Fig. 307.—Dish.
Marked “Coalport improved Feltspar (sic) Porcelain.”

Colebrook Dale is another name for the Coalport works.

Stoke-on-Trent. The first Josiah Spode had a factory here in 1784 for the production of earthenware. He died in 1797 and was succeeded by his son Josiah, who commenced the manufacture of porcelain about 1800. He was a most successful man of business and was appointed potter to the Prince of Wales. Josiah Spode took William Copeland into partnership, and the works are still carried on by Messrs. Copeland & Sons.

Fig. 308.—Cup, Cover, and Saucer.

Fig. 309.—Vase.

Herbert Minton when he succeeded to the business at Stoke-on-Trent (see page 236), greatly developed the manufacture of hard and soft porcelain, and copies were made of Sèvres porcelain vases.

Fig. 310.—Bowl.
Blue and gold, painted with flowers.

Longton Hall. A porcelain factory was established here about 1752 by William Littler. The ware appears to have been rather vitreous in character, and somewhat resembles Chelsea and Bow porcelain. The works closed about 1759, and the moulds, &c., are believed to have been purchased by Duesbury of Derby.

LONGTON HALL

Fig. 311.—Vase.

Bow. The manufactory of porcelain at Stratford-le-Bow was established about the middle of the 18th century. Thomas Frye, an eminent painter, appears to have been instrumental in bringing the china to that perfection for which the manufactory was celebrated. He took out two patents for the improvement of porcelain; the first in 1744 was in conjunction with Edward Heylyn, the second in 1749. In 1750 the works were disposed of to Messrs. Weatherby & Crowther.

Fig. 312.—Teapot.
Printed with King of Prussia.

Fig. 313.—Bowl.

Fig. 314.—Plate.
Printed with Æneas and Anchises.

Fig. 315.—Statuette, “Flora.”

Fig. 316.—Bust of George II.

The interesting bowl (now in the British Museum), made at the Bow works in the year 1760, and painted by Thomas Craft, is accompanied by a short history of the works, which informs us that the names of the proprietors were known all over the world, that they employed 300 persons, about 90 painters, and 200 turners, throwers, &c., all under one roof. (See Fig. 313.) In 1775 or 1776 the works were sold to Duesbury, and all the moulds and implements were transferred to Derby.

Fig. 317.—Group: “A Tea Party.”

For a more detailed account of the Bow porcelain manufactory, the reader is referred to Marks and Monograms on Pottery and Porcelain, by W. Chaffers.

Chelsea. This celebrated porcelain manufactory was established about 1740, shortly after that of Bow, and the early productions of the two are frequently mistaken one for the other; but, fortunately, the Chelsea wares, especially the finest pieces, were subsequently marked with an anchor in gold or red. The period of its greatest excellence was from 1750 to 1765.

The early pieces were copied principally from the Oriental, being decorated with Chinese patterns, and these were marked with an embossed anchor.

Fig. 318.—Marshal Conway.

Fig. 319.—Shepherd.

The beautiful vases in the French style, in imitation of Sèvres, with gros bleu, crimson, turquoise, and apple-green grounds were made from 1760 to 1765.

In 1769, by order of M. Sprimont, the proprietor, the Chelsea porcelain manufactory was sold by auction.

Fig. 320.—Vase. “Death of Cleopatra.”

The works were purchased by W. Duesbury of Derby, and carried on by him at Chelsea until 1784. The later pieces made here under his direction are easily distinguished; these vessels are of simple elegant forms, with the frequent recurrence of gold stripes, and the same forms and style were adopted simultaneously at Derby, but they are inferior to the vases made when M. Sprimont had the works under his direction.

WALES

Swansea. The manufacture of porcelain was revived at Swansea in 1814 by L. L. Dillwyn. At that time Billingsley had commenced making his porcelain at Nantgarw; it naturally attracted Dillwyn’s attention, and conceiving that the kilns used by Billingsley & Walker might be considerably improved, he made arrangements with them to carry on their process at Swansea. Hence the origin of the Swansea porcelain, which obtained great repute, and was continued for six or seven years. Baxter, a clever painter of figure subjects, left Worcester and entered Dillwyn’s service in 1816 and continued there for three years, returning to Worcester in 1819. In the year 1820 the manufactory was discontinued, and all the moulds and appliances were purchased by John Rose, who removed them to Coalport about the same time as those of Nantgarw.

Fig. 321.—Plate.

Fig. 322.—Plate.

Nantgarw. Established in 1813 by Billingsley, the celebrated flower painter of Derby, with Walker, after they left Worcester. They produced some very fine porcelain, of the same peculiar character as that of Pinxton, with a sort of vitreous appearance and a granulated fracture like that of lump sugar. Being very soft the paste would not in all cases stand the heat of the kiln; some of the early pieces are consequently found cracked on the glaze, or slightly warped and bent.

