Plate VIII. — ITALY". Renaissance-Majolica of Urbino-Ewer. Collection Baron Gustave de Rothschild. HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. A DESCRIPTIVE AND PHILOSOPHICAL STUDY OF THE POTTEEY OE ALL AGES AND ALL NATIONS. By ALBEET JACQUEMART. CONTAINING 200 WOODCUTS BY H, CATENACCI AND JULES JACQUEMART, 12 ENGRAVINGS IN AQUAFORTIS BY JULES JACQUEMART, AND 1000 MARKS AND MONOGRAMS. TRANSLATED BY MRS. BURY PALLISER. J. Lelewel. SECON D EDITION. NEW YORK: SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG AND CO. LONDON : SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEA RLE AND RIVINGTON. 1877. All rights reserved. LONDON : PRINTED By WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. PEE F AC E . In giving M. Jacquemart's learned and comprehensive 'History of the Ceramic Art' to the English Reader, the question arose whether to make a free or literal translation. The latter has been decided upon, though at the risk of retaining much of the French idiom. Any attempt to modify the enthusiasm and nationality of the Author would take from the spirit of the work. F. P. Kensington, October, 1873. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Introduction 1 Technology . ...... 4 Book I.— ANTIQUITY. Chapter I. — Egypt. — Theogony — Glazed Pottery . . . . .11 „ II. — JlTDiEA 19 Book II. — EXTREME EAST. Chapter I. — China. — Theogony — Symbols — Government — Manners — Ancient Pottery — Porcelain . . . . .22 „ II. — Japan. — Manners — Government— Pottery — Porcelain . . 78 „ III.— COREA 105 Book III.— ASIATIC CONTINENT. Chapter I. — Assyria — Babylon — Asia Minor . . . . • .110 „ II. — Persia. — History — Manners — Pottery — Porcelain * .118 „ III. — India — Manners — Pottery — Porcelain ..... 153 Appendix to Book HI. — Maghreb — Hispano-Moresqtje — America . . 170 Book IV.— WEST. Chapter I. — Antiquity — Greek Ceramics — Roman Ceramics . . . 194 „ II. — Middle Ages ......... 231 „ III. — Renaissance — Italy — France ...... 241 Appendix. — Stone Ware ......... 343 Chapter IV. — Modern Times — Faience — Porcelain, Soft and Hard . . 347 LIST OF STEEL ETCHINGS. PLATE PAGE I. China: Green Family— Vase, "Lancelle" Form, Historic) Subject Collection Fleuriot to face 68 II. China: Porcelain, coloured upon Biscuit. Teapot, with raised handle. Collection Barbet de Jouy. Teacup in the form of a Flower. Collection Jacquemart . to face 72 III. Japan: Chrysanthemo-p^ionian Family. — Jar, "Potiche," with the Dog of Fo, and a Carp leaping out of the Water. Collection Baron Gustave de Eothschild . to face 88 IV. Japan: Artistic Decoration — Saucer with Eich Enamelled Ground, and Medallion representing the Goddess Kouanin. Collection Jacquemart . . . to face 92 V. Asia Minor: Faience — Votive Lamp from a Mosque, XVth Century. Collection Scheffer . . to face 116 VI. Persia: Soft Porcelain — Gargoulette, decorated with the Simorg. Collection Jacquemart . . . to face 128 VII. Italy : Eenaissance — 'Majolica of Urbino — Hunting Bottle with Historic Subjects. Collection Baronne Salomon de Eothschild to face 266 VIII. Italy : Eenaissance — Majolica of Urbino — Ewer. Collection Baron Gustave de Eothschild .... frontispiece IX. France : Moustiers — Sugar Castor, Blue Decoration. Collection E. Pascal to face 430 X. Spain: Talavera de la Eeyna — Faience — Ewer. Collection Comte de Liesville ....... to face 530 XI. France: Sevres — Soft Porcelain — Vase, commemorative of the Battle of Fontenoy. Collection Le Double to face 550 XII. Saxony : Dresden — Hard Porcelain — Ewer in Belief, with Figures in Violet Camai'eu. Collection Doctor Piogey to face 598 %* Also 200 Woodcuts and upwards of 1000 Marks and Monograms. HISTOBY OF THE OEEAMIC AET. INTRODUCTION. A philosopher, seeking among the products of human industry the one which would best enable him to follow, through the course of ages, the progress of intelligence, and give him the approximate measure of the artistic tendencies of man, would select incontestably the works of the potter. Clay, from its plastic nature, lends itself to the idea of modelling, and gives scope alike to the liveliest nights of imagination and the most persevering efforts of industry. Abundant in its variety, easily procured, and, consequently, devoid of intrinsic worth, it derives its value solely from the elegance of form imposed upon it by the potter, or from the richness of decoration given to it by the artist. By studying the ceramic works of people yet in their infancy, we are able to explain the progressive march of the nations of antiquity, and thus to strengthen the inductions suggested by reasoning by the study of facts actually in operation. The savage tribes of the present day make, with the most primitive materials, vases which at first sight might be mistaken for the first essays of the Greeks, the Etruscans, or the Incas ; they employ the same processes, invent the same modes of decoration, confirming that most elementary law of all philosophy, that B 2 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. similar ideas proceed from similar conditions, and develop themselves more or less rapidly according to given rules. On the day when man, walking upon the clayey soil, softened by inundations or rain, first observed that the earth retained the print of his footsteps, the plastic art was discovered ; and when, lighting a fire to warm his limbs or to cook his food, he remarked that the surface of the hearth changed its nature and its colour, that the reddened clay became sonorous, impervious, and hardened in its new shape, the art was revealed to him of making vessels fit to contain liquids. Let any one observe the curious waifs of the Age of Stone — that is, the works of the earliest ages of the world— or the rude attempts of the savages of Polynesia, or those of the interior of Africa, and it must be acknowledged that things tave everywhere had a common origin, and that similar experiments have everywhere led to analogous results and progress. But in these attempts, suggested by necessity, and aided by reflection, we have the history of industry or manufacture seeking exclusively the amelioration of the physical conditions of life; whereas art, in its highest sense, exerts its empire on the mind, inspiring men with the idea of expressing their thoughts by outward signs, of manifesting their faith by raising to the Deity temples embellished with symbolic figures, of adorning their dwellings, their arms, their vessels with sculptures fitted to please the eye, and, better still, to elevate the mind by their moral signification. And it is so entirely this stamp of moral teaching which inspires veneration for ancient monuments of art, that those only which bear its impress have been preserved to us, all ages and nations agreeing in consigning to destruction works of vulgar fabrication. Among the relics of antiquity, we hardly find any pre- served except such as are worthy of surviving their authors, and of forming the archives of intellectual development. In confirmation of this assertion, let us inquire in what countries progress has been most rapid — in which has art displayed its greatest triumphs ? Assuredly in those where spiritualism has quickened the genius of the people. Impressed with this truth, which we soon shall demonstrate by facts, we need no longer be surprised, in comparing the works of the ancient . civilisations, to find the choice of the materials to be in inverse ratio INTRODUCTION. 3 with the progress of time; China, Japan, India, Persia, and Egypt using stoneware and porcelain long before Greece covered with her elegant decorations the coarse, porus earth now used only for the commonest purposes. We shall not then, in this treatise, be able to follow rigorously what may be called technical indications, or base our researches upon the progressive order of materials and processes. In tracing our subject from the dawn of civilisation to the present time, we will take the baked earths, whatever they may be, endeavouring rather to lay before our reader the moral causes and historic influences which have modified the ideas and styles of the artists, than the scientific improvements to which may be attributed, in part, the changes introduced in ceramic manufacture. B 2 4 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. TECHNOLOGY. When treating on a special subject, the profound study of which requires an extensive acquaintance with the sciences of chemistry and geology, the only means of enlightening without fatiguing the reader, is to make use of a language so clear and so precise, as to dispense with endless dissertations and repetitions. This language, which has long existed in ceramic art, was created by the talented Alexander Brongniart, as first set forth in his valuable book, published in 1844. We propose, therefore, adopting the nomenclature of the learned director of Sevres, giving as briefly as possible the different orders of pottery and the varieties of decoration, as referred to in these pages. Pottery is divided into two great classes. The first, soft paste {a pate tendre), may be scratched with a knife, is argillaceous, sandy, and calcareous, and generally fusible at the heat of a porcelain furnace. The second, hard paste (a pate dure), cannot be scratched with a knife, and is subdivided into two sections : the first comprises opaque pottery, argilo-silicious, and infusible ; the second, translucent pottery, argilo-silicious, alkaline, and fusible. First Class. Soft Paste (Poteries a pate tendre). The first order contains the unglazed baked clay without gloss on its surface (terres cuites a surface mate), plastic, properly so called, which goes back to the highest antiquity, and of which the use is again found in infant civilisations. The decoration of this pottery is by moulds, or by incising the soft paste. It is fired at a very low temperature, and fused at 40° of Wedgwood's pyrometer. The second order comprises lustrous pottery (poteries lustrees), with a thin, silico-alkaline glaze ; that is to say, composed of silex, rendered fusible by the introduction of an alkali, either potash or soda, and coloured by a metallic oxide, introduced originally in its composition, or which it receives in the paste it covers. TECHNOLOGY. 5 In the first case it is thick, as the glaze or enamel of the Egyptians and that of many Oriental tiles. In the second, it is so thin that it cannot be detached from the body of the piece ; this is the lustre of the Greek and Roman pottery. Lustred pottery fuses at the same degree as the preceding. The third order comprises the glazed pottery (poteries vemissees); of soft, porous, opaque, and coloured paste, covered with a thick, trans- parent and coloured plumbiferous glaze. This order comprises a series of interesting specimens in suc- cession, from Greek antiquity to the Renaissance and modern times. As regards art, it bears a close connection with the following. The fourth order is composed of enamelled pottery (poteries emaillees), called common faience (in opposition to fine faience), majolica, faience with stanniferous enamel. The paste is composed of potter's clay, argillaceous marl, and sand ; the clay is washed. This opaque paste, coloured or whitish, of earthy fracture, is overlaid with a plumbo- stanniferous, opaque glaze, which constitutes the enamel. It is twice fired. First, for thirty-six hours in the biscuit oven, at a temperature which extends from cherry-red to a whitish-red; and after- wards in enamel, at a temperature a little more elevated : the firing would be simple were it not for the great difficulty of laying the enamel on the crude paste. This enamel, which is of irreproachable whiteness when the elements which compose it have been well chosen, may be decorated by two different processes. The painting in the porcelain furnace (au grand feu), i.e., of a heat equal to 4717° of Fahrenheit, and in the enamel furnace (d la moufie or petit feu). The process, in the first case, is this : when the piece, transformed by a first firing into biscuit, has been dipped into the liquid enamel, to which it attaches itself by absorption, it is left to dry ; then upon the hardened surface the artist traces, in vitrifiable colours, the figures and ornaments he desires. This painting upon the raw enamel requires great manual dexterity, for it is almost impossible to retouch upon a substance easily reduced to powder, which rubbing scales off and water dilutes. Placed in seggars with tripods, the ware receives its second firing, which incorporates the painting and the glaze, and gives it a softness which no other process can impart. It may be as well to point out, on the other hand, that there is no difficulty in painting upon a baked glaze with the colours of the porcelain furnace; one can paint, efface, return to the work, blend 6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. the tints with a brash, scratch out the lights, &c. When the painting- is finished, the piece is returned a third time to the kiln, so that the enamel again become fluid, by the action of a heat equal to that which had fixed it on the vase, gives to the colours the breadth of touch and richness which characterise the first process. Muffle or enamel painting owes its creation to another order of ideas. It is a decoration upon enamel, the excipient which bears it being entirely lost sight of. Thus they painted upon enamel at Limoges and elsewhere before it was thought of spreading oxide of tin upon pottery. In this style of painting a large variety of colours may be used ; all the metallic oxides which are not decomposed by their com- bination with lead may contribute in forming the pallet' of the artist. Tin and lead enamel, susceptible of softening at a low temperature, admit of exposure to the grand feu, tints which, for hard porcelain, would be classed among the colours of demi-grand feu, but the tints applicable to the muffle are still more numerous and admit of a perfect finish and faultless modelling. These are not perhaps the qualities that one would wish to meet with in earthenware, therefore we ought to say that muffle painting upon earthenware has had for object the placing European industry in a condition to compete, as long as possible, against the invasion of Oriental porcelain ; and when the native fabrics of soft porcelain began to yield to the affluent the translucent porcelain so ardently sought after, muffle painting was able to furnish to the many, products bearing at least the appearance of this porcelain. This is so true, that earthenware thus painted is often designated under the name of earthenware porcelain. Second Class. Hard Paste, Opaque Pottery (Poteries d pate dure opaque). The fifth order, and the first of this class, comprises fine earthen- ware, pipeclay or "cailloutage." Its white paste is composed of plastic clay, of silica or quartz ground fine, and a little lime ; its crystalline glaze is plumbiferous. The paste is fired at a temperature of from 25° to 100° of Wedgwood's pyrometer, and is effected in England in fifteen hours ; the glaze requires only from 10° to 12° to fuse it. Fine earthenware is most frequently decorated by the muffle ; the oldest specimens, those made in France in the sixteenth century, are orna- mented by incrustation. The sixth order is formed by the stonewares (gres cerames) ; their TECHNOLOGY. 7 dense, very hard, sonorous paste is composed of plastic clay combined with sand, silica, and stoneware cement. The glaze, when it exists, is saline ; it is a sub-silicate of soda produced on the surface of the piece by sea-salts volatilised in the kiln. Sometimes it consists of a thin plumbiferous glaze, containing quartz, felspar, and barytes ; sometimes it is a glaze produced by the slag of a forge, pumice, volcanic scoriae or felspar. The firing requires a temperature of from 100° to 120° of Wedgwood, and extends from four to eight days ; it is simple in the case of salt glazes, but double when a plumbiferous is applied. Hard Paste, Translucent Pottery (Poteries a pate dure translucide). The seventh order comprises hard pottery (porcelain dure). Its fine paste is composed of two principal elements : the one argillaceous, infusible, this is kaolin, either alone or associated with plastic clay or with magnesite ; the other, arid, fusible, is composed of felspar or other stony minerals, such as silicious sand, lime, gypsum, either taken separately or combined in various manners. The glaze (couverte) consists of quartzose felspar, sometimes alone, sometimes combined with gypsum. The temperature of firing rises to 140° of Wedgwood. The paste softening at that temperature, the placing it in seggars (encastage) requires excessive care. The eighth order is formed of natural soft or English porcelain (porcelaine tendre naturelle). The epithet natural is applied to it because its body is partly composed of argillaceous kaolin, and peg- matite (kaolin caillouteux); the other elements are bones yielding phosphate of lime, plastic clay, calcined silica, and quartzose sand The glaze is composed of borax, minium, carbonate of soda, and flint glass. The firing of the biscuit lasts about fifty hours; that of the glaze seventeen or twenty. Soft English porcelain has a great analogy to fine earthenware; the biscuits of Wedgwood, qualified as stoneware, are of soft paste porcelain. The ninth order comprises artificially soft or French porcelain (porcelaine tendre artificielle). This porcelain is one of the most in- genious of ceramic inventions ; its marly, fine, dense paste, in texture almost vitreous, hard, and translucent, is completely fusible at a high temperature; it is in approaching this temperature it assumes the charming translucence which has given it its generic name, although it has nothing in its elements in common with Chinese porcelain. Its 8 STORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. vitreous, transparent, plumbiferous glaze is very hard; it is a glass composed of silica, alkali, and lead. It is laid on by dipping (arrosage). As in fine earthenware, it is first fired in biscuit, but as the paste sometimes passes into softening, the placing of the pieces in seggars requires the most minute precaution, and some require placing upon hollow earthern plaques, called renversoirs, which are made to preserve the form of the pieces, and at the same time to allow the shrinkage (retraite de la pate) consequent upon firing. This firing requires seventy-five to a hundred hours ; the glaze only thirty. It is to be observed that in giving the characteristics of the seventh, eighth, and ninth orders, we have said nothing of the decoration which may be applied to porcelain. This question, in fact, must be treated as a whole, for under a common name, the three classes contain very different potteries. There is also a distinction to be made between the colour of the porcelain and the muffle furnace as regards hard and soft porce- lain: in this last, colours susceptible of supporting the porcelain furnace would be classed among muffle colours if it were a question of hard porcelain. Let us first lay down this essential principle : the decorations of translucent hard pottery are generally placed above the glaze ; they adhere to it without incorporating themselves ; the only exceptions are the colours de grand feu, which go either under or in the glaze, and bear without alteration the temperature of 140° of Wedgwood. The glaze of the soft pastes being, on the contrary, fusible at a low temperature, the colours incorporate themselves in it, and assume a softness and unctuousness which cannot be obtained in pottery of the seventh order. We will not speak here of fluxes, vitrifiable substances that are added to metallic oxides and to metals to cause them to adhere to the excipients ; these are questions to be studied in special works. . The colours de grand few for hard porcelain are : cobalt blue, chrome green, the browns of iron, manganese, and chromate of iron, yellows obtained by oxyde of titanium, and the black of uranium. One might add to these colours, but of second temperatures for soft porce- lain, the violets, reds, and browns of manganese, copper, and iron which decorate some pieces from China. Enamel colours are fired at a temperature of which the maximum does not attain the degree of fusion of fine silver (300° to 325° of the pyrometer) ; they are divided into hard and soft: the "hard " glaze at a TECHNOLOGY. 9 much higher temperature than the " soft," or colours for painting, and they can receive other colours, burnished gilding and silvering. The metals used to enrich porcelain are gold, silver, and platina. Metallic lustre is a kind of decoration in which the colours, often iridised, participate a little of the metallic lustre, or in which the metals, extremely divided and laid on in the manner of colours, acquire their lustre by the firing, without requiring to be submitted to the process of burnishing. EGYPT. 1 1 BOOK I. ANTIQUITY. CHAPTER I. EGYPT. There is no branch of human knowledge we can treat upon without first turning our looks towards Egypt. The cradle of all civilisations, this singular country has the privilege of ruling over ages, as its monuments overrule all known architecture by their imposing masses. Nations whose annals go back to the highest antiquity, have they anything to oppose to the wondrous dates inscribed in the chronology of the Memphian kings ? At the period when first appear the fabulous heroes, and earliest legislators of the ancient societies of the extreme East, Egypt, firmly seated upon the basis of her immutable civilisation, already counts several dynasties, and shows in the arts" incontestable master- pieces. It will suffice to recall the statue exhibited at the International Exhibition of 1867, representing King Schafra, and another, carved in wood, of Ramenkhepar, an honest public functionary; of meek and gracious countenance, dating 3850 years before the Christian era. This last, however, is the work of the first empire ; it is the manifestation of an art seeking above all the exact imitation of nature, and more occupied in the form than in the thought. This sensualistic school continued until the sixth dynasty, then, after an eclipse arising from causes unknown, the eleventh dynasty inaugurated a new art, of which the development is easily arrived at, and in which the religious thought pervades. Unhappily, this thought, at first beneficent, and which stamps upon the works it inspires that grand and ideal character to which the sensualistic school cannot attain, ended in 1 2 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. rendering art stationary by submitting it to canon law, and thence- forward arrested the march of progress. It might be thought that the special object of this book has nothing in common with these high philosophic speculations. We must, on the contrary, penetrate ourselves with the truths acquired for science by the luminous researches of our Egyptologists, in order to understand the singular spectacle offered to us in the accumulated treasures of the Louvre. Contrary to the usual order of things, it is not among common potteries of coarse earth, scarcely decorated with lines and squares in brown tones, that we must seek for the first appearance of Egyptian ceramics. It is, on the contrary, among lovely pieces tinted with turquoise blue, or pale green, modelled with the carefulness of a jewel, and sometimes heightened by a fine enamel work; of this a proof is furnished in the objects found in the tomb of Queen Aah- Hotep, mother of Amasis, and contemporary of the power of Joseph in Egypt. And redescending from this distant period to the new empire, one constantly remarks, in this fine pottery styled Egyptian porcelain, the expression of religious sentiment and the representation of the most revered symbols ; these are the divinities of every form, varying from the size of a jewel to that of a middling-sized statuette. There is Pasht, the solar goddess, with the head of a lioness; and Ra, the sun god, with the head of a sparrow-hawk, creators of the yellow Asiatic and Egyptian races ; Athor, the Pharaonic Venus, with cow's horns and ears of the same animal ; Anubis, with jackal's head (Fig. 1) ; and a thousand others, forms borrowed of the ape, ram, hippopotamus, vultures, and ibis, wearing on their heads the pschent, or Egyptian crown, or surmounted by the solar disk. The objects modelled with the greatest care, and for which the artist would appear to have reserved all his energy and his personal liberty, appear to be certain sacred emblems concealed under a real form ; such are the vulture, symbol of divine maternity, the royal sparrow-hawk, anubis. fruits, flowers; the nilometer, eye of Horus, &c. Nothing, in short, is a matter of indifference in this country, where moral and philosophic thought seek to impose themselves under every Fig. l. EGYPT. HOrtCHOCLE. form, and to penetrate into every class. When the potter creates the most simple vase, he takes his model from the lotus, sacred flower of the Nile, which symbolises the goddess of the north, as the papyrus plant represents the goddess of the south ; bursary, hemispheric or bell-shaped, this vase imitates more or less completely the graceful outlines of the divine flower; under its rounded base (for most of the Egyptian vases are without feet) we find imitated, either in relief or graved in the paste, the divisions of the calyx, and above the fleshy petals, with their longitudinal ribs; if the surface is too developed to admit of this exact and minute copy, two zones superposed offer reduced figures of the flowers symmetrically alternating, the one expanded, the others in buds (Fig. 2). It is easy to show the im- portant part assigned to a plant found in all Oriental theogonies. Primitive religions, pure as they may be in spirit, cannot fail of affecting a kind of pantheism. Framed to speak to the uncultivated masses, they symbolise everything in order to carry back the thought from the outward and manifest form to the producing cause, the symbol to the thing symbolised. Such is Egypt as a whole. At the summit of its Pantheon soars an only God; immortal, uncreated, invisible, and concealed in the in- accessible depths of His essence, He is the creator of heaven and earth ; He made all that is made, and nothing has been made without Him. Yet He has agents who are His own attributes personified, and who become so many gods under visible forms, inferior divinities, limited in their parts, although participating in all His characteristic properties. " Thus," says Jamblicus, " the Egyptian God, when considered as that secret force which brings all things to light, is called Ammon ; when he is the intelligent spirit which comprises all intelligence, he is Emeth ; when it is he who accomplishes everything with art and truth, he is called Phtha ; and lastly, when he is the good and beneficent god, they name him Osiris." The lotus, placed in the hand of the divinities, upon their head-dress and their seat, is the homage rendered to the beneficent effect of the waters and the sun upon the slumbering earth ; CAJftNACCI. LOTUS VASE (MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE). HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART it is the symbolisation of the annual evolution of the seasons, causing generations to succeed generations, and recalling life where appeared to be the immobility of death. A representation not less frequent than that of the lotus is the scarabseus or sacred ateuchus, attribute of Phtha and the symbol of creation. One would naturally wonder how an insect which everyone views with disgust, and of which the vulgar name can scarcely be given, could have become an object of worship to the priests of Memphis. It is because they discovered in the habits of the scarabaeus wonderful symbolic details. Upon sandy hills they saw it penetrate into animal excrements, and select a fitting mass, which it kneads into a ball, after having deposited in it its egg, and then draws it between its hind feet until the heat has hardened its surface ; then it hides its ball in the sand, leaving it to be hatched by the sun ; within it takes place the birth and transformation of the lava, which, later, a perfect insect, will go out to accomplish in its turn the work of reproduction. The scarabaeus, therefore, imitates in miniature the work of the creator. The ball con- taining the egg is the earth, animated by the vital germ, and under- going, under the influence of the solar heat, its natural evolution. There is a connection between the creator and the work produced, and this connection has sufficed to raise an obscure insect to the rank of the most eloquent of symbols ; it represent Phtha himself, the creator of the stars : he who has developed the fruitful thought of the supreme god. Under the name of kheper (creator) the scarabseus was given to the soldiers in exchange for their oath of fidelity, and worn by them as a finger-ring. When we find it with its wings extended (Fig. 3) it is a funereal Fig. 3. SACRED SCARABSEUS. ornament ; and it becomes the symbol of the eternal revival of the sun, which each morning, having overcome darkness and evil, reappears EGYPT. '5 radiant in the eastern horizon ; thus the soul, purified by the passage through death, will be reborn to shine for ever in life eternal. One might suppose the sun itself to have been the object of direct worship, seeing the winged disk under which rise the two serpents urceus, royal symbols in Upper and Lower Egypt ; but if this emblem figures on the thresholds of the temples, on the funereal and votive monuments, and even upon the vestments of the priests and kings, it is because it is the attribute of him to whom men address ardent and poetic prayers in the style of the following : " Glory to thee, Ra, in thy morning shining ! Tmou, in thy setting ! I adore thy divinity in every season, under all its divers names. ... The father of mankind, who illumines the world with his love ; may he grant me to be shining in heaven, powerful in the world, and to contemplate every day the face of the sun. Thou illuminest, thou shinest, appearing as the sovereign of the gods." Studied in this elevated point of view, all these representations in silicious earth become interesting. If Thoth, the Mercury of Egypt, revealer of the sciences, the divine reason which ordains, appears to us with the head of an ibis, although he has for symbol the cynocephalus, the ibis itself, destroyer of noxious reptiles, could not rest indifferent to the inhabitants of a country where venomous serpents multiply so abundantly. The jackal, the vulture, these agents of the Egyptian police, who, by causing dead animals to disappear, prevent pestilential miasmas from pervading the air, ought they to pass unperceived by those whom they have the providential mission to protect ? Un- doubtedly, the custom of honouring and giving divine worship to useful beings announces the infancy of the mind. Yet there is some- thing touching in this indirect homage rendered to the foresight of the Giver of all things. Nor should we forget that the jackal was the emblem of Anubis, guardian of the tombs ; that the vulture was regarded among the ancients as female, and to produce spontaneously, which made her a symbol of maternity ; therefore they represented Souvan, the mother above all, by a woman with a vulture's head. The Egyptian terra-cottas all come from the excavations made among the tombs, and are constantly found with the most precious works of glass-making, enamels, and jewels ; it must, therefore, be admitted that they occupied an important rank in the esteem of the higher classes of society. The fine pottery of which we most specially speak is composed of ninety-two per cent, of silica ; its paste is pure, close, dense, and fitted to preserve the finest reliefs, the most delicate impressions. 1 6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Fig. 4. It is most often covered with a thin glaze, coloured by oxides of copper, sky blue, or pale green; sometimes the paste itself is coloured, but it is more often white. What is the nature of this pottery ? It is not a porcelain, for it wants its translucency. Neither is it an earthenware. It holds a middle place between porcelain and stoneware, and resists without fusing the tem- perature of the hard porcelain kiln, the highest of all. If their general colouring appears at first uniform, it must be attributed to certain symbolic rules rather than to the incapacity of ancient artists, whom Brongniart accuses of inexperience. One finds, in fact, in the rich series of the Louvre, pieces with white glaze, heightened with patterns incrusted or painted in black, blue, dark violet, green, and even red ; the green and the copper oviform bottle (museum blue blend with cobalt blue, black, brown, violet of the louvre). of manganese> white an( } ye llow. What proves besides, with what certainty the potters' operated these combinations, is that we meet with Egyptian porcelains where the diverse tints occupy very confined spaces and contrast strongly the one with the other; a blue statuette has the face coloured with golden yellow; dark blue bracelets bear upon their surface hieroglyphics reserved in sky blue, or vice, versa. Sometimes the object to be decorated has been engraved ; then a bright enamel has filled the cavities to a level of the surface or to pass beyond it slightly. Here, then, is complete science, consummate experience, and precision of execution. With regard to the form of vases properly so called, they are essentially refined; oviform long-necked bottles (Fig. 4) ; graceful lenticular phials with royal cartouches (Figs. 6 and 7) ; cruciform boxes ornamented with the lotus (Figs. 5 and 8) ; lamps (Figs. 9 and 10), cups, and if we are to give credit to the paintings of the tombs, many other forms, as complicated as they are elegant, would have been made at certain epochs, and the use of vases would have been as multiplied in civil as in religious life. At the present time, we are able to distinguish three ages in the objects of silicious earth; remote high antiquity furnishes in general Fig. 5. CRUCIFORM BOX (MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE). EGYPT. 17 products barely lustred, resembling a porcelain biscuit, and these covered with an excessively thin coating; middle antiquity is manifested by objects less pure in workmanship and covered with a thick glaze that might be mistaken for enamel ; the era of the Ptolemies is to be recognised by a Fig.- 6. Fig. 7. LENTICULAR FHIALS (MUSEUM OF THE LOUYRE). very marked Greek influence ; silicious pottery gives place to a coarse, soft paste, sometimes painted on the bare surface, sometimes covered with a glaze. This fabrication is continued in the second and third centuries of the Christian era, under the Roman domination. Fig. 8. Fig. 9. CRUCIFORM BOX (MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE). LAMP IN BLUE ENAMELLED EARTHENWARE. Thus are formed the two branches — mothers of European pottery ; the silicious earth, which first spread over the countries of Asia, was brought back by the Persians and Arabians to Europe as the source of our c i.8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. enamelled earthenwares and of our soft porcelains ; the glazed terra- cotta, soon brought to perfection by the Greeks and Romans, was carried by their commerce into all the civilised countries, and destined to enthrone itself for centuries among us, and to survive even the discovery and the revival of hard paste potteries, more beautiful and of greater usefulness. LAMP IN VIOLET ENAMELLED EARTHENWARE. THE HOLY LAND — JUDAEA . 19 CHAPTER II. THE HOLY LAND—JUDjEA The history of Egypt unites itself intimately with that of the Jewish people, and the reader would not forgive us if we neglected a nation of whom the sacred hooks consecrate the memory, now that we have just occupied ourselves with its persecutors. A pastoral and nomadic nation, the numerous descendants of Abraham would more naturally direct their attention to agrarian industries than to the arts of the imagination. If the Bible did not show it, one would guess it in reminding oneself that an invasion of shepherds nearly destroyed Egypt, and repressed for several centuries the impulse of art and civilisation; these only resumed their progress after the expulsion of the strangers under the reign of Amasis. We have not, therefore, to seek if there had been a Hebrew art before the period of the contact of the Jews with the Egyptians ; it is after the persecution and deliverance that true civilisation was esta- blished in Judsea. Called by Joseph to the country of the Pharaohs, the Hebrews were at first well received, and were able to initiate themselves promptly in the habits of an advanced civilisation ; but when this powerful minister died, when his benefits began to disappear from the memory of men, the new comers were only regarded as invaders ; they were reduced to slavery, and the sacred books show us them making bricks and working at the construction of the city of Rameses. The Almighty raised them up an avenger in the person of Moses ; he encouraged their complaints, defended them against their aggressors, and, having slain an Egyptian, fled into exile to escape the anger of King Menephtah, son of Rameses II. c 2 20 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. At the death of this monarch, and during the troubles which followed his reign, Moses returned and began an open warfare which ended by the passage of the Red Sea (b.c. 1491). The rest is known : the long wandering in the Desert, and the incessant complaints with which the delivered people assailed their liberator. But that which one ought to remark is the deep impression the contact of less than a century with people of a different religion had left on the hearts of this primitive nation. The pantheistic semblance of the Egyptian belief was translated by them into the grossest idolatry. When Moses went up into Sinai to receive the law, the first precept of which was " Thou shalt have no other gods before me," he found, on going down from the mountain, a people intoxicated, dancing round a golden calf that they had set up for idol, in unconscious remembrance of the honour rendered to the mystic figure of Apis. Thus one must admit a priori that Hebrew art was one of the branches of the Egyptian stock modified in this sense, that all figuration must be avoided which could lend itself to idolatry : " Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image." And yet this proscription of images is rather the act of the legislator than of the Almighty himself, since the ark was, according to Divine command, to be guarded by the figures of seraphim, and the censer of purification was supported by oxen. A precious fragment, gathered in Judaea and preserved in the Louvre, proves that the pottery of the J ews was similar to that of the Egyptains ; the same silicious earth, enamelled in blue, which furnished amphorae and cups, ribbed phials and lamps. If these evidences are more rare than anywhere else, it must be attributed to the luxurious tendencies of the Israelites, who, in every age, sought the precious metals, gems, jewels, and vases of value. It was with the earrings and bracelets of their women and their children that they formed the golden calf. It was with similar offerings that Moses, at a later period, found means of setting up the tabernacle, of making the ark, the seven- branched candlestick, and various utensils for religious use, of which the making was confided to the talent of Bezaleel and Aholiab, the artists designated by the Almighty and filled with His wisdom. Not- withstanding the calamities that befell the Jewish nation, a taste for the precious metals has always been retained. Marangoni relates that when Cyrus, king of Persia, allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple, he restored to them the vessels of gold and silver carried away by Nebuchadnezzar, and which, according to Ezra, THE HOLY LAND — JUD/EA . 21 amounted to the number of five thousand four hundred, among which were thirty phials of gold and one thousand of silver, twenty-nine knives for sacrifice, four hundred and ten silver cups, and one thousand other vessels. Although this only relates to things consecrated to religious uses, yet it is difficult to admit that a people so given to the works of the gold- smith had turned its attention to the humble productions of the potter's art. -The mission of the potters would rather have been to meet the daily requirements of the masses, and those works which were not art have necessarily disappeared in the course of time. Let us therefore consider ourselves fortunate that some choicer fragments, escaped from the common fate, permit us to judge of the material, to recognise the form and style, and to assimilate with certainty the Egyptian and Jewish schools. The words of the Bible, strengthened by the monuments collected in Judsea by the learned M. de Saulcy, prove that bells, with pomegranates and grapes, and other subjects borrowed from the vegetable world, formed the basis of Hebrew ornamentation ; they desired to dis- tinguish themselves from the Egyptian nation, and withdrew from idolatrous symbolism, condemned by hieratic law. Judaea then is the true cradle of the iconoclastic movement, and the rule adopted by this shepherd people, transmitted, no doubt, to neighbouring nations, and rendered still more strict by the creation of Islamism, became later the basis of Arabian art, and the cause of its exuberant ornament. 22 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. BOOK II. EXTEEME EAST. CHAPTER I. CHINA. Section 1. — Theogony — Symbols. The study of this great empire, lost, as it were, at the end of the world, has undergone many vicissitudes, and still presents great difficulties. When Marco Polo's lively and truthful narrative appeared, it excited great incredulity ; when our missionaries succeeded not only in pene- trating into the heart of the country, but also in gaining the favour of the sovereign, they sought to enlighten us by their publications ; they did more, they sent us over the most precious works of art, those mar- vellous porcelains, from that time so ardently collected, lacquer work, and furniture in carved wood, sculptured with heroes and divinities. Notwithstanding this, the seventeenth century still viewed the Chinese in a grotesque light, and created with the most ridiculous complacency an ideal portrait of this people, who have so faithfully painted themselves in their own works in the possession of every collector. Now, they will say, we are no longer in darkness, the light of truth shines on the extreme East ; China is opened — yes, opened by violence. This country, so proud of its civilisation, has found herself forced to lower her barriers before our cannon ; but she will not take the less precautions to avoid moral contact with the barbarians she fears. She will conceal from us her manners, hide her laws, and confine her relations to what the treaty exacts, and nothing more. Thus, what have we learned ? What have we seen ? Many have gone thither without preparation, without any fixed CHINA. 23 object, impelled by vulgar curiosity; most have returned without information, hastening to present to the public contradictory and fantastic appreciations, such as might be expected in the absence of all criterion by which to form a judgment, and each individually modifying his impressions according to the nature of his education and his tem- perament. Therefore we derive nothing new, nothing sure, as regards China ; and what we can best do to endeavour to know it, is to depend upon old writers, the written history of China being the most ancient in the world. Certainly we do not go with some authors, who make the period of Pwan-Koo, the first man, the Chinese Adam, ninety-six millions of years before the Christian era. Disposer of the universe, this almost divine being had to divide the heavens from the earth, and find upon the latter a comer in which to establish himself, disputing it with the elements. After him came beings with the body of a serpent, the head of a dragon, with a girl's face, and the hoofs of a horse; dragons with human faces, &c. It is at the end of these extravagant creatures that mythologists place the appearance of man such as we know him, and the accession of Fou-Hi, who, B.C. 3468, traced the Pa-Kwa or eight diagrams of Fo, gave rules to music, established laws, instituted marriage, and, in short, laid the basis of social order. In the year 2698 appeared Hoang-ti,a still more remarkably civilising prince ; under his reign the mariner's compass, the sphere, and the calendar were invented, as well as ships and navigation ; money replaced exchange in kind ; a tribunal appointed to write history was instituted at the same time as the cycle of sixty years appointed to mark periods ; "arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy, came to enlighten the world, and foreigners, affected at the sight of such wonders, rendered homage to the sovereign of the Empire of the Middle." Heaven could not fail to reward such great services. The end of Hoang-ti is thus related in the Chou-King : One day the emperor, sur- rounded by his ministers, was thinking over the things which had been done, when an immense dragon, descending from the clouds, alighted at his feet ; the sovereign and those who had assisted him in his labours seated themselves upon the back of the sacred animal, who flew up with them into the heavens. Some ambitious courtiers, trying to associate themselves in this glorious apotheosis, seized the beards of the dragon; but these appendages snapped, and precipitated those who had hung on to them. Hoang-ti, touched with pity, bent forward, and his bow fell. This relic has been carefully preserved, and on 24 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. certain days of the year, the pious repair to the temple to do him honour. These fables, mingled with historic facts, have one touching side : they show in the Chinese people a deep intelligence, and a wholesome appreciation of the services rendered to them by illustrious men. Destitute of spiritualism, with vague and imperfect notions of the Divinity, and an idea still more obscure of the soul and of the end of man, this singular people could not do better than to place in heaven its first legislators, its great philosophers and its inventors of things really useful. Loui-tseu, wife of Hoang-ti, taught the ladies about her the art of rearing the silk- worm, of spinning the cocoons, and weaving the silk into a tissue fitted for clothing ; in time, this industry became one of the chief sources of prosperity to the Celestial Empire. The Chou- King was then written, and it was too late to associate Loui-tseu in the triumph of her royal spouse ; she was therefore classed among the genii, and is still honoured under the name of the " Spirit of the mulberry trees and of silkworms." We have just stated that, like most primitive religions, the Chinese theogony is confused and difficult to apprehend. It admits, first, of Fig. 11. two principles, the yang and the yn (Fig. 11), the one active, the other passive. The yang, creative force, matter in motion, has under its dependence heaven, and all that is male and noble. The yn, inert matter, plaster, the female principle, rules the earth and the inferior animals ; Ti, the spirit of heaven, Che, the spirit of earth, who presides at all its productions, constitute then, in fact, two divinities corresponding to the two principles, and although there is question of a Chang-ti, a supreme being little defined, we see in this being only a superior deity in the celestial hierarchy, and not a sole, omnipotent creator. The Chinese religion is therefore nothing but an extravagant pantheism which recognises and invokes the gods of thunder, rain, wind, and clouds ; protecting spirits of seeds, trees, and flowers ; eight immortals ; three stewards and five emperors of heaven, independent of the ching or saints, that is to say, legislators, philosophers, and poets. Further, this religion divides itself into two very distinct branches, each founded by an illustrous individuality. Let us first speak of Lao- VASE ORNAMENTED WITH THE TWO PRINCIPLES AND THE EIGHT DIAGRAMS. CHINA. 25 tseu, and of the fabulous legends spread about his birth. The father of the philosopher was only a poor countryman, who remained single until the age of seventy ; he married at last a woman of forty, who conceived under the influence of a great falling star; she remained pregnant eighty-one years, and the master whom she served, tired of a prodigy so prejudicial to his interests, expelled her without pity. As she was wandering in the country she reposed under a plum-tree, and brought into the world a son whose hair and eyebrows were white ; the people, struck with the fact, designated the new-born child by the name of Lao- tseu, which signifies old man child. This is the mythic account. In reality our Chinese is quite another being ; living in the seventeenth century before Christ, when disorder reigned in China, he took refuge in the simple and retired life of a learned man. He studied long the works of the sages of antiquity, and appears even to have gone to India to initiate himself in the doctrines of Buddha ; from the meditations of these abstract theories issued the celebrated treatise called ' Tao-te-king,' the book of supreme reason and virtue. In the state of social dissolution in which the empire then was, such a work may have been of good service, if it had not been too ideal, and if his precepts had not led men to ascetic and solitary Fig. 12. contemplation rather than to social re- sponsibility. Hence the book became the basis of an absurd religion, the followers of which, called Tao-sse, fell into the most extra- vagant reveries. Magic, the search after the drink of immortality, introduced themselves into the practice of the Tao, and obscured its morals. The deified author of the book was considered as anterior to the created world, and to have contributed towards accomplishing its destinies. It is as such, that is in the state of Chang-ti or supreme God, that pottery most often exhibits him ; some- times he will be represented under the CHEO u-lao, the god of longevity. simple form of Cheou-lao, the God of longevity (Fig. 12). In every case he appears gentle and smiling, his ' venerable head, monstrously high on the upper part, with white hair 26 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. and eyebrows; mounted or leaning upon a stag, he will often hold in his hand the fruit of the fabulous tree, Fan-tao, which blossoms every three thousand years, and only yield its peaches three thousand years after. If he is surrounded by mushrooms, ling-tchy, which give immortality, and wears a yellow robe, he will be recognized as the supreme disposer of earthly things and the eternal ruler of the seasons. B.C. 551, that is about half a century after Lao-tseu, Confucius, or rather Koung-tseu, the real legislator of the empire of the Middle, was born. Struck, like his predecessor, with the moral disorder of the masses, he applied himself to making men better by bringing them back to the observation of ancient customs, by codifying the laws and reviving the remembrance of the sages of antiquity. His virtues grouped around him many disciples, his doctrines spread with his reputation, and he became, notwithstanding his modesty, head of the Chinese religion. In truth, Koung-tseu shows himself very reserved in his spiritualism ; he directs the homage of men less to the Divinity itself than to the manifestation of his power. The renewal of the seasons ; the return of the sun with its vivifying power in spring ; the fecundation of the earth ; the harvest ; these are his chief religious festivals. The others, more frequent, have for object to perpetuate the memory of virtuous emperors, great philosophers, and other benefactors of hu- manity; penetrated besides with the materialistic tendencies of the Chinese nation, he seeks to obviate them by placing a respect for family ties among the first of social duties. He finds at the same time a means to unite the past and the present, the infinite and the visible world, by creating this worship of their ancestors, now so firmly rooted in the masses, and which has been the principal obstacle to the introduction of Christianity in China, the ecclesiastical authorities having considered it as a real idolatry. These then are the two religions, or rather the two religious sects, that exist in the Celestial Empire ; the first speculative, and lending itself, in default of a spiritual basis, to all the extravagances of superstition ; the other purely philosophic, and condemning its followers, through exaggerated respect for tradition, to leave things as they found them, and to entertain a horror of progress. There is a third mixed up with it later, Buddhism, of which the abstract principles, adopted in part by Lao-tseu, certainly known by Confucius, have acquired a notable importance in China. From a mixture of these doctrines arises a singular iconography, CHINA. V difficult to explain, and which has often occasioned the most extra- ordinary assumptions. The figure of Confucius, either sitting or standing in a tranquil attitude, attired with the cap of the man of letters and holding either a manuscript roll or the sceptre of good fortune, should enter into the list of portraits ; he is, like Buddha (Fig. 13), the personi- Fig. 13. Fig. 14. fication of Indian philosophy. But there are real divinities of which the character remains undetermined ; such as Kuan- in (Fig. 14), a graceful veiled female with downcast eyes, sometimes sitting and holding the sou-chow (rosary), at others, standing, carrying a child and leaning upon a stag or the sacred bird. Our missionaries first designated her as the Chinese virgin, but finding her mounted upon a lotus, her breast imprinted with the sign swastika P^, which denotes salvation and gives a religious consecration to everything marked with it, we must re- cognize it as a Buddhic configuration. Kuan-in is one of those symbolic and hermaphrodite divinities that we identify sometimes with the sun, sometimes with God, supreme and creator. This is indicated by the Indian swastika, called by the Chinese "-wan-tse" — the ten thousand things, the creation. Another god, purely Chinese, for he is the personification of sensualism, is Pou-tai (Fig. 15) ; corpulent, his chest uncovered, mounted on or leaning upon the wine-skin which holds his terrestrial goods ; his face, with half closed eyes, beaming with an eternal laugh. This mass, rendered more heavy by good living and indifference, the old 28 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. travellers brought over under the name of Pou-sa — " the god." It is that of contentment, and one must be thoroughly imbued with Chinese notions to admit it under this denomination. In the Celestial Empire, a functionary claims so much the more merit as his robust corpulence the better fills the arm-chair in which he is appointed to sit. Pou-tai has been considered by some travellers as the god of porcelain. Fig. 15. POU-TAI, GOD OF CONTENTMENT. We might increase the Chinese pantheon by describing the God of War, with his prominent belly, red and threatening face, his lance with cutting edge ; the Goddess of the Talents, who lets fall pearls, and a thousand other secondary divinities who preside over the birth of plants and the principal phenomena of nature. We shall have occasion to mention them in the course of the following pages. Let us approach other symbolic configurations which are closely united with the Chinese religion. The first men of the Hundred Families, as history styles the ancient nation, were they eye-witnesses of the last convulsions of the globe ? will they have seen the monstrous reptiles, the incredible animals of which Cuvier has restored to us the image from their fossil remains ? One would almost be tempted to affirm it on examining their dragons. Gigantic saurians with four members armed with powerful claws, and terminated by a frightful head, scaly and strongly toothed. They distinguish several ; the Long, dragon of heaven, a being especially sacred ; the Kau, dragon of the mountain, and the Li, dragon of the sea. The dictionary of Khan-hy contains, at the word " Long," the following description : " It is the largest of reptiles with feet and scales ; it can make itself dark or luminous, subtle and thin, or heavy and thick ; can shorten or lengthen itself at pleasure. In the spring it rises to the skies, in the autumn it plunges into the water. There are the scaly dragon, the winged CHINA. 29 dragon, the horned and the hornless dragons, and the dragon rolled within itself which has not yet taken its flight into the upper regions." The Chinese give to several immortals the figure of the dragon ; the apparition of this supernatural being only takes place, according to the Chou-King, under extraordinary circumstances, such as the birth of a great emperor, the beginning of a reign propitious to men ; then the dragon flies through the air, frequents the palaces and temples, and appears to the philosophers. The Ky-lin is also an animal foretelling good; its body is covered with scales, its branched head resembles that of the dragon ; its four delicate feet are terminated by cloven hoofs resembling those of a stag ; it is so gentle and benevolent, notwithstanding its formidable aspect, that it avoids, in its light step, to tread under foot the smallest worm. The Dog of Fo, or of the Corea, which must not be confounded with the preceding fabulous being, has his feet armed with claws, a grinning face with sharp teeth, and a curly mane ; its general aspect would cause it to be taken for a lion modified by oriental fancy. Old curiosity hunters called it a chimera. The Dog of Fo is the habitual defender of the thresholds of temples and of the Buddhic altars ; it is very often represented. The Sacred Horse. History relates that at the moment Fou-hi was seeking to combine the characters proper to express the various forms of matter and the relation between things physical and intellectual, a wonderful horse came out of the river, bearing upon his back certain signs, of which the philosophic legislator formed the eight diagrams which have preserved his name. The Fong-hoang, a singular and immortal bird, lives in the highest regions of the air, and only approaches men to announce to them happy events and prosperous reigns. It is easily recognised by its carunculated head, its neck surrounded by silky feathers, and its tail partaking of the argus pheasant and the peacock. A study of these fantastic beings is indispensable in order to appreciate the decoration of the Chinese vases ; thus, in remote antiquity, the sovereigns had adopted as symbol the Fong-hoang, and caused it to be represented upon things for their use ; later, the dragon having been substituted, the sacred bird became the emblem of the empresses. The imperial dragon is armed with five claws ; it is equally the emblem of the emperor's son and of the princes of the first and second rank. Princes of the third and forth rank bear the four-clawed 3° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART dragon ; but those of the fifth, and the mandarins, have for emblem a serpent with four claws, called Mang. Independently of these sacred and fantastic beings, of whom it has just been question, certain ordinary animals have also a symbolic value ; we have already mentioned the white stag and the axis deer, which generally accompany the god of long life ; alone, they express longevity, as does also the crane; this last, it is said, prolongs its existence to extreme limits, and bestows the most touching care on its aged parents until their death. The mandarin duck passes as being so attached to its mate that it dies of grief if separated, hence it has become the type of conjugal fidelity and of a happy union. The twelve tchy periods of the cycle of sixty years are represented in China by animals corresponding with the twelve moons ; in other words, they are the signs of the Chinese zodiac. Their names disposed after the " rumb " are as follows, beginning by the north : November, the rat ; December, the bullock ; January, the tiger ; February, the rabbit ; March, the dragon ; April, the serpent ; May, the horse ; June, the hare ; July, the ape ; August, the hen ; September, the dog ; October, the wild boar. We might extend this nomenclature by adding the symbolic plants, but reserve what we have to say on flowers in reference to the decora- tion of vases. There is another symbolism upon which we have to speak, that of colours and forms. Nothing in China is left to caprice or fancy; it is not at the will of him who builds a house himself to choose the colour of the tiles with which it is to be covered, or to paint the walls and the doors according to his own taste ; proofs of this swarm in the literature of the Chinese. We read, in the romance of two literary young girls, this description of an imperial villa : "From top to bottom, one saw only green enamelled bricks The walls which formed the inclosure shone with the lustre of vermilion." A bonze, questioned upon the name of the possessor of this residence, replies, " You see there a country house of the emperor. Have you not remarked that the roof of the building is covered with green enamelled tiles and that the walls of the inclosure are painted red ? Where is the magistrate, the prince, or the count who would dare to usurp such a decoration ? " The most ancient of the Chinese books have preserved to us the laws of this symbolism. The primary fundamental colours are five in number, corresponding with the elements (water, fire, wood, metals, earth,) and with the cardinal points : " Red belongs to fire, and corresponds with CHINA. 3' the south ; black belongs to water, and corresponds with the north ; green belongs to wood, and corresponds with the east ; white to metal, and corresponds with the west," says the commentator of Li-Ki. The rites observed under the three dynasties (Hia, Han, and Cheou, from B.C. 2205 to 264 of our era) have always been the same, and the people have unanimously followed them. If anything has undergone modifi- cation, it is only that white and green characterised such and such dynasty. We find, too, in the Tcheou-li (the rites of the Tcheou, from the twelfth to the eighth century before the vulgar era), " The work of the embroideries in colours (hoa-hoei) consists in combining the five colours. The side of the east is the blue side. The side of the south is the red side. The side of the west is the white side. The side of the north is the black side. The side of the sky is the side bluish black. The side of the earth is the yellow side. Blue combines itself with the white. Red combines itself with the black. The blackish blue combines itself with the yellow. " Earth is represented by the yellow colour ; its special figure is the square. The sky varies according to seasons. " Fire is represented by the figure of the circle. " Water is represented by the figure of the dragon. " The mountains are represented by a hind. " The birds, the quadrupeds, the reptiles are represented according to nature." Singular as they appear, these principles find their immediate application. The Ming dynasty had adopted green for their livery. The Tai-thsing took the colour of the earth, or yellow; the vases where these colours predominate will then be, in some sort, dated and specialised as for their use. With regard to forms, let us bear in mind, things subject to the male principle (yang), the sun, fire, and all the phenomena of the most elevated moral order, are represented by that which is circular and oval, and by unequal divisions. Those wherein the female principle (yri), the moon, the earth, and things of an inferior, are represented by the square or rectangle, and by equal divisions. The plan of a vase, the observa- tion of its angles, or the divisions of its decoration, will enlighten us upon its religious destination and upon the rank of him who is allowed to make use of it ; for in the social hierarchy certain functionaries are restricted to the worship of spirits of the second order, while others have the right of rendering homage to the superior powers ; to the emperor 32 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. alone belongs the high office of performing certain acts, such as the sacrifices to Chang-ti, the welcoming of spring, the opening of tillage. In uniting these curious facts to those furnished by colours and the symbolic beings, a vase becomes an historic monument easily explained, and worthy at the same time of the study of the philosopher. Section 2. — Government — Language. In a country where religion is reduced to a respect for all that is ancient and traditional, one is not surprised to find an absolute and theocratic government. The emperor, a sacred person, Son of Heaven, as he is called, is head of the spiritual and temporal power, and delegates a part of his authority to superior agents, united in tribunals or administrations; these again transmit it to the governors of provinces, who direct, in their turn, the civil and religious administration. Such a system of government would appear to have been created for the benefit of the aristocracy. Far from it; in China, the access to high places is easy, for public competition opens to the learned the various careers of the public administration. No one can arrive at being prefect or governor of a province if he has not passed through the academic degrees ; only, subject to one common rule, instruction can and ought to furnish learned men for official posts, but it does not prepare them for any special service ; so that an academician (han-lin), puffed up with the success of his poetry, may suddenly be called upon to take the command of an army. We do not, therefore, wonder that China, divided by parties, conquered and reconquered by various dynasties, has finished by yielding to the law of the stranger, notwith- standing its old civilisation and countless population. The Empire of the Middle was, besides, condemned to premature stagnation and to a certain abasement by the nature of its language and its literature. According to the most ancient evidence, Fou-Hi invented the art of writing to replace the old system of knotted cords; with this object he traced the eight koua or symbols, which could not long suffice for the wants of a progressive society ; thus 2698 years before Christ, Thsang- hie, minister of the right of Hoang-ti, received an order to develop the rudimentary invention of Fou-Hi. The writing of Thsang-hie appears to be the Kou-wen, identified by some authors with the Kho-teou writing, in the tadpole form ; it was purely figurative, and was so modified by the caprice of the innovators CHINA. 33 of these ancient times that, in his book of 'Sentences/ Koung-tseu complains bitterly of the forgetfulness of the ancient forms. The Emperor Siouen-Wang, of the Tcheou dynasty (b.c. 826), felt the necessity of a reform, and charged Tcheou, president of the council of historians, to determine the characters to be thenceforth adopted; but it was not until fifty years later, when Chi-hoang-ti became sole sovereign in China, that they were able to regulate the use of the Ta- tchouan of Tcheou ; they wished also to bring it to perfection by giving it a fictitious symmetry; this attempt gave birth to the Siao-tchouan, of which the use was confined to seals. A revolution was soon to be accomplished ; paper was invented, replacing leaves of trees and tablets overlaid with varnish, upon which they wrote with a pointed instrument ; the new material required the use of a fluid ink laid on with the brush ; now this process led by neces- sity to a more cursive style of writing. Tching-mo wrote three thousand characters, conforming himself to the number and disposition of those already in use. This elegant writing became the official writing of the public officers and tribunals, hence its name, Li-chou, or writing of the public offices. Under the Emperor Youen-ti (b.c. 48-33), a eunuch of the palace invented cursive characters which were used for petitions and reports submitted to the sovereign, which, improved by a celebrated calligrapher, soon came into general use under the name of Thsao-chou. But this capricious short-hand, difficult to read on account of its ligatures and abbreviations, lost favour ; it had caused a great disturb- ance in national education, and they saw the necessity of returning to the use of exact signs. The Li or office writing, slightly modifiedlnd regulated so as to accomodate itself to the composition of printed books was established under the denomination of Kiai-chou; it is this which is used in the present time. Its first invention appears to be due to Sse- tchong, king of Tchang-Kou, who lived under the Tsin (a.d. 265-419). We will give later, types of these divers characters ; but, before- ' hand, we should say a few words on the general system of the' written , Chinese language, and of the modifications it has undergone. In the beginning it was purely figurative, but one understands that under its ideographic form it could only lend itself to the expression of simple ideas, naturally very confined. Besides, it was impossible to describe all the objects of nature, to express proper names, the affections of the human soul, all its desires, all its thoughts; it was necessary, therefore, to find a new element which would render the sounds of spoken D 34 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. language. This was done by phonetics. The principal idea thenceforth was expressed by a fundamental sign called the key,, to which was added a second group solely indicative of the sound. Yet let us distinguish between the double characters destined to represent com- bined ideas, and those of which we have just exposed the principle. In the first, the bringing together two figures naturally suggests the complex idea to be expressed ; thus, in uniting the images of the sun and the moon, one forms the character ming, which signifies light, brilliant ; the figure of the tree twice repeated expresses a forest, lin ; a mouth and a bird signify singing, ming; the figure of water and that of an eye, tears, to weep. In the phonetic system the sign li, which alone and figuratively signifies the ground on which one has established one's dwelling, a determined space, loses this meaning on joining itself with the generic image of fishes, the group takes the sound li of the last sign and forms the name of the fish li, the carp ; the figurative character of the tree, joined to the sign pe, white, becomes the name of the cypress tree, pe. If the Chinese had pushed this invention to its last consequences, they would have arrived at the discovery of the syllabic and even alphabetic elements, and the progress of their literature would have had no limits. But, while increasing by phonetic combinations the numbers at first rather restricted, of their characters, they remained subjected to the natural shackles of all figurative languages. One word now upon the various dynasties which have governed China, and upon the manner of qualifying the members of these dynasties. In the Celestial Empire, a man who passes from private to public life may modify his name so as to make it more in harmony with his new functions, or to express the dignities with which he is invested; but the sovereign, on ascending the throne, must lose his individuality in order to let himself be confounded in the great power they call the dynasty. After his death, and by a judgment analogous to that in usage among the Egyptians, his actions are weighed, and according to their merit is created the denomination under which he will take his rank in the hall of his ancestors. Thus, when the illustrious founder of the Ming dynasty was still an obscure individual his name was Tchou- youan-tchang ; when he led the troops who soon proclaimed him their chief, they called him Tchou-kong-tseu ; become master of Kiank-nan, he took the title of Ou-koue-kong, that is, prince of Ou ; lastly, on his commemorative tablets, he is designated as the great ancestor of the brilliant dynasty, Ming-tai-tsou. CHINA. 35 Now, to take the place of the personal name which he renounces, and which cannot be pronounced without incurring the pain of death, the sovereign assigns to the years of his reign a significant epithet which serves to designate himself. Ming-tai-tsou, emperor by the strength of his arms, chose, to express his power, the words Hong-wou, great warrior ; his successor, who succeeded without contest, and was able to repose his sword and cause science to flourish, called himself Kian-wen-ti, the emperor restorer of letters. This is the Nien-hao. The limits to which this book is confined do not permit of our giving a general list of the Nien-hao ; we will confine ourselves to mentioning the names and dates of the various dynasties, adding a complete chronology of the two last, whose names may be met under porcelain. The first dynasty, that of the Hia, begins under the eighth cycle, the year B.C. 2205, with the emperor Yu. The second, that of Chang, begins B.C. 1785, with the reign of Tching-tang. The third, of the Tcheou, is inaugurated B.C. 1183, by Tching-tang. The fourth, quite ephemeral, that of the Thsin, begins B.C. 255, under Sian-wang. The fifth, of the Han, instituted B.C. 202 by Tai-tsou-kao-hoang-ti. The first year of the Christian era, Hia-ping-ti ascends the throne, and gives to the year of his reign the name of Youan-chi, original, beginning. In A.D. 220, the empire is divided into three kingdoms (San-koue). The sixth dynasty, that of the Tcin, begins in 265, with the emperor Wou-ti. The seventh, of the Pe-Soung, is inaugurated in 420 by another Wou-ti. The eighth, of the Tsi, begins in 479, with Kao-ti. The ninth, of the Liang, dates from 502. The tenth, of the Tchin, begins in 557. The eleventh, of the Soui, is inaugurated in 581 by Wen-ti. The twelfth, of the Thang, begins 618, with Kao-tsou. The thirteenth, called the posterior Ling, arrives in 907. This is the first of the five little dynasties. The fourteenth, of the posterior Thang, succeeds in 925. The fifteenth, of the posterior Tsin, begins in 936. The sixteenth, of the posterior Han, in 947. The seventeenth, of the posterior Tcheou, dates from 953, and ter- minates this period of the history. D 2 36 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. The eighteenth, that of the Soung, begins in 960 and ends in 1279, after having been in rivalry with two others. The nineteenth, that of the Kin, reigns in 1125, simultaneously with the Soung. The twentieth, of the Yonan, begins in 1260. The twenty-first, of the Ming, ascends the throne in 1368 ; the following is a list of its various nien-hao : g^^±i 1368, Hong-wou, surnamed Ta'i-tsou. ^1 IP. 71 lift "ft In** 1C fit 1399, Kian-wen, „ 1405, Yong-lo, 1425, Hong-hy, 1426, Siouen-te, „ 1436, Tching-tong, 1450, King-tai, „ 1457, Thien-chun, „ 1465, Tching-hoa, . „ 1488, Hong-tchi, 1506, Tching-te, 1522, Kia-thsing, „ 1567, Long-king. „ 1575, Wan-li, „ 1620, Tai-tchang, 1621, Thien-ki, 1628, Tsoung-tching, „ 1644, Hong-kouang, „ 1646, Long-wou, „ 1646. Chao-wou. 1647, Yong-li, Choui-ty. Tching-tsou. Jin-tsoung. Siouan-tsong. Ying-tsong. King-ti. Ying-tsong. Tchun-ti. Siao-tsong. Wou-tsong. Chi-tsong. Mou-tsong. Chin-tsong. Kouang-tsong. Tchy-ti. Hoa'i-tsong. Fou-wang. Thang-wang. Kouei-wang. CHINA. 37 Twenty-second dynasty of the Tai-Thsing : 1616, Thien-ming, surnamed Tai'-tsou. 1627, Thien-tsong, 1^2? 1636, Tsoung-te, 'IJ]| 1644, Chun-tchi, 1662, Khang-hy, HE ^= 1725, Yong-tching, Jl^^t 1736, Kien-long, 1796, Kia-king, Tai'-tsong. the same. Chi-tsou. Ching-tsou. Chi-tsong. Kao-tsong. Jin-tsong. 1821, Tao-kouang. 1851, Hien-fong. The last emperor was reigning when the French troops took Pekin and the English burnt the palace of Youen-ming-yuen, the Versailles of China. To make use of these chronologies we must see through the prin- ciple. Chinese writing is generally traced in vertical columns, succeeding each other from right to left ; when the phrase has to be expressed in a horizontal line, the characters must be read from right to left, as in this inscription drawn up in Siao-tchouan : Tchy Nien Long Kien Thsing Tai. Tai thsing kien long nien tchy, which must be explained in an inverse sense : Tchy, made ; nien, during the period ; kien long nien-hao, from 1736—1795 ; Tai-thsing, of the very pure dynasty, or of the dynasty of the Tai-thsing. But it is rare that dynastic inscriptions take this form; more often, they are arranged in two columns of three characters, or in three columns of two; thus, ta ming-Tching hoa-nien tchy, reads : Nien tchy, made during the period of the Tching-hoa, of the great dynasty of the Ming. Tai-thsing kien long nien WW tchy translates as it is said above. It is useless to add that when the 38 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Nien-hao is arranged lengthways, that is to say, in two lines of three characters, the name of the year becomes divided, the first sign ending the line on the right, and the second beginning that of the left. When the dynastic inscription has to be reduced to four characters, it is composed solely of the Nien-hao, properly so called, and of the formula Nien-tchy ; in other terms, in the two preceding examples one would obtain the form in four characters by suppressing the first column reserved for giving the name of the dynasty. This method is without inconvenience for the Ming and the Thsing, since there is no similar name repeated either in one or the other. This legend is often to be met with : Ta-ming nien-tchy; ~f\. the name of a period extending from 457 to 464, under the do Pe-soung; it is therefore false; or perhaps we should see in ** it an inscription of the Ming which the writer would have involuntarily contracted by omitting the name of the year. We have given above the inscription of Kien-long in Siaotchouan ; it is the legend which has put us in the way of reading the seals, until then unexplained in France, and difficult to decipher even for the Chinese who are not paleographists. In contracting this legend by groups of two characters we have succeeded in recognising '[[[j this seal, which is very common on works of art. Now, as |gg|reijip dating from the eighteenth century the greater part of the rmKllllB Nien-hao are thus expressed, we have sought to determine its form, and we have arrived at framing this list of the Mongolian sovereigns in chronological order : IT — r I i i 1m Young-tching, 1725 to 1735. Kien-long (see above), 1736 to 1795. Kia-king, 1796 to 1820. UiB Tao-kouang, 1821 to 1850. 52 hi Hien-fong, 1851 to CHINA. 39 To fulfil the promise previously made of giving an example of the different kinds of Chinese writing, it remains to us to represent some types of the Ta-tchouan. It is very common to meet on vases the two votive inscriptions fou, happpiness, and cheou, longevity. This last word is very variable in its form, and further on (Fig. 16) will be seen a vase covered with its various ancient or regular forms. i Here is an inscription still more important, which | * \ we find on vases adjudged in recompense of services rendered to the state : / ou-y pao tmn — precious honorary -^rr^r vase given in remembrance (of public services). sjf-^ Section 3. — Manners — Use of the Vases. China offers this peculiarity, that the vases have their share in public and private ceremonies, special names derived from their use, and deter- minate forms according to their official part ; it is therefore important to throw a rapid glance upon this picture of manners, where the inquirer may find some information. The monuments for public worship are the Than, large altars in the open air; the Miao, large temples, and the Thse, small temples. It is there the functionaries perform, on certain days, the ceremonies for which the officer of the aromatic plants, yo, mixes these with the wine of libation, and that the Tchang jin prepares the vases I, Loui and Yeou. But every Chinese has at his own house a place reserved for private worship, where one often sees the figure of Fo, that of Kuan-in, of Tsao-chin, the spirit of the hearth, or of Chin-nong, that ancient king who taught men to cook their food. What one never fails to see there are the tablets of their ancestors. The altar, upon which the holy things are laid, is a table more or less elongated, generally set before a religious picture, and furnished thus: tings or vases for burning perfumes; vases that accompany them, containing a small shovel and little bronze sticks for stirring the fire ; cups or vases to contain the consecrated wine, other cups, tsio, of particular form, for libations; candlesticks and jars (potiches), or those trumpet-shaped vases we call beakers (cornets) filled with flowers. Nor is the number of the vases arbitrary ; the emperor uses nine, the nobles seven, the ministers of state five, and the learned three. It is well known that formerly the material of the cups was graduated; those AO HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. of the emperor were tff gold, of the ministers copper, and of the learned of brass. Since greater liberty has been established, and its artistic merit has raised porcelain to a level with the richest metals, we have seen circular tings with three feet, in crackle, in China white, or in porcelain of the " Green family/' which must have been used therefore I £31 >/y ^ t ne dignitaries who render homage to the higher powers, n ul We may cite, for example, simple bowls or shallow cups 3£ °f which the pretensions to rival the metal perfume- J^pjS burners is shown by an inscription traced under the foot : S iPP Ting of rare and extraordinary precious stone — Ting chi tchin khi chi pao. Here the hyperbole is evident, and causes little surprise in a people who seek to deceive even their gods by offering them rolls of gilt paper instead of real money. We have no doubt that the teapots decorated with the figure of immortals, bowls representing the worship rendered to the stars San- hong, pieces in which the Fong-hoang and the Ky-lin are surrounded by clouds and thunder, are destined to replace upon the altar the different vases mentioned above. Nor is porcelain of less importance in every-day life ; in China, politeness, respect for rank and age, are the first virtues of the well-edu- cated man; then hospitality is practised with a care, one might almost say minuteness, of which we can form no idea in our active and busy life ; every man of the world is expected to have a reception-room, the walls of which are either decorated with rolls, inscribed with sentences or covered with gold paintings ; the furniture consists solely of etageres, laden with vases of flowers and dishes of fragrant fruits ; it is good taste to choose the style of decoration so as to flatter the guest and harmonise with his functions and the acts of his life. If it is a warrior, the paintings and vases will show him the Chinese wars, or the great generals of ancient times, battles, reviews, tournaments, all those bold compositions that the famille verte treat in its finest specimens. Is it a learned man, a poet? he will see everywhere the figures of Koung-tseu, that of Pan-hoei-pan, a woman celebrated as a writer and historian, or the singular image of Li-tai-pi, a drunken rhymer classed in the rank of demi-gods, and who, according to fable, was raised up to heaven upon a monstrous fish. Another not less important part vases are called upon to fill is that of being given as offerings and also as rewards. From the highest antiquity there has existed in China a kind of official journal, for the purpose of CHINA. 4' recording the memory of eminent services rendered to the country. Tse, properly signifying book-writing, is become the name of the public acts granting this honourable mention. When a functionary had several times deserved it, the sovereign awarded him a vase T sun, or honorific, inscribed with the dedicatory inscription; it was a title to all kinds of immunities. This ancient mode of reward has remained only in a modified form ; to the simple vase of precious metal has succeeded presents more sub- stantially useful, such as a town or country house, but always accompa- nied by vases or services of exceptional quality, and adorned with the expression " honourable." Thus we possess a specimen, upon which we read, " Persons raised to honours and fortune on account of their merit and of services rendered (to the State). The year Kia-chin, under the present dynasty, Sie-tchu-chin established himself in a country house given by the emperor." Persons thus rewarded were authorised to cause this inscription to be transcribed upon all the objects for their use ; it became an earnest of inviolability ; and we see, by the Chinese code, that even justice required an authority from the emperor to pass, even in tha interests of society, the threshold protected by this honourable formula. Undoubtedly less interesting are the vases Jou-y (wishes of good fortune), yet still very curious, which the Chinese present to each other at the new year, at birthdays, or when an official nominator appoints a man to a public post or confers on him promotion in rank. One of the most precious examples of this last employment of the Jou-y is ex- hibited in a blue vase, inscribed with these words : Tchoang-youen-ki-ti. This title, obtained by competition, is the highest that can be given ; it opens the door of the academy of the Han-lin, and secures a distinguished rank in the state. Wishes for happiness and long life are frequently expressed upon porcelain. Sometimes it is a single character borrowed from the regular' writing or the Ta-tchouan ; besides, it is by the repetition of the word Fig. 16. H.CAlbMCCI CHARWT VASE WITH SIGNS OF LONGEVITY. 42 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. in all its forms, ancient and modern, simple or ornamented, as in the Nankin charming vase (Fig. 16), in which the handles themselves are formed of the word cheow or thsao. We possess a bowl in which the same word is written in regular characters in peaches, themselves the emblems of lon- gevity, alternately yellow and red. A more significant v^plrp ^ D nP f° rmu l a ^ s t n ^ s : Cheou-pi-nan-chan — fou-jou-tong-hal " Long life compared with that of the mountain of the Jpi *□ South, happiness great as the sea of the East." But the JjTr most common of the Jou-y is that composed of four ^@ pf characters : Fou-kouei-tchang-tchun, which signifies " Fortune, dignity, and an eternal spring." Let us arrange in the same class the inscriptions which are in. praise of the object itself, as these : "Uj^ Tchoui ouan, " A precious thing to offer." Then we ought ~£J^ to add the following legends : ■p)^ 2^ Khi tchin jou ou, " Extraordinary like the five things " -T- -e^ (precious). Yu ya kin hoa, " Splendid like the gold of the House of -tHt- ^ Jade." Po kou tchin ouan, "Curious object for the connoisseur of antiques." Here perhaps is direct allusion to the subject ^ /C.fii which represented a scene copied from some ancient kouan khi become celebrated. ffi a* Foil kouey kia khi, " Beautiful vase (for the use of) the p^g r=>3 rich and noble." tj£ thang kia khi, " Beautiful vase of the Hall of Jade." q ^ The Academy is designated as " the Hall of Jade ; " it may {HZ jEL not be impossible that it refers to a piece destined to be offered to a han-lin (academician), or to decorate the jlh; assembly-room of the learned in the palace of the Academy. In fact, we often find inscriptions indicative of the place a vase is to occupy ; the words, tchou fou, palace, are of the number; as to the fol wing legends, they are doubtless of similar CHINA. 43 value; but only a dignitary knowing the temples and the different apartments of the imperial residence could determine their precise value. lit Tse thse thang tchy, " Made for the Hall of the Violet S^'i Thorn." V EH Fou youen thang tchy, " Made for the Hall of the Source ^t^J^ of Happiness." Thien tchang thang tchy, " Made for the Hall of the Abun- %\l J3, dance of Heaven." _-F oj Khy yu thang tchy, " Made for the Hall of extraordinary iqps Jade." It may not be useless to say that in the eyes of the Chinese, jade is the superlative of all stones. Confucius made it the emblem of virtue, and compared it to the wise man. One would not, therefore, wonder if the potters should have sought to imitate this stone in some of their productions, and that its name should have been given to their finest porcelains. Many are marked with the character of Yu only, others bear >7lj Ouanyu, precious object of jade; _ Tchin ouan, precious object of curiosity ; S Tchin yu, precious object of jade ; or even 3E, 8d ^ Vj> p as ^ e °^ i a( ^ e - Certain legends have a direct signification which restricts the use of the vase to whom it is specially offered; upon ^ jj^ ^fN a cup at Sevres, we read " Remembrance of Ing- £\ -51 ^ chin-youe'i," and upon another more intimate still, j=j^ Jj^ y~ ' \ " I am the friend of Yu-Tchouen." ^ The inquirer often remains undecided upon the real meaning of the inscriptions ; we possess one which runs thus : Cheng-yeou- ya tsi, "Distinguished meeting of holy friends." Must we '^llfj see in this the meeting of friends called to use the objects 3ET inscribed with this legend ? Are we to think the holy friends are the persons ranged symmetrically in the compartments of a floral ornamentation ? In this last case, we should have under 44 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. our eyes an indicative inscription, such as one sometimes meets with. The Salle collection contained one thus conceived : " The three counts wishing to point out the sun with their ringer wait until the clouds disperse." We have found another expressed in two verses : " In the Yao-Kong hall are heard harmonious sounds of music; below the pavilion Tchong-ye they address magic invocations to the spirits of the clouds and of the night;" and the subject represented is a group of musicians and men performing religious ceremonies at the gate of a palace or of a temple. y. Let us leave these poetic regions, to find in the Celestial Empire advertisements under as bold forms as we now find -="6 M^/ among ourselves. We read inside a bowl in our collection : ^ ^ Pei-tching-tien kien-ki-tsao ; that is to say, " In the shop of /£ Pei-tching (they sell this) made by Kien-Ki." In modern times, the fashion of placing inscriptions under the feet of vases is tending to disappear, except in the imitations of old products ; but exterior legends have been substituted. In the eighteenth century nothing was more frequent than the figures of the heroes of Sankoue-tchy, having beside them their names and a sketch of their most brilliant actions. Later, and when the emperor Kien-long had composed his celebrated ode upon tea, the verses were ranged in close columns upon the sides of the cups and other recipients destined to contain the beneficent infusion. We give the translation of the piece in a foot-note* * " The colour of the flower rnei is not brilliant, but it is graceful. Perfume and cleanliness are the distinguishing properties of the Fo-cheou. The fruit of the pine is aromatic and of an attractive smell ; nothing exceeds these three to please the sight, the smell, and the taste. At the same time put upon a moderate fire a three-legged vase of which the colour and the form indicate its long services ; fill it with clean water of melted snow ; heat the water to the degree necessary to blanch the fish or redden the crab ; pour it in a cup made of the earth of Yue' ; upon the tender leaves of a choice tree leave it in repose until the vapours which first rise in abundance form thick clouds ; then gradually disperse until there is only a light fog upon the surface; then quaff without precipitation this delicious liquor ; it is to work effectually to dismiss the five subjects of anxiety which generally come to assail us. One may taste, one may feel, but one is never able to express the sweet tranquillity imparted by a beverage so prepared. Withdrawn for a while from the tumult of affairs, I find myself alone in my tent, in a state to enioy alone my liberty. With one hand I take a Fo-cheou, which I put away or bring near at will, with the other I hold the cup, above which still arise light vapours. Agreeably shaded, I taste at intervals some draughts of the liquor it contains. I cast from time to time my looks upon the mei-hoa ; I give a light soar to my imagination, and my thoughts turn without effort towards the sages of antiquity. I figure to myself the famous Ou-tsiouan feeding me with the fruit which bears the pine he was enjoying in peace in the bosom of his austere frugality ; I put some of the fruit in my mouth, and find it delicious. Soon I think I see the virtuous Lin-fou fashion with his own hands the branches of the tree mei-hoa. It is thus, said I within myself, that he gave some repose to his mind, already fatigued by CHINA. 45 Section 4. — Ancient Pottery. In China, pottery remounts to the highest antiquity. It is under the Emperor Hoang-ti (b.c. 2698 to 2599) that Kouen-ou discovered the first ceramic secrets. The sovereign, appreciating the value of so useful an invention, appointed a superintendent to watch over its development. To what kind of clay belonged the'vases of Kouen-ou? towards what period did the Chinese make true porcelain? The actual state of science does not admit of an answer to these questions. The only book on the subject published in the Celestial Empire, and translated by M. Stanislas Julien, does not inspire confidence. The author, as much a stranger as his interpreter to the first elements of ceramics, confounds under the same name stoneware, porcelain, and even copper enamel, so that no theory can be based upon his statements. For a moment one was led to believe in the antiquity of kaolinic pottery, travellers having Fig. 17. Fig. 18. Yig. 19. CHINESE BOTTLES SAID TO BE FOUND IN THE THEBAN TOMBS. brought from Egypt little bottles, sold by the Arabs as having been found in the Egyptian tombs ; these bottles, slightly flattened, of a pale profound meditation upon the most interesting objects. I pass from Lin-fpu to Tchao-tcheou or to Yu-tchouan. I see the first, surrounded by a number of little vases in which are all kinds of tea, take now of one, now of another, and thus vary his drink. I see the second drink with profound indifference the most exquisite tea, and scarcely distinguish it from the vilest beverage. Their taste is not mine — how could I wish to imitate them ? " But I hear them sounding the watch. Night increases its coolness ; already the moon's rays penetrate through the slits of my tent and strike with their lustre the few objects of furniture which decorate it. I find myself without anxiety and without fatigue ; my stomach is at ease, and I can without fear give myself up to repose. It is thus, according to my little capacity, that I have made these verses at the young spring of the tenth moon of the year ping-yn (1746) of my reign." — Kien-long. 4 6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. green ground, scattered with little points in relief resembling chicken's skin, have two medallions, the one decorated with a plant, the celosia or cockscomb (Fig. 18), or iris, the others bearing cursive characters, traced in black (Figs. 17 and 19). M. Rosellini, at first incredulous, declared he had been witness to the discovery of one of these Chinese bottles in a tomb of the eighteenth or twentieth dynasty, opened for the first time ; these porcelains would consequently have been more than 3,600 years old. Hence great excitement ; the museums of France and England opened their cases to receive these pretended antiquities ; but, as the learned are naturally sceptical, they sought for, and soon ascertained, the truth. First, M. Prisse, on pressing the Arabs at Cairo specially employed in the traffic of curiosities, made them admit that they had never found any porcelain among the ruins, and that the greater number of the bottles sold to travellers came from Qous, Geft, and Qosseyr, emporiums of Indian commerce in the Red Sea. Mr. Medhurst, interpreter to the English government at Hong Kong, went further. Having remarked that the inscriptions on the little vases had nothing in common with the form of the primitive characters of the Celestial Empire, he endeavoured to establish the date of these literary fragments. He first ^ ^ found out, distorted as they were, the legends reproduced I on ty fi ye different passages : the first runs, " The moon V*tf — ^ shines in the midst of the pines," which is the third line fyV of a sonnet of Wang- Wei, who flourished A.D. 702 to 745. The second, often repeated and here figured, reads, " Only in the middle of this mountain," part of a stanza com- ^\ posed by Kie-taou, who lived also under the Tang, from 851 to 857. The third, completely distorted, may yet be recognized as taken from a stanza of Chaou- Young, a poet who lived under the Tsoung, from 1068 to 1085 ; the stanza translates thus : " The moon was passing to the zenith and the zephyrs coming across the lake, both caused a sweet feeling of tranquillity which few, I think, can conceive." The fourth, most frequent of all, reads, " The flowers which open have brought a new year," part of the third line of a sonnet of Wei-ying-wou, a poet who lived to a great age under the Tang, that is to say, from 702 to 795. It is addressed to a distant friend, and he thus expresses the CHINA. 47 melancholy produced by their separation: "Last year, in the season of flowers, I met thee and went with thee, my brother, and now the flowers which open have brought a new year. This life and its business are uncertain ; I must penetrate the future, the sorrows of spring weigh upon my heart. I seek my solitary couch, my existence is tortured by illness ; I yearn once more to see my native country." The fifth and last fragment, " The flower of the almond-tree opens on every side by thousands," appears also to belong to the poetry of the Tang dynasty. It is, therefore, clearly shown that, far from being ancient, these little specimens of Chinese art cannot be referred even to the period when the verses they recite were published ; at the earliest, one would assign their fabrication to the first year of the Ming dynasty. Such is the opinion of Mr. Medhurst, in concurrence with that of the learned of the Celestial Empire ; this eminent Chinese scholar adds that his researches to establish the date of the invention of porcelain have had but an incomplete result ; the most ancient mention that he has found is in a poem published under Wan-ti, of the Han dynasty (b.c. 175 to 151), and that relates to the green porcelain. Later, Pan-yo, a writer of the Tsin dynasty (260 to 268 of our era), speaks of " porcelain cups decorated with different colours, into which wine is poured." Let us consider the first mentioned. It is incontestable that the earliest specimens known of Chinese pottery are not precisely porcelain ; of a dense paste, extremely hard, deeply coloured in brown, they are wanting in translucency, the special characteristic of porcelain, and they moreover receive an enamel more or less opaque to conceal the colour of the paste ; it is the coating called " celadon ; " its colour varies from reddish-grey to sea green, more or less deep. The poetry of the reign of Wan-ti refers, therefore, to a celadon. The usual decoration of these products is very simple ; if it is reddish-grey celadon, tinted in part by the influence of the subjacent clay, it is most often set off by a net-work of small cracks at regular distances ; this is crackle. How came the Orientals to consider as an embellishment to their vases what among us is ranked among the greatest faults in pottery ? Crackle is, in fact, the degradation of a baked earth of which the heart or paste is more sensible to the changes of temperature than the outer coating. In common earthenware, this accident is frequent ; the light porous paste being very expansive, the glaze does not expand equally, and separates in fragments the more multiplied as its resistance is the greater. Hard porcelain, from the homogeneous nature of its paste and its 4 8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. glaze, is perfectly secure from this double action ; and to obtain the crackle, it is necessary to modify the glaze in order to render it more or less dilatable and to destroy the harmonious shrinking of the paste (retraite de la pdte) naturally existing between them ; and the problem has been reduced to such precision, that the potter produces at will a crackle of large, middling size, and small figures. This last is called by the French authors " truite," as resembling the scales of a trout. To make the crackle with success, the piece, on being taken out of the furnace, must be exposed to the action of cold or plunged into water, which causes deep fissures ; these are filled in with black, red, or any other colour. The most ancient pieces, generally of a middle-sized black crackle, receive often an accessory decoration consisting of zones of sealed ornaments, executed in a brown ferruginous paste. The ap- pendages of these usually consist of masks in low relief, lions' heads holding movable rings, modelled with the same paste. The large crackle, filled in either with black or red, is made generally upon a coating (enduit) much whiter than ordinary crackle. But there exists a process by means of which several kinds of crackle may be obtained upon the same piece ; by an artificial heating suddenly stopped, the vase is scattered over with splits so fine that they can only be coloured by infiltration. It is thus that the purple and chamois, or coffee-coloured crackles are produced. This last is some- times combined with a large black crackle. In the intermediate periods between antiquity and the fifteenth century, crackling has been applied upon a yellow golden brown glaze, called in Chinese, tse-hin-yeou, that is, burnished golden glaze or dead leaf (feuille morte). The science of ceramists has gone so far as to trace upon these grounds reserves of white enamel heightened with inscriptions or with blue figures, which resist the crackling process. Later, vases have even been made with successive bands of coloured glaze (yellow or blue), and of crackle and white glaze decorated with cobalt. The small crackle (truite^ has most often been applied upon small pieces of bright enamel, as the camellia-leaf green ; these pieces remain generally devoid of accessory ornaments, but their forms are elegant and refined. The long-thsiouen is a special kind of truite' crackle upon celadon. It derives its name from a locality where, under the Song, various porcelain was made, but which, since the Ming, has been reserved for vases of a deep olive green with fine crackles not filled in. The finest specimen we know belongs to M. Pargues. Let us return to the green porcelain of Wan-ti, that is to say, celadon CHINA. 49 strictly so called. Its colour is rather dull, therefore it is most often decorated in relief with the meander ornament, groups of flowers, and geometric combinations resembling a tesselated pavement. They also incise borders, arabesques, and knots, which, filled in with the sombre glaze, take a powerful tone and come out strongly upon the ground. This is the flowered celadon. There is also a crackle celadon, which must not be confounded with the grey crackle, the ground being generally of a much fuller green than that of the flowered celadon or tchoui. Towards the beginning of the Ming, pieces were decorated with crackle ; the polychrome decoration upon celadon does not appear to go further back than the last emperors of the same dynasty. As we gradually approach modern times, the crackles and the celadons lose their sombre aspect, owing to the transformation of the paste, which becomes whiter. There is also a celadon more generally known under the name of " starch blue " (bleu empois). Of this, we shall speak more fully when we come to the Japanese products. Among the choice fabrications, that is of the porcelain furnace, is one very interesting, described in the curious letter of the Pere d'Entrecolles, dated the 25 th January, 1772. This missionary was specially attached to the districts of King-te-tchin, where the porcelain manufactures were situated ; and his correspondence bias singularly contributed to enlighten Europe upon Chinese ceramics. " They have brought me," he writes, "one of those pieces of porcelain they call yao-pien, or transmutation. This transmutation is made in the kiln, and is caused by either a deficiency or excess of heat, or by other causes not easy to divine. This piece, which has not succeeded, says the workman, and which is the effect of pure chance, is not the less beautiful nor the less esteemed. The workman had intended to make vases of red ' souffleV a hundred pieces were entirely lost ; that of which I am speak- ing issued from the furnace resembling a piece of agate." The worthy father had he been deceived by false information ? The manufacture of the yao-pien, had it been neglected, and then taken up again in the eighteenth century ? What is certain is, that we find vases with the flashed glaze (couverte fiambee is the commercial name in France of the yao-pien) of very ancient date and of practised, not accidental, execution (Fig. 20). As to the cause of the transmutation, modern science knows it so well that it can produce any of these effects in the laboratory. Metals change their form and aspect according to their combination with oxygen. Thus, to confine ourselves to the subject in question, oxydulated copper E HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. furnishes to verifiable painting a fine red, which, thrown in a body upon the vases, forms the tint called " haricot " (a kind of fawn colour) ; with an equal quantity more of oxygen it becomes protoxide, and produces a beautiful green, capable of being transformed into sky blue, when the oxygenation is carried still further. Now these combinations may be effected suddenly in the furnace, by means of bold manipulation. When a clear fire, placed in a strong current, draws a considerable Fig. 20. VASE OK FLASHED PORCELAIN, REPRESENTING A GROUP OF LING-TCHY. column of air, all the oxygen is not consumed, and a part of it combines with the metals in fusion. If, on the other hand, thick smoke is introduced into the furnace, of which the carbonaceous mass, greedy of oxygen, absorbs everywhere this gas, necessary for its combustion, the oxides will be destroyed and the metal completely restored. Placed at a given moment in these various conditions by the rapid and simultaneous CHINA. 5 i introduction of currents of air and sooty vapours, the haricot glaze assumes a most picturesque appearance ; the whole surface of the piece becomes diapered with veined and streaked colorations, changing and capricious as the name of spirits; the red oxydulate, passing by violet into pale blue and to the green protoxide, evaporates itself even completely upon certain projections, which become white, and thus furnishes happy accidental combinations. In crackles the Chinese are so sure of their practice, that they make their pairs of vases in one piece where the red pervades, and of another with blue ground seme - with red and lilac splashes; they also make figures with flesh tints and green and blue draperies, or teapots, in the form of a peach, the base of a blueish tint, the body violet, and the top bright red (Fig. 21). Fig. 21. TEA-POT IN VIOLET ENAMEL WITH THE PEACH OP LONGEVITY. To the most ancient Chinese ceramists must also be attributed the invention of the enamel turquoise blue and violet glazes of demi-grand feu. These glazes, a kind of celadon, are not laid upon the raw paste, simply dried, but upon biscuit pieces which have received their first firing. Their fusion takes place at a much lower temperature than that of the paste. Turquoise blue, derived from copper, has the advantage of pre- serving its purity of tint in artificial light; it is soft and delicate even in the more ancient vases, which are of a slightly blackish paste, and almost always crackled (traite) with marvellous regularity. Sometimes it is relieved by patterns graved with the point and filled in with colouring matter. There are several varieties, splashed, clouded, jaspered or flaming; these last have often metallic spots of aventurine, which produce the most pleasing effect. The violet obtained from oxide of manganese is pure and brilliant e 2 52 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. in the heart's-ease tint ; in the colour called " aubergine," it is washy and less rich, in the violet tint of the stone called " mei," it is as velvet- like as the heart's-ease, and approaches the finest Persian lapis-lazuli blue. The two colours, blue and violet, are often associated upon vases, ehimerse, statuettes, or groups of animals and birds. The delicacy of these enamels has caused them to be much in fashion. In 1782, a single " magot " (as they termed these figures in the last century) in turquoise blue, sold for three hundred and forty louis ; and about the same period a cat in old violet, forming part of the effects of Madame de Mazarin, was bid up to one thousand eight hundred livres. We ourselves have seen a vase, formed of a violet carp, with its little ones in turquoise blue play- ing round it, obtain at public auction the price of three thousand francs (120Z.> The Chinese have evidently sought from the first to make ceramic pastes and verifiable coatings rival gems and the most brilliant pro- ductions of nature ; vases dispute in brilliancy the brightest agates ; others are shaded like tortoiseshell, and imitate its transparency. Certain cups of soft clouded blue, shaded with purplish red, recall a sky veiled towards sunset with clouds lighted up by the last rays of the sun. When we meet with these rare pieces we can understand the enthusiasm of the Chinese for their old products, for which they often give extravagant prices ; and we can also understand, in the absence of the old pieces, that they should pay dearly for clever imitations. It is the universal taste that has kept up emulation among the potters of the Celestial Empire, and which has been the cause at times not very remote of the invention of some exceptional fabrications as charming as they are ingenious. Among others let us cite the souffle - decoration. We style it decoration, to avoid all confusion with the enamels which are applied by insufflation, as certain copper reds in which the little drops and flames remain visible. The souffle" decoration is laid upon a greyish blue 'enamel entirely opaque ; this, according to the description of Pere d'Entrecolles, is how it is obtained. The colour, made of the proper consistency, is placed in a tube, one end of which is covered with a very close gauze ; by blowing through the other end, little drops filled with air are precipitated upon the enamel. These burst when coming in contact with the sides of the piece, and reduce themselves into little contiguous circles, forming a network like the finest lace. Sometimes the souffle colour is blue, more often of a carmine red. which, at first sight, gives to the piece the appearance of a violet-like enamel. This decoration often fails, the little drops do not burst, but CHINA. S3 form, on the contrary, into little veins, which run half melted into the starch blue glaze. Hence results a peculiar decoration, very agreeable to the eye, jasper — not less sought after than souffle itself. It is no doubt by means of insufflation that a "seme' " of silver points upon a warm brown enamel is produced ; one would fancy it a lacquer powdered with gold and silver. Should the souffle's be classed among the most ancient productions of the Chinese art ? We incline to the affirmative as regards the silver souffle, but the blue and red lace-like decorations, at least the specimens we are acquainted with, belong to the last century ; we have even met with vases, of this description dated from 1725 to 1755. Section 5. — Poecelain — Blue Decoeation. We have just passed in review those ambiguous objects which answer but imperfectly to the description of real porcelain. Let us now approach the white translucent pottery, of which the oldest specimens have been decorated in blue, afterwards in polychrome colours. It has been said that in the Celestial Empire porcelain had been raised, from the most ancient epochs, to the rank of public monuments ; and the Tower of Nankin, destroyed during the formidable insurrection of the Tae-pings, has ; been adduced as an example. Let us re-establish the truth on this point. This tower is a work of comparatively little antiquity. It was built in the reign of the Emperor Young-lo (1403 to 1424), in place of an ancient tower, of which we have no record to show whether it was similarly decorated. Pere Lecomte thus describes the Porcelain Tower of Nankin: "There is outside the town, and not within, as some have stated, a temple which the Chinese call the Temple of Gratitude. Light is only admitted through its doors ; of which there are three to the east, extremely wide, by which we enter the famous tower of which I am about to speak, and which forms part of the temple. This tower is in the form of an octagon, about forty feet wide, so that each side is at an angle of 15°. It is surrounded without by a wall of the same form, fifteen feet distant, and having at a low elevation a roof of glazed tiles, which appears to spring from the body of the tower and forms a gallery underneath. The tower has nine storeys, each of which is ornamented with a cornice projecting three feet from the spring of the windows, and distinguished by similar roofs to that of the gallery, except that they project much less, being unsupported by a second wall. Indeed 54 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. they diminish in size and become narrower as the tower increases in height. The wall, upon the ground floor, is at least twelve feet thick, and more than eight and a half feet high. It is incrusted with porcelain, placed edgeways. The rain and dust have diminished its beauty, yet sufficient remains to show that it is of true por- celain, although coarse, and the bricks, during the three hundred years this tower has lasted, have not preserved their brilliancy. The staircase that has been made inside is. small and inconvenient, because the steps are extremely high : each storey is formed of large beams laid across, which support a floor, and form a room, of which the sides are enriched with paintings. The walls of the upper storeys are pierced with an infinite number of little niches, filled with idols in bas-relief, which makes a kind of very neat inlaying. All the work is gilded, and appears to be of marble or sculptured stone ; but I think that it is only of brick, moulded and placed edgeways, for the Chinese have a marvellous dexterity in impressing all kinds of ornaments upon their bricks, of which the earth is extremely fine and well milled, and more fit than ours to take the form of the mould. The first stage is the highest, but the others are of the same height, a hundred and fifty- eight feet. If you add to these the height of the mason- work, that of the ninth storey, which has no steps, and the crown, the tower will be found to be more than two hundred feet above the ground floor. The top of the building is not one of the least beauties of this tower ; it is a thick mast, which springs from the floor of the eighth storey, and rises above thirty feet outside. It appears to be enclosed in a large spiral iron band of the same height, and distant several feet from the tree, so that it forms in the air a kind of cone of pierced open work, upon the point of which is placed a gilded globe of extraordinary size. This is what the Chinese call the Porcelain Tower. Whatever it may be, it is certainly the most skilfully designed, most solid, and most magnificent work in the East. From the top of the tower the whole town is to be seen, and the great hill of the observatory, a league distant." We give an engraving of the monument (Fig. 22) after the Chinese figure, distributed to the visitors, in exchange for their alms, by the Buddhist priests serving in the Temple of Gratitude. The overlaying of the tower, which is entirely white, is composed of porcelain bricks enamelled on the exterior face. The surroundings of the openings were of porcelain, glazed with yellow or green, and ornamented in relief with figures of dragons. Like other monuments of the same style constructed in China since CHINA. 55 the beginning of our era, that is, since the introduction of Buddhism, the Tower of Nankin symbolises the superposed spheres of the heavens ; it is not, therefore, astonishing that the divinities are banished to the highest storey. When first built light iron chains, descending from the top of the tower, upon the eight projecting angles, supported seventy-two brass bells ; eighty other bells ornamented the angles of Fig. 22. PORCELAIN TOWER OP NANKIN. the roofs of each storey, and outside these nine storeys hung a hundred and twenty-eight lamps ; twelve other porcelain lamps decorated the centre of the pavilion on the ground floor. Measured exactly, the tower was ascertained to be 90 ft. at the base, and 263 ft. 56 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. high. The Emperor Khang-hy visited it in 1664, and caused it to be repaired. In a country where solid constructions are rare, where marble and stone appear as an exception, it is not surprising to see pottery enrich with its lustre the towers, porticoes, and those fantastic pavilions which resemble rather theatric decorations than public monuments raised in honour of the powers terrestrial and divine. More frequently, however, stoneware and porcelain unite with architecture under the form of enamelled tiles of lively colours, of hollow bricks of geometric forms, which permit of being adjusted into pilasters, balustrades, or galleries, or of painted plaques for inside wall decoration. But the true province of porcelain is to furnish the chief furniture of the interior, and especially the services for table use, which are very complicated in a country where hospitality is exercised with such mag- nificence, and where each visitor is at the same time a guest. Porcelain, notwithstanding its whiteness and the beauty of its glaze, is seldom left without decoration ; where an extensive surface remains colourless, it is because it is figured with designs in relief under the glaze, which are considered sufficient to enrich it. One kind alone is out of this rule, the Chinese white ; a peculiar pottery, of which the nature is not yet well defined, and which its great translucency and its facility of uniting itself with the colours of demi-grand few, such as turquoise blue, appear to assimilate to soft porcelain. The pieces of Chinese white generally consist of small cups ornamented with reliefs, statuettes, sacred animals, birds, etc., and appear to have been specially reserved for religious service and for rich interiors. Care must be taken not to confound the Chinese white with porcelain not yet decorated. The most ancient and most esteemed decoration in the Celestial Empire is the blue cama'ieu. It is laid upon the crude paste simply dried after the work of the lathe; the glaze is then applied, the piece fired, and thenceforth the painting becomes unassailable. In remote times cobalt was not of irreproachable purity; its greater or less brightness may therefore help to fix the approximate date when the Nien-hao, or name of the year, does not permit of determining the exact epoch of its production. To prove how highly these blue porcelains were esteemed, it is sufficient to remember they were called kouan-ki (vases of magistrates). They were specially made at King-te-tchin, in the province of Feouliang, a dependency of the department of Jao-tcheou. This fabric, founded CHINA. 57 under the Song (a.d. 1001-1007), has always had the privilege of furnishing services for the use of the emperor. These are the terms in which Pere d'Entrecolles speaks of it in 1717. " King-te-tchin only requires enclosed walls to deserve the name of a city, and to rank among the largest and most populous in China. These places named "tchin," which are in small number, but which are much frequented and of great trade, are not enclosed, as towns usually are, perhaps that they may be extended and enlarged at will, perhaps that there may be the greater facility in embarking and disembarking their merchandise. The population of King-te-tchin consists of 18,000 families. There are large traders, whose habitations cover a vast space, and employ a pro- digious number of workmen; therefore it is commonly stated to contain above a million of souls. It stretches for above a league along the edge of a fine river. It is not a heap of houses, as might be expected ; the streets are laid out with regularity ; they intersect each other at certain distances, all the ground is taken, and the houses are too closely crowded and the streets too narrow. In traversing the town one might fancy one's self in the midst of a fair ; on all sides one hears the cries of the porters endeavouring to make a passage. The expense is much greater at King-te-tchin than at Jao-tcheou, because all provisions are brought from elsewhere, even the wood requisite for the furnaces. Yet, notwith- standing the dearness of provisions, King-te-tchin is the asylum of a number of poor families, who cannot maintain themselves in the adjacent towns. Employment is to be found here for the young and the feeble, even the blind and the lame gain a livelihood by grinding colours. In ancient times, says the history of Feou-liang, there were three hundred furnaces, now there are quite three thousand. It is not surprising that fires are of frequent occurrence, and on this account the genius of fire has many temples here ; but the worship and honours rendered to him do not diminish the number of conflagrations. A little time since, there were eight hundred houses burnt. They will soon be rebuilt, to judge by the multitude of carpenters and masons at work. The profit derived from letting shops makes the Chinese very active in repairing these losses. King-te-tchin is situated upon a large plain surrounded by high mountains. That which is on the east, and against which it is built, forms, on the exterior, a kind of semicircle ; the mountains on the side give rise to two rivers, which unite ; one is small, the other very large, and forms a fine port of nearly a league in a vast basin, where it soon loses much of its rapidity. In this vast space may often be seen two or three rows of boats following one another. Such is the aspect it presents 5 3 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. On entering by one of the gorges in the port. Volumes of flame and smoke, pouring forth from different places, make one remark the depth and the outlines of King-te-tchin. At night one fancies a large town on fire, or an immense furnace with several vent-holes. Perhaps this enclosure of mountains forms a situation fitted for porcelain works. It is surprising that a place so populous and containing such wealth, where myriads of boats swarm during the day, and not closed by walls, should be governed by only one mandarin, without the occurrence of any disorder. In truth, King-te-tchin is only one league from Feou- liang, and eighteen from J ao-tcheou ; but it must be admitted its police is admirable. Each street has a chief, appointed by the mandarin, and if it is a little long it has several. Each chief has ten subalterns, each of whom is responsible for ten houses. Their business is to maintain order; to hasten at the first tumult, put it down, and give notice of it to the mandarin, under pain of the bastinado, which here is most liberally administered. Often after the chief of the quarter has given warning of the outbreak, and shown that he had done his utmost to put it down, it is with difficulty he escapes chastisement, as they are always disposed to impute the fault to him. Each street has its barricades, which are closed at night. The principal streets have several. A man of the district watches each barricade, and would not dare to open it unless on certain signals. Besides this, the round of the watch is frequently made by the mandarin of the district, and from time to time by the mandarins of Feou-liang. Moreover, strangers are rarely allowed to sleep at King-te-tchin. They must either pass the night in their boats or lodge with persons of their acquaintance, who are made answerable for their conduct. This police maintains everything in order, and establishes an entire security in a place of which the riches would awaken the cupidity of an infinity of robbers." It is still the more curious to recall this picture of the great centre of ceramic industry, since King-te-tchin is now a heap of ruins. The Tae-pings sacked the town, destroyed the manufactories, and, as far as depended upon them, the porcelain industry. King-te-tchin, it is true, is not the only place which produces Chinese translucent potteries. Without speaking of the ancient fabrics of which the products have not reached us, there are some which have continued their works in modern times, such, for example, as in Chantong, Tseou- tsien, and I-tsien, founded under the Ming; in Ho-nan, Yu-tcheou, dating from the Song, and who made still, under the Ming, porcelain, either white or ornamented with flowers; Hoai-king-fou, CHINA. 59 Chen-tcheou, I-yang, and Teng-fong, creations of the Ming ; in Chen-si and of the same period, Ping-liang-fou ; in Tche-kiang, Tchou-tcheou- fou, where the Mings transferred first the fabrication of the vases of Long-thsiouen to carry it back afterwards to King-te-tchin ; in Kiang-si, Thai-p'ing, a fabric founded in the time of the Ming by Kin-tchi-kao ; lastly in Fokien, Te-hoa, dating also from the Ming, that is, from the epoch when true porcelain arrived at its highest state of perfection. In fact, notwithstanding the indications of special works, we know no " kouan-ki " porcelain which could be referred to an earlier period than 1368 ; the vases of Hong-wou (1368 to 1398), those of Yong-lo (1403 to 1424), are generally coarse in design and imperfectly made. Under the reign of Siouen-te (1426 to 1435) the paste and the decoration become remarkable, and, a singular thing, many of the pieces borrow the forms and style of Persian pottery. In 1465, Chinese art is at its height ; the Tching-koa period, which extends to 1487, will offer us the purest forms and most elegant subjects. Only (and it is here that the sagacity of the true amateur should exercise itself) the date inscribed under the foot of a piece should be carefully examined. First the choice of the material, the relative ex- cellence of design, the "science" of inscriptions, as say the Chinese books, ought to enable the collector to recognise every piece issued from the imperial fabric. One can understand that the other establishments have not a staff either sufficiently numerous or sufficiently select to insure equal perfection in their works. On the other side, the Chinese are the cleverest forgers, and if they seek to speculate on the taste of their countrymen for works of antiquity, by a stronger reason they will not deprive themselves of the advantage of selling to foreigners the most odious counterfeits. They must be examined closely, and the eye be formed to recognise the indefinable but real kind of patina which age imparts to porcelain as well as to medals. Some imitators have been true artists, such as a certain Tcheou- tan-tsouen, who was skilled in the reproduction of ancient vases, as the following anecdote related of him in the ' King-te-tchin t'aolou,' and translated by M. Stanislas Julien, testifies : " One day he embarked on board a merchant boat of Kin-tchong and went up the river Kiang. As he passed by Pi-hing he paid a visit to Thang, who held the office of Thai-chang (president of the sacrifices), and asked him leave to examine at his leisure an ancient tripod of Ting porcelain, one of the ornaments of his collection. With his hand he took the exact measure, then made an impression of 6o HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. the veins with a paper he had concealed in his sleeve, and proceeded immediately to King-te-tchin. Six months later he made a second visit to Thang, and drawing a tripod out of his pocket, he said, * Your Excellency possesses an incense burner of the white porcelain of Ting ; here is one like it I possess also.' Thang was filled with surprise. He compared it with the one he so preciously preserved, and did not find a hair of difference. He applied to it the foot and cover of his own, and they fitted it with admirable precision. Thang then asked him where he got this remarkable piece. ' Some time ago,' replied Tcheou, ' having asked leave of you to examine your tripod at leisure, I took all its dimensions with my hand. I assure you it is an imitation of yours. I have no wish to impose upon you.' " The counterfeit tripod was sold at a high price, and the amateurs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Tcheou lived from 1567 to about 1619) did not hesitate to give a thousand ounces of silver (3002.) to procure works of this famous potter. These prices protect us from the importation of the false porcelains of Tcheou ; those which commerce delivers to us in large quantities are easily recognised. They are less sonorous than the old, the enamel more vitreous, the decoration less precise, and, we repeat, the inscrip- tions are incorrect and often illegible. But leaving these general subjects, let us speak more particularly of the decoration of the blue porcelain. Those with subjects and figures are always carefully treated, and by skilful hands ; the Green family alone can, in this respect, rival the kouan-ki. We will not describe the subjects, borrowed frequently from history or from the San-koue-tchy ; we will confine ourselves to instancing a bowl in our collection, of which the simple rendering recalls certain of our works of the Middle Ages. It is a cup of " the learned ; " at the bottom is seen the author, seated under a fir tree, in deep meditation ; his sse placed near him permits him to modulate the songs he may have composed. On the exterior we see the scholar, with his elbows on the table, surrounded by his literary treasures. He reflects, and from his forehead, which he leans on his hand, issues a stroke which unrolls into a vast phylactery, upon which the painter has traced various scenes of the drama to which his genius is giving birth. In the matter of richness of ornamentation, the blues rival any polychrome paintings; one might even say that all the families are represented in the cobalt decoration. Nothing is more beautiful than the elegant slim vases of the form called "lancelle" (seen in Plate I.), covered CHINA. 6 1 with rich mantlings (lambrequins), and of which the open parts are filled in with perfume vases, honorary stones, and symbolic objects, of which the possession is reserved to the great dignitaries ; these are what in commerce were formerly designated as " model decoration." There are certain blues of which we do not know the meaning, and which have, in the eyes of the Chinese, a special merit ; such as a saucer, in our possession, which bears the representation of a horseman in full gallop, and who is urging on his horse, striking him with a Tartar whip, Underneath is written, " Curious object for the lovers of antiques." The estimation in which blue is held has led the Chinese to use it as a ground. One of the richest is the blue of the porcelain furnace of a deep and velvet-like tint, simply relieved by inscriptions, arabesques, flowers, and sometimes landscapes in gold. Another ground highly esteemed is that of " bleu fouetteV' less deep than the preceding ; it appears as if it were granulated and seme" with little bubbles, which has led some persons to suppose it to be the bleu souffle' of Pere d'Entrecolles. The bleu fouette' rarely covers whole pieces ; it leaves reserves, which are decorated either in blue designs done in lines or in copper red under the glaze, or in various colours, particularly those of the Green family. One particular and very rare variety is a soft clouded blue, recall- ing the tint of a spring sky ; it is what is called " blue of the sky after rain." If we are to believe Chinese history, this blue was invented at a very remote period. In 954, a potter having petitioned Chi-tsong to order a model, the emperor replied, " For the future, let the porcelain for the use of the palace be of the blue as the heavens appear after rain." The potter obeyed, and to consecrate the words of the sovereign, he inscribed them under the foot of his vases. We find them on one in our possession, on which we read, " Yu- kouo-thien-tsing." Would this imply that the vase goes back pfc, to 954 ? Certainly not; for when, in excavations, any fragments " of the Chi-tsong porcelain is found, it is bought by the great, who suspend it to their necklace ; but our vase is certainly one of the kouan-ki, fabricated at King-te-tchin, to preserve the remembrance of ancient productions. Its high origin is demonstrated by its perfection and by the figure of the imperial dragon, graved with the point upon the soft blue, and then covered over with the glaze. We will say nothing here of the blues mixed in the glaze and laid upon pieces graved or in relief. These are true celadons, and have been described elsewhere ; but let us mention certain cobalt tints spread by the wheel, by means of a kind of plug (tampon), upon a porcelain 62 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. graved in lines which gives it the appearance of a celadon, decorated blue upon blue ; so we have given it the name of " celadonoide." The term kouan-ki applied to some blue porcelain vases, is not only justified by the exquisite elegance of the greater number of them, but they also bear signs which specialise the employment of almost all of the pieces, and which preclude their being used by the first comer. These signs, often mixed in the general decoration, more frequently traced under the foot of the vases as a mark, are the following. The koue'i, a stone whose form has changed since ancient times, and which the sovereign gives to functionaries as a sign of their dignity ; it has to be held at any audience with majesty, to show the respect of the magistrate for supreme authority. Nobles alone have a right to this sign. The sonorous stone is suspended over the doors of all magistrates called to administer justice ; it is sufficient to strike upon this stone to have the prsetorium opened : a judge only can thus mark the vases for his use. The pearl, emblem of talent, will appear on porcelain destined to the poet or to the man of letters, who has distinguished himself in public competition. The "precious things," or "treasures of writing," that is, paper, brush, ink, pumice-stone, are still emblems of the learned. The sacred axe, figured in the chou-king, designates warriors. Some other marks, though pretty common, do not appear to be explained ; such is a leaf surrounded with ribbons, like the other sacred signs. Would it be the leaf of the celebrated ou-tong, celebrated by the poets ? The same leaf is to be seen at the feet of certain divinities or serving as the support of a ky-lin. Such again is the ling-tchy, emblem of immortality, very common under vases, and which can only be expressed as a wish for endless longevity. The blues require to be carefully studied. Besides the importance there may be in distinguishing those produced at King-te-tchin from provincial imitation, we must also distinguish the blues of India, Persia, and certain Oriental countries, of which the translucent pottery resembles more or less the Chinese type. Among these there is a numerous description, interesting and well determined, which, first sent to Europe, 3E CHINA. 63 have served as models to our faience makers, especially to those of Nevers. The most frequent specimens of this porcelain are bottles in the Persian style, with annular openings crowning a spheroidal knot, the enamel, blueish, is very even and carefully laid upon a generally fine paste. The pieces with figures have Chinese subjects, but with person- ages of a particular type, recalling the Tartar race ; the ornaments are Fig. 23. SINO-PERSIATST DECORATION. characteristic ; groups of symmetrical leaves forming a palmette, and floral rosettes crowned with points, the borders in slanting gadroons, or indented, are repeated profusely ; they alternate with a scroll of a kind of hybrid, Sino-Persian style (Fig. 23). Easily recognised at first sight, these porcelains, finer than those of Persia, are rarely marked 64 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. underneath. When we have met with any signs, they formed a kind of inscription resembling the Chinese Nien-hao, or more still, the legends on the little bottles of the Theban tombs (Figs. 17 and 19). Submitted to Orientalists, these inscriptions have been pronounced to be illegible, I) I being simply counterfeits of the capricious form of the T'sao-chou characters (p. 33). These marks would indicate some centre foreign to the Celestial Empire, but under the influence of its art. Section 6. — Polychkome Porcelain. Before describing the different systems of polychrome decoration in China, it is indispensable to say a word upon the manner of painting the vases. " One workman," says Pere d'Entrecolles, " has the sole office of forming the first coloured circle we see round the edges of porcelain ; another traces the flowers which a third colours ; this artist paints the water and the mountains, that, the birds and other animals." One would hardly have expected in a country so foreign from our manners to have found the system of division of labour in practice. But there, as here, with such methods all individuality disappears. There are no longer painters, not even a school of painters ; it is, as it were, a series of generations, working after a stereotyped hereditary pattern; the workshop in its most material form, and its products little better than a pricked tracing, disfigured more or less according to the hands in which it has fallen. It results from this fact, that in the study of Chinese vases they may be classed into families, according to their decorations, and distinct descriptions given applicable to the universal character of the pieces in each family. The more or less perfection in the manipulation of a piece implies likewise its origin ; King-te-tchin, the great centre, possessing naturally artists superior to those of the provincial workshops. A . — Chrysanthemo-Pasonian Family. It is characterised, as the name we have given it implies, by the CHINA. 65 predominance of chrysanthemums and peonies which invade the ground, overcharge the reserved medallions, and even appear in relief in the appendages of the vases. A particular coloration, simple and grand, brings out the ornamental effect of these decorative elements. A greyish or blackish blue, an iron red more or less bright, and a soft, dead gold, balance each other in nearly equal masses ; in some cases, copper green and black unite to the fundamental tints and constitute the class which may be called "Rich Paeonian." It was the more necessary to create a name for this family, inasmuch as it contains the products of China and Japan, confounded by empiricism under the false denomination of Japan porcelain. In the composition of Chrysanthemo-Pseonian decoration, Oriental fancy is shown under aspects as varied as they are ingenious; car- touches and regular medallions scientifically arranged in regular dis- tances upon arabesque grounds, hanging draperies raising their folds, fluted like the pipes of an organ, to disclose a seme" of blue scrolls under the glaze; irregular bands crossing each other, half concealed, as if the painter had thrown the scraps of his portfolio by chance on the body of the vase ; borders richly embroidered with flowers and gold, mosaics of patient detail, imbrications, Vitruvian scrolls, Greek borders, every style and every combination are to be found upon this porcelain. The largest reserves are generally filled with bouquets, either de- tached or issuing out of a vase, and composed of peonies and chrys- anthemums, accompanied sometimes by blades of grass, branches of the peach or plum, and a kind of double-flowered pink ; at other times, we see landscapes with buildings, lakes, mountains, and rocks crowned with large trees. Among these various paintings, or in secondary cartouches of round, oval, or polygonal forms, or affecting the outline of a tree or fruit, we see the dragon, fong-hoang, kylin, horses, cranes, quails, or the animals of the cycle. The sacred monsters indicate that the vase belongs to a temple ; the signs of the zodiac specialising the monthly ceremony in which it -has to appear. All the natural figures are also traced without pretence of imitation ; the flowers and animated beings are recognisable, but it is evident the artist has sought the general effect, neglecting purposely all graphic perfection, as useless in objects to be viewed at a distance. The Chrysanthemo-Pseonian porcelain is the customary pottery, the common furniture of the Chinese. We see it round their houses, in their gardens, containing cut flowers, or filled with earth like our wooden boxes, holding either firs and bamboos of some feet in height F 66 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. or rare plants prized by collectors. Within the house it is the same thing. Elegant beakers are crowned with spikes of nelumbo or the Mou-tan peony, large-bodied jars (potiches) with covers resembling the roofs of the temples, contain their stores of tea, the drink of all classes of society; dishes disposed upon "e'tageres " are filled with fragrant fruits placed there to perfume the apartments, especially that called "the hand of Fo " (a kind of cedrat, generally styled the Chinese hand plant), of which the top divides and turns back like so many fingers. It is also the Chrysanthemo-Pseonian family which principally sup- plies porcelain for the service of the table, which has nothing in common with ours. The food is placed on dishes (what we call plates) or in basins, and each guest receives the modest portion assigned to him in saucers, which there play the part of plates, and in little hemispheric bowls. The number of the dishes makes up for the smallness of the portions. Boiling tea and "samchou," a kind of corn-brandy, also hot, are served in small cups, which are either with or without handles, and are sometimes covered with the top called " presentoir." "We do not pretend that the table is exclusively covered with Pseonian porcelain ; there are, indeed, circumstances under which others are substituted, but it is the usual kind, and if wc see on it ensigns of nobility or emblems of dignity, it is in accordance with custom, which requires that every object should show the rank of the individual to whom it belongs. B. — Green Family. Its name requires no explanation, being based upon an ostensible and striking fact. All the pieces of this family are resplendent with a copper-green colour, which absorbs every other. We have seen that green, one of the five primordial colours, corresponds to the element of wood and to the East, and has been adopted as livery by the Ming dynasty, masters of China from 1368-1615. One is therefore led to suppose that in causing a sig- nificant colour to predominate to this extent in a series of vases as numerous as they are homogeneous, the artists have been influenced either by religious or political motives. An examination of the decoration confirms this supposition ; almost all the scenes represented have a hieratic or historic character, and one may even distinguish compositions emanating from the sect of the Tao-sse from those adopted by the literati. The most frequent of these sacred subjects represents the theory of the eight immortals. Sometimes each one is isolated, placed upon CHINA. 67 a cloud, leaf, or symbolic animal, and has consequently only its individual value; frequently they are all united upon a celestial mountain, the Li-chan, perhaps, and render homage to a superior being, tranquilly seated upon a crane, which soars in the empyrean. By this attribute, as well as by his physiognomy, it is easy to recognise this supreme deity as Cheou-lao ; we are therefore in the presence of a com- position of the school of Tao, which identifies the philosopher with Chang-ti (page 25). This sect, cultivating magic and the occult sciences, will more often show us heaven than earth ; its pictures will offer us nimbed persons, surrounded by flashing flames, concurring in supernatural acts ; if they fight, the elements will furnish the arms, Fig 24. TSIO CUP FOR LIBATIONS (GKEEN FAMILY). and, as in the Homeric recitals, the conquered will fall swallowed up under a heap of clouds, carried away by tumultuous waves, or crushed under thunderbolts. When the painter leaves the upper regions and occupies himself with things of earth, and borrows from ancient history some episode worthy of example for after ages, he loves still to make the celestial intervention to be felt; the gods appear in the clouds ready to rule events, and to turn the balance of fate in favour of their elect. The literati kept by Confucius within the path of philosophy, will be, on the other hand, reserved in their figurations. Without dis- cussing the nature or office of the divinity, they confine themselves to rendering him homage according to ancient rites ; respect for tradition takes with them the place of faith, and if they have occasion to show forth the celestial intervention in human events, they express it by the apparition of dragons, of the kylin or the fong-hoang, conformably to the doctrine of the holy books. Their subjects of predilection will 68 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. therefore be taken from the history of the ancient emperors or that of illustrious men (Fig 25) ; to them belong the greater part of the " cups of the literati " (coupes des grands lettres). One of the most fertile sources of subjects for Chinese painting, is the San-koue-tchy ; the book which bears this title is in fact one of the most attractive one can read. It relates the history of the three king- doms when China, divided by the in- terests of a crowd of feudatory princes, ( sought to recover tranquillity under the sceptre of a single sovereign. These contests have necessarily given occasion to a host of heroic actions ; and have afforded openings to all endowed with merit and courage to bring themselves forward and arrive at distinction. It is not then astonish- ing that the scenes of the San-koue- tchy, the representation of the great men of this distant epoch, extending from A.D. 220 to 618, should be well vase with historic subject (geeen rece i vec i bv dignitaries and in the family). j ° palace. . The greater number of plants, apart from certain rustic decorations, in which rocks are covered with pinks, china-asters, and slender grasses round which butterflies are sporting, have also their symbolic value. Thus the nelumbo, a plant essentially Buddhist, displays itself com- placently upon the body of the vases ; its leaves spread their broad umbels upon a wave indicated by lines at exact distances ; its flowers more or less advanced, bending their half-opened cups or their rosettes of fleshy petals upon delicate stalks, of which the spongy texture is expressed by a finely dotted outline. If we could doubt of the importance of this representation, certain large vases would make us understand it. We see there boats filled with young women, their sleeves turned up to the shoulders, about to plunge their arms into the water, not only to gather the flowers, but to pick up the stalks already laden with the ripe fruit ; through an archway opening to the palace the boats return, and upon an upper terrace, the emperor and his family, surrounded by dignitaries, are about to make a traditional repast (Plate I), composed only of the almonds of the nelumbo, CHINA. 69 and which serves to recall annually to the hundred families, as well as to the greatest persons of the empire, the frugal life of their ancestors. The colours used for these representations are, besides the copper- green, pure iron-red ; violet derived from manganese ; blue under the glaze, always fine, and varying from sky tints to lapis lazuli; gold, brilliant and solid ; brownish yellow, and enamelled straw-yellow, black in light touches, rarely laid on thickly. All these stand out upon an enamel without gloss, and evenly spread upon the pure white paste. The whole effect is sober, and at the same time charming. We have just pointed out the sparing use of black in the green decoration ; yet there are vases where this colour pervades and spreads in the porcelain furnace into lustrous bold grounds; upon this rich enamel rise the delicate stalks of the plum-tree, with its young leaves and numerous white flowers, the nelumbo and the u-lan. Let us finish with a species of porcelain now much sought after, and which old works cite as one of the most common, the ouan-lou-hoang. This name of itself is a description ; the porcelain which bears it is marbled with violet, green and yellow, upon a white ground. Some pieces are entirely covered with the marbled ground ; others have reserves decorated in blue, sometimes relieved with red touches, laid on without firing. C. — Rose Family. It is also to its general aspect that the Kose family owes its name. It has for decorating basis a carmine red lowered to pale rose, and obtained from gold, what is called in Europe, purple of Cassius. Always combined with an abundant vehicle, this colour forms a relief upon the glaze ; the same character is to be seen in the greater number of the soft tints which accompany it ; Rose porcelain is there- fore pre-eminently " enamelled porcelain," and this character has obtained for it in commerce the special denomination of " Chinese porcelain," although elsewhere, and in Japan especially, enamels in relief have also been painted. As regards fabrication, the Rose family is composed of perfectly formed pieces, white, and often so thin that the Chinese have given them the name of " porcelain without embryo," and here they are called "egg-shell." The decorating materials are all those which Oriental ceramic arts have at their disposal ; the painters have exhausted on it all the resources of their pallets, and have often combined them 7 o HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. successfully. The Rose family would then appear to furnish the Chinese with their vases of predilection ; but it is not so, for the greatest number of the pieces are of fanciful design, which shows their use was entirely decorative. A border of rich pattern, with arabesque pendents and compartments variously coloured, surrounds a bouquet of flowers, or a broad terrace upon which quails, geese, or horses singularly coloured, are running. When figures appear, they are generally of a domestic character : young women walking with their children, or reclining under flowering trees ; young girls balancing themselves on a swing ; ladies in an interior exchanging nosegays of flowers, while inhaling the delicious perfume of the nelumbos placed in the vases around them. Sometimes one sees an attendant ascend the steps of a pavilion built over a pond, laden with her perfumed burden, which she carries to the ladies in the interior, who are ar- ranging the flowers in beakers, or disposing them upon the tables and flower-stands : it is the preparation for the Festival of the Nelumbo celebrated with no less pomp in the Chinese gynseconitis (women's apartments) than is that of the tulips in the harems of the Mussulman. Sometimes scenes are taken from the drama ; one of the best-known examples is that representing a girl crouching frightened in a corner of her garden, while her lover scales the wall, having first taken the precaution of throwing his shoes before him. It is an episode in the ' Si-siang-ki,' or ' History of the Pavilion of the West,' a lyric drama composed by Wang-chi-fou about a.d. 1110. Large pieces contain complicated subjects; vast palaces where the sovereign, surrounded by his court, presides at solemn receptions, tournaments, or reviews; women on horseback, chasing each other at full tilt and shaking their lances with floating pennons. Should we recognise there that king of the northern provinces who, towards the year 300 of our era, amused himself in inspecting the evolutions of a regiment of "ladies, with slender waists, composing his body guard, mounted upon light coursers, with elegant dresses to show off their beautiful figures ? " Sacred subjects there are so rare, they must be looked upon as exceptions, and they have nothing, except the colour, to distinguish them from the Green family. What is the origin of the Rose family ? Does it issue from the accidental discovery of the red of Cassius ? Is it contemporary with other porcelains ? Does it come from a particular centre ? We think its creation is to be attributed to the wish of imitating the admirable porcelain of Japan, which, even in the seventeenth century, was, CHINA. 7i according to the testimony of the missionaries, still carried to China, as presents or to ornament sumptuous interiors. But it must have come out of workshops which produced certain Green pieces. One undeniable fact is established : that, under the period Hong- tchi (a.d. 1488-1506), the Chinese Rose family has furnished cups of the most admirable paste and representing, in the greatest per- fection, birds, flowers, and insects. The numerous cups of the literati often lined with red gold, which approach the same execution, must be of the neighbouring period, probably of the sixteenth century. This pushes back the Green pieces of archaic style to the first half of the fifteenth century. Let us add as a last remark, that the porcelain sent by the missionaries and made under their eyes had nothing in common even with the less ancient pieces of the Rose family. Section 7. — Exceptional Pottery. We have passed in review the ancient celadon pottery and its different varieties, and the blue and polychrome porcelain. It now remains for us to mention certain kinds remarkable for their workmanship, decoration, or material (Plate II.). Biscuit is not unknown to the Chinese. If they do not bake figures entirely without glaze, they sometimes apply the biscuit as appendages upon vases decorated in blue, which produces a very original effect. There exist sets {garnitures) of vases (composed of three, five, or seven pieces) called "reticulated," of which the outer side is entirely cut out in geometric patterns, honeycomb, circles intercrossed and superposed to a second vase of similar, or of simply cylindrical form, of a blue pattern. The appearance of these pieces is singular; one does not at first understand that they have a solidity proportioned to their size. The reticulated envelope has also been applied to tea-services ; the exterior net-work of the cups admits of holding them in the hand notwithstanding the heat of the liquid they contain. There exist false reticulated, upon which the open side is simply figured in relief. These, like the true, are generally of the Chrysanthemo-Pseonian or Rose family. One of the most remarkable decorations is that of open cells in the glaze. Symmetric ornaments, scrolls or flowers have been pierced in the paste, the unctuous glaze filling the interstices forms a translucent pattern visible in the direct light, and of a rare elegance, when seen in transparency. This mode of decoration is called in China "grains- of-rice work." 7^ HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. The potters of the Chinese empire seem to delight in an incessant struggle against difficulties : they make vases of which the middle of the body is cut out by a solution of continuity, or separation of the parts, into an arabesque outline ; the two parts are separated without being able to move over each other (Fig. 26), and one asks how potters Fig. 26. ARTICULATED VASE OP FLOWERED CELADON. were able to fire the pieces without uniting them. At other times, a movable piece, like a ring revolving between the neck and the body of the vase, slides by friction, without any perceptible play or con- trivance, which appears still more inexplicable. When one sees such feats of dexterity, one can with difficulty understand this passage of Pere d'Entrecolles : " The porcelain sent to Europe is always made after new models, often whimsical, and difficult to execute. The mandarins, who know what is the genius of the Europeans as regards invention, have often begged me to have some new and curious designs sent from Europe, in order to present something singular to the emperor. On the other hand, the Christians entreated me not to furnish such models, for the mandarins are not always so ready to give in as our merchants when the workmen say that a work is impracticable, and there are often many bastinadoes inflicted before the mandarin gives up a drawing from which he promised himself great advantage." Among the porcelains of exceptional decoration one of the most remarkable is that where blue is associated with copper-red. This red laid upon biscuit produces the beautiful enamel called " red-haricot," L PL. II. FfLienardjmp. CHINA. 73 but employed in decoration it yields tints, varying from pure red to violet grey, of the most charming effect. We have seen copper red fouette in partial grounds, granulated and clouded, surround reserves with figures traced in blue. A kind which long remained uncertain is that which the Chinese call porcelain of third quality. Brongniart, misled by the grey tone and gra- nulated aspect of the paste, classed it among the stonewares; yet it serves to make pieces of very fine execution and particularly statuettes of cele- brated persons or divinities which hold a high place upon the etageres. The paste is very lustrous, and appears to lend itself to all the finer details of modelling. Generally the pieces are glazed with coloured enamels, of which yellow and green predominate ; certain services, sweetmeat boxes in symmetric compartments, have a green ground resembling the waves of the sea, the sole ornamentations consisting of honorific signs accompanied by clouds and thunder ; some of the pieces, destined no doubt for high dignitaries, have the underneath white, that is, with the ordinary felspathic glaze. Nevertheless stoneware is known in China. Common pieces of a yellowish red, with reliefs obtained by sigillation, have a little the aspect of our stonewares; but the kind particularly esteemed is that of fine paste, dense, close, generally of a red brown, known under the name of boccaro or bucaro — a term borrowed from the Portuguese language. The best clay for the fabrication of these potteries is found, they say, at Wou-sse-hien, in the Kiang-nan. But it is certain there is a great difference in the choice to be made of these' bucaros, and that all of equal artistic merit are not sought after in the same degree. There are vases of a grey earth bordering upon yellow, and scattered with little laminae of mica almost imperceptible, of which the value is inestimable ; they have, it is said, a musky odour, which communicates a particular flavour to tea. We have seen a teapot of this kind without any ornamentation, but with a legend in Li characters, indicating with what respect the piece should be treated and what precautions should be taken to prepare the beverage it was made to contain. Another earth, almost yellow, pricked with red points, serves particularly for model decoration, groups of fruits, and specially of the peaches of longevity. With respect to the red and brown bucaros, services of them are made in relief of excessive delicacy, and even pieces of a pretty large size, such as pi-tongs, in the form of trunks of trees, bullocks, emblems of agriculture, sacred birds or animals, to which is attached a little tube 74 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. in which is stuck the siang or sweet-scented stick or pastille used to perfume interiors. Cups are often graved with legends allusive to the pleasure of intoxication thus : " May the last folds of thine heart be as satisfied as in a parterre of flowers," announces sufficiently the satisfaction of a half inebriated ; another, " Beyond this what more to seek for ? " expresses better perhaps the supreme passion of an Epicurean. Essentially apt to take complicated forms and delicate impressions, this kind of stoneware often presents itself under unforeseen aspects. "We meet with teapots resembling a two-wheeled car or a mill with wheels which turn by the sole force of the steam of the boiling tea ; puzzle jugs inundate him who does not know the secret ; some fill from above, some from underneath, others from the handle. It would appear as if the artists had sought to compensate by curious details for the monotonous aspect of an earth of so gloomy a colour. But what do we say ? Are the Chinese ever at a loss to give brightness to materials in which it is deficient ? If the bucaro is dull, it is relieved by the most brilliant enamels ; upon the brown description we have seen lively arabesque borders, brilliant dragons twisting themselves ; the aspect of this half-relief recalls the severity of the old bronzes enriched with cloisonne enamel. The most lovely effect is when the stoneware is entirely overlaid with verifiable colours. This kind, imitated from painted enamels, is less ancient than the first. By a diabolical invention the Orientals have sought to find in the ecstatic intoxication of opium a compensation for the miseries and weariness of daily life. This practice tantalises them and gives them up ppwerless to their enemies of every kind ; it decimates their population but it satisfies the passion, and in spite of reason the evil increases every day. Now, to practise their poisoning, the Chinese have found two methods : either they draw in directly the smoke of the narcotic resin— this is individual intoxication, egotistic; or they smoke it in the atmosphere of a special room ; this is collective poisoning. The in- strument is a charming little ceramic piece, worthy of a better use, its paste extremely fine, white, friable, resembling our pipe-clay, is covered over with bright enamels, forming a ground from which flowers and arabesques are detached ; all this is perfectly glazed, firm in tone and executed with that minute carefulness and consummate taste which characterise art in this country. The form of the recipient contributes to its elegance ; it is a turbinated spheroid, of which the top, pierced CHINA. 75 with a hole, receives the grain of opium ; the vase, prolonged by a short cylinder not enamelled, inserts itself into the drawing tube, which is either of bamboo, ivory, or even of jade. The extreme richness of the Celestial Empire in ceramic substances can alone make us understand how this earth and its charming enamels should be condemned to so narrow a use as that of an opium pipe. In the hands of our artists the same elements would be applied to works of luxury. It was long thought that the Chinese, proud of their porcelain, had despised common pottery, either glazed or enamelled, but this is not the case ; their language even has the word tou-hi to express earthen utensils. Only they appear to have used it in the inverse of our- selves : their preserve pots, the recipients in which the condiments and samples of food travel, are of porcelain and stoneware. The fragile earth seems reserved for ornamental vases. Thus we have seen jars and bottles of the finest green ornamented with dragons and the fong-hoang; a beautiful bottle in the museum at Limoges is of the same green with yellow spots, and its decoration in relief is completed by medallions in pastillage sealed with figures of twisted dragons. Our sketch of Chinese pottery would be incomplete if we were not to allude to the singular fables to which porcelain gave birth at the period of its appearance in Europe. Here is what Guido Pancirolli or Pancirollus wrote in Latin, and which Pierre de la Noue translated in 1617: "Past centuries have not seen porcelains, which are merely a certain mass composed of plaster, eggs, scales of marine locusts and other similar kinds, which mass beins 1 well united and worked together, is secretly hidden underground by the father of a family, who informs his children alone of it, and it remains there eighty years without seeing daylight, after which his heirs, drawing it out and finding it suitably adapted for some kind of work, make out of it those precious transparent vases, so beautiful to the sight in form and colour that architects find nothing in them to improve upon. Their virtues are admirable, inasmuch as if one puts poison into one of these vessels it breaks immediately. He who once buries this material never recovers it, but leaves it to his children, descendants, or heirs, as a rich treasure, on account of the profits they derive from it ; and it is of far higher price than gold, inasmuch as one rarely finds any of the true material, and much that is sold is unreal." These ridiculous beliefs astonish one on the part of a man so learned as Pancirolli ; but what proves how durable and easy to take root 76 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. in the masses is the excitement produced by an unknown substance imported from afar, is that in 1716, a century after the publication of Pere de la Noue, burlesque verses, taken from the ' Embarras de la foire de Beaucaire,' express the same ideas.* It is hardly necessary to observe that porcelain is, on the contrary, by reason of its impermeability the material employed specially in chemical laboratories to contain and heat concentrated acids.