porcelain of the first quality of the Young-lo
period ; 1403 to 1425. Two mandarin ducks (male and
female), which among the Chinese are emblems of conju
gal affection, painted in the centre of bowls or cups, in
dicate the porcelain of the second quality of the Young-
lo period; 1403 to 1425.
The third quality of the same period and date has a
flower painted in the centre of the cups. A handle orna
mented with red fish is found on cups of the Siouven-te

JAPAN. nS
period ; 1426 to 1436. Fighting crickets indicate the
same period and date. An enamelled dragon and a phoe
nix, very small, designate the vases of the same period,
intended for the Emperor's use. A hen and chickens is
the mark of the Tching-hoa period ; 1465 to 1487. Fight
ing cocks, same period. Grasshopper, same period, also
grapes in enamel. The branch of the tea-tree, painted
in enamel in the centre of a small white cup, denotes
one of the cups of the finest quality used by the Emperor.
Chi-tsoung; 1522 to 1566. Bamboo leaves, on vases with
blue flowers, made in a street of King-te-tchin; 1567 to
1619. A bouquet of the epidendrum indicates the same
fabrique. Of course all these have been counterfeited, and
the collector must rely upon his own judgment as re
gards their authenticity. The impulse given to Chinese
wares owing to the increased foreign demand has led to
its production in enormous quantities, many of which bear
.all the marks of originality.

J A PA N.
Ceramic art in Japan is closely allied with that of the
Chinese, yet, while the Chinese is oldest and less fre
quently met, the Japanese ware has some features distinct
from those of the country which introduced the industry
to her notice.
Generally speaking, Japanese porcelain is inferior to
the Chinese. " The red painted ware," says Mr. Marry-
at, " called nisikite, is only made at one factory, which pos
sesses the secret of mixing and preparing this and other
enamel colors, as well as silver and gold. The process is
not allowed to be divulged. The blue porcelain of Japan

U6 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
differs from that of Nankin. The blue designs upon the
latter appear upon the surface of the glaze, whereas those
of the former seem absorbed in the paste under the glaze.
This is owing to the more vitreous composition of the
Nankin glaze." Some of the characteristic features of
Japanese decoration are thus referred to by the same au
thority : " The Paullownia,* the fir, bamboo, and be
gonia are among the principal flowers. Sometimes the
fur, bamboo, crane and tortoise, all symbols of longevity,
are grouped upon the same piece. These are unmistak
able signs of Japanese porcelain, as are also the armorial
insignia of emperors and the dragon with three claws.
Statuettes of civilians in splendid costumes, adorned with
the kirimon, Guik-mon, or branches of the imperial tree ;
and vases with feet, handles, or knobs, formed of little
figures, are also especially of Japanese workmanship."
Marks in relief found upon the backs of plates and bot
toms of vessels are also significant of Japanese work ; they
are never found upon the Chinese wares. These dots or
points were formed by little pieces of clay used in support
ing the pieces during the baking process. These are
found sometimes near the edge, and sometimes near the
centre of the piece. A ware known as Satsuma, orSchat-
suma, has met with much favor in Europe. In character
it is entirely distinct from all other Japanese wares. The
paste is quite hard, compact, and of a yellowish or ivory
tint. The flower painting upon this species of ware is
excellent; other decoration follows, as Mr. Chaffers re
marks, the general Japanese peculiarity of avoiding regu-
*•** Paullownia imperialis; the imperial flower of Japan. Stem bare, and
branching at the top ; each branch terminates in a spike of large flowers simi
lar to the lilac or foxglove.

JAPAN. u 7
larity as to centres. Like China, Japan has of late years
been very industrious in her ceramic department : the
result is that the civilized world is flooded with her prod
ucts. Her ready acceptance of the education which she
finds in Europe and America is destined in future years
to affect all her arts ; even at this time she has advanced
wonderfully, and with her facilities we may yet find her
competing with the best workmen of the West. Pecu
liar taste and study is required for a proper understanding
of Japanese work, and those who have collections of
this kind are generally persons who have devoted their
attention to its intricate and manifold marks and charac
teristics.

EUROPEAN PORCELAIN.

MEISSEN, SAXONY.
HARD PASTE.
The superior qualities of Oriental porcelain had long
been the admiration of all Europe, yet the processes by
which such perfection was obtained were wholly a mys
tery. Searchers in the Celestial Kingdom, anxious to ob
tain the secret, were put off with foolish details of its man
ufacture and complicity; they returned home no wiser
than they went. In looking over the various methods pro
posed and attempted, one is struck with their similarity
to the experiments of alchemy ; such wild attempts can
scarcely be found, save in the records of St. Dunstan, or the
lives of his mysterious disciples who paved the way to the
noble science of chemistry. In laboring for one result we
are sometimes surprised in the accomplishment of another
entirely foreign to our intent, though equally advanta
geous in its own province. Such was the manner in which
the composition and production of true porcelain was dis
covered at Meissen.
During the Electorate of Augustus II. over Saxony
(1694 to 1733) alchemy, followed by many pernicious
results, was quite active ; its extent and harmfulness in
spired the promulgation of a law throughout Germany
pronouncing against it and those who practised it. John

GERMANY. ng
Frederick Bottcher, an apothecary's boy at Berlin, hav
ing heard that he was suspected of being an alchemist,
fled precipitately to Saxony. It seems, however, that his
name had preceded him, for immediately upon his arrival
he was arrested and taken before Augustus II. who re
manded him to the custody of Tschirnhaus, an alchemist,
who was trying to discover the elixir-vita.
Report said that Bottcher possessed the secret of
making gold, and if this were fact, Augustus was doubt
less ready to avail himself of the opportunity to replenish
his treasury, which, though not empty, was, like all treas
uries, not full enough. At the time of his incarceration,
Bottcher was a boy only nineteen years of age, yet he set
himself studiously at work trying to discover the Philoso
pher's stone. History does not say that he succeeded in
his chimerical attempt, but it does record a success scarcely
less important and satisfactory. Upon taking some cru
cibles from his furnace, during the progress of his experi
ments he found in them a substance very much resem
bling the Oriental porcelain. Tschirnhaus, at once appreci
ating the value of the discovery, joined his young compan
ion in its investigation. How earnestly and patiently they
labored can only be known by the length of time con
sumed before success crowned their efforts. Nearly six
years fled and still they were working together, bent and
determined upon one object. Days and nights were spent
in ceaseless work and watching, yet Tschirnhaus was called
to his rest just a day too soon to witness the complete
triumph of his labors, leaving Bottcher to watch in front
of the furnace, from which, after five days and nights with
out rest, the morning after Tschirnhaus's death he drew
forth to the delight of the Elector, who was present, a

I20 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
porcelain tea-pot. This was the birth of porcelain in the
civilized Occident ; the date of the event is 1708. This
first production was, however, far from the perfection of
the Oriental work ; although of similar texture, it was red,
or of light chocolate color, and without glazing, and inca
pable of resisting a high temperature.

