Part 6

After the works passed from the management of Charles Gouyn into the hands of Nicholas Sprimont, distinct changes are noticeable alike in the composition of the paste and in the nature of the decoration, but still for some time the colouring of the figures was subdued and limited in range. New models appear, copied in many cases directly from the Meissen figures of Kändler and Acier; the masked man dancing with a peasant girl, and the “Monkey Musicians,” may be cited as instances. Chelsea seems, however, to have been less dependent than Bow on extraneous inspiration. During the last years of the factory’s independent existence a great variety of fresh models make their appearance, coming from the hand of sculptors such as Roubiliac. Here at last original compositions are more in evidence; where inspiration has been sought elsewhere it has been derived not from porcelain prototypes, but from painted works by French or English masters, made accessible by contemporary engravings.

PLATE 18

Vase, Sèvres, dated 1772, with classical medallions on an apple-green ground. Height, 10-7/8 in. Jones Collection.

No. 805-1882. See p. 58.

Mark:

The masterpiece of Chelsea is the group of the “Music Lesson,” with its two accompanying pairs of figures symbolising the Four Seasons, made to form a _garniture_ for the chimney-piece; a complete set is in the Schreiber Collection, where it stands as a veritable _tour de force_ in porcelain. This set is the work of Roubiliac, whose initial “R” is stamped on all three pieces, the subject of the centre-piece being borrowed from _L’Agréable Leçon_ by Boucher. Other examples of translation in the round from a painting or engraving are the dancing figures taken from Watteau’s _Fêtes vénétiennes_. Historical interest attaches to the pair of figures of the democratic hero John Wilkes and his champion, General Conway; they were doubtless modelled in 1764, when Conway sprang into popularity in consequence of the degradation with which he was punished for having spoken in Parliament on Wilkes’s behalf.

The later Chelsea figures of this class are usually so much decorated that their attractiveness is gone, but an example has been chosen for illustration in Plate 22, which has suffered less than others in this respect, and is thoroughly characteristic of the style. The graceful _allure_ of the shepherdess with her basket of flowers and kilted skirts will suffice as an excuse for the painter’s extravagance in the decoration of her raiment.

In its earlier stages the Chelsea firm depended for its vases and “useful” wares, as far as form was concerned, on the models offered by Oriental china, and by the work of contemporary London silversmiths. In decoration also, Oriental, particularly Japanese, patterns were closely followed. This lack of originality is atoned for in some measure by the added charm derived from the mellow surface of the soft Chelsea glazes, while the very defects in the painting due to the touch of a Western hand give a certain homeliness which endears the imitations to an English amateur. A beautiful example of this style is the hexagonal covered vase in the Schreiber Collection depicted in Plate 23. Both shape and decoration are copied with fidelity from an original of the school of the great Japanese, Kakiyemon. The perfect balance of the design and the harmony of the colouring are his, but the interpretation and the material in which it is embodied belong wholly to the Western potter; “Western” must be said advisedly, for it must be doubted whether English workmen had any but a minor part at Chelsea in its early days. Whether the “Japan patterns” were copied directly from Oriental wares (the designs in a few instances are Chinese, of the _famille verte_), or whether they were obtained through the medium of Meissen imitations of the Oriental, it would be difficult to decide; the latter would certainly be more easily obtainable in England. It is, however, interesting to observe that the vase here illustrated is an almost exact replica of a pair of Japanese vases at Hampton Court Palace, belonging to the collection formed probably by Queen Mary II. through the agency of the Dutch East India merchants; it is tempting to conjecture that the Chelsea artists may have been allowed access to the royal apartments for the purpose of making drawings for use at the works.

PLATE 22

Figure of a Shepherdess, Chelsea, about 1765. Height, 12½ in. Schreiber Collection.

No. 237. See p. 79.

Mark: an anchor in gold.

