CHAPTER XIII

LUSTRE WARE

Early crude Copper Lustre (Brislington)--Gold Lustre, pink and purple Wedgwood, Leeds, Swansea, Sunderland--Platinum Lustre (termed "silver lustre").--Thomas Wedgwood (1791), Spode, E. Mayer, Wood and Caldwell, Leeds, Castleford, Swansea, and others--Lustre in combination as a decoration--"Resist" Lustre--Copper or Bronze Lustre--Marked Lustre Ware--Prices.

The collection of lustre ware is comparatively modern. In common with salt-glaze ware which was not thought much of in the auction-room some few years ago, lustre-ware has been studied and collected with avidity, and a good deal has been discovered concerning its origin.

It may be said at the outset that lustre varies very considerably in quality, and the plain undecorated platinum or "silver" lustre is being produced at the present day in teapots and cream-jugs in simulation of the old Georgian silver patterns.

So great is its variety and quality that some collectors have confined themselves specially to the collection of what is known as silver lustre "resist" style, and others have specialised in the pink or gold purple, with veined effects, of the Wedgwood school.

Lustre ware may be divided into the following classes:--

1. _Early brown copper lustre_, crude in style, made by Frank, of Brislington, near Bristol, about 1770.

2. _Gold lustre_, probably invented by Josiah Wedgwood, about 1792 (not to be confounded with gilding). The effect varies from pink to purple, and in the early pieces a combination was effected of gold, yellow, and purple, iridescent in varying lights.

3. _Platinum or "silver" lustre_ (discovered by Thomas Wedgwood, the youngest son of Josiah Wedgwood, about 1791), imitations of silver ware, busts, &c.

4. _Copper or bronze lustre_ (differing from the coarse early ware of Brislington), plain or undecorated.

5. Gold or purple lustre _used as an adjunct or decoration_, either around band or rim, as at Sunderland, &c.

6. Platinum or "silver" lustre _used as an adjunct or slight decoration_ such as in the _Falstaff_ figure (illustrated p. 371), or in the figure of _Cupid_ (illustrated p. 387).

7. Platinum or "silver" lustre _in combination with other painted decoration_: (_a_) Birds, foliage, &c., painted in silver lustre on a ground of another colour; (_b_) Silver lustre "resist" style when the ground is platinum and the ornamentation is white, blue, or yellow.

8. Copper or bronze lustre _in combination with painted designs_.

=Early Lustre (Brislington).=--Richard Frank, the delft potter, of Bristol, produced a crude ware composed of a hard body coated with a yellow dip resembling delft in character, and, upon this surface, ornamentation in copper lustre was made which gave it the appearance of burnished copper. It has been most inaptly compared with the Hispano-Mauro ware, with its rich arabesque ornamentation. There is nothing in common between the two except that they are both lustrous, and here the similarity ends. The Brislington colour was crude and the lustre ornaments extremely inartistic, and only suitable for the baking-dishes and mere utilitarian articles rudely and sufficiently decorated. Finer and thinner lustre ware found in the vicinity of Bristol can more safely be attributed to Swansea.

=Gold Lustre.=--As may readily be imagined, the amount of gold in the lustre decoration is very small. Gold lustre is _not_ heavy English gilding. As early as 1776 Josiah Wedgwood obtained a formula from Dr. Fothergill, a Fellow of the Royal Society, of which he himself was a Fellow, which induced him to experiment with gold in order to produce lustrous effects. The Purple of Cassius was employed with great success in obtaining marbling and veining, but it was not till late in his career, about 1792, that he produced the gold lustre in its happiest combination in connection with the fine Pearl Ware shell dessert-services. We have already alluded to the thin wash of yellow and pink which was applied to these dishes to represent the interior of the shell, but the addition of gold lustre was the finishing touch, and such pieces are remarkably rare. They glow with fleeting colours as the light plays upon their surface.

In regard to this gold lustre, it should be stated that it varied, and varied most considerably, according to the character of the body not only subjacent to it, that is upon which it was placed, but owing to its filmy and translucent character it received reflection from adjacent surfaces. On a brown body the same effect is different from that on a white or cream body. This must be borne in mind to a smaller extent in platinum lustres. The warmer the body beneath, the richer the lustre and the greater its similarity to the silver which it is intended to imitate.

We illustrate two very fine mottled pink and gold lustre goblets which belong to the Wedgwood period and are very light and of very fine lustrous appearance (p. 425). In certain districts these are termed "Funeral cups," and whether they were used only on those solemn occasions or not, we cannot say.

It appears that gold lustre was sometimes used in combination with copper or bronze. In the two mugs illustrated (p. 425), the interiors are finely mottled in purple and gold, and suggest by the beautiful potting the work of the goldsmith in their sharp contour. They may be attributed to the best period, as, too, may the goblet in the centre which glows like gold. Incidentally it may be remarked that the photographs used for these illustrations cannot convey the rich and glorious colouring of these examples.

