Chapter XVI: Part 16

_Sèvres Porcelains._--The forms of the Sèvres porcelain are exceedingly varied. Many of the older shapes were designed by Duplessis, the king's silversmith, and, as is perhaps natural, are more proper to metal than to pottery; but the French glassy porcelain is such an artificial material in every respect that such a point should not be strained too far. Owing to the want of plasticity in the paste the pieces were always made in moulds of plaster of Paris, while in many cases they were moulded in separate parts and these united together with metal screws or mounted in bands of chased ormolu. Table services made for actual use were usually painted on a plain white ground with the full palette of on-glaze colours (or enamels) and much rich gilding. The decorative pieces such as vases, candelabra, jardinières, &c., were decorated in a much more sumptuous fashion by covering the greater part of the piece with a ground of one of the rich enamel colours previously mentioned, reserving only panels in white on which delicate miniature-like decorations of the most varied kind were subsequently painted and fired (see fig. 52; and examples of Sèvres, Plate IX.). Such collections as the Wallace at Hertford House, or the Jones Bequest in the Victoria and Albert Museum, show at once the variety and perfection to which the work attained.

This Sèvres porcelain is entirely devoid of the broad decorative treatment and rich full colour of any of the great kinds of fine pottery or porcelain. Artistically considered, it has no place beside the triumphs of the Chinese or Persian potters, or of the Italian majolists. Its shapes are too formal, and are not sufficiently imbued with a sense of the qualities of the material. The ground colours defy every natural tendency of pottery colour for they are even, flawless and mechanical, with none of the palpitating richness that comes so naturally from the potter's processes. The paintings, whether of flowers, birds or figure-subjects, are extraordinarily skilful regarded as miniatures, but as examples of pottery decoration they cannot be compared to the swift, apparently careless, brushwork of the great masters of earlier times. So pronounced was the demand of the period for smooth even finish that such ground colours as _gros-bleu_ and _bleu de roi_, where the colour naturally came varied and uneven, were subsequently decorated with small diapers or lines of gold in the form of _[oe]il de perdrix_ or _vermicelle_, so as to produce a more regular and even effect. The most elaborate and costly of all the varieties of old Sèvres is what is known as "jewelled Sèvres," which is richly sown with imitation jewels, such as turquoises, pearls and rubies, closely resembling the real stones. These imitation jewels were in every case set in beautifully chased mountings of gold, and in the museum at Sevres are to be found examples of the punches and other tools used in making these mounts. On account of the enormous expense involved in the production of such costly triumphs of skill, examples of jewelled Sèvres are rare even in the best collections, but the English student is fortunate in the fact that the Wallace collection contains a considerable number of them.

Many reasons--the prestige attaching to a Royal Manufactory, the knowledge that the porcelain was produced regardless of cost, the mechanical perfection of its colours, gilding and decoration, as well as the fact that the glassy porcelain was abandoned as too costly and risky after about 1780--have all conspired to raise the prices which modern collectors are prepared to pay for fine examples of _vieux Sèvres_. It is doubtful whether even the prices paid for paintings by old masters have advanced so rapidly as those paid for Sèvres porcelain of the best period. In the 'seventies of the 19th century it was deemed worthy of remark that a sum of £10,000 should have been paid at public auction for three old Sèvres vases; thirty years later one such piece would probably fetch the same price. It should be added that the extravagant prices now paid for Sèvres porcelain, which is much more a triumph of technical than of artistic skill, have led to an extensive system of "faking" and even forging specimens which are purchased at high prices by amateurs.

Beautiful as the old Sèvres porcelain was, those who were responsible for its manufacture could not fail to recognize that the porcelain made at Meissen and other German factories was both harder and whiter in substance, more truly resembling the oriental porcelain in every respect. It was also known that these German porcelains were not so difficult, and therefore so costly to manufacture as the French, and all these causes combined to make the directorate of Sèvres unremitting in their efforts to discover in France natural materials analogous to those used by the German and Chinese potters. Père d'Entrecolles, the famous Jesuit missionary, had forwarded to France long before an account of the methods used by the Chinese, as well as samples of the materials they employed; and after many years' research Millot and Macquer discovered the precious materials at St Yrieix near Limoges (see Auscher, _History of French Porcelain_, pp. 77-81). The first experimental pieces of this French porcelain, similar in material to the German and Chinese, appear to have been made about 1769; but it was some years after this before the manufacture of the new product was firmly established, and then to the end of the 18th century more and more of the hard porcelain and less of the glassy porcelain was made at Sèvres. Speaking broadly, we might say that after 1780 comparatively little of the original French porcelain was made in France; and from that time to this practically all French porcelain has been of the same type as the German porcelain, viz. made with china clay and felspathic rock. This technical change in the nature of the materials had a profound influence on the artistic qualities of French porcelain, and the change was doubtless accentuated by the neo-classical rage which followed on the discovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The influence of antique vase shapes and of modern renderings of Greek motives in design spread over Europe like a plague, and whether in France, Germany or England the last quarter of the 18th and the first quarter of the 19th century mark a definite period in pottery design and decoration. The introduction of hard-paste porcelain rendered the manufacture of large vases and other pieces possible; and after 1780 we find the manufactory at Sèvres engaged in the production of enormous vases 5 or 6 ft. in height, a manufacture which has been continued there to this day. About the same time, too, we find the first production of large plaques or slabs of porcelain on which copies of well-known pictures were painted in enamel colours. The earliest of these slabs were in soft-paste porcelain, but in this material it was only possible to make them of quite modest dimensions; with the introduction of hard-paste porcelain very large slabs were manufactured, and a series of these are to be seen in the museum at Sèvres.