Oriental patterns were gradually superseded by motives inspired by rivalry with Saxon porcelain--sprays of naturalistic flowers with insects, landscapes, or animal subjects, such as the series in illustration of Æsop’s Fables. A further advance is seen in the use of ground colours betokening emulation of Sèvres, which lasted in vogue till the independent existence of Chelsea came to an end. The earliest of these colours, an attempt at reproducing the French _bleu de roi_, is probably that occurring on the vases with a ground of uneven streaky blue of rather dull tone which have often been ascribed, without evidence to justify the attribution, to the Longton Hall factory in Staffordshire. Later a more satisfactory colour was arrived at in a dense and splendid “mazarine blue,” while in the effort to equal the _rose Pompadour_ of Sèvres, the claret-colour was evolved of which the glory belongs to the Chelsea works alone. On such splendid grounds as these were reserved panels for miniature paintings taken, as the contemporary sale catalogues inform us, from “Busha,” “Burgam,” “Tenier,” and other foreign masters.

This style is exemplified by the sumptuous vases in the Jones Bequest at South Kensington. One pair with mazarine ground bears subjects from the set of the “Four Seasons” painted by Boucher for Madame de Pompadour in 1755. Other vases are painted with a domestic scene in peasant life, and _La Cueillette de Cerises_ after the same artist. A pair of vases with a claret-coloured ground have mountain landscapes with cattle in the manner of Berghem. Wonderful as such pieces are in the richness of their glaze and gilding and in the careful finish of the paintings, the same defects are generally observable as in the later Chelsea figures. In the desire to cater for luxurious tastes, richness of ornament has been carried to excess, nor do the ungainly forms with their twisted rococo handles compare in attractiveness with the modest shapes of earlier times. The vase figuring in Plate 24, the middle one of a set of three in the Schreiber Collection, suffers less than most from the defects of the period, and well shows the richness of colour and gilding that were then attained. The slightly uneven tone of the deep blue ground was doubtless regarded by the makers as a defect, which they would gladly have overcome if they could; but it is just this quality of variety which gives life to the surface, and makes these Chelsea glazes compare favourably with the almost too perfect ground colours of Sèvres.

The late Chelsea style is most pleasing in the wares made for less pretentious purposes. No better illustration could be found than the tea- and coffee-service with claret-coloured ground bequeathed to the Victoria and Albert Museum by Miss Emily Thomson of Dover. The teapot is figured in Plate 25. Every piece in the service is differently painted with a figure in the quaint dress which passed at the time for Oriental. These charming miniatures are evidently inspired by the _chinoiseries_ of Watteau, which reflected the growing trade with the East under the auspices of the _Compagnie des Indes_; a previous writer[2] has plausibly suggested that this may be the actual “equipage most inimitably enamelled in figures from the designs of Watteau” which was offered for sale at the last auction of Sprimont’s china held in Christie’s Sale-room in February 1770. The sumptuous decoration of such a service need not be condemned when the surroundings in which it was intended to take its place are borne in mind; its display would greatly enhance the elegance of a tea-party in an eighteenth-century drawing-room.

[2] Mr. William Burton, in _English Porcelain_.

* * * * *

It seems, however, that Sprimont’s costly porcelain was appreciated by too small a circle of patrons to ensure its success as a commercial venture. After his works had passed in 1770 into the hands of William Duesbury of DERBY, the style to which most of all Chelsea owes its renown was soon abandoned. In the china made during the ensuing period, in which the Chelsea and Derby works were carried on conjointly under the same proprietor, the Chelsea element in the decoration is small, and it may be inferred that the new manner which appears had already been in vogue at Derby. At what date the Derby factory was founded, and the nature of its earliest productions, is obscure, but to it belongs the credit for a style of decoration unsurpassed among “useful” wares for its suitability to the purpose for which the china was made. Many and varied are the dainty borders, executed sometimes in gold alone, sometimes in bright enamel colours laid on with a sparing and discriminating hand. The scrollwork and contorted forms of the rococo period entirely disappear, to be revived only in imitative work of a later time, when they had lost all vitality and meaning, and were no longer in keeping with the spirit of the age. Restraint verging at times on over-formality is the keynote of the new era, in which for people of culture in all parts of Europe the newly-found vases and sculptures of ancient Greece and Rome were the admired models.