-f* We finish with an extract from the letter of Pere d'Entrecolles. One may see how travellers ought to distrust information lightly taken. He writes thus : " Each profession in China has its particular idol ; it is not therefore astonishing there should be a god of porcelain. They say that formerly an emperor required some porcelain to be made after a model he gave. It was represented to him the thing was impossible, but all remon- strances served only to excite more and more his desire. The emperors of China are, during their lives, the most redoubted divinities of China, ' and believe that nothing can oppose their wishes. The officers charged by the demi-god to overlook and push on the works used rigour towards the workmen. These wretches spent their money, gave themselves much trouble, and only received blows. One of them in despair, threw himself into the furnace and was consumed immediately. The porcelain * " Allons a cette porcelaine ; Sa beaute m'invite et m'entraine. Elle vient du monde nouveau. L'on ne peut rien voir de plus beau. Qu'elle a d'attrait et qu'elle est fine ! Elle est native de la Chine. La terre avait au moins cent ans Qui fit des vases si galants. Pourquoi faut-il qu'ils soient fragiles Comme la vertu dans les villes ? De tels bijoux, en verite', S'ils avaient la solidite De Tor, de l'argent et du cuivre, Jusques chez eux se feraient suivre ; Car, outre leur attrait divin, lis ne souffrent point le venin. lis font connaitre le mystere Des bouillons de la Brinvilliere, Et semblent s'ouvrir de douleur, Du crime de Pempoisonneur." t Furetiere, at the word ' Pourcelaine ' in his Glossary, repeats this other singularity : " Francois Cauche, in his ' Voyage to Madagascar,' mentions a service of porcelain and an earthen local taken near the tomb of Mahomet, which has this property, that when one throws water into it and exposes it to the sun, it refreshes instead of heating." Here is an error in the name ; the pretended porcelain is the permeable and cooling earth of which alcarazas are made. CHINA. 77 which was baking came out, it is said, perfectly beautiful, and to the taste of the emperor, who required no more. Since that time the unfortunate workman passed for a hero, and subsequently became the idol which presides over the works of porcelain." Thanks to the progress of Sinology, we can now demonstrate the error of the over-credulous missionary. He whom he has taken for the god of porcelain is not a victim immolated at the caprice of a prince, but simply Pou-ta'i, god of contentment, of whom we have spoken at page 28. Why is his image frequent in the midst of the workshops of King-te-chin — a human ant-hill agitated by incessant toil ? It is that we are thus constituted : ardent wishes impel us towards that we cannot attain. What would Pou-ta'i have to do among the rich Chinese? They have nothing more to ask of him. 78 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. CHAPTER II JAPAN. Section 1. — Manners — Government. Let us admit that in point of art, Japan no longer exists. This mysterious country, of which Marco Polo had revealed the existence, in the research of which the navigators of the sixteenth century were so engaged, this country, of an Eastern sun more brilliant than a dream of the Arabian Nights, what is it now ?— One of the numerous stations of maritime commerce, a counterpart of our Western countries. Its ports, blackened by the smoke of steamers, will no longer open their quiet retreats to junks laden with bamboo. Their forts, bristling with cannon, armour-plated and menacing, will no longer offer the graceful adornment of its fete days and its picturesque hangings, relieved by the armorial bearings of the prince commandant which on great occasions concealed its military front. The streets of the open towns swarm, and they always will, with European uniforms. We shall see on their squares French instructors teaching the drill to recruits armed with chassepots, which will be curiously examined by the Japanese, in narrow paletot, straight and inconvenient trousers, giving his arm to his wife dressed in Parisian fashions. No more parasols of varnished paper, no more sandals, no more that shelter of lacquer and plaited bamboo which so effectually protects the shaven head from the rays of a burning sun. And all this under the pretext of progress ! Let us repeat then, without bitterness, Japan exists no longer. It modifies its tastes to conform them with ours ; it already sends us, in the place of the charming works which represented their own JAPAN. 79 special genius, odious imitations of our colourless fabrications. Such is the fatal and inevitable result of our contact with the Oriental nations. The less intelligent defend themselves against the ascendency which the organisation of power and the advancement of science give us over them. They contend and are conquered. The others admire our laws, our social constitution, they study our books, but they go too far in their enthusiasm, and give themselves up without knowing how to preserve what they possess in themselves of original genius and marvellous taste. Let us hastily gather a few notions upon Japan. It is now history ; for the organisation which has so long kept this brave country inde- pendent of other nations has already partly disappeared. The J apanese government has nothing analogous in any other. One can hardly call it despotic, inasmuch as the sovereign himself, bent under the yoke of the law, is the first slave of the empire. As to liberty, it does not exist at Niphon under any form, not even in private and individual relations ; a perpetual espionage, a reciprocal mis- trust, hold the functionaries of every order in the strict observance of duty ; the law, or rather, invariable tradition, weighs over every class of society ; in a word, despotism exists in Japan without a despot. The Mikado, an ecclesiastical emperor, successor and representative of the gods, is the proprietor and sovereign of the empire ; in him are united the spiritual and temporal power. Crushed under the weight of his high dignity and of the respect he owes to himself, he is in some sort condemned to an automatic existence, regulated by fastidious ceremonial. His palace is a golden prison from which luxury cannot banish ennui. The Siagoun, Kaubo, or Tycoon, was the lieutenant of the Mikado, or, properly, general-in-chief ; but he had found means to render himself relatively independent, and to become the civil and executive emperor. Subjected to the rigours of a punctilious etiquette, he was rendered powerless by a council of state, the true governing power. The Siagoun resided at Yeddo, but he had every year to go to Miyako, to render homage to the supreme sovereign, and explain to him his conduct. Now, through a court revolution, this second power is destroyed, and Heaven knows if Japan will stop in the road to reform— thanks to European intermeddling. Below these authorities of the first order come the vassal princes of the empire. Absolute, hereditary sovereigns of their respective fiefs, they would appear to enjoy entire independence ; but two secretaries of the 8o HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. council, residing, one in the principality itself, the other at Yeddo, administer in their names, watch them, in order to prohibit any enter- prise against the central power and to prevent their personal influence from taking too great an increase. This perpetual restraint, the enormous sacrifices which it entails on each prince, the being obliged to keep an army, to reside six months in the capital, and to go there with an official train — all this quickly disgusts reasonable men with the mere phantom of power, and consequently, to escape ruin, they often resort to abdication and enter into the quiet of private life. Enlightened and intelligent, the aristocracy have generally a decided taste for the arts, and encourage the production of fine works, keeping at their own expense extensive workshops where are produced those silks of marvellous designs, the priceless vases and precious lacquer-work, objects of the well-deserved admiration of European connoisseurs. This fact is not surprising when we take into consideration the analogy existing between the feudal organisation of Japan and that of most European societies in the Middle Ages. These analogies are so striking that certain travellers have sought to render by the titles of prince, duke, marquess, earl and knight, the different degrees of the aristocratic hierarchy, and have assimilated to our heraldic arms the figures which, under the name of mon, mark the objects for the use of great families. The Mikado has two arms : the first, the kiri-mon — of which the name signifies the arms in leaves and flowers of the kiri (Paullownia im- perialis) — is more particularly the official ensign, the mark of power. It is stamped upon the coins, and upon everything for the imperial use, and it is even impressed upon the bread or cakes served in the official re- pasts given to the Dutch ambassadors. The second, the guik-mon, arms of the flower of the chrysanthemum, is that of the family who since the year 667 B.C. have occupied the throne of Japan, and descend, they say, from Ten-sio-dai-sin, the Sun god. The Siagoun recently deposed, belonged to the house of Minamoto, whose arms are composed of three mallow-leaves, called amoi-no-gomon. We cannot describe the insignia of the other great Japanese families ; the task would be too long and not of immediate bearing. Few of the porcelains brought to Europe have JAPAN. 8i arms ; it is not the same with lacquer-work and other objects which are ostensibly used in travelling. By a natural consequence of the organization of which we speak society is divided into eight classes, which it is not uninteresting to recognise by certain details of costume ; in fact, there are parts of clothing which are formally prohibited to the lower classes, and these are precisely those we should consider as indispensable to all. Let us give place to Koempfer, and leave to him the describing of the toilet of the members of the court or dairi. "They wear wide, long breeches, and above, a long robe of an extreme width and peculiar form, principally about the shoulders, with a sweeping train extending far behind them. They cover the head with a black cap or hat, without stiffiiess, the form of which is one of the marks of honour by which is to be distinguished the rank of a lord or what office he fills at court." Titsing adds, " The emperor or mikado changes every day his vestments, for which very thick precious stuffs are used. Two of these tissues are purple, with white flowers : the third, quite white, is woven in flowers. The stuffs with straight stripes are called fate-sima, and those woven with vine- branches and flowers have the name of fate-wakou." The costumes of the middle and lower classes are composed of a certain number of long wide robes worn one over the other, and differing only from the upper Classes by the quality and colour of the material. The robes are confined round the waist by a girdle. The sleeves are of enormous size ; the part hanging below the arm is closed below to form a supplementary pocket, the girdle serving to contain objects of value. Brighter colours and borders of gold and embroidery alone distinguish the women's vestments from those of the men. The sash is very wide, going twice round the body and knotted in a rosette with two long ends. The young girls wear this bow behind the back, the married women in front. The men shave the forehead and the whole of the skull, with the exception of a circular piece extending from one temple to another behind the head, a kind of demi-tonsure, of which the hair is carefully turned up and pomatumed, forming a tuft on the top of the occiput. The women generally roll their hair like a turban ; the girls and servants arrange it on both sides of the head like wings, or knot it with peculiar taste. The most coquettish turn up the head-dress with a comb or long pins of tortoiseshell, gold, or silver. Princes, nobles, priests, and the military are the only classes who have the privilege to arm themselves with two swords, and to wear the hakama or wide-plaited trousers. G 82 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. The fifth class, which comprises subaltern employe's and physicians, have the right of wearing the trousers and the sword. Departing from the sixth class, composed of dealers and wholesale merchants, the sumptuary laws prohibit trousers ; and it is only by dint of humiliating proceedings that the merchants can obtain sometimes the right of wearing the sword. Singularly, it is among the last classes we have to seek the artists, although employed, and highly esteemed by the great. Tanners, and other people called to work at skins, are despised, and treated as pariahs. But now the necessity of providing the new troops with boots and of confining their waists with buffalo belts, has caused the masses to dismiss their ancient prejudices. Who can foretell to what necessity may soon raise the shoemakers ? By a rapid ascent, let us turn from these last artisans to the gods. Japan, like China, has an obscure national religion, the Sinsyou. We know little of it, as may be supposed, since the law prohibits, under the most severe penalties, giving to strangers or selling books or maps which would reveal the secret of the manners of the country. According to the cosmogony of the Sinsyou, a supreme, self-created being came out of the first chaos to establish his throne in the highest heaven ; too great to give himself up to cares which might disturb his immovable tranquillity, he left to the creator gods to sketch out the organisation of the universe. Seven celestial deities came afterwards, and the last, Iza-na-gimo-mikoto, finding a leisure moment, created the earth, the ten thousand things, and confided the entire government of it to his favourite child, the god or goddess Sun, Ten-sio-dal-sin. This doctrine of the Sinsyou, mixed with a host of rites, introduced by the Buddhists, gives a complicated pantheon, of which, in the absence of books which treat of it, we are unable to give an exact explanation ; but some drawings which have occasionally reached Europe either accidentally or surreptitiously, show us how interesting it would be to obtain more complete information on this point. As regards porcelain, this vacancy is the less to be regretted, as the subjects which decorate it are rarely either of a religious or historic character. They almost all represent scenes taken from the private life of the high society in China. We will soon explain whence this proceeds. Japan appears, with a few exceptions, to have adopted the same symbolic animals as China. Thus the dragon, special, emblem of the emperor, is not less twisted nor less frightful than those described at JAPAN. 83 page 28 ; but here it has only three claws, and often its right claw holds a pearl. The Ky-lin and Dog of Fo have no special characteristics. The last, of common occurrence, surmounts almost all the large vases. As to the Foang-hoang, called Foo, it is distinguished by the perfection of its form, and the supreme elegance of its plumage, decorated with the richest and most harmonious tints. A bird, often figured alone, sometimes with its mate, and called the Imperial Bird, is remarkable for its noble gait and proud look ; of the rapacious family, it would appear more to resemble the falcon than the eagle. In porcelain, as in lacquer-work, it is always found accompanied by emblems of nobility. Lastly, there is a sacred tortoise, easily to be recognised by the long flexible appendage which surrounds its lower extremities. Kcempfer qualifies it as a tail, but after studying the finer specimens of lacquer- work and porcelain we soon see it is a kind of fiery aureola, independent of the carapace, and analogous to the flames surrounding the head and members of the dragon, which the same author calls " soft-horns." Section 2. — Ancient Potteky. The excessive reserve of the Japanese, as regards strangers, impels the natives themselves to commit to paper only such matters as may be disclosed without danger; thus a memoir published upon porcelain contains this deceptive indication : "The painting and decoration of vases is a secret that it is not permitted to reveal." Nevertheless, thanks to the laborious researches of Orientalists, and particularly of Dr. Hoffman, of Ley den, we know this : — In the spring of the year B.C. 27 a Corean vessel landed in the province of Halima. The chief of the expedition, pretending he was the son of the king of Sin-ra, settled in the province of Omi, upon the great island of Nippon, where the men of his suite established a corporation of porcelain potters. Towards the same period, there lived in the province of Idsoumi, also in Nippon, an athlete named Nomino-Soukoune', who made, in earthenware and porcelain, vases, and more especially human figures, to substitute for the slaves it was the custom to bury with their masters. Nomino- Soukoune' received, as reward, authorisation to take for family name Fazi, in Corean Patzi (manufacturer artist). Let us pause a moment. At the beginning of our era, that is to say, even before it was a question in China of translucent pottery, here are two centres erected in Japan, the one by the Coreans, the other by G 2 8 4 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. a native, who at the same time made earthenware, if the word in the text is to be so rendered. Under the reign of the Mikado Teu-tsi (a.d. 662-672) a Buddhist monk, named Gyoguy, of Corean ancestry, vulgarised among the inhabitants of the province of Idsoumi the secret of making translucent pottery; the village where he had settled himself was called To-ki- moura — village for making porcelain. Under Sei-wa (a.d. 859-876) the number of workshops considerably increased; even in 859 two provinces, Kavatsi and Idsoumi, disputed a mountain for baking porcelain and cutting down fire-wood. In the Syoun-tok period (a.d. 1211-1221) a workman named Kato- siro-ouye-mon began to make little vases to serve as tea-boxes, but, from the want of a better process, he placed them in a kiln upon their orifice, which appeared worn and carelessly made. They designated them by the appellation of koutsi-fakata (pieces with worn orifice). Desirous of instructing himself, Katosiro, accompanied by the Buddhist monk Fo-gen, went to China, from 1211-12, and returned in possession of all the secrets of the ceramic art. In more modern times, it is upon the island of Kiou-siou, and par- ticularly in the district of Matsura, near the hamlet of Ouresino, that the finest porcelain has been produced. These historic facts, confined as they are, have their importance. The ceramic art appears to have been imported into Japan by the Coreans, and improved under the Youen, by means of Chinese teaching. We must, therefore, not seek any original character in the potteries of Nippon; they will not precisely have a sign of nationality, but a relative perfection, index of Japanese individualism, apt to modify into good all the works which have been taught them. If induction did not lead to this conclusion, we find it formally announced in a book of the seventeenth century, the ' Voyage de Pierre de Goyer and Jacob de Keyser.' " It is," they say, " the antiquity and the skill of the masters who make these (pots of porcelain) which give them their value ; and as the touchstone, among our goldsmiths, makes known the value of gold and silver, so for these pots they have master jurors, who judge what they are worth, according to their antiquity, the workmanship, the cost, or the reputation of the workman ; and it is often at a very high price, so that the king of Sungo, some time since, bought one of these pots for 14,000 ducats; and a Christian Japanese, in the town of Sacai, paid for another, which was in three pieces, 1400 ducats." JAPAN. 85 There is, then, an abyss between the works of China and those of Japan ; on one side, it is an industrial production, upon which a number of hands have left the trace of their work ; on the other, it is an individual creation, marked with the stamp of an appreciable talent. The high price paid by the rich to procure vases of exceptional quality has given birth to a curious fact, related by Kcempfer. " The Japanese," he says, " preserve the crop of common tea in large earthen jars, with narrow orifice ; the superior qualities, reserved for the use of the emperor and the princes, are kept in murrhine or porcelain vases, and, above all, if they could be procured, in those precious little vases, renowned for their antiquity, they call maats-ubo (real pots). These vessels are supposed not only to preserve, but to improve the quality of the tea, which increases in value in proportion to the time it has been kept. The ficki-tsia, even reduced to dust, preserves its aroma for several months ; exposed to the air, it resumes all its flavour. Therefore great people seek at every price these sorts of vases, which hold the first rank among the costly utensils invented by luxury for the use of tea. Their celebrity induces me to relate a legend which has not been mentioned elsewhere. The maats-ubo have been made of an earth of the greatest fineness, at Mauri-ga-sima, that is, the island of Mauri, which, it is related, has been entirely destroyed and submerged by the gods, on account of the dissolute manners of its in- habitants. Now no vestiges of it remain except a few rocks, visible at low water. This island was near Teyovaan or Formosa ; the place is designated in the charts by asterisks and dots, which indicate a bottom strewn with sand-banks and rocks. This is what the Chinese relate : Mauri-ga-sima was in ancient times a fertile country, which produced, among other riches, a clay admirably fitted for making murrhine vases, which they call now ' porcelain.' From that its inhabitants acquired immense riches and boundless dissoluteness. Their vices and contempt for religion irritated the gods to such a point that they resolved, by an irrevocable decree, to drown Mauri-ga-sima. A dream, sent from heaven, revealed the terrible sentence to Peirum, chief of the island, a religious man of spotless life. The gods warned him to flee upon ships when he saw the faces of two idols placed at the entrance of the temple redden with shame. . . The king immediately published the danger which threatened the island and the punishment with which it was to be visited, but his notice of the impending evil was only treated by his subjects with con- tempt for what they called his credulity. Shortly after, a buffoon, jesting at the warning of Peirum, approached during the night the two idols, 86 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. and, without any one noticing him, smeared their faces with red. Apprised of this sudden change, which he attributed to a miracle, not to sacrilege, the king fled with his people, and rowed to Foktsju, a province of South China. After his departure the buffoon, his accomplices, and the scoffers whom this precipitation did not alarm, were swallowed up with the island, its potters, and its magnificent murrhine vases. The Chinese of the south celebrate this prodigy by a festival. . . As to the lost vases, they seek them at the bottom of the sea at low water, upon the rocks to which they are attached ; they draw them out with care not to break them, covered with a crust of shells which dis- figure them, and which the workmen immediately remove, leaving a small piece to attest their origin. These vases are transparent, of the greatest thinness, of a white colour tinged with green. They have mostly the form of a capsule, or of a little barrel, with a narrow short neck, as if they had from their origin been intended to hold tea. They are brought to Japan, at rare intervals, by the merchants of the province of Foktsju, who buy them of the divers. The most common are sold for twenty taels, and some kinds from one to two hundred taels ; but those which attain this value no one dares buy ; they are destined for the emperor, who has, they say, received from his ancestors and predecessors a collection of inestimable value, now preserved among his treasures. Evidently, we cannot hope to see the maats-ubo, or the celebrated pieces mentioned by Pierre de Goyer and Jacob de Keyser; but a suggestion arises from these simple indications. To what porcelain can be assigned a value approaching those mentioned above ? Is it to the decorated vases, a little barbaric, painted in blue, red, and gold, which commerce persists in calling Japanese porcelain ? Certainly not. We must then admit that there were at Nippon two fabrications of the same kind, but very different : the one common, and so approaching that of China as to be distinguished with difficulty ; the other fine, of admirable paste and charming decoration. It is, therefore, necessary to study them separately, and well define their characteristics. Section 3. — Polychrome Porcelain. A. — Chrysanthemo-Pmonian Family. All the pieces incontestably Japanese belonging to this kind have a thick paste, a greyish surface, the enamel of which is apt to " craze " ; the description already given of the Chrysanthemo-Chinese will, in its whole, apply to this ; we have only here to seek the different character- JAPAN. 87 istics resulting from nationality. There is first one class of products of whose origin there can be no doubt ; these are the civil statuettes of men and women, always clothed in the Japanese costume, and made perhaps in remembrance of the ancient little figures, Nomino-Soukoune, already mentioned (page 83) ; though now they do not represent slaves, but persons belonging to the upper classes, as indicated by their ample costume, composed of choice materials, the decoration of which consists in flowers, and emblems belonging to princes and nobles ; we have even met with the insignia of the guik-mon or chrysanthemum, and of the kiri-mon or flowering branches of the imperial tree. In the porcelain for general use, jars, beakers, dishes, plates, etc., the significant characters are as follows : presence of the kiri or da'irian tree ; of the imperial three-clawed dragon ; of a bird of prey of noble aspect; of partial grounds of chequers filled in with conventional flowers ; rosettes of four-notched petals, flowers indicative of imperial property ; the guik-mon in relief forming a principal subject or scattered over the decoration ; and the presence of the sacred tortoise. An almost certain indication of origin results from the union upon the same piece of all the emblems of longevity, viz., the pine, bamboo, crane, and tortoise. Jars (potiches) with flat covers, surmounted by the statuette of a woman, and surrounded by butterflies in relief, are also Japanese. Among the figurative pieces, are some which imitate the broken trunk of an old pine tree, others a carp upright on its tail ; the same carp standing, in, the act of ascending a waterfall (Plate III.), is often painted upon large rich Pseonian J apan vases ; we easily distinguish it from the Chinese carp, as it is represented with fewer contortions. The emperors of J apan, like those of China, give a special name to the years of their reign ; it is the nen-go (nien-hao of the Chinese); we have only seen one piece so dated, a dish painted with a year corresponding with 1653. This is not the only inscription found upon Chrysanthemo-Pseonian porcelain. One of common occurrence is the wish for "fortune, ho- nours, and eternal spring." This is ancient, anterior sometimes to the nen-go above. Another, which is rather modern, and that we find not only upon the Pseonian pieces, but on the delicate cups of Fisen, is Thsang tchun ting san-pao tchy, or tsao — (Made by San-pao in the pavilion which encloses the spring). This legend is incomprehensible, 88 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. neither indicating a workshop nor the name of the artist. The immense number of objects inscribed with these six characters precludes the idea that they could have been produced in one worskshop by one man. A variety of the Pseonian class has been brought to us since the Universal Exhibition ; thickish vases, generally very delicately deco- rated in iron red and gold. They come from Yeo, Niskide, &c. We repeat, the Chrysanthemo-Pseonian vases of Japan are scarcely equal in quality to those of the Chinese, therefore it is not of this species that Pierre de Goyer and Koempfer speak ; nor can one recognise them in this passage of Pere Duhalde : " The Chinese load their vessels on their return from Japan with porcelains which are very beautiful, but not of the same usefulness as those of China, because they bear with difficulty the heat of boiling water." The missionaries of Pekin say the same in their memoirs: "They do not here prize their (Japanese) porcelain. . . . Besides, if we except the provinces of Fou-mai, Tche- kiang, and Kiang-nan, which trade with the Japanese and Pekin, where they send some as offerings to the emperor and as gifts to the grandees, the porcelains of Japan are very rare. Independent of their clearness, there is that in their form and painting which is not to our taste." Let us then seek elsewhere for the true Japan porcelain. B. — Rose Family. » To make ourselves better understood, we propose to class all the fine porcelain of Japan under this denomination, an arrangement in which we are justified, inasmuch as all these porcelains have received decora- tions enamelled in relief, and there are many in which the gold red shines with a purity unknown in China. But we shall establish very marked divisions, beginning with those inimitable pieces, essentially national, which resemble the descriptions given by the old travellers. (a) Vitreous Porcelain. Its paste has been made with such pure materials, the enamel so completely homogeneous, that one can hardly detect in the pieces the superposition of two distant substances. The colour and translucence are like those of jade reduced very thin. It is only since M. Siebold brought back admirable specimens of this porcelain and the materials used in its fabrication that we could account for the Japanese saying, " There are human bones in the composition of porcelain." Truly, it requires Plate III. — JAPAN. Chrysanthemo-pseonian Family.— Jar, " Potiche," with the Dog of Fo, and a Carp leaping out of the Water. Collection Baron Gustave de Rothschild. PL. III. JAPAN. 89 severe labour to bring a hard, tenacious, compact stone to the state of an impalpable powder, and then to convert it into the creamy state, fit for the lathe and for moulding, which constitutes vitreous porcelain. The pieces answering most to the description of the maats-ubo are the little cups, very open, standing upon a rather high stem in form of a truncated cone, and which are used to drink said, a kind of rice brandy, served boiling hot. The decoration is very sparing, and of great neatness of execution, almost always consisting of enamels in relief, and often of white or blue beads, almost hemispheric. Graminse, birds simply outlined in red or gold, or a woman seated, painted in light enamels, are the principal subjects. In the borders are enamels in high relief. Allied to the saki cups is a product no less remarkable, and perhaps still more ancient: little bell-shaped cups, without saucers, as thin as paper and of the finest white. The exterior, which is not seen on the lacquer presentoir, is never decorated; inside the cup is a line of gold, some touches of blue enamel, or of gold, shadow out the outline of a mountain and of a vast horizon, of the sun, clouds, and birds flying in a line. In this simple sketch we recognise Fousi-yama, the sacred mountain of the Japanese, an ancient formidable volcano, though the remembrance of its last eruption is lost in the night of fabulous epochs. Other cups, ornamented only in burnished gold, represent the fong-hoang in the clouds, or the crane with outstretched winofs. These rare specimens lead by gradations in size and development of decoration to enamelled pieces of rare beauty ; some, simple in form, have light bouquets delicately studied, thrown irregularly upon their milky surface ; the begonia, with its crimson-lined leaves, and. delicate flowers ; the banana, with its purple bractese ; the blue lily of Japan. But even the ordinary blue cups in vitreous porcelain are characterised by their form, which resembles the flower with irregular petals of the garden hibiscus. The creamy paste adapts itself wonderfully to the representation of vegetable fibre ; strokes graved in the thickness of the porcelain render the smallest veins which irradiate from the base of the petals ; and the outer limb of these forms round the cups and saucers the most graceful edging of six lobes that can be imagined. The decoration of vitreous porcelain is generally simple, and not crowded, the beautiful material requiring no artificial embellish- ment. The choicest consists in representations of animals in gold, heightened with iron red ; these consist of fabulous birds with stag's horns, lion's claws, or bat's wings; geese feeding on the side of a 9° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. river, crickets or the mantis reposing on the stalks of flowers. Later appear paintings in the style of the Chinese Rose family, then follow designs more complicated, probably under the influence of Chinese taste, and vitreous porcelain becomes confounded with that of which we are next going to treat, and which we call " artistic." Yet the old style is kept up in the making of saki cups, and in the little pieces which are still produced at Imati and Fizen. It is from the same centres that we derive the delicate cups covered with strips of bamboo, and the larger cups with covers, surpassing in their fineness the cast or " porcelaine coulee " of Sevres, and of which the turning and firing appear an insoluble problem. One cannot imagine how the sides, scarcely as thick as paper, have been formed from a layer of clay, upon which has been afterwards applied a double coating of glaze. The workshops are not in the town itself, either of Imali or Imari. They rise in tiers to the numbers of four or five and twenty upon the slopes of Idsonmi-yoma (the mountain of springs), whence is derived the kaolinic petro-silicious rock. Dr. Hoffman gives the names of the eighteen workshops enjoying a special celebrity."* The products of Firo-se and Itsi-no-se do not enter into commerce. The other establishments situated upon the frontier of Arida, in the district of Matsura, as Nakawo, Mits'nomata, Five-koba, belong to different proprietors domiciliated in the province of Fizen. The blue porcelain is mostly made at Firo-se, but it is not of the best quality. This blue in question is easily distinguished from that of China, being characterised by its general intensity, by its ocellated border, by the regularity of its bouquets of flowers, in which the pseony, chrysanthemum, and bamboo predominate. The minute exactness of workmanship is * 1. Oho-kavatsi-yama, great mountain between the rivers. 2. Mi-kavatsi-yama, the three mountains between the rivers. 3. Idsoumi-yama, mountain of springs. 4. Kan-ko-fira, fine upper plain. 5. Fon-ko-fira, fine principal plain. 6. Oho-tarou, great vase. 7. Naka-tarou, medium vase. 8. Sira-kava, white stream. 9. Five-koba, old pine. 10. Akaye-Matsi, quarter of the painters in red. 11. Naka-no-fira, medium plateau. 12. Ivaya, the grotto. 13. Naga-flra, long plateau. 14. Minami-kawara, south shore. 15. Foka-wo, outer handle. 16. Kouromouda, black field. 17. Firo-se. 18. Itsi-no-se. JAPAN. 9i pushed so far that one might at first fancy it had been obtained by impression. (b) Artistic Porcelain. We come now to the Japanese kinds with enamelled decoration in relief, which the vulgar confound with pieces of the Chinese Rose family; yet there is nothing in common between them, unless in the use of the gold red. In Japan the enamels are so pure, the artist so continually occupied with manipulating the various materials he uses, he is sure always to arrive at the most artistic effects ; the gold red shines with vigour when it is alone, and passes to the palest rose when united with white ; it is the same with the blue, sometimes vigorous as lazulite, at others soft as turquoise. Water green, orange yellow, partake this character of purity. If these enamels are enriched with a fine damask work or mosaic, the bright red relieves the yellow and the pink ; the black brings out the sky blue; the dark blue, mixed with touches of carmine, heightens the pale pink, &c. A radical difference separates the works of the two countries as regards drawing. At Nippon the figures, though affected, and too much resembling each other not to be the produce of "pouncing," have a simple grace and softness, the evident reflex of Oriental manners. Certainly it is not an imitation of nature, it is not art such as we understand it with its complex qualities ; but it is a dreamy art, a first manifestation of thought under form. A scene of frequent occurrence represents two women, standing, one upon a rose, the other upon a leaf, and thus floating on the waves in an aureola of clouds ; the first, elegantly attired, holds a sceptre, the second is her attendant, and carries a basket of flowers, passed through a kind of lance or instrument for ploughing. According to the indications of the Japanese pantheon, it is the goddess of the seas or patroness of fishermen. It matters little which 'it may be ; but by the modest grace of the attitude, the easy elegance of the draperies, this painting approaches the graceful vellums of our artists of the Middle Ages. The birds and plants partake of these merits, and are truthfully drawn, the details most delicately rendered. Nothing is more beautiful than these venerated silver pheasants, the proud-looking cocks perched upon the rocks, or lost among the flowers ; nothing more charming than certain crested black- birds, with rose-coloured breasts, and other passerine birds of beautiful plumage. 9 2 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. In these ornamentations art and patience seem to have exhausted all their resources (Plate IV.) ; now mosaics in softly shaded tones and minute details ; at other times the porcelain, almost without embellish- ment, or with a simple subject traced in Indian ink, and encircled by a border of gold, in divisions, either burnished or in red and green, which wonderfully brightens the metal. A curious fact, and one which shows the common origin of the different kinds of porcelain in Japan, is, that the more or less complicated nature of its decoration serves almost as a date of its production. First, the plain white translucent paste appears sufficiently beautiful in its own simplicity to require little addition from the painter. A line or two round the edge and a scene softly sketched in the centre, were all that was required. Later the borders became complicated; grounds imitating the plaits of a fine basket, or paved in mosaics composed of squares and octagons, formed the principal subject ; sometimes the outlines are rendered in black and gold, sometimes they stand out upon a pink or sky-blue tint, yellow, or pale green. When luxury required yet more, the border, broken by reserves, loaded with flowers and fruit, surmounted partial grounds, marked out in arabesques, forming a framework to the middle subject, which is either a basket of flowers, or rocks covered with plants and birds. The complication reached to such a point that no part of the porcelain was visible ; one had plates with seven borders, and cups, in which every tint was united with gold and silver, and these formed a whole, which would approach heaviness, if the perfect harmony of the forms and the delicacy of the details did not obviate the defect. If we required to seek the cause of these modifications and of the particular style of artistic porcelain, we should find it in a desire of rivalling the Chinese porcelain of the Rose Family. The special language of the workshops furnishes us with the proof. So long as the workshops of Fisen confined themselves to the production of this essentially national pottery we have called vitreous, the primitive material was distinguished under the name Irnari tsousi (earth of Imari) ; from the moment the rich decorations approached those of China, the earth changed its name to Nan-kin tsousi (earth of Nankin). What more demonstrative? Is it necessary, after this, to seek why artistic porcelain represents familiar scenes of the high Chinese society ? Let us only recollect what missionaries and travellers tell us — that the Japanese imitate in im- proving every object brought to them from without. Doubtless it would be curious to discover to which epochs may be Plate IV. — JAPAN. Artistic Decoration — Saucer with Rich Enamelled Ground, and Medallion representing the Goddess Kouanin. Collection Jacquemart. PL.IV. F s Lieneu?iimp , JAPAN. 93 assigned the principal changes introduced in the decoration of artistic vases. The elements are wanting for this research. If, as we have above stated, the Chinese have made under the Houng-Tchy period (1488 to 1505) remarkable paintings of the Rose family, the Japanese imita- tions would date from the first half of the sixteenth century, and the vitreous enamelled pieces would go back at least to the fifteenth. Let us also remember that artistic porcelain unites itself to the preceding by certain specimens; a vitreous cup in the form of . the hibiscus has shown us the cock surrounded by rich flowers of the Japan rose-tree. We shall see connections as close are to be established between the artistic style and those which follow. (c) Mandarin Porcelain. What is a mandarin? Is it a special functionary, of whom the name designates the rank ? Not at all ; mandarin is a name derived from the Portuguese — mander, to command ; it is by an absurd indo- lence of mind that the name is applied without examination to every person holding a public office in the Celestial Empire. It may be asked why, after this explanation, we persist in perpetuating the name to designate a series of works of art. Simply because the word "mandarin " has passed into common language, and hardly lends itself to its modern acceptation ; the mandarin is the man with toque and vest, whether the one be surmounted by a peacock's feather or the simplest button, or the other be of plain stuff or embroidered on the breast with a pelican or sparrow. It is only in this acceptation that we consent to use the word, avoiding its application to the historic personages we see depicted on the old Oriental vases. Let us first express the difference between the ancient and modern costumes of the Chinese, and recall the origin of the last. The people of the extreme East have, above all, respect for customs consecrated by time. When the national dynasties contended in China against the Tartar invaders, their most powerful means of action consisted in raising the population by the sole idea of the violation of religious rites and the abolition of secular customs. Hence as soon as the illustrious Hone - - wou had expelled the Mongol emperors, he published an edict by which he obliged his people to resume entirely the costume worn under the Thang dynasty. Later the Thsing conquerors, in their turn, wishing to efface the memory of the Ming dynasty, ordered every Chinese, under pain of death, to shave his head after the Tartar fashion. Many 94 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. thousands of men preferred death rather than submit to the degradation. Time alone, in settling the Thsing firmly on the throne, permitted them to cause the head-dress now in use to prevail. The cap or toque with turned up edge, replaced the imperial mien and the crape cap of the functionaries ; the long hanging tail was substituted for the hair turned up upon the skull ; the coat or surtout cut below the hips took the place of the long robes of graver aspect, confined by girdles with pendants of jade. These sonorous pendants obliged the man of respectability to preserve a quiet gait, as the only means of obtaining a harmonious measured sound. All this doubtless is very punctilious, but it is thanks to these ancient rules that the Chinese have been able to remain the most polished people on earth. In changing the costume it was necessary to create emblems fitted to characterise the different orders of functionaries. They are these : 1st Order. — Cap, with a button of worked gold, ornamented with a bead, and surmounted by an oblong button of transparent ruby red ; violet coat, with a square plaque on the breast, and another on the back, in which is embroidered the figure of a pelican (ho). The belt is decorated with four stones of agate (yu-che), incrusted with rubies. Military officers of the same order wear upon their plaque a ky-lin. 2nd Order. — Cap, with button of worked gold, ornamented with a small ruby, and surmounted by a button of worked coral, opaque red. The plaques of the coat have a golden hen (kin-Icy). The gilt belt is ornamented with four plaques of worked gold, enriched with rubies. The military officers wear a lion (su) upon their plaques. 3rd Order. — Cap, with button of worked gold, surmounted by a sapphire button, transparent blue. The peacock's plume has but one eye. Plaques bearing the peacock (kong-tsio). Belts of four plaques of worked gold. The military officers wear a panther (pao) on their plaques. 4th Order. — Cap, with button of worked gold, ornamented by a small sapphire surmounted by a button of azure stone, opaque blue. Plaques bearing a crane (yen) ; belt of four plaques of worked gold, with a silver button. Military officers wearing upon their plaques a tiger (hou). 5th Order. — Cap, with gold button, ornamented by a small sapphire and surmounted by a button of rock crystal, transparent white. Plaques embroidered with a white pheasant (pe-hieri) ; belt with four plaques of plain gold, with a silver button. Military officers have a bear (hiong) upon their plaques. JAPAN. 95 6th Order. — Cap, surmounted by a button made of a marine shell, opaque white. The plume is not a peacock's, but a blue feather. Coat bearing in embroidery a stork (lu-su) ; belt, with four round tortoise-shell plaques and a silver button. Military officers wear upon their plaques a little tiger (pien). 7th Order. — Cap, surmounted by a button of worked gold orna- mented with a small crystal and surmounted by a button of plain gold. The plaques bear embroidered a partridge (ky-chy) ; belt, with four round silver plaques. Military officers bearing a sy (rhinoceros) on the plaques. 8th Order. — Cap, ornamented with a button of worked gold sur- mounted by another button, also worked; upon the plaque a quail (ngan-churi). Belt with four ram's-horn plaques and silver button. Military officers wear the stork (lu-su). 9th Order. — Cap, ornamented with a gold button, surmounted by one of silver, both worked. The plaques bear a sparrow (tsio) ; belt with four plaques of black horn, with a silver button. Military officers, plaques with a sea-horse (hai-ma). The special character of this costume marks out perfectly the group of porcelain upon which it is to be found. It offers besides the advantage of rendering incontestable the Japanese origin of these porcelains ; the artists of the Celestial Empire have never represented mandarins in their lacquer- work, carved wood or ivories, vases, bronzes, hard or soft stones ; no authentic nien-hao piece has depicted anything besides the heroes of ancient times and the subjects of ancient history. It was left to neigh- bouring nations, at the same time inquisitive and commercial, to multiply upon the vases this execrated costume, imposed only after a time by force. As regards fabrication, the Mandarin porcelain demands a special description. It is rather thick than thin, and often its wavy surface indicates that it has been obtained by casting and moulding. Sometimes it is ornamented with reliefs. The general form of the vases is more slender than in Chinese pottery. The decoration, often painted and not enamelled, takes a new aspect ; the rose tints, derived from gold, are purplish; lilac, water green, bright iron red, chamois or rust colour, abound. An artifice of the brush shows itself in the rendering of the figures, draperies, and flowers; it is a sort of modelling obtained by stippling, and by means of parallel or crossed hatches ; the flesh is done with the care of a miniature; the draperies rise in detached folds one over the other. This radical modification in the manner of painting, is it due to European influence ? The Mandarin style, as one may imagine, is not very old ; it is in 1G16 9 6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. that the Thsing arrived at the throne, and the Tartar costume would have been applied some years later to the decoration of vases. The regularity, more or less perfect, of the decorations and the nature of the ornamented grounds admits of establishing several divisions in the Mandarin porcelain. The first, one of transition, shows the real origin of the style ; we see in it the Indian ink grounds and gold borders framing a painted subject, or medallions with artistic figures, surrounded by new grounds. The second section, with filigree grounds, also contains pieces of very fine quality ; the ground is very closely seme with scrolls of gold, forming a soft tint, broken by reserves more or less large. The principal medallion is marked out by a stroke or by arabesques of burnished gold ; the little reserves are filled with birds, flowers, landscapes in pink on black camaieu of charming delicacy and freedom (Fig. 27). Some not very old services have the borders and frames of the subjects in blue under the glaze. The Red Mandarin of the third section is known by its severe aspect : a black border with Greek pattern in gold circumscribes the iron-red ground, divided by a basket-shaped mosaic heightened with streaks of gold. Nothing is more decorative than this style, which sells at high prices. The Mandarins with variegated grounds, which form the fourth section, are those of such fanciful design their character cannot be expressed as a whole. Lozenges in iron red, pavements in red and black strokes, a harlequin assemblage of colours, pink filigrees, meet each other in this section, in which fine painting is rarer than in the preceding. The shagreened and gauffered Mandarins form the fifth section, which is interesting as containing carefully executed pieces, of which the appendages and sometimes the medallions are ornamented with figures in relief. The shagreened vases most often consist of slender jars with narrow necks, wide openings, ovoid sides, flattened and angular at the point of junction between the parts moulded. Scrolls of projecting ornament describe upon each front a large central medallion, and smaller ones on the sides ; all the space comprised between these medallions on the ground is sown with hemispheric points resembling shagreen, or rather, according to the Chinese expression, "chicken's flesh." When the vase is decorated, the colour of the ground is called "verdigris;" when the shagreen remains white, its projections, from which the glaze has run off, come out without gloss upon the vitreous enamel. The paintings of shagreen vases is generally fine, but always crude. JAPAN. 97 The little snuff bottles brought from Egypt are " a, chair de poule : " a ground first invented by the Chinese, and which they still apply upon little coarse pots for garden use. The gauffered kinds are very remarkable ; fine indentures, wreaths, and bouquets of flowers, are traced in the paste, which the glaze, by Fig. 27. MANDARIN JAR (POTICHE), WITH GOLD FILIGREE GROUND. entering the cavities, brings out in the manner of the ce'ladon. The greatest part of the decoration is in blue under the glaze, and the subject medallions are often enamelled. The last section, called Mandarin Camaieu, offers those partial H 9 8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. grounds in shaded lozenges, which Saxony and the other porcelain manufacturers of Europe imitated during a part of the eighteenth century ; the style took in France under the name of Pompadour, and it was long thought that the Orientalists had borrowed it from us, not the only error to which the Mandarin porcelain has given rise. The Abbe Raynal, speaking of the kind which he terms Indian porcelain, says, " In the neighbourhood of Canton, they make porcelain, known to us under the name of Indian porcelain. The paste is easily worked, but in general the colours, the blue particularly, and the red of Mars, are very inferior to those which come from Japan and the interior of China. All the colours, except the blues, project from the surface, and are generally ill applied. One sees the purple only on this china, which has made people fancy it is painted in Holland. The greater part of the cups, plates, and other pieces brought over by our traders, come from this manufactory, less esteemed in China than in our country are those of earthenware." We quote this passage, in which each word is an error, only to prove what distrust the inquirer should bring to the interpretation of old books. Here is a writer who takes the entrepot for a manufactory, who speaks of the enamelled character of a pottery painted in thin fusible colours, which he declares to be of inferior quality, without perceiving that it is not the kind that is despised, but the debasement of the workmanship, inevitable consequence of a shameful speculation. (d) Indian Porcelain with Flowers. What characterises this division is the special nature or particular delineation of the varieties of flowers. The principal kinds are the chrysanthemum, rose, pink, jagged poppy, and double anemone, light diminutive flowers, cinerarias, and more rarely the celosia or cocks- comb. To work up his flowers, the artist uses hatches of carmine upon pink, black upon grey, rust upon yellow, and he heightens his leaves with unnatural black strokes. When the bouquets are surrounded with partial grounds they are mostly like those of the preceding division. Yet there is one, quite special, a rich embroidery of flowers, and foliage in white enamel, which forms upon the vitreous glaze a kind of damask work, without gloss, of the most charming effect. The appearance of this embroidery is so distinguished that many excessively fine pieces have received no other decoration. The Indian porcelain with flowers is the most common in the JAPAN. 99 Oriental market. Complete services exist with European arms, which proves how much the orders given, even at an epoch approaching our own, must have had its influence upon the workshop. Let us then endeavour to discover the seat of this manufacture, and why the name given to its products has lent itself to such singular interpretations. Indian porcelain does not come from Hindostan ; its Japanese origin admits of no doubt to him who seriously studies these facts. When, after having vainly attempted to open a route towards the extreme East, by the north and the Polar sea, the Dutch ventured to launch their ships into the ocean, their States-General felt the danger of isolated enterprise in presence of the formidable Portuguese fleet. In 1602 was founded the East India Company of the United Provinces, with the view of supporting the Dutch navigators, and of raising the interests of commerce beyond the seas, to the height of a national enterprise. Under the impulse of this company the Low Countries had soon the first navy in the world. More than sixty years afterwards, in 1664, when the Dutch were firmly established in the East, France also desired to found an East India Company, but neither the genius of Colbert nor the talent and bravery of the officers selected to found it and to defend the factories, were able to contend against adverse circumstances. The company fell in the eighteenth century, and the whole monopoly of the commerce of the East was left to the Company of the United Provinces. Its principal centre for the porcelain trade was Japan, and by virtue of special treaties, going back to 1609, the Dutch alone exported it for all the markets of Europe. In 1664, even at the moment when Louis XIV. conceded a privilege for the commerce of the East, there arrived in Holland "44,943 pieces of very rare Japanese porcelain. In the same year there were sent from Batavia, in the month of December, 16.580 other pieces of porcelain, of various kinds, collected by the Dutch Company." Would one wish to know what was the effect of the Dutch merchants upon the manufacture itself, here is what we learn in the ' Ambassades meWables ' : " Whilst the Sieur Wagenaar was preparing to return to Batavia, he received 21,567 pieces of white porcelain ; and a month pre- viously a large quantity had been sent from Desima which had not a great sale, because there were not enough flowers upon them. For several years the Japanese have applied themselves . to these kinds of works with great assiduity. They have become so skilful at it, that not H 2 IOO HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. only the Dutch but the Chinese themselves buy of them. The Sieur Wagenaar, a great connoisseur, and very skilled in th'ese kinds of works, invented a flower upon a blue ground, which was thought so beautiful, that of two hundred pieces upon which he caused it to be painted all were sold immediately, so that there was not a shop which was not well furnished with them." What revelations ! This Wagenaar, a long time representative of Holland at Japan, had deserved a recompense for his services, and had conceded to him, for a certain number of years, the monopoly of the porcelain trade, and there he is trafficking with the manufactories, setting up workshops for decoration, and modifying, in the interests of his speculations, the native genius of a whole people ; he invents designs because the Japanese pottery is not to his taste, " there are not enough flowers." And, to their disgrace be it spoken, one finds people ready to applaud these absurdities and assert that the Orientals improve by contact with our artists. Accomplices in these enormities, the nobility, not satisfied with ordering their arms to be affixed to the services for their use, also send drawings more or less roughly executed, which the poor Japanese artists render with the most minute detail, copying all the defects with the greatest accuracy; then, when the porcelain returns from the Dutch factory upon Dutch vessels, we find writers who ask if the workshops whence these things issue are at Canton, or in any other town of China. With such documents, let us then seek to set right the history of this pseudo-ceramic, and give a meaning to its name. The only means of arriving at the truth is to forget books, and to compare the products with each other so as to establish their date and derivation. In the Indian porcelain with flowers, we have to distinguish between the national and the mercantile work ; many pieces, with grounds either embroidered, enamelled, or of starch blue celadon, are ornamented with extreme delicacy. A particular decoration, which we call " variegated leaved," is very brilliant, and might have found grace even in the eyes of the Puritan Wagenaar. The principal subject is a group of pointed leaves, some in blue under the glaze, others of a pale green, or of a pink and yellow enamelled ; at the base of the tuft expands a large ornamental flower, with notched pink petals, lined with yellow ; the heart, forming a centre, is yellow or greenishstreaked with pink ; not- withstanding the indentations which overload it, it is easy to recognise the flower as an anona or custard apple. The leaves would lead one to sup- pose them by their form and size to be those of a chestnut tree, while their JAPAN. 101 Fig. 28. colour recalls the tricolor plane tree, so beloved by the Orientals, and which decks itself with tufts, varying from light green to red, passing through the intermediary tints. Behind these leaves, and upon the edge of the pieces, appear light and delicate small enamelled flowers of iron- red, yellow, rose, or blue. If this decoration occurs frequently upon the services sent from Japan for Euporean use, it is to be met with much more carefully executed upon jars and large vases, where the flower of the anona, variegated leaves, and wreaths of flowers encircle the splendid fong-hoang of bright and harmonious plumage, still recalling their artistic origin. We have also met the special flowers of the Indian porcelain upon reticulated vases (Fig. 28) of which the open sides of vigorous iron-red formed a frame to medallions of elaborate and soft painting. Section 4. — Special Fabeications. We come to the exceptional pot- tery of the Japanese, in which we see their native genius and their great supremacy over the Chinese. In the first rank, let us place lacquered porcelain. Lacquer, as we know, is a resinous gum which exudes from certain trees, and from which the hardest of varnish is made ; it is called in China, tsi-chan, and is extracted from the Augia sinensis; in Japan, it is derived fr om the Rhus vernix, and has the name of Ourousi-no-Jci. This precious varnish is applied in Japan to every kind of material and, in particular, to porce- lain, on which, with inlaid mother-of-pearl, the most delicate pictures are produced. This is what is called " porcelaine laquee burgaute'e." Let us explain the exact meaning of this name : the " burgau " is a univalve shell, Turbo marmoratus; its blackish epidermis incloses a mother-of-pearl, which, before navigation brought us the Haliotides and Meleagrinae mother-of-pearl of the Indies and America, our inlayers used for their incrustrations. The habit once acquired, the word RETICULATED VASE WITH FLOWERS IN RELIEF. 102 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. " burgau " has served to designate all works in mother-of-pearl, of whatever material. The decoration of the burgaute' lacquer is generally rustic, consisting of a pearly landscape upon a black, velvet-like ground. Minute pieces are skilfully cut out, and coloured underneath, so as to heighten the effect of the mother-of-pearl. One can scarcely comprehend human patience arriving at the point of cutting out one by one the leaves of a tree or bamboo, the feathers of a bird, the shining particles destined to imitate the pebbly bank of a river or the broken sides of a rock. The combining and putting together of these pieces show no less talent than dexterity. Narrow filaments, flexible as the hairs of a brush, trace out the clouds and water, while the trees, mountains and ground are rendered by mosaics variously coloured. The animals, the birds par- ticularly, are modelled as if with the pencil ; the form of the pieces is well combined to express the foreshortenings and retreat of the different parts, giving movement to the whole and expressing the smallest details. Often a mountainous landscape divided by water covers the surface of the vases ; upon the bowls, we find more particularly low plains and shores frequented by web-footed birds. The Japanese have not always used their porcelain as a vehicle for lacquer-work. We have found under a dish this inscription : " Made during the Tching-hoa period (1465-1487) of the great dynasty of the Ming," and another under a little bowl, " Made during the Yu-tching (1723-1735) of the great Thsing dynasty." From these we may con- clude that the lacquer makers found any kind of porcelain fit for their work, and particularly that which was of a rough, thick, close paste, which dilates least from changes of temperature. To secure the perfect adhesion of the varnish, it is sometimes laid upon it in the biscuit state. We could not say whether, in this case, the workman has not removed the glaze by the wheel, previous to applying the lacquer (ourousi-no-ki). By the side of this curious porcelain there is one not less sur- prising, only lately known in Europe ; it is that which is covered over with cloisonne enamel. Fine metallic meanders, placed edgeways, describe mosaics, arabesques and flowers, which are filled with vitrifiable coloured powders; after having passed it in the kiln to make the enamel adhere, the piece is polished to give it a smooth and even surface. How porcelain is able to resist these operations, notwithstanding its fragility, we have difficulty in understanding ; it is a feat of dexterity accomplished for the sole satisfaction of the artist, JAPAN. 103 for a similar effect is produced by employing copper, the customary excipient. According to Oriental works, crackle china would go back to a very remote period. Writers state, "Ancient crackle vases are much esteemed in Japan, where to acquire real crackled vases, they do not hesitate at one thousand ounces of silver (300Z.). It is not known under what dynasty they began to make incense burners of crackle porcelain. Under the foot is an iron nail, which is very brilliant and never rusts." We have never met with any incense burners with the nail, but we have seen J apanese grey crackle vases enamelled with field flowers. Also, a tea-pot of calf-coloured crackle which almost entirely disappeared under its lacquer decoration, the upper part, with a ground of veined wood, was decorated with gold lacquer in relief, mixed with several touches of vermilion; subject, the sea-shore, with the Fousi-yama or sacred mountain, in the horizon. Detached landscapes, in gold lacquer, orna- mented also a cylindrical crackle vase. Lastly, a kind tolerably frequent, and of undoubted origin, consists of little vases, of a ferru- ginous, blackish paste, overlaid with a yellow or chamois enamel, so finely crackled, that it might be classed among the truites. These, of graceful form, and elegant modellings, are relieved with multitu- dinous bands of bamboo, modelled in relief with a black paste. We do not speak, be it well understood, of the truite kind known since the eighteenth century under the name of "truite ventre de biche." This, now very generally diffused, is a fine stoneware pro- duced in the fabric of the prince of Satsuma; it is relieved with subjects, flowers, arabesques, in various enamels and gold. Large vases, night lamps with escutcheons, bowls, cups, pi-tongs, and even statuettes of modem fabrication, have enabled us to judge of the taste of the present Japanese artists. The Satsuma stonewares are the more sober in ornamentation the nearer they approach ancient times. If the crackles and truites were made at Nippon, one may suppose the same of other celadon glazes, yet we have never met any pieces of sea-green glaze which might with certainty be assigned to Japan. As to the grey-blue celadon, styled starch blue, it is to be seen in large vases and polygonal jardinieres with flat edges ; it overlays generally a special decoration laid upon the biscuit, composed of dark blue lines, copper red, and some touches or heightenings in white "slip." When covered by the coloured glaze, this decoration is very harmonious ; one often sees thus executed bouquets of flowers, bamboos, or peach trees in flower, with white-breasted birds flying round them which are HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. easily recognised as swallows. Upon certain polygonal vases these designs alternate with long legends in curious Japanese writing. Among the exceptional productions should be placed a class of porcelains, few in number and so singular in character, one would almost hesitate in calling them Oriental. Of a date which may refer to the seventeenth century, they appear to owe their creation to the enthusiasm excited among the Japanese at the sight of certain pro- ductions brought from Europe. We find in this decoration the scrolls of acanthus, canopies and interfacings, so frequent in the ornamentation of the furniture, carpets and tissues of the period of Louis XIII. and Louis XIV., and also flowers and insects of species foreign to Oriental painters. Thus on plates and cups we see within a richly-bordered frame a bouquet of iris on which velvet caterpillars are climbing, while butterflies flutter around. Gigantic vases, the one belonging to the Baroness James de Rothschild, the other to the Due d'Aremberg, are covered with scrolls, flowers and arabesques, with imitations of arms and emblems, to which only appears to be wanting the motto of Louis XIV., Nec pluribus impar. Other pieces no less extraordinary, with black ground ornamented with gold, and of a style and delicacy quite exceptional, have in reserved medallions Oriental personages of European composition for subjects; such as a negro blowing the horn, and another crowned with feathers sounding the trumpet. And what adds to the perplexity that these porcelains cause in the mind of the inquirer is, there are some of which the subjects are national ; such as a feast where the men, well characterised as belonging to the noble class of Japan, and arrayed in robes of the consecrated colours, eat fish served upon a low table, in the middle of a garden ; such again is the subject representing the preparatory ceremony of a mar- riage, the intermediary party asking the consent of the girl, while the fathers are making the most advantageous arrangements. Here, in a complete series of vases of analogous make, appear grounds yellow, white, or lilac, relieved by a lozenge pattern with diamond points, a plume of feathers, and other insignia, which appear to possess a heraldic signification. CO RE A. CHAPTER III. COBEA. To all appearance, it would have been natural to have spoken of the Coreans before the Chinese and Japanese, since written documents point out these last as tributaries of the first as regards ceramic art. But, on examining facts, one soon sees that the Corean teaching refers only to painted porcelain, the least ancient of all in the extreme East. This established, how then define Corean porcelain ? how distinguish it from its imitations ? This has been our criterion ; in China, Japan, and even in Europe, a particular uniform type has often served as model to painters on porcelain ; a heap of graminse concealing the base of some plant, vines laden with grapes, a kind of squirrel, fantastic birds, such is the basis of the decoration, generally executed in enamels of small number. In comparing the pieces which bear this archaic decoration, we soon remark that there is a certain number of them of which the snow- white paste is without gloss, with uneven but not vitreous glaze. The vases, generally of polygonal form, are of simple outline ; jars (potiches) of eight sides, barrel-shaped or slightly thinner at the base, with the neck narrowed and lid depressed ; cisterns and compotiers, with flat rims like those of our plates, the extreme edge turned up and coloured with an edge of deep brown ; boxes for tea, rather tall, square at the base, or with truncated angles, terminated by a cylindrical spout ; hemispherical bowls, quart goblets, cylindrical or octagonal vessels, these are what we most often meet. In the decoration, most of the natural objects depart from pure imitation and take a conventional disposition ; one occasionally sees several vegetable species io6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. often repeated, such as the iris, chrysanthemum, peony, bamboo, peach- tree in flower (Fig. 29). The peacock, characterised by the eyes of his sweeping tail, and another bird resembling the argus pheasant, generally replace the sacred fong-hoang. The dragon is rare, the crane not common; in other words, the symbolic animals are almost exceptional. The borders are very simple ; consisting of the zigzag, or shark's tooth, the Greek, Fig. 29. COREAN JAR (POTICHE) OP PERSIAN DECORATION. and a kind of scroll, of which the whorls, more or less close together, can be multiplied according to the will of the artist, to form grounds of great richness. The decorating materials are few, and distributed sparingly. Iron- red of a rich pure tint, pale copper-green almost blueish, pale yellow, black and gold, are all the pallet of the painter. The colours, laid CO RE A. 107 over the glaze, often form a relief. The red is thin and well glazed, nor has the black, restricted to certain surfaces, any thickness ; it is most often used to outline or surround with a thick stroke the figur is, leaves, etc. The gold, which is more solid, is always much darker than in other Oriental potteries. The subjects, confined to a small number of persons, are sometimes Japanese, sometimes Chinese ; in the first case, we see dai'rian digni- taries with the wide robes and head-dresses, insignia of their rank ; sometimes we recognise empresses with bare feet and hanging hair ; that is, in the manner in which they are required to appear in the presence of the Mikado. It is only by this double character that one recognises that this archaic porcelain comes from a country intermediate between China and Japan, and which, working for both emperors, has been able to give up to commerce products of which the sale elsewhere would have been considered as sacrilege. Fig. 30. COREAN TEAPOT DECORATED WITH THE JAPANESE KIRI-MON. Charming teapots in the form of leaves, covered with gravings in the paste imitating the waves of the ocean, show four times repeated the figure of the imperial Japanese Jciri-mon (Fig. 30). These pieces, therefore, were destined for the Mikado. If one would thence conclude that they came from Nippon, we would answer, that one is decorated with Chinese figures ; and that a bowl of identical fabrication, enriched io8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. with bouquets of ornamental symmetrical flowers, is inscribed beneath with a Chinese nien-hao, indicating the Kia-thsing period (1522-1566). Had Chi-tsong ordered it for his use or received it as a tribute ? for Corea was for a long time under the protectorate of China and Japan. These then, among the pieces of archaic decoration, are those which we must recognise as the prototype, and of which the Corean origin remains incontestable : a paste particularly white, without gloss and with glaze less vitreous than that used in China and Japan, enamelled decoration in soft and few colours, with mixed subjects, sometimes Japanese, sometimes Chinese, and sometimes uniting emblems borrowed from both nationalities, forming an aspect so peculiar that the eye cannot be deceived between the original and the copy, when fully penetrated with its true archaic character. The Corean pieces have a grandeur and simplicity of style which must have charmed our ancestors; hence it is that this primitive porcelain was imitated at Saint-Cloud, Chantilly, Mennecy, and Sevres ; Saxony copied it with such fidelity, that there are certain speci- mens calculated to deceive even a connoisseur. Corean porcelain, coming into Europe among the first sent from Japan, remained confounded with the works of Nippon. Julliot, one of the most intelligent dealers in curiosities of the eighteenth century, qualifies this kind as " ancient Japan porcelain, first quality coloured," and speaks of it in the following terms : " This porcelain, of which the composition is entirely lost, has always had the advantage of inspiring the greatest sensation among amateurs by the fine grain of its beautiful white paste, the attractive lightness and softness of its dead red, the velvet of its bright green and dark sky-blue colours ; such is the true recognised merit of this porcelain; therefore, all superior collections have been and are composed of it, which alone makes its eulogium." This enthusiastic definition is quite conformable to the characters given above. That Julliot should have supposed the secret of archaic porcelain to be lost is not surprising, since the country where he thought it to have originated no longer sent any. It was a merchandise imported from Japan, where the first traders had been able to collect it, but where it speedily disappeared. Yet it is believed that porcelain was long made in the Corea. A prince of the house of Mori, Feru-Moto, sent, as late as the seventeenth cenfeury, Corean potters to make at Fagui, in the province of Nagato, pieces called Fagui-yaki. CO RE A. There exist, in effect, vases where the blue under the glaze, accom- panying the other colours, would appear to indicate certain foreign in- fluence ; one finds civil figures imitated from those of Japan, then a whole series of pieces of heavy paste abundant in fluxes, with a vitreous, blueish glaze, having reliefs sealed or applied. The under part retains the impression of the coarse linen upon which the paste has been worked. In this series, we find tea fountains, figurative pieces representing a cuttle-fish upon a rock, surrounded by water ; pi-tongs resembling the trunk of a tree, round which entwines a vine or which is overspread by branches of the pine or the flowering peach. If this fabrication is posterior to the other kinds, it cannot have lasted very long, for at the moment when the commerce of Holland was at the height of its power, the Corea, debased by conquest, could not suffice for its own requirements. At the present day, according to the report of the missionaries, the ceramic production exists no longer, even within the remembrance of the oldest inhabitants. I IO HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. BOOK III. ASIATIC CONTINENT. CHAPTER I. ASSYBIA— BABYLON— ASIA MINOB. Herodotus states that the walls of Ecbatana, in Media, were painted of seven colours. If it may be permitted to suppose that this relates to vitrified colours upon terra-cotta, the origin of coating with various colours would refer to a very high antiquity in Asia Minor. It is not improbable that such was the case ; we have specimens now existing in our museums, from Nineveh and Babylon (Fig. 31). Taking as the mini- mum of the age of the Babylonian bricks the period of the destruction of the city by Darius, we arrive at the year B.C. 522, a respectable date, inferior though it be to those of the monuments of Egypt. Babylonian bricks are of earth, slightly fired, of a yellowish white, passing into rose ; the designs on their surface are not enamelled, but of a glaze composed of an alkaline silicate of alumina, without any trace of lead or tin ; the clay is not entirely covered over, but reserved in some places, it adds by its flesh colour to the variety of the painting, in which the predominant colour is the turquoise-blue of the Egyptians, blueish grey, deeper than sky-blue, a white more or less pure, heightened by some yellowish paint, due, no doubt, to a ferruginous ochre. Rosettes, palmettes, series of oval and other symmetrical dispositions approaching to Greek art, such is the general style of the ornamented bricks, and of the ceramic fragments gathered in Phoenicia, Assyria, Armenia, and even in ancient Persia. These remains, together with beads worked in enamel and glass, prove to what a point of advancement the art of vitrification had reached in these countries. But bricks were not only decorated with arabesques. According ASSYRIA— BABYLON— ASIA MINOR. to Ctesias and Diodorus, they were covered with subjects of the chase. In the excavations made at Khorsabad upon the site of the ancient Fig. 81. ENAMELLED BABYLON TAN BRICKS (MUSEUM OF THE LOUVBE). Assyrian palace, M. Place, the French consul, laid open, behind a colonnade, a wall still standing twenty-one feet long and five feet high, entirely faced with painted bricks, representing men, animals, and trees. Mr. Kennet Loftus, the first European who has visited the ruins of Warka, in Mesopotamia, found there enamelled earth employed for civil purposes. This is what he says on the subject : " Warka is without doubt the Erech of Scripture, the second city of Nimroud, or the Orchoe of the Chaldseans ; the rubbish to be seen within the interior of the walls offers great interest to the historian and the antiquarian. This rubbish is literally composed of coffins piled upon each other to the height of forty-five feet. This town has evidently been the great burial place of generations of the Chaldseans, as Meshad-Ali and Kerbella are, in our time, the cemeteries of the Persians. The coffins are strangely constructed, they have generally the form of a slipper bath, but more depressed and symmetrical, with a large oval aperture to admit the body, which is closed with a lid of earthenware. The coffins themselves are of baked clay, covered with green glaze, and embossed with figures of warriors with strange enormous head-dresses, dressed in a short tunic, and underneath a kind of long jupon, a sword at their side, their arms resting upon their hips, and their legs apart. Quantities of pottery and earthen figures, some modelled with great delicacy, have been found with these coffins, which contain inside an enormous quantity of gold ornaments, silver, iron, copper, glass, etc." We have not seen an example of the coffins described above ; but the description alone places before our mind the Assyrian monuments of the Louvre, and those warriors of powerful gait, leading their prisoners in gigantic processions upon the friezes of the palaces of Sargon and Sardanapalus. 112 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Such would have been the first form of art in Asia Minor, a form explained in some manner by the contrast and struggles with Egyptian civilisation. Later Greece came in her turn, to impart the poetry of her conceptions to those people so easily accessible to high inspirations. We find evidence of this conquest in our rich collections. M. Langlois has brought from Tarsus, in Cilicia, terra-cottas, with embossed ornaments of a fine green, which have the purity of style, the breadth and severity of Greek art. One of the fragments belongs to those vases, in the form of a fir cone, imitated later in Persia, and which were the model of the primitive wares of Deruta in Italy ; the others are portions of elegant cups, ornamented with mouldings, wreaths, and tasteful scrolls. The potter even aspired higher, he desired to add to the richness of his reliefs a variety of tints; the inside enamel was not the same as the outside ; a yellow border would sometimes relieve the bright green ground. Two specimens especially, prove to what a high degree of excellence art had attained ; here a fine comic mask of a golden yellow, shaded by red tints extending over the ears, eyelids, and the arch of the eyebrow, these last heightened with a thick black stroke, which indicates the line of the eyelashes ; this judicious poly chromic application giving the piece an almost natural animation. Further is the fragment of a vase of which the projecting circumference, tinted in green, comes out vigorously upon a golden yellow glaze. The embossed ornamentation consists, first, of a frieze of trilobed leaves between the points of which project half-beads, alternately red and brown ; below, a scroll forms a crown, of which the cut and incised leaves are opposed successively to a kind of red fruit. Nothing can be imagined more elegant than this work, composed after the style of the rich productions of the ancient glass-works, and obtained with the vulgar elements of our coarse pottery. After seeing the ceramic art attain such a height, we have no longer to occupy ourselves with the long vexed questions among archseologists, whether the Greeks and Romans were acquainted with the ceramic glazes, whether they applied this knowledge to their lamps or the interior of their water pipes ; and if a certain potter of Schlestadt was the inventor of this glaze in the thirteenth century. How is it these advanced practices should be in the possession of countries con- quered by the Greeks, when the Hellenic centre was satisfied with its lustred pottery ? Familiar from early times with the beauty of outline and with the severity of simple compositions, the Greeks did not feel the want of the lively tints furnished by vitreous colours, tones on ASSYRIA—BABYLON— ASIA MINOR. 113 the other hand in such perfect keeping with the luxurious vestments, the furniture encrusted with gold and precious stones, of the satraps of the East. It is in ascending or crossing the Euphrates and the Tigris that we reach the real country of dazzling ceramics, and rich enamelled terra-cottas, which are applied to the decoration of the temples and palaces. Why is it that the elements are wanting to build up the interesting history of art in Asia Minor ? Where are the works of its successive conquerors, and especially of the Sassanian dynasty, who have left in the country such lively remembrances of their rule ? At Rhodes and other localities have been found some ribbed phials, covered with turquoise-blue glaze, -$ig. 32. resembling the products of ancient Egypt (Fig. 32) ; but these isolated examples, without character in themselves, serve only to prove the parentage of silicious pottery, and its irradiation from the Pharaonic soil towards Persia and India. We must therefore rapidly traverse these grievous gaps, in order to arrive at new-born Islamism, and, following its development, see a new manifestation of ancient ribbed vase of turquoise the resources of the human mind. blue, found at rhodes. Mahomet, an obscure native of Mecca, began preaching an unknown religious doctrine. On Friday, 6th of July, 622, he is obliged to flee his native city, where his opinions are ill received. He takes refuge at Medina, and is there hailed as an apostle. Soon surrounded by numerous followers, he returns to Mecca at the head of an army, and enters it as a conqueror. In 631, he takes possession of a part of Syria, and his death, which took place in 632, hardly stops the success of his arms, Abubekr, one of his fathers-in-law, assumes the title of caliph or vizier, and renders himself master of Syria ; the other, Omar, invades Egypt. In 644, Othman, a general, seizes Persia from Yesdejerde II. ; the last Sassanian king. The Ommaiades found the king- dom of Kairwan on the north of Africa, and conquer Spain. The Abassides are masters of all Western Asia, and from this period begin the incessant struggles of Christianity to set up a barrier against the encroachments of the followers of the Koran. The first care of the victorious Arabs was to raise everywhere edifices ii4 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. for the new religion, or to appropriate for its exercise those of the people they had conquered About 707, a tomb is consecrated at Medina to Mahomet, and is covered with earthenware plaques, one of which is in the Ceramic Musuem at Sevres ; now this plaque, similar in its compo- sition to the pieces we find in Persia, is like them, coloured with silico- alkaline glazes, blue and green, heightened with black. This, then, is a type of pure Arab fabrication applied to buildings, and the monuments of Konieh, in Asia Minor, built in 1074 to 1275 by Kilidji-Arslan and Ala-Eddin, offer us wall-tiles of the same kind. The minaret of the mosque of Nice, built in 1389, which is the most western example of Arabic art, will show us similar decorations. But these are evidently only the special application of an advanced art, capable of doing more and better. By the side of these bright- coloured bricks, of brilliant and lustred surface, which, when arranged in geometric segments, form elegant mosaics of decided colours, there must have been a fabric of painted plaques with coloured reliefs, and also a considerable production of vessels for use or decoration. We know that the Seljukian princes caused to be brought from Persia and Arabia, not only literati and poets, but also artists, capable of raising, by their talent, the splendour of the public monu- ments. Large manufactories of faiences and enamelled tiles were established at Nice and Broussa ; that of Damascus had a reputation which penetrated as far as Europe, and caused Oriental pottery to be prized as precious gems. The tomb raised at Broussa to Mahomet in the fourteenth century, allows us to form a judgment upon the decorative style of the artists of Asia Minor at that period, and on the ingenious processes of the Rouma- nian potters. The casing tiles placed on the exterior of the monument were moulded in relief and painted, a special mode of decoration applied, as it is said, for the first time. The ground of a metallic brown, seme with scrolls in reserve, have fine projecting inscriptions in blue, surmounted by birds, upon the friezes, later destroyed with the hammer by the fanatic disciples of Omar. Other tiles presented arabesque combina- tions, the outline of which, described by a "cloisonne" line, incloses coloured enamels, forming a relief in their central part, and diminishing towards the outline. In the interior the arched roofs and the ceilings are decorated with monochrome pieces, describing vast mosaics ; but the walls overlaid with plaques, painted on a flat surface, show two different arrangements ; the one not only imitates the style of the Byzantine cloisonne' enamels, but also the mingled tints to be seen in ASSYRIA— BABYLON— ASIA MINOR. "5 the covers of the gospels, shrines, and other works of the goldsmith ; composite leaves, or palmettes, a green passing to shaded yellow, a lively blue passing to white through sky-blue, a violet degraded to lilac, etc. The other tiles, in the Persian style, are specialised by fluid pale colours. Is it, as thinks M. Charles Texier, upon the tomb of Mahomet at Broussa that we must seek for the first application of earthenware painted in relief ? We have seen at a public sale a vase (potiche) deco- rated with friezes superposed on which were figures of musicians in stoop- ing positions, playing various instruments, nimbed warriors on horse- back, various animals and birds, some real, others imaginary, each group enclosed with ornamental palms of a peculiar style, and all detached from a golden copper network ground, with small reserved scrolls; the animals and vestments were themselves heightened with gilded scrolls or convo- lutions upon the greyish white ground of the pottery. A single glance at this piece at once recalls the most ancient Arabic conceptions; such as the baptismal font of St. Louis, and other vessels in damascened laten, on which are the same hunting subjects and the same symbolic animals ; it would appear therefore impossible that this vase should not be anterior to the fourteenth century. It is also probable that the Arab fabrication, perhaps anterior to the thirteenth century, prolonged itself for a long time, and that it has been carried from these primitive centres to very distant countries. Among the most marvellous specimens of Oriental art are to be cited the lamps, or rather the lamp shades of enamelled glass, which, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century, it was the custom to suspend as ex votos in the mosques of Asia Minor, Egypt, and Persia. The oldest of these lamps have their chains of suspension united by an earthenware egg of turquoise blue or white, painted blue; but the potters have not confined themselves there ; some of them have made the lamp itself in faience, with white inscriptions laudatory or dedicatory, " en reserve," standing out upon a bold ground, damascened with fine ver- micular ornaments also in reserve. We give the figure (Plate V.) of a magnificent specimen of the fifteenth century, belonging to M. Charles Schefer, our learned Orientalist ; the maker of this lamp has transmitted his name, Us Elainy Ettoureizy. We have found the same decoration as that of this lamp upon a less ancient dish, belonging to Dr. Mandl, and upon several other specimens, impressed with a relative freshness and much more recent. Which is the centre where this style of work was produced ? We 1 2 n6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Fig. 33. GOURD OF NOAH, SILICIOUS BLUE FAIENCE. scarcely dare affirm, for Asia Minor has made many, and in very varied styles. We owe to the kindness of M. Natalis Kondot, a piece remarkably approaching the silicious pottery of Egypt and Persia ; it is a lenticular gourd, with small cylindrical neck, evidently meant to contain wine (Fig. 33). According to the tradition current in the country, these vessels which are in great vene- ration, would go back to such remote antiquity, that it was by one of them that Noah was betrayed into the first act of inebriety recorded in history. Unlikely as this may be, this legend proves at least the distant ages of vessels of this class, of which the parentage certainly is to be referred to one of the manufactures more or less ancient of Anatolia. The most curious specimen which these afford us is an egg of suspension (Fig. 34), a complement to the glass lamps, which has painted on its white enamel figures of cherubim and crosslets, announcing the influence of Christian art. This is an evident imitation of the decorative style to be seen upon the pendants of the cupolo of St. Sophia, at Constantinople ; and if we can carry back the egg, now in the possession of Baron Davillier, to the time of Justinian, this little piece evidences the power of a tradition which is perpetuated in the school of Mount Athos. Kutahia still produces pieces of similar paste, decorated with the same enamels, and which are the last mani- festations of an art of which the egg of suspension may be considered as the point of departure. We see in it the succession of those bowls, lozenged in relief in their white parts; of those charming perfume burners, terminated in mosque-shaped cupolas (Fig. 35) ; of those elegant bell-shaped cups, to be used with presentoirs, with large flat borders, decorated in lively enamels, combined in borders, bouquets, and arabesques, recalling the taste of the textiles of Cashmere. With respect to the works produced at Damascus, the brevity Fig. 34. EGG OF SILICIOUS FAIENCE (COLLECTION OF BARON DAVILLIER). / Plate V. — ASIA MINOR. Faience — Votive Lamp from a Mosque, XVth Century. Collection Scheffer. FfLienardjrap ASSYRIA— BABYLON— ASIA MINOR. 117 of ancient inventories does not permit of determining their nature or style ; recent productions would not lead us to form a favour- able idea of them ; then we have seen the gey-chani brought from Syria by M. Charles Schefer, shallow bowls of common silicious earthen- ware, greyish and painted in crude enamels, with figures of birds hastily executed. Mr. Drury Fortnum, in a learned dissertation on a faience lamp Fig. 35. in his possession, expresses his opinion that his lamp may have issued from the manufactory at Damascus ; it is signed by its author, " The poor and humble Mustapha," and bears the date of the month of Jemazi-l-oola, 956, corresponding with June 1549. Now this was the epoch of the reign of Soleyman the Great (1520-1566), a period of intellectual revival for Tur- key and Syria. Soleyman having caused the Mosque of Omar to be restored and redecorated precisely in 1549, Mr. Drury Fortnum hence infers that incense buenee, faience op kutahia. his lamp may have been one of the ex votos executed at Damascus for the famous temple of Jerusalem. This theory is doubtless attractive, the date even of the piece gives it a serious support ; but if we must admit the Syrian origin of this lamp, we should still see in it a decoration of Persian art ; the make, the style, the colour, are what the finest specimens of Iranian pottery show us, and as the Seljukian princes went to seek in Persia ceramists to develop the art in Asia Minor, we could very easily understand that Soleyman had borrowed from the same source artists to illustrate his reign. Far be from us the thought expressed by some writers, that a country could not have produced such works of art, because travellers do not meet with them ; but, if at the end of the sixteenth century, Damascus had given birth to potteries so distinguished as the lamp of Mr. Drury Fortnum, one would find again the style in the monuments, and better still in the more recent works, and of certain origin, which are in the hands of the collector. n8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. CHAPTER II. PERSIA. Section 1. — History — Manners. The ceramic history of Persia is one of the most difficult to elucidate ; on one hand a variety of traditions, tracing back to antiquity and the Middle Ages, and proceeding from the extreme East, Greece, Asia Minor, and Arabia,, on the other, the absence of written documents, all force inquirers to a minute study, full of doubt and hesitation. The little that travellers have collected relative to the manufactures of Iran is a tissue of errors and of contradictory assertions ; the absence of special knowledge drives the old travellers to an inextricable phraseology whence it is difficult to bring out the truth ; while in the empty recitals of the modern the reader seeks in vain for the simplicity of narrative, which, though it fails completely to satisfy curiosity, at least inspires confidence. It cannot therefore create wonder that, sparing in quotations of which the value and real meaning would require to be fully discussed, we here depend entirely upon the works themselves to build up their history. First, it is necessary to throw a glance upon ancient Persian civilisa- tion, and see by what transformations their manners have passed into those of the present day. The Greeks make the annals of Iran to begin with Cyrus, but the Arabs go back to Kaiomars, king of the universe, in order to arrive at the legendary Rustam, hero of so many poetic tales and singular fables. Let us pass from this misty period to the reign of Guschtasp and to the events which render it the point of departure of Persian civilisation. At that period a real moral anarchy existed, the people were given up to idolatry and magic, when Zoroaster suddenly appeared, and established the religion and manners of the PERSIA. iig country. We will not speak of the phenomena which, according to tradition, took place at the birth of the philosopher ; nor will we say anything of his first appearance in the midst of the council of the sovereign when the floor of the room opened to give him entrance : we will only state that he brought a book called the ' Avesta,' written in the Zend language, containing the precepts of civil and religious law. The dogmas professed by Zoroaster are the existence of time without end, a first principle of all, existing by himself, and the creator of two secondary principles, Ormuzd and Ahriman, the first, author of all good, the second, source of all evil. Each of these two principles has a creative power which he exercises, naturally, for opposite ends. The good genii, man, and the useful animals, are creatures of Ormuzd ; the evil genii, noxious and venomous animals, are created by Ahri- man. The world is peopled with genii and intelligences, unceasingly occupied in preparing victory for the principle to which they belong ; the agents of Ormuzd seek to preserve the world and the human species, which the army of Ahriman is incessantly striving to destroy. It is superfluous to add that light is the emblem of Ormuzd, as darkness is the symbol of Ahriman. The reasonable beings produced by the good principle, men or genii, are intimately united to a spiritual substance designated under the name of ferouker. Animals have neither soul' nor ferouker. This last is distinct from intelligence and other faculties of the soul ; it is the principle of sensation. These spiritual substances existed long before the creation of man, and unite themselves to him at the moment of his birth and leave him at his death. They contend against the evil genii created by Ahriman, and are the cause of the preservation of beings. After death the ferouker lives united to the soul ; and under- goes a judgment which decides its fate ; good conduct alone then assures man happiness in another life. But at the last, every created being, men and genii, not excepting Ahriman himself, will be' con- verted to the law of Ormuzd, and the wicked, purified by the fire of hell, will share with the just an eternal happiness which will be preceded by the resurrection of the body. This religion being based upon the antagonism of the two principles of good and evil, one does not wonder at meeting upon most monuments it has inspired this antagonism expressed by the wrestling of the lion and the bull. In reality, it is not iconoclastic, and there is nothing contrary to it in the figuration of man and the animals ; it is the super- 120 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. stition of the sects devoted to magic which has led to a belief in the danger of human representation, because the image of a being may be subjected to enchantments and tortures which act directly upon the individual himself. The cypress is often represented, this tree sym- bolising to Zoroaster and his disciples the soul aspiring to heaven. It was also the emblem of their religion, and, besides the fire temples he caused to be erected everywhere, the philosopher-legislator also planted at Balkh a cypress, brought, he said, from Paradise, and upon which he engraved these words, " Guschtasp has embraced the true religion." The king raised round the tree a marble pavilion, covered with a dome, and resplendent with jewels and precious metals. Into this pavilion, called Menou, that is, celestial, was deposited a copy of the Zenda vesta, and it became a place of judgment for the Iranian converts to the new religion. The spiritualism of the religion of Zoroaster adapted itself wonder- fully to the cast of mind of the Iranians, hence it rooted itself deeply in the masses and could be extirpated only by violence. When towards the year 650 of our era, the Mussulmans became masters of Persia, with that inexorable fanaticism which constitutes the principal strength of Islamism, they sought to impose their faith upon the conquered, and violently persecuted those who dared to resist them. Some of the disciples of Zoroaster preferred renouncing their country rather than the religion of their fathers ; they first descended along the shores of the Persian Gulf and ultimately retired into India, where they formed a special centre of fire-worshippers under the name of Parsis, or Parsees. This emigration is one of the most curious facts in Persian history. In accepting Islamism, the Persians ranged themselves in the sect of Schiites, distinguished from the Sunnites by an idea more political than religious ; the last acknowledge, as legitimate successors of Mahomet, the three first caliphs, Abubekr, Omar, and Osman ; the others regard these caliphs as usurpers, and maintain that Ali, son-in-law of Mahomet, is heir to the temporal and spiritual powers of his father-in-law. The admiration of the Schiites for Ali goes so far as to assign to him a character of sanctity equal or superior to that with which Heaven had invested Mahomet. This opinion was made the pretext of sanguinary wars between the Turks and Persians. Like all Mussulmans the Iranians admit six articles of faith. 1. The belief in one sole God ; 2. In angels and archangels ; 3. In all the inspired writings ; the principal are the Pentateuch, Psalms, Gospels, and PERSIA. 121 Koran ; 4. In the prophets ; 5. In the resurrection of the body and in judgment ; 6. In predestination. Has the conversion to Islamism been sincere in every rank of society in Persia ? The doubt is allowable, and we may rest it upon the main- tenance of certain national festivities which have resisted Mussulman intolerance ; such is the Nourouz, or festival of the vernal equinox, the king and the people preferring to incur the reproach of impiety rather than abolish one of the most ancient institutions of the country. The pretext under which it has been maintained is it being the anniversary of the elevation of Ali to the caliphate. The day of the Nourouz every one puts on his best clothes ; they visit, embrace each other, and then exchange presents ; the king goes out in procession and reviews his troops, all, in short, is movement and joy. The festival may be compared to that of the new year among the nations of the West. The time of the flowering of the tulip is one of great domestic rejoicing. The Persians have a passion for flowers ; the poets, not satisfied with singing their beauty, give them a language which has now become common. Plants are in Persia, as it were, an open book to the unlettered ; those who cannot wield the calamus or writing reed correspond by means of expressive nosegays, called selams. In this special language the tulip expresses love, and Chardin relates having seen, in the king's palace at Ispahan, a vase decorated with this flower and bearing the following inscription : " I have taken the tulip for emblem ; like it, my face is on fire, and my heart like a coal." At the feast of tulips, the most curious varieties are exhibited in the interior of the harem ; the women adorn themselves, the lights shine, music mixes its accents to the concert of human voices, and thus breaks the listless monotony of a cloistered life. If the rose has not its special fete, poets reserve to it the place of honour in their songs. Sadi has consecrated to it these charming lines : " One day I saw some roses and some fresh grass lying side by side. And I said, ' How has the vile herb dared to seat itself near the sweet-smelling rose?' The grass answered, 'Be silent: the generous heart does not forget its old friends. Although I do not equal the perfume or the beauty of the rose, we are not the less born upon the same soil.' " Since we have made a first step into the domain of Persian literature, let us go on in order to recall all that can explain or give interest to the vases. Persia is particularly fitted for the cultivation of the vine ; its burning sun endows the grape with a generous juice which exalts and 122 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. inebriates. In all times the wines of this country, and especially that of Schiraz, have enjoyed a well-deserved reputation. In the eyes of sages this quality even is a fault, and the Arabs have qualified wine by a word signifying " trouble the mind." Mahomet at first had per- mitted the use of it, saying that it was subject to its advantages and evils, but afterwards, alarmed at the disorders which it caused, he forbade it absolutely. " ye who believe," says the Koran, " know that wine is an impure invention of Satan ; flee from it if you wish to be saved." Notwithstanding this prohibition, the Persians, both secretly and in public, make use of the intoxicating liquor ; we say they make use, whilst it is of the abuse that we should write. In fact, it is not by reason of health that the Mussulmans transgress the religious law ; it is to procure to themselves the violent sensations which intoxication pro- duces. Those even who do not dare drink believe that wine will be the delight of the elect in Paradise, and this hope alone keeps them within the prescribed limits. Nothing, therefore, is more common than verses in praise of wine and intoxication, and most expressive passages are often inscribed upon the cups and bottles of metal, glass, or pottery. In truth, most of the Mussulmans pretend that these verses are allegoric ; when Seny writes, "The cupbearer with her cup has rendered me doubly a fool; one would say there was an understanding between this beauty with the perfume of the rose and the wine she serves to me." They assert that wine is the symbol of the love of the Almighty which, carried to a certain degree, takes possession of the reason of mortals, throws them into a kind of ecstasy, and transports them to another world. The cupbearer is the image of preachers and moral writers, whose duty it is to use every means of persuasion to bring sinners to the right path. The cupbearer, or rather beauty of which it is the emblem, is again the image of the divinity, which shows itself sometimes unveiled to the beings it wishes to favour. Some passages of the mystic authors ought certainly to be so interpreted ; there is no doubt respecting the sense of this fragment of Hafiz : " When thou wilt have poured out a cup of the wine of ecstasy, thou wilt be less disposed to give thyself up to a vain egotism. Attach thy heart to the intoxicating liquor, it will give thee courage to subdue hypo- crisy and assumed devotion." But when we recollect there is no party of pleasure in Persia in which wine does not play its part, that these revels are accompanied by songs and dances, and this Hafiz, " the mystic tongue, the interpreter of the most hidden mysteries," has written thus : " Ap- proach, oh preacher ! come and drink with us at the tavern, of a wine PERSIA. 123 thou wilt never drink in Paradise ; ask of us neither virtue, repentance, nor piety ; one has never obtained anything good from one whom love has deprived of his reason," we must admit that a large part ought to be taken in its real sense and material application, in these doubtful passages which the devout would apply to their theories. Notwithstanding the prohibition of the Koran, some sovereigns of Persia have, for a time at least, authorized the use of wine, less dangerous in every point of view than that of the decoction of poppy called coquenar, infusions of hemp, and pills of opium. Hafiz, alluding to a permission of this kind, exclaims, " In this age, when our good prince forgives the weakness of his subjects, Hafiz publicly gives himself up to the cup, the mufti openly drinks wine." Chardin, when describing the king's palace at Ispahan, speaks in these terms of the ' Maison du vin : " " It is a kind of apartment from thirty-six to forty-two feet high, raised two feet above the ground, built in the middle of a garden, its narrow entrance concealed by a little wall built in front, two paces distant, so that what is going on within cannot be seen. Inside, to the left, is the officers' room, or magazine, and to the right a large apartment. The saloon, which is covered with a dome, is in the form of a long square extended to a Greek cross, by means of two porticoes or arcades, sixteen feet deep, which are at the sides. The middle of the apartment is decorated with a large basin of water with porphyry sides. The walls are overlaid with tablets of jasper all round, eight feet high, and above, as far as the centre of the dome, one sees on all sides nothing but niches of a thousand different forms filled with vases, cups, and bowls of every kind of shape, make, and material, as crystal, cornelian, agate, onyx, jasper, amber, coral, porcelain, precious stones, gold, silver, enamel, mixed one among the other, and which appear incrusted the length of the walls, and hold on so slightly they look as if falling from the dome. The offices or maga- zines on each side this magnificent hall are filled with cases of wine, four feet high by two wide. The wine is mostly either in large flasks of from fifteen to sixteen pints, or in long-necked bottles of two or three pints. These bottles are of Venice glass, of various makes, diamond point, gadrooned, or network. As the good Asiatic wines are of the brightest colour, they like to have them in bottles. These wines are some from Georgia, others of Caramania, and others of Schiraz. The bottles are fastened with wax, with the seal of the governor of the place on a red silk above, and are only offered so sealed. Among the sentences applied here and there upon the different walls of the 124 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. hall, I remarked this : ' Life is a successive intoxication, pleasure passes and headache remains.' " We are here far from the Koran and its lessons of sobriety ! But why have so impassioned a people as the Persians had placed within their reach a liquor more capable than any other of disturbing reason ? Section 2. — Potteries. What must have been at different epochs of history the nature of the different potteries of Iran ? There is no written answer to the question ; but the Persian soil is so constituted that it can, like that of China, supply every ceramic material. This is a fact beyond doubt, and confirmed by recent experience. At the beginning of this century an enlightened prince, having visited Europe, was struck with the advancement of our sciences, and desired to restore in his own country the industry of porcelain ; he summoned a skilful practitioner of the name of Garanza, who set up a fabric at Ourmia and produced very good pieces ; but markets were wanting, the prince became tired of furnishing supplies, the manufacture languished, and the undertaker had but one resource, which was to apply his chemical knowledge to the making of gunpowder. We ought then to find in Persia, pottery of hard, translucent paste, or kaolinic porcelain, and faience. But this last kind of pottery, of which the name, with us, has an absolute technical value, does not preserve in Persia the same invariability, as rather different products have been confounded under the same name. Faience is generally a baked earth of soft paste, overlaid with an opaque tin or lead enamel ; in Iran it affects particular forms which approach more or less to porcelain. Its silicious paste, composed of a white quartzose sand, imperfectly united by the clay, is easily vitrifiable, so that when the firing takes place at a high temperature, or has been prolonged for a certain time, it assumes an entire translucency, a vitreous aspect approaching enamel. Exposed to a more moderate fire, it is only translucent in the thin part, and is scarcely vitreous except in its outer covering. When it is com- pletely opaque, like true faience, it still presents two varieties, the one not enamelled, but simply lustred by means of a silico-alkaline glaze of admirable evenness ; the other glazed with a tin or lead enamel. We shall, therefore, have to study — 1st, Enamelled porcelain, which we consider the most ancient ; 2nd, Soft porcelain, or silicious trans- lucent pottery ; 3rd, Faience ; and 4th, Hard porcelain. PERSIA. 125 A. — Enamelled Porcelain. The rare pieces of this kind remain white, like the finest porcelains of China and J apan ; their decoration is almost confined to open work, pierced in the paste and filled in with the glaze ; these pieces consist most often of wide, bell-shaped bowls, having in the centre a hemi- spheric umbo of so vitreous an appearance, that one would say it was a delicate glass bubble ready to yield to the slightest pressure. Sometimes, round this last are traced arabesques in black cursive strokes ; rarer still, these arabesques circumscribe a little ground of pure, sky-blue which proves the possibility of employing various enamels upon this kind of paste. The rim of the pieces is not cut out, but notched from distance to distance with little splits close together, and tinted black. The open work ornament forms a crown near the rim. Underneath, the pieces are very rough, the glaze forms greenish drops, from the accumulation of the vitreous material, and the appearance of the foot shows the violent efforts required after forming, to disengage the vase from its support ; it is a real fracture. We can cite several bowls of this porcelain ; we have also seen one on a high foot, without umbo, but ornamented in the centre of the arabesque crown described in the bowls ; rarer still, are pieces of form such as a gargoulette, an elegant long-necked bottle, and an octagonal recipient, having a hemispheric cap surmounted by a short open neck. These various pieces are decorated with arabesques graved in the paste, and which come out by the accumulation of the greenish glaze, after the manner of the celadons. One might, perhaps, group with enamelled porcelain certain dishes alike engraved with imbricated grounds, which the glaze brings out, then decorated with regular arabesques in soft blue, and sometimes enamelled externally with the same blue ; specimens of this exceptional fabrication are in the Ceramic Museum of Limoges. Careful chemical experiments would be necessary to determine the nature of these products which, in every case, would establish a transition between enamelled porcelain and the kind we style " soft porcelain." Nothing permits us to assign a date, even approximate, to the products we have been just studying ; they certainly belong to a very ancient epoch, and anterior to the fabrication of hard porcelain, for this once known, there was no longer any object in continuing to produce a porcelain of such uncertain success, which often falls in the kiln, and which a sudden blast 126 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. of heat might cause completely to sink, by changing it into a shapeless mass of glass. The nature of the ornaments, which are of the Arab style, scarcely permits referring it beyond Mussulman influence, although very different in decoration from the wall tiles and the vases enriched with various colours. Its reputation must also be extended very far, for it has certainly inspired the Chinese and Japanese with the cloisonne' work in glaze, called grains cle riz. B. — Soft Porcelain. This, we repeat, has the greatest analogy with enamelled porcelain, from the composition of its paste and its glaze, the fracture of the bottom of the piece, and the semi-translucent aspect of the white parts, but the system of decoration is entirely different ; we would say even more : it appears to have been borrowed from quite another order of ideas. Very often the soft porcelains of the oldest periods are coated outwardly with a beautiful deep blue tint, or with chamois or a warm tint. Upon this ground are arabesques, flowers, palms, scrolls, in lustred mineral colours, passing from the most brilliant tint of gold to mother-of-pearled black, iridised with burnished steel. It will be remembered that we have mentioned, among the works of Asia Minor, wall tiles decorated with a metallic brown, more or less lustred, but it will not be forgotten that, with the greater number of historians, we have attributed the foundation of the workshops where these plaques were produced to the artists called from Iran by the Arab conquerors. No doubt then can be permitted upon the anteriority of this style of decoration in Persia ; a slight examination of the pieces in soft porcelain perfectly demonstrates it ; like enamelled porcelain, it has preceded the fabrication of kaolinic pottery ; they evidently participate with works unknown to us, disappearing no doubt with the Sassanian civilisation, but preserving still lively traces of the doctrines of Zoroaster. A few descriptions will better explain our idea. The oldest soft porcelains generally range in very low cups, in bell- shaped bowls, or in cups of the same form, always without saucers. The decoration is rarely the same on the two sides ; the interior, almost always of a fine vitreous white, is richly ornamented with shining copper tints; the exterior, blue, chamois, or even white, is charged with subjects which never acquire the same metallic brilliancy ; the copper more often turns to blackish brown (Fig. 30). PERSIA. The most remarkable of these cups known, now passed from the collection of M. de Monville to England, has upon its blue exterior border rich coppery arabesques, and within, a seme' of singular plants in bright golden red, among which is the figure of a bull. This mysterious symbol of the ancient Persian religion is not placed there by chance ; its signification is supported by a sign neatly traced under the foot of the piece ; it is the allegorical cypress consecrated by Zoroaster himself. To complete the description of this marvellous specimen, and to show the care bestowed upon its decoration, let us add this detail. The metal, thrown in profusion into the inside, is, as it were, streaked with a brush, and composed of two distinct tints : the one a pure yellow gold, the other that purple coppery red of which we have already spoken. The vibration of the light upon these two metals produces a most agreeable and unexpected effect. One would ask one's self, perhaps, if this exceptional work was not a sort of protest emanating from an artist penetrated with the ancient doctrines, and in rebellion against Islamism? No, if the cup is exceptional from its merit, it is easy to find again the same spirit and the style in works the most ordinary ; thus a cup in the collection of the Baroness Salomon de Rothschild, is decorated, solely on the circumference, with cypresses at regular distances. If we have seen in enamel porcelain some rudimentary arabesques, sketched in black strokes, or with the point under the glaze, we find them more plentiful and better studied upon soft porcelain, where they may rival in elegance the engraving and incrustations of the pieces of damascened laten or copper; but its chief characteristic is, the real or composite vegetations which burst forth upon this pottery ; the iris, easily recognised, bunches of little ornamental flowers, leaves resembling ferns, all those elegant fancies which, later, will take a precise form and determinate colours, in those remarkable faiences of Fig. 36. PERSIAN BOWL, METALLIC DECORATION, BLUE ENAMELLED OUTSIDE. 128 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. which a recent caprice would deprive Persia, to attribute them" to a passing fabric raised accidentally in an island of Turkey in Asia. Some other cups, perhaps less ancient than those decorated with the bull, bowls, blue externally, exhibit in the midst of the usual abundant vegetation, fantastic birds with peacocks' tails, or the phoenix, con- tributing still more to approach the two kinds (Fig. 37). Fig. 37. PEESIAN BOWL, WITH BLUE EXTERIOR AND METALLIC DECORATION. However, where it is a question of rebuilding the history of an ancient and remote industry by means of the only monuments that time or chance have preserved to us, a thousand difficulties arise. Soft porcelain must have been made in several centres, and we must not attribute to time alone differences which may have arisen from the centres, and, above all, from divers contacts. We have hitherto only mentioned fine pottery, often coloured in part with pure blue, and only decorated with metallic tints. But there is a series no less important, in which the blue, sometimes combined with black, is the sole decorative resource (Fig. 38). The forms of the vessels of this kind are extremely varied ; gargoulettes (Plate VI.) ; bottles, often mounted in metal ; bowls ; saucers. This manufacture must have immediately preceded or accompanied the creation of hard porcelain ; in either case, it participates in the same inspiration ; that is to say, it often imitates Chinese porcelain. A pretty bowl, gadrooned at its base, has the body covered with a soft blue lozengy ground, interrupted by oval medallions pierced with a seme' of little crosses cloisonne in the glaze, the enamel has the light greenish tone of enamelled porcelain in the parts where it is accumulated; beneath is a short Persian inscription. Other pieces of still more Chinese character, ornamented with dragons, fantastic animals, etc., are marked with seals, leaves, and sometimes mis- Plate VI.— PERSIA. Soft Porcelain — Gargoulette, decorated with the Siinorg. Collection Jacqtjemart. PL.VI. F ? Lienor djmp . PERSIA. 129 shapen characters, where one can nevertheless recognise the principal strokes of a nien-hao, and find the date. In the kinds where the black mixes with and heightens the blue, we find the Chinese quail or partridge, and the ornamental dispositions common to the Celestial Empire. Some pieces in which the blackish blue scrolls encircle the principal subject, permit us to recognise the style still partly preserved in the fabric of Nam. Fig. 38. PERSIAN FLASK, WITH BLUE DECORATION. Is it then necessary to insist further on the traces of contact between two neighbouring people, often brought violently in closer contact with each other by conquest ? Nor must we forget that at the moment of his death, in 1226, Genghis Khan was master of Persia, and that the Ilkhanian Mongols formed one of the Iranian dynasties. Houla-ku and Abaka-Khan, both civilising princes, contributed with all their efforts to repair the disasters of former wars, by causing the arts and sciences to flourish ; it is not, therefore, surprising to find Chinese traditions introduce themselves with the Moguls, themselves tributaries of the Celestial Empire, and, above all, of the celebrated Kubla Khan, so much admired by Marco Polo. We shall add but one word ; it is, that the same inspiration has left its print upon the arms, the graved and damascened coppers, without any doubt being raised as to their real origin. One quite peculiar group of soft porcelain consists of bottles, and, K HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. particularly, square smelling bottles, with narrow necks, a kind of tea- box, of which the decoration in blue, black, and violet of manganese is formed of palmettes, rosettes, birds, and Persian figures, cursively traced. There is between these pieces and certain wall tiles a very close analogy. C. — Faience. We will not repeat what we have already said of the character of Persian faience, neither, in the descriptions which are going to follow, will we stop at the difference resulting from the nature of the glaze. Curiosity has nothing to find in these technical details ; and we must admit, it would be necessary often to have recourse to analysis to determine whether it is a question of silico-alkaline coating, or of a plumbo-stanniferous enamel. Nor will we discuss the anteriority of Persian earthenware over that of Asia Minor ; sufficient is the statement made in history that the Arab conquerors of the Roumanians opened a new era to the arts and sciences by causing to be brought from Persia instructors of the Arab empire. If modern travellers consider that certain works have not been made in Persia, because there are none found for daily traffic in this unhappy country, ruined by wars, sickness, and famine, where the most celebrated monuments will soon be only shapeless ruins, we will appeal to more ancient travellers, who have, as it were, seen the last of these works born under their eyes. One incontestable fact is, that the faiences of Iran in relief, and with metallic, damasked grounds, are much more perfect than those of Asia Minor. A very fine wall plaque brought from the mosque of Natinz, and dating consequently from the beginning of the thirteenth century, gives us in blue the customary inscription, " In the name of the clement and merciful God," standing out upon the white enamel, relieved by scrolls and foliage of highly metallic copper-brown. Other wall tiles of star pattern joining to form a mosaic, bore similar ornaments and borders, forming a legend of a copper-red as pure as it is possible to meet with upon Chinese porcelain. Unfortunately, we know neither the origin nor date of these fragments, of which one of the most typical is in the museum at Limoges. There results this useful teaching from their examination, which is, that all the pieces of brown decoration are painted with oxidulate of copper, which should have taken the red metallic tint, but has become brown by revivication of the metal. But let us leave these rare products, doubly ambiguous from the PERSIA. uncertainty of the country whence they came, and from the difficulty of determining their classification between soft porcelain or true faience. We will not stop to enumerate the Persian monuments, which, like those already cited of Asia Minor, are overlaid with coloured and gilded mosaics ; these are not, strictly speaking, a ceramic decoration. The most ancient painted specimens are little fragments of a bright blue ground, upon which are reserved cuneiform characters enamelled in white ; but as these rare pieces have been found, some in Persia and some in Bagdad, we dismiss them, to arrive at works more recent, but of certain origin. Wall tiles from the mosque of Tabriz, built in the twelfth century, have characters reserved in white upon a bright blue ground, with yellow borders. This brings us directly to the tiles of more complicated designs and richer colours, and also to the elegant vases which every one admires. In effect, the most perfect similarity exists between the decorative style of the enamelled vases of Iran and of the contemporary wall tiles {plaques de revetement) ; we find there the same arabesque ornaments, the same flowers, more or less copied from nature, and more or less conventionalised. Among these flowers one recognises the tulip, the Indian pink, the rose, hyacinth, and scattered sprigs of a pretty little flower, of delicate petals, difficult to determine. Among the conventionalised flowers, it is still possible to designate with certainty the rose ; it forms a kind of elegant cockade regularly cut out, in which the eye traces the superposition of the petals pressed in several rows, and the heart forming a central mass more or less serried. In the midst of bouquets composed after nature, often appears the rigid figure of the symbolic cypress, doubly dear to the Iranians, as it answers at the same time to the emblematic customs of Islamism and to the prescriptions of the ancient national religion. Some writers have pretended, it is true, to establish a difference of origin between the faiences richly decorated de mauresque, as say the old travellers, in which turquoise-blue, cobalt manganese, and a sombre olive green pervades, and the pieces totally analogous in style which are enlivened by a beautiful copper-green, and that splendid and pure red borrowed from iron, and obtained from that ochreous earth known to us under the name of Armenian bole. The first kind would be Persian, the second will have been used in the manufactories established at Rhodes. Let us examine these facts and try to clear the ground from the briars which obstruct it, and which result solely from ill-directed observations. At what period and under what conditions could Rhodes K 2 132 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. have possessed ceramic manufactories strayed from those of Persia ? Without possessing the elements for a certain answer to this question, what we can say is this. At the time when religious ardour impelled Christianity into mortal fight with the Mussulmans, the knights of Rhodes showed themselves among the most zealous. In their maritime excursions they took a vessel which was not only carrying a cargo of fine pottery from Iran, but also bringing a certain number of workmen versed in its fabrication; the idea doubtless suggested itself to injure the enemy's commerce, and to oblige the Persian potters to set up their manufacture in Rhodes itself, and thus establish a competition with their fellow-countrymen. The Muse'e de Cluny possesses a considerable series of pieces produced in these suddenly formed workshops. One recognises in them perfectly the work of men who have left their country, of exiles detained far from their homes ; certain pieces manifest the impatience felt by the captives to reconquer their liberty; upon one, the workman has painted himself in the attitude of prayer, his arms extended towards heaven, supplicating his Divine master to break his chains. In these conditions, the wares made at Rhodes would suffice to determine the nature of Persian faience, even when we have not under our eyes the original pieces. How indeed could we suppose that prisoners, enemies retained in spite of themselves in a strange land, would have made there any other thing than that which they had long- produced every day ? How admit that upon an unknown soil, without resources, they could have been able to invent new processes, create a style, imagine the employment of decorating matters different from those they had in constant use ? No ; the Rhodian pottery is Persian faience of an inferior order, and which yet may create surprise, in considering the circumstances under which it was produced. As to supposing that the Persians had been able to find out of their own home the chemical elements of an unused decoration, it is again by Persian works themselves that we will prove that cannot be. One knows what was, from before the thirteenth century, the perfection of the glass works of Persia and Asia Minor ; we have already spoken of the lamps of the mosques, let us here more particularly insist upon the cups, vases, and bottles, which the Persians covered with delicate gildings and with enamelled ornaments, while the azure and bright red furnished the most elegant designs ; and yet there are those who would assert that a people who had arrived at this sure practice of the art of vitrification would have been wanting in resources to apply PERSIA. 133 the same enamels upon the glaze of their vases ! The doubt is not even admissible. Others again would attribute to modern times the production of the large cups (coupes), dishes, and bottles of faience ; " the Persians, essentially a nomadic people, considering the faiences as objects of curiosity, and using habitually recipients of copper or bronze." We will not only answer by invoking the testimony of ancient miniatures, in which pottery appears under its various forms, but we will refer to the descriptions made by old travellers, or to Oriental literature itself. " When the king of Persia eats in private," says Kcempfer, " they do not use vessels of gold, but of murrhine or porcelain ; there are twenty for dinner and twelve for supper." We read in the ' Lettres edifiantes,' "After having helped the king, the guests are served with rice, bouilli, and the roasts, in more than a hundred and fifty dishes of gold, with their covers, which weigh twice as much. . . . The entremet dishes are of gold, and before serving in gold, the sweetmeats have been already served in vessels of silver and porcelain." Let us open the stories of Bidpa'i and the ' Thousand and One Days,' and we shall see similar statements: "The cat of the old woman had no sooner smelt the odour of the viands and heard the sound of the dishes, basins, and other porcelain vessels in which they were served, than he threw himself upon them." " They saw enter in the apartment twelve white pages laden with vases of agate and rock crystal enriched with rubies, and full of exquisite liquors. They were followed by twelve beautiful slaves, some of whom carried basins of porcelain filled with fruits and flowers." "They brought a prodigious quantity of golden vessels enriched with precious stones, and filled with every kind of wines, with dishes of porcelain filled with dried sweatmeats." " Two slaves at once prepared a table, with a sideboard covered with porcelain, with dishes of sandal-wood and aloes, and with several cups of coral, perfumed with ambergris." " They arranged the furniture and prepared a table, upon which they placed several porcelain basins, filled with fruits and dried sweetmeats." We could multiply ad infinitum these quotations, which show to what a point rich potteries are esteemed in Persia, and what a place they hold in the usages of both private and public life. Nor will we insist upon the signification that we must attribute, in these extracts, to the word "porcelain"; it is a question we shall have to clear up later, but will call attention to the multiplicity of 134 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. names applied to the pieces. In fact, the forms of the earthenware vessels in Persia are very varied; the dishes have a horizontal rim, the narrower as the dish approaches a hemispherical form ; one arrives thus by insensible gradations to the true cup, sometimes hemispheric, sometimes bell-shaped, standing upon rather a high stem. Some are simple open basins, others are provided with a lid. The bottles are numerous; almost all have a long neck, some- times divided by a projecting boss which adds to the natural grace of the form ; most often they are intended to contain wine. Water is generally placed in a vessel of spherical body, surmounted by a short cylindrical neck, and furnished with an S handle ; it is the water-pot such as it has descended to us, and the more we go back to remote ages, the more we see how faithfully we have imitated it. The ewer, a kind of bowl with handle and long spout, serves also to hold water ; but its use is specialised to ablutions, therefore this piece is accom- panied by a tub or basin, with a perforated cover; at repasts, it is presented to the guest, who places his hands above it, and receiving the water from the ewer, washes the ends of his fingers, conformably to the laws of religion and etiquette. The basin thus makes the round of the banquet table, without any one seeing the water which has been used by those who have preceded him in this strictly observed cere- mony. There is also another recipient for water, the gargoulette ; its form is habitually spheroidal (Plate VI.), with a short neck, wide mouth at the top, and a biberon with narrow opening upon the body. It serves as a drinking vessel for anyone pressed by thirst. The water runs out in a long stream from the extremity of the biberon, and politeness requires that he who drinks should not receive it directly in his mouth, but in his hand brought near his mouth, answering the purposes of a cup. The ' Magasin pittoresque ' gives, after a vellum of the miniaturist Kabir, a scene representing a horseman drinking after this fashion, near a well, the water being offered to him by some young females. A similar vessel used for the smoke to pass through water is termed a " hookah base." One particular vessel, upon the use of which we hazard no theory, is a kind of cylinder furnished with a straight handle, fastened angularly near the upper rim, and shorter by a third than the cylinder. In the West, the beer-mug (chope) alone answers to this ungraceful disposition. We say nothing of the bowls more or less large, except that they are either very wide, sometimes conical, very open, or deeper than are the vessels of the same name in China, Japan, or elsewhere. In order well to understand the use of these numerous vessels, it is PERSIA. 135 sufficient to recall to one's self the quotations given above, and to throw a glance upon the representation of an official repast in Persia. We see the guests crouched round the table, upon elegant carpets, each having before him a little table of wood incrusted with mother-of-pearl, or perhaps a waiter placed upon the carpet. Of the dishes composing the service, the sweetmeats arrive first, the entremets next, the meats come after, and the soup closes the series. All these are accompanied by sherbets and those delicious wines which the Persians are not afraid to compare with the topaz and the ruby, so brilliant and transparent are they in colour. Let us now return to the different styles of decoration in Persian earthenware, and from their differences hazard some conjectures upon the place of their fabrication. There is one incontestable thing which may serve as a criterion for forming a judgment of works of Persian art, and that is, the examina- tion of the most esteemed modern productions. Schah Abbas I., who reigned 1555 to 1628, was, in some manner, the Louis XIV. of Iran. In the -palace he built at Ispahan, are large pictures six and a half feet long by five wide, representing different subjects in Persian history, and composed of tiles or bricks of five or six colours, about twenty inches square. There certainly is an advanced industry, and a fact which may create surprise ; for Mahomet had denounced as impious any one who Avould seek to rival Divine powers by creating perfect beings. It is to the exaggeration of this doctrine that is due the sect of the Sunnites, who, after the precepts of Omar, proscribed the representation of the human form or of living beings. In Persia, an intermediate school, which we might style Jesuitical, conceived the idea of inventing supernatural monsters, or of making imperfect the representations of natural beings. Thus the head of a woman would surmount the body of a bird ; the body of a man become the forepart of a dragon ; or be attached to the hinder part of a quadruped ; a human head was deprived of an eye, a face of one of its features. We must, therefore, not attribute those defects to the inexperience of the artist, where it is one of the most curious traits of the manners of a people. The persistence in representing, even incompletely, natural beings, indicates in a people a rare tendency towards high art, an incessant thirst for intellectual development. Nevertheless, there is yet a dis- tinction to establish ; Chardin tells us that, according to several Mussulman doctors, heaven has placed in Paradise certain animals 136 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. called " hedgehog's feet," which have the legs of a stag, the tail of a tiger, and the head of a woman. Mahomet and Ali will both ascend on these animals at the end of ages, and thus will distribute to the elect the water of Kauter, a river in the celestial abode. This cer- tainly is an orthodox figure, which a Mussulman may represent, and which we find on carpets, looking-glasses, and vases belonging to the eleventh century. Nor is this the only figure which may lend itself to an equivocal interpretation. In the ancient religion of the Fire-worshippers, or rather in the legends which crowd among the first events of Persian history, we often meet with fabulous animals easily to be confounded with those of China. The ouran or ourambad has its retreat in the imaginary mountain of Aherman. The author of ' Tamourath nameh ' describes it, and says it flies through the air like an eagle, and devours everything it meets ; that it walks upon the earth like a hydra or dragon, and finds no animal able to resist it. The soham is another terrible animal, that Sam Neriman, son of Caherman Catel, subdued to ride upon in his wars against the giants. This animal, whose head resembled that of a horse and the body that of a dragon, of the colour of shining iron, had four eyes in its head, and was not less than eight feet long. The simorg, or simorg-anka, is thus described by d'Herbelot in the ' Bibliotheque orientale : ' " Fabulous bird, which we call griffin/' The Jews mention in their Talmud a monstrous bird they name iukhneh and ben-iukhneh, of which the rabbins relate a thousand extravagances. The Mahometans say that the simorg is found in the mountain of Caf. The 'Magasin pittoresque,' in representing, from an Arabian manuscript, the figure of the simorg, says, with the Caherman Catel, " that this wonderful bird, whose plumage shines with every imaginable colour, possessed not only a universal knowledge of languages, but also the faculty of foretelling the future." In the fabulous history of the birth of Kustam, it is he who, when the beautiful Roudabeh is exhausted with fatigue, instructs Zal how to relieve her. " The bird of good fortune, chosen of the world, flew," says Ferdousi, "to Zal. Zal addressed him long praises without number, thanks, and prayers. The simorg says to him, ' Why this grief ? why is the dew in the eye of the lion ? From this silver cypress, from this moonlight face, will come for thee a son who will seek glory; the lions will kiss the dust of his feet, the clouds will not dare to pass over his PERSIA. 137 head Every hero, every warrior with heart of steel, who will hear the noise of his club, who will see his breast, his arm, his leg, will not be able to stand before him. For counsel and wisdom he will be grave as Sam ; in wrath, he will be a warlike lion ; in stature he will be a cypress, and in strength an elephant.' " " At his birth," adds the poet, " the child was a hero resembling a lion ; he was great and beautiful ; the hair of his head was red, and his face animated as blood. Ten nurses were had to satisfy him. When he was weaned, he fed upon bread and meat. He ate as much as five men." It required nothing less than the intervention of the simorg to bring to light such a prodigy ! One sees, besides, the religious purpose, the poetic souvenir, Fig. 39. PERSIAN BOWL OF FAIENCE, "WITH EXTEEIOE POLYCHROME DECORATION. the fancy, purely picturesque, which may inspire the painter with images easy to confound with each other, and that we must study with reserve to arrive at their meaning. Symbolic or other figures have rarely appeared upon the tiles, and that is easily to be conceived. The greater part have remained upon the monuments they decorate, and where travellers have described them, but vases, and large bottles especially, dishes and shallow cups, often exhibit fabulous birds with human heads, monsters and dragons, answering to the descriptions given above. As for ordinary animals, gazelles, antelopes, running hares upon an arabesque ground, or horsemen with a falcon upon the wrist, these are figures which only show the passion of the Persians for hunting. 138 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART Some tiles, on which the relief mixes with the brilliancy of polychrome enamels, have been lately sold as being the representation of Schah Abbas I. It is nothing of the kind ; the pretended portrait is no more than the hunter with a falcon already alluded to ; a creditable traveller has found some of these tiles in their original position, in a house where they overlaid a kitchen furnace. The Orientals have too much respect for power to allow the effigy of their beloved monarch to be thus profaned. Besides, it is easy to remark among the pieces of this style gathered in collections, difference of make and style indicating different periods. The most ancient and most remarkable belong to Baron Charles Davillier. One common taste among all the people of the far East, is a pre- dilection for blue. We have met it among the Chinese; we, see it manifested in the ancient potteries of Persia, and remain permanent even when chemistry had placed at the disposal of the painter the most complicated pallet. Many earthenware pieces are entirely decorated with turquoise and cobalt blue, scientifically combined, and forming the richest arabesques and the most elegant floral combinations. By degrees, the first group becomes modified, some green tints, a manganese, violet almost pink, a pure black, surround or heighten the sky-blue medallions; sometimes complicated colours decorate the outside of the cup, while the inside preserves its turquoise-blue, framing medallions with reserves of flowers, whose slender stalks combine with soft blue ara- besques. Nothing is more remarkable in this style than the splendid piece figured here (Fig. 39); it is one of the largest and most masterly examples of the pottery of Iran. The third group, as remarkable from the number as from the splendour of the specimens which comprise it, furnishes the greater number of the types gathered in collections; wall tiles, monumental bottles, bowls and cups for service, dishes worthy of rivalling the gems and goldsmiths' work of the East — everything which constitutes a pottery of rich decoration — are united in this group. We Fig. 40. PERSIAN TILE WITH POLYCHROME ARABESQUE DECORATION. PERSIA. 139 will not assert with some writers that here is to be found the modern art of Persia ; we believe in the antiquity of many of the specimens, but it is pure Mohammedan art, with its ingenious combinations of straight and curved lines, which one would think an inextricable complication ; when it relates solely to happy repetitions, with its mixture of conven- tional and natural flowers, furnishing inexhaustible resources to the painter (Fig. 40). Sometimes we shall find there human or animal figures, but more often these will be the work of the compromise men- Fig. 41. PERSIAN FAIENCE PLAQUE, REPRESENTING THE CAABA OR SACRED MOSQUE OF MECCA. tioned above, a compromise which opens to the true believer a back door into the domain of iconography. The wall tiles are of two kinds : the one when the tiles are placed together furnishes a continuous ornamentation, either in squares or saltiers, by means of joinings skilfully combined ; the other, surrounded by borders, has naturally a circumscribed subject, forming the principal design in combined decoration. To give a type of these, we choose one of the most interesting figurations (Fig. 41), the holy Temple of Mecca. We here see the Caaba, with its minarets, its 140 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. pulpits, oratories, and all its holy places. The temple, properly so called, is an almost cubical edifice, thirty-eight feet long by thirty wide and thirty-four high, whence comes the word Caaba, signifying in Arabic, square house. The entrance is by a folding door, pierced some feet above the ground, and ascended by a movable staircase, here re- presented to the left near the opening of the general enclosure. The whole edifice is covered with a veil of black silk, called the sacred veil, which is removed annually, and the pieces of the old sold as relics to the devout Mussulmans ; the rich, when dying, sometimes desire that their coffins may be lined with it. Towards the top, this veil is traversed by a white band, called girdle, because it encircles the edifice. The rectangle consists of several compartments; not far from the door, is the " place of Abraham ; " it being there, according to the Mussulmans, that the patriach stood to build the temple; the stone is still preserved upon which his feet reposed, and the fervent still believe they see the mark of the holy contact. The half-moon traced on the right of the Caaba is the edifice called " the wall hatem." There, if we believe the Arab legend, repose the ashes of Hagar and Ishmael. The pear-shaped spot near the upper angles of the Caaba, is the golden gutter, a pipe intended to conduct the rain-water which falls from the platform of the temple. When it rains, the pilgrims come to receive this water, and then consider themselves to be purified from all their sins. This water conduit is called "the gutter of mercy." The little recess, placed near the steps, appears to be the well of Zemzem. This miraculous spring flowed from under the feet of the angel Gabriel, when Ishmael and Hagar, deserted in the desert of Mecca, were on the point of dying from thirst. The holy water gave, at the same time, life to this frightful solitude, therefore the Mussulmans attribute to it supernatural virtues ; all the pilgrims have to drink of this water, and they carry it away when they return to their homes. In the angle of the Caaba, to the left of the door (the object circum- scribed with a white line), is the famous black stone which contains the pact between God and man. According to the Mussulmans, the Almighty, at the creation of the world, assembled together the souls of all those who were to be born of Adam, and made himself known to them as their sovereign Lord and Master. The evidence of this communication was written by the Deity himself in mystic characters, on the surface of the stone, which, at the day of judgment, will witness against those who will have disavowed their Lord and Master. The stone, which was originally white, has become blackened by the tears PERSIA. 141 it sheds over the sins of mankind. A circular inclosure surrounds the Caaba, it is " the place of circuit " for the pilgrims ; the rest of the sacred mosque is surrounded by a square peristyle, the different stations are indicated there, and vases with handles point out the places where the pilgrim should make his ablutions. We have dwelt upon these details because the representation more or less complete of the Caaba is one of those most often to be met with upon Mussulman works. Generally, these configurations serve for magic and cabalistic operations, of which the success is the better secured by turning towards Mecca or towards the image of the holy temple. But here, we are far from these superstitious practices ; he for whom this plaque was made, scarcely believed in the efficaciousness of these rites, and even doubted the necessity of a pilgrimage to Mecca ; a philo- sopher, maybe, of the Souffee sect, certainly a sceptic, he expresses his opinions in this bold couplet : " Get a heart, for there is the great (and true) pilgrimage ; A heart is worth more than stones of the Caaba. The Caaba is the edifice of the friend (of God), son of Thore ; But the heart is the theatre of the great friend (God)." Since the interest of the subject has led us to choose this piece as a type, let us continue its technical description. The colouring is at once rich and simple, as in all ancient products. The enamels consist of blue of two different degrees of intensity, bright red, derived from iron, copper-green, rather pale, and black. The primitive vases of the same division have for basis the same tones ; but as we approach the epochs of luxury and splendour of the Mussulman Persian, we see artists seek new tints and combine them so as to produce a richer effect ; the red, always so unctuous, so shining, will often be given as a ground ; green and turquoise-blue will cover the body of the vases, the exterior of the cups, the bottom of the dishes describing masterly arabesques, delicate bouquets, or outlines of natural or fantastic beings, set off in their turn by bright touches of colour, skilfully selected so as to enhance the beauty of the general ground. It is generally upon pale green or blue tints that we meet with running hares, dogs, and swans surrounding the singular birds, with the head of a woman of which we have already spoken (Fig. 42). For Mussul- mans it is an unusual and delicate thing, the figuration of living beings ; but the hare and the dog have not this character alone; they are reputed impure, and the passion of the Iranians for the chase can alone explain their presence upon vases. 142 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Fig. 42. Let us try now to discover if it is not particularly to the faience of this division that Chardin alludes in his works. After having said that this pottery is made throughout Persia, he adds : " The most beautiful is made at Schiraz, capital of Persia ; at Mesched, capital of Bactriana ; at Yezd and Kirman, in Caramania; and particularly in a town in Caramania, called Zorende . . . The pieces in which the Persian potters called kachy-pez, or bakers of faience, succeed best are the enamelled tiles painted and cut with ' mauresques.' In truth, nothing can be seen brighter in this kind of work, nor of more equal and fine design." There is much to study in this passage. Kachy, or rather Caschi, is the name of the products of Cachan, and perhaps of all Irak-Adjemi ; these products seem to be parti- cularly the pottery decorated in blue and turquoise-blue upon a white ground. Must we attribute to Mesched, where it would bear the name of Meschhedi, the beautiful poly- chrome faience of the second group, particularised by the man- ganese pink and the dull green united to various blues ? With respect to the tile with the Caaba, brought from the Egyptian expedition by M. Jomard, of the Institute, it was said by that savant to have come from Zorende or Kirman. This information confirms the assertion of Chardin; the third group would be formed of the ancient wares of Caramania, and the more recent of Ispahan. The elegant border reserved in- white upon bright red, which surrounds the tile with the Caaba, is reproduced upon a good many fine bottles, cups and dishes, and is of sufficient character to throw together these pieces in one group, the product of a same centre. A quantity of other pieces not less beautiful, ornamented with the same enamels, and with the same grounds, are constantly bordered with a kind H.CATE PERSIAN BOTTLE OF POLYCHROME FAIENCE WITH PALE GREEN GROUND. PERSIA. H3 of blackish filigree in the Chinese style, intersected by medallions. Would these be an indication of place or date ? It will be seen these questions are so knotty, and are involved in so much obscurity, that an honest writer must hesitate in deciding upon them even with reservation. In Persia, traditions are lost, they are ignorant of dates even of yesterday ; and besides, it is in Syria, and specially Egypt, that we must seek for fragments of the ancient splen- dour of Iran ; only to what delicate discussions does it not give rise, not to confound the real Persian products with those of Asia Minor, issued from the same and almost contemporary school ? A proof of the high esteem in which Persian works were held in the East is evidenced by this fact : " We have found," says M. Eugene Piot, " plaques of Persian faience in a tolerably large number, and fragments of vases similar to those we know at the present day, incrusted in the white marble of an ambo in the little church of S. Giovanni del Torro de Ravello, in the kingdom of Naples." (The church is of the twelfth century, the ambo of the thirteenth.) Now M. Piot, one of the first seekers of Persian faience, is too fine a connoisseur not to attach to his assertion the importance it deserves. The learned Mr. Drury Fortnum has also found fragments of Oriental pottery in the campanile of the church of Santa Cecilia at Pisa; the excellent plate he gives of it shows that the pieces, placed at from 1103 to 1107, belong to the kind we call soft porcelain; upon the blue ground is a rich arabesque pattern in black, relieved by strokes raised with a style, a constant practice of the Persians. This is one of the fabrications which, we are assured, come from Rhei or Rhages, or Natinz, where some are still in situ. D. — Hard Porcelain. The hard paste potteries of Iran are generally little known, notwith- standing their special character and the unequivocal testimony of ancient writers. We must be permitted to insist upon their history, which we have been the first to gather from scattered documents. To begin with what Chardin says: "The earth of this faience is a pure enamel both within and without, like Chinese porcelain ; it has a grain as fine, and is likewise transparent, and this it is which causes us often to be so much deceived in this porcelain that we cannot distinguish the Chinese from the Persain. You will sometimes find this Persian china passing for Chinese, so fine and bright is the glaze — what I mean is not the old Chinese porcelain, but the new. In the year 1666 an ambassador of the Dutch Company, called Hubert de Layresse, having 144 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. brought presents to the court of a quantity of valuable things, and, among others, fifty-six pieces of old Chinese porcelain, when the king saw this porcelain he began to laugh, asking contemptuously what it was. They say that the Dutch mix the Persian with the Chinese porcelain which they transport to Holland." De Pauw in his ' Recherches philosophiques,' writes, " The Persians claim several discoveries relative to the different kinds of painting, and if they dispute with China and Japan the invention of porcelain paste, they also dispute with them the invention of the colours proper to diaper them, although they do not appear to have carried this practice so far as those with whom they contest it." The existence of Persian porcelain was doubted by no one in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and if it is wished to dispute with us the word faience, which we purposely underline, we would remark that it is employed by Chardin to designate the most various potteries ; but it is impossible to suppose that a man imbued with the prejudices of his age, when affirming the superiority of the modern Chinese por- celain over the ancient, and thus proclaiming, as it were, his knowledge, could have confounded the kaolinic potteries of Iran with earthenwares so different in aspect, material, and style. This opinion was that of Alexander Brongniart, who, without having seen them, and upon the sole description of Chardin, admitted the existence of Persian porcelain. Since then proofs have accumulated ; ancient catalogues, that of Horace Walpole, and among others the inventories examined by Mrs. Bury Palliser, and quoted by Mr. Marryat, all have contributed to open the eyes of the incredulous. We have only one more observation to make in extenuation of the involuntary error committed by some travellers, and especially by translators of Oriental works. Not only do these last qualify the choice vases by the name of "porcelain," but they add the epithet " Chinese." That the Persians have a translucent, hard paste pottery is incontestable ; that they have sometimes improved it to a point to rival the works of the Celestial Empire, is possible. In either case, they are tributary to China for this branch of the art, as their language bears evidence, since tchini is the name they have applied to their porcelain. One can understand that linguists, indifferent to the technical question, have been led to give a true literal translation which has become the source of error. Besides, the resemblance of the porcelain of the two countries is so close that, to describe the products of Persia, we will follow the classification adopted by us with respect to the kaolinic potteries of China. PERSIA. MS Porcelain with Blue Decoration under the Glaze. Fig. 43. This, the most common kind, has often a coarse paste, hastily worked, and consequently liable to various accidents, such as twisting, splits, sandy or metallic specks, and the disunion of the parts united by barbotine. The bluish vitreous glaze is not always equally laid on, but its striking characteristic is the mode in which it is fired. In China, every piece is placed upon a circular plateau of seggar paste, which keeps the base of the piece in its shape and leaves a narrow hollow rim, upon which later are adapted mountings of carved wood or metal. The Persians content themselves with placing their vases on a coarse sand, the grains of which adhere to the softened paste and penetrate it deeply ; on the piece being taken out of the furnace, many of these quartzose pebbles are found embedded at the bottom, or if the piece is particularly carefully finished, one sees that its base has been polished with the wheel, and some of the pebbles, loosened by the friction, have jumped out, leaving their cells empty, and others, worn down by the wheel to a smooth surface, form with the porcelain a kind of pudding stone. The specimen which has furnished us with the most eloquent evidence of the nature of Persian hard porcelain, is the bottle or lagsena, of which we give the figure (Fig. 43). Its tech- nical characters and mode of firing answer the above description ; the decoration is inspired partly by Chinese art, consisting of broken lines deeply graved in the moist paste, and in patterns executed under the glaze with cobalt blue. Upon the neck, below the large leaves of a water plant, hang groups of vases and wine bottles attached by knotted ribbons with float- ing ends. Below, upon the declivity, a border of flowers offers this pecu- liarity, that in the place of the Chinese peony appears the Indian pink, well characterised. The lozengy border is broken by four reserved me- dallions, in which are inserted the lines of a couplet. Although dis- figured by characters run together, by the blotting of the colour, and the absence of distinctive stops, this legend has been deciphered by SURAHE, OB WINE BOTTLE, OP PERSIAN POECELAIN, DECORATED WITH BLUE. (COLL. JACQUEMART.) 146 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. the learned professor of the College de France, M. Alexandre Chodzko. The poet therein invites drinkers to use the liquor prohibited by the Prophet, and " to forget in intoxication the cares of this valley of tears ; " " Mei benouch," drink wine, he says to his companion in pleasure. " Ne boud djuddi-biderdi" — we do not part from each other without suffering. " Deh surahi " — give me the surahe. Thus this inscription, in recalling a trait in Persian manners, furnishes us with the name of the vessel upon which it is inscribed. In the reserved medallions between the incised lines are dragons rolled and conventionalised after the Chinese fashion. Two similar surahes are inscribed with the same verse, placed not upon the border, but upon the medallions of the body. Many others, destitute of legends, pass unperceived in commerce, lost in the mass of common Oriental porcelain with which the Dutch inundate our markets. Another piece in our collection is interesting to study : a shallow cup or dish without rim, of which the exterior surface has been graved under the glaze with waves of the sea ; the porcelain has been made yellow by the smoke of the oven, and the cobalt of the decorator has revived and assumed a black tint. The decoration consists of an inside border, circumscribed between fillets, and composed of a long Persian legend ; in the middle are five medallions disposed in the form of a cross, that of the centre is the largest ; all are filled with Persian characters, conventionalised to fill the space reserved for them. Under the foot is a legend, incorrect but easily deciphered, written in Chinese, setting forth that the piece was made in the Siouen-te year of the great dynasty of the Ming, that is from 1426 to 1435. This is one of the dates most often met with on Persian porcelain. Schah Rokh reigned then, and succeeded his father, the illustrious Tamerlane or Timour-Lenc ; this was one of the princes to whom Iran partly owed her splendour. Touched with the evils of war, he did everything to restore the well-being of the exhausted population ; he surrounded himself with enlightened men, called from neighbouring countries, caused the revival of the arts and sciences, and gave a new impulse to commerce. One is not therefore surprised to see close relations established between Persia and China, whose products were often imitated if not surpassed, and to find the trace of this imitation even in the reproduction more or less faithful of the nien-hao. After Siouen-te, the most frequent date is that of Kia-thsing, next Wan-li ; let us add, many Persian pieces have been shown to us with the votive legend, "Fortunes, dignities, an eternal spring." These borrowings PERSIA. 147 from a neighbouring country upon hard porcelain ought not to create surprise, since we have already alluded to them in soft porcelain with Chinese decoration. Persian porcelain is also often marked beneath with Chinese symbols, as the leaf, the jade tablet, pearl, etc. The Persians evidently attached much value to their porcelain, decorated in blue, as we will show. We have already spoken of the granulated nature of the paste, and of the tendency of the parts joined by barbotine to disunite in the kiln ; this accident is especially common in the bottles, the long necks of which are soldered in the middle. When this occurs, the piece is not thrown away, but passes into the shop of the goldsmiths, who give it a neck of repousse" silver, sometimes ornamented with the richest arabesques. M. Scheffer possesses a surahe decorated with fabulous birds and groups of clouds ; to heighten its beauty, the goldsmith has placed upon it, arranged in quincunx, bezels, or chatons of gold, enclosing rubies and other gems of bright colours, a kind of embellishment often applied upon jade. Yet the Persians have more often sought the beauty of their vases in the delicate perfection of their decoration ; as in China, this shows itself specially in pieces of small size; certain cups, called & eponges, have a part of the body cut out in the finest open-work, the rest, borders and medal- lions, of a pure soft blue, are of most delicate execution. We have also met with pieces no less perfect, where the blue, more brilliant, was heightened with manganese, and even with some touches of a reddish yellow, procured no doubt from iron. This employment of manganese for outlining would alone suffice to prove the Persian nationality of the pieces which bear it. The Chinese have never united their blues except with copper-red. We will not stop to describe the numerous and often gigantic dishes, the vessels for ablutions, the biberons, the recipients for narghilis, in which the painting in blue camaieu is combined with reliefs in the paste. We will only say a word on the pieces trempes in blue ; they consist in large ewers without handles, the spout in the form of an S, the upper opening developed in the form of a crescent, covered coffee-pots, and little purse-shaped pots with handles, what we should call cream pots. The blue of these is very fluid, but wanting in purity ; it would appear to have been applied like a celadon upon rather a grey paste. The porcelain of Iran goes back to an ancient date, and anterior certainly to the fifteenth century, since, in 1426, it was in perfection. As to the origin of these blue pieces, we may attribute them to L 2 148 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Khorassan. Professor Chodzko, whom a long residence in Persia had initiated in all its history, immediately recognised these pieces as those which the inhabitants call Meschedi, porcelain of Mesched. For some time, no porcelain has been made in Khorassan. We must without doubt attribute to the same origin certain pieces decorated in blue, with glaze lightly tinted with Nankin yellow. Porcelain with Polychrome. Painting. Fig. 44. Chrysanthemo-Pseonian Family. — The greater number of pieces of this division are decorated only with iron-red and gold ; blue under the glaze is rarely associated with it. Among the most important examples may be instanced the ewers for ablution ; the most complete is in the cabinet of M. Sechan; it stands upon its basin covered with a perforated plate; the neck, encircled by a ring, is elegantly channeled with a double row of flutings. On each side of the body is a palm in half relief, generally of a red ground with reserves in arabesques. Leafy branches diverging under the palm, expand into a bouquet of flowers, of which the principal flower is a lily with long pistil surrounded by flexuose stamens. This bouquet, with the leaves of a water-plant, scrolls, etc., in red or in gold outlined with red, forms the whole decoration : at the same time simple and severe. A kind of bottle with fluted body, wide neck, a little open above, and biberons, have the same style of ornament, with slender stalks and grasses in gold, not outlined, which add to the delicacy of the painting. Green Family. — The pieces enriched by this kind of decoration are numerous and varied. The enamels equal the Chinese in purity and vigour, but the class of ornament and general style perfectly characterise the works of Persia. No doubt can exist as regards pieces with large indented scrolls, resembling rather the Greek acanthus than the slender scrolls of the painters of the Celestial Empire ; an PERSIAN PORCELAIN EWER FOR ABLUTIONS. (COLL. SECHAN). PERSIA. 