The most artistic of all the productions of Sèvres are undoubtedly the "biscuit" figures and groups. These were modelled with great skill by many of the best French sculptors of the day, such as Pajou, Pigalle, Clodion, La Rue, Caffieri, Falconet, Boizot, Julien, Le Riche, &c. The best of these Sèvres "biscuits" have a real artistic value which places them in a class quite apart from the German porcelain figures made at Meissen, Frankenthal and Höchst.

_Paris_.--Although during the reign of Louis XV. many privileges and
prerogatives had been given to the Sèvres manufactory, such as the
exclusive right to gild or paint in colours on porcelain, the
breakdown of the monarchical régime, which was rapidly accelerated
after the accession of Louis XVI., led to the establishment in Paris
and its environs of a number, of factories for the production of
hard-paste porcelains more or less in open rivalry with the royal
manufactory of Sèvres. In order that the royal edicts might be more
easily evaded, most of these factories were placed under the patronage
of one of the French princes of the blood or even of Queen Marie
Antoinette. There is little need to dwell on the doings of these
Parisian factories, but the productions of the best of them, such as
those of Clignancourt (patronized by Monsieur, the king's eldest
brother); Rue Thiroux (patronized by Queen Marie Antoinette); Rue de
Bondy (patronized by the duc d'Angoulême), compare not unfavourably
with those of Sèvres itself.

It is impossible to do more than mention the other important French
factories at Mennecy, Sceaux, Bourg-la-Reine, Strassburg,
Niederviller, Marseilles, Limoges and Caen. In the disastrous years
of the French revolution (between 1789 and 1800), such of these
factories as had survived came to an untimely end, even the royal
factory at Sèvres passing through a kind of lingering death between
1792 and 1801, and it was not until Napoleon decided to revive the
glories of Sèvres that modern French porcelain really came into being.

Just as the manufacture of German porcelain spread into Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, &c., we find the manufacture of a glassy porcelain analogous to the early French arising in Belgium, Italy, Spain and England. The materials and methods were so like those used in France that it would be ridiculous to claim for them an independent origin, even were we unable to prove by documentary evidence that workmen trained in the French factories had migrated into those countries.

_Italy_.--In Italy we have the factories at Le Nove near Bassano
(1762-1825); Doccia near Florence (founded in 1735 by the marchese
Carlo Ginori, and still carried on by the same family); and
Capo-di-Monte near Naples (1736-1820); with minor factories like those
at Vinovo, Treviso, and the Volpato factory at Rome. The most
important of these were the factories at Doccia and Capo-di-Monte. The
porcelain made at Doccia was famous for its soft translucent texture,
so that it lent itself beautifully to the production of white glazed
porcelain figures resembling in quality the white pieces of Fu-kien.

The factory at Capo-di-Monte was under the direct patronage of Charles
III., king of Naples. The earliest and best of its productions are in
pure white, probably made in imitation of Chinese white pieces, though
modelled in the form of natural shells supported by corals and
seaweed. Figure-modelling was also largely practised, and besides
groups of statuettes and figures in conjunction with vases, we have
the typical Capo-di-Monte examples in which vases, cups, saucers,
plates, &c., are covered with groups of figures modelled in high
relief on a minute scale. This trivial style of work is greatly
admired because of the minuteness of its execution. At a later period
the works was removed to Portici and ultimately to Naples, but after
about 1770 the classic style was adopted for the shapes and
decorations. The factory came to an end as late as 1820.

_Spain_.--Charles III. of Naples ascended the throne of Spain in 1759
and took with him to Madrid many of the workmen from the Capo-di-Monte
factory, as well as the best moulds and models. He established a new
china factory in the gardens of Buen Retiro, a palace outside Madrid.
As long as Charles III. lived immense sums were lavished on this
factory, and the ware was not allowed to be sold, but was either used
for the decoration of the royal palaces or for presentation to other
European sovereigns. Enormous vases were made, following the example
of Sèvres, and these were often filled with bouquets of flowers
modelled in porcelain. The most famous productions of this factory,
however, were the plaques and slabs of porcelain used for lining the
walls of certain rooms in the royal palaces. Two of these rooms still
remain, and are frightful examples of the Spanish _rococo_ style. The
factory was entirely destroyed in 1812 during the French war, and
since that date no porcelain of any importance has been made in Spain.

_English Porcelains of the 18th century._--There can be no doubt that whatever experimental work may have been conducted by our early English potters, such as the famous John Dwight of Fulham, nothing like an established manufacture of porcelain existed in this country prior to about 1740-1745. There are records of many tentative experiments before this date, but no real history. Between 1745 and 1755 important porcelain works were established at Chelsea, Bow, Worcester and Derby, and when we examine the productions of these factories it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the processes had been imported from France. The early English porcelains, like all the French porcelains of that date, were composed of artificial or glassy mixtures.