Fig. 323.—Plate.

Fig. 324.—Cup and Saucer.

The Nantgarw porcelain was of remarkably fine body and texture, but its production was expensive. About the year 1820 the manufacture was discontinued; Billingsley and Walker having disposed of their interest in the concern to J. Rose, the moulds and everything connected with the works were removed to Coalport.

Fig. 325.—Vase.

ORIENTAL POTTERY AND PORCELAIN

CHINA

The porcelain of China is composed of two earths, the one a decomposed felspathic rock called kaolin, and the other a rock of the same geological origin, mixed with quartz, called petuntse. They both harmonise so completely that they have an equally resisting power when placed in the kiln. The kaolin used in making porcelain is much softer than petuntse when dug out of the quarry, yet it is this which, by its mixture with the other, gives strength and firmness to the work.

Chinese porcelain was classified by the late Dr. S. W. Bushell, C.M.G., under the following periods:—

1. Primitive period, including the Sung dynasty (960-1279) and the Yuan dynasty (1280-1367).

2. Ming period, comprising the whole of the Ming dynasty (1368-1643).

3. K’ang Hsi period, extending from the fall of the Ming dynasty to the close of the reign of K’ang Hsi (1662-1722).

4. Yung Chêng and Chiên Lung period (1723-1795), the two reigns being conjoined.

5. Modern period, from the beginning of the reign of Chia Ch’ing to the present day.

Fig. 326.—Stoneware Vase.
With Céladon green glaze.
Ming dynasty.

The most ancient mode of decoration was the blue camaïeu, and it is still much esteemed in China; it was executed on the ware, simply dried before the glaze was applied, and then placed in the kiln. Being all completed in one baking, au grand feu, the painting thus executed became imperishable.

Fig. 327.—Stoneware Vase.
With Céladon crackle glaze.

It is on this blue ware that the greater number of the Chinese characters are found denoting the period in which the porcelain was made. The cobalt on the earlier pieces was not so fine as on those of the Siouen-te and Ching-hoa periods, which are now much sought after. It is extremely difficult to tell even the approximate date of the coloured pieces, especially as there was a conventional method of decorating them which had been practised from time immemorial; the painters worked according to given models or patterns, and monsters, deities, or flowers and landscapes, of the same uncouth and rude designs, were placed in successive ages upon the ware.

Fig. 328.—Porcelain Vase.
Painted in enamel colours.

The Père d’Entrecolles tells us the manner of painting vases in China, and how the different parts of a landscape on one vase were intrusted to various hands according to their ability to paint special objects mechanically. He says: “One is employed solely to form the coloured circle which is seen round the border of the ware, a second traces the flowers in outline, which a third fills in with colour; another excels only in painting the water and the mountains, while the next is only competent to portray birds or animals.”

Fig. 329.—Porcelain Ewer.
Painted in enamel colours, and mounted with Florentine copper gilt.
17th century.

A sort of very hard stoneware, covered with a thick glaze, may be the most ancient description seen at the present day. The surface is covered with a semi-opaque glaze which is called céladon by the French, and which varies in colour from a russet grey to a sea green. The glaze of this ware is frequently seen crackled all over in irregular lines, which is termed in England crackle. This crackle china is the most esteemed of Oriental porcelain, although it arises from a defective cause.

Fig. 330.—Bottle.
Powder blue porcelain.
Ming dynasty.

Fig. 331.—Jar.
Painted with plum blossoms.
Ming dynasty.

The same effect may be easily produced upon all terra-cottas of which the paste is more sensible to the changes of temperature than the exterior coating or glaze. In fayence this accident is of frequent occurrence; the red porous clay, being more expansive, draws away the enamel, which, being less elastic, is separated into fragments, and the greater the resistance the more they are multiplied. Now one of the qualities of porcelain is precisely to avoid this double action. Its paste is composed of a felspathic rock, decomposed and infusible, called kaolin; the cover or glaze comes also from a felspathic rock, slightly crystallised; these melt and assimilate together harmoniously in vitrification, and a complete affinity is evident between the two elements of porcelain. Nevertheless the Chinese, in modifying the glaze, are able to render it more or less expansive and to break the harmony between its own shrinkage and that of the paste or body which it covers.

Fig. 332.—Plate.
Egg shell porcelain.

Hence the crackle, at the option of the potter, is made of large, middling, or small size.

Various kinds of crackle are thus produced, sometimes upon one and the same piece, as by exposing the porcelain or portions of it when at its greatest heat to a sudden cold or contact of water, large fissures may be obtained. These cracks are sometimes filled in with black, red, chocolate, or purple colours.

