CHAPTER XXIII
CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN PORCELAIN
We have seen that in England the new aims and the new schemes of decoration that have so profoundly affected most of our industrial arts have so far had little influence upon the porcelain manufactured by the large Staffordshire firms. Here and there, as by Mr. Bernard Moore of Longton, an attempt has been made to take up the problem of the _flambé_ glazes, which has so fascinated the French potters. Mr. Moore has succeeded in making some _sang de bœuf_ vases which in outline and colour closely follow the Chinese models. Otherwise the many skilful artists--more than one of them, I think, are Frenchmen--employed by our porcelain manufacturers have been content to follow in the main the old traditions, nor has any occasional attempt that has been made to imitate, not the latest but rather the work of the last generation at Sèvres, produced any very satisfactory results. It cannot be denied that both in the design and in the decoration our English porcelain has, for some time, remained outside the art movement of the day.
Indeed at the present time, and for the last twenty years, whatever of interest we can find in the contemporary production of porcelain, centres in two factories--Sèvres and Copenhagen. To the latter works we must now return for a moment.
The royal factory, of which we have already spoken, was closed after the disastrous war of 1864. But during the eighties a number of able men, both artists and men of science, occupied themselves with the new porcelain problems, and in 1888 a fresh company was formed, the ‘Alumina.’ These men--I will only mention Philip Schou--were much impressed by the technical and artistic merits of the porcelain lately sent from Japan, highly finished ware decorated under the glaze with great delicacy and generally in subdued colours. They were influenced above all by the work of the Japanese potter Miyagawa Kozan, called Makudzo. The Danish porcelain produced during the nineties is distinguished as a whole by its cool, subdued colours, with a prevalence of various pearly tints approaching more or less to celadon. In the carefully executed but boldly designed decoration, we see the influence both of the Japanese naturalists and of the impressionist painters of the day. The snow scenes, the rocks, the dancing waves and the sea birds have been suggested by the stormy coasts of the Baltic and the North Sea. It is from the primitive rocks of this coast that the pure felspar, which plays so large a part both in the paste and in the glaze, has been obtained.
It was at Copenhagen probably that the crystalline glazes, derived from salts of bismuth, were first made--this was by Engelhart, about 1884.
At a rival Danish factory--that of Bing and Gröndhal--many clever artists, some of them ladies, have modelled in porcelain figures of animals either in the round or in relief on the sides of vases: we find dogs, cats, and even seals (but not the human figure). Indeed in this kind of work something in the nature of a school has grown up.
Fresh life has lately been given to the old works at Rörstrand, near Stockholm. Here in the underglaze decoration the same cool, pearly colours that we find in favour at Copenhagen are predominant. Great care has lately been devoted to the modelling of flowers.
At the Rozenburg works, near the Hague, a new paste has been invented by Juriann Kok. The extraordinary tenacity and plasticity of this material allows of its being worked into the strangest forms--some of the vases, with long, thin, angular handles, suggest work in hammered metal. By means of a fantastic decoration--quaint, elongated figures, and forms of marine life, such as the long-clawed Japanese lobster--a certain original _cachet_ has been given to this ware.
The Charlottenburg works, near Berlin, have lately felt the influence both of Copenhagen and of the new school of Sèvres. Everything has been lately tried--sculpturesque developments in various directions, and again the decoration of large wall surfaces with porcelain plaques enamelled so as to resemble oil pictures; but as in former days, so now, the technical and scientific side of this industry tends to prevail over the artistic.
M. Édouard Garnier, the late director of the Museum at Sèvres, in a report upon the porcelain exhibited at Paris in 1900, has ably summed up his impressions of the wares now being manufactured in various parts of Europe, and I cannot do better than follow so excellent an authority in his ‘appreciations’ of this modern porcelain.
M. Garnier dates the latest renaissance of European porcelain from the new ground struck out in the seventies, not only at Sèvres, by Deck and others, but also in many private kilns, as by Bracquemont in Paris and by Haviland in the Limoges district. What specially distinguishes the latest work is the advantage taken of the new colours that can now be employed with the _grand feu_ so as to participate in the brilliancy and purity of the glaze. A delicacy of tone, a transparency and a harmony are now obtainable which contrasts favourably with the dry and dull colours of the old methods of painting. On the other hand, says M. Garnier, the progress in chemical knowledge has been so rapid that the new processes and colours have tended to become the masters of the artists who employ them, instead of remaining subtle tools in their hands.
This tendency is especially noticeable at Copenhagen, and the crystalline glazes, derived from bismuth, that have spread thence all over Europe, are a case in point. So again, starting from the _flambé_ glaze of the Chinese, the modern potter is inclined to run riot with the numerous new materials at his command.
At Sèvres--I follow M. Garnier’s report--advantage has been taken of the new porcelain paste (that of the ‘milder’ Chinese type) to revive in the biscuit ware the reproductions of works of sculpture for which the factory was so renowned in the days of the _pâte tendre_. The pureness and softness of the material and the skill of the manipulation are noteworthy apart from the artistic merit of the work. (Let me here call attention to the fifteen figures by Léonard, ‘_Le Jeu de l’Écharpe_,’ in the new biscuit ware.) This revolution in the style of decoration has now spread to other parts of France, and has affected the great commercial factories of the south-west, especially the ware made by the firm of Haviland.
English porcelain was but poorly represented at Paris in 1900; besides, as we have said, it is in other branches of the potter’s art that we have to look for a reflection of our new native school of decoration. It is indeed a curious fact that many of the designs that we associate with Morris and his followers may be found rather upon the wares of Copenhagen and Sèvres than on our English porcelain. I cannot, however, pass over some criticisms of M. Garnier, in which he falls foul of certain tendencies in the fashioning and decoration of the wares turned out by our big Staffordshire firms. As to how far these criticisms are merited, any one may form an opinion for himself by a glance at the shop-windows of London. ‘The English paste,’ says M. Garnier, ‘is of a special nature which lends itself admirably both to the shaping and to the decoration; the execution is _hors ligne_, but this is accompanied by an overloading of detail, a heaviness in the decoration, and a want of harmony and proportion between the different parts of the piece that cause one to regret that so much talent and care have been employed only to arrive at so very unsatisfactory a result. Besides this, we notice in the English _céramiste_ a want of sincerity, with the result that at first sight you cannot tell what manner of substance you are looking at, whether it is porcelain or dirty ivory, or again a gilt ceramic ware rather than a bronze with a poor patina.’ A curious point in connection with this criticism is that, if I am not mistaken, a good deal of the work thus severely dealt with has been designed, if not executed, by French artists. It is made, however, to satisfy the demand of our great unleavened middle-class.
Turning to the porcelain from the royal works at Charlottenburg, M. Garnier finds fault with the exuberance and overloading of the sculptures and reliefs. But certain large architectural pieces and some frames in rococo style, in pure white ware, excite his admiration, for the beauty of the paste, the purity and the limpidity of the glaze, and the marvellous way in which the technical difficulties of the execution have been surmounted; so, too, for the brilliancy of the colouring and the way in which the enamel colours combine with and form one material with the glaze, as if one were looking at a soft-paste ware. Above all, in some pieces of the ‘new porcelain’--for the milder paste is now in use at Berlin to some extent--the colours of the _grand feu_ and the purity of the enamel are remarkable.
At Meissen, says M. Garnier, they are still working on the old lines: reproductions of the models made a century and a half ago by Kändler are as much as ever in demand. Certain ambitious attempts in a newer style have resulted in errors that will add nothing to the fame of the works. (Dr. Heintze, the present director, has especially devoted himself to the development of the new colours under the glaze. But the porcelain now produced, apart from the copies of the old wares, follows in the lines either of the Copenhagen porcelain, or again, at times, of the coloured pastes of Sèvres.)
Certain districts of Northern Bohemia have become of late centres of ceramic industry. The predominant bad taste and over-decoration of the porcelain made there (I still follow M. Garnier) is above all exemplified in certain coloured statuettes, ‘_articles de bazar_ which corrupt the taste of the public and whose sale ought to be prohibited.’ An exception must be made for the produce of the Pirkenhausen works, near Carlsbad. The marvellous plasticity of the paste, made from the rich deposits of kaolin near Zottlitz, has been taken full advantage of, not only on the wheel and in the mould; it has allowed also of the free modelling of the superadded reliefs by the artist’s hand.
The factory at Herend, in Hungary, founded in 1839, no longer turns out the ware of Oriental style, so much admired by Brongniart, by Humboldt, and by Thiers. Herr Fischer, the director and principal artist, has lately made good imitations of the coloured pastes of Sèvres, with leaves and branches in relief.
At St. Petersburg the imitation of the over-decorated hard paste of Sèvres has been abandoned in favour of the soft and harmonious colours and the pure and limpid glazes of Copenhagen. The vases with designs of white paste, in relief upon coloured grounds, in a manner now little in favour at Sèvres, are less happy. At the Kousnetzoff factory, at Moscow, a polychrome decoration, in imitation of Byzantine embroideries and enamels, has been applied to tea-services of somewhat geometrical forms, while the French porcelain of the time of Louis Philippe continues to be imitated.
At Copenhagen, says M. Garnier, the new porcelain, which since its introduction in 1889 has been praised and exalted in all the art journals of Europe, is still produced on the same lines. Not to speak of the new and strange results already obtained from coloured and enamelled glazes, greater experience in the use of the extended palette at the command of the decorator has produced results in which we find an admirable delicacy and restraint. It was, however, from Sèvres that the impulse first came. We can trace it in the work turned out of late years by Messrs. Bing and Gröndhal. But in place of the amiable and gracious art of France we find here a severe, sometimes we might almost say a rude, style, but one not without character and elevation.
At Rörstrand, near Stockholm (see above, p. 388), the work still continues on the lines of the older porcelain of Copenhagen (_i.e._ in the style in favour ten or twelve years ago), with the same simplicity and charm in the decoration and delicacy in the modelled relief. Perhaps we may attribute to a special quality in the felspar of the north the pure and refined quality so noticeable in the pastes and glazes.
At Rozenburg, continues M. Garnier, a factory already well known for its fayence, a very original kind of porcelain has lately been made. The composition of the paste, though based on kaolin, presents some peculiarities. The ware is of an incredible thinness and lightness, and the strange decoration, based in part upon Japanese motives, is not without charm and originality. The shapes of the vases, however, go too far in the direction of eccentricity. (Cf. p. 389.)
As at Meissen, so in the porcelain now made in Italy there is a total absence of all personality and novelty, and the old, well-beaten road is still followed. At Florence this is carried so far that the old moulds acquired so many years ago from the Capo di Monte works are still in use. ‘Ce sont des choses,’ says M. Garnier, ‘qui prêtent trop au “truquage” et qu’il faut laisser aux fabricants de vieuxneuf.’
EXPLANATION OF THE MARKS ON THE FOLLOWING PLATES (A. TO E.)
CHINESE MARKS
1. _Ta Ming Yung-lo_, 1402-1424. Mark of Yung-lo, engraved under the glaze in early seal or ‘tadpole’ characters.
2. _Ta Ming Hsuan-te nien chi_, 1425-1435.
3. _Cheng-hua nien chi_, 1464-1487.
4. _Ta Ming Cheng-te nien chi_, 1505-1521.
5. _Ta Ming Kia-Tsing nien chi_, 1521-1566.
6. _Ta Ming Lung-king nien chi_, 1566-1572.
7. _Ta Ming Wan-li nien chi_, 1572-1619.
8. _Ta Tsing Kang-he nien chi_, 1661-1722.
9. _Ta Tsing Yung-cheng nien chi_, 1722-1735.
10. _Do._ _do_., in seal characters.
11. _Ta Tsing Kien-lung nien chi_, 1735-1795. Seal characters.
12. _Ta Tsing Kia-king nien chi_, 1795-1820. Seal characters.
13. _Ta Tsing Tao-kwang nien chi_, 1820-1850. Seal characters.
14. _Ta Tsing Tung-chi nien chi_, 1861-1874. Seal characters.
15. _Wan chang shan tu._ ‘Scholarship lofty as the Hills and the Great Bear.’
16. _Ki yuh pao ting chi chin._ ‘A gem among precious vessels of rare jade.’
17. _Shun-ti tang chi._ ‘Made at the Shun-ti (cultivation of virtue) Hall.’
18. _Tsae chuan chi lo._ ‘Enjoying themselves in the waters.’
19. Conventionalised seal character for _Sho_--longevity.
19A. _Fu_, a bat, a synonym of _fu_--happiness.
JAPANESE MARKS
20. _Kai-raku yen sei._ ‘Made at the Kai-raku house.’
21. _Ken-zan._ The maker’s name.
22. _Yei-raku._ The seal granted to Zengoro. Seal character.
23. _Fuku._ Happiness. (Chinese, _Fu_.) Seal character.
24. _Hopin chi liu._ (Japanese, _Ka hin shi riu_). _See_ p. 199 note.
