Part 5

The subsequent story of the vase is not fully known, but it may be surmised that it left Russia on the occasion of a great fire at the palace of Czarskoë Selo, when it is recorded that many pieces now scattered in various museums were stolen from the celebrated turquoise-blue service of Sèvres china ordered by Catherine II. in 1788. The vase was bought by Mr. Jones in 1880 at the sale of the San Donato Palace at Florence, and is now housed with the rest of his bequest to the nation. It remains only to mention that the marine subject in the style of Joseph Vernet is the work of Morin, the bouquet of flowers in the reverse medallion is by Fontaine, while the gilding was done by Le Guay, whose signature with the royal cipher is painted under the base.

A brief allusion has already been made to the sculpture in biscuit china, which was among the most remarkable work done at Sèvres during the time of its prosperity. The enamelled figures in the Meissen style, made in the earliest stages at Vincennes, were soon superseded in popularity by those in biscuit, a much better vehicle for reproducing delicate modelling. The high artistic merit attained by them was due to the guiding genius of the sculptor Falconet, who was in charge of the modellers from 1757 for nearly ten years; he himself provided the models for nearly all the figures made during that period, the traditions set by him being maintained by his successors. His nice sense of the capabilities of his material is manifest alike in graceful genre and pastoral subjects and in works of more elevated conception, such as the Pygmalion group already mentioned.

PLATE 27

Vase, with Cover, Worcester, about 1760, with design adapted from the Japanese. Height, 11 in. Schreiber Collection.

No. 480. See p. 85.

Unmarked.

PLATE 28

Vase, with Cover, Bristol, 1770-1781, painted with exotic birds in the Sèvres manner. Height, 15 in. Schreiber Collection.

No. 740. See p. 87.

Unmarked.

After the death of Bachelier the factory was hampered by mismanagement and financial difficulties; the consequent deterioration in its productions was precipitated by the French Revolution, which marks the close of its most glorious epoch. The artistic level reached in the last years of Louis XV. was never again attained until recent times; the success of the factory was the outcome of the peculiar excellence of the Sèvres soft-paste for the display of gilding and painting in enamel colours, and the abandonment of this class of body was inevitably followed by an artistic decline. At quite an early stage of the factory’s career experiments were made with a view to discovering in France the materials for true hard porcelain like that of China and Germany. The success of those researches in 1765 was the prelude to the complete adoption of the new material, when the works were rescued by Napoleon from the state of adversity into which they had sunk in the revolutionary period. For some years before the fall of Louis XVI. both soft and hard-paste were made concurrently; an early example of the latter is a cup and saucer in the Jones Collection, painted with the shield of France supported by an eagle and a dolphin, made to commemorate the birth of the ill-fated Dauphin in 1781. Under the Empire and the restored monarchy everything was done that could be effected by rich gilding and highly-finished painting to bring back the magnificence of former years, and the new material made possible dimensions never attempted before; witness is borne by the huge vase in the Sèvres Museum representing the arrival in Paris of the artistic spoils of Napoleon’s Italian conquests, and another with a frieze depicting the athletic sports of ancient Greece. France suffered perhaps less than other countries from the general debasement of art in that age, but the redeeming charm of the eighteenth century styles was gone, and with it the glory of the Sèvres factory; its artistic recovery with the return of French prosperity under the Third Republic belongs to recent history.

* * * * *

Before leaving the subject of French porcelain, something must be said of the cluster of PARISIAN FACTORIES for making hard-paste china, which arose in many cases under Court patronage after the introduction of the new material at Sèvres. The exclusive privileges of the royal factory, designed to repress all attempts at competition within the borders of France, had been one by one abandoned, having become gradually of no effect. In 1787 complete liberty was accorded to all French manufacturers to pursue all the methods employed at Sèvres, including the jealously-protected use of gilding. As a rule only useful wares were made in the smaller factories, but these were often of considerable merit. The use of gold as the only decoration on a white ground became increasingly popular, and much charming ware is ornamented in this manner. A typical instance may be cited in the spirit-kettle made at the Clignancourt works, comprised in the series of Parisian hard-paste in the Fitzhenry gift. The affectation by these small factories of classical forms is exemplified in the same collection by a ewer with oblong basin decorated in gold and blue, made in the duc d’Angoulême’s kilns in the rue Bondy, which are also famous for the pretty cornflower-sprig pattern afterwards popular in English china.