149 ornamented tulip, no less characteristic, forms the centre of each bend. The symbolic palm is another sign widely spread ; we find it habitually surrounded by a toothed border, and filled, in the interior, with regular bouquets like the embroidery of Cashmere shawls. There are certain pieces, in which the ornament consists entirely of palms distributed in symmetrical order. A second group, more directly imitated from the Chinese, is composed of dishes, jars, bottles, etc., ornamented with bouquets of peonies, the fong-hoang, and other fantastic animals, surrounded by rich vegeta- tion ; in these kinds the ground of the porcelain is covered with a mosaic, a lozenge pattern, or broken lines in iron-red, which give to these vases a peculiar aspect and warmth of tone. The third group has subjects of hieratic Chinese persons, but the figures, more elongated than they make them in the Celestial Empire, offer a visible exaggeration of manner and expression ; the short men become obese, the faces with marked features are pushed to grimace ; one sees it is a caricature, as indeed are all copies which exaggerate the defects of the original. The green decoration in Persia has often been associated with grounds variously coloured ; the bleu fouette'e, heightened with gold, covers the exterior of bowls with palms and bouquets in the interior, and the green palms and scrolls run outside, round a fine Nankin or dead leaf glaze (Fig. 45). The most remarkable piece in which we find brown (tse-kin-yeou of the Chinese) united with the enamels of the Green family, is the recipient or basin of a narghili belonging to M. Dutuit of Rouen. Divided by two borders, with reserves filled in by scrolls, the recipient has upon its side medallions in the form of palms, tinted in turquoise-blue, with bright blue decoration; the blue palms are disposed in quincunces round the first, and large green scrolls run round the neck ; the rounded base is tinted in a copper washy green, of a peculiar aspect, which we have sometimes found under bottles and jars of the Green family, decorated with flowers. Bose Family. — The porcelains of this family are the least numerous, Fig 45. PERSIAN PORCELAIN NARGHILI, OP THE GREEN FAMILY, FEUILLE- MORTE GROUND. HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. and probably the most recent, yet their decoration would appear to emanate from the same taste as the first group of the Green family, large stiff stalks issuing from a kind of spheroidal pot, and terminated by a cruciform flower well expanded ; leaves cut out and disposed in scrolls — all this in bright tints, scarcely fired, such are the charac- teristics of this family. We have seen enamels of the Kose family upon square tea-canisters with cylindric spouts, upon a magnificent ewer of the Davillier collection, and upon gigantic jars enriched with the figure of the simorg. The beauty of these, and the delicacy of the painting, more finished than in the smaller pieces, show to what a degree of ceramic richness the interior decoration of the Persian palaces must have arrived. Fraser, the traveller, demonstrates it when describ- ing the tomb erected at Ardebil, in 1523, to Schah Ismael : " The large octagonal apartment, covered by the principal dome, has obtained the name of Zerfkaneh, or chinaware room, because all the china dishes used in the feasts which Schah Ismael gave to his daily guests were preserved here in niches formed for the purpose in the wall. This apartment has been richly adorned, and the niches which occupy the wall on all sides, and in various figures, produce an effect resembling that of magnificent fretwork. But the chinaware no longer fills them ; in one of the earthquakes, to which this district is liable, many of them were taken from their cells and placed upon the floor, where they stand covered with dust." Schah Ismael reigned from 1501 to 1523 ; hence one sees, from that time, how much the Persians prized their china, and with what ostentation they exhibited pieces which had been preserved either for the talent of the workmen or for the merit of the personages who had used it. At the same time, one understands the rarity of these pieces, as even the convulsions of nature combined with social revolutions to hasten their destruction. May we hazard some conjectures as to whence came this polychrome porcelain ? The blues of Mesched, made at the extremity of Persia on the frontier of Tartary, may well show the influence of such vicinity, and above all of the commercial traffic existing between the two countries. Are the polychrome pieces also from Khorassan ? Must we, on the contrary, take to the letter the assertions of Chardin, and suppose they came originally from Yezd in Fars, or from Caramania ? It would be rash to pronounce an opinion in this matter when documents worthy of belief are completely at fault. Various exceptional Porcelains. — The embarrassment becomes still greater when we seek to bring methodically nearer each other the PERSIA. numerous pieces on which we trace the Persian taste, and which are remote from each other in material, make, and mode of decoration. The Chinese white has certainly penetrated into Persia, and been imitated there. We possess a double cup, of which the open work of the exterior piece, formed of scrolls of flowers, has been chased and then covered over with a gluey glaze of creamy whiteness. Another white, quite rudimentary, is a cylindrical fluted candlestick, with a wide base, of which the sole decoration consists in crossed arches, traced with the point and surmounted by dots. The glaze, by its greenish coloration, sets off the pattern. As for the granulated, coarse paste, it has, notwith- standing its hardness, the appearance of the silicious and friable frit of soft porcelain. The Museum of Natural History possesses another white piece worthy of comparison with the finest pe-ting of China ; a large ewer covered over with the most elegant reliefs, and dated in blue of the Siouen-te period. But sceptics will say, this is evidently of Chinese workmanship, ordered for Persian use. We regret this common objec- tion, which can only affect people strangers to all knowledge of art, we would almost say, to all logic. What ? to execute according to order, will the workmen of the Celestial Empire have suddenly forgotten all their ancient practices, their manual habits, and, more still, their mode of manufacturing ? This objection will not bear examination, and is revolt- ing to good sense ; to convince one's self, it is sufficient to throw our eyes upon the first piece executed by European order. No, the Persians have done everything, and sometimes their works have a remarkable perfec- tion and ingenuity. An open-work white cup we possess is decorated in its middle part with a rich scroll, of which the flowers and foliage are worked with a point in the enamel ; above is a Greek border reserved in enamel upon the biscuit, and the gadrooned base is also traced in the glaze. The foot of this piece, like that of the cup mentioned at page 147, has remained destitute of enamel. Celadons are very common in Persia; they have the beautiful sea-green tint of the old Chinese celadons, and are only to be recognised by their style. Some are simply gadrooned or fluted, others have orna- ments in relief of good taste. Petis de la Croix mentions another coloured porcelain in his trans- lation of the ' Thousand and One Nights,' the Martabani. " Six old slaves," he writes, " less richly dressed than those who were seated, immediately appeared ; they distributed mahramas" (blue squares of stuff used to wipe the finger), "and served shortly afterwards, in a large basin of martabani " (green porcelain), " a salad composed of whey, lemon -juice, 152 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. and slices of cucumbers." Chardin cites a green porcelain, which seems to be the same. He writes : " Every thing at the king's is of massive gold or porcelain. There is a kind of green porcelain so precious, that one dish alone is worth four hundred crowns. They say this porcelain detects poison by changing colour, but that is a fable : its price comes from its beauty and the delicacy of the material, which renders it transparent, although above two crowns in thickness." This last peculiarity has a great importance. It is impossible to suppose travellers would here allude to the sea-green celadon of which we have spoken above ; this, laid upon a brown, close paste, approaching stoneware, is never trans- lucent. In the martabani, on the contrary, a thin, bright green glaze, is applied upon a very white biscuit, which allows the light to appear through. It is most wonderful that a material so esteemed, and of so high a price, is not more frequent in our collections. Its name, on the other hand, leaves no doubt of its Persian nationality. Martaban (Mo-ta-ma) is one of the sixteen states which composed the ancient kingdom of Siam ; it would not be impossible, then, that we must restore to this kingdom the porcelain mentioned in the Arabian story. One word on a kind quite special, coloured in the paste, " trempee en couleur," and which cannot be confounded with the other browns (tse-Un-yeou), because its decoration is always laid on with a white slip or barbotine. Most of the pieces are bottles or surahes to contain wine, others are of a conical body, with a swelling towards the top of the neck ; there are also biberons and teapots with an upper handle, or one forming a depressed arch. Upon the beautiful brown ground are arabesque borders with pendants of pearls, bouquets of chrysanthemums issuing from a spheroidal pot spread over each side of the piece, and accompanied by a kind of cactus stem with alternate branches. All this is largely traced by a white paste decoration laid on rapidly, and there where the strokes touch or intersect each other, the white" becomes purer and less glossy. Hence results almost a kind of modelling, which gives a real appearance to the flowers; the conical leaves have three large segments, a peculiar form, much less charac- teristic of a particular species than of the Persian style in general, for we again find this form in the open-work whites and in the paintings of the Green family. The porcelains "trempe'es en couleur" must be held in esteem also from the care taken to grind down the rim of the base, in order to leave no trace of the coarse sand or pebbles— an indication of careful finish not to be found in the blue. This porcelain is rare. INDIA. 153 CHAPTER III. INDIA. Section 1. — Manners. The Hindoos are incontestably the most ancient people on earth, and we should have occupied ourselves with them first, but in the same degree as the Chinese have carefully preserved the history of even their least institutions, so have the Brahmins sought to cover with an impenetrable veil their origin, religion, and sciences. Their ancient hymns, the Vedas, united in a collection towards the fourteenth century, before our era, contain, among some notions apparently historic, fables so singular, that no belief can be attached to them. The only useful thing coming out of this primitive literature, is the frequent mention of an undefined pottery. The laws of Manou, codified in the ninth century before Christ, are more explicit; we see therein how metal or earthen vessels polluted accidentally should be purified, and the kamandalou, or ewer, used by ascetic devotees in their ablutions, is designated by name. It is difficult to suppose what, at a time so distant from ours, were the transformations effected in the substance, form, and decoration of the pieces, and yet it is fairly to be presumed that stability of manners has caused immobility of art, and that no fundamental difference separates the products of different epochs in this aged society. The relations of the travellers of the two last centuries, almost all strangers to ceramic studies, complicate rather than elucidate the question. Chardin writes, "No faience is made in India; that which is consumed there is all brought there either from Persia, Japan, or China, or from the other kingdoms between China and Pegu." Raynal, on the 154 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. other hand, speaking of the houses occupied by the Banians at Surat, says, " They are built in the manner most suitable to the heat of the climate. Beautiful wainscoting covered the outside walls, and the interior as well as the ceilings were encrusted with porcelain." De Pauw, not less affirmative, declares that the Persians dispute with the Chinese the invention of porcelain. " I have never been able to learn," he says, " what the Indians think on this point, but I know that they make pretty good porcelain, and probably they make it without dis- puting, shrouding themselves in that impenetrable obscurity which reigns in the history of the arts of Asia, where each one may boldly arrogate to himself any discovery, because monuments are wanting to establish facts and dates. More fortunate than the writers of the eighteenth century, we possess now some pieces of various ages of which the testimony is more eloquent than contradictory accounts. We will try to make them speak. But before all, it is necessary to say a word upon the manners and customs of India. The nation, from the most ancient time, has been divided into castes which have no relation among themselves ; social instincts, the relations of reciprocal goodwill, do not then exist, everything being confined to the observation of the conventionalities which intercourse with their equals and respect to the sovereign impose upon public men. Hence no gaiety or animation in public parties; each one is preoccupied in avoiding contact with a man of inferior rank. This constant preoccupation to avoid pollution, fixes every one in his assigned place and tends to an egotistic life. If some rich nabob invites to his table a certain number of guests, the strictest precautions are taken to set the consciences of every one at ease. The ground, disembarrassed of its mats, is laid bare and scrupulously cleaned ; before each guest, sand of various colours is usually disposed in graceful arabesques, holding the place of the absent carpets ; it is upon this ephemeral decoration that are set the numerous dishes served to each. "We say dishes, because we suppose it to be at the table of some great personage, abundantly furnished with the comforts of life. In the middle classes, and particularly among devotees, the scruple is carried to such a pitch that the dishes are placed in newly -gathered leaves, which are thrown away after the repast. It is superfluous to mention that, on sitting down to table, and on going out, the ablutions required by etiquette and religion are strictly observed. At visits, the ceremonial is equally rigid, and is subject to fastidious regulations ; the place occupied by each class is fixed beforehand more INDIA. 155 or less near the entrance door ; a prince or great person is seated at the upper end of the room upon a raised platform, and sometimes under a dais of embroidered stuffs ; it is what is called the masnad or gddi, and is that which serves as a throne to sovereigns who have not the rank of kings. Every visit terminates at the moment when the master of the house offers to his guest the betel and areca nut ; at the same time he pours upon the handkerchief of his guest essence of rose or some other perfume, and sprinkles his clothes with rose-water by means of a phial of narrow opening ; this ceremony indicates it is time to take leave. Notwithstanding this stiffness of manners, there are some fetes which are common to people of all classes ; the principal, perhaps, is the Holi, celebrated in honour of spring. The people dance in the evening round large bonfires, singing convivial songs, and playing all kinds of practical tricks upon their superiors, who never show any irritation. The great amusement of the fete is to squirt water upon each other, and to throw upon the face carmine powder, which is difficult to remove. The powder is prepared in the form of balls covered over with isinglass, the slightest touch suffices to make them burst like the Italian confetti ; the mirth is the greater in proportion to the number of faces smeared and of dresses spoiled. The dioudli is again a general fete, when all the temples and houses are illuminated with wreaths of coloured glass lamps, which extend along the roofs, windows, cornices, suspended to scaffoldings of bamboos prepared for the occasion. Benares, seen from the Ganges in the evening, presents quite a fairy spectacle. We do not allude to scenic repre- sentations mixed with dances and singing, nor to the graceful and monotonous series of attitudes, accompanied by a recitation still more monotonous, which constitute the art and power of the bayaderes. In general, these things pass in private meetings, and the passion of the Hindoos for this kind of exhibition is so great that they would remain whole nights standing to contemplate it without feeling fatigued. Section 2. — Potteries. Let us now return to the potteries of India and seek, so to say, the moral proofs of their existence and style. Every one knows, at least, by their representation, the gigantic rock temples of Ellora, sur- mounted by monolithic elephants, loaded with mystic figures, creations of the Brahminic religion. In the midst of colossi, with animals' i 5 6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. heads, strange symbols of a complicated theogony, appear the rudiments of a rich and masterly ornamentation. Upon the marble of the pilasters, in the coffered recesses of the vaults, wreaths of acanthus, the stems elegantly cut out, and ornamental flowers, reveal in the Hindoo artist a purity of conception, an understanding of masses and details, that one would only expect to find in the finest works of Greece. In approaching more modern periods and in observing other materials one sees that time, far from modifying the taste, has rendered its ex- pression more delicate. Precious gems, worked with marked superiority, set off by the addition of emeralds, rubies, and sapphires, will rival what Western antiquity has left of most esteemed. Nothing is more dis- tingue' than the cups of jade of slender form, delicate as the corolla of a flower, and chased with leaves and flowers in scarcely sensible relief, in those fly-flappers, those cups encrusted with fillets of gold bent in scrolls, and charged with flowers and fruits in glowing rubies. Could one suppose a people so enlightened in the art would have neglected the ornamental resources offered by the ceramics ? No. It only wanted observers less superficial than the old travellers to furnish the proof. After having carefully explored Central India, of which he gives a curious picture in the 'Tour du Monde,' M. Louis Rousselet has brought back types of the ancient ceramic art of this mysterious civili- sation. The valley of Sanchi furnished him with numerous specimens of funeral urns, some cut in steatite, the others kneaded in grey or red potter's clay. The steatites, sometimes grey, sometimes brown, affect studied forms, and are covered with sculptured gadroons and figures of animals, among which we specially recognise the elephant and the fox. These works, found in the topes of Sonari and Andher, go back to the end of the third century before the Christian era. _ ,„ With respect to the terra-cottas, this funereal Fig. 46. . r ' urn (Fig 46) from the tope of Satdahra, dates from 300 to 280 B.C. ; its spheroidal form, with turned over rim, recalls certain primitive Greek vases, themselves perhaps copied from Asiatic potteries brought by Phoenician commerce. We give (Fig. 47) another type of red pottery from funereal tien of ^ p e £ Ohoiepore. It is a covered iar, of primitive BED POTTERY, r r . feom the tope make, and appears rather to have been kneaded by OF SATDAHEA. . . hands than turned on the wheel ; yet it snows a certam refinement of ornamentation, and the body bears an inscription in ancient characters; its date is probably from 260 to 240 B.C. Of the same INDIA. 157 date are urns, also in red pottery (Fig. 49), discovered at Andher, and of which the very peculiar forms have left their trace on certain objects of vulgar use figured in Solvyn's Journey. Fig. 47. Fig. 48. COVERED URN OP RED POTTERY, PROM URN OP RED POTTERY, PROM THE TOPE OP OHOJEPORE. THE TOPE OF ANDHER. So much for the old terra-cottas ; but the discoveries of M. Kousselet did not end there ; it was reserved to him to make us acquainted with the application of enamels to monumental decoration in a series of elaborate edifices, palaces, temples, and fortresses, created from the fifth to the eleventh century, and dispersed over Gwalior, Canoudji, Delhi, Chittore, and Oujein. These constructions have, amid reliefs of a studied architecture, friezes, and compartments divided by pilastered rows of arches, relieved by a coloured ornamentation in bright and pure tones, dark blue, pale blue or turquoise, green, yellow, orange, chestnut, and violet-brown of the colour of bronze. These consist of a kind of rectangular brick, combined to form a succession of square denticula- tions alternating in colour, chequers, and rows of shark's teeth or saw- like ornaments. In the metopes a ground composed of blue bricks brings out the outline of a palm tree traced in a fine green mosaic. In some of the friezes at Gwalior are web-footed birds, elegantly outlined, which detach themselves from the ground, or foxes dexterously executed in mosaic. In spite of the injuries of time these remarkable works still set off the majestic ruins on which we found them. In a purely ceramic point of view the bricks of India have a peculiar interest, they are very smooth on the surface, rectangular, very thick, bevelled at the edges, and do not appear to be of a clay paste, but of a kind of stoneware ; the enamelled covering, probably silico-alkaline, is excessively thin, very adherent, and of a translucency which shows the greyish brown tint of the subjacent rock. Thus are resolved the doubts of Alexandre Brongniart on the subject 1 5 8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. of certain ancient fragments, which appeared to him to be enamelled direct upon a silicious rock. This practice would unite itself with that of the ancient Egyptians, who knew how to make the coloured enamels in the fine sculptures adhere to their granite sarcophagi. Let us pass to times nearer our own, and to works of pure pottery, that is of pieces where the enamel is applied upon terra-cotta. From the time of the publication of the ' Traite' des arts ceramiques,' England possessed some wall-tiles brought from Gour, a town deserted in the fourteenth century in consequence of one of the branches of the Ganges, which watered it, having very suddenly changed its bed. Brongniart, describing these plaques of black or blue ground, ornamented in relief with primitive white pattern, would not venture to decide on the exact nature of the enamel, but he established the fact of the monu- mental application of pottery. He added, " I have had other informa- tion of glazed fragments, found in India, derived from the 'Asiatic Journal,' and communicated by M. Garcin de Tassy. "M. Treader has sent to the Asiatic Society (of Calcutta) some fragments of glazed pottery found upon a place slightly elevated, in the neighbourhood of Jounpore, which forty years back was covered with a thick forest. * * * * The fragments in question are of coarse work- manship, but the glaze is good and the colours brilliant, considering the time they have been exposed to the air (probably two or three hundred years); the blue has great brilliancy; the designs have no elegance, and evidently are not either Chinese or imitations from them." Since the publication of M. Brongniart's book, science has advanced ; fragments, then so rare, have multiplied, and we have just shown to what a point the Indians had pushed the science of enamelling. We ought also to mention here other coloured monuments, of which unfor- tunately we know neither the date nor the locality, but which by the grandeur of the style and the nature of the ornaments recall the ancient Hindoo temples. These are sculptures in high or low relief, of which the grey earth, bordering upon brown, is of an inconceivable hardness and of excessively fine grain; the details are moulded with infinite care and overlaid with bright colours, yellow, red, green, and black. What is the nature of this decoration? Is it a simple glaze or an enamel ? Chemical experiments would be required to demonstrate it. What is certain is, that notwithstanding the relative whiteness of the earth, certain colours are applied upon an engobe which increases their brightness. These fragments evidently form part of an architectural decoration; we see large friezes with the borders of different colours, INDIA. 159 and ornamented in relief with a cruciform pattern, recalling the rich- ness of the most elegant filigree jewels, pilasters with foliated scrolls, having red daisies with yellow centres, Greek borders with half rosettes and projecting bosses, columns of arabesques with conventional flowers, trilobed foliage of elegant form, and lateral palmettes united with divergent stalks twisted into scrolls. But what are still more remarkable are the fantastic birds with scaly thighs, enclosing in their powerful talons reptiles writhing in agony ; dragons' heads, propelling from their open jaws a wave of scrolls crossing each other, unrolling their numerous volutes, variously coloured ; and most wonderful of all a kind of monstrous head, with startling eyes, hairy eyebrows, bearing upon its frontal boss a pearl set in an oval, and crowned with the Brahminic mitre. Before these bold and masterly productions, where the sciences of form and colour lend their powerful support, one remains confounded, and we ask ourselves if the Hindoos are not the first ceramic artists in the world. These precious fragments form part of the rich collection of M. Dugler^. Unfortunately, we repeat, their derivation is not known, and according to the judicious observations of M. Louis Rousselet, their fantastic style, even the extravagance of their monsters, would announce less the conception of India .proper than of Indo-China. Posterior to these monumental works, India has produced faience of the same nature as that of Persia, wall tiles, plates, and other usual pieces for table service ; the paste is white and silicious ; it has for deco- rating basis a fine turquoise-blue, applied in scrolls, disposed in bouquets, or spread on a ground with reserves of white arabesques. The simi- larity is so complete between this and Persian pottery, that a natural suggestion arises in the mind : how a people, advanced at all times in the art of enamelling upon copper, applying verifiable colours to the decoration of monuments, could have been able to escape the want of producing a decorative porcelain richer than the simple camaieu ? Then one chooses among the pieces ascribed to Persia, certain plates, of which the rich bouquets resemble those upon plates in cloisonne enamel upon " resille ; " and others, no less elegant, where the peacock, sometimes spreading, at others sweeping his rich ocellated tail, forms the principal subject; then comparing these paintings no longer with Persian works, but with the reliefs of repousse goldsmith's work, and with the paintings to the frames of Indian miniatures, one involuntarily forms a group which, in the great whole of faiences of Oriental origin, would be the special share allotted to Hindostan. It is audacious, perhaps i6o HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. premature, yet the conscience is awakened; and the day is not far distant when, with one accord, amateurs, writers and collectors, meeting on one common ground, will give at last a solution to these questions so interesting to the history of art. Besides, it is certain that even at the present time, India makes faience. The centre of the manufacture appears to be Hyderabad ; the forms and decoration reveal ancient traditions preserved in spite of time. Elegant cups with raised covers, hemispheric bowls with ga- droons in relief, are in the ceramic museum at Sevres ; the ground of the pottery is of the colour of tortoise-shell, green or bright blue, heightened with patterns in black; graceful scrolls of incised foliage, their rolls terminated by large radiated flowers, decorate the principal friezes; beaded borders, others toothed, whence rise palmated leaves alternating with delicate groups of ferns ; daisies scattered between the rosettes and beading, imbricated surfaces, other semees of vegetable patches — such are its elements of decoration. Now one finds precisely these elements in the greater part of the objects of Hindostan, and parti- cularly upon the painted and gilded niches of the Buddhist divinities and upon the boxes and vases of lacquered work. These numerous and choice modern potteries that the Universal Exhibition has shown us are the best proof that can be furnished of the antiquity of the ceramic art in India. Is it then at the moment when, conquered and reconquered by the stranger, who imposes upon it his products, this unhappy country, without chiefs, without initiative, decimated by disease, ruined by taxes, seeks in vain to reunite itself by the ties of a religious faith, is it then that she would go and renew old or create new industries with which she has dispensed in the days of her power ? Reason would not admit it, and we must, on the contrary, recognise all that there is of vitality and persistency in a people who, in spite of these misfortunes, still find within themselves strength to perpetuate some of their ancient products, and to oppose to the detestable importations of the conqueror works always bearing the impress of national vigour. Section 3. — Poecelains. We have just thrown a rapid glance upon the ordinary pottery of India. We must now seek to recognise those of fine hard paste, that is to say, porcelain. But to attain this end it is indispensable to defend the bases of art in this singular country. The Indian paintings and those of Persia have been too often confounded, and nothing has INDIA. 161 been hitherto earnestly done to trace out the limits between two styles bordering on each other. The first fact deduced from an attentive examination of the two kinds is, that the Indians are more of miniature painters than the Persians ; their figures are- executed with scrupulous care, no detail escapes their minute rendering, and yet the whole preserves the most perfect harmony. As a consequence of this intelligence in art, even the frames which surround their historic scenes or portraits are enriched with de- signs skilfully softened in their tones not to detract from the principal subject. The taste of the ornament is such as we find in the tissues of Cashmere, printed cloths, and other textile products. Raynal had remarked this tendency, and writes in his f Recherches Philosophiques ' : " There are painters at Surat who would not yield in rank to the most skilful hoa-pei of Nankin, and above all in that which they term works in miniature. We know of pictures crowded with from eighty to a hundred figures, in which all the women resemble each other, and the men the same, for there is but one look and one phy- siognomy for each sex, proving in the most manifest manner that they paint by rule." This ridiculous observation is founded on fact, and is of the first importance; the philosophic abbe' could not have been ignorant that all primitive arts proceed thus ; the species takes the place of the individual, the type dominates varieties, the school constitutes a great whole which absorbs the personal tendencies of each of its adepts, and submits to the level of one master the attempts at originality, what- ever it may be. Applying this principle to the study of Indian ceramics, we were not long in finding a criterion by which to establish the characteristics of their figure decoration. There exists at Sevres a porcelain plaque, with double face, probably the cover of the betel box'of some rajah ; on each side is represented a prince sitting cross-legged upon his mamad, and holding in his hand the jewel, emblem of power ; near him is an officer, who fans him with a fly-flapper of peacock's feathers ; on the other side the prince is alone, appearing to contemplate the verdant landscape and misty sky seen through a pierced gallery. These paintings are executed in muffle colours, with marvellous delicacy, evidently by hands ac- customed to miniature painting; examined by a magnifying glass, the faces have the most striking character of nationality. It is the elegant type of India, the straight forehead, short nose, almond-shaped eyes, arched eyebrows, and fine beard terminating in a point at the base of the oval. Now we know with what difficulty the Chinese and Japanese M HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. painters copy things contrary to their habitual practice, and to what a point they disfigure them ; all profile is detested by the Chinese, and even in its ugliness there are certain conventional signs ; the nose, for instance, has the form of the 4 in Arab numerals. The Japanese artist, more pliant in handling the pencil, will make the features less ugly, but profile not being familiar to him, there will be a singular constraint and a conventional uniformity in his delineation, which will scarcely admit of distinguishing between the two sexes, and less still between the different races. In the painting of ornament, the delicacy and minuteness of detail will furnish the character. Finished as may be the Japanese grounds, with their delicate mosaics, they will never rival the grounds in gold or coloured scales, minutely mingled together and relieved with imper- ceptible dots ; with the Indian, the narrow fillet becomes a wreath of foliage or an embroidered ribbon ; gold, in hair strokes, heightens the smallest flower ; in a word, the porcelain has nothing to envy in the most carefully finished body colours. If to corroborate these remarks made in sight of the pieces them- selves, we seek for further indications, we find most valuable ones in the miniature drawings, which have already furnished useful com- parisons. We have seen in Persia, public piety bringing together in a special chamber of the tomb of Schah Ismael, the porcelains used by that sovereign. Similar rooms to this zerfkaneh (porcelain room) exist in the palaces of India: a miniature formerly belonging to M. Emile Wattier, shows us the Sultan Akbar giving audience in a salle, studded with niches, containing vases of every form. Thanks to the exactness of the Hindoo pencil, one is able to distinguish in these vessels the works of the goldsmith, the gems and the pottery, these last affecting two distinct kinds of decorations, one blue upon white, the other in bright colours; the style of the pieces, with figures, birds, or arabesque ornaments, has nothing in common with the works of the Celestial Empire, and one cannot therefore suppose them to be imported works. We were not satisfied with examining the miniature of M. Wattier alone; another, representing the fete of Holi, shows us the sweetmeats and the wine in large bowls of a blue pattern. Magnificent pages, in which are represented receptions and feasts, enable us to establish the presence of richly enamelled porcelains only among the vessels of gold and the gems. These coloured porcelains therefore constituted the most esteemed kind; the others are the vessels in common use. Let us now determine the exact character of these two kinds. INDIA. 163 Blues of India. — 'The paste is generally better worked than that of Persia ; rather courte, it is apt to split, but it is very even, close, and overlaid with a very fine bluish glaze, well lustred, and which appears sometimes to have been applied in two coats; the light blue of the ornaments seems scarcely to show itself through the glaze under which it has bubbled (bouillonne), which gives it a special softness and delicacy. Of this blue we find vases, bottles for aspersion, and gargoulettes in the form of a recumbent elephant. Other blues with ordinary glaze are of much brighter tint. They have ornamental borders, with notched scrolls and for principal subjects bouquets composed of various flowers or birds, terraces decorated with plants, resembling the Chinese compositions. These last blues appear less ancient than the others ; some already savour of European inspiration. Polychrome Porcelain. — The Hindoos were skilful in enamelling, and for them the use of vitrifiable colours upon kaolinic pottery must have been easy. Yet as one escapes with difficulty from the traditions of an old and reputed workshop, so the Indian painters have sought for an equivalent to the Green family of the Chinese ; we find it in a deep bell-shaped bowl (Fig. 49), simply decorated in blue, red Fig. 49. BOWL OF INDIAN PORCELAIN. — GREEN FAMILY. and green enamelled. If the whole bears a Chinese character, the details are widely different. The borders of rosettes and den- ticulations are of a perfect original taste. Straight, slender stalks rise vertically from the base at equal distances, bearing daisies, M 2 164 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. alternately red and blue, surrounded by leaves regularly disposed, so as to form upon the white ground, as it were, a close network. There results from this arrangement an effect resembling tissues rather than pottery. Another covered bowl, belonging to the Baroness Salomon de Roths- child, affects an analogous disposition upon a gold ground. The cup with a foot, figured here (Fig. 50), is richer still, with the exception of the Fig. 50. CUP IN INDIAN PORCELAIN, IMITATING CLOISONNE ENAMEL — (COLL. BAEONNE S. DE ROTHSCHILD). lower edge, where we find the porcelain ornamented with a yellow zone of enamelled flowers. The surface of the vase is filled with the grounds; one light green, divided by arches of gold, invades the circumference ; the other, garnet-red, forms upon the first a kind of rosette, of which the segments bear a decoration of flowers and foliage resembling that of the pieces previously described. All, from the outline of the grounds to the smallest point to the least leaf, is edged with a line of brilliant gold, imitating the workmanship of a cloisonne" enamel ; the style of the borders resemble, at the same time, this work, and that of gold incrustations and precious stones. It does not require any artistic feeling to be struck with the identity of this piece with those which miniature painters place before the Eastern princes, filled with fruits or sorbets. The porcelains imitating enamels appear to be of old date, and of a INDIA. taste general in the peninsula of India. We find them again in Siam and Cochin China. Another kind, which might be termed Indo -Mussulman, affects an austere style; in the partial ground of a blackish blue under the glaze, relieved with stars and crescents in gold, are reserved borders and oval medallions filled with delicate inscriptions in gold, taken from the Koran. A wreath of small flowers with green foliage, and fillets in green relief, red and gold, framing the reserves, alone recall the resources of the mineral pallet. A bouquet, heightened in gold, at the bottom of the cup, would also lead to suppose a habit of Japan inspiration. Hence it has been advanced that there exists in China a numerous sect devoted to Islamism, to whom should be probably attributed these pieces. As regards paste and fabrication, the Mussulman porcelains are incontestably Indian, the borders of little flowers which surround their base are of the special style of decoration of the Green family. Another observation overrules this : we know what is the power of manual habit among Oriental nations; the Chinese write with a brush, raising or leaning on it to obtain the flexible touch which gives to calligraphy its elegance and distinction. The Arab, the Persian, and the Indian write with the reed, and hence preserve to their characters the graceful lightness, the cursive form, which the brush can never impart. It would therefore be easy to distinguish Arab characters traced by a Chinese hand. A piece of blue decoration in our possession, shows that even in China these characters are copied with difficulty, and, we may say, as awkwardly as if they had been French. No doubt then can be permitted with respect to these porcelains ; which are, besides, closely united with other kinds which, in the eighteenth century, had thrown collectors into the greatest confusion. The natural stopping place on the route to China and Japan, India, has now become the general emporium of the merchandise of these countries; Arabia, Persia, the Sunda Islands, Moluccas, etc., make themselves tributaries of this central market, where exchange of products is made with the greatest facility, inasmuch as the demand and supply are in continual contact. Goa, Pondicherry, Madras, Calcutta, receive, either direct from China, Japan, the Corea, or Batavia, those immense quantities of porcelain destined to furnish part of the return cargo of the western fleets. It is certain that the Hindoo and Persian ceramic works stepped into the commerce without awakening the attention of the traders, and without exciting the curiosity of European amateurs. Thus, as the Dutch, masters of the Japanese factories, sent HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. their orders to Desima, the French, finding in India manufactories in full activity, sent theirs to Pondicherry. Now that the Hindoos, delicate artists, lovers of detail, accustomed to the working up of their miniatures, should have sought to derive their inspirations from the Japanese rather than from the decorated Chinese porcelain, at once explains itself. Nor can we be astonished to see the orders sent from Europe to Pondicherry confounded, from their style, with the porcelain executed at Nippon under the care of the Dutch Company of the Indies. What, it will be naturally asked, are the characteristics by which to distinguish the works of the two origins ? These are the characters, derived not only from the porcelain, but from the products of other industrial arts. The Indian paste is of bluish or greyish cast, its enamel lustred and brilliant ; it is often obtained by running into moulds, and appears tremblee on its surface ; this may be also found in some Chinese and Japanese porcelains. One of the elements of Hindoo decoration is a bright and deep enamelled blue. Quite characteristic, it has nothing- analogous but the blue of the pate tendre of Sevres ; on some pieces it forms partial grounds, or outlines of bouquets, in the style of ancient paintings; we see pine-apples, peonies, chrysanthemums, and small flowers, the details of which are rendered by heightenings of gold with marvellous delicacy. This infinite delicacy, which leaves far behind it all the Oriental paintings in enamel, is the surest indication of works of Hindoo artists. Green or blue fillets, with points of gold, form an embroidery, wreaths from these points supporting minute daisies, with red centres almost imperceptible to the eye. Soft and melting green or flesh tints throw a perfect harmony over the borders ; arabesque designs, with guillochures of gold, and microscopic lozenges, spread themselves over ribbons interlaced with flowers, and com- plete the resemblance of the ceramic decoration to the richest stuffs. In the midst of all this, escutcheons of vivid colours, with mantlings or heraldic supporters, rival the most beautiful the Japanese have produced One of the choicest collections of Indian porcelain with European designs, is that of Admiral Juares. We find there pieces of pure and marvellous taste, especially an escutcheoned plate, covered with rich arabesques in pale green and gold, of which the Sevres artists might envy the composition. If we have insisted upon the description of these almost modern porcelains, it is that uncertainty has particularly attached itself to them, and that they have advanced as exceptional pieces from their resem- INDIA. blance to those ordered by the Dutch India Company, to increase the confusion brought about by empiricism in the products of the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries. Let us dismiss these commercial works to return to the porcelain made for the use of the Hindoos. The double-faced plaque that we have cited in the beginning already gives reason to suppose that it was particularly from the Japanese that the Indian artists have borrowed their processes. Pieces of rare occurrence, but easily to be recognised, show this inspiration in another light. There are cups with feet, run in a mould, and of very characteristic form ; dishes -and plates of good make, adorned with enamelled flowers, rocks covered with fabulous birds or with gallinacese. Upon a cup in our collection the flowers nearly approach, by their enamel and make, to those of the artistic school, but the rocks, tinted with yellow and heightened with brown, differ from what we see in Japan; a border of gold filigree, Mandarin style, surrounding the base is equally characteristic of the school of which we have been just speaking. In plates the difference is still more marked. Round the edge are bouquets, mixed with open pomegranates, partly in enamel, in relief, partly in thin colours, particularly in iron-red. Flowers of the pomegranate of this last tint are finished with a care which renders possible their association with the roses and lilies, in which shine the golden red and white enamel. In the centre, among the most graceful plants, are a cock and hen surrounded with chickens, of which the iron- red plumage, with black stems, are finely worked in strokes of gold, raising the painting to the level with the most perfect creations of the Japanese. To those who, struck with the unanimity of travellers in denying Hindoo porcelain, would write that this pottery is imported from China, we will oppose, as a last argument, the curious book trans- lated by M. Stanislas Julien, upon 'L'Histoire et la fabrication de la porcelaine chinoise.' It contains these indications : " 47. Vases orna- mented with enamels in the European style." " 54. Imitations of the gilded vases (literally, ' rubbed with gold ') of Indo-China : Tong-yang mo-kin khi-ming." " 55. Silver vases (literally, ' rubbed with silver ') of Indo-China : Tong-yang mo-in khi-ming." This passage is curious in more than one respect ; it proves that, notwithstanding its anteriority in the ceramic arts, the Celestial Empire does not hesitate to acknowledge the borrowings it has made from its neighbours, and even from barbarian strangers. Who then would dare to deny the existence of Hindoo porcelains when the Chinese admit that HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. they have imitated them ? We hastened to seek the vases " rubbed with gold ; " and the museum of Sevres, rich in ancient objects, has shown us two pieces, a little coffee-pot with elegant spout, and a water-cup of singular form, representing the Indian kind. Covered with a brownish Nankin glaze, powdered over with gold scantily laid on, these vases, of which the metallic aspect is seen only in certain lights, appeared as old yellow copper gilt, worn by use, and jaspered with blackish stains of a patina accumulated by time. The Chinese " rubbed with gold," on the contrary, is always to be recognised by the form of the vases and the nienhao, with which some of them were inscribed ; it is besides laid upon an iron-red ground, which animates the clouds of gold with a warm tone like that of an old gilded bronze. The frotte d'or is not the only exceptional porcelain of India that we have pointed out. There exists in the Gasnault collection a cassolette of red-brown ground, decorated with medallions traced in white enamel in the national style. The lid is surmounted by a golden bouquet that might be taken for a metal mounting. The nature of the floral medallions and white arabesques resemble a bowl with Nankin glaze, enriched with medallions in the same style, heightened upon the white with some touches of pink. This again is a style of decoration similar to what one meets upon the Hindoo productions of European order ; the enamelled pink bands are relieved by a white embroidery in relief. Siam. We have said a word in passing on the porcelain of Anam and Siam. These countries, rushed through by a number of travellers, are destitute, they say, of all artistic industry, and have recourse to Japan and China to provide them with the slightest objects of luxury. The Universal Exhibition came, bringing the most eloquent denial to these assertions. Already, long before the first maritime movements, occasioned by our expedition to Cochin China, there suddenly arrived porcelains of unknown aspect, some pretty fine, the others of common fabrication; the colours of demi-grand feu cover the biscuit, the white glaze is only perceptible under the foot of the bowls and the interior of the glazed pieces. The principal ground is of a greenish black enamel, seme' of lobed flowers heightened with red upon white. Buddhic figures, with the tiara and nimbus, fill the four sides of the vase; two are represented in bust in arabesque medallions ; the other two, upon the ground, terminate in tails like SIAM. 169 those of a mermaid. The borders are seme with scrolls, flowers, and palmettes, recalling the style of the cup figured at page 164, and the white earth of the engobe, the isolated and projecting pearls imitate, with less delicacy, the special decoration of Hindostan. The delineation of the figures is conformable, besides, to what the Indian pantheons show us. These pieces, mostly of modern fabrication, evidently belong to ancient tradition ; we want no other proof than a bowl decorated in blue under the glaze, and joatine by time, which came to throw light upon the subject by its appearance in a public sale of Dutch merchandise. If the name of Siam had not been pronounced from the beginning relative to these vases, the precious pieces sent to the Champ de Mars by M. de Grean would have made it known to us. We saw there, besides ceramic pieces of great interest, enamels upon copper, which seem to have served as models to the vases we have just described. Let us add to this brilliant pottery the Martabani, which we must naturally restore to its country, and it will be seen that this part of the Indian peninsula has nothing to envy the other in their products. This will show only by what serious studies, and by what patient researches, we must prelude the determination of the natural character of certain ceramic works. Let us not then wonder if travellers not prepared, pressed by time and preoccupation with the special object of their distant journey, should fall into error and confusion that the most learned would scarcely avoid in seeing hurriedly a profusion of objects inspired by the same ideas, answering to analogous wants, and often copied from each other. HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. APPENDIX TO BOOK III. Section 1. — Maghreb. We have seen with what ardour the disciples of Mohammed sought to spread their doctrine, by extending their conquests. Masters of Egypt, Syria, a part of Asia Minor, and of Persia, they turned their looks towards the north of Africa, Sicily and Spain. The first army which invaded Cyrenaica, was led, in 644, by Amrou- ben-el-Aas; but not sufficiently numerous to retain possession of a country where resistance arose on every side, it was compelled to retire. But the impulse was given and ambition awakened ; four other ex- peditions followed, the first, in 647, headed by Abdallah ; the second by Moaouyah-ebn-Kadydjeh ; the third, in 666, by Bacher-ben-Artah ; the last, in 670, by Oqbah-ben-Nafy, which not only established itself in the country, but also founded there, in 675, the first Mussulman city, Quayrouan or Keirouan, upon the site of the ancient Cyrene. Notwithstanding the constant revolts of the natives, conquest extended rapidly, and geographers soon divided into districts the extensive shore made subject to Islamism. The Maghreb-el- Aksa, or the extreme west, extending from the Atlantic to Tlemsen ; the Maghreb-el-Ouassath, or Maghreb of the Middle, comprising the country east of Tlemsen as far as Bougie ; and lastly, Afrikia, or Africa, properly so-called, of which the eastern frontier touched Egypt. Established in these centres, the Arabs built mosques, public edifices, and private houses, in which they displayed their taste for brilliant decoration. Unfortunately, Europeans have not shown much zeal in making known the nature and style of these ornaments ; travellers MAGHREB. 171 seeking rather to follow the tracks of the great events of ancient history, and to gather inscriptions commemorative of the Greek and Roman conquests, of the Punic wars, and the varied fortunes of Carthage. Yet one may still find in their narratives some useful indications. One sees that at Fez, the ground of the principal Arab houses was paved with various coloured enamelled tiles. In the different regions of the present Algeria, the domes of the mosques shine with the brilliancy of the glazed tiles ; the mosque of Sidi-Belabbes, at Morocco, is still overlaid with this brilliant decoration. M. Prax has given us the following interesting description of the Zaouia and of the great mosque of Sidi-Shabi, above half a mile west of Keirouan : " The Zaouia of Sidi-Shabi is a large lime-washed building. Above its walls of enclosure and other erections rise the dome of the tomb and the minaret, which have preserved the brown red tint of its cut stones. These stones have square facings, and form courses at an angle of forty-five degrees. "We entered the first court; we found another further on, adorned with columns of marble, forming galleries, in which we saw students in theology, talba, who were studying. Beyond the second court is a mosque. A staircase led us to a terrace, flagged with white marble, and with galleries and columns of marble. The walls of this terrace are overlaid with glazed tiles of great variety of pattern. We entered into a cupola-covered apartment, of which the walls were overlaid with tiles forming large patterns of vertical bands. In the midst of this salle is the tomb of Sidi-Shabi, under an apple- green silk sheet with red borders, surmounted by two standards of red brocade. Upon the tomb is a closed book, richly bound ; at its angles are candelabras, bearing tapers, painted spirally. Around it is a railing with green bars of flattened iron, crossed at an angle of forty-five degrees, and rivetted with nails, with heads alternately red and yellow. The area prescribed by this radius has tiles half black and white, which are arranged so as to form zigzag bands successively white and black." In reading this description one figures monuments as sumptuous as those of Cairo and Damascus. One sees, in fact, that the Arabs had introduced into the Maghreb the luxury of marble buildings and ceramic overlaying. Nor is this all. The same traveller, M. Prax, in enumerating the different kinds of merchandise which converge towards Keirouan, the great commercial centre of Tunisia, the city of caravan, particularly mentions the fine potteries of Beled-Zouarin, on the east of Keirouan. It was a great deal to possess such indications of a country which may be 172 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. said to be unknown ; but it was more difficult to find types of the Arab manufacture of Maghreb, and to compare them with other Mussulman productions to bring out the difference. This mission has been rendered easy by the courtesy of M. Georges Martin, in laying open to us his fine collection. A word, first, on this unparalleled series. M. Martin not only went through the north of Africa as an intelligent artist, gathering everywhere the waifs of Mussulman splendour, which will soon be only a thing of the past, as present indolence lets all fall to ruin; he learnt that an Arab, enlightened by long contact with European civilisation, had carried back into his country a taste for archaeological research, and had surrounded himself with a real museum, collected at great expense and trouble, and composed not only of the most elegant and original ancient vases, but also of a series of coloured drawings representing pieces impossible to acquire. Here then was a complete monumental history of the potteries of the Maghreb; a history elucidated by manuscript notes, which, it appears, have been subsequently burned by the indifferent. At the moment M. Martin heard of this interesting collection the discoverer was dead ; it was his widow, who, seduced by the offers of the traveller, finished by giving up to France (the courteous reception M. Martin gives to those who visit his cabinet allows us to employ this term) the vases and drawings collected with so much care and love. We remain stupefied before this numerous series of unknown works ; here are urns of an elegance almost antique, some furnished with two or three handles uniting the neck to the body (Fig. 51) ; others without appendages, and by this happy form recalling the canopus of ancient Egypt ; then there are jars or potiches, if this name from the extreme East may be ventured upon in Africa; some almost oviform, with short necks, often flattened and reduced at the base, or turbinated. There are also before us vases (Fig. 52) with one handle, furnished with a biberon, like the Italian brocca, or, better still, like those pitchers of the south, which are evidently derived from it. We might also speak of lamps on tall stems, intersected by successive planes attached to each other by handles superposed. All these pieces, covered with a pinkish grey enamel, of rose colour, are heightened by a polychrome decoration in zones, generally consisting of bands of scrolls, flowers, denticulations, rosettes, etc., where citron, yellow, manganese brown, green, and blue, form the most charming harmony. But the series of ceramic works where we find the greatest variety MAGHREB. 173 of form and distinction, is that consisting of dishes and cups ; not only have the Arabic artists exhausted the hemispheric ■ combinations more or less prolonged in cylinder, but the bursary form, often with flattened sides ; all these upon a broad foot, sometimes fluted, or applied to a finely gadrooned stem. The exterior ornamentation of these pieces is like that of the vases described above; in the interior vast rosettes, arches enclosing palms and bouquets, ingenious linear conceptions, forming gigantic stars,- with segments richly varied, and chequered in star-shaped or polygonal compartments ; they have even approached natural repre- sentations with a fancy, a liberty of conception, bordering often on licence; Fig. 51. Fig. 52. ARAB URN— (COLL. MARTIN). ARAB GARGOULETTE — (COLL. MARTIN). at the bottom of a cup, a black mass describes the outline of a tiger, with outstretched claws, of aspect rendered as terrific as possible by reserving in the black, two eyes, widely opened, scarcely divided by two vertical pupils. Upon a largish dish a carnivorous animal, a lion, no doubt, attacks and tears another mammiferous animal, an antelope perhaps, if one may judge from its size ; others would say a hare, deter- mined by the length of its ears. These figures doubtlessly are barbarous, yet they are not wanting in savage energy or boldness ; they are besides valuable in another point of view, since, unknown perhaps to their authors, who follow ancient 174 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. traditions, they perpetuate the type of the conflict between the two principles of Good and Evil, inaugurated under Zoroaster by the fight between the lion and the bull, transformed after the Hegira into a simple hunting scene. Need we mention also a man on horseback, and some other representations of the human figure ? Notwithstanding their relative poverty, they are deserving of notice ; for they ally them- selves on one part with the Persian pieces with like figures, and on the other with the Gey-chany of Asia Minor. In fact, we have no doubt that African pottery should form two sections ; the first, comprising the common and barbarous pottery of the ancient inhabitants of the soil, that is, of the Kabyles and all those wan- dering shepherds, remained, notwithstanding the lapse of centuries and social modifications, what they were at the Bible period : the greater part of that pottery is not glazed, and consists of water vessels, ordinary recipients, and lamps of rather singular forms. The second contains, not only the numerous series of enamelled pieces, elegant vases of various uses, cups, and plates of every dimension, but also innumerable wall tiles, which may be still met with in situ in the ruins of some monuments, or that collectors may have saved from destruction by gathering them from among the rubbish. M. Martin's collection is invaluable as regards this kind of faience ; one may follow in it, as it were, step by step the march of ideas and facts. The Arabs, too little masters of the country to set up an in- dustry and establish manufactories, imported from their other possessions the wall tiles with which they wished to brighten their religious edifices, in order to strike the imagination of the people they had conquered. Here then are the Persian tiles with blue grounds, and reliefs some- times gilt, with inscriptions projecting in white, in meanders and bouquets of flowers ; some have been collected by M. Martin himself from the mosque of Constantine ; here then are works brought from Asia Minor, heightened by these ingenious arabesques, brightly coloured and bordered with projecting fillets. Later, affairs settled down, the country conquered, the Arabs felt themselves at home, and their industries and commerce take that incredible development of which Mussulman geographers are so proud. Then workshops rise, workmen are trained, and architecture finds, under their hands, the necessary elements of ornamentation. Yet— and here is one of those facts more easy to establish than to explain— sensible differences characterise the Arab fabrication from the Maghreb; the earth is less purified than in the anterior products which have served as models ; the colours are less MAGHREB. 175 lively and less marked. The tiles, imitated from the Persian, have a smooth glaze, perhaps silico- alkaline, it appears so thin and fluid ; but it covers over a pale washed blue, detaching without vigour the inscriptions reserved in white ; the arabesques show themselves less at a distance. In the reproduction of the style of Asia Minor, the enamels form good relief in the black cells tracing the drawing; but these enamels, granulous and paste-like, have no longer that clear tint which recalls in their other enamels the cloisonne enamel upon copper. A style quite special to the north of Africa are the plaques, far larger than ordinary tiles, of white ground, with floral scrolls and symmetric combinations, one would fancy, of Italian conception; Fig. 53. ARAB CUP — (COLL. MARTIN). the flowers are not imitated from nature, and the whole resembles the branches of certain tissues of the seventeenth century. Unfor- tunately, we are ignorant whence these plaques came, and the nature of the monuments they decorated. Yet the beauty of their excessively fluid glaze, the purity of their tints, would lead one to suspect that they have been made in the same centre as those remarkable cups (Figs. 53 and 54), quite different in fabrication from the vases figured above. Nor should we be surprised if some weak attempt at European imita- tion had slipped into the art of the Maghreb. The Arabs carried their arms to Sicily and Spain ; but beyond these motives, they had a natural 176 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. intimacy with Europe by their commerce. From the fifteenth century, at the time of the expedition of Jean de Bethencourt, Morocco opened relations with France, A government agent and a consulate were established there, in 1577, by an act which declared that this consulate should have the same rights and privileges as those constituted " at Alexandria, Tripoli of Syria, Tripoli of Barbary, Gelby, Tunis, Bona, and Algiers." How is it then that our navigators have gathered nothing from the manfacturing centres of these several countries ? In the present day we are reduced to conjectures. The fine potteries of Beled- Zouarin, mentioned by M. Prax, are they enamelled or glazed ? Do their forms resemble the vases described above ? M. Martin, in his efforts to throw light upon Arabian fabrication, has only been able to gather this tradition : that the finest ancient faiences were made at Sfaqs, upon the eastern coast of Africa, in Tunisia. Probably this establishment did not Fig. 54. ARAB CUP OF BURSARY FORM — (COLL. MARTIN). furnish alone the pottery and wall tiles which were used from Tripoli to Morocco ; many others have contributed to produce the requirements for local consumption and exportation, for it is easy now to establish that the greater part of the common pottery of the south of France par- ticipates, by its form and decoration, with the Arabian. The first landmarks are set out, let us wait till further investigations enable us to complete this part of ceramic history, of which we sketch the principal features. Section 2. — Hispano-Moresque. We have seen the first ceramic works of the Arabs manifest themselves in Asia Minor, and spread with the conquest of Islamism over the north HISPANO-MORESQ UE. 177 of Africa, we must now follow the different branches of the art in its importation into Europe, and especially into the Iberian peninsula, where it has left ineffaceable traces. We know what were the destinies of Spain at the time of the great Mahometan inundation ; conquered in 756, by Abderamus, an Ommiade prince who escaped from the per- secutions of the Abbassides, Abd-del-Rhama caused himself to be pro- claimed king of Cordova. In 1038 the dynasty of the Ommiades ended in the person of Mutamed-al- Allah, and anarchy prevailed during the prince's government of the kingdom. The Almoravides and Almohades, originally from Morocco, took advantage of these divisions to establish themselves at Granada, and found there a new empire which the efforts of the Christians succeeded in overturning in 1492. The apparition of the Arabs and Moors in Spain was, for the arts, like a dazzling flash of lightning ; monuments arose on all sides, and viewing it at the distance of centuries, the struggle between the Abbassides and the Saracens seems to have been less a violent shock brought on by ambition, than an ardent tournament between two races envious to surpass each other in excellence. The Moors had found the mosque of Cordova, a splendid monument, its ornaments appeared to be sculptured in lapis-lazuli and gold, its architecture enriched with ceramic overlayings of the most brilliant colours, and they desired in their turn to show their power and their genius. Mohamed-ben-Alhamar, first king of Granada, caused to be built in 1273, that is, at the end of his reign, the Alhambra, that marvellous, fairy palace, of which all the world knows the lace-like architecture, the aerial porticoes, and the " azulejos," with wonderful arabesques, adorned with the motto of the Moorish sovereigns, " There is no conqueror but God." There are therefore in Spain works of Oriental origin of two styles ; in architecture, these are easily distinguished, but not so in ceramics. The Arabian azulejos, though excessively rare, are still to be met with ; but the earliest vases fabricated in Spain must bear so close an analogy with those imported from the Maghreb, that it would be very difficult to define their characteristics. The Hispano-Moresque pottery, much better known, because its fabrication continued even after the destruction of the Mussulman power, is specially characterised by the elegance of its form and the charms of the metallic lustred tints with which it is overlaid, and which have acquired for it the name of " gilded works." Transported into every country of the globe, for the commerce of the Moors was flourishing, these lustred wares contributed, with the works of the N 178 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Persians, in furnishing models for the dawning industries of Italy. These potteries may even be subdivided into defined groups by their style and make ; in other words, it is possible to determine, after some study, different centres whence they were issued, which we propose doing, making use of the remarkable work of Baron Charles Davillier. MALAGA. This city, situated upon the coast, at the mouth of the Guadal- medina, is, in all probability, the most ancient and most important centre of Moorish fabrication ; its vicinity to Granada, its regular rela- tions with India, would make one naturally think so, did not a document referring so far back as about 1350 furnish the written proof. In the ' Travels of Ibn-Batoutah, of Tangier,' we read, " They make at Malaga," says the Maghrebin, " the beautiful golden pottery which they export to the most distant countries." If one seeks among the Moresque works those whose creation goes back to the date of the ' Travels of Ibn- Batoutah,' and which may be attributed to the town he alone mentions for its ceramic industry, we find ourselves in presence of the admirable vases of the Alhambra, cited as masterpieces from the moment of their discovery. " In his £ Paseos por Granada,' Dr. Echeverria makes this curious statement relative to these vases and their invention. STRANGER. " Let us talk of these vases which you were telling me contained a treasure : where are they now ? " GRANADIAN. " At the Adarves, in a lovely little garden, which was put in order and decorated (in the sixteenth century) by the Marquis de Mondejar, with the gold coming from this treasure ; perhaps he had the intention of perpetuating the remembrance of this discovery, by placing in the garden these vases, which are very remarkable pieces. Let us go to the garden, and you will see them. We will enter by this gate and go out by the other." STRANGER. " What a wonderful garden ! what a lovely view ! But let us see the vases. What a misfortune ! how they are damaged ! And what is still more to be regretted is that, neglected as they are, they will every day become worse." HISPANO-MORESQ UE. 1/9 GRANADIAN. " They will end by being entirely destroyed. Already, there only remain the two you see, and these three or four pieces of the third. Each person, going out from here, wishes to carry away a little re- membrance, and thus the poor vases are gradually destroyed." STRANGER. " But upon these two, among the most beautiful arabesques with which their magnificent enamel is adorned, I perceive inscriptions . . ." GRANADIAN. " True, but you see in the state of degradation in which these vases are, their enamel being worn or carried away, it is hardly now possible to read them; upon the first one can scarcely read the name of God twice repeated ; neither of the two bear any other inscription quite legible. It is certain, as you are witness, if any one natters himself he has a copy of these inscriptions, it is that it must have been taken off sixty to eighty years ago, at a time when they were less effaced and more legible." Dr. Echeverria evidently exaggerates the state of degradation of the vases ; the enamel has been removed in several places ; one handle is broken, but Baron Davillier succeeded in taking an exact tracing on the one remaining, and if the inscriptions have not been able to be deciphered, it is because they are blended with the ornaments in which they are interlaced. The fears manifested by the author of the ' Walks in Granada ' are realised. Of the vases of the Alhambra, one only remains ; every one knows its form and richness of decoration, thanks to the photograph which has been made, and to the drawings taken by Baron C. Davillier, so that M. Deck has been enabled to give, in faience, an approximate representation of it in its real dimensions, 4 feet 3 inches high by 7 feet in circumference. The turbinated body, surmounted by a wide neck of most happy proportion, is embellished by the flat handles which accom- pany it like two outspread wings. The subjects of the ornamentation are drawn from the inventive genius of the Mussulman people, so ingenious in finding unlooked-for geometric combinations, and in mingling mseanders of foliage and arabesques with the elegant characters of their capricious calligraphy. One principal medallion encloses two animals, N 2 i8o HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. which travellers generally describe as antelopes, but in which, after the figures of the vase, we incline rather to recognise the alpaca, with its high, stiff neck, and head unprovided with horns. The decorative colours are few in number, golden yellow, iridised, and a pure blue, encircled or heightened with rather a pale gold tint, which harmonises as well with the azure of the designs as with the yellowish and almost pink white of the enamel ground. The second vase, mentioned by Dr. Echeverria, no longer exists, nor is it known what has become of it. It is only known by the engraving given in 1785, by P. Lozano, in his ' Antigiiedades Arabes,' and which has been copied by several authors. Baron Davillier thus describes it : " The vase which has disappeared considerably resembled, in form, the one still remaining ; it was of the same style and period, only the handles, instead of inscriptions, are ornamented with arabesques and foliage in which birds are sporting ; instead of the two antelopes facing each other, the middle or body contains three circles with a shield bearing the device of the kings of Granada, ' There is no conqueror but God,' a device so often repeated in the Alhambra, particularly upon the azulejos. I may also remark that upon this vase, the great circular inscription was replaced by varied interlacings of very elegant design." If we seek among the pieces gathered together in museums and private collections, potteries answering to the description of the vases found in the Alhambra, we find a sufficiently large number, and one may hence logically infer that, like these, they have issued from the workshop of Malaga. Such is the opinion of Baron Davillier : " I do not hesitate," he says, " to attribute to this fabric, three large deep basins in the musee de Cluny ; these basins or aljofainas, as they still call them in Spain, from their Arab name, are covered with designs in metallic lustre, and with blue enamels, of which the analogy with those of the Alhambra vase is quite striking." The pieces of Malaga give scope by comparison to curious ob- servations, some of pure Moresque style may be contemporary with the Alhambra vases, and go back to about 1350 ; such is a magnificent urn, of similar form and importance to those described above, belonging to M. Fortuny ; then the style gradually changes. The decoration, less understood, has no longer the same elegance. To legible inscriptions succeed deformed characters of which the potter does not understand the meaning, and which he employs as simple ornamental decoration, copying them unskilfully from the old works; the arabesques weaken in the hands of artists incapable of HISPANO-MORESQ UE. 1S1 seizing their taste and delicacy; lastly, the escutcheons of Christian princes occupy the principal places in the piece, and show as complete a transformation in the political state of the country as in its ceramic industry. In bringing together a large number of specimens, one can follow the progress of this degeneracy and fix approximately the dates corre- sponding with the prosperity of the Moors, their reverses, and definitive abasement. Yet do not let us exaggerate, but seek to explain the succession of facts. In the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, if religious opinions carried Christian nations to reaction against the invasions of Islamism, it was rather the doctrine of Mahomet they pursued than the men who followed it. The advance of the arts and sciences among the Arabs and Moors imposed respect even among their enemies, and, by a mutual tolerance, Christian hands often came to assist in the works of Saracenic palaces ; Arabs and Mussulmans devoted themselves to the embellish- ment of Christian dwellings. And more, at the moment of the expulsion of the Almohades from Spain, it is said that Italy opened her gates to colonies of Mussulman artists whose belief she tolerated, and whose talents she liberally rewarded. This fusion long manifested itself not only at Malaga, but through- out Spain, and when, in 1492, Ferdinand the Catholic took the kingdom of Granada, the Mussulmans remained subject to the conqueror, and did not leave the blessed land, the paradise of their ancestors. Later, they became the object of increasing persecutions excited by fanaticism ; first, in 1506, Cardinal Ximenes worked ostensibly at their conversion, and succeeded in baptizing three thousand in one day. Nor was this enough ; the vocation of these " Cristianos nuevos," as they called them, gave rise to scruples ; it was supposed that they had not given up all the traditions of the past, and in order to efface the remembrance of them, a royal pragmatic, in 1616, prohibited the Moors to speak, read, or write Arabic either in their houses, or out of doors publicly, or secretly ; prohibition was made against wearing vestments recalling those of the Moors ; the women could not veil themselves to go out ; the baths were suppressed or demolished; it was forbidden to keep books in the Arab language, to sing leylas or zambras (airs for dancing) to the sound of instruments, and to dance or work "after the Moorish fashion." Nor did these prescriptions satisfy the fanatic zeal of Philip II. ; he ordered the expulsion of the rest of the race from the soil of Spain ; six hundred thousand souls left their hearths, and a certain number 182 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. courageously defended themselves in the mountains round V alencia ; but the blow was struck, a blow as fatal to Spanish industry as to the descendants of the Moors of Africa. While following Baron Davillier in his picture of the political faults committed by the sovereign of Christian Spain, we have gone before time, and lost sight of the precious pottery of Malaga. In 1517, notwithstanding the fall of the kingdom of Granada, vase-making was in full activity. Lucio Marineo, chronicler of their Majesties Ferdinand and Isabella, expressly says that at Malaga "they also make very beautiful faience." Baron Davillier has not found in any Spanish author mention of a later date, hence he concludes the manufactures of Malaga declined in proportion as those of Valencia rose in importance. The examina- tion of specimens confirms this assertion. A large dish belonging to the Baroness Salomon de Rothschild, covered with magnificent arabesques and false inscriptions, is certainly not later than the sixteenth century, and it already bears underneath, a spread eagle, an evident imitation of the reverse adopted by the manufactory of Valencia. The favour enjoyed by this last manufactory is also explained by the metallic resplendency of its lustre ; its refulgent brightness would have had more effect upon an uncultivated people than the sombre designs of the faience of Malaga, where the blue partly absorbs the effect of the copper heightenings, often very subdued in the mass. The charac- teristic of the degeneracy of Hispano-Moresque pottery, is precisely the increase in intensity of the tints passing from golden yellow associated with blue to the copper red, becoming more and more bright. KINGDOM OF VALENCIA. It is there we must seek the true centre of the ceramic fabrication in Spain, for tradition carries it back to the Roman domination. We have no occasion to speak here of the red jasper pottery of Saguntum (Murviedro) vaunted by Pliny ; we do not know if, from the eighth century, the Arabs took advantage of the beds of clay at Paterna, Manises, Quartae, Carcre, Villalonga, Alaquaz, etc. But when, in 1239, James I. of Aragon, " el Conquistador," had taken possession of Valencia, the ceramic industry of the Moors was sufficiently advanced for him to guarantee by a special charter the Saracen potters of Xativa (San Felipe) ; this charter sets forth, " that every master HISPANO-MORESQ UE. 183 potter making vases, table ware, tiles, ' rajolas ' (wall tiles), shall pay annually one besant for each kiln, in consideration of which he may freely exercise without any servitude." This document therefore would place the fabrics of the kingdom of Valencia in the first rank of antiquity, if one could surely establish the character of their primitive products, and compare them with those of Malaga and the other Hispano- Moresque centres. The book published in 1517 by Marineo Siculo affords the earliest notice in this passage : " Although in a great many places of Spain they make excellent faiences, the most esteemed are those of Valencia, which are so well worked and so well gilded." Now the faiences so well gilded do not go back to a very remote period ; the vases where the lustre of a mother-of-pearl yellow blends with some blue designs, and which thus recall the Granadine taste, have certainly preceded those ornamented with brown or reddish gold. Among the oldest pieces mixed with blue is cited a dish in the British Museum, where, upon lustred scrolls, figures a kind of antelope ; round the edge, in golden letters, is the motto, " Senta Catalina, guarda nos." There exists at Valencia an ancient church and a square under the patronage of St. Catherine, but if one may infer from it that the above-mentioned dish is Valencian, we must necessarily acknowledge that, notwithstanding its Arab taste, this work is of the Christian epoch. An important vase, with two handles in the form of wings, belonging to the collection of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, shows St. Catherine herself, holding the palm and leaning upon the wheel set with razor blades ; the rest of the decora- tion consists in large scrolls of the first or pure Moresque school. We find again these same scrolls surrounding medallions of palmettes reserved, upon a flower vase in the Louvre, in the form of a fortress, flanked with little towers, upon each of which is, in half-relief, a figure of the Virgin. All these pieces then are posterior to the Christian conquest, as well as the fine dishes of Cluny, which bear the arms of Leon (a lion) and Aragon (an eagle). Baron Davillier remarks there is a distinction to establish on the subject of this last symbol; the eagle which constantly accompanies St. John the Evangelist is become his emblem. Now St. John is particularly venerated in Valencia ; they like to inscribe upon their monuments the first words of his Gospel, " In principio erat verbum, et verbum erat apud Deum ; " many vases bear this inscription more or less complete, and some have, upon either the front or back, a large eagle which, not being enclosed in an escutcheon, has no heraldic character : it is under this form that the eagle of St. John still figures in religious processions, holding in its beak a banderole HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. inscribed with the above legend. Hence Baron Davillier infers that the pieces on which are the eagle or the holy legend are of Valencian origin. We admit this theory, but with some reservation ; the communica- tions between the various centres of Iberian fabrication were sufficiently easy for the one to borrow from the other ; we have seen the legend, " In principio," etc., more or less incorrectly rendered upon vases incon- testably of Majorca, and we have already cited the great eagle of St. John on the reverse of a magnificent Malaga dish. In our eyes, the words of the Gospel of St. John, always inscribed upon pieces destitute of blue and with tolerably bright lustre, would belong to the second Fig. 55. epoch of Valencian fabrication ; the masterpiece of this kind is repre- sented, at Baron Gustave de Roths- child's, by two elegant vases with four handles, between which rise ornamented bosses. The one figured here (Fig. 55), has a floriated zone in open work ; in the other, the zone is solid, and inscribed with the legend : "In principio Ave Maria gracia plena dominus tecum et benedicta tu;" below we read: "In principio er verbu er voto da gracia nostra lecem entre qvea ibanoa manece ; " a mix- ture of Latin and national Spanish difficult to translate; lower, upon the body between inclined gadroons in gold or in flowers, are these two other legends: "In manus tuas domine comendo spiritum meum reder in te domine esperavit non cum orve." The first inscription shows sufficiently that these vases had been made as " ex-votos " to adorn a church ; hence one understands their perfection. As in all the pieces of the same date and origin, one sees a kind of network with golden dots, borders or grounds of gold semes with wheels of six spokes, bands, on which a kind of fir cone alternates with the flowers of thistles or centaureas united by an ornamental festoon. What is the epoch of the production of these golden vases ? Baron Davillier refers them to the fifteenth century, and declares that, in the seventeenth, ornamentation had H.CATEN GOLDEN VASE OF VALENCIA WITH VOTIVE INSCRIPTION (COLL. BARON GUSTAVE DE ROTHSCHILD). HISPANO-MORESQ UE. 185 completely lost its Moresque character ; this was manifestly a decline which was to increase with prodigious rapidity to the present epoch. But before leaving Moresque art more or less pure, let us stop a moment to see if Valencia had the monopoly of the golden vases. The chorography of Barreyros, edited in 1546, cites the faience of Barcelona as superior to that of Valencia. Now, among the works lost in the great unknown of the Hispano-Moresque faiences, we find charming pieces often bearing the arms of Aragon- Sicily, and of which the ground is divided into inclined bands one upon the other, and subdivided in columns with cross hatches and trilobed ornaments. Would not one think that these are the faiences of Barcelona ? One has besides a means of comparing them with the ancient fabrication; the Real Audiencia (palace of the deputation) has a garden planted in the Arabian style, in which are tubs of faience containing sweet-scented trees, almost centenarian. These boxes date from the foundation of the palace in 1436, and were respected when the edifice was restored in 1598. They give, therefore, the type of the ancient faience of Catalonia, vaunted by Barreyros, and which Hieronimus Paulus, of Barcelona, mentions in 1491 to his friend Paulus Pompilius, of Rome, as long esteemed and sought after even at Rome. In 1564, Martin de Vicyana mentions the town of Biar, which had fourteen workshops, and that of Trayguera, which possessed twenty- three. Escolano says that, in all times, faiences were fabricated with great elegance at Paterna, because the Christian population are there mixed with the Moriscoes. What an admission of the superiority of the Arab race over the first inhabitants ! These evidences show besides how much discretion one ought to carry in the determination of ancient vases; we must often confine ourselves to the admiration of their elegant forms, their ingenious decoration and harmonious beauty, without affirming their origin. Thus, in the musee de Cluny, is a superior piece with ovoid body upon a stem, wide neck, and wing- shaped handles; upon the body, a shield per pale of blue and gold, bears a lion counterchanged, the rest of the decoration consisting in zones of foliage, disposed in pairs alternately blue and gold, between which run little scrolls of gold. Is it a Valencian piece differing from the customary decoration ? or would it not rather be the type of a particular fabrication, as one might suppose, from finding in the same museum two " albarelli " or drug pots with the same decoration, but more common and of a later period ? HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Another approximate decoration, also in blue and gold, consists in scrolls inter-crossed, bearing rosettes of flowers opposed to trilobed leaves, perhaps of parsley ; one would almost hesitate whether to attribute this piece to Spain or Italy. Let us return to the manufactories of the kingdom of Valencia, to mention that of Manises. "Its faiences," says Escolano, "are so beautiful and so elegant that, in exchange for the faiences which Italy sends us from Pisa, we send into that country ships laden with that of Manises." Fra Diago declares that this pottery " is so well gilded, and painted with so much art, that it has attracted the whole world to such a point, that the pope, cardinals, and princes send their orders here, admiring that with simple earth such things can be made." This refers to pieces of a lower epoch, of which we will speak and which we will figure elsewhere. MAJORCA. Baron Davillier had placed this locality in the second rank as regards antiquity, and after that of Malaga, because the first written traces we have found of it are contained in a treatise on commerce and navigation by the Italian Giovanni di Bernardi da Uzzano, published in 1442; this author, when speaking of the wares made in Majorca and Minorca, cites " faience which had then a great sale in Italy." But ceramic traditions in the Balearic islands ought to go back to a much earlier epoch, since the conquest of Majorca by the Christians took place in 1230 under James I. (the conqueror) ; and at the beginning of the fourteenth century James II. caused Arabic to be taught to the monks, who devoted themselves to the conversion of the Mahomedans, at a time the kings of Granada were still possessors of their thrones. Here, as in Valencia, primitive examples are absolutely wanting, and the oldest pieces in collections are certainly posterior to the Christian conquest. Yet there is reason to believe that the Moresque style long preserved its purity in Majorca. Besides the necessities of commerce, which demanded a kind of sameness in the accepted style of decoration, there was another reason : Minorca, second of the Balearic islands, had herself a manufactory, and she remained in the hands of the Moors until 1285 ; a forced rivalry would keep these two centres at an equal level of merit. If we seek among the Hispano-Moresque works those which may be attributed to Majorca, examples crowd upon us, eloquent by their pecu- liar decoration, and by certain emblems. The principal type appears forcibly in the musee de Cluny, in a dish with the arms of the town HISPANO-MORESQ UE. of Ynca. There, in the interior of the island, and at some leagues from the capital, was the centre of fabrication. This dish, brightly gilded, bears on its rim Gothic characters, deformed and illegible, evidently copied from the customary inscriptions of Valencia, "In principio erat verbum;" only here, the artist, copying at hazard, has repeated the word EVBAM for " verbum." We find the same inscription deformed and backwards, upon a charming hanap in the Louvre; the ornamental subjects are principally palmettes of light details resembling ferns, scrolls terminated by a radiated flower, and other flowers similar to those of Valencia, or rather with stamens arranged in a pyramid. The Cluny dish, the Louvre hanap, and many other pieces in collections are not anterior to the fifteenth century; a plaque, ornamented with the "sacred coun- tenance " quite of primitive design, is older and less bright in lustre ; but we know no piece purely Moresque, which one can believe to be anterior to the conquest. The manufacture at Majorca must have been considerable ; its com- mercial relations were very extensive, since, from the fourteenth century, nine hundred ships, some of four hundred tonnage, sailed from its ports. It is not therefore to be wondered at that the name of Majorca, the most widely known among the neighbouring nations, should be considered by many writers as the origin of the name applied to Italian enamelled wares. J. C. Scaliger, who wrote in the first half of the sixteenth century, praises the vases which were made in his time in the Balearic islands, and compares them to the porcelain of China, of which he considered it to be an imitation, so that he says, " It is difficult to distinguish the false from the true; the imitations of the Balearic isles are not inferior to them in form or brilliancy, they even surpass them in elegance, and they say that some are brought so perfect as to be preferred to the most beautiful pewter plate. We call these 'majolica,' changing one letter in the name of the Balearic island where, they assure one, are made the most beautiful." The Dictionary della Crusca is still more explicit; defining the word "majolica," it says that pottery is so named from the island of Majorca where they began to make it. It is very certain that the Balearic faiences were the most numerous, if not the most ancient, and that Majorca was not the sole centre of fabrication; in 1787 Vargas thus expresses himself: "It is much to be regretted that Ivica should have ceased to fabricate its famous vases of faience, made not only for exportation, but also for local consumption." i88 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. We have hitherto only spoken of the vases and dishes we find dis- tributed in museums and among collectors, yet Moorish industry has left us some other evidences of its activity and intelligence ; we have sometimes met with kinds of cylindrical pots or albarelli almost entirely covered with inscriptions in Arab and Cufic characters, and azulejos or "rajolas" of the most ancient fabrication. Baron Davillier has one which would appear to go back to the thirteenth century, and which comes from the Casa de los leones at Toledo. But the very rarity opposes itself to these monuments being submitted to the analysis of the critic — to what compare them ? on what base any theory as to their probable origin ? These rare specimens must therefore be left in the great unknown, reserved to future researches. The fame of the gilded wares has certainly caused to be neglected a host of works not less interesting, where one will find some day the source of the fabrications proper to Spain. Marineo Siculo declares that at Murviedro and Toledo they make and work many solid earthenwares, some white, others green, and of which the most esteemed are those enamelled in white. He adds, " At Talavera they make and work an excellent white and green enamel, which is very delicately and craftily wrought, and they make also many table services of different kinds." He also mentions with praise the table wares of Jaen, and especially those of Teruel in Aragon. But there is one product which is nowhere mentioned; certain azulejos or wall tiles, of Arab origin, and of which the manner of making seems to originate in Asia Minor. Upon a fluid white enamel ground, we find, in light relief, rosettes, scrolls, arabesque ornaments filled in with chamois, green, and blue enamels, which are, as it were, confined in the projecting cells of the outline. The style appears to go back in Spain to an ancient epoch, and to have been continued a long time, as is proved by the remarkable plaques which decorated the Alcazar of Toledo, the residence of Charles V. The richest conceptions of the Renaissance animate these azulejos; palms terminating in the heads of hippocampi, the genii, the " candellieri " of Italy are there framed in elegant pilasters supported by a scroll frieze. Section 3. — America. If there is a series of ceramic monuments interesting to study, it is the assemblage of the ancient works of that world called New, because it had long escaped the ambitious researches of European navigators. AMERICA. When, after the discovery of Columbus and Vespucius, the Spaniards rushed upon the virgin continent, the fever of gold so blinded their eyes as not to leave them the common curiosity which leads travellers to explore a newly found country, in the double view of geography and history ; they extirpated the aborigines to force them to divulge their treasures, and, without even seeking to learn their origin, or to study their civilization, they left to nature the task of concealing so many horrors and such devastation under the luxuriant veil of tropical vegetation. Adventurers in our days have by chance found unforeseen testimony of the extinct civilization of the old nations of America. In 1750, two Spaniards saw the monuments of Guatemala, and spoke of them, without awakening public attention. It was only in 1805, and more recently in 1828, that earnest explorers devoted themselves to the study of the ruined palaces of Mitla and Palenque. M. Alcide d'Orbigny, in his travels to Peru, made known a whole series of works attesting the high artistic intelligence of the Incas ; then M. de ZeKner brought back curious specimens gathered in the tombs of the " quacas " of Chiriqui, in the state of Panama. It is not within our province to enter into the domain of architecture, and to compare the general form and certain details of the American and Egyptian monuments. But we cannot refrain from pointing out the close connection which exists between certain vases of Memphis, Greece, and Etruria, with the majority of the American potteries ; the material, general form, and ornamentation, either painted or in relief, would often leave a doubt in the mind as to the origin of the pieces. Of a paste sometimes red, very fine, hard and lustrous ; sometimes black or greyish, less fine, and rendered shining by rubbing, the American earth is often ornamented with reliefs and engravings, and even upon the red earth, with drawings traced in a black, bearing some analogy to ordinary ink ; some pieces are overlaid with a yellowish or greenish-brown glaze of metallic lustre. But here it is not the fabrication which strikes most ; it is the simple, pure, and often grandiose style of the greater part of the vases. One pauses wonderstruck before certain natural imitations where pene- trates a rare intelligence of art, and one particularly admires those figurative lagense or bottles in which the American people have left us such remarkable images of themselves. It is difficult now to go back to the certain origin of the majority of pieces to be found in collections, yet, by analogy of types and materials, one can distribute pretty regularly the American terra cottas among three distinct peoples. The most 19° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. ancient, perhaps, fixed in Central America, and particularly at Copan, in Guatemala, goes back to great antiquity ; its works found in vaulted sepulchres are principally plateaux and urns in red paste, placed on the ground or in niches, some of the pieces containing human bones em- bedded in lime. The crypts or tumuli of the caverns of Mitla and Palenque contain, besides the red potteries, very hard grey earths, seme with sparkling laminae, and sometimes covered over with a silico- alkaline glaze. Together with the urns and vases, some of which imitated the form of a Tatou enveloped in its carapace of geometrical scales, were found a quantity of whistles, flutes, and bells, and divinities more or less shapeless, which one can hardly assign to the same origin as the vases. The " cuevas " or caves of Gueguetenanco have yielded cups, urns, and recipients for water, as remarkable for their workmanship as for their richly graved ornamentation. But, beyond the works of the ancient inhabitants of Copan, and of the Aztecs of Mexico, Peru has furnished pieces so exceptional that it is impossible not to stop to describe them. The Quichuas or Incas of Bolivia have built imposing temples, and left fragments of statues of an inconceivable truthfulness of style, yet, extraordinary as it is, one sees, in the same centres, the stone either yield itself under the chisel of the artist and render all the refinements of a human type primordial and grandiose, or follow combinations of geometric lines huddled together to represent with a ridiculous coarseness the horrible forms of the most monstrous fetishes. Are these things contemporary ? Do they come from the same people ? do they answer to the same ideas ? Delicate questions, perhaps, now insoluble. In fact, in the tombs of the Aymaras of Bolivia and of the Quichuas of the coast of Peru, M. Alcide d'Orbigny has found pell-mell terra cottas of the most opposite kinds, some imprinted with all the poetry of art, others deformed and hideous. Is this fact analogous with what we have already shown among ancient peoples ? Rudimentary, barbaric art, is it a canon imposed by religious law ? The image ridiculously deformed, is it to recall the primitive idols so long expected ? As in Egypt, at certain epochs, the statuary and the potter only found their liberty in presence of civil configura- tions, creations not official, but abandoned to the caprice of imagina- tion or of individual talent. We should not be far from admitting it, after having compared the enormous mass of identical fetishes with the small number of works of real beauty, and which are almost always water vessels and utensils for vulgar use. But let us leave these per- AMERICA. 191 plexing questions, which later researches will perhaps enlighten, and pass to the examination of these most curious products. Here is certainly a masterpiece of American arts (Fig. 56). This vase, composed of a fine head, offers at once a real and grandiose type, and one feels that he who has modelled this finely outlined nose, these calm eyes, this vigorous mouth, had before him one of those primitive and powerful organisations which con- stitute the stock of the old families of the human race. Struck with this idea, we wished to submit to the much regretted Charles Lenormant, this remarkable image of the ancient Quichuas ; the savant was astonished like ourselves at the beauty of the type, and the perfection of the work ; then, with that sagacity which was his attribute, he made us remark that a large number of the prisoners attached to the victorious car of the Pharaohs upon the Egyptian bas- reliefs, had the characters of an identical race, bringing together this ethnic type with that of the ancient stock of the sove- ANCIENT PERUVIAN VASE. reigns of J apan ; he made us see the close analogy, and soon, launched in the highest speculations of science, he went back to the dispersion of races, to the probable communications between the old and new worlds by that mysterious Atlantic, of which the historic epoch appears to have pierced through tradition ; he thus threw for a moment the lights of his high science and persuasive eloquence upon all these constantly agitated, and never resolved questions, that genius and erudition will again raise in vain, because the material elements are wanting to throw light upon them. And all this on the subject of a vessel of clay that the slightest shock might destroy ? True, but this fragile work is there, laying down, under the immutable tranquillity of the man it represents, one of the most im- portant problems in the history of the world. For us, in this work, we have only to see two things ; an ethnic type announcing the cultivated intelligence of a people advanced in civilization, a work sufficiently perfect to strengthen the first proposition, and to show how large a place the arts have occupied in these societies not known for centuries, and scarcely glimpsed at now. If, indeed, we have spoken first of this vase, on account of the 192 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. importance of the portrait which it preserves to us of the Quichuas, it remains to us to mention many others which show, among the ancient people of America, a marvellous aptitude for the reproduction of natural objects, and a native disposition for linear compositions of the style of those invented by the Egyptians and the Greeks. Thus, a kind of mseander, of which the principal scrolls are united by a symmetric ornament, lozenges, dentals, frets, chequered divisions forming upon the vases zonal compartments, sometimes in relief, some- times indented and traced in colours. As to forms, certain ones are of so perfect an identity with the Egyptian data, that one is astonished to have to attribute them to the New World. A cup with handles, terminating in a duck's head, appears to issue from the Memphian tombs ; a lagsena, with handle, has upon its side seme' with a ground of dots in relief, the figure of a long- legged bird one would readily take for the sacred ibis of the Nile ; a footless amphora, with two low handles and wide neck, recalls the elegance and ornamented richness of the finest painted pottery of the Grseco-Egyptian period. So much for resemblance ; yet it must not be thought that Peruvian art has nothing of its own. In a burning country, where the thirst for cooling beverages is only tempered by the fear of noxious animals introducing themselves into the drinks, it was natural that the potter should seek such combinations of forms as to secure the drinkers from danger. Nothing then is more frequent, in American pottery, than composite vases, with syphons, or various divisions, where the liquid has to run through several cavities, traverse various channels, and be as it were strained before arriving at its destination. Lenticular flasks, vases, ■pig. 57, yoked or twin-j oined, those with quadruple and quintuple recep- tacles, surmounted by an arched tube with an upper spout are forms well characterised. Some cubic vases support singular ani- mals or parrots placed in commu- nication with the arched syphon already mentioned. This dispo- sition, besides, adapts itself to PERUVIAN VESSEL IN THE FORM OP A PISH ' A with syphon handle. pieces with figures, and nothing is more common than ducks, fish (Fig. 57), goats, or the most monstrous animals disposed in syphoid vessels. AMERICA. 193 These works in earth have they only had for end the satisfying the usual requirements of life ? Has not the artist been sometimes able to animate the clay under his fingers and follow the inspirations of genius ? We are tempted to believe in examining certain specimens, and spe- cially a vase in the Louvre, in which the accessories abound, that the potter sought rather a graceful figuration than a useful arrangement. One of those vigorous articulated stems, so plentiful in a tropical climate, bends itself to put forth on one side a fruit widely opened ; this forms the recipient; the superior articulation shows the same fruit in its development, then a bud ready to burst, surmounts the whole group. The exactness of the details, and the truthfulness of the whole, give to this composition the interest of a close study after nature. We have said that the general tendency of the American nations to seek the exact representation of the human type is the index of high intelligence, and if religious figurations remain below others, the canon, the religious respect for the first essays of art in its infancy, is its cause. The Incas and ancient Mexicans have, in fact, exhausted the ideas of the ancient peoples of the West ; like them, they have made the vase pass through all the eccentricities of form, here submitting it to natural representations, there, by a singular caprice, figuring an animal bound and prepared for sacrifice, a foot enclosed in its shoe, a man embracing a wine skin ; and let us confess, in this last composition, common to the Americans and Etruscans, the first are not further removed from the pure form than the second. To recapitulate': this art, yesterday still unknown, has claim to an honourable place in the ceramic history of ancient nations ; it shows once more the close connection between primordial ideas and the identity of the processes by which human intelligence raises itself in the path of progress. o 194 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. BOOK IV. WEST. CHAPTER I. ANTIQUITY. Section 1. — Greek Ceramics. A. — Greek Art — the Ceramic specially. The greater number of inquirers, accustomed to circumscribe art within its purest manifestations, scarcely admit that one may occupy one's self with works executed elsewhere than in Greece, or that one could find in the ceramics of the Hellenes anything but beauty of form, boldness of design, and excessive elegance of composition. Yet, within these last thirty years, science has thrown singular light upon this branch of human knowledge ; it has proved that Greece, like other nations, was indebted to her forerunners; it has shown that there, as elsewhere, the vases preserved the traces of the history, manners, and passions of those for whom they were intended. In a word, it becomes now incontestable, that Greek ceramics should be studied with the same method — let us say more, with the same im- partiality — we should give to the examination of the products of the Hindoos, Egyptians, or Chinese. "When in 1790, before the Christian era, Inachus led the first Egyptian colony into Greece, when, in 1582, the Egyptian Cecrops founded the kingdom of Athens, they could only gather around them savages, strangers to all civilization; these savages, it is true, had received from heaven, with the gift of beauty, the germs of a supreme intelligence, so that their legislators had only to show them the path GREECE. 195 they should follow for them soon to attain the highest eminence. It is only under Erechtheus, B.C. 1409, that Ceres taught the Hellenes how to cultivate corn, and to substitute bread for wild fruits as their food ; it was only towards the middle of the tenth century B.C. that Dibutades of Corinth invented the plastic art. As regards statues, ancient writers and ancient medals prove to us that they long consisted only of the most shapeless images ; posts smeared with red, trunks of olive-trees roughly hewn ; such were the primitive Pallas of Athens, and the Ceres of Phaos. Daedalus, sung by poets for the progress he brought about in sculpture, composed only kinds of puppets, moved by threads or by means of a certain quantity of quicksilver poured in the interior ; the coarseness of works of this nature was concealed by the tissues which formed their exterior decoration. In this situation, which assimilates them with all other nations, the Greeks become more easy to study, and their arts cease to be a wonderful problem. Furnished with an easy means of exchange by the invention of silver money, for which they were indebted, B.C. 895, to Phidon; put in the way of navigation by Danaiis, who, from 1511, had led the first ships (penteconters) from Egypt to Greece, they traded with nations already civilized, and enlightened themselves by the contact. There are then upon the soil of the Hellenes, and especially on what touches the object of this study, two sorts of works, the one imported, the other natural ; and although it appears probable that even at these remote epochs, the East, whence proceeded the inspiring ideas of the Greeks, possessed the secret of the finest ceramic pastes, it is more particularly to the making of soft pottery, of which the elements are to be found everywhere, and which may be worked by rudimentary means, that trade and industry consecrated their first efforts. This may be ex- plained. The Phoenicians, in their commercial relations with the people of the West, exchanged their pottery for natural products ; it was, there- fore, specially vessels for use and of inferior prices they had to take in exchange. On the other side, the Greeks, inventors of a rudimentary plastic, would be desirous of possessing works superior to their own essays, but of the same kind, and increase their demand in proportion to the improving practice of their artists. Hence the most ancient vases collected in Greece are remarkable for their simplicity of style ; they are only of a yellowish earth, scarcely lustred, with circles, chequers, mseanders, Vandykes and o 2 196 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. rosettes or wheels. Later, these elementary designs alternate with zones of fabulous animals, of which the Oriental origin is easily re- cognised, whether the vases come either from Phoenicia or other industrial centres of Asia Minor. It is, therefore, works of this style that the Greeks first imitated ; and if sometimes it is difficult to dis- Fig. 58. CANTHABUS. tinguish the copies from the originals, a valuable remark of M. de Witte allows us to lay down a rule which should guide the dis- crimination of the student. Like every model, the Oriental work is generally more perfect than the copy, and has upon the last an anteriority of at least a century. It is interesting to point out how reserved Greek writers are in all that relates to ceramic art; one scarcely finds in their writings any indication of the use of the vases; only they have been pleased to trace back the invention if not to the gods, at least to heroic per- sonages. Ceramus, son of Bacchus and Ariadne, is, for some, the prototype and protector of the potter, and it is thus his name has been given to the ceramic art, a district in Athens assigned to the potters being called Ceramicus. This fable is founded upon the immemorial custom of preserving wine in earthen vessels, and of using cups of the same material to carry the wine to their lips (Fig. 58) ; others attribute the invention of the potter's art to the Athenian Corcebus, to the Corinthian Hyperbius, or to the Cretan Talos, nephew of Daedalus. In the time of Homer, the fabrication was already general; for GREECE. 197 the poet, describing the dance of Ariadne, compares the velocity of the young men and girls, forming a circle, to the rapidity of motion given by the potter to his wheel. Another piece attributed to the immortal poet, and which is given in a history of his life, composed, it is said, by Herodotus, expresses all that the firing of vases can present of fortunate or unfortunate. We give an extract of the passage from the translation of Cowper. "Certain potters, while they were busied in baking their ware, seeing Homer at a short distance, and having heard much said of his wisdom, called him, and promised him a present of their commodity, and of such other things as they could afford, if he would sing to them, when he sang as follows : — " Pay me my price, potters ! and I will sing, Attend, Pallas ! and with lifted arm Protect their oven : let the cups and all The sacred vessels blacken well, and, baked With good success, yield them both fair renown And profit, whether in the market sold Or streets ; and let no strife ensue between us. But, O ye potters ! if with shameless front Ye falsify your promise, then I leave No mischief uninvoked to avenge the wrong. Come, Syntrips, Smaragdus, Sabactes, come, And Asbestus ; nor let your direst dread Omodamus delay ! Fire seize your house ! May neither house nor vestibule escape ! May ye lament to see confusion mar And mingle the whole labour of your hands 1 And may a sound fill all your oven, such As of a horse grinding his provender, While all your pots and flagons bounce within." * B. — Nature of Greek Vases — their Inscriptions. In order to well understand what goes before, it is indispensable' to return here to the nature and fabrication of the Greek vases. They all belong to the order of soft pottery ; their firing is made at a low temperature, and only once, without seggars ; they can always be scratched with an iron point, and are often permeable. In short, it is the most common pottery ; its porous, opaque paste is composed of potter's clay, argillaceous marl, and sand. According to present custom, it is * Syntrips and Smaragdus express the breaking of the earth in pieces. Asbestus is the fire that cannot be moderated. Sabactes characterises the misfortune of workmen whose work is destroyed. Finally, Omodamus is the destructive force which nothing can resist. This hymn expresses with a striking truth all the processes of a ceramic kiln, and proves also how far back the secrets of art were known. 198 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. consigned to the most vulgar uses, and cooking pots, pitchers, pans, sugar moulds, and flower-pots are made of it. Care in the preparation of materials, the beauty of its form and decoration, have alone been able among the ancients to raise this coarse earth to a level with the most esteemed works of art. In ancient ceramics, two well-marked divisions have been estab- lished ; unglazed soft pottery (poteries tendres mates), and soft lustred pottery (poteries tendres lustrees). The first furnishes utensils for domestic economy ; that is, amphorae in which were preserved corn, water, oil and wine ; cups and dishes for culinary use; often these vessels were plain and without any ornamentation ; sometimes they were gadrooned at the base, furnished with zones of foliage, Greek borders, arabesques in relief, or even com- positions of the chase, with animals either real or imaginary, and more rarely, with mythological or historical subjects. Some jars or amphorae were above six feet high ; in these the water and the cereals were kept. The am- phorae for holding wine or oil were gene- rally pointed at their lower extremity ; their standing upright was secured by half burying them in the sand of the cellars (Fig. 59). Such large pieces could not be fashioned by the wheel, but were made by hand by means of " colombins," kinds of rectangular, curved plaques, which were placed by circular zones superposed, press- ing them with the hand by their two faces to make them adhere to each other, and to unite them closely with the zones already placed. After a dry- AMPHOKiE of bed EARTH. ing, more or less prolonged, according to the thickness of the sides, the vases were rolled to the oven, where they were carefully placed to receive a firing of about forty-eight hours. At the end of eight days' cooling, the process of drawing them put of the oven (defourne- rnent) takes place ; this is the modern practice, precisely identical with the ancient. The soft lustred potteries are worked with great care. Although of a loose texture and dull fracture, their paste is fine and homogeneous; composed principally of silica, alumina, iron and GREECE. 199 lime ; it is fusible at the temperature of 40° of Wedgwood's pyrometer, and produces a mass of yellowish brown enamel, with dark brown surface, not metalloid. The lustre of glaze of these potteries has exercised the sagacity of the learned, and it is by dint of researches and ingenious inductions that they have arrived at recognising its nature ; it is an alkaline silicate, modified and hardened by the devitri- fication consequent on being long buried in the earth, and becomes almost infusible by the blowpipe, in borax ; caustic potash in fusion, under the influence of a high temperature, can alone effect its decom- position. The elements of the colouration of the black lustre are oxide of iron and oxide of manganese. The Greek vases, especially the Campanian, present three colours of glazed grounds; brick red is the tint of the paste, sometimes brightened by a simple polishing given by the turner to the raw piece, sometimes by a very thin glaze heightening the colour of the earth, or itself possessing, in some instances, a red lacquer colouration. Black, in large ornaments, or as a ground, is placed over the first lustre or upon the paste itself; it is very brilliant without crudity, and so perfectly laid on, that, when it coats both the interior and exterior of a piece, one might think it of black paste. Yet this black passes some- times to bronze or metalloid lustre, probably by the action of a smoky fire, an alteration known to porcelain painters, who call it " poisoning," and qualify as "impure" the fire which has produced it. Chestnut brown is a shade resulting from a verytfchin black allowing the reddish subjectile to appear through it ; by excess of fire, it turns into a very glazed olive green. These varieties in the black colour are in themselves of no im- portance, as they are almost accidental. An overheated oven may even cause the black to evaporate, and bring the vase wholly or in part to the red brown ; the red, in its turn, may pass to a blackish hue by absorption of smoke. Moreover, the pottery altered by accidents in firing must not be confounded with those called "burnt," because, before having been carried to the tombs, they have been exposed upon the pile, where the dead were burned. The burnt vases, from their original red become yellowish brown and ash grey, the black ornaments being partially effaced. To enrich their vases, the Greeks employed several heightening colours which are not glazed, and which may be considered rather as argillaceous slips (engobes) ; these are brick and violet red, yellow, and white, sometimes laid on raised, sometimes spread on a ground 200 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. and then relieved by designs of bright red, green, blue, and yellow, either placed on in strokes or spread in flat tints. Red, green, and blue so employed are not vitrifiable ; they combine with gold applied upon a reddish slip, to compose what is styled " richly coloured " orna- ments — a decoration as rare as valuable. And as if everything which relates to the Greeks is destined to take a special stamp of historic interest, even of the potsherds of their most ordinary vases we have here to speak. These pot- sherds, at a time when papyrus, a rare and dear material, was the only subjectile fit to receive writing, served to the tax-gatherers to give their receipts. Our museums still preserve a number of these receipts, which, in dry countries, have escaped the ravages of the elements. But a still more important part was that enacted by these fragments of potter's clay in public deliberations; there each citizen wrote his vote upon the " ostrakon," or potsherd, and decided the fate of a general suspected of employing his fortune to corrupt his fellow-citizens ; the exile pronounced against the culprit took the name of ostracism. Accomplices of the most violent passions, the fragments of vases often condemned illustrious victims who were recalled by general acclamation even before the rains of Attica had washed the ink of the accusing fragments, or that the feet of passers-by had reduced them to powder. Themistocles, the conquerer of Salamis, who was banished about 471 B.C., after having been the idol of the people, went to die among the Persians, his ancient enemies, who received him with the respect due to the remembrance of his numerous triumphs. No doubt, remorse, at having himself caused Aristides to be exiled, must have cast some bitterness over his latter years. This exile of Aristides brings to our memory an anecdote related by Plutarch. At the moment when the assembled tribes were going to pronounce the fate of the virtuous legislator, an obscure citizen, seated at his side, presented him with his " ostrakon," and begged him to inscribe the name of the accused. " Has he done you any injury ? " inquired Aristides. " No," said the unknown, " but I am tired of hearing him everywhere called the Just." Aristides wrote his name, was condemned, and left the city, offering up prayers for his country. Since we are in the domain of history and erudition, may we be permitted a little pedantic digression ? In almost all the books, we find that ostracism was a sentence pronounced by means of shells. This is a dictionary error ; the word ostrakon properly means a pot- sherd, or even worked earth ; its signification has been extended to GREECE. 20 1 the shell of mollusks, and to the plate or cuirasse of the tortoise tribe, but the vote was written upon terra cotta on the fragment of a vase not upon a shell. An analogous lexicographic deviation has often condemned primi- tive people to feed upon acorns, when it ought to have said, they fed themselves with fruits. This proves to what erroneous inter- pretations he may be led who, translating a dead or foreign language neglects to initiate himself in the manners and history of the nations among whom the author lived whom he interprets. But to return to the potsherds, let us add that a game of the Greeks called " ostra- kinon," was based upon the use of pieces of lustred vases, black on one side, which thrown into the air and falling down black or red, heads or tails, made the player enter into one or the other camps called to dispute the game. In occasions less grave than the exile of citizens, the potsherds, dark or pale, did the office of black or white in the deliberations of the Roman people. C. — Use of the Greek Vases. It is pretty nearly beyond doubt that a certain number of vases have served for domestic use, but there are very few among those which have come down to us, to which we can attribute this destination ; the greater part, on the contrary, were intended for the decoration of temples and private dwellings ; which their elegance, proportion, the nature of the subjects and ornaments would sufficiently indicate, if contemporary authors had not taken care to make it known to us. Certain pieces are of such large dimensions, that they of necessity were intended to remain in the same place. Others, without bottoms, perforated from one end to the other, had evidently a destination purely decorative. We have seen the same in Chinese antiquity. Lastly, we know that the ashes of the dead were inclosed in urns of terra cotta ; the cabinet of medals in the National Library has a fine vase with black glaze, decorated with a simple crown of laurel, which passes, with every probability, as containing the remains of Cimon, son of Miltiades. Besides these funeral urns, we find in the tombs a great number of vases placed upon the funeral bed, or attached to the walls by bronze nails. One could not admit they had been made for such a purpose, and the subjects they represent would exclude the thought. Evidently it was wished to consecrate to the dead a part of the objects he had loved during his lifetime, and it is thus that arms, jewels, and ceramic 202 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. works of the greatest value have remained buried for centuries, to reappear at last, and reveal to us all the splendour of ancient art. Some vases bear inscriptions which sufficiently explain their destina- tion. First among these must be cited the panathenaic amphorae, upon which one reads, TON A9ENE9EN A6A0N, "one of the prizes from Athens." Filled with oil, product of the sacred olives of Minerva, Fig. 60. PANATHENAIC VASE (MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE). they were publicly awarded to the victors, in the panathenaic festivals. The most ancient known is in the British Museum ; its retrograde inscription runs thus: TON A9ENE0EN A0AON EIMI, "I am the prize given to Athens." Three of these, preserved at the Louvre, are dated each with the names of the archon eponymus, or chief archon, Cephisodorus (B.C. 323), Archippus (b.c. 321), and Theophrastus (b.c. GREECE. 203 313). The one given (Fig. 60), bears the name of Archippus : Apxmnos apxqn. The archon eponymus was the chief magistrate elected to manage the republic ; he was so called because his name appears at the head of all public acts and decrees. The archon eponymus, the archon basileus or king, and the polemarchus, presided over the fetes and public games. Hence one sees the value the signature of the archon eponymus gave to the panathenaic amphorse. They are all likewise remarkable for the beauty of their form, and the refinement of their ornamentation and subject. A large series of specimens were, to infer from the scenes represented on them, intended as wedding presents. Acclamations clearly express the use of certain pieces ; thus, drinking cups invite the guest to gaiety; XAIPE KAI TIEI NAIXI, "Kejoice and empty me for the Gods." EVA EVOE, " Eva, Evohe," Bacchic cries, indicate still more the eagerness of intoxication. Nor is this less significent : XAIPE KAI riOME, "Health, and drink to me;" rPOTINEME KAT6HIS, "drink and lay not down (the cup)." But the most numerous class is that of vases which it was the custom to offer as pledges of friendship and love. No doubt a great many of these were to be found ready-made for sale in the shops of the makers, which, having nothing special, but only a decoration more or less rich, suited the plurality of purchasers. "We read KAAOS, "handsome;" KAAE, "beautiful," or HOrAIS KAAOS, "the handsome boy;" KAAOS HOrAIS, KAAOIS, "the handsome boy to the handsome boys;" HEPAIS KAAE, "the beautiful girl." Others were executed to order, and give us the names of those for whom they were intended. HEPAS KAAE, " the beautiful Heras ; " KAAirE KAAE, "the beautiful Calipe;" TIM0X2EN02 KAAOS, "the handsome Timoxenus;" TANAITIOS KAAOS, "the handsome Pansetius." Some recall memorable occurrences ; thus according to all pro- bability, the proprietor of a horse which had gained prizes in the public races, caused to be inscribed upon an amphora, AITAOJAS KAAOS HIIIOS, "the beautiful horse, twice conqueror at the Pythian games." Lastly, as if one must perforce find in all human works the application of the same ideas, the Greeks have their vases of great men, and one is surprised to find the names of the kings, Croesus, Darius, Arcesilaus ; of the poets, Alcseus, Sappho, Anacreon, Musseus, 204 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Linus, upon the ceramic works of a much later period than the persons they mention. These are evidently a public or private homage to merit and fortune. We cannot say whether it is by a kind of consecration or offering that certain pieces of the Italo-Greek decline bear in white upon a black ground BELONAI TOCOLOM "cup of Bellona;" SAIITVRNI TOCOLOM, "cup of Saturn." The rich collection of the Louvre contains vases of this kind which do not recommend themselves either by refinement of form or elegance of decoration. The inscriptions written or graved which give us the names of the authors of the Greek vases, are very numerous and of two sorts. Those of the potters, turners, or modellers of baked clay ; those of painters who, upon the raw pieces, traced with a point, then with a brush the subjects and ornaments intended to embellish it. We distinguish them by means of the word which accompanies them : Iwoiriatv (epoei'sen), "has made;" eypaxpev (egrapsen), "has painted." Below, in alpha- betical order, are the names we find on the vases : iEniades, painter. Alsimos, ib. Amasis, potter and painter. Anacles, potter. Andocides, ib. Arachion, son of Hermocles. Archechles, potter. Archonidas, ib. Aristophanes, painter. Asteas, ib. Cephalos, potter. Cachrylos, ib. Chserestratos, ib. Chares, ib. Charitseus, ib. Chelis, ib. Cholchos, ib. Cleophrades, ib. Clitias, painter. Deiniades, potter. Doris, painter. Epictetos, potter. Epitimos, ib. Erginos, ib. Ergotimos, ib. Eucerus, son of Ergotimos, painter. Euthymides, ib. Euonymos, ib. Euphronios, potter and painter. Euxitheos, potter. Execias. potter and painter. Glaucytbes, potter. Hector, painter. Hegias, ib. Hermseus, potter. Hermogenes, ib. Hieron, ib. Hilinos, ib. Hippaechmus, painter. Hischylos, potter. Hypsis, painter. Lasimos, ib. Mikadas, potter. Medias, ib. Naucydes, ib. Neandros, ib. Nicosthenes, ib. Onesimos, painter. Pamaphios, potter. Pandoros, ib. Panthseus, painter. Phanpha'ios. ib. Pheidippos, ib. Philtias, ib. Phrynos, potter. Pistoxenes, ib. Polygnotos, painter. Poseidon, ib. Pothinos or Pithinos, ib. Prachias or Praxias, ib. Priapos, potter. Psiax, painter. Python, potter. Silanion, painter. [Simon GREECE. 205 We see that some artists united the double occupation of potters and painters ; thus Amasis, signed sometimes as potter, sometimes the draughtsman of a vase made by Cleophrades, and another time, AMASIS ErPAOSE KAI EII0IE2EN, "Amasis has painted and made this." Exekias signed the same. Potters often associated themselves with one painter alone : thus Glaucythes worked with Archechles, Hilinos with Psiax, Nicosthenes with Epictetos; but this same Epictetos lent his talent to Hischylos, another potter. Capricious fortune has besides a thousand ways of preserving the names of her favourites ; in the foregoing list, we see a certain Cephalos, a bad turner of little plates and common vases, who is only known to us by the jokes of Aristophanes. The great comic author has perpetuated the name of the poor artist by his raillery. D. — Ornamentation of Greek Vases. One special character of Greek pottery is, that from its origin it adopted a conventional style of ornament from which it never departed ; no natural object, be it plant, bird, or animal, is rendered in its real form, or in its intimate details. The artist has evidently looked around him, the physical sources are no strangers to him, but, in the pride of genius, he has despised servile copies ; naturalism would have degraded him in his own eyes, he has inspired himself with things placed within his reach, by modifying them according to his wishes, and thus creating, where others would have copied. Everyone knows the graceful fable of the invention of the Corinthian capital by Callimachos : the artist was wandering in the country, dreaming, no doubt, of his numerous conceptions ; he stops struck before the grave of a child — a simple stone upon which a mother had placed a basket of fruit — but that the birds should not devour the collation prepared for the beloved manes, she had placed a tile upon the orifice of the basket; now an acanthus had sprung up there; in growing, its flexible stalks, arrested in their ascent by the rough tile, had bent Simon of Elia, son of Xenos, potter. Socles, painter. Sosias, ib. Taconides, ib. Taleides, painter. Theoxotos, ib. Thericles, ib. Thypheitheides, ib. Timagoras, painter. Timonidas, potter. Tlempolemos, ib. Tleson, son of Nearchos, ib. Tychios, ib. Xenocles, ib. Xenophantos, ib. Zeuxiades, painter. 2o6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. spirally. Nothing more was necessary, the tile became the abacus of the capital, the leaves of acanthus enveloped its base with a notched crown, the stalks with their sheaths became the volutes and the caulicoli, and the most elegant among the Greek orders of architecture was found. There is the whole history of Greek ornamentation. The pods of the carob tree variously united and twisted formed the palmettes; extended in architectural scrolls, grouped with stems and plumes, the acanthus has only its natural form ; the olive, the ivy and the convolvulus, lose their capricious flexibility to affect traditional disposition and form upon the vases wreaths or symmetric crowns. Even the waves of the sea, of which the foaming crests so often fretted by the winds seem essentially changing and capricious, are submitted to the yoke of ornamental regularity, and form the cymation or waved ornament which painters placed always at the base of their vases; while we, ignorant of its meaning, sometimes put it where it has a different signification. With these dispositions, the Greeks would naturally give a symbolic form to their subjects ; thus the study of their vases is full of difficulty. It would appear as if artists loved to shroud their thoughts under a thick veil, and to dissimulate even the divinities best known, under a heroic form. The nature of the subjects often explains this reserve, everything relating to the mysteries, or to the secrets of initiation, was to be kept hidden from the vulgar. Yet, by dint of researches and comparisons, our ceramographs have arrived at constituting a science almost complete of the symbolism employed in the paintings. It does not come within the scope of this volume to approach such thorny questions ; a few indications will suffice to show the interest each may find in the study of Greek vases. Let us first observe, that we must try to seize the general sense, the moral thought of a subject before giving a name to the persons repre- sented ; the accessories here are of incontestable value, and may trans- form the most vulgar scene into a religious myth. Thus, wreaths of beading, or branches of myrtle, will characterise the initiated shrine; an edicule, placed in the midst of a group of figures, will denote a funereal composition; the defunct is here represented by the monument, unless he be figured himself under the form of an ephebus, or youth, holding a horse, and ready to set out on his eternal journey. A mullet trigle or other pelasgian fish, cuttle fish, dispersed in the field of a vase, will GREECE. 207 announce the presence of marine divinities; the empire of Neptune, again, will be indicated by the goat and the horse. Birds have habitually the mission of representing the soul ; but sirens, under the form of animals with human heads, are more certainly the emblem of the immaterial truth which animates man. Yet, some birds preserve a special signification ; the dove belongs to Venus Astarte ; the crane, to Ceres ; swans, to Venus and Apollo ; the goose, to the Capitoline Juno. Flowers, generally, symbolise youth and springs; the aplustrum, that elegant palmette which terminates the upper part of the stern of a ship, represents the air and wind ; the sphere, attribute of Venus, is also the sign of fortune and love; the tripod indicates fear, and gorgoneia, or masks with Medusa's head,, mourning and funereal ideas. But whatever may be the thought of the painter, let him conduct the spectator to Olympus or the dark regions; whether he approaches a graceful subject, like the marriage of Thetis, or a mournful, as the war of the Titans, or Orpheus torn by the Erinnyes, his persons always maintain a severe dignity, a tranquil beauty which renders their aspect imposing, and gives to the picture a commanding grandeur, that supreme charm which renders the Greeks the first amongst artists. E. — Classifications of the Greek Vases. We have just seen what is the general system of decoration among the Greeks. It remains for us to examine how it has been successively applied to artists, and what chronologic groups we can arrive at, to form, with the vases various styles. We propose here following the luminous work of Baron de Witte, the most experienced authority on the subject. I. Painted vases of primitive style. — Some specimens have been found in the Etruscan tombs, but they have mostly come from the islands of the Archipelago. Some have been found at Santorino (the ancient Thera), at Milo, Corfu, Rhodes, and Cyprus ; some have even been discovered in the plains of Troy. Of a white or yellowish earth, they have in brown or reddish black, zones, Vandykes, chequers, and, more rarely, fish, birds, and serpents drawn with a brush. Executed, some in Greece, others in Asia, they go back ten or twelve centuries before the Christian era. II. Asiatic vases with reliefs. — Asia, which has furnished the model for this primitive pottery, has also yielded a number of rather coarse 208 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. pieces in red earth, relieved by mouldings and bas-reliefs on friezes, representing animals, processions, chariot races, and hunting subjects of rudimentary execution. These vases were destined to contain wine and oil. The museum of the Louvre possesses a rich series, of which the great part come from the tumuli of the ancient Agylla. III. Vases painted in the Asiatic style. — These vases which were long called Egyptian, are of the yellowish earth as those of the first section, and adorned with the same dull brown and without lustre. On some the figures and ornaments are graved, on others painted. We find natural and fantastic animals, monsters, half men, half animals; sphinxes, Fig. 61. sirens, birds with human heads, winged goddesses, bearing in their hands animals, geese or swans (Fig. 61). On the ground rosettes, plants, or flowers are scattered, as upon most of the Assyrian monuments. Three classes are to be distinguished among the vases in the Asiatic style, and each corresponds to a different period. The oldest vases have a dull aspect, and the paintings are of an orange without lustre ; the second class has its subjects upon a dull black ; on the third, the figures are relieved by tints of a violet red and an ungiazed white. The vases of this kind were imitated at the moment of the great expansion of the art; and the archaism of the copies often renders it difficult to determine them. In the primitive works we have simply the superposition of zones of real or imaginary animals ; later, mythological subjects are introduced between the zones. It is a style of composition which, after the ingenious remarks of M. Adrien de Longperier, was copied from tissues of various colours or from rich tapestries, or embroideries of which Aristotle speaks when describing the peplum made for Aleisthenes of Sybaris : " In the upper part were represented the sacred animals of the Susians, in the lower those of the Persians." Cups of precious metal with the same decora- tion have been brought from Citium in Cpyrus, from Agylla, Prseneste, Nineveh, etc. Dorian vases, decorated with mythological subjects and with zones of animals, have been discovered in the island of Milo, and appear to belong to the seventh century before our era. As we AEYBALLOS IN THE ASIATIC STYLE. GREECE. 209 have already explained, the lapse of a century should separate the works truly Oriental from the Greek imitations. Among the subjects preserved at the Louvre may be instanced the birth of Minerva, Bacchus seated in the midst of a troop of Mainads, a battle of Greeks and Amazons, etc. IV. Corinthian vases. — This pottery, nearly allied to the preceding, bears the first known inscriptions, and these inscriptions are in Greek characters of the most ancient form. The excavations made at Cervetri, the ancient Agylla or Caere, in Etruria, have brought to light a great number of these vases, which enrich the museum of the Louvre. History enables us to explain how works fabricated elsewhere have been found in Etruria. Demaratus, of the Bacchiad race, the most powerful at Corinth, had heaped up great riches ; threatened by a sedition in- stigated by Cypselus, he quitted his native city and fled to Tarquinii, then a flourishing Etruscan city, where he married a woman of the first family in the country, who was the mother of Tarquin the Elder. In his emigration, which took place in the thirty-first Olympiad (b.c. 655), Demaratus was followed by potters, who introduced art and taste into Italy. The finest Corinthian vases in the Louvre are a celebe or crater with columnar handles, representing the family of Priam; Hector has taken leave of his parents and ascends his war chariot ; further on are Priam and Hecuba ; afterwards follow women and warriors, Hippomachos, Cebrionas, Xanthos, Daiphonos, a hoplite or heavy-armed soldier, and two women, Polyxena and Cassandra. A hydria depicts the parting of Hector and Andromache ; a celebe, the preparation for the procession of the Panathenaea ; Peleus, and the Nereids; the repast of Hercules; Hercules and Cacus; an amphora, Tydeus and Ismene. Also among the Corinthian works are found the most ancient names of artists, Chares and Timonidas, both have represented heroes in the Trojan war. In the celebrated tomb of Caere, called the Lydian tomb, have been discovered about fifteen vases of various styles and epochs ; some which resemble in their painting the vases of Asiatic origin ; others with black glaze have red, white, and brown paintings superposed upon the glaze ; most of them have four and even six handles. These vases are of great and special fabrication, and appear to go back to a remote period. V. Black vases graved and in relief. — The vases found in the tombs of Caere, Chiusi, Vulci, and Veii, are true Etruscan works ; of black paste, and of forms varied and sometimes whimsical, some really ancient, others aiming at archaism, the last showing art in its decline. p 2IO HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Fig. 62. ETRUSCAN BRAZIER. For some time, all ceramic productions with Greek or Oriental paintings, had been called Etruscan. The Etruscan people only- approached this style of work at the last epoch, that is, almost on the threshold of the Christian era. Their primitive conceptions have a barbarism, a singularity which resembles certain specimens of the American savages. Generally the pottery is ornamented in relief by means of stamps and cylinders, which were passed over the soft earth. The subjects thus obtained are in the Oriental style ; birds, lions, sphinxes, stags, fish, centaurs, genii, and winged goddesses, processions approaching seated divinities. Certain figurative pieces have the form of fishes with human faces ; others, that of complicated furnaces and square braziers (Fig. 62), decorated with strange figures ; funeral urns, kinds of canopi have for cover a human head ; the arms adapting themselves in the handles by means of pegs. VI. Italo-Oreek vases with black paintimgs. — This fabrication is the development of the kind mentioned in the third section. Here upon a yellow ground, or more often of an earthy red, are black designs of the most brilliant enamel. The number of these vases is considerable, and the period of their fabrication appears to extend from the fifth to the fourth century before the Christian era (490 to about 340). They are generally de- signated as vases of ancient style to distinguish them from those with red paintings on black ground, which belong to the highest development of Greek art (Fig. 63). The forms become more and more elegant, the outlines improve, the neck, the foot, the handles are attached with grace ; the outlines of the design are incised with a pointed instrument; heightenings of white and violet red enliven the painting ; the nude parts of the bodies of the women are always white, as well as the beards and hair of the old men ; horses harnessed to chariots, or ridden by the " ephebi," or youths, are alternately black and white ; the " aurigee," or chariot drivers, have long white tunics ; the Fig. 63. HYDRIA WITH BLACK PAINTINGS. GREECE. 21 I " episemes," or figured emblems in the centre of the shield, are generally painted white. These conventional matters form a kind of rule, which is perhaps not without some connection with the laws of polychrome sculpture. All the heads in these ancient paintings are drawn in profile and without grace ; the muscular projections are exaggerated, the forms angular, and the development violent and forced. The exaggeration in the drawing is often less the result of inexperience than of an attempt at archaism. The compositions are not studied, the figures are ranged in regular files, as in the primitive bas-reliefs ; when they are grouped, an ultra-parallelism of attitude and expression divides the scene into two pictures ridiculously alike. Processions of divinities, battle scenes, races, are treated with the same monotony ; two or three figures at most are together ; the secondary personages are more or less numerous according to the space to be decorated. Whatever may be the re- duced proportions of the subject, the details are given with remark- able rigour and precision ; the embroidery of the vestments, the details of the armour, and the utensils, are scrupulously rendered. The principal paintings in black represent meetings of divinities. Apollo, Diana, and Latona, protectors of Delphi, meet each other often. Bacchic scenes are more frequent still. Bacchus is in the centre, bearded, attired in the tunic, and holding either the cantharus or rhyton, and a branch of vine. Sometimes Ariadne accompanies him, and satyrs, sileni, and msenads dance round with orgiac animation. The wars of the giants against the gods of Olympus follow next. The giants are to be recognised by their costume of " hoplitse," or heavy- armed warriors. The birth of Minerva is a favourite subject, and shows the influence of Athens over the arts, and the readiness of the painters to multiply subjects borrowed from the religion of Attica. In the heroic myths we find the labours of Hercules ; episodes in the Trojan war ; scenes from the Thebais; Theseus and the Minotaur; Triptolemus and his crew ; Perseus and the Gorgons ; the Calydonian hunt, etc. Generally the subjects are made known by the names of the persons being written near them, for the composition alone would be insufficient to guide the judgment of the observer. Carried away by the exigencies of the space he had to decorate, the artist has often overcharged his subject by secondary groups which play the part of spectators, and which have been compared to the choruses in scenic representations. There are also subjects identical in exterior form, which may receive different denominations, and others of common composition, to which p 2 212 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. one would refuse willingly a mythic signification if the inscription did not reveal their religious character. The vases of ancient style have evidently preceded the epoch when heroes were represented of beautiful form ; Achilles is a vigorous man, bearded like the others ; the women are completely clothed, and rich- ness of costume distinguishes only those of superior rank. Never- theless, the paintings have a character of severity, not wanting in grandeur. The cups have long shown the " gorgonium," or Medusa's head, in the interior, and on the exterior two large eyes near the handles serve as a framework to the painting. Besides, the vases of ancient style with black figures have issued from various fabrics, and differ from each other in the make and period. Some cups are covered with a white engobe, upon which are black figures heightened with red ; in the Cabinet of Medals at Paris, is one representing Ulysses and his companions making Polyphemus intoxicated, and putting out his eye. The same cabinet also contains a specimen no less valuable —the cup of Arcesilaus, king of Cyre- naica, who acquired great celebrity as conqueror at the Pythian games in the eightieth Olympiad (B.C. 458). He is seated upon an oeladias (or X seat), under a tent or pavilion, on the deck of a ship, his head covered with a petasus, or wide-brimmed cap, his long hair descending upon his shoulders, and he is bearded. He wears a white tunic, with an embroidered mantle ; in his left hand he holds the sceptre. Under the seat is a leopard with a necklace ; behind the king climbs a lizard. What is this king doing, surrounded by the emblems of power ? He presides over the operations of commerce. He extends his right hand, pointing with his forefinger towards an ephebus, or young man dressed only with an apron, who repeats the same gesture. Large scales are there surrounded by men who weigh some irregular substance, a heap of which is on the ground ; one on his knees near the plate of Fig. 64. AMPHORA OF NICOSTHENES. GREECE. 213 the scales seems to be attending to the merchandise they are weighing ; the second bears on his shoulders a netted bag filled with the precious material ; the third turns towards Arcesilaus, and raises a bag of the same kind ; the fourth extends his arm to adjust the balance, and holds in his right one of the irregular bodies of the same nature as those placed in the scales. The Greek word placed near him explains the whole scene ; this man is " he who prepares the silphium." Now the silphium, celebrated product of Cyrenaica, sought throughout all Greece and used as a condiment in the preparation of dishes, is the resin asafoetida, of which the penetrating, garlic odour is well known. However, let us not dispute tastes, but return to Arcesilaus, the Greek druggist, busied with his bargain. The principal group which occupies the centre of the cup consists of an overseer with men laden with netted bags ; other bags piled, show that these bales have been weighed and are taken out of the warehouse to be embarked for exportation. Here is certainly a scene of manners more than worth a mythological representation ; but we must return to the form of the religious paintings, and instance the celebrated crater known under the name of the Francois vase, which may be placed at the fifth century before the Christian era. Three zones of designs cover the body ; the neck has two, and the feet one. The principal subject is a procession of divinities attending the marriage of Thetis. The goddess is seated in the interior of a Doric edifice, before which is an altar surmounted by a can- tharus. Peleus, standing without, advances in front of Chiron and Iris ; then follow Hestia, Ceres, Chariclo, and Bacchus, who bears upon his shoulders a large amphora ; then follow seven quadrigae, on each of which are two divinities, Jupiter and Juno ; Neptune and Amphitrite ; Mars and Venus; Mercury and Maia; here the figures are wanting, several pieces of the vase not having been found in the excavation. The Hours, Muses, and Fates follow on foot, the great divinities in their cars ; then appears Ocean, under the form of a marine monster, and Vulcan mounted on a mule. Below this first zone are two subjects. In the first is Achilles, followed by Minerva, Mercury, and Thetis, rushing in pursuit of Troilus and Polyxena; near a fountain are Apollo and Ehodia. Priam and Antenor look with terror, while Hector and Polites come out from the walls of Troy and hasten to oppose the enterprise of Achilles. The second subject represents Vulcan upon the mule, brought back to Olympus by Bacchus, Sileni, and Nymphs ; Venus standing in front of the thrones upon which are seated Jupiter and Juno receiving the 214 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. procession, while Minerva, Diana, Apollo, and Mercury seek to console Mars, who is confused and humiliated. The third zone consists of fights of animals ; lions attacking bulls and wild boars ; panthers slaughtering stags and bulls, etc. Upon the neck of the vase are the funeral games, in honour of Patroclus, and the battles of the Centaurs and the Lapithse at the marriage of Pirithous and Laodamia. The second zone shows on one side the hunt of the Calydonian boar, and on the other Theseus and Ariadne, surrounded by a group of youths and girls holding each other's hands to enjoy the pleasure of dancing. These are the Athenians delivered by the hero. Upon the foot is the battle of the pigmies and cranes. Such are the principal subjects represented upon this wonderful vase, the richest known, and which is signed by the two artists who pro- duced it : " Ergotimos has made me, Clitias has painted me." Borrowing its description from the learned M. de Witte, we give a general idea of the pomp of the mythological and heroic scenes composed in these remote epochs. The Louvre possesses a large number of vases with black figures, by the hands of Nicosthenes (Fig. 64), Amasis, Tima- goras, and other artists not less renowned, such as Tleson, son of Nearchus, Hermogenes, Panthseus, Phanphaios. The panathenaic vases with the names of archons are the last expression of this form of art, which appears specially adapted for pieces having an official or religious character ; it is easy besides to recognise, even under their archaism, paintings, of which the style, and the spelling of the inscrip- tions, are modified according to the manners and customs of the epoch, and are hence doubly dated. VII. Italo- Greek vases with red paintings. — This class is much more numerous than the pre- ceding ; the vases it includes produce to the eye a more harmonious effect than the others ; some have besides all the perfections of art (Fig. 65). The design was first sketched on the vases with a blunt tool, and the black glaze spread over the ground, so as to reserve the figures and ornaments. The interior details, the features of the face, the folds of the vestments Fig. G5. BLACK VASE FOR LTBA- TIONS, WITH BED PAINTINGS. GREECE. 215 were next marked out by a brush with such delicacy and precision, one might fancy it done with a cestum or style, and a rule. Violet red is the only colour employed for heightening; it serves to indicate the bands, bracelets, embroidery, and other secondary details, and also to give the inscriptions thrown upon the field of the subject ; some of these are incised, as the signatures of the potters, Hieron and Andocides. White has been also used on the pieces with red figures, for the ornaments, details, and inscriptions, but its presence indicates a later period; towards the decline, a certain brightness was given to the painted vases by introducing with the white, light yellow, dark red and brown. It is very difficult to determine the period when the decoration, reserved in red, replaced the black upon the bare earth; some rare pieces of transition show the two systems united, such as the amphora of the Louvre, where we see on one side Bacchus and Ariadne, accompanied by satyrs ; and on the other, Hercules chaining Cerberus. We find the name of the same potter or of the same painter upon pieces, with black figures, as well as with the red. Among the number of the artists who, by their severity of style and minuteness of detail, approach more the archaic style, is Ando- cides. We possess by him, in the Louvre, a cup of black ground, ornamented with white figures heightened with violet red, quite an exceptional decoration. The subjects are three Amazons putting on their armour, and Nereids bathing. Epictetus executes with care ; his style is elegant, though severe, and so marked and personal, that one recognises even his unsigned works. Upon the vases with red figures, we are. able to follow the progressive march of the art. By degrees, conventional forms dis- appear, individual talent takes place of the pouncing of the schools ; the grace of the outlines, and the expression of the faces, begin to mark the distinctions of sexes, and to render the passions indicated by the movements of the figures. To this progress in art responds the perfection of manual labour ; the clay is finer and better turned, the form of the vases purer, their gloss marvellous ; delicate appendages accompany them, elegant little wheels balance the more prolonged curves ; the cenochoe turns back its mouth in a graceful trefoil, the crater expands its bell-shaped opening. The progress of ceramographic art can only offer a reflex of the natural evolution of high art, and one can date the one by the epoch of the other. The painters of the fifth century, Polygnotus and Micon, modified monumental decoration. Cimon, of Cleones, who 2l6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. lived towards the eightieth Olympiad, passed for having first rendered three-quarter figures. After the defeat of the Persians, Hellenic civilisation developed itself rapidly, and the appearance of Phidias operated a revolution in the works of sculpture. Vases with red figures of primitive style, were made from the beginning of the fifth century to the first year of the fourth, a little after the age of Pericles. When the influence of Phidias became manifest, when the painters, Zeuxis and Parrhasius, began to treat scenes or isolated figures which derived their interest from particular and individual expression, or from the manifestation of the human passions, the ceramic art entered into the same path. Heroes were no longer robust men with tufted beards, but young men of elegant form. The nude took the place of rich costumes, particularly among the women, and when even it was required to envelop them with draperies, transparent textures were chosen, and the folds adjusted so as to show the harmony of the proportions and delicacy of outline. If the nude thus prevails at this period of art, it is because a new education has been formed among the people, a sort of worship of the beautiful. Thus in groups of young girls pouring out water for the ephebi or youths to drink; of women enjoying the pleasure of the bath, simple modesty and purity are expressed in a charming maimer. As a specimen of this perfected style, connoisseurs may consult, at the Louvre, the cup representing the young Musseus taking a lesson of grammar or singing of Linus. The poet, seated upon a high-backed chair, unrolls and seems to read a papyrus ; his pupil standing, his right hand resting on his hip, and with his left raising his tablets, listens with attention. Outside are gymnastic subjects. To the fourth century belong the large amphorae of Nola, distinguished by the fineness of the earth, the brilliancy of the black glaze, the elegance of the drawing, and the simplicity of the subjects. Later, towards the end of the same century, a taste for luxury weakens the high sentiment of art ; the graceful pleases more than the beautiful ; the simple contrast of black and red is no longer sufficient to the eye ; to the primitive tints, yellow, violet and gold are added with white. Yet the magnificent groups discovered in the tombs of Kertch,the ancient Panticapseum,showthis richness united to a pure style and an admirable knowledge of drawing ; there especially abound nude figures, some full face, others three-quarters. These products may be attributed to a period near the reign of Alexander the Great. It is here we should allude to the vases of rich decoration combined GREECE. 217 with sculptured reliefs ; the finest among all of them is the celebrated hydria discovered at Cumse, which now adorns the museum of the Her- mitage at St. Petersburg. The lower part of the piece is fluted ; above is a bas-relief, coloured and gilt, composed of ten figures, five seated and five standing. Triptolemus appears in his winged chariot drawn by two serpents ; he holds a sceptre, and is surrounded by the divinities and heroes of Eleusis. Raoul Rochette thus describes the vase : " It is a piece of very large size, with three handles, and of the finest and most lustrous glaze. It is ornamented at several heights with sculptured friezes, in terra cotta and gilded, but that which gives it its priceless value is a frieze of figures from four to five inches high, sculptured in bas-relief, with the heads, feet, and hands gilded, and the vestments painted in bright colours, blue, red and green, in the finest Greek style imaginable. Several heads, from which the gilding has become detached, show the modelling, which is as fine and as finished as that of the finest ancient cameo." An aryballos, or oil-flask, signed by Xenophantus the Athenian, is ornamented with a mixture of paintings, gildings, and figures in relief ; a hunting subject in which is introduced the young Darius, son of Artaxerxes Memnon. It must therefore have been made B.C. 380. The taste which inspires these vases is doubtless the same which led the potters of Asia Minor to create pottery in relief, glazed with varied colours, as already referred to. Other vases in relief, with black engobes, were made until a period near the Christian era. On one are repre- sented Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf. VIII. Rhytons and vases of remarkable form — It is in periods of luxury that individual genius is able to display itself by innumer- able inventions. It is necessary to satisfy the thirst for novelty and the caprices of the rich, who wish to be remarkable in possessing works without equal ; and above all the surfeited mind requires excitement by catering for it things curious, unknown, or original. The collection of the Louvre offers, in this respect, one of the rarest series that can be found. Vases with double heads are numerous ; and one may remark that which represents Alphseus and Arethusa (Fig. 66), another with Hercules and Omphale, Fig. 66. VASE WITH TWO HEADS, ALPHiEUS AND ARETHUSA. 218 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. the great head of Silenus, a young satyr laughing; nymphs, negroes, all show the versatility of talent of the Greek potters. The figure pieces are still more varied : the young Hercules, kneeling, strangling the lion of Mount Cithasron ; a comic actor seated with his legs crossed ; a crouching negro crowned with ivy ; a nurse seated, the robes that cover her hood turned back upon the head, and having by her side a child in the same costume ; lying at its feet is a pig, the victim offered by the Lacedaemonians for the preservation of their children. But the series of rhytons is particularly interesting. These curved pieces provided with a handle resemble the pierced horns which, in the first ages of society, served for drinking wine ; the pointed part of the recipient taking the form of an animal, and the opening decorated with painted subjects or Fig. 67. RHYTON. richly composed ornaments ; here, the head of an eagle, there an ass or mule with bridle, a lion, a ram, a cow, a hind or panther (Fig. 67), most of them have no other opening than that of the top. They are real cups ; and not drinking vessels a la regalade, that is, with the head turned back and the liquor poured down the throat, as certain ancient bas-reliefs show it was the custom to make them, even at more distant times. A fine coloured pink and white rhyton proves they acknowledged the inconve- nience of these unsteady recipients to contain liquids. An undraped female upon one knee, embraces the vase and holds it upright. The pieces, purely imitative, are essentially fanciful — such as a crocodile devouring a man, a crouching panther, a hippocampus, ducks, cocks, GREECE. 