GERMAN MARKS
25. Meissen. The rod of Æsculapius.
26. Meissen. Monogram of Augustus II., King of Poland.
27. Meissen. Crossed swords and letter (for painter or director).
28. Vienna. The shield of Austria.
29. Höchst. The wheel of the Mainz archbishops, surmounted by a cross.
30. Fürstenberg. The initial letter of the town.
31. Berlin. The sceptre carried by the Brandenburg elector as grand chamberlain of the empire.
32. Frankenthal. Crowned lion of the palatinate; the monogram J. A. H., probably for Joseph Adam Hannong.
33. Frankenthal. The monogram of Karl Theodor, surmounted by a crown.
34. Nymphenburg. Quarter of shield with arms of Bavaria.
35. Ludwigsburg. Arms of Würtemberg. Three stag horns.
36. Ludwigsburg. Monogram of Duke Charles, surmounted by ducal crown.
37. Fulda. Double F, for ‘Fürstliche Fuldaische.’
38. Fulda. Cross from the arms of the prince bishop.
39. Herend. Below--the arms of Hungary.
DUTCH, DANISH, SWEDISH, AND RUSSIAN MARKS
40. Weesp. Crossed swords and three dots. Similar mark used elsewhere.
41. Oude Loosdrecht. The ‘M:’ stands for manufactuur.’
42. The Hague. The arms of the town.
43. Copenhagen. The wavy lines represent the ‘three Belts.’
44. Sweden; Marieberg. The three crowns from the arms of Sweden.
45. Moscow. St. George surrounded by band, with inscription. Above, the Russian eagle.
46. St. Petersburg. Monogram of Catherine II. (Ekaterina).
BELGIAN AND SWISS MARKS
47. Tournay. A tower, the arms of the town.
48. Tournay. Crossed swords and four crosses.
49. Zurich. German Z and two dots.
50. Nyon. A fish.
FRENCH MARKS
51. Saint-Cloud. The sun, emblem of Louis XIV.
52. Saint-Cloud. Initials of town and of director of factory--Trou.
53. Chantilly. A hunter’s horn.
54. Mennecy. D. V., for the Duc de Villeroy.
55. Vincennes. The initials of Louis XV. crossed, without year-mark.
56. Vincennes. Initials of Louis XV.; year-mark for 1753, and decorator’s mark (H.).
57. Sèvres. Time of First Empire. The 7 stands for 1807.
58. Sèvres. Double C, enclosing X, for Charles X. 24 for 1824.
59. Paris; Courtille. Two crossed arrows.
60. Orleans (?). Label with three points from ducal arms.
61. Paris; Clignancourt. The windmill of Montmartre.
62. Paris; Rue Thiroux. A, for Marie Antoinette, under a crown.
ITALIAN AND SPANISH MARKS
63. Venice. Incised. Probably of Vezzi family.
64. Venice. Anchor of Cozzi factory.
65. Le Nove. Star of eight points.
66. Vinovo. Cross of Savoy above letter V, for the town.
67. Madrid, Buen Retiro. The _fleur-de-lis_ from the royal arms.
ENGLISH MARKS
68. Chelsea. Triangle, incised.
69. Chelsea. Anchor, in relief.
70. Chelsea. Anchor.
71. Bow. Anchor and dagger.
72. Bow. Monogram of Thomas Frye. (?) Perhaps sometimes a Worcester mark.
73. Chelsea-Derby. Anchor and letter D.
74. Derby. Jewelled crown, crossed batons, with dots and letter D.
75. Derby. Jewelled crown and letter D.
76. Worcester. Imitation of Chinese characters.
77. Worcester. Crescent.
78. Worcester. Imitation Chinese seal character.
79. Worcester. Crossed swords and number.
80. Swansea. Trident.
81. Longton Hall. Crossed L’s and dots.
82. Plymouth. The symbol for tin.
83. Bristol. Symbol for tin, with a cross.
84. Bristol. Crossed swords, erased.
INDEX
‘Aging’ of clay, 19-20
Alcora, attempts to make porcelain at, 324
‘Alumina’ Company at Copenhagen, 388
Alumina, proportion of, in hard pastes, 7, 385
Amiot, Père, sends china from Pekin, 52 _note_, 298 _note_
Amoy, export of porcelain from, 127, 142
---- stoneware made near, 166
Annam, porcelain made in, 175
Arab trade with China, 209
---- traders, Chinese porcelain distributed by, 210 _seq._
---- writers on Chinese porcelain, 60, 209-217
_Arabian Nights_, Martabani ware mentioned, 216
Arabic inscriptions on Chinese porcelain, 94
Aranjuez, porcelain _gabineto_ at, 323
Arita, porcelain district of Japan, 181-182, 193
Armorial china, 164, 253, 369
---- ---- decorated at Canton, 114, 164
Arras, porcelain made at, 289
Arrow-holders in Chinese porcelain, 139
Assyrian and Babylonian glazes, 33
Augustus the Strong, collects Chinese porcelain, 159
---- ---- his collection of porcelain, 227
---- ---- porcelain in exchange for dragoons, 228
---- ---- his taste as a collector, 244-245
Augustus the Strong, his ambition to imitate Oriental porcelain, 245
Bachelier, art inspector at Sèvres, 291
---- his memoir on the Sèvres works, 290
---- quoted, 294, 295, 296, 301
Bacon, John, modeller at Bow, 348
Barbin at Mennecy, 287
_Barbotine_, or slip, 19, 312
Batavian porcelain, 102
---- ---- term how used, 223
Baxter, family of enamellers, 362-363, 369
Belleek porcelain, 374
Bemrose, Mr., on Derby porcelain, 350
Berlin, Meissen staff removed to, 262
---- Wegeli’s earlier porcelain, 262
---- contemporary porcelain, 389, 391
---- porcelain and Frederick the Great, 262
---- ---- methods of sale, 263
---- ---- marks on, 264
Bertin, the French minister, his Chinese porcelain, 52 _note_, 298 _note_
Billingsley, W., 366, 367-368, 371
Bing and Gröndhal factory at Copenhagen, 388, 393
Binns, Mr., documents relating to English porcelain, 357, 358
Biscuit oven, 27
Bismuth used in glaze, 374, 388, 390
Black glazes on Chinese porcelain, 149
Bloor, Robert, at Derby, 356
‘Blue and white,’ origin of Chinese, 75, 156
---- ---- of Ming period, 81-85, 157
---- ---- how distinguished, 83
---- ---- of Wan-li period, 95, 157
---- ---- Chinese name for, 155
---- ---- Chinese porcelain, 155-160
---- ---- earliest Chinese, 156
---- ---- origin of Chinese, 156
---- ---- Chinese porcelain, with hatched lines, 160
Blue decoration _sous couverte_, 43
---- enamel, difficulty of successful application, 99 _note_
---- ---- used with _famille verte_, 101
Boccaro ware, made in China, 166
---- ---- imitated by Böttger, 247
Bohemia, Northern, contemporary porcelain, 392
Bondy, Rue de, Paris, factory at, 313
Bone, Henry, employed at Bristol, 381
---- ---- paints on slabs of porcelain, 381
Bone-ash in English porcelain, 329, 330, 338, 343, 372-373
Borneo, Chinese porcelain found in, 156, 209-210
---- Chinese trade with, 209
Böttger, his life, 246-248
---- as an alchemist, 246, 248
---- his porcelain at the Leipsic Fair, 247, 249
---- compared with other great potters, 250
---- assistance from Dutch potters, 250 _note_
---- the number of his experiments with enamels and glazes, 252
Böttger-ware, polished, 248
---- with enamel colours, 249
---- with brown glaze, 249
Boucher, his models used at Sèvres, 296
Bourbon, Duc de, and Chantilly, 286
Bow, fragments of porcelain found at, 343
---- nature of porcelain there made, 344-345
---- Craft’s punch-bowl, 345-346
---- marks on porcelain, 348
---- factory, origin of, 342
---- ---- bought by Duesbury, 352
---- porcelain, 342-348
Brameld, Thomas, and Rockingham porcelain, 372
Brancas Lauraguais, experiments with kaolin, 305, 313, 378, 379
Brinkley, Captain, on Japanese ceramics, 194
---- ---- quoted, 196
Bristol porcelain, 379-386
---- ---- marks on, 380
---- ---- colours on statuettes, 381-382
---- ---- medallions with floral wreaths, 382
---- ---- ‘cottage china,’ 382
---- ---- glaze on, 382
---- ---- hardness of paste, 384
---- ---- great infusibility, 384
---- ---- composition, 384
---- ---- plasticity of clay, 384
British Museum, Oriental porcelain in, 53
Brongniart, director at Sèvres, 303
---- sells stock of undecorated Sèvres soft paste, 304
---- introduces severe type of paste, 307
---- his influence at Sèvres, 308-309
Bronzes, early Chinese, influence of shapes on porcelain, 57
Brown glazes of Chinese, 74 _note_
Brühl, Count, armorial china for, 253
Brunswick, Duke of, and Fürstenberg porcelain, 265
Buen Retiro, Madrid, porcelain factory at, 322-324
Buonicelli, director at Buen Retiro, 323
Burke at Bristol, 383
Burleigh House, early Chinese porcelain formerly at, 85, 222
Bushell, Dr., work on Chinese porcelain, 15, 54, 91, 153
---- translations from Chinese works on Korea, 171
---- manuscript, 61
---- ---- quoted, 86, 138
_Cailloux_ in French porcelain, 16
Canton, early Arab trade, 209
---- enamellers on porcelain, 108, 114, 164, 165
Capo di Monte, Naples, porcelain factory at, 318-320
Capo di Monte factory removed to Portici, 320
Carlos, Don, at Naples, makes porcelain, 319
---- ---- now Charles III. of Spain, carries his workmen to Buen Retiro, 319
_Cassettes._ _See_ Seggars.
Casting, process described, 25, 354
---- used for Derby statuettes, 354
Catherine II., her Sèvres dinner-service, 298
Caughley porcelain, 365
Celadon glazes, 42
---- word used in restricted sense, 64
---- of Sung dynasty, 63-65, 132, 144
---- origin of term, 64 _note_
---- early examples in European collections, 71
---- later Chinese ware, 145
---- made in Siam, 173, 212 _note_
---- Japanese, 192, 195, 197
---- old pieces in Japan, 178, 201
---- (martabani) in Persia, 215
---- earliest specimen at Oxford, 218
Censors, influence of, on Chinese arts, 74
Ch’ai yao, early Chinese ware, 62
_Chambrelans_ or chamberers, term explained, 303
Champion, R., 375, 377, 379, 382-383
Chang, the elder and younger brothers, 65
_Cha-no-yu_, Japanese tea ceremony, 178
Chantilly, porcelain made at, 285-287
---- sprig pattern, 286
---- marks on porcelain, 287
Chao Ju-kua, his report on early Chinese trade, 210
Chardin on porcelain in Persia, 215
Charlottenburg factory, 389, 391
Chelsea-Derby porcelain, 341, 352-355
---- ---- marks on, 352
---- ---- new forms introduced, 352-353
---- ---- statuettes made by ‘casting,’ 354
Chelsea factory, site of, 335
---- ---- end of, 341
---- porcelain, 331-342
Chelsea porcelain, an early ware, 332
---- ---- marks on earliest pieces, 332
---- ---- Japanese wares imitated, 336
---- ---- sales of, 337, 341
---- ---- claret colour on, 338, 340
---- ---- use of gold on, 338
---- ---- rococo forms, 339
---- ---- turquoise on, 339
---- ---- statuettes, 340
---- ---- models of birds and fruit, 340
---- ---- marks on, 342
Cheng-hua (1464-87), use of date-mark, 82
---- enamelled ware, 86
---- porcelain of, 93
Cheng-tai enamels on copper, 88, 93
Cheng-te (1505-21), porcelain of, 94
Cheng-tung (1435-49), double date-mark, 93
Cheyne Row called China Row, 333
‘Chicken cups’ of Cheng-hua, 93
Chicoineau family, 240, 282, 284, 288
_Chimie_, in French soft pastes, 280
China collecting, ridicule attached to, 61, 243
---- origin of English term, 222
---- clay. _See_ Kaolin.
---- stone (_see also_ Petuntse), 9, 10
---- ---- preparation of, 16
Chinese characters, varieties of, 117-118
---- porcelain exported to different countries, 50
---- ---- influence of old traditions, 51
---- ---- mistakes in early classification, 52
---- ---- late origin compared to other arts, 56
---- ---- survival of old types, 58
---- ---- classification of, 58, 141
---- ---- old native accounts of, 60
---- ---- composition of early wares, 69
---- ---- plain white ware, 141-144
---- ---- unglazed ware, 144
---- stonewares, 165-167
---- trade with the West, 209 _seq._
Ching (blue), Julien’s wrong use of word, 64 _note_
Ching-tsu, Chinese term for celadon, 64
_Chini_, Persian word for china or porcelain, 49 _note_, 222
Christian subjects on Chinese and Japanese porcelain, 133, 182
Chromium, as a source of green, 304, 309
Chün yao, early Chinese ware, 65, 152
---- ---- numbers engraved on, 66
Church Gresley porcelain, 371
Church, Prof., on composition of porcelain, 5, 69, 241, 338, 343, 370, 384
Ciron, Ciquaire, at Chantilly, 285
‘_Clair-de-lune_’ glaze (yueh-pai), 105, 148
Clignancourt, Paris, factory at, 313
Cloisonné enamels on Japanese porcelain, 203
Coalport or Coalbrookdale porcelain, 366
Cobalt blue, sources of that used by Chinese, 40, 75 _note_, 92
---- ---- how prepared by Chinese, 130
---- ---- grounds of Chinese, 148
Coloured pastes, 40, 311
Colours used in decoration of porcelain (_see also_ Enamels), 39
---- resistance to fire, 41
Condé, house of, and Chantilly, 285-287
Constantin, painter on porcelain, 271
Contemporary porcelain, 387-394
---- ---- use of new colours and glazes, 389-390
Cookworthy, William, 375-380
---- ---- search for china-clay, 376-377
Copenhagen, porcelain made at, 274
---- contemporary work, 388, 393
---- Japanese influence, 388
Copper-red under glaze, 80, 130
---- ---- examples in British Museum, 81
---- ---- of Hsuan-te, 92
Copper-red glazes on Chinese porcelain, 150-154
Coral-red grounds on Chinese porcelain, 115
Cornflower or _barbeau_ on porcelain, 313, 355
Cornwall, search for materials for porcelain, 359, 376-378
Cottage china made at Bristol, 382
Courtille, La, Paris, factory at, 313
_Couverte_, French term for glaze, 31
Cozzi, makes porcelain at Venice, 317
Crackle ware, old Chinese (Ko yao), 65
---- ---- Chinese, varieties of, 45
---- ---- glazes of, 145
---- ---- equivalent to Ko yao, 145
---- ---- Korean, 171
Craft, Thomas, his punch-bowl, 345-346
‘Crazing’ of glazes, 32
‘Crow-claws,’ term explained, 29
---- marks of, on Japanese porcelain, 191
‘Crusader’s Cup’ at Dresden, 77, 152, 217
Danish porcelain, 273, 388, 393
Darwin, Dr., letter to Wedgwood, 378
Date-marks on Chinese porcelain, 82
---- ---- method of reckoning, 91 _note_
---- ---- cyclical, 110 _note_
---- ---- two systems, 118
---- ---- how written, 118
---- ---- earliest example, 119
---- ---- those of Kang-he rare, 119
---- ---- on Sèvres porcelain, 302
Dauphin, collector of Oriental porcelain, 230
Decoration of porcelain, Tang-ying’s principles, 112
_Dégourdi, Feu_, term explained, 26
Delft ware, early imitations of Chinese porcelain in, 224
---- ---- competition with Chinese porcelain, 234
---- ---- in England, 240
_Demi grand feu_, term explained, 59
---- ---- glazes of, 98
---- ---- ware of, 79, 106
Derby biscuit, or bisque, 353-354
---- porcelain, 350-357
---- ---- little known of early period, 351
---- ---- sold in London, 351
---- ---- degenerate patterns, 355
---- ---- ‘old Japan’ copied, 355
---- ---- marks on, 356
Dietrich, ‘professor of painting’ at Meissen, 256
Dillwyn, L. W., at Swansea, 367-368
Doccia, near Florence, porcelain factory at, 320-322
---- Chinese white ware and Capo di Monte porcelain imitated, 321
---- contemporary work, 394
Dresden, Chinese porcelain at, 161
---- Ethnographical Museum, Chinese porcelain from various lands, 211
---- Oriental porcelain presented by Grand Duke of Tuscany, 228
---- collection of porcelain, 227, 245
---- approximate date of bulk of specimens, 228
---- porcelain. _See_ Meissen porcelain.