2>fo. 20.— Tea-Pot or Bottcheb's Red Ware.
Three years more elapsed before Bottcher achieved the
triumph of producing white porcelain, " but," says Mr. Mar
ryatt, " it was thick and muddy, and the first pieces had
no glaze." In cut number 20 is reproduced a specimen of
Bottcher's first red ware. This piece, bearing the first dec
oration which was copied from the Oriental, is in the col
lection of the late Mrs. W. C. Prime ; it is about six inches
in height. When Bottcher had arrived at a full know
ledge of his work, Augustus established for him the great
manufactory of Meissen, but in 1719, while yet young in
years, the director and discoverer died, a victim of intem
perance. No record exists regarding the material first
employed by Bottcher in his porcelain work, but by a sin
gular mishap, a discc^e%-, which remedied all defects, took
place at Aue, a territory hear Schneeberg, in the Erzgeb-
irge, Saxony.
A citizen of that place, one day while riding upon

GERMANY. l2\
horseback, noticed that a peculiar clayey soil adhered to his
horse's feet, considerably impeding his progress. The clay
was white and soft, and hair-powder then being in fashion,
the rider, John Schnorr, immediately conceived the idea
that it might be put to good commercial use. Schnorr
took some of the powder to a merchant in such commodi
ties, and its use at once became general. Bottcher was
among those who used the new powder, and observing its
weight, commenced experimenting with it at the Meissen
porcelain works. With it he produced white porcelain,
and the clay was immediately employed in larger quanti
ties, being brought to the manufactory by persons sworn
to secrecy ; it was then known as Schnbrrische weisse Erde,
— white Schnorrische earth ; it is known in mineralogy
as kaolin. Bottcher's fame and works spread abroad, exciting the
envy of every nation which had not yet attained to the
science. The workmen at Meissen were all prisoners, sworn to
secrecy and laying themselves liable to close confinement
for life, should they divulge the methods. In sight of
every workman was posted the warning — " Be secret
until Death."
The ware known as Meissen, Dresden or Saxe ware
has long been celebrated. From the hands of such artists
as Dietrich, Liich, Breicheisen, and the French sculptor
Francois Acier, it received additional distinction. Bott
cher attempted little in the decorative way ; his earlier
productions are but copies of Oriental decoration, yet
can be distinguished by their greater weight. Floral or
namentation succeeded this ; the flowers were slightly in
relief.

I22 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
The marks upon the first specimens were copied from
the Oriental ; after this, the pieces not intended for sale
were marked with the royal monogram A. R., in blue ;
this was followed by the caduceus.*

No. 21.— An Augustus Rex Vase.
(In the possession of Mr. B. A. Ward.)
The porcelain of Dresden is noted not less for its mod
elling than its colors and decoration ; with no exception its
groups, figures and delicate relief work stand preeminent
among the porcelain productions of other nations. The
artistic excellence of the Dresden porcelain is another
subject worthy of consideration. We have already no
ticed some of the artists employed, but they are only few
among the many. Beside the bistre ornamental work,
and the flowers and insects in peculiarly bright and excel
lent colors, they copied many pictures of the Flemish and
Dutch schools, and some of the French, probably intro
duced by the French artists employed at the Dresden
works. * These marks can be found by reference to the chapter on " Marks
and Monograms," page 151.

GERMANY.

123

Figure painting, after Watteau, was another form of
decoration very extensively employed ; in fact most of the
decorated pieces met are of this character, often accom
panied by flowers and vines in high and very delicate re
lief. After 1806 the general character of the Dresden
porcelain commenced declining. The pieces produced
at the present day are only repetitions of the old moulds
and patterns, which, though well executed, want the full
artistic perfection which characterizes the older ware.

No. 22. — A Dresden Plate.
(With open-work border. Decoration copied from Wouvermann. In possession ol
Mr. E. A. Ward.)

OTHER GERMAN PORCELAINS.
VIENNA, like all the German porcelain-manufacturing
towns, derived her art from Dresden. It was brought to
her by an escaped foreman from the Dresden works. The
principal mark employed upon the Imperial fabric was
the shield crossed by two bars, in blue. No mark was
employed before 1744.
HOCHST (Mayence). FRANKENTHAL (Palatinate).
NYMPHENBURG (Bavaria). — These manufactories were

124 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
the offspring of Dresden, and consequently similar in
character ; they are readily distinguished by various fea
tures and by their marks.
Berlin. — Frederick the Great, during the Seven
Years' War, transferred many of the Dresden workmen
from that city to Berlin. Berlin afterward became a com
petitive manufactory. Its rose and pink colors the Dres
den factory was never able to equal. In Carlyle's Life of
Frederick the Great, the author states the mark of the
Berlin ware to be a sceptre, in blue.
At Fulda (Hesse) and in Thuringia, porcelain was
also produced.

No. 23.— A Sattb Vase.
(Of unknown manufacture, but resembling the Dresden and Berlin wares.)

ENGLISH PORCELAIN.
HARD and soft paste porcelains are produced by a
different treatment of similar materials.
To produce hard. paste the base material, prior to the
glazing process, is subjected to slight heat, and after the
glazing is added, is then subjected to a higher tempera
ture ; to the obtaining of a soft paste the process is ex
actly reversed.
Hard-paste porcelain is seldom without irregularity
in its lines, and is more or less covered with small specks
or bits of infusible sand. Soft-paste, on the contrary, is al
ways true, even and of exceeding purity, consequently the
decoration is generally better, and soft-paste ware has
come to be of more value to the collector — not owing to
its rarity, for it is still employed, but for the reason that
in most cases it was the chosen medium for artistic work
of the most excellent character. We have seen to what
an advanced stage England carried her pottery-making;
so far, indeed, that it almost reached the transition state to
porcelain. It may be that the potters advanced by easy
progressive steps from their first work to the higher
order, reaching it somewhere about the years 1740 and
1743, not soon enough however to dispute priority with
Bottcher ; indeed England stands significantly alone, and
independent so far as regards her fictilia. The first works
were those of Bow, regarding which little record remains.
The painting generally consisted of flowers, accompanied
by embossed devices, and the pieces are somewhat curi-

126 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
ous, owing to the fact that each one has upon it an em
bossed bee, which is regarded as the mark of this ware.
The factory was situated at Stratford-le-Bow, in the
county of Essex, and ceased producing early in the eight
eenth century. Chelsea is another manufactory which
presents no authentic record. It was established by some
Dresden workmen, who were brought over by Francis,
Marquis of Hertford. Like nearly all the Occidental
workmen they commenced by reproducing the old designs
and decorations of the East — Nankin and other Chinese
work, yet this had the advantage of being soft paste. Be
tween the years 1750 and 1765 it reached its greatest
degree of excellence, rivalling the work of Dresden and
Sevres. So highly was it esteemed that one set was sold
to the royal heads for $6,500. It was by them presented
to the Duke of Mecklenburg. The paste of Chelsea por
celain was exceedingly soft and would not bear heating
after once being finished, consequently all the decorated
ware of this manufactory is in its original state, no deco
ration having been subsequently added, as in the case of
many other wares. Many of the first forms were copied
from the French. " The colors," says Mr. Marryatt, " are
firm and vivid, blue de roi, apple-green, and turquoise,
and especially claret-color, which appears to be peculiar
to Chelsea." Birds, insects and landscapes were used as subjects in
the decoration, and most excellently treated. Relievo or
namentation was introduced upon vases and other appro
priate pieces. The artists, however, did not confine them
selves to stereotyped forms, and the better method for
identifying Chelsea wares is by the marks.
In the year 1769 the Chelsea works were purchased

ENGLAND. I27
by Duesbury, the owner of the Derby works, thus form
ing the largest porcelain manufactory in England at that
time. The Chelsea and Derby wares were not dissimilar,
but the latter had the advantage of superior fineness, and
the former a superiority in its figures and statuesque ef
fects. The peculiarity of Derby decoration is " a beauti
ful bright blue introduced on the border or edge of the
tea-services; the ground is generally plain." Printing
upon the Derby work was introduced about the year 1764 ;
this can always be distinguished from the ordinary deco
rative work by the lines of the engraving, or other eviden
ces of mechanical work. The first mark was a D ; the
anchor was next introduced with the letter. The letter
D, surmounted by a crown, in gold, is known as indicating
the crown Derby. Similar characters were employed
upon the Derby-Chelsea work.
The first and only manufactory of hard-paste porcelain
in England was established by Wm Cookworthy, at Ply
mouth, in the year 1705.* Here is the first instance that
we find of an American interesting himself in the progress
of porcelain-work. The words of M. Jacquemart best de
scribe our countryman's interest : " William Cookworthy,
qui avait vu entre les mains d'un Americain des pierres
A porcelaine trouvees en Virginie, se mit a etudier le sol
Anglais, et decouvrit, pres d'Helstone, en 1755, du Kaolin
veritable; peu apres, Saint Austell lui fournit le pe
tuntse, en sort que, vers 1760, il put monter une usine a
porcelaine dure, dont lord Camelford avait fait les frais, et
qui obtuit en 1768 une patente speciale."
* Lowestoft is also credited with some hard-paste work, but Mr. Marryatt
speaks of the Plymouth porcelain as " the only hard-paste ware of England."
The Lowestoft porcelain bore no marks, but the name frequently occurs upon
the many inscriptions which are found upon it.