219 bunches of grapes, fir cones, almonds, etc. ; whatever fancy may suggest, the artist is subject to no rule but that of his imagination, and his creative genius ; by this characteristic alone, one sees that the school has disappeared, and that decline is not far distant. IX. Decline of Greek art in Italy. — Here the historian experiences a singular embarrassment. If progress forms herself by such slow and successive conquests, that we can note and follow it in its manifestations, so the decline operates by irregular bounds proceeding from facts un- known, or from local circumstances ; in one place, a man of talent will en- deavour to maintain the doctrines of the past ; in another, the fabrication fallen into unworthy hands, will slide rapidly down the incline to bad, so that works made simultaneously may offer an apparent difference of nearly a century. The vases of the fabrics of Sant' Agata de' Goti, of Ruvo, Armento, and the products generally of Lucania and Apulia, are regarded as types of the art in its decline. Yet some specimens protest against decadence ; a magnificent oxybaphon (vinegar cup) of the Louvre shows us a subject treated with rare elegance; Orestes taking- refuge at the altar of Apollo at Delphi. Seated with his back resting against the omphalos, the hero holds in his right hand his sword still reeking with the blood of his mother. Behind him Apollo, attired in a rich mantle, extends his right arm and shakes over the parricide a little pig, expiatory victim, the purifying blood of which will restore peace to the guilty one. Diana, attired as a huntress, stands behind her brother at the foot of the steps of the altar. On the other side, the shade of Clytemnestra, shrouded in a veil, arises to awaken two sleeping furies, and orders them to torment Orestes. At the base of the picture, a third fury, seen half-length, rises out of the earth. In this piece are all the qualities of high Hellenic art. The real characteristic of the decline consists in the exaggeration of the proportions of the vases, and still more in superabundant orna- mentation. The handles have volutes, knots, wheels, scrolls of every description; the figures are multiplied, and groups of secondary order introduced, which confuse the subject and deprive it of its imposing tranquillity. The grounds are strewed with accessories; vegetable stalks wind among the subjects, interlace themselves round the handles, and often bear, instead of the flowers which should terminate their scrolls, the heads of females or winged genii. The subjects are mostly Bacchanalian, mystic, or funereal; the drama itself has a large share in these representations, and the burlesque is not spared. Some inscriptions in the Oscan character prove that the 220 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Atellanse may have had their share in these inspirations, when we see even sleight of hand and jugglery. The more we advance towards the decline, the rarer become the names of the artists ; Asteas, Python, and Lasimos close the series of ceramographs, and this last signs a comic subject, a burlesque of the myth of Procrustes. X. Black vases ornamented in white. — Among the last vases made in Southern Italy must be classed the black vases with white and violet red ornaments. Some represent scenic masks, heads accompanied by inscriptions ; others have simple wreaths of vine and ivy. Paleographic reasons assign their date to the fifth century of Rome (B.C. 300- 260). Etruria, at that period, was then quite Latinised, and it is to her that we owe the last ceramic painted works, for it is proved that the Romans never cultivated this branch of the art, and that a decree of the senate, the year 568 of Rome (b.c. 186), proscribing Bacchanalia, was the principal cause of the discontinuance of painted vases. XI. We have now followed the chronological and progressive march of Greek ceramic art with paintings generally monochrome, showing its Oriental origin. It now remains to us to allude to another descrip- tion of monument, of equal if not superior pomp, where sculpture and colour combine in harmonious concert. We speak of vases of religious ornamentation in coloured terra cotta, found in Magna Grsecia, and particularly in Apulia (Fig. 68). Some years since, these interesting works were represented by one simple specimen given to the Louvre by Baron de Janze' ; the acquisition of the Campana collection, in multiplying examples, and showing a variety of forms, has proved that M. de Janze"s vase has not been eclipsed by any others. Most generally, the sculptured terra cottas affect the form of a depressed hydria with lateral spout; the body, a kind of inflated wine-skin, is surmounted by an arched handle which from the back rejoins the base of the neck. But this arrangement is lost in the accumulation of accessory pieces of a nature to prove that the artist had not to preoccupy himself with the necessity of usefulness. Thus, upon the inclined neck of the vase, is planted a statuette of a draped divinity placed standing ; at the two sides rise winged Tritons, whose eel-form backs apply themselves upon the bag-shaped swelling, while their sea- horse feet beat the air almost at a level with the orifice of the tube ; other divinities rise, upon the handle and upon the sides of the vase, composing a group scientifically balanced, resembling more an elegant pantheon than accessories to a ceramic work. Often pink or GREECE. 221 sky-blue tints cover the draperies of the figures ; the body of the vase itself is diapered with zones softly coloured with pink or blue, and with imbrications bordered with blackish grey, so that the general aspect is harmonious, and allows the outlines to prevail over the deep tints as it should in all works of sculpture. As regards art, the vases of Magna Fig. 68. VASE OP APULIA (MUSEUM OP THE LOUVRE). Grsecia always display a grand style ; in some, the figures are modelled with a grace and perfection which show practised hands. We should be even tempted to think where the sculpture is imperfect and clumsy there has been on the part of the artist a sacrifice made to some special desti- nation, an elevated place distant from the spectators, requiring nothing but general effect. 222 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. F. — Denomination of the Greek Vases. In the description of Greek vases will have been remarked the grace- ful and sonorous names serving to designate the form or use of the recipients. It is not, then, without interest to pause a moment upon this nomenclature, and study the system. Such is the march of human science that, from the moment the mind attaches itself to a series of facts or objects, in order to derive from them any teaching whatever, we must place our theories upon a conventional basis, and create a special language to avoid blunders or sterile discussions. When intelligent excavations had brought to light the imposing mass of ancient terra cottas, it was evident they afforded new elements for history. The Greek writers were first questioned to discover the subjects depicted on the vases, and the names which con- temporaries had imposed on them to express their form and use. This arduous research produced a -mass of information more for- midable than useful ; the difference of the dialects causing a multi- plicity of names to be recognised as belonging to the same thing ; facts had often created new denominations for vases already provided with a vulgar appellation. A work of Panofka, completed by Raoul Rochette, Charles Lenormant, and Baron de Witte, laid down the true -principles of the science, and thenceforth established a nomenclature. In fact, this nomenclature is the introduction into ceramics of the harmonious language of the Greeks ; thus, the amphora, essentially variable in its form and dimensions, owes its name to its general structure ; it is a vase with two handles, which is expressed by the word " amphis," both sides ; " pherein," to carry. There is therefore no difference of name between the vase of coarse earth buried in the wine cellar, and the panathenaic amphora clothed with the richest painting, the destined prize of the conqueror in the games. The amphoridion is the amphora of reduced size ; the chous, another amphora, a kind of measure of liquid capacity, the same as the Latin " congius " containing twelve cotylse. The hydria has a signification as wide as that of the amphora ; its name, derived from " udor," water, expresses its habitual contents (Fig. 69). And yet how varied in its elegant forms ! sometimes furnished with one handle, its opening bent into the form of a trefoil ; sometimes to its principal handle are added two smaller at the side, which increase its richness. Such is the hydria of Timagoras, in the Louvre, on which GREECE. 223 Fig. 69. the artist has represented the conflict of Hercules with Triton or Nereus. The crater is a large, fine vase, with very wide mouth, in which the wine and water were mixed for entertainments or for sacrifice ; sometimes raised upon a foot, spreading at the top like a campanula ; it has two handles, attached to the rim of the cylinder with the spheroidal base. An idea of the richness of this form may be had from the crater in the Louvre, signed Euphronios, having for subject Apollo pursuing the giant Tityus, who is about to carry off Latona. There is an almost insensible transition from the crater to the celebe, another cup of analogous use ; the body of this is ovoid, surmounted by an opening under which are inserted the two handles. Certain of these vases are remarkable for their elegance and the happy proportion of their handles, which sometimes extend beyond the projecting edge of the vase. The word crater is derived from " kerannumi," which means to mix wine and water. It is impossible to speak of the two above recipients without saying a word on the vase which serves as an accom- paniment, called cenochoe (Fig. 70). "Oinos" is Greek for wine ; " oinokon " is the earthen pot which serves to take the wine out of the crater to distribute in the cups. The name is charming, and still more charming is the form it desig- nates. The hydria, in its general acceptation, has massive proportions, indicative of the vulgar liquor it contains ; the cenochoe, with its egg- shaped body, its thin neck, its trefoiled mouth, its light graceful handle bent like an S, rising above the lip, has all the elegancies of style, all the delicacy of luxury ; hence it is the vase carried by the goddesses, introduced for liba- tions in all sacred or familiar compositions. The cup which, before all others, should receive the sacred liquid is the cantharus, bell-shaped, raised upon a BLACK HYDRIA OR WATER- JUG OF BLACK GLAZE. Fig. 70. CENOCHOE OR WINE-JUG OP BLACK GLAZE. 224 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. tall stem; it is provided with two light handles. It was one of the special attributes of Bacchus. The amphotis also with two handles ; the calyx or cylix, are cups of varied forms. The aryballos is another drinking vessel, generally wide at its base, and drawn in at the top like a purse half closed (Fig. 61, p. 208) ; the phiale, a kind of shallow circular vessel, giving to us the word phial, sometimes figures in the hands of divinities. Let us next speak of another cup, connected with recollections of ancient manners, the cottabus. According to Harmodius, of Leprseas, the Phygalians made use>of cottabes of earth to consecrate wine, of which they gave a little to each one to drink ; he who presented the vase, saying, " Sup well ! " But in Sicily, they called cottabus a game, which consisted in throwing wine out of a cup into a brazen basin producing a certain sound, or by the same means, to drown little bowls swimming upon the surface of the water. The fashion spread, and according to Hegysander, of Delphi, they conceived such a passion for the game that prizes were proposed at entertainments for the conqueror. From that time, cups were much appropriated for the game called cottabus. But, to return to more serious matters. Here is a lecythus (Fig. 71), Fig. 71. charming cylindrical cruet, with narrow neck, terminated by a cup-shaped mouth against which rests a handle, which falls back upon the keel of the body of the vase which is destined to contain oil or perfumes ; this recipient often figures in the hands of goddesses, or of females occupied in the business of the toilet. Therefore the lecythus is mostly ornamented with delicate paintings and choice subjects. The olpe, generally pear-shaped, with a rounded handle from the body to the wide open- ing, is a vase of variable dimensions according to its use. In high antiquity, the olpe served to pour out the wine at table, as says Ion, of Chios, in his c Eury tides : ' " You raise your voices very proudly in taking the wine out of your little casks with olpe." Later, this kind of vase became of a religious use and no longer ap- peared at entertainments. One of the most elegant of the Greek potteries is that which bears the name of stamnos. Egg-shaped, surmounted by a wide throat sup- ATHENIAN LECYTHUS WITH PAINTINGS UPON ENGOBE. ROME. 225 porting a lid slightly convex and provided with two handles attached below the hip ; this kind of recipient served to contain wine. Most of them show a rich ornament and interesting subjects, and must have been placed upon sumptuous tables, conjointly with craters and Celebes. The oxybaphon, in ordinary use, was a small and open cruet to contain vinegar or sauce. In its reduced proportions, it bears some analogy with the open bell-shaped crater, but its lateral handles are inserted higher. Cratinus, in his 'Pytine,' ranges the oxybaphon amongst the Bacchic utensils: "How then," he says, "to make him leave off drinking ? Oh ! I know, I will break his conges, I will over- turn his wine barrels, and all the vessels which serve for drinking ; I will not leave him an oxybaphon to pour out the wine." Among the earthen vessels whose name lends itself to the most varied interpretations is the urn, so called from " aryo," to draw. The name does not designate any special form, but it is generally agreed to apply it to a vessel destined to contain the ashes of the dead, yet ancient writers have often departed from this usage. In the Iliad, Patroclus desires his bones may be placed in the same urn with those of Achilles; he wishes that this should be the golden amphora, the present of Thetis ; 160 lines further, Achilles, in compliance with this wish, causes the bones of his friend to be placed in a golden phial, where his own will eventually be placed. To Homer, urn, amphora, and phial have a like signification, implying neither difference of form nor determination of use. The pithos is a large earthern jar, wide, open-mouthed, and cask- shaped, used like the domestic amphora, and often confounded with it. There were also pithoi with narrow necks. It is in one of these, broken and repaired, that the cynic Diogenes made his abode. No doubt the pithos of Diogenes had been used to contain wine ; it is the sole analogy one can establish between this vast terra cotta jar, in which a man could extend himself his whole length or be seated, and the wooden barrel in which we keep fermented liquors. Later, the pithoi, no longer used, became the dwellings of the poor of Athens. Q 226 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Section 2. — Roman Ceramics. In principle, it might be said that there exists no Roman art. The simplicity of manners of those who one day were to be masters of the world excluded even the representation of the Deity. When under the Republic the nation began to enlighten itself, the wants of luxury de- veloped, but the citizens of Rome were not yet among those who contributed to progress; the Etruscans, on the contrary, were then strong in their own intelligence, and in that which contact with the Greeks had taught them. The Romans had recourse to them for the first plastic works, destined for the decoration of their temples. Towards the end of the second Punic war, the Romans having found themselves in relations with the Greeks, and having made an alliance with them, began to feel a taste for true art. Claudius Marcellus, after the taking of Syracuse, brought back the first Greek works and employed these brilliant spoils in the decoration of the Capitol. Capua, reduced by Q. Fulvius Flaccus, came to increase the sculptured riches of the Eternal City. The introduction of the worship of the Greek divinities into Rome rendered still closer the relations between the two nations; the Romans not only ordered idols from the Hellenes, but made artists come over to Rome, to people the temples with their works. All those whom the fate of war delivered over to the hands of the Roman legions, were also brought to the metropolis, and their civilising influence was such that patrician families made a point of their children being instructed in the arts of painting and sculpture ; thus did the illustrious Paulus iEmilius, as we learn from Plutarch. The increase of public wealth would necessarily develop the instinct of luxury and a taste for the beautiful. Lepidus, before he was consul, possessed a house which was considered the most elegant in Rome ; thirty years later, it was only the hundredth in the scale of beauty. Ceesar was about to appear ; a simple citizen, he soon classed himself among the most magnificent by his passion for works of art ; when consul, he built the Forum and spread monuments over the towns of Italy, Gaul, Spain, and the Roman colonies. The victories of Lucullus, Pompey, and Augustus, brought to Rome swarms of prisoner artists, who were soon liberated and ranked with the eminent men, who, attracted from Greece by the hope of gain, formed that intelligent cohort whose renown flowed back to Rome herself, and made her fancy herself more advanced in the liberal arts than she really was. ROME. 227 Indeed, it is to be observed, that so long as there existed a mother school whence the light was transmitted in all its purity, the taste was able to sustain itself; but when Greece, extinct and debased, was no longer more than a Roman slave, when the last Grecian town asked as a favour to substitute the Latin language for the harmonious idiom of Homer and Sophocles, everything was said. This docile army of freedmen had but one desire, that of flattering their masters : no individual thought, no generous initiative, came to raise the Hellenic glory now about to disappear. The imitation of the masterpieces of art was diminishing, so that there was, properly speaking, no national school; and the best productions due to. Roman hands were the feeble reminiscences of Hellenic excellence. One can understand that, under such conditions, ceramics would remain in a very secondary rank ; no more of those painted vases, where the elegance of the compositions and the accuracy of drawing com- pensated for the inferiority of the material ; what the Romans wanted in their marble palaces, paved with mosaics, adorned with pictures, was gold and silver, cups of precious stones, murrhine vases, of which one alone made the fortune of a family. The red lustred wares, in relief, of Arezzo, in Etruria, are carefully worked and imprinted with a taste approaching that of the Greeks. On vases of this class are the names of the potters Antiochus, P. Cornelius, Florentinus, C. Rufrenius Pictor, A. Fig ?2 Titus, and Yictorianus. This red pottery of Arezzo (Fig. 72) is, also, the prototype of a fabrication carried by the Romans wherever they esta- blished their dominion, and of which numerous specimens are found in France and England. Some of these are signed by Agatopus, Amandus, Diogenes, Enodus, Primus, Sabianus, Strobilus, and Vibianus. A deep earthen cup of black glaze has, in the interior, a bust of Silenus, bearded and clothed VASE 0F arezzo. in • a sleeved tunic, playing the double flute. Around it we read CALENUS CANOLEius fecit; a border of ivy leaves and flowers frames the inscription, and above are waves and ovolos. This black ware was made by the Romans concurrently with the red, but in smaller quantities. Not but that common pottery was also made, numerous fragments prove it, and amphorae, similar to those of the Greeks, are found in the environs of Anzio, the ancient Antium. The ruins of Q 2 228 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Carthage have furnished amphorse, inscribed with the names of Longinus and Marius, consuls, B.C. 104. But the really interesting branch of Roman plastics is its employment in architectural decoration. Until the period when Rome, mistress of Liguria, became possessed of the quarries of Luna (Carrara), marble was excessively scarce, and terra cotta was employed for the antefixse or bas-reliefs, which formed the interior and exterior decoration of a house, the metopes and historic friezes. We have no need to enlarge upon the merits of plastic sculpture ; the unrivalled collection of the Louvre shows more eloquently than any description to what perfection this branch of the art had attained, both among the Greeks trading with Rome and among the Hellenes settled in Italy. We learn by a letter from Cicero to Atticus, that a number of these bas-reliefs came from Athens, and the great orator asks his friend to procure models with which he desires to decorate his atrium. Therefore, though the greater number of the works classed in the Louvre came from Tusculum, or Roma Vecchia, localities of the Campagna di Roma, where were situated the most magnificent villas, we do not seek to distinguish in these works those evidently Greek from their imitations. What the observer will first notice is that the greater part of the subjects treated relate to the heroic mythology of Greece. It is Hercules the Dorian hero, killing the Lernean hydra, taming the Cretan bull (Fig. 73), or fighting the Nemean lion; Theseus, the Ionian Hercules, distinguishing himself by the defeat of robbers and monsters, or fighting against the Amazons. The Trojan cycle also furnishes its contingent. Paris, in Phrygian attire, flees upon a quadriga, carrying off Helen shrouded in his drapery. The companion to this subject shows us the wife brought back by her husband ; triumphant in her beauty, she proudly displays herself to all eyes, and quits the car of Menelaus, who stands behind her. Penthesilea killed by Achilles, and inspiring with love her murderer, is one of the favourite subjects of the Greek artists. Panoemus, brother of Phidias, had painted it upon the barriers of the throne of Olympus ; many sarcophagi represent it with a symbolic and sacred meaning, and the Louvre shows it us upon a terra cotta found at Ardea ; the dying Amazon lets fall her double hatchet ; Achilles supports her after having taken off her helmet and her arms ; thus despoiled, she shows her features, at which, says Quintus of Smyrna, the Greeks were dazzled- "The expression given by the artist to Achilles renders the thought ROME. 229 of the poet; there is more than pity and sorrow in his noble countenance." The history of Ulysses also occupies a large share in this series. There is the king of Ithaca attached to the mast of his vessel fleeing the seductions of the Sirens ; Penelope seated, lamenting in tears the absence of her spouse ; then, returned to his palace, the prudent monarch conceals his presence and imposes silence on his nurse who recognises him. Fig. 73. ROMAN BAS-RELIEF OF TERRA COTTA (MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE). But let us leave heroes for the gods. It is the infant Jupiter sur- rounded by the Curetes, who dance, striking their shields, to prevent his cries from reaching the ears of Saturn ; Apollo and Victory ; Minerva presiding at the building of the ship Argo ; the goddess is seated, teaching the pilot, Tiphys, how to fasten the sail to the mast ; while Argus, himself seated, chisel and hammer in hand, works attentively at this galley intended for the first nautical expedition of the Greeks. 230 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Bacchus with his thyrsus furnishes numerous subjects; the god, mounted upon a car, drawn by horses and panthers, guides the noisy train of bacchantes, satyrs, fauns, and maenads. What we have just said is almost a digression, for in a book specially consecrated to the history of vases, ought we to be allowed, under the pretext of terra cotta, to enter into the domain of statuary ? Certainly, a just admi- ration has, perhaps, drawn us a little down this slippery slope, but we could not stop at the exact limit where sculpture becomes a special art, independent of the material which it has pleased the chisel to animate with its supreme power. Shall we keep silence upon that numerous series of earthen statuettes, masterpieces of delicacy and taste, which from Greece have radiated to all civilised countries ? Certainly not, for a new fact, important in ceramic history, proves the intimate relation between these images and the vases themselves. We have no occasion to remind the reader that these statuettes represent, for the most part, the numerous divinities of Hellenic and Roman worship. Our learned friend, M. Adrien Longperier, has brought together at the Louvre an almost complete series of statuettes of children, which are none other than the genii of these gods; but, in his profound sagacity, the eminent keeper of the antiques had surmised that many of these statuettes, as well as some flowers or detached emblems found in large quantities in the excavations, must be complements of some monument, and combine to form an ornamental whole. The vases with modelled figures of Magna Graecia demonstrate the correctness of this supposition; and the statuettes and applied emblems, of which the wandering specimens encumber our museums, stand up as so many points of interrogation before historians and inquirers. We know therefore now what are these divinities, these flying genii, provided with the means of affixing to another piece, these nereids, these centaurs truncated through the middle ; and a broken vase may now find its decoration by means of these incomplete fragments. The most intimate connection existed between the modellers of statuettes and the modellers of vases ; one might be able, perhaps, even to identify the Gneco-Italian artists, who ornamented the vases of Apulia, with the numerous sigillarii in the Rome of the Csesars, whose profession it would appear consisted, not in making seals, but little earthen images destined to figure in the house of each citizen as the lares or protectors of the domestic hearth. MIDDLE AGES. 231 CHAPTER II. MIDDLE AGES. The luxury of the later times of the Boman Empire would have the effect of reducing to nothing ceramic industry ; a people clothed in purple and silk, and covered, even to their shoes, with embroidery, pearls and precious stones, would not tolerate around them the rude earthen pottery, even though enriched with the sombre decoration of the Greeks. Vessels of gold, jasper, sardonyx and onyx, these were the ornaments of the great and for the temples. The pavements of the basilicas borrowed from marble their symmetric dispositions ; the dome shone with the splendour of its golden-grounded mosaics ; the columns themselves were twisted into many-coloured spirals, and veils of silk were spread before the altar. But as if to protest against the ingratitude and changeableness of human nature, the humble terra cotta introduced itself into the midst of this pomp ; the bold cupolas which the eye dared hardly measure under their dazzling images, these cupolas which, if built of stone, would have fallen in from their own weight, it is to ceramics they owed their existing still to excite our admiration ; kinds of truncated bottles, strung one into the other, and disposed in parallel curves, form the ingenious masonry of these masterpieces of architecture. Certainly, at a period when Italy employed her workshops in a production so special and so limited, other works must have issued from the hands of her potters, and the modest lamp of the countryman, culinary utensils for the poor, vessels for carrying water, for keeping oil, wine, the alimentary grains, all must have continued to be made, but without character or artistic taste. We must traverse the period of struggles between expiring civili- 232 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. sation and barbarian invaders, we must leave these last to seek, in their turn, the light of a new civilisation, in order again to find ceramics one of the first arts in the rude furrow of progress. We will not here describe the kinds of transitions styled German and Gaulish pottery, and which, rude as they are, were but a last reflex of pagan art, henceforth condemned with the religion which had given it birth. We are now in the Christian epoch; the Northern aspirations manifest themselves first by the dreamy tendencies of Gothic archi- tecture, and the free and immaterial conceptions of the statuary ; then the men of the North, not content with having invaded temperate countries, seem fatally impelled towards the East ; they imagined the Crusades in order to animate their hearts at the focus of religious fervour, and to enrich their poetry with the glittering mirage of the sun and of art. A kind of intuition, besides, points out to these simple seekers that in other places nature, lovingly questioned, has unveiled secrets from which ornamentation has made the happiest use — sculptors, painters and potters, look around them — the vine, the eglantine, the clover of the fields, appear to them worthy of being reproduced by the chisel, the graver, and the pencil, and quite a fertile vein of art opens itself to their intelligence. From the porticoes of the temples, the complicated capitals of the columns, this ingenious ornamentation descends upon the historic tiles, at the same time penetrating into the interior to enrich the wares in common use, and heighten the adornment of the high-backed side- boards or "dressoirs." Until the twelfth century, stones of various colours, combined in mosaics, had satisfied the requirements of archi- tecture ; from this moment, a new idea applies itself everywhere at once, bricks of red earth, of varied forms, are substituted for stone, their surface is covered with a thin layer of white clay, in which are incrusted patterns of a darker earth or vice versa; these glazed, baked bricks are thus able to resist the effects of the reiterated steps of the faithful, and replace at little expense the costly mosaics. Moreover, this combi- nation of pieces admitted of a concerted decoration, and the variation of the ground tints introduced a relative variety in compositions con- demned to a kind of uniformity. Nothing is more curious than the study of these tiles, in which, with rudimentary means, art already begins to manifest its power. There, in a graceful chequer-work, the fleur de lis of France heightens at intervals a seme' of trefoils and rosettes ; scrolls of notched leaves combine, in graceful borders ; circles MIDDLE AGES. 233 divided crossways receive in their sections stars or heraldic suns; here are armour-clad warriors, mounted upon horses richly caparisoned, running one after the other, their swords raised, their shields resting on their breasts, then heads, busts, lions, eagles, all that picturesque fancy, assisted by the resources of heraldry, could invent to animate the cold compartments of the pavement, and give a meaning to the vast naves trodden every day by the Christian multitude (Fig. 74). The abbey of Voulton, near Provins, the hunting gallery of St. Louis at Fontainebleau, a chateau near Quimperle', St. Etienne d'Agen, the monuments of Crotoy, Rue, Cosne, of the departments of Ain and Calvados, offer curious specimens of this ceramic fabrication, which was not less spread or less brilliant in England. Fig. 74. 1NCRUSTED TILE, FROM THE PAVEMENT OP A CHURCH OP THE MIDDLE AGES, NORMANDY. Most of the ornamental combinations resemble the designs we are accustomed to see in the textile fabrics of the East, and we ought to be the less astonished at this, inasmuch as that from the ninth century incrusted or enamelled tiles were in use in Egypt and Syria. It were then idle to examine now if, as has been long advanced, the art of covering earth with a plumbiferous glaze was invented by a potter of Schlestadt, of unknown name, who died in 1283. Not only was the use of glazed tiles very generally spread, but more, the fragment of a vase preserved at Sevres, and brought from a tomb in the abbey of Jumieges, which dates from 1120, proves that coloured coatings were also applied to the pottery reserved for burning the incense at religious ceremonies. The secret of the plumbiferous glaze had passed from 234 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. the Greeks of Asia Minor to the Romans, who undoubtedly transmitted it to their numerous clients, especially to the intelligent Gauls. In the twelfth century, the fabrication and commerce in pottery took an enormous development. " Ceramic wares," says M. le Bas, " are mentioned among the principal articles which appeared at the markets and great fairs of the country." The sands of our rivers have preserved through the course of centuries fragments of pottery, which now reappear to reveal to the amateur the state of the arts in these epochs so little known. Thus has been found, at the eastern extremity of the Cite, at Paris, pots ornamented with fleurs de lis in relief, or with the legend in Gothic letters — "Vive le Roi ! " It was in these recipients that the citizens of the capital came to invigorate their patriotism and their mirth ; the official tea-gardens resounded with Bacchic songs, and the empty pots were thrown into the Seine, either to express the height of their joy or to conceal the repetition of their votive libations. But the innkeeper did not calculate his score by the number of empty measures ; the fatal chalk inscribed upon the wall its unimpeachable hieroglyphics, as the barmaid refilled each earthen hanap. We have just spoken of the inscription, " Vive le Roi ! " This custom of making pottery speak is a sign both of the infancy of the art and of its decline ; in the Middle Ages, legends formed the principal decoration of vases. As soon as glaze is applied upon an earth of two layers, the slip or engobe serves equally well to bring out the letters as the orna- ments. But let us first explain here what are the principal modes of ornamenting coarse terra cotta. We have already stated that common pottery has for basis a porous paste of loose texture, composed of potter's clay, argillaceous marl and sand; it always contains lime, and some ferruginous element which imparts its red colour. The glaze, composed in a great part of lead, is vitreous and transparent ; it therefore shows the colour underneath, so that it requires to mix with the glaze, metallic oxides more or less dark, such as copper green and manganese brown. In improving these processes the idea arose of spreading over the brown earth a thin layer of whitish clay, which enlivened the glaze ; then in order to vary the colouring, to scratch in the upper layer, or engobe, circles, zigzags, ornaments, and legends, which came out in a bright tint upon the white earth, the ware was then covered with a glaze, generally colourless, scattered over with green and brownish blotches, which gave it a streaked appearance. This is the engobe. MIDDLE AGES. 235 Another mode even more primitive,has been used to decorate earthenware with barbotine, or clays diluted with water, and sometimes tinted with metallic oxides; lines, scrolls, and figures are drawn upon the white paste, or even upon the brown glaze ; flowers and beads are scattered over the surface, which, after firing, preserves a sensible projection and forms almost a " pastillage." The mode of execution is even more barbarous than the execution itself. Ox-horns, pierced at the extremity, contain the barbotine, and it is by moving the point of the horn up and down with more or less rapidity that the finer strokes are obtained; the masses are formed by letting the decorating "bouillie" run longer. The countries of the North-East, Switzerland in particular, preserve in their coarse pottery this expeditious mode of decoration. We have no doubt it was associated with the engobe in the Middle Ages ; it was, in fact, a step towards pastillage, which itself led to sealed decoration. In pastil- lage, properly so called, ornaments are moulded separately, and attached to the surface by means of the barbotine ; sigillation consists, on the con- trary, in impressing upon the vases, with special moulds, certain orna- ments which combine to form sometimes a very rich whole. The transmission of moulds from generation to generation is often the cause of anachronisms dangerous to the superficial observer, who should carefully examine details which might lead to error. This kind of fabrication, which certainly goes back to the Middle Ages, establishes a kind of transition between this epoch and the Renaissance, as well as between glazed terra cotta and stoneware. It appears to have been practised everywhere, both abroad and in France. M. B. Fillon, mentioning it in his luminous researches upon the pottery of Poitou, says : " From the second half of the thirteenth century, date also the funereal vases in form of fir cones, completely overlaid with a green glaze. ... In short, the decorative system of these various potteries belongs, on one side, to that used from the fifth to the ninth century, which had never been entirely given up ... . and contains in germ that of the sealed faiences of the Renaissance." In a declaration of property situated in the village of la Poterie, parish of Champ-Saint- Pere, made in 1378, the same author finds that the potter, Jourdain Begaud, acknowledges himself bound to the seigneurs of la Mothe-Freslon, for the yearly payment " d'une buye verde godronnee et d'une poune de buee (washing tub)." Now if Poitou, a new world for ceramics discovered by M. Fillon, furnishes such works, what would be the products of manufactories so celebrated as those of Chapelle-des-Pots, Beauvais and Savignies ? The inventory of Charles VI., dated 1399, 236 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. contains the valuation of a " godet de terre de Beauvais garni d'argent." It must be a first-class pottery to have been deemed worthy of a mounting in goldsmith's work. No doubt, the monarch had received this vase as a present from the town. The archives inform us that a similar offering was made the 17th of October, 1434, to King Charles VII., on his passage through Beauvais. In his turn, Francis I. traversed the town on his way to Arras; this time the diocesan chapter decided, the 16th of May, 1520, that he would present to the queen "des bougies et des vases de Saviffnies." Another deliberation of the 4th of December, 1536, declares that there shall be given to the king a " buffet de Savignies." Similar homages are renewed the 6th of August, 1540, and the 16th of July, 1544. Lastly when, the 3rd of January, 1689, the Queen of England, Mary of Este, a fugitive, was taking the road from Calais to St. Germain, a similar present was made to her ; three centuries, therefore, had not weakened the reputation of the manufacture. Different authors who have written upon the potteries of the Beauvoisis, have discussed the question whether these choice specimens, those which show a certain amount of elegance in form and decoration, should be assimilated to stoneware or to glazed earth. This is a question devoid of interest, and to which no value can be attached, when one has seen, in both materials, pieces come out of the same mould and worked with equal care. Certainly, one may infer, from the expressions used in the sixteenth century to designate the vases of Savignies, that they refer to a stoneware, since they call it a " poterie azuree," and most of the stonewares are blue ; but we have seen frequently cruets and hanaps, of brown or green ground, with reliefs heightened by a yellow and purplish glaze, which, for the precision of the fleurs de lis, crowns, and sealed scrolls, yielded in nothing to the finest blue pitchers, with greyish reserves, heightened with manganese. But we shall return more fully to the French stonewares when speaking of the Renaissance, and of the reputed productions of Flanders and Germany. Here the true difficulty consists in pointing out the origin and in determining the dates ; in fact, we must distinguish from the works of Beauvais, those of Brittany and of Poitou, the glazed wares and stoves of Alsace and Lorraine, long confounded among the German products, and again find the works of " potherie de verderie," which were made at Sadirac, some leagues from Bordeaux. Of these remains of our ancient industries, some bear unmistakable signs of the Renaissance, and will be spoken of in their proper place ; MIDDLE AGES. 237 but others are of such ambiguous character, and adhere so closely to the ancient periods, that we must be pardoned if we are not over- scrupulous in their classification. One example will show the difficulty of a rigorous classification of the potteries of transition, and the. danger of the anachronisms to which we have already alluded. Most of our readers will have seen either at Sevres or at the Louvre, specimens of a large dish with green or brown glaze, enriched with inscriptions, ornaments, and emblems in relief. These inscriptions in Gothic characters have, with many other details, a religious character. We read : " vos ones qui trasitis per via, attendite et videte si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus. Pax vobis + Fait en decembre M.D.XI." Oh, all ye who pass by, behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. Peace be with you. The instruments of the Passion, drawn in relief, the cypher of Jesus surrounded by rays, that of the Virgin, and the words " Ave Maria," show that these kinds of dishes ornamented in churches one of the stations of " the way of the cross ; " and hence, one understands from what Divine lips came the sorrowful words above. Between each letter of the Salutation is a shield crowned, enclosing alternately a fleur de lis, and the letter K, initial of Charles VIII. Seven other large shields have the arms of France, with an open crown ; one bears France and Dauphin^, quartered ; another, per pale, France and Bretagne ; one is argent, with ermines and sable ; and the last has a fancy emblazon- ment, in which, above two stars, is a kind of mace, " figure parlante " of the name of Masse, evidently that of the artist. Now it is easy to remark a real contradiction between the date and the emblems of the dish. Charles VIII., whose cypher it bears, was first husband of Anne of Bretagne ; she was remarried, in 1499, to Louis XII. The double L of Louis should, therefore, in 1511, have replaced the K, if the artist had not unscrupulously and without reflection employed the moulds long kept in the workshop. But a particular interest attaches itself to the repeated reproduction of the ermines of Brittany. Is it not a presumptive evidence of the origin of the piece when we know that country to have been an im- portant ceramic centre ? The collection of M. Giraud de Savine offers, in particular, several pieces with green glaze, specially decorated with the ermines, or shield of Brittany, among which are those puzzle jugs, with balanced lid and pierced sides, which formed the delight of our simple ancestors. One may see at Cluny several pots of the same description, with 2 3 8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. brown glaze and white pastillages, which establish as it were a transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. We find also an es- cutcheoned biberon with the device, " TANT QVE IE VIVE AVLTRE NAVRE," the motto adopted by Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, on his marriage, in 1429, with Isabella of Portugal. The blue glaze, deadened by the subjacent earth, proves that we must not consider absolutely the expression of azured pottery as signifying stoneware, and that " vases azure's " were made elsewhere than at Beauvais, as this piece is evidently Burgundian. But to return to things of an aspect more clearly Gothic, and in which is revealed, perhaps, the same Oriental inspiration which produced the Italian " graffiti." Let us pause before a dish " a engobe," of the museum at Sevres (Fig. 75) ; in the centre is a tree with large flowers resembling Persian tulips ; the border, intersected with ribbons, is simply lozengy ; then, upon the edge, intercepted by flowers, is this motto, " Je cuis planter pour raverdir. Vive Truppet." This worthy potter, attaching his name to an acclamation generally reserved for the sovereign, was no doubt the author of the dish, and has consecrated it to himself by a wish for good fortune. His work shows a man of talent, and forms to our eyes the type of a style which we think we may attribute to the south of France. Moreover, we consider the dish of Truppet to be one of those 'prentice pieces it was the custom to exact from artisans on their admittance to the company or trade of which they desired to be a member. This obligation, and that still more onerous of an annual offering to the lord of the property of certain fine pieces or services, had the effect of keeping the industry in the way of progression. M. Benjamin Fillon, in giving the figure of a fragment enriched with the shield of Argenton, supported by a mermaid, writes : " This piece is part of a pot, no doubt, analogous to those mentioned in the following extract from an acknowledgment rendered to the lord of Villeneuve, parish of Plenee-Jugon, by the potters who had established their ovens upon the Lande aux Brignons, a dependency of that manor: " The said potters have acknowledged and do acknowledge the said seigneur for their landlord, and oblige themselves to assemble the Sunday before the day of St. John the Baptist every year, and to ac- company and assist the last married among them, who is to have an earthen vase ornamented with flowers, with the arms of the said lord ; and each of the aforesaid potters shall have a flower in his hand, with a ringer and player of instruments, and all the company shall enter the parish church of Plene'e, in the chapel of the said lord, who will be MIDDLE AGES. 239 on his bench, and present to him the said vase, or to others of his house, or to his officers, under the penalty to the aforesaid newly married potter of sixty sous of money. Besides, each of these aforesaid potters shall, the first day of each year, go to the said seigneur at Ville- neuve, and, for a new year's gift, present him with a masterpiece of their handicraft, on pain of fifteen sous forfeit. They shall, besides, put the arms of the seigneur upon all the vases they make exceeding the price of three sous, under a penalty of fifteen sous." We do not pretend to generalise what may have been only an individual exaction, yet if one could suppose that the seigneur of Villeneuve had based this acknowledgment upon customs general in Fig. 75. < DISH ENGRAVED UPON ENGOBE (MUSEUM OP SEVRES). France, it would explain the frequency of heraldic bearings on the old pottery, and the absence of factory marks ; the arms told all, and secured to the tenant his landlord's protection against all competitors. The countries of the West have furnished M. Fillon with only one emblematic figure ; under a vase, is the goose of the plain of Thouars (Fig. 76), yet this sign may be simply an allu- sion to the power of the lords of Oiron. Is this all ? are we to close the ceramic history of the Middle Ages with glazed earthenware ? Such is not the opinion 240 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. of M. Houdoy, of Lille, who, in recent publications, has just proved from authentic acts the existence at Hesdin of a ceramic oven belonging to Jehan le Voleur, a painter attached to the service of Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy; this artist delivered, in 1392 and 1393, tiles ''■ peints a images, a devise et de pleine couleur," which served as decora- tion to the " court " of Arras, and to an apartment " gloriette " (very decorated) of the castle of Hesdin. Now M. Houdoy observes, with reason, that at the period when the fourth son of John II. granted a privilege to Jehan le Voleur, it could not be for the making of incrusted pavements, which were made everywhere, but for some new and important thing, as would be considered the invention of enamelled ware, which the expressions of " carreaux paints et jolis, carreaux de peinture, carreaux a ymaiges " would indicate. Nor must we lose sight that Jehan le Voleur was a talented painter, and that his fabri- cation was under the supreme inspection of an artist still more illustrious, Melchior Bourgogne, specially attached to the court of Burgundy. And when it related to " ordener et drecher " the tiles, that is, to put them in their place, the work was to be done expressly under the eyes of the maker ; this implies the difficulty of perfect success, which would not exist, if it only related to simple geometric com- binations or ordinary kinds. We are happy to be of the opinion of M. Houdoy. We so often find in documents the expression poterie blanche, when, according to received ideas, faience did not exist, that it seems natural to refer the invention of a white enamel in France, as in Italy, to a period very anterior to that which until now the discovery has been attributed. Let us add, that since the publication of the ingenious deductions of M. Houdoy, the works themselves have spoken to show him in the right. Some of the enamelled tiles of Jehan le Voleur have been found at Hesdin, fragments of enamelled drapery, indicating a subject with figures. RENAISSANCE— ITAL Y— MAJOLICA. 241 CHAPTER III. RENAISSANCE. Section 1. — Italian Renaissance. — Its First Ceramic Works. In civilised communities, ideas are continually advancing, progress realising itself by the gradual modification of intellectual and manual labour ; then, at a given moment, under the impulse of a superior intelligence, the masses perceive the ground that has been gained, they cry, A miracle ! they do honour to him who has made manifest the hidden thought, which is to shed such glory upon the century. It is thus great epochs are formed. Such is the history of the Renaissance in Italy as in France. Not that we wish to detract from the fame of Leo X., of Louis XII., or of Francis I. Our intention is only to establish that we must seek the origin of great social movements far beyond the epoch of their brilliant manifestation. As relates specially to ceramics, the Italian Renaissance is the invention of the tin enamel, or " invetriatura " of common earthenware; it is the application of this enamel by Luca del]a Robbia upon terra cotta sculpture, and the affixing it upon table wares which, skilfully decorated with subjects taken from the great masters of these new schools of painting, were to rival and even replace the works of the goldsmith. It is superfluous in the present day to say that the beginnings of this process are much anterior to the sixteenth century. In a con- scientious study made by Mr. Drury Fortnum, of the ancient disks of earthenware incrusted in the churches of Italy, he has established, contrary to the accredited fables of a more ancient date, that we must not see in these disks, trophies brought by the Pisans from their excursions against the Arabs, but a decoration invented in the country itself, a R 242 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. consequence of the discovery of the processes of enamelling terra cotta. One sole fragment in the church of Santa Cecilia, at Pisa, is of Persian origin. Here, then, from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, is Italian pottery applied to monuments, first, with simple ornaments upon " engobe," then with enamelled glaze, and lastly enriched with metallic lustres, inspired, they say, by the sight of the golden wares produced by the Moors of the Balearic Islands. Scattered works of the fourteenth century, which cannot be attached to any particular school, show the advanced state of enamelled earthenware. In the Louvre, is a votive plaque representing St. Crispin and St. Crispinian surrounded by shoemaker's tools, and making the long pointed shoes (poulaines) of exaggerated length. This piece, by its skilful make, the whiteness of its glaze, and the harmony of the whole, resembles, more a Persian tile than the rude attempts of a manufacture in its infancy. Another curious work is a dish or basin having at the bottom the figure of a horseman wearing poulaines, the cap (bicoquet) and tight vest (justaucorps) of the fifteenth century; he raises a goblet to his lips; the two Gothic letters TE, placed beside the glass, sufficiently express the meaning : " To thee," says the one who drinks ; it is his parting good wishes or the stirrup cup. Bound the principal subject are scrolls com- posed of foliage and kinds of tulips, of which the almost Persian style shows that the potter derived his inspirations, as well as his processes, from Oriental faiences. And, indeed, as we shall show later, when stating the different centres of Italian enamelled wares, it is not from the Balearic Islands they derived their processes and their taste, but from the East, and this is the more true as concerns lustred pottery. Another piece, an altar reredos (retable), representing the Entomb- ment, is composed of detached groups combining in one common action. This sculpture, almost in detached relief (ronde, bosse), shows the transition from the ornaments of sculptured wood to the bas-reliefs of enamelled terra cotta. The unknown artist has signed with a Gothic G, and in a large cartouche, the chronogram 1486, which leaves no doubt as to its date. But has this work a character corresponding with its date ? should we not rather put it back at least thirty years ? We will try to prove it. If, as we have just said, ideas and facts advance slowly and progressively, centres and distances must have an incontestable action upon the acceleration or slowness of the movement. Three or four hundred years back, writing was scarce and accessible only to the few ; travelling was onerous and difficult, the great centres alone dated RENAISSANCE —1 TAL Y— MAJOLICA. 243 facts ; elsewhere, they only caught the distant and feeble echo of the proclamations of fame, so that those behind the central movement continued in their course to cultivate traditions forgotten elsewhere. Such, in our idea, is the history of this Entombment : made in 1486, it shows us the gropings of the first half of the fifteenth century. These long figures, of ascetic expression, clothed in drapery with deep folds, are the last manifestation of the mystic feeling of the Gothic school ; the richness of the textiles with polychrome embroidery, the almost antique style of the ornaments sculptured upon the tomb of Christ, are indeed indicative of Renaissance ideas ; but these tendencies almost insensibly disappear and efface themselves under the traditions of the past. Hence the cause of the hesitation and even anachronisms so often to be remarked in works of the epochs of transition, and which some- times baffle criticism. As a work of art, the Entombment is of remarkable importance. It presents all the technical perfection of the sculpture of the Delia Robbia without being an imitation ; and therefore fully proves that the Florentine statuary applied to the decorations of churches, processes perfected and well known, the honour of which has been assigned to him because he has used them with more brilliancy and study than his predecessors. As we speak of the Delia Robbia and of their works, let us give a slight sketch of a family that has exercised, it cannot be denied, great influence over the development of majolica. Luca, head of the family, was born either in 1399 or 1400 ; like most great Italian artists, he devoted his youth to the study of the goldsmith's art, and then, feeling his instincts develop themselves, he entered upon high sculpture, and, towards 1438, executed his celebrated marble bas-relief, of the singing boys, placed on the tribune of the organ in the church of Santa Maria de' Fiori at Florence. Overwhelmed with the orders which attended his success, Luca sought, according to Vasari, a more expeditious process than the chisel, or the multiplied operations of casting. Now, as statuary, he was accustomed to first render his idea in an earthen model, of which the finished marble was only the reproduction, so it occurred to him to bake his clay model and protect it from the pernicious influence of atmospheric changes by covering it with a vitrifiable and impervious coating — the enamel of tin and lead. His first works of this kind refer to a date perhaps anterior to 1438 ; the oldest attributed to him by Vasari is the bas-relief of the Resurrection, placed over the bronze door of the sacristy of Santa Maria R 2 244 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. de' Fiori; but there is no mention of them in building accounts preserved from this epoch. The second bas-relief, the Ascension, placed in 1446, shows certain modifications in the colours; green, violet brown, and yellow, appear. In the first group the white figures were detached simply from a lapis blue ground. M. H. Barbet de Jouy, in his excellent history of the Delia Robbia family, justly observes that Luca was distinguished from his successors by the judicious use of the processes of verifiable painting; a statuary, he never swerved from the principles of his art, often he reserves the flesh tints, and lays the white enamel only on the accessories ; always a moderate colouring heightens the draperies and frames of his soft compositions ; the mouldings are few, and if he surrounds them with a vegetable wreath, the flowers are of a soft relief and selected from among the most simple, as the wild briar or the lily. The pure, often Raffaelesque, style of the works of Luca are not the sole indications by which they may be recognised; his processes are all special ; the enamel he uses is thin, liquid, almost transparent ; the blue of his grounds soft and pale. After this induction, we may attribute to him the bas-relief of the Virgin adoring the Infant Jesus, in the Louvre. Luca's works, spread over all the churches in Tuscany, cease about 1471 ; he died in 1481, leaving his traditions and his inheritance to Andrea, his nephew and assistant. Andrea was born in 1457, and was therefore forty-four years old at the death of his uncle. Doubtless many of his works were confounded with those of Luca, but we know that to him we owe the figures of children which decorate the hospice of the Innocents at Florence, although they approach the style and taste of Luca. Where he becomes himself is in the fabrication of medallions, altar pictures, and tabernacles, easily transported to all places, and adapting themselves to every want. In general, this fabrication is skilful, the composition pleasing, the countenances expressive, but a little spoiled by the mannerism of the style; his figures short, the extremities slim, draperies stiff, and the frames, made heavy by the abuse of heads of cherubs, and by the substitution of fruit for flowers, appear more rich than graceful. When he died, 1528, Andrea made his four sons depositaries of his ceramic secrets. The eldest, Fra Ambrosio, had taken in 1495 the Dominican habit ; the three others Giovanni, Girolamo, and Luca, had varied fortunes. A common work of the family decorates the hospital of the Ceppo, at Pistoja, begun 1525, and finished 1586 by other hands. RENAISSANCE— ITAL Y— MAJOLICA. 245 Generally of inferior merit, the works of Giovanni are signed, and therefore can lead to no confusion. Those of Luca and Girolamo are extolled by Vasari, yet it is to be believed that the greater number of enamelled wares, of secondary value, attributed to Luca the elder, proceeded from their workshops. Luca settled at Rome ; Girolamo went to France to superintend the decoration of the chateau de Madrid, in the Bois de Boulogne. After beginning the building in 1528, he was obliged to give it up in 1550, through the jealous intrigues of Philibert Delorme. In 1553 he returned to Italy ; but when, in 1559, Primaticcio replaced the disgraced Delorme, Girolamo was reinstated as director of the works, in which post he remained till his death about 1567. The chateau de Madrid, styled ironically by Delorme the " chateau de faience," abounded in enamelled terra cottas. Unfortunately, little remains to us of this brilliant decoration, so adapted to a climate like ours. When the villa was demolished, in 1792, the terra cottas were set aside and sold to a pavior, who converted them into cement. Such was this family, whose name represents a special style and a new phase in the potter's art. But we must not exaggerate ; the Delia Robbias had competitors and pupils. Luca the elder received in his workshop a certain Agostino da Duccio, whom Vasari considers to be his brother, but who had no relationship with him except that of talent. Agostino's works bear great analogy to those of Luca, and he repro- duced the musical choirs of his master to decorate the front of the church of San Bernardino, built in 1461. In the first years of the sixteenth century, a Florentine artist carried the majolica art into Spain, and several of his bas-reliefs decorate the front of the church of Santa Paula, at Seville ; this artist is Niculoso Francesco of Pisa, who by his style appears to have been reared in the primitive workshops of Tuscany, and perhaps by the Delia Robbias themselves. Nor should it be forgotten that Vasari considers Luca the elder to have been the first to apply vitrifiable colours upon earthenware ; if the contrary is now proved, it is not the less possible that Luca painted upon pottery, and that the artists of his school may have been able thenceforth to unite bas-reliefs to a decoration of enamelled tiles, as we find abun- dantly in Spain and Portugal. As to enamelling on fiat surfaces or table ware, its beginning is still concealed under an impenetrable veil, but, from the moment that the secret of this kind of painting began to spread, we find it divided into groups and specialise itself by localities. It is, in fact, that the schools characterise themselves by the indelible sign of the talents of their chiefs, and perpetuate themselves by the energy of local 246 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. patronage. To study majolicas to any useful purpose, we must take them all in one general glance, seeking the physiognomy imprinted upon each locality by the artists or inspiring prince, and throwing into a second rank those pieces due to the individual industry of unknown artists whose manner we can distinguish, and whose monograms we collect, but whose works form no part in the general history of the art. Before approaching the subject, let us remember that the Italian enamelled wares are painted on the raw surface of the piece and fired in the porcelain furnace; they acquire thereby an extraordinary freedom of tone, and a plumbiferous glaze laid over the painting gives it a richness and brilliancy quite marvellous. We should observe there is a distinction, difficult to establish, between true enamelled earthenware and a very similar fabrication, which old authors, especially Passeri, term " mezza-majolica." This last should belong to the class of glazed (vernisse) pottery, because its whiteness is not due to oxide of tin, but to a thin coating of white clay called " slip " or " engobe," overlaid upon the paste to conceal its colour ; the painting being executed upon this white earth, it was covered with a plumbiferous glaze of mother-of-pearl lustre, which, according to Passeri, formed the reputation of the manufactory at Pesaro. The lustres, mother-of-pearl, gold, and ruby red of the wares, do not depend upon the nature of the glaze, but are derived from the use of certain metals revivified by a skilful manipulation in the furnace. What proves it is that the white parts are never iridescent ; the yellow and blue alone are lustred under the influence of the rays of light. As to the question whether all the lustred pieces are of mezza-majolica, it has long been settled by Passeri to the contrary ; the most brilliant lustre heightens paintings applied upon a white enamel perfectly charac- terised ; while the mezza-majolicas, decorated with divers colours, have none of their parts susceptible of being iridised or of affecting the copper lustre. A. — Tuscany. Chaffagiolo. — Nothing is more frequent, in ceramic history, than manufactories of importance being destined to preserve the names of the most obscure villages. Of these, Oiron and Sevres furnish us with ex- amples in France ; while, on the other hand, certain minds persist in attaching the name of Henri II. to the fine faience of the Renaissance, and qualify, as royal porcelain, the works executed by the company first established at Vincennes. RENAISSANCE— ITAL Y— MAJOLICA. 247 An analogous fact presents itself in Italy. It has long been a matter of astonishment that Tuscany, the seat of light and civilisation, should have remained a stranger to the movements which impelled all the other provinces of Italy to the fabrication of painted faience ; then, on seeking further, it appeared that it was not in Florence itself that we should find the evidence of her having joined in the general movement, but in a little centre scarcely inscribed on the map. Situated on the road from Bologna to Florence, and in the neighbour- hood of the first of these cities, Chaffagiolo or Caffaggiolo (for the spelling of the name varies on the pieces of its ware) is the place where Cosmo the Great built his country house, and, according to the custom of the times, established the artists whose works and discoveries he wished to encourage. It is from there that has issued the first Tuscan majolica. Let us first give the characteristics by which this ware may be recognised, and then proceed to examine the chronological series of its principal pieces. The blue in light strokes, in mass, or laid on as a ground, is always dark, almost blackish ; the strokes gone over again by the brush are sufficiently visible to show that cobalt has been used in a thick state ; a bright orange yellow still more opaque, and having nothing analogous to it in other fabrics, harmonises with the blue, and comes out the better from being laid upon a very white enamel. The other colours are naturally lost in such company ; the copper green is peculiarly liquid and semi-transparent. Some pieces, characterised by these special enamels, bear the name of the manufactory, usually accompanied by a monogram composed of a P combined with an I or S, and accessory signs. These marks, therefore, are those of the manufactory, and not a personal signature, for a considerable interval in the dates and an absolute difference of style separate pieces with the same mark. If, as everything leads one to think, Luca della Robbia acquired his knowledge of the stanniferous enamel at Chaffagiolo, we ought to find works executed at the beginning of the manufacture among pieces approaching to the Gothic style. To this period may some pieces be assigned, enamelled only on one side, the coarse ware left un- coated on the reverse; the orange-tinted borders relieved by white and blue arabesques of archaic style; the central subjects of Gothic designs (one explained by a legend in characters of the end of the fourteenth century), exhibit in their heavy style of drawing, copies from early wood engravings, the simple efforts of dawning industry. In 248 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. the historic scenes, the costumes are those the painter had before his eyes ; in sacred subjects, one still recognises the slim-bodied figures, sculptured in wood or stone, and muffled up with exaggerated nimbi, the Fig. 77. draperies with deep folds arranged according to routine. The picture is first outlined in blue alone ; the orange red serves barely to tint the hair and lighten up the sacred nimbus; later, some yellow and green washes heighten the ground and the costumes. At last, in the fifteenth century, the masters appear, the churches are covered with frescoes, and the public edifices are . peopled with statuary. The style shows itself, and schools are founded. The potters are sur- rounded with designs, which they transfer to the white enamel ; wall tiles show us the figures of angels with lilies in their hands; escutcheons encircled with graceful arabesques; all traced with the fine blue of ChafFagiolo and sparingly relieved by a few accessory colours (Fig. 77). tile of chaffagiolo. Next, with processes still imperfect, and with colours of little brilliancy, the ChafFagiolo artists attempt high art painting. In the Fountaine collection is a cup of coarse clay " crazed," and rudely painted, representing the Virgin with the Infant J esus on her knees. The whole effect is grand, and already manifests the powerful Florentine school. Underneath are letters, now unfor- tunately inexplicable, but which probably designate the name of the author of this brilliant attempt (M. 1). M. 1. On the threshold of the sixteenth century, when majolica has taken its place among the furniture of palaces ; when gigantic dishes and vases of rich forms are paraded upon sculptured sideboards, " dressoirs," the Florentine potters boldly meet the greatest technical difficulties ; their brilliant warm enamels are brought, like those of the Chinese, to encounter audacious contacts, but, by dint of art, harmony comes out of chaos ; the bright red, yellow, blue and white distribute themselves in RENAISSANCE— ITAL Y— MAJOLICA. 249 partial grounds, in arabesques and borders, with the most marvellous effect (Fig. 78). The escutcheons shine out in the midst of this pomp of decoration and colour, and show their varied charges, their metals clearly expressed ; " or " represented by a yellow as glittering as the metal itself ; " argent " replaced by oxide of tin as shining as a medal from the mint ; " gules " of naming red, and " azure " equal in intensity to and brilliant as lapis-lazuli. The dates of 1507 to 1509 are upon these masterpieces of their style, with the characteristic monogram of the manufactory. Here arises a delicate question. According to old authors, Passeri among others, the lustred pottery would be of the most ancient date. Fig. 78. CDP WITH GEOTESQUES (A CANDELLIEEl) CHAFFAGIOLO (COLL. SIE E. WALLACE). We have already said that the polychrome pieces belonged to a much earlier period than the golden works; but at what moment did the taste for these metallic lustres invade Italy ? Why suddenly renounce a pallet, furnished with such a variety of colour to fall back upon these yellow and blue paintings, which only attract the eye by a capricious iridisation ? Tuscany, notwithstanding its severe taste, did not escape this passing aberration. In the collection of Dr. Guerard is a large dish, with the shield of the Medici, which might have been thought to have issued from the workshop of Pesaro, if this cypher (M. 2) did not appear in the centre of the reverse. Signs nearly M. 2. LCIOUS I M. 3. 250 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. approaching to these, more cursive (M. 3), inscribed upon wares of golden yellow and ruby red, prove that Chaffagiolo did not remain, on this point, either beyond or behind the movement of the other Italian centres. It would appear that this establishment had three styles almost simulta- neously : the rich arabesque decoration of which we have just been speak- ing; the lustred ware which may be seen in the Louvre (No. 60 and 518, Coll. Campana) ; and lastly, a fabrication most carefully executed, in which art displays itself in all its power, showing the charming characteristics of the transition from the simplicity of the Gothic to the elevated style of the Renaissance. The most remarkable example of this last series is a fine dish belonging to M. de Basilewski, the subject taken from Virgil's Eclogues. One would think it by Botticelli, so much one recognises the masterly freedom of the Florentine school. The borders consist of a frieze of genii mounted on fantastic animals, terminating in scrolls on a dark blue ground ; the general tone is soft and delicate, and were it not for some touches of the characteristic bright red, one would not recognise in these pieces the bold pallet of the Tuscan workshop. The dish is marked with the P. S. of the lustred piece of the Medici. But there are other pieces no less precious, and signed differently, which are evidently by the same hand; a conqueror on his throne, surrounded by prisoners, to whom he appears to be addressing a speech, forms the subject of a dish decorated with the same borders as the preceding, executed with unequalled delicacy: the reverse, covered with blue scrolls, has, for subject, a cupid holding a dolphin ; upon a ribbon is inscribed the word GONELA. Another sweetmeat plate has the same border, but the central medallion of yellow ground is covered with fan- tastic birds in reserve heightened with blue. It has (M. 4) the mark S. P., M. 4. and the word Chaffagiuolo ; above is the trident, a maritime emblem, which it is not without interest to associate with the dolphin of the preceding piece, as it may bear an allusion to the name of the artist. There are, then, two very marked divisions ; the one with bright, almost violent, enamels satisfy the requirements of a rich and masterly ornamentation. This division corresponds with the end of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, when the Florentine Republic, governed by the Medici princes, was about to form an alliance with Rome, and to furnish her with the two Medici pontiffs, Leo X. and REN A ISSA NCE—ITA L Y—MA JO LI C A . 251 Clement VII.; hence we find cartouches inclosing the celebrated "palle," and the letters, S.P.Q.F., " Senatus populusque Florentinus," the senate and people of Florence, with the old motto, S.P.Q.R.," Senatus populusque Romanus." Two other legends, "Semper" and " Glovis," accompany the above or the arms of Leo X., and appear, by their frequency, to offer another character by which to recognise the products of Chaffagiolo.* The second division comprises the works of art properly so called, when, to give to the human figure all its importance, the painter avoids the use of brilliant enamels and keeps himself within a quiet scale of colours, appropriate to refinement of drawing and finish of detail. An intermediate style, which would appear rather an individual manifestation than a particular phase of the workshop, exhibits some interesting pieces. One of these, in the musee de Cluny, is a votive plaque, the colours incorporated with the glaze, archaic ornaments, and the monogram of Christ in Gothic characters ; around is the legend Nicolaus de Ragnolis ad honorem Dei et sanctt Michaelis fecit fieri ANO 1475. The other represents a celestial warrior resting upon his lance after having conquered the dragon ; is it St. George or the archangel Michael, to whom the above plaque was consecrated ? The tints, thin and transparent, of a warm colouring, spread themselves upon these pieces without showing the white enamel. Some, less ancient, show the ordinary barred P, and we have not the slightest doubt that these are of Florentine fabrication. The manufactory of Chaffagiolo lasted during the whole of the sixteenth century, following the various changes of taste. M. Delange, in his translation of Passeri, mentions a plate signed "In Chaffaggiolo fato adj 21 di junio 1590." The piece, No. 2106 of the musee de Cluny, Diana and Actaeon, with the inscription, " In Gafagizotto," bears the character of the decline ; and the cups with blue interlacings, like those of the Louvre, Nos. 150 and 151, thus marked (M. 5), are also of a later period, but their prototype, charged with the arms and motto of Leo X., shows forth its brilliancy in the musee de Cluny. This manufactory had also branch workshops. In the collection of Mr. Drury Fortnum is a plate marked in addition to the customary sign, with the initials A. F., and "In Galiano nell' ano 1547." The subject is Mutius Scsevola. * " Semper" is an old family motto of the Medicis. " Glovis " reversed reads " Si Volg," a motto taken by Giuliano, son of Lorenzo, when appointed Gonfaloniere of the Church, and meaning that Fortune, who had hitherto frowned upon him, had now turned in his favour. M. 5. 252 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Siena. — Works of the best time of this fabric are rare, and we may suppose some have been confounded with the products of Chaffagiolo. The South Kensington museum furnishes the type, a deep plate of which the central medallion represents St. Jerome in the desert ; underneath we read : " Fata i Siena da M°. Benedetto." This Benedetto was a distinguished painter ; his pure drawing, and masterly execution, recommended him no less than the "porcellena" arabesques which encircle the subject. We restore to him willingly another cup in the collection of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, where the same cama'ieu is painted upon a yellow ground with medallions ; underneath are blue arabesque surrounding a univalve shell of the genus Bulimus. It appears to us that enamelled statuary was attempted at Siena ; a bas-relief in the Louvre, representing the Entombment, is evidently a deviation from the Delia Robbia school ; below, on a banderole, un- fortunately partly broken, we read: " FR E BERNARDINVS DE SIENA— IN B. S.— S atus ," the date is illegible. Has this Fra Ber- nardino made or simply offered the work ? Whichever it may be, there are few pieces in our collection of the Siena bottega ; we must traverse two centuries to find it again in full activity. Pisa. — This is a city, which has been only spoken of by authors, as the centre of a considerable export of enamelled wares, in exchange for which, Spain particularly, sent back her golden products. Certainly the position of Pisa, near the mouth of the Arno, made it naturally an emporium for the merchandises of Tuscany ; but this post, important as it was, should not make us forget the share taken by the city in the fabrication of majolica. A magnificent vase, belonging to Baron Gustave de Rothschild, permits us to vindicate her rights. The decoration is principally composed of' grotesques upon a white ground. On the two sides are persons sheltered under a canopy, the elegant handles formed of interlaced serpents, and under them the word PISA is inscribed on tablets reserved in ornamental frames. By its form and manner of decoration, this work almost explains the forgetfulness of writers of the sixteenth century; it bears so strong a resemblance to the renowned fabrications of Urbino, that they must have confounded it with the last. Yet there exists a characteristic difference; the grotesque vases of Urbino are overlaid with " Marzacotto," a lead and glass glaze which gives the transparency of a varnished painting : at Pisa, the decoration laid upon the unbaked clay preserves, after firing, an almost rude vigour, and leaves the glaze of a dead white, peculiar to the fabric. RENAISSANCE— ITAL Y— MAJOLICA. 253 Florence. — Had the capital of Tuscany its furnaces ? or did it only use the products of Chaffagiolo ? These are questions impossible now to resolve. Vincenzo Lazari, basing himself upon historic docu- ments, says that Flaminio Fontana, of Urbino, justly appreciated by the grand-duke Francesco Maria, was brought to Florence and kept there several years to decorate vases ; he adds, that the works of Flaminio being much more imprinted with the style of Urbino than with that of Tuscany, it would be very difficult to separate the pieces painted by him in his own country from those executed in others. We shall not seek to find if there exist Tuscan vases by the hand of Fontana, we will only mention this, which has a great importance : if, from 1574 to 1587, Francesco Maria occupied himself still with the renown of his fabrics, it is that the ceramic art had never been given up by the Medici ; only the Florentine works, executed towards the middle of the sixteenth century, became mixed up by their style and make with those of other celebrated Italian manufactories, and it becomes im- possible now to distinguish them. So, by the side of the ordinary productions effected by the exigencies of commerce, the Medici princes sought to bring out an invention which would add to the glory of their country. Cosmo the Great had had his laboratories at Chaffagiolo ; he established in his castel of San Marco an experimental workshop; where was to be produced, almost in a practical state, the first European translucent porcelain. According to Vasari, Bernardo Buontalenti was the agent of this discovery ; it was not a pure kaolinic porcelain, but a composite paste, having for basis quartz and a vitreous frit, with a small quantity of the kaolin of Vicenza ; it is what Brongniart has classed under the name of hybrid or mixed porcelain, because it contains a part of the natural elements of Chinese porcelain, and a part of those used in making soft porcelain. In 1581, the experiments of the grand-duke had produced their fruits, and he already sent presents of his translucent pottery to the other sovereigns of Europe. Two pieces are preserved in the museum at Sevres, bottles with rectangular sides and cylindrical neck, imitations of the boxes for tea of the extreme East; on one side is the rich escutcheon of Philip II., of Spain, and among the decorations is a cartouche inscribed with the date above mentioned. One would not dare to assert that the works of Francesco Maria met with complete success: the products of his laboratory leave more or less to be desired ; the paste is often greyish or made yellow by the fire ; the enamel is not always equally glazed ; the 254 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. cama'ieu for the decoration is most often in cobalt, and sometimes heightened by strokes of manganese ; the camaieu, we say, is rarely intense and of equal tone, the excess of heat causing it to evaporate or to run into the fluid glaze whenever it has been exposed to the direct action of the fire. In short, the grand-ducal porcelain has all the characters of trial pieces, more or less successful, and not those of a regular fabrication. Yet the recipes preserved in the laboratory book of San Marco, allow us to recognise that they might have given regularity to the processes by operating on a larger scale. Such as they are, and with the means employed, the results must cause sur- prise, and must secure to Francesco Maria an eminent rank among the agents of progress in this century of intellectual movement. The specimens preserved in collections show that the Medici porcelain affected two forms corresponding to their several destinations. The first is always in the pure Italian style ; decoration "a groteschi," as in the faiences of white ground, and often the Medici arms with the palle, and their special crown of trefoils and fleurs de lis alternating with iron points, indicate a personal affec- tion to the grand-duke; this porcelain, styled royal, is marked underneath with six palle or balls (M. 6), five disposed round the torteau of France, and each inscribed with a letter, to be read thus : F. M. M. E. D. II. Franciscus Medici Magnus Etrurise dux secundas. The other form more frequent, is that of the pieces distributed to spread the fame of the discovery ; there the ornaments are more particularly borrowed from theEast,and specially from Persia; bouquets of various flowers, interlacings, net- works of chrysanthemums, birds perched upon trees in flower, furnish the surface of the dishes and the roundness of the vases. The mark of these productions is no longer the ducal arms, but the cupola of Santa Maria de' Fiori, with the cypher of Francesco Maria. The prince thus -i gave a national character to the new pottery ; and by Yf~ introducing the masterpiece of Brunelleschi in connection with one of the most modest of the arts, he affirmed M - 7 - the greatness of Florentine civilisation, and recalled the solidarity of all the products of intelligence. M. 6. RENAISSANCE— ITAL Y— MAJOLICA. 255 Francesco Maria is not the only Italian prince, who, struck with the purity of Oriental pottery, has sought to render its secrets accessible to his own country. Vasari speaks of efforts made towards the same end by Alfonso II., duke of Ferrara. The Marquis Giuseppe Campori, of Modena, goes further : he proves that, at Venice, attempts made by an unknown artist had excited the emulation of Alfonso I. ; this prince tried to attach to him the inventor, and develop his discovery, but he failed in his undertaking. As to Alfonso II., certain documents establish, as we shall say in its proper place, what share belongs to him in this work of progress. At all events, the Medici alone have left us their porcelain ; the pieces are there appreciable for all, it is therefore but just to assign to them the honour of having vulgarised a secret sought after by all Europe, and which was not to pass into the industrial domain until a century later, thanks to the perseverance of French genius. In his travels in Italy, M. Eugene Piot has found the trace of experimental works directed at Pesaro by Guidobaldo della Rovere, with the assistance of the Maestri Jacopo da Sant' Agnolo, Oratio detto Ciarfuglia, and Camillo del Pelliciaio ; a Maestro Francesco Guagni d'TJrbino will also have preserved the great secret at the court of Emanuel Philibert, of Savoy; but these attempts ought rather to register themselves in the history of ideas than of facts. Asciano. — Here is a ceramic centre no doubt of more importance than may be supposed, and upon which Brongniart gives the following information : " Luca found in this town a pottery with good kilns, which enabled him to furnish on the spot a large altar-piece for the church of the Minori Conventuali, representing the Virgin with the angel Raphael, the young Tobias, and St. Anthony, all painted in most brilliant colours, the size of life." An establishment where such works could be executed should have left something more than a vague remembrance. Monte Lupo. — Situated near Florence this bottega is less known for its majolica than by its brown varnished ware, not that it ought to be considered as only producing common objects for local consumption; Monte Lupo, like Avignon, furnishes a proof that with the most simple elements of art one can yet satisfy people of taste. The clay used is of a bright red, generally glazed with manganese brown, and ornamented with elegant raised work. In some pieces the relief ornaments have been overlaid (engobes) with a white or yellow clay on the brown ground. Elaborate forms, rosettes or acanthus, with mould- ings carefully outlined, relieve most of the large pieces. Some- times gilding has been judiciously laid upon borders on central bosses. 256 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. We have met with pieces in which light arabesques, intended to imitate gilding, were traced in yellow enamel upon the glaze. To Monte Lupo are also attributed moulded vases, glazed with brown, and marbled with melted spots of white enamel. The bottega, besides, does not appear to have been a stranger to the style which nourished around here ; in the museum at Sevres is a cup on a stem, well worked, of a fine white enamel and polychrome decoration ; a twisted cord round the edge. Upon a yellow ground are ill-painted figures, surrounded with scrolls and foliage of poor taste and hard tints ; under the edge is " Dipinta Giovinale Tereni da Montelupo." This piece of the decline announces already the transformation of majolicas ; it is to be supposed, therefore, that Tereni had not been the importer of the style to this important centre. Among the brown glazed pieces M.8. is one marked thus (M. 8). San Miniatello.— This little locality of the bailiwick of Florence, also fabricated towards the end of the sixteenth century. This is the inscription on a piece which induces the belief : Si fece. questo PIATELLO : IN. BOTTEGHA. DI. BECHONE. DEL. NANO. IN. SA. MlNIATELO. CHUESTO. F. FATO. AGHOSTINO. DI Mo. A. DI CINQE. DI. GUGNIO. 1581. " This little plate has been made in the shop of Becone del Nano at San Miniatello, and it has been made by Agostino di Mo, the fifth day of June, 1581." Unknown Manufactory.— It would appear strange to mention here a particular centre not determinable, of which the products might be classed with more or less probability under one of the preceding rubrics. But we prefer sowing doubt to error; the one impels to research, the other leads to discouragement. We not unfrequently meet with majolicas well made, white, of a good style and ancient date, of which the decoration is simply tinted in pale blue and yellow. This parsimony in the enamels certainly does not proceed from economy of workmanship, for the most interesting piece we have been permitted to observe formed part of a service destined for the grand-duke of Tuscany. " Which ? " they will say ; that is what we are going to try to establish. The object is a portable spezeria, or spice box, of rectangular form, having behind a vertical partition cut out at the top and furnished with a handle in the form of an S. This division is attached to two others lateral, and descending in an ogee to the front edge. On the top of the back one is soldered a shell inscribed IZVCHEK, sugar ; below are two places surrounded by a moulding in relief, made to keep in two cruets ; the words OLIO, ACETO, telling RENAISSANCE.— ITALY.— MAJOLICA. 257 the contents of these recipients; in the middle of the front edge, is another shell similar to that above, and meant to hold salt, SALES ; then lastly, the two side divisions are prolonged by two spiral curves inclosing the words PEPE, and I. SPEZIO, all written in the letters generally used in the beginning of the sixteenth century ; the smallness of the places reserved for sugar and the other condiments shows also a period when these exotic products appeared parsimoniously, even at the table of princes. At the back of the box, and on each side of the handle, is the grand- ducal crown traversed by two branches of laurel (M. 9) ; now one prince only could unite these emblems — Cosmo de' Medici, son of Giovanni, warrior like his father, conqueror of the enemies within and without, and created grand-duke by the Pope in 1 569. Doubtless this date would appear very advanced by the side of the characteristics given above ; but it becomes incontestable from the evidence of history ; that is why we would not assimilate the piece either to the works of Chaffagiolo, more complicated and of more perfect art, or to those of Pisa, generalby confounded with the works of Urbino. This spice box is certainly come from a backward, unaffected centre, which followed at its ease the traditions of the century, and took its leisure for progress. He whom a crown and sceptre came unexpectedly to seek in his retreat, did not disdain to cause his ensigns to be placed upon the modest pottery of this workshop. B.—The Marches. Faenza. — Some writers consider this manufactory to be the most ancient in Italy; this is caused by their attributing to Faenza all the products of Chaffagiolo, and the greater part of the mezze-majoliche of hard tone and archaic design, which have since been restored to Deruta and other primitive furnaces. To demonstrate the antiquity of the Faentine workshop, they cite a pavement of tiles in the chapel of St. Sebastian in the church of St. Petronio, at Bologna; where, with the date of 1487, we read : — " Bologniesus, Betini fecit ; — Xabeta. Be. faventicie; — Come lia Be. faventicie ; — Ze lita Be. faventicie ; — Petrus A noire de Fave . s 258 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. It is evident that these names are those of a family of Bolognese donors, who, in accordance with a custom frequent in ancient times, have held to the honour of each signing the part of the pavement, the object of their offering. There is therefore no inference to be drawn from these inscriptions to establish the origin of the tiles, nor can one think of making of the members of the Betini family, a colony of majolica artists. There is no doubt that at the epoch when the Delia Rovere and the Medici radiated from their centres the light of the Renaissance, we must seek the first interesting products of Faenza. The study of ancient works shows that true art was long in developing itself there, while the science of ornament arrived rapidly at perfection. In his ' Piazza Universale,' Garzoni writes in 1485 : " The majolicas of Faenza are white and polished, and one can no more confound them with those of Treviso, than one would take puff' balls for truffles." Vincenzo Lazari repeats this description in almost identical terms, and declares one can recognise the Faentine majolicas by the softness of the tints, the correctness of the drawing, and the whiteness of the enamel at the back. It is evident that the two writers do not speak of the same thing, although each is right in his particular line. All the pieces of Faenza are, in fact, " polished ; " that is, covered over with a rich glazed marzacotto ; many, among the older pieces, are enamelled in " berettino," pale blue or starch colour ; in the others, the white is pretty pure : often, a broad border of blue ground has, in a paler camaieu or in various enamels, full-faced masks, with pear- shaped heads, terminated below by a beard widened into acanthus leaves, which expand and mix themselves with elegant scrolls. This style of decoration is very characteristic; we find it at the musee de Cluny upon a very old piece, the subject, in camaieu, representing the death of Holo- fernes (976). There, upon a coarse blackish-blue ground, are charming scrolls in bright colours and of delicate drawing ; a medallion of St. Peter and a shield complete the ornamentation of the border; upon the cavetto of the piece are rich black arabesques on a yellow ground. The first remark that suggests itself upon this piece, is the timidity of the drawing of the figures, the painful and infantine composition of the modelling as contrasted with the scientific treatment of the accessories. It is the same with the cup (No. 2082), also in Cluny ; in the centre, upon a pure white ground, is a horseman outlined and lightly shaded with blue; armed with a lance, he pierces a heart, coloured with manganese, which lies on the ground before him ; the horse is heavily RENAISSANCE.— ITAL Y.— MAJOLICA. 259 drawn ; the forms of the figures which are round, and without expression, are still more lost by the softness and indecision of the modelling. We find the same characters in some valuable pieces in the Rothschild collection, where the persons often wear the contemporary costume though representing scenes of mythology or sacred history. A deep plate having for the subject Decollation of a saint, and signed underneath , FATOIN- •FAVENZA , has the same faults opposed to the same perfection 1523- of ornament. One may therefore ask, where Vincenzo Lazari has discovered this correctness of drawing, which he makes one of the cha- racteristics of Faentine majolica. Doubtless, he has found it in the pieces which, from 1525, have issued from the Oasa Pirota, a workshop still indeterminate, but of which all the products are worthy of estima- tion. Baron Gustave de Rothschild possesses one of its oldest and finest specimens ; a numerous composition, well painted and carefully studied, showing the officers of Joseph stopping the caravan of the sons of Jacob, and discovering in Benjamin's sack the cup he is accused of having stolen. The inscription on the back runs thus : 1525 FATE. IN. FAE. IOXEF. ICA. PIROTE. Two years separate then this piece from the Decollation mentioned above, and this short interval of time suffices for a complete transformation ; there in the products of this period where decorators made timid attempts at approaching historic com- positions, an artist has risen up and majolica has revealed itself in full perfection. An undated dish, in the museum of Bologna, representing the coronation of Charles V., was probably made in 1530, when the celebrated rival of Francis I. received the investiture of the kingdom of Lombardy. On the reverse is written : FATO IN FAENZA IN CAXA PIROTA. About the same time, a Faentine artist arrived at celebrity, Baldasara Manara, of whom the Marquis d'Azeglio possesses a p]ate representing Pyramus and Thisbe. Is it really at Faenza that he acquired his reputation ? It is doubtful, as another work of his appears to have been made at Ferrara; it bears the effigy and name of Batistone Castellino, standard bearer of Ercole II., and herewith we read : "Mille cinque cento trentasei a dj tri de luje Baldasara Manara faentin faciebat!' Now this formula, the Faentine, or of Faenza, is far from having the same meaning as "in Faenza." The last indicates the actual seat of residence ; the other the origin, the place whence it came. The example of a similar ambiguity is immediately under our eyes : s 2 26o HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. on the reverse of a piece where the artist has painted the oft repeated fable of Apollo and Marsyas is written, Apollo e Marsio fatto in la botega diMaestro VergilliodaFaenza,\5oQ, Nicolo daFano. Has the piece been painted at Fano by a potter of Faenza, or at Faenza by an artist of Fano ? The latter supposition is generally received, and is rendered probable by a document found in the archives of the house of Este ; in 1556, Alfonso, duke of Ferrara, was buying majoliche of one Nicolo, of Faenza, who is certainly the artist who came originally from Fano ; it is to him we attribute the magnificent cup belonging to M. Basilewski, where under an architectural portico is the figure of Charles V. dressed in the ancient style, and wearing the radiated crown. The curious mono- gram (M. 10) gives us the name of the artist ; the legend, "Charles V., emperor 1521," would prove that Nicolo rendered illustrious the bottega of Faenza, even before the M. 10. establishment of the Casa Pirota, if this last had produced nothing before 1525 ; the dish of the museum of Bologna, cited by V. Lazari, also representing the coronation of Charles V., would lead to the idea that the Pirota establishment and the painter Nicolo worked in opposition. A German museum is said to possess a piece with the name of Giovano Brama, of Palermo, with the date 1546, and the mention " in Faenza " with a cypher, which only appears upon some pieces classed as of unknown locality. This cypher, without any relation to the place of production, and the signa- M. 11. ture of the painter, inspires us with no confidence (M. 11). In 1559, Maestro Pietro Paolo Stanghi received from the ducal chamber of Ferrara a sum in part payment of a service executed for the prince. Perhaps to this master may be attributed the plate of the 1561 Louvre, dated, IN FAEN. The whole surface is covered with a battle CA of ancient cavalry, and if the colours are less bright than that of the Urbino, still there is a readiness of drawing and boldness in the attitudes of the men and horses which show a masterly and practised hand. It is also from an artist of Faenza of the name of Baldassar (is it again Manara?) that Duke Alfonso of Ferrara ordered, in 1574, vases for his pharmacy of Isola, and the cardinals sent in embassy carried Faentine majolica to Rome and France. Henry III. was so taken with this pottery that, in November 1580, he ordered a large quantity, desiring " that it might be sent to him with the quickness of enchantment." RENAISSANCE.— ITAL V. — MAJOLICA. The great fashion for this ware easily explains itself by the pure and delicate style of its " istoriato " pieces, and the elegance and brightness of those with arabesque decorations. Yet we must reject the attributing to Faenza the plaque formerly belonging to M. Pourtales, and which reproduces with incredible delicacy of outline and perfect truthfulness of style, the Resurrection of Christ, after a cartoon of Albert Durer. The flesh lightly tinted, certain pink tones in the draperies, and a bright red in rare touches, .carry back our thoughts more naturally to the prized works of Tuscany, and particularly to those of Siena. This plaque is marked with the flourished (paraphe) (M. 12) cypher. We M. 12. M. 13. again find the letters without the paraphe" (M. 13) under a " confettiera " ornamented with a landscape in the centre, and figures playing the violin round the edge ; English writers describe this piece as of peculiar delicacy and beauty of style. At the period when these specimens were made, the art of drawing was still in its infancy at Faenza. The progression of ornamental majolica may be thus laid down. The first works are very simple, consisting of interfacings, successive zones of varied colours relieved by zigzag ornaments, scrolls, or bands of " sopra bianco," the last being designs of white enamel upon a pinkish ground; all these encircle or frame portraits of hasty execution or shields of difficult blazoning. The reverse of the piece is also very characteristic ; concentric lines alternately blue and yellow, whorls coarsely painted, scrolls, zigzags, and imbrications are more or less orna- mented. In the centre of these secondary ornaments, closely resembling those on the pieces of Chaffagiolo, are inscribed the marks of the various workshops. One of frequent occurrence consists of a crossed circle, with a M. 14. M. 15. M. 16. crescent or pellet in one of its segments, or with the crossed crescent only (M. 14, M. 15, and M. 16) ; almost all the pieces in " berettino," on plain blue enamel, with the border formed by masks united by acanthus scrolls, on a bright blue ground, are thus marked. Among the most remarkable 262 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. of these is a cup ornamented interiorly with an historic subject, and a copy of the Parnassus of Raffaelle, both in the cabinet of M. Gustave de Rothschild. We have also found the crescent accompanied by a dot in conjunction with the letter Y, on a piece of ^ 7 i Chaffagiolo (M. 17), easily to be recognised by the character M 17, of its enamels and the mottoes " Semper " and " Glovis." The ornamental style in which this fabric excels is in the composition of dishes on low stems (coupes) of thin paste, and divided by gadroons or spiral flutings, rivalling in elegance the works of the goldsmith ; the com- partments of various grounds, bright blue, pure yellow, green or black, are relieved with arabesques reserved, or painted in brilliant colours. Baron Dejean possesses a specimen black with the white arabesques reserved ; this exceptional piece, which probably was ordered on some occasion of mourning, has succeeded remarkably in its execution. Yases and cups in quarters " a quartiere " in relief are rarely signed ; but there is no difficulty in recognising their origin. We have found /~Qt v)-*- v-\f these marks (M. 18) upon a piece belonging to a hj good period. If the success of these dishes with M. 18. harlequin compartments had led most of the Italian manufacturers to seize upon this style of decoration, the Faentine bottega always shows its superiority by its delicacy of drawing, originality of conception, and the vigour and purity of its enamels. Castel Durante is the centre which most aspired to compete with the Marches, and if the form of the piece and the general effect recalls at first sight the original, a closer observation of the details detects the counterfeit ; the ornaments are more feeble and less correct; the prevailing colour of the grounds is a rusty yellow, and a cold washy green, which one can never mistake for the strong-bodied enamels of Faenza. All the wares issued from this city do not participate in the richness of the pieces with harlequin compartments ; documents, supported by I #1? 1sT numerous examples, establish that, as at Ferrara, the piece VjfY^V was often merely relieved by a fine white enamel. In 1567, the ship 'PenseV took to Rouen three chests filled \TT wit k " va i ss elle blanche et peinte de Faenza." Of this M* 2() W ^ e ware > Sevres possesses a baptismal cup marked, also J 'J*. an escutcheoned centre-piece (surtout de table), with the" *X?fc same cypher, accompanied by the customary crescent. M. 21. yet very much hesitation has been shown in assigning these marks (M. 19 and M. 20), some giving them to Ferrara or Urbino, others to Pesaro, or with this variation (M. 21) even to Germany. RENAISSANCE.— ITAL Y.—MA JO LI C A. 263 Now all these doubts have disappeared ; we have found a charming gadrooned cup, of blue ground with white arabesques, charged in the centre with a shield, bearing underneath this legend (M. 22). The contracted cypher which it surmounts, explains all the others ; the A and F conjoined are the marks of the locality, the other the signature of the artist. To Faenza have been generally assigned marks traced outside certain pharmacy jars, such as an archiepiscopal cross, a christme " devie" evidently signs adopted by conventual establishments. It may be interesting to study these signs, and specialise the regions to which they belong ; it would lead to conjectures as to their origin, but one cannot see in them, as we shall say, referring to Gubbio, either the mark of a fabric, or the signature of a majolica artist. They will be found classed in alphabetical order, in a general table given further on. Forli. — Here again is one of these workshops little known, of which the reputation has been absorbed by neighbouring centres ; the great manufacture of Faenza had, no doubt, imposed its processes and its style upon Forli, and unsigned pieces issued from this locality are now classed as Faentine. Yet Forli early possessed the secret of the ceramic manufacture. Passari cites an act of 1396, to which becomes a party a certain " Pedrinus Joannis (a bocalibus) of the Potteries, formerly at Forli, now settled at Pesaro." Now this J ohn of the potteries would not have quitted a country where his talents gained him a maintenance, if he had not left behind him a sufficient number of potters to satisfy the requirements of commerce. Be this as it may, a hundred and forty years elapse before we see Forlivian art manifest itself by an important specimen. There is in the Louvre (No. 92) a plate enamelled in " beret- tino," forming part of the Campana collection, representing the Massacre of the Innocents, after Baccio Bandinelli ; the bold strokes, the broad, firm touch, amounting almost to roughness, announce a well-practised hand in the rendering of the great masters ; hence, notwithstanding its greenish hue, resulting from the superposition of yellow and lustre tints over the blue, this work has a severe and grand aspect which captivates the' eye. On the reverse, with the date and mention, " Fata in Forli," is this singular inscription : " Let thy wearied heart, so difficult to move, consider this ; see and comprehend, what a violent and heavy blow love and cruelty have inflicted upon me." So this scene of carnage is the pretext for a madrigal, a " patito," a rejected lover, making by these z6 4 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. means an appeal to soften his lady. We shall soon see other singularities of this extraordinary epoch ; but what women must those have been whose sublime intelligence could be stirred by the vigorous conceptions of the masters of the Renaissance ! Another piece of the Louvre, less energetic in execution, also bears mention — FATA IN FORLI ; it is a cup upon which is represented Crassus, prisoner of the Parthians ; seated bound upon a bench, the barbarians are pouring molten gold down his throat, pronouncing the cruel words which the painter has inscribed in the subject : Aurum sitis ; aurum bibe : " Thou thirstest for gold, drink gold." This piece is of remarkable execution, the drawing is not wanting in breadth, and the aspect of the tints is harmonious. The museum of South Kensington possesses a very deserving work, signed, / la botega d. m° Iero da Forli. Maestro Ieronimo keeping a bottega has certainly produced others than this work, and they are yet to find ; some preserved in England are already described by Mr. Chaffers. Mr. Marryat mentions a plate, belonging to Mr. A. Barker, on which is the inscription, Leochadius Solobrinus picsit Forolivium ece MDL V. A bottega where so nianjr names occur, must have been of great im- portance ; and if it were permitted to hazard a conjecture upon the proclivities of a workshop whose productions are so rare, we should say that Forli had a partiality for the style " porcellana." Under the plate of Crassus is a frieze of blue subjects finely composed ; the reverse of many other pieces also bear scrolls inspired by Oriental pottery. But these tendencies are also common at Siena, Ravenna, and Fabriano, and we only speak of them here to warn the inquirer against dangerous special- isations ; better to remain undisturbed upon the origin of a piece than to attribute to it a false one. Rimini.— The potteries of this city, cited by Piccolpasso in 1548, and which had then a notoriety, are now only known by a small number of pieces, all dated 1535. One in the musee de Cluny (No. 2098), inscribed de Adam ed Eva in Bimino, manifests an easy pencil and experienced composition ; the design not very correct is relieved by hatches, of a reddish yellow in the shades, and white in the lights ; the landscape is more elaborate than in other contemporary products ; in a word, though the aspect is a little pale, it is nevertheless harmonious. But what specialises the products of this manufactory is a marvellous glaze, giving to the colouring quite an exceptional freshness. These qualities are again to be found in the Fall of Phaeton, in the British Museum, " 1535 in At imin," said, in certain pieces of the Louvre without indication of origin, RENAISSANCE.— ITAL Y.— MAJOLICA. 265 but which Mr. Alfred Darcel has been able, by ingenious comparisons, to determine most clearly. The cup, No. 96, offers the peculiarity of an initial and an emblematic sign added to the argument of the subject: next to the name Noe is a Z, and a twisted and branched stalk, maybe a branch of vine deprived of its leaves. Is it here a rebus ? Did the artist either bear the name of Zampillo, indicated by the buds or shoots of the vine, or that of Zuccaia applied to a species of vine ? It is also to Rimini that is restored the cup No. 105, bearing at the back Guido Selvaggio. This inscription was long taken to be the signature of Guido Selvaggio or di Savino, an artist, who, according to Piccolpasso, will have, in 1548, carried the art to. Antwerp. In ex- amining the subject, and comparing it with the legend, it is impossible not to recognise in it the subject of the painting. The youth repre- sented is Guidone il Salvaggio in the Isola delle Donne ; the pretended signature is merely a reference to the Orlando Furioso. Ravenna. — In Mr. Chaffers' interesting work upon the marks and monograms of the different potteries, he attributes, under reservation, to Ravenna, a majolica bearing the chronogram 1552 and the letters R. V. A., which might be taken as a contraction of the name of the city. Now, one is no longer reduced to conjectures as to whether the country of the engraver, Marc Antonio, has had its majolica : a plate belonging to Baron Charles Davillier solves the question. The name " Ravenna" is written underneath between two flourishes. The subject, in blue camaieu, is Amphion borne upon the waves by three dolphins, which he charms by the sound of his lyre. This composition appears to be borrowed from some master of the fifteenth century ; it is executed upon a bluish grey enamel, and surrounded by a porcellana border of very delicate pattern. Ornaments in the same style are also on the exterior circumference. It is certainly one of the most interesting ceramic works discovered by our learned colleagues. Bologna. — This town has also had its potteries, we cannot doubt it, since Piccolpasso indicates what kind of earth the potters worked there, yet up to the present time no document reveals either the name of the artists attached to the establishment or the style of their works ; they are all lost in the great unknown which each names according to his fancy. Bologna was,besides, the centre of an important trade in majolicas. M. Giuseppe Campori announces that the Urbino vases found there a ready sale ; from the taste of the buyers we may infer in what style the artists of the place worked. 266 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Imola. — According to certain writers, this place would have pro- duced, not majolica, but fine terra cottas in relief, like those of Bernard Palissy. We have no certainty upon this point. One sometimes meets with Italian specimens quite foreign to the customary processes of the known centres ; pieces in relief more or less important, enamelled or engraved stonewares, but they are such exceptions, it would appear venturesome to attach these rare specimens to any one of the celebrated manufactories. Let us wait patiently the discoveries that time and labour prepare for us, and let us hazard nothing at a moment when the taste for serious inquiry will no doubt throw light upon many delicate questions. C. — Duchy of Urbino. Pesaeo. — If we are to believe the learned author of the history of the Pesarese faiences, this manufacture would be the most ancient in Italy. But Passeri wrote probably about 1750 (his first edition is dated Venice, 1752), and then the traditions of the art were completely lost, and the notions of a past of two centuries were darkened. Hence, interesting as it is, the treatise of the eminent archaeologist swarms with erroneous indications, and leaves chasms much to be regretted. After having spoken of this Pedrinus Joannes of the potteries, who came in 1396 from Forli to Pesaro, he gathers from the archives a decree of the 1st of April, 1486, issued by Giovanni Sforza, of Aragon, count of Pesaro, prohibiting the introduction of foreign potteries into the town and the district. He points out, besides, without too clearly defining the character, two potteries of metallic lustre, which divided between them the first epochs of the art ; towards 1450, the earth covered only on one side with a white engobe, received designs traced in manganese, and of which certain parts were filled with this yellow colour which the firing rendered glittering like gold ; this is the mezza-majolica. Later, the same colours were applied upon a tin enamel, and this is what constitutes "fine" majolica. We do not know if this technical distinction exists in the Pesarese wares of the fifteenth century ; we attach to it, besides, very little im- portance since it has been shown that Pesaro has no pretension to the invention of the stanniferous enamel. It is besides difficult to determine whether a piece is painted upon a coating of well-purified earth or upon an imperfect enamel. What we remark in the primitive works of the Metaurian province is a direct inspiration of Persian art ; it Plate VII. — ITALY. Renaissance — Majolica of Urbino — Hunting Bottle with Historic Subjects. Collection Bakonne Salomon de Rothschild. PL.vn. F s LienarcJmf , RENAISSA NCE.—ITA L Y.—MA JOLICA . 267 manifests itself in the stiffness of certain figures riding on horse- back, surrounded by dogs and animals, similar to those traced upon the potteries of Iran. These subjects have not only the mother-of-pearl metallic lustre, cobalt blue is mixed with it, copper green, and some- times they are entirely executed with these colours, a practice which Passeri carries back to 1300. It is therefore evident that at Pesaro, as elsewhere, the polychrome essays have preceded the application of lustred colours, and that we must give up seeing in the importation of Hispano-Moresque wares from Majorca, the first idea of Italian pottery, and the origin of its name. Passeri himself acknowledges it when, finding the trace of important sums borrowed in 1462 by Ventura di Siena and Matteo da Cagli, for the enlargement of a manufactory, and for the purchase of sand from Perugia, he has inferred that these traders are the importers of the ceramic art into the duchy in the fifteenth century, and that they brought it from Tuscany. An invention to which Pesaro might lay claim, is that of pieces ornamented with portraits and mottoes. This is a trait of manners too curious to be passed over in silence. In the elegant and half pagan society which contributed to the great movement of the Renaissance, all developments manifested themselves freely, and the passions were unrepressed if clothed in pompous attire. One knows what crimes public rivalries caused to be committed, what scandals were produced by the outbreaks of the great. Garzoni deplores these errors, and, in his 'Piazza Universale,' sends forth this reproach: "See how much the art of gallantry shows itself, and spreads in infinite ways. Slaves to its enchantments, simple men are no longer warned against the cunning and malignity it devises to lead them astray. To what end do you think they adopt the names of Ginevra, Virginia, Isabella, Olympia, Helena, Diana, Lydia, Vittoria, Laura, Domitia, Lavinia, Lucretia, Stella, or Flora, if not to captivate by their grace, young hearts which madly inscribe, in letters of gold, these harmonious names, and please themselves by singing their praises in sonnets and madrigals ? " Of these madrigals the enamelled wares have preserved to us the trace ; female busts with a name, and the simple epithet " bella," show what were the presents that the innamorato offered to his " donna amata." Sometimes a discreet suitor kept the name in his heart, and near a portrait, more or less to be recognised, inscribed an allegoric or sententious legend : Sola speranza el mio cor tiene ; " Hope alone sustains my heart." Chi semina virtu fama recoglia; "Who sows virtue 268 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. reaps fame." S'el dono e picolo e di pocco valore, basta la fede, el povero se vede ; " If the gift is small and of no value, the intention suffices and its poverty disappears." These effigies, a little stiff in their figure, and dry in execution, have yet a masterly appearance ; long veils and the dress in broad folds, recall the magnificent medals of the Florentine and Pisan artists ; foliated scrolls cover the ground ; the borders, divided into compartments by broad bands, are filled with scroll-work or palmettes after the antique, which add to the severity of the whole. The plates with lustred or polychrome colours must have been made for a century at least ; we find at Baron Gustave de Rothschild's the portrait of Louis of Armagnac, duke de Nemours (1477-1503) ; others have princes of the house of Sforza, and among those where figures are replaced by escutcheons, we see a piece with the ancient shield of France, surrounded with the blazons of Dauphiny and Burgundy, and others with the arms of Leo X. and Clement VII. Some vases of elaborate form are decorated after the same manner as the primitive productions of Pesaro ; these are particularly elegant ewers, on which we sometimes meet with the " donne amate " of harmonious' names so dreaded by Garzoni. A fine vase (buire), in the collection of Baron Gustave de Rothschild, even has upon its sides the portraits of two betrothed. Most of the old works are destitute of marks ; one lustred specimen alone has de Pisauro ed Chamillo ; " it represents, in gold and red, a man on horseback. Fig. 79. The particular characteristic of the mother-of-pearl majolica of Pesaro is a pale, limpid yellow, associated with a pure blue : under the effects of luminous rays these colours become animated and shoot out in pencils of red, golden yellow, green and blue, of remarkable intensity (Fig. 79) ; this is not so with the works of Deruta, of which we shall speak later. The old polychrome pieces are distin- guished by a vigorous drawing, and a C/ > r -~ " r ILi i Tf^^=""^s^ JZ more harmonious colouring than those of VASE OF PESAEO WITH METALLIC Deruta LUSTRE (MUSEUM OF THE LOUVKE). So much for products anterior to the first years of the sixteenth century. From the time that Guidobaldo II. became duke of Urbino (1538), the taste for " istoriato " pieces, as Passeri REN A ISSA NCE.—ITA L Y.—MA JO LI C A . 269 calls them, spread itself everywhere, and Pesaro entered upon figure compositions after the great masters, introducing, according to the fashion of the time, brilliant heightenings in gold and ruby red. From 1541, a plate representing Horatius Codes defending alone the bridge against all Tuscany, is signed Fatto in Pesaro ; another with the same mention, and the date 1543, has In bottega di Maestro Gironimo Vasaro I. P. A fine piece decorated with scenes from the history of Judith, is inscribed Fatto in Pesaro in bottega de Maestro Gironino, 1542 ; other plates of the same date representing Julius Ceesar and Cicero bear, In la botega di Maestro Girolamo da le Gabice, in Pesaro. This Girolamo de' Gabice, a chateau of Pesaro, is pointed out to us by Passeri as the same as Gironimo. He was father of Jacomo, of whom more further on, who in his turn had two sons, Girolamo and Lodovico. In 1545, we have Samson killing the Philistines; in 1566, Mutius Scsevola, with the simple indication, de Pisauro on a plate brilliantly heightened, representing Brennus throw- ing his sword into the balance, a subject known as Vce victis ! Girolamo or Gironimo was not the only potter having a bottega at Pesaro towards the middle of the sixteenth century ; there is question of another upon a piece with trophies and musical instruments, inscribed : Fatto nella bottega di Maestro Baldasar Vasaro da Pesaro per la mano di Terenzio figl. di maestro Matteo boccalaro. Terenzio fece 1550. Some years later, 1st June, 1567, Guidobaldo II. granted an edict in favour of J acomo Lanfranco, a Pesarese artist, who had discovered the secret of laying real gold on earthenware. Mr. Chaffers mentions as the work of this master a plate in the Montferrand collection, represent- ing the Martyrdom of St. Maurice, and ornamented with the arms of Cardinal Giustiniani ; this work is heightened with gold. We have seen no " istoriato " piece gilded prior to the pieces of Castelli of the eighteenth century, but there exists in the Louvre a baptismal shell, ribbed and supported by a bird's foot capriciously rolled at its extremity, and formed towards its spout into a chimerical head; dipped in an enamel of an intense blue, it is relieved with broad touches of brilliant gold. Another piece in the same museum, of a paler enamel, is an elegant cruet with trilobed opening, and handle formed of twisted snakes ; in this the gold is arranged in zones of arabesques, and describes upon the body of the vase a rich escutcheon, being, we believe, that of the Melgi family, surmounted by a helmet painted in white enamel. Some other pieces of analogous colour and decoration 2 have the Papal and Farnese arms, surmounted by broad borders and Vitruvian scrolls ; lastly, the collection of Baron Gustave de Rothschild contains a fine 270 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. bottle with its stand {'plateau), where arabesques in gold and white are drawn round a complicated escutcheon, of which the quarterings indicate the union of Italo-French families. These, to our notions, are the faiences for which Jacomo Lanfranco obtained his privilege : the shell of the Louvre would represent the oldest epoch ; the other vases less solid, of choicer decoration, would range step by step from 1567 to the last year of the century. The vase of Terenzio, of which mention has been made above, deserves some attention ; it is again one of those inventions of gallantry against which rose the ' Piazza Universale.' Its form, one of frequent occurrence, is this : in the centre is a deep cavity, almost hemispherical, and flattened only sufficiently to stand firm, round it is a very broad rim, highly decorated with instruments, written music, verses in- scribed upon open books, and appearing to invite to the pleasures of the dance ; these cups were called " ballate," and often offered at balls by young people to their partners, who, after having eaten the sugar-plums and preserved fruits which filled the cavity, found at the bottom an amorino, a pierced heart or such like emblem, which the offering alone led her to anticipate ; hence the name of coppe amatorie given to these pieces. Whatever Garzoni may say, the custom was useful, inasmuch as it has been the means of preserving to us a number of works of first-class merit. Castel Dukante. — Here is a city which has supplied potters and painters to the greater part of the workshops of Italy, which has sent ceramic colonies to Flanders and Corfu, and yet we are scarcely acquainted with its works except those of its decline. This is easily explained, for contemporaries did not trouble themselves about manu- factories, the protector alone personified the art. They said " the wares of Urbino," because such was the name of the duchy, and it was the duke of Urbino who inspired alike the vases made at Castel Durante, Gubbio, or Pesaro, as much as at Urbino itself. From the year 1361, we find mention in the Durantine archives of a certain Giovanni dei Bistugi, John of the biscuits ; now the earth is fired twice when a first fire is necessary to render it fit to receive the enamel coating; Giovanni therefore made faience, and one may infer that a certain Maestro Gentile, who was supplying the ducal court with table ware in 1363, was also a maker of faience. Signor G. Raffaelli,in a curious memoir upon the Durantine workshop, enumerates a certain number of artists, whose wares supplied the local consumption up to 1508. Where are these works ? we no doubt see with- RENAISSANCE.— ITAL Y.— MAJOLICA. 271 out being able to identify them. In 1508 appeared a bowl with this inscription : Adil2 de Seteb. facta fu i Castel Durat Zoua Maria Vro, "The 12th of September was made at Castel-Durante, Giovana Maria TJrbino." It is Urbino that is to be read in the last abbreviation ? We would not affirm it ; but it appears impossible not to see a female name in the preceding signature, and we are surprised, the two terminations being feminine, it should have been read Giovanni Maria. The piece, intended for Pope Julius II., whose arms it bears, is one of the most re- markable ; let us not refuse to a woman the honour of having made it. The style of decoration which also characterises the first ornamental compositions of the duchy of Urbino, is that which is called " groteschi," or rather " candellieri," according to the expression of Piccolpasso ; these are large and symmetric scrolls with capricious convolutions termina- ting in the bodies of sirens, winged monsters, sea-horses, or masks of ancient form, quite a different thing from the grotesques on white ground, which will appear later at Urbino and elsewhere, and which seem to have originated at Ferrara. We already find " candillieri " grotesques at Castel Durante upon pharmacy vases dating from the 11th October, 1519, and made nella bottega di Sebastiano di Marforio; dating from this period, works of the same class succeed each other uninterruptedly to the seventeenth century, with the modifications consequent on the state of the arts. The general character of the Castel Durante majolica is a good fabri- cation and freedom of painting announcing a practised execution ; the colours are highly glazed, perhaps a little pale, but harmonious and broadly laid on. The arabesques are at first in greenish gray camaiieu upon a blue ground, then in compartments of various colours. Towards the second half of the sixteenth century, the grotesques and trophies assume a lustred orange tint, crude and disagreeable to the eye ; the interest in the art is lost in the excess of execution. With regard to subjects, the same practised skilfulness may again be made a reproach to them ; but, we repeat, we scarcely know any but commercial pieces, the produce of the trade ; the beginnings, always more cramped, since they emanate from the teachers, still escape us. Yet names worthy of being preserved appear upon certain pieces, such as that of Sebastiano di Marforio, whose fine pharmacy vases we have already mentioned. In 1525 the cups of the Louvre (Nos. 236, 237) show us Apollo and Marsyas (Fig. 80), the carrying away of Ganymede, treated by a practised hand : the Bacchanal of 1530 (No. 238) is also very remarkable. 272 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. About 1550, the Cavaliere Piccolpasso, head of an important bottega, gave to his contemporaries all the secrets of his art, contained in a substantial treatise. The types drawn by him show a man of skill, but more preoccupied with the ornamentation than with the painting of the " istoriato." Thanks to this treatise, we have the current names given in the manufactories to the different kinds delivered over in commerce, and we are able to find kinds long unknown. In 1562, the 5th of June, Maestro Simone signs a table service (stoviglia) with escutcheons, of which eight pieces are preserved at Fermo. Fig. 80. CUP OF CASTEL DURANTE, 1525. APOLLO AND MARSYAS (MUSEUM OP THE LOUVRE). We only allude to Guido Durantino, who has illustrated himself, with all his family, at Urbino, and Guido di Savino, whose works may some day be found at Antwerp, but whose name has nothing to do with the plate of the Louvre, signed Guido Selvaggio. Giovanni, Tesio, and Lucio Gatti, expatriated to Corfu about 1530, have not left behind them any certain work; lastly, Francesco del Vasaro, established in 1545 at Venice, must have executed there the greater part of his works. Let us stop here and take up further the history of Durantine faience at the time when Pope Urban VIII. desired, not only to restore majolica, but render illustrious his native city thenceforth called Urbania. Uebino. — The importance of this Italian city need not be demon- strated ; its name tells all. One can understand with what eagerness artists ambitious of glory and fortune flocked to this centre, the country of Kaffaelle, and the residence of an enlightened prince ready to encourage talent in every form. We will not repeat what we have REN A ISSANCE.—ITAL Y.—MA JOLICA. 273 already said upon the general sense attributed by old authors to the name of Urbino, we will content ourselves with repeating the opinion of Passeri, who places the seat of the workshops not in the city itself, but at Fermignano, a chateau situated on the banks of the Metauro, in a place favourable for collecting the argillaceous deposits of the river. In his notice upon the majolica paintings executed at Urbino, Pungileone cites, in 1477, a certain Giovanni di Donino Garducci, figulo (potter); in 1501, Francesco Garducci received an order for several vases for Cardinal Carpaccio. Ascanio del fu Guido is men- tioned in 1502; but it is not until about 1530 that we see a serious school with artists of the highest order manifest itself. Let us first speak of him who for eleven years was associated with the first-class works produced at Urbino. Francesco Xanto Avelli, originally of Rovigo, appears to have accomplished his whole artistic career in the service of Francesco Maria and Guidobaldo II. It is most extraordinary that Passeri scarcely knew him, and casually mentions him under the name of his country, Rovigo. Arrived at his full reputation at a time when the taste for metallic lustres was in high effervescence, Xanto sacrificed to fashion, and embellished (if the word is not an antithesis) most of his works with this resplendent dress, yet he was particularly inclined to purity of drawing and to grand compositions. He borrowed from Raffaelle, if not entire scenes, figures and groups which he applied most happily to the subjects he had to represent. His drawing has breadth, and, if sometimes wanting in correctness, he always preserves a great style — in a word, one sees the artist has imbued himself with healthy doctrines. His painting is luminous and brilliant ; he never falls into exaggerated modelling; and if his flesh, tinted generally with bistred ochre, have a relative coldness, it is relieved by the contrast of an intense black, and a bright green thrown into the grounds. With regard to his metallic heightenings, they are laid on in bold, free strokes, which distinguish them from the school of Gubbio. If Passeri has been pleased to exhibit the learning of the Pesaro painters, whose subjects are derived from historic sources and accom- panied by explanatory legends, there is a wide distance between them and Xanto. Himself a poet, he pompously comments upon passages in Virgil and Ovid, from whom he borrows the subjects of his compositions ; his pencil illustrates Ariosto and comtemporary writers. Nay more, passing events do not escape his notice ; in a group of two persons lamenting "over a woman, half clothed and wounded, he personifies the 274 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. misery of civil war, and writes underneath, Di tua cliscordia, Italia, il premio hor hai ! " Of thy dissensions, Italy, thou hast now the reward." On another, taking a group from the Massacre of the Innocents of Baccio Bandinelli, he makes it the representation of Florence weeping over her children killed by the plague ; he even dares to trace a satire against Rome for accepting the outrageous victory of the Constable Bourbon. Under a plate representing St. Mark he writes, Net anno de le tribu- lationi d' Italia adi 26 de luglio i Urbino. All the authentic works of this master are signed, and one may thus judge of his prodigious fecundity. In 1530, we find his initials only •f^f* F. X. A. R. Upon seven pieces we know, of 1531, two c ^q. a -o» have the same initials : one has this mark (M. 23) ; the *J> Vrb'rib others, Fracesco Xanto A. Rovigiese pi i Urbino — Fran. M. 23. Xant. Avello Rovigniese in Urbino — Fra. Xat. A. D. Rovigo. P. Urbino — Fra. Xato Avello Rovigiese i Urbino pise. Eight grand compositions of 1532 have similar inscriptions. In 1533, the Esacus of the Louvre takes up the signs F.X.A.R. i Urbino, while the flight of Camilla, and Ulysses asking back his com- panions, have inscriptions analogous to the above. wm4*^%t*f In 1534, three works are inscribed with four initials, TP F. X. A. R., with the mention in Urbino ; four others are M. 24. reduced to the letters F X, often arranged thus : (M. 24). The contingent of 1535 is rather interesting, and gives us a F. X. R. .accompanied by the letter N in lustre; the same letters upon an elegant ewer, painted with the Parnassus; two F. X. and Fra. X. R. The only piece known of 1536 is marked F X; the three of 1537 have F X R, Fra. Xatho da Rovigo, and Fra. Xanto Rovigiese. 1538, 1539, and 1544 give the most simple monogram. Cvf c0 V Some other works with signatures more or less complete / ; £V • jik e thig 25) are without date. ~Q Otl • Many others add to the luggage of Xanto, attributing M. 25. to hi m pieces of 1538, 1539, 1540, and 1541, upon which is an X only. We do not deny that some of these pieces may be by the painter of Rovigo, but we must reject others whose feeble drawing and heavy pencil evidently emanate from unskilled copyists. The X exists besides upon works prior to Xanto (see Fabriano) ; and we find it again at Urbino, on a majolica issued from the workshop of Maestro Guido di Castel Durante, who would be the rival of Xanto. This name brings us to cite other potters no less celebrated than Xanto; the Fontana. What we know of the family is this: Nicolo RENAISSANCE.— ITAL K— MAJOLICA. 275 Pellipario, majolica artist of Castel Durante, who died about 1547, had a son named Guido, who, before 1520, established himself at Urbino, to carry on his father's profession; called at first Guido Durantino, on account of his origin, he adopted the surname of Fontana, which he transmitted to his descendants, and which his son Grazio specially rendered illustrious. Why has not Guido been more spoken of ? Why are his works scarcely known ? It is because, far from imitating the poetic vein of Xanto, he has never indicated by a legend the subjects that he treated, and to which he never affixed his name. A dish, a true masterpiece, now passed from the cabinet of the Comtesse de Cambis into that of Baron Sellieres, has happily enabled us to recognise the drawing and touch of the master. This dish, representing the Muses and Pierides, after a composition of Pierino del Vaga, bears on the reverse : Fatto in Urbino in botega di M° Guido da Castel Durante. X. What one remarks in this work is a careful drawing, seeking to follow as nearly as possible the style of Raffaelle ; the features of his figures are delicate and well defined, the proportions elegant though a little short. His modelling of the flesh is entirely new. A large preparation in blue produces a ground which harmonises wonderfully with the tints of the flesh, gives them a remarkable delicacy and lightness, and allows of the introduction in the groups, of chiaroscuro, and an aerial perspective unknown to the other painters in enamelled earthenware. These characters will become the privilege of the Fontana School, and, as we shall see later, Orazio, by consummate experience, will arrive at firing his works to the point of perfect fluidity of the enamels, so that the work of the brush dis- appears, leaving a charming melting of colour bathed in an irreproachable glaze, rendering his productions unrivalled. Among the great pieces not signed by Guido, let us cite a plate representing Moses striking the rock, belonging to M. Beurdeley, the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, after the engraving of Marc Antonio, the Triumph of Galatea, etc. The works of Orazio Fontana, although mostly anonymous, are specialised by boldness and breadth of drawing, as well as by their admirable fusion and their brilliant glaze (Fig. 81). It is also to be remarked that the period of his great activity is after 1540, that is, at the moment when the taste changed under the impulse of Guidobaldo II. This prince, we know, had called near him Raffaelle dal Colle, Battista Franco, and Federigo Zucchero; the easy compositions, the loose drawing of these masters were soon reflected upon the majoliche, and T 2 276 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. especially upon those of the great Fontana. We want only as proofs the grand scene of the Public repast at Rome, executed upon a dish in the Louvre, and repeated inside a vase in the splendid collection of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild ; it is a cup of which the oval vasque, sup- ported by a pedestal ornamented with reliefs, masks, and other subjects powerfully modelled, is painted externally with grotesques on a white ground. Underneath one reads : Fatto in Urbino in bottega de Orazio Fontana. This specimen, compared with those of Guido mentioned above, with those of 1533 and 1535 bearing : In botega di M° Guido Bur antino in Urbino, and that signed Fatte in Urbino in botega de M° Guido Fontana Fig. 81. PLATE OF URBINO BY ORAZIO FONTANA. THE CARRYING OFF OF EUROPA (MUSEUM OF THE louvre). vasaio, permit us to distinguish between the works of the father and of the son, and to make two divisions even in that great pharmacy of Loreto, of which the whole could not belong to one artist. If the signed pieces of Orazio are rare, they have the merit of characterising, by their varied forms, his successive manners (Plate VII.). The plate with the Massacre of the Innocents in the Louvre would be of ,„ the first ; still cramped in drawing, a little hard in the A ^ \ m °delling, the execution is most painfully laboured. I m \-J \ It has only the letter O in a cartouche (M. 26). - - M. 26. Another old and very remarkable piece, representing JSero causing his mother to be assassinated, bears this exceptional RENAISSANCE.— ITAL Y— MAJOLICA. 277 mark (M. 27). Some majoliche copied from Marc Antonio or masters of the same school, and habitually dated from 1544, bear a cypher in which the word Orazio is given entirely (M. 28). They mark the transition to the second style, M. 27. that is to say, from the correct and laboured drawing to the free, clever manner definitively adopted when the master opened his own workshop in 1565, and which continued until his death in 1571 (Plate VIII.). It is to that period that belong, in addition to the M. 28. magnificent cup of Baron de Rothschild, rather ordinary pieces inscribed, FATE— IN— BOTEGA—DE—ORATIO— FONTANA. The memoir of Passeri states after the indications of local archives, that the mark of Orazio Fontana was composed of the letters 0. F. V. F. (M. 29), inclosed in a circle : this mark has never been seen. Mr. Chaffers, deceived by an attractive analogy, has thought to find the monogram of the master upon a plate ornamented with a bust of Pompey,and bearing in the middle, on two tablets, the date 1519, and the initials 0. F., and, on the reverse, the three letters O. F. V., signifying Orazio Fontana Urbinate. It had not escaped this laborious writer that the date 1519 cannot be applied to the painter of the Loreto spezierie vases, therefore he supposes that Nicolo Pellipario may have had a brother of the name of Orazio who would have founded the Fontana family at Urbino. There is nothing in history to warrant this supposition ; and one knows, on the contrary, that the fame of Urbino scarcely began before 1538, date of the accession of Guidobaldo II. It is not at a moment when Francesco Maria, taking advantage of the death of Leo X. to reconquer his states and expel Lorenzo II. de' Medici, that either one or other of these princes would have thought of inviting a colony of artists to his capital. The beginnings of Guido must have been very humble, since he has signed no work earlier than 1532. We shall therefore continue to think the induction of Passeri upon the legend Orazio Fontana Urbinate fece the result of an error, and we shall class the signature of this plate with the bust of Pompey, among the monograms of unknown masters. Public and private collections abound in pieces attributed to Orazio Fontana ; we repeat that a part of these belongings should be restored to Guido, and we think we have sufficiently developed the characteristics of this master ; another share, more considerable still, belongs certainly to the pupils that went out from the bottega of the father and son ; 278 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. the processes by which these had transformed the painting on majolica ■were not difficult to seize, and many of them, at Urbino especially, have sought in appropriating them to themselves, to gain a share of the success which rewarded their merit. But let us not forget that by the side of the glorious masters whose works are known, worked several artists worthy of being cited in history. From 1530, there is Federico di Giannantonio, Nicolo di Gabriele, and Gianmaria Mariani ; we think we may attribute to this last a plate, representing the Baptism of Christ, and which is thus signed in the KA decoration (ML 30). Simone di Antonio Mariani painted in 1542 ; in 1545 an unknown artist signs, P tt0 . F c0 . ; Luca del fu Barto- M. 30. lommeo dates from 1544; Cesare Cari, of Faenza, painted in 1536 in the bottega of Guido Merlino ; but this last signed, in 1542, a magni- ficent dish, in the collection of Baron Gustave de Rothschild, where all the riches of ornamentation appeared to be accumulated. Upon the edge are semes of Amorini sporting in the clouds, drawing the bow, or bearing crowns ; below, under a wreath of laurels, marine divinities float upon the waves ; a second wreath of leaves and fruits, painted upon a moulding in relief, and broken by four medallions with' yellow grounds, frames a central reserve in which the artist has represented Orpheus charming the beasts to the sound of his violin. The bottega of the potters was then situated at San Polo, as is indicated by a plaque representing the signs of the zodiac, and dated, Adj 30 di Marzio 1542; he was still working in 1551. An important piece of 1541, representing the siege of Goleta, is the product of another establishment ; we read, In Urbino nella botega di Francesco cle Silvano. In 1555, we find a cup -j-, with stem, having in the interior the Judgment of Paris, after Raffaelle ; we feel in it a vague influence of the Fontana school, but the drawing is heavy and the tints hard ; the letters F S *^^» are placed under the foot, the one above, the other below the M. 31. legend explaining the subject (M. 31). To return to the family of Orazio Fontana, his descendants con- sisted of a daughter whom he had by his wife Agnese Franchetti, of Venice. Of his brothers, Nicolo, father of Flaminio, died before 1576 ; Camillo will have had a son named Guido, whom Pungileone says was born at Castel Durante, and who died in 1605, after having belonged fourteen years to the brethren of Santa Croce, at Urbino. It is this same Guido who, according to Raffaelle, will have retaken the paternal bottega at Urbino, when Camillo went to Ferrara, in 1567, in order to assist Alfonso II. to set up again the works created by his grand- RENAISSANCE.— ITAL Y.— MAJOLICA. 279 father. Flaminio, nephew of Orazio, was able on his part to raise up the Florentine manufacture, and perhaps to contribute to the invention of the porcelain of the Medici. A precious fragment of the Parnassus of Raffaelle, bequeathed to the Louvre by Sauvageot, bears this signature (M. 32). This Nicolo, of whom one finds the com- plete name, would he be the brother of Orazio, and the father of Flaminio ? We think not. In the first place the name of Orazio's brother was Nicolo, and also the serious style and delicacy of the pieces would cause it to be placed among works of the first third of the sixteenth century. A majolica artist, who painted grotesques particularly upon a white M. 32. Fig. 82. 6ALT-CELLAR OF URBINO, A GROTESCHI (COLL. BARON GUSTAVE DE ROTHSCHILD). ground, signs, Gironimo Urbin feccie, 1585 ; his loose style indicates the degeneracy of the art. A vase, representing the Israelites gathering manna in the wilderness, has Fatto in Urbino, 1587. T. R F. We should stop here and refer to the modern fabrications, the products of Urbino imitated from Oriental pottery ; but the expiring breath of the Renaissance still animated a whole family — the Patanazzi. Alfonso signed, in 1584, a piece serving as a writing-desk, ALF. P. F. and representing Parnassus. His name is thus abridged on VRBINI the reverse of a plateau (M. 33), subject, Romulus receiving 1606 the Sabine women (South Kensington Museum). He often M. 33. confined himself to his initials only. A piece, dated 1607, shows us 28o HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. that he worked in the shop of Jos. Batista Boccione. In 1608, the family had its bottega, as proves a large cup inscribed, Urbini ex figlina Francisci Patanatii; the letters F. P. show at the same time that Francesco was himself a painter, and decorated his potteries. The last of the Patanazzi is the young Vincenzio, who, from the age of twelve years, marked his works with the double seal of weakness. Passeri cites a piece of 1620 with this mention : Vicenzio Patanazzi da Urbino di etdb d'anni tredici. Thirteen years ! Poor child, instead of parading it tri- umphantly upon your wretched paintings, run to the school where your predecessors received their instruction. Gubbio. — This is certainly one of the manufactories on which criticism has most erred, yet its history is entirely in Passeri ; but commenting upon it, each in his own manner, writers have so modified the text, that its history is now reduced to a cypher. What is there, then, in particular in the workshop of Gubbio ? Nothing but a misunder- standing. There, as in many other workshops, one great name sums up all. Giorgio Andreoli, a gentleman of Pavia, after having received in his own country the honours due to his merit as statuary and ceramic artist, came to Gubbio to establish himself, with his two brothers, Salimbene and Giovanni; he obtained there, in 1498, the right of citizen- ship, and later, he was even named Gonfalonier. So much for his civil state. Let us pass to his artistic titles. Giorgio, as we have said, was a statuary, the style of the Delia Robbia was familiar to him; in 1511 he executed two altar reredos, one for the private chapel of the Bentivoglio family, the other for the chapel of San Antonio Abbate, in the church of St. Domenico ; in 1515, he built in the same church the altar of Madonna del Rosario, and that of the church of the Osservanti, near Bevagna. They cite again, as his work, six angels in the basilica of Portiuncula, near Assisi, and a Madonna in the Minor Canons of Gubbio. In these works the flesh was not coated over, which of itself would indicate an artist of taste, sufficiently strong in his own powers to fear to attenuate, under the thickness and hardness of lustred colours, the delicacy of expression and modelling. As regards majolica, the beginnings of the master can only belong to Gubbio ; but no doubt at Pavia he first tried himself, and in searching collections we find a work bearing his name, and stamped with many characters of authenticity. At Sevres, there is a dish of coarse make and of hard colours, having at the same time the imperfection of trial, and the vigour of execution, partly taken from the early works of Chaffagiolo; the subject is the Ecce Homo. The outline of a bright RENAISSANCE.— ITAL Y.— MAJOLICA. 281 violet blue is tolerably correct, a pale blue models the flesh, the hair of the Christ, as well as the cross set up behind him, are of a metallic yellow, lightly iridised ; round the border, in Gothic characters, upon a lapis blue ground, is the legend, Don Giorgio, 1489. Two things are here to be remarked, the iridescence foreign to the Tuscan products of the corresponding period ; the letters raised from the surface by a kind of scratching, a practice we shall find again in certain pieces of Gubbio. They have since endeavoured to bring together some other specimens with this of Sevres, one among others in which, in the orna- rv mentation, is repeated the monogram M. G., surmounted >*v r. L j^mh rw» Y interlaced with an S (M. 54), and several others Jl%^&LJ Jb which have been taken for painters' marks. Fran- M - 53. M. 54. cesco Xanto, to whom some have been attributed, only appears upon the scene at a period subsequent to the death of Isabella, and also of that of her husband, in 1519. Yet he himself has scattered Greek cha- racters in his compositions, and that is why the Ferrara pieces have been attributed to him. We have yet only spoken of the official bottega called of the Castello, in the pay of Alfonso I. M. Campori makes known another, protected by Don Sigismund, of Este, brother of the duke of Ferrara. Installed in the Schifanoia palace, under the direction of a master workman, Biagio Biasini da Faenza, we find mention of it in the archives of 1515 to 1524; in 1525, we find three painters resided there, of whom the principal was El Frate, and the two others Grosso and Zaffarino. Is it from this workshop that came a marvellous cup in the museum of Sevres, bearing the name of Frederic II., marquis of Mantua, son and successor of Gian Francesco II. ? Made between 1519 and. 1530, epoch when Frederic was named duke by Charles V.; it has nothing in common 298 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. in style with the products of the Castello. Its decoration is composed of" candelieri," borrowed from the compositions of Nicoletto da Modena, i.e., executed in light blue upon a yellow ground, bordered on each side by fragments of landscapes. The delicacy of execution is remarkable. M. Campori does not find this share of labour sufficient for the glory of Ferrara during the first half of the sixteenth century ; he wishes to enlarge the circle of fortunate experiments made by Alfonso I. Accord- ing to the learned author, this prince would be the real inventor of European porcelain, and he gives in support of his assertion the following letter written to the duke by Giacomo Tebaldi, his ambassador at Venice : "I send your excellency a little plate and bowl of false (ficta) porcelain, which the master of whom you have ordered it sends you. And the said master says the work has not succeeded as he hoped, by reason that he gave it too much fire. The magnificent Signore Catharino Zeno, who was present, sends many compliments to your excellency, and I myself have begged the master to make us some more plates, seeking to animate him by the hope of success. We have not succeeded ; he has told me this in proper terms. ' I make a present of the bowl to your duke ; I send him a little plate, that he may not doubt my wish to serve him, but I will in no way continue thus to throw away my time and my money. If he wishes to go to the expense, I would consent to give my time, but I will make no more attempts at my own cost.' I have proposed to him to come and live at Ferrara, and have told him that your excellency will furnish all the conveniences desired, and that he could work and earn a great deal at it. He replied he was too old, and will not go from here." — Venice, 17th May, 1519. This appears to us to prove an attempt made at Venice by an unknown artist, whose works had been pointed out to Alfonso I. ; but the prince understood he should derive no honour from a discovery made at a distance, even at his own expense, and the artist not being able to go to him, the enterprise was given up. In 1534 to 1539, that is, during the reign of Ercole II., son and successor of Alfonso, majolica was little encouraged; the archives of the period lead M. Campori to infer that Pietro Paolo Stanghi, of Faenza, was the sole artist who occupied himself with the manufacture. Alfonso II. inspired himself with the traditions of his grandfather, and gave a new impulse to ceramic works. Vasari bears witness to it when he speaks of " the marvellous earthen vases of various kinds, and others in porcelain of a very beautiful form," which are made at Ferrara. RENAISSANCE.— 1TAL Y.— MAJOLICA. 299 Here the Marquis Campori places a very judicious remark, which will permit us to establish with precision the two schools which divided the Ferrarese majolicas. Alfonso I. employed none but Faentine artists, and it is among the pieces attributed to the Marches that we must seek their works. Alfonso II., arriving at a moment when the workshop of Urbino was predominant over all the others, sought to imitate its productions, and attached to himself painters broken in to the habits and style of this manufacture. We certainly agree with the learned Modenese how difficult is the apportionment between the various centres of works proceeding from the same thought and obtained by the same processes ; but if, in high painting, the vulgar is satisfied in recognising nation- alities, the more refined distinguish the schools, recognise the touch of the master, and do not confound an original with the copy of a contemporary pupil ; it is the same in ceramics for those whom an intelligent study will direct to the serious analysis of things analogous in appearance. The two names which most often repeat themselves in the archives of Este are those of Camillo da Urbino and of Battista, his brother, both painters in majolica. M. Campori establishes, from excellent reasons, that this Camillo was not a member of the Fontana family ; he died accidentally in 1567, the period at which, according to Raffaelli, Camillo Fontana was called to the service of the duke of Ferrara. There is, perhaps, no contradiction between the two documents ; and one might admit that a Camillo came to replace the other in the majolica works, which would only explain the better the close analogy of certain pieces of Ferrara, with the work of the great painter of Urbino. The first Camillo was already in the service of the duke in 1561, receiving a salary of six ducats of gold, and everything lends itself to the supposition that he was specially occupied with the experiments directed by Alfonso II., with a view to obtaining a translucent pottery or porcelain. Indeed, the details gathered of his tragical death leave the fact nearly beyond doubt. The 21st of August, 1567, Camillo took some gentle- men of Urbino to the celebrated foundry, where was the ducal artillery ; the master founder, forgetting that a piece was loaded, took a match, attached to the end of a spear, in order they should admire the interior polish of the metal ; an explosion followed, and the ball killed three of the gentlemen, and severely wounded the master founder and Camillo himself mortally. Great pains were then taken to obtain from the dying man the revelation of his secret ; he promised to make it known if his state became worse, the duke himself being assured that Battista possessed the receipts for porcelain, except the process for applying the gilding. The 300 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART accident caused a great sensation ; Bernardo Canigiani, ambassador from the grand duke of Florence, wrote to his court to announce the event, and mentioned, among the victims, " Camillo da TJrbino, maker of vases and painter, and in some sort chemist to your Excellency, who is the real Modena inventor of porcelain." In comparing this with what we have said, concerning the Medici porcelain, it is difficult not to grant to the duke of Ferrara, Alfonso II., the priority of attempts to make this new pottery, only no one has yet identified a piece produced at Ferrara, while specimens of the Florentine porcelain are to be found in all choice collections. To return to earthenware, M. Campori finds no mention relative to it beyond 1570, a period when earthquakes desolated the town for nine consecutive months; similar phenomena having been continued until 1574, the author thinks the fabrication of works of art was sus- pended if not abandoned. Certainly, in times of public calamities, the arts experience a momentary check ; all the living forces of the nation concentrate themselves in remedies to oppose to the evil. But the disaster repaired, it belongs to the heads of the people to remount the slackened springs, and to give a new impulse to the intellectual powers. Thus it became Alfonso II. ; he restored vigour to the cultivation of the arts, and to set an example, reanimated the works of his ceramic manufacture ; so when, in 1579, he married Margaret of Gonzaga, it is not of foreign artists he orders the service, where his love expresses itself by the emblem of a burning altar, surrounded by the motto, Ardet sternum; with the primitive forms, he takes up again the grotesques on white ground invented by his grandfather ; it is this deco- ration which surrounds the " stemma," symbol of fidelity, mark of his personal service. In this respect, we partake of the opinion of Giuseppe Boschini, and we are confirmed in our belief by two trilobed pieces of the Louvre, one of which is certainly of ancient date, and the other, proceeding from the same mould, bears the amorous legend of the marriage service of Alfonso II. All generally agree in attributing to Ferrara pieces in relief, almost white, of which the fabrication was continued during the reign of Caesar of Este, and perhaps after his deposition in 1598. Modena. — Expelled from their capital by Pope Clement VIII., and despoiled of their principality, the dukes of Ferrara retired to Modena. Nevertheless majolica did not appear there before the beginning of the eighteenth century, and in a path strange to the ways of the Renais- sance. We only therefore inscribe this name in its order. RENAISSANCE.— ITALY.— MAJOLICA. 301 F. — Venetian States. Venice. — Is it the high position of Venice, its political importance, its maritime power, that have caused the history of various industries to be neglected ? Its archives overflow with unpublished correspondence, with precious manuscripts, with diplomatic deeds interesting to most of the European powers ; they are dumb upon things connected with the private life of the city, and, like Florence, Venice has long seen the produce of its manufactures swell the contingent of works less ancient and less remarkable. It is at Modena that the Marquis Campori has found documents which permit of putting an end to this denial of justice, and to restore to Venice the rank which belongs to her among the most industrial cities of Italy. In 1520, Titian, whose intimate relations with Alfonso L, duke of Ferrara, had never been interrupted, was charged by that prince to have a quantity of glasses made at Murano, and some vases of earth and of majolica destined for the ducal pharmacy. Tebaldo, Alfonso's agent, had an interview with the painter, who desired to superintend himself the execution of the order, and verify its success. On the first of June, Tebaldo writes to his patron : " By the boatman, Giovanni Tressa, I send your Excellency eleven large vases and eleven middle sized, and twenty little in majolica with lids, ordered by Titian for the pharmacy of your Excellency." The fabrication was then in its full perfection at Venice, since the inventor of the finest white known, the founder of one of the most important manufactories in Italy, showed himself anxious to possess works which, on his side, a man of the worth of Titian had pronounced to have " succeeded wonderfully." Not only must majolica have been current at Venice in 1520 ? but the potters sought even more, they worked at the discovery of porcelain. We have given the documents relative to the negotiations entered into between the ambassador of Ferrara and a certain Venetian maestro of name unknown, who sent his trial pieces of porcelain to duke Alfonso I. This master potter, too old, he said, to leave his country and go to Ferrara, must be one of the elders of pottery. For ourselves, we do not hesitate to think that the Venetian workshops worked in the second half of the fifteenth century ; we have the proof in a fine albarello or drug pot belonging to M. Fayet ; we see on it one of those characteristic effigies of the primitive Italians, long hair cut straight on the forehead, energetic and strongly marked 3°2 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. features, and the ornaments which surround it of good style ; in the decoration runs a legend in Venetian patois. This detail, added to the character of the painter, leaves no doubt as to the date and origin of the vase. This distinct epoch will assuredly have representations among the specimens of mezza-majolica of our museums, only one dare not fix to whom to attribute them, by reason even of their rarity and of their almost foreign type. As to the vases of the beginning of the sixteenth century, how to define their character? Must they not be confounded in the mass of contemporary works ? In 1501, Venice took the city of Faenza from Csesar Borgia, and kept it till 1508, notwithstanding the complaints of Julius II.; the republic also required Rimini from Pandolfo Malatesta ; thus she found herself in possession of two important centres of ceramic fabrication, and was able to improve and modify the first manner of her artists by placing herself on a level with the more advanced manufactures. When, in 1545, Francesco Pieragnolo came, as relates Piccolpasso, and set up a faiencerie with the help of his father, Gianantonio de Pesaro, this castel-durantin was able to introduce a new style into Venice, but he did not erect an unknown industry. If Vincenzo Lazari, adopting a contrary opinion, considers the potteries dispersed in Venice anterior to 1545 as the result of importations made from Faenza and Castel-Durante, it is that he has not been able to discover in the Venetian archives any document of more ancient date than the narra- tive of Piccolpasso, concerning the workshop of Pieragnolo, and that he has set out from this indication to build up the history of Venetian majolica. Now we can no longer hesitate, we must restore to the artists of the queen of the seas, the majolica pavement in the sacristy of Santa Elena, made at the expense of the Giustiniani family, who had their arms painted there in 1450 to 1480 ; and that decorated with the shield of the Lando family in the chapel of the Annunziata at the church of St. Sebastian; this last bears, with the date 1570, the monogram T. L. V. B. enclosed in the letter Q in large capitals. The 25th of May, 1567, a certain Battista di Francesco wrote this singular epistle to the duke of Ferrara : " The very faithful and special servant of your Excellency, Maestro Battista (son) of Francesco, master in majolica, and maker of vases noble, rare, beautiful, and of different qualities, notifies, by this ill- compiled letter to your Excellency, that he now inhabits Murano, in the district of Venice, with his wife and children, and that he keeps there a shop well stored with vases and other productions of the same kind. RENAISSANCE.— ITAL Y.— MAJOLICA. 