CHAPTER IX.

DUTCH DELFT AND ENGLISH EARTHEN-WARE.

Delft, Number of Fabriques.--Haarlem.--Paste.--Great Painters.--Violins.--Tea-Services.--A Dutch Stable.--Broeck Dutch Tiles.--England.--Queen Elizabeth.--Pepys's Diary.--Brown Stone-ware.--The Tyg.--Lambeth Pottery.--Fulham Pottery.--Elers.--Elizabethan Pottery.--Stoke-upon-Trent.--Josiah Wedgwood.--Cheapness.--Queen's-ware.--Jasper-ware.--Flaxman. --Cameos.--Basalt.--The Portland Vase.--Prices.

There was a day (about 1650) when the Dutch town of Delft had fifty manufactories of earthen-ware, and employed in them over seven thousand people. To-day she has but one--if even that--and the work done there has sunk into insignificance. To those who are fond of change, of excitement, this will be a pleasant fact to know; it goes to show that Macaulay's prophecy, that the coming New-Zealander will sit on the piers of London Bridge in the "good time that is coming," and moralize over the ruins of London, may come true--pleasanter for the New Zealand _savant_ than for the English statesman!

Haydn's "Dictionary of Dates" states that pottery was made at Delft as early as 1310; and there are records of its importation from there into England in the time of King Henry IV. (1399 to 1413). The great industry was undoubtedly stimulated by the close knowledge of Japanese and Oriental porcelains which the Dutch merchants at a very early day and for so long a time had access to; which they brought to Holland in such large quantities, and which by them were distributed over Europe. But the cost of these was, of course, very considerable for those times; and the discovery of good clays in Holland gave the Dutch every facility for engaging in the manufacture, which they had the wit to seize and the skill to develop; so that they were able to make earthen-ware of good quality, with creditable ornamentation, at comparatively small prices.

The Dutch were then the great "traders" of the world. They soon sent this pottery far and wide, into Germany, France, and England; and they got much money for it. Holland grew rich.

Haarlem was also a centre for this industry; but it made less impression there than at Delft, and went down sooner; so that but little is known of it.

The _paste_ of the Delft, or at least some of it, is of a fine quality, so that it was worked quite thin, and yet preserved sufficient strength for use. To make this, a good deal of pains and skill was applied to it before it went to the deft hand of the modeler.

Of course, the great production at Delft was for the uses of the table, and its work did much to effect a revolution in the household-art of the table. Before this production the plates and dishes of the common people were of wood or "tre;" often only a square bit of board upon which the meat could be laid and cut. The better-off people had plates of pewter, and kings and princes indulged in those of silver.

Boitet, writing in 1667 of Delft, says:

"One of the principal branches of industry at present consists in the manufacture of a kind of porcelain[8] which nowhere in Europe is made of such fine quality and so cheap. For some years, indeed, porcelain has been manufactured in Saxony, and also at some places in France. The former is finer than that made at Delft, but more expensive likewise, and therefore not much in general use; whereas the Delft porcelain, on account of its more moderate price, is more salable; and it is sent not alone to most places in Europe, but even to Asia also. The clay of which it is made comes from the neighborhood of Maestricht, and is purified in Delft by divers processes. Besides larger articles for general use, complete services are made here, ornamented with escutcheons, as they may be desired, beautifully gilt and painted, almost equal to the East Indian in transparency, and surpassing such in the painting. Many persons of property have such sets with their escutcheons made here, which then pass for Japan or Chinese porcelain."

We must receive M. Boitet's judgment that the Delft "_surpassed_ the East Indian (or Chinese) in the painting" with many grains of allowance. Still, when it is known that many services were painted with landscapes after Berghem, and that William Vandervelde, Van der Meer, and Jan Steen, painted some of the ware themselves, we may easily believe that many pieces of delft had a character of their own, which gave it a very high rank.