PLATE 26

Vase, Chelsea-Derby, 1770-1784, with handles in the form of female terminal figures in biscuit porcelain; on the front a medallion with the subject of Celadon and Amelia. Height, 15¼ in. Jones Collection.

No. 825-1882. See p. 84.

Mark: an anchor in gold.

V

GERMAN PORCELAIN

While the efforts to imitate Chinese porcelain first led to lasting results by the invention of soft-paste porcelain in France, the credit belongs to Germany of discovering and introducing into Europe the art of making true hard-paste porcelain of the Chinese type. The discovery was the outcome of researches not originally directed to this end. The romantic story of Johann Friedrich Böttger, the chemist to whom it was due, is well known: how he claimed to possess the secret of making gold, how he fled from Berlin across the Saxon border to avoid the covetous attentions of the King of Prussia, how he was promptly visited with the fate he wished to escape, at the hands of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and how he spent a great part of a short life in fruitless efforts to make gold by alchemistic means for replenishing the Elector’s coffers. It was only when the needs of Augustus had become the more pressing, in consequence of the exhausting war with Sweden through which he lost the Polish Crown, that his optimistic credulity was in danger of being overtaxed. Böttger foresaw that the Elector could no longer be duped, and the happy idea was suggested to him, probably by the chemist Von Tschirnhausen, of drawing a blind over his failure by another plan for enriching his royal master. The latter was foremost among the sovereigns of Europe as an amateur of the porcelain at that time being imported by Dutch merchants from the Far East; he was therefore likely to view with favour Böttger’s new scheme, which was no other than the restoration of Saxony’s prosperity by the establishment in the country of ceramic industries, and particularly of porcelain factories on the Chinese lines. All Böttger’s efforts were now turned in this direction. In 1708 a “_Steinbäckerei_” was started at Dresden for the manufacture of tiles, and shortly after Böttger’s celebrated red stoneware was invented. In 1710 he obtained a royal patent for the foundation of a porcelain factory; the site chosen for it was the fortress of Albrechtsburg, near MEISSEN, and in the course of the year the first samples were submitted to the Elector, two small cups with enamel decoration, still in the royal collection at Dresden. So began the manufacture of hard-paste china in Europe.

The porcelain made at Meissen before Böttger’s death derived its shape in part from contemporary metalwork of the baroque style, and partly from the Elector’s Chinese collection; statuettes were also modelled, after the caricatures of the French etcher Callot. Varied methods of decoration were attempted. Lace-like borders inspired by French designs were executed in enamel colours, or in gold, silver, or lustre; we also find miniature hunting-scenes, such as are seen on Bohemian and Silesian drinking-glasses of the period, applied in gold leaf thickly laid on in slight relief.

PLATE 3

Bowl, Chinese, bearing the mark of the Emperor Chia Ching (1522-1566) of the Ming dynasty. Height, 2-7/8 in.

No. 1616-1876. See p. 12.

Mark:

Plate, Chinese, jointed in colours of the _famille rose_, with a bird perched on the branch of a plum-tree. Period of Yung Chêng (1723-1735). Diameter, 8-1/8 in. Cope Bequest.

No. 600-1903. See p. 25.

Unmarked.