Duesbury, William, 341, 342, 349, 350-352, 356
---- and Longton Hall, 349
Duesbury’s work-book, quotations from, 350-351
Duplessis, the king’s goldsmith, at Sèvres, 291, 296
Dutch dealers supply Augustus of Saxony with porcelain, 228
---- painters, Chinese porcelain in their pictures, 159
---- trade with China, 220
---- ---- with Japan, 183-184
Dwight, Dr., attempts to make porcelain at Fulham, 240-241
---- ---- nature of the paste made by him, 241
---- Lydia, stoneware figure of, 242
Earthenware, term used to include porcelain, 334 _note_
Egg-shell porcelain, 107
Egypt, Chinese porcelain found in, 158, 211, 212, 215, 216
Egyptian fayence and glazes, 33
_Eisen-porzellan_ of Böttger, 248
Empress-Dowager of China a connoisseur of porcelain, 115-116
Enamel colours on Meissen porcelain, 251-252
Enamelled fayence compared with porcelain, 73
---- porcelain, Saracenic origin of, 87, 88
Enamelled porcelain of Ming dynasty, 86-91, 161
---- ---- three classes, 90
Enamels, always superimposed on glaze, 31
---- relation to subjacent glaze, 45
---- on European porcelain, 45
---- on Chinese porcelain, 45-48
---- on Japanese porcelain, 192
---- firing of, 46
---- new sources of colour, 48
---- ---- at Sèvres, 309
---- on copper, influence on porcelain enamels, 88
_Encastage_, term explained, 28
England, how Chinese porcelain first reached, 219, 221, 223
---- early attempts to make porcelain in, 240-242
English porcelain, rival influence of Sèvres and Dresden, 328
---- ---- copies Oriental and Continental models, 328
---- ---- three types of soft-paste, 330
---- ---- royal patronage, 329, 335, 356
---- ---- divided into five periods, 331
---- ---- contemporary work, 390-391
---- trade with East, 221
_Engobe._ _See_ Slip.
D’Entrecolles, Père, his letters, how written, 126
---- ---- reception of letters in Europe, 126
---- ---- summary of letters, 127-136
European enamelling on white Chinese porcelain, 165
---- influence on Chinese porcelain, 109, 135, 159, 162
---- market, Chinese porcelain for, 163-164
---- porcelain, early attempts at manufacture, 235-243
_Façonnage_, or shaping, 20
Falconet, his models used at Sèvres, 296
_Famille rose_, 106-110
---- ---- European influence on painting, 109
_Famille verte_, 98-102
---- ---- with black ground, 100
---- ---- relation to Ming enamels, 100
Favorite, La, near Baden, porcelain cabinet, 227
Fawkner, Sir Everard, and Chelsea porcelain, 335-337
Fayence, enamelled, competition with porcelain in seventeenth century, 233
---- ---- practical disadvantages of, 234
Felspar, 9, 10
---- decomposition of, 10
---- how far equivalent to china-stone, 16 _note_, 251
---- pure, used in Danish and Swedish porcelain, 388, 393
Feng Ting ware, white Chinese porcelain, 68, 142
Firing of porcelain, chemical reaction, 11
---- ---- systems described, 26, 191
---- ---- at King-te-chen, 133
Fischer, Herr, at Herend, 271, 392
_Flambé_ glazes, 42
---- ---- on Chinese porcelain, 152
---- ---- firing of, 152, 153
---- ---- how painted on, 153
---- ware, early type, 66
Florence, porcelain made in sixteenth century. _See_ Medici.
Flour-spar used in glaze at Fürstenberg, 265
Flowers in porcelain at Meissen, 254, 293 _note_
---- ---- at Vincennes, 293
_Fond laque_ on Chinese porcelain, 102
---- ---- much found in Persia, 147
Forms of Chinese porcelain, 137-141
---- of Japanese porcelain, 192
Fostât rubbish-heaps, fragment of Chinese porcelain found in, 216
_Fouliang, Annals of_, 127
France, early collectors of Oriental porcelain in, 229-231
Francesco, Grand Duke of Tuscany, makes porcelain, 237
Frankenthal, porcelain made at, 267
Franks, Sir A. W., on Oriental china, 53, 121, 185
---- ---- on Strassburg porcelain, 270
---- ---- on Parisian kilns, 314
---- ---- on Lowestoft porcelain, 370
Frederick the Great and porcelain, 255, 262, 274, 275, 335
Frits, used in French soft pastes, 279
Frye, Thomas, at Bow, 342-343
Fuel used in firing porcelain, 28
Fukien, Chinese province, two wares made, 66, 142
---- white porcelain, 142-143
---- ---- imitated in Europe, 142
---- ---- decorated in England, 144
---- enamelled porcelain, 143
Fulda, porcelain made at, 268
Fulham, Dr. Dwight attempts to make porcelain at, 240
Furnaces for firing porcelain, three types described, 27
---- for Chinese porcelain, 134
---- for Japanese porcelain, 191
---- for French soft pastes, 280
Fürstenberg, porcelain made at, 265
Fusibility of porcelain, experiments at Sèvres, 8, 18
Gardner, at Tver, makes porcelain, 275
Garnier, Édouard, late director at Sèvres, 310
---- ---- report on contemporary porcelain, 389-394
_Garniture_, term explained, 23
---- _de cheminée_ in Chinese porcelain, 139
Geneva, porcelain painters at, 271, 311
Gersaint, his catalogue of Oriental porcelain, 230
Ginori family at Doccia, 320-321
Glass, possible influence on early Chinese glazes, 57
---- made by Hu imitated in porcelain, 113
Glazes, 12, 30-38
---- preparation of, 30
---- applied to unbaked ware by Chinese, 30
Glazes, called oil by Chinese, 31
---- distinguished from enamels, 31
---- fusibility of, 32
---- on Egyptian fayence, 32
---- composition of ancient, 33, 144-154
---- three main classes of, 34
---- on Chinese porcelain, 35
---- relation to subjacent paste, 35
---- containing lime, 35-36
---- at Sèvres of two types, 36
---- on European porcelain, composition of, 36
---- on Chinese porcelain, composition of, 37
---- when first used by Chinese, 69
---- sole source of decoration on early Chinese porcelain, 70
---- for French soft pastes, 281
---- for hard pastes at Sèvres and Limoges, 306
‘Glozing’ or glazing oven, 27
Gold as source of red colour (see also _Rouge d’or_), 89
Gotzkowski, Berlin banker, 262
Gotha, Museum at, early Chinese porcelain, 72, 174, 212
---- porcelain made at, 269
Gouyn, Charles, manager at Chelsea, 333
Granite, primary source of both kaolin and petuntse, 9
Granitic rocks, varieties of, 9
Granja, La, porcelain _gabineto_ at, 323
Gravant, potter at Sèvres, 290, 294
Graviata bowls, 115
Green and blue enamels not successfully united by Chinese, 98 _note_
---- ---- on two vases of Ming porcelain in British Museum, 99 _note_
---- glazes on Chinese porcelain, 149
---- of _famille verte_, how applied, 99-100
Grieninger, manager at Berlin, 263
Growan-stone and clay, 377
Hague, porcelain made at, 273, 389, 393
Hampton Court, Oriental porcelain at, 185, 225-226
Hampton Court, no specimens of _famille rose_ or of ‘Old Japan,’ 225
---- ---- age of porcelain represented at, 226
---- ---- Queen Mary’s china cabinet, 226
Hancock, Robert, working at Battersea, 347
---- ---- and transfer-printing, 360
Handles, fixing of, 23
Hannong family, Strassburg potters, 268, 269, 305, 313, 318
Hardness of porcelain, 5, 18
Haslem, J., on casting process at Derby, 26, 354
Hat-stands in Chinese porcelain, 139
Haviland factory at Limoges, 389, 390
Hellot, chemical adviser at Sèvres, 291, 300
---- his memoir quoted, 278-280, 294, 299
Herculaneum works at Liverpool, 371
Herend, in Hungary, porcelain factory at, 271, 392
Herold or Höroldt at Meissen, 253
Hippisley, translations from Chinese, 91 _note_
Hirado or Mikôchi ware, 193-195
Hirth, Dr., on early Chinese trade, etc., 54, 210-213
---- ---- collection of early Chinese porcelain, 72
Höchst, porcelain made at, 264
Holdship, Richard, 358
Holland, Chinese ‘blue and white’ early imported, 158
---- Chinese porcelain in, 229
---- porcelain made in, 272-274, 389, 393
Hookah-bases of Chinese porcelain, 140
Hsuan-te (1425-35), porcelain of, 92
---- blue and white of, 83
_Hua-shi_, a stone used in Chinese porcelain, 131, 376
Hungary, porcelain made in, 271, 392
Hung-chi (1487-1505), porcelain of, 93, 147
Hunger, at Vienna, 260
Hunger, at Venice, 317
Hybrid pastes of Italy, 316
Imari porcelain, 186-193
---- ---- elements of decoration, 187
---- ---- relation to early Chinese enamelled wares, 187-188
---- ---- relation to other Japanese wares, 188
---- ---- copied at King-te-chen, 188 _note_
---- ---- composition of paste, 190
---- ---- source and nature of materials, 190
---- ---- in Dresden collection, 229
Incense, vessels used in burning, of Chinese porcelain, 138
India, Chinese porcelain found in, 85, 158
---- porcelain enamelled at Canton for, 165
_Insufflation_ of glaze by Chinese, 30
Iron-red in fine lines to imitate the _rouge-d’or_, examples at Dresden, 162
Jade, highly esteemed in China, 57
---- influence on early Chinese glazes, 57
Japan, early pottery of, 177, 179
---- Korean potters in, 179
---- porcelain of, 177-207
Japanese experts on Chinese porcelain, 55
---- porcelain, how introduced from China, 180-181
---- ---- early export of ‘blue and white,’ 182
---- ---- exported by Dutch, 183-184
---- ---- sources of information, 183 _note_, 193 _note_
---- ---- export stimulated by troubles in China, 184
---- ---- princely patronage of, 189, 194
---- ---- founded on Ming types, 189, 197, 199
---- ---- composition of paste, 190
Japanese porcelain, preliminary firing, 191
---- ---- glazes how prepared, 191
---- ---- furnaces, 191
---- ---- marks of crows-feet, 191
---- ---- shapes and uses, 192
---- ---- colours employed, 192
---- ---- celadon, 192, 195, 197, 201
---- ---- stories of processes discovered by spies, 196, 202, 203
---- ---- influence of conservative criticism on, 206
---- trade with China, 178
Julien, Stanislas, translations from Chinese, 53
Ju yao, early Chinese ware, 62
Kaga or Kutani ware, 203-206
Kai-feng Fu, old Sung capital, 62, 63, 65
Kakiyemon, a potter of Hizen, 183
---- ware, 185
---- ---- blue enamel over glaze, 186
---- ---- imitated at Meissen, 253
---- ---- imitated at Chantilly, 286
Kändler at Meissen, 253
---- chief modeller of ‘Dresden figures,’ 253
Kang-he (1661-1722), porcelain of, 96
---- his date-mark, why rare, 119
Kaolin, 8, 10
---- preparation of, 16
---- proportion of, in hard pastes, 17, 385
---- search for in France, 305-306
---- found at Alençon and St. Yrieix, 305-306, 378
---- found in Cornwall, 376-378
Kaolinic stoneware, use of term, 69
Karl Theodor, Elector Palatine, 260, 267
Kenzan, potter at Kioto, 197
Khanfu, Arab name for Hangchow, 209
Kia-king (1795-1820), porcelain of, 114, 155
Kia-tsing (1521-66), porcelain of, 94
Kien-lung (1735-1795), porcelain of, 105-114
---- his poems inscribed on porcelain, 113
Kien-lung, Sèvres porcelain for, 298
Kien yao, old Chinese ware, 66, 180
---- ---- example in British Museum, 71
---- ---- white porcelain, 142, 143
Kilns for firing porcelain. _See_ Furnaces.
King-te-chen in early days, 62
---- oppression of court officials, 94
---- in Kang-he’s reign, 96
---- lists of porcelain made, 95, 104, 115
---- burned, 115, 125, 220
---- position, 123-125
---- Pekin, how reached from, 123
---- Canton, how reached from, 124
---- relation to Jao-chau and Fouliang, 124-125
---- description of town, 125, 127
---- materials brought down in junks, 128
---- foreign designs copied at, 165
---- works abandoned for long period in seventeenth century, 220
Kinsay or Hangchow, 62, 63, 209
Kioto, porcelain made at, 196-199
---- potters copied Ming enamelled wares, 198
---- wares, _récherché_ rudeness of, 197
Kishiu ware or _Ô-niwa yaki_, 199
---- ---- imitated for export at Tokiyo and Kobe, 200
Kiyomidzu, suburb of Kioto, porcelain made at, 197, 198
Kizayemon family, court purveyors of porcelain, 188
Kochi, meaning of Japanese term, 175
---- ware of Japanese, 201
Kok, Juriann, his new porcelain at the Hague, 389, 393
_Koransha_, combination of Japanese potters, 193
Korea, relations with China and Japan, 168
---- fanciful attribution of various wares to, 169, 186
Korean porcelain, classification of, 170
---- ---- celadon, 170
---- ---- plain white, 170
---- ---- crackle ware, 171
Korean porcelain described in early Chinese books, 171
---- inlaid with white slip, 171
---- potters in Japan, 169
Koreans, early use of enamel colours by, 169
Kousnetzoff factory, Moscow, 392
Ko yao, early Chinese ware, 63, 65, 145
‘Kronenburg porcelain,’ origin of name, 267
Kuang-tung porcelain of Raynal, 166
Kuang yao, stoneware, 166
---- ---- early Chinese ware, 63
Kublai Khan, 72, 213
Kutani or Kaga ware, 203-206
---- ware, relation to Imari porcelain, 204
---- ---- marks on, 205
Kwan-yin, statues of, 135, 143, 226
Lace imitated in porcelain at Berlin, 264
Lang Ting-tso, superintendent at King-te-chen, 96 _note_, 103, 151
Lang yao, origin of name, 103
Langen, von, at Fürstenberg, 265
---- ---- at Copenhagen, 274
_Laque Burgauté_, 114
Lathe, use of, in shaping porcelain, 22
Lead in glaze, 33-34
Leithner, chemist at Vienna, 261
Lemon-yellow, opaque glaze on Chinese porcelain, 111-115
Lille, porcelain made at, 284
---- coal early used in porcelain kilns, 285
Lime in paste or glaze of porcelain, 35-36, 251
Limoges district, porcelain works in, 15, 314-315, 389-390
---- enamel copied in Chinese porcelain, 135 _note_
Lister, Dr. Martin, at Saint-Cloud, 282, 326
Lists of porcelain made for Chinese court, 95, 115
Lithophanic porcelain, at Berlin, 264
Littler at Longton Hall, 348
Liverpool porcelain, 370-371
London, West of England porcelain painted in, 363, 366, 369
Longton Hall porcelain, 348-349
Lowestoft and Oriental armorial porcelain, 369-370
---- china, so-called, 165, 369
---- porcelain, 369-370
Ludwigsburg, porcelain made at, 266
Lung-chuan celadon, reproduced at King-te-chen, 132
---- yao, early Chinese ware, 63
Lung-king (1566-72), porcelain of, 95
Lustre ware, attempted imitation by Chinese, 74 _note_
Lyle, Mr., on old Siamese porcelain, 173
Macaulay on china collectors, 61 _note_
Madeley, Sèvres porcelain copied by Randall at, 366
Magnesia, an element of porcelain paste, 12, 131
---- in paste of Vinovo porcelain, 318
---- in paste of Spanish porcelain, 324
Magnets, removal of iron from slip by, 19
_Magots_, decorated in _famille verte_ style, 100
Mainwaring, Mr. Massey, his collection of Dresden figures, 254 _note_
Mainz, elector of, and Höchst porcelain, 264
Manchu or Tsing dynasty, 96
Mandarin china, 114
Manganese-purple glazes on Chinese porcelain, 98, 147
---- ---- in the San-tsai enamels, 99
Marcolini, Count, director at Meissen, 256
Marieberg, porcelain made at, 273
Marks on Chinese porcelain, 117-122
---- ---- how and where applied, 117, 119
---- ---- give little information, 119, 122
---- ---- _Tang_ or hall, _Chai_ or studio, 120
---- ---- allusive, descriptive, emblems and devices, 120-121
---- ---- ‘canting’ devices, 121
Marks on European porcelain. _See_ under the principal factories.