The writer knows of a cup and saucer marked "Dawson." There was a Samuel Dawson in 1802, a Staffordshire potter, and there is Dawson of Sunderland, a better-known maker of ware, which has lustre decoration, to which latter pottery this may more safely be attributed. In general effect the scheme of colour is ambitious. The centre panel is painted in red enamel colours over the glaze. The borders have a highly lustrous gold floral decoration on a ground of pink.

In regard to Sunderland and Newcastle, as a rule, the ware is crude and may be readily dismissed, but not too hurriedly. The rough bands of purple lustre inartistically painted as borders to the transfer-printed jugs and mugs with nautical subjects are well known. In broad effect on a jug or a punch bowl, this class of pink or purple lustre decoration is seen at its best. On a jug of this nature with bands and rough spongings of purple lustre appear the verses--

"The man doomed to sail With the blast of the gale, Through billows Atlantic to steer, As he bends o'er the wave Which may soon be his grave Remembers his home with a tear."

It is not a happy sentiment and suggests more the landsman's views of the sea than those of the sailor. The following has a truer ring, but it was not put on jugs to be sold to sailors' wives:--

"Go patter to lubbers and swabs, d'ye see, 'Bout danger and fear and the like; A tight water-boat and good sea room give me, And it ain't to a little I'll strike."

=Platinum or Silver Lustre.=--It is not definitely known who was the first potter to adopt this decoration. Obviously it could not be earlier in date than the year that platinum was discovered as a new metal. Its chemical individuality and qualities were established by the successive researches of Scheffer (1752), Marggraft (1757), Bergmann (1777). In 1784 the first platinum crucible was made by Achard. In 1800 Knight, of London, published all that was known concerning the use of platinum in manufacture. Thomas Wedgwood, the youngest son of Josiah, employed it as early as 1791, but it is claimed that John Hancock (born 1757, died 1847), first employed gold, silver, and steel lustres at Messrs. Spode's factory at Stoke for Messrs. Daniel and Brown, who were decorating Spode ware at that date. That is his own account when he was eighty-nine years of age. But he was employed at Etruria. At any rate Hancock did not retain the secret, for among contemporary potters John Gardner, of Stoke, Sparkes, of Hanley, and Horobin, of Tunstall, seem to have practised it. At the beginning of the nineteenth century other potters were making lustre. In 1804 John Aynsley, of Lane End, and in 1810 Peter Warburton, of Lane End, who took out a patent for "decorating china, porcelain, earthenware, and glass with native pure or unadulterated gold, silver, platina, or other metals fluxed or lowered with lead or any other substance which invention or new method leaves the metals, after being burned, in their metallic state."

Pieces of silver lustre occur with the name Wood and Caldwell impressed on them. This was the style of the firm from 1790 to 1818. Such pieces may have been made during the last years of the factory's existence. But we know that it was made in 1810, for a painted lustre jug bears the inscription "Richard Bacchus, 1810." Another name which the writer has seen impressed on plain silver lustre ware of Early-Georgian shape is E. Mayer, who commenced as a potter in 1770, and died in 1818. It thus appears that at present, until more marked pieces turn up, the exact date within a few years of the manufacture of platinum or silver lustre in its first form is not determinable.

Among makers known to have produced silver lustre are Robert Wilson, of Hanley, who was in partnership with Neale prior to the manufacture of this ware. His brother David Wilson, in the opening years of the nineteenth century, made silver lustre goblets and figures. There is a mounted figure of a hussar with uplifted sword attributed to the Wilsons, at the British Museum. The Wilsons also made copper or bronze lustre ware. Lakin and Poole is the name of another firm, and Spode, and it is believed Davenport embarked on this popular ware also. It is known, too, that Leeds made silver lustre ware of fine quality, that has stood the test of time; and gold lustre in imitation of Wedgwood's "Pearl Ware" lustrous decorations was made in early nineteenth-century days. Swansea is credited with similar productions of gold and gold-purple lustre on a marbled ground, although none of its silver-lustre ware is marked.

Probably the earliest use of silver lustre was when it was employed as an adjunct to figures in subsidiary portions in lieu of gilding. But most certainly it began to simulate the silver ware at an early date. This early type is undecorated, and was also used in busts or statuettes of classical form. We illustrate a pair of silver-lustre figures by Wood and Caldwell. There is another pair of children in silver lustre, marked Wood & Caldwell, which are colourable imitation of the figures of "children reading" made by Dwight (illustrated, p. 139).

In regard to decorated silver lustre we give two examples which are fairly typical of a large class. The illustration (p. 431) shows a jug decorated in enamel colours. The bird is in red and the foliage in green, on a cream ground. The border of the panel is in silver lustre and the rim of the jug and the bands around neck are also silver lustre.

This decorated silver-lustre ware is of two classes. The first class comprises patterns painted in silver lustre on a white ground, the foliage and birds and other patterns being in silver lustre, carefully painted over the white. As a rule in such pieces there is more white showing, and the lustre silver is palpably a decorative effect.