PLATE 23

Jar, with Cover, Chelsea, about 1755, copied from Japanese Kakiyemon ware. Height, 12½ in. Schreiber Collection.

No. 237. See p. 80.

Mark inside the neck and on the cover: an anchor in red.

The effect of the change was decidedly in favour of porcelain as a material; the chastened decoration which it brought with it allowed the charming qualities of paste and glaze to be seen once more to full advantage, and nowhere in European porcelain is the result more happily shown than in the best work of Derby. The ornamental vases of this period fell into the danger as time went on of losing originality and liveliness, as conformity with classical models became more rigorous, but those dating from its earliest days offer a welcome contrast to their Chelsea predecessors.

One of the finest forms made by Duesbury is exemplified by the vase in the Jones Bequest shown in Plate 26. On either side of the body is an oval medallion with a miniature painting. One of these panels represents the incident of Celadon and Amelia overtaken by the storm, from Thomson’s poem _The Seasons_, the source of many a subject in the somewhat theatrical figure-paintings of the time. On the reverse side is a river-scene with a rider watering his horse in the foreground, and a castle-keep on a hill in the distance. The terminal female figures forming the handles are in unglazed biscuit porcelain, offering a pleasant contrast to the glancing surface of the body. The gadroons on the neck, the frieze with a grotesque mask between two lions, and the flowers in natural colours on a gold groundwork, seem when analysed rather incongruous elements, but the effect of the whole though brilliant is yet harmonious. The _bleu de roi_, which is the ground colour on the neck and foot, is of a lighter tone than the Sèvres colour which it was intended to imitate. It is possible that this vase may be the actual one advertised in the sale-catalogue for 9th May 1773, as “_A most capital large therm vase_, richly painted in compartments with figures of Celadon and Armelia [_sic_], ornamented with fine blue and richly finished with chased and burnished gold.”

The style of Derby porcelain was not greatly modified while the works were in the hands of the Duesbury family, but after they were leased in 1811 to Robert Bloor a change came about. Little can be said from an artistic point of view in praise of the output of later years. Effective “Japan patterns” based on Imari originals were adopted for tea- and dinner-services, but generally over-decoration and vulgarity of form and colour were faults for which technical improvements do not avail to compensate.

* * * * *

The porcelain made during the eighteenth century at the “WORCESTER Tonquin Manufacture,” founded by Dr. John Wall and others in 1751, has a more English character than that of the other leading china works in this country. Unambitious in its aims and businesslike in its methods, it contented itself for a long time with producing little but wares for useful purposes. These are characterised by a certain homeliness in the decoration and pleasing simplicity of form. The thoroughly practical nature of the undertaking is borne out by the somewhat doubtful distinction it enjoys of being the pioneer in the use of printing for the decoration of porcelain, or at all events the first factory to make extensive use of this process. While in its early days Worcester drew its inspiration from Oriental china, the Eastern designs were taken rather as suggestions for patterns than as models to be closely copied, as was frequently the case at Chelsea. The same practice held good even in later years, when after the engagement of workmen from Chelsea in 1768, more pretentious wares were attempted. The celebrated “scale-blue” and “powder-blue” vases, with birds or flowers of brilliant hues in reserved panels, were doubtless suggested by the _bleu de roi_ of Sèvres, but they bear little resemblance to their prototype, and, even in their most splendid form they seldom err beyond the limits of sobriety and good taste.