---- on Japanese porcelain, 197, 199, 200, 205
_Marnes_, used in French soft pastes, 279
Martabani celadon, examples in European collections, 71
---- ware, 64-65, 210 _seq._, 144, 173, 215
Materials of porcelain, M. Vogt’s experiments, 17
Maubrée, flower-painter on porcelain, 271
Mazarin or powder-blue grounds of Chinese, 148
Medici, Lorenzo de’, receives present of Chinese porcelain, 217
---- porcelain, 236-238
---- ---- only identified lately, 236
---- ---- Vasari’s account, 236
---- ---- decoration of, 237
---- ---- composition of, 237
---- ---- marks, 238
Medicine-flasks (_yao-ping_) or snuff-bottles of Chinese porcelain, 113-114, 140
---- ---- of Chinese porcelain, used by Arabs, found in Egyptian tombs, 140
Meissen porcelain, 244-258
---- ---- composition, 7, 250-251
---- ---- first successfully made (1713-1716), 249
---- ---- composition of glaze, 251
---- ---- hardness of paste, and difficulties in application of enamels, 251
---- ---- early pieces mostly defective, 252
---- ---- ‘Dresden figure groups,’ 253
---- ---- imitation of Chinese _magots_, 253
---- ---- armorial designs, 253
---- ---- flowers imitated, 254
---- ---- attempts to make large figures, 254
---- ---- effects of Seven Years’ War, 255
---- ---- important position of enamel painters, 255
Meissen porcelain, early exported to Turkey, 255 _note_
---- ---- marks on, 257
---- ---- recent work, 257, 392
---- ---- marks on, copied, 258
---- ---- smuggled into England, 334
Melchior at Höchst, 265
---- at Frankenthal, 268
Mennecy, porcelain made at, 287-288
Mica, an element in Chinese porcelain, 11, 131, 376 _note_
Mikôchi or Hirado ware, 193-195
Ming dynasty, porcelain of, 78-95
---- porcelain, colour decoration, 79, 86-91, 161
---- ---- ‘blue and white,’ 81-85, 95, 157
Minton, Thomas, 366, 373
Mirror black glaze on Chinese porcelain, 130, 149
Mohammedan forms of Chinese porcelain, 140
_Mo-hung_, iron-red painted over glaze, 150
Mokubei, potter at Kioto, 201
Moore, Bernard, imitates Chinese glazes, 387
Morikaga, painted on Kaga ware, 204
Moulding, antiquity of process, 23-25
---- process described, 23-25, 128
---- largely used for Chinese porcelain, 112
Muffle-stoves for firing enamels, 47, 281
Nabeshima or Okôchi ware, 195
Nantgarw porcelain, 367-368
Napoleon’s ideas for decoration of porcelain, 308
Niderwiller, porcelain made at, 270
Nien-hao. _See_ Date-marks.
Nien Hsi-yao, superintendent at King-te-chen, 104-105
Nien yao, 105
Nightingale, Mr., on sales of Chelsea porcelain, 335 _note_, 336 _note_
Ninsei, potter at Kioto, 196
Nove, Le, porcelain factory at, 318
Nymphenburg, porcelain made at, 267
Nyon, porcelain made at, 271
Okeover plate in British Museum, 164
Okôchi or Nabeshima ware, 195
‘Old Japan.’ _See_ Imari.
_Ô-niwa yaki_ or Kishiu ware, 199-200
Oriental porcelain, earliest specimens in Europe, 217-218
Orleans, Duke of, collector of Oriental porcelain, 230
---- ---- and Saint-Cloud, 283
---- family, interest in porcelain, 314
---- porcelain made at, 288
Ormolu mountings at Sèvres, 297
---- ---- on English porcelain, 339
Orry de Fulvi at Vincennes, 290
Oude Amstel, Dutch porcelain, 273
---- Loosdrecht, porcelain made at, 272
Ovens for firing porcelain. _See_ Furnaces.
Owari porcelain, 201-203
---- ---- materials and composition, 190
---- ---- cheap ware for export, 203
Owen, Mr., on Bristol porcelain, 376, 381 _note_
Painted glazes, term explained, 44, 59
---- ---- on Ming porcelain, 79
---- ---- of Hsuan-te, 92
Painters on Chinese porcelain, 108
---- ---- signatures of, 108
---- ---- division of work, 129
---- on Sèvres porcelain, signatures of, 303
Painting, schools of, in China, 82
---- on porcelain. _See also_ Enamelling.
Palissy probably endeavoured to make porcelain, 239 _note_
Parian ware, 373
Paris, soft-paste factories at, 288
---- hard-paste factories at, 312-314
_Pâte-sur-pâte_, 41, 311
‘Peach-bloom’ glaze, 105, 154
Pen-rests in Chinese porcelain, 139
Persia, Chinese porcelain in, 147, 157, 215, 216
Persian fayence compared with Chinese porcelain, 73
Persian fayence, early use of blue under glaze, 74, 75
---- ---- Chinese influence on, 76
---- Gulf, early Chinese trade with, 213
---- ---- English trade with, 221
---- inscription on fifteenth century Chinese porcelain, 94
Petuntse (_see also_ China-stone), 8, 10
---- proportion of, in hard pastes, 385
Pierced decoration in Chinese porcelain, 154
Pillows in Chinese porcelain, 139
Pinxton porcelain, 371
---- Billingsley makes porcelain at, 368, 371
Pirkenhausen factory, Carlsbad, 392
Place, Dr., of York, experiments with various clays, 242
Planché, modeller at Derby, 351
Plymouth porcelain, 375-381
---- ---- composition of glaze, 380
---- ---- marks on, 380
Poems on Chinese porcelain, 113
Poison detected by Chinese porcelain, 215
Polo, Marco, account of China, 72
---- ---- on Chinese porcelain, 213-214
Pompadour, Marquise de, and Sèvres, 290, 292, 295, 300
Porcelain, physical properties of, 5
---- microscopical structure, 5
---- chemical composition, 6-12
---- materials, 14-18
---- transition to kaolinic stoneware in Japanese porcelain, 206
---- vague early use of the word, 217
---- early reports in Europe as to its composition, 223
‘Porcelain fever’ at time of Seven Years’ War, 255
Porcelain or purslane, word, how used in Elizabethan times, 222
Portugal, porcelain made in, 325
Portuguese in China, 219
---- as importers of porcelain, 222, 230
Poterat family of Rouen, 239, 282, 284
Potsherds of Chinese porcelain, ground up for paste of English porcelain, 326 _note_
Potter’s wheel, 20-22
---- ---- early forms, 20-21
_Pourcelainnes_, the word, how used by Marco Polo, 214
Pressing, process described, 23
Quan-yin, or Kwan-yin (Jap. Kwannon), 135, 143, 226
Randall copies Sèvres porcelain, 366
Raynal, Abbé, on Chinese porcelain, 85
---- ---- quoted, 166, 231
---- ---- on classification of Oriental porcelain, 223 _note_
Réaumur makes porcelain, 278
Red decoration _sous couverte_, 43
Red Sea ports, early Chinese trade with, 213
Reine, porcelaine de la, made in Rue Thiroux, 313
Reproductions of old types of Chinese porcelain, 104, 115
Riaño, Don Juan, on Spanish porcelain, 322, 325
Rice-grain, in pierced decoration, 155
Ringler, the arcanist, 264, 266, 267
Risampei, a Korean, at Arita, 181
Ritual vessels in Chinese porcelain, colours of, 138
Rockingham porcelain, 371-372
Rörstrand, porcelain made at, 273
---- ---- contemporary work, 388, 393
Rose, John, 365, 366
Rose-red grounds (opaque), _mei-kwei_, on Chinese porcelain, 110
Roses on English porcelain, 352, 368
Rouen porcelain, 238-239, 282
---- ---- examples where found, 239
_Rouge d’or_ on Chinese porcelain, 107
---- ---- date of introduction in China, 110 _note_
---- ---- not mentioned by D’Entrecolles, 136
---- ---- late introduction in Japan, 189, 205
---- ---- used early at Saint-Cloud, 283
_Rouge d’or_, source of, 284 _note_
---- ---- mentioned in De Frasnay’s poem, 284 _note_
Rozenburg works at the Hague, 389, 393
Russian porcelain, 274, 392
Sacrifice of the potter Tung, 113
Saint-Cloud, porcelain made at, 282-284
---- seventeenth century designs on porcelain, 283
St. Petersburg, porcelain made at, 274, 392
Saladin’s present of Chinese porcelain, 215
Salting collection, early vase with _cloisons_, 80
---- ---- enamelled bowl with Cheng-te mark, 89, 161
---- ---- _famille verte_ with black ground, 101
Salvétat, notes to Julien’s work, 53
Samson, imitates old wares, 314
Sanda celadon, 201
_Sang de bœuf_ glazes, 42
---- ---- imitated in England, 387
---- ---- on Chinese porcelain, 151
San tsai or ‘three-colour’ glazes, 44
---- ---- the ‘three colours’ of Ming enamels, 89, 97
---- ---- relation to Kishiu ware, 98
Saracenic glass, enamels on, 88
---- ---- found in China, 88 _note_
---- motives and forms in Chinese porcelain, 76, 140
---- origin of enamelled porcelain, 87, 88
Sassanian influence on Far East, 70 _note_
Sawankalok, porcelain made at, 173, 212 _note_
Sceaux, porcelain made at, 288
_Schneeball-vasen_, 254
_Schnorrische Erde_ used by Böttger, 250
Seggars, preparation and arrangement in furnace, 28-29
---- arrangement in Chinese furnaces, 133
---- late introduction in Japan, 188
Sei-ji, Japanese term for celadon, 64
Sentoku, Japanese reading of Hsuan-te, 92
Seto, village in Owari, connection with Japanese porcelain, 180, 202
Seto-mono, Japanese equivalent to ‘china,’ 202
Sève for Sèvres, 290 _note_
‘Severe’ or kaolinic porcelain, 17-18, 385-386
Sèvres, experimental work at, 15
---- hard paste, two types, 17
---- the new porcelain, 18
---- the soft paste of, 289-304
---- porcelain works removed to, 292
---- edicts against competing works, 295
---- the factory a fashionable lounge, 295
---- date of the best work, 297
---- soft paste abandoned, 303
---- ---- repainted at later dates, 304
---- the hard paste of, 305-312
---- German workmen at, 305
---- Macquer succeeds Hellot, 305
---- early hard paste of mild type, 306
---- the new mild type of hard paste, 307, 390
---- proposed withdrawal of State support, 310, 311, 312
---- hard paste, analysis of, 386
---- contemporary porcelain, 389, 390
---- laboratory, chemical and technical researches on Chinese porcelain, 47-48, 55
---- porcelain sold at Versailles, 292
---- ---- biscuit figures, 296
---- ---- royal dinner-services, 297-298
---- ---- colours of grounds on, 299
---- ---- turquoise enamel, how prepared, 299
---- ---- _Rose carnée_ or _Pompadour_, 300
---- ---- gilding on, 301
---- ---- date-marks on, 302
---- ---- jewelled decoration, 302
---- ---- artists’ marks on, 303
---- ---- felspathic glaze, 306
---- ---- glaze on early hard paste, 306
---- ---- big vases of, 307-308
---- ---- the Napoleonic decoration, 308
---- ---- changes in decoration illustrate history, 310
---- ---- coloured pastes, 311
---- ---- pictorial plaques, 271, 311
---- ---- later developments, 312, 390
‘Shaping,’ term explained, 20
_Sha-t’ai_ or ‘sand-bodied’ relation to _hua-shi_, 132
---- ---- used as slip, 154
Shonsui, first made porcelain in Japan, 181
Siamese porcelain, 172-175
---- ---- primitive methods of support in kilns, 174, 211
---- ---- Buddhist emblems, 175
---- ---- decorated at Canton, 175
Signatures of painters on _famille rose_ plates, 108
Silica, proportion of, in hard pastes, 7, 385
Silver plate replaced in France by porcelain, 285
Slip or _barbotine_, 19, 312
---- decoration of Chinese porcelain, 146, 147, 154
Slop-blending, 16
Snuff-bottles of Chinese porcelain, 113-114, 140
Soft pastes, how distinguished, 277 _note_
---- ---- of France, origin of, 277-279
---- ---- composition, 279
Solon, M., at Sèvres, 311
_Sometsuke_, Japanese term for ‘blue and white,’ 187
_Soufflé_ glazes on Chinese porcelain, 30, 150
_Sous couverte_ or under-glaze decoration, 43
Spain, porcelain made in, 322-324
---- Chinese porcelain early imported, 322
Spengler of Zurich at Derby, 354
Spode family of Stoke, 372-373
---- Josiah, abandons use of frit in porcelain, 373
---- ---- his felspar porcelain, 373
---- ware, 373-374
Sprimont, Nicholas, manager at Chelsea, 333, 338, 341
---- ---- his _Case of the Undertaker_, 334
Staffordshire porcelain, composition, 372
Steatite in Chinese porcelain, 131
---- used at Worcester, 359
---- used at Swansea, 368
---- relation to _Hua-she_, 376 _note_
Stoneware, relation of, to porcelain, 7, 386
---- composition, 7
Stonewares of Chinese, 165-167
Strassburg, porcelain made at, 269
Strawberry Hill, porcelain at, 266, 283, 321, 379 _note_
_Sui-ki_, Chinese term for crackle or _truité_ ware, 146
Sumatra, Chinese trade with, 210
Sung dynasty of China, 62
---- porcelain, 62-68
---- ---- copied in later times, 52, 104
---- ---- rarity in European collections, 71
Su-ni-po and Su-ma-li, cobalt blues of Arab origin, 92
Swansea porcelain, 367-369
Swedish porcelain, 273
---- ---- contemporary work, 388, 393
Swinton, Rockingham porcelain made at, 371
Swiss porcelain, 270
Ta-mo (Jap. Daruma), 143
Tang dynasty of China, importance of, 56, 209
Tang-ying, superintendent at King-te-chen, 110
---- report on manufacture of porcelain, 111-113
Tao-kwang (1820-50), porcelain of, 115
Tea drinking, influence on ceramic wares, 179, 224, 243
---- ---- ridiculed in drinking-song, 243
Tek-kwa or Te-hua, 142
‘Throwing’ on wheel, 20-22
Thüringer Wald, porcelain made in, 269
Tin enamel used at Chantilly, 286, 294
Tin-glazed fayence, 73
Tin in glaze, 33-34
Ting yao, old Chinese ware, 67, 141
Tingui of Marco Polo, 213-214
Tokugawa period, decline of art in later times, 198, 205
Toshiro, Japanese potter, 180
To-t’ai, ‘bodiless’ porcelain, 91
Tournai, porcelain made at, 289
Toys made of Mennecy porcelain, 287
---- made of Chelsea porcelain, 337
Transfer-printing at Bow, 347
---- at Worcester, 360
‘Transmutation’ glazes on Chinese porcelain, 66, 150-154, 151 _note_
_Trembleuse_ saucers, 283, 294
Trenchard family, early pieces of Chinese porcelain in possession of, 219
Triads of colour--San-tsai, 89, 97
Trou, Henri, at Saint-Cloud, 283
Tsang Ying-hsuan, superintendent at King-te-chen, 96
Tschirnhaus, glass made by, 246-247, 278
---- his connection with Böttger, 246-247, 248
Tsing or Manchu dynasty, 96
Tung, the potter’s god, 113
Tung-chi (1861-74), porcelain of, 115
Tu Ting ware, term explained, 68
Turks use coffee-cups of Oriental porcelain, 224
Turner, Thomas, at Caughley, 365
Turquoise glaze on Chinese porcelain, 97, 147
---- grounds (opaque)--_fei-tsui_--on Chinese porcelain, 110-111
---- ---- on Sèvres porcelain, 299
---- ---- on Chelsea porcelain, 339
_Tu-ting_, 142
Tzu-ching, writer of Bushell MS., 61, 79, 86
_Tzu-kin_ (burnished gold), Chinese name for _fond laque_, 146
Unaker, kaolin from America, 342, 376, 378
Uranium, black enamel from, 261
Uses of Chinese porcelain, 137-141
---- of Japanese porcelain, 192
Venice, Chinese porcelain in St. Mark’s, 77 _note_
---- early attempts to make porcelain in, 235
---- Oriental porcelain abundant in seventeenth century, 235 _note_
---- porcelain made at, 316-318
---- German influence on porcelain, 317
Vernadsky, on chemical reaction in firing porcelain, 11
Vezzi family at Venice, 316
Vienna, origin of porcelain works, 260
---- porcelain, decoration, 260
---- ---- marks on, 260
Villeroy, Duc de, and Mennecy, 287
Vincennes, porcelain made at, 289-291, 293-295
---- _bleu du roi_, 294
---- early perfection of porcelain, 295
Vinovo, or Vineuf, porcelain factory at, 318