Others may be classed among the curiosities of porcelain—for example, cups or bowls which have an outer reticulated coating, pierced or cut out into arabesques, completely insulated from the inner vessel, except at the rim at top and bottom where it is joined; these have been used for tea or hot liquids, and may be held in the hand with impunity, notwithstanding the heat enclosed within it.

Fig. 333.—Plate.
Egg shell porcelain.

Another variety consists in cutting or punching out pieces of the paste or body of the ware in patterns before it is baked; the pieces so cut out are small ovals like grains of rice placed in more or less numerous stars, rosettes, &c. The vase thus ornamented is dipped into the glaze which fills up all these small holes, and then placed in the kiln. The pattern, being much more transparent than the body of the ware, is distinctly seen, but especially so when held to the light.

Another beautiful effect is produced by means of the glaze itself, which is of a light or dark shade according to its intensity or thickness; for example: a fish, animal, or other object is stamped incuse on the upper surface of a plate, it is then filled in with a coloured glaze and vitrified, and is consequently shaded according to the thickness of the glaze on each portion of the design, the surface being perfectly smooth.

Vases are sometimes seen separated in the middle into two pieces (which must have been cut while the clay was soft), the upper half being completely divided from the lower half—in arabesques and dove-tail patterns, in such a manner, that although separate, they cannot be altogether removed from each other; the wonder is, that in the baking, the edges in juxtaposition should not have become again cemented together.

The Chinese themselves are great forgers, and endeavour to impose not only upon the Europeans, but upon their own countrymen, many of whom are great amateurs, and are willing to pay extravagant prices for ancient examples of porcelain, especially if made by a celebrated potter.

JAPAN

The information concerning the origin of making porcelain in Japan is very scanty. Dr. Hoffmann of Leyden published a history of the principal porcelain manufactories in 1799, which is appended to M. Stanislas Julien’s account of those of China: it was a translation from a Japanese work. He says it was to a colony of Koræans established in the province of Omi, in the island of Nippon, in the year 27 B.C., that the introduction of this art was attributed. About the same epoch there lived in the province of Idsumi, situated like that of Omi in the island of Nippon, a man named Nomino Sukuné, who made, in pottery and porcelain, vases and notably figures of the size of life, to substitute for slaves, which it had been previously the custom to bury with their masters. Nomino received as a recompense authorisation to take the name of Fazi, in the Koræan language Patzi, artist-workman.

Under Sei-wa (859-876 A.D.) the number of fabriques increased considerably.

Under Syun-tok (1211-1221), a Japanese potter named Katosiro-uye-mon commenced the making of small vases in which to preserve tea, but for want of a better process he placed them in the kiln on their orifices, which consequently appeared as if they had been used, and the vases were little cared for. Desirous of improving himself in the art, Katosiro, accompanied by a Bonze or Buddhist monk, visited China in 1211, with orders from his Government to make himself acquainted with all the secret processes of the manufacture, which was at that time brought to so great perfection there.

Fig. 334.—Porcelain Vase.
Hizen ware.
About 1690.

Fig. 335.—Fukurokuji.
The god of longevity.

On his return, he made such important improvements in the composition and decoration of porcelain that henceforth it became superior in many instances to the Chinese, especially in the manufacture of the best specimens, upon which much time and labour were bestowed. The porcelain of Japan is very much like that of China, but the colours are more brilliant on the fine pieces; it has a better finish, and the designs are more of the European character, the flowers, birds, &c., being more natural, and the ky-lins, dragons, and other monsters less hideous; the paste is of better quality and a purer white, especially in ware of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Fig. 336.—Saké Cup and Stand.
Porcelain gold ornament on red ground.

Fig. 337.—Stoneware Jar.
Ôto ware.

Fig. 338.—Porcelain Vase.
Kishin ware.

Fig. 339.—Candlestick.
Tozan porcelain.
Painted in blue.

Perhaps the most beautiful of all the porcelain made in Japan is the egg shell, so called because it is extremely thin and translucent, yet so compact that it can be formed into large vases, as well as plates and bowls or cups.

The small cups without saucers, which are usually placed upon présentoirs of lac, are seldom painted on the exterior; but within is frequently found a fillet of gold, and slight sketches in blue or gold indicating the outline of a mountain, the sun, clouds, and a line of birds taking flight, or sometimes animals, all in outline. On other pieces are birds, flowers, and animals delicately painted in colours.

Fig. 340.—Flask.
Satsuma ware.

The art has been continued to the present day; those beautiful and extremely delicate cups and saucers, thin as paper, are frequently seen covered on the outside with a casing of bamboo threads woven together; the larger basins and covers are also made of equally thin porcelain.

All these are produced now, as they were in ancient times, at Imari, in the province of Hizen. It is not in the village itself that these manufactories are established, but as many as twenty-four or twenty-five are situated near the mountain of Idsumi-yama, whence the kaolin is obtained of which the vessels are made.