303 Having heard the magnanimity and the reputation of your Excellency exalted by several Venetian lords and gentlemen, he has taken a desire to serve you with works of his art, which will please you, he hopes, considering the love you bear for all productions of art, and of these particularly. But, being unable to abandon his shop and his processes without the help of Heaven and your Excellency, he asks him for the loan of three hundred crowns to arrange his affairs and come and fix his residence at Ferrara, with the view of working there at the request of your Excellency and his subjects. And if it pleases him to grant him the three hundred crowns he asks, he will bind himself, his heirs, and all his goods in the best way he is able, to secure the repayment. He begs he will give him an answer to the address of Maestro Battista di Francesco, of the majoliche and vases, at Murano, rio delli Verrieri, and he offers and recommends himself to your Excellency." We have now exhausted written information ; we must next ask of the wares themselves the indications necessary to confirm or complete the ceramic history of Venice. The most ancient dates are in the South Kensington Museum and in the Fortnum collection; upon one piece we read, Adi 13 Aprille 1543 ; upon the other, 1540 A di 16 del Mex de Ot ubre. Upon pieces in England and in the Brunswick Museum, are these indications on a plate repre- senting the destruction of Troy: Fatto in Venezia in Chastello 1546; then, 1568, Zener Domenico da Venetia feci in la botega al ponte sito del andar a san Polo. This bottega is probably that belonging to Maestro Ludovico, and Domenico would be one of the painters attached to the establishment ; in fact, Ludovico is named upon a plate of the South Kensington Museum with these details : In Venetia, in contrada di santo Polo, in botega dj M°. Ludovico. Beneath the inscription a shield, charged with a cross "coupe"," leads to no further induction beyond the indication of the enamels. At the time he published his catalogue of the Correr Museum, Venetian works were so rare or so completely misunderstood, that Vincenzo Lazari attributed to the competition of continental faiences the speedy destruction of a factitious industry inconsiderately implanted upon a soil without either clay or combustibles. But Venice was not accustomed to bargain her glory ; one of the first to cause the noble effigies invented by her painters, to be transferred to the enamelled terra eotta, she never gave up the majolica industry; the book of Piccolpasso furnishes of itself the proof to those who know how to understand him. One has not sufficiently observed that this ceramic writer is more a 304 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. manufacturer and decorator than an historic painter ; he speaks little or not at all of subjects borrowed from the -old masters, and if he describes the style of a workshop, it is in arabesques, scrolls, and symmetrical compositions that he seeks its characteristics. He has done this for Venice, of which he cites the landscapes, flowers, and fruits, arabesques sold by the dozen (alia dozzena), that is, wholesale for extensive commercial exportation. The practical indications of Piccolpasso carry with them this valuable information; the further we are from the beginning of the Renaissance, so in proportion industry overrules art, and we arrive by an insensible transition from estimable artistic works to those things of routine, where one no longer seeks to recognise the individual touch or even a trace of the taste peculiar to the period. Such are in Venetian wares the pieces in blue camaieu, heightened with white upon berettino, whether the decoration is of figures or foliage ; such again are those with architectural ruins, of two colours, sometimes surrounded by reliefs, as if repousse" upon a thin earth of metallic sound. A mark which we meet with upon the oldest pieces with ruins, and which has perpetuated itself, consists in a cypher, probably symbolical, composed of the letters ARGG or AFGG, combined with a double anchor, or rather a grappling-iron, as in these figures (M. 55 & 56). M. 55. M. 56. M. 57. Mark 57 is at Sevres upon a magnificent escutcheoned cistern (vasque), which certainly belongs to the fine time of the Renaissance. Then we find it again upon very ordinary plates of which some of the service have often the foregoing signs. A piece decorated with reliefs round the border, and in the centre the subject of Judith and Holofernes, is signed with this cypher (M. 58), which is not without analogy to the customary one of landscapes and ruins, since we find in M. 58. it the letters ORG; the mark with the cross crowned rt> contains the initials AF (M. 57) ; and lastly, we some- J times find a C formed with a kind of fish-hook (M. M. 59. 59), and which no doubt is closely allied with the pre- ceding marks. It may be seen at the muse'e de Cluny, upon a large RENAISSANCE.— ITAL Y.— MAJOLICA. 305 fountain, decorated with marks and wreaths in relief; some bouquets scattered in the ground, and a painted shield add to its richness. The mark is repeated in the wreaths. The same mark is upon a plate representing the Salutation, dated 1571. What is this in- strument of fishing affecting the figure of a letter ? Is it an enigma, a kind of calembour ? Hook in Italian is amo ; is there some connection between this name and that of the painter or the workshop ? Is it, like the mark of the grapnel, a letter deformed appropriate to the taste for nautical emblems natural among the inhabitants of a city emerging from the lagunes where there is scarcely ground to build upon ? We have not met with any document of a nature to throw light upon these questions. But we shall see later the anchor mark the porcelain of England as that of Venice, and thus show the same assumption to the empire of the seas. We shall also see the fish-hook reappear upon a faience of the seventeenth century. This last leads us to believe that these nautical or fishing instruments are rather the mark of a workshop than an individual sign emanating from a workman or a painter. Cornaro or Cornari. — This locality which borrows its illustration from the name of one of the most important Venetian families has also had its ceramic works, at least towards the decline. Count de Liesville possesses two plates with lions and birds round the border, while the centre has rather 'singular mythological subjects, among which are harpies and syrens. The proprietor of it has seen other pieces with festive scenes. Incorrect in drawing, of a greyish blue decoration, the name of the workshop is expressed by the shield of the Cornari (M. 60), per pale or and azure, rendered in natural enamels. M. 60. Treviso. — This town possessed a ceramic manufactory in the fifteenth century, since Garzoni speaks of it in the Piazza Universale. The mention is certainly not flattering, it is all to the advantage of Faenza, whose products he declares to be as superior to those of Treviso as truffles to puff-balls. But in those times of intellectual exuberance, progress was rapid, and a piece in the collection of Mr. Addington goes to prove that they had arrived swiftly at remarkable results where Garzoni had only found subject for blame. Let us describe, after Mr. Chaffers, this interesting majolica; its form is that of a deep plate, or bowl, in the circumference are arabesques detached upon a blue ground, the central subject is the Sermon on the Mount, beneath, is a portrait supported by Amorini, and surrounded by this circular legend; D. 0. N. P. A. P. I. S. I. O. E. D. A. T. R. A. V. I. S. I. O. x 306 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. A label contains the date MDXXX8 ; the singularity of the mixture of Roman and Arabic numbers adds to that of the inscription, divided by points, and by a group difficult to explain. Don Parisi of Treviso, was he the author of the work, or the person for whom it was destined ? We dare not affirm anything on this point, but what remains beyond a doubt is the existence at Treviso of a ceramic work- shop in the sixteenth century. This piece existing in England will no doubt assist in finding others, and in re-establishing the share of a town which has never ceased its ceramic labours since we shall again find it working in later times. Padua. — This manufactory is also very ancient, and this is what Lazari states as to its origin : " In the street which still preserves the name of the Via delle Boccalarie is a house lately restored, in which was found some years back, the trace of ovens, which had been established there. The walls towards the street were overlaid with triangular tiles alternately white and blue, among which was let in a majolica disk of about twenty inches in diameter, now in the museum of the city. The Virgin and Child are represented upon a throne between St. Roch and Santa Lucia, and surrounded by cherubs ; below is a shield, the bottom is slightly hollowed, the figures in relief are white, ex- cept the hair which is of a yellowish tint, and the robe of the Virgin, which is pale blue. The enamel is scanty and the earth coarse. This precious disk is known to have been executed after a cartoon of Nicolo Pizzolo, a pupil of Squarcione, and the rival of Mantegna ; his name, NICOLETI, is on the top of the throne." Evidently works which had produced this ancient and remarkable piece would not have stopped suddenly; we ought, at least, to find some intermediate works between the bas relief of Pizzolo and the rare plates, inferior in design and execution, which, from 1548 to 1565, show us there was a workshop. The Paduan painters of this period are to be recognised by a certain poverty of pallet, the flesh is of a bistre yellow, not agreeable, the grounds rough, and the distinctness of outline does not compensate for the other faults. The oldest specimen, at South Kensington, represents Myrrha fleeing from her father, and is dated 1548 ; another (Musee de Cluny) with Adam and Eve under the Tree of Knowledge, is rather com- plicated on the reverse. The circumference is ornamented with a succession of Gothic arches intersecting each other, under the legend, Adamo Eva, is an interlacing surmounting two crossed strokes in the form of an X, then, 1563 a padoa. The third piece, Polyphemus and Galatea, is dated 1564; the last, dated 1565, has the same subject REN A ISSA NCE. —IT A L Y. —MA JO L/C A . 3°7 as that of 1563, viz., the Fall of Man, and also bears A Padova. The comparison of these cups with others not signed, would admit of increas- ing the products of a manufactory which can never have ceased working. We know that certain pharmacy vases with two handles of a pearl grey ground, relieved by flowers, arabesques, and sometimes grotesques, were known under the name of vasi alia padovana. These vases must have been of a poor workmanship, if one judges by those continued in the same style in the seventeenth century. Bassano. — Towards 1540, a certain Simone Marinoni founded the works at Bassano, in the suburb called the Marchesane ; but it does not appear that its products were of great value ; a piece of 1555, represent- ing St. Francis, St. Anthony, and St. Bonaventura, is ill painted and a failure in colour and glaze. At the end of the sixteenth century, the establishment produced with perfect success, cups, saucers, and other objects of smaller dimensions, with landscapes and works in the Venetian style. This production continued during the following century under the impulse of the Terchi, of whom we shall speak later. Verona. — The name of this manufactory has been long unknown to collectors, but a magnificent istoriato piece, exhibited at South Kensington, has revealed the importance of the furnace and the merit of the artists who worked there in 1563. The subject represents the family of Darius before Alexander; under the plate is written, 1563 adi 15 genaro Iio Giovani Batista da Faenza in Verona. Mr. Chaffers calls this painter Francesco Giovan Battista, but we read with Mr. J. C. Robinson, Iosef-Giovan-Battista ; a native of Faenza or elsewhere, we have found no other work of his. Is it in passing through Verona he has left an earnest of his talent, or had he founded himself the botega which is indicated by the piece preserved in England ? It is hardly possible to know, and a monogram (M. 61) inscribed under the legend does not bring any element useful to solve the question ; partly destroyed by a large piece of the enamel having scaled off, it appears to have been composed M. 61. of an I, an M, and a V joined ; these are certainly not the initials of the painter ; would it be those of the city or of the master of the botega where J osef Giovan Battista worked ? Some other piece will inform us. Chandiana. — This workshop situated near Padua, has specialised itself by its imitations of Persian ware. Upon a tolerably white faience are thrown polychrome bouquets, in which the hyacinth, tulips, and African marigolds expand themselves like so many girandoles of fireworks. Some cups with low stems, and pharmacy jars, seem to announce an ancient 3 o8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. epoch, but plates and certain swelling jars (potiches) cannot be referred beyond the seventeenth century, and we will speak of them in their place. G. — States of Genoa. Genoa. — A great obscurity is still spread over the ceramic history of this city ; most writers elude the difficulty of research by generalis- ing what they have been able to gather under such heads as, workshops of the State or Riviera of Genoa ; then they cite Savona, and all is said. But Savona is an establishment of the decline, and Genoa is a centre whose activity goes back to the first years of the sixteenth century. Does not Picolpasso indicate that they used the clay dug at the place itself ? does he not describe the decorations employed ; elegant arabesques, leaves in large scrolls, landscapes with scattered buildings separated by water, partaking of those of Venice ? Evidently, most of the works of Genoa like those of Venice are con- founded in the crowd, from the want of a distinctive mark. Later, towards the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the manufactory sought to distinguish its pottery from that of Savona, with which it is identical in make and decoration, it marked with the figure of its light- house (M. 62 & 63), which does not prevent most authors from ad- vancing that this figure is one of the signatures of Savona. There may be a close resemblance between the works of the Genoese decline and those of Savona, but they may yet be distinguished, and we must seek the early majolicas of Genoa, of which the enamel and the colours are remarkable. Savona. — This town, situated upon the coast, eight leagues west of Genoa, manufactured enormously, towards the end of the sixteenth and the beginning of the seventeenth century, but we must admit it was essentially a commercial fabric, in which blue cama'ieu pervades, and where the traditions of high art rarely show themselves. The customary mark of Savona (M. 64) is a shield gules, with a pale argent and chief of the same, charged with an eagle nascent sable, the mural RENAISSANCE.— ITAL Y— MAJOLICA. 309 crown is that of the town. Sometimes the shield is accompanied by cyphers (M. Go), such as GS, G A G, or with emblems. The letters GS appear to refer to a Girolamo Salomoni, who flourished about 1650; but the principal mark is Solomon's knot, a cabalistic figure composed of two triangles crossed and forming a star. M. 64. M. 65. The signature G A G is attributed to Gian Antonio Guidobono. This artist had two sons, Bartolommeo and Domenico, who continued the fabrication concurrently with Gian Tommaso Torteroli and Agostino Ratti, whom we shall again find later. Towards the last epoch of its works, the manufactory appears to have varied its marks, this among others (M.66) : Some have pretended to see the work of a Salomoni in ^ jfl some polychrome wares peculiar in style and bearing on the m. 66. back a cursive S surmounting a star (M. G7). We remark < - that the figure is a star of five rays without any symbolic ^ connection with the name of the ancient artists of Savona. Albissola.— A village situated at a league from the M. 67. town had a branch establishment, and the Conrade, principal founders of the manufactory at Nevers, came from it. There appears to be no difference between the products of Albissola and those of the last period of Savona. Yet a painting formed of plaques united and representing the Nativity, bears, with the date, the name of the place, Arbissola : that of the potter, Agostino : and the signature of the painter Gerolamo of Urbino. H. — Kingdom of Naples. Naples— There is yet much to clear up as regards the products of the ancient kingdom of Naples ; Castelli is, according to some, the only manufactory known ; others speak of Naples, attributing to it the works of Castelli, and also a part of those of the Italian decline. From the first years of the sixteenth century, the majolicas of the kingdom of Naples were celebrated, since Antonio Beuter, in his 'Cronica generate di Spagna/ cites the wares of Castelli, in the Abruzzi ; and those of Pisa and Pesaro, as rivalling the ancient vases of Corinth — a comparison more ambitious than true, and which would HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. seem to prove the author spoke of things he had never seen. But one may infer from the date of the book (1540), and the bringing together the names of Castelli and Pesaro, there was a kind of resemblance between the produce of the two establishments, which would both have begun with lustred ware. It is to the future that we must leave the task of throwing light on these questions. We find the name of Naples, upon works of the end of the sixteenth century, stamped with the style of the epoch, and which would easily be confounded with the potteries of Northern Italy. These are vases of colossal size, and evidently composed for grand decoration, being painted only on one side; the handles formed of caryatides. The subjects are religious, * the Miraculous Draught of Fishes, Christ in the » . "V, Garden of Olives, etc., represented in blue camaieu pricked with black; the drawing is free and >■ elegant though a little concise, and the touch bold | and spirited. Upon one we read Fran™ Brand . . . ^ ^M*J^\^\. Napoli.. . Gesu novo; belowis mark 68. The second M - 68 - bears the same monogram, also crowned (M. 69), the names Paulus Fran cm Brandi Finx. 68+ ; the figures seem to indicate the year 1568. A vase, dated, has been made ^^tTV anteriorly by an artist of the same workshop, whose sig- Y> nature is : F.il sig. Francho Nepita. 1532. Here the closed, XJ \X radiated crown (the iron crown), is of the greatest import- M 69 ance ; it specialises a whole series of works attributed some- times to Castelli, sometimes to le Nove, near Bassano. This crown is often surmounted by a star, and is accompanied with various monograms (M. 70 & 71). B.C M. 70. M. 71. M. 72. It is rare to find the monogram under the crown traversed with the palm branch (M. 72) ; the appearance of pieces thus marked is that of the faiences of Northern Italy. Upon a blueish and very fluid enamel are subjects incorrectly drawn, but thrown with a certain freedom on landscape grounds. Some specimens are evidently posterior to the sixteenth century, as is evidenced by the costume of the figures. RENAISSANCE.— ITAL Y.— MAJOLICA. The iron crown must not be confounded with that of the grand duke of Tuscany; this, already figured at page 257, exists upon a special style of majolica, mentioned in its place. It is also to be observed that the Neapolitan iron crown is always closed, while that of Bassano is open, and simply radiated ; this difference will help to distinguish the wares produced at the two extremities of Italy, supposing their characteristics of make m. 73. and decoration are not in themselves sufficient to separate them. Castelli. — What has preceded will show the collector how difficult it is to determine the works of Castelli. Where are those of the first epoch, so highly vaunted by Beuter ? What is their style ? Under what name do they pass under our eyes ? These are so many problems for future solution. The learned work of Gabriello Cherubini will doubt- less throw some light upon the modern period, of which we shall have to speak later, and upon the efforts made to revive an art fallen into decay. But what we find in it relative to the Renaissance is confined to the mention of a Nardo di Castelli, a painter mentioned in a document of 1484, and of Antonio Lolli, author of a piece representing the Judgment of Paris, and signed Antonius Lollus a Castellis inventor. Grotaglia. — This town, situated not far from Tarento, has had its workshop, the products of which have the general character of the Neapolitan wares, if we may judge from a charming little plate of the end of the sixteenth century, belonging to the Duke de Martina, and which bears as principal subject of decoration the arms of the family of this distinguished amateur. Sicily. — It is impossible to separate Sicily from the ancient kingdom of Naples ; but what to say of this unknown country ? It certainly has had its brilliant page in history, although events which occurred elsewhere have almost made it forgotten. We have already explained that the Arabs, exiled from Spain, founded in Sicily workshops in which the processes of Malaga were applied in a lesser degree of perfection, but with identical forms. Perhaps also, the vases of North Africa served as models to the potters of the country. The brilliant metallic lustres which later spread over Italy, first illumined the vases of Calata Girone, and, according to the testimony of the learned of that city, when chance brought about the discovery of the ancient furnaces, they found there helter skelter both fragments of golden works, and remains of majolica, similar to those which the peninsula produced in the sixteenth century. Elsewhere, no doubt, these precious witnesses would have been preserved to serve as types, and facilitate the determination of works 312 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART confounded in the crowd of unknown. Let us hope that with these simple records, the collectors and the learned of Sicily may one day recognize and make known the majolica of their country. /. — Sardinia. Turin. — In order to explain the oblivion to which have been con- signed the manufactories of the ancient duchy of Savoy, and of the kingdom of Sardinia,, it suffices to quote this passage of Lanzi : " If Pied- mont has the merit of having secured, by its protection, the leisure which Italy wanted to devote herself to the fine arts, she has had the misfortune never to have been able to secure it for herself in a durable manner." Under the reign of Charles III. the duchy of Savoy was in some sort the battle field upon which Charles V. and Francis I. settled their differences. It required that Emanuel Philibert, called Tete-de-Fer, should carry terror into France by the victory of St. Quentin, in order that the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis should put him again in possession of his states in 1559, and enable him to give repose to people crushed with foreign servitude and incessant wars. We should believe that one of the first preoccupations of the prince would be to call about him, with the learned and the literate, some of the artists who illustrated the ceramic art in Italy. We find proof of it in the documents extracted from the royal archives at Turin by the Marquis Campori, and derived from the ' Register of the accounts of the general Treasury.' " More, for two hundred crowns of three livres each, paid to Maestro Orazio Fontana and to Maestro Antonio da Urbino, as price of certain earthenware vases brought to His Highness, in pursuance of the order of His Highness given at Nice the 6th of Januaiy 1564, which is remitted in the same time as the receipt, the 7th of the said month and year. L. 600. . " More, the 15th of August, paid to Antonio, potter of Urbino, twenty crowns of three livres, on account of the expenses made to accompany the majolicas sent to His Highness in France. L. 60. " More, for two hundred crowns of three livres each, paid to the Rev. Signore Hieronimo della Rovere, archbishop of Turin, which are on account of an order of His Highness for 800 like crowns, which the said Monsignore has answered for His Highness towards Maestro Orazio of Urbino, chief of the potters of His Highness, for the cost of the two earthenware credenze, which the maestro has sent to His Highness, as it appears from the said order given at Turin the 23 April 1564, which, duly signed and sealed, is joined to the present (and deposited) in the R EN A IS S A NCE.—ITAL Y.—MA JOLICA. 3'3 chamber, with the receipt of the aforesaid Monsignore, of the aforesaid 200 crowns, written and signed the 20th of August 1564. I say L. 600." The learned Modenese infers from these pieces, and above all from the title given to Fontana of " chief of the potters of the Duke of Savoy," that this illustrious artist had entered into the service of Emanuel Philibert; we do not think so. To satisfy his numerous customers, Orazio had, in 1565, opened a botega at Urbino, in which he worked until his death, in 1571 ; we have already seen the activity of his work- shop. It is therefore impossible that he could have been able to leave, even momentarily, an establishment in full work to run the chance of new fortunes in Savoy. To our idea, the title of chief potter is purely honorary, and intended to mark the high esteem in which he was held by the prince, who thus morally placed him at the head of the potters called to inaugurate the fabrication at Turin. This also shows after what style Emanuel Philibert proposed to work his manufactory, which, acording to Pungileoni, will have had among its principal artists a certain Francesco Guagni. The marquis Campori considers this man to have been a military engineer; but he is mentioned besides among the arcanists who sought the secret of porcelain at the court of Savoy, about 1567. Unfortunately Piedmontese majolica is rare, or rather remains con- founded with the others, from the absence of characteristic indications. A piece, in the Keynolds collection, is the only example inscribed ; it reads, Fatta in Torino adi 12 de setebre 1577. We have seen another where, in a landscape resembling those of Venice, rises a cherub's head inferring its religious destination. The escutcheon (M. 74), curiously traced in blue, and not crowned, may assign the work, if not to the reign of Emanuel Philibert, at least to that of Charles Emanuel the Great. M. 74. Some other majolicas united in collections or spread in commerce, are specialised by a blue decoration, neighbouring on that applied at Savona ; persons in the costume of Louis XIII. ornaments already inspired by Chinese porcelain, alone would indicate a late date, if the traditional cross, sur- mounted by the closed crown (M. 75), did not precisely mark the reign of Victor Amadeus II., who first took the title of king of Sardinia in 1713. These fabrications are the stock of those we find again in full force in the nineteenth century, sometimes with the same escutcheon, at others, as in the collection of His Excellency the Marquis dAzeglio, with the mention, fabrica reale di Torino, or Gratapaglia, fe. Taur. 3H HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Laforest. — To the same period appears to belong another workshop made known to us by a fine specimen signed Laforest en Savoye, 1752. Yet it may not be impossible that the origin of this centre may be referred to an earlier period. Section 2. — French Renaissance. It is more difficult to mark in France the period and the nice distinctions which separate the ceramics of the Middle Ages from those of the Renaissance, than it has been to note the transition in Italy. There at least one fact is predominant, the refinement or rather the expansion of the art of enamelled pottery; it is the invasion of the humble workshop of the "boccalajo" by artists versed in the elevated style of painting. In France, a new ornamentation was gradually in- troduced upon the ordinary potteries ; and the same men must have applied on the same materials, to-day the decoration practised by their ancestors; to-morrowthat which was destined to illustrate their children. This is to be explained. The Italian Renaissance was an almost forced event; new societies risen up from the intestine commotions of the Middle Ages, sought to establish themselves by strength and intelligence ; they remembered the ancient glory of their country, and the excavated earth rendered up to them after centuries the long admired masterpieces of art. Impelled by a like enthusiasm the great encouraged research, and the learned examined manuscripts buried in the cloisters, in order to find in them the history of that enlightened epoch which had left such imposing traces of its existence. In France, the echo of this great movement reached only through the din of arms. Charles VIII. had taken Rome and Naples, and opened a road which Louis XII. and Francis I. subsequently followed. After alternate successes and reverses, Pavia closed to the French the barrier of the Alps. But in the contact with the strong races of the Medici, Montefeltri, Rovere and Malatesta, at the sight of these Italian cities furnished with objects of every description of art, the taste of the French warriors was awakened. They carried back to their country aspirations for progress, a fertile germ more than sufficient to raise the emulation of the artisans. Some types introduced in the baggage, a suit of armour from Milan, a vase from Chaffagiolo, an enamel from Venice, it required no more to awaken the idea. Then upon the green glazed wares on which the potters of Saintes, Beauvais, Sadirac and Rennes were wont to impress their Gothic ornaments, religious REN A ISSA NCE.—FRA NCE. 315 seals and moral devices ; we soon see appear acanthus scrolls, antique masks, arabesques and interlacings of supreme elegance. And as if the new thought had been communicated with the rapidity of the electric flash, it disclosed itself everywhere at the same time ; but only in applying itself to the forms, without substituting enamelled faience for their own simple glazed wares. It would even appear there was between the known processes and the new inventions a strife the more fierce and more prolonged, inasmuch as in the eyes of French artisans, majolica was a foreign importation brought in to the detriment of a material they had so long known how to decorate by means of their own ingenious processes. What difference is there in fact, except for the technica of the art, between certain Italian vases in relief and the ingenious products of Normandy and Beauvoisis, where green, a warm brown and the earth of the " engobe " balance themselves in masses judiciously poised, as may be seen in the puzzle jug (pot a surprise) of the Louvre (Tig. 88), and in a host of other products with which we shall occupy ourselves more when studying the works of Palissy ? It is therefore very difficult, we repeat, to determine the date and origin of many of the glazed wares of the Renaissance. to PUZZLE VASE. — MUSEUM OF THE By an attentive comparison and bringing louvre. together certain pieces ranged in succession, we have been able to fix the leading characters of certain workshops. The wares glazed in pale green, of a perfectly uniform tone, proceed from the manufactories of Beauvoisis, and succeed each other from the Middle Ages to the period of Louis XIII. without other change than the style, as is shown by a charming perforated night lamp (veilleuse a jour) with the figures reposing side by side on the same bed. The vases of a bright green, jaspered with little flames of a deeper tint, come from the West, that is, from Saintes, la Chapelle-des-Pots, or Rennes. A piece exhibited at Rennes, by Dr. Aussant, when showing us the characters of the workmanship of this locality, furnished us also with a date and a monogram. The application of this specimen is curious; it is a kind of twisted handled basket, used to present the consecrated bread to the faithful. The back of the basket, which is slightly raised, represents the Last Supper; the front, lower and arched, is adorned with angel's heads and roses ; behind are inscribed the date and the monogram, 1593. H.B. This work is closely allied to the HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. sealed vases ornamented with the ermine arms and has an evident relation with the works of Poitou. By what signs are we to recognise the pottery of Sadirac, near Bordeaux, the importance of which is established by authentic documents ? In 1520, two ceramic artists worked there, Pey Boneau and Papon, and furnished the greater part of the consumption of Bordeaux, for, in 1521, Philippe Petit, dealer in that city, bought at Sadirac : " six gross of green pottery (potherie de verderie) good and saleable, as chafing pans (chauffetes) dishes, bowls and other works " at the price of eight bordelais francs for the whole. Each of these pieces then cost, without duty, about seven sols, equivalent to nearly ten francs. We have spoken of the difficulties of assigning a precise date to the French wares of the Renaissance, of which the following is a proof. There Fig 89. HUNTING FLASK OF JASPERED EARTH, WITH THE MONTMORENCY ARMS. — > MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE. are at the Louvre and at the Chateau de Brienne, the residence of the prince de Bauffremont-Courtenay, two hunting flasks glazed in green and diapered with little flames of a deeper shade (Fig. 89). Upon the body is in relief the Montmorency escutcheon, or, a cross gules, cantoned with sixteen alerions azure ; round it, the collar of S. Michael and on each side set in pale, the Constable's sword supported by a mailed arm and the motto of his house A.PLANOS. "Without change or shadow of turning. " These are the arms and emblems of the celebrated Anne REN A ISSA NCE.—FRA NCE. 3i7 de Montmorency, named constable in 1538. A mask of Italian style, and rayonnated suns complete the decoration of this curious sealed earthenware. Now, if we seek its date, we should find it between 1554 ; epoch of the disgrace of the constable and of his sojourn in Poitou, and 1563, moment when the wars of religion replaced him at the head of the army. It hence becomes probable that the piece has come out of the workshops of the west, at the precise period when the efforts of Palissy, seconded by Montmorency himself, were directed to the substituting enamelled faience for the lead glazed earthenware. But, it is not in France alone that we see this conflict between the two products ; at Nuremberg, the green pottery in relief which may be recognised by its bright uniform and deep glaze, like an enamel upon metal, continued to be made even when polychrome colours were in full fashion. But let that pass, there is an historic question to approach, of much more importance, that is, the direct part the Italian majolica artists took in the transformation of the French taste at the time of the Renaissance. As soon as the rumour of the discovery of the tin enamel had reached France, Italian artists hastened to seek their fortunes by founding new workshops. From 1494 to 1502, a certain Jerome Solobrin settled at Amboise , brother no doubt of Leochadius Solobrinus of Forli, of whom we possess a signed work. At Lyons, under Henry III. Jehan Francisque, of Pesaro, Julien Gambyn, of Faenza, and Sebastian Griffo, of Genoa, made majolica. In 1588, Jehan Ferro, of the Altare in Montserrat, opens at Nantes a manufactory of white ware ; Jacques and Loys Ridolfi, of Chaffagiolo found in 1509, a faiencerie at Machecoul ; lastly at le Croisic, it is again an Italian, Horacio Borniola, who takes up the workshop of the potter Gerard Demigennes. This curious immigration, mentioned by Messrs. Benjamin Fillon and Laferriere Percy, might lead to the supposition that a prompt and complete trans- formation had operated itself in the French industry. What could oppose to the invading torrent, in 1547, Jacques Regnier; in 1552, Regnault and Jehan Potier; in 1595, the widow Huguet, these makers of terraglia, inhabitants of Troyes ? Abraham Valloyre, established at Fontenay-le-Comte in 1581, and even Palissy himself, had they the strength to resist this new fashion, and the passion with which the great were carried away for Italian majolica ? Yet, such is in France the vitality of national ideas that the taste for foreign vases was a passing fashion, a luxury of the collector; the foreign artists quickly gave in to French manners, and modified so com- 3i8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. pletely their processes, that now historians, as well as curiosity seekers, have difficulty in discovering the evidence of their passage. Besides, with that pliancy which is one of the characteristics of their national character, the French artists did not wait for the introduction of the foreign secrets, they went before them. We know that, for a long time, special writers have desired to ascribe to Italy, the remarkable paving of the chateau of Ecouen ; they attributed them sometimes to a member of the Delia Eobbia family ; at others to a fugitive from the majolica manufactories; they were even assigned to Bernard Palissy, although there was no question as to their origin ; for among the arabesques is inscribed this indication, A ROTJEN-1542. M. Andre - Potier was the first to bring together, with this mention, the name Macutus Abaquesne Figulus, cited in the ' Chronologie de l'illustre ville de Rouen.' Now, thanks to the discoveries of M. E. Gosselin, we are able to appreciate the importance of the manufactory of Rouen, and of the works executed for the Constable, from the following document : "Masseot Abaquesne, enameller in earth, living in the parish of Notre Dame de Sotteville-lez-Rouen, acknowledges hereby having had and received in cash of Master Andre* Rageau, notary and secretary of the king, receiver of his excise and taxes in the city of Rouen, the sum of one hundred golden crowns of the sun. Upon and so much diminishing or lessening the price and sums due in what the said Abaquesne states to have reduced to the high and mighty Seigneur Messire the Constable, grand master of France, for a certain number of tiles of enamelled earth, which the said Abaquesne had agreed and obliged himself to make for the same Constable, with which sum of one hundred golden crowns of the sun the same Abaquesne had held himself satisfied, and has discharged the Sieur Constable, the said receiver and all others ; present Marion Durand, wife of the said Abaquesne, and Laurens Abaquesne, son of the aforesaid Masseot and of the said Marion, affirming to be of the age of 21 years and more, as it has been attested by the said father and mother, the which after the said wife has authorised them for this end, have submitted themselves to the said Sieur receiver, who, by reason of the said sum thus received by the said Abaquesne, this receiver having made no damage or inconvenience, and this sum in case as above stated, have pledged and guaranteed the said Masseot, andhave constituted themselves pledges, payers, accountable debtors and renderers with him together, and one alone for all without division, and it is to be known that they release to this end of the said sum of one hundred golden crowns of RENAISSANCE.— FRANCE. 319 the sun received by the said Masseot before this day, and security for him contracted this sum of Guillaume de Liez as it appears by the said letter of security for this sum of one hundred crowns of gold of the sun ; passed before the notaries of Rouen, Wednesday 20th day of February last, the which and this present are only valued for one only, and by this holding obliges Masseot and witnesses, to give as security all their goods." Thus signed, " M. Abaquesne, the cross of Marion Durand, and a shield, mark of Laurens Abaquesne." This discharge is dated Thursday, seventh day of March, 1548, and it proves the price which the Constable, great appreciator of works of art, attached to the works of the Norman potter. Besides, the reputation of Abaquesne was made at the time he was working for the Constable ; in 1535 he had decorated a " salle fa'iencee " at the hotel de ville of Havre, known as the " Logis du Roi," and one knows in the manor house of Bevilliers, near Harfleur, a pavement almost similar, inscribed 1536. His reputation was not confined to the making of wall tiles, the documents published by M. Gosselin, show the potter charged in 1543 or 1545, with the making of 346 dozens of pots " in enamelled earth " for the use of apothecaries. These pharmacy vases then were of the wares in common use, the plates and dishes on the table being still generally of pewter. The making of these numerous pots did not prevent the continuation of the tiles; in 1553, Abaquesne had occasion to absent himself from Rouen, and he leaves to his wife authority to pursue his debtors, but at the same time, he borrows forty livres which he requires for the tiles he is engaged to give in and furnish to decorate the doorways and other buildings of Messire the constable of France. Shortly afterwards, he extends his relations; the 22 September 1557, he gives a receipt to Andre Rageau, secretary of the finances of the king, for 559 livres tournois for the making and furnishing of a certain number of enamelled tiles, that he had formerly engaged to make and complete for the Sieur Durfe, as governor of Monseigneur the Dauphin (later Francis II.) according to the portraits and devices that the said Durfe had given over to him for that purpose, in this is comprised twelve livres tournois to reimburse him of a similar sum he has paid for the making of wooden boxes and for mats, into which the said tiles have been packed. In what constructions were these wall tiles employed ? is it at Madrid, this Chateau de la faience, as Philibert Delorme ironically styled it ? In 1557, it was precisely Delorme who directed the works, and it is 320 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. not impassible he may have allowed the employment of the enamelled wares, at least for pavements. Since this period, we find no further mention of Abaquesne in the archives of Rouen, but we see that he had successors and that his art did not perish with him ; here, for instance, is an act passed by his widow in presence of the notaries of Rouen : " Present Marion Durand, widow of the deceased Masseot Abaquesne, in his lifetime enameller of earth, living in the parish of Saint Pierre du Chastel de Rouen, who of her own wish has submitted and bound herself, and by these presents submits and binds herself before the noble man, Maistre Bernabe' Barat, special lieutenant to the King, in the county and bailiwick of Montfort Lamaury, present in the name and as attorney and covenanting for the reverend father in God, Messire Martin de Beauluc (or de Beaulieu) abbot of Coullomby and of Vallasse, master of requests in ordinary to the King, our Sire, and Chancellor of the Queen mother of the King, promising that the said lord abbot will be agreeable to these presents and which he will ratify all times. " To furnish (they had first written ' furnish ' but added ' make and furnish ') to the said abbot within the day and fete of St. John the Baptist next coming, in this city of Rouen, the number and quantity of four thousand tiles enamelled in the colours blue, white, yellow and green, good, loyal and saleable goods, all containing in each way three inches exactly and according to the picture the said Durand has given into the hands of the said Sieur Barat, among which pictures, is figured a tile with four peacocks in square, (en carre) in which is also two XX crossed, and an F in the middle, and round the said tile four other tiles joining to that of the middle in the form of lozenges, which picture has been at this time marked (paraphe) by the said notaries. This submis- sion and obligation thus made in consideration of the price and sum of thirty-six livres for each thousand of the said tiles, upon which the said Barat has presently paid in advance to the said widow in current coin, the sum of eighteen livres for a half-thousand of the said tiles. And besides, the aforesaid Sieur Barat has promised to pay and advance to the said widow, namely, a similar sum of eighteen livres for each half thousand of tiles, until the end of the total payment ; and also that the said widow gives over to the said Barat half a thousand of the aforesaid tiles until the whole and entire delivery of this number of four thousand tiles." " Signed, the cross of the widow Abaquesne and Barat." Abaquesne, it is to be remembered, had his workshop at Sotteville- RENAISSANCE.— FRANCE. 321 les-Rouen, although he lived in the city itself, parish of St. Vincent ; his widow remained in the parish of Saint Pierre du Chastel; Lorenzo, his son, had formed another establishment in the parish of Saint Pierre l'Honore, where without doubt he continued the exercise of his art, although the archives preserve no document to prove it. So much for Rouen ; elsewhere the movement was the same ; at Narbonne, Baron Charles Davillier was almost witness to the discovery of a furnace for golden pottery upon the elevation called " lou Moulinasses " (the Mills) ; may one suppose that the Moors, refugees from Spanish persecution, would have tried to found there their industry ? It is much more probable that it is a question of a national creation, having for object to compete against the introduction, then so consider- able in France, of the works of Manises. In Poitou, one often meets with fragments of those pharmacy vases, beaker shaped, a little compressed in the middle, which the Italians call " albarelli ; " some are ornamented with parsley leaves of metallic lustre, which are very likely of Italian or Moorish origin, many others less fine and simply decorated in blue, green and violet brown, appear to have been of local fabrication, as M. Benjamin Fillon had expressed the opinion before authentic documents changed his assumption into certainty. Thus, as soon as the movement produced by this discovery of the tin enamel showed itself in France, the potters set to the work and were ready at the same time as the artists arrived from Italy to form a school. As to the " istoriato " works which we may suppose were those of Amboise and Lyons, amateurs scarcely dare to seek these rare specimens among the anonymous potteries, departing from the ordinary form of Italian majolica. M. Alfred Darcel is the first who has faced the difficulty in his ' Catalogue des faiences peintes du musee du Louvre.' Classing among the national objects, a certain number of pieces of a same service, long possessed by the museum, he gives this curious description of it : " These pieces show all the characters of the Italian faience of the second half of the sixteenth century, but are marked by a certain hardness of colouring, by a certain air of relation- ship in the heads, by a certain search after the real in the painting of the buildings in pieces where they are represented, and by the use of a particular yellow to lighten up their facades ; lastly French inscriptions traced on the back in black bistre, often bubbled (bouillonne's) by fire, explain the subject represented ; this French writing is nevertheless Italian by its form, such as foreign workmen established some time in France would write." Y 322 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. In a luminous discussion on the work of the Comte de Lafferiere- Percy upon the manufactories of Lyons, M. Darcel establishes that Sebastian Griffo, a Genoese, created in 1555-56, the " new faience in this town and in the kingdom of France ; " that Jehan Francisque of Pesaro will have set up his about 1558-60, and lastly that Julien Gambyn and Domenge Tardessir, natives of Faenza, have worked between 1574 and 1588, after the fashion of Venice. Hence the author concludes that the service with French inscriptions, decorated in the style of the Urbino majolica, must have proceeded from the hands of Jehan-Fran- cisque of Pesaro, who had made his fortune in exercising his art at the moment he was seeking to prevent the two Faentins from entering into competition with him. We willingly admit this theory, there exists in commerce a good number of undetermined majolicas, neglected perhaps, because they offer neither perfection of design, nor harmony of colour ; and which must be the work of the other Italians who came to France. Upon certain plates, a bright red destructive of all harmony by its very vigour, is an evident sign of the processes of Chaffagiolo ; others modelled in blue, and rather illuminated than painted, announce Faentine influence. The weakness of these products one can comprehend, for the Italian exiles were not the skilful artists, but the inferior hands of the cele- brated workshops ; therefore, their feeble attempts at historic decoration were quickly obliterated. The majolica protected by the Italian princes, furnishing " vasi'da pompa," destined to the ornamentation of the tables and dressoirs, had its success assured ; but in France, with its democratic tendency, where industry could only subsist by satisfying the wants of the public, painted faience would perish or change its condition ; it modified itself in the hands even of those who had imported it. So the question has changed ground; it is no longer towards pretended imitators that we must turn our eyes to seek the origin of our modern pottery ; a more interesting spectacle calls for the investi- gation of the historian, the struggle is no longer confined within the narrow circle of the interests of a few men, the struggle is that of ideas. And if, in the conflict of a moment, between national works and those of the foreigner, between glazed earth and enamelled faience, we at last see a school arise and definitively establish itself ; there are neither conquerors nor conquered, but a fact of moral order; the inevitable obedience to satisfying the new wants of the masses. RENAISSA NCE.— FRANCE. — PALIS S Y. 323 A. — Bernard Palissy. One imposing figure commands the French ceramics of the sixteenth century; that is Bernard Palissy. Exalted at first to excess, later disparaged, this great man demands to be seriously studied, in order to resume his true place ; it is glorious in every point of view, for to our idea, Bernard is not only an inventor, but also the eloquent personifi- cation of the French taste. One may in vain seek, even after his own confessions, to what works he owes his inspirations, and what con- temporary writings impelled him to the imitation of the lowest beings of creation, he will always remain the judicious observer, the indefatig- able enquirer, who has desired to find around him the material and model of his works, and who, disdaining to appropriate to himself the ideas put in fashion by the vulgar leaning to all that is foreign, knew how to make a new pottery without borrowing of others. Some of his biographers place his birth in 1506 or 1510, at la Chapelle-Biron, in Perigord; by his language, M. B. Fillon declares he is of Saintonge. What is certain is, that the banks of the Charente were witnesses of his labours, his miseries, and his triumphs. The son of an artisan, his education was limited, simply the notions indispensable for the education of a common workman. Early given over to the work of the glazier, which comprised the preparation, the arranging of glass windows, and the painting upon glass, properly so called, he felt the instincts of the artist develop within himself, and while painting "images" for his subsistence, he studied the masters of the great Italian school, and exercised himself at the same time in geometry. His laborious disposition made him soon find the career offered 'to him by his native country too confined ; he embraced the wandering life of the artisans of his time, and directed his steps first towards the Pyrenees. After a stay at Tarbes, he went through the provinces of the South and the East, visited Lower Germany, Luxemburg, Flanders, the Low Countries, and the Ardennes. In these various courses, he observed much, and the great book of nature revealed to him secrets he had in vain searched elsewhere. "Science manifests herself to him who seeks her, he recognises it, and it is in dissecting during forty years, the matrix of the earth," that he rises above the ideas and knowledge of his century. When, later, this extraordinary man put in various writings the results of his researches ; by dint of Y 2 324 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. rectitude of mind and true simplicity of style, he arrived at making of his book a model of persuasive eloquence. Inventor in the sciences as well as in art, we owe to him the first elements of geological study ; and we are surprised to find in his simple pages, the best system of agriculture, the theory of artesian wells and of the expansive force of steam. But let us leave the writer, the naturalist, the natural philosopher, to occupy ourselves with the potter. Bernard Palissy had finished his travels in 1539, when he returned to establish himself at Saintes, where he married, living on the produce of his works as glassmaker, and some operations in land-measuring. His vocation manifested itself by the most singular chance. " Know," says he to Theorique, " that an earthen cup was shown to me, turned and enamelled, of such beauty, that thenceforth I entered into dispute with my own thoughts, bringing to my memory several jesting proposals that some had made me, when I was painting images. Now, seeing they were beginning to give them up in the country where I lived, and also that glazing was not in great request, I thought that if I could discover the invention of making enamels, I should be able to make vessels of earth and other things of beautiful arrangement, because Heaven had given me to understand something of painting ; and thenceforth without considering that I had no knowledge of argillaceous earth, I set about seeking enamels like a man who gropes in the dark." Ceramic writers have all been curious to know which could have been the work that had put the painter-artist "in dispute with his thoughts." Some have thought it an Oriental porcelain, others an early German faience, the Nuremberg pottery bearing a certain resem- blance to that of Palissy. M. B. Fillon, after having advanced that the piece in question was one of the products of Oiron, goes from this opinion and is convinced that it refers to a piece in relief, and of the white enamel of Ferrara. Antoine de Pons departed in 1533 for this duchy, where he went to marry Anne de Parthenay, daughter of the duchess dowager of Soubise, Michelle de Saubonne, first lady of honour of Renee of France, wife of Hercules of Este. He returned in 1539, and became the protector of Palissy, whom he had previously known. It is probable that among the presents offered to the bride, and among the curiosities brought back by her husband would be majolica, then so esteemed, and the product of the botega of the duke of Este ; and equally so that Palissy may have admired them. Another circumstance confirms M. Fillon in the conclusion that the potter of Saintes derived RENAISSANCE.— FRANCE. —PALISS Y. 325 his inspirations from Italian faience. Towards the beginning of the year 1543, at the time Francis I. was at la Rochelle, some corsairs of that city took a Spanish vessel laden with pottery. " There was in it a great quantity of earthenware of Valencia, and several cups of Venice. The king commanded they should be brought to him, which being done, to the amount of several large chests full, he gave some to the ladies of his court, and for the great beauty he found in them, retained the whole of the said ware for himself." Here then is our artist attached unremittingly to his labours, grinding endless materials, building furnaces, firing at great expense potsherds coated or overlaid with substances, which, under these conditions, could neither equally fuse at the given time, nor serve as solid bases to subsequent experiments. Attempts no less fruitless made in the ovens of the potters of la Chapelle-des-Pots, rendered Palissy indifferent (en non chaloir) to seek any longer the secret of enamels. In 1543, the salt-tax had just been established in Saintonge, and the commissaries employed Palissy to map the islands and districts bordering on the salt marshes of the country. This mission gave him some repose, and having brought him in money encouraged him to resume his re- searches. This time the idea came into his head to take his enamels to the furnaces of the glass-makers, and a beginning of fusion proved to him he was in the right path. " Heaven willed so," said he, " that thus I began to take courage . . . one of the trial pieces was melted in four hours after having been put into the furnace, and came out white and polished, so that it caused me so much joy, I thought myself become a new creature." He then began to construct an oven of the same form as those of the glassmakers, himself carrying the bricks, drawing the water, mixing the mortar, doing mason's work, accomplishing by himself more labour than three workmen. The furnace having been constructed, and the earths prepared, it was necessary for more than a month, night and day to grind the materials to produce the white enamel ; this time the flux was wanting, and a firing of six days and six nights did not end in glazing the pieces. In despair, Palissy began again grinding without letting the furnace cool ; he breaks pots, prepares trial pieces, but wood fails him. " I was obliged," he writes, " to burn the props which supported the trees of my garden, which, being burned, I was obliged to burn the tables and floors of my house to make the second composition melt ; I was in an agony that I cannot describe, for I was all dried up and parched from the work, and the heat of the furnace. My shirt had not been dry 326 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. for more than a month, and also to console me they laughed at me, and even those who ought to have helped me, went crying about the town that I was burning my floor ; and by these means made me lose my credit, and they thought me mad." After having rested for some time meditating on his slender resources, and on the time necessary to prepare a new furnace, Palissy engaged the help of a common potter, and fed him on credit at a tavern, but at the end of six months he was obliged to dismiss him, giving him his clothes by way of salary. After almost supernatural labour, he succeeded in reconstructing his furnace, put in his pieces, and increased the fire ; but new misfortunes awaited him. " The mortar with which I had built my oven was full of pebbles, which, feeling the vehemence of the fire when my enamels began to liquefy, split themselves in several pieces, making noises in the oven. Now, as the splinters of the said pebbles flew about against my work, the enamels which had already liquefied and been reduced to a sticky matter, took these said pebbles, and they attached themselves in every part of my vases and medallions, which without that would have been thought beautiful." He showed this new damage to his creditors, who had hastened in the hope of obtaining payment in goods, and who even wished to obtain at a low price the pieces least injured ; but, adds he, "because this would have been a discredit and lowering of my honour, I broke to pieces the whole of the said batch, and laid myself down for melancholy, not without cause, for I had no longer the means of sup- porting my family. I met with nothing in my house but reproaches, and instead of consolations I only received maledictions." Revived by his rare energy, after a short time, Palissy resumed his labours ; this time the ashes produced an effect no less disastrous than the pebbles. He invented seggars which protected him against the recurrence of similar accidents, but his furnaces heated unequally, the enamels, fusible at different temperatures, were never all perfect on the same piece. After having thus battled for the space of fifteen or sixteen years, he succeeded in making some enamels, mixed after the manner of jasper, which procured him the means to attempt rustic pieces. Before arriving at complete success, he had yet to support such severe grief, that " he thought," as he relates, " of entering the door of the sepulchre." But the enamels were discovered, the rustic pottery, " rustiques figulines " invented, and the protectors of the savant and the artist, had only to produce him and place him at shelter from the per- secutions he had to endure, as one of the most zealous promoters of the Reformed religion at Saintonge. RENAISSANCE.— FRANCE.— PALISS Y. Palissy had adopted with enthusiasm the new ideas, he even owed, it must be said, his connection with some of his eminent pro- tectors, to their common attempt to spread and secure the Protestant faith, in spite of the resistance of the Catholics. Poitou and Saintonge, stained with the blood of religious dissension, were far from offering to the artist and inventor the repose necessary for the development of his daily experiments ; but it was^ known that Palissy worked usefully for his country, and his workshop was declared inviolate. Yet the moment arrived in which the belligerents rushed upon his asylum, Palissy him- self was arrested, threatened with condemnation as a heretic, and placed within an inch of his ruin. The Constable Montmorency obtained from the king an order to set him free, and gave him through Catherine de Medicis the title of " Inventor of rustic potteries (rustiques figurines) to the King and Queen Mother ; " he thus found himself withdrawn from ordinary jurisdictions. In order better to escape the persecutions of fanaticism, he first left Saintes for la Rochelle, and at length fixed him- self at Paris, where his greatest and most legitimate success awaited him. Let us now turn from the biography of the potter to the considera- tion of his works. It appears from his writings that his constant pre- occupation was the search after white enamel, which he first used to cover the pieces ornamented with medallions in relief. M. Benjamin Fillon remarks that potteries of this style were made at la Chapelle-des- Pots, and that it is by the help of this workshop, that Palissy produced his first attempts, which are now lost. His second pottery was those of the jasper glaze, which enabled him to subsist "tellement quellement" while he pursued his researches; we know the jaspers, and their effect was sufficiently attractive for them to find favour, hanaps in relief, dishes with little wells (a salieres) and ornamental borders, show us a mixture of warm tints, brown, white, blue, thrown in splashes largely and equally incorporated into each other (grassement parfondu) and undefined in form, which admits of distinguishing the works of Palissy from the dry, cold jaspers of other potters. The third style, quite special to the potter of Saintes, is that rustic pottery (rustiques figulines) to which he owed his reputation and his claims to the protection of the powerful. These rustics, which every one has seen, are dishes or vases where upon a rough ground, strewn with fossil shells, lizards and salamanders are running, frogs jumping, snakes crawling or sleeping, or more still, in a streamlet of water wriggling eels, 328 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC' ART. pointed nosed pikes, trout with spotted scales, and a thousand others of our fresh water fishes are swimming (Fig. 90). M. B. Fillon considers, and it may be possible, that the idea of the rustic pottery was suggested to Palissy by a book which had in its time a great reputation, called the ' Songe de Polyphile.' It contains passages which would seem to forestall the compositions of the master. " The pavement of the ground underneath the water was of mosaic com- posed of little, fine stones in which were shown all sorts of fishes. The water was so clear that in looking at it, you would judge these fish to move and wriggle along the edge where they were pourtrayed to the life, viz., carp, pike, eels, tench, lampreys, shads, perch, turbots, soles, rays, Fig. 90. PALISSY DISH, REPTILES AND ORNAMENTS. — COLL. BARON G. DE ROTHSCHILD. trout, salmon, mullet, plaice, crayfish, and an infinity of others, which appeared to stir at the movement of the water, so nearly it approached the work of nature. Then there was a little space, and afterwards another curtain of leaves and flowers, more pretty than the first, diver- sified by all sorts of colours, and by all manner of beasts, plants, herbs and flowers. A vine filled the whole concavity of the vault with beautiful knots and twisted branches, leaves and grapes, among which were placed little children as if to gather them, and birds flying round, with lizards and small snakes moulded after nature. These are just the grottoes that Palissy desired to scatter in the picturesque gardens of his dreams, those grottoes which he executed RENAISSANCE.— FRANCE.— PALISS Y. 329 at the Chateau of Ecouen for the Constable de Montmorency, and at the Tuileries for the Queen Mother. We know nothing about them except what he has written, but his other works with reptiles may give an adequate idea of what they were. At any rate, from the first conception to the execution there is a wide distance ; and what would prove the estimation in which the invention of Paiissy was held, is the reputation it brought to him and which fur- nished to the obscure potter of Saintes, the opportunity of displaying his talents at Paris. Those who would wish to lessen the glory of Paiissy, assert that these rustic pieces had no influence upon the general taste, and that we see no imitation of them in any other branch of art. The Louvre alone bears witness to the contrary ; an admired piece of goldsmith's work is entirely inspired by the rustic pottery, and the " bestioles " are imitated with marvellous talent. But if the goldsmith adopted the rustic style, one can understand why the greater part of his works have disappeared ; such is the fate of precious materials — things without intrinsic value alone can be preserved. When he arrived in the capital, Paiissy found himself as potter and savant in relation with all the celebrities of his age ; he saw the masterpieces of art, all that taste and fashion could assemble round the Sovereign and his Court. This must have acted powerfully on an imagination such as his. It did not appear to him that he should give up his rustic compositions, he desired to mix with them the human figure, and place his pottery in a road comformable with that of other industrial arts. This new phase of his talent manifests itself in the Louvre, by an admirable Magdalen kneeling in the midst of shells and wild plants, and by the composition of Charity, framed round with fossils, symmetrically disposed. True, it has been asserted that these works were not by Paiissy, and the name of Barthelemi Prieur, gathered from a list of the hearers of his lectures on geology, has sufficed to advance that the chisel of the celebrated sculptor had modelled the Magdalen. No, Paiissy never borrowed the assistance of another without admitting it. The works of Prieur, Germain Pilon, and Jean Goujon especially, have had a manifest influence over him, but this man who had " pourtrait " all his life, was not for that reason reduced to the simple part of moulder of " bestioles " or of reproducing the works of another. There is an identity of style in all his figures and compositions which may be attributed to him ; such as the Diana, Plenty, and so many others framed round with delicate and ingenious ornaments drawn in the taste 33° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. of the period. Fragments of them have, besides, been found in the rubbish of his furnace in the Tuileries. With respect to the ornamented dish, with compartments relieved by subjects evidently moulded upon the pewter piece, known by everybody and attributed to Francois Briot, whose signature and portrait it bears, we do not think we can assign it to the worker in pewter. It is not likely he would have set up a ceramic workshop, to bring out from it some trial pieces of one solitary model. It appears more natural to think there had been an understanding between the two artists, and that PALISSY JUG, ORNAMENTS AND FIGURES. — COLL. BARON GUSTAVE DE ROTHSCHILD. Palissy to satisfy some caprice, has clothed with enamelled colours a work already remarkable for its composition alone. Though we find on one of these pieces the monogram F. B., we see in it only one proof more of the probity of Palissy, whose intention it could not have been to appro- priate to himself the work of another. Generally speaking, the dishes reproduced of Briot have all the characters of the enamels and earth of the potter of the Tuileries. Certainly, Palissy had imitators, pupils perhaps, as we have been the first to say. While he worked in his obscure shop unknown, miserable, and persecuted, other potters employed with success the tin or lead glaze, to coat faiences in relief ; Normandy in particular, placed upon her wooden gables spikes (epis) whose elegant form, and well applied colours REN A ISSANCE.— FRANCE.— PALIS S V. 33i relieved a picturesque architecture; other pieces of ridging formed upon the roofs a kind of animated crest, which appeared more brilliant still, against the tiles made brown by moss and mould. In the department of the Eure, Infreville, Armentieres, Chatel-la-Lune, and Malicorne, united this fabrication to that of glazed earths; but it is more particularly in Calvados, at Manerbe and especially at Pre'-d'Auge, that the faiences in relief attained a perfection approaching the works of Palissy ; some spikes belonging to M. d'Yvon, and MM. de Rothschild are distinguished by their studied and graceful composition ; cherubs, cleverly modelled, project towards the base ; shafts finely jaspered, relieved with white rosettes in half relief, supporting oval vases sur- rounded by draperies ; stems with foliage, knots superposing each other to raise to the pinnacle the pelican surrounded by her little ones, symbolic terminal of the greater part of these capricious conceptions. What strikes in the whole, is a sound workmanship, a perfect knowledge of enamels, and harmonious agreement of colour. Doubtless, the productions of Pre-d'Auge date at least from the sixteenth century, many are contemporary with the researches of Palissy, to whom they were first attributed, and they continued to the seven- teenth century. We have rejected once for all the idea there could have been imitation between the works issued almost simultaneously from very distant localities. The most we would admit is that the Norman artists had applied themselves to plaster casting, after having seen the subject pieces executed by the master of Poitou during his resi- dence at Paris. What would give credence to this supposition is a fine dish belonging to Baron Gustave de Rothschild, of which the central medallion representing the Virgin and the Infant Jesus surrounded by a rosary, is modelled with exquisite delicacy and taste, and we find in the circumference some of the applied ornaments used upon the spikes. The same subject, smaller, surrounded by a flatter border and of posterior date to the first, has been confounded with what they called the works of the successors of Palissy. What permits one at first sight to distinguish the works of Pre'-d'Auge from those of Palissy, is that in the first the enamels are colder, laid on with hardness and less glazed ; wherever one meets with jasper, the spots are small, confined (arrets) not melted in ; we have ascertained this character even in the ground of the fine oval dish, ornamented in the centre with bas-reliefs representing the Virgin and the Infant Jesus. The application of pottery to buildings was probably widely spread in the sixteenth century, for Malicorne and Pontvalain in Sarthe also 332 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. fabricated spikes; but there the former are less pure, the enamels less finished ; it is only a transformation of the old glazed wares. We have seen the top of a door composed of a globe surmounted by a crescent, and appearing to belong to the periotl of Henry II. ; the dead blue enamel was neither that of Palissy, nor those that Pre'-d'Auge and Manerbe spread upon their faiences. But this almost universality of the application of the stanniferous glaze upon French potteries in relief sufficiently proves what we advanced in the beginning ; that Bernard Palissy remained French in all his compositions, and that one cannot detect in any of his works the processes or the taste of the Italian or German school. We see even from his writings what care he took to secure his future reputation by destroying, among his first attempts, every piece that had any blemish whatever. It is a first indication to distinguish his works from a host of rude outlines too long attributed to him. The earth of his dishes is always excessively hard, compact, sonorous, pinkish white rather than red, and the colours adhere to it perfectly, without any appreciable thickness, preserving a remarkable warmth and unctuous- ness ; these indications are those of the firing at a very high tempera- ture ; the reliefs are modelled with infinite care, without hardness, and so well united, that one never sees the joinings of the different stamps (poincons) repeated in a composition. Palissy appears never to have signed his works, and that may be conceived ; as inventor he had no occasion to distinguish his produc- tions from analogous pottery of the existence of which he was ignorant. From the moment he went to Paris and became artist to the Court, he executed the orders of the King and of the Queen Mother, and may, after the example of the Limoges enamellers, have affixed the official stamp of the fleur de lis upon certain pieces ; yet the examples cited are so rare, that we must look at them as exceptions rather than as a rule. Yet one remarks, as a proof of what we have said above, that the fleur de lis marks the bas relief of " Water " (Coll. Fountaine) the dish of " Plenty " (Coll. Rattier) a rustic basin and dish in the Louvre (No. 862. Coll. Sauvaegeot). These then are types of the style and make of the master in figures, rustics, and ornaments, and it is easy to compare them with other pieces in museums and private collections. Did Palissy ever execute detached figures ? Some have been attributed to him, specially the Nurse, although the costume indicates a later date than all the certified works of the master. Accord- ing to us, one piece alone of mixed style, the beautiful female head RENAISSANCE.— FRANCE.— PALISS Y. 333 applied upon a medallion, the flesh left in the biscuit state (Museum of the Louvre) can be restored to the author of the Rustiques Figulines. As regards the Nurse, an example signed proves a special origin ; we find on it two B.'s graved in the paste, which letters also occur on other works of secondary merit, as the group of the Samaritan woman at the well, two dogs without character or style, and lastly on a snail in the Museum of Sevres. We also know that a manufactory at Avon, near Fontainebleau, furnished about 1608, sealed potteries, and especially a Nurse, and some small animals. This is what Herouard, physician to the Dauphin (Louis XIII.), says in his manuscript journal : " The 24th April 1608, the Duchesse de Montpensier came to Fon- tainebleau to see the little Duke of Orleans, second son of Henry IV., and brought with her her daughter, a girl about three years old. The little prince kissed her and gave her a little nurse in pottery which he was holding. "Wednesday 8th of May, 1608, the Dauphin being at Fontainebleau, the Princesse de Conti was to dance a ballet at the Queen's, and then go to the chamber of the Dauphin. It is proposed to him to prepare a small collation with the little pieces he had bought at the pottery, and he consents. After the ballet, which is danced at half-past nine in the evening, the Dauphin leads Madame de Guise to his collation, they are followed by all those who had danced in the ballet, with laughter and exclamations; there were dogs, foxes, badgers, oxen, cows, squirrels, angels playing the bagpipe and flute, hurdy gurdy players, dogs lying down, sheep, a larger dog in the middle of the table, a dolphin at the upper end, and a capucin friar at the lower." We recognise by this description a crowd of pieces attributed to Palissy, and those especially marked with the two B.'s. Palissy had then, it must be admitted, imitators as well as pupils. M. Riocreux and ourselves have first published the deed establishing that Nicholas and Mathurin Palissis, doubtless nephews of the master, contributed with him in the decoration of the grottoes of the Tuileries ; the Marquis de Laborde, in the list of the domestic officers of the king from 1599 to 1609, has met with three enamellers upon earth, Jehan Chipault and his son, and Jehan Biot, called Mercure. L'Etoile relates in his Journal that Friday, 5th of January 1607, "Fonteny had given him for New Year's gift, a dish of chestnuts of his making, in a little earthenware dish so well made, that there is no one but who would take them for real chestnuts, so much do they resemble nature." Who was 334 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. this Fonteny le Boiteux, poet and brother of the fraternity of the Passion, so clever at deception, who also composed an artificial dish of baked pears ? Is it he whose signature was formed of a great F, and who will also have made one of those dishes of Briot and another piece no less remarkable ? An unknown artist, author of agatised pottery, and of a dish repre- senting the Infancy of Bacchus, signed with the monogram VAB.C. As to Clerici, worker in sealed earth, who obtained in March 1640, letters patent to found a royal glass manufactory at Fontainebleau, he was no doubt one of the principal workmen at the works frequented by the Court at Avon. We must say that an examination of the works of Palissy and of his successors permits us to establish the share of each ; the subjects of the last, besides often showing costumes and persons equal in value to a date, are ill arranged, of a pale doubtful colour and of a soft dull aspect, far removed from the vigorous productions of the inventor of rustic pottery. Nor did Palissy make either the piece in which we see Henry IV. and his family, since he died before the accession of the Bearnais, or those candelabra {torcheres) with deformed arms, coarsely modelled, or those bad caricatures of monks introducing fraudu- lently into the community, among the provisions, prohibited articles from which brother Philip is endeavouring to turn aside his pupil. As regards the works which have no reference to Palissy, it is difficult to assign them to their several centres of fabrication. M. B. Fillon fairly claims for the successors of the workshop of Oiron, some intermediate pieces between the style of the fine and the rustic faiences, chafing dishes of a fluid violet jasper, architectural compositions with large reptiles, would belong to this manufactory. But had not Paris also its workshop ? Excavations made in the Rue de la Calandre, have brought to light a crowd of fragments and some whole vases of the greatest interest ; a pharmacy vase collected by Mr. Ed. Pascal is of coarse earth, coated with a blueish grey enamel seme with bright jaspers in blue and manganese ; a hunting bottle with screw stopper has the same enamel upon a compact paste approaching to stoneware ; in the ornamentation in relief is a medallion enclosing a sphere surrounded with this double inscription : RELICTA OBLIVIO STERNUM SPERAT AMOREM. A l'Espervier par bonne aventure. With respect to foreign countries, faience in relief has been culti- RENAISSANCE.— GERMANY. 335 Fig. 92. vated with real talent, particularly in the city of Nuremberg. Figure 92 is one of the gems issued from Nuremberg, a vase with portraits heightened with enamels and gold, now in the Louvre. Every one knows, having seen them at the Louvre or Cluny, those magnifi- cent stove tiles, sometimes of a fine uniform green, sometimes mixed with bright tints of various enamels of a warm brown orange yellow, or whitish cast. Mythological figures of a grand style, historical personages, come out in relief from a rich architectural composition. It may not be uninteresting to give the description of a German stove, taken from the most complete and most remarkable among those which dealers in curiosities have brought to Paris. The stove is a colossal mass which rises in the centre of the principal apartment usually occupied by the family, the upper area, plain and out of sight, serves at night to receive a bed where they sleep; on the side, three steps lead to an arm-chair attached to the wall, where the master of the house seats himself, overlooking the rest of the assembly; the seat, arms, everything in this presidential chair is of earthenware. The cubic mass of the edifice is divided by pilasters in relief, of charming ornamentation, which separate it in vertical divisions, cut horizontally by other projecting arabesque bands, the rectangular compartments resulting from this disposition are filled with plaques containing subjects from the Old and New Testament, the principal are polychrome, the others green. To give more richness to his compositions, the artist has modelled them on two planes, a part in bas relief forms the ground, and groups entirely detached stand out from the first plane. In a corner of the monument the author has happily inscribed a name and a date ; HANS KRAUT 1578. We do not pretend that one can place much earlier the German impressed wares, we think, on the contrary, that under the influence of the great masters, and particularly of Albert Diirer, the school beyond the Rhine must have had its Renaissance almost at the same time as in France ; but what is certain, is that the march of ideas has been very slow NUREMBERG VASE, ENAMELLED IN RELIEF. — MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE. 336 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. in the country of Hans Kraut, for at the time he executed a work with all the purity of style of the fifteenth century, taste had experienced in France as well as in Italy, a sensible depression ; the fine days of art had passed away. Among the most ancient and most remarkable works of Germany should be mentioned a vase made to be given as a prize by a company of archers. This pot has the form of an owl standing on its velvet paws, the head forming the lid : the ground is a white enamel relieved with touches of blue, which trace the spots of the plumage ; but, in the middle of the body, the enamel is interrupted, and a fine bas relief modelled by hand represents the dignitaries of the corporation arrayed in those splendid costumes we find in the triumph of Maximilian. Certainly, if it were permitted to hazard a name relative to an excep- tional work, we would say the celebrated Hirschvogel was the author of this ; it shows more than the talent of the potter, there is the science of the tasteful statuary ; this piece is one of the pearls of the collec- tion of M. de la Herche of Beauvais. It has been asserted, it is true, that a pot with handles, fabricated by Veit Hirschvogel, the elder, in 1470, already presented the richly enamelled reliefs which characterise the pottery of Nuremberg of the sixteenth century : we should be astonished if it were so, as there is nothing to indicate in Germany, as elsewhere, the gropings of a new taste. One fact is certain, that stability is the characteristic of German art ; we find many a piece dated from the last years of the sixteenth century exactly conformable to the style of these first works ; majolicas approaching those of Italy, and which our writers think contemporary with the fine times of Urbino and Castel Durante, often bear inscriptions which fix their date at the first years of the seventeenth century. The history of German ceramic art is yet to create ; nothing serious has been written on the subject, and when their learned — so conscientious and so profoundly instructed in that country — will set themselves to the work, most unexpected revelations will astonish the collector. A fine plate in the museum at Sevres, proves that majolica was held in honour on the banks of the Rhine, as well as on the shores of the Adriatic ; rich escutcheons, elegant arabesques are there mixed A/ ^S - with Latin and German legends, and the cypher on the v- X\ \J reverse, formed of Gothic letters, announces sufficiently the country of the artist (Fig. 76). We have seen other M ' 76 " works signed with marks evidently German, which analogy of style had caused to be classed among Italian majolicas. RENAISSANCE.— FRANCE.— OIRON. 337 B. — Faience of Oiron. Before Palissy thought of creating his rustic pottery, the magnetic current of the Renaissance had already penetrated the country which was the scene of his laborious essays. If we have spoken of the potter of Saintonge, before mentioning the fine faiences of Oiron, usually called Faiences Henri deux, it is that these last are apart from the habitual character of " poteries de luxe," and that also, it is to a recent discovery of M. Benjamin Fillon that we owe the knowledge of their origin First, what is this town of Oiron, hitherto unknown, and whose name henceforth will shine with sueh lustre ? A small locality of the depen- dency of Thouars, become a lordship, because it pleased the Sieurs de Goufiier to establish their residence, and build a chateau there. The lordship consists of a considerable plain, visited in winter by flocks of web-footed birds whose habit it is to wheel in a circle before alighting on the ground — hence the name of Oi-rond, goose circle, as inscribed in the charter-house of the chateau. Guided by a happy conformity of facts, and by that intuition peculiar to true archaeologists, M. Fillon repaired to Oiron, persuaded beforehand that he should find there the real and irrefragable elements of the history of the pottery of Henry II., and, as he anticipated, proofs of every kind accumulated before him, and the discovery was made. Let us, however, pause before this new denomination of" fine faience," for we must not allow an interest of art to make us pass over an im- portant industrial conquest. The composition of fine faience, generally known under the name of pipeclay, has been already described. But its invention in Europe scarcely deserved mention. Now, here is France, in the sixteenth century, in possession of a pottery, the dis- covery of which is attributed two hundred years later to England ; and not only had the material been found, but the refinement of the pro- cesses had been carried to a degree, of which later manipulators had no conception. This requires explanation ; the faiences made at Oiron are generally of a fine paste, worked with the hand and very thin ; upon the first nucleus, the potter spread a still thinner layer of a purer and whiter earth, in which he graved the principal ornaments and next filled them with a coloured clay which he made level with the surface ; it is therefore a decoration by incrustation rather than a painting, and the idea of so minute a process would never have suggested itself to its authors, had z 333 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. they not seen the wall-tiles of two tints so frequent in Poitou and Brittany. The authors of these fine, incrusted faiences, are now known to be Francois Cherpentier, potter in the service of Helene de Hangest, dame de Boisy, and Jehan Bernart, secretary and librarian to the same lady. Helene de Hangest, widow of Artur Gouffier, formerly governor of. Francis I., and grand master of France, was a remarkable woman, learned and well versed in the arts. We have of her execution a collection of drawings in crayon, consisting of the portraits of many of her contemporaries. Francis I. had amused himself in composing mot- toes in verse for each portrait, and had even traced some of them with his own hand. Since 1524, she passed every summer at the chateau of Oiron, which her husband had projected rebuilding, and which she enlarged and em- bellished with the assistance of her eldest son, Claude Gouffier. How came pottery to become one of her undertakings ? This is impossible to explain, even taking into consideration the wonders of ceramic art she would have admired at the French court. Yet, a letter, published by M. Fillon, proves that in 1529, she had already rewarded Cherpentier and Bernart, with a grant of the house and orchard, where their oven and workshops were situated. Helene de Hangest died in 1537 ; the following year, Bernart still figures in the household books of Oiron, with two painters and a labourer. Here then is again one of those accidental, ephemeral products, like the porcelain of the Medicis and so many other works of the Kenais- sance, which owe their creation to a caprice, and their divulgation to the chance of events. Rich, the friend of refined luxury and art, Madame de Boisy caused to be made for herself and her friends, vases which bore the impress of the sentiments which animated her, or her son, when she had been removed by death, and the manufacture was so entirely an individual enterprise, that at the moment when protection ceased and circumstances separated the two principal instruments of the discovery, all fell to nothing ; the remembrance of the men and of their products effaced themselves so quickly, that it required labours without number, efforts of intelligence and circumstances particularly favourable, to lead us back at the present time into the path of truth. Oiron faience divides itself into three distinct periods, deter- mined by the influence of its inspirers. In the first the pure taste RENAISSANCE.— FRANCE.— OIRON. 339 Fig. 93. of Helene de Hangest manifests itself by the simplicity of the forms and details, and by a mournful style dictated by her widowhood. Evidently accustomed to see, among the wonders of Fontainebleau, the rare products of oriental art, she borrows its forms and spirit, and thus imposes a picturesque stamp upon the pottery; on the ivoried surface of a vessel (buire) of Persian form, she would arrange zones of arabesques, or of heraldic eglets accompanying the shield of Gilles de Laval, companion in arms, and particular friend of Artur Gouffier. Upon other pieces, alike intended for the adherents of his family, such as the la Tre'mouille, suzerains of Oiron ; Guillaume Bodin, lord of la Martiniere, maitre d' hotel of the sire de Boisy ; Guillaume Gouffier, knight of Malta, and third son of admiral de Bonnivet, she would surround the arms with a fine incrusted ornamentation of a dark brown. In this first period, we scarcely see any other colours but black, brown, and carnation red ; and cordelieres with pierced hearts are mixed with delicate interlacings, and arabesque designs dictated by the special taste of Bernart, evidently borrowed from the rich bookbindino-s of the period. Besides, the primitive idea was still so untouched at this period, there was such a perfect in- telligence between the inspirer, the draughtsman and the potter, that a singular harmony of conception, a grandiose unity pervade all their works and assure their perfection. The second period comprises the works posterior to the death of Helene de Hangest, and executed under the influence of her son. The forms are generally architectural ; the chateau had been enlarged, and Claude Gouffier introduced into the additions the loaded ornamentation we find in buildings of the Eenaissance. A man of luxury, rather than of taste, richness appeared to him preferable to simple, severe beauty ; there is consequently, as remarks M. Fillon, an enormous difference between the fine faiences copied from this blustering architecture, and the delicate inspirations of the highly-gifted woman who had inaugu- rated the manufacture. FINE FAIENCE OF OIRON (MUSEUM OF THE LOUVRE). z 2 34° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Salt-cellars, either triangular or square, give us the Gothic windows of the collegiate chapel of Oiron, supported by buttresses having the form of the symbolic Termini supporting the chimney piece of the great gallery of the chateau. We again find among them the subjects of the great windows of the chapel, there the rosaries, the crowns of fruit and the pilasters of the high altar of the church. Royal emblems, cyphers and shields, also multiply themselves; the salamander of Francis I., the interlaced crescents, the initial H of the Dauphin Henry, accompanied by a frieze of dolphins, the escutcheon of France, or that of the Montmorency, all serve to heighten an ornamentation in which the personality of J ehan Bernart still reveals itself by the application of subjects borrowed from bibliography. Thus in the well of a saltcellar appears the pelican, mark of Jean de Marnef, Poitevin bookseller ; under another is the head of an old woman,taken from the illustrations of a book. During the first period, Cherpentier proceeded, after the manner of book- binders, to incise and inlay his arabesques by means of small stamps ; in the second period he has found means of hollowing with a single punch upon large surfaces, the interlacings he fills with coloured earth, and which serve as framework to the most delicate subjects. The technica has therefore modified itself at the same time as the taste, and as regards complication of processes, difficulties of execution, we may say that this period is that of the greatest development of the fabrication ; the potter has reached the height of his practice. The third period is that of the decline, brought about by various causes ; first from the want of a director, the workshop left to itself, employs the same stamps and moulds, accumulating them without taste ; it would appear that at a certain period, the designer Ber- nart disappeared, removed doubtlessly by death, for the compli- cated pieces appear to be rather an assemblage of pieces put in juxtaposition than the result of a concerted composition. Cherpentier himself is missing ; and then upon an earth ill prepared, the old reliefs project without art, badly put together, and added to coarse details which tell into what hands the fabrication had fallen. Yet the pieces of this period have a great historic interest, for they mark several curious dates. The cup of the Louvre, ornamented with dolphins interwoven with the three crescents, was made before the accession of Henry II. to the throne ; another cup, belonging to Baron James de Rothschild, has the same dolphins encircling the shield of France, and also, four little lizards modelled after nature, the first manifestation of the taste for rustic pottery, and as if this piece RENAISSANCE.— FRANCE.— OIRON. 34 1 should unite every variety of interest, we see round the fleurs de lis, the geese, characteristic of the locality, the customary denizens of the great plain of Oiron. After the 31st of March 1547, date of the accession of Henry II., the colours become less pure, and less har- monious, the details do not show the firmness of touch, the skilful mani- pulation before apparent. In the last works the influence of Palissy becomes manifest, and the stamps, applied by unskilful hands, no longer allow us to recognise the elegance of the works to which Cherpentier and Bernart devoted their study. A creation of this period, important in every point of view, comes to throw a striking light upon the history of fine faience and unite it with contemporary fabrications; this is the enamelled pavement of the private chapel of the Chateau of Oiron. The tiles are formed of an earth less purified, but in every respect similar to that of the vases ; in the vases a first mass forms the basis of the work, and a finer earth is spread over the surface. It is upon this subjectile that artists have painted in stannic colours a ground with pale blue arabesques in niello upon which are letters, monograms and escutcheons in bright colours; the characters, in violet brown, form the Gouffier motto HIC TERMINUS HiERET, The monograms are those of Claude Gouflier and of Henry II., and emblazonments, those of the Gouffier, Montmorency and Hangest-Genlis, that is, the family alliances, com- plete the decoration. This pavement, drawn by Bernart, made with the earth of Oiron, and still in its place, would of itself alone demon- strate the real origin of these fine faiences due to the munificence of a powerful lord, and which have never had any other destination than that of being employed for his own use, or offered to his superior and his friends. It proves besides, that the idea of enamelling upon earth was in a latent state, and only awaiting favourable circumstances for its development. Here we have a little departed from the learned and luminous work of M. Fillon, we have made a third period, of that which forms with him only a section of the second, His third period, become the fourth with us, comprises potteries so coarse, so different from the others in style and workmanship, that we absolutely refuse to see in them works executed under enlightened patronage ; true they bear the motto and emblems of the Gouflier, and the ancient stamps show themselves here and there to prove that the materials of the princely manufacture had passed into new hands. But the permanence of these emblems appears to us an evidence of the gratitude of those who had obtained these spoils when 342 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. religious wars had compelled the Gouffier to leave their chateau, which was soon after sacked. In this last period, the jaspers have so well replaced the fine incrustations, the heavy reliefs, the delicate chasing, that many authors have attributed to the sequel of Palissy what is only the end of the manufacture of Oiron. RENAISSANCE.— STONE WARE. 343 APPENDIX. Stoneware. Hitherto we have studied the various phases of ceramic history without taking any special account of the nature of the products, and contenting ourselves with distinguishing, in a same epoch and among a same people, the various kinds of pottery. We depart from this plan in order to speak of stoneware, a singular group as clearly denned in a technical point of view, as it is obscure with respect to its origin and progress. The making of stoneware possessing artistic interest has been generally limited to the fifteenth century, but we think there is error in this respect, and that hard paste pottery has been made in some parts of France concurrently with ancient glazed wares approaching nearly to it in aspect and decoration. This we have demonstrated in speaking of the pottery of the Beauvoisis. The stoneware clays are sufficiently common in France for them to have been easily made use of. According to the generally admitted notions, Germany will have been the cradle of this branch of ceramic art ; writers have gone further and have cited Jacqueline of Bavaria as the first person, at least of eminent rank, who has kneaded silicious pottery. Shut up in the fortress of Teylingen, in 1424, she would according to them have solaced her leisure hours by making pots and pitchers which she afterwards threw into the moat, in order to leave to future ages the remembrance of her imprisonment. A special treatise has been printed in Holland upon the "Vrouw Jacoba's Kannetjes." One of these pots is in the Museum of the Hague, and another at Sevres, both proving that the Countess J acqueline was not an artist of the first order. 344 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. GERMAN CANETTE OF WHITE STONEWARE. In the sixteenth century, the art had established itself upon settled Fig. 94. bases, and nothing can be more beautiful, in workmanship and taste than the pitchers, hunting bottles and " canettes " issued from the hands of the potters of Cologne and of some other localities in Germany. Upon a surface of an almost pure white or of a warm grey brown, are reliefs of rare perfection, accompanied by mouldings which relieve the effect; in general form, these stone- wares with their masks, and their handles judi- ciously balanced have a severe and elegant aspect conformable to the material of which they are made. The canette of conic form (Fig. 94) gives an example of the richness of the white stoneware. Its principal ornamentation is an escutcheon of the arms of the Germanic Empire with those of France and Spain, the shield of the archbishop elector of Mentz placed in a second line of the prin- cipal arms, would indicate the piece was intended for this high dignitary ; all is bold in style, perfect in execution, although the date, 1574, already removes it from the best period of the Renaissance. Fig. 95. We see a remarkable example of Ger- man workmanship in a crouching lion (Fig. 95) with his head turned round and with his forepaws supporting a cup made to receive sand, the companion holding an oval vase serving as inkstand. These heraldic pieces show great spirit of execution and an elevated character in the rendering of the heads and the extremities. Similar menacing supporters defend the escutcheons of the old German nobility. Some brown pieces have no other merit than the delicacy of their reliefs; yet at Bunzlau these reliefs have been executed with a dull yellow paste which has a strong effect upon the vigorous ground. But, it is in Bavaria, at Creussen, that the plan of using colours to brighten the sombre tint of the stoneware has been employed ; figures GERMAN STONEWARE. REN A ISSA NCE.—S TONE WA RE. 345 and moulded ornaments have been covered over with bright enamels and gold, and a harmonious whole has been thereby produced ; specimens of this kind are common in our museums. One of the favourite subjects among the potters of Creussen is a jug, called the Apostles' mug, on which these figure with the evangelists. Forgers have sometimes applied painting and cold gilding upon potteries not enamelled of this manu- facture, the fraud is easily recognised, and consequently not dangerous. Independently of these brilliant pieces, Germany has manufactured stonewares partially coloured, less glaring ; these last we will stop to consider because they bear a close analogy with the blue potteries of Beauvais from which we must try to distinguish them. The German stonewares with grey paste, colder than the brown, less flattering to the eyes than the white, required a heightening to bring out their elegance ; it was imagined to apply as backgrounds, zones of a beautiful azure blue or of a violet manganese brown, of the most harmonious effect ; the reliefs, imprisoning the colour in a kind of en- closure permitted the introduction of flowers and scrolls of a decided tone upon the paste or the adjacent enamel. Every one has seen pieces of this style, and it would be superfluous to extend the description. Any attempt to distinguish their origin would be vain, it can only be the result of an attentive study of the style of each epoch and each country. In the old language of collectors, all stonewares were confounded under the name of "gres de Flandres;" this implied nothing, and nobody doubted most of these potteries being of German origin, for they bore, either arms of the princes, or legends in the divers idioms of Germany. Now, to arrive at fixing the boundaries of these workshops, we must be well imbued with this fact : the German stonewares are generally of an architectural structure, judicious mouldings, complicated forms here act an important part, the style for a long while remained faithful to the pure traditions of the Renaissance. In Flanders, the art lowers itself more rapidly, and the ornamentation, more capricious and more floriated, conforms itself nearer to the modifications introduced in the other arts. In France, stoneware follows step by step the progress of the various potteries, its yielding forms resemble the glazed earthenware ; fleurs de lis abound, sometimes accompanying the royal emblazonment, the arms of cities (those of Paris are frequent) sometimes scattered among flowers purely conventional. There are no inscriptions, few cyphers, fewer still of subjects with figures. Made chiefly for use and for ornamentation, the 346 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Fig. 96. French stoneware vases consist of e wers, hanaps, long-necked bottles or flower pots, like the charming specimen we give here (Fig. 96.) The artist rarely neglects to employ the two tints at his disposal, and often these enamels attain an exceptional vigour. The history of stoneware is still very obscure, but we do not doubt but that .the interest attached to it will give birth, from the different countries which pro- duced it, to the monographs so earnestly desired. STONEWARE OP BEAUVAIS. We pause, for rapidly as the ground has been run over in this chapter, it has taken fearful developments. What remains to us besides to work out ? We have followed step by step the awakening of intelligence ; we have shown the inces- sant efforts of Europe, to render pliant the baked clay, to clothe it with elegant forms, to embellish it by the resources of art; the active rivalry of nations seeking to attain intellectual and commercial supremacy. After having seen the Greeks immortalise the heroes of their history, the songs of their poets, taking them as subjects for their ceramic paintings ; after the gropings of the Middle Ages whose works preserve the arms of illustrious men, was it not curious to see, at the Renaissance, glaze and enamel make themselves rivals of engraved copper, of fresco and painted panels, and the works of the great masters appear again before our eyes by this new road ? The times, the manners, the passions, reflect themselves in these works, so modest in appearance, to this degree, that the philosopher and the historian disdain no longer to consult a baked earth equally with a chart or a passage in the memoirs of an obscure epoch. This rehabilitation of the products of art will certainly be one of the proofs of the sagacity of present enquirers, and public taste, by en- couraging ceramic studies, will have given to modern industry the most powerful means of progress, for the glorification of the past contains the promise of a durable fame to those who will know how to equal ' or surpass the merit of their forerunners. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 347 CHAPTER IV. modern times. Section 1. — -Faience. A. — French Faience. In beginning this chapter, a certain emotion seizes us ; we understand its immense interest, and consequently the difficulty of making the reader appreciate in a short and rapid sketch the high teachings that it admits of. It concerns intimately our history and our manners ; what it recapitulates are the efforts of yesterday, the achievements of to-day, foreshadowing those of the morrow. It should demonstrate, by means of facts logically grouped, in what way in France, as in the rest of Europe, the Ceramic industry and the arts which depend upon it, have advanced and improved by extensive co-operation, their existence having no longer for end the satisfying of the taste and luxury of the few, but the providing for the wants of the many. But history does not proceed, any more than nature, by violent shocks, facts fo^ow a rational evolution, one progress links itself to another, until they lead, as nearly as possible, to perfection, the ideal of all human conception. To seek the cause of this progress, some- times in facts and in institutions, sometimes in individualities, is the difficult point. The Middle Ages among its struggles, and in spite of them, had manifested, as we have seen, some flashes of artistic genius, the Renaissance in the middle of its ambitious enterprises, had made this glorious genius the object of the powerful and the great, their encourage- ment was bestowed in moments of effervescence, when brave indivi- 348 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. dualities rose on every side and formed that brilliant pleiad whose works elevated the taste even to the hearts of the galvanised populations, and thus contributed to enlarge the circle of intellectual wants. It was reserved to modern times to complete the work of centuries, by generalising the cultivation of the mind, and substituting the masses for the smaller number which appreciated the good and the beautiful. The artist, no longer dependant on the chance protection of a solitary patron, but on the encouragement of society at large, had no other pre- occupation than his own improvement, and the search after that which would materially satisfy the powerful clients, to whom he consecrated his works. Such is now the state of things ; but, we repeat it, the transformation has been slow and progressive, each has taken his part in it, and the great difficulty for the earnest historian is to seek the elements of this co-operation, without allowing himself to be turned away from the truth by interested declamations, erroneous judgments, dictated by passion, and, above all, by documents, stamped with inanity by the ignorance of those from whom they emanate. How often has one not raised one's voice against privileges long time conceded by princes, the natural protectors of all high enterprises attempted in their States ? What has not been said against the inter- ference of the nobility and clergy in the patronage of manufactories ? The organisation of industries into corporations has been considered an odious trammel, even when it brought a wise and salutary code of regu- lations in the various branches of art. One has also pretended ignorance of the large amount of protection taken against the abuse of privileges, by parliaments and municipal institutions; so that one would have believed in the constant persecution of that which the authorities were seeking on the contrary to favour by all the means at their disposal. In fact, it was necessary to direct, and overlook the first essays of these new industries, as a mother directs and protects »the first steps of her child, even when he is impatient of the trammels which prevent his fall. Writers would see nothing of this > and yet when the revolution came, it is thanks to that slow and constantly progressive march of facts that it found minds ripe for a complete emancipation and that it was able to place under the protection of a law equal for all, the work already prepared by the tacit agreement of all those who possessed power and influence. To show the march of this co-operation of conflicting interests, formerly opposed, towards the accomplishment of the universal destinies MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 349 is a vast framework of which, though it is not given to us to fill, we hope at least by dint of good faith, of patient research and simplicity in the expression of our personal sentiments, to supply an interesting sketch. To give to the series of facts a logical succession, we must neces- sarily abandon technical classification and substitute for the order of pro- gression of ceramic matters, that of events, viewing them above all in their local manifestation, and following for each description of pottery, its gradual progress round the centre whence it derived its impulse. Thus, to speak only of France with which by right of patriotism we should first occupy ourselves, its ancient organisation by provinces, each governed by an intendant, made of it, as it were, a union of federative states each a stranger to the movements of the others, separated by customhouse lines, and scarcely kept together by the common tie of royal authority. Hence, the various influences which might modify their industries were quite special and became sometimes of considerable importance, It has resulted from this fact, happy for our national genius, that local efforts have produced different results, and that France alone has created more decorative styles than any other country in Europe. These styles having even become sufficiently typical as to form schools, variously imitated in France as elsewhere. It becomes then necessary to well define their characters and thus to mark out the limits of the principal French ceramic styles. Italian Style, What we mean to qualify as French faiences of Italian style are not the true Majolicas made among us by eminent ultramontane emigrants ; we have seen before, when speaking of the French Renaissance, how ephemeral had been the productions attempted by workmen away from home and distant from the schools, whence they derived their models, and who were speedily absorbed in the active and moving centre into which they had ventured themselves. One workshop alone, that of Nevers, cultivated for some time a style of painting originally of Urbino ; its subjects, as in Italian faience, mythological, the ground formed by the waves of the sea, the personages most often marine divinities, Tritons, Nereids, and Cupids. It is a singular circumstance, to which we shall return in its place, that writers have attributed to the princes of the house of Gonzaga, the creation of this school as, " entirely of importation," and they see the true authors of these fine vases, in the various members of a family 35° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. named Conrade, who came from Albissola, near Savona, to direct the Nivernais establishment. Now the first thing which is clear to any one who has the slightest knowledge of majolica is that the style of Savona, and of all the Genoese coast, has nothing in common with the Italo-French. A second remark, still more decisive and suggested by the examination of Conrade's signed pieces, is that these potters, expert perhaps in their trade, were poor draughtsmen, without style, and un- worthy of claiming any relationship with the Italian ceramic artists of the sixteenth century ; besides, these men were much more occupied in seeking to imitate the Chinese style than to reproduce the pompous "istoriato" pottery of Italy. The Nivernais style therefore, imitated from the Italian faiences of Urbino, can only be the work of French artists impelled in this line by the encouragements of a prince the lover of high art. We will also show how this accidental school was superior, for its time, to the last adepts of Italian art, and how much it contributed to maintain the Nivernais manufactory at a respectable level, notwithstanding the debasing influence of the Conrades. JRouennais Style. The Italian style being, as we have just said, an accident, an ephemeral caprice, we place the Norman school at the head of art, purely French; two reasons induce us so to do; on one side, the certainty that Rouen had, long before Nevers, applied the enamel to terra-cotta ; on the other, the conviction acquired by a profound study of its first essays, that Norman ceramic art has derived its inspirations from national sources. Among us, as in Italy, it is in the workshops where rich artistic pieces were made, that the general taste of ornamentation was formed; the goldsmith's work, enamelling, mar- quetry, textiles even, have imposed their conceptions upon the secon- dary objects of art ; and this may be readily conceived, for a complete harmony should exist between furniture in general and architecture, in the same manner as between these last and the pomp of costume. All these keep in unison at this epoch, and he who would seek to with- draw his works from this law of good taste, would only arrive at throw- ing a false note in the universal concert, and make a blot in the happy uniformity of the picture. If we consider Rouen pottery in this elevated point of view, we can soon account for its first beginnings; the exceptional pieces in the Rouen museum, where enamelled landscapes, upon a white ground, are MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 3Si encircled with wreaths of large flowers, a little hard in tone, and with scattered bouquets accompanied bylines twisted into tendrils, are they not the exact reproduction of what we find upon the metallic sides of the jewel caskets, of the jewels themselves and more still upon the textile fabrics called chintzes (perses), of the beginning of the seventeenth century ? These faiences, accidentally issued from the hands of an enameller on metals, do not constitute a commercial style, a mercantile fabrication, but, when in 1647, Poirel, Sieur de Grandval, works the first official privilege and tries himself at the current pottery, we see the comfit-box (drageoir) called " a la centauresse," reproduce the same flowers, the same tendrils, in a word, conform itself to a taste which, far from coming from Nevers, was to implant itself there in its turn, by an identical influence. Nevertheless, the sight of Oriental porcelain soon modified these tendencies and suggested to the Rouennais painters the true type which was to make their renown and that of the whole of French faience, this Fig. 97. SLIPPER OF HOUEX FAIENCE. is the decoration of "lambrequins" (mantlings) and "dentelles" (lace). This style of ornamentation, first executed in blue cama'ieu or in blue and iron red, is a sort of compromise between the Oriental and the French. We see in it the oriental influence mixed with the delicate combinations invented by Berain, Boule, and other French masters of the ornamental school; but the borrowing is so disguised, there is such a powerful origin- ality in the arabesque borders surrounding the dishes with a wide guipure, m the central roses, rich without being overcharged and sometimes with radiating columns uniting the middle subject with the circum- ference, that one asks oneself if there is not in it an ingenious invention (F lg. 97). Contemporaries must have so considered it, since the Rouennais wares have been the object of universal imitation. Belgium, Holland, even Italy have multiplied the varieties of a style which Lille, Paris, Saint Cloud, Marseilles, &c, executed readily to meet the taste of the consumer. 352 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. A direct influence of the literary publications modified for a moment the compositions "h dentelles." Baskets of flowers supported by- scrolls with wreaths form subjects for the centre, or place themselves in the recesses of the mantlings ; this rich and graceful style is evidently borrowed from the tail pieces or culs-de-lampe of the splendid editions of Cramoisy and other publishers of the seventeenth century. What superabundantly proves the persistence of the Rouennais school in the wish of remaining French, is that from its beginning it was Fig. 98. ROUEN PLATE, A LA CORNE DECORATION. able to imitate Chinese porcelain, with a fidelity and talent, equal at least to what one admires in the works of the Dutch potters ; lozengy borders with green grounds, intersected by reserves, surrounding a floral composition of pure oriental style, or a Chinese landscape with figures and shops. But the painters soon enfranchised themselves from these too servile imitations by creating the style "a la corne." There the subjects will be larger than the Chinese type itself; a cornucopia whence escape branches of pseonies, open pomegranates, Chinese pinks will form the principal subjects, and will be encircled by birds, butter- flies, and insects, and sometimes with capricious " rocailles " (Fig. 98). This pottery, less pure in fabrication and taste than the blue ware with mantlings and lace, redeems by the brilliancy of its bright enamels, the heaviness of its paste, and its blueish enamel subject to "crazing" or cracks. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 353 Nivernais Style. Besides the faiences imitated from Urbino, Nevers has worked after decided types, the first, borrowed from enamellers manifests its|lf, as at Kouen, by subjects mythological, heroic or 99. familiar, surrounded by wreaths of large flowers. In these, blue and manganese pervade ; for the Nivernais pottery, firing at a very high tempera- ture, is prescribed in the use of its enamels. It has never been able to fix the fine Rouennais iron red, and has replaced it with an orange yellow, marvellously rich, especially when introduced upon partial grounds. The oriental type is equally easy to distin- guish. Normandy specially inspired herself with the blue imperial porcelain of King-te- Persian style. tchin. Nevers preferred the oriental porcelain, described at page 62, and particularly the Persian style. Flowers with deflexed pointed leaves, scrolls, birds and insects are therefore more frequent than ornamental combinations, in a word, the oriental style of Nevers is less original, less created than that of Rouen. In the oriental type are classed the faiences of bright lapis lazuli grounds, relieved with enamelled patterns in pure white, associated with pale or orange yellow. The Persians have, it is true, enamelled with bright blue their terracottas, and especially their wall tiles, they have applied to it a white damascene work of delicate scrolls, with inscriptions in relief gilded without firing (a froid) ; but this decoration has nothing in common with the Nivernais composition, in which tulips, pinks and anemones resemble on the contrary the rich and redundant bouquets of enamel work, and of contemporary tissues. We therefore claim for our own school these products, which must be ranged among the most remarkable, issued from French furnaces. Southern Style. The south of France was one of the most active of its intellectual centres. Marseilles, the city of commerce, had opened relations with every country of the globe ; Provence had not forgotten the remem- brance of the light the good king Rene had shed upon the province. Therefore one is not astonished to see appear there, towards the end of 2 A 354 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Y'vs. 100. POT OP SOUTHERN FAIENCE. the seventeenth century, works more polished, than even in con- temporaneous Italy. At Saint-Jean-du-Desert and Marseilles - the dishes are surrounded with splendid arabesques, relieved by lions' heads, hunting subjects of masterly execution, scenes from scripture or history filling the central space, while Moustiers concurrently with the same subjects, places upon an admirable enamel, the ornamental compositions of Berain and the other French " petits maitres." By its taste, Moustiers forms a school of itself, and goes to plant in Spain a fertile branch, which brings us back in exchange for the soft blue camai'eu, a polychrome style with bouquets and wreaths, already less pure than the original type, and which, associating itself with grotesques of bad taste, the responsibility of which we are pleased to throw upon a neighbouring nation, soon produced a melancholy decadence. Style of Strasburg. It was reserved to this city to give its name to an intermediate style of decoration, between that of the high class of faience and the painting of porcelain, and which formed in some sort the hyphen or line of union between the two processes ; the firing by the porcelain and the enamel furnace. The decoration of Strasburg is simple in ordinary specimens ; the flowers are surrounded with a deep black outline (chatironne) and hastily modelled, yet the red (derived from gold) appears brilliant and characteristic, and the copper green shines with unique intensity. The' rendering of this style could not have been done better; hence the Strasburg pottery had numerous imitations. The oldest pieces are decorated with flowers and insects; later. Chinese figures, of the grotesque kind invented in Europe, were introduced. Porcelain Style. This style is a continuation of the other, and does not require descrip- tion, its object accounts for its perfection. At Strasburg already, the MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 355 beauty of the enamel, the elegance and skilfulness of the workmanship had rendered certain pieces rivals of translucent pottery. In the centres where imitation sought to be perfect, we find paintings which the decorators of Saxony and Sevres might envy. The porcelain style has been the ruin of faience : what was the use of placing upon a fragile ware of secondary use, an elaborate painting of high price ? Faience has only its success concurrently with porcelain inasmuch as it continues accessible to all, and that it preserves a broad, rapid and tasteful decoration appropriate to its nature. History of French Manufactories. Every day, the researches of collectors, the learned investigations of the keepers of local archives, the happy chances of active and enterprising commerce, come to reveal the existence of manufactories long unknown, so that the list, already very long, of establishments more or less celebrated, extends and complicates itself without its being possible to foresee the moment when we can close it. It is therefore important even with a view to facilitate research, to open from the present time, a list in which the conquests of the future will subsequently take their place, and to present in logical order, the table of manufactories authorised by letters patent, or whose names we find inscribed in works worthy of attention. We give this table in geo- graphical order, uniting, under the head of the old provinces, the de- partments which divide them; these provinces formed formerly a governmental whole ; it was before the intendant, that the declarations of the establishment of a pottery had to be. made ; this functionary received the deposit of the mark, had to watch over the furnaces being set up and put in activity, the genuine quality of the wares, and to prevent any disloyal competition which might injure the authorised establishments. He had the direction of the police belonging to com- merce, the supervision of the trades corporations, and conjointly with the inspectors of manufactories, he watched over the progress of art. We have elsewhere pointed out the inconvenience of this organisa- tion ; we should also recall its advantages in point of study ; the styles of which we have just described the principal characteristics, group them- selves naturally round their principal centre, and it is already a means of attaching to a region, unknown works which may awaken the studies of collectors ; the nature of the earth, that of the enamels, the general style of decoration, have always a family air in the same province. 2 A 2 356 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. GEOGRAPHY OF FRENCH FAIENCE MANUFACTORIES. REGION OF THE NORTH. Normandie. Seine In^rieure. Rouen.— Saint- Adrien.— Forges-les-Eaux.— Le Havre.— Sainte-Foy. Eure. Armentieres.— Cbatel-la-Lune.— Infreville.-Malicorne.— Dangu.— Verneuil. Calvados. Caen.— Manerbe.— Pre'-d'Auge.— La Bauqueterie. Manclie ? Orne. Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon. Picardie. Somme ? Artois. Pas-de-Calais. Aire.— Boulogne— Desvres. — Hesdin.— Montreuil.— Saint-Orner. Flandre. Nord. Bailleul.-Cambrai.-Douai.-Dunkerque. -Lille. -Saint- Amand.-Valenciennes. Ile-de- France. Seine. Paris.— Vincennes. - Sceaux.— Bourg-la-Reine.— He Saint-Denis.— Gros-Caillou. — Mont-Louis. Seine-et-Oise. Saint-Cloud.— Sevres.— Meudon.— Mantes. Seine-et-Marne. Avon.— Boissette.— Melun.— Montereau. Aisne. Sinceny.— Rouy.— Ognes.— Villers-Cotterets. Oise. Chantilly. — Beauvais— Savignies. Champagne. Aube. Troyes. — Mathault. Haute Mame. Aprey. — Langres. Marne. ICpernay. — Bois-d'Espence. Ardennes ? REGION OF THE EAST. Lorraine. Meurtlw. Niederviller.— Lune'ville.— Nancy.— Bellevue. — Toul. — Moyen.— Montenoy. — Saint-Cle'ment. Vosges. fipinal. — Ramberviller. Meuse. Vaucouleurs. — Montigny. — Clermont-en-Argonne. — Waly. — Les Islettes. Moselle. Thionville. — La Grange. — Sarreguemines. Alsace. Bas-Bhin. Strasburg. — Haguenau. Haut-Bhin. Saint-Blaise. Franche-Comte. Doubs. Besan^on. — Rioz. Haute-Saone ? Jura. Arbois. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 357 Bourgogne. Cote d'Or. Dijon. — Pontaillier. — Mirebeau. — Premieres. Yonne. Auxerre. — Ancy-le-Franc. Saone-et-Loire. Macon. — Digoin. Ain. Meillonas. — Pont-de-Yaux. — Bourg. Lyonnais. Rhone. Lyon. Loire. Eoanne. Dauphine. Isere. Grenoble. Drome. Saint- Vallier. — Dieu-le-Fit. Hautes-Alpes ? REGION OF THE SOUTH. Provence. Basses- Alpes. Moustiers. Var. Taverne. — Varage. — Les Poupres. — Faience. Bouches-du-Ehoiie. Marseille. — Aubagne. Languedoc. Haute- Garonne. Toulouse. — Martres. — Mones. — Marignac. — Terrebasse. Tarn. Agen. Aude. Narbonne. He'rault. Montpellier. Gard. Anduze. — Castilhon. — Nimes. — Vauvert. Lozere ? Haute-Loire. Le Puy. Ardeche ? Roussillon. Pyrenees- Orientates ? Comte de Foix. Arriege ? Beam. Basses-PyreWes. Espelelle. — Lescar. — Guyenne. Gironde. Bordeaux. — Sadirac. — Bazas. Dordogne. Bergerac. Lot-et-Garonne. La Plume. — Port-Sainte-Marie. Lot? Aveyron ? Tarn-et- Garonne. Montauban. Landes. Samadet. Gers. Auch. Hautes-Pyrene'es. REGION OF THE WEST. Aunis and Saintonge. Charente-Infe'rieure. Saintes.— Brizambourg.— La Chapelle-des-Pots.— La Kochelle.— Marans. 358 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Angoumois. Charenle. Angouleme. Poitou. Vienne. Poitiers. — Montbernage. — Chatellerault. Deux-Sevres. Oiron. — Thouars. — Eigne. — Chef-Boutonne. — Saint-Porchaire. Vendee. Fontenay. — Ille-d'Elle. — Montaigu. — Aprernont. — Mallievre. Bretagne. Ille-et- Vilaine. Eennes. — Eenac. Loire-Infe'rieure. Nantes. — Le Croisic. — Machecoul. Morbihan. Eohu. Finistere. Quimper. — Quimperle'. Cotes-du-Nord ? Anjou., Maine-et-Loire ? Maine. Sartlie. Malicorne. — Ligron. — Courcelles. — Pontvalain. Mayenne ? CENTEAL EEGION. Orle:inais. . Loiret. Orleans. — Gien. — Saint-Marceau. Loir-et- Cher. Saint-Die. — Chaumont. Eure-et-Loir. Chateaudun. Nivemais. Nievre. Nevers. — La Charite'. — La Nocle. — Bois-le-Corate.— Saint-Ve'rain. — Varzv. Allier. Moulins. Bourbonnais. Auvergne. Puy-de-D6me. — Clermont. — Ardes. Cantal ? Haute-Vienne. Limoges. Correze ? Creuse ? Cher ? Indre ? Indre-et-Loire. Tours. — Amboise. Limousin. Marche. Berry. Tour aine. Comtat d: Avignon. Vaucluse. Avignon. — Apt. — Goult. — La Tour-d'Aigues. — Carpentras. MODERN FA IENCE.—FRA NCE.—R UEN. 359 REGION OF THE NORTH. Normandy. We have already seen the remarkable part taken by Normandy, at the Renaissance, in the vulgarisation of the secret of enamelled earthenwares ; without being able to trace precisely through what means this secret was improved, we have mentioned the real masterpieces, that issued from the'Rouennais workshop of Masseot Abaquesne and his successors. How has it happened that a process which had reached perfection should suddenly be lost to reappear after an interval of ten years, in the form of timid attempts ? This is what the present state of our social constitution and manners precludes us from understanding; and yet this is what took place in Normandy at the modern epoch, that is, at the beginning of the seventeenth century. It would appear that at a moment when industries were about to transform themselves, a complete rupture took place between the past and the present, and that this transformation inaugurated itself everywhere, without taking account of the experience acquired by the ancient adepts in art. Let us then follow facts in the state in which they have manifested themselves, and open new annals to the new art. ROUEN. — We find, in the seventeenth century, in this city two classes of workmen to work the " invention " of faience, the enamellers and the potters. If we are to believe old documents, the Rouennais enamels on copper enjoyed a just reputation, and in 1786, a Hungarian artist named Oppenheim applied for letters patent to establish himself in the Norman capital. Readers will remember the bottles and pear-shaped pots sent to the Universal Exhibition by the Museum of Rouen ; upon their opaque white enamel were subjects and landscapes framed with a figured moulding, round which were wreaths and bouquets of large flowers painted in bright enamels, and which appeared to reproduce, with the exaggeration of a magnifying glass, the subjects so frequently applied, under the reign of Louis XIII., upon smelling bottles, medallions, watches and other jewels enamelled upon metal. On seeing these exceptional and singular products, no one would hesitate in considering them as the attempts of an industry seeking to make its way. M. Andre* Pottier alone, attributes to these pieces the date 1708, 360 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. and considers them to be the work of an innovator, Denis Dorio, who pretending to be the inventor of a red for painting on faience and porcelain, thus writes to the Controller General. MONSEIGNEUK, Denis Dorio has the secret and the process for making a particular red for painting upon porcelain and faience, and which resists the fire with its red colour, he humbly begs Your Grace to be pleased to grant him permission to establish furnaces in the city of Kouen to work them, and he will continue his wishes for the prosperity and health of Your Grace. The answer, says M. Pottier, was not long coming, it appears to be addressed to the Intendant of the Generality of Rouen, and runs thus : Sir, I send you the petition of an individual who pretends to possess the secret of applying the red colour upon porcelain and fayence in a singular manner, and which would make an ornament to the fine faiences which are made at Rouen, which would render them more beautiful, and would increase their sale. You will, therefore, if you please, take the trouble of hearing him on this subject, with the master-potters. You will then send me your opinion upon the demands contained in his petition, and will try to procure him work if the potters agree that what he has done may contribute in any way to the embellishment of their works and the increase of the manufacture. I am, Sir, your very humble and very affectionate servant, Desmaeets. Versailles, 26 August, 1708. There appears to be here some confusion ; the trial pieces of the Rouen Museum, belonging, by their style and make, to a period very anterior to 1708, emanate from a man, a stranger to the processes of pottery, and who, accustomed to lay his colours upon a white enamel spread upon metal, has not even understood that in changing subjectile, and in firing several times and at a low temperature, he inaugurated a process unknown to potters, and which was only to reappear much later and in other countries. This Dorio, who, in 1708, announced the possession of the secret of a particular red, could not have had pieces to exhibit of the importance of those of which it has been just question, since, far from thinking of allowing him to set up furnaces, he was subjected to the examination of potters in exercise of their trade to know if there was any profit to be derived from his pretended discovery, and recommending them to try to procure him some work. Evidently if M. Andre Pottier has conferred upon Denis Dorio these vases which we attribute to an unknown enameller seeking to make himself a place in the rising industry, it is that the learned writer has yielded to the very natural desire of placing a fact by the side of a written document. But the fact and the documents cannot be MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— ROUEN. reconciled, and we must give the attempts of bringing them "together as more attractive than rational. Discoverer or discovered, Denis Dorio, if he had been capable of making the vases in question, would not have failed to work on a grand scale, and it would have been at Kouen that the faiences of the enamel furnaces had had their birth. But the author of these trial pieces cared little for obtaining a privilege for the red, green or yellow which he painted indifferently in polychrome or cama'ieu. The rich and interesting collection of M. Gustave Gouellain which contained already one of the six pieces of the Rouen enameller, has just been increased by a seventh specimen, a vase, having a land- scape framed in an ornamental medallion with wreaths, still recalling the Renaissance, and confirming the date of the other specimens ; only here the artist has resisted the attraction of brilliant enamels, and has modelled in grisaille the elaborate details of his composition. These vases evidently are the work of an explorer hoping to open a path to himself in ceramics, and perhaps disgusted with the cost entailed by his work. The share of the potters in this path of research is more easy to follow. From the beginning, they possessed the secret of the material, and to judge from the form of their first pieces, it is Italy who had taught it them. In proof, we see two of those plates with broad border, and deeply hollowed in the middle, called drageoirs, evidently issuing from a workshop sure of its processes; where the beginner shows himself, is in the decoration ; one of the pieces is painted in shades of greyish blue, the central subject, badly drawn, represents a female Centaur; in the border, between the rectangular panels, are the large flowers and tendrils employed by enamellers ; this curious specimen, dated 1647, belongs to M. Gustave Gouellain ; a second cup, of the same date, has for sole decoration upon its white ground a shield executed in blue and citron yellow, in the Italo-Flemish taste, and which is said to be the arms of Poterat, notwithstanding some difference in the heraldic colours. It is not difficult, in presence of so exact a date to find the author of these essays. On the third of September 1646, Nicholas Poirel, Sieur de Grandval, usher of the chambers of the Queen, had delivered to him a privilege for the making of faience, and notwithstanding the resistance of the parliament of Rouen, he had caused the duration to be fixed at fifty years. Poirel, a stranger to the processes of the art which he professed to exercise, hastened to sign the cession of his rights to Edme or Esmon Poterat, a potter established from 1644, at 362 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Saint-Sever, and who is, no doubt, author of the pieces we have just described. Probably, he was not long in finding the true processes of faience, and to him may be attributed the first specimens of the magnificent lambrequin and lace decorations in blue camaieu en- circling the shields of the Norman nobility. But, before proceeding further, let us explain what we understand by lambrequins, dcntelles and style rayonnant, for, in presence of the Fig. 101. undecided value of these denominations, in the descriptions of M. Andre" Pottier, it appears to Us indispensable to define, or at least to determine the limits to which the signification of these words should extend. The ; decoration "a lambrequins" is, we think, that divided in pendent masses, alternately irregular, that is to say with large designs, often with a blue ground floriated in reserves, between which are inserted smaller indentations charged with grounds dotted, lozengy or striated, with MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE— RO UEN. 363 roses (rosaces), stems (culots), or other ornaments, and sometimes supporting wreaths, draperies, &c. The " dentelle " decoration differs from the lambrequin in that its subjects, more equal as a whole, more refined in their details, imitate the lightness of the delicate tissue whose name they borrow. We think that we should denominate "broderie" (embroidery) the lace of which the designs are in white upon a blue ground, which gives them a heavier appearance. As to the " style rayonnant " (radiating style), we can only under- stand it in one manner ; it is when it expresses a decoration in which the centre and the circumference are united by ribbons or ornamental columns forming true rays which divide as it were in slices (par tranches) the circular pieces ; or cut cylindrical vases into distinct medallions by attaching themselves to the two borders. Taken in any other sense, the word loses all signification, for if one would call radiating, a circular pattern of which the points all direct towards the centre, no dish, no plate, will have any other decoration than this. Let us add, among the lambrequin and lace patterns, we should dis- tinguish very different styles which serve as so many dates. Architecture, marquetry and pique upon tortoiseshell, have first furnished the designs which mark out the masses ; the arabesques attach themselves always to mouldings (moulures), volutes and other solid framework accompanied by stems, flowers and draperies. An intermediate style is with large floriated scrolls, indentations, arabesques, baskets, draperies fluted like the pipes of an organ, copied from rich compositions of tapestry and textiles ; the last, perfectly to be recognised, is directly inspired by the blue Chinese porcelain. Let us return to Esmon Poterat, initiator of these magnificent decorations ; his workshop rapidly increased, in 1656, he bought the freehold where it was situated, and later, he associated his son, Louis Poterat, who assisted in giving the establishment all the development it admitted of. Free possessor of a prosperous industry, Edme Poterat, sheltered by his privilege, allowed several workshops to be established around him, among which may be instanced that of Etienne Bouttin ; he had done rightly to summon this last, in 1650, to discontinue his works, but this penal measure had not been followed by any effect ; and other potters, imitating Bouttin, had set up ovens of faience at Saint-Sever. Yet the privilege granted to Poirel de Grandval was to expire in 1698, and those who worked it sought to prolong it in assuring to themselves the advantage of a kind of a monopoly. Louis Poterat had 364 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. worked in concert with his father ; he had discovered the secret of an artificial, translucent pottery, true soft porcelain, and, basing himself upon this result, he solicited and obtained, the 31 October 1673, letters patent, of which, on account of their importance, we give the terms. Louis, by the grace of God, etc. Our well-beloved Louis Poterat has humbly made known to us that, by travels in foreign countries and by continual application, he has found the secret of making true Chinese porcelain and that of the faience of Holland ; but, it being impossible for him to work the said porcelain except conjointly with the faience of Holland, because porcelain cannot fire unless it be completely covered with it not to receive the violence of the fire, which should be moderated for its baking, it is necessary for him to have our permission to work and make work the one and the other, and to this effect, to cause great furnaces to be constructed, mills and workshops in proper places for such works ; and those which appear to him most commodious are in one of the faubourgs of Rouen, called Saint Sever, where may be established a manufactory of the said works, to make all kinds of table-ware (vaisselle), pots and vases of porcelain similar to that of China and of violet faience, painted with white and blue, and other colours in the form of that of Holland, for the time it will please us, during which he will be able to sell and retail the said porcelain and faience, without being hindered; and to this effect he has very humbly petitioned us to grant him the necessary letters. From these causes, desiring to treat favourably the said petitioner, to oblige him to work better and better to the perfection of the said works, We, of our special grace, full power and royal authority, have, by these presents signed by our hand, permitted, granted, aud agreed, we permit, grant, and agree to the said petitioner to establish in the faubourg of Saint Sever, and in all places of the kingdom that he will see good to be, a manufactory of all kinds of table-ware, pots, and vases of porcelain similar to that of China and of violet faience painted with white and blue, and other colours, in the manner of that of Holland, to make work such numbers of persons as he will judge necessary, and to this effect, cause to be constructed furnaces, mills, and workshops proper for the said porcelain and afore- said faience, that the said petitioner and those who have his rights may sell and retail through all our kingdom, territories and lordships under our obedience, during the term of thirty years, during which we have made aud make express prohibitions to all persons to trouble him in the establishment and manufacture of the said works and sales of these« under pain of one thousand livres fine, all expenses, damage, and interest, notwithstanding the prohibitions borne by our letters granted to Nicolas de Poirel, sieur de Grandval, the 3rd September, 164(5, to which we have derogated and do derogate, and wish not to injure the said petitioner, for the execution of these presents. We give it in command, etc., for such is our pleasure. Given at Versailles, the last day of October, XVI C LXXIII. (1673), and of our reign the thirty-first. Signed Louis, and on the fold, on the part of the King, Colbert. We will show elsewhere the interest of the discovery of Louis Poterat ; what it is necessary to point out here is the tenor and bearing of the privilege, excluding every kind of competition, and assuring a true monopoly to him to whom it is given. Therefore, the six potters of Saint-Sever (such was their number according to M. Pottier) whose industry had developed itself notwithstanding the menacing acts of Edme Poterat, moved themselves strongly this time, they implored the king and his council, thus stating the motives for their request. In that it has been represented to the King by the master manufacturers of faience at Rouen, that having been established twenty years, not without considerable expense, in the faubourg of Saint Sever in the said town, where they gave employment to more than two MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— ROUEN. 365 thousand workmen, they would soon see themselves reduced and these workmen, to extreme misery if the sieur de Saint Etienne obtained the privilege that they have learned, he was soliciting, to work alone and to their exclusion at works of faience. . . . The kin^ has maintained and kept, keeps and maintains the master manufacturers of faience established or who will eventually establish themselves in the faubourg of Saint Sever de Eouen, in the right and faculty of working and causing to work at works of faience, conforming themselves to the rules of the police of the said city. As always happens in similar cases the effect of the request was the suspension of all proceedings on the part of Poterat until the royal decision, and the six establishments quietly continued their works. A curious fact, and one which paints the manners of the epoch, is that it was only at the moment, when the decision was no longer required, in consequence of the death of Louis Poterat, Sieur de Saint Etienne, his privilege expiring with him, that the council examined the question and gave their judgment under the date of 23rd January 1717. This decision was not only favourable, as we have seen, to the potters concerned, but it contained a general authority for future contractors, for ideas, modified by experience, were then tending to free industry from the trammels which hindered its progress. This incident has made us lose sight of the doings of Louis Poterat, we take up the facts where we have left them. Master of so important a privilege, Louis separated from his father, to open, in 1674, a special workshop where he produced almost solely faience, for we shall see further that the production of porcelain had all the characteristics of an essay and acquired no industrial development. But, the stimulus once given, the aspirations of all the potters turned towards this new branch of the art, and as soon as the privilege of Poterat had expired, manufactories rapidly multiplied themselves. Before describing their various works, we will sketch a table, not of the establishments, but of the undertakers who have worked them ; deriving our information from the documents published by the Abbe Colas, MM. Gustave Gouellain and Raymond Bordeaux from the papers left by M. Andre" Pottier. Rue d'JElbeuf. Edme or Esmon Poterat, 1644 ; replaced by M. de Villeray ; veuve de Villeray, in 1722 ; then Dionis, in 1740. Charles Thomas Antoine Mouchard, 1749. Pierre Dumont, 1774. Guillaume Heugue, 1774 ; associated with his mother in 1775. Michel Antoine Guillaume Heugue. Se'raphine Heugue. Hubert le Tellier, 1781. Louis Jean Baptiste Picquet de la Houssiette, 1788. 366 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Pierre Charles Le Page, 1798. Guillaume Tharel, 1798. Anne Jeanne Le Boullenger. Nicolas L'Homme. Rue du Pre. Louis Poterat, sieur de Saint Etienne, 1673; Madeleine de Laval, veuve de Saint Etienne, 1710. Jean Bertin, 1720 ; veuve Huet Bertin, 1710. Nicolas Fouquay, 1720 ; successor Girard de Baincourt, 1742. Guillaume Francois Heugue, 1720 ; moves to Kue Saint Julien. Michel Mathieu Vallet pere et fils; Mathieu Vallet; Matliieu Amable Vallet; Pierre Alphonse Vallet, partners, 1756. Jean Baptiste Francjois Augustin Heugue, 1771. Marie Adelaide Julie Heugue, 1788. Pierre Paul Jourdain, 1788. Claude Legrip, 1798. Rue Tous Vents. Jean Guillibaud, 1720; veuve Loue Guillibaud, 1740. Jacques Nicolas Levavasseur, 1743 ; veuve Levavasseur, 1755. Marie Thomas Phile'mon Levavasseur. Amedee Lambert. Adrien Heugue. Rue Saint Sever. Cauchois, 1712; Andre Pottier, successor; Jacques Nicolas de la Mettairie, 1719. Pierre Jacques de la Mettairie. Pierre Paul Caussy, 1720. Pierre Guillaume Abraham Heugue, 1722. Faupoint, 1722. Carre', 1722. Jean Baptiste Antoine Flandain, 1740. Antoine Flandain. Pierre Mouchard, 1746; associated in 1757 with Debarc de la Croisille; Gabriel Sas successor. Jean Baptiste Francois Heugue, 1774. Charles Framboisier and veuve Framboisier, 1774. Jean Nicolas Bellenger fils. Louis Cornu. Jacques Charles Noel Dubois. Charles Guillaume Dubois. Jean Baptiste Dupray. Jean Mathieu Vallet. Rue Saint Julien. Pinon, 1722. Maugard or Maugras, 1722. Guillaume Francjois Heugue, 1740 ; come from Rue du Pre. Franc/us Henri Heugue. Francois Philippe Heugue. Nicolas Louis Francois Macarel, 1740. Pierre Michel Macarel, 1749. Nicolas Roch Macarel, 1774. Pierre Nicolas Robert Macarel. Nicholas Maletra. 1740 ; veuve Maletra, 1749. Robert Thomas Pavie, 1754 ; died, 1777. William Sturgeon, 1770. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— RO UEN. 367 This list is not complete, for we have not known where to place Gabriel Fosse, established in 1739, to whom his widow succeeded, nor Bre'ard, of whom we find traces from 1720. It is evident, besides, that several names should be grouped round one workshop, and that each does not represent a new undertaking. Thus, to cite only one example, Nicolas Fouquay appears to have retaken, in 1720, the estab- lishment founded by Louis Poterat rue du Pre, and afterwards worked by his widow. Guillaume Heugue the father, mentioned for the first time in a shop of 1774, appears, after other documents, to have founded his establishment in 1722 ; they obliged him even, in 1734, to demolish a furnace he had erected of a larger size than allowed by the regulations. An order in council of the 7th of July, 1781, authorises tbe sieurs Macnemara, William Sturgeon, Simon de Suzay and Letellier to set up a royal manufactory on condition of employing coal (houille) for firing instead of wood ; experiments were made in 1783, but the protests of the other potters stopped the development of this enterprise. Lastly, whatever may be the number of names given above, we know that the workshops never exceeded the number of eighteen, some of which had as many as three furnaces ; if we calculate how many turners, sculptors and painters it required to satisfy the necessities of this enormous production, we can well understand how few names of this host have acquired sufficient celebrity to come down to us. We will mention those who have formed a kind of school. The first in date is Pierre Chapelle ; he signed, in 1725, the two monumental spheres, that were to be seen at the Universal Exhibition, and which had originally decorated the vestibule of the chateau of Choisy-le-Roy. Masterpieces of the establishment of Madame de Villeray, these spheres are supported by elegant pedestals upon which are represented the Four Elements and the Four Seasons surrounded by , wreaths of flowers and emblems skilfully composed and painted in harmonious, warm enamels. These specimens show the art at its apogee ; as draughtsman, Pierre Chapelle, is at least equal to the last adepts of majolica. He died in 1760, at the age of 75 ; he had a brother, a son and a nephew who also painted on faience without raising themselves to his level. About the same period, issued from the workshops of Levavasseur or, according to M. Thaurin, from those of one Lambert, five terminal busts representing Time and the Four Seasons, of colossal size, and the sheaths of the richest ornamentation ; the complete series belongs to the Duke 368 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. of Hamilton. Another series, less important by its proportions and less perfect in execution, is still at Paris decorating the front of a china shop in the Faubourg St. Germain. We know not to which artist to assign them. In 1736-1738, Claude Borne signed large dishes with borders of flowers in the style of enamels, which cover the whole edge; the ground is occupied by the group of the Four Seasons and a mythological subject, Venus asleep. In this piece blue camaieu predominates ; the accessories alone have yellow and green tints spread over the blue outline. In 1743, Claude Borne worked with Dionis ; from 1756 to 1757, we find him again at Francois Heugue, the elder. Another painter, Leleu, was attached in 1742 to the works of Fouquay. We know by him two dishes representing Judith with the head of Holofernes, and Jesus and the Samaritan woman; the subjects surrounded by a border of flowers and arabesques upon a dotted ground. We think we may attribute to the same artist, a plateau belonging to M. Gustave Gouellain, representing Achilles at the court of the king of Scyros, putting on his helmet and seizing his sword ; the learned owner, in telling us he had met a common engraving of this subject by L. Surugue, after M. Vleughels, made us remark that the engraving had the exact proportions of the dish and all seemed to prove it had been reproduced by pricking. Such then is the short duration of the impotent attempts of our ceramic artists at designing subject pieces ; they generally gave to the draughtsman models without value, cheaply purchased, and these pictures pricked by apprentices, were transferred such as they were upon the glaze, and coloured without emulation by painters who soon lost the little they had learned, and more distressing still, the desire of learning more. Let us compare this condition of our manufactories with that which was going on in Italy, in the sixteenth century, when the greatest artists prepared cartoons which painters electrified by their models and impelled by a lively emulation, transferred to majolica, and we shall form a sound and indulgent judgment on the subject pieces issued from the schools of Rouen, Nevers and Moustiers. The leaning to camaieu, manifested by the pieces we have just quoted, proves also how subordinate figures were to decoration. We find an instance in the decoration of a kind of basket (bannette) anterior to the paintings of Borne and Leleu, and which represents one of the scenes of the work of Charity, after Abraham Bosse ; there the flesh is modelled in red and all the rest is blue with rare tints of green MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— RO UEN. 369 scattered here and there ; one only finds polychrome decoration in all its splendour in a border of blue ground with flowers and fruits in the Franco-oriental style of chintz patterns. After the same manner is executed a beautiful dish representing in the centre Ceres, personifying Summer, and also the top or slab of a commode, above three feet long, belonging to .M Lericque de la Bouille, on which is an exuberant orna- mental composition, representing the Baptism in the Jordan, after Nicholas Poussin. It is also in blue camaleu that Hilaire, in 1759, Fosse and some others at the end of the century, executed pastoral subjects surrounded by brilliant rocailles, and " cornes d' abondance." Yet camai'eu found itself early in competition with polychrome decoration ; we must not lose sight of Louis Poterat being authorised to paint faiences of every colour "a la facon d' Hollande ;" a deep cup of 1699 bearing the name of Brument is bordered with lace of varied though sombre tints, surrounding a landscape and buildings in the Chinese style. The brilliant decoration inspired by oriental porcelain seems to date only from the first year of the eighteenth century; M. Guillibeaux, as he signs himself, inaugurates it worthily in a splendid service with the arms of Montmorency-Luxemburg; M.Gustave Gouellain partaking the opinion expressed by M. Andre* Pottier, thinks that this service had been offered by the city to Charles Francois Frederic II., appointed governor of Normandy in 1728, after the death of his father. Of the same epoch appears to be the fine piece of the Dutuit collection, bearing upon a peer's mantle the conjoined escutcheon of the duke de Rouvroy Saint Simon, and of h^s wife, a Durfort de Lorges. Another lobed " surtout," or centre piece, belonging to M. Leroux, is charged with the shield of M. de Forbin de Janson, surmounted by a bishop's hat and encircled by the order of the St. Esprit. In seeing all this efflorescence, one enquires if the cause should not be sought in a political rather than in a commercial fact ; the disasters of the latter years of the reign of Louis XIV. had ruined the State; the king, at the end of his resources, surrounded by foreign armies, according to the expression of Saint Simon, deliberated upon putting him- self into faience (delibera de se mettre en faience) ; the nobles carrried their silver to the mint and substituted painted ware. It required then that faience should be in keeping with the splendor of the other objects of furniture, and the refinement of its colour and design were not unequal to encountering the vicinity of the furniture of Boule, the tapestry of the Gobelins, and the bronzes of high art. The "mise en faience " contributed perhaps to the development of 2 B 37Q HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. ceramic art, but one cannot consider it to be the primary cause of the movement; anterior to 1715, we already find a quantity of escut- cheoned services, and we should remark that these services as well as those made for the nobility at later epochs, did not differ in decoration from the wares destined for general use ; the luxury of ceramic objects gradually percolated among the rich bourgeoisie and even among the classes of the people ; no emblazonment specialises the ownership of one of the most brilliant of the Rouennais services, in which chamois or deep yellow grounds damascened with charming black arabesques serve as a set off to circles of children in blue camaieu ; no pieces are more richly relieved with arabesques and flowers than the cider jugs (pichets), or the marriage vases upon which, near their patron saint, the persons for whom they are intended, citizens of the towns, or cultivators of the fields, caused to be inscribed their names and date. Marguerite Liteau, 1736. Pierre Gause, 1 738. Marie Caillot, 1775. Julie Le Eoux, 1778. In the centuries which have preceded ours, industry was subjected to special conditions; the relations between the consumer and the producer were almost direct, the intermediary seemed scarcely to have existed. It is therefore particularly in things of popular use, that we meet with the exact expression of the tendencies of the moment ; a great lord ordering his service might, by paying well, impose a decoration to his choice ; the citizen or mechanic who desired to see his name or the popular air of the day in the middle of his plate, who wished that his patron should have the place of honour on his sideboard, accepted, as regarded the rest, the habitual decoration of the workshops. We attach therefore great value to those pieces in which canopies (6aWac/ims),rockwork(roc(xiWes),chinoiseries,or compositions a carquois or cb comes, admit of following, step by step, the fluctuations of taste. An attempt to reconstitute a list of the painters by means of their monograms, in a locality like Rouen, would be a senseless undertaking. The number of individuals of the same family, the migrations from workshop to workshop, from province to province, would make of this attempt an infallible source of confusion, where already reigns an obscurity to be regretted. We have cited, for im- portant figure decorations, the most eminent artists, let us add some of those who have worked in the ornamental style. Gardin, employed at the brothers Vallet, in 1757, has signed, with his name in full, works MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— ROUEN. 37i " a la corne," and " au carquois," all carefully finished ; but some are executed in bright warm colours, while others are in pale and glassy colours, as if drowned in the fluid enamel. Why this difference ? is it a change of method, the sign of a period ? Were there two Gardins who worked each in his special manner ? One sees how delicate these questions are. Dieul, attached in 1756 and 1757 to this workshop of the Vallet, also cultivated the cornucopia style with remarkable vigour. M. Pottier makes only one and the same category of the Rouennais decorators ; it is the same hand which traces the bold arabesques, the patient lacework, and those fumbling figures, sometimes deformed, due to the want of practice and to bad models. Thus among the pieces executed to order, with the figures of patron saints, we see the names of painters multiply : in 1777 a pitcher (broc) with rockwork, flowers, and birds surrounding the figure of St. John, inscribed with the name of J ean de Hai'e, bears underneath : " Fecit Petrus Masse, etc. . . anno 1777 ; " Simon Ancel fils signs, in 1782, another jug with the name of Julie Le Roux, where the ornaments "a corne" encircle a saint in ecstasy, kneeling near a stone upon which is written: "Mon cceur voile verre le ciel." St. Francis, with a decoration of flowers, has the name of Francois Goujon upon a pichet thus inscribed : "Fait par moi Gabriel- Antoine Delisle, 1783." A canette with simple bouquets has been "faitte par Louis Cornu, le 6 aout 1779, a Rouen, chez M. Levavasseur." But, with the exception of nominal legends and some objurgations like that of St. Julia, the Rouennais faiences are little "parlantes," some joyous couplets, invitations to drink, often of the most fantastic orthography are all. This verse, written upon a pitcher (broc), dated 1731, is an exception : Je suis un antidotte, et je suis un poison, Je reveille les sens et j'endors la raison, J'avance le tre'pas et prolonge la vie, Et je seme la guerre ou la paix me con vie. The signatures of the modellers and turners are more rare than those of the painters. There is one of those hydraulic pieces with intermittent jets, called " Hero's fountain." Under the foot the author has engraved, " Fecit anno 1744, par moi Marsollet ; " Noyon, in 1761, signs a pitcher destined for Catherine Catel, with rocailles surrounding St. Catherine; is it only the turner, or may one suppose that like Pierre Masse, he is the author of the piece, paste, and decoration ? J. Guillaume graves his name under a rocaille "cartel," or watch-case, 2 b 2 372 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. of which the making implies a certain difficulty. Underneath a large stand for a crucifix (pied de croix) we read, " Models par Henry — 1779." The clay, finely worked, is covered with a transparent glaze, decorated with coloured emblems of the Passion and a royal shield. " Morlait le jeune " signs, in 1781, a Christ, tolerably executed, which he has made the mistake of attempting to enamel, notwithstanding his inexperience in the use of colours; lastly, we read the name of "Pierre Omon — 1789." under a stand for a crucifix painted, in 1790, by a decorator whose cipher is composed of two P's and a C interlaced. 1735 A milk-pot, in fine faience or pipe-clay, with vitreous glaze, Rouen is inscribed underneath (M. 77). From this period, attempts L. C. were made to introduce into the Norman city the style of M - 77 - pottery which was later to cause the ruin of its faience industry. Thus, from the works themselves, one arrives at collecting the names of from fifteen to twenty artists, but what are these compared with the voluminous chronologies gathered in the parish archives by M. Andre Pottier ? To attempt to go further, in seeking to explain the signs in- scribed under some faiences would, we repeat, be senseless ; one cannot agree even on some which have an official character. In a work lately published under the auspices of M. Riocreux, M. Jules Greslou writes, " It is on this occasion (the mise en faience) that was founded at Rouen the privileged fabric which marked its products with a fleur de lis "... and further, " the fleur de lis is the only very certain mark." Now, M. Andre Pottier establishes that Louis XIV., at the period of his disasters, consented to descend from gold to silver plate, and that the nobility only, reduced itself to the use of faience. Where then would be the use of the pretended privilege ? what workshop, new or old, would have obtained it ? One scarcely knows any authentic pieces of Rouen marked with the fleur de lis, and they are of very common make. (M. 78) is one of these marks; others are /S attributed to Rouen without great certainty, <^>| particularly M. 79. The fleur de lis derived jg -» — ' from the royal arms is, besides, claimed by the city of Lille as its special emblazonment ; Mar- M * 78, M " 79 ' seilles lays claim to it by a particular privilege, and we find fleurs de lis under pottery of other countries, and upon French faiences of the eighteenth century, having nothing in common with the Norman style. What to do in this chaos, but wait until order comes out of it ? So with the ciphers ; and if, to satisfy the curiosity of amateurs MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— ROUEN. 373 we ought to give those of most frequent occurrence, they must be grouped by styles, without pronouncing an opinion upon their real origin, and in remembering that Rouen has made of its decoration a type, imitated everywhere, either to satisfy the general taste, or for the benefit of an established fashion. Here are some of the monograms : Rouennais radiating style, ivith mantlings and baskets, wreaths of flowers, etc. ; blue, blue and red, and simple polychrome (M. 80). M. 80. A £h * I 7 0- gift ^ ff& §M? OS GW * ^ * ~3€ Rouennais style with mantlings, wreaths, and baskets in blue, heightened with black {M. 81-85). M. 81-85. 3D VN VD MP ^ Rouennais style, same polychrome decoration, with copper green evaporated by heat (M. 86-89). M. 86-89. 374 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Oriental Rouennais style, & la come, bright polychrome (M. 90). M. 90. CO B** tkutf ^4 T>iu Jh GB &i W# G-m Grttl G5 G $ 'tl He h^A- HT M> AO m X -°Same sfyte, decoration in which citron yellow predominates, and where the products of Rouen and Sinceny become confounded (M. 91). M. 91. BB PB $ pi k il fff H ^v- PtA/T JED BP fU S3 w Gt v | x ^ : UNKIRK. 