We may take the early productions of Bow and Chelsea as typical of the earliest English porcelain of which there is any definite record. The material was a mixture of pipe-clay, sand from Alum Bay in the Isle of Wight, and glass, while the glaze was a fusible English flint-glass rich in lead. It is obvious, therefore, that we are dealing with substances very similar to those used in the glassy French porcelain (see above), and such mixtures were very difficult of fabrication, being subject to great loss in the process of firing. In the other European countries the manufacture of porcelain was almost invariably carried on at the expense of some royal or princely patron; in England, however, the manufacture was not subsidized in this way, and it is probably for this reason that at a very early date we find the English porcelain-makers experimenting with other materials than glass and clay in order to make their processes more certain. In a patent taken out in 1749 by Thomas Frye of the Bow works we find mention of the use of bone-ash--the material that was to make English porcelain a distinct species by itself. From 1750 onwards there can be little doubt that, though a large proportion of glass was still used in the composition of the English porcelains, bone-ash was more and more introduced into the paste in order to obtain a more refractory material; yet it was not until about 1800 that Josiah Spode of Stoke-upon-Trent abandoned entirely the use of glass and composed his porcelain of china clay, bone-ash and felspathic rock for the body, glazing it with a rich lead glaze, and so laid the foundation of distinctively English porcelain. The material has many merits both from the useful and artistic points of view; it is much more easily fabricated than the old glassy porcelains, it endures better for ordinary table use than any other kind of porcelain, and it permits the fullest range of decoration.

Before entering upon a detailed notice of the important English factories of the 18th century, something should be said of the various influences that were at work in determining what the porcelain-maker should do, both in the way of shape and decoration. The eyes of all men were, of course, turned first to the porcelain brought from the far East; and in the early efforts of the English factories, as of those of France and Germany, we notice a predominance of white pieces or of pieces decorated with paintings in under-glaze blue alone, obviously inspired by the current importations from China. Bow and Chelsea produced large quantities of ware of this class, and in the early days of the Worcester factory little else was made there than white, or blue and white pieces closely simulating the Chinese. Another oriental influence was to be found in the Imari patterns of Japan, particularly those in the style of Kakiemon. It has been noted that Meissen, Chantilly and other continental factories had already created a vogue for these reproductions of Japanese decorations, and in our own country Bow, Chelsea and Worcester followed suit. The later Imari patterns, heavily decorated with blue and red and gold for the use of "the foreigner," furnished another popular style for Worcester and Derby, and the vogue of these English "Japan" patterns, in the last quarter of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century, was so great that they represent a large proportion of the output of our English porcelain works during that period. The productions of the German and French factories also exerted a profound influence on English potters; so that throughout the 18th century English porcelains largely consisted of imitations of the foreign wares brought into the country by the wealthy.

We can only point to one method of porcelain decoration which undoubtedly arose in England. This is the method of transfer-printing, whereby patterns printed on paper from engraved copper plates are transferred to porcelain or pottery and subsequently fired, either under or on the glaze. At the best these printed patterns are in no way superior to the stencilled work of modern oriental porcelain, while, at the worst, European and American printed patterns have been perhaps the most inappropriate decoration ever applied to porcelain in the world. It has been generally urged on behalf of transfer-printing that it enables elaborate effects to be produced at a small cost and so brings decorated pottery within the reach of the humblest. The truer view is, that the simplest brushwork patterns, or even no pattern at all, would be preferable to the tawdry results that the cheapest forms of transfer-printing have rendered possible.

_Chelsea._--Between 1750 and 1770 the Chelsea factory was the most important of all the English porcelain works, and fine specimens of this period command high prices in the saleroom to-day. We know little of the origin of this important factory, though it is believed to have been in existence from some time after 1740 to 1784, when it was finally demolished and some of the workmen and part of the plant were removed to the then important works at Derby. The first manager was one Charles Gouyn, who was followed by a Mr Sprimont before 1750. Sprimont retained possession of the works until 1769, and died in 1771. It was during his management, from 1750 to 1770, that the finest and most characteristic pieces of Chelsea porcelain were made.

Although the styles in vogue at Chelsea are extremely varied, little was produced there that was really English in character. The earliest pieces appear to have been either in pure white or in white decorated with paintings in under-glaze blue. The goat-and-bee cream jugs, crawfish salt cellars, the shell and rockwork salt cellars, jugs, sauce boats, small cups and saucers of this type are fairly plentiful. Then came the decorations, mainly in red and gold, of the Kakiemon style, followed by reproductions of the brocade patterns of Imari porcelain. Afterwards we find the appearance of table wares modelled in imitation of leaves, animals, fruits, birds and fishes, apparently adopted from current French and German practice.

In another direction the influence of Meissen was also shown by the production of statuettes (see in Chelsea figure, Plate X.), and of the small modelled trinkets, scent-bottles and toys of which there is such a fine collection in the British Museum. In the latter days of the factory (say after 1758) we find Chelsea following in the wake of Sèvres in the production of large and elaborate rococo vases, with pierced necks and covers, scroll-work bases and interlacing handles such as are to be seen in the Jones Bequest in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Pieces of this elaborate kind are overlaid with rich grounds of Mazarine blue, turquoise, pea-green, or the famous Chelsea claret-colour, while white panels are reserved framed with gilt scrolls and painted in enamel colours with flowers, birds or figure-subjects in absolute rivalry with the pieces manufactured at Sèvres.

The Chelsea works appears to have come to an end through the ill-health of Sprimont, and it was sold in 1769-1770 to Duesbury, the proprietor of the Derby works. He carried on the establishment from 1770 to 1784, but in this period a great change is noticeable in the product of the factory. The "rococo" forms and decorations of the true Chelsea porcelain were replaced by works in the neo-classical style already rendered popular by the success of Josiah Wedgwood, and the Derby-Chelsea porcelain is quite a distinct production from the early works of Chelsea. The most distinctive mark of the Chelsea porcelain is an anchor--either embossed in the paste or painted in gold or colour. Often the anchors occur in pairs, and it is frequently associated with other marks such as a dagger or a cross. Some of the Derby-Chelsea pieces are marked with a conjoined D and an anchor.