_Vissage_ or wreathing, 22, 106 _note_, 384
Vogt, M., of Sèvres, quoted, 17, 278
Wall, Dr. John, at Worcester, 357, 363
Walpole, Horace, porcelain from Doccia, 321
Wan-li (1572-1619), his present of porcelain to Jehangir, 85
---- porcelain of, 95
Warham, Archbishop, celadon bowl at Oxford, 218
‘Wasters,’ importance of discovery of, 29
Watteau, influence on German art, 253
Wedgwood, his Jasper ware, 40
---- at Meissen, 256
---- and fugitive workmen, 381 _note_
---- his opposition to Champion, 383
Weesp, in Holland, porcelain made at, 272
White Chinese porcelain, two families of, 68
Willow pattern at Caughley, 365
Worcester porcelain, 357-364
---- ---- foundation of factory, 357
---- ---- composition of pastes, 358
---- ---- the factory described, 358
---- ---- Oriental wares copied, 359
---- ---- portraits of celebrities, 360, 364
---- ---- marks on, 360, 364
---- ---- transfer-printing, 360-361
---- ---- migration of painters from Chelsea, 361
---- ---- _bleu du roi_ grounds, 361-362
---- ---- decorated in London, 362-363
---- ---- the Chamberlain factory, 363
---- ---- late developments, 364
‘Wreathing’ or _vissage_, 22, 106 _note_, 384
_Wu-kung_, five vessels on Buddhist shrine, 138
_Wu-shê_ (_see_ Garniture), 139
Wu-tsai, the ‘five colours’ of Ming enamels, 89
---- relation to _famille verte_, 101
_Yang-tsai_, ‘foreign colours,’ associated with Indian enamels, 165
_Yao-pien_, or furnace transmutation, 152
_Yao-ping_, or medicine-flasks, 113, 140
Yeiraku ware, 198-199
Yeisen, potter at Kioto, 197
Yellow glazes on Chinese porcelain, 94, 147
Yi-hsing yao, stoneware, 165
Yuan or Mongol dynasty, 72
---- ---- porcelain of, 77, 152
Yung-cheng (1722-35), porcelain of, 103-105
---- copies of old wares, 104
---- his early interest in porcelain, 135
Yung-lo (1402-24), early date-mark, 67
---- porcelain of, 68, 91
Zaitun, 142, 209, 213
Zanzibar, Chinese porcelain found at, 211
Zengoro, family of Japanese potters, 198
---- his coral red, his Yeiraku seal, 198-199
---- his Kairaku ware in Kishiu, 200
---- Hozen at Kutani, 205
Zurich, porcelain made at, 270
Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Some English porcelain is stated by Professor Church to have a hardness equal to that of quartz. See below, ‘Bristol Porcelain.’
[2] We have thought it well, once for all, to treat briefly of the scientific aspect of our subject, but those who are not interested in this point of view may pass over the next few pages.
[3] I shall return to this point in a later chapter. I lay the more stress on this fact, as it is often stated that the hard and slightly translucent stonewares, such as the Fulham ware of Dwight, which contains as much as eighty per cent. of silica, form one degree of a series of which true porcelain is the next term. The fact is, those who sought to make porcelain by a refinement in the manufacture of stoneware were as much astray as those who started from a fusible glass frit.
[4] The china-stone of Cornwall might, in part at least, be claimed as an old volcanic rock, and that used in the Imari district of Japan is distinctly of volcanic origin. Both these rocks, however, consist essentially of a mixture of quartz and felspar.
[5] For further details consult the authorities quoted in the _Handbook_ of the Jermyn Street Collection, p. 5; for sections showing the relation of the beds of kaolin to the surrounding rock, see Brongniart’s _Traité des Arts Céramiques_, vol. i.
[6] It is to the scattered notices and essays of Mr. William Burton that we must go for information in this country. In his new work on _English Porcelain_ he does not treat upon this side of the subject.
[7] The most complete work on the processes of manufacture is now Dubreuil’s _La Porcelaine_, Paris, 1885. It forms part forty-two in Fremy’s _Encyclopédie Chimique_. This volume brings up to date and replaces in some measure the great work of Alexandre Brongniart, the _Traité des Arts Céramiques_ (two volumes, with a quarto volume of plates), Paris, 1844. M. Georges Vogt in _La Porcelaine_, Paris, 1893, gives valuable details of the processes employed at Sèvres.
[8] The _cailloux_ of the French. This material is often described as felspar, but I think that quartz can seldom be completely absent.
[9] I should, however, be inclined to class not only much of the porcelain of Japan, but some of that made in Germany and in south-west France, rather in the ‘severe’ kaolinic than in the intermediary class of M. Vogt.
[10] We can, however, distinguish, in the tomb paintings of the Middle Empire, an earlier form without the lower table. This earlier type, moved by hand from the upper table, was that used by the Greeks at least as late as the sixth century B.C., and a similar primitive wheel is still used in India. On later Egyptian monuments of Ptolemaic time, the potter is seen moving the wheel by pressing his foot on a second lower table, as now at Sèvres and elsewhere. Both forms of wheel appear to have been used by the Italian potters of the Renaissance.
[11] This seam is often visible on vases of old Chinese porcelain, and may be taken as a sign that the object has been moulded.
[12] Porcelain in China followed, as we shall see, in the wake of the more early developed arts of the bronze-caster and the jade-carver. Hence the prevalence in the early wares of shapes unsuitable to the wheel.
[13] I think that this is a more practical division than the one made by M. Vogt and adopted by Dr. Bushell.
[14] An important exception is to be noted in the case of the firing of large vases in China.
[15] A good instance of the first case is the finding of crow-claws in the rubbish-heaps of Fostât or Old Cairo. As to the method of support indicating the place of origin, see what is said below about the celadon ware of Siam.
[16] There is only one exception of any importance--the porcelain of Chantilly, much of which has an opaque stanniferous glaze.
[17] So we can infer from the magnificent wall decoration of the Achæmenian period brought home from Susa by M. Dieulafoi.
[18] A glaze of this nature was in the Saracenic East applied to a layer of fine white slip, which itself formed a coating on the coarse paste. Such a combination, often very difficult to distinguish from a tin enamel, we find on the wall-tiles of Persia and Damascus.
[19] Metallic gold has, of course, been applied to the decoration of porcelain in all countries.
[20] The colour of the ruby glass in our thirteenth century windows has a very similar origin. In this case the art was lost and only in a measure recovered at a later period. As in the case of the Chinese glaze, the point was to seize the moment when the copper was first reduced and, in a minute state of division, was suspended in floccular masses in the glass.
[21] With these colours a dark blue is sometimes associated. Is this derived like the turquoise from copper? It is a curious fact that we have here exactly the same range of colours that we find in the little glass bottles of Phœnician or Egyptian origin, with zig-zag patterns (1500-400 B.C.).
[22] See Vogt, _La Porcelaine_, p. 219. The problem is really more complicated. For simplicity’s sake we have ignored the changes that take place in the glaze that lies between the enamels and the paste.
[23] The same result may be obtained by painting one colour over the other, as we find in the black ground of the _famille verte_.
[24] In Persia, where for three centuries at least the Chinese wares have been known and imitated, the word _chini_ has almost the same connotation. See below for a discussion of the route by which this word reached England.
[25] During the eighteenth century, however, the French missionaries remained in friendly relation with the Chinese court, especially with the Emperor Kien-lung, a man of culture and a poet. The Père Amiot sent home not only letters with valuable information, but from time to time presents of porcelain from the emperor. He was in correspondence with the minister Bertin, who was himself a keen collector of porcelain. See the notes in the Catalogue of Bertin’s sale, Paris, 1815.
[26] Thanks to the industry of the present curator, Herr Zimmermann, the same may now be said of the great collection at Dresden.
[27] For a discussion, and for many illustrations of the art of these early dynasties which survives chiefly in objects of jade or bronze, see Paléologue, _Art Chinois_, Paris, 1887.
[28] The wild statements as to the transparency, above all, of the Sung and even the Tang porcelain may, however, appear to receive some confirmation from the reports of the old Arab travellers. But how much credence we can give to these authorities may be gleaned from a description of the fayence of Egypt, by a Persian traveller of the eleventh century. ‘This ware of Misr,’ he says, ‘is so fine and diaphanous that the hand may be seen through it when it is applied to the side of the vessel.’ He is speaking not of porcelain, but of a silicious glazed earthenware!
[29] _Pekin Oriental Society_, 1886; see also Bushell’s _Ceramic Art_, p. 132 seq.
[30] See the passage in his _History_ (chapter ix.) where this stern censor, referring to the passion for collecting china, rebukes the ‘frivolous and inelegant fashion’ for ‘these grotesque baubles.’
[31] The name Céladon first occurs in the _Astrée_, the once famous novel of Honoré D’Urfé. When later in the seventeenth century Céladon, the courtier-shepherd, was introduced on the stage, he appeared in a costume of greyish green, which became the fashionable colour of the time, and his name was transferred to the Chinese porcelain with a glaze of very similar colour, which was first introduced into France about that period.
[32] Julien translated the word _ching_ as blue, an unfortunate rendering in this case, which has been the cause of much confusion. He was so far justified in this, in that the same word is used by the Chinese for the cobalt blue of our ‘blue and white,’ while it was not applied by them to a pronounced green tint.
[33] I shall return to this point when treating of English porcelain.
[34] Somewhat later the Chinese were for a time neighbours of the Sassanian empire, where the arts of glazing pottery and making glass were highly developed. Sassanian bronzes, and probably textiles, have found their way to Japan.
[35] The salt-glazed ware of Europe seems to be the only important exception to this perhaps rather sweeping generalisation.
[36] It is possible, however, that some of the various tints of brown used from early Ming times, especially that known to the Chinese as ‘old gold,’ may have been suggested by this copper lustre. The ground on which this lustre is superimposed in some old Persian wares is of a very similar shade. Dr. Bushell mentions a tradition that the old potters tried to produce a yellow colour by adding metallic gold to their glaze, but that the gold all disappeared in the heat of the _grand feu_. They had therefore to fall back upon the _or bruni_.
[37] Consult for this ware the beautifully illustrated monographs of Mr. Henry Wallis on early Persian ceramics.
[38] The cobalt pigment itself, when not of native origin, was known to the Chinese in Ming times as _Hui-hui ch’ing_ or ‘Mohammedan blue.’ The other names for the material, _sunipo_ and _sumali_, probably point in the same direction.
[39] A little white oval vase, in the Treasury of St. Mark’s, at Venice, may possibly be of this old Ting ware. The decoration is in low relief, and four little rings for suspension surround the mouth. In any case this is the only piece in this famous collection that has any claim to be classed as porcelain.
[40] The style of this _cloisonné_ decoration is almost identical with that seen in the two magnificent lacquer screens with landscapes and Buddhist emblems at South Kensington. The chains of pearls and _pendeloques_ are characteristic of a style of painting often found on the beams and ceilings of the old Buddhist temples of Japan. This is, I think, a _motif_ not found elsewhere on Chinese porcelain.
[41] The late M. Du Sartel gives in his work on Chinese porcelain good photographs of some jars of this class in his collection. He was one of the first to call attention to this ware.
[42] This dull surface is especially noticeable in some of the specimens with Arabic inscriptions in the British Museum; these date from the Cheng-te period (1505-21).
[43] In Persia, too, and in that country accompanied by many other varieties of Chinese porcelain. For examples of these wares see above all the collection at South Kensington.
[44] _Relations des Musulmans avec les Chinois._ It is not impossible, however, that further research may bring to light some information on this subject. Since writing this I hear from Dr. Bushell that some specimens of Saracenic enamelled glass, presumably of the fourteenth century, have lately been purchased in Pekin. The Arab trade with China was probably never more active than in the first half of the fifteenth century. It is with the Memlook Sultans, then ruling a wide empire from Cairo, that we must associate most of this enamelled glass, and the Eastern trade was in their hands.
[45] See Bushell, p. 454.
[46] Note that cobalt as an enamel colour was not applied on porcelain during Ming times.
[47] There is, however, a curious old bowl in the Salting collection with the nien-hao of Cheng-te (1505-21), on which a design of iron red, two shades of green, a brownish purple, _and a cobalt blue of poor lavender tint, all these colours over the glaze_, is combined with an _underglaze_ decoration of fish, in a full _copper red_. Note also the early use of a cobalt blue enamel, _sur couverte_, in the Kakiyemon ware of Japan.
[48] Much of this kind was translated by Julien, and a good summary may be found in Hippisley’s paper contributed to the Smithsonian Institute, but the information from the same and other sources is more accurately translated and critically analysed in the seventh and eighth chapters of Dr. Bushell’s great work.
[49] Yung-lo, according to the Chinese reckoning, did not commence his reign until the new year’s day following the death of his predecessor (1403). I have, however, thought it better to adopt the European method of reckoning dates.
