CHAPTER XI

STAFFORDSHIRE FIGURES

Early Period (1675-1725): Slip, Agate, and Astbury Figures--Best Period (1725-1760): Fine Modelling and Reticent Colouring, Ralph Wood the elder, Aaron Wood, Thomas Wheildon--Classic Period (1760-1785): Wedgwood, Neale, Voyez, Ralph Wood, junior, Enoch Wood, Lakin and Poole--Decadent Period (1785-1830): Walton, Scott, Bott, Lockett, Dale, and imitative school.

In attempting to classify the great array of Staffordshire figures and groups, extending over a period of a century and a half, no little difficulty has been experienced. The number of unmarked specimens is very great, and in many cases, owing to trade rivalry, models were so extensively imitated that it is impossible to say who was the first modeller. These Staffordshire figures, except in the instances of the highest modelling and restrained under-glaze colouring of the best period, cannot be regarded as ceramic triumphs. But they are highly valuable, although not from an artistic point of view, as illustrative of the character of the common folk in England, and exemplifying their tastes and their sentiments.

Ornament, even in the humblest articles of daily use, has its meaning and can tell its story, to those who read aright, of the feeling of the man who produced it; whether he took a pleasure in making the article, or whether he was a machine, human or other, producing only a thin echo of art. Practically it may be asserted that from middle eighteenth-century days to middle nineteenth-century days ceramic art was steadily deteriorating. Applied art had practically ceased to exist in the early nineteenth century. It is said that men's eyes were first opened to this fact by the cumulative hideousness of the Great Exhibition of 1851, and certainly a perusal of the illustrated catalogue of that Exhibition is a saddening occupation.

In the study of the china shelf this decadence must always be considered, and it is fully borne out by a close study of the subject of Staffordshire figures. Practically, the crude agate cat and the little mannikin of early days playing bagpipes found replicas in crudity and poverty of invention in the spotted poodle dog or the kilted Scotsman, the common cottage ornaments of a century later. And between these two dates, with the exception of an outburst which promised to develop into something really great and almost did so, there was, owing to want of artistic instinct and general lack of culture, a fairly rapid degeneration into the hideous nightmare of the Toby jug and all the awful insularities of the late Staffordshire period.

=Early Period= (1675-1725).--The method of slip decoration has already been described, and to this period, when Toft and his school had implanted their quaint and original taste upon the common people, these early figures belong. Among the best-known figures of this early date are small _Cats_ of stoneware or earthenware body, coated with white and ornamented with spots in brown slip. _Ducks_ are sometimes found similarly ornamented in spots and wavy lines. These figures are only 3 inches in height. To these days belong the solid agate _Cats_ made of two or three clays of different colours intermingled, and highly glazed. These are some 5 or 6 inches in height. We give an illustration of this type of ware (p. 171). _Bears_ in agate ware the same nature, and small figures of doll-like individuals are also found.

The elder Astbury (1736-1743) has been credited with a series of figures of men, some 6 inches in height, playing bagpipes or other instruments. They are splashed with green and brown, and have yellow slip ornament, their lead glazing is warm and rich. The beady eyes of some of these tiny figures is suggestive of the Toft slip applied figure on some of his dishes, and was produced by the use of manganese.

Among early figures those of salt-glaze are rare and of exceptional interest, and the figure illustrated (p. 351), stands as a typical example of a class not frequently met with, and highly prized by collectors.

We have seen in the chapter dealing with Whieldon and his influence that he commenced potting before 1740 and continued till 1780, and although none of his figures is marked it is tolerably certain that he produced some fine work in which he introduced the beautiful tortoiseshell glazings, which characteristic is found on figures attributed to him. Obviously over a period of nearly half a century Whieldon ware varies in quality. The following class of figures may be attributed to the early Whieldon period, that is, before 1760. _Actor_, with turban and flowing mantle, hand resting on dagger; tortoiseshell ware, brown and green glazing; height, 5-1/2 inches. _Diana_, with dog, on square hollow pedestal made of buff clay; brown and grey glazings, eyes of brown clay; height, 7 inches. _Venus_, with bow, on irregular base, eyes brown clay; height, 5-1/2 inches. Figure of _Sphinx_, coloured with brown and green glazings; height, 3-1/2 inches. _Monkey_, eyes, black; height, 4 inches. Other animals, such as _Lion_, height, 3-1/4 inches; _Squirrel_, height, 7 inches; _Cock_, height, 7-1/4 inches; _Cow_, in form of small jug with woman milking, height, 5-1/2 inches; _Dog_, with brown glazing, height, 3-3/4 inches. Other figures of this early period are _Summer_ and _Winter_, each 4-1/2 inches high; sauceboats in form of _Duck_ and _Drake_, coloured glazings, height, 4-1/2 inches.