I have myself never seen such pieces of these, and hardly know where to look for them. Marryat says that in the Sèvres Museum is a large dish, in the centre of which is a landscape, with animals and figures after Berghem, which is one of the finest examples known; and that other fine pieces are in the Japan Museum at Dresden. Some of these finest pieces are (or were) in the collection of M. Demmin at Paris; one of them is a portrait of Jan Steen himself about twenty-five or thirty years of age, with flowing light hair covered with a cap or bonnet.

Of the paintings upon delft by Van der Meer, Demmin enumerates a number; among which the "Head of a Woman," a "Landscape," and a "View of Delft," are at the Hague; the "Porch at Delft, upon which 'le Taciturne' was assassinated," is in the Museum at Amsterdam; and a variety of portraits, landscapes, city views, etc., are in private collections.

Demmin describes a very elaborately-painted picture upon delft tiles in the Gallery Suermondt at Aix-la-Chapelle, containing a country-house, a figure of a woman, a well and a person drawing water from it, a pigeon, a tree, and the sunlight shooting through it and touching the walls of the house here and there.

This very elaborate picture, so well and minutely painted, has been attributed both to Ruysdael and to Hobbema; it is now ascribed to Van der Meer.

This is work which will bring any price, because it is so difficult and so uncommon; but it is not what I should value upon delft or porcelain. It can never be _so good_ as upon canvas; it is much more difficult to make it, and a small accident ruins it past repair.

It is not "decorating china;" it is simply trying to make a picture with materials unsuited for the purpose; and its only merit is that it shows difficulties overcome. It is precisely the same in principle as the mosaics. It would have been idiotic for Raffaelle to have made the Dresden Madonna in mosaic or on porcelain.

In the decorative work of the Delft potters it seems to me the things to desire are the fine plates and dishes painted, as many of them are, with luminous blues almost equal to the celestial blues of China, such as we see in Fig. 88; and the vases, the flagons, the cups and mugs, in every style and shape; the same things in polychrome, with those bold groups of flowers, equal in their way to the work of the Orientals. Besides, there are the figures of peasants, etc.; also their cows and horses, which have a quaint interest not easily explained.

The Dutch potters ran into many things, such as small foot-stoves, barbers' basins, casters, salt-cellars, etc. About much of the good delft is that same quaint, countrified beauty of which I have spoken. It is good, because it is real and native to the people and its painters. When they left this and went to imitating the Chinese and the Japanese, their work seems to me almost worthless; because it was an _imitation_, and it was _inferior_.

In one of the largest workshops, or fabriques, a custom prevailed that one should read portions of the Bible, which all might hear and all might discuss. This was a time when religious heat was fervent; when the great questions of church direction and free thought were rife; when Catholic and Protestant often went from the assault of the tongue to that with the arquebuse. This practice no doubt made good Protestants, but also without doubt poor potters.

The most curious pieces of delft known are four _violins_, still extant, very carefully made and very carefully painted. One is (or was) in the museum at Rouen, one at the Conservatoire at Paris, the third in the collection of M. Demmin, and the fourth in a private collection at Utrecht. The story still lives that these four violins were made by the master-modelers for marriage-gifts to the four daughters of the master of the fabrique, about to marry four young potters; and that the music for the dance was drawn from them. It was a pretty conceit.

Some elaborate dinner-services were made at Delft, which required much skill and much work. The covers of the dishes were modeled in the likeness of birds or fish, indicating whatever was to be served in them; these were painted carefully to imitate Nature, so that the guest, in seeing the table, would know if it were a turkey, a pheasant, a ptarmigan--whatever luxury had been provided for his delectation.

TEA-SERVICES.--It is possible there are persons who believe that tea has always been known, and that the lovely tea-services out of which, we sometimes drink it have existed from the time of Noah and the Deluge; not so.

Pepys, in his "Diary," speaks of it in 1661 as "a China drink of which I had never drunk before." And at that time it sold in England at fifty or sixty shillings a pound--an enormous price.

Tea and coffee pots were first brought to Holland from China, and do not appear earlier than about 1700; so that those which came over in the Mayflower and the Half-Moon and the Ark must have been made by Elder Brewster and Henry Hudson and Leonard Calvert from the "depths of their moral consciousness."