379 establishment within a year, counting from the date of this said ordinance, and to have always at least one furnace at work . . . Prohibition to form any other establishment within three leagues of the environs of Saint-Omer, etc. Given the 9th January 1751. This decree was registered the 9th of July following ; it received its execution, for in the Universal Exhibition was a piece signed a Saint Omer, 1759 ; a handsome soup tureen in the form of an expanded cabbage ; on the top climbs a snail with yellow stripes, which forms the knot to raise the cover ; the colouring of the leaves is perfect and the modelling correct ; from the circumference to the centre, they are shaded off from a glaucous to a yellowish green marked with pink veins. The whole shows the care, intelligence, and talent of the maker. Vases have been made everywhere, in the form of animals and vegetables, in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, we doubt if any have been produced superior to that which we have just described, and we are convinced there are many among those attributed to Brussels and Delft, which should be restored to Saint-Omer. As regards the stonewares of Saladin, where shall we look for them ? Evidently among those various products classed in the chaos styled Flemish or English stoneware. The list of the petitioners against the commercial treaty with England, proves that in 1791, the establishment of Saint-Omer was still in activity; from 1750 to that date, that is to say during forty years, how many remarkable pieces may have issued from Haut Pont ? Unfortunately, it is probable that Saladin only marked by exception, and, that it is only by means of an authentic type and an attentive comparison that one would be able to reconstitute his share in the works of S. Omer ; thus a serious study of the fine cabbage at Cluny, has convinced us we can place it near the one signed and dated. Flanders. This is a province whose politicaljdestinies, its vicinity to the Low Countries, and its commercial and industrial activity render particularly interesting. Long neglected as regards ceramic history, it has since had its special writers, and now its rank may be assigned to it by the side of Normandy and the Nivernais. Not to lose ourselves in long digressions, we reserve historic observations, to the special description of each manufactory, and proceed to study them, descending from north to south. Dunkirk. — In 1749, the Sieurs Douisbourg and Saladin were 3 8o HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. authorised to open a faience manufactory in this town, but protests were immediately made on the part of the Lille potters who, while asserting their own potteries were sufficient to supply the country and the colonies, desired it should be observed that Dunkirk, by its position as a free port, was not suited to be the seat of a manufactory ; they insinuated that Douisbourg could sell "as coming from his works, products of Holland fraudulently entered, and which would be a great loss to the revenue." In less than a year after its establishment, Douis- bourg and Saladin were compelled to give up the enterprise. The works of Dunkirk must hence be of great rarity. We have seen a clock rocaille with endive leaves curled and jaspered in various colours, sur- mounted by a figure of Time between Genii, of heavy, inferior execution ; this faience bore a close resemblance to certain Dutch products ; but the dial, decorated in the centre with small flowers outlined in black, bore this double inscription : above, Dickhoof, below, A. Duisburg. The first name is evidently Flemish ; the second, .preceded by the initial of a christian name, should be read Douisbourg, as indicated in the letters patent, according to French pronunciation. True, there exists a town of Duisburg in Prussia, in the district of Cleves ; but if one would explain the inscription as geographical, the preceding initial would have no meaning. The two stops which accompany it take away from it the character of a preposition, and even if they did not exist, one could not admit the presence of a French preposition before a foreign name ; if it were German it should be aus, if Flemish tot It is there- fore probable that Duisburg is the name of a man, and one may infer it to be that of Saladin's partner, only when he produced this piece, he perhaps was working with another artist, or rather one may suppose, that in executing a clock case, he has given the name of the clock- maker Dickhoof, as well as his own. Bailleul. — Gournay, in his 'Almanach General du Commerce,' says, " The wares of this locality equal in beauty those of Rouen ; they have the advantage of resisting the strongest fire, are of low price, labour being' very cheap." We have not met with this ware in the Eouen style, so we cannot give its characteristics ; but the Musee de Cluny has a piece inscribed in Flemish with the name of Bailleul, which has so peculiar a character one might place it with the German works equally with the French. It is a soup tureen in relief; the cover, which alone is painted, bears a remote resemblance to Nuremberg decoration. Franciscus Wynneel and Mary Johanna Noel, whose arms, accompanied by German eagles, projects upon the body of the piece, MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— LILLE. 38i appear to have consecrated this tureen to the expression of their anger against Louis XIV., in half mystical inscriptions, they address praises to Charles (VI.) their " true emperor " and to their invincible general Francois Eugene de Savoie. Villars had nevertheless come, and in consequence of his victories, had negociated with Prince Eugene the peace of Rastadt. In fact, the piece is dated 1717, but the death of the king had not sufficed to satiate the hatred of these determined Germans. Ifc is the potter Jacobus Hennekens who had made this soup tureen, adding to his name : " Ghemaecke tot Belle," made at Bailleul. Lille. — The ceramic history of this city goes back to a very ancient period, and is closely united with the political changes consequent on the wars of Louis XIV. After the death of Philip IV. differences having arisen between France and Spain relative to the succession to the throne of that country, the king declared war, and in 1667, his victorious armies entered the Low Countries. The peace of Aix-la- Chapelle, in 1668, put an end to the conflict, and secured to Louis XIV. his conquest of Flanders, which he retained until 1708 and 1709. During this period of tranquillity, that is, in 1696, the magistrate of Lille called from Tournay, Jacques Febvrier, maker and turner of faience, and Jean Bossu, a Ghent painter, to establish a local manu- factory of faience, and thus avoid obtaining this product from other towns, or rather from foreign countries. Febvrier pretended he possessed the secret of certain earths fitted to produce a pottery as beautiful as that of Holland and finer than that of Tournay. One may judge how eminent was his pottery, by two portable altars dated 1716, one discovered by us and belonging now to the Museum of Sevres, the other in the collection of the Comte de Liesville, bearing the name of the maker and those of the two painters. Upon the first we read Fecit Jacobus Feburier Insulis in Flandria anno 1716. Pinxit Maria Stephanus Borne: upon the other; Jacobus Feburier fecit et dedit vedasto Ludouico Lejeune prsesbitero et vicario Santi-Andrese. Insulis in Flandria 1716. Johannes Franciscus Jacque pinxit. In these pieces, Rouen tradition shows itself in. arabesques, scrolls and baskets of flowers, through which we trace a Flemish rendering ; and this French style, the city will adopt without alteration, even during the period of Dutch occupation, and it will identify itself so much with the style of the "petits maitres" and of the national, industrial schools, that many will hesitate to recognise its works either in faience or porcelain. In 1729, Jacques Febvrier died, leaving in a most prosperous condi- tion his magnificent establishment which was carried on by his widow, 382 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Marie Barbe Vandepopeliere, in conjunction with her son-in-law- Francois Boussemart ; these, basing their pretensions upon the favour enjoyed by their manufactory, which they declared to be the most im- portant in the kingdom, since its works were preferred to those of Holland, not only in Flanders, but even by the dealers in Paris, asked to have it erected into a royal manufactory. (Houdoy ' Recherches sur les manufactures lilloises.') About 1778, a Sieur Petit succeeded Boussemart and maintained the industry in the eminence his predecessor had placed it. In reference to this first establishment, M. Houdoy asks if Febvrier during the thirty-three years he worked there, only marked the two altars above mentioned, and if his son-in-law, during a practice of forty-nine years neglected to sign any of his works. Thinking that impossible, the learned ^>fo author proposes to attribute to Boussemart the cipher F. B. which ~fO ne na d met several times under this form (M. 92). We have been M - 92 - able to find a striking confirmation of this .conjecture ; under a magnificent dish of the Musee de Cluny, where arabesque borders and wreaths of fruit in blue cama'ieu, recal in a softer tone, the rich compositions of Rouen, appears the cipher F.B. (M. 93) of which the analogous one, with " Lille " underneath (M. 93a), is in the collection of Patrice Salin, inscribed on splendid plates of Rouen (e, decoration upon an enamel of irreproachable whiteness M. 93. M. 93a. an( j p Ur ity } under one of the marks the artist has painted, as if trying his brush, some notched leaves. In the same » collection is another plate in the Rouen style, but of more flowing design, and well characterised as Lillois, here the r-T t-> signature approaches more the commercial marks of Flanders XjB> and Holland (M. 94). 2^ Here arises an interesting question ; one would suppose ™ nA that Boussemart, son-in-law of Febvrier and the partner M. 94. of his widow from the time of his death, had worked for a certain time in the manufactory. Could not we so explain the double cipher used by Febvrier-Boussemart and thus refer it to a date anterior to 1729 ? The perfection of certain of the signed works suggests the idea, which may beside strengthen itself upon a reasonable consideration ; associated with his father or his mother-in- law, Boussemart would rather insert their initial on the mark of the manufactory than cause his own christian name to appear. Another observation relative to this cipher; amateurs should guard against MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— LILLE. 383 confusion; they will find further on the mark F.B., on Swedish pieces. Febvrier and his successors have not only treated the blue camaleu in a masterly manner, but magnificent polychrome specimens in the collections of Sevres and of Messrs. Perilleux-Michelez, Davillier, de Senevas, Vaiisse, Patrice Salin and Fetis of Brussels, show their versatility of talent ; plates with undulating borders, the form of metal work, where upon an enamel rivalling that of Moustiers, are first a crown of elegant detached rocaille designs, separated by insects, and executed in very bright iron red, pale blue, lilac, yellow and green shaded, Fig. 102. LILLE PLATE, 1767. obtained by a mixture of blue and yellow : at the bottom and above, two Cupids, support a ribbon upon which is written MAtTRE Dalign£; no doubt the name of the person for whom it was destined ; rocailles, baskets, groups of fruit and flowers enclose the principal subject and decorate the rim. The richness and harmony of the tints surpass the best specimen of what Moustiers has done in fine painting. On the reverse, in a medallion formed of green and blue palms tied together by a bouquet, and surmounted by the royal crown, we read LILLE, 1767, (Fig. 102). The only establishment honoured with the title of " Royal manufactory " and which could allow itself to use this ensign, being that 3U HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. founded by Febvrier, one may recognise, in the plates described, the work of Boussemart. M. Vaisse basing himself upon the decoration of a piece of Sinceny belonging to him, and which has a banderole, inscribed with the name of a "maitre Dubourjal" conqueror in a public archery match, supposes that the plates of Daligne will have been ordered after a success of the same kind and given as a prize to perpetuate the remembrance; a supposition in accordance with the manners of the age, and then the plates of the royal manufactory would take a public and official character which would explain their perfection and the unusual luxury displayed in the mark at the back. A teapot of similar decoration to that of the plates, is in the Musee de Cluny ; and is inscribed underneath : Lille, 1786 ; it proceeds there- fore from the Sieur Petit, Boussemart's successor. Let us return to the second Lillois manufactory, that which Barthelemi Dorez and his nephew Pellissier founded, it is said, when the city had fallen into the hands of the Dutch. We possess no document ralative to the nature and style of the products obtained from 1712 to 1750 or 1755, the period when a Sieur Hereng succeeded the Dorez, to be replaced in his turn, in 1786, by Hubert Francois Lefebvre. M. Houdoy thinks we should seek for the faiences of Barthe'lemi Dorez among the finest and most perfect of the Flanders products. We partake of his opinion, for it is demonstrated that, in all the establishments where they have produced at the same time porcelain and faience, this last has been very beautiful. But ifbne has longer hesitated in recognising the works of the Dorez than those of Febvrier and Boussemart, it is that the first approach more the Dutch than the French style. The letter D, -p\ accompanied by the number of a series (M. 95) is in our J}2- — idea, the mark of the manufactory at its beginning, ' ^ and we consider as one of its masterpieces of the kind, a pot of water decorated in blue camaieu and mounted in silver, belonging to Dr. Guerard. We shall see further this same letter D mark the soft porcelains issued from the same manufactory concurrently with its faiences. One may also attribute to the Dorez a dish in the collection of Patrice Salin, simply signed. (M. 96.) I'M) ^P on tlie smootn white enamel is an elaborate border in ttwU which a pure blue, a rust tint and some black heightenings ' 96 ' describe a delicate arabesque broken by a shield of arms ; the centre is filled in with a bouquet of flowers in the style of the south cf France. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— LILLE. 385 Towards 1720, Barthelemi Dorez, having become undertaker for the king of the manufactory of saltpetre, bequeathed his pottery to his three sons Rene Barthelemi, Francois Louis and Martin Claude. Francois Louis left his brothers to settle at Valenciennes, and in 1742 Claude, the youngest, took the works. In 1748, Nicolas Alexis Dorez, grandson of Barthelemi, directed the establishment, and there was a work signed by him at the Universal Exhibition, a pot for water decorated in blue, with a medallion representing a woman seated, making lace on a pillow; below was written, N.A.DOREZ, 1748. This piece had no longer the delicacy of the old products. Lefebvre appears to have sought to imitate porcelain with flowers and birds. A third important manufactory was set up in 1740, by a sieur Wamps, who made tiles after the manner of the Dutch ; on his death, Jacques Masquelier was charged with the direction of the works, and became proprietor in 1752. He then applied for and obtained, 20th of May 1755, the licence, to add to his fabrication, works after the manner of Rouen and foreign countries. If we are to believe the book of Gournay, in 1788 Lille pos- sessed two establishments directed by Lefebvre and Petit. Ought one to assign to this last the mark (97) found on a fine dish of Rouen style decorated in blue ? A- We have also to mention some other ceramic establishments of M ' 97 - Lille, ephemeral no doubt, but which may have left their products ; in 1758, a sieur Heringle, native of Strasburg and coming from the manu- factory of " terre d'Angleterre," at Paris, obtained permission to make stoves (etuves) of faience ; later, William Clarke was authorised, 10th of March, 1773, "to create a fabric of a kind of faience which is only made in England " — evidently pipe-clay ; but it appears the enterprise was unsuccessful, for two years later, we find the same individual soliciting letters patent to establish himself at Montereau. And as if Flanders were to unite every kind of pottery, a potter named Chanon obtained licence to put into activity at Lille furnaces to bake a brown earth with a tortoiseshell glaze "called terre de Saint- Esprit a la fagon d'Angleterre et du Languedoc," resisting fire and adapted to furnish every kind of ware, from German stoves, to tea and coffee services. DOUAI. — These works, authorised by letters patent of the 9th of June 1784, were set up in the rue des Carmes-De'chausse'es, and were directed by the sieurs Houze", de l'Aulnoit and company, who it appears soon sold 2 c 336 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. them to a sieur Halsfort. Gournay mentions him as director in 1788 ; his nationality explains the nature of his works, and in 1790, it was to the competition of his stonewares and " cailloutages " that the potters of Saint- Amand attributed the decline of their manufactories. According to documents gathered in the departmental statistics by Dr. Warmont, the establishments of Douai would date from 1782, and have been founded by the Brothers Leach, invited from England by George Bris, who constructed vast buildings for them in the rue des Carmes. No official piece permits us to choose between the two versions. Cambrai. — After information communicated by M. de Boyer de Sainte Suzanne, Cambresian ceramics would go back to the sixteenth century ; a manuscript entitled ' Livre aux bans ' preserved in the town library, contains five regulations of the magistrate relative to the corporation of potters of earth, dated 1540, 1641 and 1646. In that of 1641, it is recommended to cleanse the earth intended for "poterie blance " from the pebbles and alum glaze it generally contains. This denomination of " white pottery " again found in several localities of France, evidently refers to enamelled faience. M. Houdoy has met with a piece of faience signed : " Cambray ; " but he thinks it to be only the name of a decorator attached to the Lillois works and not that of a town. Valenciennes. — About 1735, Francois Louis Dorez, son of Bar- thelemi, founder of the Lille works, left his two brothers, with whom he was in partnership, to work the paternal manufactory, and came to open at Valenciennes an establishment which he directed till his death in 1739, by means of subsidies and encouragements from the magistrates administrators of the city. Thanks to their encou- ragement, the widow Dorez was able to continue the works of her husband. Yet, in 1742, the manufactory passed into the hands of Charles Joseph Bernard, whose incapacity must have been notorious, since in 1743, the municipal subsidies were paid to the assignees of Bernard and the manufactory continued to Claude Dorez brother of Louis. But he was scarcely more prosperous than his predecessor, for in 1757, it is to sieur StieVenard, the assignee of his creditors, that the payments are made. The faience works of Valenciennes appear then to have had some trouble in establishing themselves, notwithstanding the wishes of the local authorities, and Dr. Lejeal, the conscientious historian of the MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 387 ceramics of the arrondissement of Valenciennes, even hesitates to determine its products; he observes with great reason that close analogies would exist between the wares of Lille, Valenciennes, Rouen and even of Holland : if he ventures to give the cypher DL "p\ (M. 98) applied under pieces of Rouennais decoration as being M 9g perhaps that of Louis Dorez, he does not dare to assign a rather coarse D (M. 99) to either of the brothers, because he finds it under pieces without character, and inscribed with various m. 99. initials, that we can only explain as painters' marks. A second establishment was set up in 1755 to 1757 by Picard, who also received subsidies, but he had no better success than his predecessors. A third and last attempt was made about 1772, by Be'car; his beginnings were no doubt difficult as he had recourse to partners ; the 5th of June 1776, an agreement was made between Gaspard- Joseph Be'car, manufacturer of earthen pottery and faience, Jean Baptiste Delacambe de Mairival, councillor of the king, syndic attorney of Valenciennes, and Jean Philippe Dehaut, secretary to the intendant of Hainault, for the working of the establishment ; it is expressly stated in the act : " The sieur Be'car will make all the compositions and give all his care to ameliorate and bring the manufacture to perfection ; he will be charged to watch the workmen and direct them. The sieur Dehaut will have charge of the payments." The first implements were bought of a sieur Flescher de Saint Amand, who, himself, had also failed in a similar undertaking. The private funds not being sufficient, Be'car asked the assistance of the magis- trates of the town and also sought help from the intendant. The in- spector, M. Crommelin, consulted on the subject, was far from showing himself favourable to his application, he first pointed out the bad situation of Valenciennes, as regarded a market, then the impossibility of this city contending against the established reputation of the works of Saint Amand ; he also accuses Be'car of negligence, and reproaches him with not having applied his attention to saleable objects, and attaching himself to those of ornament, such as trials in porcelain and pipe-clay which ruin him, and turn his attention from faience. As a natural con- sequence, the assistance was refused, and the 18th of April 1780, the partnership was dissolved. The very reproaches, made to Be'car, are an incentive to seek his works, the faiences produced by one so artistic would recommend them- selves by special qualities; his trials of porcelain and pipe-clay would be curious evidences in ceramic history. But Dr. Lejeal 2 c 2 3 88 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. does not venture to point out any work of Becar, although three little figures in pipe-clay gracefully modelled appear to him to have probably come from Valenciennes. Saint- Am and. —The manufactory of faience at Saint- Amand-les-Eaux appears to go further back than 1740, it was founded by Pierre Joseph Fauquez, proprietor of another establishment at Tournay, where he was buried in 1741. Pierre Francois Joseph his son succeeded him in the two towns, but when the Treaty of Aix-la-Cbapelle in 1748, continued France of Tournay, Fauquez ceded the Belgian works to Peterynck and went to fix himself at Saint-Amand. He worked there until 1773, at which period he gave it up to his son Jean Baptiste J oseph, who continued the establishment until the moment when revolutionary excesses forced him to seek security in emigration. The faience of Saint-Amand recommends itself first by its ex- cellent workmanship; in an artistic point of view, it is still more remarkable, for while rivalling by its style of decoration the most cele- brated manufactories, it has had processes peculiar to itself which give it a particular relief; also after its own inventions, it usually employs a blueish glaze, upon which, independent of other colours, it can apply a white enamel, after the manner of the Italian "sopra bianco." From this characteristic alone, we can recognise the works of Saint- Amand, for nowhere, we believe, has this style been made in such perfection. We are also able to fix distinct epochs in the faience of Saint-Amand, by establishing the period of the invasion of the taste of the other great manufactories ; thus, in the period which, according to us, is the first, it is the Rouennais style which the artists aspire to imitate ; though in some specimens, it is only a distant inspiration. We cite as an example of this style, the beautiful fountain in the museum at Sevres, where the principal subject is a dolphin in relief, the scales heightened with blue, and the sides ornamented with designs in white. Two dolphins are on the edge of the top (couronnement). This form, called in popular language " morue," was common at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Plates and other pieces, in blue, camaieu relieved with white, are of the same date, and could not be mistaken for certain Swedish potteries to be spoken of later. To this period belong no doubt certain polychrome types of the style "a la corne," and others of excessive delicacy, carefully decorated in blue and iron red, with elegant scrolls and lace patterns inspired by the Rouennais school. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— ST. AMAND. 389. The second period embraces the faiences painted in the muffle fur- naces in the Strasburg style. There again, are two well marked divisions, the first comprising pieces with an enamel of irreproachable whiteness, and painted with bouquets and birds, elaborately executed in the style of the finest specimens of Hannong. These works, Dr. Lejeal thinks, should be ascribed to Joseph Fernig, an artist of Strasburg origin, allied to the Fauquez family, who worked successively at Saint- Amand and Valenciennes. The second division comprises in- numerable and charming products in which the Strasburg style, executed upon the blueish- enamel, combines with the white height- enings or the French sopra-bianco. The ingenuity developed by the Saint- Amand decorators, in the combination of these two elements, it is impossible to describe ; to understand it, we should study the splendid collection of M. Paul Gaillard. There we see laces rolled round wreaths of flowers, white masses, forming an embroidery between arabesque medallions, with delicate polychrome subjects, besides semis of white bouquets alternating with natural flowers, all executed with spirit, and forming the most elegant ware. The third division, composed of porcelain faiences, is no less re- markable than the two others, although very few specimens exist. M. Lejeal considers it inspired by the Saxon style, but we find in it the true French type, as inaugurated' by Watteau. The learned doctor recognised it even himself, when he called to mind that Louis Watteau, of Lille, descendant of the great painter, went to Saint- Amand to decorate the rooms in the hotel of the Provost, and that he gave lessons to the ceramic painter Alexandre Gaudry, author of the charming potteries in question, representing animals, figures upon terraces, pastoral subjects, scenes from La Fontaine's fables, in a word, all one is accustomed to see upon the faiences of Sceaux. The flowers were painted by Jean Baptiste Desmuraille, an artist of deserved reputation ; in his bouquets, tulips, roses and especially pinks repeal themselves frequently ; violet, gold red, less hard than in the Lorraine products, and a beautiful copper green further the inspirations of the painter. As in the porcelain, a red or brown line, sometimes gilded, circumscribes the pieces, and pinked or scalloped borders in blue, red and green enrich the body. Thanks to the researches of Dr. Lejeal, the mark of St. Amand is now well established if not perfectly explained. It is composed of a complicated cipher in which crossed F's form the letter A. Two other 39° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. lines crossed below appear to be S's combined with a P. (Marks 100 and 101). We have also found a signature a little different, although composed of the same elements (Mark 102) on a cruet-stand (portehuilier) of delicate M. 100. M. 101. M. 102. Kouennais decoration. Fauquez did not confine himself to the fabrication of ordinary- faience, the fame of English pottery had reached him, and he hastened to show his high capacity in this style as in others. The Amandinois pipeclay is well worked, but a little yellow in the enamel; the camaieu decoration in varied colours is sometimes heightened with lines of gold. It would appear that the maker had taken greater pains in the mark of this style than in the others. Here are those we have found (Marks 103 and 104). The two F's of Fauquez leave no doubt, and the initials of the name of the manufactory, placed on each side of the cipher, are easily explained. We will not finish what we have to say on the works of French Flanders without insisting upon one important observation; in a technical point of view, these faiences can scarcely be distinguished from those of Delft, and are produced from the same materials. They found themselves in competition in the French market in consequence of the ordinance of 30th May 1750, which, by virtue of the con- vention made with Holland, 8th December 1699, decided that " the counterfeit porcelain or Dutch faience should only pay ten livres per hundred weight on entering the kingdom." To favour as much as possible French industry, it was necessary that an ordinance of the 31st of August 1728, should suppress the "droit de derle " or duty upon imported clays. We give the principal clauses of this curious document : " According to what has been represented to the king, being in his council, that earthen wares or kitchen services, such as pots, dishes and other similar things, coming from abroad for French Flanders and the conquered countries, being exempt from the import duties of the tariff of 1671, foreign makers of these works, had a considerable advantage over those of the same kind made in the conquered countries, in that the 'derle,' or earth proper for these potteries, which the undertakers of manufactories of Flanders are obliged to bring MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— PARIS. 39i from abroad, is subject to the same import duties by the same tariff of 1671. The 'derle' or earth fit for making porcelain shall remain discharged from the import duties of Flanders." lie de France. It is naturally round the capital, the heart of the country, and centre of modern civilisation, that the efforts of progress are concentrated ; we may then rigorously sum up the history of ceramics, by setting forth the labours and discoveries of which Paris and its environs have been the theatre. But, in order to escape the imputation of partiality, we shall here, as elsewhere, simply follow facts in geographical order and by departments. Paris. — We have no necessity to recall how rich the soil is in plastic clays ; from the remotest antiquity, Lutetia has been famed for her various potteries, hence the excavations made for public works, and the cleaning out of the Seine have brought to light fragments of all kinds, and of all ages, from the fine red pottery, called Samian, and the barbaric pottery of the Frank period, to the glazed vases of the Middle Ages, and the sealed essays of the Renaissance. It therefore remains beyond a doubt that they made in Paris all that could be made elsewhere. Where shall we place the beginning of modern faience ? De Thou writes in 1603, that "Henry IV. set up manufactories of faience, both white and painted, in several places of his kingdom, at Paris, Nevers and Brissambourg in Saintonge, and that what they made in these workshops was as fine as the faience they derived from Italy." In 1659, letters patent were granted to secure the potters against the encroachments of other corporations ; a receipt of the master jurors of the community is signed : Marin Regnault, Pierre Dangreville, Francois Chamois and Etienne Ronssin. Yet it is only in 1664, that we find the first official title authorising the establishment of a manufactory of earthenware ; we give this curious document : "Louis, by the grace of God, etc., our well beloved Claude Reverend, wholesale merchant, citizen of our good city of Paris, has humbly shown to us that he has, by his works and labours, in the travels he has made in various foreign countries, found an admirable and curious secret, which is to make faience and counterfeit porcelain as fine and finer than that which comes from the East Indies, which secret he has brought to perfection in Holland, where he has made a great quantity of which the greatest part is there still. But as he cannot continue to make the said porcelain without giving a knowledge of it to foreigners, of which they might in future take advantage to the detriment of the said petitioner : having thought it would be more expedient to communicate his secret and give a perfect knowledge of it to the French, of which they have until now been ignorant, it would be to them a great advantage knowing it, because there is no one in our kingdom who can make such works as the petitioner, the which our subjects are obliged to seek from foreigners 392 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. and the purchase of these makes the money go out of France ; therefore, it •would be neither just nor reasonable that after the said petitioner will have made known his secret, where it was necessary that he should make great expense for the establishment of the manu- factory of the said works, he should be deprived of the fruit of his labours if any one had the same means as himself to make them and to bring them from Holland, which would cause his total ruin ; this is what it is necessary to provide for. For these reasons we declare, wishing to make known to every one the particular esteem we have for the person of the said Ke'verend, on account of his rare qualities and admirable secret, and desiring to treat him favourably in consideration of the advantage the public may derive from the establishment of the said works in our kingdom, without having recourse to foreigners : we have of our special grace, full power and royal authority, permitted, accorded, and granted, and we per- mit, accord, and grant, by these presents, signed by our hand, the faculty to fabricate the said faience, and to counterfeit porcelain, after the manner of the Indies, in our city of Paris or its environs, in places he will judge the most commodious ; as also to cause to be brought into our kingdom what he has made and fabricated in Holland, to be distributed and sold to the public, in paying notwithstanding our duties due for this ; and we make express pro- hibitions and interdictions to all sorts of persons, of whatever quality and condition they may be, to cause any to be made within thirty leagues round Paris, nor to make any come from any foreign countries for sale, other than those of the said petitioner or those who will have his rights for fifty years, on pain of confiscation of the said faiences and porcelains, ten thousand livres fine, half to be applied to the hospital general, and the other half to the petitioner for his compensation ; to the which they will be compelled by virtue of these presents, which will be executed, notwithstanding oppositions or appeals whatever; and if any appear, we reserve to ourselves, and our council, the cognisance of it, and interdict all other courts and judges. If we give in command to the Provost of Paris, etc., for such is our pleasure. In witness whereof we have set our seal to these presents, given at Paris, the twenty-first of April, the year of grace, one thousand six hundred and sixty-four, and the twenty-first year of our reign. Signed Louis." And upon the fold, "In the name of the king, De Guenegaud ; " and on the back is written : " According to judgment given by the civil Lieutenant upon the decision of the Attorney-General of the king, to-day, the present letters have been registered at the civil Eecord Office of the Chatelet of Paris, by me, the undersigned Kegistrar, 19th of May, 1664. Signed, Sagot." What had then become of the Parisian manufactories, and the corporation of glassmakers and potters, that such a privilege should have been granted, and what were the works of Reverend, that he should so enjoy the royal favour ? The faiences of Reverend are now well known, their workmanship is excellent; thin, with a white enamel, painted with clear polychrome colours often excessively pure, they are able, as say the letters patent, to rival the best works of Holland. It must be admitted, that in the greater number of cases, they are counterfeits; and ReVerend seeks so well himself to deceive the consumer, that his mark, of which more presently, appears only to have been chosen to imitate certain Dutch signatures. They have gone further ; writers have pretended that he had only solicited and obtained his privilege in order to cover the introduction of foreign wares. This cannot be sustained ; on one part, the citizen potter of Paris had no reason to conceal importations of the kind, since he was legally authorised to make them ; on the other side, we ask what advantage he could derive from importing foreign wares MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— PARIS. 393 as made by himself, since he had to pay for either one or the other the duties imposed by the tariff. It is clear to us that Reverend worked at Paris ; where ? we could not say, but we are in the same ignorance with regard to many other Parisian workshops, even of an epoch approaching our own. The works may be divided into several groups; first are two cups in relief of excessive whiteness, and decorated only in red and gold, with a border and two outlines of suns ; these pieces in the Patrice Salin collection, are evidently a tribute to Louis XIV., of whom they bear the emblem. The second group, of Dutch style and make, is composed Fig. 103. DISH BY CLAUDE REVEREND. of table pieces with borders of birds and flowers inspired by Chinese pottery ; in the centre, in a light framework, are figures in French costumes of the time of Louis XIV., with explanatory inscriptions, such as the actress (Fig. 103), the officer, the pedlar, &c. In this group, the blue is pure and soft, the iron reel a little pale, and the green obtained by a mixture of blue and yellow which renders it cloudy and dark. Yet the whole is harmonious and of pleasing aspect. The third group, quite Oriental, consists of pieces with plants and Chinese birds, and green and white compartments filled with the flowers of the ginger, bouquets, and other designs, distorted from the Corean or Chinese - 394 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. porcelain ; which makes it very difficult to distinguish the works of ReVerend from the products purely Dutch. But the mark ? it is here (Mark 105), composed of the letters A. R. conjoined, which, as we have just foreseen, have not a MA* J^l direct connection with the name of the maker; some ^ connoisseurs have pretended to read in it three initials, R. A. P. signifying : Reverend a Paris ; this appears to us overstrained, and besides prejudges the seat of the manufactory, while the letters patent empower Reverend to establish himself in the city or elsewhere. To us, it appears that the object in the cipher is to imitate the celebrated signature of Holland, specially the A.P.K. of the gilded Delft, and some others so near the A.R. as scarcely to be distinguished. This counterfeiting of the marks was of such common occurrence in Holland, that we shall see further on by what means the magistrates of Delft put a stop to it. There exist likewise faiences so identical with those of Reverend that one might suppose them as forming part of the same service and • T which are marked with peculiar ciphers such as (M. 106). We 1-i have met with these upon plates surrounded by " lambrequins " M.106. alternating with large fleur de lis; on compotiers encircled by ovolos in relief and with partially green grounds to which (M. 106) . is affixed concurrently with this other (M. 107) which ' Z^-'^ xXt— we W ould not dare formally to attribute to Reverend. M. 107. Now are we to believe that this potter enjoyed his privilege during the long period assigned to him ? We think not. Having doubtlessly quickly acquired a large fortune, he will have allowed his manufactory to decline ; this at least is what may be in- ferred from the silence preserved respecting him in subsequent letters patent. From 1664 to 1720, we do not find any documents relative to the workshops of Paris ; this explains itself ; if the potteries of Reverend are confounded with those of Delft, the others are lost among the Rouennais wares they imitate. The rue de la Roquette, in the faubourg Saint Antoine, was then, as it is now, the great centre of ceramic industry ; towards 1720, we find there Francois Hebert, allied to the Chicanneau family; in 1730, it is Genest to whom succeeds Jean Binet in 1750 ; about the same time Digne appears, whose products are known, thanks to the researches of M. Riocreux; it is this potter who made for the pharmacy of the duchess of Orleans emblazoned pots, ornamented in the Rouen style and executed some MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— PARIS. 395 in blue and others in blue and citron yellow (Fig. 104). Another ceramic artist, established from 1774, rue de la Roquette, at the Trois Levrettes (greyhounds), was still working in 1784. In 1788, Gournay cites for white and brown faiences, Yeuve Dagne, Digue, Dubois ; for white faience, Olivier, Veuve Petit and Eobillard, Tourasse. There are several things to bring out from this list ; Digne would appear to have given up the making choice wares for brown earthenware, resisting fire ; Fig. 101. PHARMACY POT OP DIGNE. his establishment passed, according to the documents at Sevres, into the hands of a certain Gauthier. As to Olivier, it is a name which may be applied to several ceramic artists, the eldest was still working at painted, enamelled ware in 1788, and had for immediate successor Masson. The other Olivier, of whom M. Champfleury possesses "faiences parlantes " lined with brown (terre a feu), is the author of the stove offered to the Convention and representing the Bastille. This historic piece is in the Museum at Sevres. 396 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. One word now upon an important establishment, the royal manufactory of "terre d'Angleterre." Edme, who directed it in 1749, married, the 31st of August of the same year, Marie Claude Serrurier, daughter of a clothier of Nevers. In 1754, its seat, after a book called ' Geographic de Paris,' was rue de Charenton. The 'Guide des amateurs et ges etrangers,' by Thierry, says, in 1787, "This manufactory of earth in imitation of that of England, is established at the bottom of the Boulevard, at the angle of the rue Saint Sebastien. One finds there complete services of dishes, plates, cups, &c, and all orders are executed." Two years later the ' Almanach general des marchands, negotiants et armateurs,' in affirming that " the works issuing from it are advantageously known to the public," adds that the undertaker is M. Mignon. One sees then, the ceramic baggage of the great city is complete, and if the works it has produced are confounded in the great unknown, it is precisely in consequence of the feverish activity of a centre where all that was new, all that was adopted by fashion, was immediately imitated. The figure we give of one of Digne's pieces (Fig. 104), will better show than all reasoning, how easy it was to believe, by its style f that it came from Eouen ; it was the same as regards the products of other potters who had not adopted a speciai mark. With respect to fine faience, pipe-clay, or " terre d'Angleterre," how distinguish it from the model ? how dare to affix a name, even upon the finest pieces, when we know that this pretended importation was a French invention, and that long before it came to France from foreign potters across the Channel, it was made in every part of the kingdom ? Sceaux. — There existed at Sceaux, at the entrance of the rue des Imbergeres and in front of the little chateau of the Princes, works of common pottery belonging to an architect named De Bey, who worked the produce of a neighbouring property, called " fosse," or " trou aux glaises." Desiring to enlarge the circle of his operations, and having secured the co-operation of Jacques Chapelle, a potter, he hired, 17th July 1748, a large stone building, near his first workshop. The first attempt did not answer the expectations of the undertakers, and to increase their resources, they formed an association composed of Chapelle, Delanee, Minard, de Chateauneuf, and De Bey. This second company was not more fortunate than the first, the members could not agree, and in 1749 it was broken up. Notwithstanding these diffi- culties, De Bey, relying on the talents of Chapelle, did not despair of the future, and on the 9th of May 1750, there was a treaty concluded MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— SCEA UX. 397 between them for the making of what Chapelle styled "Japanese faience," an enamelled pottery of very fine paste, decorated with delicate muffle colours, seeking to imitate the perfection of Japanese porcelain. His ambition went still further; he was seeking the secret of porcelain paste, and his attempts promised complete success. The manufactory of "porcelaine de France" was informed of these audacious enterprises, and put a stop to them, making known to Chapelle the decrees which secured its privilege, and ordering him to stop the works. The Duchesse du Maine, though not very powerful at that period, extended her protection to the newly born establish- ment, and if the attempts at making porcelain slackened, the working at faience continued. But, on the 23rd January, 1753, the duchess died ; her arms no longer appeared over the iron entrance gate of the manufactory which was thus destitute of all patronage. Yet the incessant applications of Chapelle, his perseverance in his work, finished by gaining the mastery over the ill-will of the authorities. He obtained the costs of his suit and authority to continue his works by a decree of 23rd June 1753, the wording of which is sufficiently curious for us to give an extract : Upon the request presented by the Sieur Jacques Chapelle. setting forth that he has for about two years established in the village of Sceaux a manufactory of terres-faience, of which he alone has the secret, that the works he causes to be made there are liked by the public on account of their goodness and neatness, and that the sale increases every day ; that this establishment employs a large number of workmen, etc. The faience of Chapelle was indeed most remarkable ; fine, enriched with mouldings and reliefs, covered with a white, even enamel, it received a charming decoration of bouquets and emblems, groups of Cupids playing in the clouds, delicate figures in the landscapes, all surrounded with arabesques in colours and gold, or with wreaths of laurel — formed not only a neat, but a most elegant whole. Believed of his partner, who gave him no assistance, Chapelle rapidly developed the production, and arrived at great success. After ten years of labour, he let his manufactory, the 12th June 1763, for a term of nine years to J ullien, one of his best painters, who had been working with him since 1754. This last associated with himself Charles Symphorien Jacques, a sculptor, turner, and modeller of talent. What were the conditions of these works ? How were Jacques and Jullien, who took from Barbin the porcelain works of Mennecy, protected by the due de Villeroy, able to manage at the same time two establishments so 398 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. different and so distant from each other ? It is a fact difficult to explain, and one which Dr. Thore, in his interesting memoir, from which we borrow these details, does not seek to discuss. He accepts the ubiquity of our two artists, because official documents mark beyond a doubt their presence in the two establishments. The 29th April 1772, period of the expiration of his lease, Chapelle definitively sold his works to Richard Glot, gentleman and quarter-master of the royal barracks, living at Paris, rue Saint Denis, porte Saint Sauveur. Glot was a skilful sculptor, and in buying the materials of the works he had stipulated at the same time to be possessed of all the secrets and processes of his predecessor; therefore, far from any slackening in the production, the arrival of the new possessor was a cause for extending the works of every kind, groups and figures of the most graceful forms were multiplied. Glot obtained, about 1755, the protection of the due de Penthievre, high admiral of France, and from that period the making of soft paste (pate tendre) was resumed with great activity. Further on, we shall describe this charming production. As regards faience, its commercial development might perhaps injure its perfection, but it always remained worthy of taking its place among the finest and best painted. It is not uncommon, in the eighteenth century, to see establishments devoted to art industries begin by masterpieces, and decline as they develop ; such is the history of the faience of Sceaux. At the time of its struggles, Chapelle could only support himself by first class produc- tions, and his first works are of the highest merit ; indeed it is only by this character they may be recognised, for he placed no mark upon his pieces; his jardinieres are elegant in form, with reliefs happily com- bined, and tastefully painted ; nothing can be more graceful than one belonging to M. Edouard Pascal, upon which, in rose-coloured camaieu, is a group of Cupids in the clouds ; at a certain distance one would think it one of those remarkable porcelains issued from the workshop of Vincennes. Others, executed in polychrome enamels of a pure tone, represent groups of figures, birds, and flowers. Fig. 105 is a master- piece of its kind. It would be rash to attempt to define the limits between the cessation of Chapelle's labours and the beginning of those of Glot ; yet Ave think we may attribute to this last a charming oblong soup tureen in the museum at Sevres. The lid is surmounted by a little group of two naked children which we have found again in soft porcelain, and which must have issued from the hand of this skilful sculptor. The MODERN FA 1ENCE.~ FRANCE.— SCEA UX. 399 piece too is enriched with all the resources of painted decoration, partial lilac grounds, bouquets, &c, and may justly be classed among the best productions of the new direction. Among the more ordinary produc- tions we still find pieces with scattered bouquets, with semis of corn- flowers (bluets) in the style of the porcelain a la Reine, which, though indicating a relative decline, are still very estimable. We have never met with any faience of Sceaux marked with the letters S X, which are, on the other hand, the constant mark of the soft porcelain. Protected by the due de Penthievre, high admiral of France, Glot chose as mark an anchor (M. 108) traced in A colour, and sometimes surmounted by the word SCEAUX, a mark which admits of no doubt; but there is another of which the meaning does not explain itself, for when a M ' 108 * workshop is favourably known, it has every interest to preserve the distinguishing mark of its products. We would speak of the letters S P, which may be interpreted as Sceaux-Penthievre. The faiences generally inscribed with these letters are of a yellow paste, having the appearance of pipe-clay ; the paintings are wanting in freshness, and we at first rejected the idea that they had come out of the hands of Glot ; yet a piece in the collection of Paul Gesnault has removed our doubts. It is an urn of very white, fine faience; the stem is surrounded with leaves painted in green shaded to yellow ; upon the body are medallions in grey camaieu, representing nymphs and cupids ; a seme of bouquets of flowers in bright enamels, a little dry, is carefully Fig. 105. JARDINIEKE, SCEAUX. 4oo HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. painted ; under the foot of the vase we find not only the letters in question traced in the same form, hut the anchor, emblem of the high admiral, protector of the fabric (M. 109). This is one of those facts to which there is nothing to oppose, although they appear to overturn the usual laws of logic. Even this proof of a change in the mark of the manufactory of Glot has an unexpected result ; it proves that this under- M 1Q9 taker, not satisfied with his productions in faience and soft porcelain, worked to attain hard paste. We shall cite later a " trembleuse " cup in true porcelain, marked with the S P. Notwith- standing this proof of the variation in Glot's signatures, we cannot yet decide ourselves upon placing to his account the signs oP, which we find upon some fine potteries, assigned in England, we know not why, to Bourg-ia-Reine. "We read the word SCEAUX alone, upon specimens of the beginning of the Revolution. At this period, Glot, a man of substance, had obtained by his fortune and personal connections an eminent position ; he was mayor of the locality, and when a protest was entered in the name of the ceramic industry against the treaty with England, it is he who was chosen to make heard the common grievances. This excep- tional position raised him up persecution later ; he had adopted with enthusiasm the principles of 1789, but when he saw the abyss into which the men of '93 were leading France, he battled courageously against them, and was soon put under arrest. After having recovered his liberty, he sought to get rid of his establishment, and sold it the 26th Messidor year III (14th July 1795) for a rent of 6000 livres, to Pierre- Antoine Cabaret. This was the end of artistic fabrication, the new proprietor having no object but the production in large quantities of common wares. Bourg-la-reine. — According to a report of M. Buchet, inspector of police of the city of Paris, dated 19th August 1774?, a document in the possession of M. Riocreux, the works of Bourg-la-Reine will have been established, under the protection of the Comte d'Eu, by Jacques and Jullien, already possessors of the manufactory of Mennecy and workers by location, of that of Sceaux. The 27th July 1773, says Dr. Thore, Jacques and Jullien inscribed in the register of police the declara- tion of their mark, which was to be B R for Bourg-la-Reine, and D V for Mennecy- Villeroy. We have already expressed doubts as to the exact- ness of documents ; with which the agreement is difficult to establish ; it is almost notorious that in consequence of the expiration of the lease of MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 401 the buildings at Mennecy, Jacques and Jullien transported their working-stock to Bourg-la-Reine. Did the Due de Villeroy continue his protection ? did they solicit that of the Comte d'Eu ? How, other- wise, could they suffice at the same time for the works of Mennecy and those of Sceaux ? All this can scarcely be explained. In any case, Joseph Jullien did not work long at Bourg-la-Reine ; he died there, on the 16th of March, 1774, aged 49, and was succeeded by his son Joseph Leon. In 1780, this last and Jacques pere still directed the works. When Jullien his left, C. S. Jacques became the partner of his father, who died at Bourg-la-Reine, aged 77, the 26th Germinal year VII (15th April 1799). The porcelain of Bourg-la-Reine is well known, and will be described later, but we do not know if it produced artistic faience. It is probable that after the fall of translucent pottery, the fine fabrication of white faience was developed, which still continues. Mr. Chaffers attributes to Bourg-la-Reine faiences finely painted with birds, insects, &c, marked oP. Gros-Caillou. — Thierry, in his ' Guide des strangers voyageurs a Paris,' says " Taking the rue de la Vierge .... we enter in the rue de la Paroisse, or de Saint Dominique. We find near the garden of the sisters of charity, the manufactory of faience of the widow Jullien. This manufactory was formerly established at Sceaux, near Paris." This is an error ; in 1787 the manufactory of Sceaux was still in full activity, since Glot kept it beyond 1791. The works of Gros-Caillou were doubtless established, about 1784, by the widow Jullien, associated with Bugniau, at the time when Jacques remained sole master of Bourg-la- Reine. Saint Denis. — It is in the island where formerly the Parisians re- sorted for recreation, and probably in the dependencies of the chateau of M. Laferte", a retired fermier general, that the manufactory had its seat ; all that we have been able to learn from some old men, inhabitants of the island, is that at the time some excavations were made for new con- structions, a large quantity of fragments of faience was found of common decoration, and which must have resembled the wares of Rouen and Paris. Mont-Louis. — The list of Glot makes known that in 1791 two workshops were in activity at Mont-Louis. These ought to be the advanced sentinels of the faubourg Saint Antoine. Mont-Louis, as we know, is the place contiguous to the city where Pere la Chaise established his country house, since become the great necropolis of Paris. 2 D 402 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Yincennes. — This place, rendered illustrious by the first attempts of the porcelain manufacture of France, can it also claim a page in the history of faience ? Without doubt. At the time Gravant succeeded in regulating the production of soft paste porcelain, he did not continue the less to devote himself to experiments of all kinds, and in his leisure hours delighted in finding means of advancing his old industry, the manufacture of faience. We find the proof of this preoccupation in the curious collection of our friend M. Paul Gasnault, two jardinieres of a thin paste carefully worked, the ground in turquoise blue, with reserved medallions, ornamented with delicate bouquets; lastly, as if unable to do better, the artist has enriched his ground with some touches of gold, laid on without firing. The whole completely resembles porcelain, and, to add no doubt to the resemblance, the mark of the crossed L's is on the reverse. It is one of those exceptional pieces which have the double merit of perfect execution and rarity. In 1767 a sieur Maurin des Aubiez obtained in his turn permission to establish at Vincennes a manufactory of faience in imitation of that of Strasburg, and of hard porcelain. The man who was to be the soul of the enter- prise was no other than the restless Pierre Antoine Hannong, who, not having been able to succeed in Lorraine, nor sell the secret of his hard paste to Sevres, sought to create new resources by setting up a private manufactory. But Hannong produced little; his partners became tired, and the works closed, notwithstanding his twenty years' privilege. Saint Cloud.— Have there been at Saint Cloud several manufac- tories of faience ? We must admit it, if one would retain for this place the products attributed to it in collections both public and private. In 1690 the Almanac of Abraham de Pradel says : "There is a faiencerie at Saint Cloud where one may have executed what models one likes." This no doubt relates to the establishment directed by Chicanneau pere, who was working at the discovery of soft porcelain of which he left the secret to his widow and children. The difficult point would be to find a type we could reasonably attribute to this potter so celebrated in his lifetime, and immortalised by his ingenious discovery. In 1865, the question advanced an important step; M. Fleury sent to the Retrospective exhibition made under the care of the "Union , centrale des arts appliques a rindustrie," a magnificent plate de- S C corated with delicate blue arabesques, and marked like the soft T porcelain of St. Cloud, Trou (M. 110). This fine piece com- M - n0 - pletely answers the glowing descriptions made by the ^ Jubinal. Besides the S mark, we find upon a jardiniere •£ypM&ytr f M. Pascal, the name of relieve" (M. 112); a rare M. 112. signature is that of 8. c. y. (M. 113). The museum at r Sevres hasalarge dish having for subject two grotesque 'A3 figures fighting ; it is signed with the initials of the M. 113. painter de la Fontaine, its fine border of flowers and fruits on a blue ground in the Persian style, resembles the old Rouen. Rouy, near Sinceny. M. de Flavigny, seigneur of Amigny-Rouy, founded this manufactory in 1790; he died upon the scaffold in 1793, MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 407 and his widow let the works to a Sieur Joseph Bertin, who extended the production. In 1804, the son of this last, M. Theodore Bertin, increased it still more. The faiences of Rouy, always unmarked, are confounded with those of Sinceny. Ognes, near Chauny. This establishment appears to have been set up by Rene' Dumoutier de la Fosseliere, proprietor of the place from 1748 to 1782. Dr. Warmont is not very affirmative in his description of the faiences issued from Ognes, considering that, like those of Rouy, they have been mostly made by workmen of Sinceny, he thinks never- theless to be able to distinguish as Ognes, those with a pink granite- like pattern on the reverse ; he cites some helmet-shaped vases (buires), signed underneath with the initials CH, which may signify Chauny. Yet this is only a suggestion he proposes without affirming anything, not even the certain derivation of the pieces which are among those executed everywhere. Their sole probability as to their origin comes from their having been given as prizes in archery, and preserved carefully in the families of the victors. Villees Cotterets. — In 1737 there was a furnace in this place, which had no great importance, if one may judge from the letters patent relative to Sinceny, where it is incidentally mentioned. We only recall, as in order, the manufactories of Beauvais and Savignies of which there has been previous question ; the stonewares and glazed wares had made the reputation of the department of the Oise at a very remote period, and although Hermant, under Louis XIV., affirms that this part of France furnishes with pots and table-ware (vaisselle), the kingdom and the Low Countries, we do not think that any has issued from there, in modern times, worthy of our attention. We have seen a large dish glazed in green and decorated with ornaments in relief, borrowed from ancient moulds (creux) of the sixteenth century ; having underneath, 1721, par Jean Gillet. It was no doubt a " prentice " piece and what would lead to the supposition is that this dish has remained in the family of one of the oldest workmen of the manufactory. There is reason also to distrust sealed pieces without date ; one might with reason class among the works of the eighteenth century pieces still decorated with the emblems used in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. 4o8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. CJiam'pagne. We are now in a country where the ceramic art goes back to an early epoch. M. Natalis Rondot finds at Troyes, in 1382, a potter who made white ware. Since then to the end of the sixteenth century, the workshops are numerous. M. Fillon even cites in this town one Perrenet, an imitator of Palissy. Mathaut. — But, independent of Troyes, the department of Aube offers an establishment whose products are still little known ; founded by an ordinance of 14th October 1749 ; the letters patent run thus : — Louis, etc. . . . our dear aud well beloved the Sieur Ge'deon Claude Lepetit de Lavaux, baron of Mathaut, a parish situated in Champagne, upon the river Aube, has caused to be represented to us, that he had found in the said parish a canton, where the earth was fitted to make fayence, according to the trial he had made ; that the said earth was near the forest of Eians, he would find there the wood necessary without hurting the consumption of the country, and the provisioning of the city of Paris ; that besides, a manufactory of fayence could not be other than of great use in the country which is twenty-five leagues distant from like manufactories ; but that he could not form such an enterprise without being authorised to it, and wishing on our part to contribute to the success of this new enterprise from the advantages which may result from it, we have, by ordinance of the 14th October, of the last year, decreed upon the ends and conclusion of the request of the said Sieur petitioner inserted to the said ordinance, and ordered that for the execution of this all necessary letters shall be sent. . . . For this reason, and by the advice of our council ... we have permitted and by these presents permit the said Sieur Lepetit de Lavaux to establish in the said parish of Mathaut, a manufactory of fayence, on his agreeing to put within a year this said manufactory in condition, and always to have one furnace at work, in default of which we will that the said Sieur de Lavaux shall forfeit the said permission which will remain null and as not given, we make, in consequence, very express prohibitions and inter- dictions to all persons of whatever quality and condition, to trouble the said establishment nor to form any like in the time and space of ten years, within three leagues or about of the parish of Mathaut. Given 26th May, 1750 ; these letters patent have been registered the 6th September of the following year. The faience of Mathaut is not rare ; a large dish we have now under our eyes, has a chequered border in pale green ; in the centre is We also meet statuettes of coarse make, and some pieces, in imitation of the arabesques of Rouen. Aprey (Haute Marne). — This manufactory was erected in 1740 to 1750 by the sieurs de Lallemand, lords of Aprey ; a Nivernais potter, Ollivier, appears first to have directed the works and afterwards to have become proprietor of the establishment ; the archives of Sevres indicate on their side that, from 1774-1775, it belonged to a Sieur M. 114. a basket of flowers of a peculiar make, stiff and feeble, manganese violet, dirty green and pale blue. This style is very general throughout the country; (M. 114) is the mark, thick and traced in blue. MODERN FAIENCE.- FRANCE.— APREY. Villehaut, an old military officer. Under the direction of Ollivier, an artist called Jary or Jarry, painted the birds and flowers which have caused the reputation of Aprey. The first works, those where the paste enamel and decoration show themselves in all their perfection, are constantly unmarked. Later, and when the fabrication became current and commercial, there was another fundamental sign AP, soon accom- panied by the mark of Jarry and with several others indicating the multiplicity of decorators (M. 115). j# ft) $ ^Y. L/? j{(r M. 115. Fig. 107. PLATE IN RELIEF OF APEEY. This ware is always elegant in its forms, which are copied from metal work, and have like it rocaille reliefs in its circumference, the richest compositions have upon a landscape ground delightfully painted trellised bosquets, style Louis XV., accompanied by bouquets of flowers, and birds especially. These birds highly finished, lively in tone almost to crudeness, have no pretension to imitate nature, but their lively figure and diapered feathers make them very ornamental. The covered pieces, the pots with handles, have generally appendages in figures, rugged branches with foliage, flowers or fruits upon their stalks, and always in natural colours. One must be on one's guard HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. against faiences of the same kind signed with ciphers of which the fundamental AP is wanting. Aprey dates from a period in which porcelain was being tried everywhere. A second fabrication of the Haute Marne had its seat at Langres ; its products are unknown to us, but they exist, for Gournay cites this manufacture in 1788, and Glot's list shows that it was still working in 1791. Epernay (Marne) is a centre where were specially made glazed wares in relief for the service of the table ; some representing in half relief a hare, a fowl, &c. ; on the reverse is graved the name of the manufactory; and often fleurs de lis semes round the circumference indicate that these pieces appeared even at the royal table. Surprise or puzzle jugs sufficiently complicated, have also issued from these works ; upon one, terminated by a man with a three-cornered hat and holding an open book, we see a running floral pattern, while at the base are mice and other animals in relief; under this master-piece is in- scribed "Fait par moi Jacques Gallet, 1761." Bois-d'Espence (Marne). — Is an earthenware manufactory men- tioned by Gournay, which was still in activity in 1791. Region of the East. Lorraine. This province occupies a distinguished rank in ceramic history. The dukes of Lorraine, particularly Stanislaus, king of Poland, en- couraged the arts, so that establishments crowd there, and men of talent elbow each other. To put a little order in the study of Lorraine products, we will examine them by successive departments. Niedeeviller (Meurthe). — This village which, in 1728, counted thirty-five furnaces, had for lord, Jean Louis de Beyerle', king's coun- sellor, director and special treasurer of the mint of Strasburg. It was he who, about 1754, founded the manufactory, the products of which are sometimes marked with his initials (M. 116). In general, this pottery of good workmanship is VJ • decorated with jagged borders, and delicate bouquets of flowers. The statistics of the department of the Meurthe, assert that, in 1765, artists were sent for to Saxony for this style of painting. A valuable document communicated by M. Durand de Distroff, barrister of Metz, appears to refute this assertion. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— NIEDERVILLER. 411 Exact state of all exempt from taxes now living in this place of Niderviller ; their names and surnames, and this for the year one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine. First. The Sieur Francois Anstette, controller of the manufactory, earns about thirty sous per day. The Sieur Jean Baptiste Malnat, director of the same manufactory, has five hundred livres per annum wages. Michel Martin, painter, earns about twenty sous per day. Pierre Anstette, painter, earns about twenty-four sous per day. Joseph Secger, painter, earns about twenty sous per day. Frideric Adolph Tiebauld, journeyman painter, earns about twenty-four sous per day. Martin Schettler, journeyman painter, earns about fifteen sous per day. Augustin Herman, journeyman painter, earns about twenty sous per day. Daniel Koope, journeyman painter, earns about twelve sous per day. Michel Anstette, journeyman painter, earns about twenty-four sous per day. Jean Pierre Kaquette, journeyman painter, earns about eighteen sous per day. Nicolas Lutze, journeyman painter, earns about twenty sous per day. Deroy, journeyman modeller, earns about twenty sous per day. Charles Mire, journeyman sculptor, earns about twenty-four sous per day. Jean Thalbotier, journeyman painter, earns about twenty sous per day. Philiph Arnold, journeyman sculptor, earns about twenty sous per day. We, the undersigned, mayor, syndic, and alderman, certify that there are no others exempt from taxes, but the aforesaid workmen of the manufactory, who enjoy no other means and revenues than from their works and handiworks, and do not participate in any of the advantages of the community. Made at Niderviller, the second of November, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine. Signed, H. Martin Blany, mayor ; Niclose Eemsin, syndic ; H. Luns, alderman. Thus, from 1759, a pleiad of painters were united at Niederviller, the sculptors Charles Mire and Philip Arnold were already modelling those graceful statuettes generally assigned to Cyffle'; lastly, after conscientiously studying the names of these artists, we remain con- vinced that they have rather an Alsatian than a German origin. The fact is certain as regards the Anstette. Baron de Beyerle will, they say, have ceded his lordship, about 1780 or 1781, to Count Custine, who became at the same time pro- prietor of the ceramic establishment, and confided the direction of it to Lanfrey. It appears to us that the active direction of baron de Beyerle' is prolonged beyond its real term ; we find, with the date of 1774, a charming piece, signed with the two interlaced C's, the mark adopted by Custine, and which was, at the same time, his personal cipher, for we see it encircled by palms, with the motto : " Fais ce que tu dois, advienne ce qui pourra," upon a service destined for the use of the new lord of Niederviller. The faience of general Custine is almost always very fine, and painted in the style of porcelain, bouquets of flowers are common, another style of decoration is rather frequent; it imitates 412 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. veined wood, upon which a sheet of white paper has been laid, having a fine landscape, delicately finished in pink cama'ieu; the better to deceive the eye, (trompe l'oeil) one corner is sometimes folded over, and on the border of the frame is the name of the draughtsman or of the painter (Fig. 108); at the period when the "porcelaine a la reine" set corn-flowers (bluets) into fashion, the services of Custine reproduced this decoration in great perfection. There exist though several ordinary specimens decorated with bouquets of large flowers in pale enamels ; blue lilacs, set with leaves Fig. 108. NIEDERVILLER PLATE, " TROMPE L'OEIL." of olive green ; a rather large jardiniere has at the back this singular inscription, the abbreviation should evidently be h P. L. read " hopital," beneath the piece are a P and an des pauvres orphelins N, one under the other, with two points under the downstrokes of the N. Fine faience was made at Niederviller, simultaneously with ena- melled ware and porcelain ; a magnificent dish bears on its notched rim, medallions of black ground with polychrome fruits ; in the middle a cipher, composed of the letters C. D. V. interlaced 35 2^ an( ^ P^ a ^ e( ^ amon g the flowers, is surrounded with jvi. ii7. graceful wreaths ; the mark is that of Custine, who sometimes varies it thus (M. 117), and is found exceptionally accompanied by decorators' marks. Lun^ville. — According to the ' Recherches sur la ceramique ' of M. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— LUNL V1LLE. 413 Greslou, it is in the suburb of Wilier that this workshop will have been founded by Jacques Chambrette, towards the last years of Leopold, duke of Lorraine, who died in 1729 ; letters patent, delivered the 10th April, and 14th June, 1731, by duke Francois Etienne, successor to his father, will have granted new privileges to the manufactory, which took the title of " manufactory of the king of Poland," when Stanislaus came, in 1737, to seek hospitality in France. From the hands of Jacques Ohambrette, the establishment will have passed into those of Gabriel Chambrette, his son, and of Charles Loyal, his son-in-law, and the letters patent of the 17th August 1758, which will have consecrated this new order of things, granted also to the manufactory of Luneville the title of Royal manufactory. We have not seen these letters patent, and we do not know if they were signed by the king of France or the duke of Lorraine, but they are contradictory to several other authen- tic documents. Thus, in 1788, Loyal was at Luneville, and Messrs. Chambrette and company at Moyen ; lastly, Charles Bayard, director in 1771 of the earthenware works of LuneVille, was authorised under this title to open a new establishment at Bellevue. We fear there is here some confusion : which is not to be wondered at when we consider the incessant peregrinations of the ceramic artists of the eighteenth century, and the complete identity of the various works of Lorraine. In 1778, the establishment was bought by Messieurs Keller and Guerin, who made faiences with blue decoration, in the style of Nevers, and others imitating old Strasburg. Their mark, according to Mr. Chaffers, was K. & G. Some figures of lions and dogs, the size of nature, were made there during the eighteenth century ; bearing generally upon their pedestals the name of the town printed in black. They served to ornament the doors of houses, and sat face to face upon the piers ; hence the saying " to look at each other like two dogs of faience." Paul Louis Cyffle', sculptor in ordinary to the king of Poland, worked at Luneville. We doubt if it was in the above manufactory, for his workshop was authorised by letters patent of the 1st June 1798, to make a particular and superior ware, called "terre de Lorraine." We will speak of this when we arrive at porcelain. We do not think Luneville marked her best products ; according to Gournay, the delicacy of the paintings and the beauty of the ducat gold, would make them easily distinguished. Bellevue, near Toul. One named Lefrancois set up this manufactory in 1758; he sold it, 1st May 1771, to Charles Bayard and Francois 4H HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Boyer, who, by order in council of 13th May, 1773, were empowered to work it there. The 17th May following, they were taxed the " marc d'or," dues on entry of five hundred livres, by a decree of which these are the principal terms. " Upon the request presented to the king, &c. ... by Charles Bayard, formerly director of the royal manufactory of faience and pipe-clay at Luneville, and Francois Boyer, artist in faiencerie, setting forth that by order of the council of the 13th April last, His Majesty has authorised the establishment formed at Bellevue, ban of Toul, generalship of Metz, of a manufactory of faience and fine and common pipe-clay, and has permitted them to continue to fabricate there, sell and retail for fifteen years, all sorts of works of faience and pipe-clay fine and common, as also to take from all places in the generalship of Metz, the earth, stones, sands, and other materials proper for the fabrication of the works of their manu- facture, &c." Three months later, the 13th August, new letters patent extended their privileges, and permitted them to style their works, " royal manu- factory of Bellevue." To render themselves deserving of this patronage, Charles Bayard and Boyer called around them skilful artists ; Cyffle remained there a long time and furnished the most charming models. At length, Francois Boyer was left sole proprietor and continued until 1806. M. Georges Aubry, successor, gave the modern impulse, developed still more by his grandson, a distinguished manufacturer to whom we owe this information. A valuable document has been found by M. Cournault, of Nancy, unfortunately not dated, but giving the current prices of the pieces made at Bellevue, at the period when the manufactory, directed by Bayard, father and son, was no longer under royal patronage. TAKIFF Of the price of the different pieces and figures in biscuit of pipe-clay or enamelled upon the biscuit and coloured; and little pieces of jeicellery in this style, useful as well as agreeable, all at the lowest price for the dealer ; which articles are made at the manu- factory formerly privileged by the king, of the Sieurs Bayard, father and son, at Bellevue, ban de Toul. GBOUPS. Belisarius, in three figures, upon a terrace of a long square. (Height 12 inches, width 12 inches.— 18 livres.) Belisarius alone, led by a child. (H. 11! in., w. 7 in.— 8 liv.) Henry IV. and Sully at his feet. (H. 12£ in., w. 7 in.— 9 liv.) Henry IV. and Louis XVI. (H. 124 in-, 7 in.— 9 liv.) Gardener and wife standing near a pyramid whence issues a stream of water. (H. 16 in., w. 9 in.— 160 liv.) The dead Bird, two figures upon a terrace. (H. 10 in., w. 8 in.— 7 liv.) The live Bird, two figures upon a terrace. (H. 10 in., w. 7 in.— 7 liv.) The pleasant Lesson, two figures, idem. (H. 9 in., w. 7 in.— 7 liv.) The Huntsman concealed behind a column looking at a girl washing her feet ma stream issuing out of the column. (H. 17 in., w. 9 in.— 16 liv.) The Countryman who kisses a girl with a lapful of eggs, some of which she lets fall, so much is she at her ease. (H. 8^ in., w. 6 in.— 7 liv.) MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— BELLE VUE. 415 Lovers surprised by the mother, 3 figures. (H. 7 in., w. 7 in.— 6 liv.) The scuffle for a grape, 2 figures. (H. 6 in., w. 6| in.— 4 liv. 10 s.) The Cobler and the Stocking-mender, two upon the same terrace, although each in his shop. (H. 14 in., w. 12 in.— 20 liv.) The four Seasons, 2 figures in each group. (H. 8 in., w. 4 in. — 4 liv.) Catching Quails, 2 small figures in each group. (H. 8 in., w. in. — 4 liv.) Birth of the Saviour, 4 figures, and the Infant in the cradle, the group mounted on a pedestal. SINGLE FIGURES, NOT GROUPED. The Cobler whistling to his starling, who is in a cage above his head. (H. 9 in w 6 in —9 liv.) The Stocking-mender, her head out of her barrel listening to the starling (H SV in w. 6.l in.— 9 liv.) An old Woman with distaff asleep in her chair. (H. 7 in., w. 4 in.— 4 liv. 6 sols.) A Gardener leaning on his spade. (H. 9 in., w. 3 4 in.— 4 liv. 10 s.) A female Gardener distressed at having broken her pot of roses. (H. 9 in w 3 L in — 4 liv. 10 s.) 3 ' A crier of fresh fish seated upon a bar. (H. 10 in., w. 3J in. — 4 liv. 10 s.) A fishwoman, a carp in her hand, her basket before her. (H. 9 in., w. 3| in 4 liv. 10 s.) A quail-catcher leaning upon his net. (H. 8J in., w. 4 in. — 3 liv. 10 s.) A woman with quails in her apron. (H. 8 in., w. 3£ in. — 3 liv. 10 s.) A Falconer holding his falcon on his wrist. (H. 8 in., w. 2j in. — 3 liv.) A woman holding a heron in her arms. (H. 8 in., w. 24 in. — 3 liv.) The Four Seasons half naked, each. (H. 8 in., w. 3| in. — 3 liv.) The Four Seasons clothed, smaller. (H. 7 in., w. 24 in. — 2 liv.) A little Savoyard standing. (H. 7 in., w. 2| in. — 2 liv.) A little Savoyard girl with her marmot in a box before her. (H. 7 in., w. 2 4 in. 2 liv.) A Butcher about to kill a ram. (H. 9 in., w. 5 in. — 3 liv.) A Tripe-Seller in her basket. (H. 9 in., w. 5 in. — 3 liv.) A large Cupid silent. (H. 15 in., w. 2 in. — 9 liv.) A large Venus as companion. (H. 15 in., w. 6| in. — 9 liv.) A little Cupid silent. (H. 74 in., w. 3 in. 1/2. — 2 liv.) A little Shepherdess spinning her distaff. (H. 4| in., w. 2 in. — 1 liv.) A little Boy catching a rabbit behind a tree. (H. 44 in., w. 2 in. — 1 liv. 4 s.) A little Girl playing the tambourine. (H. 44 in., w. 2 in. — 1 liv. 4 s.) A little Flute Player. (H. 44 in., w. 2 in.— 1 liv. 4 s.) Louis XVI. in his coronation robes. (H. 7 in., w. 2 in. — 3 liv. 4 s.) The Queen, his wife, the same. (H. 7 in., w. 2 in. — 3 liv. 4 s.) Bust of M. Voltaire. (H. 10 in., w. 4 in.— 6 liv.) A repentant Magdalen, upon a little pedestal, in the same style as the group of the Nativity. (H. 7 in., w. 54 in. — 6 liv.) St. Theresa, upon similar pedestal. (H. 6 in., w. 5| in. — 6 liv.) St. Bruno in prayer, upon similar pedestal. (H. 6 in., w. 54 in. — 6 liv.) St. Charles Borromeo, id. (H. 6 in., w. 54 in. — 6 liv.) St. Anthony of Padua, id. (H. 6 in., w. 54 in.— 6 liv.) St. Francis d'Assisi, id. (H. 6 in., w. 5' in.— 6 liv.) A little Virgin standing holding the Infant. (H. 54 in., w. 2 in. — 2 liv. 10 s.) St. Joseph standing, as companion. (H. 5£ in., w. 2 in. — 2 liv. 10 s.) The enamelled and coloured figures are of the same price as the biscuit. LARGE FIGURES TO PLACE IN GARDENS, WHICH ARE IN BISCUIT OF EARTHENWARE. A Savoyard Chimney-Sweep. (H. 35 in., w. 18 in.— 12 liv.) A Savoyard Girl playing the Hurdy-gurdy. (H. 36 in., w. 18 in.— 12 liv.) A Gardener leaning on his spade. (H. 36 in., w. 18 in. — 12 liv.) 416 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. A female Gardener. (H. 36 in., w. 18 in.— 12 liv.) An Abbe seated reading. (H. 26 in., w. 15 in.— 12 liv.) A young lady seated, with a fan in her hand. (H. 26 in., w. 15 in.— 12 liv.) They made at Belleville, in common ware, benitiers, chamber candlesticks, fan-shaped nose gay holders (bouquetieres a eventail), boxes (caisses) for plants or flowers, candlesticks, fountains, flower-pots on stems, for placing in gardens, altar vases, coffee-pots, tea-pots, etc. FAIENCE PAINTED IN THE REVEEBERATORY FURNACE. Plate each. 1 piece and nantoises (?), the dozen. 10 liv. Boxes for bulbs. 1 liv. 4 s. Nosegay holder a e'ventail with 4 cornets. 1 liv. 4 s. That with three is smaller. 1 liv. That of middling size, also with 4 cornets. 18 s. That of less size. 12 s. Little square boxes for bulbs. PIPE-CLAY PAINTED IN THE REVERBERATORY FURNACE, WITH LITTLE CORN-FLOWERS AND OTHER PATTERNS IN COLOURS. Plates for service, the dozen. 8 liv. Id. soup or dessert. 8 liv. Benitiers forming a bouquet of roses. 2 liv. 8 s. Id. decorated. 1 liv. 4 s. Coffee-pots holding 12 cups. 2 liv. 10 s. Cabarets or trays with 6 cups, saucers, sugar basin, coffee and milk-pot. 15 liv. Box writing desk on a plateau. 3 liv. Id. cylindrical. 2 liv. 10 s. Id. with mosaics cut out in openwork. 7 liv. 10 s. Toul. Here we confine ourselves to copying the advertisement of Gournay, in his ' Almanach general du commerce : ' " The works which proceed from this manufactory consist of everything that can be made in fine and common earthenware, in white faience and painted in imitation of Japan, in pipe-clay enamelled, and of porcelain, white, either plain, or gilt, or in fine painting in imitation of the porcelain of France. They make also ancient and modern vases in white, richly gilt and painted in colours; fine blue camaieux, also richly gilt ; different works in fine biscuit, such as groups, figures, busts, vases, medallions of celebrated men, after the designs of the greatest masters. The solidity, whiteness, beauty of the enamel, delicacy and variety of the colours, distinguish the works of this manufactory, which may be said in general to be a fine establishment. All possible orders are executed, and arms painted in colours or gold indifferently upon all kinds of pieces. The works of this manufactory enjoy a reduction of duty of three livres per quintal in all the offices of the five great farms. Proprietors : " MM. Bayard, father and son." This last indication appears to us of particular importance; in 1788, Charles Bayard had left Bellevue, and from that period it is to Toul that the tariff of figures and groups, given above, appears to apply itself. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 417 Moyen. — In the district of Metz, three leagues from Luneville ; it is again Gournay who speaks. " Considerable manufactory of fine faience, the solidity, whiteness, and beauty of the enamel, with the taste, delicacy, and variety of designs, distinguish the works which it pro- duces ; these works have also the advantage of resisting the fire. Under- takers : MM. Chambrette and Company." The manufactory of Moyen was still working in 1791. Nancy. — The 11th January 1774, the Sieur Nicolas Lelong was authorised to set up a manufactory in the suburb of Sainte-Pierre, as may be seen by the letters patent of the following 24th April, fixing the tax to which it was subject. Upon the request made to the king, etc. ... by the Sieur Nicolas Lelong, citizen of Nancy, setting forth that he had obtained, the 11th January last, an order in council per- mitting him to establish in the suburb of Saint-Pierre, in the said town, a manufactory of fayance, and that this order should be invested with letters patent, which cannot be sealed without paying the " marc d'or " entrance duty, ordered by the edict of the month of December 1770. For which cause he petitions His Majesty to be pleased to fix the amount, etc. . . . Orders that the sieur Lelong shall pay 500 livres. . . . If it is to this Nicolas Lelong that we should assign a large hexa- gonal fountain decorated with arabesques in the style of Rouen, and of which the basin (vasque), ornamented with a wavy medallion, surrounded by flowers and scrolls in good taste, contains this inscription, A. Majo- rette a Dijon; the workmanship is very remarkable. The name of Nancy, written upon the piece, establishes its origin. At Nancy was made a particular biscuit, styled, " biscuit de Nancy." Montenoy. — At two leagues from Nancy ; this manufactory is cited without other details in Gournay's Almanac. Saint-Clement. — Its foundation goes back, they say, to 1750. The proprietor of this establishment joined, in 1791, in the protest of the potters against the treaty with England. In 1835, M. Sigisbert Aubry was directing it and left it for Belle vue. Epinal. (Vosges.) — This again is one of the manufactories men- tioned by Gournay without commentary. Rambervillers. — Respecting this centre, the same author is less reserved ; he writes : " Its faiences resist the fire, they have a white- ness and beauty approaching enamel, and are decorated with fine paintings. Undertaker, M. Gerard." . A charming piece answering Gournay's description, is in the collec- tion of Dr. Guerard, and bears on the reverse the letter G. Vaucouleurs.— (Meuse.) These works must have been founded by a sieur Girault de Berinqueville, by virtue of an order in council of the 2 E 4i8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. 16th of December 1738, of which it will be question later. The dis- order of French archives, in what concerns manufactories, does not allow us to acquire any certainty on this point. The style of the products of Vaucouleurs is the same as that of the other Lorraine centres ; a thin faience, well worked, white enamel, painting bright even to crudity, and a remarkably "fine faience of rich and refined decoration. Upon some pretty jardinieres with rocaille reliefs heightened with yellow, gold red, and bright green, we have seen Chinese designs in the Strasburg style ; a charming writing desk, belonging to Madame Furtado, has, with the same rocailles, wreaths of flowers, torches and figures, vigorously coloured, and in relief. But the best and undoubted pieces, shown at the Universal Exhibi- tion, are more curious still ; a large pot pourri vase with lid, sur- mounted by a bouquet in relief and handles formed of groups of flowers ; two other covered vases, with twisted handles, semes with red dots, stems and foliated acanthus decoration of a bright green heightened with black ; bouquets intervene between the zones and rose pink borders, which are embroidered with a kind of work incised in the paste. This style of deco- ration, quite similar to that applied at the modern manufactory of Pesaro, leads us to think that Italian artists had been called to Vaucouleurs. Montigny (near Vaucouleurs). — Two workshops. We give a docu- ment which has enabled us to throw some light upon the ceramic fabrications of the Meuse. " Louis, by the grace of God, &c. . . . Our well beloved Mansuy Pierrot, and Fran- cois Cartier, dealers in fayance, living at Montigny, near Vaucouleurs, have shown to us that in the suit pending in our Council, 16th December 1738, as much by reason of the opposition made by them to the decree rendered in our Council, 16th December 1738, upon the request of Jacques Antoine Girault, the Sieur de Berinqueville, and to the registry of the letters patent of the 18th September 1739, by which we have confirmed the establishment made by the original vendors to the s.aid Sieur Girault de Berinqueville, and we have prohibited all those who have made like establishments without permission to continue their works until it may be otherwise ordered by us, and that at the penalties declared by the said decree ; that of that similarly formed by the said Sieur Girault by the decree rendered in our council the 28th November, 1741, upon the request of the petitioners, showing that, for the reasons there given, it has pleased us to grant them permission to continue the use of the manu- factories of fayance, which they have established for these last ten years in the said place of Montigny, and in consequence to prohibit to the Sieur Girault and to all others to trouble them and their workmen. There has intervened a decree of our said Council the 25th December 1742, upon the respective productions of the parties and upon the advice of the Sieur Intendant of Champagne, for the execution of which decree we have ordered that all letters patent shall be sent. For this cause, and by the advice of our council, who have seen the decree of the 25th December last, of which the extract is attached to this, . . . making decree upon his demand, we have, conformably with the said decree, given, and do give, to Sieur Girault, and to the said Sieurs Pierrot and Cartier, on their giving over the demands in opposition to those reciprocally made to the decrees of our Council the 16th December 1738, and 28th November 1741, this done by grace and without further construction we have of our full power and royal authority confirmed the establishment, MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 419 by the said Pierrot and Cartier, of their manufactories of fayance, situated in the parish of Montigny, and permit and have permitted them to use it as in the past." This decree, given the 29th January 1743, was registered only the 4th August 1745. In 1788, Gournay only cites one manufactory at Montigny. We know neither its mark nor its products. Clermont -en- Argonne. — All we know of this establishment is that it was still working in 1791. Waly. — This little workshop, which has produced faiences with flowers, is particularly reputed in Lorraine for the purity of its blue ; to express a fine shade of this colour, they say proverbially blue like the faience of Waly. Les Islettes.— In 1737, the manufactory of Les Islettes, whose establishment went back to a very anterior date, was under a director named Bernard. What would appear to indicate an establishment of a certain importance, is that at the date mentioned above, a celebrated painter, Joseph Le Cerf, emigrated from the Meuse into the Aisne, and went to work at Sinceny. The known products of the Islettes are of a recent date and inferior decoration. We remember the plate sent to the Universal Exhibition by M. Maze-Sencier, with a pretty pink jagged pattern descending from the edge to the centre, where in a medallion surrounded by laurels, was the bust of a woman with round cap and this legend, " Epouse du philosophe republicain francais." On others, a Grenadier with bearskin cap, kneels before a woman simply attired. At the Islettes are also made wares lined with brown, decorated with a lozenge border, and a basket in the centre in the Rouennais style. Thionville (Moselle). — It is under the head of this town that signs, in 1791, one of the ceramic artists, protesting against the English treaty. Would that mean that the works were at Thionville itself? We think not, and this is the information furnished us on the subject by M. Durand, of Distroff. In 1756, 'Le departement de Metz,' by Sterner, contains this phrase: "La Grange, half a league from Thionville, has a fine manufactory of faience." This then would be the true centre of the manufactory, and Thionville was probably the place where it was sold ; according to Sterner, both La Grange and Niederviller were distinguished for their fine glaze. Sarreguemines. — We know the immense development in modern times of this magnificent establishment, founded about 1770. It is especially in fine faience and cailloutage that it has distinguished 2 e 2 420 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. itself since the Revolution. Its brown decoration is in good taste, and nothing can be imagined more surprising than its vases imitating marble, jasper, and porphyry. Alsace. Strasbubg. — The ceramic history of this city, or rather that of the department of the Lower Rhine, for Strasburg and Haguenau are closely united, may be comprised in the name of one sole family, the Hannong or Hanung. The first potter of this name, of whom M. Tainturier has found a trace in the archives, devoted himself to the making of green enamelled stoves, ornamented with reliefs, in the style of Nuremberg. About 1709, Charles Francois Hannong created, Rue du Foulon, a pipe manufactory, which was soon to be transformed 5 for ten years later, a German deserter, J ohn Henry Wackenfeld, made an unsuccessful attempt to found a porcelain manufactory at Strasburg ; Charles F. Hannong, informed of his shortcomings, opened to him, in September 1721, the doors of his establishment, and- as the stranger was particularly versed in the know- ledge of the processes of earthenware, their association had the double result of developing the production of enamelled wares, and of advancing the experiments in porcelain. In 1724, the Strasburg establishment no longer sufficing for the importance of the works, Charles set up a second workshop at Haguenau. The burden of the management of these two establishments became soon too heavy for an old man of sixty, and he placed it in the hands of his two sons, Paul Antoine and Balthasar, long his assistants, and by an act of the 22nd September 1732, they bound themselves to hold these works in partnership, in consideration of a pension and the payment of a certain sum ; Charles died in April 1739, leaving the example of a life much honoured by industry. In 1737 Balthasar gave up the partnership, and took on his own account the establishment of Haguenau, Paul Antoine remaining alone in Strasburg, where he continued to develop his works ; his faience is often most remarkable, the painting of flowers and insects is carried to a truthfulness, which does not exclude boldness (Fig. 109). It is in our eyes a character by which to distinguish the Alsatian pottery from that of Hochst, to which the} nave desired to assimilate it. In 1744, Paul Antoine had discovered the fine gilding, which so well accom- panies the white enamel, and he took advantage of the passage of MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— STRASBURG. 421 Louis XV. through Strasburg, to offer him the first specimens of this remarkable ware. This prosperity was not to last long, the attempts at making por- celain pursued by Paul Antoine, awakened the jealous attention of the royal manufactory. In February 1754, an ordinance prohibited the Strasburg potter from continuing the fabrication, and obliged him to exile himself ; it is at this period he passed into the Palatinate. Fig. 109. OPENWORK BASKET. — STRASBURG. Pierre Antoine, one of the sons of Paul, resumed the pottery works of the Lower Rhine on the death of his father, in 1760 ; while the eldest son, Joseph Adam, inherited the works at Frankenthal, which had been given up to him before, on the occasion of his marriage. Unstable, and perhaps not industrious, Pierre Antoine, instead of continuing the laborious track of his father, threw himself into spe- culation ; he first sold to Sevres the secret of porcelain, and soon saw his bargain cancelled from the want of power to secure its execution. He was to give up the administration of the Alsatian workshops to the widow Lowenfinck, then he ceded them definitively to his brother J oseph Adam. This last resumed the fabrication of enamelled earthenware, but when the ordinance of 1766 allowed porcelain to be decorated in blue or in cama'ieu, in France, he resumed his labours, and carried it on with the other wares. Difficulties relative to the payment of duties, then a law-suit with the Receiver-General for the Bishopric of Strasburg, who had advanced money to the potter, completed his ruin. The Prince-bishop caused Pierre Antoine's work- shop to be seized and sold, after having imprisoned the debtor, and not- 422 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. withstanding his unheard of efforts to re-establish his credit and reputation, the unhappy Joseph had to tlee to Germany, where he ended his days. The furnaces of Strasburg had ceased working in 1780. The character of Strasburg faience is well known ; fine, and carefully worked, it takes the most elegant forms, and applies to them the most complicated appendages. Its enamel is smooth, white, without cracks, and receives the most complicated colours of muffle painting. In general the pure red from gold occurs frequently. Its most brilliant epoch was that of Paul Antoine ; one piece alone is cited, decorated in blue in the Chinese style, and marked (M. 118), which would be the work of Charles Hannong. As to the signature of Paul, y-v ▼ T* it is very variable, and sometimes accompanied by \s J[ X. decorators' marks, its habitual form is either of these mils. (M. 119). We have found it on a fine rocaille fountain of M. Aigoin, and upon a splendid clock belonging also £7). tfl to the same collection ; upon large plates and dishes with ^ \ flowers in the Perillieux collection, and on magnificent J? plaques, with subjects in pink cama'ieu of M. Achille M. 119. Jubinal, &c. An essential remark suggests itself by several pieces having the above monogram, and yet possessing none of the characters of the Alsatian faience ; the paste is common, the enamel blueish ; the flowers coarsely outlined with black, have a dirty and violet tint, which are hardly ever seen except in German fabrications ; it is probable they are works of Paul, executed at Frankenthal, during his exile. We will cite in their place other faiences of the Palatinate, signed by Joseph Adam • Hannong, his son, whose monogram, accompanied */l *t-q by numerical signs, is frequent (M. 120). We have observed it on pieces as well executed as those of his father. Haguenau. — History preserves the remembrance of a first estab- lishment, founded about 1696 ; but the character of its products remains undetermined. No more is known about the works of Charles Hannong. His son Balthasar, who arrived in April 1737, must have left traces of his superintendence, either as proprietor, tenant, or as manager for his brother Paul Antoine, this state of things lasted till 1752. We think we recognise this trace in a plate of fine enamel, decorated with blue camaieu, in the Chinese style, and signed on the reverse ; H. I. B. (Mark 121), Again become sole proprietor and sole manager, Paul MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 423 had to seek an assistant, and found it in a certain H. E. V. Lowen- finck or Lowenfincken, whose passage has been indicated by \ plaques painted in cama'ieu, signed in full, and which their M2 character would make us believe to be foreign. M 121 At the death of Paul, the establishment of Haguenau fell to his younger son Pierre Antoine, who associated himself later with a Sieur Xavier Hallez, and then sold it to the widow Anstett. In 1786, Anstett fils, Barth, and Vollett retook the manufactory, while Pierre Antoine followed the varied fortunes that his restless character prepared for him. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to separate in the known marks of the Hannongs those which belong to Strasburg and Haguenau. Saint-Blaise. — This manufactory of the department of the Upper Rhine has been made known to us by a series of plates, evidently a marriage present, belonging to Madame Rouveyre. Round the edge is a peculiar rocaille decoration, interspersed with small flowers and insects ; in the centre, St. John the Baptist, patron Saint of the married pair, standing, with this motto : — " Jean Cammus de Vautzon, 1760." The Magdalen lying down enveloped in her hair, with these inscriptions : — " Magdeleine le marie. Saint-Blaise. 1760." Saint-Blaise Magdeleine le marie, 1760 Saint-Blaise. Here the repetition of the name does not admit of supposing that it relates to the birth-place of the wife ; but 'to the manufactory. The colours are a pure blue, a fine yellow, olive green, and manganese. A plateau with subject, Yenus reclining and two Cupids, sent to the Universal Exhibition by M. Bart, of Versailles, is in the same style, and permits us to establish that the Upper Rhine also made decorative pottery. Franche-Comte. This is so little of a ceramic country that it will not detain us long ; according to Glot's list, Besancon had three furnaces in activity in 1791, one of which probably made porcelain. At Rioz, near Besancon, a shoemaker bethought to make himself a potter; some pieces by him, preserved by Mr. Francis Wey, are the more curious, as they show the justice of the old adage — " Shoemaker, do not go beyond your last." 424 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Arbois, in the Jura. The Count of Liesville possesses the oldest known specimen of this manufactory; a plate decorated in blue, in the style of Moustiers, but of broader and more hasty execution, in the centre is the patron saint of the person for whom it is intended, with the name, place, and date, 1746. Gournay's Almanac mentions, in 1788, the manufactory of Arbois, and informs us that it was directed by a Sieur Giroulet; from that time it must have declined, to judge from a piece of 1787, in the collection of M. de Liesville, a barrel of poly- chrome decoration, vulgar in style and enamels. Burgundy. Dijon (Cote-d'Or). — Two manufactories existed there in 1791 ; but we know neither the date of their foundation, nor the name of their proprietors. Pontailler, near Dijon. — Mr. Marryat cites these works without giving any information upon their products, which appear to go back to the sixteenth century. Mirebeau (Cote-d'Or) had a manufactory of glazed ware of which we have no occasion to speak, its products have nothing artistic. Premieres, near Dijon, a brick-kiln, which, about 1783, made, it is said, faience ; we do not know it. Mr. Chaffers states that Lavalle, the proprietor of the works, was instructed in the secrets of making pottery by an Italian monk named Leonardi. At present, Dr. J. Lavalle, grandson of the founder, gives an artistic character to the establishment. The mark of the known specimens is composed of the letters J L separated or united in a cipher. Auxerre (Yonne). — There was there, towards the end of the eighteenth century, a manufactory long unknown, because its works became confounded by their vulgarity, with those of the last period of Nevers. Plates with the patron saints of those for whom they were intended, others with so-called patriotic devices. Such is the stock of the manufactory ; specimens of which are to be seen in the Musee de Cluny. Some of 1798 are signed Boutet. Ancy-le-Franc (Yonne).— This locality is only known to us by the list of Glot. Macon (Saone-et-Loire). — It is the same with two establishments which worked in this town in 1791. Digoin, in the same department, appears to have an anterior origin, as Gournay mentions it in 1788. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 425 Meillonas (Ain). — We find the first mention of this manufactory in Gournay, who writes thus : — " Manufactory of faience, much esteemed. Proprietor, M. Marron, lord of the place." Some charming jardinieres, belonging to M. Voillard, and signed, "Pidoux, 1765, a Miliona," prove how well founded was the eulogium of Gournay. The publica- tion, in the ' Gazette des beaux arts,' of a notice upon the faiences of the South, in which these pieces are mentioned, brought forth explana- tions from M. Etienne Milliet, in the ' Journal de i'Ain,' and thenceforth the history of Meillonas was cleared up. Between 1740 and 1750, Madame de Marron, Baronne de Meillonas, established in her chateau a furnace destined to acquire some renown. A friend to letters and the arts, this lady, whose maiden name was Carrelet de Loisy, of Dijon, was not con- tented with painting herself works which she gave as presents, and of which a great number went to her natal city, but she called artists from without. Pidoux was certainly one of these. The memory of Meillonas has remained in Burgundy with some of the masterpieces of the manu- facture. M. Baux, of Bourg, possesses two remarkable vases delicately painted. M. Phil. Le Due has also some curious specimens of the same origin, and M. de Surigny possesses a succession of pieces painted by Madame de Meillonas for her grandmother ; these faiences of a JQ yellow ground have reserves decorated with bouquets, and are j^J^ marked with this cipher (M. 122). The manufactory of Meillonas has passed into different hands, and ^ now only produces common wares of excellent quality. M. Joly, its present possessor, desires to restore its ancient artistic splendour. The usual decoration of the pieces created under the inspiration of Madame de Marron consisting of graceful wreaths of flowers, tied and interlaced with ribbons of brilliant colours, with centre landscapes delicately painted, particularly attract attention. Almost all these works are unmarked, the jardinieres of Pidoux have enabled us to determine the origin of a magnificent anonymous dish in the Musee de Cluny. Pont-de-Vaux (Ain).— Leonard Kacle, Voltaire's architect, had founded at Versoix, near Geneva, works of pottery which he- after- wards transported to Pont-de-Yaux. This establishment applied itself specially to the production of large pieces, fitted for the embellishment of sumptuous interiors. These monumental works recommended them- selves only by their form, not seeking brilliancy of colours ; but the manu- factory also made white faience heightened with gold.. Our friend Tainturier possessed the manuscripts relative to this manufactory, and proposed to publish what is most interesting relating to it. 426 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Boure. — This capital of the department of the Ain has also had its manufactory of earthenware ; Glot's list shows that it still worked in 1791, but we know neither the date of the establishment nor the nature of its products. Dauphine. Here again is a province which demands the investigation of amateurs ; two workshops were at Grenoble (Isere), another at Saint Vallier (Drome). With regard to this last, a document in the Archives gives us the name of its proprietor; the 12th Ventose year X. Garcia, maker of faience at Saint Vallier, asks for authorisation to set up a porcelain manufactory in Corsica. Dieu-le-Fit (Drome), had also works in activity in 1791. The geographical dictionary would seem to indicate that they only made common pottery ; but the memoir annexed to Glot's list sufficiently establishes that the signers of the complaint are all "workers of faience and porcelain to the exclusion of potters of earth." Lyonnais. We have spoken (page 317) of the ceramic establishments formed at Lyons itself by Jehan Francisque, of Pesaro, 1530 (?) ; Julien Gambyn and Domenge Tardessir, of Faenza, 1547-1559 ; and Sebastian Griffo, of Genoa, 1555. But the pre-occupation of these initiators was above * all, the search after a pure even white ; the " vaisselle blanche," an expression special to France, predominated over historic compositions. At what epoch did the ceramic industry of Lyons become trans- formed ? Where begins the modern period ? We do not know, but documents gathered by M. Rolle, keeper of the city archives, show the interest the Lyonnais municipality took in possessing manufactories of faience. The 31st March 1733, Joseph Combe, a native of Moustiers, and potter at Marseilles, obtains, in conjunction with Jacques Marie Ravier, of Lyons, a privilege of ten years to work at La Guillotiere, a " royal " manufactory of faience. The enterprise not succeeding, a woman takes possession of it, and obtains, the 22nd April 1738, a decree appointing her in the place of the founders. This woman, Francoise Blateran, dame Lemasle, shows such perseverance and courage in her actions that she obtains the interest of the provost of the merchants and aldermen, who come to her assistance with annual allowances. In 1748, MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— LYONS. 427 her privilege was prolonged for ten years, and later she had a grant of 3000 livres. Yet it does not appear that the working of the Lemasle Works, situated at Saint Clair, extended beyond the expiration of her privilege, in 1758. M. Maze Sencier possesses plates found at Saint t Etienne, and which appear to be of Lyonnais fabrication. Is it from this manufactory, still imbued with the principles of the Italian school, that has issued the curious plate, dated 1734?, in M. de Liesville's collection ? The form is that of the ordinary French table ware ; the whole surface is taken up by the sea, a mythological subject (Urbino tradition), Neptune descending from his car drawn by sea-horses, and pursuing, armed with a dart, a young winged goddess. The drawing is not incorrect. A French inscription, barely intelligible, explains the scene after the Italian manner, and bears a date repeated at the bottom of the painting. If Combe and Ravier are the authors of this faience, their talent deserved success. The 22nd April 1766, the Consulate came to the assistance of a new manufacturer, the Sieur Patras, who had set up a manufactory of pottery (the deliberation of the notables says of porcelain). In 1791, three establishments, one of which was of porcelain, worked in the department of the Rhone. Roanne (Loire). — Again another centre which would have remained unknown, had it not been for the protest of the potters against the treaty with England. It is much to be regretted that the list of Glot does not mention, with the indication of the seat of each manufactory, the name of its proprietor. Region of the South. Provence. Moustiers (Basses Alpes). — Here we are in one of the most important of the ceramic centres, and of which the industrial and artistic fortune would not be explained without the influence of Marseilles. Provence, we have already said, was one of the focuses of French civilisation ; its commercial relations, its vicinity to Italy, had developed instincts of art which we do not find elsewhere. Without pre-occupying ourselves with the fables which attribute to monks the revelation at Moustiers of pre- tended industrial secrets, let us trace, by the means of positive documents, gathered especially by Baron Ch. Davillier, the history of this remark- able assemblage of workshops. 428 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Fig. 110. There lived, in the Lower Alps, a family of potters who were destined to render their country illustrious, these are the Clerissy ; at the beginning of the seventeenth century one of them appears whose works remain undetermined ; but, in 1686, Pierre Clerissy becomes himself known as "maitre fa'iencier," and certain works issued from his furnaces permit us to establish the exceptional development which he gave to the industry. The finest type we know is an oval dish belonging to Baron C. Davillier, which appeared at the Universal Exhibi- tion. The border is composed of masks and winged griffons sport- ing in the midst of elegant arabesques, and supporting cartouches in which are represented a stag, a wolf, and dogs. This rich composition, inspired rather by the antique than by the majolica of the Renaissance, is drawn with masterly decision and a talent very superior to that of contemporary Italian artists. In the centre is a bear hunt, after Antonio Tempesta, a Florentine painter and engraver, whose works were long in fashion in the South. This dish is signed by Gaspard Viry, one of the most distinguished ceramic decorators ; another painter of the same name, Jean Baptiste Viry, is inscribed in the civic archives of Moustiers, in 1706, on the occasion of the baptism of his son, but there is no signature of his upon faience. This then is the first type. Hunting pieces or scenes from Scripture history, with borders, and French ornaments of ancient or oriental style, for some pieces show us mantlings (lam- brequins) and arabesques inspired by Chinese porce- lain and adopting the Rouennais eccentricities. These faiences, of a fine white, even enamel, not vitreous, are painted with an intense blue, clearly and delicately outlined. Soon the antique border disappears to give place to delicate orna- ments in the style of Berain and Andre Charles Boulle. It is, as it were, an intermediary style, for we must recognise that the lambre- quins and fine lacework do not harmonise with the heavy conceptions of Tempesta; hence these faiences have been accused of wanting the first element of success, an ornamental character. The artists of Moustiers understood it, and soon discarded hunting-pieces and other limited subjects to substitute compositions with canopies and detached or terminal figures, taken from the masters who had inspired the borders of which we have been just speaking (Fig. 111). Would not the second period mark a new direction ? We think KNIFE HANDLE. MOUSTIERS, 1st STYLE. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE— MOUSTIERS. 429 so ; Pierre Clerissy, helped perhaps by the two Viry, had worked from 1686 to 1728, the period of his death, which took place at the age of seventy-six ; but a second Pierre Clerissy, his nephew perhaps, succeeded him ; from his age, he would naturally be inclined to progress, or simply, may be, to change, besides, at the moment when he took upon himself the burden of administration, competitions started up around him, exciting emulation. A certain Pol Roux, master potter, appears in 1727 ; later, a rough opponent, Joseph Olery, established himself in his turn. Fig. 111. EWER, SIOUSTIERS, STYLE B^RAIN. — COLL. P. GASNAULT. We may consider as coming from the hands of these various potters pieces with mythological subjects ; Orpheus charming the animals, the Triumph of Amphitrite, the Vengeance of Medea, subjects surrounded by graceful stalks, crowned with canopies or scrolls, united to caryatides, and surrounded with flaming pots alternating with vases of flowers, cascades issuing from light basins, or streams falling from the open jaws of monsters into a cistern supported by Cupids or Satyrs. What confirms the plurality of origin, is that the two distinct styles have the same decoration ; the one preserves the dead white and pure blue of the elder Clerissy, the other affects an enamel so vitreous as to rival that of porcelain, and give to the cobalt a soft, celestial tint, as if seen through a thick glass. 43° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Here is the place for an interesting fact of which the archives have retained no trace, but which is indicated by a manuscript found in Calvet's papers, and confirmed by material proofs. Joseph Olery, a man of talent no doubt, disturbed by his works the peace of Pierre Clerissy II., who redoubled his efforts to maintain the first rank for his manufactory. The reputation of Moustiers, increasing thenceforward with the perfection of its works, the Duke of Aranda desiring to improve the Spanish manufactories by sending to them southern artists, Olery was one of those who consented to expatriate himself, but, as he only carried there the blue cama'ieu decoration, they soon dismissed him, and he returned to his furnace in the Lower Alps ; only having seen polychrome decoration practised in Spain, he applied himself to this new work which obtained a special fashion. Clerissy, whom his works had caused to be ennobled, in 1743 (with the title of Seigneur de Trevans) would not remain behind ; he attempted the same style, and used it in a way to increase his fame and fortune. In 1747 he left the works in a flourishing condition in the hands of his partner Joseph Fouque. Olery ruined himself and disappeared. In 1756 Moustiers counted seven or eight establishments ; in 1789 there were eleven; ten years later they were reduced to five. The names of the last potters are Achard, Barbaroux, Berbiguier, and Feraud, Bondil, father and son ; Combon and Antelmy, Ferrat brothers, Fouque, father and son; Guichard, Laugier and Chaix, Mille, Pello- quin and Berge, Tion, Yecard, and Feraud. In the middle of this crowd of potters, seconded by artists more numerous still, one can understand how difficult it is to assign to each his work; the dish of Viry enables to discover, by analogy, the pieces of Clerissy I. Those of Clerissy II. are much more difficult to determine. Roux, like him, made the blue decoration, style Berain, as Fig. 112. proves a fine centre-piece (surtout) belonging to M. Paul Gasnault, which is signed Hyaci. Ros- setus ; this G. Hyacinthe Roux, who gives to his name an italo-latin form, was probably son of Pol Roux; we have of him plaques dated from 1732. , But when the scroll and caryatides style is coloured with varied enamels, when it is mixed with wreaths of flowers and bouquets (Fig. 112), when MOUSTIERS. MEDALLION . • i a • ± 1 and wreaths.— coll. the decoration is entirely floral, associated with grotesques, so many various hands show themselves in the drawing, so many inexplicable monograms are on the reverse of Plate IX. — FRANCE. Moustiers — Sugar Castor, Blue Decoration. Collection E. PASCAL. PL. DC. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— MO US TIERS. 43i the pieces, that the collector is lost in inextricable chaos; there is yet one mark which by its stability would appear to belong to an important centre. It is formed of the letters L O united (M. 123). Some read in it the cypher of Olery; we cannot admit it, for the multiplicity of letters with which the cipher is accompanied, -v* the extreme epochs which the pottery which bears it indicates, M - 123 - would establish unmistakably that Olery had been the most persistent, the most fortunate, and the most skilful potter of the South, and that he had the most considerable workshop. Thus we find upon pieces with caryatides (M. 124—128) : M. 124. M. 125. M. 126. c M. 127. M. 128. with a blue Rouennais style (M.129.): M. 129. on mythological subjects of various colours and divers borders (M. 130 — 136). ift$ #9 fp n M. 130. M. 131. M. 132. M. 133. M. 134. M. 135. M. 13G- W.reaths and bouquets have (M. 137 and M. - - 138) and many of the monograms above: <* 16 7) . i t i s behind a fountain, with the addition of MARAN 1754. Some other products of Marans have a simple initial. We have seen the first (M. 168) upon a piece in violet camaieu ; the other, more M M frequent (M. 169), is to be found upon thick plates +St/U with polychrome rosettes of rather loose drawing. M. 168. M. 169. Roussenc(1 died !7 tll May 1756) an d his establish- ment was transferred to La Rochelle. MODERN FA IENCE. — FRANCE. — POITIERS. 443 La Kochelle. — When, about 1673, this city founded the Hospice of Saint-Louis, which soon availed itself of the privileges granted to establishments of this kind, to have certain manufactories and to sell their products, the ill will of the trade, the incessant complaints against the pretended competition of the hospices, soon caused this first manufactory to be given up. Another, belonging to a Sieur Jacques Bornier, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, closed in 1735, but, in 1743, Jean Briqueville bought the property and re-lighted the furnaces. The Museum of Sevres has a plate signed I B., which is attributed to Jean Briqueville. As to the works originating at Marans after 1756, its style was that of Strasburg, exaggerated by the brightness of its colours ; roses of most singularly elongated deformity may help to recognise its products. Angoumois. Angouleme (Charente). — It is not in Angouleme, but in the suburbs of Houveau that the manufactory was situated, directed, in 1784, by Veuve Sazerac, Desrocher et fils. The Museum at Limo- ges has a curious lion, seated and supporting a shield with the arms of France ; round the base is written in Roman characters : A ANGOULEME DE LA FABRIQUE DE MADAME, V. S. D., ET F. 28 AOUT. Behind the shield is the date 1784. The manu- factory was still working in 1791 ; it is now in the possession of M. Durandeau. Poitou. Poitiees (Vienne). — The ceramic works of Poitiers must go back to a remote date, yet the oldest specimens met with by M. Fillon, historian of this country, are little figures of pipe-clay, one of which is inscribed under the foot : — A. MORREINE, Poitiers. 1752. In 1778, Pierre Pasquier solicited the protection of the minister, M. Bertin, in order to escape the restrictions put on the extraction of the clays necessary for his work. The wares of this centre appear to be in the Rouen style, in blackish blue upon a slightly vitreous enamel. There are some in the Museum of Sevres. 444 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Montbernage, suburb of Poitiers. — About 1776, furnaces were set up here by a Sieur Pasquier, who soon took as partner, Felix Faucon, son of a poitevin printer. The Museum of Sevres has a plate deco- rated in blue, with two F's and a falcon on a tablet, mark of the printer of Poitiers ; and hence, considered as that of Felix Faucon. It would not be impossible that this last had alone directed Mont- bernarge, and that his partner had gone to establish himself at Poitiers, there would then be identity between these two potters of the same name ; and the individual merit of Faucon would explain itself. Chatellerault (Vienne). — In 1641, a certain Jehan Leone, of Poggio, and "maistre de fayencerie," obtained of Louis XIII. letters of naturalisation. Oiron (Deux-Sevres). — We have described at page 337, the fine faience of this locality ; the faiences properly so called which succeeded them are generally coarser, and savour more of the influence of Palissy than that of Bernart and Cherpentier. Generally jaspered, they are loaded with reliefs of no style, all appearing to indicate that the workshop did not long prolong its labours. Thouars (Deux-Sevres). — The inventory of the goods of a shop- keeper at Fontenay, makes known that he possessed jsleven dozen plates of Thouars' make ; eight other dozen blue, of the same make ; and a dozen dishes, large and small — " avec histoires." Drawn up in 1627, this inventory is very instructive, as it makes known the name of a manufactory specialised as continuing a style of decoration brought from Italy. Rigne\ near Thouars. — It is from here that the clays fitted for making faience were derived, and when M. Fillon finds mention, in 1629, of five dozen plates of " terre de Eigne'," he does not hesitate in considering them as enamelled. It is in this place, that he considers to have been made the tiles for the paving of the bedroom of Marie de la Tour, Duchesse de la Trdmouille, at the chateau of Thouars. Now these paving-tiles, of which there are examples at the L .A. Louvre, Cluny, and Sevres, are of a fabrication very similar -^36. to that of the tiles of Ecouen, and bear marks of Italian ■ M "" 170, processes. Some are signed (M. 170). If the works of Eigne' momentarily ceased, they were re-established in 1771, by a gentleman named La Haye, the furnace was in a farm called Yversais, and two overseers, Perchin and Cornilleau, directed it successively. In 1784 M. la Haye wished to let the establishment ; it' MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— RENNES. 445 then produced common plates, in which the name of the persons for whom they were intended was inscribed under the image of their patron saint. Chef-Boutonne. — A Sieur Drillat jeune made there, in 1778, common faience. Saint-Porchaire. — Aware with the reverse brown was made here. Fontenay (Vendee).— Vessels of azure and marbled earth were made here between 1558 and 1581, under the direction of Sieur Abraham Valloyre ; now, as one finds mention of a Nicolas Valloyre in 1609, it would be possible that this last will have produced faience. Ile-d'Elle (Vendee). — This place, so rich in clay, invited a ceramic establishment; the 22nd May 1636, David Eolland asked authority to found there a manufactory of faience. From 1735 to 1742 Pierre Girard had works whence issued a barrel destined to his brother "Joseph Girard, notere." This work, decorated with peacocks and trees, is signed, in 1741, by Pierre Girard. Montaigu. — The name of this Vendean establishment appears in Glot's List. Apremont and Mallievre have no right to appear here except for remembrance, for their works do not seem to have been prolonged beyond the sixteenth century. Bretagne. Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine).— Let us begin by establishing this fact, Brittany possessed a manufactory of faience in the seventeenth century ; as is proved by a tumulary plaque of rather large dimensions, richly enamelled, bearing the inscription, "Janne Le Bouteillier, dame de Duplecix Coialu, dece'dee le 29 me ianvier l'an 1653," with cross bones underneath. Has this piece so important from the date it affords, issued from an establishment at Rennes itself? A work long promised, of Dr. Aussant and M. Andre, counsellors at the Court of Rennes, will, no doubt, soon make it known to us; fragments of the same nature, found at the abbey of Saint Sulpice-la-Foret, would lead to the sup- position that the use of this style of monument was very general. We attribute equally to the seventeenth century faience vases, very white, decorated with wreaths of large flowers in fine blue, or in blue and citron yellow, such as the vases originaUy made for the hospital of Saint Yves and the general hospital of Rennes ; they are of frequent occurrence in Brittany. 446 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. The first positive date we can inscribe in the history of the potteries of Kennes, is the permission granted, the 11th July 1748, to Jean Forasassi, called Barbarino, a Florentine, to establish a manufactory of enamelled ware in the quarter of the Capucins. These works continued for several years, but its products remain to be found. Another workshop arose in the rue Hue, and became very extensive. Fig. 114. FOUNTAIN OF EENNES FAIENCE. One of its most ancient pieces is a group of fine white enamel, repre- senting Louis XV., Hygeia, and Brittany, after a composition of Lemoyne. The original group, commemorative of the King's restora- tion to health, had, in conformity with a decision of the States of Brit- tany, been cast in bronze and set up at Kennes in 1754 ; this is ten MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— RENNES. 447 years later than "Bourgouin," as he signs himself, made a ceramic reduc- tion of the group, which denotes a certain practical skilfulness, if not great success in drawing. Where the works of the rue Hue show them- selves in all their lustre, is in sumptuous pieces with waved outlines like those of silver plate, and with bouquets accompanied by graceful arabesques. Nothing is more interesting in this style than a fountain and basin, seen at the Universal Exhibition, and other pieces belong- ing to Dr. Aussant and M. Edmund Pascal bearing, " Fait a, Rennes, rue Hue, 1769 and 1770 " (Fig. 114). What would astonish in these pieces were it not for a revelation contained in the memoir of which we have spoken, relative to Moustiers and Marseilles, is that they have a southern decoration ; but we know that Marseilles workmen were called to Rennes, and carried there the soft colours, the mixed green of Moustiers, and the system of floral and wreath ornament. If the Rennes faiences cause themselves to be remarked for their dis- tinguished form, rococo reliefs without exaggeration, and a pure, milky enamel, their painting is very dull, the dark manganese violet pre- dominates, and the green becomes dirty by the use of black height- enings ; the yellow only remains as fresh as the blue. In addition to Bourgoin, whose name appears upon several pieces, a certain Baron has signed, in 1775, decorations in dark violet camaieu, and Choisi a soup-tureen without date. No doubt, Dr. Aussant and M. Andre will name the proprietor of the establishment in their industrial history of Brittany. In 1788, Gournay mentions two establishments by the Veuve Dulattey and Jolivet. There was only one in activity in 1791. The 'Almanach General du Commerce' states that the workshops at Rennes make everything for table or household use. In fact, from 1760 to 1785, we find plates with patron saints, and marriage cups, in ordinary ware ; portable stoves with two handles, or decorative stoves, either poly- chromic or simply jaspered, issued since 1774 from the rue Hue. Another frequent fabrication is that of small figures or groups of saints ; these were sold on fete days or in the places of pilgrimage ; thus, we have met with a Virgin, with the inscription : " N : : D : : De Gueluin." RiiNAC (Ille-et-Vilaine). — We find this name in Glot's list ; and have a plate with bouquets, in the style of Rennes, but of more common faience, marked R. (M. 171). As no sign of this 7'V' kind appears on the Rennes pottery, we think we may attribute m. 171. it to Renac. 448 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Nantes (Loire-Inferieure). — The Italians Ferro and Bibe created there in 1588 and 1625, manufactories of white faience, after them came Charles Guermeur and Jacques Rolland, whom M. Fillon finds mentioned in an act of the 20th February 1654 ; their oven was situated behind the church of Saint-Similien. In 1744, a Sieur Jean Colin sold the house in which he had established, in 1737, a workshop which had not succeeded. Le Roy de Montilliee had, in 1751, his manufactory, whose history and divers fortunes are set forth in a valuable document which M. Fillon has furnished to collectors in his work on the ' Art de Terre chez les Poitevins.' Upon the request presented to the King in his Council by Joseph Perret, registrar of the Admiralty of Nantes, and Mathurin Fourmy, merchant in the same city, setting forth that in the year 1751 a society was formed, under the name of Le Eoy de Montillie'e and Company, to establish a manufactory of faience at Nantes, the partners not finding any ground fitted for the execution of their project, except a part of the moat of the city of Nantes situated between the walls of that city and the square known under the name of Mothe-Saint- Andre', caused to be constructed there all the buildings proper for the working of the projected manufactory; furnished it with all necessary utensils and materials; they caused workmen to come from different parts of the kingdom, and with much trouble and expense succeeded in forming this establishment. They had reason to be satisfied from the first working, and the manufacture had improved more and more. The Sieur Bellabre, who was one of the partners, thought that, for the solidity of the establishment, it was im- portant it should be invested with the authority of his Majesty ; he presented a request to the Council under the name of the Sieur Le Eoy de Montilliee and Company, and obtained a decree the 7th March 1752, by which his Majesty authorised the said establishment, and allowed it to continue to make earthenwares of every kind, on the condition of maintaining it without discontinuance in a working state. The society was afterwards dissolved, and the Sieur Le Eoy, as well as the other partners, ceded to the Sieur Bellabre their interest in the manufactory. This last, by means of this cession, has found himself alone at the head of the said manufactory, and has exactly fulfilled the conditions of the order in Council of 7th March 1752. But his affairs having since become deranged, he has been proceeded against, so as to sell the manufactory in 1771. The petitioners have become the pur- chasers, under the name of the Sieur du Coudray, and continue the working of it with the greatest success, as is attested by two certificates delivered the 26th September and 3rd October 1772, by the judge consuls of Nantes, representing the head of the commerce of the city, and by the municipal officers and police of the said city. They attest in it that the wares made in this manufactory are of the best quality ; that the inhabitants of Nantes and of the whole province make use of them, and that the dealers provide ' themselves with them for their trade on the Guinea coast, the colonies, and abroad ; that the petitioners find main- tenance for a large number of artists and workmen, and that so useful an establishment deserves encouragement and favour. The petitioners having in their favour such attesta- tions, propose to petition his Majesty to be pleased to grant to their establishment the title of Eoyal Manufactory, and to allow them to place over the principal gate the arms of his Majesty with the said inscription, and also to establish there a porter with the livery of his Majesty. The States of Brittany, convinced of the utility of the manufactory of the petitioners, have passed a resolution by which they have charged their deputies to solicit this favour of his Majesty. In the second place, the petitioners will ask that it may be allowed them to mark the goods of their manufactory with a mark representing a fleur- de-lis, and with a cipher composed of the united letters of the petitioners. They will observe on this point, that there are in the said city of Nantes two other manufactories of faience lately established, and which his Majesty has not authorised. The wares made there are of the most inferior quality, and, as that of the petitioners has not yet been distinguished by any particular mark, they are confounded with each other, which infinitely injures the MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— NANTES. 449 reputation of the fabric of the petitioners, and much to their prejudice. It is to put an end to this confusion that the petitioners ask permission to mark their wares with a distinctive mark. For this cause the petitioners would request that it would please his Majesty to grant to their manufactory the title of Eoyal Manufactory, with permission to place over the principal door of the said manufactory a picture, with the arms of his Majesty and the said inscription, and to establish there a porter with his Majesty's livery ; as also to allow the petitioners to mark the wares which would be made in their manufactory with a mark re- presenting a fleur de lis, and with a cipher composed of the initial letters of the petitioners ; and that in execution of the decree which will be given upon the present request, ordering that all necessary letters shall be sent as required. The request heard, signed Eoux, counsel for the petitioners ; the certificates of the municipal oflicers of the city of Nantes and of the Judges Consuls representing the General of the commerce of the said city, of the 22nd and 23rd of last April, from which it results that the faience the petitioners cause to be made is of the best quality, and that their establishment is so much the more useful as it employs a great number of workmen, together with the advice of the Sieur Dupleix, intendant and commissary appointed for the province of Brittany, and the report of the Sieur Abbe Terray, counsellor in ordinary and of the royal council, controller general of the finances— the King in his council has permitted and permits, the Sieurs Perret and Fourmy to put upon the principal entrance door of the manufactory of faience, of which they are proprietors at Nantes, a picture of the arms of the King, with this inscription, Eoyal Manufactory, and to establish there a porter with the livery of his Majesty ; permits them also to mark the wares which will be made in the said manufactory with a mark representing a fleur de lis and a cipher composed of the initial letters of the names of the said Sieurs Perret and Fourmy, and there will be upon the present decree, if required, all necessary letters sent. Made at the Council of State of the King, held at Marly the 26th July, 1774. (Signed) Bergeret. The establishment of Le Roy, retaken by Perret and Fourmy, has made us lose the parentage of the manufactories of Nantes ; let us then mention Jerome Arnauld, who worked in 1754, and Francois Cacault, place Viarmes, who caused to be executed in 1756, a plan of the city of Bordeaux by a certain Colin ; perhaps this may be the same who had established himself head of the works nineteen years before. The physician Lhote, assisted by a workman named Castelnau, had opened another establishment in 1753. The widow Martin, whose furnace was in the parish of Saint-Sebastian, appeared in 1767. Perret and Fourmy, with their official title of royal manufactory, appear to have absorbed all these little enterprises ; yet the ' Almanach General du Commerce' does not mention them in 1788, and cites Derivas fils, " whose faience is equal to that of Nevers and Rouen." At the time of Glot's advertisement, Nantes had only one manufactory, probably that of Derivas, partner to Fourmy fils, who at the same time made porcelain. We see that here information is super- abundant, and the sole difficulty of the historian, is to find the works of this crowd of artisans, guided by one sole thought, working with one aim, that of approaching their products to those then in fashion, and having besides no sign to distinguish the one from the other. Notwithstanding the right officially conferred upon Perret and 2 G 45° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Fourmy pere, to mark with the fleur de lis, M. Fillon finds great difficulty in recognising their works ; he suspects that they may be faiences with bouquets, painted in the enamel furnace, and gene- rally edged with a bright red and almost brown line, not obtained from gold, but perhaps from iron. Some sprigs partake of this colour, which is also used to trace the fleur de lis beneath. These faiences are in fact well characterised, but much has yet to be done to determine and class the various products of Nantes, and the kinds derived from the Rouen style are especially difficult to distinguish. Le Croisic (Loire-Inferieure). — It is a Fleming, Gerard Demigennes, who, in the sixteenth century, established there a ceramic centre; Horacio Borniola, an Italian, succeeded him in 1627, and himself left the works to John Borniola and to Beatrice his sister, and wife of one named Davys. The potteries exhibited at Rennes under the head of Le Croisic, perfectly evidenced their origin ; white, generally gadrooned and decorated with scrolls and flowers, in blue and citron yellow, they resemble the old products of Antwerp and the Flanders, and must have served, in their turn, as types for the old fabrica- tions of Rennes. Machecoul only appears in order. The ceramic works of Jacopo and Loys Ridolfi of Chaffagiolo, who had established themselves here, appear to have ceased in the sixteenth century. Quimper (Finistere). — A document preserved at Sevres states :— " There was at Quimper a manufactory of enamelled faience in imita- tion of Rouen, established in 1690. It supplied a part of Brittany." The products attributed to this town are of a grey enamel, with large scrolls reserved upon a blackish-blue ground ; it is dull in appearance, and difficult to separate from other Breton faiences. Quimper had also a manufactory of earthenware, with yellow engobe, relieved by red pastillages. This kind was previously made at Rohu (Morbihan). Quimperle" (Finistere).— The enamelled wares at this place much resemble those of Rennes ; a charming example in relief, heightened with colours, appeared at the Breton Exhibition. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— ORLEANS. 45 1 Maine. Malicorne (Sarthe). — Glazed wares & reseaux, almost always of a brown jasper melted in the glaze ; about 1700. Ligron (Sarthe). — Vases in relief and gable pinnacles (e'pis) of pale jasper, in which a chamois yellow prevails ; these e'pis have sometimes masks of good style, but always very inferior to the Norman products. Specimens may be seen at Sevres and in the collection of the Comte de Liesville. Courcelles. — This locality, very near to Ligron, has had its special potter, Guimonneau-Forterie, a licensed surgeon. There are several pieces of. his signed and dated in the collections of Le Mans ; M. Le- comte mentions some of 1762, 1774, and a soup tureen, inscribed in moulded characters: "Par G. Forterie chirurgien a Courcelles 1783-." We have seen a puzzle jug, spotted with green, inscribed " Forterie pere, ancien chirurgien a Courcelles 1789." At this period, Guimon- neau had no doubt abandoned the lancet and the bistoury, and places his quality as pere to distinguish his works from those of his son, a surgeon and potter as himself. Pontvalain (Sarthe).— The works of this locality appear confined to flower vases and common wares. Region of the Centre. Orleanais. Orleans (Loiret). — The ceramic history of Orleans is full of un- certainty and contradictions. The first establishment of which we find a trace is that of which M. Piot has found in the archives of the town the constitutive decree. Order of the Council of State of the King granting exclusive privi- lege in favour of the Sieur Jacques-Etienne Dessaux de Romilly,forthe* royal manufactory of faience of purified white earth, established at Orleans, of the 13th March 1753. " Upon the request presented to the King in his Council, by Jacques Etienne Dessaux de Romilly, director of the royal manufactory of glass of Saint Gobain, showing that after a labour and research of ten years, and considerable expense, he has succeeded in finding the secret to compose a faience the whiteness and quality of which are superior to all that has been done until now ; that he is in a condition to make some with success, not only every kind of faience ware and others for use and ornament, but also other extraordinary piece" as flower-pots, figures for gardens, and centre-pieces for desserts; that this fayence is,' in the interior as well as the exterior, of a very fine white; exempt from impressions of heat or cold, of the air or of damp, qualities which will render it as useful as agreeable to the- public; which have been recognised by the trial pieces made of it, which have°been examined 2 G 2 452 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. by the Sieur Hellot, of the Academy of Sciences ; that with a view to render himself useful to the State and to the public, he would desire to establish iu the kingdom oue or several manufactories; but that in order to form such establishments, he wants, before entering into new expenses, to be authorised to do it, to prevent the workmen to whom he will be obliged to confide his secret being able to cause him any prejudice. For which the petitioner requests it may please his Majesty : 1st. To grant to him and to his heirs and assigns an exclusive privilege for thirty years to form either at Orleans, or in any other city of the kingdom he may later find more fitting for the public good, one or several manu- factories in which he will cause to be made all kinds of works of faience of his composition, with permission to cause them to be sold and retailed in the city and suburbs of Paris, and in all the extent of the kingdom, with prohibition to all persons of whatever quality and condition they may be, to make any like establishment or to counterfeit the said works, which will be marked with a particular mark, on pain of confiscation of the goods, utensils, and materials to the profit of the petitioner, and with the sum of four thousand livres penalty. 2ndly. That the said establishment shall have the title of Koyal Manufactory, and, in consequence, it will be permitted to the petitioner to place over the principal entrance an inscription with these words : " Manufacture royale de fayance et terre blanche purifie'e," and to have a porter with the livery of his Majesty. 3rdly. To exempt him, his heirs and assigns, from all public charges, as guardian, trustee, and keeper; and as much for them as for their clerks and workmen, of payment of rates, taxes, drawing for the militia, and lodging of soldiers. 4thly. Prohibition to all proprietors of porcelain and fayance manufactories to employ, in their workshops, any of the workmen who will have worked in the manu- factory of the petitioner, unless that they have a ticket of leave dated two months before the day that they present themselves, on pain of one thousand livres penalty. 5thly. To commit the Sieurs Intendant and Commissary assigned to the place where will be the said establishment, to know and judge all disputes which may arise between the petitioner and the workmen of the said manufactory, circumstances and dependencies, for all that may concern the execution of the said privilege. 6thly. To order, moreover, that upon the judgment given, letters patent will be sent out. " Considering the said request, together with the advice of the Sieur Intendant and Com- missioner appointed for the generality of Orle'ans ; Having heard the report, and the King being in his Council, has permitted, and does permit, to the said Sieur Dessaux de Komilly, his heirs and assigns, to establish in the town of Orle'ans a manufactory to make there, exclu- sively of all others, during the space of twenty years, all sorts of works of faience, in white earth of his composition, on the condition on his part of putting in a year the said manufac- tory in a working state, and that the faience that will be worked there will be marked with the letter O, crowned and painted in zaffre blue, under the glaze. Permits him to cause to be sold and retailed the said faiences in the city and suburbs of Paris, as well as in all the extent of the kingdom, with prohibition to all persons of whatever quality and condition they may be, to form, during the period of the said privilege, like establishments in the extent of ten leagues in the environs of the said city of Orleans, and to counterfeit the said works, on pain of confiscation of the goods, utensils, and materials, of four thousand livres fine, and of all expenses and damages. His Majesty wills that this said establishment have the title of Koyal Manufactory ; allows in consequence to the said undertaker to cause to be placed over his principal door, a tablet with an inscription bearing these words : ' Manu- facture royale de fayance en terre blanche purifie'e,' and to have there a porter with the livery of his Majesty. Orders besides, that as well as the said Sieur de Eomilly, his heirs and assigns, the clerks and principal workmen employed in the said manufactory, shall be taxed moderately by one and the same scale in the list of the poll tax of the city of Orle'ans, to the exception of those who by themselves or their wives carry on any other trade in which case the said clerks and workmen will be subject to the poll tax for the said reason only. Wills also they shall be exempt from lodging soldiers, even the married clerks and workmen, provided they carry on no other trade ; that all those who are unmarried, and those who are married under the age of 20 years, shall enjoy exemption from the militia. His Majesty makes express prohibitions and inhibitions to all proprietors of porcelain and faience manufactories to receive and employ in their workshops any of the workmen who will have been employed in the manufactory of the said Sieur de Romilly, without they MODERN FA IENCE.—FRA NCE. 453 are provided with a ticket of leave signed by him or by the director of the said manu- factory, dated two months before the day on which they will have presented themselves, under the penalties set forth by the regulation of the 2nd January, 1749. It will be required that the director of the said manufactory shall prepare, every year, a statement of the clerks and principal workmen working there, the which statement shall be represented to the Sieur Intendant and Commissary appointed for the generalship of Orleans that his Majesty has appointed and does appoint to take cognisance of and decide as well, except the appeal to the Council, all disputes which may arise between the said Sieur de Komilly and the clerks and workmen as from other circumstances and dependencies by reason of the execu- tion of the said privilege ; prohibiting the parties to appeal elsewhere, and to all his courts and judges to take cognizance on pain of the proceedings becoming void and annulled, and of all expenses and damages. His Majesty enjoins the said Sieur Intendant to see to the execution of the present decree upon which all necessary letters will be sent. "Made at the Council of State of the King, his Majesty being present, held for the Finances at Versailles the third of March, one thousand seven hundred and forty-three. (Signed) " Kouill£. " Charles Amable Honore' Barentin, Chevalier d'Hardivilliers, the Bellerneries and other places, councillor of the King, &c, in order that the present decree shall be executed, &c, 30th September, 1753. " Registered at the registry of the Hotel de Ville of Orleans, 21st November, 1753." This decree was carried into effect. In 1755 a Sieur Leroy was director of the manufactory; but in 1757, Charles-Claude Gerault- Daraubert, having bought back the shares of the different shareholders, found himself the sole proprieter of the establishment, and gave it an extraordinary impulse, soon uniting porcelain to his other productions. The mark mentioned in the decree, and which would appear to have been widely spread, is, on the contrary, very rare. We only know of one piece on which it occurs. A Chinese seated, with his hands catching hold of the divergent branches of a tree, unfortunately broken, but which had terminated with two nozzles, it being a two- branched candlestick in the Saxon style. This interesting specimen, exhibited at Auxerre by M. Durut, has enabled us to recognise the origin of several unmarked pieces, especially some little figures in the Gasnault collection, which appeared to resemble soft Italian pottery in their colour and glaze. The author of these figures, Jean Louis, is certainly not wanting in talent, yet there arose between him and Gerault-Daraubert disputes which called for the intervention of the authorities. The petition of the artist is most curious ; first, because it makes known to us his industrial peregrinations, and next that it initiates us in the habits of the workshops, and the interior life of the artists of that time. " The Sieur Louis, working sculptor, in the manufactory of fayance at Orleans, supplicates humbly, and represents to your Grace that he was called from Strasburg by the undertaker of the manufactory of Sceaux, whence the parties concerned in the establishment as that of Orleans, penetrated with the injustice he experienced, called him and agreed with him to the clauses and conditions set forth in the contract, of which a copy is annexed. These conditions weje dictated by mutual good faith, and on a certain knowledge of the 454 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. talents of the petitioner, -whose works have heen honoured with the presence of Monseigneur, who deigned to give them some value by his praises. " Then the Sieur Leroy, director of the manufactory, was a religious observer of the treaty made with the petitioner; he had some consideration for him: a separate room to exercise tranquilly his talents, some indulgence for the hours of the repose which is absolutely necessary to the workman who invents, meditates, and operates at the same time ; all then was dictated by justice and humanity. Now the Sieur Ge'rault, purchaser of the shares of the different parties concerned, and guided by a system of economy, proposes to extend it to the salary of the petitioner ; the 1248 livres per year which he enjoys by the terms of the said contract, appears to him a burden of which he desires to rid himself; in consequence, he does not cease to vex the Sieur Louis by all kinds of means : no more consideration, no more private room ; thrown among all kinds of workmen and distracted by their clamour, it requires that he should redouble his tension of mind in order that his works should not bear marks of his disturbance ; and the petitioner is so much the more wronged, that, according to the contract, there is' made to him, for each holiday, a larger reduction than the amount of his salary ; that is to say, of four livres ten sols. To these vexations have succeeded imputations and unjust and captious propositions ; the Sieur Ge'rault has circu- lated abroad that the Sieur Louis was become infirm, he has asserted that he did not fulfil his duty; he proposed to put the petitioner to piece-work, to be himself the arbitrary valuer of his works, and thus to annul a contract which he had dictated and signed him- self; in short, without any regard to justice, he wishes to enslave and vilify a workman whom he before had sought, and to defraud him of that which he had assured to him by writing, as he has frustrated verbal promises. He has flattered himself, Monseigneur, to sur- prise you equally by statements without foundation; but the justice of your Grace, in ac- cordance with the supremacy of your learning, and the protection your Grace deigns to grant to talents called into France, have made him suspend his judgment ; he has paid attention to the faith due to a contract passed freely and authentically, and has reserved to himself to pronounce after the petitioner will have cleared up the imputations made against him. For these causes the Sieur Louis humbly supplicates Monseigneur that he will be pleased to admit him into his presence to hear his justification, and contradict what the Sieur Ge'rault may have advanced contrary to the interests and reputation of the petitioner, &c." This dispute is not the only one which arose in the Orleans manufactory. The Intendant of the generality received a complaint from another sculptor, Bernard Huet, who claimed the payment of certain works executed at a price agreed upon, and which he reckoned thus : — Figure of 8 feet, 100 livres. Two figures of 4 feet, 100 livres. Two models, 36 livres. The Sieur Gerault, on his side, maintained that the fixed price for a figure of 8 feet was 36 livres ; that during an absence he had been obliged to make, Madame Gerault had settled the price with the com- plainant, viz. : — A figure to represent Bacchus, from 3| feet to 4 feet, 24 Hvres. A figure to represent Pomona, same size, 24 livres. A group of about 3 feet, with two figures, " La Feuille a l'envers," 36 livres. A group of 3 feet, with two figures, the " Broken Shoe," 36 livres. The inquiry opened; it appeared that Huet was very disorderly, MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 455 preferring drink to labour, and seeking high prices to work less, and give himself up to intemperance. Two questions arise on reading these documents ; first, were the figures 8 feet high made like the small ones of purified white earth ? and next, how is it that an establishment provided with an important staff should have produced so little that we find but one piece ^'c^ stamped with the official seal which was to secure its success ? The mark (M. 172) of the specimen in the Durut collection is ^ ■ this: M172 - We know none of the figures of Bernard Huet, unless we should attribute to him little groups enamelled in colours, such as Belisarius, Henry IV. and Sully, &c, which are signed by impres- sion with the retrogade letters T VH. We have frequently met with these groups in Brittany, but never seen that any came from Orleans. Has table ware of faience been made in the establishment of Gerault-Daraubert ? There is no reason to think so, his fabrication being particularly extended to porcelain : we shall also see further that at the visit of Monsieur to Orleans, in 1777, the manufacturers appeared only to occupy themselves with the soft and hard varieties of translucent pottery. In 1776, the Orle'anais Almanac does not mention the establishment of Gerault, rue du Bourdon Blanc ; but it cites that of Meziere, ad- joining the Dames de la Croix, and of Meziere jeune, rue de la Grille. Two years later, Fedele made faiences, rue du DeVidet. In 1797, all these establishments had disappeared, the Widow Baubrueil was building works on the site of the Carmelites, and Asseli- neau Grammont made, upon the poultry -market, coloured and marbled pottery in imitation of English. Saint-Marceau, suburb of Orleans.— The Orle'anais Almanac indicates in this place, 1788, a workshop of which the directors were the Sieurs Leroy-Dequoy and Goullu-Duplessis. Gien (Loiret). — This name, with an illegible- date, has been taken from a plateau of common faience, decorated with polychrome flowers in the Marseilles style. Saint Die" (Loir-et-Cher).— Still in exercise in 1791, according to Glot's list. Chaumont-sur-Loire.— We have only to mention this place as the residence of Jean Baptiste Nini, author of an interesting series of medallions in terra cotta of extreme delicacy. The greater number 456 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. were at the Exhibition, at the same time with one of the moulds which served to produce them. Chateaudun (Eure-et-Loir). — The Duke of Chevreuse had ob- tained a privilege for the erection of a manufactory in this town ; in 1755 the Sieurs Pierre Bremont and Gabriel Jouvet, directors, opposed the manufactory of Orleans carrying away clays from Mamers, whence the establishment was supplied. In 1788 Gournay still mentions Chateaudun, whose products are yet to find. Nivernais, Nevers (Nievre). — This ceramic locality calls for serious study, for it has had the greatest influence upon the French manufacture. It deserves its special history, which has been given by M. du Broc de Seganges, to whose work we refer the reader for precise details and sure information. Has M. du Broc said all ? Evidently not, for science advances rapidly in the times in which we live ; and besides, truth is always difficult to discover there where fables, resting upon facts which have given them the appearance of reality, have long had their course. The accession of Louis of Gonzaga to the duchy of Nevers by his marriage with Henrietta of Cleves, the eldest of the " Three Graces," was a signal for the development of the arts and sciences in the Nivernais. There, as in some other centres, Italians were sent for, and their works serving as types, we see the new industries manifest themselves. We will not seek what will have been the first works executed at Nevers by the foreigners, but will take the ceramic industry from the time when it became settled in the hands of some gentlemen of Albissola, on the riviera of Genoa ; we mean the Conrade. But before fixing the individual part they may have had in the Nivernais in- dustry, let us appreciate the importance of the manufacture by a chrono- logical table of the establishment of the different manufactories. 1608. Eue Saint Genest, 12. The brothers Conrade, partners, whose works go back to 1602; successors: Garilland, Nicolas Hudes, his widow, de Champroud. 1632. Rue de la Tartre, 4. Barthe'lemi Bourcier, enameller ; Pierre Moreau, in 1749, then Jean Champesle. 1652. The " Ecce Homo," rue Saint Genest, 20. Nicolas Estienne, Louis Thonnelier de Mambret, Jean Chevalier Lestang. 1652. "The Ostrich," rue Saint Genest, 11. Pierre Custode, partner to Esme Godin, then alone ; Enfert. 1716. Rue de la Cathe'drale, 1. Gounot. 1725. Place Mosse'. Prysie de Chazelles, de Bonnaire. 1749. Rue de la Tartre, 14. Pierre Charles Boizeau Deville. 175 ? " The World's End," rue du Croux, 10. Perrony, Petit Enfert. MODERN FAIENCE, ,— FRANCE. ,—NEVERS. 457 1760. " Bethlehem," rue de la Tartre, 16. Michel Prou, Jolly, Claude Le'vesque, Jacques Serizier in 1772. 1760. " La Koyale," rue de Singe, 13. Gautheron et Mottret. , , ? Eue de la Tartre, 12. Halle. 1761. Eue de la Tartre, 26. Mathurin Ollivier. These dates, taken from M. du Broc's work, do not appear to be all exact ; for, in 1743, there were already eleven establishments at Nevers, and a decree of the 29th May decided that no more should be set up, the production exceeding the demand, and the price of wood increasing from the excess of consumption. This decree fixed even at eight, for the future, the number of manufactories in " the Province of the Nivernais." The first feeling of the collector after the examination of this list, would be to find out the products of each establishment ; this is not possible. At Nevers, signatures and marks are an exception, and we will first quote the scanty number we have gathered. The oldest speci- men known is a Virgin seen by M. ^ n /t C\ /x. Fillon, produced in the workshop J' U b(AjJl(X^ C\0\iU^r^ of the Conrade, and bearing on the f #2Z reverse (M. 173) : M - 173 ' Mark' 174 is the signature of Denis Lefebvre, employed by the same manufacturers, and is inside the pedestal of a statue ^ _ representing the Virgin offering a fruit to her Divine TP /J Son ; upon the pedestal is Sancta Maria ora pro i Q>JQ nobis, and the date 1636. M . 174. Jacques Bourdu, who worked at Antoine's, has used this C/$ monogram (M. 175) : /J M. 175. Marks 176 are the initials of Henri Borne, who produced some statuettes of a good style, espe- cially that of Saint Henry, his B fi-B JB>0VY\@ patron. A Saint Stephen of the TfJ^O *T^^9 same date has the signature of „ h / ° - • M 177 Etienne Borne (M. 177) : M - 176> Mark 178 indicates a work of Francois Rodrigues. 'FR. ^73 4 M. 178. At 1734 is to be placed the equestrian figure of Saint Hubert, given to the museum at Varzy by M. Grasset aine, keeper of the museum. It is signed, F. Haly, 1734. In 1764, Henri Marais signed in full a puzzle pot. As to the cipher (M. 179) on an annular vase in the museum of Sevres, as- signed to Jacques Seigne, we think it indicates the name of the owner, not that of the artist. The sign N (M. 180) in M - 179, 458 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. which some see the initial of Nevers and .others the name of Nicolas - » Viode', does not appear to us irrefutably explained. A little *M dish, of Italian form, with sino-franco decoration, in blue outlined M " 180 ' with manganese, gives us the letters PC. Under another large coarse dish, of primitive blue decoration, composed of scattered groups -j-j belonging to no style or epoch, such as a Woman draped (X' V/ after the antique, a Countrywoman and her ass, a Man on M. 181. horseback, are three mullets (M. 182). There are two in the arms of the Conrade, and we may hence consider the three -JLr mullets as equivalent to a signature. Lastly, the name of Haly occurs upon dishes with bouquets, filled with eggs, )QL ^uC olives, and other fruits ; these are probably the works of M. 182. Philippe Haly, son of the thrower Francois. After all, the part of the Conrade in the Nivernais art is very difficult now to determine. It is evident these gentlemen, some mili- tary, the others invested with honorary commissions, were not the direct agents of the fabrication ; they patronised a great enterprise based upon secrets preserved in their family ; they made themselves heads of an industry, thanks to powerful protection. M. du Broc thinks that all the manufacturers established around them had formed themselves in their workshops. We do not join in this opinion ; an Italian school anterior to the Conrade has left traces at Nevers, particularly in the chateau of Gloriette, the fine pieces of Italian style, such as the cistern (vasque) in the Musee de Cluny, cannot have issued from the hands of potters come from the most detestable manufactories of degenerated Italy. There is in these pieces a breadth of style, a nobleness of expres- sion, which denotes French hands j besides, the ornamental floral borders reveal the influence of enamelling, and we see in effect this branch of r | art enter in the ceramic lists, even at the period of (p conrade the power of the Conrade, since Barthelemi Bourcier, A VI £ U £^ before opening the establishment of the Rue de la y Tartre, enamelled upon metal, and bore the title of ^Jjf\^ enameller to the Queen Mother. It is to this Italo- French school that we must assign the splendour of the first Nivernais products. If we examine the works signed by the Conrade, we soon perceive their feebleness and timidity. The 1)6 CoyUcidt dis ^ of ^gostino is an imitation of Palissy, or rather CC Tlkwtr^ a ^" ee ^ e reminiscence of the reptile style associated M. 183. with the blue striated grounds of the school of Urbino. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 459 The others, where the name of Conrade a Nevers (M. 183) may be taken for that of Antonio and Domenico, are. pale copies of the subjects on Chinese porcelain ; as to the piece of the Roux collection, of Tours, on which Jacques, son of Domenico, had represented under the most infantine form the Corruption of Men, and the Deluge, it would alone suffice to prove that, in the middle of the seventeenth century, this pretended family of initiators was beneath the level of commercial production. This said, let us try, in our turn, to give a rational and logical classification of the Nivernais works. First Epoch. — a. Style, Franco-Urbino, with mythological subjects and ornaments inspired by the antique and the Renaissance ; influence anterior to the Conrade. (Fig. 115.) b. Style, Italo-Chinese ; vases of Italian form, with Chinese or familiar Italian subjects, Oriental ornaments. Blue camaieu heightened with manganese, resembling in character the majolica of Savona. Direct influence of the Conrade. Fig. 115. Fig. 116. NEVEES. ITALIAN STYLE. NEVERS. ITALO -NIVERNAIS MUSEUM OP NEVERS, DECORATION. — COLL. PASCAL. Second Period. — a. Style, Italo-Nivernais ; mythological and familiar subjects, together or separate ; Italian and Oriental ornaments mixed ; wreaths of flowers in the style of enamels. Influence of this art and of that of tissues. (Fig. 116.) b. Faiences with coloured grounds, especially blue, designs in white, pale and dark yellow ; style of chintz stuffs, and of enamelling. Third Epoch.