[50] The name _Sentoku_ that they give to it is the Japanese reading of the characters forming this emperor’s name.
[51] We may mention that a pair of wide-mouthed vases of this ware, shown at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1896, bore the nien-hao of Kia-tsing (1521-66) inscribed round the mouth.
[52] More properly a _fresh name was given to the period_, but for the sake of brevity we here as elsewhere identify the emperor’s name with that given to the nien-hao.
[53] The Trenchard bowls, mentioned below, belong probably to this or to the following reign.
[54] But this name is also applied by some to the older Su-ma-li blue.
[55] Perhaps the earliest nien-hao on a piece of blue and white in which we can place any confidence.
[56] A predecessor of his as viceroy and superintendent at King-te-chen was _Lang Ting-tso_, from whom the famous Lang yao, the _sang de bœuf_, had its name, though this derivation is not absolutely certain. It could only have been quite in the last days of the latter viceroy’s rule that much good work was turned out from the kilns.
[57] It will be observed that the turquoise blue and the green, both derived from copper, so happily combined in the wall-tiles of the Saracenic East, are in China rarely found united in the decoration of the same piece, and this arises from practical difficulties connected with the fluxes and the firing. At least the two colours are never _successfully_ combined, for the attempt was apparently made in Ming times, and of this some instances are given in the following note. Indeed I should be inclined to regard such a combination on any piece as an evidence of early, probably of Ming, origin.
[58] I would especially point to a remarkable water-vessel, about ten inches high, in the collection at Dresden. This vase is in the form of a phœnix. _Green_, as well as _turquoise_, purple and yellow are all found in the decoration, and the colours are all well developed. There is in the British Museum--a collection in many ways remarkable for the number of exceptional types illustrated--a jar with cover, of this class. The ground is a dull purple covered with small spirals of black; the rest of the decoration--rocks, waves, flowers, and jewels--is mainly green of two shades with a little yellow. On some of the flowers, however, we see a poor attempt at turquoise blue. Next to this example stands a baluster-shaped vase with tall, straight neck (PL. VII. 2.). The ground is here of a pale greyish yellow, with crackles of a darker shade--so far, in fact, of a Ko yao type. The decoration is of a predominant leafy green, with a little purple and yellow here and there; but on the flowers we find, in addition, an enamel of turquoise, poor in colour, indeed, but certainly a copper blue. Both these examples are classed as Ming, and both would seem to show that the combination of the turquoise enamel (essentially a silicate of copper and soda) with the lead-fluxed green had been attempted in Ming times. It was, however, impossible to obtain satisfactory results in this way, so that in Kang-he’s time the turquoise was reserved for the _demi grand feu_, and the green alone used as an enamel over the glaze.
[59] ‘Muffle-colours,’ of course in these later examples painted over the glaze, and therefore to be classed as enamels.
[60] In this respect we may compare such decoration to a dark water-colour drawing on white paper, where advantage is only taken of the white ground for scattered lights here and there.
[61] We must always think of this great man in connection with his contemporary in France, Louis XIV. Omitting the early years of the French king, before he attained his majority, the two long reigns run almost exactly together.
[62] This list is to be found in Julien’s book. Dr. Bushell has since given a more accurate translation, accompanied by a careful analysis (_Chinese Ceramics_, chapter xii.).
[63] The red paste of early times was, however, imitated, and a ‘copper paste’ is also mentioned in connection with these old wares. The last expression is obscure, but it has certainly nothing to do with an enamel on copper.
[64] On the other hand, on some large showy vases of this time we can trace a series of rings, giving an uneven surface. These are caused either by the undue pressure of the potter’s fingers (_vissage_), or perhaps in part by the way in which the successive stages of the jar were built up with ‘sausage-shaped’ rolls of clay.
[65] How this iron red was manipulated, apparently at a transition period, so as to obtain an effect approaching that of the _rouge d’or_, is described on page 162.
[66] A ruby-red can be obtained by careful manipulation from gold alone. We may regard the addition of tin as a convenient method of developing the colour which was apparently known to the mediæval alchemists.
[67] It would be a point of special interest to determine the date when these two colours--the pink (used as a ground) and the opaque turquoise blue--were first used in China. Their presence together with the lemon-yellow gives perhaps the first note of a period of decline. There is in the British Museum a bowl and saucer covered on the outside with this rose enamel and bearing this unusual inscription--‘the _Sin-chou_ year occurring again.’ This expression was referred by Franks to the sixty-first year of the reign of Kang-he, when the cyclical year in which his reign began recurred again, an unprecedented fact in Chinese history. In the same collection is a saucer-shaped plate with a pale pink ground with the mark of the period Yung-cheng. But the evidence in favour of a somewhat later date for the fully developed use of the _rouge d’or_ seems to me fairly strong. Dr. Bushell, however, tells me that he has seen other examples where the same inscription is found upon ware decorated with the _rouge d’or_, and that he accepts the early date (1722) on the Sin-chou plate. I return to this question on page 136.
[68] Julien omitted this curious passage in his translation as devoid of interest!
[69] There are two magnificent vases of the black lacquered ware, each about eight feet high, in the Musée Guimet, and of the brown variety a well-preserved spherical bowl may be seen at South Kensington.
[70] The snuff-bottles of the Chinese represent the _inro_ of the Japanese. Both were originally used for pills and for eye medicine.
[71] Dr. Bushell tells us that she is an accomplished artist and calligraphist, and that her autograph signature is much valued. She is said to have sent down from the palace, to be copied at King-te-chen, bowls and dishes of the time of Kien-lung, just as that emperor in his day forwarded from Pekin examples of Sung and Ming wares with the same object. So the old tradition is kept up!
[72] These references are to the plates of marks at the end of the book.
[73] See, however, p. 110 note, for a curious instance of its use.
[74] A good example of a date-mark of Wan-li in this position may be seen on the vase reproduced on PL. VII. Fig. 2.
[75] Why, by the way, do we find, in catalogues otherwise well edited, porcelain ascribed to the Kang-he _dynasty_? One might as well speak of the Louis XIV. dynasty.
[76] At least such was the case when the Canal was in working order. For some time since, the Grand Canal has only been navigable _when the country is flooded_.
[77] I cannot find the exact date of the first publication of these letters. In the eighteenth century we find them generally quoted from Du Halde.
[78] This is a passage made use of by Longfellow in those often-quoted lines beginning--
‘A burning town, or seeming so, Three thousand furnaces that glow,’ etc.
[79] If we are to understand by this ‘transparent pebble’ some form of arsenic, for it would seem that arsenic (and not tin as with us) is the base of the opaque white enamels of the Chinese, it is difficult to believe that so volatile a substance could be thus prepared.
[80] For the use of steatite in English porcelain see chap. xxii. At Vinovo, in Piedmont, another magnesian mineral has been employed for the paste.
[81] In the following summary I have kept to the Père D’Entrecolles’s words as far as possible, but with considerable abbreviations.
[82] We must here think of the more sober _famille verte_ lantern at South Kensington, rather than of the magnificent specimen of pierced work in the Salting collection, which is of later date.
[83] The unique bowl of Chinese porcelain illustrated in Du Sartel’s book, of which the outside is decorated in black and gold in imitation of the Limoges enamel of the renaissance, may have had some such origin. This piece, on which even the initials of the original French artist have been copied, was formerly in the Marquis collection, and is now to be seen in the Grandidier Gallery at the Louvre.
[84] We have already alluded to this point, _à propos_ of a bowl in the British Museum; see p. 110 note.
[85] This branch of the subject is fully worked out in chapter xvii. of Dr. Bushell’s work.
[86] When compared with a similar collection of European wares, perhaps the most noticeable difference is the small number of vessels adapted to _pouring_. So much is this the case that when we find a spout or lip on a specimen of Chinese porcelain, the piece takes at once a somewhat exotic aspect, and we are reminded of the Arab _Ibraik_, or the European ewer.
[87] It is a curious fact that London chemists now send out their pills in little glass bottles almost identical in shape and size with these Chinese yao-ping.
[88] The word is used in a restricted sense as explained above.
[89] We have far too often to fall back on names of French origin. Our colour-vocabulary in the case of the enamels and glazes of porcelain is a sadly poor one.
[90] In the case of some monochrome ware the colour may have been painted on the raw paste or on the biscuit, and a colourless glaze then added; or again, as in the case of the coral red mentioned below, it may be painted like an enamel _over_ the glaze.
[91] It must, however, be remembered that this carved lacquer itself is sometimes applied as a coating to porcelain in China.
[92] It would be convenient to have a name to include the whole series--the _flambé_, the _sang de bœuf_, the lavender Yuan, and perhaps also the peach-bloom and the ‘robin’s egg.’ I would propose to include _all these classes_ under the head of _transmutation glazes_.
[93] A French writer compares the effect to the ‘palette d’un coloriste montrée sous un morceau de glace’ (E. de Goncourt, _La Maison d’un Artiste_).
[94] There were many kinds of ‘furnace transmutations’ known to the Chinese, mostly of a miraculous nature (see Bushell, p. 219).
[95] When applied to _the whole surface_, a similar slip forms the ground on which the decoration is painted in the case of many kinds of European and Saracenic fayence, but in such ware the slip is used to conceal a more or less coarse and coloured paste.
[96] It may, however, be noticed, on close examination, that the crackles do not seem to be developed in the lower glaze covered by the slip. This would rather point to both the first and the second coats of glaze, as well as the intermediate slip, being all applied before the firing.
[97] Not that we need claim any great age for these plates, but it is in such places that old types (as _e.g._ the celadon) are likely to continue in fashion.
[98] We may perhaps connect the first steady export of ‘blue and white’ direct to Europe with the establishment of the Dutch at Nagasaki, where they probably employed Chinese workmen.
[99] So what is by far the most successful imitation of Chinese ‘blue and white’ ever produced in Europe was made by the Dutch, in the enamelled fayence of Delft, about the middle of the century.
[100] In Japanese art also we find the prunus as a symbol of the approaching spring, but there the branches are covered with freshly fallen snow. The contrast of the weather in early spring, in China and Japan respectively, could not be better expressed--by ice in the one case, by soft thawing snow in the other.
[101] Dr. Zimmermann, the curator of the Dresden Museum, regards the black division of the _famille verte_ as a product of the _demi grand feu_, _i.e._ he holds that the black and green was painted on the biscuit. But this is certainly not the case with the fully developed examples. I may say that this class is only represented at Dresden by some small roughly painted plates.
[102] We find it so used, however, upon the Japanese ‘Kakiyemon’ porcelain, some of which cannot be much later than the middle of the seventeenth century.
[103] Since writing this I have discovered a tall-necked bottle of this ware at South Kensington, which is stated to have been purchased in Persia (PL. XX.).
[104] That is to say, no attempt was ever made to imitate the material--the hard paste.
[105] An important collection of armorial china was bequeathed to the Museum in 1887 by the Rev. Charles Walker.
[106] This plate belongs to a group in which the arms, above all the mantlings, are in the style of the seventeenth century. On these the _gules_ is always rendered by an opaque iron-red, although the new _rouge d’or_ is freely used in the rest of the decoration. I learn from my friend Colonel Croft Lyons that the arms on this plate are those of Leake Okeover, who was born in 1701. The initials, repeated four times on the margin, L. M. O., stand for Leake and his wife Mary. The plate, therefore, cannot well have been painted before, say, 1725.
[107] This class of Kuang yao must not be confused with the old heavy pieces of Yuan ware mentioned on p. 77.
[108] I quote, with a few contractions, from the edition of 1774.
[109] I have examined the Korean pottery in the British Museum, at Sèvres, and that in some of the German museums, but I have not seen the specimens in the Ethnographical Museum at Hamburg, which are said to be very remarkable.
[110] For an account of the exploration of Sawankalok, see _Man_, the volume for 1901. By the kind permission of Mr. Read I have been able to closely examine the specimens which are now deposited in the British Museum.
[111] We may mention that the Japanese appear also to give the name of Kochi to other wares, especially to the deep blue and turquoise porcelain with decoration in ribbed cloisons which we have attributed to early Ming times.
[112] We may compare with this the impulse given, some four hundred years later, in Europe, to the spread of the use of porcelain at the time when tea was first introduced in the West.
[113] See page 66. This Sung ware is known to the Japanese as ‘_Temmoku_,’ and is highly esteemed by them.
[114] Many, however, of these so-called Jesuit plates were probably painted at King-te-chen at a later date. Christianity was finally and ruthlessly crushed in Japan after the rebellion of 1637: in China it was tolerated up to the close of the reign of Kang-he (1721). I must refer back to a quotation from the Père D’Entrecolles given on p. 133. See also a curious note in Marryat, where a statuette of Quanyin, with the boy patron of learning, is described as ‘a Virgin and Child.’--_Pottery and Porcelain_, p. 293.
[115] In the Dresden collection are several cases full of this early Japanese blue and white.
[116] The Chinese, however, were given much greater liberty than the Dutch.
[117] See the South Kensington handbook on Japanese pottery, p. 86. In the chapter on Japanese ceramics contained in the magnificently illustrated _History of the Arts of Japan_, published in 1901 in connection with the Paris Exhibition, a little further light is thrown on the history of porcelain in that country. But in this work and in the other guides published at the time of our American and European exhibitions (and the same may be said of the Japanese report contained in the South Kensington handbook), the same scanty materials are served up again and again.
[118] _Ambassades Mémorables de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales des Provinces Unies vers les Empereurs du Japon_, Amsterdam, 1680, Part II. p. 102. I take the reference from Marryat, but I have not been able to find the book.
[119] We know of no Chinese type to which we can refer this decoration. Certain points of resemblance have been found with the work of the great contemporary Japanese artist Tanyu. The most characteristic _motifs_ are the tiger, the dancing boy with long sleeves, and the straw hedge.
[120] The ‘old Japan’ was at one time closely copied at King-te-chen for exportation to Europe. (_Cf._ PL. XXIV. 1.)
[121] The composition of the Owari porcelain is more normal, the silica only amounting to 65 per cent.; but as the paste contains little or no lime, it comes nearer to the hard porcelain of Berlin than to the milder Chinese type.
[122] Much, however, of the china-stone of Cornwall differs little in composition from the Imari stone; but the latter contains, as we have said, soda, in place of the more usual potash.
[123] It is to this _Koransha_, I understand, that we are indebted for the historical notices on Japanese porcelain that have appeared on the occasion of our successive international exhibitions (see above, p. 183 note).
[124] Captain Brinkley speaks of the lower edge being serrated, but I have never seen any specimen of this serration.
[125] Another seal was granted to Zengoro with the inscription (reading in Chinese) _Hopin chi liu_ (PL. B. 24). This refers to an old tradition that Shun, a Chinese emperor of very early date, had, before his accession to the throne, made pottery at a place called Hopin, in Honan. This story is told by Ssuma Chien, the ‘Herodotus of China,’ and would be well known to scholars in Japan. These characters are sometimes found on Japanese ware. (_Cf._ Bushell, chap. i., and the Franks catalogue, fig. 191, where, however, the words are wrongly interpreted.) Yeiraku, I should add, may be also rendered ‘long content.’