128 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
" The usual ornamentation of this porcelain," says Mr.
Marryatt, " consists of flowers, butterflies, birds and mon
sters, in rich colors, and sometimes much gilding. A
greater proportion of this china manufactured is blue
and white ; the blue of a black tinge. The Plymouth
china has become very scarce ; upon the colored speci
mens the principal mark is the sign of the planet Jupiter."
In the year 1772 the manufactory ceased. In point of
artistic merit Cookworthy's work is not entitled to a high
position ; most of the specimens are so imperfect and so
roughly done as to bring them into unfavorable compari
son. Their principal feature is the hard paste.
At Bristol a manufactory of china was established ;
it endured but briefly, however. The principal marks are
a cross, and also the letter B, with the figure 7, in color.
One of the most interesting and productive of the
English porcelain manufactories was that of Worcester.
The first sale of Worcester ware took place on the 20th
day of September, 1752, and the records of the manufac
tory from that date to the present time are most com
plete. These have been collected and published in Mr.
Binns' excellent book, " A Century of Potting in the city
of Worcester."* In the year 175 1, an enterprising gentle
man by the name of Dr. Wall, induced several of his ac
quaintances to unite their interests with his and erect a
porcelain factory. In speaking of the Worcester porce
lain, Mr. Binns says : " The proportions of the Worcester
body were the result of Dr. Wall's scientific investigation,
and it is a remarkable fact, of which we may be proud,
that no other artificial porcelain of the period can be
* London, Published by Bernard Quaritch, 1865. The author of the
book was also proprietor and art director of the manufactory.

ENGLAND. I2g
compared to it, either for closeness of texture, translu-
cency of paste, or perfect homogeneous union with the
glaze. The latter is a distinguishing feature of Worcester
porcelain." * * * " The Chelsea glaze was very soft,
it consequently gave great richness to the ware and col
ors; but it was easily scratched, and, from flowing readily
in the fire, formed in those green patches and tears which
are frequently considered as proofs of Chelsea manufac
ture." It is worth the while of the connoisseur to no
tice these distinguishing features. The Chelsea and
Derby wares frequently exhibit what Mr. Binns terms
crazed features ; these are never found upon any of the
Worcester pieces. So excellent was this Worcester ware
that M. Brougniart, the able director of the Sevres
manufactory, mistook a piece of it for original Oriental
work, and was not convinced of his error until he had
tried it with a file, — the soft paste immediately proved
its English origin. " The principal colors for which Wor
cester porcelain is remarkable are the rich cobalt blue,
maroon or ruby, opaque green, turquoise and a bright
enamel blue." The first blue employed was of a blackish
tint, but further experience gave to this color a more in
tense and beautiful shade, — it is a feature of the Worcester
porcelain. All those pieces of Worcester ware marked
with a blue anchor, and those unmarked, are repetitions of
the blue porcelain of China ; these are among the earlier
specimens, no attempt apparently having been made to
introduce designs more in harmony with English ideas of
art and taste. After these first attempts no great length
of time elapsed before characteristic innovations com
menced to assert themselves. Among the earlier produc
tions of the Worcester manufactory there are no large
9

I30 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
pieces. The marks immediately succeeding the anchor
were a crescent, and a W ; these, however, were retained
for only a brief period. " Very small cups and saucers were
soon followed by others of more reasonable size, but still
small as compared with those required by modern taste.
Of these we have a great variety of patterns, but all
painted in blue, with flowers, landscapes and figures."
Two methods were employed in producing these cups :
some were " thrown on the wheel and then turned on the
lathe," while the other variety was moulded, and of these
latter some have a most beautiful flower embossed en
tirely over the surface of the cup and saucer, except at
the outer edge; sunk and raised fluting was also em
ployed. The next mark was the fretted square, in blue,
which was copied from the Chinese and employed upon
all the Worcester wares of elaborate Japanese patterns, —
the gilding designates its origin. We have noticed in the
chapter upon English pottery, the art of printing upon
fictile wares ; this also was used upon the Worcester por
celain ; this printing was done in colors as well as black,
and the monogram of the artist who performed the work
is frequently found accompanying the Worcester mark.
The mark of the Dresden crossed swords, as well as cop
ies of the Dresden decoration, are also found upon the
Worcester work.
The porcelain of Caughley, Coalbrook, and Coalport
was manufactured more for use than ornament ; under
the superintendence of Thomas Turner, an eminent solic
itor and gentleman of wealth, it reached, however, consid
erable eminence. The Caughley ware is frequently
marked with an S in blue, sometimes the S and cross
swords ; then the crescent, in blue, with the word Salo*

ENGLAND. tjt
pian* impressed underneath. That of Coalbrookdale is
generally marked C. D. ; on the ornamental China a mon
ogram C. B. D. The Coalport ware is marked with the
name, and again with a rose in red.
The porcelain of England is of the utmost interest to
the collector. The Worcester ware in particular, beside
being much sought for, is sufficiently rare to command an
exceedingly high price wherever it is found. During the
latter part of the last and commencement of the present
centuries, whole sets of white porcelain were not infre
quently purchased in the Oriental market and then con
veyed to Worcester to receive decoration. A most ex
quisite set of porcelain, presumed to have been treated in
this manner, was recently sold at the Butler sale in Phila
delphia. The decoration is of draped vines and garlands,
birds and knotted ribbons ; the only colors employed are
red, green and orange, of various shades.
One or two of the pieces have upon them a very small
picture, which the observer would at once identify as
" The Children in the Wood." The whole decoration is
done with the utmost delicacy and grace ; none of the
pieces, however, are marked, although its identity seems
well established. The set is in possession of Mr. S. L. M.
Barlow, of New York.
* Salop, a town of Shropshire. Most of the marks not noticed in our
record bear the name of the place of production, which is in itself a sufficient
identification.

ITALIAN PORCELAIN.
WHILE the pottery work of Italy was slowly degener
ating, the art of porcelain-making introduced itself as a
medium of progress.
We have seen how Italy adorned and lent grace to
the first attainment; she reached a limit in this: so also
did she bestow her genius upon the offspring art of por
celain manufacture, carrying it not slowly, but at once to
a degree of incomparable excellence.
In the history of porcelain-making we fail to find the
historical connections which attach to the potter's art.
One we can trace from country to country through a long
series of ages ; the other, in Christian lands at least, fol
lowed the mother art as a natural consequence.
Before the potter's eyes in Oriental lands the porce
lain work of the East stood a continual model for his
emulation, and every land acquainted with the first art
was striving vigorously to acquire a knowledge of its
more advanced form.
If we are to regard as final the statements of Mr. Jac-
quemart, the Medici porcelain work of Florence takes
precedence in the history of porcelain work in Christian
countries. Nineteen pieces only of this strange ware exist,
and its historical records are equally finite. M. Brongni-
art denominates it " a hybrid porcelain," while M. Dem
min ignores it in his list of Italian porcelain works.* Mr.
* M. Demmin styles it "la pompeuse denomination de porcelaine de
Medicis." It was made during the latter part of the sixteenth century.