— Style, Franco-Nivernais. Imitation of the Rouen decoration. Degeneracy of the Italian style, and of the decoration of '460 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. flowers blue upon blue grounds. This fabrication becomes commercial, and ceases to be interesting in an artistic point of view. La Charity. — This establishment, which will have worked in the style of Nevers, is mentioned by Gournay in 1788. M. Grasset denies that it has ever existed. La Nocle. — In 1741, Savary des Brulons says, in the ' Universal Dictionary of Commerce,' " The best (clay) is on the property of the Marquisate of La Nocle, belonging to the Duke de Villars. They have recently established there an excellent manufactory of earthenware, where are made works of all kinds, of better quality than those of Nevers, and as fine as those of Eouen, which until now have passed as the most perfect." Bois-le-Comte. — A document in the archives of Sevres shows there was a manufactory of faience at Bois-le-Comte, in 1768. Saint-Viceain.- — Edme Brion possessed there, in 1768, a manufac- tory of stoneware. Vaezy. — It is to this place that Rollin transferred, in 1793, the manufactory established at Auxerre. Bourbonnais. Moulins (Allier). — The faiences of this place bear so close a re- semblance to those of Rouen that it is very difficult to distinguish them. A plate in the Museum of Sevres has on the reverse, " a Moulins," leaving no doubt as to its origin ; the decoration is " a la corne," in the most brilliant enamels. Yet Moulins did not confine herself to this style of fabrication alone ; in the town museum is a statue of Saint Roch, resembling the style of the Nivernais works. Behind is written in middling-sized characters (M. 184) : M. 184. and below, in larger (M. 185) : M. 185. Upon the pedestal are the dates and initials of the same artist. M. Queyroy, keeper of the museum, thinks that Mogdin is the painter and Chollet the modeller of the statuette. MODERN FA IENCE.—FRA NCE. Auvergne. Clermont (Puy-de-D6me).— Brongniart attributes to this city the ancient glazed ware, with network ornament, in the style of Avignon, and overlaid with a brown glaze in imitation of tortoiseshell. But, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, Auvergne left this common fabri- cation to create enamelled wares worthy, by their beauty, of rivalling Moustiers, which they first copied. The first piece made known to amateurs is a helmet-shaped cruet (buire) in the collection of M. Pascal, decorated with elegant arabesques surrounding the figure of Time ; some differences in the handling are to be remarked between these ornaments and those executed in Provence ; the scrolls are terminated by large points, the partial grounds are striated, certain subjects and false gadroons are in shaded tints. Under the foot is written : " Clermont- Ferrand, 1734." A pot for water, belonging to the Marquis de Pontecoulant, has the same decoration; upon the front is a coat of arms with the coronet of a marquis, under which is written : " Conva- lescence de M. Rossignol, intendant d' Auvergne. M. Peyrol, tre'sorier de l'ordre, 1738." A third piece has furnished an intermediate date; again a helmet-shaped vase, but this time with wreaths, scrolls, and shells, partaking of the style of Rouen and Moustiers. Under the foot the legend: " M. Clermont-Ferrand d'Auvergne, 21 January 1756." Sent by M. Grange of Clermont, to the Universal Exhibition, this helmet has demonstrated the pliancy of talent of the Auvergnat artists ; this is no servile copy, but a fancy largely conceived and no less satis- factory than the type. These various pieces have allowed a number of products mixed with those of Provence to be restored to the same source. Yet Clermont has not always had this ornamental fabrication ; we find plates in common faience with the patron saint and the name of the possessors. M. Romeuf has a salad bowl with the figure of a turner at his work ; in the interior is inscribed : " Perrier Lauche ; " round the exterior twines a wreath of vine with bunches of grapes. The earth of this piece is red, dense, and close ; the. enamels but little brilliant. Ardes or Hardes. — This second manufactory in the Puy-de-Ddme is only known to us by its mention in Glot's list. / Limousin. Limoges (Haute- Vienne). — By a decree of the 8th October 1737, the Sieur Massie' was authorised to found at Limoges a manufactory of faience. When the discovery of kaolin at St. Yrieix permitted the making of real porcelain in France, Massie", partner to a Sieur Fourneira 462 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. and the brothers Grellet, obtained, by a new decree of the 30th December 1773, permission to join the making of translucent with that of enamelled pottery. There has been since then, at least for thirty- six years, a faience special to the Limousin, which has furnished the con- sumption of that and the neighbouring provinces ; the difficulty is to ascertain its characters, and to find it among works not classified. There is at Sevres a very large decorated dish, in pale colours, with a land- scape enlivened by a stag-hunt; a still more curious dish is in the collection of the town of Limoges, the centre subject is Justice seated on her throne with sword and scales, trampling crime under her foot ; near her are Religion, Truth, and j /7 ^ f\ Law, with their several attributes. A circles this remarkable painting in soft ( 8 m (XV and hig nl y-g lazed tints - The P iece is 1 22 inches in diameter, and has on the p T *7/L T reverse (M. 186). It is then of the first * " Deriod of Massif ; but this cannot have M. 186. r . -1 been a current, commercial ware. Touraine. Amboise (Indre-et-Loire).— It is here that Jerome Solobrin esta- blished, from 1494 to 1502, the first ceramic centre of Touraine. Toues.— In August 1770, Thomas Sailly, an inhabitant of this city, solicited, under the auspices of the Archbishop, authority to build a manufactory of faience ; we believe his application was received, since, in 1788, Gournay mentions the manufactory of Tours. Noel Sailly, successor to Thomas, had, from 1782, claimed the necessary assistance to add porcelain to his products; he soon sunk under difficulties, and was replaced by his younger brother. This information, gathered from the archives, does not appear to comprise the complete history of the faiences of Touraine ; it would seem there was an establishment prior to that of Thomas Sailly, directed by M. Epron (Mathurin), fayencier and officer of the bourgeoisie of the parish of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps. M. Epron had married, at Nevers, Antoinette Gautheron, the 7th November 1776. There is by him, in the Museum of Tours, a pair of Sphinx in faience, having on the base : DTJPONT 1797 ; these pieces are by Dupont himself, a workman attached to the works of M. Epron. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE.— A VIGNON. 463 In the Museum of Sevres is a coarse kind of flask decorated with a Saint Louis and fleurs de lis in polychrome colours ; under the piece is inscribed: "Fait k Tours, le 21 Mars 1782. Louis Liaute." This name would appear to be that of the owner, or, at most, of a painter ; but if it is what was made at the faubourg Saint-Pierre-des- Corps, it was a fabrication of little value. Comtat of Avignon. Avignon (Vaucluse).— An important intellectual centre ; this ancient refuge of papacy had not lost its taste for the elegancies of life, so its potters had found means to create, with a reddish earth simply glazed with brown, vases of elegant form, enriched with skilful mouldings, and heightened often with ornaments " engobes " of a kind of patina or gold tint. Every one has seen these vases at Sevres, the Louvre, and Cluny ; and what proves their merit is that sometimes one hesitates in distinguishing those of Avignon from their Italian brethren. What we ask now is if these Avignon potters remained strangers to the general movement, and did not seek likewise to overlay the earth with the white enamel ? We have doubted it even in presence of a plateau with an open-work gallery, come out of the same mould as those in brown ware, and decorated in blue ; a second example, at Cluny, leads us almost to resolve the question in the affirmative. The enamel of this specimen is the enamel of the South ; the blue decoration, inspired by Kouen, has a license foreign to the manufactories of the North ; the blue has run into the too fluid glaze ; and, lastly, in one corner, of a softer cobalt, recalling the processes of Moustiers, is the escutcheon of an archbishop of the Bouillon family. We call the attention of the amateurs of the South to this curious fact. Apt. — Here, we know, faience was never made, but the potteries with yellow glaze, produced first at Castellet, in the Luberon, then at Apt, are of such fine relief, and of such elegant taste, as to demand mention. M. Moulin imitated this style, improved by an Abbe Moulin, his brother or nephew. A second manufactory rose about 1785 to 1788, under the care of M. Bonnet, grandfather of the director of the im- portant products of Apt. Goult. M. de Doni, seigneur de Goult, canton of Gordes, arron- dissement of Apt, was the founder, about 1740, of a manufactory established in his chateau ; passionately devoted to the ceramic art, he 464 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. called distinguished artists from the workshops of the South, and thus succeeded in his undertaking. In 1788, the manufactory had acquired its full development, and worked until 1805. The style of decora- tion, determined by the first painters brought from Moustiers, is purely southern ; M. Demarre, possessor of the chateau, and who has found there some of its ancient faiences, assures us there is no Fig. 117. BROTH BASIN AND COVER. APT. — COLL. PASCAL. ordinary mark at Goult ; the Provencaux sometimes placed a cross upon their works, after local custom, but many pieces have no peculiar sign ; a monogram, composed of an H and a C, is on some white enamelled specimens, and they have also ordinal numbers. La Tour d'Aigues.— It is also in the chateau, and by the care of the Baron de la Tour d'Aigues, M. de Bruni, that this manufactory was created. At what date, we do not know ; but it was before 1773, since at that period application was made for authorisation to join the fabrication of porcelain with that of faience. The most curious piece issued from this centre belongs to M. Pechin ; on it is a landscape with figures executed in green camaieu and perfectly drawn ; underneath is written : " Fait a la Tour d'Aigues." M. Pascal possesses a charming cruet-stand (porte-huilier), of a brownish enamel, but elegantly relieved with arabesques in the Moustiers style ; underneath is M. 187, which we found again upon a large dish with flowers and bouquets in violet camaieu, and upon another still more interesting piece, M - 187, belonging to M. Jules Canonge, of Nimes, an oblong dish, the edge scrolled and moulded in reliefs to imitate bubbling water ; in the centre is a wreath of green reeds, surrounding a cavity in which is inserted a piece in the form of a duck. The tower is in the middle of the dish. The bird bears inside its two pieces (bowl and cover) the date 1770. M. Bonnet, of Apt, possesses another specimen, given by the Marquis Saqui de Tourres, a connection of the Brnni family, and coming direct MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 465 from Tour d'Aigues. This flower-pot, of cylindrical form, is decorated with bouquets of jonquils, heartsease, and pinks, very delicately painted. In the Museum at Sevres is a magnificent dish, its rims waved and decorated in green cama'ieu, with landscape and rustic figures well drawn. We do not know if the works continued till the ruin of the chateau in 1793. Appendix. Whatever care we have taken to mention in this review the French manufactories now known, some will doubtlessly have escaped ; others have not been classed, because their existence has appeared to us doubtful ; thus Villeroy, a name written upon a water-pot in the Rouennais style, decorated in blue, outlined with heraldic bearings in pale blue, under which are the words: " Pinte de Ville-Roy, 1735," would appear an imperfect indication. A plate also painted in blue, in the Pascal collection, offered again the Rouennais arabesques and pendants with the signature DV. Are these sufficient reasons for classing Mennecy- Villeroy among the manufactories of faience ? We possess a pretty, oblong cup upon its stand, decorated in pure bright enamels with very elaborate bouquets of flowers ; we have given a similar one to the Museum of Sevres; under each piece is written : " Fulvy." ow Fulvy is the name of a village in the depart- ment of the Yonne, where perhaps faience was never made, but it is also the name of the first protector of the establishment of Vincennes. Were our cups destined as a testimonial to this Maecenas, or is the name on this pottery simply that of a painter of a forgotten workshop ? History is full of these doubts and obscurities which a coming future may cause to disappear, thanks to universal research. We shall know what signifies the word Yesien, written under a peasant's shoe of fawn coloured white enamel with spots of manganese. We shall also know to what country we should assign a fountain belonging to M. Edouard Lamasse, and which, of a choice fabrication approaching that of Lor- raine, has graved upon it the name of ' Saint-Longe,' a place of whose geographical position we are ignorant, and which certainly is not Longis de la Sarthe. Below are the unknown marks we have found upon faiences in the French style : — 466 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. ALEX. 1724, Table fountain, Rouen style. JMiTftft" Fountain decorated with arabesques in dark blue. Poitou. ^y^^ Plateau with open border, bouquet, Strasburg style. Covered cup with its stand; a leafy branch serves as J) handle ; Pompadour decoration, in pale manganese. ^ Dish with bouquets of polychrome flowers, Franco-Dutch style. Baskets decorated with heartsease and sprigs in the tints of the South ; royal arms in centre. gj^ Benitier with twisted columns, and three fleurs de _ ^5 ra> r\ lis on the top, openwork panel and basin decorated ^zir^T^ in polychrome colours. q g Incense burner (Brule-parfums) with bouquets in coloured relief. q4 % Faiences of which the appendages are foliated branches. £ t Floral decoration in bright enamels, a little hard and brownish ; style of Aprey. ^ Thick, heavy plate, with Chinese polychrome decoration. Dish with wreaths and grotesques, rust-coloured ; Moustiers style. The Flagellation, coarse design in blue upon a J^C** l66l white enamelled dish ; the interior not glazed. ^ Plates decorated in dark violet, with grotesques T xG and flowers. j-t Dish, Strasburg style ; flowers delicately painted. The Ei • F incised in the paste. Basin with two handles ; rocaille decoration with Je ^ me this legend : Andre Moustiers ? 1750 (jA^ Disl1 with m y tnol °g ical sheets ; Moustiers style. M?Xpar GDE, A n0 1761." Plaque. Delft style. MODERN FAIENCE.— FRANCE. 467 CxQQt Barber's basin, with rocaille border, in which man- 1780 & anese violet and a pale yellow predominate. In the centre, an interior. Rennes ? 7^C3toWbv landscapes of bright colours. Tournay, Peterynck ? (M. ' decorations with mantlings in the Rouennais style, enriched (7 2.K .x- 1*5r) J jg X& * uu I. B. (M. 207) ; a marriage-plate, surrounded M. 207. M. 208. ' by arabesques, bears the cipher D B (M. 208) ; other coarse pieces have only the star. One with a number, marks a magnificent cruet-stand in blue camai'eu (M. 209) ; we have found the same delicacy of paste and decoration in various " faiences-porcelaines " inscribed with the ciphers M. 210, and 211, which, although destitute of the star, appear to us may -^IV JjxX he attributed to Kiell. This same cipher existed under M. 210, 211. a table-fountain, imitating Rouennais decoration. 1764. In de vergulde Boot (the Gilded Boat), Johannes Den Appel ; his signature is I D A. 1764. Be Roos (the Rose), mark deposited (M. 212). This establish- D^fiD ment seems old, and we do not know if it has had M. 212. several proprietors ; a beautiful water-pot decorated in blue and pale red, had Roos (M. 213) ; it would appear to be contem- porary with the pieces marked A P K. Heavy plates, of blueish enamel, but with Dutch subjects, with height- M. 213. enings of gold, have given us the rose surmounted by MODERN FAIENCE.— HOLLAND.— DELFT. 479 a D (M. 214); should this read Does? The faiences signed "Roos" are not often met with, nor have we ever seen the monogram c~y\ DVDD. ^ 1764. Be Klaauw (the Claw). Lambertus Sanderus; the @ ' ]yj 214 mark deposited is' a claw (M. 215), we have seen pretty pieces signed with both the claw and the monogram of Sander. The claw has been imitated. ^ ^ 1764. Be drie KlokJcen (the Three Bells), W. van der Does ; . " < mark deposited : W. D. We have never met with it, but have ' M 215 found the three bells (M. 216) under a common decoration, in relief painted in crude colours. Ill drawn, the bells have $ been described as an unknown mark. y ^ 1764. Be Griekse A. (The Greek A), J. T. Dextra (Dik- M - 216 - straat), mark deposited : I T D surmounted by the alpha. A fine cock brightly coloured (Coll. Mandl) gives us the letters, without the Greek A (M. 217). We have seen the Greek A under a ITD fine drainer, decorated in blue cama'ieu, accompanied by 12. the initials W V D B, which we cannot explain, as they would M - 217 - appear to be the signature of the widow van der Briel, of the " Fortune." The maker marking thus would besides have left his establishment to his widow, as would appear to indicate the letters W W VD B which appear upon escutcheoned plates with polychrome colours, in which white predominates. The word Dex is inscribed upon a magnificent plateau, a perfect imitation of Chinese porcelain (M. 218); lastly, we have DEX found it under a drainer also of ancient date, and under a piece in the Mandl collection (M. 219), which for delicacy M ' 218, of decoration might rival the porcelain of Saxony. It is then probable that the "Greek A" has remained in the ^ ^g^' same family, and that J. T. Dextra is the last of the name. "~P In 1765, the establishment passed into the hands of Jacobus M ^ Haider Adriaensz. (James Haider, son of Adrian) who marked I H. To him succeeded in April 1667, Cornelis van Os, as is shown in an advertisement of the ' Haarlem Journal ' of 24th February of the same year. The Greek A mentioned above, must be one of those counterfeits against which the Dutch authorities were contending. 1764. Be Brie Porceleyne Astonnen (The Three Porcelain Barrels), Hendrik Van Hoorn. The sign should serve as a mark, after the decla- ration registered at Delft. Yet the only piece we can cite of this 48o HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. manufactory is a rocaille time-piece, behind which is written Astonne H V H," at the barrel Hendrick Van Hoorn." 1764. De Romeyn (The Roman), Petrus van Marum, mark deposited, P- M. united (M. 220). The 16th July 1764, the JjL establishment passed into the hands of Jan van der M. 220. M. 221. 1 Kloot Jansz., who signed (M. 221). 1764. T'jongue Moriaans hofft (The Young Moor's Head), the widow Jan van der Hagen ; mark deposited G : B : S. 1764. In Toude Moriaans hofft (The Old Moor's Head), Geertruy Verstelle G. V. S. Two remarkable pieces with sub- jects in the Watteau style, surrounded by rocaille ara- M. 222. M. 223. besques, have given us the signatures (M. 222, and 223). The two Moor's heads have evidently an origin anterior to 1764, the Evenepoe collection has a pretty piece marked underneath ^ with the Moor's head, coiffed with a red twist, surmounting ~]j^q> a cipher, composed of the letters IRHS (M. 224). We could M. 224. not say to which of the two works the specimen belongs, but it is of old date, and announces an establishment of the first order. 1764. De porcelein Byl (The Porcelain Hatchet), Justus Brouwer. r~y The hatchet (M. 225) is one of the most widely spread marks, fl and will be found on admirable blue pieces, copied from porce- M. 225. lain to the point of being mistaken, and also upon heavy faiences for vulgar use. This sign (M. 226) taken from a piece in the Leroy- Ladurie collection, may be the mark of one of the predeces- sors of Justus Brouwer. The words marked with the hatchet M. 226. cannot all be attributed to Justus Brouwer. There are speci- mens of all periods : first, wares literally copied from Chinese porcelain, and of so pure an enamel as to cause illusion ; then the works of the twelve months of the year, also in blue camaieu, and of very good exe- cution. Then follow polychrome pieces of thick common faience painted in heavy enamels and false tints ; such as ornaments with Dutch sub- jects, baskets with large flowers, butter dishes, surmounted by shapeless sheep, &c. One would be led to think that the mark on some of these pieces has been counterfeited. •V, 1764. De Drie Porceleyne Fleschjes (The Three Porce- JB !j2 lain Bottles). Hugo Brouwer. Fine faience (M. 227 M. 227. M. 228- and 228). 1764. Thart (The Stag), Hendrik van Middeldijk, HVMD. A H V MD piece in the form of an artichoke, of which the lid supported 5 two fishes interlaced, was marked (M. 229). M. 229. M ODERN FAIENCE.— HOLLAND.— DELFT. Another (Collection P. Salin) decorated with rocailles and wreaths of blue flowers, and a scallop shell for cover, has TH/\KT -fJ n ^f. M. 230 and 231. M. 230. w.fA 1764. Be Twee Scheepjes (The Two Ships), Anth. Pennis, mark de- posited, A P united (M. 232). We often meet pretty pieces in J% blue so signed, which came out of this manufactory. We need M. 232. hardly point out the absurdity of attributing to the same work- Jr* shop pieces anterior by a hundred years, and marked (M. 233). 1764. Be Porcelyne Schootel (The Porcelain Dish), Johannes M " 233 - van Diiyn, marked his name, we have found it under various forms (M. 234-236), applied to products generally praiseworthy either in blue or colours. """> . • M. 234. M. 235. M. 236. 1764. Be Vergulde Blompot (The Gilded Flowerpot), P. Verburg. Blompot is the ordinary mark of the workshop. 1764. Be Porcelyne Fles (The Porcelain Bottle), Pieter van Doorne ; mark deposited (M. 237). 1764. Be Bubbelde Schenkkan (The Double Pitcher). Thomas M.237. Spaandonck, DSK. 1764. Be Lampetkan (The Ewer). The widow Gerardus Brouwer declares signing Lampetkan. We have never met with the inscription ; but, in a garniture or set of Chinese porcelain gadrooned vases, a broken piece had been replaced in faience, and on it, in addition ^ to an Oriental sign, were these letters (M. 238) which ap- ^ *- ^ ^/Ja . M. 238 pear to be a contraction of the word Lampetkan ; other remarkable works have LPK (M. 239), a still greater contraction, and in the last sign, inscribed upon a fine ribbed jar (potiche), i_ 9 K decorated in blue camaieu, with rich ornaments and medallions M. 239. of figures in the Watteau style, we see an intention to imitate ^ the "Claw" (M. 240). These divers signatures are besides M 240 anterior to the widow Brouwer. 1764. Be Twe Wildemans (The Two Savages). Widow Willem van Beek. W : V : B. These are the establishments officially known; would that imply there were no others ? Certainly not ; first, the archives of Delft have been destroyed by two fires, and the documents we find are probably a small part of those that will have accumulated by time ; on the other hand, traditions are so soon lost in a country of large production ; 2 I 4S2 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. when we visited Holland in 1852, we found no collection of faience, and the name of Delft pronounced by us, excited more astonishment than enthusiasm. It is modern collecting that has brought to light forgotten monuments, and, as always happens, fable has caused truth to disappear under its glittering tinsel. In the Museum of the Hague, where exists a beautiful painting in faience, we see it catalogued "a plaque of porcelain." Now all is changed, the least daub in blue upon enamel or in glaring colours has the pretension of being by the pencil of Berghem, J an Steen, Willem van der Velde, Van der Meer of Delft, Asselyn, or Wouwermans. That those masters may have made some rapid sketches upon faience we will not deny, but we protest in the name of good sense and good taste, against the calumniators who have dared to place in a public exhibition the basest works dressed out with these great names. The true Dutch ceramic painter is Terhimpel or Terhimpelen, who has left in his country a well-deserved reputation, and what would prove besides he had no powerful rivals, is that he considered it useless to sign his works. Fig. 120. OIL CRUET OF DELFT. — COLL. MANDL. As to the mass of sundry decorators who have covered the jars, plates, or plaques with subjects, landscapes, or marine pieces, it would require long researches to complete the list of them. We have, of 1560, plaques with polychrome borders, framing subjects in the style of MODERN FA I EN CE. — HOLLA ND. 483 Teniers, executed in violet camaieu : they bear the name " C. Zacht- levan fa." We find in the Evenepoel collection a little heroic bust crowned and signed "John Decker, 1698." A plaque, representing in blue the bust of Saint Peter, is thus inscribed in German characters : " Johann Deobalt Frantz, 1724." We should not be surprised if this specimen, in the South Kensington Museum, were restored to Germany. In 1760 I. Baan signed a remarkable marriage piece. M. v. Kuik placed, in 1765, his name to a plaque, representing the return of the Prodigal Son. In 1761, A. Zieremans makes himself known by an escutcheoned plate, upon which brown and violet tints heighten the bright enamels. Piet Viseer, who has painted, in 1769, a plaque representing a cock, is also an artist deserving mention. Her Majesty the Queen of Holland possesses an historic piece of the highest interest, bearing the date of loth November, 1775, and repre- senting the inundation which invaded Schevening and its environs at that date, executed by I. Kuwzt, 1775, as indicated on its reverse. As to Samuel Piet Roerder, an artist cited for his ancient faiences, with black grounds ornamented with baskets and bouquets of polychrome flowers, we do not know if his existence is a myth, but what (D is certain is that the pieces attributed to him, and under which j£^L should be the letters SPR, in cipher, are simply signed (M. 241), i.e. APK. Suter van der Even, a distinguished ceramic artist of the seventeenth century, possessed an enamel affecting translucency. Upon this mar- vellous subjectile he painted in pale blue, heightened by a darker outline, subjects and ornaments in the Chinese style. We have seen, by him, a magnificent spicebox, of which the cover had interlaced snakes for the handle, and some monu- 2 k mental jardinieres, with perforations, marked (M. 242 M. 242. M.243 and 243). We do not know if we should equally assign to him some bottles, with oval medallions in relief, of which the signature is thus «j, modified (M. 244). What is certain is, that he has made some W elegant cruets, with twisted handles and open work, which have been attributed to Nevers. Overtoom.— The artists just named are probably all from Delft ; yet there must have been other centres, nearly or quite unknown. Thus Overtoom, near Amsterdam, had, it is said, its manufactory from 1754 to 1764. Its works, not to be found, will have been vases, candlesticks, groups of birds, &c. 2 1 2 / 484 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Amsterdam. — This important city could not fail to place itself in c ompetition with Delft. In 1767, Jean Besoet made there a fine ware of the same kind as that of the Haider. From 1780 to 1783 Hartog van Laun and Brandeis established another workshop at Vlakkeveld, near the Weesp gate, whence remarkable pieces have issued, especially a fine fountain with flowers, wreaths, and subjects, now in the collection of M. Paul Dalloz. The mark is a cock M - 245 - (M. 245). We again find this mark upon a charming openwork piece, with baskets of flowers and bouquets, painted in bright colours, belonging to Dr. Mandl. M. Fetis thinks the seat of this manufactory was Anaheim, in Guelderland, not Amsterdam. Arnheim. — There exists in the fine collection of M. Evenepoel, at Brussels, a plaque, which should serve as sign of this establishment. Scalloped above, it is ornamented in soft blue with a group of figures, in the style of Watteau, dancing in the shade on the right of the picture, whilst on the left, upon the other bank of a river flowing in the second plane, are houses, among which is to be remarked a large establishment, which must be the manufactory. Above, on a scroll, we read Arnheim's fabrique, surmounted by a cock, and this sign, supported by the enunciations of some Belgian writers, leads M. Fetis to place at Arnheim the seat of the manufactory, said to be of Amsterdam. Rotterdam. — This city has also had its faiencerie, as well as its manufactory of tiles. We have seen among the wonders collected by M. Ollin, large pictures composed of tiles (malons) united, and decorated in blue camai'eu with subjects, in the Watteau style, representing the Seasons. The figures are boldly drawn, if not polished ; the trees and ground show wonderful manual dexterity and a thorough experience of processes. The artist has given his name, and has signed each of his pictures : on one, we read "Aalmis of Rotterdam." Thus the painter and place where he worked are known, but the date is wanting, which the style of the painting admits of supplying. A dish in the Villestreux collection, ornamented with a German Bacchanalian scene, has, with the same signature, the chronogram 1731. Utrecht. — Here wall tiles were made in the style of those of Delft. The works, founded in 1760 by Albertus Prince, passed, in 1798, into the hands of Jacob Kraane Pook and Gerrit Bruyn. It has been worked more recently by different proprietors. MODERN FAIENCE.— HOLLAND. 485 Mr. Chaffers has some plates, coarsely painted with violet cartouches, and printed below Gaberil Vengobechea, Houda, which he assigns to Houda, in North Holland, but we know of no such town. We now give the unknown marks found on potteries in the Dutch style : Salt-cellars of fine faience, decorated in blue with bouquets M. 246. (M. 246). A 23 Coarse faience : pieces surmounted with figures of mermaids 12. (M. 247). M. 247. A^j^ Faience, with coarse figures in relief; others with blue paintings representing workmen (M. 248). M. 248. M. 249. tor 6 K.J Faience : in the form of a quail (M. 250). M. 250. M. 251. Faience : in the form of a monkey seated, carrying a fruit to its lips (M. 251). £ Fine light faience, with figures delicately painted (M. 252). M. 252. 5 Ribbed jars of remarkable enamel, very bright blue deco- ration (M. 253). M. 253. , Tea-boxes of magnificent faience, similar to that marked X APK. In some, the B is replaced by an R (M. 254). M. 254. ^ Central table-ornament (surtout), in blue camaieu, Chinese style bouquets, foliage, birds, and " oeils de perdrix " grounds. M. 255 --.-pk Large plaques, with landscapes and figures after Berghem. JD yjLJ Would khi s decorator be a van der Does ? His work has M 256 nothing in common with that marked with a rose (M. 256). Covered broth basin (ecuelle), in magnificent faience Rouen- q nais style, iron-red and copper-green (M. 257). M. 257. 486 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. <£^| ^ Candlestick and bowl (bol), decorated in blue (M. 258). M. 258. £ Figure-piece, having the form of one of the cucumber tribe, M^259 ^ S S ^ a ^ covere d with fruit and leaves (M. 259). ^ ^ Square potpourri vase, with mouldings, feet and lid termi- 1 nated by a flower. On its sides medallions, with polychrome M - 260 - subjects (M. 260). ^"j Fine faience, blue decoration (M. 261). M. 261. 4* Drainer, blue decoration, Chinese style (M. 262). M. 262. frf. Fine jars (potiches) and bottles, blue cama'ieu deco- ration, with bouquets, Chinese ornaments and subjects of M 263 the eighteenth century (M. 263). Ht>K 7 Fine nosegay-holders, with blue decoration (M. 264). M. 264. JlJ.^J Water-pot, decorated in blue, Chinese border: subject, pf ry Perseus and Andromeda, of feeble drawing, but careful in *^vT execution (M. 265. M. 265. fi. Rich faience plate, similar to the mark APK (M. 266). M. 266. U PI Money-box (tirelire), fine rich blue decoration (M. 267). M. 267. ^ Mark attributed to a descendant of John Brouwer, whom the J 13 archives do not mention. M. 268- Plates of fine faience of the seventeenth century ; in the centre JB a shield (M. 269). M. 269. ID ""W Ball for decoration, in blue, with animals in a landscape M. 270. (M. 270). MODERN FAIENCE.— HOLLAND. 487 i fmf Large decorated bottle, in blue, with animals in a landscape 2G (M. 271). M. 271. ^ Fluted jars, magnificent faience, with blue decoration, in ^ ^ the Persian style (M. 272). M. 272. Drainers, same faience, border and flowers of a fine blue, P Chinese style (M. 273). M. 273. Ribbed bottle, fine vitreous enamel, Chinese decoration, in pure blue (M. 274). M. 274. Compotier, with Chinese landscape, faience like that of Re"- M. 275. verend (M. 275). Plaques, with blue Chinese decoration (M. 276). M. 276. ■ J Q. Polychrome potiche, decoration of very bright enamel o^X ( M - 2 77)- M. 277. JyOH Potiches, in blue and polychrome, of the quality of APK ^ (M. 278). M. 278. ^£ Baskets, ground pale -clouded blue, seme" with polychrome butterflies (M. 279) M. 279. . Little sledges, with skating subjects (see fig. 118, p. 475) K^D : (M.280). M. 280. J^JT Bottles, with Chinese decorations (M. 281). M. 281. 488 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. j Cruet-stand, decorated with bouquets, Chinese style (M. 282). CrK M. 282. Dish, with polychrome rocailles ; in the centre a landscape M 283 * n ^ ue ^ w ^ n works (M. 283). jyj^^J^ Money-box, with subjects of the seventeenth century, in VJtfJ blue camaieu (M. 284). M. 284. Helmet-shaped jug of magnificent faience, decorated in bright X» blue, with an allegorical subject representing Holland and the M.285. Keformation (M. 285). ;p ■ Little pieces delicately decorated in blue, Chinese style (M. 286). M. 286. p\n r> Box, with cover decorated in pale blue, with subjects M~287 anc ^ landscapes (M. 287). Plaque decorated in bright colours, with fine J^J&tfTS^ bouquet °f fl° wers - Amsterdam (?) (M. 288). M. 288. ± 1$ Can decorated in blue camaieu, with borders and ara- jP besques, and with a subject representing the works of coopers Ttf/VS and brickmakers (M. 289). 1717 M. 289. R Tea-boxes (see B) (M. 290). M. 290. v J y Plates decorated in blue, subjects representing trades (M. 291). M. 291. Little pieces, very delicate polychrome decoration Jtft SO an( ^ °^ excess * ve refinement. They would M 292 M 293 a PP ear to De contemporary with the finest gilded Delft (M. 292, 293). MODERN FA IENCE.—S WITZERLA ND. 489 <"7^ Potiche ribbed with polychrome decoration, in which rust-red predominates (M. 294). M. 294. Magnificent faience, perfect imitation of Chinese porcelain, a Q teapot, black ground seme with flowers and ornaments, delicate ^> landscapes in medallions (M. 295). M. 295. X£ * * Candlesticks decorated in blue (M. 296). DS M. 296. M. 297. M. 298. Plates decorated in gold, red ; style APK (M. 297, Jars in faience, overlaid with imitation Chinese lacquer M. 299). M. 299. Switzerland. This country has had remarkable earthenware manufactories, going back perhaps to the sixteenth century. We find in collections, and we have specially seen in that of Dr. Guerard, plates, of which the centres are filled with complicated armorial bearings, which appear to have been executed by Swiss glass-painters. It is the same richness of composi- tion, the same steadiness of drawing, we may add, the same precision approaching to dryness, in the details and the application of the enamels. One may even say that generally this dryness, increased by the dead white of the subjectile, is one of the characters of Swiss faience. Zurich. — This locality, of which the mark is known by its porcelain, has produced various works. A pretty covered urn or ^ potpourri jar, enriched with reliefs and decorated with ^ polychrome bouquets, faintly outlined, gives us mark M 300 M 301> 300. The habitual barred Z (M. 301) is under jardi- nieres, also painted with flowers, but with a thick touch like soft 49° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. porcelain. Let us here discuss the opinion of Teinturier, in his remarkable " Etudes." He announces having found the name of the painter Zeschinger accompanying the wheel of Hochst, and more often this same wheel with a Z ; hence he infers that the Z is an artist's signa- ture, and not the mark of a manufactory. Here the judicious critic has allowed himself to be carried away by his subject ; the Z of Zeschinger has nothing in common with that of Zurich, and Swiss faience has no resemblance with that of Hochst. Winterthur. — This manufactory of the canton of Zurich is much more ancient than that of the capital. The stoves they made there, were true monumental structures, in which we find again the ornamental richness of .the sixteenth century at a much later epoch ; such is that of M. Paul Gaillard, signed David Pfauw, hafner in Winterthur, 1678. Another, made by David Sulzer, dates from 1714. One style peculiar to this centre consists in dishes, with wide borders, resembling the Italian "ballate." Round the rims are groups of large fruits or flowers, disposed in squares. Sometimes these groups are replaced by ara- besques of a soft blue ; on the bottom is a subject or escutcheon, the date almost always inscribed in black. The potters of Winterthur have been partial also to certain monumental pieces, fortresses flanked with towers, embattled castles, covered with rich arabesques in the style of the Re- naissance, and often resembling Italian compositions; a writing- jC£B desk in the Pascal collection is a real masterpiece : it is signed %C$S M. 302). Another fortress, with all its approaches filled M. 302. w ith soldiers, bears the date only— 26th September 1689. Steckborn. — There is at the chateau of Sigmaringen a stove, deco- rated with painted figures in the costumes of the eighteenth century, and signed Daniel, Hafner, Stekborn. Berne. — This town has had its potteries, we have no doubt. M. Paul Gasnault has procured from the descendant of a manu- facturer a charming little model of those stoves, called " furnaces" in the country, and which pass for coming from the Vorarlberg and the borders of Lake Constance. Here proofs abound. The model signed E. I. F. 1772, is the work of Emmanuel Friiting, of Berne, born 17th June 1745, and died 12th October 1798. His workshop was at Berne, and perhaps some furnaces, built under his direction, are yet to be found. Generally, works of this kind are divided into compartments decorated in blue or violet camaieu, with landscapes and small groups of figures. M. Gasnault has purchased and carried to Paris a stove, which is remarkable for its elegant frame with pilasters, fillets, &c, MODERN FAIENCE.— GERMANY. 491 ornamented with reliefs in coloured rocaille, and by bouquets deli- cately painted on the panels. This remarkable specimen would place the manufactory which produced it among the best of its period. We cannot yet affirm that it had its seat at Berne. Whether Austrian or Swiss, it is not the less to be commended. Schaffhausen. — In the Musee de Cluny is a curious dish, which shows at the same time the simplicity of Swiss manners, and the con- stancy of processes and types among this primitive population. It is a dish of coarse earth, destined to replace, in a church, one of those religious " stations " generally executed in sculpture or painting. Upon the ware engobe with an orange yellow has been " sgraffito," a subject with figures ; below is graved " die 10 statio Jesus wirt entblost met gall en essig getranckt. Gerrit Evers Schaphiisen, 1795." The tenth sta- tion shows Jesus despoiled of his garments drinking gall and vinegar. The painter Gerard Evers has not been satisfied with signing his work, he has placed his initials G : E : in the field of the dish. A border, enamelled in white, yellow and blue is formed round it with those singular ornaments, one would willingly date as of the middle ages. Germany. What is known of the German manufacturers is too little to attempt a methodical classification. We will, therefore, confine ourselves to giving, in alphabetical order, the series of the establishments whose works are beyond doubt. Anspach, in Bavaria. — The existence of this faience manufactory has been made known to us by a magnificent centre piece belonging to M. Edouard Pascal. It is ornamented with elegant J^f Cliff)' mouldings and decorated in blue camai'eu with bor- r% 1 ® ^ ders and mantlings in the Rouen style. Below, . Q r between the fillets put to support the tablets, is the ^^-TNTUpflu* inscription (M. 303), leaving no question as to its M - 303- origin or its author. Without doubt, many Anspach pieces are classed in collections as Rouen. Baden. — In 1799 Charles Stanislas Hannong founded here a pipe- manufactory. Baireuth, in Bavaria. — Its wares are thin, sonorous, well worked, and covered with a blueish enamel, relieved with delicate designs in a greyish blue, not very bright. The Museum of Sevres has a large vase, marked in full, Baireuth. K. Hu. The ordinary signatures are mono- 492 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. grammic BK (M. 304), or BKC M. 305). We find them on pieces with flowers, arabesques, and birds, among which «J? 1) should be noticed as particularly elegant some -r. drageoirs, in the shape of those of Nuremberg. M. 305. One magnificent soup-tureen of this kind has mark 306. The same letters (M. 307) are again found upon faiences, decorated with polychrome bouquets 3 F r B *~P an< ^ brownish-red lines. Certain flowers are remarkable for the M. 306. M. 307. warmth of their red ochre ; the rest resemble the Saxon style, which the artist evidently sought to imitate. --jk A water-pot in blue, with baskets of fruit and floral ornaments, ' has only the mark 308. M 308 Fkankenthal, in the Palatinate. — Paul Antoine Hannong, expelled from Strasburg in February 1754, for having made hard porce- lain there, transported his industry to the Palatinate, where it became prosperous ; but he did not rest satisfied in making translucent pottery. ~ A maker of earthenware like his father, he worked at ' enamelled wares, and continued the use of the mark he had adopted in France (M. 309 and 310), that is, the PH. What characterises the faiences of Frankenthal is a M. 309. M. 310. whitish enamel, and paintings of flowers of a bright tint, muddy in the pinks and violets, and always heavily outlined. When Joseph Adam retook the paternal establishment, he followed the same ^ industrial path, and we have found his mark (M. 311) upon a fj-^ plate in the Gasnault collection, where no one would trace his M. 311. French traditions. The same collection has an oval medallion in white faience, sur- rounded by a crown of laurel, and having, in bas relief, the head of a man, which we believe to be that of the Elector Charles Theodore. Behind the piece the CT cipher, interlaced, in blue, as we find it upon the porcelain, except the crown, sufficiently indicates the manufac- tory under the Elector's patronage. This faience, very different from that of Hannong, may serve to verify the origin of several undetermined products, especially of those great figures, enamelled in white, which pass for being of Frankenthal. These are gardeners or other figures, usually placed upon stoves. We have also seen vases, very finely decorated in bistre camaieu, like porcelain, and which appear to be purer in execution than the ordinary wares of the Hannong. MODERN FAIENCE.— GERMANY. 493 Goggingen, in Bavaria. — The faiences of this place have almost always their name in full. The decoration is generally pale blue, melted in the glaze, in the style of the Savona pieces. Yet one ex- supports a medallion ; the initials of the artist this " . M. 312. time accompany the legend (M. 312). Gennep, in Luxemburg. — Potteries were made here of large dimen- sions in engobe and graffito ; upon a dish, the inscription explains the subject, and gives, with the date, the name of the artist and the place : Saint Joseph et Marie avec leur cher petit Jesus sous un pommier. — Antoine Bernard de Vehlen, 1770, 24 Aout, Gennep. Mr. Chaffers states having seen, at Mr. Swaab's, at the Hague, two dishes of Gennep, one dated 1712, representing the sacrifice of Abraham, the other, a Holy Family, with this inscription : — Antonius Bernardus von Vehlen, 1770-1771. Harburg, in Hanover. — A certain John Schapper flourished in this place towards the middle of the seventeenth century. Enameller upon glass and faience, he affected drawings in black, which he executed with incredible delicacy ; faiences signed with his name or monogram are excessively rare. A vase belonging to Madame Beaven is of Italian form ; it is thin, well worked and ornamented with a landscape surmounted by a wreath of laurel. The lights taken out with a point, give a singular finish to the camaieu, some heightenings of gold add to the richness of the decoration ; there is another piece at Sevres, and M. Pascal possesses a thin plate, in which our Saviour between two disciples is painted in blue; this is the mark (M. 313); if it is also by Schapper, the praises given to his science as a draughts- man are very exaggerated. But the doubt is allowable, for there " 9> is among the unknown monograms attributed under reserve to M - 313 - Holland by Mr. Chaffers, a similar cipher, preceded by the letter R, which might be that of the same potter as this. It is a canette in blue, Chinese style. Had Schapper pupils ? Will his success have created imitators at Harburg or elsewhere ? We find in the collection of M. Paul Gaillard, a remarkable work, which we may, in any case, place among those of this master. It is a beer-pot (chope) in very white enamel, decorated with the muffle in two tints only, very delicately painted, and heightened with incised workmanship. The subject is the Fall 494 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART of Man. Adam and Eve are under the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and about to disobey the Divine orders by tasting the fatal apple. Both figures are executed in a gold red of excessive fresh- ness ; the ground and the accessories are of a bistre tint, arriving at absolute black in the dark parts. Upon a part of the ground the artist has carefully inscribed his name and the date : M. Schmid, 1722. This piece was purchased at Nuremberg, which certainly is no proof of its German nationality ; but the style of the drawing, the nature of the pottery and of the enamels, and above all, the character of the work, can leave no doubt on this point. Hambueg. — There was in the Burn collection, in England, a tea-box artistically painted in blue, with figures of Amorini in rocaille cartou- ches and with borders of gold ; the piece has this inscription in cursive characters: Johann Otto Lessel Sculpsit et Pinxit — Hamburg, Mensis Januarij, Anno 1756. Mr. Chaffers, who has noticed this curious speci- men, thinks that it has been made at Delft, and only painted at Hamburg. It appears to us that the word " sculpsit " implies the making of the object, as the expressive "pinxit" indicates the definitive decoration. Hochst upon Main, principality of Nassau. — Here is a manufactory whose admirable products are known by everybody, thanks to the general practice of the painters to trace on the reverse the wheel with six spokes, taken from the arms of the Archbishop of Mayence, protector of the manufacture. Founded by Gelz of Frankfort, towards the first years of the eighteenth century, it acquired a deserved reputation, as much from the perfection of the plastic of its works as for its delicacy of decoration; landscapes, flowers, figure subjects, are treated with a care and an art one only meets in establishments where enamelled pottery and porcelain are made together. Some elegant little statuettes would lead to the supposition that Melchior modelled there in enamelled earthenware. It has been attempted to establish a similarity between the pro- ducts of Hochst and those of the Hannong ; these last, we must admit, have never approached the finish of the fine works of Mayence. Among the ornamental products are birds well executed, and some pieces of a figure service in the same style as that of Brussels. An artist of the name of Zeschinger has sometimes signed his name in full, and more often his initial, which resembles in nothing the Zurich mark. We find other signs accompanying the wheel (M. 314 and 315), which cannot surprise, for there must have passed a great many artists through so important an establishment. After its destruction by General Custine, the MODERN FA IENCE. — GERMANY — NUREMBERG. 495 moulds were sold, and bought in part by one named Dalil. We frequently find figures in faience or pipe-clay executed by ^ . him, and marked with the wheel, accompanied by a D. ^ (J ^ This sign must not be confounded with the ancient wheel. M. 314. M. 315. Kaschau or Kassa, in Hungary, possessed a manufactory, said to have been worked by Italian potters. The colour of the enamel, of a silico-alcaline aspect, the polychrome decorations, in which man- ganese violet and a very faded green predominate, appear rather to announce an Oriental origin. Dr. Mandl possesses a curious hand- warmer (chauffe-mains) in the form of a book, inscribed on the back in the Slavonic language " Old and New Testament." Louisburg, in Wurtemberg. — Before Ringler came to found in this place a porcelain manufactory, they made faience ; we have met with a piece, of elegant form with violet jaspered ground, having on a reserved medallion the German eagle charged with a shield, inscribed with the two crossed Cs, beneath the date, 1726. Memmingen, in Bavaria. — Fine stoves have been produced at these works, which appear to have made wares in blue cama'ieu, and afterwards vases of polychrome decoration. We have observed no certain specimen of Memmingen. Nuremberg, in Bavaria. — We have said elsewhere, the great German school had left, in the intellectual centres, skilful traditions and a profound taste which have long acted, even upon the industrial arts ; so it is very difficult to seize the transition from the Renaissance to modern times in Nuremberg ceramics. The Museum of Sevres has stone plaques or tiles of 1657, which differ but little from those made a hundred years earlier. A large dish of the same museum, surrounded with antique ornaments, has, in the centre, a Holy Family, boldly drawn and shaded with brown strokes upon rather cold enamels, in which yellow and violet predominate. This remarkable work signed G. E. Gulner, is not dated, notwithstanding its archaic style. There must have been a great number of furnaces at Nuremberg to judge from the number of names inscribed upon the pieces. Let us first speak of the potter who had armorial bearings if we are to believe a faience plaque having this inscription on the reverse : — Herr Christoph Marz an f anger des Allhiesen porcelaine fabrique, natus 1660, den 25 decemb. denatus anno 1731, den 18 marz; Mr. Christopher Marz, founder of the manufactory of porcelain of this place ; born in 1600, the 25th December, died the year 1731, the 18th March. The 496 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. expression " porcelaine fabrique " in this legend is to be remarked ; Mr. von Olfers, Director of the Berlin Museum, asserts, as we shall state later, that Marz made soft porcelain with the assistance of Conrad Romeli. What is certain is, that the escutcheoned plaque is in faience, and that the signature of Christopher Marz is upon another faience in the Museum of Sevres, a magnificent bell ornamented with the arms of the town, and bearing this notice : — Ghristoph Marz, Johann Jacob Mayer, der R. Reichstadt Number g. 1724, Stroebel: that is to say, " Christopher Marz, John James Mayer, of the city of Nuremberg of the Holy Empire, 1724, Strcebel." We ask ourselves who is this Mayer, whose name is associated here with the founder of the workshop ; he is not a decorator, since the painter Strcebel has signed in his turn ; he is not a proprietor, since it is Conrad Romeli who shares with Marz the honour of the foundation of the establishment and of the working of the discovery. As to Stroebel, he has dated, the 12th of December 1730, a large dish at Sevres, in which we find the true type of the modern Nuremberg decoration ; upon an enamel a little blue, runs a blue arabesque border, surrounding a large bowl filled with fruits, on the edge of which reposes a peacock. A service in the same style, ornamented with arms, and made in 1741, that is, ten years after the death of Marz, gives us, with the name of the potter in full G<-KoKcUnlufch CK- 816 ^ the letter ' s GK 817 ^" J \J\X' Now, the frequency of this mark M ' 31 6 " M ' 317 * under fine faiences closely united in make with those of Strcebel, and of which some have figures drawn in a masterly style leads us to think that Kozdenbusch was an eminent manu- _ facturer with whom Stroebel had emigrated. Some A/3. N3 pieces marked with the K have also the initials of K-*- F A* the town (M. 318)). These last are found with other a b c signs. The remarkable series at Sevres shows M 318 another artist of so decided an individuality that one would hesitate to consider him as one of those directed by Marz ; upon a large dish of poor style, dated 1720, he has tried to revive the ornamental richness of Faenza; this abortive attempt proves at least that the taste for the Renaissance had not entirely abandoned Nurem- berg in the eighteenth century ; the second dish, also poor as regards drawing, develops an interesting subject. We see on it John the Constant, Duke of Saxony, standing facing Luther; between them on an altar is an open Bible, with these words : Augustana confessio. Signed G. F. Greb (Greber), and dated 1730 ; this dish MODERN FAIENCE.— GERMANY.— NUREMBERG. 497 commemorates the second centenary of the Confession of Augsburg, being presented to the Emperor Charles the Fifth by the Elector John, root of the Albertine branch of Saxony. Some verses of doubtful taste, playing upon the words joy and jubilee, sufficiently explain the subject ; yet a German, who pretends to have discovered the existence of the workshop of Marz, at Nuremberg, declares himself unable Au Con to say to what event the piece alludes ; he has read upon gusta fes the Bible, he says, but that means nothing. na sio The Reynolds' collection had a fine dish signed thus : " Nuremberg, 1723. Gliier." A new name to add to the list of German artists. A work of a posterior date appears to us also to belong to Nurem- berg ; a pitcher with cylindrical neck, covered with C, a dead- white enamel, and decorated with rich scrolls J™bner laden with large, polychrome flowers heightened with ^ \ 5 ftVFi C black outlines ; below is Mark 319. This pretty piece m. 319. (Fig. 121), in the collection of M. Maze-Sencier, gives an excellent type of the taste of the period. Fig. 121. NUREMBERG TANKARD MOUNTED IN PEWTER. — COLL. T. GASNAULT. 2 K m ttfiiili MliiUM 498 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. A little dish of Italian form surrounded by ornaments in relief brightly coloured, has a Bacchus seated upon a barrel, holding grapes and fruits ; this figure is upon a dark-violet ground, with the word Herbst, Autumn, graved by removing the colour. Proskau, in Prussia. — One occasionally meets with pretty cups and saucers of a brown glazed ware, relieved with silver ornaments ; the name of the place, PROSKAU, is graved in the paste. A magnificent example, belonging to M. Leroy Ladurie, has the arms of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, surrounded by inscriptions Manjack with the date of 12th December 1817. Below is fecit written : — Proskau. This modern example is one of the most perfect we have seen. Saint-Geoeges, in Bavaria. — The existence of this locality is revealed to us by a fine piece of polychrome design in the Gasnault collection ; with fruits and flowers deli- cately painted in the interior, and under- Pinxit F: G: Fliegel. 8t- neath this legend, which is quite a Georgen amsee. history:- B : 3 B off ember 1764. Schreitzheim, in Wurtemberg. — It is said that potters of the name of Wintergurst have exercised their trade from father to son, in Sthis locality, from the first third of the seventeenth century. A pretty cream-pot, with polychrome bouquets, has been given M. 320. to us as a certain specimen. It has Mark 320. Stralsund. — This ancient Hanseatic town became, from 1738 to 1740, the seat of a manufactory founded by M. de Giese ; he had found the requisite clay in a little island called Hiddensoe, of which he was proprietor, and which was only two leagues from the town. After having produced some remarkable works, the manufactory was almost destroyed in 1776, by the explosion of a powder magazine. It was not of sufficient importance to be completely restored, and M. de Giese had not the funds necessary to give it a new impulse, so it was abandoned on the death of its owner in 1788. Protected, no doubt, by local authority, it had taken as mark the arms of the town, three horns issuing out of a coronet and W W surmounted by a cross (M. 321). We have observed this mark '* — on a charming open-worked potpourri jar in the form of a potiche, placed upon a rock covered with leafy branches in relief, all in bright tints, well treated, and the vase painted with flowers of soft and delicate execution. Several fine MODERN FAIENCE.— GERMANY.— NUREMBERG. pieces of the Gasnault collection have the same mark, more .neatly traced and accompanied by unexplained initials (M. 322 and 323). jr * k M. 322. M. 323. We give here marks taken from German pieces whose origin has not been determined. Gadrooned dish, with rocaille reliefs upon the edge, deco- ration of fruits in unburnt enamels, "a froid," in which manganese predominates. /\ Open-work, plaited basket, of white even enamel. At the p bottom a polychrome bouquet in dull tints. Probably of Marie- )4f\. berg in Sweden ? £^ Cup, decorated outside with bouquets and wreaths of flowers ^ in relief. Q _ ^ ( Chope), of white enamel, decorated / * with the arms of some company in hard Vrtalentcn&onltwffi.' enamels. Probably of Switzerland ? X* .R ( ITfl Pl a ^ e J with waved outlines, border covered with wreaths J of roses and landscapes. In the centre, a woman seated in a landscape with ruins. Marseilles style. Candlestick, in greyish enamel, decorated in polychrome & t)X" colours rather raw. Soup tureen, silver form, the lid surmounted by a scaly green Jl fruit, with four leaves, blue decoration. Rouen style. Ribbed bottles; blue ornaments and flowers in the German * style. Waved dish, subject Sino-French style of the Louis EJI$ /c. X XIV. period. A lady served by a Chinese ; hard, black * ^ enamels. 2 k 2 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Q.Q^p t Pot, with, dead polychrome decoration in raw colours, f^30 outlined with black. CrHEOT Yases decorated upon white enamel, with polychrome "VC^l -ti, borders and arabesque medallions, in which red and blue J7 50 pervade. fj Pot-pourri, with wreaths of coloured flowers in relief. Cup " trembleuse," yellow ground, with reserved medal- lions of flowers. T j. Plateau with grotesques in green cama'ieu. Moustiers W style. Faience bottles, greenish enamel, decorated in blue. p£ Covered vegetable dishes, scaly knobs with leaves. Deco- ration of polychrome flowers. Potiches of good faience, Chinese decoration, "Rose" ■H A. family, with heightenings of gold. Germany or Italy. Large dish, blue ground, scattered with playing cards ;J-J[^' thrown irregularly. One of the figures supports an escut- cheon of gold, with an eagle crowned sable. VL N Plates in Rouen decoration, dull colours. Ribbed potiches, having upon a very lustrous Wf X)C FN POC enamel, flowers in pale yellow and manganese. J£ Piece of excessively fine paste, with very elaborate figures in rather pale tints. Large dish of blue decoration, ornaments surrounding a central landscape. f Plate, blue decoration. German. M Pitcher, with landscape in blue cama'ieu. . Soup tureen ; upon the top a lemon with its leaves, deco- y{* ration of bouquets in rather cold tints. Germany or Sweden. Similar piece ; appendages composed of flowering branches. ti Decoration of bouquets. Nuremberg ? MODERN FAIENCE,— GERMANY.— NUREMBERG. 501 Dish with gadrooned edge, and a German inscription between Q fr two palms. 'CcilL •♦ Dish in common ware, painted with a singular sub- ject, ill drawn in hard tints. T">i_f Small dish with rustic edge imitating plaited branches; in ' *^ the centre a blue flower, style of Baireuth. fV-fo/s LhQ Small pitcher with twisted handles and gadroons a ' disposed in an S; blue decorations with figures, TtwrjO [J'Zy wreaths, and birds, of good style. Large dish, decorated in deep violet with a large rose, and ^ - semes of bouquets and butterflies. Probably Swedish. 3^ # jy[_ Cup with bouquets, Strasburg style ; dirty tints. Prob- -g* ably Swedish. . Creampot in light faience, cursively decorated with bou- quets, in which manganese predominates. £/ O? Pieces decorated in blackish blue camai'eu scattered fj\ t/C) w ith bouquets and flowers. Perhaps of Stockholm ? The close resemblance of the second sign to that attributed to Bous- semart of Lille is observable. jf. Large basket dish. Nuremberg style. Compotiers with polychrome bouquets, very delicate and elaborate. Saxon style. "Vft Night-lamp (veilleuse) with detached bouquets in hard dull £j colours. Canette with polychrome decoration, dated 1736. Water-pot, the decoration covering the ground, painted with "^(pD muffle colours delicately executed. The mark under the handle. Mounted in silver. Small flask decorated with bouquets of flowers, Chinese style \j " Rose " family, dull, blueish enamels. A similar mark upon porcelain is attributed to Rudolstadt. HUH 502 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. cYVk Plates with bouquets, Strasburg style, with white enamel reliefs on the rim. Saucer, Sevres form, decoration and flowers, Strasburg style. _ Various pieces with rocailles indentations, polychrome deco- ration, heightened with white upon blueish enamel. England. The first beginnings of the pottery manufacture in England are enveloped in great obscurity; what appears from the works of Mr. Marryat and Mr. Chaffers is, that the ceramics of hard paste have specially pre-occupied the artists, and that common and fine stone wares, fine earthenwares, and other compositions resembling porcelain, have preceded these by some time. Fig. 122. TEA-POT OF FINE FAIENCE, JASPERED PASTE. — COLL. JACQUEMART. Staffordshire is in either case the cradle of the potter's art. In 1581, a certain William Simpson asks for authorisation to establish a manufactory of stoneware to compete with the products imported from Cologne ; at Burslem, towards the middle of the seventeenth century, Thomas Toft, Ralph Toft, his son, and William Sans, made earthen- wares in relief of a primitive and barbarous aspect. As regards enamelled earthenware — called by our neighbours Delft — it seems to have been an imported industry. Some Dutch appear to have established it at Fulham and Lambeth ; towards 1640 were made in this last locality drug pots, jugs, and wall tiles, with blue landscapes ; wine bottles, on which are inscribed " Sack, Claret, MODERN FAIENCE.— ENGLAND. and Whit," dated 1642 and 1659, are considered to be of English origin, yet it may not have been impossible that they were made in the countries which produced the wines. An impressed faience, coloured yellow, blue, brown, and green, in the Palissy style, appears later ; specimens, with scripture subjects, dated 1660 ; a portrait of Charles II., made in 1668, and dishes bearing the arms of corporations, formed the contingent of this ephe- meral industry. About the same time, England tried glazed wares with engobe or " slip " coating and graffito ornament. Wrotham, in Kent, was one of the centres of this production ; a dish, dated 1660, has upon a brown earth with yellow glaze, geometrical designs ; another piece of the same style, glazed in brown, is inscribed, "Wrotham 1699." Beadwell. — It was in this place that a systematic commercial fabrication first began to be manifested. In 1690, John Philip Elers, a native of Saxony, who accompained the Prince of Orange, when he came to England to take possession of the throne, assisted by his brothers, and having discovered a clay fitted to give a red, hard pottery, approaching the Chinese bocaros, they worked it concurrently with a kind of greyish- white stoneware, of which the fine grain lent itself to moulding the most delicate reliefs. This new fabrication had a deserved success. To preserve the fruit of their labours, the partners shrouded themselves in the most absolute mystery, and only took as assistants in the rougher work, coarse, unintelligent men, incapable, in short, to see beyond their daily manipulations. They even gave the preference to idiots. A certain Astbury, desirous of discovering their secret, entered the manufactory as a workman, pretending to be an idiot ; he had the courage to keep up the character for several years, until he had gained the information requisite to set up a furnace, when he fled from Bradwell, and went to found, at Shelton, the establishment which was to make general the invention of the Elers. It spread with such rapidity that, in 1710, the inventors themselves had to yield to this powerful competition. Fulham. — Is it to the Dutch that we must give the honour of the stone and other wares executed in this place ? In 1684, John Dwight produced there statuettes, busts, table ware, and objects in marbled paste. Burslem. — The first potter of whom we find any trace in this locality is Kalph Shaw, who, in 1733, produced a kind of artificial basalt ware of a chocolate colour, striped with white. Then from 1730 to 1740, it 504 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART Fig. 123. is Ralph Wood, who is succeeded by his son Aaron about 1750. But from 1759 to 1770, this town became the centre of the most brilliant manufactory of England, that of Josiah Wedgwood. The products of this illustrious inventor are difficult to class ; mostly all are of earthen- ware and fine stoneware, but the purity of paste, the addition of kaolin in certain varieties, so nearly approaches soft porcelain, that many of its delicate small pieces might be classed as such. Well known are his remarkable vases and medallions with black ground, from which are detached busts and bas-reliefs ; and the still more charming imita- tions of the antique, where the figures in white biscuit are laid upon a soft blue or sage coloured ground; these delicate works distinguish themselves in kinds which the founder of the works thus designates : porphyry, basaltes, or black Egyptian ware, jasper ware with white reliefs, biscuit bamboo colour, porcelain biscuit fitted for chemical apparatus, and his table ware called Queen's ware, because the Queen had made herself protectress of the potter. The fashion for these elegant v products gave soon a con- siderable development to the establishment. In 1770, a whole village, called Etruria, was founded to contain the works and their work- men ; the celebrated Flaxman composed sub- jects and modelled the most important works. The potteries of Wedgwood became the type of general fabrications, and by the side of objects upon which was stamped in the paste the name of the inventor, we find a host of imi- tations of which the authors are barely known. In 1770, Enoch Wood established a pottery at Burslem; he made busts and cream wares. His successors, Wood and Caldwell, continued the style to modern times. Liverpool. — From the year 1674, we find traces, in the official documents, of works in this city, but the first known specimens are signed, in 171G, by Alderman Thomas Shaw; others follow in suc- cession in 1756. This Delft establishment had its seat in Dale Street. Richard Chaffers, a pupil of Shaw, set up another work at Shaw's Brow, in 1752 ; he had soon a powerful rival in the person of Wedg- wood, and worked actively to maintain a respectable level. He "WEDGWOOD EARRING. COLL. JUBLNAL. MODERN FAIENCE.— ENGLAND. S05 succeeded, and his establishment was soon the most important in Liverpool. His principal production was white faience with blue cama'ieu decoration, which he exported in large quantities to the English- American colonies. One piece has obtained a kind of celebrity, a pepperbox of cylindrical form, contracted towards the middle and pierced with numerous holes; chequered borders decorated the two edges, and the name of Richard Chaffers, with the date,, was inscribed in the middle ; it was proverbial in America to say of a hot-headed person, " He is as hot as Dick's pepperbox." The name of Chaffers, with the date 1769, and a heart transfixed with two arrows (M. 324) occurs on one of his pieces in England. M - 324 - John Sadler founded in 1756, in Harrington Street, an establish- ment for making pottery ; he was son of Adam Sadler, a printer, and had not only studied the processes of his father's trade, but also the engraving upon metal. Assisted by these special acquirements, he invented a process of impression, by means of which he was able to transfer upon the earthenware enamel, the proofs of a copper plate ; to give to his invention the industrial development of which it was susceptible, he took into partnership Mr. Guy Green. So early as 1756 a patent was offered to secure to them the benefit of their discovery, but they preferred keeping their invention unknown, by making it with the requisite precautions for secrecy. Several signed pieces are well known, specially a portrait of Frederic II., King of Prussia, inscribed " J. Sadler, Liverp 1 ., enameF ; " a portrait of George II. has simply " Sadler, 1756 ; " upon other works we find " Sadler and Green." John Pennington possessed, from 1760 to 1780, a work- ^ shop famous for its vases, punch bowls, and his mark (M. 325) ~ is in gold or colours. M. 325. Zachariah Barnes, born 1743, died 1820, was the last potter of Liverpool. Shelton. — In 1685, Thomas Miles made here brown and white stonewares, which are marked with the letter M, sometimes accom- panied by the mark of the series. Astbury established himself here when he had acquired the processes of the Elers. He made red and white stonewares, and died in 1743 ; his son Thomas had begun in 1725 making cream-coloured ware, and was the introducer of calcined flints into this class of pottery. Samuel Hollins established at Shelton, about 1760, a manufactory 506 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. of tea services of a fine red ware ; when he retired in 1777, to join the New Hall Company, he had for successors T. and J. Hollins, imitators of Wedgwood. Little Fenton. — Wheildon, in 1740, made the same style. Hanley. — Elijah Mayer, contemporary of Wedgwood, imitated his products, and made also unglazed wares with coloured reliefs; about 1700, Mr. Miles made brown stonewares, and Henry Palmer, in 1760, imitated the works of Wedgwood. Job Meigh and his sons had in this place a manufactory of salt glazed stoneware. Tunstall. — About 1770, Benjamin Adams of this place, was one of the many imitators of Wedgwood. Lane End, now Longton. — Turner established here, in 1762, works for the production of the same wares, and his imitations, we must say, hold the first rank after the originals. We have seen, at Baronne Salomon de Rothschild's, a set of three pieces of extreme elegance and perfect execution. The central vase, a reversed, trun- cated pyramid, supported by four lions' paws reposing upon a pedestal, had, at its superior angles, busts draped in light veils ; upon the greyish-blue ground was a bas-relief of allegorical figures of exquisite elegance, headings, flowers, and ornamental borders served as frames to the principal subjects. Had not the name of the author been stamped in the paste, we should certainly have attributed this remarkable piece to Wedgwood himself. Longport. — John Davenport established in this place, in 1793, a manufactory of fine faience, which was marked with his name, some- times accompanied by an anchor ; later he made hard porcelain. Stoke-upon-Trent. — Spode the elder, pupil of Wheildon, founded here, about 1784, works for the production of the same potteries, and introduced blue printing ; at his death, his son devoted himself to the fabrication of porcelain. Minton father established, in the same place, in 1791, the workshops his son has placed in the first rank among those of England. Bristol. — A German, named Wrede or Reed, first made here salt glazed wares in 1703 ; fine faience was afterwards made, signed SMB. The earliest specimen signed SMB, is dated 1703. Jackfield. — The most ancient manufactory of Shropshire. There exists a specimen of its brown pottery dated 1634. In 1713, the establishment was resumed by Richard Thursfield, who produced there an earthenware with black glaze ; at his death, in 1751, his son sue- I MODERN FAIENCE.— SWEDEN. ceeded him, and worked until 1777. About 1780 the works were acquired by Mr. John Rose. Benthal. — It is to this place that John Thursfield transferred, in 1772, the working stock of Jackfield, in order to continue the making of hard-paste pottery. He obtained here some remarkable products, and especially vases noted for their fine black glaze, of which the secret died with him. Nottingham. — A stoneware of this place bears the date of the 20th November 1726. Lowestoft. — In 1756, Hewlin Luson founded here the fabrication of various potteries, which afterwards passed into the hands of several undertakers. Leeds. — Messrs. Hartley, Greens and Company, founders of these works, made in 1770 various potteries impressed with their name. Yarmouth. — Pretty potteries, in imitation of j£ "Wedgwood, have been made here by a potter of the ^ name of Absolon (M. 326). Xfooton yatin M 326 Swinton, near Rotherham. — In 1790, a John Green, from Liverpool, established this pottery upon the river Don. A specimen has stamped underneath, "Don Pottery." We here close this rapid sketch. The history of English Pottery has received all the development it deserves in the luminous works of Messrs. Marryat, A. W. Franks, and others; it is recapitulated as completely as possible in the book of Mr. Chaffers, and we can only refer to these works the collector desirous of following out the study of this special and interesting manufacture. ROrstrand, a suburb of Stockholm. — Here faience was first made in Sweden, about 1727. The name of the first proprietor was Norden- stople ; he was succeeded by B. R. Geyers and Arfvingar. Most often the pieces are decorated in relief, with scroll borders and flowers in the Saxon style, either in violet camaieu, or in colours where manganese and citron yellow predominate. Marks 327a, b, and c, are some of the signatures on the pieces : — Sweden. 3 M. 327a. M. 3276. M. 327c. in m t m-y-ilififlf-^TWilf^- 508 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Are we to trace the name of the director in the second row of / ffy n - \ . ~ figures ? Are the others those of painters ? We ^3, tylrT ' • do not know. Some fine works of the same origin, the one of delicate bouquets, like those of Aprey, M. 328«. M. 3286. had M. 328a and h. Rorstrand enlarged, soon became a district of STOCKOLM Stockholm, and then the works took its name. A One may suppose this change goes back very far, Hakan Arigman a piece of the Gasnault collection having under- 1737 neath (M. 329) : — M. 329. In the Museum at Sevres is a punch-bowl, signed " Stockholm, 1751, D. P." An inscription adds, "To the health of all the beautiful girls ! " The decoration of this bowl is that of most of the pieces of Stockholm, and in a rather pale blue camai'eu, upon a blueish enamel, sometimes relieved with designs in white enamel ; there is often a tendency to the Rouen style. f_f Q jy- A pretty curved jardiniere, ornamented with subjects JB^r °f interiors, Music and Dancing, bears the sign (M. 330). F/rxct" ^ e ^° n0 ^ ven ture to affirm the origin of the piece, but M. 330. believe it to be Swedish. Marieberg, near Stockholm. — Established in 1750, by a society of which Count SchefTer was patron, this manufactory competed with the royal works, and when the privileges of this last expired, Eberhard Ehrenreich obtained, in 1759, the protection — N ^/ iJ f of the sovereign. The beauty of its products deserved this encouragement. A frequent - Jo^S mark is that of the three crowns (M. 331). J-j!L^ We have seen it on some escutcheoned M. 33la. M. 3316. plates forming part of the service of Baron de Breteuil, ambassador of France to the Court of Sweden ; we have \Xt\l-? seen ^ modified as M. 332 upon a plateau with che- quered borders, charged at its intersections with sprigs of flowers in relief; this style of ornament, imitated M. 332. from Niederviller, is almost a characteristic whereby to distinguish the products of Marieberg; thus, reticulated jars with medallions, painted with fruits and flowers, and having a violet 1MT or 1V3 r0Se k noD > dishes with bouquets and open border^ M. 333a. M. 3336. marked only with M or MB (M. 333a, b) united in a monogram, have left no doubt of their origin. The first sign, M. 333a, was found under a vase in the form of a mitre. MODERN FAIENCE.— DENMARK. 509 We also attribute to Marieberg another mark (M. 334) of heraldic origin, taken from some reticulated pieces with polychrome bouquets ; a fine soup tureen, the lid ornamented by three roses ( { qq grouped, has shown us the value of these signs ; four ^ . C C C medallions, with rocaille framing, reserved in the ^ £> exterior network, had a shield of silver with three M. 334. crescents sable, surmounted by crested helmet mantlings between two other crescents ; the reverse and the interior of the piece reproduced the mark with the three crescents and an E. Would it be the initial of Ehrenreich ? A large dish, decorated with wreaths, birds, and insects, well drawn in blue camai'eu, and having in the centre a large pink, like those of Moustiers, appears to us of Swedish origin, its JA^X^\ Mark 335. M - 33 5. Kunersberg.— This name, written in full (M. 336), occurs on some plateaux and baskets, with bouquets where manganese, t, «» r pale-blue and yellow predominate, some pieces are j\M-^>tYSNitX^ ornamented with violet camai'eu ; two of these have M - 336. a shield charged with an ox (colls. Gasnault and Pascal). To the same works would appear to belong centre _ ^ pieces, plates, and a pot of similar decoration, marked 1^ J" as M. 337. „ £1J 7 . Denmark. Kiel. — The manufacture of this town is certainly one of the most remarkable of modern times. The paste is thin, well worked, its forms choice, and rivalling those of silver ; the painting equals in purity the works of Hochst, and surpasses those of Strasburg. A large enamel bowl, in the form of a mitre, with the orb for knob, is one of the most curious specimens of the Reynolds' collection. Upon one of its sides, in a framework of yellow endive leaves, relieved with brown, is an engagement of cavalry, executed with rare talent of drawing and harmony; on the other, a party is seated at a table drinking out of a similar mitre the liquor beloved by people of the North. Raisins and a cut lemon, painted upon the lid, sufficiently indicate the beverage (punch) ; and that nothing should be wanting to the interest of the work, we read underneath it, Kiel, — Buchwald, directeur. — Abr : Leihamer fecit. Other pieces have given us these signatures abridged : — HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. M. 338. The first mark was under a potpourri vase, ornamented with branches in relief, enamelled with bright blue ; some bouquets of the same blue seme's upon the vase indicate another hand than that of Leihamer. The sixth sign was on pieces with bright green camaieux relieved with black, and some touches of dead gold. Italy. We have before observed that, if the invention of the historic majolicas had placed Italy at the head of European industries, her modern faiences were powerless to maintain her there. The manual skill still exists in her turners and painters, but invention is wanting ; the efforts made , to revive the art amount to a simple bastardised counterfeit of the productions of the sixteenth century, or to the copy of oriental vases or French ceramics. We have in consequence thought it more befitting to separate the ancient works from the modern, less in taking the absolute date of their fabrication than in distinguishing their style of decoration; it is in this spirit that we establish the following descriptions : — Tuscany. Siena. — This manufactory cannot have entirely lost the good traditions of art, for we find still in the eighteenth century remarkable draughtsmen contending against the current of fashion. These are Terenzio Romano, in 1727 ; Bar. Terense ; Bar. Terchi Romano ; Fer- dinando Maria Campani, Senense, 1733; Ferdinando Campani, 1736-1744. The cipher composed of the letters FC (M. 339), -T-i taken from the reverse of a plateau with trophies in grisaille, (U is attributed to him. The plate in the Louvre, No. 167, may JL k e given to Ferdinando Maria Campani, styled the RafFaelle M - m of majolica, but the dish No. 168, signed T. M., not F. M, we do not think to be by the same master ; the initial of the family name of an artist would not be wanting to his signature at this late epoch. MODERN FAIENCE.— ITALY. Sir San Quirico. — Founded about 1714, by Cardinal Chigi, this establishment had in view the revival of the ancient majolicas; and to raise the languishing manufacture. Piezzentili, painter and founder, was called to direct it, and was chosen because he had formed his style upon a long study of the vases of Fontana. After his death, Bartolommeo Terchi, a Roman artist of the Siena works, successfully replaced him, but, as the Cardinal gave his majolicas as presents, and did not put them into commerce, the works of San Quirico are scarcely known, and their influence over the public taste remained null. Ferdinando Maria Campani appears also to have worked for Cardinal Chigi before going to Siena. At the Louvre is to be seen a plaque with Moses striking the rock, signed " Bar. Terchi Romano in S. Quirico." Monte Lupo. — To this centre are attributed brown glazed potteries, heightened with arabesques and small yellow flowers, resembling a gilded decoration. There occur in collections teapots, cups, and goblets also pieces with a warm brown glaze, very lustrous, with Chinese borders, and bouquets in brilliant gold, heightened by strokes raised with a point. These charming pieces appear to us more perfect than those of Monte Lupo, and their style recalls the finest Oriental deco- rations of Milan. We mention them here under reserve. The feeble attempts at majolica of Giovinale Tereni, towards the end of the sixteenth century, were continued in the following century, and had some followers. Among these we note Rafaello Girolamo, who signed in 1639 a cup rudely painted with three horsemen, now in the South Kensington Museum ; also, the artist who traced this long inscription : — " Adi 16 di Aprile 1663 Diacinto Monti di Montelupo." Borgo San Sepolcro. — A singular piece reveals to us the existence of these works — a hand-lamp, with pillar stem, upon which the recipient for oil moves up and down ; the faience is of a violet-grey, with wreaths and draperies in colours ; the mounting "and accessories are of silver ; under the faience base is written, Citta Borgo S. Sepolcro — a 6 febraio 1771 — Mart. Roletus fecit This Rolet is a Frenchman who travelled about with his trade, and whom we shall again see at Urbino. Marches. Faenza. — This old and important centre would naturally remain one of the last at work. We find, in 1616, pharmacy vases signed, Andrea Pantaleo pingit. In 1639, Francesco Vicchij was, according 512 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. to written documents, proprietor of the most important manufactory at Faenza, which implies there were others whose products are yet to find. Duchy of Urbino. Pesaro. — After having seen this town manifest its artistic tendencies by paintings of the highest class, and by decorations with metallic lustres, one would hardly expect to find it, in the eighteenth century, imitating the most coquettish works of France. No doubt, this trans- formation did not take place without a struggle, for we still find, in 1757, a pharmacy vase having all the characters of the old majolica, with the subject of Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise. Who was the author of this protest against fashion ? He has only made himself known by ciphers yet unexplained : — ell : r. P. C. P. Two artists of Lodi, Filippo Antonio Caligari and Antonio Casali, are the principal promoters of the new ideas ; their double signature appears under two soup tureens, copying in form and painting the rich porcelain of Sevres ; bleu de roi grounds, heightened by gold arabesques; in reserve are medallions, where are finely executed, in soft unctuous enamels, sub- C G- jects, landscapes, and flowers. Underneath is, Pesaro. — jozsatO Caligari e Casali.— Ottubre 1786. These rare specimens M - m explain those of a generally anterior date marked (340). A curious plate in the Fortnum collection is ornamented in the cir- cumference with birds and coloured flowers in relief, and having in the centre a bouquet composed of a rose and forget-me-nots ; underneath, in violet, is this same mark, with the date 1765, and the initials P. P. L 1 ., which no doubt indicate the decorator. Some vases, with bouquets and pink borders, embroidered with white designs rubbed out, resemble the faiences of Nevers, and more those of Vaucouleurs. The name alone pesaro appears with the date 1771, under an ewer of blue ground, with reserved medallion containing a bouquet. There is a piece we have studied at Madame Rouveyre's, of which the historical subject must be interesting. A woman seated, crowned with a radiated circle, and having at her feet the tiara of Venice, a closed crown, and the iron crown, was receiving the homage of a man in civil costume, who presented her with a kind of Greek temple ; behind the emblematic person, was a soldier holding a horse richly caparisoned. We cannot precisely give the epoch when the works of Caligari and MODERN FAIENCE.— ITAL Y. 5«3 Casali began; what is certain is that they had rivals ; in 1757, Giuseppe Bertolucci, of Urbania, came to settle at Pesaro, and six years later, in 1763, Pietro Lei, a painter of Sassuolo, was called to take direction of one of the works in exercise. Ukbania. — We may remember that this name was given to Cas^el Durante by Pope Urban VIII., when he obtained the tiara; the majo- lica artists who have left in their works the trace of this change of name, seemed to have felt it an honour to follow the path of ancient art, and to keep up in the public a taste for historic pieces ; one represents the Triumph of Flora, and signs, Hippolito Rombaldotti pinse in Urbania ; another, Fatta in Urbania nella bottega del Signor Pietro Papi, 1667. In 1693, a plaque with landscape is signed by Giovanni Peruzzi ; lastly, a pharmacy vase, executed in 1698 for a religious establishment, has still a subject : St. Martin dividing his cloak with a beggar. Such were the last Italian potters, by the assistance of whom Passeri wished to revive ancient traditions; a useless and senseless attempt, for the human mind does not retrograde, and the torrent of ideas carries away all that resists it in its course. Therefore, the Urbania furnaces had only an ephemeral existence, and the potters ambitious of a future had to transport themselves elsewhere. Such was Giuseppe Bertolucci, who left Urbania in 1757, to establish himself at Pesaro. Urbino. — This great intellectual centre had to wrestle valiantly to defend the principles of art. Thus we have seen Jos. Battista Boccione endeavour in the seventeenth century to sustain, with Patanazzi, the " istoriatemajoliche." But nothing can stop the march of time. After having tried in Tuscany, a Frenchman came to establish, at Urbino itself, a workshop in the new taste. We have a proof in a lamp in the South Kensington Museum, similar to that described p. 511. The piece has this singular inscription: Fabrica di majolica fina di monsieur Rolet, in Urbino, a 28 Aprile, 1773. Bitter derision ! must it not be cruel to the Italians, our teachers, thus to see our degenerate products enthrone themselves among them, excluding the great forms of art ? The two lamps made by Rolet at Borgo San Sepolcro and at Urbino, are not the only ones of their kind. One first in date, marked with a flaming heart, followed by the letter R, is dated Urbino 1768. Its decoration is a seme of polychrome flowers. Another, painted in blue in the style of Moustiers, has : Fabrica di Majolica di Urbino gli 30 7 bre 1772. Have all these works been made by the same artist ? If so, Rolet would not only have paraded his speciality, he would have pos- 2 L 5H HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. sessed several establishments at once ; that of Urbino from 1768, that of Borgo San Sepolcro in 1771, still retaining the first. States of the Pope. Deruta. — And as if the most ancient centres had desired to join in this transformation, Deruta, the city of mother-of-pearl lustres and of mythological subjects, exhibits, in 1771, a dish with scrolled rim of a grey paste, decorated with a chequered chamois ground, and reserves containing bouquets in greyish blue ; in the middle, in a larger circular reserve, intended, no doubt, to receive the foot of an ewer, we read : 1771 fabrica di majolica Jina di Gregorio Caselli in Deruta. This curious piece belongs to M. Gasnault. Bagniorea. — How was it that this little locality of the delegation of Viterbo had its furnace almost at the moment when majolica was beginning to disappear ? This is one of the frequent problems in the history of industrial art. Here, fleeting as it may have been, the mani- festation was not the less brilliant ; a large dish in the South Ken- sington Museum covered with the subject, the Holy Family, has this inscription : Jo. Silvestro. d'Agflotrinci da Deruta. fati" in Bagniorea. 1691. The place where it was made and the origin of the artist are therefore beyond doubt ; his name only may appear of singular con- struction, and little conformable with Italian euphemism. Duchies of the North. Modena. — The Dukes of Ferrara, dispossessed by Pope Clement VIII., retired, in 1598, to this city, which they made the capital of their States. From that period industries of every kind developed themselves. We do not know if Modena had a manufactory of faience, but it sent out some ceramic painters. Sassuolo, near Modena. — It was in 1741 that this workshop was set up, and in 1754 it obtained a special privilege. Pietro Lei da Modena, who went later to Pesaro, and Ignacio Cavazzuti, of the same city, were its principal artists. This last afterwards worked at Venice, and finished by directing the establishment of Lodi. Venetia. Venice. — We have before stated that this city had produced, from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century, vases of a remarkable fabrica- MODERN FAIENCE.— ITALY. 515 tioiL decorated with views and buildings, and of which the style went on declining as we approached the modern epoch. The degeneracy is more specially observable in the dishes with rims ornamented with repousse reliefs in the style of the contemporary coppers. We have already given the marks of these faiences, which have been perpetuated from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. Another mark which, like the grapnel, is certainly a national emblem and not an individual signature, is the fish-hook in the form of a C (page 304). We have seen it in 1571 under a plate, painted with the Visitation. We find it again in 1622, under a piece in the Berlin Museum ; then in 1636, in conjunction with the name of L. Dionigi Marini. From the period when she devoted herself to the fabrication of porcelain, Venice has produced very fine faiences with Chinese decora- tion, and which it is difficult to distinguish by special characteristics, except by the presence of bright iron red, equally to be remarked in its porcelain. Murano. — In 1753, the Senate granted to the brothers Giannandrea and Pietro Bertolini a privilege for establishing faience works, and allowed them to open a shop in Venice for the sale of their products. But the fabrication ceased about 1760, and the concession was annulled by a decree of the 2nd April 1763. Este. — This locality, where we shall later find a manufactory of soft porcelain, devoted itself to the making of fine faience or pipeclay. We have seen a magnificent water-pot, with mouldings and reliefs resembling metal work, and with a cistern (vasque) in the form of a shell. The whole was most elegant, the paste and glaze all that could be desired. Beneath, the name of the town was impressed in relief. A similar piece was in the Reynolds' collection. Treviso. — To this town are generally attributed pieces of a white unctuous enamel, decorated with rocailles and flowers in the style of Moustiers. The enamels— blue, olive green, yellow, and violet — are sometimes in relief. Some pieces, with open borders, greatly resemble those of Lodi. A fine basin (ecuelle), belonging to * IV * Dr. Guerard, and which would appear to be- of Treviso, is M . 341 marked (M. 341). By the side of these beautiful products, there are others, very com- mon. A graffito dish, of the most frightful style, had this circular inscription : Fabrica di boccaleria alia campana in Treviso. Valentino Petro Storgato Bragaldo jo figlio fabricator. Jouane Giroto Liberal 2 l 2 5 i6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. figliofecce. Mattio Schiavon inciso e delineator. Anno dui cic ic cclxix. This workshop of pottery at the Bell, is not worth detaining us long ; it only proves that, even in 1769, the production of the graffiti " alia castellana " was not confined to La Fratta, but took place everywhere, as in the sixteenth century. Bassano. — This manufactory, established from the sixteenth century, has continued its works down to the modern period, by the care of a Roman family devoted to ceramic art, and who appear to have contri- buted to the prosperity of several industrial loca- ls TqYC 11 lities; these are the Terchi. Bartolommeo has ^aav () signed some pieces, particularly some charming bell- _ shaped cups, with landscapes, delicately painted; his mark is M. 342. Antonio has placed his in the M ' B42 ' same form and with the same emblems under a plate (No. 599) of the Louvre, representing the Flight of Lot from Sodom. The iron crown placed between the two names is not the special emblem of Bassano ; it appears upon majolica of other origin. We do not think the Bassano establishment worked beyond the seventeenth century ; it still practised the style of the old majolica, and did not appear to have followed the movement which drew Italy away to the imitation of Chinese or other porcelain. Yet, according to Sir William Drake's 'Notes on Venetian Cera- mics,' the sisters Manardi will have set up a faience manufactory at Bassano about 1728 ; at least, so it appears from a petition addressed to the Senate, in 1735, by Giovanni Antonio CafFo, to ask a privilege permitting him to sell off the numerous wares in his shop in order to cover the considerable expenses he had incurred to attach skilful workmen to the establishment. The Senate refused, referring to its proclamation of 24th July 1728, which, with a view to prevent the exportation of money in the Mila- nese, Romagna, and Genoa, for the purchase of faience, authorised the creation of majolica manufactories. At the same time, in 1753, Giovanni Maria Salmazzo established at Bassano a manufactory with the purpose of rivalling that of the Antoni- bon at Le Nove, then ,the only important one in the Venetian States. Later, Salmazzo complains that the Antonibon excited the workmen to insubordination in the rival workshops, received them when dismissed, and thus ruined their competitors. But the Senate refused to interfere in private disputes. Le Nove, near Bassano. — This manufactory was founded, in 1728, MODERN FAIENCE.— ITALY. 5i7 by Giovanni Battista Antonibon, and the 18th April 1732, the Senate granted him a privilege for two years for the sale of his products. To permit him to recover part of the expenses he had incurred and to pay his debts, a new privilege of ten years was conceded to him the 2nd June 1735. In 1741, the establishment was in a most prosperous state, and the place for sale not sufficing for the requirements of commerce, it was transferred by Pasquale Antonibon to a new shop in Venice, and guaranteed by an Act of the 6th July 1741. In 1762, Pasquale associated with him his son Giovanni Battista, and began making fine majolica and pipeclay. He even extended his pro- ducts to porcelain, taking, the 6th February 1781, a new partner, Signor Parolini. These curious documents are furnished by Sir William Drake's work. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century Giovanni Battista produced a piece, bearing this mark : No ue . G : B : A : B : which is ex- plained thus : Giovanni Battista Antonibon, Bassano. A centre piece (surtout de table), dated December 1755, is inscribed : Delia fabrica di Gio-Batista Antonibon alle Nove. Mr. Reynolds possesses a magni- ficent vase of agatised blue ground, heightened with gold in relief, with reserved medallions containing delicate copies after paintings of Le Brun, specially, the Family of Darius. At the base of the piece, four cartouches repeat this inscription : Bracciano alle Nove. Evi- dently a work so exceptional, and which will bear comparison with the richest conceptions of Sevres, must have issued from manufactories where porcelain was made, it remains to know if Bracciano was the director of the establishment, or the painter. Mr. Chaffers gives this inscription : fab 0, Baroni Nove, indicating Baroni as the successor of Antonibon. We hold to the first indication of Mr. Reynolds himself. Perhaps the name of the maker appears upon one front of the vase, and that of the painter on the other. Nove has produced very remarkable pieces. A recipient, in the form of a fish lying down, is a wonderful imitation of form and colour ; a lemon, with its leaves, forming the knob of the cover. The stand for the fish, cut out and ornamented with rocailles in relief, has in the centre a group of fruits, foliage, and rocailles of the finest execution. This dish has enabled us to determine another in the Gasnault collec- tion, with similar fruits, surrounded by a blue border, copied from Moustiers ; underneath are these letters (M. 343), indi- cating other artists, and showing the importance of the manufactory. )\50 M. 343. £.■'»-.. I • Aim,- -MMlirt', 5 i8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Chandiana. — It is very difficult to fix the date of the products of this place, specialised by the production of faience with flowers in the Persian style. A potiche, among others, bears the date of 1633. The works of Chandiana are rarely marked ; the letters S. F. C. are the only ones we have met with at the place where habitually are the signatures of the artists. From a vase, with raised stem, of fine form, we have taken this inscription, difficult to explain: M. S. DEGA. Inscribed upon a ribbon, which divides the bouquet by the middle, it appears to apply to the name of the owner of the piece rather than to its author. Is it the same with the legend PA. CROSA, found by Mr. Chaffers upon a cylindrical vase, with blue ground and reserves, enriched with Persian flowers ? He explains it by the name Paolo Crosa, without saying if the name is that of a painter or of a potter, of whom we have already mentioned the works. To sum up, the majolica of Chandiana have a very special style, and must have been long made. Lombardy. Milan.— Why did this intelligent city remain a stranger to the move- ment of the sixteenth century ? This is what we do not know how to explain ; but when Oriental pottery became the model of European ceramics, the Milanese products were certainly those which approached most nearly the sought-for type. Yet, let us not go on too quickly ; some old pieces have been conceived perhaps in a more independent thought. The Museum of Bordeaux possesses a fine dish, decorated with bouquets inspired by the textiles of the seventeenth century. Blue and orange /f/ / O P red ominate; in a word, nothing recalls the Chinese Q/syj}^ preoccupations : the mark is M. 341. The name <^-<=51> of the city, without other signature, is under some M. 344. lltt * e CU P S at Sevres, painted with figures in the Watteau style. A magnificent basin, with waved edge, belonging to the rich Liesville collection, approaches the dish of Bordeaux. A polychrome wreath, relieved by black hatchings, forms the border ; in the centre a scrolled medallion, also polychrome and of a pure style resembling the Louis XVth period, surrounds a soft blue camaleu, broadly treated, with buildings, colonnades, and figures in the costume of the seven- teenth century. Under the piece we read Mil Fel e deri 1 1747. Must we read Felice Clerici, and may we find again there one of MODERN FAIENCE.— ITALY. 519 the members of the family which has illustrated itself in France, at Fontainebleau, or at Moustiers ? Would not this name also explain the following initials (M. 345a and 3456) we so often meet upon services of purely Chinese style, mixed with gold ? M. 345a. M. 3456. Another artist who has illustrated himself in Oriental imitations is Pasquale Rubati, whose most interesting work is in the Gasnault collection, two semi-circular jardinieres (Fig. 124) of such beautiful Fig. 124. JARDINIERE OP MILAN FAIENCE. — COLL. GASNAULT. enamel, they might be taken for porcelain. The upper and lower edges are decorated with shells, scrolls, and rocailles in relief, height- ened with gold ; the whole surface has a decoration of peonies and sprigs, in blue, red, and gold, which dispute in beauty the richest speci- mens of old Delft. Below is : F. di Pasquale Rubati. Mil". A plate in the Museum at Sevres, also by the same artist, although the colours are rather pale, has only the initials (M. 346) ^ of his name. -jt- Milan has produced monumental works in the greatest j£) jfy^ perfection, and of surprising boldness of composition. /l/'I no Such are two rocaille consoles belonging to Madame ' — M 346 Harel. The slab, of elegant waved outline, is ornamented with pendants in gilded festoons, and painted with landscapes with ruins, surrounded by bouquets and scrolls. This slab rests upon a 520 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. scroll-shaped floriated foot, brilliant in colours and gold, and inserted into three branches twisted in the form of an S, which secures its solidity. This wonderful work is in one piece, and can only emanate from consummate artists. Madame Achille Jubinal has some splendid plates, closely copied from a Chinese service of the Green family ; only the medallions in the border, reserved for ornaments, bear in gold a Turkish inscrip- tion showing that these pieces had been presented to the Emperor Othman, in the name of the King of Poland, as a testimony of friend- ship. We also read in it, " Warsaw." Othman III. reigned from 1754 to 1757, at the time Frederic Augustus II. was King of Poland. How came this sovereign to seek in Italy the elements of a political present ? Why at Milan more than elsewhere ? This faience has no name, so it cannot be attributed to Rubati more than to any. one else. Milan has produced in quantities wares with indented yellow borders, and bouquets of flowers of the Chinese Rose family. Now counterfeits have taken up the style and inundated commerce with their imitations. To Milan is attributed a beautiful service decorated in a violet-red cama'ieu, with flowers in the Dresden style, and Jfj^ heightened with gold borders ; one piece only has inside this signature (M. 347), which is still unexplained. Pavia. — Have there existed works at Pa via, or ought we to consider as an individual fancy the production of pieces of graffito upon engobe, thus signed : PRESBITER ANTONIVS MARIA CVTIVS PAPI- ENSIS PROTHONOTARIVS APOSTOLICVS ? Usually, these pieces of small dimensions are dishes of brown earth overlaid with a reddish yellow slip (engobe) ; the borders consist of scrolls of foliage ; the inscriptions run between this border and the ground, upon which sometimes are shields of arms. The date varies between 1677 and 1695, and religious legends or proverbs complete the decoration ; some- times we read : Ave Maria, or Timete Deum. — Solamente e ingannato chi troppo si fide. " He only is deceived who trusts too much in himself." — Chi sta bene quando piove e ben pazzo se si muove : " He who finds himself well when it rains would be very foolish to change." What is curious, the sacred calling of the author being known, is that his oldest and largest piece is a coppa amatoria inscribed with these four verses : — MODERN FAIENCE.— ITALY. 521 Se non traggo d'hesperia i pomi d'oro, Porto pero del donatore il core, Che ricevuto con cordial amore, Si dird eke portai un gran tesoro. Adi 24 Luglio 1677. " If I have not taken from Hesperus the golden apple, I yet bear the heart of the giver, If it is received with cordial love, They will say I have carried a great treasure. This 24 July 1677." This dish, which is 18 inches in diameter, is in the Limoges Museum. A writer who is in the habit of murdering dates, who reads Curtius instead of Cutius, classes among the products of Pavia a graffito dish representing the Baptism of Christ, and of which he indicates the signature as : Joannes Vicentius Marcellus ; it is not so, but " Johahes Vicentius MAVRELLVS," a French name Latinised. To which country can we attribute this degenerate work ? Certainly not to Pavia ; the armorial bearings are too ill expressed to assist in a study of the question, and the drawing so feeble, it is of little interest whether Jean Vincent Maurel or Maurelle worked in Italy, Savoy, or France. The same author advances that, from 1650, the Guargiroli have succeeded each other in the fabrication of faiences, style of Rouen and Marseilles, it would have been curious to have described what this style is ; it would have helped to determine French works of the seventeenth century. For ourselves, we have nowhere been able to study the potteries of Pavia decorated in colours. Lodi. — The faiences of this place have the greatest analogy with those of Treviso, since the same artists appear to have been employed at both workshops. They consist generally of services with borders ornamented with iron-red, in the Chinese style, and with polychrome Chinese landscapes in very fluid enamels. M. Osmont has a piece signed Ferret, at Lodi ; another in the Reynolds' collection has M. 348. The S monogram here is disfigured, we find it again visibly (M. 349) composed of the letters ACM upon another specimen belonging to the same amateur. M. 348. M. 349. 522 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. States of Genoa. Savona. — We have before cited the artists of this locality who painted historical majolicas to the beginning of the eighteenth century ; we have said moreover that it is from Albissola that the Conrades went to establish at Nevers the style which was perishing in Italy. We must return to these indications given in page 308. Two principal workshops existed at Savona at the end of the seventeenth century : that of Girolamo Salomoni and Gian Antonio Guidobono, of Castel Nuovo, who was succeeded by his sons Bartolommeo and Domenico. The pieces distinguished by the arms of the city may emanate from various works ; one can only fix their exact origin by the assistance of monograms sometimes joined with the shield; but this interpretation must not be abused; thus, we readily admit that the initials GS, with the arms of the town, are those of Girolamo Salomoni, but when the two letters are under a sun, or even the S only, with the sun, or with different shields from that of Savona, we do not see sufficient cause to read in them the name of the same potter. The sun is upon faiences approaching no doubt those of Savona, but of a particular make. As to the piece marked with a trumpet with a cross upon the banner, it ought to be a product of Turin. Nor do we see any reason for assigning to Savona the mark of a falcon, figured upon faiences of very varied dates, many having nothing in common with the Genoese make ; besides, what means the letter F ? As to Solomon's knot, a kind of star of six points composed of two triangles intersected, it has no resemblance with the star of five rays which they would ascribe to the Salomoni. The Chamber of Arts of Berlin has pieces of the eighteenth century, signed : Agostino Ratti, Savona, 1720. But as ceramic history is full of singular and apparently con- tradictory facts, it remains to us to speak of French artists which will have carried to Savona the same anti-Italian style practised in our southern establishments ; we would speak of the Borelly. It is perhaps yet to ascertain whether the one best known, Jacques Borelly, was really a Frenchman, or whether he did not descend from a family of the peninsula. The Marquis d'Azeglio possesses a piece inscribed: M. A. Borrelli Inuent. Pinx : A.S. 1735. The Borrelli who wrote his name thus, and who dates from 1735, appears to us to have been an Italian, father of MODERN FAIENCE.— ITALY. 5^3 Jacques; when later, the works of this last appeared, a prolonged sojourn in the workshops of Marseilles and Moustiers had made him adopt the custom of the country, he first signs Borrellij with two r's and the long Italian j, and at last a piece has Jacques Borelly, Savonne, 1779,24 septembre. Many other works are simply signed: Jacques Borelly. These are particularly scrolled plateaux, covered basins (e'cuelles) and other pieces of middling size, with bouquets of flowers, in which, setting aside the olive green of the South, the tints are a little raw. This is a name that may be inscribed, at will, either in France or Italy. Kingdom of Naples. Capo di Monte.— Charles III., King of Naples, caused an estab- lishment to be set up at Capo di Monte, near Naples, where was made, by exception, faience, as is proved by the magnificent piece we are about to describe ; a fountain for a sacristy, composed of the Holy Spirit towering over a group of clouds, whence issues three heads of cherubim ; to the base of the clouds is attached a basin (vasque) in the form of a shell, with grotto-like reliefs. The holy bird is in gold heightened with blue and burnished in parts, the clouds are of dead silver, and the cherubs' heads of gold ; in the basin, bright blue and gold predominate, and the unglazed mouldings are relieved by foliage and chequers obtained by burnishing. The inside of the fountain is enamelled in green ; behind, we see the red earth enamelled in part ; upon two angles, where the glaze is tolerably pure, is traced this mark (M. 350) near the crowned N. Capo di Monte Although of a low epoch, this piece is one of the most Mo 10 . remarkable. M. 350. Castelli. — The history of this manufactory is very obscure, and the learned researches of M. Gabriele Cherubini, by their very abundance, perplex still more the enquirer. The principal works of Castelli issue from the hands of a regular dynasty, that of the Grue ; Carlantonio, to whom is attributed pieces signed CAG.PI and C. A. G., had several sons : Francescantonio, Anastasio, Aurelio and Liborio : Anastasio painted hunting pieces and landscapes ; Aurelio, animals and hunting pieces, which he never signed. As for Francescantonio, who generally took the title of doctor, he worked not only at Castelli, but in other places, and founded the porcelain manufactory of Naples under Charles III. We find by him a drug-pot signed : MDCGVII — VII Kal X lHs Dott. Grue f Neo.p. Another piece : Franc. Ant. Xaverius, 524 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART Grue phil. et Theol. Doctor inventor et pinxit. In Oppid Buxi. Anno D. 1713. In 1718, D r Franc. Anton . Cav. Grue. P. In 1722, Fra* Ant\ Grue P. Napoli. In 1737 : D r Franc" Antf Castelli GRUE. P. A.D.MDCCXXXVII. But, who is the Grue who signed in 1647: FG.DE.CHAP., and, in 1677, F s A. Grue eseprai f Now, where are the works of Pietro Valentino, died in 1776 ; of Giovanni, died 1678, and who had one of the same name between 1698 and 1752 ; of Mccolo-Tommaso, died in 1781 ? As to Francesco Saverio Grue, nephew of Francescantonio, one knows by him at Atri, a plaque with this inscription : D. , P. Franciscus Rosa donavit p w opus q. m. F sci Xaverii Grue die M. 351. 22 M. Maij. 1759.— Tr ae Castelli, and we have seen land- scapes signed M. 351. There was again a Filippo Saverio, son of Francescantonio, who directed the porcelain manufactory of Ferdinand I., and died in 1799 ; then a Francescantonio, his son, who worked very little. The Fuina and Guistiniani have generally been considered as pupils of the Grue ; there are still several artists of the name of Gentile ; the first, author of a Christ with this inscription : Questo crocifisso del carmine lo fece Bernardino Gentile per sua divozione, 1670, and of the plaque representing the Martyrdom of St. Ursula. There exists, besides, a Bernardino il Giovino, born in 1727, who painted pastoral scenes and history ; then a Gentile Carmine, author of sacred subjects, who, born in 1678, died in 1763. Lastly, Gentile Giacomo il Vecchio, died in 1713, and Giacomo il Giovine, born in 1717, produced also rural scenes and hunting pieces. To which of them should we assign pieces simply signed Gentili P. ? It is no doubt to the Grue school that belongs the author of a plaque with Ruins in a landscape, and a Shepherdess spinning o . v/ • -p ^ the side of her cow and sheep ; on an XMC'&nt.&aiuCO L. angle of the g roun( i i s m. 352. Luca Antonio Giannico is still an unedited M - 352, name. In the Berlin Museum is a plaque with the Baptism of Christ, and signed: C. Rocco cli Castelli, 1732; the form "di Castelli" would appear to establish that we must give to this workshop the name of this artist. I MODERN FAIENCE.— ITAL Y. 525 A piece in the same museum has : Math. Roselli fee. Another new name is that of Liborius Grue : whose signature is in the South Kensington Museum, under a covered bowl decorated with figures after Annibal Carracci, unless he should be either Liborio Seniore, who painted indifferently in. the seventeenth century, or Liborio, son of Carlantonio, who worked with his brother Aurelio at Atri, and afterwards established himself at Teramo. Sicily. Baron Davillier has found this inscription : Fatto in Palermo, 1606, upon albarelli resembling the Castel Durante style of decoration; without doubt, the last products of those Sicilian workshops of the sixteenth century, of whose existence there is no question, although we have not yet been able to determine any of their authenticated works. Sardinia. We have seen, page 312, what had been the interesting productions of Turin from the sixteenth to the seventeenth century, fabrications marked with the arms of the Sovereign or with the testimony of his protection. But beyond the patronised establishment, we have spoken of that of La Forest; the existence of another has been made known to us by the collection of the Comte de Liesville. Established in the valley of Maurienne, it bears its name ; its works, numerous perhaps, are confounded by amateurs among the Nivernais faiences, which they resemble with extraordinary precision. The pieces of M. de Liesville are hunting-bottles a little flattened, with two loops supported by rams' heads and decorated with medallions of landscapes surrounded by large leaves, often of a bright green. It suffices to have seen those products of Maurienne to distinguish them from the true Nevers. Doubtless, it is to this establishment we must restore the little dish with blue decoration, signed Jean Gony ^ (M. 353), whose name of Savoisian origin struck Jean^ony us from the first. M. 353. One meets with interesting pieces, evidently Italian, which perplex the classifier by their particular style, or their mono- 1 6 3 ^t" grams. A cup on stem, for instance, with fruits in 1 ir-s k a relief, dated 1634, gives us these ciphers (M. 354) : m 354 526 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. M. 355 is on a circular tub, decorated inside with bouquets, J\.Cs Moustiers style, and fishes swimming at the M 355 * bottom ; on the outside are arabesques, Rouen style, in very soft polychrome enamels. B. S. 1760. Vases covered with ovolos in relief and with twisted handles, polychrome decoration and wreaths of flowers in rocaille medallions. Couzuka or Couzaka. This singular name was traced very cursively underneath an elongated fleur de lis, painted in bright iron red. The piece which had these marks was in the San Donato sale ; it was a large fountain composed of a mythological group : a Nereid, a Triton and a Cupid with a dolphin. The basin was a large shell with jagged border, blue, pink and lilac, and in the indented sides were wreaths of flowers, among which was a convolvulus characteristic of the same bright red as the fleur de lis. Where had this important piece been composed ? Was it at Capo di Monte, of which we describe another first-class work ? Or of Lombardy ? The name has nothing Italian in it, and we should be almost tempted to see in it a sobriquet ; a Russian artist may have come to work there, and they may have styled him Cossack in the jargon of the workshop. J 1 J7 Dishes and plates, Milanese style, Chrysanthemo-pseonian. rr Services, perhaps from the same locality, style of the Rose family. ^ Plate of fine faience, Sino-French decoration in blue, yellow, and pale green. /'V* Bursiform vase with lid, having in relief floriated j£ J ^ U branches, i n natural colours. /. Q. 8. Large bottles (gourdes), citron yellow ground, having in relief floriated branches, in natural colours. ' J 4k^>"P Pieces cut out and in relief resembling metal- ^^^^ work ; polychrome decoration, in which a bright chatoyant green and an intense gold red predomi- nate. The colour and style of the subjects indicate Italian make. JEV Cx^ Drug-pots, blue ground with brown arabesques, tro- 16*3B phies, escutcheoned medallions. MODERN FAIENCE.— ITALY. 527 3? R * Service of fine faience decorated in violet cama'ieu, ^ with bouquets, birds and insects. Cup, Chinese decoration, a Chrysanthemum on the outside, y ^| Roses within, encircling Watteau dancing figures, heightened in gold. Teapot of rocaille form with reliefs ; decoration of t/ / bouquets of tulips, in blue heightened with gold. *$/ A Cache-pots with mask handles ; blue decoration, orna- T) ments and bouquets at set distances. We replace here the mark of a bird crowned (M. 356), under which is the letter F ; this bird, however cursive it may- be, is always characterised by a forked tail, and is therefore a kite. Must one infer from thence that pieces so marked come from Milan ? or must we, on the contrary, recognise in the F the initial of the manufactory ? One of the " ballate " we have • m. 356. seen had a cavalier in the costume of Louis XIII. ; another, peasants dancing in modern costume, the ornamentation was also desperately poor. Must we, on the contrary, bringing these indications together with those we have given, see in these signs the name of Felix Faucon ? Then the drawing of Louis XIII. would not be understood. Mr. Chaffers and some others, resting upon a certain conformity of style and execution, give this mark to Savona, the refuge of all uncertain pieces of the last two centuries. Let us mention, among these singularities, a puzzle pot having at the bottom a heart surrounded by rays, and this double device : Mate, furbe. Is it an allusion to the heart itself, mad and deceitful, or to the piece ? The Marquis d'Azeglio possessed a fine covered vase, with pedestal and twisted handles, the subjects of which are of historic interest. In a large medallion is a pope who offers incense to the Virgin, surrounded by a crown of stars and rays ; above and below is written : Clemens XI. Virg. sine labe concepts festum cele- BRANDUM EDICIT. — NEC SOLIS INSTAR SOLA REGNAT ILLUSTRATQUE. Upon the other side, a man pours oil upon the flame of an altar, the inscription tells : Clemens XI. pontifex creatur — olem super lapidem rectum. This piece, therefore, is commemorative of the fete of the Immaculate Conception, founded by Clement Albani, pope from 1709 to 1721. 528 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Here is another religious piece ; upon a dish coloured brown, by a mixture of manganese, has been raised with the point a pretty arabesque border, which comes out white. In the centre, a reserved medallion bears the eagle displayed, with the iron crown, below is : S. AGNIESA. = GAT NA . ONOFRI. 1751. "We mention here under all reserve large dishes with rims covered with fruits and animals, dogs, cats, &c. In the centre are grotesques, we will not say in the style of Callot, but rather imitations of what we see in the Neapolitan porcelains. The signature J. D. L. F. p xit has been indicated as signifying De la Fontaine pinxit. That is a French name we should be astonished to find in Italy, and, on the other side, we do not know any French works which have been painted in this style and with these numerous enamels, so pale and washy. Spain. We have seen (page 176) to what a remote epoch is referred the origin of Spanish ceramics, and how, from the twelfth century to the present time, the gilded works of the Arabs and Moors have become transformed under Christian influence. But this kind of faience is not the sole that has been made in the Iberian peninsula ; one would even consider the lustred works as destined for export trade, while the potteries heightened with colours served for home consumption. Unfortunately, precise information is wanting upon the special style of each centre, and we must confine ourselves to repeating the rare indications taken from modern travellers ; to faciliate researches we class them in alphabetical order. Alcora, near Valencia. — In his 'Voyage d'Espagne,' the Marquis de Laborde mentions this establishment as one of the most important of the province, and announces that it belongs to the Aranda family. A memoir, published by D. Calvet, appears to contradict this statement ; he places the works of the Duke of Aranda at Denia, city of the kingdom of Valencia, situated at eighteen leagues south-east of the capital. But pieces come to light, showing that Laborde is right. A previous tazza belonging to Baron Davillier, representing the Family of Darius, after Lebrun, bears underneath : ALCORA ESPANA. Soliva. Now this artist is one of those who, formed in the school of Moustiers, has practised alternately in France and Spain. Many pieces of Alcora, MODERN FAIENCE.— SPAIN. 529 therefore, should be taken out of collections purely French where they are wrongly placed, only where to put them is a delicate point. We have also reason to believe that this remarkable pottery, made under French inspiration, is not the only kind issued from Alcora ; we have seen a vase with two handles, of Arab form, resembling the alca- razas, upon a smooth white enamel, decorated with birds and flowers coarsely painted, which is said to be of this manufactory. Another piece more common still marked CO (M. 357) would appear to be of the same origin ; also a lobed plateau, ^ in the collection of Dr. Guerard, though still Q > recalling the traditions of the Renaissance by M. 357. M. 358. its masks and scrolls, offers great technical analogies with the pre- ceding pieces, and bearing the signs M. 358. Alcoy, in the kingdom of Valencia.— We may suppose that the production of this centre has a certain merit, since, according to Laborde, it is sent into Catalonia, Aragon, the kingdoms of Murcia and Castile ; and is, they say, almost the sole description used in Madrid. We do not know its characters. Denia.— After what we have said above, speaking of Alcora, we perhaps ought to efface the name of this locality from the list of Spanish workshops. Manises, kingdom of Valencia.— The principal production of this centre was, as we have already seen, that of its " gilded works." We have given, p. 186, the passage of Diago, who speaks of the orders made by the pope, cardinals, and princes. This vase (Fig. 125) will give an idea of the taste which reigned in the manufactory at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The decadence rapidly went on, al- though, at the end of the century there were still thirty ovens in activity. Baron Davillier relates how, in his last travels, he had found the fabrication reduced in the hands of an inn-keeper, who bakes and works in his leisure hours, leaving to his wife the office of diaper- ing with gold the pieces he has turned. Azulejoswere also made at Manises, but very inferior to those of Valencia. gilded vase™ manises, with 2 M 53° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Onda, in the same province, has made faiences destined for local consumption. Segovia, in Old Castile. — At the time de Laborde published his work there was a manufactory in this town of little importance. Seville, in Andalusia. — The same author cites this centre as possessing a manufactory, which, without doubt, must have been of great importance and of long duration. We have met with faiences having a great analogy of fabrication and. style with those of Savona, only brown and orange yellow were the predominant colours of the ^ decoration, composed of figures of pretty good style, wreaths of *5 flowers and ruins, the letter S surmounting a star (M. 359) forming the mark. Some desire to see in these two marks an Italian origin, M. 359. the S. signifying Salomon!, and the star Solomon's knot ; we have already explained (p. 309) that Solomon's knot, a cabalistic sign, is composed of two triangles superposed ; besides, Salomoni worked at a period anterior to that indicated by the decoration of the Andalusian piece. A fine helmet-shaped piece, of the Salin collection, ornamented in blue in the style of Moustiers, represents the same mark £ with an artist's sign (M. 360). The pieces exhibited in 1865 by M. Arosa, and painted with the Fandango Dance, Bulls led \__ to the arena, the Arms of the Cathedral of Seville, and the View M.360. of the Golden Tower, although of a less ancient period and a looser make, which the large proportion of the pieces accounts for, perfectly resemble the works described above. Talavera de la Reyna, in New Castile. — Brongniart mentions this establishment, renowned from the sixteenth century, as the true centre of the fabrication of enamelled earthenware ; in fact, they say in Spain, Talavera to signify faience, as they say Delft, in Holland and England. The enamel of Talavera is white and well glazed ; from this manu- factory have been sent pieces very remarkable in form and deco- ration; we have seen a large state vase with twisted handles, and opening decorated with a twist in relief ; upon the ovoid body twisted mouldings mark the boundaries of a central zone painted with detached landscapes, groups of rocailles and bouquets of flowers ; towards the top, heads in relief, fastened by draperies, support little vases ; at the base, above the stem, gadroons in S recall the disposition of certain Italian pieces of the decadence. All this ornamented in soft, well glazed tints, has a very uncommon appearance. A vase (Plate X.) equal in merit forms part of the interesting col- Plate X. — SPAIN. Talavera dc la Rovna — Faience — Ewer, Collection Comte de LlESVlLLE. IHiHHfl MODERN FAIENCE.— SPAIN. 53i lection of the Comte de Liesville ; we will not describe it, the engraving giving the most exact idea of its style and perfection. These last pieces would appear to have been made in the seventeenth century. Speci- mens of a later date recommend themselves still by their pure enamel, recherche' form, and a floral decoration whose soft harmony resembles the polychrome works of Moustiers, with bouquets and wreaths. Would it be also there that was made the bell of the convent in the collection of Arosa where the legend " Saint Francis pray for us, 1769," surmounts the view of a village with its churches and towers ? Ancient writers speak of a green and white pottery, special to this establishment ; we have seen a fine plate, almost of Moresque style, where these colours laid on an engobe formed a rich composition, relieved with graffiti and outlines of manganese. Tortosa, in Catalonia. — De Laborde, generally severe upon Spanish industries, states there existed at Tortosa two manufactories of which the pieces are very common. The works of this centre are unknown to us. Triana, suburb of Seville, Andalusia.— Several establishments have flourished in this place, some famed for the production of the earthen- ware spikes (epis) with which, since the Arab occupation, the edifices are crowned, the others specialised for the making of azulejo tiles for overlaying. Valencia.— This capital has, in all ages, been celebrated for its azulejos, made with the clay of Quarto, carefully glazed, and often decorated with important subjects painted upon a number of tiles joined together. The edifices and palaces of Spain present frequent applications of this style of decoration, , which is continued to the present period, as may be seen by two pictures exhibited at Sevres. The one represents the Surrender of Valencia by the Saracens, and has this legend : Dia 2 de octubre del ano 1239. Conquista de la ciutad de Valencia. Entregan los Sarracenos las Haves al rey D. Jaime. The other represents a meeting of ladies in full dress, and officers in uniform, with this sole indication : De la Real fabrica de Azulejos de Valencia. Ano 1836. One can understand the importance attached in Spain to ceramic decoration by this fact alone ; to Pablo Cespedes, a good painter and excellent poet, author of a didactic poem upon painting, is attributed the painting upon faience which covers a wall of the chapel containing the tomb of Cardinal Ximenes in the Church of St. Ildefonso, at Alcala de Henares. 2 m 2 532 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. In 1788, Gournay mentioned at Valencia three manufactories of tiles directed by Casanova, Cola and Disdier ; the name of the last seems to indicate a French origin. At the time of Laborde, three furnaces of azulejos were still in activity in the town. Villa Feliche, in Aragon. — The same traveller, in announcing a manufactory of faience in this place, adds that its products are very common. Is this all that writers teach us upon Spain ? Certainly not. We have spoken elsewhere of their " matamores " dishes, of which the curious prototype has been brought over by Madame Furtado; the style is perpetuated in the Peninsula, and appears even to have pene- trated into the Netherlands with the Spanish governors. But more, the towns mentioned in Marineo Siculo, and other old historians, would certainly not have suddenly given up an industry which procured them profit and honour. There should therefore exist faiences of Biar, Trayguera, Paterna, Alaquaz, Moncada, Quarto, Carera, Villalonga, of Barcelona, Murcia, Murviedro, and Toledo, renowned in the sixteenth century ; of Jaen and Teruel ; let us then hope that some learned enquirer, versed in the knowledge of the manners and language of the country, will throw light upon these interesting questions. We have already said the work of Baron Davillier upon the gilded works naturally points him out for this second undertaking, as a natural complement of the first. Portugal. This country is in some sort the New World of ceramics, for it is only since the travels of M. Natalis B,ondot and the Great Exhibi- tion of 1867, that one has been able to appreciate the merit and extent of the works of the Portuguese in the potter's art. Have they been among themselves the inventors of a fabrication which all en- lightened nations inaugurated at the same time? Have the Italian majolicas served as models to them ? or rather the Arabs and Moors, will they have been their first teachers ? These questions will soon be resolved, now that curiosity is awakened among the Portuguese amateurs. As regards the modern epoch, we may say that all the styles have been happily imitated, and that it is very difficult to distinguish between the Norman and Provencal types and the analogous fabrications of Portugal. MODERN FAIENCE.— PORTUGAL. 533 But, above all, let us speak of the azulejos which, in this part of the Peninsula, have been treated with no less success than in Spain. Since 1850 the ' Magasin Pittoresque' pointed out the general employment of this decoration in the public edifices and private houses, which sometimes are overlaid with enamelled tiles from the base to the roof; they represent hunts, sacred and historic subjects, landscapes, vases filled with flowers, arabesques, &c. The principal events of the revo- lution of 1640, which took away Portugal from Spain, are figured in ceramic pictures in the hotel of the Count d'Almada au Raio ; it is there that the conspirators united, and that took place the accla- mation of John IV. of Braganza. The principal subject shows the attack of the palace by Spanish soldiers ; the Count, from his balcony, harangues the mob, and presents them a flag with this inscription : " Liberdade ! liberclade ! viva el rey dom Joao IV.!" In the fore- ground, an engagement is taking place and frightened horses drag a coach of ancient form. One of the two other pictures represents the Procession and Miracle which inaugurated the Revolution ; the Arch- bishop of Lisbon, Rodrigo da Cunha, marching at the head of the multitude bearing the crucifix, when the figure of Christ detaches itself and extends its right arm. The Church of Saint-Mameda, at Evora, is decorated with azulejos purely arabesque, but those of the College of Saint John the Evangelist present historic subjects with figures of large dimensions; they have been painted by Antonio d'Oliveira. Lisbon. — The capital of Portugal has had, as may be expected, a certain number of manufactories of which the current products were vases and table wares of white ground with arabesques and flowers, either blue or in colours, where green, yellow, blue, and violet predominate. But the most important of these manufactories is that which, under the title of royal manufactory of Rato, has furnished works of all styles. The Universal Exhibition has shown us a figurative vase formed of a negro's head with a turban ; recipients with handles, composed of crowned genii and surmounted by fish and vegetables in relief; a candlestick, of which the body is a dolphin, resting upon shells and marine plants and supported by escutcheons ; one with the busts in relief of Portuguese sovereigns, the other, with the legend, Maria I et Pedro III, Portugalle regibus. Then, near these specimens, were wares of the Rouen style of fine character, others with flowers and scrolls, landscapes, and detached flowers. From what M. Natalis 534 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Kondot tells us, the manufactory at Rato would have had M. 361, J" /3vC com P ose( ^ °f ^ ne liters FR. The ciphers ^ -V> -ti ys\. a j so ^ 302) have been found upon other M. 361. m. 362. specimens. Caldas. — This manufacture would appear to have been specialised for faiences in relief; the greater number are covered with a black coating; the others with the customary enamels of the country, violet, yellow, and green. Some bulls of excellent design and skilful modelling sold at a low price. Coimbra has also made black faience of remarkable delicacy. Such are a writing-desk and a teapot which were in the Exhibition of 1867. Porto. — The town of Porto has had several manufactories, which have produced potteries of varied form and style. We find all kinds, from the pharmacy pots decorated in blue to the vases of form and escutcheoned table-services. A plate with detached bouquets, having a fountain in the centre, had this inscription, on a medallion supported by birds: — Na real fabrica do cavaquinho. — Porto. The front surface of a cup was entirely filled with the arms of Portugal. The manufactory of Saint Antonio de Porto was represented at the Great Exhibition by a lion in the style of Luneville, and by foun- tains placed upon pedestals, and ornamented with flowers and branches in relief, coloured in blue. The history of these various establishments, still a little obscure, will soon be developed ; we have as guarantee the zeal of Portuguese amateurs, at the head of which we place H. M. dom Pedro, father of the reigning sovereign, the Marquis de Pombal, the Count de Penafiel, the Baron dAlcochete, &c. Section 2.— Porcelain. A.— SOFT PORCELAIN. French Soft Porcelain. We have shown, in its place, how the ingenious pottery called soft porcelain was invented, in the sixteenth century, in the laboratory of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and in consequence of what events the enterprise had disappeared with the Prince, its protector. When, at the end of the seventeenth century, France, in her turn, set herself to the work, the Florence porcelain had been forgotten, and it was by proceeding to new researches, and inventing entirely new processes, SOFT PORCELAIN.— FRANCE. 535 that our ceramic artists arrived at again making an artificial translucent pottery more wonderful even than the first. By one of those phenomena so frequent in the order of ideas, all those who handled the clay and verifiable materials worked at the same time, so that one saw arise almost at the same moment attempts of different natures; here enamel cut with the wheel, there glass more or less opaque, and more or less devitrified, then at last porcelain of vitreous frit, obtained almost simultaneously in several localities. In seeking to bring to light the labours of these ceramists, we have cited as first in date Claude Reverend, a citizen in Paris, obtainer of a privilege (mentioned page 392), and delivered 21st April 1664. We hardly thought that this fact could have raised a storm against us, but we knew little of the local patriotism of the Normans. M. Andre Pottier had written that European porcelain had been invented at Rouen; nothing could disinherit this enlightened city from the claim raised to its glory, as was affimed by a pamphlet. We admit, when speaking of the probable attempts of Reverend, no local consideration animated us, and we adjudged to this potter so small a share ; we attributed to him works so little to be recommended, that we did not think of any objection being raised. Now, facts have modified and changed certain of our appreciations, without shaking in their base our anterior convictions. It remains demonstrated for us that Reverend sought, like all the potters of his century, the secret of the fine paste of Oriental vases. Let not people attempt, by quibbles, to turn away the language of the letters patent of the seventeenth century from their true sense ; if in the Low Countries, where faience had an origin relatively ancient, the word porcelain had introduced itself at the end of the seventeenth century to designate works of fine paste and rich decoration, made in imitation of Oriental pottery, nothing with us gave rise to this abuse of the expression. Reverend had expatriated himself in order to make enamelled terra cotta, after the process of the Dutch, and he had suc- ceeded ; but he had, at the same time, found the secret to imitate porcelain "as fine and more, than that which came from the East Indies," and he asked to work this secret in France, that it might not be stolen from him by foreigners. And they would wish to make one believe that this man, taught in the Low Countries to make faience " facon d'Hollande," would have manifested in an official act the fear that his masters should steal from him their own processes. Common sense revolts against the expression of such an enormity. And then, we know this fine faience of Reverend ; can one consider it " as 536 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. beautiful and more " than Oriental porcelain ? It has not even the pretension to offer to it the most distant resemblance ; it is the current faience of Holland, nothing more. Yes, Reverend is one of those who have contributed to the search after translucent pottery; this search has served him as pretext to establish in France his making of enamelled ware, and to obtain a privilege which evidently has fallen into desue- tude, because the privileged person had not fulfilled the conditions imposed upon him. This is what we have always thought, and which would be proved, if necessary, by the silence preserved upon the privilege of Reverend in the letters patent, delivered the 31st October 1673, to Louis Poterat, Sieur de Saint Etienne. This last, a most fortunate seeker, almost arrived at success ; he produced porcelain, and the writings of the time place faith in it. Thus, the contemporary almanac of Abraham de Pradel, and subsequently the dictionaries of Savary des Brulons and others, mention these attempts, and judge of the result. Why then did this invention remain in the state of trial ? It is that Poterat, a maker of faience, accustomed to working an industry of which he was an expert, would not drop the substance for the shadow, and plunge into the chances of a doubtful enterprise. Like Reverend, he had founcl in porcelain a pretext for a privilege, and used it largely. Let us then see which are, among these trial pieces gathered by collectors, those which may be attributed to Poterat. The first of all, and one which appears without doubt, is the little covered pot in the Museum of Sevres; the decoration is similar to that of the blue faiences of the good epoch, and the arms, those of the family of Asselin de Villequier, which occupy the principal front, appear traced by the hand of the same artist who had painted these arms on the service of faience executed for the same family. Taken as a type, this specimen gives the following characteristics : — Porcelain very translucent, with vitreous enamel of rather a blueish cast, painting fused in the paste, but without blisters. Various specimens answering to these characters, and specially those of the Museum of Rouen, have been adopted without dispute as the works of Louis Poterat. At the same time we find several thick pieces, ill worked, of a dead- white, neatly painted, of rather a blackish blue, and marked, notwith- standing their imperfect success, with a cipher A P, surmounted by a star (M. 363a), often carefully traced. The two first specimens of this kind, both of similar decoration, evidently borrowed from faience, belong to us, and by reason of their very defects, we have SOFT PORCELAIN.— FRANCE. 537 thought ourselves able to consider them as the essays of the potter Reverend. But pieces thus marked multiplied themselves ; our friend M. E. Pascal acquired a salt-cellar identical in decoration with the first works of St. Cloud ; and several others rose up of the same character. Fie. 126. * M. 363a. M. 363b. SPICE-BOX. TRIAL PORCELAIN OF LOUIS POTERAT. M. G. Gouellain communicated to us a salt-cellar of the same form as the preceding, gadrooned upon its two edges, but not marked, and of a decoration approaching to that of faience; the central subject particularly, inspired by Oriental pottery, and representing a vase of flowers placed upon a stand, was characteristic ; besides, from its translucency, its blueish aspect, this porcelain was identical with the types of the Rouennais Museum, and our learned friend did not hesitate to consider it as the work of Poterat. Since then, another specimen that has been found throws new light upon the question ; a moulded saucer with sunk- centre, " trembleuse," having in the middle the flower-pot in question, and the edge ornamented with arabesques quite different from the com- positions of the Chicanneau, as may be seen by this sketch (Fig. 127). Fig. 127. EARLY DESIGN ON POTERAT'S PORCELAIN. Translucent and blueish, this trial piece, yellow in places, split in the middle, was inscribed underneath with the A P, surmounted by a star (M. 3636). It becomes therefore probable that works thus marked, have like the others, come from the Rouen manufactory, and that 538 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. the translucency and azure tint of some specimens are the effect of a baking more or less prolonged, and of fire more or less intense, bringing the paste to a state approaching vitrification. But then, how explain the mark ? Why, among the specimens now sufficiently numerous, to form the Rouennais contingent, do we find some signed and some anonymous ? The blue faiences, whose decoration approaches to the first attempts at porcelain, possessed by us are not generally signed, one only gives the letter G. The faiences in enamelled colours, upon which we find an A P cipher, are very posterior to the works of Poterat, since some even see in the cipher the name of Andre Pottier. The A P of the porcelains remains then inexplicable ; the star above might bear an allusion to the arms of the Saint Etienne, who bore three, an idea suggested to us by M. Gustave Gouellain; but the initials seem to reject this explanation. Yet if the porcelains thus marked must, of necessity, be attributed to Louis Poterat, another question arises, whence can he have derived his decoration, which differs generally from the usual types of faience, and is identical, towards the latter epoch, with those of Saint-Cloud ? Have the Chicanneau invented nothing ? Would it be asserted they themselves copied the Norman designs ? Documents recently published are not of a nature to elucidate facts ; quite the contrary. In a request addressed to the magistrates of Lille to obtain certain immunities, Dorez announces that he is " the sole, with M. Chicanneau, of Saint Cloud, who possesses the real secret of making similar (porcelain) to the specimens he has the honour to submit to you. The master of the manufactory of Rouen, thinking he had penetrated the secret, had interfered and tried to make it and sell it at Paris, as of the manufactory of Saint Cloud, which gave a bad reputation to this last by its inferior quality ; the abuse being discovered, he had been obliged not to make any more of it." Thus, in 1711, Poterat still made porcelain, and sought to assimi- late it to that of Saint-Cloud. When did the imitation begin ? Where is the primitive original decoration, and whence comes it ? From 1673, date of the privilege of Rouen, to 1696, epoch indicated by the Chi- canneau for their discovery, there remained twenty-three years in advance for the first; how in 1711, that is, after thirty-eight years of labour, did he seek to imitate a potter who came after him ? It is yet to be seen ; these questions are complex, and very difficult to resolve. Con- temporary essays with those of Rouen have taken place ; it is upon the ornamental type of Poterat that have been made the specimens of the SOFT PORCELAIN.~FRANCE.~ST. CLOUD. 539 unknown potter who marked with the cipher JB (M. 364), and of which the origin remains unexplained, unless one would see in him the potter of whom Savary des Brulons vaguely speaks as working at Passy. In either case, one would not think of giving this cipher to Reverend. The AP had at least certain analogies with the mark of his faiences. Let us restore, then, until more amply informed, the essays of the style AP to Rouen, and let us pass to productions more uninterrupted, and recognisable by certain signs. Saint-Cloud, 1695. — "We inscribe under this head, and under this date, the first French manufactory which gave to commerce soft porcelain. Its letters patent are of sufficient importance to be given : — " Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre, to all who will see these present letters, we send greeting. The graces and privileges that we have granted in favour of certain manufactures, to procure their establishment in our kingdom, having excited our subjects to make researches and to arrive, by their application, to a knowledge of the most hidden arts, the said Barbe Coudray, widow of Pierre Chicanneau, Jean, Jean Baptiste, Pierre and Genevieve Chicanneau, brothers and sister, children of the said Coudray and of the said Pierre Chicanneau, and undertakers of the manufactory of fayence, and of porcelain established at Saint Cloud, would have very humbly shown that the said Pierre Chicanneau pere, having applied himself several years to the fabrication of fayence, and having arrived at a high point of perfection in this fabrication, he would have wished to push his know- ledge still further to finding the secret of true porcelain ; he would have made for that several experiments of different materials and tried different preparations which had pro- duced works almost as perfect as the porcelains of China and the Indies ; his children, whom he had brought up to the work of the said manufacture, and to whom he had taught all he had found, have since his death continued the same application, and have at last arrived, from before the year one thousand six hundred and ninety-three, to the point of being able to make true porcelain, of the same quality, more beautiful, and as perfect and proper for the same uses as the porcelain of the Indies and China, according to the testimony of persons the most skilful and capable of judging, and that they were in a state to give to this manufacture, of which the commerce would be very advantageous to the kingdom, all the extent it can have, if it pleases us to grant them the favours and privileges necessary to derive from the establishment of this manufactory, which they will carry on at their own expense, all the profit they may hope from it, and to indemnify themselves from the great expenses that they have been obliged to make to acquire a knowledge of the making of porcelain, and to place themselves in the state to make the enterprise and to succeed. That this manufacture would already have appeared to us so advantageous to our kingdom, that we had granted Letters Patent containing several privileges in favour of the named Saint Estienne to make the establishment of it at Rouen and in such other places of our realm as will seem good to him, with prohibition to all persons to make establishments of this manufacture : that nevertheless the Sieur Estienne has at the most only approached the secret, and has never carried it to the points of perfection nor of execution where the petitioners have placed it, and made his work only consist in the manufacture of fayance ; and that, since his death, which took place several years since, neither his wife, who has always continued to make fayance, nor any one on his part, has made porcelain ; and that thus we could, without doing wrong to the said Saint Estienne, his heirs and assigns, to grant to the petitioners the same privilege and the same general exclusiveness for the making of porcelain only, being certain that no one but them make it in the kingdom, and has never executed the secret as they do. For these causes and others, in that we being well informed of the good quality, of the beauty, and of the perfection of the porcelain fabricated by the 54° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. said Chicanneau, of their capacity and skilfulness in the art of making, and of the great expenses they have incurred to acquire the knowledge of this art to the point they possess it, and that the establishment of this manufacture would be very advantageous to the kingdom, and desiring favourably to treat the said petitioners, by the advice of our Council, and of our certain knowledge, full power and royal authority, we have by these presents, signed with our hand, permitted and granted to the said Barbe Coudray, widow of Pierre Chicanneau, Jean, Jean Baptiste, Pierre and Genevieve Chicanneau, both conjointly and separately their heirs and assigns, to make in the bourg of Saint Cloud, and in such towns and other places of our kingdom as will appear good to them, except, nevertheless, the city and faubourg of Rouen, one or several establishments for the manufacture of fine porcelain of all colours', kinds, makes, and sizes. We also likewise permit to the said Coudray and Chicanneau to continue the fabrication of fayance in the said bourg of Saint Cloud, and to make work in fayance also of every colour, kinds, makes, and sizes, in all the towns and places where they will establish the manufactory of porcelain, and to retail and sell, in wholesale and retail in all the towns and places of our kingdom, the porcelain and fayance of their manufacture ; prohibiting to all persons of whatever quality soever, except the said Saint Estienne, his heirs and assigns, to undertake to make porcelain in any places of our kingdom, lands, and seignories of our dominion that may be, even in the pretended privileged places, during the time and space of ten years, beginning from the first day of October next, on pain of confiscation of the goods made, materials and utensils serving for the same manufacture, and of three thousand livres fine. We also make express inhibitions and prohibitions to all persons, under pretext of mastership (maitrise), wardenship, or other- wise, to visit the places of the manufactures of the said Coudray and Chicanneau, neither in the places where the sale and show of their goods will take place to give them any trouble in the place for the show and sale of the porcelain and fayance of their manufactures, and to require of them any sum by reason of imposition in other cause, excepting the charges of the community of the Master Enamellers of Paris, to which Jean Baptiste Chicanneau will be obliged to contribute, as member of the said community ; without, nevertheless, that he may be elected juror of the said community, with his own consent. We have exempted and do exempt, the said Barbe Coudray, and the said Jean, Jean Baptiste, Pierre and Genevieve Chicanneau, undertakers of the manufactory, their workmen and persons em- ployed in the said manufactory, of all taxes, impositions, and ordinary public charges of the bourg of Saint Cloud, provided the said undertakers do not possess any other property in the town and territory of Saint Cloud ; that the house in which the said manufactory is, or will be established, and the dependencies joining the said house, and that also the work- men and persons employed do not possess any property in the said bourg and land of Saint Cloud, making there no commerce, trade, nor work, save for the said manufactory, and have not been before employed in the Polls of the Taxes and in other places, to the charge of the said undertakers, their heirs and assigns ; and having cause, will pay to the collector of taxes of the said bourg during the said ten years, and for each of them, the sum of one hundred livres only for reason of the said taxes, impositions, and ordinary charges of the said bourg of Saint Cloud. We give in command to our friends and faithful councillors people holding our Courts of Parliament, Chamber of Accounts, Courts of Aydes of Paris, and all others, our officers of justice ; that they have to register these presents, and with the contents of these, to make enjoy fully and peaceably the said Coudray and Chicanneau. For such is our pleasure. Given at Versailles the sixteenth day of May, the year of grace one thousand seven hundred and two, and sixtieth of our reign. Signed, Louis ; and lower down in the name of the King, Phelypeatjx ; and lower still, Seen at the Council, signed, Chamillard, and sealed with yellow wax with double label. Registered at the Court of Aydes, headed by the Attorney -General of the King, to be executed according to their form and tenure, and enjoy by the grantees to the effect herein contained at the charge of lawsuits and differences that may arise, in consequence of the said letters by reason of the tax and other impositions, will be instructed and judged in the first instance before the officers of the Election, except the appeal in the said Court. Given at Paris, the twelfth of April one thousand seven hundred and thirteen. (Signed) " Robert." The whole history of Saint-Cloud is in this document, and one SOFT PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— ST. CLOUD. S4i asks one's self how the manufactory could have remained so long obscure to the point that Brongniart, in 1844, was ignorant of the reputation of its products. Yet, when in 1698, Martin Lister, physician to Queen Anne, published the relation of his travels in France, he expresses most enthusiastically his impressions of the new manufactory, which he had carefully visited. We owe indeed to his narrative the description of certain works which have not been found by present inquirers. The travels of Lister contain an erroneous statement which we wi sh to dismiss ; he announces having visited Saint-Cloud, shown over by M. Morin, the manager of the establishment, and inventor of the secret of porcelain. Whatever may be the origin of this indication, it is erroneous. All official documents controvert it; it is contradictory to contemporary publications, and the perseverance of some writers in substituting the name of Morin for that of Chicanneau is an insupportable annoyance. Let them not pretend that between the erection of the manufactory and the letters patent of 1702, many facts may have arisen to modify the industrial condition of Saint-Cloud. Let us open the ' Mercure de France ' for the year 1700, and we find this announce- ment : — "I have forgotten to tell you that on the 3rd of last month (September) the Duchess of Burgundy, having passed by Saint- Cloud and turned along the river to call on the Duchess de Guiche, stopped her carriage at the door of the house where MM. Chicanneau have established for some years a manufactory of fine porcelain, which, without contradiction, has nothing like it in all Europe. The princess was pleased to see the potters turn on the wheel some pieces of very fine outline ; she saw some others painted of more regular design, and better executed than the porcelain of the Indies. She then went to see the processes of the faience at the same manufactory, after which MM. Chicanneau conducted her to their private room, where she saw a quantity of beautiful fine porcelain in its perfection, which pleased her so much that she promised to come again. She did not leave with- out having marked her satisfaction by her liberality to the workmen. "Their Royal Highnesses Monsieur and Madame often do MM. Chicanneau the honour of going to see their manufactory. They also receive frequent visits from the princes, lords, ambassadors, and all kinds of collectors, who come every day to admire the beauty of the works they make there, and of which they have a large sale for foreign countries. They have established their shops for. the sale of their porcelain at Paris, at the corner of the Rue Coquilliere and Des Petits- Champs, near the Place des Victoires." 542 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. This advertisement, worthy of the present time, is of a nature to Fig 128. remove all doubts, for if M. Chicanneau had been only the instrument of a powerful capitalist, or of some high personage, the journal would not have failed to say so. Besides, as we have before said, we have in our hands the family deeds, which cannot be ques- SALT-CELLAR. PORCELAIN OF ST. CLOUD, tioned . ^ wn i cn t hrOW light Upon "AUSOLEIL." — COLL. JACQUEMART. .,. . . „ . nr\n Ti t s-i this point, lor, in 1698, Barbe Coudray and her new husband Trou, mortgaged a rent upon the house of Saint- Cloud, where was their manufactory, to the profit of Jean Chicanneau. There is a second point, which should preoccupy collectors more than the first, that is how to recognise the works of Saint Cloud 2 Fortunately the Chicanneau from the beginning applied a cha- racteristic mark upon the majority of their pieces, only these marks have varied ; the oldest (M. 365), indicating the protection of Louis XIV., from 1702 to 1715, is the sun, alluding to the device invented by Ouvrier, "Nec pluribus impar." The second (M. 366), which goes back pretty far, and was continued during the whole term of the establishment, is easy of explanation. T. Before Barbe Coudray, widow of Pierre Chicanneau, obtained, M. 366. w ith her children, the Royal privilege, she had changed her condition, having married Henri Trou, usher of the ante-chamber to the Duke of Orleans ; but Trou could not appear in the official act, because he did not belong to the corporation of earthenware makers ; he did what was necessary to be received in it, and collectors will not be sorry to see the form of the act which gave him the title. " To all those who will see these letters present. Charles Denis de Bullon, Knight, Marquis de Gallardon, Seigneur de Bonnelles, Bullion, Esclimont, Montloiiet and other places, Councillor of the King in his councils, Provost of the City, Provostship and Viscounty of Paris, greeting. We make known, that to-day Henri Trou has been received master enameller, merchant glass maker and earthenware maker of Paris, as apprentice and by trial piece (par chef-d'oeuvre), in the presence and with the consent of Jean Baptiste Chicanneau, Jean Douillart, Nicolas and Antoine Lejeunehomme, and Liermaud Jacques Morieux Jurors, in presence and in charge of the said community, for that the said master may henceforward enjoy, and fully and peaceably use, just as all the masters of it, after he has made oath well and faithfully exercise the said trade, to keep and observe the statutes of ordinances of it, to suffer the visitation of the keepers in the customary manner. This was made and given by Messire Claude Robert, Councillor of the King in his councils, and Attorney of his Majesty at the Chatelet, Presidial seat, City, Provostship and Viscounty of Paris, First Judge and Conservator of the Body of Merchants, Arts, Trades, Masters, and Jurors of the City, fauxbourgs, and banlieue of Paris, the first day of September one thousand seven hundred and six. " Chaillon. " Sealed the 1st of September 1706. " Dechambai'lt." SOFT PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— ST. CLOUD. 543 Become thus by right, head of the manufactory of Saint-Cloud, Trou hastened to affix his cipher, which continued afterwards when his son resumed the establishment. Yet this retaking possession did not take place without protests. The letters patent of 1702 were a real nest of lawsuits. They admitted the common share of the heirs of Chicanneau in the discovery of the secret of porcelain, and authorised them to work this secret, conjointly or separately, in whatever place it pleased them. Each of them pretended to have a copy of the notes of Chicanneau pere. Trou refused all communication, expressing the fear lest these docu- ments should serve to carry to the foreigner the art of the French manu- facture. He sought at the same time to have the rights of his children established by new letters patent. Before deciding, the authorities desired to know exactly who were the heirs possessing the rights of Pierre Chicanneau, and a statement, preserved in the archives, enume- rates them to the number of nine. At last, the 15th September 1722, a decree was issued which, in re- voking a first delay of ten years, granted the 15 th March 1713, by Louis XIV. to the undertakers of the manufactory of Saint-Cloud, granted a new prorogation of twenty years to Jean, Jean Baptiste Chicanneau, Marie Moreau, widow of Pierre Chicanneau, Henri and Gabriel Trou, children of the second marriage of Barbe Coudray. This favour was based on the plea that the interested parties had to sustain lawsuits and to suffer from the general interruption of trade, the dearness of provisions, and the increase in the wages of the workmen. It had also for object the allowing them to recover the advances they would have made to render useful to the public a new secret the Duke of Orleans had given them to improve their works. Dating from this period, the manufactory divides. Trou directs Saint-Cloud, and Marie Moreau opens another workshop in the faubourg Saint-Honore. Until lately, the porcelains of Saint-Cloud have been little or not at all known. Brongniart considered them as of coarse make, yet Lister and other writings spoke of their merit and of their high price. " They sell," says the physician of Queen Anne, " the vases of Saint-Cloud at excessive prices ; their ordinary chocolate cups are quoted at a crown a piece. They have sold some furniture of tea tables at 100 livres the set. There was no moulding or model of Chinese ware which they had not imitated, and had added many fancies of their own which had their good effects, and appeared very beautiful." The selected works should be seen to well understand these eulogiums. Those decorated in polychrome colours 544 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. are of the most charming harmony ; such as the cream-pot (Fig. 129), with Trou's cipher^ and the marked piece belonging to Baron C. Davillier, a quantity of small pieces, such as snuff-boxes and patch-boxes, mounted in gold or silver gilt, and the charming salt-cellars of M. Edmund Le Blant. Those in blue camai'eu are to be admired for their select forms, and a decoration in which embroideries and lambrequins recall Fig. 129. MUG. POLYCHROME PORCELAIN OF ST. CLOUD. — COLL. JACQUEMART. the best ornamental compositions of our petits maitres. Some pieces in relief, inspired by the Chinese white, are composed with so much taste, that they appear sufficiently rich, though destitute of the heightening of colour. These are sometimes anonymous, sometimes stamped in paste with the mark of Trou. Lille, 1711. — The Sieurs Barthelemi Dorez and Pierre Pelissier, his nephew, founded, with the concurrence of the magistrate of Lille, this manufactory, when 'the city was in the possession of the Dutch. Both Frenchmen, they desired to make French porcelain similar in every respect to that of Saint-Cloud. They set it forth in the acts, and, after the treaty of Utrecht had restored the city to its ancient owners, they did not hesitate to claim special privileges for an establishment so useful to the country. Lille porcelain, long confounded with that of the Chicanneau, is j distinguished by a whiter lustre (ceil). The decoration is iden- M ^ 7 tical with that of Saint-Cloud, but a little less delicate in the blue camaleu. The first mark is this initial (M. 367). Later £ k we find one or two L's less heavy (M. 3G8). Probably between M.368. 