This character of the Worcester wares is well illustrated by the little vase from the Schreiber Collection chosen as the subject of the drawing reproduced in Plate 27. The pattern is a very free adaptation of a Japanese design, in which the chrysanthemum and the wattled fence motive, appearing here as a wheat-sheaf, can be recognised; combined with this is a turquoise border, edged with gilt rococo scrolls, betraying some trace of French suggestion, but the whole is so informally treated that no incongruity is felt, and the general impression received is one of delightful freshness and simplicity. The vase is typical of Worcester at its best.

PLATE 24

Vase from a set of three, Chelsea, about 1760, with gilt relief decoration on a mazarine-blue ground. Height, 11½ in. Schreiber Collection.

No. 241. See p. 81.

Unmarked.

The change in management in 1783, when Thomas Flight and his sons took over the control of the works, did not at first bring with it a serious deterioration in the quality of the china. A new decorative style was adopted in compliance with the fashion of the day, but the same quiet tastefulness was the keynote of the decoration. The sober designs in dark blue and gold almost equal those of Derby in their suitability for the embellishment of table wares. It is not till the beginning of the nineteenth century that a noticeable decline sets in, but from that time forward the Worcester wares, whether made in the original factory or by the rival firm of Chamberlains, become increasingly lacking in interest. All artistic qualities are smothered in overloaded decoration, ungainly shapes, and unrestrained lavishment of gilding.

* * * * *

It was a Quaker apothecary of PLYMOUTH, William Cookworthy by name, whose discovery of deposits of kaolin and china clay in the neighbouring Duchy enabled him in 1768 to obtain a patent for the first English factory of true porcelain of the Chinese type. The serious difficulties with which he had to contend led to the removal of the establishment two years later to BRISTOL, where it was placed under the management of Richard Champion. In 1773 the patent rights were transferred entirely to the latter, and for eight years he continued in the face of many discouragements to carry on the manufacture; special interest attaches to it on account of Champion’s personal relations with Edmund Burke, at that time Member of Parliament for Bristol. Forms and decoration were borrowed more from Meissen and Sèvres than from Oriental types, nor were they as a rule literal copies, but rather adaptations from the originals. While the harmonious blending of the enamels with the glaze, which is so pleasing a feature of soft-paste china, was necessarily absent from the Bristol productions, great brilliancy of colouring was obtained without involving garishness of effect, as may be seen from Plate 28, drawn from a vase in the Schreiber Collection. The fanciful birds are not original creations of the Bristol painter, but reflect the type commonly seen on early pieces of Vincennes and Sèvres; the quiet dignity of the shape, on the other hand, is thoroughly characteristic of the best English work.

* * * * *

The minor English factories of the eighteenth century, such as those of LONGTON HALL, in Staffordshire, LOWESTOFT, and CAUGHLEY, were either of too short a duration to arrive at any high level of technical attainment, or were devoted almost entirely to the manufacture of commonplace wares for ordinary domestic uses. The great extension of the porcelain industry in this country, which signalised the opening of the nineteenth century, was not productive of any noteworthy results from an artistic point of view. At the short-lived Welsh factories of NANTGARW and SWANSEA, it is true, a glassy paste was invented which was shown to be capable of beautiful effects, but the numerous STAFFORDSHIRE firms and the famous ROCKINGHAM works at Swinton in Yorkshire fell under the ban of the same artistic decadence that has been noticed in speaking of Derby and Worcester; they saved themselves from financial disasters by following the demands instead of guiding the taste of a severely commercial age. Those who are in search of what is beautiful or vital in English porcelain will be content to confine their attentions to the eighteenth century.

PLATE 2

Jar, Chinese, early Ming dynasty, with decoration in slightly raised outline filled in with coloured glazes, the rim fitted in Persia with a chased brass mount. Height, 12½ in.

No. 1748-1892. See p. 7.

Unmarked.