Tea, we must remember, was not drunk in England earlier than about 1660, and then but rarely; and coffee was introduced into England about 1637.

Teapots have from time to time been a collector's fancy, and persons have again and again got together four or five hundred, of all patterns and decorations. Nothing would be more pleasing in this way at the afternoon tea, when every guest should have each his own service, and every one beautiful.

That the use of delft-ware for ornament throughout Holland was great is evident from the number of decorated plates and vases, many of large size, and many showing a careful style of painting; these are now constantly coming from that country, and they are not counterfeits. Most of them certainly are rudely but effectively painted, and are very decorative. Upon a farm, not far from Amsterdam, the cows during the summer season being upon the pastures, I found the stables carefully cleansed and whitewashed, and the stalls and walls hung with large and gayly-painted plates and plaques; and some pieces of brass-work were added to impart a desired brilliancy.

Nearly every house, great and small, in the palmy days of Holland had more or less decorative delft-ware hung upon its walls and placed upon its mantel-pieces; many of these have been carefully treasured up, and they are the stores from which the world now makes its drafts.

A favorite decoration was a garniture for the mantel-shelf, consisting of three covered and two uncovered vases, such as are seen in Fig. 89. They are often painted in blue alone, which for a long time was the prevailing color, and which sometimes nearly equaled the best blues of China. The ones here figured are of an excellent blue, and show a religious subject--the Virgin, Child, and St. John.

The variety of decoration was great; but mostly of birds, flowers, fruit, and other objects of Nature.

Afterward these, as well as plates, dishes, mugs, etc., were painted with many colors; and some of these were quite rude and garish, to suit a low and garish taste. But, as decoratives, these too have a certain value.

At the small village of Broeck, some seven miles from Amsterdam, there was in 1870 a very nice collection of delft for sale, among which were a dozen or more large plates of the best blue. It was the collection of a woman who had for a long time been a dealer there.

The town of Broeck, as most know, has been a point to visit; it was at one time the cleanest spot in the known world, no horse or cow or other animal being permitted in its streets. In those days it was a sort of country-seat for the rich Amsterdam merchants. It is changed now.

The _marks_ upon delft are mostly those of the individual painters, and may be found in considerable variety in Demmin's more elaborate work.

Fig. 90 is a good representation of the bold painting of the Delft workmen. These great plates, when standing on shelves or fastened to the wall, produce a striking and pleasing effect. They are now much sought for; and the high-class work brings high prices, though not such prices as the Italian maiolicas.

TILES were made from an early period in Holland, and during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in great quantities. They were used to decorate fireplaces, stoves, walls, hearths, etc. The blue and brown Scripture-tiles were made in great numbers, and found a wide and ready sale. They are rude, quaint, and interesting--are not _art_ at all, but whimsical expressions of a religious sentiment. They are still made in Holland almost identical in design and feeling with those produced three hundred years ago.

ENGLISH POTTERY OR EARTHEN-WARE.

Very primitive unglazed pottery was made in England by the Britons and Saxons before the days of written history. Some account is given, in the chapter upon "Unglazed Pottery," of the red Roman unglazed ware found in London and elsewhere, which, beyond any reasonable doubt, was made largely in England. An account of the use and production of glazed pottery in England will be in place here.

Down to the times even of Queen Elizabeth (1558 to 1603) we know that trenchers of wood, and cups and bottles of wood as well as of leather (these were called "black jacks"), were in common use even in good houses. As late as 1663, Pepys, in his most entertaining "Diary," says that at the lord-mayor's feast meats were served on wooden dishes, and were eaten off trenchers. The common dishes in Queen Elizabeth's housekeeping were of wood; while those for the queen's table were of silver, or possibly of pewter. These silver and pewter services prevailed on the tables of the wealthy till some time after the introduction of porcelain from China, and delft from Holland, which came in in considerable quantities about 1650 and later.