After Böttger’s death in 1719 the painter Herold became the leading spirit of the factory, and painting began to play the chief rôle in the decoration of the wares. The earlier French borders gave place for a time to faithful copies of Oriental patterns selected from the royal collection, those of the Japanese Kakiyemon being specially in favour. By 1730 a distinctive Meissen style had arisen, characterised by simple baroque forms and a decoration of panels enclosed with borders of delicate symmetrical scrollwork in gold and colours, often reserved on a monochrome ground; the panels are filled either with groups of pseudo-Chinese figures, or with landscape subjects depicting wide open country with broad rivers, reminiscent of the lowland scenery to the north of Dresden.

The appointment of the sculptor Johann Joachim Kändler, in 1731, to be superintendent of the modellers, led to a revolution in the character of the wares. If painted figure-subjects were introduced, the favourite themes were gallant parties of ladies and gentlemen in the manner of Watteau, but relief ornament and not painting now became the leading feature; the style adopted in the modelling was a modified form of the French rococo, and impressed itself on the productions of most of the German factories which sprang up in rivalry with Meissen. The very spirit of the German rococo is embodied in the countless figures and groups, destined among other purposes to form part of table-services as decorative “_Tafelaufsätze_,” which were modelled during this period by Kändler and his associates; as we shall see later, they were extensively copied in the earliest English china works. The development of sculpture in porcelain inaugurated at Meissen is a branch of the art in which Europe attained a proficiency absolutely unknown in China; the German factories in particular excelled in their skill in this class of work.

The state of warfare in which Germany was plunged about the middle of the century was a serious check to the progress of the works. When peace was restored in 1763, a new spirit began to manifest itself, contemporaneously with the addition to the staff of the French modeller Acier. The change was completed under the directorship of Count Camillo Marcolini, which lasted from 1774 to 1814. Just as in music, an art in which Germany enjoyed at that time an unquestioned supremacy, the sprightly melodies of Haydn gave place to the graver harmonies of Beethoven, so in porcelain too the altered mood of the age was reflected. Florid rococo forms were abandoned and replaced by the severer contours and simpler decoration of the classic style of Louis XVI. The philosophic sentimentalism of the day was not interested in the pretty but aimless frivolities of the Watteau school, and subjects of an entirely different order were chosen to fill panels and medallions. A service at South Kensington is painted with a series of careful miniatures in illustration of Goethe’s _Sorrows of Werther_, a work in which the spirit of the age is characteristically expressed. Other favourite themes were Angelica Kauffmann’s renderings of the more sentimental stories of classical mythology.

The Meissen vase chosen for illustration in Plate 20, one of a set of three in the Jones Bequest, dates from the earlier years of Count Marcolini’s management. The slight decoration of dainty and pleasing effect allows the fine qualities of the paste to be fully appreciated. The various ornamental features embody in characteristic manner the ideas of the age. The symmetrical amphora form, the square architectural plinth, the wreaths of oak on the cover and foot, point to the new interest awakened in ancient, more particularly Roman, art by the publication of the antiquities of Herculaneum; the garlands and festoons of forget-me-nots recall the sentiment of an age that amused itself with the study of the “language of flowers.”

* * * * *

The Meissen factory had not long been working before its success suggested the introduction of the manufacture of porcelain in other German states, and in less than fifty years from the date of the royal patent of Augustus the Strong, a porcelain factory was considered a necessary adjunct to the Court of even the minor German rulers. The influence of Meissen is everywhere apparent, but individuality shown in various directions by a few of the rivals entitles them to special mention. The seniority amongst these belongs to VIENNA, where a factory was set up as early as 1718 by a Dutchman with the help of workmen who had escaped from Meissen; in 1744 it became an imperial institution. The style of the wares followed closely on that of the parent works, until financial embarrassments led to a complete reorganisation under Baron von Sorgenthal in 1784. The change was heralded by the adoption of severely angular shapes, and of romantic or mythological subjects pictorially rendered, within elaborate borders composed of classical motives carried out in rich highly-burnished gilding on panels of gorgeous colouring; the true qualities of porcelain were forgotten in the effort to arrive at the highest pitch of sumptuous richness.