(We have illustrated several types of these figures, pp. 171, 175).

=The Best Period= (1735-1760).--This is known to collectors as the Wood School. Briefly, the history of the Wood family is as follows, and will be of interest to collectors of Staffordshire figures. So strong and original is the work of the modeller Ralph Wood the elder, that connoisseurs recognise the class of face in his work. Aaron Wood and Ralph Wood were the sons of the old Ralph Wood, a miller. They were both modellers of distinction. Aaron is mainly known as a block-cutter of salt-glaze moulds. Ralph Wood (1750-1772) made figures and other rustic groups at his own factory at Burslem. His models are straightforward and homely and strongly English, not greatly influenced by any extraneous classic models. He modelled the celebrated "Vicar and Moses," which for quaint humour is inimitable. It has been copied by all the potters, and much of its strength and simplicity of modelling has been lost, while its restraint in colouring disappeared in the copies upon which enamel colours were lavishly laid.

There was a strong Quaker element in Staffordshire, and the Established Church was the subject of a good deal of satire by the potter. The _Parson and Clerk_ returning home after a carousal, _The Tithe Pig_ and other subjects exemplify this. Fielding published "Joseph Andrews" in 1742, and it appears that parson-baiting was a familiar form of amusement. Probably there were a good many abuses in the Church that were evident. The hunting parson was often the boon companion of the drinking squire. At any rate the Ralph Wood group, entitled _The Vicar and Moses_,[6] showing the sleeping vicar, with full-bottomed wig, and Moses, the clerk, seated underneath the pulpit exhorting the congregation with uplifted hand, is a masterly piece of modelling. In colour the original Ralph Wood examples are light purplish throbbing brown in the pulpit and desk, and carved cherubs, green in the canopy behind the vicar, and who has a white cassock, and the coat of Moses is a slatey blue. The flesh tints are low in tone.

[Note: 6 See coloured _Frontispiece_.]

To return to Aaron Wood, the brother of Ralph Wood, he was the father of William Wood, who became one of Wedgwood's modellers, and of Enoch Wood, who went to Palmer as modeller for some years. In 1784 Enoch Wood commenced business for himself. He produced cream ware and black basalt and, what most interests us here, he made some excellent figures, including a bust of _John Wesley_. In 1790 he entered into partnership with James Caldwell. The ware is marked "Wood and Caldwell" till 1818, when the firm became "Enoch Wood and Sons," till 1866.

In regard to Ralph Wood, the elder, he appears to have engaged his son in his pottery, so that prior to his death, in 1772, we do not know which Ralph Wood modelled some of the figures; but from 1772 to 1797 Ralph Wood, junior, was responsible for the factory, and there seems to have been business connection, about 1786, between him and his cousin Enoch Wood.

Concerning the figures of Ralph Wood, father and son, it may be said that they were the first to impress their names upon Staffordshire figures. Some of the pieces are marked with impressed mark R. WOOD, RA WOOD, BURSLEM (impressed on _Vicar and Moses_). This mark is found on some of the finest and earliest Toby jugs. It is believed, though not proved, that "RA WOOD" is the mark adopted by Ralph Wood, junior.

That the Woods reflected English feeling and sentiment and did not go to the classics for their inspiration is shown by their fine model of _Hudibras_ upon his horse, in the act of drawing his sword.

"The trenchant blade, Toledo trusty, For want of fighting was grown rusty, And ate into itself, for lack Of some body to hew and hack."