ITALY. I33
Chaffers terms it "the first porcelain made in Europe."
The mark upon some of the pieces consists of the arms
of the Medici family, which were six round pellets or glob
ules marked respectively with the letters F M M E D II
— Franciscus Medici Magnus Etruriae, Dux Secundus.
Three of the existing piece's bear this mark, while twelve
are marked with the Duomo of Florence, and four bear no
mark at all ; thus making up the whole number of pieces
of the rarest European porcelain known to exist.
M. Demmin begins his " epoque actuelle" of Italian
porcelain with the Doccia ware, which manufactory was
established at Florence in the year 1735. It is here that
we first become acquainted with the name of Ginori — a
name which has since become famous in its connection
with porcelain-work and other artistic productions. The
history of this manufactory is contemporaneous with that
of the royal French fabrique at Sevres. The Marchese
Carlo Ginori, in 1737, after a long course of experi
ments, sent a ship to the East Indies for the purpose of
obtaining samples of the materials there used in the man
ufacture of porcelain. In 1757 Carlo died, leaving the
then well-established works in possession of his son, Sen
ator Lorenzo, who increased their capacity and carried fur
ther forward the designs of his father. From his hands
it has passed successively through the ownerships of
other members of the family, and is at the present time
conducted by Lorenzo Ginori Lisci. By this family alone
the Doccia fabrique has been maintained, and so constant
and enterprising has been their care that in our day all
the modern porcelain-work of Italy is in one way or
another associated with their name and efforts. The prin
cipal feature of the Doccia ware is its admirable imitation

,,4 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
of the majolica and successful reproduction of the bas-re
liefs of Luca Della Robbia in porcelain. Upon these two
subjects we have dwelt at length in the chapter upon Ital
ian pottery, and it will not be necessary to rehearse here
the peculiar features which characterize them.
Both hard and soft paste* wares are produced at
Doccia, the latter so excellent that several pieces which
Sir Horace Mann had sent to Horace Walpole were sold
at the Strawberry Hill sale for Oriental ware. Through
out all its record the Doccia manufactory has been cele
brated for its modelling and grouping. Mr. Marryat
speaks of two of these characteristic pieces as being quite
remarkable : " Orre a copy of the Deposition from the
Cross of Fra Bartolomeo, measuring two feet by fifteen
inches," the other a copy of the Rape of the Sabines by
John of Bologna. Strangely enough these are mostly
esteemed in foreign lands. In later years, Doccia copied
the Naples work of Capo di Monte. The principal mark
of the Doccia ware is two triangles crossed, forming a six-
pointed star ; in the finer specimens this is in gold.
Naples commenced her work in the province of porce
lain-making only a year after Florence. Here Charles
III. founded his noble manufactory of Capo di Monte, and
many of the pieces he constructed with his own hands.
Almost any one who expressed a fondness for the ware
was sure to find favor with the king. It is not unlikely
that Lord Nelson's admiration for the ware partially pa
ved the way to his dukedom of Bronte.
After the accession of Ferdinand the manufactory be
gan to languish, and it finally totally expired, the moulds
passing into the hands of the Ginori family who still re
tain them and are engaged in reproducing copies which

ITAL Y.

135

are thrown upon the market from time to time as genuine
Capo di Monte. These copies, although very beautiful
and excellent, are not equal to the originals ; they are
most frequently met in the form of cups and saucers, the
cups having coral handles with raised allegorical figures
about the sides ; the saucers are generally ornamented
with raised garlands. They want the sharpness and nice
coloring of the old Capo di Monte. The ware is so ex
tremely original that any ordinary observer once seeing it
would readily recognize it upon seeing it a second time.
"Shells, corals, embossed figures, and plagues exquisitely
moulded in high relief constitute its peculiar beauty and
excellence." The colors generally used are a delicate pea-
green, yellow, red and salmon. One characteristic is al
ways noticeable in the Capo di Monte ware ; the flesh tints
are always stippled and the faces are painted with all the
accuracy of a miniature, and other subjects are treated with
similarly careful attention. Mr. S. L. M. Barlow, of New
York, has in his possession a beautiful mug of Capo di
Monte ware, and there is also in the same city a jewel-
casket consisting of five beautifully executed bas-relief
panels in possession of Mr. H. N. Smith. The ware is
exceedingly rare, and is found in very few collections even
in Europe. The mark of Capo di Monte is an N surmounted by a
crown, in blue. In one or two cases the letters R. F. are
substituted ; these pieces were made during Ferdinand's
time. The work of Capo di Monte has been imitated at
Dresden, but not successfully ; the best' features of the ware
departed' when the original manufactory expired. The
faultless work of the old fabrique suffered no diminution
even when examined with the magnifying glass, a test

136 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
which none of the modern productions will bear. Lo
renzo Beccheroni, the present artist at La Doccia, is the
only person in our time capable of approaching the old
Naples work ; even were he equal to their best artist, the
moulds themselves are so old and worn that much of the
delicate beauty is lost before the painter touches them.

FRENCH PORCELAIN.
SOFT PASTE {Pate tendre). HARD PASTE (Pate dure).
THE entire history of the art of fictilia is attended by
one notable feature ; from its remotest record to the pres
ent time it has been encouraged, developed and perfected
by the efforts of princely overseers and patrons.
From the time that Israel's king with his " master pot
ter" reared the Babylonish walls down to the last hand
that held the sceptre of France, we find it a royal acces
sory, and in most cases an art absolute for the court alone.
England and Holland are the only exceptions to this very
general fact. In later years, when most of the crowned
heads had grown less mindful of the art, France, still main
taining the traditions which had made her porcelain great,
adhered to the royal factory ; and while all the nations
about her were degenerating in the art, she alone re
tained her facilities for producing those nobler examples
which seem to have been the splendid efforts of expiring
European ceramic art. France, like other nations of
Europe, impelled by the vital impulse of progress, came
early to an understanding of the secret of porcelain man
ufacture. If we are to believe the word of travellers and
native observers, her knowledge of the art anticipated
that of Bottcher by fifteen years, the first recorded no
tices of the wares of St. Cloud occurring in the year 1695.
Not until several years after that, however, do we find the
royal authority recognizing the work of Pierre Chican-

!38 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
neau, and granting to him and his family letters patent
for the discovery.
Full half a century earlier than this, Rouen was strug
gling forward with her imitations of the "porcelaine de
Chine" which M. Pottier pronounces "veritable? main
taining that her porcelain was first produced upon French
soil. It is not to be supposed that a science capable of so
much advancement would stop with the energetic and
successful labors of one man like Palissy ; he had only
inflamed the spirit of others who, if not so desperate,
were not less hopeful, and through their efforts we trace it
step by step to the door-stone of Pierre Chicanneau. His
death and other circumstances brought the little fabrique
at last under the immediate conservation of Philip of
Orleans, then Regent of France.
The secret of the manufacture of the St. Cloud por
celain was carefully retained by the few engaged in
its production ; while far from perfect in composition, it
was still true porcelain, wanting some more careful admix
ture of materials necessary for more perfect fusion. The
surface of the ware is uneven and broken by ridges and
spots, owing to the imperfection of the enamel. It is
most readily distinguished by the mark, a blazing sun in
blue.* The secret of porcelain-working was revealed to the
French court proper by the usual channels through
which secrets travel — -the infidelity of some possessor. A
few escaped workmen from St. Cloud sought the pres
ence of Louis XV., through his confidant Dr. Fulvy, in
the year 1740, after Reaumur's unsuccessful experiments
* See " Marks and Monograms," in the Appendix.