* * * * *

The factory of HÖCHST, under the patronage of the Elector of Mainz, famous for its figures of children modelled by Johann Peter Melchior, was also founded with the help of a Meissen artist. Again, it was his marriage with a Saxon princess that awakened in the Elector of Bavaria, Max Josef III., the desire to possess his own porcelain kilns. These were erected at first at Neudeck, near Munich, and were removed in 1758 to NYMPHENBURG. Thanks to an Italian sculptor, Franz Bastelli, the Bavarian factory takes foremost rank in Germany for its statuettes; whether characters from the Italian comedy, or dancing cavaliers and ladies, they display in their crisp, nervous lines, a spontaneity tempered by masterly restraint which is best appreciated when the white porcelain is left to speak for itself, unobscured by the application of enamel colouring.

* * * * *

The Duke of Württemberg’s factory at the _Residenzstadt_ of LUDWIGSBURG, near Stuttgart, was founded in 1758, a propitious moment for starting a new enterprise of the kind, as Meissen and other factories in northern Germany were suffering from the effects of a long-protracted war. Under the directorship of Ringler, who had previously gained experience at Vienna and Neudeck, the works speedily reached a high pitch of efficiency. In figures they were stamped at an earlier date than other German works with the new ideas of classicism, through the influence of the sculptor who was appointed in 1759 to superintend the modelling, Wilhelm Beyer of Gotha. As the result of prolonged residence in Rome and Naples he was deeply imbued with the spirit of antique sculpture. He understood well how to temper the cold serenity of the antique so as to suit the taste of an emotional age; at the same time he knew how to modify classical forms in compliance with the exigencies of his material, nor did he, like later porcelain-modellers of the classical school, renounce the charms of glaze and colour. The classical feeling makes itself felt as much in his pastoral groups as in his renderings of mythological subjects.

PLATE 4

Ewer, Chinese, period of Wan Li (1573-1619), with contemporary brass mount of Augsburg workmanship. Height, 12¼ in.

No. 174-1879. See p. 13.

Mark: _Fu_ (“Happiness”) in seal character.

Whilst Beyer was the pioneer of the classical in porcelain figures, the Ludwigsburg factory was slow to abandon the rococo style in its table wares. The exceptionally graceful forms which they assume are typified by the coffee-pot in Mr. Fitzhenry’s collection, represented in Plate 21. The gilt scrollwork under the lip shows the rococo at its best. The mark on the bottom is the cipher of Duke Carl Eugen, a double “C” under a ducal crown.

* * * * *

Excellent work was done in their best periods by several other German factories. BERLIN under the patronage of Frederick the Great was successful in combining gracefulness of form with rich painted and gilt decoration, as for instance in the beautiful rococo service with openwork borders made for the Neue Palais at Potsdam. The works of the Elector Palatine at FRANKENTHAL rivalled Meissen in the rich diversity of its figure-modelling, while at ANSBACH the factory established by the Margrave Christian in 1758 excelled in landscape work in the manner of Claude, painted _en camaïeu_ in crimson within elaborate gilt borders of feathery rococo scrollwork.

The royal Danish factory at COPENHAGEN may be mentioned as another instance in which the help of Meissen workmen was secured for setting the enterprise on foot. The manufacture is represented at South Kensington among other pieces by an important vase with a portrait of the Crown Prince, afterwards Frederick VI. of Denmark.

PLATE 21

Coffee-pot, Ludwigsburg, about 1760. Height, 8½ in. Collection of Mr. J. H. Fitzhenry.

No. 1990. See p. 71.

Mark: the cipher of Carl Eugen of Württemberg under a ducal crown.

VI

ENGLISH PORCELAIN

PLATE 17

Jug, with hinged Cover, Sèvres, dated 1770, with the mark of the flower-painter Bouillat fils. Height, 5 in.

No. 2019-1855. See p. 57.