_Bow._--The date of the establishment of the factory at Stratford-le-Bow, in what is now the East End of London, is quite uncertain, but in 1744 Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye, who were connected with this factory, took out a patent for the manufacture of porcelain. The materials mentioned in this patent are not such as would produce porcelain at all, and it appears likely that the specification was made purposely defective. In 1748 a further patent was applied for in which we get the first mention of bone-ash, so that from the technical point of view the wares made at the Bow factory are of the utmost importance as indicating the experimental beginnings of our English porcelain in which bone-ash plays such an important part. In 1750 the works at Bow belonged to Messrs Weatherby & Crowther, and was then known as "New Canton," and as 300 workpeople were employed, the operations must have been conducted on a large scale; but ultimately, from causes that can only be surmised, the partnership was dissolved and the business failed, so that in 1775 the works was bought for a very small sum by the William Duesbury already mentioned, who transferred part of the plant and moulds to his more prosperous works at Derby. It would appear from what we know of the factory and its productions that the business was conducted on simpler lines than at the Chelsea works. We have, for instance, no elaborate vases in imitation of Sèvres, and no important groups of figures which might challenge rivalry with Meissen. We find, as is common with all the early porcelain factories of Europe, first the production of white pieces with modelled reliefs, or of pieces painted with under-glaze blue in imitation of Chinese porcelain. Then followed the well-known "Quail," or "Partridge," and "Wheat-sheaf" patterns in red and green and gold in imitation of the Japanese patterns; and the manufacture of table ware decorated with these simple yet bright and pleasant devices seems to have formed the greater part of the work at the factory. Many figures and statuettes were also produced at Bow, but they are fewer in number and less cleverly made and decorated than the contemporary productions of the Chelsea factory. We may surmise that there was considerable rivalry between these two works situated on the outskirts of the metropolis, for we find the "anchor" mark, which is the best recognized mark of Chelsea porcelain, often occurring on specimens that from internal evidence or from the piece itself we should rather attribute to Bow. The Bow marks are not very certain, but some of the likeliest are here given.

_Worcester._--The third of the early English factories, and ultimately the most important of all, was that founded at Worcester in 1751 by Dr Wall, a man of unusual attainments, and a number of his friends. How Dr Wall came to learn the secret of porcelain making is absolutely unknown, but even assuming that he acquired some information from wandering workmen it is certain that the Worcester porcelain was soon developed on original lines. The nature of the paste and the glaze of the early Worcester productions, as well as the sobriety of their decorations, stamp this factory as the first where Englishmen really developed a native porcelain. Between 1751 and 1770, the first period of Worcester porcelain, the prevalent influence was that of Chinese blue-and-white, and the pieces of that period are rightly esteemed by collectors for their artistic quality. Probably nowhere in Europe, certainly nowhere in England, was oriental blue-and-white more carefully studied, and a collection of this blue-and-white Worcester is most satisfactory from the aesthetic point of view. The productions at this time were tea and coffee services, bowls, dishes, mugs and plates. The cups were usually made without handles in imitation of the oriental practice, but large, two-handled covered cups for caudle, broth and chocolate were also made during the early period. Many of these larger cups bore an embossed pattern resembling a pine-cone, possibly imitated from a shape produced at St Cloud; while openwork dishes, plates and fruit baskets were also made in imitation of a popular Meissen fashion.

The method of decorating porcelain with transfer prints was introduced at Worcester as early as 1756, when Robert Hancock, an engraver, came from York House, Battersea, where the process was first employed for the decoration of the Battersea enamels. The early Worcester prints comprised portraits of celebrities of the time (the Frederick the Great mug), or adaptations of the works of great artists such as Gainsborough and Watteau, or copies of current engravings or sporting prints. The first printing was done in black or purple, and transferred on to the fired glaze, and it was not until about 1770 that the process of printing in blue under the glaze was perfected. It is interesting to note that for many years this process of transfer printing was developed side by side with the older method of porcelain painting, and until the end of the 18th century the processes appear to have been used at Worcester quite independently. The closing of the Chelsea factory in 1770 led to the migration of some of the Chelsea painters to Worcester, and from about that date a considerable amount of Worcester porcelain was decorated on the glaze with enamel colours and gilding after the styles that had been rendered popular at Chelsea and Bow. It is only fair to remark, however, that the Worcester patterns are always distinguished by a certain English character both in the style and the workmanship (see example, Plate X.). The first and most artistic period of Worcester porcelain came to an end before 1783, when, after the death of Dr Wall, the works passed under the control of Thomas Flight and his two sons, who had been jewellers. The Flight influence was soon noticeable from the fact that the new shapes were more and more based on those of Sèvres and Meissen, while the decoration became more mechanical and precise as befitted the work of jewellers rather than potters. King George III. and Queen Charlotte visited the works in 1788 and bestowed upon the firm the privilege of styling themselves "China Manufacturers to Their Majesties," since when the works has always been known as the Worcester Royal Porcelain Works. In 1793 Martin Barr was taken into partnership; the "Flight & Barr" period, so well known to collectors, lasted until 1807.