FRANCE. T3Q
in the devitrification of glass. The distinguished chemist
had his attention called to the matter by the singular
transformations which glass, upon exposure to heat, un
derwent ; he carried his investigations so far as to war
rant the importation from the Orient of petuntse and
kaolin to aid the manufacture, and although meeting
with only partial success, the path which he had chosen
was the direct one, and further efforts on the part of
Macquer and his assistants developed the true method
and eventually resulted in the foundation of the wonder
working fabrique of Sevres.
Meanwhile the St. Cloud truants had been tried ;
proving unworthy to fill a position of such responsibility
they were discharged, and the manufactory, which was
located at Vincennes, temporarily closed ; they had labored
long enough, however, to enlist the then powerful influ
ence of Madame de Pompadour, which was immediately
exerted for the establishment of a manufactory in the
same town, but beyond such circumstances as would re
quire for it patronage as a necessity to its success. Over
this workshop, Gravant, " an active and intelligent man,"
presided as the master workman, with M. Orry de Fulvy
— still minister of the Empire — occupying the position of
director under the nom de plume of Charles Adam. This
was in the year 1745.
The large amount of capital intrusted to this company
placed within their reach the most skilful and intelligent
labor. Mr. Marryat best expresses their effectual efforts.
He says : " Sculptors and painters of flowers and landscape
vied with each other in talent ; the products of Vincennes
were eagerly purchased by foreigners, and the financial
condition of the manufactory was most flourishing. It

I40 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
was then under the directorship of M. Boileau ; * * * the
secret of gilding was purchased from Hippolyte ; that of
managing the colors from Sieur Caillat, and the services
of Hellot and other eminent chemists, artists and paint
ers were secured. Duplessis, goldsmith to the King,
composed the models, and Bachelier directed the artistic
department. Gravant made the flowers, which Thevenot
colored." For one day's service Bachelier received the
enormous sum of twenty-four hundred livres. Like all
the young manufactories, they commenced their work by
copying the decorations from the great parent school of
the Orient. The triumph of the Vincennes work was
the production of flowers. We are acquainted with the
grace, the symmetry, the conscientious attention to taste
ful effect which characterizes French productions. When
looking upon their pictures, the whole sympathy of our
feeling rises to meet a corresponding sympathy in the
artist. French art, entices with its tender appeal to
individual experience. If they are painting an interior,
it looks much like such an apartment as you would paint
in your most finished ideal. If they are painting flowers,
they look much like those that grow in your own garden,
and it is easy to believe that with the talent of France
grouped about the little factory at Vincennes, something
more than crude representations and stiff conventionali
ties should spring from those walls, — something more
than a mere ephemeral plaything, dead after the day of
its birth. In 1748 all the Continent and adjacent isles
stood in admiration at the Vincennes porcelain : it was its
own advocate, needing no tongues of men to speak its
praise. Louis XV. became a most ardent admirer of the
ware, and a generous patron. The splendors of his court

FRANCE. I4I
were more lustrous than ever when his palaces furnished
a refuge for those works of art upon which the ripest
genius of France had exerted itself.
On the 19th day of August, 1753, it became, by royal
pronunciamento the " Manufacture Royale de Porcelaine
de France," and the two L's interlaced — significant of
the King's name — were decreed as its mark.*
Here, in fact, begins the record of the proud manu
factory at Sevres. For, only three years after the royal
recognition, it was removed to Sevres, and four years
after, it became the sole property of the Crown, the
veteran M. Boileau still remaining at its head.
What has been done with the brush cannot be
reproduced with the pen ; as well try to impress upon
the blind eye the beauty of a sunset. There are things
which outreach the art of description. You may carry
the hard fact, but the soul dwells with the object alone.
Such is true of the work of the Sevres manufactory, and
every lover of the beautiful in art will know with earnest
sorrow of the blight of French genius under the eclipse
of distressing misfortune.
The soft-paste porcelain of Sevres bears, perhaps, the
most perfect examples of the exquisite work there pro
duced. It is to the feeling soft and waxy, and eminently
adapted to colors on account of its quality of absorption,
which gives a tone of softness to the figures. In most
cases, too, it was chosen by the artists as a better medium
for their most skilful work. It is a popular mistake that
gave to the soft paste, or pate tendre, a value on account
of its rarity. Although for a considerable period the art
of its manufacture had been apparently lost, still, as soon
* See Appendix, " Marks and Monograms of Porcelain."

142

HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.

as its real preeminence became known, means were
immediately taken to again commence its manufacture.
Under the guardianship of M. Brongniart, hard-paste
porcelain was the general, and in fact only, material pro
duced at Sevres ; by a fortunate accident a large quantity
of the soft-paste composition was discovered in the vaults
and immediately put to service. Mr. Marryat mentions
one singular circumstance in connection with this royal fac
tory. Through all the bloody scenes which have marked
the experience of France, this alone has remained un
harmed. This paragraph was written prior to the Franco-
German war. During the occupation of Sevres by the
Prussian forces the fabrique was protected as well as cir
cumstances would allow, but a greater misfortune awaited
it — the passion of an unruly people, devoted to the anni
hilation of everything which bore the royal insignia. The
Sevres buildings were among those treasure-houses which
suffered from this insane impetuosity. In view of these
facts it is our misfortune to be compelled to write of
what was done at Sevres instead of being able to record
its splendid progress. Mr. Chaffers thus classifies the
colors employed at the Sevres factory: " 1. The blue Ce
leste, or turquoise, invented in 1752 by Hellot. 2. The rich
deep cobalt-blue, bleu de Roi, of which there are two vari
eties, the darker being termed 'gros bleu.' 3. The violet
pensee, a beautiful violet color produced by manganese,
one of the rarest decorations of the p&te tendre. 4. The
rose Pompadour, which has been erroneously termed rose
du Barry; it dates about 1757, and was discovered by
Xrhouet. 5. The faune clair, or jonquille, a clear canary-
color. 6. The vert pomme, or apple-green. 7. The vert
pre, or grass- green. 8. The rouge de fer. 9. The ceil de

FRANCE.

143

perdrix, of a recent period." These were the principal
colors employed in the ground-work or plain-surface en
amels, — as pure, as perfect and as exquisite as the corre
sponding colors produced by nature herself. To attempt
a pen-description of the marvellously beautiful decora
tions which adorn the productions of Sevres, is a literary
impossibility, and would only involve the reader in a con
fusion of expressions which could only be exemplified by
the pieces themselves. It is sufficient to know that the
best artists which France has produced in the last cen
tury and a half, have bestowed their magic touch upon
the porcelain of Sevres.

