China Learn

Taking advantage of the methods he had learned in the Elers’ works, Astbury afterwards copied their body. Though coarser than Elers’, his ware was brighter in colour and very effective, the ornaments were ruder and less sharp, and, in addition to the geometrical devices and flowers used by the Elers, he decorated his pieces with heraldic devices and animals.

Astbury afterwards introduced flint into the earthenware body, and was also one of the first to make use of salt-glazing. The wares which often bear his name are of a white body, with moulded devices in relief; these sometimes take the form of strange animals and men in embossed compartments, the pieces most generally met with being tea and coffee pots, and jugs.

In 1690 two brothers, John Philip and David Elers, settled at Burslem as potters. They had accompanied the Prince of Orange to England in 1688. Though they were of Dutch extraction these men came of a noble Saxon family, and Mr. Solon says that their social position was such that “the Elector of Mentz and Queen Christina stood sponsors to John Philip at his baptism.”

Finding, at a secluded spot called Bradwell Wood, a fine clay suitable for making red pottery, they settled themselves there, and stored and sold their wares at Dimsdale, about a mile distant. It is interesting in these days, when the offices of many business men are connected with their residence by telephone, to recall the fact that the Elers connected their works at Bradwell Wood and the warehouse at Dimsdale “by a speaking-tube made of clay pipes, through which to converse” (Solon).

The Elers guarded the secret of the ingredients used and the methods employed in the manufacture of their ware most jealously. It is said they preferred to employ men whose intellect was not of the highest order, and idiots seem to have been at a premium in those days. Two men, Astbury and Twyford, took advantage of this, and, feigning imbecility, gained employment at the works. As a result of this the Elers’ ware was afterwards copied by other Staffordshire potters, though their productions do not bear comparison in the quality of the work.

Elers’ ware is red, and is characterised by a peculiar mode of decoration. The ware was most carefully turned on the lathe, and the shapes used for small pieces are dainty and elegant in form; a tyg, with a delicate little ladle, in the Bethnal Green Museum, offers a striking contrast to wares which had hitherto been manufactured in Staffordshire.

The ornamentation took the form of applied flowers and geometrical devices, which Mr. Solon describes thus-

“On the surface, delicately lined over and finished on the wheel, a little lump of wet clay was applied at a place where a relief was intended, and stamped in the same way as the impression of a seal is taken upon wax. The excess of clay round the outlines was then carefully scraped off with a tool, and the flowers and leaves were connected together with stems made by hand, so that, with the same tools, the pattern might be greatly varied.”

The surface of this kind of ware is mottled by the use of colored glazes of a rich brown or of a mottled purple and green color. This style of decoration as well as the agate was used by Thomas Whie1don, and they were both improved by Wedgwood during his apprenticeship, and it is known that he used them for knife hafts amongst other things. Plate No. I I. shows some interesting specimens of Whieldon’s work. All these pieces show good taste and very careful modeling, and point to the fact that clever workmen and designers were at work in the Staffordshire potteries at an early date.

The many different clays which abound in Staffordshire no doubt first suggested a kind of combing and marbling, and led to the making of agate ware. I n order to attain this effect layers of clay in various colors were laid one upon another, and “from this alternating strata thin slices were cut transversely by means of a wire. The slices were then pressed into moulds, and the irregular blending of the various clays produced a wavy pattern like marble. Sometimes the effect was improved by the use of a bluish glaze.”

Thomas Toft of Tinkers Clough, in Staffordshire, made slip decorated ware. Being ambitious, he did not hesitate to portray the human figure on his pottery, and some examples of this are very quaint. He made large dishes which are sometimes found to bear his name in the decoration, and which would seem to have been more for ornament than for use.

A famous example of Toft Ware is a large dish in the Bethnal Green Museum; this is ornamented with a lion rampant and other designs, and a basket border all in slip. Combed ware was also made by Thomas Toft, and was produced by covering the body with a thin coating of slip in a contrasting color, which was afterwards marked or grained with a comb, similar to that used by house decorators and painters of our own time.

“The most usual pieces in combed and marbled ware were posset pots and tygs” (Binns). Of the former Mr. Jewitt gives the following account: “Posset-pots have been used in Derbyshire and the neighboring counties from an early period until the present time. ‘Posset.’ is an excellent mixture of hot ale, milk, sugar, spices, and sippets, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, dice of bread or oatcake. In those counties this beverage was formerly almost, if not quite, universal for supper on Christmas Eve, and the posset-pot was thus used but once a year, and often became an heirloom in the family. A small silver coin and a wedding ring were generally dropped into the posset.” The pot was handed round, each guest taking a spoonful, and hoping to obtain possession of the ring or coin.