The first glazed ware made in England seems to have been the brown stone-ware, which, Chaffers says, was in use down to about 1680, and mostly in the shape of pitchers, jugs, and bottles. It did not at first come into use for table-dishes.

After this dishes were made of coarse and gritty clay, not at all equal to the delft-ware, upon which a lead-glaze was used of a greenish or dark-yellowish color. This lead or plumbiferous glaze continued in use for a long time; but when it was _first_ used in England seems unknown. Salt-glaze was used in Staffordshire in 1680.

One of the earliest attempts at "fancy" in English pottery is to be seen in the drinking-cup called a "_tyg_," which has three handles, intended for three friends; so that each could drink from his own lip in succession. Mugs with two and four handles were also made.

At LAMBETH it is believed that some Dutch potters made earthenware resembling delft as early as 1650. A patent was granted to some potters by the name of Van Hamme in 1676. Various pieces of glazed pottery with English designs remain, bearing dates from 1642 down to 1682, which it is thought were made here.

At FULHAM stone-ware of a fine quality seems to have been made by a Mr. Dwight as early as 1671. This, in the accounts of the day, was sometimes called "_porcellane_." There is reason to believe that a good degree of advance was reached here, and that the work approached that made at Cologne, now called "Grès de Flanders." Figures and busts were also made here, a few of which are still extant.

Two gentlemen named ELERS, who came to England with William of Orange, were clever men, and one of them was a chemist. They discovered clay at Bradwell, and established a pottery there, where for a time they produced good ware from the red clay. But curious eyes were at work to discover their processes, and one Astbury, pretending to be a half-witted fellow, succeeded in doing it; and then their business was ruined and broken up.

From Paul Elers descended the wife of Richard Lovel Edgeworth, whose daughter is known as Maria Edgeworth.

A white salt-glazed stone-ware was made in Staffordshire about 1700, which has been called "Elizabethan." This often had designs made from a mould applied to the surface.

STOKE-UPON-TRENT, in Staffordshire, very early became a centre for potter's work, as it is to-day; the country there for miles being a string of villages, filled with furnaces and the houses of potters.

It is not my purpose to attempt a detailed history of the immense pottery industries which have been developed in and about Staffordshire--potteries which, for variety and extent, have never been equaled, unless perhaps in China. There is, however, one potter, whose life and work have had a distinguished influence upon the potteries of England, to whom some space must be given; he is JOSIAH WEDGWOOD.

Born in 1730 at Burslem, he came from an ancestry of potters, and he breathed the air of the potteries, so that he may be said to have been a born potter. He was one of thirteen children; he grew up with the small amount of school education then in vogue in that part of England--especially among his class of _workers_--and was apprenticed to a potter when he was but fourteen years old.

The English nation has in these latter days gone into a sort of frenzy upon the subject of school education, having got the impression that that will enable them to compete with or excel all the nations of the world. This I believe to be a mistake. I may, I think, fairly point to Germany, whose commissioner at the American Exhibition writes home that the productions of Germany are marked by lack of taste, lack of thoroughness, and lack of honesty; in other words, Germany, with the most thorough system of common-school education, is distinguished for the "cheap and nasty" in her work.

What was it, then, I may ask at this point, which made Josiah Wedgwood, this unschooled boy, the most able and successful potter of England, and perhaps of all the world? I attempt to answer it by stating my belief _that he was not living for riches, but for excellence_. He worked all his life to combine the useful with the beautiful more and more perfectly; and in a surprising degree he succeeded. This was not because of his intellectual ability, but because of his sense of _honor_.

The world has gone into a craze for intellect--not at all for _honesty_. I mean by honesty not a sickly sort of conscientiousness, which often hinders; but honesty of intention, showing itself in work. To illustrate my meaning, I may say that my own experience has been that the larger part of mankind are quite willing to "shab" a thing--to do it poorly--provided it will sell, and give them their wages.

This, it seems to me, was just what made Wedgwood what he was; he could not do that. All the work of his I have seen was done as well as it could be done. I do not mean that all his designs were good or his decorations faultless; but, as it was, it _was as well done as he could do it_.