The horse of Hudibras is as famed in story as _Rosinante_, the famous charger of Don Quixote, and in fine satire Butler enumerates his points.

It is not too much to aver that, if it were not known that the Wood model bore the title _Hudibras_, the source of inspiration would go unknown. Similarly it may not be impossible, since no title appears on the famous _Toby Philpot_ jug, that it may be derived from the character of _Uncle Toby_ in Sterne's "Tristram Shandy," which was published in nine volumes from 1759 to 1767. The type of blunt, jovial, rubicund Englishman was beginning to become as pronounced in Bunbury and other caricaturists as it became later on the china shelf.

Among other noticeable figures of the Ralph Wood period the pair of figures are the _Haymakers_, separate figures (7-1/2 inches high each, impressed R. WOOD), a youth and maiden leaning against tree trunks. A bust of _Milton_, cream ware, uncoloured, is impressed RA. WOOD, BURSLEM; height, 9 inches. _Old Age_ is represented by a rustic figure of an old man leaning upon a stick and a crutch. _Neptune_ and _Venus_ and _Apollo_ betray the contemporary classic influence.

In examining the figures of the elder Ralph Wood they will be found in parts, though hardly perceptible, to be unglazed. This is owing to the fact that he applied his glaze with a brush. In the figures of the best period the colouring is extremely delicate, and the flesh tints do not approach the rosy pink associated with other figure work. It is difficult to describe them, but they approximate to a biscuit-coloured grey. But there are the usual exceptions to all rules. In one case in particular the colouring is more pronounced--the bust of _Handel_, who died in 1759. It is marked "RA. WOOD." It is finely modelled and bright in colouring. A figure of a _Cock_, marked R. WOOD, is illustrated (p. 351). It is 8 inches in height. The body is light in colour, with light and dark brown decoration about the neck. The wings are yellow, with brown stripes, the tail brown and dark-blue enamel colours. Legs dark brown and green and splashed base. This specimen is in one piece, not having any joint at neck.

The fine coloured large figure (18 inches in height) of _Eloquence_, known also as _St. Paul preaching at Athens_, is by Enoch Wood, after a model by Sir H. Cheere. There is a similar figure in the Schreiber Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum. But it must be admitted that some of these large figures bear a strong resemblance in technique and modelling to those of Wedgwood. The _Bacchus and Ariadne_ group was most certainly reproduced by Enoch Wood, who signed it. So that the difficulty in such cases of determining which was the original model becomes very great.

=The Classic Period= (1760-1785).--It appears that Josiah Wedgwood, when under the influence of Whieldon and before he embarked upon his classic ornamentation under the guidance of Bentley, modelled some very fine figures which are unmarked, but exhibit considerable strength and beauty. There are three figures, _Faith_, _Hope_, and _Charity_, in date about 1770, in the Willett Collection marked Wedgwood. Other figures are the large ones of _Fortitude_ and _Prudence_ (height 21 inches). But these symbolistic figures betray the classic influence. They are magnificent pieces of modelling. Then there is the fine group of _Bacchus and Ariadne_, the same height. The specimen at the British Museum is cream colour, but later imitators adopted the same modelling and added colour to the decoration. A copy of this group so treated, possibly by Enoch Wood, is illustrated (p. 363).

Other busts of Wedgwood in coloured cream ware of _Voltaire_ and _Rousseau_ will be found illustrated on p. 233.

=Neale & Co.= betray classic influence in much of their work, and as Voyez, the Frenchman, was their modeller, this is not hard to understand. Among their well-known figures are _Flora_ (12-1/2 inches high) and _Diana_ (5 inches high), and they were large makers of Toby jugs. We give an illustration (p. 355) of a group of finely modelled ware by Neale & Co., including a Toby jug copied from the Ralph Wood model and impressed NAELE & CO., and the familiar group of the _Parson and Clerk_ copied by them after the well-known Chelsea-Derby porcelain model of the same subject, and reproduced as an earthenware group by many other Staffordshire potters. It is often attributed to Ralph Wood the younger. It is interesting to compare the _Minerva_ with the _Diana_ illustrated above. The same classic spirit was the inspiration of the two modellers, and in the case of unmarked classic figures there always exists considerable difficulty in definitely assigning their origin.