It is evident that potters were at work in Staffordshire from very early times. Dr Plot, who wrote in 1686, mentions these manufactories, and states that the most important of them was at Burslem.

The abundance of clay and coal would attract the potter to this part of the country, and Mr. Solon says: “Clay and coal might be had by merely scratching the soil.”

In his “Natural History of Staffordshire,” Dr. Plot gives a long and interesting account of “slip decoration,” and he mentions three colors as being used-namely, the orange slip, the white slip, and the red slip.

Some of the earliest productions of this district were the butter pots. In 1661 an Act of Parliament was passed to control the size and weight of these, which, according to Dr. Plot, were made at Burslem, “of a certain size, so as not to weigh above six pounds at most, and yet to contain at least fourteen pounds of butter.” He continues thus: “The butter was before sometimes laid good for a little depth at the top and bad at the bottom, and sometimes set in rolls only touching at the top and standing hollow below at a great distance from the sides of the pot. To prevent these little Moorlandish cheats (than whom no people whatever are esteemed more subtle) the factors keep a surveyor all the summer here, who if he have ground to suspect any of the pots trys them with an instrument of iron made like a cheese taster, only much larger and longer, called an Auger or Butter-boare, with which he makes proof (thrusting it in obliquely) to the bottom of the pot; so that they weigh none (which would be an endless business), or very seldom: nor do they bore it neither when they know their customer to be a constant fair dealer.”

These butter pots, which were of a long cylindrical form, are now very rare, but the common Staffordshire folk still speak of Irish tub butter as “pot butter.” speaking, dice of bread or oatcake. In those counties this beverage was formerly almost, if not quite, universal for supper on Christmas Eve, and the posset-pot was thus used but once a year, and often became an heirloom in the family. A small silver coin and a wedding ring were generally dropped into the posset.” The pot was handed round, each guest taking a spoonful, and hoping to obtain possession of the ring or coin.

In 1676 a Dutchman named Van Hamme took out a patent for making pottery, “after the way practiced in Holland,” and established at Lambeth the first factory at which tin glazed ware was produced in this country.

The best-known device of the Lambeth works, according to Mr Binns, is “the puzzle jug of which the neck is so perforated that it seems impossible to reach the liquid.” These jugs often bear an inscription in verse.

Lambeth was also noted for its stone wine jugs, or bottles, on which the name of the wine – as “Claret,” “Sack,” “Whit,” - is inscribed, and also the dates from 1642 to 1659.

Plates with portraits of Charles I and his Queen, and William and Mary, are also attributed to this factory. The old Lambeth works flourished till the end of the eighteenth century, when, being unable to compete with the Staffordshire potteries, they were closed.

At Wrotham, in Kent, a small manufactory was at work in 1688, and produced the earliest slip decorated ware. This was a design produced by pouring through a small pipe clay diluted with water to the consistency of batter; the slip flowed in tracery, and was dropped in dots of a contrasting color on to the ground of the piece, forming an effective decoration. In our own day wedding and other iced cakes are similarly ornamented with designs and tracery in diluted sugar pressed through a pipette.

Some specimens of this ware are found with initials, names, and dates in slip. Mr. Solon gives the following list of forms generally used in “The Art of the Old English Potter”

“The Dish, in every variety of size and ornamentation. The Tyg, a tall cup, which was enriched by an unlimited number of handles. The Piggin, often finely decorated: this is a small and shallow vessel, provided with a long handle for the purpose of ladling out the liquor brewed in Tyg. The Candlestick, found most frequently in the South of England, and often adorned like the tyg with numerous handles. The Cradle, almost peculiar to the Midland Counties. The Jug and Puzzle Jug, both plain and fanciful.”

Some of the inscriptions on this ware are very interesting and quaint.

In the year 1671 John Dwight obtained from King Charles II a patent entitling him to make “the Stoneware, vulgarly called Cologne Ware.” He established a manufactory at Fulham, and there produced stoneware of a very fine quality, and also salt-glazed ware. He had learned the process of salt-glazing in Germany, and for many years seems to have been the only person who used it in this country.

Dwight copied the greybeard or Bellarmin jug, which was first made on the Continent, and which had been derisively called after Cardinal Bellarmin, then very unpopular, owing to his persecution of the Protestants in the Low Countries. “The form of the jug is a round corpulent body with a short neck, on which is an ugly mask with a long beard.”