Crackle china was made in Japan as well as in China from a very early period, and was frequently painted with flowers, landscapes, and birds.

Fig. 341.—Incense-burner.
Imari porcelain. 18th century.

According to the late Sir Augustus W. Franks, K.C.B., “the ceramic wares of Japan exhibit great differences in their composition, texture, and appearance, but may be roughly classed under three principal heads: (1) common pottery and stoneware, generally ornamented simply by scoring and glazing the surface; (2) a cream-coloured faïence, with a glaze, often crackled and delicately painted in colours; (3) hard porcelain.

“To the first of these classes belong the wares of Bizen, old Seto, Shigaraki, and other small fabrics, including the Raku wares. The principal factories of the second class are Awata, Satsuma, and the recent imitations of the latter at Ôta and elsewhere. Among the porcelain, the coarsest is that made at Kutani, but the most celebrated fabrics are in the province of Hizen, at Seto in Owari, and Kiyomidzu near Kiôto.”

PERSIA, SYRIA, AND TURKEY

PERSIA

Siliceous-glazed wares were produced in Persia at a very early period, and the late Mr. C. Drury E. Fortnum, in his Historical Treatise on Majolica, states that the decoration by means of metallic lustre was practised in that country in the course of the thirteenth century, if not long before. Glass-glazed bricks, tiles, and other wares, were made in Babylon at a remote period, as well as in Assyria and Egypt; and it is probable that the art of their manufacture spread into the surrounding countries.

The Persian ware is principally decorated with blue and black. The lustres are a rich orange gold, a dark copper colour, and a brass lustre. The patterns upon the tiles and vases are similar, and consist of elegant arabesques, foliage, and ornamented flowers, more or less in imitation of nature. Among these we notice the tulip, the Indian pink, the rose, and other flowers. The tulip in Persia is the emblem of Affection, which is thus symbolised at the present day. The bowls and vases are sometimes ornamented with fabulous birds, gazelles, antelopes, hares, &c., mixed with scrolls and foliage. The forms include hemispherical and cylindrical cups, vases, and bowls on conical feet; common forms are a bottle with a very long neck, probably used to hold wine, and ewers and basins, the former like a bottle with handle and long spout, used especially for ablutions, the latter with a pierced cover. The tiles being mostly made to cover walls, form continuous arabesques when placed side by side. Chardin says of them, “In truth, nothing can be seen more lively or more brilliant than this sort of work, nor of equally fine design.”

Fig. 342.—Wall Tile.
Glazed earthenware.
13th century.

The Persian fayence was probably the same as the Gombroon ware, which was shipped by the English East India Company from a port of that name in the Persian Gulf, where they formed their first establishment about the year 1600, and whence the great bulk of Chinese porcelain was exported.

Fig. 343.—Water-bottle.
With metallic lustre.
15th or 16th century.

It has long been a vexata quæstio whether porcelain was ever made in Persia; some say the idea is altogether chimerical, but M. Jacquemart endeavours to prove that both hard and soft porcelain were made at Iran, and has devoted three or four long chapters to the support of his theory (Les Merveilles de la Céramique).

Fig. 344.—Dish for Rice.

The nearest approach to porcelain in Persian ware is a sort of siliceous frit or fine stoneware, which possesses a very slight degree of translucency but is not true porcelain composed of kaolin and petuntse like Chinese porcelain. Small creamy white basins, with the sides pierced with slashes and filled with translucent glazes, are semi-translucent and have the appearance of porcelain.

Fig. 345.—Rose-water Sprinkler.

Fig. 346.—Rose-water Sprinkler.

SYRIA AND TURKEY

Dr. Fortnum was of opinion that what is generally known as Damascus ware was probably made not only in that city but at Constantinople, Broussa, and all the principal sites of manufacturing industry throughout Syria and Asia Minor. It is distinguished by the great brilliancy of its enamel colours, the principal of which are a deep lapis-lazuli blue, turquoise, a vivid emerald green, a brilliant red purple, orange or buff, olive green and black. The pieces consist principally of circular dishes, jugs with long cylindrical necks and globular bodies, flasks, &c., and the best specimens were probably produced during the first half of the 16th century.

Fig. 347.—Damascus Plate.
Painted in colours.

Remains of potteries are stated to have been found at Lindus on the Island of Rhodes, and at one period all the ware of Asia Minor was attributed to those works and was called Rhodian. The pottery actually manufactured there appears, however, to have been of a somewhat coarser character than that made at Damascus and elsewhere. Richly painted tiles with diapering and conventional floral patterns under a vitreous glaze were used largely for the decoration of palaces, mosques, and tombs throughout Asia Minor and Syria; these tiles are also to be found at Constantinople.

Fig. 348.—Damascus Dish.

Fig. 349.—Rhodian Plate.

INDEX