Another Worcester porcelain works was in existence after 1784, viz. the Chamberlain factory, which was working in rivalry with the original establishment; but its productions are of no particular artistic merit, and in 1840 the two firms became amalgamated, and so gave rise to the present Worcester Royal Porcelain Co. The most noteworthy feature of the productions of both the Worcester works at the end of the 18th century were the "Armorial" services made for various royal and noble families, and those adaptations of Imari patterns known as "Old Japan."

_Derby._--Experiments in the manufacture of porcelain appear to have been made at Derby as early as 1750 by a French refugee, Andrew Planché; but the business, which was afterwards to attain such a great development, was only founded in 1756 with William Duesbury as its manager. Duesbury was originally a decorator of china figures in London, and his career proves that he was a man of great industry and energy, for within twenty-five years he not only built up a large business at Derby, but he absorbed the decadent works at Bow and Chelsea, so that in the last quarter of the 18th century Derby was the most important china manufactory in England. As is so often the case, a commercial success like this implied the absence of any distinct artistic impulse. The porcelain produced at Derby is for the most part only an echo of the successes of Meissen, Sèvres, or the earlier English factories. It is only fair to remark that a very deep and rich under-glaze blue was attained at the Derby works, and that this was associated with very mechanical painting of birds and flowers and with gilding of exceptional quality. At this factory, too, the old Japan patterns were imitated with exceptional vigour, until "Crown-Derby Japan" became a standard trade name for this clobbered oriental style.

Mention has already been made of the "biscuit" porcelain figures made at Derby, which are superior in style to anything else made in-Europe in the 18th century except the "biscuit" porcelains of Sèvres. The Derby "biscuits" of the best type range from 1790 to 1810, and the finest specimens have a "waxy" surface, though there is little or no sheen and every detail remains as crisp as when the figure left the hand of its maker. The most famous of these figures are the portrait medallions and statuettes of British generals and admirals which were modelled by an artist named Stephan. Spengler, a Swiss, modelled numerous groups adapted from the drawings of Angelica Kaufmann, while a workman named Coffee seems to have modelled only rustic figures and animals.

_Plymouth and Bristol._--The porcelain factories at Plymouth and Bristol are mainly noteworthy because they were the only English factories in which a true porcelain strictly analogous to the Chinese was ever manufactured. William Cookworthy, a Quaker druggist of Plymouth, was greatly interested in attempting to discover in Cornwall and Devonshire minerals similar to those which were described in the letters of Père d'Entrecolles as forming the basis of Chinese porcelain. After many years of travel and research he ascertained the nature of the Cornish stone and Cornish clay, and in 1768 he founded a works at Plymouth for the production of a porcelain similar to the Chinese from these native materials. Readers interested in this abortive enterprise, from which such great results were afterwards to come, can only be referred to the general histories of English porcelain, for the factory was removed to Bristol in 1770 and was shortly afterwards transferred to Richard Champion, a Bristol merchant, who had already been dabbling in the fashionable pursuit of porcelain making. Champion's Bristol factory lasted from 1773 to 1781, when the business had to be sold to a number of Staffordshire potters owing to the serious losses it had entailed. The Bristol porcelain, like that of Plymouth, was always a true felspathic porcelain resembling the Chinese, but made from the china clay and china stone of Cornwall. It is, therefore, harder and whiter than the other English porcelains, and its cold, harsh, glittering glaze marks it off at once from the wares of Bow, Chelsea, Worcester or Derby.

The Bristol porcelain resembled that of Meissen quite as much in its style of decoration as in the nature of its materials. One can point to nothing distinctly English about it, and if specimens now command very high prices in the salerooms it is on account of their rarity rather than of any intrinsic quality or beauty that they possess.

Table ware of various kinds formed the greater part of the production of the Bristol works, but a considerable number of figures are known, in many cases obviously copied from those of Meissen, and a few large hexagonal vases similar in style to specimens produced at Chelsea and at Worcester. The most distinctive pieces made at the Bristol factory are certain small plaques or slabs in "biscuit" porcelain, usually bearing in the centre a portrait medallion or armorial bearings surrounded by a wreath of skilfully modelled flowers. Good examples of these choice productions are to be seen in the British Museum.

The Plymouth factory is supposed to have adopted as its general mark the alchemical symbol for tin. This mark was also used to a limited extent at the Bristol factory, though the general Bristol mark was a cross or a copy of the crossed swords of Meissen. The Staffordshire potters who bought the rights of the Bristol porcelain factory from Champion established a works at Shelton, near Stoke-upon-Trent, in Staffordshire, under the name of New Hall Porcelain Co., but they never manufactured anything of artistic account.

_Minor English Factories._--A number of other porcelain factories were
founded in England in the latter half of the 18th century, but none of
these produced ware of any particular merit. The porcelain made at
Longton Hall by William Littler (1752-1758), always clumsy and ugly in
form, is interesting for a splendid blue colour characteristic of the
factory. This small venture was ultimately absorbed by William
Duesbury.

The colony of potters established in Liverpool also made a certain
amount of porcelain, as well as "Delft" and other earthenwares, and
the Liverpool Museum contains some good examples of their productions.

A little factory at work at Lowestoft in the last quarter of the 18th
century has attracted much more attention than it deserves, because
certain writers foolishly attributed to it large quantities of
"Armorial" porcelain which had, undoubtedly, been made in China.
Recent excavations have established the fact that this factory was
only of minor importance, and was mainly occupied in producing cheap
wares in rivalry with, and even in imitation of, those of the more
important English factories.