Amongst other specimens of Dwight’s ware which still exist are” three mementoes of his little daughter. One is a reclining figure, modelled after her death, bearing the inscription, ‘Lydia Dwight, died 3rd March, 1673.’ Another is a full-length statuette, and the third is a model of her hand” (Binns). John Dwight claimed to have made porcelain, but either he did not associate the word with its present-day interpretation or possibly specimens of it have ceased to exist; there is also the remote contingency that any pieces which may remain are not recognized as his work.

Age - Porcelain was not made in England until almost the middle of the eighteenth century, so that it is impossible that the “Worcester” or “Crown Derby” services, which the amateur so fondly believes to have been in his family for “over 200 years,” can, have been made in this country. Either there is a mistake in the date or they are Oriental, porcelain having been made by the Chinese from the remotest ages. Mr. Cosmo Monkhouse in his book on Oriental china speaks of Period 1 as extending “from the disputed date when porcelain was discovered to the Sung Dynasty, which commenced A.D. 960.”

At a time when the highest achievements of the Oriental were mellowed by age, Ceramic Art in our own country was in its earliest infancy. All our factories tried to imitate specimens imported from China, and a large majority of the designs first used were Oriental. This, in itself, is a snare to the amateur (for if there is one fault more than another which he should avoid it is that of judging by pattern and decoration), and is one of the great reasons why it is so necessary to the right understanding of china that a careful study should be made of paste and glaze.

Of course, the collector must learn to distinguish between English porcelain decorated in Oriental taste and Chinese porcelain, but the difficulty should be easily overcome. Oriental china is, with the exception of a small proportion of rare and very valuable pieces, hard paste, and even compared with examples from Plymouth and Bristol-the two English factories which made hard paste-the difference must be quite apparent to an almost untrained eye. I t will be well, however, to test the two with a magnifying glass, and in order to do this it is necessary to obtain unmistakable specimens of each.

For the English I would suggest a piece of marked Bristol if possible and a piece of crown-marked Derby, but if these are not available, take a piece of marked Worcester, and for the Oriental an example of blue Nankin, which is a kind of Oriental familiar to most people, whether collectors or not. Failing this, a piece of the so-called” Armorial Lowestoft,” well-known to most people, and unmistakably Oriental, would answer the purpose. Examine these pieces thoroughly with the glass all over, then turn them so that the under side-where there is no decoration-is uppermost, and mark any differences, especially in the glaze where it may have accumulated round the ring at the bottom of the cup or plate. Note the “pin-points” or tiny holes always seen on a piece of Oriental china which are like, and yet so different from the specks and indentations on a piece of English porcelain; also, the slight rings often seen in the Oriental paste are quite different from the spiral ridges generally seen on specimens of Plymouth and Bristol china. The glaze is put on much more carefully in the Oriental, and has the appearance of being an ingredient in the paste, *-we notice this more or less in our own hard paste productions, but not to the same extent. Another test is the color of the paste seen by looking through first one piece and then the other in a strong light.

All this should be done over and over again and notes made of any difference, however subtle, which may be remarked. It is best that each person should make his own observations, unbiased by any preconceived idea of what he will find, as the same characteristics may appear more or less different to each person.

Scale Decoration - We often hear of the beautiful Worcester china with blue scale ground, and more rarely a piece is met with which has salmon scale ground; in each case the groundwork of the piece is a form of decoration which resembles the scales of a fish.

Salmon Scale is a salmon-pink scale also used at Worcester as groundwork. Blue, pink, and even green, scale was used as borders and bands by several factories.

Powder Blue is a color copied from the fine vases and dishes made in China; it was used at Worcester in the earliest days; the name is almost an explanation; it is a ground color, with a granular appearance like gunpowder, and is a shade of blue resembling steel.

Biscuit - This term signifies unglazed porcelain. Chaffers describes it as resembling “a new clay pipe with no gloss upon it.” Transfer printing is a process which was discovered about the year 1756, and is a very simple one. An impression taken from a copper plate on to paper was applied to the ware, which had previously been heated and sized, this was carefully pressed and rubbed, and the ink being made from linseed oil left the impression on the piece.

Kaolin - This term is used to signify china clay. I t is said to be derived from the Chinese Kaou-ling (lofty ridge), the name of a hill where the clay was found.

Petuntse - A siliceous stone found in China, and answering to our felspar or Cornish china stone.

“Unaker” - The name given by the Cherokee Indians of Virginia to the china clay obtained from them about the year 1744 and brought over to this country.