No. 24.— Sevbes Vase. (Bernal Collectien.)
Nor can a printed reproduction of the piece itself
convey anything but a dim idea of form and general ap
pearance. The accompanying representation (Cut No. 24)
is taken from a small vase sold in the Bernal Collection in
London.* Since the close of the Franco-German conflict, a con-
* It was purchased by the Marquis of Hertford for $7.5°°-

144

HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.

siderable quantity of the beautiful ware which once decora
ted the royal halls of Paris and its environs has reached
this country. These pieces now occupy their appropriate
places among private collections here. At the sale of the
famous Deacon House in Boston, which took place two or
three years since, several exquisite specimens of Sevres
ware were exposed at public auction. In every instance
they brought prices far below their real value, not from
disregard, but from a want of critical knowledge of the
ware itself. Probably the most extensive collection of Se
vres ware in this country is owned by Ex-Governor Caleb
Lyon, who has been interested in this ware for many
years. His cabinet exhibits now nearly the entire history
of the Sevres fabrique. Gen. John A. Dix has also in his

No. 25.— Sevres Vase.
(In possession of Gen. John A. Dix.)

FRANCE. tjc
possession a pair of elegant vases presented him by Na
poleon III. on the event of his retiring from the Ameri
can ministry at the French capital. One of these vases
is reproduced in Cut No. 25.
To complete the chapter upon Sevres porcelain in a
way to render its identification less difficult, the reader
will do well to consider the marks at the close of the vol
ume ; and to form an acquaintance with the artists and
their special subjects the tabulated statement will render
assistance. Of course a critical knowledge of the ware is
a study of the instinct by contact with the ware itself.
Much forgery is practised by unprincipled persons upon
pieces which never emanated from the royal manufactory.
These features must be determined by critical investiga
tion : by comparison the genuine pieces can be readily
distinguished. M. Brillat-Savarin, in his volume entitled " Physiolo
gic du Gout," inserts a chapter which he names " Sejour
en Amerique." Nothing follows the title but a barren
spot upon the page ; the satire is complete. Among our
various chapters upon porcelain, Americans would be
pleased to see a chapter upon American porcelain, and
were I not forced to the same extremity as the witty
French author I should be glad to insert such a chap
ter here. We have no porcelain of our own ; none has
ever been produced here. One of the most useful of all
the arts yet remains untried except by a single exper
iment : some years since a dozen porcelain plates were
made somewhere in New Jersey. This is a strange and
10

I46 HISTORY OF PORCELAIN.
striking fact, worthy the study of astute political econ
omists — an extraordinary demand, but no response from
the producer. Let us hope that not distant in the future
we may appreciate the deficiency and add to the world's
ceramic history a chapter of our own.

PORCELAIN MARKS.

t >
J

*

H7

o 3

Xi fi~f

Vf<=Xp $ /^

10

11

N 12

148

PORCELAIN MARKS.

13

*

14

15

16

17

EF "

19

Sevres

4ev res
IT

S**$

ces

aeyret 25

20

OC

21

22

PORCELAIN MARKS.

149

Sevres 30 23

25

25

^

«ljjjI45 %7

(g .48.) 08

29 1 3«

31

(5/fc)

*

33

CATALOGUE OF PORCELAIN MARKS.

I.

Augustus Rex. Mark of
pieces reserved for the

22.

service of the King, in

23-

blue. Saxon. 1709 to

24.

1726.

2.
Saxon. Mark of pieces ex
posed for commercial
25-
purposes. The caduceus
of Mercury, in blue.
25-
3-
Meissen. 1778 in blue.
4-
Meissen. Epoch of Marto-
lini. 1796.
26.
5-
Old Saxe.
6.
Berlin.
7-
Vienna.
8.
Chelsea, 1740.
9-
Chelsea, 1749 imprinted in
the paste.
10.
Plymouth — Wm. Cookwor
thy, 1760.
27.
ii.
Leeds.
28.
12.
Naples — Casso di Monte.
1736.
29.
i3-
Naples — Casso di Monte.
1736.
3°-
14.
Doccia ware. Italy.
3i-
is-
Venice.
16.
France — St. Cloud, Chican-
neau. Soft porcelain.
i7-
Sevres, earliest period.
18.
Sevres, about 1753.
19.
Sevres, 1792 to 1799.
20.
Sevres. Charles X. period.
1724 to 1727.
21.
Sevres. Louis Philippe pe
riod. 1834 to 1848.
Sevres. Charles X. period.
1830.
Sevres, 1830.
Sevres. Particular mark
for a service for Cather
ine II.
Sevres. Charles X. 1827
to 1830.
Sevres. Louis Philippe.
1830 to 1834.
Sevres, 1837. Made for
Chateau D'eu. Upon
many of the Sevres pieces
are to be found the mark
of the manufactory, the
royal mark, and the mark
of the chateau for which
the piece is intended.
Sevres. Louis Philippe.
1845 to 1847.
Sevres. 1848 to 185 1, mark
of white porcelain.
Sevres. French Republic.
1848101851.
S&vres. Napoleon III. 1854.
Sevres. Mark of white por
celain, 1861. The scratch
across the mark is made
with a chisel in the paste.
All porcelain bearing this
mark was decorated out
side the Sevres manufac
tory. It is called rejected
ware. The same scratch
is employed upon the
rejected Dresden.
MARKS AND MONOGRAMS.

The recognized marks and monograms of Painters, Decorators and Gilders, of the Royal Man
ufactory of Sevres. From 1753 to 1845. Taken from the " Musee Ceramique " of MM. Brong-
niart and Riocreux, administrator and conservator of the manufactory.

ARTIST.

Armand. ASSELIN.Bar. . .
Barrat. Baudouin.Bertrand. BlENFAIT.BlNET. .

1st PERIOD— 1753 TO 1800.

MONOGRAM.

L L. in script, interlaced.
A or A 
B 
fB 

BD 
6 
A six point star.
t 

SUBJECT.

Birds and flowers.
Portraits, miniatures.
Detached bouquets.
Garlands, bouquets.
Ornaments, frises.
Detached bouquets.
Gilder.Detached bouquets.

!*t>
Co
IJ""1

Binet,. Mme., nee \
Sophie Chanou. )
Bouchet 
Bouillat 
Boulanger 
BULIDON 
Bunel, Mme., nee )
Manon Buteux. )
Buteux (pere), . . .
Buteux (fits ain'e). . .
Buteux (fits jeune). . .
Capelle 
Cardin 
Castel 
Caton. 
Catrice 
Chabey 
Chanou, Mme., n'ee >
Julie Durosey. )
Chassuis (ain'e). . . .
Chassuis (jeune). . .

S c 
A tree 
Y 
B 
Bn 
m. b or M B 
An anchor 
9 
A triangle with dot in centre. . . .
A triangle 
A target 
C 
( Three lines crossed, forming a")
( six point star. j
//"crossed 
ch 
I.D 
c-P 
j c 

Garlands, bouquets.
( Suburban sketches, figures and or-
( naments.
Flowers, suburban sketches.
Detached bouquets.
Detached bouquets.
Detached bouquets.
Flowers, attributes.
Detached bouquets.
Pastoral subjects, cherubs.
Frises.Detached bouquets.
Suburban sketches, the chase, birds.
Pastoral subjects, cherubs, portraits.
Flowers, bouquets, etc.
Miniatures, Pastoral subjects.
Detached flowers.
Flowers, birds.
Detached bouquets.

£^

k §

MARKS. AND MONOGRAMS— Contintiefl,^

ARTIST.

Chauvaux (fits)
Chulot. . .
commelin. cornaille.conturier. .
DlEU. . . .
DODIN. . . .
DRAND. . .
DUSOLLE. . .
DUTANDA. . .
Evans. . . .
Falot. . . .
Fontaine. . .
Fontellian. .
Gerard. . .
Gerard, Mme.
n'ee Vautrin
Gremont.

:}¦

MONOGRAM.

1 n  •
Two quarter notes of music.

One quarter note of music. .
A Scythe 
A triangle with centre striped.
K 
DR 
D 
DT 
A sabre 
F 

A heart.
Gd. . .

V. t

Gt.