Mark:

The obscurity which enshrouds the history of the earliest English porcelain works may be accounted for by the fact that these factories were private ventures, started for commercial purposes; they were not, as at the outset were many of their Continental rivals, experimental undertakings conducted under the protection, or subsidised out of the funds, of a royal or princely patron. It is true that the Chelsea works received some measure of support from King George II. and his son, the Duke of Cumberland, but it was probably to private enterprise that they owed their beginning and continuance alike.

While the earliest known piece of English china, bearing the date 1745, belongs to Chelsea, the other great London factory, Bow, has the honour of the earliest documentary record of the manufacture in this country. This priority, by one year only, based on a patent applied for in 1744, entitles the Bow works to be noticed first.

* * * * *

Except in the direction of figures, the productions of Bow were of an unambitious character. “Useful” wares showing many varied types of decoration were made during the thirty odd years of the factory’s existence. The earlier of these were interpretations, not as a rule slavish copies, of the Chinese _famille rose_ and of the works of the Japanese potter, Kakiyemon; their colours are often harmonious, and their gilding of peculiar richness. Such praise cannot be bestowed on the later productions, which have too often a garish and clumsy air; the charm of simplicity is sacrificed in the effort to be splendid, and the results are crude and ungainly. It is interesting to note some pieces with landscapes so closely resembling the type which is commonly found on the German porcelain made at Fulda as to point to the suggestion that they must have been derived from that source.

Some of the figures made at Bow show considerable spirit and breadth of modelling, which is best appreciated when the china has been left white, without the addition of coloured enamels. The statuettes of the actors Woodward and Kitty Clive in character, King Lear, and some dignified figures of nuns, are almost as effective as the white figures of Nymphenburg, of which mention has already been made. These white pieces date mostly from the earlier stages of the works. At a later time the clever modelling is usually obscured by enamelling of unpleasing tones. A great number of the later figures are copied directly from the Meissen models of Kändler. Instances in the Schreiber Collection at Kensington are a spirited pair of prancing horses held in respectively by a Turk and a negro, Augustus the Strong of Saxony kissing his hand to a lady, and a pair of tureens in the form of partridges on their nests.

Perhaps the most pretentious figures ever made at Bow were the pair of General Wolfe and the Marquis of Granby, of which there is an example in the same collection. These were modelled by Tebo, who is also mentioned as having worked at Worcester and Bristol. The name has a curiously unfamiliar form, and is probably an English phonetic spelling of the French Thibaut. It is by no means improbable that he was one of the many French potters who migrated to this country in search of fortune, or to escape the tyrannical pretensions of the French royal manufacture. The pair of figures was doubtless made in 1760, to commemorate the events of the previous year, so glorious in the annals of British warfare. In the victories of Quebec and Minden, Wolfe had met his death and Lord Granby had won his first distinction by saving the British cavalry from disgrace. These two soldiers were the popular heroes of the day, and their figures in porcelain would be sure to command a ready sale. The portrait of Wolfe is copied from a sketch by Captain Smith, which was engraved by Richard Houston. Granby appears to be taken from a print by the same engraver after a painting by Reynolds, which was published in 1760; he is represented in the uniform of Colonel of the Horse Guards.

* * * * *

Passing on to CHELSEA we have to deal with perhaps the most famous of English china works, one that takes its place worthily beside the great factories of the Continent. The history of Chelsea is in one respect parallel to that of Bow; its earlier productions, with all their technical imperfections, are possessed of a charm that is wanting in the gorgeous and ambitious achievements of its later years. This is notably the case with the statuettes for which most of all the name of Chelsea is famous. Neither the figures of the cream-coloured glassy paste marked with a triangle, nor those in the heavy cold-looking material on which a raised anchor often occurs, are devoid of spirit and vigour; nor are these qualities concealed by the excessive use of gold and enamel colours common at a later period. While they are not for the most part original conceptions, good judgment was exercised in the choice of models to be copied. Barthélemy de Blémont’s _Nourrice_, for example, is no less charming in white Chelsea porcelain than in the colour-glazed earthenware in which it first made its appearance.