In regard to all these coloured Staffordshire figures it should be borne in mind that, until well towards the close of the eighteenth century, they were coloured by the use of pigments under the glaze, which gave a low-toned effect of very delicate character. Later, enamel colours were used with lurid effect, and much of the beauty of the old school vanished.

=Enoch Wood= (1783-1840), =Wood and Caldwell= (1790-1818).--Of this school there are several fine examples. There is no doubt that the ease with which classic prototypes could be copied and porcelain figures imitated began to tell upon the originality of most of the modellers. The _Bacchus and Ariadne_ (illustrated p. 363), with the vine leaf wreaths in green around the heads and the finely coloured drapery, is by Enoch Wood. There is a specimen in a private collection at Eccles signed "E. WOOD, Sculp. and HEWITT Pinxt." (the height of this example is 27 inches), in spite of the similar uncoloured group at the British Museum marked Wedgwood.

Enoch Wood is best known for his portrait busts of _John Wesley_ and of _George Whitfield_. The former who stayed at his house in the Potteries sat for this bust, which is a fine piece of portraiture. This is marked "E. WOOD," and sometimes "ENOCH WOOD, Sculp., Burslem 1781." George Whitfield was probably modelled at a later date. There is a fine equestrian statuette of _St. George and the Dragon_, sometimes signed "E. Wood," similar in modelling to the Whieldon mottled tortoiseshell coloured specimen (illustrated p. 175).

There are other busts by Enoch Wood which are noteworthy. There is the fine bust of _Bonaparte_ as First Consul in coloured earthenware, with blue coat with yellow border, and having marbled base. The height of this is 9-1/2 inches, and it is marked "E. WOOD." This is in date about 1802. A bust of _Alexander I._ of Russia, in highly coloured earthenware, in military costume, marked WOOD & CALDWELL. The date of this is later than the Bonaparte, an inscription on the back on some examples runs "Alexander Aet. 35. Moscow burnt. Europe preserved 1812."

Another well-known figure by Wood and Caldwell is the figure of Quin as _Falstaff_. By the illustrations we have given (p. 371) it will be seen that this model was in direct imitation of the similar figures in porcelain at Derby and Chelsea. The colouring is different, the shield is silver lustre, the costume consists of red breeches, striped yellow and white surtout; but these colours are a feeble imitation of the finer enamel work on the china models from which they have been copied.

BASE OF FIGURE. (Enlarged.) Showing painted mark "Absolon Yarm."

(_In the collection of Mr. F. I. Burwood._)]

The group of _Toby Jugs_ illustrated (p. 383), exhibit the best known models of a much collected variety of earthenware. These examples are collectors' specimens, but later models may be said to be like--

The grand old name of gentleman, Defamed by every charlatan, And soil'd with all ignoble use.

That it was not infrequent to take a model bodily from English porcelain is shown by the group entitled the _Birth of Venus_, which is taken from a Plymouth group of the same subject (illustrated p. 355), this apparently belongs to the Enoch Wood period.

In the figures of children we illustrate p. 387, the figures of _Flower Boys_, some 4-1/2 inches high, are evidently inspired by some of the Chelsea-Derby figures which in their turn were under strong French influence. The middle figure of the trio is one of a pair by Wood and Caldwell. The figure of _Cupid_ above is a fine specimen, standing 17-1/2 inches in height. Cupid is fully armed with his deadly bow and arrow, which by the way are decorated in silver lustre, suggestive of the Falstaff shield of Wood and Caldwell, and at his feet are two lions crouching in subjugation, and he holds the torch of Hymen in his hand. This is a remarkably fine modelled figure representing this contemporary foreign influence upon Staffordshire figures at its best.

In regard to the strong classic influence the two figures (illustrated p. 363) are in white earthenware. That on the left, of _Adonis_, is obviously taken direct from the antique, while the _Venus_ is a fine Staffordshire adaptation of a well-known classic statue in the pose and in the dolphin by her side. The only touch of colour is the darkening of the hair. It is a magnificent piece of modelling something in the nature of the classic art seen through French eyes. To find this in Staffordshire is as though one found _La Source_ of Ingres in the Royal Academy of the year 1856. The date of this Staffordshire _Venus_ cannot be stated. It is an important figure, being 24 inches in height and exhibits something so strikingly realistic that it must be assigned a high place among the figures.