[126] This question of the relation between the Kishiu, the Kochi of the Japanese, and our class of old Ming wares with coloured glazes, is full of difficulties. It remains for some Japanese connoisseur, who is at the same time both an expert in ceramics and a good Chinese scholar, to clear it up.
[127] This work is analysed by Dr. Hirth in his essay on _Ancient Chinese Porcelain_ already referred to.
[128] Dr. Meyer, who brought this collection together, has always supported the theory that in early days no true porcelain was ever made except in China. In support of this he points to the specimens, including ‘wasters,’ from Sawankalok in Siam, in this collection, as being all of stoneware. We have seen (p. 173) that more recent excavations in the same neighbourhood have brought to light fragments of true porcelain of undoubted local manufacture. It is true, however, that most of the examples of celadon in the Dresden collection are of what we should call a kaolinic stoneware.
[129] I suppose that Franks, who refers to this notice, was satisfied that the present really consisted of Chinese ware. Many slips have been made in quoting this passage, but I will only point out that Nureddin, who died in 1173, has no claim to the title of caliph.
[130] This belief, however, long lingered not only in the East, but even in Europe. According to some, if poison was present, the bowl lost its transparency; others state that the liquid would boil up in the centre, remaining clear round the edge. In a French comic poem, written as late as 1716, among other merits possessed by vessels of Chinese porcelain, it is claimed for them that--
‘Ils font connaître les mystères Des bouillons à la Brinvillière.’
[131] By far the greater number of the fragments are of local or at least of Saracenic origin, and many of them may be as old as the date mentioned in the text. But at Fostât, at all events, some of the pot-sherds are of a much later date. There are important collections of fragments from these rubbish-heaps both in the British Museum and at South Kensington.
[132] Professor Karabacek of Vienna quotes from the encyclopædist Hâdji Khalifa, who died in 1658: ‘The precious magnificent celadon dishes seen in his time were manufactured and exported at Martabani, in Pegu.’
[133] The little bowl of apple-green porcelain in the British Museum, ‘garnished’ with a mounting of the time of Henry VIII., has perhaps as long a European history. The two ‘Trenchard’ bowls (in spite of the later date of the mounting) probably came to England in 1506.
[134] I think that it is not unlikely that during the time that King-te-chen lay waste, kilns may have been erected somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Canton river, and that from these kilns originated much of the rough ware, hastily decorated in blue, that reached India and Persia in such quantities at this time (_cf._ the statement of Raynal quoted on p. 166). We have spoken in the last chapter of the influence of these events upon the Japanese trade.
[135] I am referring, of course, to Stuart times. In the eighteenth century the so-called Gombroon ware was of Persian origin, and recognised as such in England.
[136] The word ‘china’ is used in this sense, I think, by no other European nation.
[137] See, however, for the Portuguese merchants who sold porcelain in France, the note on page 230.
[138] The Abbé Raynal, writing about 1770, says that connoisseurs divide Oriental porcelain into six classes--‘_truitée_, _vieille blanche_, _de Japon_, _de Chine_, _le Japon Chiné et la porcelaine des Indes_.’
[139] Marryat’s extracts are unfortunately often carelessly quoted; nor is it easy in all cases to control them by reference to the originals.
[140] August II. certainly bought a collection of porcelain from the Bassetouche family for 6750 thalers. It would be interesting to know of what wares this collection consisted. The only further additions until quite recent times have been to the European department.
[141] The tradition of the ‘dinner-service’ made in China for Charles V., and presented by him to Moritz of Saxony (or, as others say, captured from him by that prince), belongs to the same category of stories as that of the crusader’s cup. No such commission as this was possible at so early a date, and there is nothing in the Dresden collection that could be connected with such a service.
[142]
‘Menez-moi chez les Portugais Nous y verrons à peu de frais Des marchandises de la Chine ... de la porcelaine fine,’ etc.--Scarron, _Paris Burlesque_.
[143] In 1689 Madame de Sévigné notes the quantity of Oriental porcelain imported at L’Orient.
[144] Are we to identify these with some huge Imari vases, now in the Louvre, with coats of arms bearing the French lilies and the label of Orleans? Some similar vases, with the same arms, have lately been seen in dealers’ shops in London.
[145] The catalogues of Gersaint and of some other early French collections may be found at South Kensington.
[146] Passeri, writing in 1752 in favour of the then neglected majolica, claims that ‘la parte brutale dell’ uomo sarà a favor delle porcellane, ma l’intellettuale e raziocinativa giudicherà a favor delle nostre majoliche.’
[147] Recent researches in the archives of Venice have proved that Oriental porcelain was comparatively abundant in Venice at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Dr. Ludwig has shown me extracts from the inventory of the property of a rich ‘cittadino’ who died in 1526, in which can be distinguished plain white, blue and white, and porcelain decorated with red, green, and gold.
[148] It is quite possible that Palissy may have tried his hand at this problem. M. Solon has suggested that in the many years’ labour at Saintes (when attempting especially to imitate ‘the cup with white enamel’) Palissy was really seeking to make porcelain.
[149] I take the following from the excellent catalogue of the Ceramic Museum at Limoges, by E. Garnier: ‘1125. _Pot à Pommade, de forme cylindrique godronné à la partie inférieure et décoré en bleu d’une bande de lambrequins. Marque_ A.P.’ Some other small pieces in this museum are classed as Rouen porcelain.
[150] Professor Church allows that ‘the substance of some of these statuettes is distinctly porcellanous.’ He found, however, in a fragment of this ware as much as 79·5 per cent. of silica, and only 12·5 per cent. of alumina (_Cantor Lectures_, 1881).
[151] This feeling is well expressed in a contemporary drinking-song:--
‘To drink is a Christian diversion Unfit for your Turk or your Persian; Let Mohammedan fools live by heathenish rules, And get drunk over tea-cups and coffee, But let British lads sing, give a rouse for the king, A fig for your Turk and your Sophi.’
The punch-bowl of porcelain, however, came to the rescue about this time.
[152] In the porcelain gallery at Dresden may be seen (together with one or two small lumps of gold and silver, the results of Böttger’s alchemistic experiments) some snuff-boxes and little flasks of a marbled glass, made by Tschirnhaus at an early date. It is probable that the latter experimenter’s researches lay rather in the way of a frit-made soft paste, on the same lines as the contemporary attempts in France.
[153] And yet, forty years later (so well was the secret kept), it was maintained by practical authorities in France that the Saxon ware was no true porcelain, but only some kind of hard enamel. See Hellot’s _Mémoire_, quoted below.
[154] We hear, however, of Dutch potters being engaged as early as 1708, and with their assistance Böttger, in 1709, made some imitations of Delft ware.
[155] In a contemporary German pamphlet, which I only know from a French translation (_Secret des Vrais Porcelaines de la Chine et de Saxe_, Paris, 1752), a certain ‘_spath alkalin_’ is mentioned as an important element in Saxon porcelain, and this substance is identified with the petuntse of the Père D’Entrecolles.
[156] If this colour is derived from the purple of Cassius, as seems probable, it is an important instance of the early use of this pigment upon porcelain.
[157] Above all the famous ‘Swan Service’ of 1736, Kändler’s masterpiece.
[158] We had in England until lately an unrivalled collection of these little groups--priceless specimens of the best period. They were exhibited by their owner, Mr. Massey Mainwaring, for some time at Bethnal Green. This collection has, however, now found its way to America.
[159] On the other hand, as early as 1732 the Meissen ware was finding its way to the East. Quantities of little coffee-cups (known as _Türken Copjen_, corrupted into _Türken Köpfchen_) were sent to Constantinople to be re-exported to other Mohammedan countries.
[160] We may remind the reader that it was a syndicate of Berlin merchants who at an earlier date sought, it is said, to purchase from Böttger his secret. There is little doubt, however, that the anecdotes about Ringler, which abound in the notices on German porcelain, are little more than ‘porcelain myths.’ Very similar anecdotes are told of the early days at Vincennes, and in Japan, as we have seen, such stories sometimes take a more tragical form. There is a strong temptation, no doubt, in traversing the somewhat arid ground of German ceramics, to fall back on such tales. At all events they belong to the class of _tendenz Mährchen_, and illustrate the difficulties to be overcome at that time in starting a new factory.
[161] Not but that we have proof of his interest in the subject, as the following letter, dated Meissen, March 28, 1761, will show. It is written to Madame Camas, his _chère Maman_, who was then with the queen at Magdeburg:--‘I send you, my dear mamma, a little trifle, by way of keepsake and memento. You may use the box for your rouge, for your patches, or you may put snuff in it or bonbons or pills.... I have ordered porcelain for all the world, for Schönhausen, for my sisters-in-law,--in fact I am rich in this brittle material only. And I hope the receivers will accept it as current money: for the truth is, we are poor as can be, good mamma. I have nothing left but my honour, my coat, my sword, and my porcelain.’--Carlyle’s _Frederick the Great_, Book xx. chap. vi. Marryat, who gives this letter in his notes, mixes up Carlyle’s comments with the text.
[162] The Hohenzollern shield bears two sceptres in saltire _en surtout_.
[163] Another account gives the credit to Von Löwenfinck, a porcelain painter from Meissen.
[164] Politically, that is to say; for the town formed part of the ‘Pays d’Étrangers,’ and its commercial and social relations were still rather with Germany than with France.
[165] I take these facts about the Hannong family from Sir A. Wollaston Franks’s _Catalogue of Continental Porcelain_, 1896.
[166] In the same year we find Count Schimmelmann, who at a later date interested himself in the Copenhagen factory, selling by auction at Hamburg some of the vast stocks of Meissen china that Frederick had thrown on the market.
[167] As a royal factory, however, it became extinct in 1864. See chap. xxiii.
[168] Thus we have, during the Seven Years’ War, Frederick’s three bitter opponents--Maria Theresa in Austria, Elizabeth in Russia, and the Marquise de Pompadour in France--all taking an active interest in promoting the manufacture of porcelain, and this rivalry may have added to the zest of Frederick when he looted Meissen and sought to make Berlin take its place as the metropolis of porcelain.
[169] An American writer has arranged the tests by which soft pastes may be distinguished from true porcelains under six heads. 1. _The file test._--Soft porcelain may be marked by a file. 2. _The foot test._--In hard porcelain the foot is generally rough and unglazed. This test is rather of value in distinguishing porcelain from fayence. 3. _The fire test._--Depending on the greater fusibility of the soft pastes. 4. _Chemical test._ 5. _Colour test._--Soft paste is generally mellow ivory by transmitted light, and this is especially true of ‘bone-ware.’ The hard paste tends to bluish shades. 6. _Fracture test._--The fracture is glassy to vitreous, and the glaze passes into the paste in the case of hard pastes (the subconchoidal splintery fracture is rather the point to observe); dry and chalky, and the glaze more or less separated from the paste in the case of soft pastes.--E. A. Barber, _Pottery and Porcelain of the United States_, New York, 1901.
[170] De Réaumur, we must remember, had made some kind of hard-paste porcelain from Chinese materials. After that he fell back upon his devitrified glass. Something very similar had been made by Tschirnhaus many years before.
[171] These, I think, are almost the only instances in which a distinctly seventeenth century decoration is to be found on porcelain.
[172] These _trembleuse_ saucers of the early eighteenth century have a projecting ring into which the base of the teacup fits.
[173] The extreme limits for this mark are 1712-62, but Chaffers says it was not used before 1730, according to another authority not before 1735. De Frasnay, in a note to his curious little poem in praise of fayence (1735), says: ‘_le secret du beau rouge n’est guère connu en France que d’un très petit nombre de personnes_.’ The point is of interest in connection with the origin of the _famille rose_ in China. We may here note that the minute quantity of gold--the source of all these pink and purple colours--is not necessarily introduced in the form of the tin salt, the purple of Cassius. But this difficult question will be best treated in connection with the history of glass.
[174] Generally known as the Duc de Bourbon (1710-40). He was an enthusiast for the art of the Far East. An important work on Chinese art was published under his auspices in 1735. He imitated the painted hangings of the East, and even attempted to make Japanese lacquer. After his death, the two brothers Dubois, _épiciers à Chantilly_, migrated to Vincennes, and the Chantilly works were for a time neglected. See Gustave Macon, _Les arts dans la Maison de Condé_, 1903.
[175] Of the many European imitations of the ‘Kakiyemon’ style the Chantilly is most successful, while the ‘Old Japan’ was best copied at Chelsea. No European imitation in porcelain of the Chinese blue and white approaches in brilliancy that made in Delft ware in the seventeenth century.
[176] The porcelain of Saint-Cloud and Chantilly is well represented in the Fitzhenry collection.
[177] Some twenty miles south of Paris, not far from Corbeil.
[178] The name is written ‘Sèves’ in English catalogues of the eighteenth century, and the same form is found sometimes in contemporary French writings. We may compare the favourite signature ‘Fédéric’ of the Prussian king.
[179] _Mémoire Historique pour la Manufacture, rédigé en 1781 par Bachelier_, re-edited, with preface and notes, by G. Gouellain, Paris, 1878.
[180] See the note on p. 286. It would seem that the first successes at Vincennes were, in a measure, dependent upon the temporary breaking up of the factory at Chantilly on the death of the Duc de Bourbon in 1740.
[181] At a later time this man had a contract for the delivery of the paste, the secret of which he preserved, at a fixed rate per pound. In one year he is said to have received for this 800,000 livres!
[182] Such is my general impression, but M. Garnier, I see, speaks highly of his artistic capabilities. Bachelier founded in 1763 a free school of design, one of the few institutions of the old régime that have survived the many changes of government. It still exists as the _École Nationale des Beaux-Arts_.
[183] By this we get a hint as to the kind of ware made at Vincennes at the commencement, when under the influence of Chantilly.
[184] The account-books of these sales are still preserved. M. Davillier, in his little book on _Les porcelaines de Sèvres et Madame du Barry_, quotes the record of purchases made (at a later date, for the most part) by the royal family, by Madame du Deffand, and by M. de Voltaire. The latter bought, for 120 livres, ‘_Deux bustes de mondit Sieur, en biscuit_.’ Besides this, large sales were made yearly to the trade.
[185] The above description is that given by the Prince de Ligne in his memoirs. In the Johanneum at Dresden there is now to be seen a ‘bouquet’ which in every way corresponds to the prince’s account. The Meissen works for long had the credit of this trophy, but it is now acknowledged that it is identical with the present sent by the dauphine, in 1748, to her father, the Elector of Saxony. M. Davillier quotes a curious account from a contemporary memoir describing the difficulties and expenses incurred in transporting this ‘bouquet’ from Paris to Dresden. Are we, then, to regard it as the actual present given by M. de Fulvi to the queen, or as a duplicate?
[186] See for this and other references to porcelain in the _chronique scandaleuse_ of the day, the little book of M. Davillier quoted above.
[187] Some attention was paid to the housing and comfort of the workmen at the new establishment, but Bachelier makes no mention of ‘the gardens, cascades, fruit-trees, groves, woods, and a small chase for the artists, who enjoyed to hunt the stag and the wild boar none the less for their sedentary lives in the art palace’ (Marryat, p. 414). On the contrary, we are told that in a few years the houses and workshops were already threatening to fall down on the workmen’s heads.