INDEX

Abbas II., Shah of Persia, 13

Acier, 68, 78

Æsop’s Fables, 80

_Agréable Leçon, L’_, 79

Albrechtsburg, fortress, 66

Amelia, Celadon and, 84

American Colonies, 58

Angoulême, duc d’, 62

Anne of Austria, 49

Anreiter, Carl Wendelin, 44

Ansbach, 71

“Antiques, The Hundred,” 21, 22

_Ao Kutani_ ware, 34

Apollo Belvedere, 45

Apple-green, 24

Arab traders, 16

Arabic inscriptions, 12

Archaistic Chinese porcelain, 25

Arita, 31

Artemisia leaf, 15

Augsburg, 13

Augustus, Emperor, 58

Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony, 17, 65, 69, 76

Austria, Anne of, 49

Bachelier, 55, 60

Baligny, Étienne, 18

Baroque style, 66, 67

Bastelli, Franz, 70

Bavaria, Elector of, 70

Beethoven, 68

Bérain, 50

Berghem, 81

Berlin, 65, 71

Beyer, Wilhelm, 70

Biscuit porcelain, Sèvres, 60

_Blanc de Chine_, 17

Blémont, Barthélémy de, 78

_Bleu de roi_, 56, 59, 80, 84, 85

Bloor, Robert, 84

Blue, mazarine, 81 powdered, 20, 85 scale, 85

“Blue and white,” 10, 12

Bohemian glass, 66

Boileau, 57

Bondy, rue, 62

Böttger, Johann Friedrich, 65

Boucher, François, 53, 55, 57, 79, 81

Bouillat fils, 57

Bourbon, Louis-Henri de, 52

Bourg-la-Reine, 54

Bow, 19, 43, 75, 78

Bowes Collection, 32

Brighton Museum, 32

Bristol, 77, 86

Bronze, imitation of, 3

Brown, Mr. Montague Yeats, 43

Buddhist designs, 8, 9, 12, 15

Buen Retiro, 45, 51

Burghley House, 13

Burke, Edmund, 87

Burma, 16

Bushell, Dr., 5

Callot, 66

Capodimonte, 45

Carl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg, 71

Carp motive, 22

Catherine II., Empress of Russia, 58

Catrice, 56

Caughley, 87

Cecil family, 13

Celadon and Amelia, 84

Celadon ware, 5, 15, 16, 23

Chabry, 57

Chamberlains, Worcester, 86

Champion, Richard, 87

_Champlevé_ enamel, 7

Chantilly, 52, 55

Charles III., King of the Sicilies, 45

Chekiang, province, 5

Chelsea, 19, 33, 54, 75, 77, 83, 85

Chêng Tê, emperor, 12

Chia Ching, emperor, 12, 14

Chicaneau, Pierre, 50

Ch’ien Lung, emperor, 25, 26, 27

Chihli, province, 5

_Ch’ing_, symbol, 15

Ch’ing dynasty, 19

Ching-tê-chên, 6, 17, 19, 24

_Chinoiseries_, 82

Christian, Margrave, 71

Christie’s sale-room, 82

Chün-chou, 4

Cirou, Ciquaire, 52

_Clair-de-lune_ glaze, 24

Claret-colour, 81, 82

Classical style, 46, 57, 62, 68, 69, 70, 83

Claude, 71

Clignancourt, 62

Clive, Kitty, 76

Cobalt-blue, introduction of, 10

Comedy, Italian, 70

Companies, trading, 16, 27, 82

Condé, prince de, 52

Conway, General, 79

Cookworthy, William, 86

Cope Bequest, 25

Copenhagen, 71

Coral-red, 23

Corean lion, 34

Cornflower-sprig pattern, 62

Cosmo II., Grand Duke of Tuscany, 42

Cozzi, Geminiano, 44

_Cueillette de Cerises, La_, 81

_Cuenca_ tiles, 7