It seems to me that in his portrait (Fig. 91) a good deal of this robust, manly, honorable character is to be traced. I like to think that the face here, as in many cases, is a sort of promise of the man.

I cannot do better than to quote, from one of Wedgwood's catalogues, his own words, which are better than any sermon, better than much "burnt-offering and sacrifice;" which phrase of the prophet shows that there were shabby fellows then, even in the days of God's Jews. I quote:

"A competition for cheapness, and not for excellence of workmanship, is the most frequent and certain cause of the rapid decay and entire destruction of arts and manufactures.

"The desire of selling much in a little time, without respect to the taste or quality of the goods, leads manufacturers and merchants to ruin the reputation of the articles which they make and deal in; and while those who buy, for the sake of a fallacious saving, prefer mediocrity to excellence, it will be impossible for them either to improve or keep up the quality of their works.

"All works of art must bear a price in proportion to the skill, the taste, the time, the expense, and the risk, attending the invention and execution of them. Those pieces that for these reasons bear the highest price, and which those who are not accustomed to consider the real difficulty and expense of making fine things are apt to call dear, are, when justly estimated, the cheapest articles that can be purchased; and such are generally attended with much less profit to the artist than those that everybody calls cheap.

"Beautiful forms and compositions are not to be made by chance; and they never were made nor can be made in any kind at small expense; but the proprietors of this manufactory have the satisfaction of knowing, by a careful comparison, that the prices of many of their ornaments are much lower than, and all of them as low as, those of any other ornamental works in Europe of equal quality and risk, notwithstanding the high price of labor in England; and they are determined to give up the making of any article rather than to degrade it."

From all this is it not evident that Wedgwood too found his world full of _shabby buyers_? I think so; and that has been the misfortune of others. While the buyers are apt to vituperate the workmen, in too many cases _they_ are the culprits.

Few will dispute it, that nearly all the manufacturing and trading world has been sliding downward into shabbiness since Wedgwood's day; and few will dispute it, that the _mania_ to "buy cheap and sell dear" always did and always will debase any people.

It is not my purpose to give any detailed history of the life and doings of Wedgwood. All who are enough interested will find these in his "Life," by Llewellynn Jewitt, and in that by Miss Meteyard, both of which are full, and are profusely illustrated. What I can do here is to call attention to some of the most distinctive things accomplished by this great potter.

Almost from the first, Wedgwood perceived or felt that there were good and bad both in form and decoration; and he set to work to secure perfection in both. While all his life he wished to make, and did make, vases and other works for purely ornamental and artistic purposes, in which the expression of beauty alone was sought, he had that practical sense which taught him to apply his skill and his perception first to the production and improvement of earthen-ware which came into the daily uses of life. Out of this came his "queen's-ware," which soon had such a reputation for form and quality that it went in large quantities all over the trading world.

From this it should be known that Wedgwood made the money with which he carried forward those investigations and experiments which at last culminated in his finest works of fictile art.

It may as well be said here that even _his_ art-work made him no money, although many of his pieces were reproduced. The fifty copies of the "Portland Vase"--of which more hereafter, and which sold for fifty guineas each--cost him more than he got for them. It is best to say this, because some men and women think that artists are sure to become rich. No man should attempt to be an artist with such an expectation; for, while here and there one is caught on the wave of fashion and borne onward to fortune, the number of these is few. No artist must expect a _speedy_ recognition for good work.

Wedgwood would not have been Wedgwood had he not had a foundation for his art-work in his "queen's-ware." Upon this ware a word of explanation may be desirable. He early brought this every-day ware to great perfection, not only of form, but of paste and glaze. It was not painted, but was of a creamy white; and, being at such a small price, it went into very wide use. Having sent some pieces of it as a present to Queen Charlotte, she was induced to order a complete table-service, and to request that it might be called "queen's-ware" thenceforth, as it is to this day.

This service was painted in the best style then in vogue by the two chief artists at the works, _Thomas Daniell_ and _Daniel Steele_.