We illustrate a Staffordshire figure belonging to this period, which is signed "Absalon, Yarmouth." Towards the end of the eighteenth century, as in the latter days of Lowestoft, a factory termed "The Ovens" at Yarmouth carried on a decorating business, receiving the ware from Leeds and from Staffordshire, and decorating and refiring it in the glost oven. The date of the figure illustrated is about 1790. On some of the pieces decorated by Absalon, the name of the Staffordshire maker, Turner, appears as an impressed mark. Turner, who carried on an extensive trade with the Baltic and Northern Europe, no doubt readily came into touch with these East Anglian decorators.

=The Decadent Period= (1785-1830).--It is impossible to keep exactly to dates in any of these periods of rough classification. But in general the later period becomes more homely and a great number of mantel ornaments of a simple nature with rustic subjects were made for the homes of cottagers. These have trees as background and are Arcadian in subject. They are, when in this style, of the finnicking school of the Chelsea shepherds and shepherdesses known as of the boscage school. John Walton (1790-1839), made a great many figures in this manner, accompanied by a lamb, as well as a great number of Toby jugs. Another potter is Ralph Salt (1812-1840), whose name appears on the little _Tambourine Player_ (p. 379), and probably the _Musicians_ of the adjacent group are by him too. A larger figure of the _Girl with Tambourine_ above is of the same period, though its maker cannot be identified.

We illustrate (p. 391) two later figures, _The Fishwife_ and _Mother Goose_. Both are well modelled, and were evidently intended to meet the popular taste. The days of gods and goddesses were over, and figures and groups begin to grow commonplace. In _Mother Goose_ the nursery rhyme is substituted for the mythology of the Greeks.

Among other names found on these later figures are Lakin and Poole, Dale (mark usually impressed I. DALE BURSLEM), and Edge and Grocott, who made figures of boys partly draped holding baskets of flowers. It is possible that they made the two outside figures of _Flower Boys_ (illustrated p. 387).

There is to lovers of the ultra-aesthetic something which appears to be trivial and insipid in this peasant pottery of the later date. But in spite of its defects, it holds, to those who read between the lines and can add that necessary touch of human interest to their collecting, a charm on account of its quaintness. Those who have sought these old cottage treasures high and low and secured from far-away habitations snug in the hills or lone huts on the wolds, or from the dim-lit cabins of fisher folk these relics of byegone days, read into their newly acquired possessions something of the life history in their old environment, lying _perdu_ these many years, perched aloft on the high mantel or hidden in the cupboard recess silently listening to the old tales of the strange men and women who live apart from the hum of cities.

Chelsea we know, Derby we know, Bow we know, with their dainty china shepherdesses minding impossible sheep, and with gallants prinked out in all the colours of the humming-bird. These were the trifles in porcelain that my dear Lady Disdain in a waft of bergamot set apart in her glazed case by Sheraton. In the days of paint and patch and of the revels at Vauxhall and Ranelagh, virtuosos drowsily passed comment on my lady's latest acquisition just to please her passing whim and wean her from the vapours.

These earthenware figures "in homespun hose and russet brown" suggest the old world nooks of other days. Give Chelsea and Bow to the town. This homely art of Staffordshire became English after all. It was found in thatched cottages "with breath of thyme and bees that hum." These boscage shepherds and shepherdesses, these rustic musicians, lusty post-boys, and the family of Toby Philpots, found kinship in the miller and the farmer, the herdsman and the milkmaid, the gamekeeper and the woodman, the ostler and the waggoner--simple, kind-hearted folk, the children of nature uncloyed by the subtleties of art. Red-cheeked lasses and wrinkled crook-backed old dames, mother and daughter and granddaughter, toilers and sufferers, who chose the warm west window seat in the sun and the ingle nook by the fireside--these were the whilom owners of the old Staffordshire figures. Somehow, nor is the fancy a foolish one, one likes to associate these diminutive figures with the old gardens of England set in sweet places where one

"Can watch the sunlight fall Athwart the ivied orchard wall; Or pause to catch the cuckoo's call Beyond the beeches."