Cumberland, Duke of, 75

Czarskoë Selo, 60

Damascus, mosque at, 11 ware, 14

Dauphin, 61

De Fulvy, Orry, 55, 56

_Demigrand feu_, 21

Denmark, 58, 71

Derby, 33, 82, 88

Deshima, 32

De Staël, baron, 59

Doccia, 44

Dragon Gate, 22

Dresden, collection, 17 _Steinbäckerei_, 66

Dubois, brothers, 55 Jean René, 56

Duesbury, William, 82, 84

Duplessis, 55

Dutch merchants, 18, 32, 66, 80

“Eggshell” china, 25

Egypt, 4, 9

Elizabeth, Queen, 13

Elizabethan silver, 13

“Emblems of Happy Augury,” 8

Empire, French, 61

Enamel, _champlevé_, 6

Engravings, designs copied from, 77, 78

Eu, comte d’, 54

Faïence, 49, 50

Falconet, 60

_Famille noire_, 23 _rose_, 25, 76 _verte_, 14, 21, 24, 52, 80

Fanciullacci, Pietro, 45

_Fêng huang_, 12, 26

Ferdinand I., of Tuscany, 42, 45 IV., of the Two Sicilies, 46

Fernex, 56

_Fêtes Vénétiennes_, 79

Figures, Bow, 76 Chelsea, 77, 79 Chinese, 24 Frankenthal, 71 Höchst, 69 Ludwigsburg, 70 Meissen, 67, 76, 78 Mennecy, 54 Nymphenburg, 76 Sèvres, 59

Fitzhenry, Mr. J. H., 51, 53, 54, 62, 71

“Five colour” decoration, 14, 21, 26

_Fleur-de-lys_ mark, 51

Flight, Thomas, 86

Florence, 40, 44, 49, 60

Flowers, artificial, 56

Fontaine, 60

Forget-me-not decoration, 69

Francesco de’ Medici, 41, 42, 43

Frankenthal, 71

Frederick VI., King of Denmark, 71 the Great, 71

_Fu_, character, 11, 13

Fuchien, province, 17, 51

Fulda, 76

Fulvy, Orry de, 55, 56

Fungus, sacred, 12, 13, 16

George II., king, 75

Gilding, Sèvres privilege, 62

Ginori, Marchese Carlo, 44

Glass, 40, 66

Goethe, 68

Gold, experiments for making, 65 pink derived from, 24 leaf, decoration in, 66

Gombroon, 16

Gorodayiu Go Shonsui, 31

Gotha, 70

Gouyn, Charles, 78

Grain-jars, 16

Granby, Marquis of, 77

Greece, sports of ancient, 61

Greek pottery, 4, 83

Griffith, Mr. Henry, 42

_Gros bleu_, 56

Gustavus III., King of Sweden, 58

Hampton Court, 80

Han dynasty, 3, 6

“Happy Augury, Emblems of,” 8

Hard paste, 61, 62, 65, 86

Haydn, 68

Hellot, 55

Herculaneum, 46, 69

Herold, 66

Hewelcke, 44

Hirato, 34

Hizen, province, 13, 31, 34

Höchst, 69

Honan, province, 4, 9

Houston, Richard, 77

Hsüan Tê, emperor, 10, 12, 26, 34

“Hundred Antiques,” 20, 22

Hung Wu, emperor, 6

Imari, 33, 84

India, 16 china, 27 Companies, 16, 17, 18, 27, 80, 82

Iron-red, 23

Italian comedy, 70

Jade, imitation of, 5, 15

“Japan patterns,” 33, 80, 84

_Jaune jonquille_, 56

Jones Collection, 16, 18, 57, 60, 61, 68, 81, 84

Kaga, province, 34

_Kaki_, signature, 32

Kakiyemon, 31, 51, 52, 67, 76, 80

Kändler, Johann Joachim, 67, 76, 78

K’ang Hsi, emperor, 14, 16, 19, 27

Kauffmann, Angelica, 68

Kiangsi, province, 6, 24

“Kingfisher blue,” 24

Kishiu, province, 34