Chapter 3

THREE GREAT POTTERS—PALLISSY, BÖTTGHER, WEDGWOOD. Ancient pottery—Etruscan ware—Luca della Robbia, the 67–93 Florentine sculptor: re-discovers the art of enamelling—Bernard Pallissy: sketch of his life and labours—Inflamed by the sight of an Italian cup—His search after the secret of the enamel—His experiments during years of unproductive toil—His personal and family privations—Indomitable perseverance, burns his furniture to heat the furnace, and success at last—Reduced to destitution—Condemned to death, and release—His writings—Dies in the Bastille—John Frederick Böttgher, the Berlin ‘gold cook’—His trick in alchemy and consequent troubles—Flight into Saxony—His detention at Dresden—Discovers how to make red and white porcelain—The manufacture taken up by the Saxon Government—Böttgher treated as a prisoner and a slave—His unhappy end—The Sèvres porcelain manufactory—Josiah Wedgwood, the English potter—Early state of English earthenware manufacture—Wedgwood’s indefatigable industry, skill, and perseverance—His success—The Barberini vase—Wedgwood a national benefactor—Industrial heroes