One of the most remarkable dinner-services made by Wedgwood was for the Empress Catharine II. of Russia, for her palace near St. Petersburg called _Grenouillière_. It is thus described by Chaffers:

"This splendid service was commenced in April, 1773, and had upward of twelve hundred views of the seats of noblemen and gentlemen in England, and a green frog was painted underneath each piece. The form chosen was the royal pattern, and was made of the ordinary cream-color ware, with a delicate saffron-tint. The views were in purple camaieu, bordered with a gadroon pattern in Indian-ink, and round the edge a running wreath of mauve flowers and green leaves. The two services for dinner and dessert consisted of nine hundred and fifty-two pieces, had twelve hundred and forty-four enamel views, which cost, on an average, twenty-one shillings each, the borders and frogs to each about fifteen shillings more; making the entire cost, with fifty-one pounds eight shillings and fourpence for the cream-ware itself, a total of twenty-three hundred and fifty-nine pounds two shillings and one penny, without calculating many extras. The price ultimately paid by the empress was stated to be three thousand pounds. In June, 1774, the service was sufficiently completed to exhibit at the new rooms in Portland House, Greek Street, Soho, No. 12, where it remained on show for nearly two months. The empress showed it to Lord Malmesbury when he visited the Grenouillière in 1779."

I may refer here also to his partnership with Mr. Bentley as another of the important elements of his success. Bentley was a man with capital, and also a man with an artistic sense; and he coöperated heartily with Wedgwood in a desire for thorough work, for excellence, and for profit.

The artistic work for which Wedgwood is so distinguished is what the pottery collector is most interested in. This, as Wedgwood himself has said of all good work, was not the result of chance. From the first he used his _own_ brains and those of others. He studied whatever he could find to improve his profession, and became something of a chemist; so that the values of clays and silex, and the composition and use of metallic oxides for coloring them, grew to be an art in themselves in his hands.

The work upon which Wedgwood applied his inventions and his art may be classified in this way:

1. Queen's-ware, for the table.

2. Terra-cotta, to represent porphyry, granite, etc.

3. Basalt, or black Egyptian.

4. White biscuit.

5. Bamboo, cream-colored biscuit.

6. Jasper, or onyx.

7. A hard porcelain biscuit, for chemists, etc.

He conceived that he could produce a paste or body so fine, compact, and homogeneous, as to be finished without a glaze, and, at the same time, be susceptible of receiving color in purity and perfection throughout this body. This he succeeded in doing, and this is what is now known over all the world as Wedgwood's jasper, or onyx. This is the ware upon which he afterward applied the cameo ornaments in white upon a ground or body of various tints--blues, sage-green, and purple. At first the color permeated the whole paste; afterward it was applied on the surface only by means of a "dip." This was begun about the year 1776, and went onward till the end of his life.

It is of interest for us to know how the beautiful cameo ornaments used on this ware were obtained. The enthusiasm and the sense of honor which inspired Wedgwood gave him access soon to the best people and the best collections in England. In the collections of Sir William Hamilton, and others, were the exquisite intaglios found in the antique art-work of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Wedgwood took most careful and delicate impressions of these, and from these his careful and delicate cameos were formed. Not only did he draw thus from the ancients, he also enlisted the best designers and workmen wherever he could find them, and among these the most distinguished was the sculptor Flaxman. It may interest the rising sculptor to know that Flaxman's price for designs made for Wedgwood was a half-guinea each. At this time he was a young man struggling into recognition; and he was glad of the opportunity, as well as of the money, which Wedgwood gave him. His designs all bear unmistakable indications of Greek inspiration, and he has been called an "English Greek."

Miss Meteyard, in her "Life of Wedgwood," quotes a number of the bills paid to Flaxman. One in 1775 runs thus: "A pair of vases, one with a satyr, the other with a triton-handle, three guineas; bass-reliefs of the Muses and Apollo, Hercules and the lion, Hercules and the boar, Hercules and Cerberus, Bacchus and Ariadne, Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Justice and Hope--for each of these he received ten shillings and sixpence; table of the four seasons, two pounds and two shillings," etc.