Towards the end of the 18th century the manufacture of English
porcelain spread into the Staffordshire potteries, and the firms of
Spode, Davenport and Minton became the most important English
factories of the early 18th century. For notices of the minor English
factories of the late 18th century and early 19th century, such as
Caughley, Coalport, Swansea and Nantgarw, the student is referred to
the special works dealing with the history of English porcelain.

_Collections._--The British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum
contain the best general collections of English porcelain. The museums
at Bristol and Liverpool contain examples of the local wares; while
the museum at the Worcester Royal Porcelain works has an admirable
collection of the wares of that factory. Many noteworthy private
collections are in existence, of which we may mention those of Mr
Dyson Perrins, Mr Cockshutt and Mr Trapnell.

LITERATURE.--Alex. Brongniart, _Traitié des arts céramiques_ (1844);
Jacquemart, _Histoire de la céramique_ (Eng. ed. 1873); Jännicke,
_Grundriss der Keramik_ (1879); Dr Brinkmann, _Handbook of European
Porcelains in the Hamburg Museum_; Marryat, _History of Pottery and
Porcelain_ (1857); Jewitt, _Ceramic Art of Great Britain_ (1878);
Auscher, _A History and Description of French Porcelain_ (1905);
Burton, _A History and Description of English Porcelain_ (1902);
Dillon, _Porcelain_ (1904); Solon, _Old English Porcelain_ (1903);
Burton, _Porcelain_ (1906); R. Almstrom, _Lervarorna och deras
Tillverkning_ (1903). (W. B.*)

POTTERY AND PORCELAIN DURING THE 19TH CENTURY

The development of the manufacture of pottery and porcelain in Europe and America throughout the 19th century need not be treated in such detail as the history of its growth up to that period, for modern means of communication and the general diffusion of knowledge have tended to destroy the individual character which was so marked a feature of the pottery of different countries in previous centuries. The 19th century was distinctly the century of machinery, and, for the most part, it witnessed the displacement by mechanical processes of those methods of handicraft which made the older pottery individual and interesting even in its simplest forms. Collectors are prepared to pay very large sums for choice examples of the potter's art of bygone centuries, but it is doubtful if much of the pottery of the 19th century will ever be collected for its intrinsic merits, though it may be preserved as an illustration of the spirit of the age.

In preceding sections of this article the development of the brightly painted tin-enamelled wares and the gaily decorated porcelains of various European countries have been traced down to the end of the 18th century, because that date marks, quite distinctly, the period when the old handicraft of the potter was for various reasons displaced by organized manufacture. The disturbed economic condition of Europe in the last quarter of the 18th century and the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century proved disastrous to most of the pottery and porcelain works where artistic wares were made, and the disturbance of traditional methods was completed by the superior mechanical perfection and cheapness of the English earthenware introduced by Wedgwood and his contemporaries. The English pottery was neater, more perfectly finished and more durable than the painted tin-enamelled pottery of the continent. It vied in finish with the expensive continental porcelains, and for nearly half a century it carried all before it, not only in England, but throughout the world. An intelligent observer, M. Faujas de Saint Fond, writing in the beginning of the 19th century, remarks of English pottery that "Its excellent workmanship, its solidity, the advantage which it possesses of sustaining the action of fire, its fine glaze impenetrable to acids, the beauty and convenience of its form, and the cheapness of its price, have given rise to a commerce so active and so universal, that in travelling from Paris to Petersburg, from Amsterdam to the farthest parts of Sweden, and from Dunkirk to the extremity of the south of France one is served at every inn upon English ware. Spain, Portugal and Italy are supplied with it; and vessels are loaded with it for the East Indies, the West Indies, and the continent of America."[36] It was calculated that at this time three-fourths of the pottery manufactured in England was sent abroad. Such a state of things was not likely to continue, and in most of the European countries, after the settlement of 1815, such of the older factories as had survived, or new factories specially created for the purpose, adopted English methods of manufacture. In many cases experienced Staffordshire potters were procured to direct these works, and so far as ordinary domestic pottery was concerned, the first half of the 19th century witnessed the establishment in every country of Europe and in the United States of America of pottery works managed by Englishmen, where earthenwares were made after the English fashion. We shall refer presently to the survival or revival of the older styles of pottery and porcelain, but the English influence was undoubtedly paramount, with one or two notable exceptions, down to 1850, or even later. England itself witnessed a notable development of its pottery manufacture, which became more and more aggregated in that district of North Staffordshire designated emphatically "The Potteries," where, in spite of later developments, from two-thirds to three-quarters of all the pottery and porcelain made in the British Isles is still produced. This concentration of the industry in England has resulted in a race of pottery workers not to be matched elsewhere in the world, and while it was the supply of cheap coal and coarse clay which first gave Staffordshire its pre-eminence, that pre-eminence is now retained as much by the traditional skill of the workmen of the district as by the enterprise of its manufacturers.

Sèvres. Pâte-tendre, c. 1757, painted by Falot and Morin.

Meissen. May-flower vase mounted in ormolu. Pâte-dure.

Meissen. Crinoline figure (Kandler), Pâte-dure.

Sèvres. Pâte-tendre, c. 1756.]