There seems to be something added to old Staffordshire figures which have steeped themselves in somnolent repose these many years till they have become invested with a subtle human interest not easily disassociated from them.

The squire had his services of Worcester and of Crown-Derby, and the nobleman relegated his cases of fine porcelain to the care of his housekeeper, to dust and to safeguard till he came again to hunt and to shoot. But the cottager's Staffordshire figures were lovingly handled when the good wife furbished up her brass candlesticks, and they insensibly became part of the environment of the cottage home.

Here, then, is the key to the charm and magic which goes to the collecting of old Staffordshire figures, even of the decadent period. There is within them and around them and about them something redolent of a sturdy peasantry, something sad, something tinged with autumn days and autumn mists because they belong to days that have faded, and almost to a race that is extinct.

PRICES.

LEEDS FIGURES. £ s. d.

Pair of Leeds cream-ware Figures of Musicians, Youth and Girl; _rare_. Marked "Leeds Pottery." Sotheby, November, 1904 6 6 0

STAFFORDSHIRE FIGURES.

Group of Madonna and Child (probably Wedgwood), illustrated in "English Earthenware" (Professor Church). Sotheby, February, 1906 8 0 0

Staffordshire Models of Cottages (some porcelain), encrusted with flowers. Christie, January, 1906 (59 models). 31 10 0

"Vicar and Moses," group, decorated in translucent colours. Sotheby, June 1906 35 10 0

"Vicar and Moses," group, decorated in translucent colours. Sotheby, November, 1906 8 10 0

Bacchus and Ariadne, large; brown glaze; 25 in. high. Christie, November, 1906 13 2 6

Toby Philpot jugs (four male and one female), grotesque models. Christie, November, 1906 30 9 0

Falstaff, two examples, on plinths, encrusted with flowers; 9 in. high. Christie, November, 1906 5 15 6

"Elijah," "The Widow," and "Virgin and Child"; three figures. Puttick and Simpson, March, 1907 3 12 6

Busts of _Milton_ and _Handel_, impressed mark, "Ra Wood Burslem"; white: 9 in. high. Sotheby, July, 1907 6 0 0

Figure of Gamekeeper: white; 8-1/2 in. high. Sotheby, July, 1907 2 0 0

Figure of _Lost Sheep_; white; 8-3/4 in. high. Sotheby, July, 1907 2 18 0

Figure of _Girl Haymaker_; white; 7-3/4 in. high. Sotheby, July, 1907 3 0 0

Figures, _Chaucer_ and _Sir Isaac Newton_, decorated in colours; marked "Ra Wood"; impressed "Burslem." 12-1/2 in. high. Sotheby, 1907 12 10 0

Figures, _Cobbler and his Wife_, pair, large, seated; 12-1/2 in. high. Christie, January, 1908 13 2 6

Figures, reclining, _Cleopatra_, 8-1/2 in. high, and _Antony_, 8 in. high. Christie, January, 1908 14 14 0

"Bacchus and Ariadne," 25 in. high; _Female_, holding dove, 25 in. high. Christie, January, 1908 16 16 0

Figures, pair, Boy and Girl harvesting, square base, one marked "R. Wood." Sotheby, May, 1908 10 5 0

"Vicar and Moses," in Whieldon colours (attributed to R. Wood), yellow, green, brown, manganese purple, &c. Sotheby, May, 1908 15 0 0

_Shepherd and Shepherdess_, seated, with dog, lamb, and goat; shepherd playing flute; Whieldon colouring (attributed to R. Wood). Sotheby, May, 1908 12 0 0

"St. George and Dragon" in Whieldon colouring (attributed to Ralph Wood) Sotheby, May, 1908 14 0 0

Toby Jug, representing man seated with jug on knee (attributed to R. Wood). Sotheby, May, 1908 6 6 0

XII

SWANSEA AND OTHER FACTORIES