Flaxman modeled, too, a goodly number of busts of distinguished persons.

Models and designs were also procured from artists in Italy, many of which were made under the supervision of Flaxman while he was studying and working there.

Of this jasper was made a great variety of objects, besides vases and tea-services. Of the last we engrave portions of one in possession of Mr. Wales, of Boston, which is as near perfection as any work of this kind can be (Fig. 92).

This jasper-ware was used in many ways, as the following list will indicate. It shows something of the variety of art-work made by Wedgwood:

1. Cameos and intaglios.

2. Bass-reliefs, medallions, and tablets.

3. Kings and illustrious persons of Asia, Egypt, Greece, etc.

4. Busts of kings, emperors, popes, etc., down to modern times.

5. Heads of poets, painters, divines, etc.

6. Busts, statuettes, animals, etc.

7. Lamps and candelabra.

8. Ornamental vases and antique vases.

9. Painted Etruscan (Greek) vases, etc.

So great was the production of the cameos and antique ornaments, and so greatly were they used as articles of jewelry, for settings in furniture, etc., that over two thousand different moulds and designs were made. We engrave here one of these small cameos, which, however, fails to convey a full sense of the delicate character of the work (Fig. 93). They reached almost the perfection of gems.

Fig. 94, a teapot, which is not remarkable for beauty of form or execution, is given as an example of the work done by the English potters before Wedgwood's day, to meet the ordinary wants of common life. It should be kept in mind, in estimating Wedgwood's character, that he combined, in an eminent degree, the _artistic_ and the _commercial_ faculties, and thus was able to produce results of a striking kind. Like Shakespeare, he was omnivorous, and browsed wherever the pastures were sweet. All food was good which could be turned into delectable milk.

Some of the most perfect of Wedgwood's work was made in the black _basalt_; which, however, lacks the brilliancy that colors gave to the jasper-ware. The example engraved (Fig. 95) is from Mr. Wales's collection.

In 1787 the most celebrated vase of antiquity, called the "Barberini Vase," and now the "Portland Vase," was to be sold by auction. Wedgwood was inspired with a desire to possess it; probably with the intention of making copies. He kept bidding upon it, but his competitor was the Duchess of Portland, who also was inspired with the desire of ownership. Finally, when the price had reached eighteen hundred guineas, she sent Wedgwood word that he should have the _loan_ of the vase, if he would withdraw his competition. It was so agreed; and Wedgwood set to work. He paid Webber five hundred guineas to make the model, for he was not allowed to make a mould. He then produced fifty copies (some say fewer) in his jasper-ware, the body being black, with a tinge of blue; the reliefs being in white. It was as nearly a perfect reproduction as could be made by the hand of man. As I have said, the cost of these was more than the price received. This remarkable piece of antiquity is now in the British Museum. It was once shown to a crazed man, who, with a blow of his stick, broke it into a dozen pieces. It is, however, thoroughly repaired.

The original vase is nine and three-fourths inches high and twenty-one and three-fourths inches in circumference. Wedgwood's reproduction of it was pronounced by the best judges to be faultless. It was exhibited at all the principal courts of Europe by his son in 1791. The moulds are still in existence, and other copies have frequently been made by Wedgwood's successors, but they are not equal to the first in finish. We give a photograph of this celebrated vase as a frontispiece.