While we must admire, from the economic point of view, the methods of manufacture which have placed England in the first rank as a pottery-producing country, inasmuch as they have brought within the reach of the humblest domestic utensils of high finish and great durability, it is impossible to say much for the taste or art associated with them. Neatness, serviceableness and durability, English domestic wares undoubtedly possess in a degree unknown to any earlier type of pottery, but the general use of transfer-printing as the principal method of decoration, and the absence of any distinctive style of ornament, must cause them to take a low rank in comparison with the wares of past centuries, when mechanical perfection was impossible and rich colour and truly decorative painting were the chief distinctions of the pottery of every country. The London International Exhibition of 1851 is generally supposed to indicate the low-water mark of art as applied to industry; it should rather be regarded as marking the period when many of the old handicrafts had been extinguished by the use of mechanical appliances and the growth of the factory system, and when the delight of men in these current developments was so great that they were regarded as triumphs in themselves, when they were only "means to an end."

Since that period the development of pottery and porcelain has followed two main directions: (1) an attempt on the part of manufacturers to produce the most artistic results possible with modern processes and methods, and (2) the interesting and valuable efforts of those individual potters in every country with whom art was the first consideration and commercial production was disregarded.

Though the English pottery factories were of such paramount importance in the first half of the 19th century, it must be remembered that some of the oldest factories in Europe were still alive and active. The royal factories in Sèvres, Meissen, Berlin, Vienna, St Petersburg and elsewhere, surviving the wreck of the Napoleonic Wars, continued at the expense of their respective states, to produce porcelains which were the legitimate development of their work during the 18th century.

_Meissen and Berlin._--At Meissen, efforts were made to improve the technical process in use, but, unfortunately, the old Meissen wares had already become valuable, and they were reproduced, marks included, until all initiative was destroyed, and the factory continued to live, mainly, on its old reputation.

At Berlin, the financial troubles of the Prussian monarchy throughout the early years of the 19th century were severely felt, so that a cheaper class of porcelain was manufactured. The only innovations that can be ascribed to the factory during this period, though highly esteemed at the time, form striking examples of the artistic decadence of the period. Such was the lace-work decoration made by dipping lace in porcelain slip so that on firing the thread burned away, leaving a porcelain facsimile; another was the production of slabs of porcelain modelled in such a way that on viewing the piece by transmitted light it appeared like a picture painted _en grisaille_.

From the artistic point of view there is little to be said for the majority of productions of the Berlin factory, but nowhere in the world has greater attention been paid to the technical and scientific problems of porcelain manufacture, and this establishment has rendered the greatest service in the development of the important chemical and electrical industries of Germany by the splendid appliances it has invented for scientific use.

Since 1870 the works, removed to Charlottenburg, have been conducted with very great enterprise. It was here that Seger perfected his soft porcelain based on the glazes and bodies of the best Japanese porcelains, and here also he developed the manufacture of copper-red glazes in imitation of the old _sang-de-boeuf_ and _flambé_, glazes of the Chinese, at the same time establishing some of the scientific principles underlying their production. At Berlin, too, all the modern methods of decoration, whether in coloured glazes, raised enamels, _pâte sur pâte_, the elaborate paintings of flowers, birds or figures, or the use of crystalline glazes, have been followed with great success; but the factory has never yet given any special impetus or new direction to the decorative side of porcelain.

_Vienna._--Few European factories were so little affected by the general trend of affairs as the royal factory at Vienna. We have already referred to the elaborate paintings and rich gilding which became the distinguishing feature of its wares towards the end of the 18th century, and this style, once perfected, seems to have been continued with little change. It has been stated by a renowned German authority, that the Viennese porcelain was at its best between 1785 and 1815. During this period the plan of painting copies of pictures on porcelain was developed to its utmost, and this, in combination with the richest gilding, marks the apotheosis of Viennese porcelain. The factory came to an end in 1864, but collectors should be warned that a flood of cheap porcelains, decorated in modern Viennese workshops, and therefore styled "Viennese porcelain," has during the last twenty years overwhelmed the English and American markets.

_Sèvres._--The important part played by the Royal French manufactory at Sèvres has already been sketched. During the troublous years of the French Revolution the works practically came to a standstill, and under the Directory it was a question whether this manufactory, along with certain other state establishments in France, should be closed. Napoleon, however, decided that for the glory of France and as a means of encouraging its porcelain industry, seriously threatened by the English potters, the establishment at Sèvres should be conducted as a national factory. By a splendid coincidence Alexander Brongniart, a man of great natural ability, and a noted scientist, was appointed director, and retained that post under the successive governments of France until his death in 1847. In the hands of Brongniart the establishment at Sèvres became at once a school of research and a centre of practical accomplishment--the influence of which was felt throughout Europe. Its products were obviously inspired by the demands of successive French monarchs and their courts. It ministered to the grandiose ideas of Napoleon, who demanded pieces that were to speak of his victories, and after every campaign a fresh table service or new suite of vases was produced to commemorate the emperor's successes. The most striking piece of this kind was the vase made to commemorate the marriage of Napoleon and Marie Louise in 1810. It was designed by Isabey and was modelled with figures in bas-relief. The principal group contains not less than 115 such figures, while the subsidiary group, representing the acclaiming populace, contains between 2000 and 3000 figures. This vase was three years in making, and is said to have cost something like £1250. Unfortunately this was not a solitary example of the productions of Sèvres, for under every successive government of the 19th century the factory has been called to produce enormous vases which are to be found in the rooms or corridors of every palace and museum in France, and while these pieces represent wonderful technical skill, both in their manufacture and the decorations with which they are covered, very few of them possess either spontaneity or charm. They are correct, frigid, cold, and compare most unfavourably from the artistic point of view with the masterpieces of oriental pottery.