[188] M. Bertin was himself a great collector of Chinese porcelain. In the _avertissement_ of the catalogue of his collection which was sold in Paris in 1815, we are told that through the medium of the Père Amiot he obtained many choice specimens, some of them direct presents from the Chinese emperor. We have already alluded to Kien-lung’s interest in exotic wares, and to the influence of these upon the native decoration.
[189] In the _fond lapis caillouté_ the deep blue ground is painted with fine veins of gold, to imitate the pyrites which generally accompanies the native stone (lapis lazuli). It was used as early as 1758 (see Wallace collection, Gallery XVIII., Case C.).
[190] As many as one hundred and sixty pieces, it is said, were carried off during a fire at Tsarskoe Selo. Some of these were afterwards repurchased by the Tsar Nicholas.
[191] Marryat quotes a passage to the following effect from a little work published at Venice soon after the death of the favourite. Praising the good taste of the ‘_Madame Marchesa_,’ the writer states that this was, above all, manifested in the adornment of her table. All the porcelain was expressly manufactured for her at Sèvres, and was of _a rose colour mixed with gold_. The value amounted to 257,000 livres, and no sovereign possessed a service of equal beauty.
[192] It is found as a ground on pieces bearing the earliest letter-marks, so that it is difficult to accept the statement that it was first made by Xhrouet, a painter of landscapes, in 1757.
[193] Much of it found its way to England, and was there decorated in the old Sèvres style, both in London and in the West.
[194] For a detailed description of these deposits and their geological relations, see Brongniart’s great work.
[195] Napoleon at one time sent Daru to Sèvres to convey to Brongniart, in the most lively terms, his dissatisfaction with what he called the simplicity and tameness of the designs in use at Sèvres. Every piece should, he protests, ‘_dire quelque chose_.’ Every plate should record glorious deeds, the capture of the enemy’s towns, or the triumphant return of the victors.
[196] We must, however, place some of these discoveries to the credit of the staff of the Viennese factory, and Dihl again, the chemist of the porcelain works in the Rue de Bondy, has a claim to others.
[197] The death of M. Garnier occurred since the above was written.
[198] The use of a bone-paste ware of the ‘Spode’ type is, however, now prevalent not only in many parts of the continent, but porcelain of this kind is now largely made in the United States.
[199] Unless it be in the catalogue drawn up by Sir A. W. Franks for his collection of continental china. The ceramic collection in the Hamburg Museum has also been very thoroughly catalogued by Dr. Brinckmann.
[200] It is curious to find Venice at this time exporting porcelain to the East, for at an earlier period it was through this town that so much Oriental porcelain and fayence reached Europe.
[201] This Venetian china, either of hard paste or of the hybrid class, must not be confused with the opaque glass, the _lattimo_, or, more properly, _Latisuol_, ware, made about 1730 in imitation of porcelain both at Murano, and also near Bassano.
[202] Compare with this the use of steatite, a magnesian rock, from the Lizard, at Worcester, and at other West of England factories. The Chinese have also at times made use of a steatitic rock.
[203] Marryat (p. 451) gives an interesting account of this enterprising man. He was occupied also in the draining of marshes, the improvement of agriculture, and the promotion of commerce.
[204] With this appointment we may perhaps connect the elaborate trophy of white porcelain at South Kensington. The figures of slaves on which this is supported are modelled after those of Tacca on the celebrated monument at Leghorn. This piece is attributed, however, to the Capo di Monte factory.
[205] The word ‘china’ is sometimes used in Spain in the same vague sense as in England, but the name seems only to have come in with the Staffordshire ware so largely imported in the last century. Note, however, that the factory at Buen Retiro was known as La China.
[206] I quote this remarkable passage from Sir A. W. Franks’s paper on the origin of the Chelsea porcelain works (_Archæol. Journal_, 1862). Marryat misquotes and misinterprets the passage.
[207] One possible exception to this very general statement may be found in a pamphlet quoted by Mr. Solon, _Instructions how to make as good china as was ever sold by the East India Company_ by A. Hill, London, 1716. According to this writer, fragments of Oriental china were to be finely ground and mixed with fluxing and plastic materials to form a paste. Now there is evidence that at a much later date ‘potsherds’ were imported from China, and ground up to form an ingredient of the porcelain, both at Bow and at Worcester.
[208] The memorandum-book of Duesbury, the future porcelain king, begins in 1742. He was then working, on weekly wages, as an ‘enameller’ of china figures. But was the ware that he was decorating at this time a true porcelain?
[209] Mr. Burton says that at the present day the Staffordshire porcelain is composed of bone-ash 6 parts, china-stone 4 parts, and kaolin 3½ parts.
[210] Mr. Willett, of Brighton, has a pair of ‘goat and bee’ jugs in silver, with the hall-mark of 1739.
[211] There is an interesting series of these very early pieces in the British Museum. A white ware salt-cellar, with crayfish in relief, has the triangle mark. A jug, in the form of a grotesque Chinaman, is a good specimen of the early paste. We notice the same waxy look in the paste that we find in the Saint-Cloud ware. The surface, however, is generally grayer.
[212] In 1758 we find an advertisement of a house to let in ‘China Walk,’ Chelsea.
[213] Both Gouyn and his successor, Sprimont, were very likely Walloons from the neighbourhood of Liége. In a contemporary work, however, the latter is spoken of as ‘a French artist of great abilities.’ Rouguet’s _Present State of the Arts_, 1755.
[214] Note the term ‘earthenware.’ As in a much earlier proclamation of the time of Charles II. (forbidding the importation of painted earthenware, except ‘those of China, and stone bottles and jugs’), the word is used officially to include porcelain.
[215] Such a regulation would seem to show that in England the enamel-painters were in the field earlier than the manufacturers of porcelain.
[216] The later date is supported by the statement of Sprimont in his ‘Case,’ that ‘the ground flat of the manufacturer has gone on still increasing,’ for we know that the works were enlarged in 1757. The expression ‘crowned head’ applies better to the King of Prussia than to the Elector of Saxony. In 1760, as we have seen, Count Schimmelmann was at Hamburg selling, on behalf of Frederick, part of the vast stocks accumulated at Meissen.
[217] In a London paper of December 4, 1763, appeared the following statement--I quote from Mr. Nightingale’s book,--‘A few days since, his R. Highness the Duke of Cumberland was at Mr. Sprimont’s manufactory at Chelsea, and we are informed that his Highness will shortly purchase the same, that so matchless an art should not be lost.’ A week later, however, a formal contradiction of this report appeared in another paper, in the form of a note at the end of an advertisement of the sale of the contents of Sprimont’s factory. All this has a very modern air. We have a skilful combination of the _ballon d’essai_ and the puff preliminary.
[218] This collection has lately disappeared from its old home in the Geological Museum, where it had been the delight of two generations of collectors. Most of the specimens have, however, quite recently been discovered at South Kensington.
[219] Much of the white ware at this time was decorated outside by ‘chamberers.’ Compare the memorandum-book of Duesbury quoted below.
[220] The advertisement of these sales in contemporary newspapers, and many of the catalogues, have been collected together and reprinted by the late Mr. J. E. Nightingale.
[221] Before this time the gold had been simply laid on with japanner’s size and only gently heated. See Burton’s _English Porcelain_, p. 46.
[222] There was a revival of the practice of mounting, or, to use the old term, ‘garnishing’ porcelain in ormolu about this time. At Boulton’s works at Soho, near Birmingham, famous, a little later, in the history of the steam-engine, these metal mountings were largely made, and Wedgwood began to apply them to some of his wares (see Nightingale, p. xxxiv.).
[223] I can find no confirmation of the statement that Roubiliac modelled figures for Sprimont. Certain statuettes bearing an R. impressed on the paste have been attributed to him. There is no reference to any such work in the life of the artist by M. Le Roy de St. Croix (Lyons, 1886). Roubiliac, who died in 1762, was already in 1750 at the height of his reputation, and fully employed in more important work.
[224] Mr. Burton points out that it would be quite impossible to make a translucent ware with the materials of the first patent. He doubts also the use of bone-ash in the earlier porcelain of Bow, the paste of which is distinctly of the Saint-Cloud type. I think, however, that there can be little doubt but that the ‘virgin earth’ refers to bone-ash, and the fragments from Bow in which this substance has been found seem to be derived from an early ware.
[225] Specimens from this find may be seen at the British Museum, at South Kensington, and in the late Jermyn Street collection. An interesting and detailed account of the fragments, which were excavated and arranged by Mr. Higgins of the adjacent match-works, will be found in Chaffers’s _Marks_, pp. 908 _seq._
[226] This difficulty of making the decoration keep pace with the outturn of the kilns was felt at this time at other kilns--from King-te-chen to Sèvres and Worcester. Recourse was more and more had to the outside enameller--the ‘chamberer’--on the one hand, and to transfer-printing on the other.
[227] This document is exhibited at the British Museum by the side of the punch-bowl.
[228] These figures are probably exaggerated. Sprimont, a little earlier, says that he was employing at Chelsea ‘at least one hundred hands.’
[229] ‘Printed teas and mugs’ are mentioned in Bowcocke’s memorandum-book in 1756.
[230] See Nightingale’s _English Porcelain_, pp. li. _seq._, and Bemrose’s _Bow, Chelsea, and Derby Porcelain_, pp. 153 _seq._
[231] The rococo vases, however, of this ware in the British Museum seem to be of a somewhat later date, if we take Sprimont’s work at Chelsea as a criterion.
[232] These ‘Darby figars’ may possibly have been of earthenware. There are some richly painted statuettes of this material at South Kensington, though these indeed seem to be of a somewhat later date.
[233] Mr. Bemrose, in his work on _Bow, Chelsea, and Derby Porcelain_, gives photographic reproductions of several pages from Duesbury’s work-book.
[234] These details I take from the notes of a man who had formerly practical experience of such work--Mr. Haslem, in his _Old Derby China Factory_.
[235] And yet the colours are sometimes brilliant and effective--for example, on a large dish or tray of Spode ware at South Kensington (see below, p. 373). This strange ‘breaking-down’ of the old Japanese patterns may be compared to the scattered fragments of the original Greek design that we see on the pre-Roman coins of Gaul and Britain.
[236] It appears from a correspondence that has been preserved that in 1791 the second Duesbury was looking out for royal support. ‘A gentleman about the court’ whom he consulted recommended him to seek the patronage of the Duke of Clarence, for, said he, ‘the duke is the _only prince that pays the tradespeople_.’ At that time there was great jealousy of the Worcester works, where the king had lately made large purchases.
[237] Why _Tonquin_, of all places? We should rather have expected to find Nankin or Canton, as at Bow.
[238] See the engraving in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for August 1752. This was in the nature of a puff. In the corner we read ‘A sale of the Manufacture will begin at the Worcester Music Meeting on September 20th, with great variety of ware and, ’tis said, at a moderate price.’ Edward Cave, the originator of the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, and ‘the father of parliamentary reporting,’ was an important shareholder of the Worcester works.
[239] Steatite is essentially a silicate of magnesia. We have seen that a soapy rock, probably of this nature, entered at times into the composition of the porcelain made at King-te-chen. At a later time silicate of magnesia, in various forms, has found its way into the hybrid pastes of Italy and Spain.
[240] These two buildings may be probably traced back to the Temple of Vespasian, in the Forum, and to the Pyramid of Cestius respectively. Hancock must have got his materials from French and Italian engravings after Claude and Pannini.
[241] Dr. Johnson was for a long time a close neighbour--his well-known interest in the manufacture of porcelain must have brought him into contact with the Baxter family. We find a Baxter mentioned in Bowcocke’s notes as early as 1751. See Chaffers, p. 896.
[242] The teapot in the Schreiber collection with the mark ‘Allen, Lowestoft,’ must be regarded as a _supercherie_. The painting on it of a crucifixion is evidently by a Chinese hand. This teapot has, however, been connected with an Allen of Lowestoft, a porcelain enameller and amateur glass-stainer.
[243] Some recent discoveries of moulds make it, however, probable that the early wares of Worcester and Bow were imitated at Lowestoft.
[244] We are told that the first three of these substances are _to be fritted together_, but this would be manifestly impossible. The recipe is curious as being an anticipation of the materials used by Spode thirty years later. But we must receive most of these recipes that have thus come down to us _cum grano_.
[245] This ‘soapy rock’ was at once identified with the steatite of the Lizard. The other porcelain experts, from Worcester and from Liverpool, who visited Cornwall about this time, seem to have devoted their attention more especially to this substance. They were thus, to some extent, on a false scent, for the Père D’Entrecolles probably somewhat exaggerated the importance of this _Wha-she_, and, moreover, as has been shown by later French investigation, most of the material of soapy consistency employed at King-te-chen is no true steatite or magnesian silicate, but rather a more fusible variety of the petuntse, containing much mica.
[246] Was Frye, the painter of Bow, who first made use of the American earth, also a quaker? Cookworthy and Champion, it appears, first became acquainted with one another through the medium of one of the Bristol Frys, and it is known that moulds and patterns from Bow were used at Plymouth. It is at least remarkable that we should be indebted for our knowledge of the constitution of Chinese porcelain, in the first place, to a Jesuit father, and then to a member of the Society of Friends; while, on the other hand, Böttger--like Cookworthy, a druggist--was an adept in the dark arts.
[247] Besides the factory mentioned in this letter, we hear from the diary of Dr. Pococke that as early as 1750 a white ware with reliefs was made at the ‘Lowris China house’ with ‘soapy-rock from Lizard Point.’ A sauce-boat marked ‘Bristoll’ is referred to these works in the _Guide to English Pottery in the British Museum_, p. 109.
[248] Lauraguais (Comte de), Duc de Brancas, born 1733; died 1824.
[249] See p. 306. At Strawberry Hill was ‘Michael Angelo’s Bacchus, made in the china of the Comte de Lauraguais, from the collection of the Comte de Caylus’ (Walpole’s _Works_, ii. 405 _seq._).
[250] By Champion, at least, at a later time. The cross swords have in some cases been subsequently obliterated (PL. E. 84). Mr. Owen thinks that this was in consequence of a quarrel with the custom-house authorities in 1775.
[251] And for tin also. The mark was adopted, no doubt, in honour of the ‘premier’ product of Cornwall. It would, however, be more in place on a ware with an opaque tin glaze, such as the soft paste of Chantilly.
[252] So at Sèvres during the greater part of the last century the glaze has consisted of pegmatite, a very similar material to the Cornish growan-stone. The inconveniences of such a glaze have been pointed out by Vogt and others.
[253] Of another workman employed by Champion, one Anthony Amatt, Mr. Hugh Owen gives some particulars. At one time, attempting to cross the Channel and find employment in France, he was arrested--at the instigation, it is said, of Wedgwood--and confined for some time as a State prisoner. Amatt died in 1851 at the age of ninety-two. Wedgwood was very active in preventing the emigration of English potters, who, he declared, were lured from their country by French and German agents (Meteyard’s _Wedgwood_, ii. p. 475).
[254] There are also in existence some examples of undoubted Bristol hard-paste porcelain, covered with a soft lead glaze.
[255] The porcelain made by Count Lauraguais, to judge by the analysis given above, must have contained even more kaolin than the Bristol ware.