SUBJECT.

Detached bouquets, gilding.
Flowers, attributes, arabesques.
Detached bouquets, garlands.
Flowers, detached bouquets.
Gilded work.
Chinese decoration and flowers, gilding.
Figures, general subjects, portraits.
Chinese decoration and gilding.
Detached bouquets.
Detached bouquets, garlands.
Birds, suburban and pastoral sketches.
Arabesques, birds, butterflies.
Attributes, miniatures.
Gilding.
Pastorals and miniatures.
Detached bouquets, frises.
Garlands, bouquets.

to1fo

Grison 
Henrion. . . .
Hericourt. . .
Hilken. . . .
Joyan 
JUBIN 
La Roche. . .
Le Bel (ain'e). .
Le Bel (jeune).
Lecot 
Leguay. ....
Leve (pere). . .
Leve (Felix) . .
Maqueret, Mme. \
nee Bouillat. )
Mirault (ain'e). .
Mirault (jeune) .
Micaud. . . ¦
Michel. . . .
Morin. . . .
NlQUET.

Nouailhier, Mme. nee)
Sophie Durosey. J

X.
jh. he. W. Z.

3 
LR . . .
Le . . .
LB. . . .
L. L. or Ii Ii
A torch . .
L or Ii . .
/ . . . .
R. B. . .

fr * *
X . . .
MorM
M . .
n q . .
SD . .

Gilding.Garlands, detached bouquets.
Garlands, detached bouquets.
Figures, pastorals.
Detached bouquets.
Gilder.Detached bouquets, garlands, attributes.
Figures and flowers.
Garlands, bouquets.
Chinese subjects.
Miniatures, cherubs, Chinese decoraf n.
Flowers, birds, arabesques.
Chinese decoration, flowers.
Detached bouquets.
Frises.Bouquets, garlands.
Flowers, bouquets, cartels.
Detached bouquets.
Marine views, military subjects.
Bouquets detached.
Detached flowers, frises legeres.

hto !

MARKS AND MONOGRAMS— Continued.

ARTIST.

Parssette, Dlle. Lomson.
Pfeiffer 
Pierre (ain'e). . . .
Pierre (jeune). . . .
Pithon (ain'e). . . .
Pithon (jeune). . . .
Pouillot 
Prevost 
Rosset 
Roussel 
schradze 
SlNSSON 

Sioux 
Tandart. . .
Tardi. ...
Theodore. Thevenet (flls).

MONOGRAM.

L. D.
f . .
P • •
P 7 •
Dx. .

D-J 
A gourd. . .
HP. . . .
A pioneer's ax.
R. L. ...

S.h 
A laurel wreath 
(Nine dots forming a circle and)
1 one in centre. )
• • • ••¦¦••¦••«
A square with dot in centre. . . .

j t.

SUBJECT.

Detached flowers, garlands.
Detached bouquets.
Flowers, detached bouquets.
Bouquets, garlands.
Portraits, historical subjects.
Figures, flowers, and ornaments.
Detached bouquets.
Gilding. Suburban sketches.
Detached bouquets.
Birds and surburban views.
Flowers, groups, garlands.
Bouquets and detached garlands.
Groups of flowers, garlands.
Detached bouquets.
Gilding.Ornaments, frises.

%Co
fo

Vavasseur.Vincent. .
Xrowet. .

Andre 
Beranger 
Duvelly (Charles)
Didier 
Duchezeau, Mme. .
Fontaine 
Georget 
HUARD 
Julienne (Eugene).
Langlace 
LeBel 
Le Gay. . . . .
Regnier 
Sinsson (Pierre). .
Swebach 

W. .
2000 .
A cross

Arabesques, fragments.
Gilder. Arabesques, flowers.

2nd PERIOD— 1800 TO 1845.

J. A.
B.r. .
CDD.i.
A.D. ,
F.

fr g 
h. d 
J E diphthong.
L GeS . . .
L. B 

L. G. ...
^ R. diphthong.
S. S. p. . . .
S.W 

Suburban views.
Figures. Genre, suburban sketches.
Ornaments.
Figures, portraits.
Flowers.Figures, portraits.
Ornaments of various styles.
Ornaments, style renaissance.
Suburban views.
Suburban.Figures, general subjects, portraits.
Figures, general subjects.
Flowers. Suburban, genre.

ON

Ik, toik.

ik.fo

BRONGNIARTS
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
Of Signs employed at the Royal Manufactory at Shvres,
to indicate the Year in which the
Piece was Decorated.

A B.C.D E.F.G H
I .
K
L. M nop.Q R* S .
T. U
V XYZ.

1753
1754 17551756 17571758 1759
1760 1761
1762
1763 1764176S 1766
176717681769 177017711772 17731774 I77S
1776

* The extraordinary
comet of 1769 was also
used as a sign to indi
cate that year.

A A.
BB .
CC .
DD.
EE .
FF .
GG .
H H
I I .
KK.LL .
M M
NN.00 .
PP .
QQ.RR.

177717781779
1780- 1781i78a1783
17841785 178617871788 178917901791
1792 1793

Le changement d'ere
fit tombre cette
marque en desue
tude, et depuis cette
epoque jusqu'en
1800 on n'en ren
contre plus que de
rares exemples. En
1801, l'usage en fut
repris et les lettres
remplacfies par les
signes suivants.

An ix. x.
XI.
XII.
XIII. XIV.

1801 . T. 9
1802 . x
1803 . 11
1804 — 11 —
1805 — An ar
row head.
1806 ===

180718081809181018111812
1813 1814 18151816 1817

789
10
o z.
dz.
t z.
qz.
qn.
s z.
ds.

From 1818 to 1834 the
year is expressed by the
use of the last two figures.
As, for instance : .

1818 1819

18(1) 19

The marks expressed by enigmatical signs (see third column) are deeply
cut, by hand, underneath the pieces. They indicate, beside the year, the
month in which the piece was made. Thus, the number 10, placed immedi
ately after, the sign q z (1814), indicates the month of October. The unit I,
immediately after the 18, indicates the month of January.
the third column are marks of the workmen.

Those marks in

INDEX.

(The numerals refer to the pages.)

Acier, Francis, 121.
A la corne, 70.
Alhambra, 38.
Alhambra Vase, 40, 41.
Amphorae lamps, 30.
Amsterdam, Vase at, 90.
Avignon, 66.
Arabic Tiles, 39.
Asia Minor, 31.
Athens, 33.
Aue, 120.
Augustus II. of Saxony, 118, 120.
Augustus Rex Vase, 132.
A-you, King, 114.

Barberini Vase, 34, 25, 26.
Barlow, S. L. M., 131, 135.
Bachelier, 140.
Beauvais, Manufactory at, 65.
Beccheroni, Lorenzo, 136.
Bentley, 71, 94.
Berqheur, 88.
Bernal, M., Collection, 64, 66, 143.
Berlin, 124.
Binns, 128.
Boettiger, 28.
Boileau, M., 140, 141.
Bottcher, Jno. F., 119, 120, 121.
Bow, 125.
Brandenburgh, 82.
Breicheisen, 121.
Brongniart, M., 30,65,129,133,143.
Brillat-Savarin, 145.
Bristol, 100, 128.
British Museum, 92.
Burslem, 95.
Butler Sale, 131.