Everything was carried out on the grand scale, and once again the influence of Sèvres became paramount in Europe, and its styles of painting and decoration were eagerly followed from 1830 to 1870 by all those European potters who were attempting to make anything beyond useful domestic wares. As an instance of its aims in the period between 1830 and 1850, large sums were spent in the production of great slabs of porcelain many feet in area; on which were painted copies of some of the famous portraits and other pictorial masterpieces in the galleries of the Louvre. A number of these are preserved in the museum at Sèvres, and must always excite admiration and even wonder at their technical accomplishment.

The most noticeable invention of Sèvres in the middle part of the 19th century was the _pâte sur pâte_ decoration in which porcelain clays of various colours are used as the artist's medium. The idea appears to have been adopted from an old Chinese vase by Robert, the chief painter, and at the London International Exhibition of 1862 some small cups decorated in this method, by Gely, were first shown. The most successful work in this style was, however, that produced by M. Solon, who worked at Sèvres until 1870. In that year he came to England and was employed at Minton's, where for about thirty-five years he continued this method of work, one of the few artistic and beautiful styles of pottery decoration of the 19th century. As practised by M. Solon the _pâte sur pâte_ decoration took the form of paintings of figure subjects or dainty ornamental designs in white slip on a coloured porcelain ground of green, blue, dark-grey or black. On such grounds a thin wash of the slip gives a translucent film, so that by washing on or building up successive layers of slip, sharpening the drawing with modelling tools, or softening or rounding the figure with a wet brush, the most delicate gradations of tint can be obtained, from the brilliant white of the slip to the full depth of the ground. This method was rapidly adopted by all the principal European factories, though nowhere was it carried to such perfection as at Sèvres and at Minton's. M. Taxile Doat has executed many extraordinary pieces in this style of decoration at Sèvres, and in the British Museum there is a large vase of his, presented by the French government at the beginning of the present century. One great feature of French porcelain manufacture during the 19th century was the development of the industry at Limoges and the neighbouring district of central France. Limoges was a small centre of porcelain production in the period between 1780 and 1850, but after the latter date it rapidly developed into a pottery centre second only in importance to that of the Potteries district in England. We can do no more than mention this fact, because, for the most part, the activities of Limoges have been devoted to the production of pottery commercially, rather than pottery as an art.

The Franco-German War proved a disaster for Sèvres, and all work came to a standstill for a time. The existing manufactory, which was almost completed before the outbreak of the war, was opened by Marshal MacMahon in 1876, but for many years the work was continued under great discouragement. Between 1879 and 1889 attention was paid to the study and imitation of old Chinese methods, and this resulted in the reproduction of many of those Chinese glazes which had hitherto been the despair of European potters.

At the Paris Exhibition of 1900 the display made by Sèvres was perhaps the most notable feature of the magnificent collection of ceramics gathered there. The collection included many varieties of porcelain, both hard and soft paste, decorated in all the current styles of the period; under-glaze painting, on-glaze painting, flambé glazes and crystalline glazes, but most beautiful of all were the magnificent groups of "biscuit" figures designed as table garnitures by some of the best French sculptors of the time.

_English Progress._--The demand for elaborate specimens of painted porcelain was at its height throughout Europe between 1851 and 1880, and this demand was undoubtedly fostered by the series of international exhibitions held during that period, when every European pottery works of note produced large and costly specimens of porcelain or earthenware, smothered with painting and gilding. Every famous manufactory produced something beyond the ordinary, but undoubtedly the first of European factories during this period was that of Messrs Minton at Stoke-upon-Trent. M. Leon Arnoux, a descendant of the Arnoux's of Apt, an old family of French potters, was at this time the technical and artistic director of Messrs Minton's works, and he was the only pottery director during the 19th century who could in any sense be compared with M. Brongniart of Sèvres. M. Arnoux combined in a remarkable degree artistic with technical skill, and under his management the works of Messrs Minton became the greatest centre of ceramic art in Europe. Skilful modellers, like Jeannest, Carriere-Belleuse, and Protat, and pottery painters such as A. Boullemier, Moussill, E. Lessore and L. Solon were engaged at this factory and produced many of the most characteristic European decorations of the middle of the 19th century.

To this period, too, we must refer another English invention, that of a special porcelain known as "Parian." This in its finest expression was a "biscuit" porcelain used for the production of statuettes and groups rivalling the finest 18th century "biscuit" figures of Sèvres and Derby. It seems probable that this Parian was first made at the works of Copeland and Garratt, at Stoke-upon-Trent; but it was immediately adopted at Minton's, Wedgwood's, and at Worcester; and each of these firms used it in a distinctive way. Glazed Parian was also manufactured at the Belleek Porcelain Works in Ireland (the only Irish porcelain works of any note), and later its manufacture was developed by the Worcester Royal Porcelain Company, Moore Brothers of Longton, and other English manufacturers until it became an important branch of the English porcelain made in the period under review.

_Japanese Influence._--At the Paris Exhibition of 1867 the great collection of the applied arts of Japan took Europe by storm, and there was an immediate outbreak of adaptations of Japanese art in Europe once more; not as in the 18th century, when the old Japanese patterns were copied or frankly imitated, but a European-Japanese style arose, based on the methods and ideas of the great Japanese painters and draughtsmen, the workers in metal, in iron, in lacquer and in silk. In England the Worcester Royal Porcelain Company produced a series of elaborate and skilful pieces inspired from this source, which for perfect and minute execution must be ranked before all other European works of their kind.