In the second class the silver lustre appears as a background, and the ornamental decoration is in white, covering the piece in most elaborate designs. This is known as "resist" ware, and on account of the great beauty and variety of its ornamentation, has strongly appealed to latter-day collectors. The pattern twining its way over the silver-lustre background may be white, blue, canary colour, pink, apricot, or turquoise-blue. White is most frequently found.

This second style is capable of the most intricate designs varying from farmyard and hunting scenes to ordinary conventional floral arrangements almost resembling the Japanese stencilled work in another field of art.

=How "resist" ware is made.=--If a white design is intended the ware is left white, but if any other colour, such as those we have mentioned, that colour is laid as a body or ground colour on the specimen to be lustred. The next step is to paint the exact design which later is to appear white, or blue, or yellow, on the surface of the vessel. This pattern is painted or stencilled on the ware with a substance composed of a glucose matter such as glycerine. The next stage is to apply the silver lustre to the whole surface which is allowed partially to dry. On its immersion in water the pattern painted previously to the addition of lustre peels off being on a soluble ground. The result is that the background of white or yellow or blue is laid bare, and the rest of the vessel is covered permanently with silver lustre. The adhesive lustre "resists" the water, adhering to the surface by means of its resinous nature, except in the pattern which peels off. Hence the term "resist" ware.

We illustrate one specimen of this silver-lustre "resist" ware (p. 431). It is of the ordinary floral conventional pattern probably stencilled on as described above. Some of the more elaborate specimens are painted. One of the finest collections of "Resist Silver Lustre" is that of Mr. William Ward, at the Kennels, Mellor, near Blackburn. It comprises examples that one may search for in vain in any of the museums. Many of the examples are marked such as "Warburton," or with the letter "W" impressed, and one specimen is marked "Leeds" a rare mark. The subjects of some of these jugs and mugs relate to the Napoleonic wars, and are dated. There is one rare jug entitled "Boney escaping through a Window," and in combination with this "resist" style are examples finely painted or transfer-printed in colours.

=Copper or Bronze Lustre.=--This class of lustre is generally held to be later (excepting of course the early attempts at Brislington which stand by themselves). It is held too by collectors up to the present not to offer such artistic possibilities as the "resist" silver lustre. This is amply borne out by the prices obtained at auction. But it must not be forgotten that this bronze or copper lustre varies very considerably. It may be and often is very coarse brown ordinary ware, and it may be very thin and delicate as to tempt the connoisseur to regard it with more than a passing glance.

In the highest forms of copper or bronze lustre, painted views appear in panels against the lustrous background, and such views are of a high order of merit. They may in all probability have been executed at Swansea. We illustrate a fine example (p. 437) of a large copper lustre mug with painted panel of landscape and other panels of fruit.

Very frequently in this copper lustre the jugs and mugs have ornamentation in relief which is enamelled in vivid colours. This is a fairly common form, and has been reproduced in very coarse examples, not to be confounded with the finer and thinner copper lustre at its best. We illustrate a copper lustre jug (p. 437) with serpent handle and Bellarmine mask spout, decorated in turquoise blue, and with basket of flowers in relief. The Goblet to the right is of similar decoration, and that on the left is of conventional coloured design on a mottled pink lustred band.

=Marked Lustre Ware.=--We have already mentioned a number of potters who are known to have made lustre ware, but the following names have been found impressed on the ware in various collections throughout the country, and may be of interest to collectors who have specimens either by these potters or by other makers not on this list. Wedgwood, Wilson, Warburton, Bailey and Batkin, J. Lockett & Sons, E. Mayer, Mayer & Newbold, E. Wood, Wood & Caldwell, Minton, Bott & Co., P. & U. (Poole & Unwin), Meigh, C. Meigh & Sons, Copeland & Garrett, and Leeds Pottery.

PRICES.

LUSTRE WARE. £ s. d.

_Silver lustre_ Barber's jug with medallion of Barber and Customer, inscribed "William Freeman, 1809"; 6-3/4 in. high. Bond, Ipswich, April, 1906 5 0 0

_Silver lustre_ "resist" pattern jug with grape and barley design. Sotheby, June, 1906 2 0 0

_Nelson & Hill_ jug in silver lustre and decorated in red and black. Sotheby, June, 1906 1 10 0

_Silver lustre_ jug, decorated with bird and flowers, and inscribed "J. Simpson, original Staffordshire Warehouse, 1791." Christie, January, 1908 14 14 0

_Lustre decorated_, Sunderland figures of _Seasons_ (four) decorated in colours and purple lustre; all impressed, mark "DIXON, AUSTIN & CO." Sotheby, February, 1908 10 0 0

_Copper lustre_ pair of five-fingered flower vases marked SEWELL. Sotheby, November, 1905 4 15 0

XIV

LATE STAFFORDSHIRE WARE