Caffaggiolo, Manufactories at, 45, 6
Caffaggiolo Ware, 59.
Caillat, Sieur, 140.
Capo di Monte, 134, 135.
Caramania, 34.
Caughley, 130, 131.
Cellini School, 62, 77.
Chaffers, 29, 57, 114, 116, 133, 142.
Chelsea, 126.
Chicanneau, Pierre, 137.
" Children of the Wood," 131.
China, 37, 111, 115.
Chi-tsoung, Emperor, 115.
Clerissy, Pierre, 69.
Clisthenes, 23.
Coalbrook, 130, 131.
Coalport, 130, 131.
Cobalt, Blue enamel" of, 22.
Cookworthy, Wm., 127.
Corinth, 23.
Crusaders, Galleys of the, 46.

Damascus, 39.
Darwin, Dr., 25.
Deacon House, Sale of, 144.
Delft, 87.
Demaratus, 26.
Demmin, M., 81, 85, 92, 132, 133.
Denon, 20.
Derby Wares, 127.
Dietrich, 121.
Dix, Gen. Jno. A., 144.
Doccia Fabrique, 133.
Dresden Ware, 131.
Duesbury, 127.
Duplessis, 140.

i6o

INDEX.

Egg of Persian Pottery, 35.
Egypt, 20.
English Pottery, 91, 102.
English Porcelain, 125, 131.
Etruria, 26.
Etruscan Ware, 38.
European Porcelain, 118, 145.
Ewer of Asiatic Pottery, 33.
Fayence Patriotique, 68, 70.
Ferdinand and Isabella, 41.
Fontaine, Sir Andrew, Collection, 78.
Fontana, Orazio, 67.
Forms, etc., 56.
France, 61.
Francesco Xanto Avelli, 59.
Francesco Xanto of Rovigo, 51, 53.
Frankenthal, Manufactory at, 133.
Frederick the Great, 134.
French Pottery, 65.
French Porcelain, 137, 146.
Fulda, 134.
Fulvy, Dr., 138, 139.
Gambrinus, 84.
German Pottery, 81, 86.
Gibson, Collection of, 77.
Ginori, 133.
" Grains of Rice" Ware, 113.
Gravant, 139.
Greece, 22.
Greek Vase, 24.
Gres Cerame, 85.
Gres de Flandre, 85.
Grolier, 78.
Gubbio Ware, 59.
Guidobaldo II., Lord of Pesaro, etc., 5.

Hard Paste, 118.
Hard Ware, 84, 86.
Hellot, 140.
Herculaneum, 23.
Hertford, Marquis of, 126.
Hirschvt'gel, 82.
Hispano-Moorish Pottery, 38.
Hochst, Manufactory at, 123.
Holland, 87, 90.
Hyperbois, 19.
Italian Porcelain, 132, 136.
Italian Pottery, 44, 59.
Ibn-Batoutah, 43.

Japan, 115, 117.

Jacquemart, M., 16, 18, 35, 41, 58, 56,
63, 137.
Jewett, 98.

King-te-tchin, 115.
Kraut, Hans, 83.
Kiun, Manufactory of, 114.

Ladler, Jno., 100.
Lambeth, 93.
Leeds, 100.
Lewes, 92.
Library, Imperial, at Paris, 65.
Lincoln, 92. ,
Long-thsiouen, Porcelain of, 114.
Louis XIV., 70.
Lowestoft, 101.
Luca della Robbia, 5, 48, 49, 62, 64
67, 77, 83, 134.
Liich, 121.
Luneburg, 83.
Lyon, Caleb, 144.

Maestro Giorgio, 51, 59.
Macquer, 139.
Maioli, 78.
Manganesia Vitriariorum, 37.
Mameluke Tombs, 39.
Marriage Services, 58.
Marryat, 58, 67, 68, 77, 83, 83, 89, 101,
115, 138, 134, 139.
Majolica, Manufactories of, 53, 66.
Majorca Ware, 47.
Malaga, 42.
Mammcea, Julia, 26.
Mecklenburg, Duke of, 123.
Medici Porcelain Work, 182.
Medicis, Catherine de, 66.
Meer, Van de, 88.
Meissen, Manufactory at, 120.
Millin, 28.
Minton, 101.
Mithridates, 34.
Montluc, 72.
Moustiers, 68, 69.
Monte del Grano, 24.
Moorish Vase, 42.
Moors in Italy, 76.
Miismiinster, Wolfgang de, 83.
Nankin, Porcelain Tower at, 114.
Napoleon, Prince, Collection of, 44
45,57.

INDEX.

161

Naples, 134.
Nelson, Lord, 134.
Nevers, 66, 67, 70.
Nola Vases, 27.
Nymphenburg, Manufactory at 123.
Oiron, 63, 77.
Orleans, Philip of, 138.
Oriental Porcelain, 111-117.

Palissy, 64, 70-76.
Palissy Ware, 76.
Palissy Shell Vase, 77.
Passeri, 46, 48, 54.
Persia, 33.
Pesaro, 50, 59.
Pesaro Ware, 59.
Peruvian Ware, 14-16.
Pisa, Majorca Ware at, 47.
Pliny, 34.
Poculse Lamps, 30.
Pompey, 34.
Pompadour, Madame de, 139.
Pompeii, 23.
Porcelain, Introductory, 109, 110.
Poterie de luxe, 85.
Portland, Duchess of, 25, 95.
Prime, Mrs. W. C, 22, 32, 35, 39,
100, 120.

Quarles, 73.
Queen's Ware, 94, 96.
Quincy, Miss E., Collection of, 77.

Rabelais, 63.
Raffaelle Ciarla, 53.
Raffaelle dal Colle, 51, 52.
Raffaelle Sanzio da Urbino, 52.
Raffaelle Ware, 52.
Rhodes, 32, 39.
Romano-British Pottery, 28.
Rothschild, Baron G. de, 57, 64, 76.
Rouen, 69, 138.

Samos. 31.
Samian Ware, 28.
Sanscrit, Mahabharata, 19.
Savignies Blue Pottery, 63.
Saracens as Potters, 46.
Satsuma, 116.
Scarabaeus, 21.

Schnorr, Jno., 121.
Schno'rrische weisse Erde, 131.
Severus, Alexander, 26.
Sevres, Manufactory at, 141.
Siculo-Moresque Work, 43.
Sicyon, 23.
Siouven-te Period, 114.
Smith, H. N., 135.
Smyrna, 32.
Soft Ware, 81-84.
Stabia, 23.
St. Cloud, 137.
St. John, Knights of, 83.
Strur.Jan, 88.
Swabia, 83.

Taine, M., 87.
Tching-hoa Period, 115.
Terra-Cotta, 82.
Terfe-Cuite, 69.
Terre de Pipe, 63, 64.
Thuringia, 124.
Timoteo della Vite, 51.
Toft, Ralph and Thomas, 93.
Tschirnhaus, 119.
Turner, Dawson, 47.
Turner, Thomas, 130.

Urbino, House of, 66.
Urbino Ware, 59.

Valencia Factory, 42.
Vandevelde, William, !
Vasa Murrhina, 34.
Verrerie, 71.
Vestal Lamps, 31.
Vienna, 123.
Vincennes, 139.

Wall, Dr., 128.
Watteau, 123.
Wedgwood, Josiah, 94, !
100.
Wedgwood Vase, 97.
Winckleman, 27, 28.
Worcester, 128.

Xaintes, 73.
Young-lo Period, 114.

3, 97, 98, 99,

il

..¦¦.-
¦ ;.¦¦•»' ' (,"¦--"-?.. . .'.¦.:¦,.;'.
¦ ¦ -.¦::¦¦¦'¦¦¦..¦¦¦-¦: ¦.¦'-. ¦¦ .,¦ ; ¦¦
¦-.'-¦¦ . - . T .. , , . . . . ^ . , ,
¦;¦¦' ¦.:'--•¦-.- *. ¦¦::-¦- '- . , . '