Miss Meteyard gives the following account of this renowned vase: "The original vase is supposed to have been manufactured in the glass-works of Alexandria at their best period. Brought thence to Rome, it was used as a receptacle for the ashes of the funeral-pyre, as it was found inclosed in a sarcophagus of excellent workmanship, and this in a sepulchral chamber beneath a mound of earth called Monte del Grano, about three miles from Rome, on the road to ancient Tusculum. The discovery was made between the years 1623 and 1644, during the pontificate of Urban VIII. (Barberini). An inscription on the sarcophagus, which was otherwise covered with fine bass-reliefs, showed it to have been dedicated to the memory of the Emperor Alexander Severus, and his mother, Julia Mammæa, both of whom were killed in the year 235, during the revolt in Germany. The vase, ten inches in height, was deposited in the library of the Barberini family, and the sarcophagus in the museum of the capital. The material of which the former is composed was, by Montfauçon and others, conjectured to be a precious stone, but Wedgwood's examination proved it to be formed of glass; the ground being a dark blue, so nearly approaching black as to appear to be of that color, except when held in a strong light. The white bass-reliefs are of glass or paste, the material having been fused on in a mass, and then cut out by the skill and patience of the gem-engraver. The subjects of these bass-reliefs, as also the age and place of production of the vase, are points so wholly unknown as to be open to conjecture and criticism. With respect to the first, critics have differed. They have been generally considered to bear reference to the Eleusinian mysteries; but one of the most learned critics of our own day, whose works on 'Gems' are known to every artist, scholar, and man of taste, considers that one of the group represents Peleus approaching Thetis. At best, the vase must ever remain what Erasmus Darwin termed it, 'Portland's mystic urn.' Wedgwood valued the copy represented at two hundred pounds."

I must say for myself that, having seen the original--now in the British Museum, where it is most jealously guarded--I cannot but admire the careful and beautiful cutting of the figures in the designs which surround the body; but I did not when I saw it, nor do I now, think the form of the vase in any degree equal to the best of the Greek or Etruscan vases.

Wedgwood's life was an active and a productive one. He learned how to live, not from books, not in schools, but in doing the work his hands found to do. He was born a potter, he remained a potter, and he died a potter. He did not esteem his occupation a thing to be dropped as soon as possible, that he might be something else; or, as many persons are apt to do, that he might do nothing. Work, to him, was not only honorable, it was _necessary_. The old notion, that work was a curse, never entered his sound head.

It is an honorable thing that his merits were recognized while he lived; for this is rare in the heat and hurry and competition of this day of ours. Before he died, in 1795, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, and of the Society of Antiquaries; and was recognized by a large number of people as a thorough worker and an able man. Since his death, honors have descended on his head. His "Life" has been carefully written by Mr. Jewitt and by Miss Meteyard; and Mr. Gladstone, England's ablest man, has spoken with generous and discriminating praise of him and his works.

In many private collections, as well as in all public ones, these works are prized; and not the least interesting and valuable of these collections is that of Mr. Gladstone, now loaned to the city of Liverpool.

The prices which fine pieces of Wedgwood's work have sold for will be seen in the following, from a sale of Mrs. Brett's, in England, in 1864:

Plaques, white on blue ground, "Virgil reciting before Augustus," 7-1/2 by 18 inches £44 Five groups, infant bacchanals, 5 by 23 inches 64 Basin, with Cupids and figures 10

At a sale of De la Rue's, in 1866:

Pair of two-handled seaux, with satyrs, gnomes, etc. £39 18_s._ Dish, nautilus-shell 9 10_s._ Large bowl on foot, with boys, festoons, etc. 27 6_s._

Busts in black-ware sold as follows:

De Witt £17 17_s._ Seneca 15 Bacon 10 10_s._ Venus 15 15_s._ Cato 9 10_s._

At Mr. Marryat's sale:

A black tazza supported on three figures, 11 inches £6 10_s._ A pair of black vases and covers, with white figures in cameo, 12 inches 46 A black lamp, with red figures 2 10_s._ A granite vase, with handles, gilt ornaments, etc., 9 inches 4 4_s._ A watch-stand, with Cupid in relief in white, on sage-green ground, 6 inches 8 A candlestick, in form of a tree, with Cupids ditto, 11 inches, 16

Staffordshire now smokes for miles with the fires of her kilns, and vast quantities of wares are produced. Within the last twenty-five years a growing desire has been felt to bestow upon these articles of every-day use some grace of form and some decoration of art; and in both the English and the French pottery of to-day beauty and use are combined.