1716 and when D orez directed alone, his initial (M. 369) 3> replaces that of the city. Lastly, upon a charming cup of more M.369. recent period, with little flowers and scrolls, we find under 545 the saucer, L (M. 370a), and under the cup, B. We do not know the meaning of this last (M. 3706). >g M. J. Houdoy equally assigns to Lille, cups of excessively * & heavy paste, painted in polychrome colours, with Chinese M. 370. borders and bouquets of the Eose family. We do not venture to decide on the origin of these pieces,* which appear to be more Italian than French. Paeis, faubourg Saint-Honore. — About 1722, Marie Moreau, widow of Pierre Chicanneau II. (nephew of Jean), established a branch of the Saint-Cloud manufactory, at Paris, rue de la Ville l'Eveque. The- manager was Dominique Francois Chicanneau, who had been director of the works of Saint-Cloud from 1710 to 1724, and whose long experience enabled him to make, not only wares similar to those of the first manu- factory, but grotesque figures and trunks of trees for girandoles and all kinds of fine porcelain, as is announced in the prospectus of the * "succursale de Saint-Cloud." We have a little toilet-pot, bearing Mark 371, which we attribute to the new manufactory. M - 371 - Chantilly, 1725.— Established by Ciquaire Cirou, under the pro- tection of Louis Henri, Prince de Conde', this manufactory obtained letters patent, the 5th October 1735. Its object was the imitation of Corean porcelain, of which the Prince possessed a remarkable collection. This is set forth as positively as possible in the letters patent which were granted him : — " Our well-beloved Ciquaire Cirou has caused to be represented to us, that for more than ten years he has applied himself to the making of porcelain similar to that which was anciently made in Japan; that the trouble and expense he has incurred have had such a favourable success, that there is no room for doubting that his porcelain is superior to that of Saxony, which nevertheless had found great credit in France and in the rest of Europe ; that the different works he has produced of them, and the eagerness with which foreign countries, such as England, Holland, and Germany apply for it, serves to show the superiority of his porcelain over all that has hitherto appeared of this style, and that he is in a condition to give this manufacture, of which the trade would be very useful to the kingdom, all the extent possible." The porcelain of Chantilly (Fig. 130) is, in fact, very remarkable Upon a tin enamel, which deprives it a little of its translucency, giving it a dead whiteness analogous to that of the fine Corean pottery, are Oriental creeping plants. The squirrel climbs and perches on the hedge, in varied but rather cold tints. Later, the opaque enamel and the flowers in the Saxon style were given up ; and decorations in the Sevres style were melted in a vitreous glaze, similar to that of Mennecy. /-\ The invariable mark of Chantilly has been a hunting-horn £~^C3 (M. 372), first carefully traced in red, then rapidly sketched in M. 372. f: . 2 n 546 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. blue, accompanied by letters indicating the names of the decorators. We have also found it stamped in the paste on plates with reliefs. Fig. 130. TEA-POT. CHANTILLY POECELAIN. When Ciquaire Cirou retired, the manufactory passed into the hands of Messrs. Peyrard, Aran, and Antheaume de Surval, who kept it in a tolerable state of prosperity ; but when the Revolution came they could no longer carry it on, and closed it, to escape a catastrophe. According to the statements of a History of Chantilly, Mr. Potter, a rich Englishman, already proprietor of other establishments at Mon- tereau and Forges, tried, in 1793, to restore the manufactory for the benefit of the numerous workmen out of employment. His generous efforts proved fruitless, for, having expended his fortune, he was obliged to give up the enterprise in 1800. Impelled by the same feeling of commiseration for the labouring population of Chantilly, M. Pigorry, mayor of the town, set up a new establishment in 1803, applying himself this time to the making / <-> v of wares for common use. We have seen his cipher vX surmounting the traditional hunting-horn (M. 373) upon cups and saucers, decorated in blue. We also find on it &£S)j? "Chantilly" in full letters. M. Pigorry was succeeded by M. 373. Bougon and Chalot. It is no doubt one of the successors of Pigorry who placed upon the De Poche pieces of the same service sometimes the hunting- rue Coquilliere horn, sometimes this legend (M. 374), stencilled N° 12 (vignette a jour). The statement preserved at Sevres a Paris. indicates that the first workshop was retaken, after M. 374. the failure of Potter, by Baynal and Lallement. Mennecy-Villeroy, 1735. — It is at the place called the Petites- Maisons, on the estate of the Duke de Villeroy, and under his protection, that Francois Barbin established this manufactory. The paste is fine and SOFT PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— MENNECY. 547 translucent, the glaze smooth and even; the painting affects every style, from the archaic decorations of Chantilly, the bouquets of the French style, to the rich compositions of Sevres, with varied grounds and heightenings of gold (Figs. 131 and 132). Notwithstanding the prohi- bition of Sevres, Mennecy made a tolerable number of coloured statuettes and some biscuits of remarkable importance. The most noteworthy, without contradiction, was an allegorical group, placed in an exhibition for sale, and which has disappeared without leaving any trace, to the great regret of M. Eiocreux, who reckoned on securing it for Sevres. Fig. 131. Fig. 132. KNIFE-HANDLE. PORCELAIN OF MENNECY. MILK-POT. PORCELAIN OF MENNECY. (COLL. JACQUEMART.) Upon a vessel, equipped and masted, stood France, with helmet and lance in her hand, resting upon a shield with the fleurs de lis; as far ajs we remember, other persons, all characterised by emblems, surrounded a sleeping child. The skilful manipulation of this piece, and the delicacy of its details, made it approach the works of the royal manufactory, and gave' a high idea of the artistic staff of Mennecy. M. 375 is the mark of all its products. Traced in colours or in gold, it indicates the older products; marks, graved in J).^/. 'DV* the paste, are more frequent and more modern. M 375 M 375& Barbin was succeeded by Jacques and Julien, who retained the establishment until the expiration of the lease of the buildings in 1773, when they transferred their materials and stock to Bourg-la-Reine. Pakis, fauboueg Saint-Antoine. — Reaumur speaks in his Me- moirs of a manufactory of curious porcelain existing in this place, about 1739. Its products are yet undetermined. 2 n 2 tAtmr s+iMm Atariftt 54 8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. With respect to Reaumur himself, his porcelain essays have an importance which requires they should not be passed over in silence ; for if artificial soft paste had not been discovered and developed so rapidly, commerce had certainly taken possession of the products of the celebrated natural philosopher. Reaumur had observed that in devitrifying glass, it acquired an exceptional solidity and a translucent whiteness analogous to that of Chinese porcelain. He conceived the idea of thus making a porcelain, to which his contemporaries gave his name. This singular product has been described by its author in a memoir, where, after having shown the useful qualities and low price of this glass, he adds : " Is it not sufficient for a porcelain that will be so cheap, if its white- ness is superior to that of our common porcelains made in faubourg Saint- Antoine ? if it is as beautiful as tha*t of the porcelain of Saint- Cloud, which is sold dear, although it is only moderately good." What- ever it may have been, the ingenious discovery had no commercial appli- cation. Vincennes, 1740.- — Seeing the industry of translucent pottery develop itself abroad, the authorities became uneasy and attempted to create in France a strong competition, more especially with Saxony. The brothers Dubois, old pupils of Saint-Cloud, went, in 1740, to offer to M. Orry de Fulvy, Intendant of the Finances and brother of the minister of Louis XV., to reveal to him the secret of a new porcelain. They were given a laboratory at Vincennes, and the expenses of their experiments were defrayed. After three years of pretended labours, which cost 60,000 francs, it was found necessary to expel them. Gra- vant, one of their workmen, had followed the experiments with intelli- gence, and, by his own personal experiments, he obtained a soft porcelain, of which he sold the secret to M. Orry de Fulvy. Such was the starting-point of the royal manufactory. At first, in 1745, a company was formed, composed of eight sleeping partners, and guaranteed by a privilege, granted under the name of Charles Adam. A new decree of 19th August 1747, had for object to guarantee this specu- lator, by preventing his workmen from emigrating and carrying else- where the knowledge they would have acquired at the manufactory of Vincennes. Fashion had so taken possession of the graceful flowers first produced to ornament lustres, girandoles, clocks, and other articles of furniture that the little workshops, and especially the clandestine estab- lishments, had given themselves entirely to the copying of these little masterpieces. Charles Adam having complained of the injury done to him by these counterfeits, his privilege was revoked, in 1752, to transfer SOFT PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— VINCENNES. it to Eloy Brichard. The latter scarcely succeeded better than his predecessor in developing the commercial prosperity of the manufacture, but renewing the wailings of his predecessor, the authorities sought for a more efficacious means of maintaining France on a level with foreign industries. In 1745, Charles Adam, when demanding for his workshops the full use of the buildings in the superintendent's court of the covered riding-school and the menagerie at Belair, pointed out " an establish- ment which has just been formed in England of a manufactory of porce- lain, more beautiful than that of Saxony by the nature of its composition, and which would cause the going out of considerable sums of money from France." It would therefore be necessary to contend against this new cause of the money going out, and create an earnest, national, ceramic industry. For this end there was nothing more efficacious than to give to the manufactory a high protection. In 1753, the King, Louis XV., interests himself to the extent of taking a third in the expenses of the establishment, which assumes the official title of " Manufacture royale cle porcelaine de France." Until then the mark had been two L's crossed, sometimes a dot in the middle (M. 376). From this period, the mark be- came compulsory, and was accompanied by a letter serving as a chronogram, A for 1753, B for 1754, and so on. At the same time, measures are taken against imitators and protection established upon rigid bases, intimidating for the small workshops. Fig. 133. COOLER (SEATJ A RAFRAICHIR). PORCELAIN OP VINCENNES. — COLL. DUKE DE MARTINA. An immense development in the production was the result of the new organisation (Fig. 133), and the company, finding the localities which had been conceded to them not sufficiently extensive, resolved upon leaving Vincennes to establish themselves in a house of their -■■M~>m aar mm mr I *im\ m J*V 4**. ^ i *. -t fife 55° HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. own. They bought at Sevres a vast extent of ground, upon which was the house of Lully, the musician, and caused the building to be erected there, which the manufactory at the present time is about to leave for a new edifice just completed. SfevKES, 1756. — From the period of this change, the name even of Vincennes was forgotten, and the old products, as well as the new, took the name of Sevres. Protection increased also its rigours in restricting the rights of other manufactories ; sculpture or painting on gold was prohibited to them, they could only produce wares in cama'ieu. From the 1st October 1759, Boileau directed in the name of the King, who had become sole proprietor; and the privilege thus secured, Boileau occupied himself entirely in perfecting the works and in discovering the making of hard paste. In our history of this last, we will relate how its elements were discovered. It may not perhaps be uninteresting to give here the salaries granted by the Government to the different officers of the manufactory ; — The Sieur Boileau, director . . . . . . 2000 livres. The Sieur Duplessis, composer of models (he was goldsmith to the King), for going to Vincennes four days a week . . . 3600 „ The Sieur Bachelier, for going one day . . 2400 „ Brother Hippolyte, for his journeys . . . 100 „ This last was a monk of Saint-Martin des Champs, who, at the period of Gravant's first appearance, had sold the secret of gilding. From its origin, the royal manufactory of " porcelaine de France " had applied itself to the production of coloured flowers for ornaments, lustres, girandoles, and gilded bronzes. It created at the same time vases of great ornamentation, of the most elegant and varied forms. The " salles des modeles," re-formed with so much perseverance by M. Riocreux but now destroyed by the Prussians, could alone give an idea of their number and importance. Scarcely would the rich collections of the Rothschild family (Fig. 134), Sir Richard Wallace, M. Leopold Double, (Plate XI.) and Madame Heine, the important series united in England by the Queen and the great amateurs of the country, suffice to give an idea of these masterly compositions. Among these were those styled the vase ecritoire ; vase du milieu du roi ; vase du milieu Falconnet ; the vases chaine, console et a bandes ; vase vaisseau a mat; vase fontaine Dubarry ; vase Duplessis a tetes d'elephants ; vase Tritons, by La Rue ; vase bas-reliefs of Clodion ; vase a l'Amour Falconnet ; vase a cartels Plate XI.— FRANCE. Sevres — Soft Porcelain — Vase, commemorative of the Battle of Fontenoy. Collection. Lb Double. I SOFT PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— SE VRES. S5i Bachelier ; vase colonne and the vase oeuf garni ; the vases Furtado, now belonging to Madame Heine; in a word, all that the genius of sculptors, painters, and goldsmiths, united in one common thought, have been able to conceive of most rich and elegant. Fig. 134. VASE OF SEVRES SOFT PORCELAIN. — COLL. BARON J. DE ROTHSCHILD. The same salle des modeles also contained the greater number of groups which were executed in biscuit, that is, in porcelain paste, un- glazed. Falconnet, Pajou, Clodion, Boizot, La Rue, and a number of other modellers, had sculptured these figures, which, disposed " en sur- tout" to decorate the tables, in company with painted vases, baskets of flowers, and chased works of the goldsmith, afforded a repose to the eye, dazzled with the sight of the splendid costumes ranged round the table. Duplessis, goldsmith to the king, composed the models for the vases ; Bachelier superintended all the artistic parts, and directed the painters who, upon special cartoons or after celebrated paintings 552 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. executed those roundly modelled figures, so soft in tint from the colours being absorbed in the porous creamy glaze which gives to pate tendre its superiority. Chemists have also largely contributed to the brilliancy of these "ouvrages de grand luxe" in creating splendid colours for their grounds ; the oldest, bleu de roi, of gem-like richness, exhibits itself sometimes marbled and seme' with little veins of gold, like lapis lazuli, sometimes plain, and relieved by gold arabesques in relief. In 1752 Hellot discovered the lovely blue ground obtained from copper, called " bleu turquoise ; " at the same period, in 1757, Xzrowet found the flesh- coloured pink termed " Pompadour," and simultaneously appeared the " violet pensee," the " vert pomme " or " vert jaune," the " vert pre " or "vert anglais," the "jaune clair" or "jonquille," and these tints combined in a thousand ways, associated with flowers or emblems, render unparalleled the variety of works produced in this establishment. At the time Sevres became the property of the king, Boileau had been named director ; in 1773, Parent succeeded him, and was replaced in 1779 by Regnier, who was imprisoned in 1793. Commissioners, members of the Convention, then administered, leaving to Chanou the inspection of the works. He was replaced, under the Directory, by a tri- umvirate composed of MM. Salmon, Ettlinger and Meyer, who remained in ofEce till 1800, the period of the appointment of Alexander Brongniart. At his death, which took place in 1847, this learned director had for successor M. Ebelmen, too soon taken away from the manufactory and science. M. Regnault, another celebrity of physical science, came after- wards, and now M. Robert directs the establishment. From 1753 to 1792, the date of the pieces is indicated, as we have before said, by a letter of the alphabet; A is the first year, B the second, &c. ; the letter Q or the comet expresses 1769. Z closes the series in 1777, when the letters are doubled (M. 377), and A A marks 1778, as 00 1792. We will not continue, as at this epoch, the making of pate tendre was scarcely more than an accident ; the other marks will be found under hard paste. We give a list of the painters and decorators of the old period, with the mark assigned to each. SOFT PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— SEVRES. 553 Monograms. Asselin, portraits, miniatures. (y^ Bar, detached bouquets. — Boulanger, detached bouquets ; — the same initial, only a little narrower. Baudouin, ornaments, friezes, or borders. Bulidon, detached bouquets. ^ Castel, landscapes, hunts, birds. C ]%> Chabry, miniatures, pastoral subjects. Q fl2 t Commelin, bouquets, wreaths. C J3» Chapuis aine", flowers, birds, &c. Dusolle, detached bouquets. Cj$J^ i Drand, Chinese subjects, gilding. J^l*. Dutanda, bouquets, wreaths. £ i Couturier, gilding. Jp Falot, arabesques, birds, butterflies. Leve (Fe'lix), flowers, Chinese subjects. ^ Pfeiflfer, detached bouquets. 554 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Barrat, wreaths, bouquets. Fumez, flowers, arabesques. ^ rarc ^ P as toral subjects, miniatures. Gremont, wreaths, bouquets. Hunny, flowers. or LR. La Roche, bouquets, wreaths, emblems. /lC~ Hericourt, wreaths, detached bouquets. HP. PreVost, gilding. Jubin, gilding. ^ q u Chapuis Jeune, detached bouquets. sY/fi* Chanou (Madame), ne'e Julie Durosey, light friezes, de- tached flowers. Henrion, wreaths, detached bouquets. Jj. tl, Chavaux fils, gilding, detached bouquets. Thevenet fils, ornaments, friezes, j^* Dodin, figures, subjects, portraits. Leve* pere, flowers, birds, arabesques. SOFT PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— SEVRES. 555 * oGJ3 ^ e Bel jeune, wreaths, bouquets. ■fl* Le Bel aine, figures and flowers. (*' llffi- Le Guay ' § ildin s- J^J^ Jjjj Lecot, Chinese subjects, &c. J^JP Parpette -(Mademoiselle, Louison), detached flowers. Jd J£ or H. La Koche, bouquets, wreaths, emblems. Massy, flowers and emblems. hA'TTl Michel, detached bouquets. Moiron fils, detached bouquets. , Morin, marine and military subjects, Cupids. Af5 lit Bunel (Madame), ne'e Buteux, bouquets. ^sty^* Aloncle birds, animals, emblems. 71 (J, Niquet, detached bouquets. £fo Parpette, flowers. ^rv> Pierre aine*, flowers, detached bouquets. i* *£y^> Boucot, flowers, birds, arabesques. Jf)^ Pithou jeune, figures, flowers, ornaments. Jf)j/ Pithou aine, portraits, historical subjects. "P 7 Pierre jeune, bouquets, wreaths. 5 e Nouailher (Madame), nee Sophie Durosey, detached flowers- light friezes. 556 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Girard, arabesques, Chinese subjects. t^P Maqueret (Madame), ne'e Bouillat, bouquets. ^£ ^> Roussel, detached bouquets. Me'rault aine, various friezes. qJc „ Binet (Madame), nee Sophie Chanou, wreaths, bouquets. qJ^ /1 Schadre, birds, landscapes. Binet, detached bouquets. ~1^T) Vande', gilding, flowers. r jf^~ > ^ Gdrard (Madame), ne'e Vautrin, bouquets, light friezes. Hilken, figures, pastoral subjects. Vavasseur, arabesques, " de'chire's." £Q, 9 . Grison, gilding. Micaud, flowers, bouquets, clock dials. ^ Bouillat, flowers, landscapes. Joyau, detached bouquets. Carrier, flowers. Bertrand, detached bouquets, SOFT PORCELA IN. — ERA NCE.—SE VRES. 557 y • Buteux ills, aine", detached bouquets. ^ Mdrault jeune, bouquets, wreaths. %0Q0 Vincent, gilding. Ciphers and various Emblems. Armand, birds, flowers, &c. < 20£ Rocher, figures. ^» Taillandier, bouquets, wreaths. i^jUW Vieillard, emblems, ornaments. y^lK^ Dieu, Chinese subjects and flowers, gilding. Buteux fils, jeune, pastoral subjects, children, &c. /\ Capelle, various friezes. — ^u-. Noel, flowers, ornaments. Ledoux, landscapes and birds. # Bienfait, gilding. ^ Caton, pastoral subjects, children, portraits. ^ jj| Xzrowet, arabesques, flowers. ty^^r Sinsson, flowers, groups, wreaths. Buteux pere, flowers, emblems. Gomery, birds. 558 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. A Leguay, miniatures, children, Chinese subjects. Fontelliau, gilding. Mutel, landscapes. Rosset, landscapes, &c. <^ Evans, birds, butterflies, landscapes. Oardin, detached bouquets. f Thevenet pere, flowers, dial cases, groups. ^ Cornaille, detached bouquets, flowers. ^ Chulot, emblems, flowers, arabesques. yfyl Chavaux pere, gilding. ^ Catrice, flowers, detached bouquets. Choisy (De), flowers, arabesques. Anteaume, landscapes and animals. Bouchet, landscapes, figures, ornaments. Pouillot, detached bouquets. "^^S^ Aubert aine, flowers. o Sioux jeune, flowers and wreaths in camaieu. SOFT PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— SCEAUX.— ORLEANS. 559 • »« ••• 3*2 Tardy, detached bouquets. Tandart, groups of flowers, wreaths. Theodore, gilding. Fontaine, emblems, miniatures. Sioux aine", detached bouquets, wreaths. Raux, detached bouquets. M. 378. M. 379. Sceaux, 1753. — We have seen, p. 395, that faience was made at Sevres before porcelain; the date inscribed here has no certainty. What can be affirmed is that Chapelle rapidly obtained a soft paste, similar in appearance to that of Mennecy, and often rivalling in delicacy of decoration that of Sevres, only it is difficult to assign the limits ' where the works of Chapelle cease, and those of Glot, his suc- cessor, protected by the Due de Penthievre, begin. Birds upon a terrace, groups of Amorini in the clouds, graceful bouquets, are to be seen on pieces well worked and tolerably white. The mark always graved in the paste is S.X (M. 378), and more rarely an anchor (M. 379), in allusion to the High-Admiral of France, protector of the manufactory. Orleans, 1753. — We have said, p. 451, what were the beginnings of the royal manufactory of Orleans, and how the crowned mark appears to have been reserved for the "faience de terre blanche purifie'e." When Ge'rault-Daraubert thought of making soft porcelain, he adopted we know not why, a label of three points, under which is a C ^^-^> (M. 380). Yet the royal privilege was in force at that period C (1755), since, in 1771, it was extended for fifteen years. M - 380 - The soft porcelain of Orleans, first made with the clays of the environs of Paris, then with the earths of Saint-Mamers and of the Loire, *is white, translucent, and similar to those of Mennecy, Sceaux, &c. In some pieces, decorations have been absorbed in its fluid glaze ; in others they are enamelled on the surface with a pure bright cobalt. The largest piece we know belongs to Madame Heine. But probably there are many of no less importance among the anonymous works in collections. Natural and fancy flowers were also made here in large mmmm 560 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. quantities, but we have not seen any mounted piece that could be attributed to Orleans. Biscuit and painted groups and figures were also fabricated, but we do not know if this product has a part in soft paste. The M. 380 has been recently disputed ; in the latter years of his life M. Riocreux had ever taken the soft porcelains with the label out of the Orleans case to place them under the head of Crespy. A first objection presents itself: if the mark of the label is refused for Orleans soft paste, why admit it for hard ? But evidence is better than supposition ; let us open official docu- ments. 7th May 1777, when Monsieur visited the manufactory, a written order regulated the arrangement of the workshops ; we read : " In the room of the composition of the pastes. Rough materials for the four sorts of paste employed in the manufacture. Frits for the three first pastes. Alloys— with the earth of Beylen for the first — Paris marl for the second — earth of Saint-Mamers, near Chateau dun, for the third — the three first pastes are called by the public soft porcelain." In the table furnished to the Intendant the 8th J une following, we find this : " The birth of the royal manufactory established at Orleans is the 13th May 1753, under permission granted by the King for the space of 20 years; the 7th May 1773, the goodness of his Majesty prolonged his privilege for 15 years, because this manufactory had done nothing to make his fortune nor to give him a competency. The first earths employed came from Beylen, near Flanders; in 1755, from the environs of Paris, the end of 1756 from Saint-Mamers, near Chateaudun, with additions found near the Loire. Since 1764 it has added to its fabrication the earths of the Limousin, &c." It appears to us useless to extend these quotations, which place beyond all doubt the fabrication of soft porcelain of Orleans under its various forms. The substitution of the label for the royal crown is one of those facts that one accepts without seeking to explain. Etiolles, 1768. — A Sieur Monnier had obtained, in 1768, authori- sations to set up a manufactory of porcelain at Etiolles, near CorbeiL The mark deposited at Sevres (M. 381) consisted in the letters MP • united. In its first gropings Monnier tried soft porcelain, imi- tated from that of Saint-Cloud; we possess a little piece signed ; later he made hard paste. La Tour dAigues, 1773. — M. de Bruni, baron de la Tour d'Aigues, who had established in his chateau the remarkable manufactory of faience of which we have spoken at p. 464, solicited, in 1770, per- SOFT PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— ARRAS. 561 M. 382. mission to make porcelain. That he succeeded, there can be no doubt, for we have seen in private collections a certain number of specimens, both in soft and hard paste, marked with a tower (M. 382), which can only be attributed to this manufactory. One difficulty alone presents itself ; for soft porcelain, Peterynck of Tournay for some time affixed a tower to his products. The porcelain of la Tour d'Aigues appears to us well characterised by its style ; it has flowers and bouquets very well painted in bright enamels, resembling the style of Sevres ; it has, in a word, a very determinate French character. The pieces with the tower of Tournay are generally very translucent, and painted in enamels excessively pale and washy; birds upon terraces of a form and plumage completely imaginary, resembling the first epochs of Saxony, or the Chinese style of textiles and hangings of the eighteenth century. Bourg-la-Reine, 1773. — It is to this place that Jacques and Julien transferred the working stock of Mennecy. They continued r* there the same path as in the old establishment, only the J3'C mark, graved in the paste, was this (M. 383). M - 383 - Arras, 1784- — M. de Calonne, Intendant of Flanders and Artois, having been struck by the injury done to our ceramic establishments by the enormous importation of the common porcelain of Tournay, conceived the idea of entering into competition with the manufactory of the Low Countries, and furnished subsidies to the Demoiselles Deleneur, dealers in faience at Arras, to assist in setting up porcelain works. Success did not crown the undertaking; the products, generally beautiful, could not be delivered at a price sufficiently low to contend in the market with the porcelain of Tournay. After four or five years the establishment closed, its /4r\. mark (M. 384) consisted in the letters A R, sometimes ^ j ah accompanied by a decorator's cipher. M 384. Valenciennes, 1785.— A specimen of soft porcelain, made no doubt as a trial piece, has issued from this manufactory, which was specially devoted to kaolinic pottery. It is in the collection of Dr. Lejeal. The establishments of which we have just given the chronological list are not the only ones in France who T^q *i T> • Q have tried the employment of soft paste ; the success of the Chicanneaus at Saint- Cloud must have excited the emulation of M. 385. many industrials, and we find upon the paste of this manufactory, and with its decoration, the various marks we give here (M. 38o). 2 o 6 fit. 4. d 562 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Saucer " trembleuse," style of Saint-Cloud. Cup and saucer, a lambrequins, edge threaded, not in- dented. Covered sugar basin, decorated with arabesque borders of lozenges, and vases in the Saxon style, in fine blue, upon a yellow paste, split, and badly fired. Numerous similar small pieces for the toilet. Toilet pot in the Mennecy style. ^ •£ Cuvette with edge cut out and lace-work edged with 2 pink jags and scallops; decoration of bouquets of flowers, Mennecy style. Now if we are to give credit to the Memoirs of Bost-d' Antic, published in 1780, soft porcelain will have been made at Moustiers, in the Lower Alps, conjointly with faience. What we can assert is that little coolers (seaux a rafraichir), quite in the form of those of Saint- Cloud, and decorated in warm colours with a Chinese landscape, have been given to us by the late M. Allegre as certainly of southern origin ; the pieces having been in the family of their possessor since the period of their creation, and having remained in the south, whence M. Allegre brought them to Paris. Artificial Soft Porcelain. Foreign Manufactories. Touenay, Belgium. — The Sieur Peterynck, a native of Lille, re- sumed in 1748 the manufactory of faience which Pierre Francois Joseph Fauquez directed at Tournay. This last, proprietor of an establishment at Saint-Amand, desiring to remain a French subject, left Tournay when the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle deprived France of this city. But Peterynck had high aspirations, he sought to establish soft porcelain in Belgium, and, the 3rd April 1751, he obtained, for thirty years, the privilege for working a manufacture of porcelain, faience, English stoneware and Rouen brown ware. The paste of Peterynck, and it is this which caused the immense success of his products, differs a little from that of the French work- shops ; it is a mixture of argillaceous marl and potter's clay having SOFT PORCELAIN.— BELGIUM.— TOURNA Y. 563 a frit for flux ; it has in consequence great tenacity, and resists wear. Preoccupied with what was doing around him, Peterynck varied the form of his works ; the first resemble the primitive Saxon style ; with pale enamels, almost washy, he executed imaginary birds sitting upon a terrace or upon conventionalised flowers ; it is works of this kind which have the tower, sometimes accompanied by two swords ^. with little crosses (M. 386^) in the corners, which later becomes the mark of the manufactory. It is necessary to establish here *V^N a distinction : the tower of which we have just spoken, similar M. 386. to that figured page 561, is quite an exception; another much more frequent (M. 387), and known in commerce as the " tour aux oiseaux," marks selected pieces of the first ,J[X», and second epochs. M - 387 - The second system is a compromise between Oriental art and Saxon decoration ; there are Chinese flowers and figures in bright colours, among which an intense iron red predominates. Later, we find charming flowers in the German and French taste, or even complete imitations of Sevres pieces. The collections of the Brussels amateurs are very rich in the exceptional works of Tournay ; it is there we must study them to appreciate fully the merit of the Flemish ceramic artists. The wares for common use were not marked, unless with the letters of a series, for the convenience of orders. Marieberg, Sweden. — A workman went from one of the little French manufactories to carry his knowledge to Sweden. The works he produced are so conformable to the type that we only arrive at distinguishing them by means of a mark, composed of M and B united (M. 388). Sevres possesses a specimen of this curious ^ fabrication, and there were several at the Universal Exhibi- J tion. The Gasnault Collection has several soft paste pieces M - 388 - of Marieberg, some with the customary cipher graved in the paste, the others marked with a brush in pink solely with the initial M (M. 389) ; this last is under a little statuette, glazed and •^f* 1VT 389 painted in colours in the style of the statuettes of Mennecy. Hence we may suppose that it is in this manufactory that the emigrant artist acquired his ceramic education. Nuremberg, Bavaria.— This is a manufactory whose existence would appear to us doubtful, were it not affirmed by M. von Holfers, Director of the Museum of Berlin. It is a known potter, Christopher 2 2 564 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Marz, whose products we have described at page 495, who founded this establishment with the assistance of Conrad Romeli. This is at least what is set forth in inscriptions upon two, among six plaques, of soft porcelain in the Royal Museum of Prussia, but which we have not seen. Now, what has been published concerning these plaques can but excite suspicion and make one adjourn a definitive judgment ; four of them represent evangelists, the two others, the portraits of the two potters, with this mention : Herr Ghristoph Marz, anf anger dieser allherrlichen nurnbergeschen Porcelaine-faberique. An. 1712, JEtatis suae 60. "Mr. Christopher Marz, founder of this magnificent Nuremberg fabric of porcelain. The year 1712, of his age the 60th year." In the first place, Marz, born in 1660, was only 52 in 1712. But to pass to the second. The plaque with the portrait of Romeli shows us other inscriptions ; at several pages distant, we have two readings of the legend : HerrJohann Conradt Romeli, anfdnger dieser allhiesigen Porcelaine-faberique, an. 1712. In Gott verschieden, an. 1720. Jftatis suce 1672. Nilrnberg, Georg. Tauber, bemahlt, anno 1720, 22 november. " Mr. John Conrad Romeli, founder of the manufactory of porcelain in this place, the year 1712. Died in God, the year 1720, of his age the 1672nd year. Nurem- berg, George Tauber painted in the year 1720, 22nd November." In the second version we find : jEtatis suw 16 M. "The sixteenth month of his age." There is nothing to choose between these inscriptions, the reading is so ridiculous that we must wait a correct copy to discuss its terms. It does not suffice, like Mr. Chaffers, to pass over the inex- plicable passages, and to admit without examination a fact whose historic importance would be great, if it could be justified. With the present elements the question cannot be solved. How ! two ceramists have worked in common from 1712 to 1720, one of those has survived his partner eleven years, and, during this time, only six plaques of a new and interesting product have been issued from the establishment! This is improbable, we may say impossible; Marz, possessor of the secret, Tauber, who attests the magnificence of the process, would not have let it die in obscurity when all Europe was pursuing the discovery. Natural Soft Porcelain. Natural Soft Porcelain or English. There is no science without order and method ; the special character of the English porcelain is the union of natural or kaolinic elements SOFT PORCELAIN.— ENGLAND.— CHELSEA. 565 with sands, silica, the marls and vitreous glasses which constitute artificially soft pottery. True, the employment of these various sub- stances has been imagined successively; at first, English porcelain was purely artificial. Alex. Brongniart has rendered a service in distinguishing this ceramic composition from its congeners. How the manufacture began is rather difficult to say. There, as in many other countries, undecorated pieces from the East have been carefully studied, and before imitating their paste, it has been tried to ornament them with enamel colours. We know many specimens of those mixed works, and one in M. Bigot's collection reproduces the same paintings upon a soft trial piece, of an excessive transparency, approaching vitrification. Unfortunately, there are no indications to enable us to give a known centre, and it remains doubtful whether it is Bow or Chelsea which may claim the invention of English translucent pottery. Bow or Stratford-le-bow. — With many writers this manufactory ranks first in date ; its works are of a coarsish paste, not very white, nor lending itself to painting ; it is in its reliefs and simple camaieux that the artists have produced their effect. Little milk-jugs of twisted form with a bee, often well modelled, are generally considered to be typical of this manufacture. A bowl made by Thomas Craft, one of the painters of the establish- ment, departs from this constant idea and imitates the Japanese style ; a note annexed to the piece gives its date (1760), with curious details upon the works, which were directed by Messrs. Crowther ,0 and Weatherby until about 1790. The nearly certain Bow marks are here given (M. 390) : M. 390. Chelsea appears nevertheless to claim priorit}' for translucent pottery; to our idea, it is from there that issued those over- decorations of Oriental pieces. Mr. A. W. Franks restores even to Chelsea the bee jug assigned to Bow, since, with a triangle, a mark attributed to Bow, we find " Chelsea, 1745." At this period, the works flourished under the direction of a commercial company ; according to some traditions, the Elers will not have been strangers to its foundation about 1730. From 1750 to 1765, it had attained its full perfection under the direction of a foreigner, M. Sprdmont. Its groups and orna- mental vases may rival the most elegant productions of France and Saxony. The first works of Chelsea do not appear to have been marked ; later, an anchor (M. 391a) was the habitual sign, sometimes in 566 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. relief in the paste, and surrounded by a circle, sometimes painted in 2- *p red or gold under various forms. A triangle and a kind ^ b of cross (M. 3916) accompanying the anchor are less common. M. 391. Derby. — Duesbury appears to have founded this manu- factory in 1750, employing workmen and artists from Bow and ^2jv Chelsea. In 1770, the two manufactories of Derby and Chelsea were united. The first works of Derby are said to have been M.392. marked with a D ; later, at their union, the same letter crossed by the anchor (M. 392) ; towards 1780, Duesbury adopted, under the 4. nam e of Crown Derby (M. 393a), the crown and cross \g£ swords, which were continued by Bloor, successor to the & ^ Duesburys, until 1830. Derby has made fine porce- M.393a. M.393&. lains an( * statuettes which have nothing to fear by com- parison with the groups of Saxony or Sevres. M. 3936 is probably a Chelsea mark when the elder Duesbury had the manufactory. Worcester.— It is to Dr. Wall, a distinguished chemist, who had occupied himself in making researches to discover the materials for porcelain, that this manufactory owes its foundation, in 1751, under the name of the Worcester Porcelain Company. Soft paste was made here. Dr. Wall died in 1776; he is said to have invented transfer printing, by means of which he imitated the blue Oriental porcelain. The first works of Worcester are of a yellowish paste, but creamy, and harmonising well with the bright colours of the Oriental palette ; most of them have a chequer mark M.394a. M.3946. ( M< 3 94a and 394& n i m i ta ted from the Oriental. Pieces made under Dr. Wall's direction bear his initial (M. 395). The ordi- x nary and earliest mark is the open crescent /p> (M. 396). M. 397 is attributed to Richard (1/ \^ Rt Holdship. In 1783, Mr. Thomas Flight having M. 395. M. 396. M. 397. . _ , 43 bought the works, joined his name to the crescent; the King visited the manufactory in 1788, when the crown was added to the mark. In 1793, Flight and Barr, being proprietors, signed their names, surmounted by the crown. Caughley, near Broseley. — This manufacture of Shropshire goes back to a date anterior to 1756. The first known specimens are M- 398 ' rather rudimentary, but it was not till 1776, when carried on y0 by Turner, a distinguished chemist and good rv» 4f f/fc fj\ draughtsman, that it rose to eminence. The marks ^vj O of Caughley are very various (M. 398). The word M - 399- " Salopian " or an S. is of frequent occurrence, SOFT PORCELAIN.— ENGLAND.— WORCESTER. 567 and the Arabic numerals (M: 399), with nourishes to conceal them, occur in specimens with Oriental designs. A crescent (M. 400) filled in, is also attributed to Caughley, but there is often confusion in ^ this mark with that of Worcester, where the Shropshire white '_^f 1 m M. 400. pieces were decorated. In 1799, the works of Caughley having become the property of Mr. John Rose, were transferred to Coalport. Plymouth. — William Cookworthy, who had seen in the hands of an American, some porcelain stones found in Virginia, set about studying the English soil, and found, near Helston, in 1755, true kaolin ; shortly afterwards, St. Austell furnished him with petunse, so that, about 1760, he was able to set up, at the expense of Lord Camelford, works which obtained, in 1768, a special patent. Cookworthy, in 1774, sold his patent to Mr. Richard Champion, and the Plymouth works ceased. The mark of Plymouth (M. 401) is the astronomical figure for Jupiter, one of the ancient chemical signs, sometimes accompanied by ciphers. M - 401 - Stoke-upon-Tkent. — Mr. Thomas Minton, pupil of Turner, founded, in this place, about 1791, a manufactory of porcelain '"V""* which has acquired immense proportions, justified by the excellence of its products. T. Minton's mark is this M. 402. (M. 402) : Bristol. — Richard Champion, a merchant of this city, set up a manufactory of hard paste, as soon as he had acquired the patent of Cookworthy, and joined this fabrication to that he was already carrying on at Castle Green. The product, though remarkable, was not remunerative, and in 1777, Champion sold his patent. ~J The usual mark of Bristol is a cross, often accompanied M 40 3. by dates and letters. M. 403 is also a Bristol mark. We refer the reader to the books of Mr. Marryat and Mr. Chaffers, abundant in details we could not enter into, in a comprehensive work like ours. Mixed or Italian Porcelain. Hybrid or Mixed Porcelains. This name has been given by Alex. Brongniart to the translucent potteries of Italy and Spain, most, of them composed of a clay very different from granitic kaolin, and of which some have for infusible element, a magnesite. Tuscany, as has been shown, has the glory of 568 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. attempting, in the sixteenth century, the production of translucent pottery ; the germs of this invention rapidly expanded, and there is no doubt the ceramic history of Italy will shortly acquire unexpected development. Doccia. — It is in the environs of the town, and in a palace built upon the site of the house of the sculptor Bandinelli, that the Marquis Carlo Ginori founded, in 1735, this important manufactory. The first essays are brownish (bis), split (fendilles), granulous and decorated in blackish blue with open-work patterns: it is the infancy of the art. But when the chemist Charles Wandelheim is appointed director of the works, the paste becomes purified, and skilful modellers execute delicate subjects in bas-relief ; painters animate these compositions by the assistance of a soft, masterly colouring ; and, from that time, the path of the establishment is marked out, it is specialised in the pro- duction of plaques and vases in relief. In 1757, Carlo Ginori died, and was replaced by his son, the Senator Lorenzo, who considerably developed the establishment, and gave to commerce statues, groups, and pieces of large dimensions. His successors, Carlo Leopoldo and others, kept up the prosperity of the establishment. The names of the modellers transmitted to us are Gaspero and Giuseppe Bruschi and Giuseppe Ettel : painters for miniatures, Rigacci and Giovan Battista Fanciulacci ; for landscapes, Antonio Smeraldi, Giovan Giusti, Carlo Ristori ; and for flowers, Antonio Villaresi. The Doccia mark is a star with six rays (M. 404), taken from the fa Ginori arms, but the present potters have tarnished its lustre by applying it to counterfeits of ancient productions. Collectors M - m - can only buy in doubt pieces inscribed with this sign. Doccia now inundates Europe with spurious majolica of the sixteenth century, and with false porcelain of Capo di Monte, of which she possesses the moulds. Yineuf, near Turin.— We will speak further on of this manufactory, because it has principally produced hard paste, although it is not certain that magnesian clays do not enter also into its composition. Le Nove, near Bassano.— We have already said to what perfection this Lombard establishment carried faience. Its porcelain is no less remarkable ; we have seen in the Reynolds Collection a bowl (ecuelle) covered with figure subjects of remarkable execution. Jardinieres, no less beautiful, have the arms of the Tiepoli and other illustrious families. But the most important piece is an " eventail jardiniere " of Sevres form, with rich gilded mouldings and sides, the medallions con- SOFT PORCELAIN.— ITAL Y. 569 taining views of Venice, animated by groups of promenaders and Oriental merchants. Underneath is : Gio ni . Marconi pinxi, n£ and then the Mark 405. Would it, as at Sevres, be an • / Cfr^ r r r , allusion to the comet of 1769? The ordinary mark is a J^LU^LtL M. 405. star of six rays. The first works of Le Nove go back to the year 1752, when Pasquale Antonibon sent for a certain Sigismond Fischer from Dresden to construct a porcelain oven in the Saxon manner. In 1762, Antonibon submitted specimens of his products to the Chamber of Commerce, and petitioned for certain advantages and privileges. He had to contend by the excellence of his productions against the rivalry of the Venetian manufactory of Cozzi. The establishment which succeeded to that of Pasquale Antonibon was directed by Giovanni Baroni, to whom we owe some remarkable works. The primitive mark of Le Nove is a star of six rays, generally traced in red or gold, and accompanied sometimes with the name Nove. The name alone is also met with, but rarely. We found this inscription of the last epoch : Fabbrica Baroni, Nove ; or, again, 0. B. Nove, signify- ing Giovanni Baroni, at Le Nove. Venice. — Here is a manufactory whose translucent potteries ought perhaps to take rank after those of the Medicis. It will be remembered what we have said, page 298, concerning the offer made by Duke Alfonso to a Venetian artist to come to make porcelain in his States. No doubt the secrets of the old man were not lost, for we find vases of Venetian porcelain stamped with the ornamentation characteristic of the seventeenth century. The most important of these is a hunting bottle belonging to Baron Dejean, others form part of the collection of the Due de Martina. The paste is brownish and granulous, but lends itself to the most delicate modelling and is well glazed. The decoration in black and gold is of excessively delicate execution ; the gold is in relief. It is the pure metal which ceramic artists call " ducat gold." With these elements, the Venetians have represented mythological subjects surrounded by arabesques, chequered grounds, baldachins with rich pendants, in the pure style of Louis XIV. The manufactory which has produced this last, is the earliest in date, and has remained a long time, for we see again its works ornamented with polychrome Chinese paintings in bright tints, and with bouquets of peculiar taste, of which this charming ecuelle (Fig. 135) will give a correct idea. But, works in relief, statuettes, candelabra, show us quite a different porcelain, almost as transparent as it is vitreous, and • .■*fsm:±-V'.i" \W e . <4+ vi 'A.*kt m~ All ■ v I «V Ham .ae...!t/n*il«iiii Mi*. ..Mt.... .ir.%8% 57o HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. which would appear to come from a workshop different from the first ; its date is old, and we connect with it a lovely cup decorated in pink cama'ieu, with a figure of Autumn ; borders of flowers and birds, style Louis XIII., would appear to indicate the epoch, and the inscription traced underneath tells us: Lodouico'Ortolani veneto dipins nellafabrica di Porcelana in Veneti. . . . After the notices published by Sir William Drake, these various works will have issued from a manufactory founded in 1720 to 1740 under the name of Casa eccellentissima Vezzi, and situated at San Nicolo. Fier. 135. ECUELLE, VENETIAN PORCELAIN. — COLL. DUKE DE MARTINA. In 1765, the Senate granted to Gimminiano Cozzi, in contrada di San Giobbe, a patent and subsidies for the creation of another manu- factory of porcelain, he had discovered at Tretto, near Vicenza, the necessary elements for its production. The abridged formula of Ven a for Venezia (M. 406), sometimes v ornamented with tasteless strokes seeming to belong to ty/0fl^ ^ ne Casa V ezz i I ^ is t° the Casa Cozzi that we must ' ^ attribute the anchor (M. 407a) traced in red, some- times accompanied by the initials of the decorator. The letters GM, which occur on a piece in the Reynolds Collection, are attributed to the painter M.407a. M.407&. Giovanni Marcone. Those of M. Paul Gasnault and our own contain this other cipher VF (M. 4076), which we do not seek to explain, but which certain interpreters would boldly translate as Vezzi fabbrica, without occupying themselves with the style of decoration and the probable date of fabrication. The formula Venetia seems to belong to the first marked pieces issued by the establishment, it is rarer than the anchor. Este. — The Marquis d'Azeglio and Mr. Reynolds possess pieces inscribed with this name, and which have certain analogies with the SOFT PORCELAIN.— ITALY.— CAPO DI MONTE. 571 porcelain of Naples, large sauce tureens in relief, with the handle terminating in a female bust ; the stand, in the form of a shell, is relieved by corals brightly coloured in red. Baron Davillier, who has collected documents upon this manufactory, is about to publish a work anxiously expected. Naples. — It is at Capo di Monte that Charles III. formed, in 1736, a workshop for the fabrication of soft porcelain, a workshop whose products have nothing in common with those of Germany, but are essentially national ; if Queen Amelia of Saxony was disposed to take a lively interest in ceramic works, Charles III. yielded in nothing to her, and even worked himself personally with his artists. The first porcelains of Capo di Monte are such a perfect imitation of the finest Japanese products, that one might mistake the nationality of those which are not inscribed with this sign ~t\ (M. 408), the only one first used. Later, a fleur de lis was M - 408 - substituted (M. 409), but we must carry a sound criticism to the examination of porcelain thus signed, for some are k - Neapolitan, the others Spanish; the two first jJC "W* marks are in blue, the others in relief, obtained a & by a seal. M. 409. The works of a style essentially Neapolitan are specialised by forms a little elaborated, and by reliefs, in which are introduced corals, shells, and marine plants. A room in the palace at Portici shows all the resources Neapolitan artists had found in ceramics for the highest ornamentation. A bracket (console) at Sevres will give an idea of these decorations to those who cannot accomplish the journey to Naples. The name of a modeller Giordano is upon a figure in the Fortnum collection, and that of Apiello under some statuettes of peasants and peasant women. In 1759, when Charles III. left the throne of the Two Sicilies for that of Spain, he took with him the great part of the staff of the porce- lain works, leaving to his third son, Ferdinand IV., the succession of Naples, and the care of restoring the ceramic manufactory. What passed then ? Was the new sovereign less a lover of art than his fa- ther ? Had he the idea of making new experi- . ments ? We find with his cipher (M. 410a), or with the crowned initial of the name of the town (M. 4106, 410c), works so different in nature and style, that one would think they came out of different workshops. The charming cup (Fig. 136), inscribed with the monogram FRF (fabbrica #11. N b M. 410. 572 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Reale Ferdinando), is the sequel of the traditions of Charles III. ; their works. This hastened the ruin of Capo di Monte, which sank definitively during the political crisis of 1821. Spain. — It is in the gardens of the Buen Retiro, at Madrid, that Charles III. set up the workshops in which he installed the thirty -two workmen and artists he had brought from Naples ; there, in secret, and by means of the ancient models, they continued the fabrication of porcelain almost similar to that of Italy, and which often, as we have before said, differed from it not even by the mark. If yet M.4H. there is one which may be considered special to Spain, it is two Cs crossed (M. 411), which must not be confounded with the mark of Count Custine, or of Ludwigsburg. Alcoea — Appears also to have had its manufactory ; it is men- tioned by the Marquis de Laborde, in his " Yoyage en Espagne." What is most curious is that Baron Davillier has seen in Spain the model in earthenware of a porcelain oven, with this mention : — Module de FOUR POUR LA PORSELENE NATURE LE, FAIT PAR HALY POUR M. LE comte d'Aranda. Alcora, se 29 Juin 1756. If this refers to natural or kaolinic porcelain, the attempt of Spain would have preceded that of Sevres. Gerona. — Messrs. Marryat and Chaffers give, under this name, a piece they attribute to Gerona, near Milan ; we ask ourselves if it does not relate to a Spanish porcelain made for the town of Girona, in Catalonia. Indeed, the name is written, not under the piece, but beneath a shield, of which the helmet bears a legend thus conceived : — Antesta muerte que consentir ouir fun tirano. It would appear to us, then, not impossible that this may have come from Buen Retire CAPO DI MONTE PORCELAIN. Fig. 136. other works of the same mark, with subjects of Italian comedies, are of a singularly vitreous nature ; lastly, the crowned N is to be often found upon mixed or hard porcelain, imitating the style of Sevres. Yet, Ferdinand IV., from his accession, had favoured the establishment of manufactories rivals of his own, and had even furnished workmen to secure the success of HA RD PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— STRASB URG. 57 B.—REAL OR HARD PORCELAIN. French Hard Porcelain. France. The invention of real or hard porcelain is less within the domain of ceramic industry than of geology ; there — no efforts of imagination, of creation properly so called ; the felspathic rock must be had ; the rest comes from oneself. Therefore, in Germany as in France, the true merit of the ceramist has been in the discovery of new potteries ; por- celain produced herself naturally the day when people, strangers to science, had laid their hand upon the sought-for clay. Strasburg, 1721. — About 1719, John Henry Wackenfeld, a Ger- man, native of Anspach, a deserter from the workshops of Germany, came to seek the assistance of the magistrates to set up in that city a manufactory of porcelain. The first attempts having produced no results, the stranger entered into partnership with Charles Francois Hannong, principal of a pipe manufactory then transformed into an earthenware establishment. But the arrangement did not last long; Wackenfeld disappeared, and Hannong remained alone in relation with the Strasburg authorities. In 1724, he had already obtained results, then he had to defend himself against his detractors ; two years later, he offered to the guild of masons, of which he was a member, three dozens of plates, two salad-bowls, and three large dishes of fine white porcelain. He died 29th April 1739, leaving his son Paul Antoine to continue the work he had begun ; he then, in his turn, put himself into relation with Bingler, a German deserter, and having attached to his works a painter named Lowenfinck, was able to produce a good porcelain, of which the fame reached Vincennes, and raised up the jealousy of the " undertakers ; " to shelter himself from proceedings, Paul Hannong claimed the profit of his invention, solicited a privilege for making hard paste, which was refused him ; he then offered to Boileau to sell him the secret of his fabrication, and an agreement with this view was passed between them the 1st September 1753 ; but not having concluded the arrangement, a decree of 1754 obliged Hannong to destroy his furnaces, and it is then he transferred his industry to Frankenthal, in the Palatinate. Later, his eldest son, Joseph Adam, remained proprietor of the faience works at Strasburg, and thinking himself sheltered by the decree 574 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. of Council of 1766, restored the making of porcelain, and continued it until the moment when the death of Cardinal de Rohan, his protector, brought him to ruin. All this Strasburg porcelain, had it the right of calling itself French ? One may doubt it, since it was made with materials foreign to the soil ; such was even the cause of the rupture between the Hannongs and Sevres. The first attempts of Charles are so vitreous, from excess of felspar, that they might be taken for glass ; Fig. 137. , the only decorating colour is pale fluid gold red. One piece only, in our possession (Fig. 137), is marked H. H (M. 412), the trial piece M ' 412, given by us to Sevres has no mark. salt-cellar, strasburg hard poR- The porcelain of Paul Antoine is CELAIN BY CH. HANNONG.— COLL. , „™PU,a „nA InlavoWxr jacquemart. much more perfect, and tolerably white ; it is decorated with bouquets painted in the Saxon style ; the lines of the edge, generally violet, are sj\ ST*) hollowed in the paste. The marks are (M. 413 a, b). A ''I * ^0 cream-pot with border of gold, seme" with detached bou- a b quets of flowers in green, heightened with brown, bears the customary H (M. 414a), graved in the paste. Some ]^ specimens, particularly careful in painting, and deli- J cately worked, have the letters PH impressed in the paste M. 414. (M. 4146). We have seen the same mark impressed under statuettes near the cursive signature applied in blue. As to Joseph Adam, he made all kinds ; the camaieu with animals (Sevres style), bouquets, &c. His marks are often accompanied by the numbers of the series, as in faience ; but an examination of these marks reveals a curious fact — it is that the numbers belong to two series ; the first, applied in blue, correspond no doubt to the index of forms, since it is the potter who applied them, with the J-{ marks of the manufactory, for the " grand feu " firing ; the (i,™9 refer to the series of decorations, and are placed by the M. 415. painters. Paris, 1758. — The Count de Brancas Lauraguais was one of those who pursued most obstinately the secret of hard paste, and he was the first to discover, in the environs of Alencon, a true kaolin. This im- HARD PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— PARIS. 575 k6 x ° r • iy 6 4 M. 416. perfect rock only gave a brownish porcelain, but fine enough to lend itself to the most delicate reliefs, and the ceramist, a great lord, used it first to make medallions in bas relief, the grain of which is excessively close, and the enamel unequal and granulous ; the first dated piece is oval, and represents a countryman half-length, in the style of Teniers, holding a pipe and a pot of beer ; long hair surrounds his laughing face, which is seen three-quarters, and he wears a soft hat and feather. On the reverse is the date, graved in the paste, Octo- ber 1764 (M. 416). This piece belongs to M. Gasnault. Another circular medallion in the Museum at Rouen, reproduces the bust of Louis XV. by Nini ; its enamel, rather purer, gives it the appearance of a fine stoneware, or of certain porce- lain of Frankenthal. This time, (M. 417) the date, September 7th, 1768, is accompanied by two sig- natures; the one LB is that of Lauraguais, the other is composed of thelet- ters LR. Would it be the cipher of the modeller ? It is known the Court employed a workman of the name of Legay, but it is not impossible he had other assistants. There is at Sevres a medallion in the style of that of Rouen, and the Strawberry Hill catalogue informs us besides, that Lauraguais had made the statuette reproduction of the Bacchus of Michael Angelo. ' But sculpture was not his sole preoccupation, and, as indicate besides, the memoirs preserved in the archives of Sevres, he arrived at reproducing with equal perfection the decorated porcelains of China, Japan, and the Indies. A curious plate, belonging to M. Jules Vallet, is in effect decorated with enamels in relief in the Chinese style. In the circumference are three bouquets of nelumbos, tolerably faithfully imitated. In the centre, upon a rock of peculiar blue, are bou- quets, one of myosotis outlined with pink; the second having a large flower in the Oriental style, relieved with touches of iron- red; the third formed of branches with green leaves. This rare specimen, signed with the cipher (M. 418), is of a less dark paste M. 417. 576 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. than the medallions ; its appearance, and the enamels which decorate it, have enabled us to determine an unsigned cup belonging to us, which Ave have ranged among the trial pieces; of a tolerable porcelain, and well worked, it has been decorated in imitation of the products of the East India Company. The roses are passably copied ; but a large flower, truthfully inspired by the Oriental chrysanthemums, shows a taste in which we cannot fail to recognise a French hand ; the edges of the cup and of the saucer are of the blue enamel which form the rock of the plate described above. Certainly, we cannot say the porcelains of Lauraguais are irre- proachable, yet he touched the solution of the problem so ardently sought, and one can understand his despair when the progress of events, and the successive discoveries of Guettard and of Macquer came to deprive him of the fruit of his labour, and destroy the dreams he had founded for the success of his various experiments. The only wrong we can reproach him with, is to have attacked without consideration, Guettard, a learned explorer like himself, when he announced to the Academy of Sciences the real discovery he had made, after multiplied experiments due to the initiative of the Duke of Orleans, and to the subsidies which he granted to those who laboured in his laboratory at Bagnolet. Orleans, 1764. — Gerault was not satisfied with the two ceramic pastes worked from 1753 (see p. 359); in 1764, according to his de- claration, he began to combine with them the making of hard porcelain, after having purchased a mine of kaolin of Saint- Yrieix-la-Perche. The frit of his pottery is white, translucent, and well worked, and the ^ decoration rich; the finest specimens are marked with a M. 419. label (M. 419) in gold, or in blue in the ordinary wares. The statuary of Orleans must have had a certain development, to judge from the staff of sculptors, modellers or restorers. We have before mentioned Jean Louis, who first began working the purified earth ; Bernard Huet, Jean Louis Malfart, Pierre Renault, Toussaint Macherot, and Claude Roger worked at faience and porcelain. Important groups in biscuit, others glazed and painted, are mentioned as current products. At the Universal Exhibition was a fine water-pot of rare form, and brown ground, fired in the porcelain furnace, belonging to Baron Davillier. Bourdon fils, Piedor, Dubois, and Le Brim succeeded Gerault. We find pieces by Le Brun signed LB in a cursive cipher interlaced, sten- cilled on the piece. HARD PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— ORLEANS. 577 Bagnolet, 1765. — The Duke of Orleans, possessor of a laboratory at Bagnolet, made the chemist Guettard work there ; the latter succeeded in discovering the kaolinic rock at Alencon, already known to Laura- guais, and having thus obtained hard porcelain, he presented it, the 13th November 1765, to the Academy of Sciences, in support of a memoir upon the elements of real porcelain. This publication, immoderately attacked by the Comte de Lauraguais, gave a new direction to the efforts of industry, and was the signal for the foundation of several manufactories. Gros-Caillou, 1765.— In 1702, a Swiss, named Jacques Louis Broilliet, had deposited at Sevres, with the declaration of the opening of a new establishment, his mark, which was to be L. B. (M. 420). But his privilege was specially for crucibles, retorts, and *J?/^r) other chemical apparatus. Yet, about 1765, he tried to ^ ' make hard porcelain resisting fire ; in 1767, he had not M. 420. yet succeeded, and everything leads to believe that he never gave his pottery to commerce. Marseilles, 1765.— At this date, Honors' Savy, maker of faience at Marseilles, applied for leave to extend his manufacture to porcelain. The 24th April 1768, the minister Bertin caused him to be answered by sending him the Restriction Act of 1766, and the memoir of Guet- tard. Restrained by the difficulties opposed to him, Savy probably did not produce any translucent pottery, although he is designated in the ' Marseillais Guide ' as maker of enamelled faience and porcelain. Marseilles, 1766.— Joseph Gaspard Robert, another maker of faience, was more daring or more fortunate ; for when, in 1777, Monsieur, Comte de Provence (afterwards Louis XVIII.), visited Marseilles, he found the manufactory in full activity, and some large vases decorated with sculp- tures in relief, bouquets of flowers, and whole services ordered for abroad. The Marseilles porcelain is known to us by specimens preserved at Sevres, and in the collection of Baron Davillier ; it is white, well worked, and painted with talent in medallions with figures, ^ maritime sites and landscapes, and bouquets of very elegant f\ flowers. The mark is like that of the faience, a monogram m 42 l composed of an R with a point upon the first stroke, or an R only (M. 421). We have found this last upon a white sugar- X) basin of fine paste, having only an indented border of gold. vt\ Another piece, rather well characterised as Marseilles porce- M - 422 - lain, had this more complicated monogram (M. 422), which seems to unite the two Christian names of Robert, although the G is not very correctly drawn. 2 p 578 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART, There is another cipher on a rather elegant teapot we possess, with ir jy ribbons and flowers, of which we have seen several similar 'XL (M. 423). Mr. Chaffers asserts having seen it upon pieces of M. 423. undoubtedly Marseilles decoration, and he proposes to read Robert fils or Robert frere. We have never found any document to justify such a reading, and our piece, thin, very vitreous, differs essen- tially from the other vases of Robert. We maintain, then, that this cipher is unexplained, and should be placed among the unknown marks. Vincennes, 1767.— A decree, issued the 31st December of this year, in favour of a Sieur Maurin des Aubiez, had for object to allow Pierre Antoine Hannong to try hard porcelain, of which he had not been able to sell the secret to Sevres ; trials took place, but they ended in nothing, and the parties concerned closed the workshop before it had sent out any commercial product. Sevees, 1768. — Among the establishments ambitious of producing hard paste, the royal manufactory should hold the first rank. Having been unable at the price of money to buy the secret of Paul Hannong, it persecuted him ; a second treaty with Pierre Antoine was annulled in default of the indication in France of the primitive material. The same cause, made in 1767, Limprun, a Bavarian deserter, to be dismissed who had offered to make known the composition of German porcelain. At last, chance came to the assistance of France ; Madam Darnet, wife of a surgeon of Saint- Yrieix-la-Perche, found in a ravine a white unctuous earth, which appeared to her fit for washing linen ; she showed it to her husband, who, more versed in the questions of the moment, suspected that this might be the clay they sought for. He ran to an apothecary at Bordeaux, named Villaris, who recognised it to be kaolin. They took up specimens, which were transmitted to the chemist Mac- quer of Sevres. He went to Saint- Yrieix in August 1765, and after repeated experiments, was able to read to the Academy, in June 1769, a complete memoir upon French hard porcelain, and to exhibit perfect types. The first products of Sevres, abundant in felspar, and very trans- lucent, resembled so much soft paste, that to distin- ct guish it, it was marked with the double L, and ^ JXL surmounted h J a crown. The mark given here ¥ M>°^ (M. 424) is taken from a fine cup belonging to us, M. 424. M. 425. and w hi c h i s nly decorated with gold in relief of the most powerful effect. We have found this other signature (M. 425) HARD PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— SEVRES. 579 upon a piece painted in polychrome colours, with detached bouquets of singular make, and executed in hatches, as if to obtain the modelling. The royal cipher is thrown cursively in blue under the glaze, the painter's mark traced by the side in violet rose. It does not appear among the known monograms. It looks like an M, of which the last down strokes form a B. What establishes a very appreciable difference between the two products is the painting. Upon the soft paste, as we have seen, the oxides penetrate the glaze ; in the hard paste the decorating enamel remains on the surface, only adhering by the flux; hence, more vigour perhaps, but also more dryness, and the inconvenience of the wear by rubbing. During the end of the reign of Louis XVI. the two translucent potteries at Sevres kept nearly in the same rank. It was reserved to Brongniart to render illustrious hard paste to the prejudice of artificial pottery. 'The largest pieces were undertaken, and sculpture and painting united to enrich gigantic vases. Plaques of forty-six by thirty-six inches were given to distinguished artists, who reproduced in unalterable colours the frescoes of Raffaele, the masterpieces of Vandyke, Titian, and of the modern school. The valuable series of these paintings is one of the wonders contained in the manufactory, and there is ground for hoping that these curious works will be taken out of the sale-room, where they have no title to be, as they are not for sale, and be passed into the Ceramic Museum, where they will complete the history of the national establishment. We have said, page 552, what was the system of the Sevres marks from 1753 to 1792. From this epoch to 1800 the letters of the year stop ; the letters RF, united in a cipher, or separate and placed above the word SfcvRES, were employed indiscriminately till 1799. At the end of this year the republic ciphers disappear — the name Sbvres, laid on with a brush, exists alone. In 1801 (year IX) they placed T9 ; in 1802 (year X) X; in 1803 (year XI) 11. Towards this epoch and during the Consular period were stencilled in red the words (M. 426); the sign placed le. under the name indicates 1804. In 1805 this /K was substituted, and in 1806 this other ; but a new ScVrCS stencilling (M. 427) surmounts it, to express the begin- M - 426 - ning of the Imperial era. From 1810 to the abdication, the Imperial eagle with closed wings replaces this legend, and the year is expressed 2 p 2 580 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. by one cipher only, 1807-7, 1808-8, &c, ; in 1811, begins another system : oz for 11, dz for 12, tz for 13, qz for 14, qn for Jb/[. Imp^ 15, sz for 16, cfe for 17; but, in 1818, the figures are (Te $£VT€S again taken up and the numerical series continued. M. 427. In 1814, the Bourbons resumed the two L's with a fleur de lis in the middle, and the word Sevres beneath. Charles X., from 1824 to 1827, marked with two C's interlaced, with an X in the centre and a fleur de lis beneath. From 1827 to 1830, the X cipher disappeared, and the fleur de lis took its place. Louis Philippe, from 1830 to 1834, adopted a stamp with a circular cordon, bearing a star and the word Sevres, besides the cipher of the year. From 1834 to 1848, the monogram LP crowned succeeded, with some trifling variations. During the second republic the letters RF, in a double circle, resumed their course. The eagle or the N, surmounted by an imperial crown, was printed in colours under the pieces from 1852 to 1870. 1 Now, the republican cipher has been resumed. Below are the marks of the artists of the modern period who spe- cially illustrated hard paste : Boullemier (Antoine), gilding. Ducluzeau (Madame), figures, subjects. Poupart (Achille), landscapes. Barbin (Francois), ornaments. Beranger (Antoine), figures. Duvelly (Charles), landscapes and domestic scenes (genre). Didier, ornaments. JP. m (R.rr CD. Dl. Fontaine, flowers. HARD PORCELAIN.— FRANCE.— NIEDERVILLER. 581 Georget, figures, portraits, &c. Huar.d, ornaments in various styles. J.A. Andre (Jules), landscapes. Julienne (Eugene), ornaments. C J^^ Le Bel, landscape. Gay (Et. Charles), figures, subjects, portraits. ^ Langlace, landscapes. Philippine, flowers and ornaments. Eegnier (Ferdinand), figures, subjects. S-S{P' Sinsson (Pierre), flowers. l!j t -ffi{ J Swebach, landscapes and domestic scenes. Niedervillee, 1768.— At this date, Baron de Beyerle gave to commerce a mercantile porcelain made with German kaolin. The ex- periments for its production go, no doubt, back to an anterior epoch. This white porcelain, well worked, decorated with taste, rises sometimes to a level equal to that of the royal manufactory. Its paintings are delicate, little figures surround some of the pieces, and vases in biscuit, statuettes and groups, show the strength of the artistic staff of the establishment. During the period of Baron de Beyerle, from 1768 to 1780, the products are rarely marked. Upon one of the most ^ remarkable we have seen de Niederwiller ; some others have Jj/' the cipher (M. 428). M i2 8. From 1780 to 1793, General Count Custine became proprietor of the 5S2 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. establishment, of which he entrusted the management to Francois Lanfrey, a skilful manufacturer. b M. 429. The mark then was the cipher of Custine (M. 429). M 430 6 Some remarkable pieces of the epoch when Lanfrey directed the works, have marks 430. We have seen, in 1759, Charles Mire, or rather Charles Sauvage, called Lemire, designated as " garcon sculpteur." This distinguised artist had the greatest and most happy influence over the direction of the works. His little figures are equal, if not superior, to those of Cyffl^, of which a great number were executed at Niederviller. Lemire pro- duced specially biscuits ; his smallest groups are sometimes painted and glazed. A biscuit group has printed in relief the name of NIEDER- VILLER. A mark of Niederviller, the period of which is difficult to deter- mine, is this N (M. 431). We have seen it with a C. Upon Cyl^ a cup, decorated with a view in Switzerland, was written M. 431. in gold Nider ^ Etiolles, 1768.— The manufactory of Sevres possesses two hard pieces of these works ; one, graved in the paste, with the monogram, M. 381, page 560; the other having in full letters Etiolles, 1770. Pelloue. Paris, faubourg Saint-Lazare, 1769.— This date is probably very anterior to the real works of a manufactory established by Pierre Antoine Fig. 138. Hannong. He continued there, on account of new partners, the experiments tried at Vincennes. Soon dismissed, he was re- placed in the direction by one Barrachin, who obtained leave to place the manufactory under the protection of Charles Philippe, Comte d'Artois, afterwards Charles X. Louis Joseph Bourdon Desplanches, successor to Barrachin, used, from 1782, charcoal for firing; and vases, obtained by this new process, were exhibited at the chateau of Versailles. The products (Fig. 138) of the faubourg Saint-Lazare recommend themselves generally by good taste and careful execution. The first works ) 1 of Hannong are treated in the Saxon style (M. 432). M.432. Dating from the protection of the Comte d'Artois, his initials (M. 433a) were adopted, and surmounted soon by the coronet of a prince HARD PORCELAIN OP THE COMTE D'ARTOIS. — COLL. JACQUEMART. HARD PORCELAIN.— FRANCE. 583 of the blood (M. 4336), generally stencilled (vignette a jour) ; but we possess the same mark, laid on, in blue, under the glaze. By a singular coincidence, Charles Philippe appears pTf-^ to have had the same ambitious disposition as his brother, vSJ^ v> \f Monsieur, the Comte de Provence. If he has not caused th e M ' 438a ' M ' iSib ' crossed L's, the royal mark, to be placed upon his porcelain, he has had his initial CP surmounted with the closed crown of France. This usurpation of emblem is upon a piece in the Gasnault collection. The last proprietors were MM. Schmidt and Company, Renard, Bourdon, Houet and Benjamin Schoelcher. Pieces occur with the last name. Lun^ville, 1769. — Paul Louis Cyffie', sculptor in ordinary to Sta- nislas, Duke of Lorraine and ex-King of Poland, obtained a privilege to make a superior ware, called " terre de Lorraine," and also statuettes in " pate de marbre." Every one knows the elegant statuettes, with, graved in the paste, " Cyffie a Luneville," or " Terre de Lorraine." We some- times find with this name that of fellow-artists of Cyffie, such as Leopold, Francois, &c. Vaux, 1770. — These works, conceded to MM. Laborde and Hoc- quart, and directed by a Sieur Moreau, were situated near Meulan. We do not know their products. Bordeaux. — We place here this important manufactory, without knowing precisely if it is in its chronological j,. order. We expect, on this subject, a work by a Bordelais collector, M. Henri Brochon. The porcelain establishment of Bordeaux has been worked by one Verneuille, and what would give it importance (Fig. 139) is, that it had three different marks. mi n • ■ • 1 j n 1 ■ PORCELAIN OF BORDEAUX. lhe first, printed upon a very fine porcelain (M. 434), consists in two crossed Vs. Carried away by such an attrac- tive probability, we had attributed this mark to Vaux ; but doubt is no longer allowable now that we have discovered the M 434 second signature of Verneuille, which is in the form of a seal, ^ and is often found mixed with the first in some service /^iK^) (M. 435). A third has been indicated to us, consisting of two ears of corn, or umbrellas, resembling the signature of Locre' ; M. 435. but this sign is not known, and may appear doubtful. Specimens of the Bordeaux porcelain are at Sevres ; M. de Saint Leon has whole services. Gros-Caillou, 1775. — The Sieur Advenir Lamarre had declared 584 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. having opened a manufactory which marked AD (M. 436). We have never met with the mark, but the cipher LAD has been shown to us upon a cup of ordinary decoration. M. 436. p ARIS; fauboueg Saint-Antoine, 1773'. — Another declaration made by a Sieur Morelle, indicates the signature M. A. P. which is yet to find. Paris, rue de la Roquette, 1773.— Souroux, the founder, marked with an S. We have seen some rare specimens with sprigs of flowers, which might be attributed to him. His works lasted but a short time. He was succeeded by Olivier, then by Petry and Rousse, who later transferred the establishment to the Rue Vendome. Paris, la Courtille, 1773— Founded rue Fontaine-au-Roi by Jean Baptiste Locre', this manufactory had for object extensive fabrications in the German style. Locre"s first works are certainly very remarkable, and the prosecutions of Sevres could alone stop the zeal of his artists. His best works are in the Musee CeVamique, where they will stand V comparison with any. V The mark deposited was two torches, crossed A (M. 437), very well defined upon two primitive pieces. M. 438. M. 437. ^ / , , ,, r ,«on Later they were arranged.thus (M. 438) : In 1784, Locre associated himself with Russinger ; the latter remained Pouyat alone in 1790, and then divided the direction with & Pouyat. We find pieces dating from this epoch, marked Russinger (M. 439). According to information given by M. Adrien M - 439. du Bouche, director of the Museum of Limoges, this new society adopted for mark two ears of corn (M. 440). We have ^ found it under some remarkable biscuits, signed also R (Rus- singer ?). But, among the painted vases, we find the ears upon /\ trial pieces and upon finished works of a whiter paste than the M. 440. ordinary porcelain of La Courtille. The question requires study- In 1800, Pouyat remained alone. Limoges, 1773. — Massie, the brothers Grellet and Fourneira, ob- tained, on the 30th December 1773, an authorisation ^ "0 f* f ) ^° crea ^ e manufactory, whose remarkable products V-/ 1 -^ have the marks M. 441 a, b. They were allowed to be M. 44la. M. 4416. eX p 0r t e( j f ree f duty ; and the undertakers were even permitted in 1774, to have their porcelains circulated within the extent of the "Farms" without paying the tax. The 15th May 1784, the manufactory was purchased as a branch to Sevres, under the direction of M. Grellet the younger. M. Alluar.d succeeded him in 1788. HARD PORCELAIN— FRANCE. 535 Sold later by the Government, it has belonged to Messrs. Baignol cadet, Monnerie, and Alluaud. La Seinie, 1774.— The Marquis de Beaupoil de Sainte-Aulaire, the Chevalier Dugareau, and the Comte de la Seinie, founded this manu- factory, which occupied itself particularly with the preparation in wholesale of the porcelain pastes. The works sent into commerce have nothing remarkable ; M U2a M 442 &. they are marked (M. 442 a and b), in red with the brush or the name in full. A second manufactory was transferred from the Petite rue Saint- Gilles to la Seinie, by Francois-Maurice Honore, who appointed as director Anstett, from Dihl's manufactory. Paris, rue de Reuilly, 1774— Jean-Joseph Lassia, proprietor of this manufactory, was to mark his products with an L. The porcelain he desired to give to commerce was to resist the fire, and trials made in 1781, in the presence of Cadet, Guettard, Lalande, and Fon- p> tanieu, appear to establish that it had succeeded. We know no <=\J product of Lassia, but Mr. Marryat assigns to him M. 443. M - 443. Paris, rue de la Roquette, 1774— Vincent Dubois, whose estab- lishment was known under the name of "Trois levrettes," must have made porcelain for ten years, since he was one of the petitioners against the restrictive decree of 1784. His products are still to find. Clignancourt, 1775. — Pierre Deruelle deposited the declaration of the establishment of this manufactory in January 1775 ; his mark was to be a windmill. In the month of October, in the same year, he obtained the patronage of Monsieur, brother of the King (afterwards Louis XVIII.), and signed with the cipher of that prince. From its beginning, the .porcelain of Clignancourt is to be com- mended for the beauty of its paste and the elegance of . ^ its paintings. Thus, among the pieces produced during Jt^ . the first nine months, and marked with the windmill *17T~* M. 444. (M. 444), there are already some very remarkable ones. The Museum of Sevres possesses a curious specimen, signed thus (M. 445) by stencilling. We asked ourselves first whether the ^ letter B was not a mark of date, like that of Sevres; but seeing the stencilled pieces with a large B, surmounted by the crown Vfe^o of a prince of the blood, this supposition fell of itself. What M ^~ 5 does this B signify ? It is difficult to say ; the title-deeds preserved in the manufactory could alone have explained it. The 586 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. crossed L's, an imitation of the royal cipher, could not last; other signatures were substituted, of which the first (M. 446a) is the initial of >t $*jf °^ Monsieur, an d the second (M. 4466) M^'; is composed of the letters LSX, Louis-Stanis- iQ%y> las-Xavier. We possess one (M. 447) very M. 446a. M. 4466. M. 447. legible, and surmounted also with the crown of a prince of the blood. We had placed among unknown marks one ]\ /T" (M. 448) in blue, without glaze, traced under a very fel- ^ *~ spathic trial piece, decorated with a seme of cornflowers M. 448. ^i U ets). Now, there is no doubt of its belonging to Cli- gnancourfc. We have found it under a plate with flowers, in imitation Fig. 140. HARD PORCELAIN OF THE COMTE DE PROVENCE. COLL. JACQUEMART. of Sevres, which had at this same time this inscription stencilled (M. 449), only CLIGNANCOURT the bme letter is M evidently a mo- M - 449 - nogram, and its irregularity intentional; the first down stroke, turned on the top, forms an I, which stands out from the smaller letter, the M. We do not think, there- fore, we must see in it the initial of Monsieur. Moitte succeeded to Deruelle : would it be some allusion to his name ? Paris, rue du Petit-Carrousel, 1775. — In placing here this manufactory, we do not give it its true date ; it might, without doubt, go back higher. Indeed, upon the title-page of an historical romance of Monvel, published in 1775, the author gives his address as "rue du Petit Carrousel, au magasin de Porcelaine." This street, now destroyed, was at the end of the rue Saint-Louis de l'Echelle, near the rue Saint- Nicaise, coming out on the place du Carrousel. The porcelains of this manufactory have nothing to distinguish them from their congeners ; it is a good current manufacture, which produced the different decorations of the period — semes of flowers, scrolls, and espe- cially the cornflower in quincunx, brought into fashion by the "porcelaine de la Reine." No document had been published upon this establishment, which was generally supposed to belong to the last years of the eighteenth century, until M. Jules Vallet brought to light the first indications. Below (M. 450 — 454), are the various stencilled marks of the manu- factory : HARD PORCELAIN.— FRANCE. §87 P P P P F CG CG CG CG Carousel M tu duP l MANUFACTURE MANUF RR Paris Carousel du Petit du Carousel a Paris Carousel a Paris a Paris M. 450.* M. 451. M. 452. M. 453. M. 454. The commercial almanacs make known that in the year VII. (1798 — 1799) the works were directed by the widow Guy ; a year later, the year VIII. a Sieur Guy, probably her son, had the direction. One may then infer that in 1775 Guy pere, the founder no doubt, was at the head of the manufactory ; then the cipher would have maintained its form, independent of the development given to the rest of the legend. Boissette-pres-Melun, 1778. — Vermonet, father and son, obtained a privilege of fifteen years for the production, in this place, of a porce- lain of a superior white, and to be sold at a low price. Generally decorated with bouquets of flowers, this pottery is of - ^ a fine white and well worked ; it has a B in blue J // j . . (M. 455) under the glaze. We have observed it m. 455. M. 456. under different forms. M. 456 is always followed by two dots. Ile Saint-Denis, 1778. — M. Laferte^ an old fermier general, appears to have been the proprietor of this manufactory. We have seen neither vases nor table-ware which could be attributed to him ; but there exist in the galleries of Versailles two busts — the one of Louis XVI., the other of Monsieur — dated 1779 and 1780, and signed Grosse I'isle Saint-Denis. The establishment then was important and provided with distinguished artists. We know also that the porcelain of the Isle Saint- Denis was in commerce, since at a seizure effected at Nicolas Catrice's, painter of Sevres, who made spurious decorations, seven pieces of this manufactory were captured. Paris, rue Thiroux, 1778. — Andre-Marie Leboeuf, founder of this Fig. 141. HARD PORCELAINE DE LA REINE. — COLL. JACQUEMAIIT. manufactory, obtained leave to place it under the patronage of the 588 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Queen. Many common services have come from the rue Thiroux, but the finer pieces, and they are numerous (Fig. 141), recommend them- selves in every point of view. Leboeuf had established the depot of these porcelains at M. Granger's, jeweller of the Queen, quai de Conti. The usual mark is the A crowned (M. 457), cipher of the Queen ^ Marie-Antoinette. Some pieces have this cipher y\ cursively traced with a brush (M. 458a) ; others C-fe M " 458a ' ^ aVe ° nly an ^ in ^ lue uncler the S laze 4586). A A These works certainly date from the beginning v^V of the manufactory : later the A crowned was M. 457. M. 4586 . j stencilled. The successors of Lebceuf were the Sieurs Guy and Housel. We find pieces with their names expressed thus (M. 459). L . Was it Guy who succeeded to the widow Guy at the J _ Petit- Carrousel ? At the date which corresponds to this * rou change, Housel only marked his name. He remained ™ proprietor of the works from 1799 to 1804. M. 459. LEVEILLE We find some modern porcelain inscribed thus 12 (M. 460) : RUE THIROUX M. 460. Paris, rue de Bondy, 1780.— Established under the direction of Guerhard and Dihl, this manufactory is one of the most interesting of the end of the eighteenth century. From its beginning, it places itself at the head of this industry and rivals Sevres, thanks to the chemical knowledge and high intelligence of Dihl. Placed under the patronage of Louis Antoine, Due d'Angouleme, it escaped the persecutions of the royal establishment, and was able to produce vases of great ornamenta- tion, biscuits, and even coloured flowers. Inventor of an improved mineral palette, which does not change in firing, Dihl had his portrait, in 1798, by le Guay, upon a plaque of middle size ; in 1801, he went further and had himself painted full-size by Martin Drolling, upon a plaque of 23 in. x 20 m . He thus created the style in which Sevres was afterwards to distinguish itself. ■A* v The following are the first marks of the establish- ment (M. 461, a, b), all stencilled. On one piece only we have found the name Dihl, in blue, under the glaze. Later we find printed in red, with a pattern M. 461a. M- 4616. (M 462 _ 464) HARD PORCELAIN.— FRANCE. 589 MANUFACTURE DE MONS R LE DUC D'ANGOULEME A PARIS DIHL ET GUERHARD MANUFACT RE GUERHARD ET DIHL DE DIHL ET A PARIS A PARIS GUERHARD M. 462. M. 463. M. 464. M. Marryat, and after him M. Chaffers, have given a letter (M. 465), traced in blue, under the glaze, as the mark of a a manufactory which will have existed at Paris, in the rue de Jf\ Clichy. It is simply the initial of the Due d'Angouleme, Dihl's M - 465. protector. We have found this A under a very fine cup ^ r ^ e of black ground, with a border reserved, ornamented Guerhard with arabesques, in gold. The saucer had this mark e t DUri stencilled (M. 466). Paris Sceaux. — We place here at a chance, in its probable M. 466. order, the only specimen of hard paste of Sceaux we have ever seen ; a soup basin, " trembleuse," ornamented with lines of gold and bouquets of flowers, well painted in the Sevres style, and in well-glazed enamels. Underneath is SP (M. 467), Sceaux-Penthievre, which c Q we have already pointed out upon special faiences on rather O P yellow, soft porcelain. M. 467. Paris, rue de Popincourt, 1780.— Founded by the Sieur Le Maire, this establishment was bought, in 1783, by M. Nast, pere, and after- wards transferred to the rue des Amandiers, where it was worked by Nast brothers. They made remarkable biscuits and pieces of rich deco- ration. The only mark we know is the name NAST, stencilled. Tours, 1782.— Noel Sailly, the elder and younger, have marked in turn this establishment, which has produced little. We do not know any of its works. Lille, 1784— Leperre Duroo opened this establishment by virtue of a decree of the 13th January, which allowed him to import free the necessary materials for his work. In 1786 he obtained permission to place it under the patronage of the dauphin, and M. de. Calonne gave it his special patronage. What attracted his favour to the new industrial was, that he had conceived the idea of using pit-coal for firing. Of this a piece in the ceramic museum gives evidence ; it is inscribed " Fait d Lille, en Flandre, cuit au charbon de terre, en 1785." Le Perre was called to Paris to teach his process ; but the experiments 5QO HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. he made failed from the illwill of the porcelain makers of the capital. The Lille porcelain is fine, very translucent, and well decorated ; the ^e. words only, a Lille, traced with a brush, are of the first H epoch ; later, a crowned dolphin (M. 468) is stencilled on f^O \\ the pieces. In some services the two marks are employed simultaneously with one composed of a W. The dolphin M. 468. in blue, under the glass, is in the Gasnault collection. To Leperre succeeded Roger, Graindorge and Company, and Renaud. The Museum of Sevres possesses a piece signed in red with the cursive letters L. D. interlaced, near which is an anchor. M. Riocreux reads in the cipher Leperre Duroo ; we dare not accept this unconditionally. Paris; Pont-aux-Choux, 1784. — Founded first in the Rue des f » Boulets, faubourg Saint- Antoine, by Louis Honore de la Marre t/jjij de Villiers, this manufactory produced a rather fine and well- M. 469. ' decorated porcelain with this mark (M. 469). But the sieurs Jean-Baptiste Outrequin de Montarey and Edme Toulouse, having acquired it, transferred it to the Rue Amelot, at the Pont-aux- Choux, and placed it under the patronage of Louis Philippe M. 470. Joseph, Duke of Orleans, the 6th August 1786 ; the cipher then adopted was LP (M. 470). Dating from 1793, Fabvique du Pont-aux-Choux is simply placed under the pieces. The products of this manufactory are rather to be commended. Outrequin and Toulouse sold the works to Werstock, soon replaced by Lemaire, who had for successors Caron and Lefebvre. There appears to have been at Pont-aux-Choux another estab- lishment worked successively by Mignon, Kroel, and Deuster. It existed previous to 1784. Paris, barriere de Reuilly, 1784. — Henri Florentin Chanon, when establishing this manufactory, declared his wish to sign with the letters C H interlaced. The ceramic museum possesses a piece with arabesque decorations marked in red C H ; another specimen, in England, has the same letters united in a cipher. Saint-Brice, 1784. — MM. Gomon and Croasmen possessed here a manufactory of glass and porcelain, of which the products are unknown to us. Saint-Denis en Poitou, 1784. — Nor do we know more of the porcelains that the Marquis de Torcy applied for permission to make on his propert}^ of Saint-Denis de la Chevasse, near Montaigu. HARD PORCELAIN.- FRANCE.— VINCENNES. 59i Valenciennes, 1785. — Fauquez, proprietor of the earthenware works of Saint-Amand, has asked, from 1771, the authorisation to found a manufactory of porcelain at Valenciennes, and notwithstanding the refusal he met with, he made, in 1775, some trials in camaieu by virtue of the general authorisations. At last, the 24th May 1785, he obtained permission with the stipulation of using coal ; he then went into partnership with a Sieur Vannier, and the works were begun. In 1787 the property of the manufactory had passed from Fauquez into the hands of Lamoninary, his brother-in-law. The importance of this establishment has just been made known by an interesting monograph of Dr. Lejeal; we see by it that Ver- boeckoven, called Fickaert, a sculptor of the first order, executed here a number of biscuits, among which a Descent from the Cross was exceedingly remarkable. Among the collaborators of Lamoninary may be mentioned Anstett, of Strasburg; Joseph Fernig, painter and chemist, Gelez, Mester and Poinbceuf. M. Lejeal considers as dating from the origin of the manufactory the rare pieces marked VALENCIEN ; the second period is characterised by the cipher (M. 471) com- posed of the initials of Fauquez, Lamoninary, and Vannier or Valenciennes. Lastly, the letters LV, M - 47L M - 472 - Lamoninary Valenciennes, or Lamoninary Vannier, are the most fre- quent, and occur under this form (M. 472). Choisy, 1785.— Founded by a sieur Clement, this establishment belonged, in 1786, to M. Lefevre ; we do not know its works. Vincennes, 1786.— This manufactory, which appears to have belonged in the beginning to M; Lemaire, was protected by Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres (later, King of the French), and directed by Hannong. From 1785, Hannong without work and living in the Chateau of Verneuil, at Dormans, had asked, by letter of the 28th J uly, authorisation to make experiments in firing with coal, and they had answered him that the Government would not oppose itself to such useful attempts, and that he was free to make such experiments as he thought suitable. This was not the answer he expected, and no doubt it was then he engaged himself in the service of the new manufactory of Vincennes. We find by him pieces bearing this singular mark in which appears the h already used at the Faubourg Saint-Lazare with crossed pipes (M. 473). These signs are under a trial cup and saucer, yellowed as if it had been baked by coal. This curious piece, 4 % 592 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. belonging to Jules Vallet, is decorated with gold, wreaths of foliage and detached flowers in the style of the period; the pipes alone are ^tfvC under the cup I'M. 474), the h under the saucer ; now this first ✓IX sign is explained by this (M. 475) placed under a cup of the M. 475. same style, in the Reynolds collection, and which is accom- panied with the cipher L. P. with a brush, the first manifestation of Yi„ 142 the interference of the Duke de Chartres in the works, and of the protection he was about to grant to the wandering porcelain-makers. Thus, by a logical deduction, the li of the Faubourg Saint-Lazare leads to that of Vin- cennes, and the signature of Hannong leads, by the transition indicated upon the piece of Mr. Reynolds, to the cipher of the Duke de rOKUELAJN OF THE DUC DE _„ , , • • i • i t ■ • chartres. — coll. jacque- Chartres traced upon a porcelain which has, in MAET - effect, all the characters of that of Hannong. Its products are very felspathic, and decorated often in pale colours ; wreaths of flowers interlaced with ribbons, bouquets and sprigs £77\ and indented borders of gold are what we most frequently l^^O* meet with. The mark in blue, under the glaze, always M. 476. very careless (M. 476), is the crowned cipher of the prince. Paris, petite rue Saint-Gilles. — Messire Francois Maurice Honore", equerry, councillor of the king, warden of the city of Paris ; founded there, about the end of the century, a manufactory of which the garden looked upon the boulevard in front of the park and of the Hotel Beaumarchais. The establishment was later transferred to La Seinie, near Saint- Yrieix. The son of M. Honore' gave himself also to the making of porcelain and went into partnership with Dagoty. Paris, rue de Crussol, 1789.— The Englishman Potter set up this manufactory, Rue de Crussol, styled that of the Prince of Wales (Prince de Galles), he introduced there the system of ceramic im- pressions, long tried elsewhere; and the municipality of Paris, surprised with the pretended progress, applied through the medium of Bailly for a privilege in favour of the foreigner. Events caused his application to be forgotten ; the time of privileges had passed. Potter signed his best products, in full letters, sometimes in gold, sometimes in blue. Pontenx or Ponteinx (Landes), 1790. — We place here, at a date probably posterior to its foundation, a very interesting establishment whose existence had been vaguely indicated by the " liste necro- logique " of the porcelain manufactories preserved in the Archives of HARD PORCELAIN.— FRANCE. 593 Sevres. We read : " Pontens (Landes) no longer exists." This was written about 1810, and might be true, but the importance of the manufactory is proved to us by curious specimens communicated by M. Henri Brochon, of Bordeaux. These are four small busts repre- senting the Four Seasons ; the porcelain is white, fine, close grained, and the enamel, though very vitreous, is sufficiently thin not to choke up the reliefs. Winter is a bearded old man, bald-headed, sheltering himself under an ample drapery; Spring, a graceful girl, scantily draped with a light material supported by a fillet, is crowned with roses; Summer, her hair turned back with a band of ears of corn, smiles at the golden harvest; and to Autumn the author has given that faun-like physiognomy, full of malice and gaiety, which is suitable to express the effect of the grapes that overcharge her forehead. These little busts are masterly modelled, of a good style, full of animation. Under the pedestals the sculptor has placed the name and date of his work ; Ponteinx, Ce 10 . (Juin or Jouin) 1790. Klein. The name is accompanied by a flourish (paraphe). Was Klein the director of the establishment or one of the artists attached to it ? It matters little ; manufactories in a condition to produce pieces of this kind must have a certain importance, and it is more than probable that the greater part of its products have passed unperceived because they were attributed to the central establishment of the Gironde. Does this long enumeration comprise all the French establishments ? Evidently not, and every day we discover pieces of uncertain origin, although their production touches, as it were, upon modern times. Cipher in red, upon common porcelain with flowers, J J coloured grounds and camaieux. Most of the specimens come °xU; from the south. Cipher in red, resembling that of Deruelle. It certainly comes from a Parisian workshop. We have Slrf 3 even asked ourselves if it could be the mark of one of the Nast family, but the multiplicity of the inscriptions in current characters would appear to indicate that the habits of the family did not carry them to the cipher style. One of the most curious pieces, signed J. N. C, is dated by its decoration; tricoloured ribbons, inter- laced with laurels, form medallions on which are inscribed in gold la Nation, la loy, le Roy. Mark in red with a brush, fine porcelain, with patterns in burnished gold. Jj] Jj Pot with bouquets and gold border. Sevres style. 594 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. /J a Porcelain in the style of the little workshops of Paris. j4. o 3f. Graved in the paste, saucer with red ground and reserves enriched with insects, in the centre are leaves of acanthus upon green ground, of recent fabrication. Plate with pinked edges and bouquets in the Saxon 0^5l> style. Graved in the paste, under a cup decorated with butter- flies. D 6t O ie ^ ustre cantharide;" reserves painted with a a Paris l an( ^ sca P e an( * a bridge. In a dark part of the cup the artist has graved his initial M, with a point. Upon the bridge is written : Near her J am happi. ££LQ Water jug and basin with wreaths and small flowers, same style. L?3 Plates with rich borders, with landscape and animals in the style of Berghem. M. Riocreux attributed this mark to the manufactory of Fontainebleau, seeing therein allusion to the historic carps in the lake of the chateau. W " Tete-a-tete " in fine porcelain, Sevres style, enclosed in a box with compartments; said to have belonged to Marie An- toinette; it is accompanied by accessories in goldsmith's work. We have again found this mark accompanied by a crescent reversed, .✓""\ * upon rather remarkable pieces, also the crescent < (Ju ^""^ alone appears upon a sugar basin in ordinary Vw ' porcelain which belongs to us, decorated with a gold border and detached bouquets. Service in fine porcelain decorated with a border and armorial bearings in gold, which have been defaced at the Revolution (Le Noir family). The mark is painted in a fine blue. We have found it again in gold under a little coloured figure, apparently German. fT) Pieces with wreaths, bouquets, and ribbons ; Baron Davillier -t\ finding in them close analogies with the porcelain of Marseilles, has attributed them to that centre. The fact does not appear to be demonstrated. Porcelain with bouquets ; style a la Heine ; mark in red. Is this a C, or the crescent figured above reversed ? HARD PORCELAIN.— FRANCE. 595 "V~ e M P° rce l a i n w ith cornflowers in the style of " porcelaine a la ~ Reine." & C H & C Stencilled in red, decorated with detached bouquets. f)1o Saucer with blue decoration, resembling the common porce- lain of Tournay. ^J^Q Cup and saucer, pink ground, with border of flowers, ' m i mm common porcelain, end of the century. V French porcelain, with bouquets of flowers, Dresden style. Trial piece. Departing from the outline we had traced, we mention some of the modern manufactories, of which it is important to note the existence. Paris, faubourg Saint-Denis, 92, Bernard and Co., Le Cointre and Co., Lefevre, Lebourgeois. Paris, faubourg Saint-Denis, 168, Latourville and Co., Fleury, Flamenfleury. Paris, rue de la Pepiniere, 16, Chevalier freres, Marchand, Fourmy, Potter and Co., Tregent. Paris, rue de Charonne, Levy and Co., Pressinger, Massonnet, Dartes freres ; these last transfer the establishment from la Roquette, 90. Paris, rue de la Roquette, 98, Robillard. Paris, Montparnasse, rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, P.L. Dagoty 12, Roger, Dagoty, Dagoty and Honore. We find & pieces marked (M. 478), and others signed cursively E. Honore (M. 477). Ed. Honore & C*e a Paris a Paris. M. 477. M. 478. Paris, Petite-Pologne, rue du Rocher, 12, Betz and Co., Nicolet and Greder, Reville, Peres. Paris, Butte de Belleville, Petry, Guy, Desfosse's. Paris, rue de Popincourt, 58, Coeur d'Acier, Dartes aine'. We find pieces of the Coeur d'Acier marked with a heart. Paris, rue Baffroy, Dubois-Hannong. Paris, rue Baffroy, 32, L'Hote. Paris, rue Neuve Saint-Gilles, Lortz, Rouget, Savoie, Le Bon, Honore'. Paris, rue des Marais, Toulouse, Mercier. Paris, rue Folie-Mericourt, Cremiere, Freund. 2 Q 2 596 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART Paris, rue des Re'collets, 2, Despres (cameos). Paris, rue Menilmontant, Gossart. Paris, rue de Crussol, Constant (biscuit). Versailles (Seine-et-Oise), Panekoucke, Roger, Teingout. Chatillon (Seine). Roussel and Co., Lortz, Rouget. Choisy-le Roi (Seine). Leilletz (M. 479 stencilled). Fontainebleau (Seine-et-Oise), Benjamin, Baruchweil; M. Riocreux attributes to this manufactory the mark of the fish, figured page 594. Montereau (Seine-et-Marne), Hall. Lorient (Morbihan), Herve, Sauvageau. Bourbonnais, Sinetti, Deruelle fils. Valognes (Manche), Lemarrons and Co., Joachim, Langlois. This last has transferred his establishment to Bayeux. Caen (Calvados), Mallet, Thierry. This mark is the name of the town stencilled. Gournay (Seine-Inferieure), Wood. Nantes (Loire-Inferieure), Decaen. Vierzon (Cher), Klein, Pe'tri and Ronsse. Colmar (Haut-Rhin). — The commercial almanacs mention in this locality a manufactory of faience stoves, but they made porcelain here, as appears by a pretty cream-pot in the Gasnault Collection, signed Colmar, in gold. Germany. Meissen, Saxony. — To reconcile order and to give facts is difficult in a work of this nature ; to take for base of classification the date or geographical position of the German manufactories would be to plunge into a chaos in which the inquirer would infallibly lose himself. Let us then adopt a middle course, and, while preserving national groups, begin at the real invention of kaolinic pottery. Germany, like France, dreamt of porcelain, only there it was not potters but alchemists who sought it ; John Frederic Bottcher, son of one of these last, worked so ardently that the fame of his supposed dis- coveries reached Frederic Augustus I., Elector of Saxony, who caused him to be carried off and retained near him. Bottcher manipulated, and though gold did not arrive, fear and dis- couragement rapidly approached: in short, the Elector thought himself duped, and in order to assure himself of the real value of his adept, he gave him for assistant and superintendent Ehrenfried Walther von HARD PORCELAIN.— GERMANY.— DRESDEN. 597 Tschirnhaus. This distinguished savant had also sought for gold ; though he no longer believed in mysteries, yet, struck with the good faith of his companion, he worked to help him by every means in his power. Bottcher complained of not having crucibles sufficiently refractory ; Tschirnhaus placed at his disposition a red clay of Okrilla of which he soon made a pottery, red, or of a charming brown, which was refractory, and of which the sole fault was its requiring either to be polished on the lathe or the addition of a glaze. The Elector was so delighted with the discovery that he forgot the gold and called this new pottery, red porcelain. At the same time he desired that all Bottcher 's efforts should be directed towards the making of Chinese porcelain. There again chance assisted the progress. One day Bottcher feeling his wig more heavy than usual, examined the powder which covered it, and saw that they had substituted a mineral powder for the customary fecula ; having called his valet, he learnt that lately, a man named Schnorr had found this powder in the environs of Aue and was selling it everywhere. Tried in the laboratory it was recognised by Bottcher as kaolin, and pure porcelain was then found. This was in the year 1709; the Elector took immediate possession of the bed of kaolin. The manufactory, shut up in the Albrechts- burg of Meissen, became a fortress into which no one could penetrate ; the workmen were sworn " to keep till the tomb " the secrets they might be able to discover. The great preoccupation of Bottcher was to obtain a paste as white and as perfect as that of the Corea; he succeeded at his first trial, and produced pieces with archaic decoration so exactly imitated that one would hesitate to declare them European. In 1719, this ceramist died at the age of thirty-five, worn out by excesses, rather than by work. Horoldt suc- ceeded him as director, and gave a new impulse to artistic taste ; the European style was inaugurated; Kandler, a skilful sculptor, con- ceived, about 1731, the idea of introducing wreaths in relief upon the vases; then he added figures; the painter Linderer executed the birds and insects that every one still admires. The Seven Years' War stopped the impulse of progress, and it required great sacrifices to re-establish things. Dietrich, professor of painting at Dresden, took the artistic direction (Fig. 143); the sculptors Luch of Frankenthal, Breich of Vienna, and Francois Acier of Paris, lent their assistance ; the last, who came from Sevres about 1765, introduced the Sevres style among the German pro- 59 8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. ductions. From this time a new era of success was opened, and the reputation of Dresden porcelain become European (Plate XII.) It is not necessary to describe the style of Saxon works, every one is familiar with the vases with exuberant rocailles, the centre pieces (surtouts), gigantic candelabra, and luxurious girandoles loaded with coloured flowers; the finely modelled coloured groups (Fig. 144), painted with minute care, are also known. We pass then to a descrip- tion of the marks which may assist in determining the periods. Fig. 143. Fisr. 144. POTPOURRI VASE. DRESDEN. DUKE DE MARTINA. PART OP A DRESDEN SERVICE. From the discovery of hard paste, the pieces ordered by the King Cf\ were signed AR (M. 480), Augustus Rex ; about 1712 <^y/\j) a PP ear the letters K. P. M. or M. P. M. Koniglich porzellan M. 480. Manufactur : Meisner porzellan Manufactur. Works for sale had first an allegorical sign, the rod of iEscu- 1 ^ lapius (M. 481), alluding to the original profession of Bottcher. In 1712, two crossed swords (M. 482) <* were substituted, derived from the ancient arms of M. 481. M. 482. Saxony ; the Elector wore these two swords as Grand Marshal of the Holy Empire. During this period, the porcelain was painted in the archaic Oriental taste. Plate XII. — SAXONY. Dresden— Hard Porcelain— Ewer in Relief, with Figures in Violet Camaieu. Collection Doctor Piogtcy. PI.JOL HARD PORCELAIN.— GERMANY. 599 In 1720, Horoldt modified the swords (M. 483) ; he first introduced a Chinese-German style with rich gold borders, in which an w intense violet and bright iron red predominated, then came paintings of subjects (Fig. 144), landscapes, birds, insects m. 483. and bouquets, in a word, the special style which all Europe copied. The King, wishing to give an extraordinary impulse to the manu- factory, in 1778 personally took the direction of the works ; then the swords reappeared in their original form with a dot y\ or small circle between the' two handles (M. 484). M. 484. In 1796, a new director, Marcolini, was named; he substituted a star (M. 485) for the point. This is a period of decadence ; ^ the porcelain, entirely commercial, has no longer its ancient V/ perfection. /\ Collectors should attend to this : when imperfect pieces M " 485 ' were cast aside, they crossed the swords with a stroke incised in the paste by the lathe. Many of these porcelains have been collected and decorated by imitators. At the present time the manufactory itself counterfeits its old productions and its old marks. Brunswick. Furstenberg. — A runaway workman of Hochst founded this establishment in 1750; but, overtaken by death, he was replaced by Baron von Lang, a distinguished chemist, who brought the enter- prise to a successful issue, under the patronage of the Duke of Brunswick. The porcelain of Furstenberg is white, well painted, and very similar to that of Berlin. The mark is a cursive F or this (M. 486) : M - 486 - Neuhaus. — Von Metul, a workman of Furstenberg, endeavoured with two of his companions to set up works here, but was discovered and expelled from Brunswick. Hoxter. — The flower-painter, Zieseler, opened a porcelain manu- factory here which did not succeed. A person named Paul Becker established himself in his turn, but gave up the manufacture in consequence of an agreement with the Duke of Brunswick. Nassau. Hochst -upon-the-Main. — About 1720, Celz of Frankfort tried to transfer his earthenware into porcelain works, and was on the point 6oo HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. of failure, when Ringler, a runaway from Vienna, came to his assistance, and brought with him, among other indispensable requisites, the plan of the Austrian ovens. But Ringler showed himself excessively reserved, carrying always about his person the papers containing his ceramic secrets. They made him intoxicated to rob him of his treasures, hastily copied his notes, and several fled with their booty to sell the fruits of their theft. Gelz and Ringler continued to work together, and, in 1740, under the Electorate of J ohn Frederick Charles, Archbishop of Mayence, their porcelain had acquired all the qualities for which it was celebrated. Emmerich Joseph, last Elector, gave, in 1762, a new impulse to the establishment, which had become the property of the State. It is then that the celebrated modeller Melchior made figures equal to those of Saxony; a Venus in the collection of the Duke de Martina is a masterpiece. Melchior signed in full ; his signature is upon a biscuit in the Sevres collection. Later, this artist disappeared, and was replaced by Ries, who allowed the good traditions to fall ; his statuettes, without proportion, were ironically termed " great heads." The invasion of the French, under Custine, completed the ruin of the establishment. The mark of Hochst (M. 487) consists of a wheel with six spokes, taken from the arms of the Archbishop of Mayence; some- times it is traced with great care, but usually cursive. Some M. 487. services of the later period have the wheel surmounted by the Electoral crown. Hesse- Darmstadt Kelsterbach. — Busch, a Saxon ceramic artist, set up this manu- factory during the Seven Years' War, from 1756 to 1763. His mark is not known to us. Electoral Hesse. Fulda. — At the same period, Arnandus, Prince-Bishop of Fulda, established, near the palace, a remarkable manufactory, whose products were almost entirely destined to his personal use and that of the dignita- ries who surrounded him. His successor Henry de Butler, finding the expenses too onerous, gave up the enterprise in 1780. The porcelain of Fulda is often very beautiful ; it is marked with his cipher (M. 488), signifying furstlich fuldaisch, belonging M. 488. to the Prince of Fulda. The groups and figures have often but a simple cross. HARD PORCELAIN.— GERMANY. 60 1 Cassel. — About 1763, they say, a workman of Ringler set up works in this town. The products, if they exist, are unknown. A running horse, which we have seen but once, is said to be the mark. We now enter into a particular country which has its special porcelain, due also to a chance discovery. In 1758, an old woman went to the chemist Macheleid, at Rudolstadt, and proposed to him a powder suitable for drying writing, The young Henry, who had lately left the schools of Jena, was at his father's, and impelled by curiosity, he made experiments with this powder, which he soon recognised to be kaolin. In 1759, he obtained porcelain, presented some specimens to the Prince of Schwartzburg, and Thuringia was soon in possession of a new industry. Saxe-Coburg Gotha. Gotha. — Manufactory founded in 1781, by Rothenberg ; its pro- ducts are imitated from those of Berlin; the primitive ^ mark is a G (M. 489), or the word Gotha, traversed by ^ JV a vertical bar. Transferred in 1808 to Henneberg, it M. 489. M. 490. adopted for signature a capital Roman R (M. 490). Wallendorf. — Greiner and Hamann founded these works in 1762. Its mark is doubtful, some giving the trefoil of Greiner, others a double W. Arnstad. — Marryat attributes to it pieces marked with the sign given (page 609) to Weesp. These are products more than ordinary which cannot be determined. Ohrdruf, Posneck, and Eisenberg, have also had ephemeral works. Saxe-Meiningen. Ltmbach. — Founded in 1760 by Gothelf Greiner, and encouraged in 1762 by Duke Anthony Ulrich ; it was soon insufficient to execute its orders, and was united to Kloster-Veilsdorf and Grossbreitenbach. The mark of Limbach is an L (M. 491) r\ or four little rings, surmounted by a cross V. CT^ (M. 493) ; two Vb crossed in this form ^ ^ M ^ are also attributed to it. We have also found this (M. 492) under pretty porcelain with panoramic views executed in bistre camai'eu. 602 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Kloster-Yeilsdorf. — We are ignorant of the date of these works ; before its union with Limbach, it appears to have signed with M.494. ^his cipher (M. 494), which is still doubtful. Anspach. — Rather common porcelain is attributed to this centre, marked with a very cursive A. Rauenstein. — They made table ware, signed R n, in blue (M. 495), often with other letters. M 49 g Hildburghausen. — A certain Weber worked there, it is said, about 1763. We know neither the products, nor the mark of this centre. Schwartzburg. Grossbreitenbach, near Rudolstadt. — This manufactory had already Q\ some importance when Duke Anthony Ulrich acquired it to C^^D unite it to Limbach. Its mark was a clover leaf (M. 496). M. 496. Some authors assert that this same leaf traced cursively belongs to the united manufactories ; we have seen it upon services which had also two pipes. We frequently find German pieces with mythological subjects I k or simple ornaments signed with a mark composed of (K. P an arrow traversing the letter G (M. 497). It is now * generally agreed to restore this sign to Grossbreiten- bach. Ilmenau, again, is one of the works set up by Greiner and Hamann, and which became confounded in the great centre of Limbach. Rudolstadt. — It is here that Macheleid made his first attempts. YDid he set up a furnace ? We do not know, but to Rudolstadt are attributed porcelains marked with an R, or with either one M 49g (M. 498) or two forks crossed. Sitzerode, Volkstadt. — In 1759, Macheleid set up at Sitzerode a manufactory, transferred in 1762 to Volkstadt by a mer- chant of Erfurt, named Nonne, who had purchased it, and who gave it considerable development. In 1770, it was retaken by Greiner, and received a more powerful impulse. The usual marks are composed of the letters C V, separate or united in a cipher. This signature was first attributed to Kloster Veilsdorf, but as it often accompanies the escutcheon of Saxony (M. 499), it remains without doubt that it ought to be restored to Volkstadt. HARD PORCELAIN.— GERMANY. 603 Regensburg or Ratisbon. — To this town is attributed M. 500 sometimes found on Thuringian porcelain. Mr. Reynolds has it under cups decorated with landscapes in bistre ' ^ cama'ieu ; and we have seen it applied to pieces of orna- M 500 mental decoration. Reuss. Gera. — It is not at Gera itself, but at the village of TJnterhausen, near that town, that the manufactory had its seat. Mr. . ~3 Chaffers announces that it was founded about 1780, and (jL ^» that its mark is a cursive G ; others give it the German G h (M. 501). At any rate, these signs date from the earliest M - 501. times, and go back earlier than 1780. Towards the end of the century, the works belonged to MM. Schenk and Lorch, who have produced pretty services with baskets of flowers sometimes upon a pure yellow ground ; they marked (M. 502). M. 502. Ronneburg. — This establishment, very ancient and little known, was specialised for the making of pipe bowls ornamented with rich paintings ; a great number of painters were attached to it, and if the name of Ronneburg is unknown among us, it is much esteemed by German students. Grand Duchy of Baden. Baden. — The widow Sperl set up this manufactory, about 1753, employing workmen from Hochst. The porcelain is very fine, fjgy and is often marked, in gold filled in, with two axe-heads M 503 that have the edges towards each other (M. 503). The golden axe-heads occur upon some figures representing in coloured porcelain, Sculpture, Architecture, Painting and Poetry. Wurtemberg. Ludwigsburg or Louisburg. — Founded in 1758 by Ringler, a runa- way from the Vienna manufactory, it was encouraged by Charles Eugene, Duke of Wurtemberg. It produced carefully executed works, although a little less white than those of Meissen and of Vienna, and to be recommended for their judicious and well-composed decora- tion. It also made groups and figures in porcelain which have nothing to envy in the similar products of Saxony. The M. 504. customary mark (M. 504) is formed of a double C surmounted by a 604 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. closed crown, which distinguishes it from the cipher of Comte Custine, of Niederviller. It is this mark which has obtained for it in commerce the name of Kronenburg. But Wurtemberg has not ^* alone had this mark. We have met with fine cups with flowers bearing in blue an L crowned, or the initial L M. 505. only, initial name of the town. Another mark consists in an escutcheon charged with three stags' -^s horns (M. 5066) or one only (M. 506a), some only have ji ^ x this (M. 506c). Upon others the shield marks the saucer V^^— ' and the branch the cup. Mr. Chaffers thinks that these various signs belong to the last period of the manu- M. 506a 506& 50Gc factory. We heve met them upon very fine specimens well characterised as being of the last century. Although Charles Eugene died in 1793, the crossed C's were used till 1806. Later, the cipher TR was substituted, in 1818 WR, always under the crown. Bavaria. Neudeck-Nymphenburg. — Founded in 1754 by the earthenware- maker Niedermayer, under the protection of Count Hainshausen; Rino-ler was attached to it, and soon the elector Maximilian Joseph became the patron. In 1758, the establishment was transferred to Nymphenburg. The products of this manufactory are remarkable ; the golds are fine, the colours bright and well glazed : the land- scapes of Heinzmann and the subjects of Adler are justly esteemed. Another painter, G. C. Lindeman, has signed a piece in the Reynolds collection. The most ancient products have for ^OT ^ mark a star formed of two triangles and having , 171 Nt||P at each point signs of ancient alchemy (M. 507). M. 507. M. 508. Later the shield fusilly of Bavaria (M. 508), azure and argent, was graved in the paste. Sometimes it is traced in blue in the porcelain furnace. Frankenthal. — We have related, page 492, how Paul Antoine Hannong, expelled from Strasburg, came to offer his services to Charles Theodore, who favoured the establishment of a porcelain manufactory and became proprietor of it. The rapid success of the works of the Palatinate is explained by the beauty of the products; if they are inferior in white- ness to those of Saxony, they yield nothing in elegance and richness of decoration to these celebrated works. The groups are in good taste HARD PORCELAIN.— BA VARIA. 605 FRANKENTHAL. M. 509. M. 510. M. 511. and of careful design; the paintings have a purity of tone and of make highly to be recommended, entirely Fig. 145. preserving the German style. We have observed certain plates with grounds of veined wood and design " trompe-l'oeil " in the centre, quite similar to the speci- mens of Niederviller faience; Fig. 108, p. 412. The marks also give a kind of chro- nological history of the establishment. Under Paul Hannong, the lion rampant of the Palatinate (M. 509) is traced in blue, and sometimes accom- panied by the monogram of Hannong. When Joseph Adam succeeded his father, he traced, near the same lion, the cipher JAH (M. 510). When the Elec- tor Charles Theodore became proprietor and protector of the manufactory, his crowned cipher (M. 511) became the official mark. Later, having become master of all Bavaria, he sub- stituted a round seal, fusilly. This curious cipher (M. 512), which is to be found alone on some small pieces, had been read upside down, and attri- buted to Kloster-Veilsdorf. M - 512 - Anspach. — The manufactory of this town appears to have been set up in 1718, by runaway Saxon workmen. It lasted but a short time, and its products, pretty fine, are marked with an A, sometimes alone, sometimes placed under an eagle, also curiously traced (M. 513). Bayreuth. — This name, accompanied with the date of 1744, is in gold underneath a cup decorated with the view of a city, with persons in the costume of the end of the last cen- tury. This cipher is also attributed to it (M. 514), which we have found on a cup decorated in blue with the Bavarian fusilly shield. Prussia. Berlin. — The beginnings of porcelain at Berlin are involved in some obscurity. About 1750 or 1751, Wegely, who had acquired one of the copies of Ringler's notes founded in the Neue Friedrich Strasse an establishment, which ceased, in consequence of a manufactory set up in the Leipziger Strasse, by John Ernest Gottskowski, a banker. Did this M. 514. 6o6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. M. 515. latter act from his own impulse ; or was he not rather the proxy of a greater personage ? What is certain is, that the great Frederic, master of Saxony, carried off from Meissen the paste, models, collections, Fig. 146. and even the workmen and artists, to the advantage of Berlin, which became one of the first manufactories of Germany. Yet it was not until after the peace of Huberts- burg, in 1763, that Frederic acquired the establishment, which became royal. The first Prussian porcelain, that of Wegely, has nothing remarkable ; its mark (515) is a W, of which the inner strokes are prolonged so as to imitate coarsely the two swords of Saxony. This sign must not be confounded with the pipes of Thuringia. The products with the two pipes are of greyer paste, and less finely decorated than those of Berlin. The second manufactory has a unique mark, the sceptre (M. 516), which is taken from the ancient arms of Brandenburg ; the elector, and later the kings of Prussia had this ensign as emblem of their dignity as arch- chamberlains of the Holy Empire. There, as at Sevres, when it was still private pro- perty, the manufactory already enjoyed the protection of the sovereign. The porcelains with the sceptre are of a fine paste, very white, remarkable reliefs, their decoration painted in pure well- glazed colours. Among the Saxon artists transferred to Berlin are Meyer, Klipsel, and Bohme. We have seen a magpie delicately modelled and painted, signed Efster. About 1830, the common establishments having coarsely imitated the Prussian mark, the letters K.P.M. Konigliche Preussische Manu- factur, were added under the sceptre, or a second mark in red, consisting of the globe and cross, with the same initials. M. 516. Austria. Vienna. — This manufactory was founded in 1718 by a Dutchman, Claude-Innocent du Paquier, who had attached to himself a runaway arcanist of Meissen, named Stenzel, by the promise of a thousand thalers, an independent dwelling, and an equipage. The speculator HARD PORCELAIN.— A [/STRIA.— VIENNA. 607 sought in a company the means of conducting his establishment into the path of success ; Peter Henry Zerder, Martin Peter, a merchant, and Christoph Conrad Hunger, an artist, united with him. They solicited a privilege, which was granted them the 27th May 1718, by the em- peror, Charles VI., and which was to be available for twenty-five years. Yet the enterprise did not succeed ; the engagements could not be ful- filled, and before the end of the second year, Stenzel returned to Meissen, carrying with him the secret of the porcelain — a secret he had obstinately refused to divulge. Notwithstanding these events, Paquier did not lose courage ; he succeeded in giving to his manufactory the semblance of some activity, continuing his works for good or ill. This state of things lasted till 1744, when he offered to cede the manufactory to the Government. The Empress Maria Theresa accepted, and by an official contract the establishment became the property of the State, which charged itself with a debt of 45,549 florins. Du Paquier remained still at the head of the works, with a salary of 1500 florins, under the superior direction of the President of the Bank. To the first period are attributed pieces marked with a W, and which have a much older appearance than those made at Berlin, and signed with the same letter. In 1747, Joseph Niedermayer was named master modeller, and they began to make small figures. The manufactory took a great extension and developed itself rapidly ; from 20 workmen it employed in 1744, the number had reached 200 in 1770, and 320 in 1780. Since £3 it had become an imperial establishment, it marked its pieces \3 with the Austrian shield (M. 517), at first graved in the paste m. 517. and afterwards traced with a brush in blue. The superior direction was confided, from 1744 to 1758, to Maierhofer von Griinhubel ; from 1758 to 1770, to Joseph Wolf von Rosenfeld. In 1770, Kessler, called to this high office, thought to give a new impulse to the works by augmenting the staff by one-third ; but it had the contrary result : a true decline showed itself in the works of all styles, and notwithstanding the establishment of depots at Prague, Briinn, Lemberg, &c, the sale diminished and the enterprise became burdensome. In 1782, the Emperor ordered an inquiry to be made into the state of the manufactory, and, entrusting its direction to Baron von Sorgenthal, he then decided on putting it up for sale, and the auction was to take place the 20th July 1784 ; but as no buyer presented himself, Baron von Sorgenthal, confirmed in his functions, introduced judicious reforms, 6o8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. organised a kind of school of art, and soon raised the products to a level they had never before reached. This period was, without question, the most brilliant of the establishment. Joseph Leithner, a chemist on whom devolved the preparation of the colours, invented a black from uranium which gave grounds of the finest effect. We also owe to him the employment of platina in the solid and brilliant state, and a decoration of gold, burnished in relief upon dead gold, now so rare and sought after. Schindler, a painter of ornaments, distinguished himself by his taste ; another decorator, George Perl, was called to succeed Leithner ; Antony Grassi, a painter, contributed towards causing the rococo style to be given up for one of classic purity; Ferstler represented very remark- able mythological subjects. Mr. Reynolds has a piece painted with animals, in the syle of Berghem, by an artist named Lamprecht, and Joseph Nigg rivals, in flowers, the best artist of Sevres. Sorgenthal also caused to be made, under the direction of Flaxman, imitations of the fine potteries of Wedgwood. Wearied with so many works, he had associated with himself, in 1803, Niedermayer, who replaced him in 1805. Political events did much injury to the establishment, which lan- guished until 1813, it then recovered itself by degrees, and celebrated its centenary in 1818. At this period, its staff consisted of five hundred persons. In 1827, Benjamin Scholz succeeded Niedermayer; he died in 1834, and was replaced by Baumgartner. In 1844, Baron Leithner took the direction, to yield it, in 1856, to Alexander Lowe : this was its last period. A decision of the Reichsrath suppressed the establish- ment, and the drawings, a part of the models, the ceramic collections, and the library, were deposited in the Austrian Museum. Thus ended this manufactory, which, in its varied fortunes, knew how to keep itself on a respectable level, and never gave up to com- merce products unworthy of the imperial mark. In its early time the paste was slightly tinged with brown, but it became very white after having been mixed with the kaolin of Moravia. It is generally fine and well worked, and its decorating colours add brilliancy to solidity. -The rapid sketch which we have just made of the history of Austrian porcelain, is derived, in great part, from an excellent memoir, published by Mr. Jacob Falke. The establishments of Bohemia all date from this century, and we only mention them here to leave no apparent gaps : they are Elbogen, Pirkenhammer, and Schlakenwald. HARD PORCELAIN.— HOLLAND. 609 Holland. Weesp. — Count von Gronsveld, seconded by German workmen, founded this manufactory during the Seven Years' War (1756 v.y to 1763). The mark generally known is a W, in blue or J\ gold ; another sign (M. 518) has been attributed to Weesp, M - 51S - which Marryat assigns to Arnstadt in Gotha. The Reynolds collection has a piece with W ; also signed J. Haag. Amsterdam. — It is with the materials of the works at Weesp that the Protestant Pastor de Moll, assisted by some capitalists, set up at Oud- Loosdrecht, near Amsterdam, this new establishment ; transferred later to AmsteL on the river of the same name. The remarkable porcelain issued from these localities is signed first and from 1772, M. o. L, Manufactur oude Loosdrecht ; later, one finds the name /? Amstel, inscribed alone or in conjunction with the t -^c?>ld'Z6c letters M. o. L. ,(M. 519). On the death of the Pastor ^/f • 0> L de Moll, the shareholders confided the direction to a M 519 Mr. Daeuber. Hague. — Lynker, a German, founded this establishment in 1778, and obtained the encouragement of the authorities ; he took for mark the heraldic symbol of the town, that is, a stork holding a reptile in its beak (M. 520). The Hague porcelain is always very finely decorated, and its paste is often very beautiful. There are some paintings of the Hague, made upon white porcelain, introduced from without. Hence, it has been in- M " 520- ferred that the Hague never fabricated, an error easily refuted, since in many pieces the mark is blue under the glaze, and more frequently fired with the paste. Arnhem. — It is said that this town, formerly the residence of the Dukes of Guelderland, has been the seat of a porcelain manufactory. We know neither its products nor its marks. Belgium. Brussels. — Towards the end of the last century, a Monsieur Crette possessed a manufactory of porcelain, of which some pieces exist in .the Reynolds collection. Upon one is the monogram (M. 521) ; the others have the name only in the inscription. , m 521 L s . Crette de Bruxelles rue d'Aremberg, 1791 2 R 7 6io HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Other porcelains of Brussels are signed with a B surmounted by the royal crown. One piece bears the name of the decorator Ebenstein. Switzerland. Zueich.— The manufactory of this place was established by a runaway from Hochst, who gave up the direction to Spengler and ^ Hearacher, who remained possessors from 1763 to 1768. We find groups and some services tolerably well treated ; the rest M * 522 ' is current porcelain ; the mark (522) is the German Z. Nyon— If we are to follow Mr. Chaffers, this town of the canton of Vaud would have had two manufactories during the last twenty years of the eighteenth century, one directed M - 523 - by L. Genese ; the second, known by every one, is that founded by Maubree, a Parisian painter, who introduced the French style. The mark of Nyon is a fish (M. 523), more or less well traced. Denmark. Copenhagen. — It is to a certain Miiller that Denmark owes her important manufactory, set up in 1772, with the assistance of Von Lang, a runaway from Fiirstenberg; it was first put out in shares, and later purchased by the king. The considerable quantity of ordinary objects delivered for consumption did not prevent the production of remark- able pieces of great ornamentation, and figures in biscuit of perfect execution. The mark consists in three undulating lines (M. 524), representing, according to some, the waves of the Baltic, and according to others the Straits of the Sound, and of the Great and Little M - 524 - Belt. Russia. Saint Petersbueg. — Elizabeth Petrowna, from 1744 to 1746, caused this establishment to be raised, by Baron Yvan Antinnovitch ; but Catherine enlarged it considerably under the administration of J. A. Olsoufieff in 1765. French artists and workmen appear to have contributed at different periods to the perfection of the work; hence Russian porcelain has M. 525. M. 5^ 6. dose analogy with ours. The mark of St. Petersburg is the cipher of the sovereign ; thus under Catherine II., they signed (M. 525) ; under Nicholas I. (M. 526). Certain writers pretend that 8 tfie HARD PORCELAIN.— POLAND.— PORTUGAL. 611 one meets with pieces having three vertical strokes ; we do not know them, and it appears to us that their position would be very difficult to determine, unless accompanied by some other sign. Moscow. — It has been written that the porcelain of Moscow comes from a manufactory established at Twer, in 1756, by Gamier; there is no doubt an error in this statement. First, several works bear the name of the town, and one of them is marked with the name . of the director, Gardner, and not Gamier, and with his initial M (M. 527), which exists alone under some little figures long known M - 527 • and attributed to St. Petersburg. The work signed by Gardner in 1784 (Coll. Duke of Martina) proves that he possessed the true talent of painting. We saw three medallions with subjects after Boucher as fine as any work of Sevres. A modern manufactory at Moscow set up by A. Papove, marks with the monogram AP. Poland. Korzec, in Volhynia. — This rare porcelain has its name written in red with a brush, under the figure of a kind of mountain (M. 528). We do not know to what date we should refer the foundation of the manufactory of Korzec, but porcelain has been made in fayj^tf Poland from the beginning of the seventeenth century, since m. 528. we find some pieces mentioned in the inventory of the Regent in 1723. Portugal. Vista Allegre, near Oporto. — This manufactory, since its origin, has been in the hands of the Pinto-Basto family. The first specimens have been marked with the letters VA crowned ; but this signature is so rare that the actual proprietors have never seen it. The hard porce- lain of Vista Allegre is without mark. Italy. Vineue, near Turin.— Here is a manufactory which dates from the end of the last century, but which is interesting from the peculiar nature of its products ; mixed well in a considerable proportion of mag- ^ nesite of Baldissero, this element renders the paste fusible at V a lower temperature than the others, and allows it to undergo & G sudden changes of temperature. Dr. Gioanetti, founder of the M - 529 manufactory, has marked the initials of his name, accompanying a V, 6l2 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. usually surmounted by the cross of Savoy (M. 529). Later the 4- V only, or with the cross (M. 530), has been exclusively \/ adopted. M. 530. It now only remains to mention the pieces upon which we have met with signs still unknown, and difficult to attach to the manufactories cited above. m^y^ We have observed this mark upon a fine German porce- y( lain of the Meissen school. Fine piece, painting bright and well glazed, which made one attribute it to Holland. Essentially different from the lion of the Palatinate. Porcelain rather dark, remarkable polychrome decoration in the German style. fp i Pot with handle, German porcelain, with flowers. In the paste of a teapot of very translucent porcelain, T 'C delicately decorated with bouquets, Saxon style, executed in iron-red camai'eu. . Dark, argillaceous, heavy porcelain, with reliefs in the paste ; decoration of flowers in the Thuringian style. Would HP the crowned cipher be Hesse Darmstadt ? n Porcelain of* the same kind, in relief, and subjects in the |\|.U* style of Hochst. We have seen this mark again upon a charming teapot, with figures and landscapes of a delicacy worthy of Meissen. Common ribbed porcelain, dark, and decorated in ca- mai'eu of a violet rose. Cup with flowers, and detached bouquets, resembling the French soft paste. T7C( Group of little peasants, common porcelain of inferior workmanship. This mark, taken by us for the first time upon a specimen £p barely legible, has since been attributed to Hoxter, and the German Z has been explained as the initial of the painter HARD PORCELAIN.— ITALY. 613 Zieseler. The foundation of the manufactory at Hoxter has been an ephemeral attempt, and we do not think that Zieseler had time to perfect his works so as to produce the magnificent specimens which we have seen with this mark. Besides, the P is here the capital letter, and it is under this initial we must seek for the German manufactory. K V L DP Another figure, belonging to the Marquis d'Azeglio. Landscape, with the figure of a woman in Swiss costume ; painting rather dry. Switzerland ? Mr. Marryat gives this mark as belonging to Frankenthal, ^ and signifying Franz Bartolo. We would also remark, the same author assigns the fork to Kudolstadt. A German porcelain, attributed to Anspach without any certainty. Same attribution ; here we should rather see the arms of the city of Strasburg. Urn graved in the paste under a magnificent porcelain in the style of Nymphenburg. German porcelain, decorated in pale blue and iron-red. Cup with hunting scenes finely executed in bistre- camaieu. Creampot, in fine porcelain with reliefs, well decorated in gold and flowers, delicately painted. INDEX. A. Abaquesne, Masseot, potter of Rouen ; made tiles for the Constable Anne de Mont- morency, 318 Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) ; made faience, 438 Agostino da Duccio ; see Duccio Aire (Pas-de-Calais) ; made faience, 377 Albissola (States of Genoa) ; branch of Sa- vona, majolica, 309 ; country of the Con- rade, ib. Alcora, near Yalencia ; manufactory of the Duke of Aranda, school of Moustiers, 432, 528 ; appears to have made soft porcelain, 572 Alcoy (Valencia) ; made faience, 529 Alfonso II., Duke of Ferrara ; his experi- ments to make porcelain, 296 Alhambra, vases of, 178 ; descr., 179 Amboise (Indre-et-Loire) ; ceramic centre of faience in Touraine, 462 America, 188 ; faience of Central America, 190; Incas of Bolivia and Quichua's of Peru, ib. ; remarkable vessel in the form of a human head, 191 ; drinking vases with syphons, 192 Amphora ; jars to contain wine and grain, descr., 198 ; of Nicosthenes, 212 Amstel ; hard porcelain manufactory, trans- ferred from Weesp to Loosdrecht, and thence to Amstel, 609 Amsterdam ; rival in faience of Delft, 484 ; hard porcelain ; see Loosdrecht Ancy-le-Franc (Yonne) ; made faience, 424 Anduze (Gard) ; glazed garden-ware, 439 Angouleme, (Charente) ; made faience, 443 Angouleme, porcelaine du due d' ; see Paris, rue de Bondy Anspach (Bavaria) ; faience, Rouen style, 491 ; hard porcelain, 605 Anspach (Saxe Meiningen, Thuringia); hard Porcelain, 602 Antwerp; ceramic centre of the Nether- lands, 470 Aplustrum ; palmette-shaped ornament of the stern of a ship, 207 Apremont (Vendee) ; faience, 445 Aprey (Haute Marne) ; faience manufactory of its lords, 408 Apt (Vaucluse) ; yellow glazed faience of Castellet and Apt, 463 Arbois (Jura) ; fai'enee, 424 Arcesilaus, cup of ; descr., 212 Ardes (Puy-de-D6me) ; faience, 461 Arnhem (Holland) faience, 484 ; hard porce- lain, 609 Arnstadt (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha), Thuringia ; hard porcelain, 601 Arras (Nord); soft porcelain, 561 Artois, porcelaine du Comte d'; see Paris, Faubourg St. Lazare Aryballos ; flask for oil, 224 Asciano (Tuscany) ; botega where Luca della Robbia executed one of his works, 255 Asia Minor ; see glazed wares Assyria ; see coffins Aubagne (Bouches-du-Rhone) ; faiences imi- tating Marseilles, 437 Auch (Ger.) ; faience 441 Auxerre (Yonne); faiences imitating Nevers, 424 Avignon (Vaucluse) ; artistic brown glazed wares, 463 Avon (Seine-et-Marne), near Fontainebleau ; its statuettes, 333, 404 Azulejo, 177 B. Babylon ; its enamelled bricks, 111 Baden; its faience, 49 1 ; hard porcelain, 603 Bagnolet ; laboratory of Duke of Orleans, where Guettard makes hard porcelain, 577 Bagnorea (States of the Church) ; its ma- jolica, see Monte Bagnolo ; later products, 514 Bailleul (Nord); faience imitating Rouen, 380 6i6 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Bamboo, Japanese porcelain cups covered with minute slips of, 90 Bassano (Venetian States); botega of the sixteenth century, 307 ; majolica, ib. ; works of the Terchi family, 516 Bayreuth (Bavaria) ; faience, 491 ; hard porcelain, 605 Bazas (Gironde) ; faience unknown, 440 Beaker, Fr. cornet ; form of jar so called, 39 Beauvais (Aisne) ; its " poteries azurees," 236, 407 ; gifts to sovereigns, 236 Bellevue (Meurthe) ; faience, 413 ; Cyffie worked there, 414 ; list of objects made, ib. Benedetto, Maestro ; ceramic artist (Siena), 252 Benthal ; Jackfield pottery transferred there, 507 Bergerac (Dordogne) ; faience unknown, 440 Berlin ; hard porcelain, 605 Berne ; faience, 490 Besancon (Doubs); faience, 423 Blue ; favourite colour of Orientals, 138 ; bleu fouette, 61 ; of Nevers, 353 ; ' tur- quoise ' and ' de roi ' of Sevres, 552 Biscuit de Nancy, 417 Boch brothers, potters (Luxemburg), 474 Bois-d'Espence (Marne) ; faience, 410 Bois-le-Comte (Nievre) ; faience, 460 Boissette or Boisselle-le-Roy (Seine-et Marne); faience, 404, hard porcelain, 587 Bologna (the Marches) ; its majolica little known, 265 Bordeaux (Gironde) ; royal manufactory of faience, 440 ; hard porcelain, 583 Borgo San Sepolcro (Urbino duchy) ; faience lamp of Bolet, 511 Bottcher, J. F. ; discoverer of hard porcelain at Meissen, 596 Boulogne (Pas-de-Calais) ; faience, 377 Bourg (Ain) ; faience, 426 Bourg-la- Heine ; faience, 400; Jacques and Jullien transfer the Mennecy Works to this place, ib. ; soft porcelain, 561 Bow ; soft porcelain, 565 Bradwell ; works of the Elers, 503 Briot, Francois ; his works in pewter, 330 Bristol ; salt glazed wares, 506 ; Champion made hard porcelain, 567 Brizambourg (Charente-Inferieure) ; sealed faience, 442 Broussa (Bithynia) ; tomb of Mahomet, 115 Bruges ; faience, 473 Brussels ; faience figures, 471 ; hard porcelain of Crette, 609 Bucaro ; see stoneware. Buen Retiro (Madrid) ; soft porcelain, 572 Buontalenti, Bernardo ; assists in discovery of porcelain at Florence, 253 Burgau, Turbo marmoratus; a univalve shell which formerly supplied the mother- of-pearl, 101 Burgaute, Fr. ; see Burgau. Burslem ; Shaw its first potter, 503 C. Caaba; sacred mosque of Mecca, repre- sented on a Persian tile, 139 Caen (Calvados) ; faience, 376 ; hard porce- lain, ib. Cailloutage, Fr. ; pipe-clay, 6 Calata-Gironde (Sicily); lustred wares, 311 Caldas (Portugal) ; faiences in relief, 534 Cambrai (Nord) ; " poterie blance," 386 Camillo, Maestro, da Urbino ceramic artist ; worked at Ferrara, his tragic end, 299 Camillo Fontana ; see Fontana Candellieri ; style of decoration descr., 271 Cantharos ; wine-cup, 223 Capo di Monte (kingdom of Naples) ; mag- nificent faiences, 523 ; manufactory of soft porcelain founded by Charles III., 571 Casa Pirota ; botega at Faenza, 259 Cassel (Electoral Hesse) ; hard porcelain, 601 Castel Durante (Urbino duchy) ; majolica, 270 ; style of decoration, 271 ; artists, 272 ; see Urbania Castellet ; see Apt Castelli (kingdom of Naples); majolica manu- factory, 311 ; later works, 523 Grue family, ceramic artists (Castelli), 523 Castilhon (Gard) ; faience, style of Mous- tiers, 439 Caughley ; soft porcelain, 566 ; Rose transfers manufactory to Coalport, 567 Celadon, earliest Chinese pottery known, 47 ; descr., ib. ; crackle, see ; celadon of Wanti, 48 ; tchoui or flowered, 49 ; polychrome, ib. ; bleu empois, ib. ; articulated vase of, 72 ; in Persia, 151 Celebe ; vase, like crater, for mixing wine and water, 223 Chaffagiolo or Caffagiolo (Tuscany) ; majo- lica, 246 ; Villa of the Medici, 247 ; 'cha- racteristics of its wares, ib. ; two styles, 251 ; impresa of the Medici, ib. ; marks, ib. INDEX. 6i7 Chaffers, K., potter (Liverpool), 504 Chair de poule, Fr. ; style of decoration descr., 97 Chandiana or Candiana (Venetian States) ; majolica, imitated Persian style, 307, 518 Chantilly (Oise); soft porcelain made by Ciquaire Cirou, patronised by the Prince de Conde, 545 Chapelle-des-Pots, La (Chorente-Inferieure), 315 ; its " poteries azurees," 442 Chartres,duc de (afterwards Louis Philippe) ; patronises manufactory of Vincennes, 591 Chateaudun (Eure-et-Loire) ; faience, 456 Chatel-la-Lune (Eure), epis, 331 Chatellerault (Vienne) ; faience, 444 Chatironner, Fr. ; to surround the figures with a deep outline Chaumont-sur-Loire (Loir-et-Cher) ; medal- lions of Nini, 455 Chef-Boutonne (Deux Sevres); common ware, 445 Chelsea, manufactory of soft porcelain, 565 Chicanneau family make soft porcelain at St. Cloud, 539 China ; theogony, 22 ; symbols, 28 ; govern- ment and language, 32 ; manners and use of the vases, 39 ; ancient pottery, 45 ; porcelain, see Chinese porcelain ; celadon, see ; crackle, see ; turquoise blue and violet, 51 ; " souffle'," 52 ; blue, 53 ; white, 56 ; blue camai'eu, ib. ; " fouette," 61 ; celadono'ide, 62 ; vases for magistrates, see Konen-ki ; polychrome 64 ; fables respecting Chinese porcelain, 75 ; chrysanthemo-pseonian family, see ; green family, see ; rose family, see ; reticu- lated, see ; " grains de riz," see Chinese bottles in Theban tombs, 45 Choisy-le-roi (Seine) ; hard porcelain, 591 Chrysanthemum ; see Guik-mon Chrysanthemo-Pseonian family, Chinese ; its decoration, 64 ; furnishes the ware in general use in China, 65 ; reticulated, 71 ; Japanese, 86; Persian, see Persian porce- lain. Cirou, Ciquaire, potter (Chantilly), 545 Citta di Castello (Urbino duchy), 287 ; a la Castellane style ib.; graffito, ib. Clerissy, A. ; potter of Saint Jean du Dezert, Marseilles, 434 Clerissy, Pierre ; ceramic artist (Moustiers), his works after Tempesta, 428 ; son and successor, 429 Clermont-en-Argonne (Meuse) ; glazed wares like Avignon, 419 Clermont (Puy-de-D6me) ; faience imitated Moustiers, 461 Clignancourt (Paris) ; hard porcelain by Pierre Deruelle, patronised by Monsieur, Comte de Provence (afterwards Louis XVIII.), 585 Coffins ; green glazed of Warka, 111 Coimbra (Portugal) ; its black wares, 534 Confucius or Koung-Tseu ; his doctrines, 26 Congius; amphora of given capacity, 222, 225 Conrade, family ; ceramic artists (Albissola), 456 Copenhagen ; hard porcelain, 610 Cookworthy, W. ; makes hard porcelain, 567 Corea ; its porcelain, 105 ; style imitated in early French manufactories, 108 Cornaro (Venetian States) ; majolica, 305 Come, a la ; Eouen decoration so called, 352 Cottabus ; kind of bowl, 224; game so called, ib. Courcelles (Sarthe) ; faience, 451 Crackle porcelain ; Chinese, 47 ; truite, 48 ; different kinds, ib. ; certainty of the pro- cess, 51 ; Japanese, see Japanese porcelain Crater; vase for mixing wine and water, 223 Creussen (Bavaria) ; apostles' mugs, 344 Croisic, Le (Loire-Inferieure) ; faience made by Italian potters, 450 Cyffle, Paul Louis ; ceramic artist and mo- deller (Lorraine), at Luneville, 413 ; at Bellevue, 414 ; his " terre de Lorraine " works and statuettes, 583 Cypress ; symbolic tree of Zoroaster, 1 20 D. Dangu (Eure) ; faience, Rouen style, 376 Darnet, Madame ; discovers kaolin, 578 Davenport ; potter (Longport), 506 Delft ; its manufactories of faience, 474 ; registered marks, 476 Denia (Valencia) ; faience, 529 Dentelle, Fr. ; Rouen decoration described, 363 Demaratus ; carries art and artists to Etruria, 209 Derby ; soft porcelain, 566 Desvres (Pas-de-Calais) ; ordinary wares, 377 Dibutades of Corinth ; inventor of the plastic art, 195 Dieu-le-Fit (Drome) ; faience, 426 Digne ; potter of Paris, 394 6i8 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Digoin (Saone-et-Loire) ; faience, 424 Dijon (Cote d'or) ; faience, 424 Diruta or Demta (States of the Church) ; majolica, 290 ; el Frate worked there, 291 ; characteristics of the ware, ib. ; marks, 293 ; modern products, 514 Doccia, La (Tuscany), near Florence; soft magnesian porcelain, 568 Dog of Fo ; sacred in China, 29 ; Japan, 83 Don Pottery ; of Green, 507 Donino, Giovanni, de Garducci ; potter (Ur- bino), 273 Douai (Nord) ; faience, 385 Dragons of the Chinese, 28 ; five-clawed im- perial, 29 ; four-clawed, 30 ; three-clawed Japanese, 82 Dresden ; see Meissen. Dressoir, Fr. ; the sculptured high-hacked sideboard upon which the "piatti da pompa " were set out, 248 Du Paquier ; founder of the Vienna porce- lain manufactory, 606 ; sells it to Maria Theresa, 607 Dwight ; potter at Fulham, 503 Duccio, Agostino da ; ceramic modeller (Flo- rence), pupil of Luca della Eobbia, 245 Dunkirk (Nord) ; Saladin set up a manu- factory of faience, but compelled to go to St. Omer, 379 Dutch Embassy to Japan, 99 E. Egg-shell ; porcelain so called, 69 Egypt ; theogony, 11 ; symbolism, 12 ; pottery, 15 England ; its pottery, 502 ; porcelain manu- factories, 564 Engobe, Fr. ; " slip " used to coat pottery before the invention of the tin glaze, 234, 246 Epernay (Marne); glazed faience in relief, 410 Epi, Fr. ; spiked ornament of pottery or metal placed in the gables of houses in Normandy, 330 Epinal (Vosges) ; faience, 417 Espelette (Basses-Pyrenees); faience un- known, 439 Este (Venetian States) ; fine modem faience ; in relief, 515 ; soft magnesian porcelain in relief, 570 Etiolles, near Corbeil ; soft, 560 ; hard porce- lain, 582 F. Fabriano (States of the Church) ; majolica, 294 Faenza (The Marches) ; majolica manufac- tories, 257 ; pavement, ib. ; characteristics of its wares, 258 ; artists, 259 ; wares sent to Rome and France, 262 ; modern faience of F. Vecchij, 511 Fayence (Var) ; never made faience, 434 Fan-tao ; Chinese miraculous peach, 26 ; on a teapot, 51 Fauquez ; founder of the faience manufac- tory at Tournay, 471 ; at St. Amand, 388 ; and of the porcelain manufactory at Valenciennes, 591 Ferrara (Northern Duchies), 295 ; Alfonso I. invents a white glaze, ib. ; majolica, ib. ; artists, 296 ; porcelain made, 298 Fircone ; form of ancient Diruta vases, 292 Flaxman ; (sculptor) works with Wedgwood, 504 Florence (Tuscany) ; Flaminio Fontana sent to work there, 253 ; porcelain made by Francesco Maria, 254 Fo-hi ; first Chinese legislator, 23 ; traced the Pa-kwa, see ; his dog, 29, 83 Fo, hand of ; a Chinese plant, of the orange tribe, so called, 66 Foligno (States of the Church) ; majolica, 294 Fong-hoang ; sacred bird of Chinese, 29 ; symbol of Empress, ib. ; of Japanese, 83 ; India, 101 Fontana family of potters ; established at Urbino, 274 Fontana, Camillo ; ceramic artist (Urbino), 278 Fontana, Flaminio ; ceramic artist (Urbino), sent for to Florence to work at porcelain, 279 Fontana, Guido ; ceramic artist (Urbino), 275 Fontana, Nicolo or Pellipario ; ceramic artist (Castel Durante), 274 Fontana, Orazio ; ceramic artist (Urbino), 275 Fontenay (Vendee) ; marbled wares, 445 Forges-les-Eaux (Seine- Inferieure) ; faience, 375 Forli (The Marches) ; majolica manufactory, 263 ; artists, ib. Francois vase ; descr., 213 Frankenthal (Palatinate) ; Paul Antoine Hannong transfers his faience works here INDEX. 619 from Strasburg, 492 ; and makes hard porcelain, 604 Prate, el ; ceramic artist (Diruta), 291 Fulda (Electoral Hesse); hard porcelain, 600 Fulham ; Dwight's pottery, 503 Furstenberg (Brunswick) ; hard porcelain, 599 Fusi-yama ; sacred mountain of the Japa- nese depicted on their porcelain, 89 G. Galiano (Tuscany) ; a branch of majolica of Caffaggiolo, 251 Gatti, Giovanni, Lucio, and Tiseo, brothers ; ceramic artists (Castel Durante), went to Corfu, 272 Gennef (Luxemburg) ; faience, 493 Genoa, States of ; Genoa, see ; Savona, see ; Albissola, see Genoa (States of Genoa) ; majolica, 308 Gentili family ; ceramic artists (Castelli), 524 Gera (Reuss), Thuringia ; hard porcelain, 603 Gerona,near Milan; soft porcelain of doubtful origin, 572 Gey-chaniof Asia Minor; resembles Maghreb pottery, 117, 174 Gien (Loiret) ; faience, 455 Giorgio, Maestro; ceramic sculptor and painter (Gubbio), 280 ; his brothers and assistants, 285 ; his son Cencio, ib. Girolamo da le Gabice ; potter (Pesaro), 269 Glazed wares ; of Assyria, 110; Babylon, ib.; Asia Minor, 112 ; ribbed phial of Rhodes, 113 ; Mahomet's tomb at Medina, 114 ; at Broussa, ib. ; lamps of enamelled glass, 115 ; egg of suspension, 116 ; faience lamp, Mr. D. Fortnum, 117 ; Persian tiles, 138 Glot ; ceramic artist (Sceaux), 398 Goggingen (Bavaria) ; faience, 493 Gombron ware of Horace Walpole, 144 Gotha (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) ; Thuringia, hard porcelain, 601 Gouffier, Claude ; see Oiron Goult (Vaucluse) ; faience, style of Mou- stiers, 463 Gourd of Noah ; descr., 11 6 Graffito decoration ; descr., 287 Grains de riz ; Chinese decoration so called, 71 Greece, Greek ceramics, 194; historic sketch ib. ; Greek vases and their inscriptions, 197 ; ostracism, 200 ; ostrakenon, a Greek game, 201 ; use of Greek vases, ib. ; urn of Cimon, son of Miltiades, ib.; pan- athenaic vases, see ; names of potters, 204 ; ornamentation of vases, 205 ; fable of Corinthian capital, ib. ; classification of vases, 207 ; primitive, ib. ; Asiatic, ib. ; Corinthian, 209 ; Lydian tomb at Ccere, ib. ; black vases of Chiusi, ib. ; Italo- Greek, 210 ; cup of Arcesilaus, see ; Fran- cois vase, see ; of Nola, 216 ; rhytons, 217 ; decline of art, 219 ; terra cotta vases of Magno Greecia, 220 ; denomination of vases, 222 Green Family ; Chinese, its hieratic cha- racter, 66 ; Japanese, see Japanese porce- lain ; Persian, see Persian porcelain. Grenoble (Isere) ; faience, 426 Gres de Flandres, 345 Grosbreitenbach (Schwartzburg) Thuringia ; hard porcelain, 602 Gros-Caillou (Seine) ; faience, 401 ; hard porcelain, 583 Grotaglia (kingdom of Naples) majolica, 311 Groteschi ; style of decoration so called, 271 Grue Family ; ceramic artists of Castelli, 523 Gualdo (Urbino Duchy); majolica, 287; its ruby lustre, ib. Gubbio (Urbino Duchy) ; majolica, 280 ; its lustred pigments, 282 ; Giorgio Maestro, see Guido Durantino ; see Fontana. Guido di Savino ; ceramic artist (Castel Durante), carries the art to Antwerp, 470 Guik-mon, chrysanthemum flower, arms of the Mikado, 80 H. Hague ; faience, 476 ; hard porcelain, 609 Haguenau (Bas-Rhin) faience, worked suc- cessfully by Charles, Balthasar and Paul Anthony Hannong, 422 Hamburg ; faience, 494 Hangest, Helene de ; see Oiron Hanley ; Mayer worked in style of Wedg- wood, 506 Hannong, Charles Frangois ; founds, 1709, a pipe manufactory at Strasburg, con- verted into one for faience, 420 ; and makes porcelain, 573 ; opens a second 620 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. faience manufactory, 1724, at Haguenau, 420 ; resigns them to his sons, Balthasar and Paul Antoine, dies 1739, ib. Hannong, Balthasar ; potter (Strasburg), son of Charles Francois, works Haguenau manufactory, 420 Hannong, Charles Stanislas; potter, founds pipe manufactory works at Baden, 491 Hannong, Joseph Adam ; potter (Strasburg), son of Paul Antoine, succeeds to Franken- thal works, 421, 492 ; works of the Lower Rhine ceded to him by his brother Paul Antoine, 421 ; makes faience and porce- lain, 573 ; ruined and flees to Germany, 421, 605 ; where he dies, 422 Hannong, Paul Antoine; potter (Strasburg), son of Charles Francois, succeeds to Stras- burg manufactory, 420 ; fine painting of his faience, ib. ; discovers gilding, ib. ; makes hard porcelain, 573 ; offers his secret to Sevres, 573 ; persecuted by Sevres and moves to Frankenthal in the Palatinate, 421 ; where he makes faience and hard porcelain, 492, 573, 604 Hannong, Pierre Antoine ; potter (Stras- burg), son of Paul Antoine, took up the manufactories of the Lower Ehine, 421 ; sold the secret of hard porcelain to Sevres, ib. ; cedes the Alsatian manufactories to his brother Joseph Adam, ib. ; obtains privilege for making faience and hard porcelain at Vincennes, but produced none, 578 ; tries Paris, at the Faubourg St. Lazare, 582 ; directs Duke de Chartres' porcelain works at Vincennes, 591 Harburg (Hanover) ; faience of John Schapper, 493 Havre, Le (Seine-lnferieure), faience like Rouen, 375 Hesdin (Pas-de-Calais) ; faience, 378 ; here Jehan le Voleur worked, 240 Henri Deux, faience ; name given to products of Oiron, see Hesse Darmstadt ; hard porcelain, 600 Hildburghausen (Saxe Meiningen) Thu- ringia ; hard porcelain, 602 Hirschvogel, Veit ; potter (Nuremberg), 336 Hispano-Moresque pottery, 176 ; historic sketch, 177; Malaga, 178; Alhambra vases, see ; Valencia, 182 ; Manises, see ; Majorca, 186 Hochst-on-the-Main (Nassau) ; faience, 494 ; groups, ib. ; hard porcelain, 599 Honorific vases ; descr., 41 Horse, sacred, of Chinese, 29 Hoxter (Brunswick) ; hard porcelain, 599 Hydria ; vase to contain water, 222 I. He d'Elle (Vendee) ; faience, 445 He de France (Seine) ; its potteries, 391 He Saint-Denis (Seine) ; hard porcelain, 587 Ilmenau (Schwartzburg) Thuringia ; hard porcelain, 602 Imali in Fizen (Japan) ; produces the finest porcelain, 90 Imola (The Marches) ; majolica, 266 India ; manners, 153 ; potteries, 155 ; terra cottas from the topes of Saldahra, Ojepore, and Andher, 156 ; porcelain, 160 ; poly- chrome, 163 ; " frotte d'or " and other decorations, 167 Istoriato, term applied to historic pieces; sacred, profane, mythological or others J. Jackfield pottery, 506 Jacoba's Kannetjes; name given to the stoneware pots, reputed to have been made by Jacqueline of Bavaria, 343 Jacques and Jullien ; proprietors of the Mennecy, 547 ; Bourg-la-Reine, 400 ; and Sceaux works, 397 Japan; its feudal organisation, manners, and government, 78; religion, 82; pottery, 83 ; porcelain, see Japanese porcelain Japanese porcelain ; polychrome, 86 ; chry- santhemo-pasonian, ib. ; rose family, 88 ; vitreous porcelain, ib. ; saki cups, 89 ; artistic, 91 ; mandarin, 93 ; five styles of decoration, 95 ; Indian porcelain, so called, 98; "burgaute," see; cloisonne enamel, 102 ; crackle, 103 ; Satsuma, ib. Judsea ; its potteries, 19 K. Kaschau (Hungary) faience said to be by Italian workmen, 495 Keltersbach (Hesse Darmstadt); hard porcelain, 600 Kertch, ancient Panticapaeum, vases found there, 216 Kiel (Denmark) ; faience, 509 King-te-chin, town and its porcelain works, 56 INDEX. 621 Kiri-mon ; arms of the Mikado, 80 ; on Corean porcelain, 107 Kloster Veilsdorf (Saxe-Meiningen) Thu- ringia ; hard porcelain, 602 Korzec (Volhynia) ; hard porcelain, 611 Kouan-ki, vases of magistrates, 56 ; descr., 62 Kouen-ou ; first Chinese potter, 45 Koung-Tseu ; see Confucius Kraut, Hans, potter (Nuremberg), 335 Kronenburg ; see Louisburg Kunersberg (Sweden) ; faience, 509 Kylin ; symbolic animal of the Chinese, 29 ; Japanese, 83 L. La Chapelle-des-Pots (Charente-Inferieure) ; same faience as at Saintonge, 442 La Charite (Nievre) ; faience, 460 La Courtille (Paris) ; hard porcelain by Locre, 584 Laforest (Savoy) ; faience, 314 Lagama ; wine bottle, figured, 145 La Grange (Moselle) ; faience, 419 Lambeth, pottery, 502 Lambrequin, Ft. mantling; national deco- ration of Rouen described, 362 Lamps, oriental glass, 115 ; faience, 117 Lancelle, Ft. ; form of vase so styled, Plate I. Lane End or Longton ; Turner imitator of Wedgwood, 506 Lanfranchi fam., ceramic artists (Pesaro), 269 Lanfranco, Jacomo ; ceramic artist (Pesaro), first lays gold on majolica, 269 Langres (Haute-Marne) ; faience, 410 La Node (Nievre) ; faience, 460 Lao-tseu ; Chinese philosopher, 24 ; author of the Tao-te king, 25 La Plume (Lot-et-Garonne) ; faience, 440 La Rochelle (Charente-Inferieure) ; faience, 443 La Seinie ; hard porcelain, 585 La Tour d'Aigues (Vaucluse), faience, 464 ; soft porcelain, 560 Lauraguais, Comte de Brancas ; makes hard porcelain, 574 Lecythus; cylindrical cruet for the toilet, 224 Leeds ; Hartley, Greens & Co., various fa- iences, 507 Lc Novc, near Bassano ; faiences of Antoni- bon, 516 ; soft magnesian porcelain, 568 Le Puy (Haute-Loire) ; faience, 439 Les Islettes (Meuse) ; faience, 419 Les Pourpres (Var) ; faience, 433 Ligron (Sarthe) ; " epis," but inferior to Normandy, 451 Lille (Nord) ; faience, 381 ; Dorey makes soft porcelain, 544 ; hard porcelain, 589 Limbach (Saxe-Meiningen) ; hard porcelain, 601 Limoges (Haute- Vienne) ; faience, 461 ; hard porcelain, 584 Ling-tchy ; fungus, emblem of immortality, 26 Lisbon, faience ; manufactory of Rato, 533 Little Fenton ; Wheildon, 506 Liverpool ; transfer printing, 504 Lodi (Lombardy) ; faiences like Treviso, 521 Longevity ; Chinese symbols of, 30, 51 Longport ; works of Davenport, 506 Loosdrechst (Holland) : hard porcelain trans- ferred from Weesp, 609 Louisburg or Ludwigsburg (Wurtemberg) ; faiences, 495 ; hard porcelain by Ringler, same as Kronenburg, 603 Lowestoft ; manufactory of porcelain, 507 Luneville (Meurthe); faience, 412; " terre de Lorraine " of Cyffle, 583 Lustres, metallic, 9, 246 ; Caffagiolo, 249 ; Pesaro, 268 ; Gubbio, 280 ; Gualdo, 287 ; Deruta, 290 Luxemburg ; its faiences, 474 Lyons (Rhone) ; ceramic establishment of sixteenth century, 317 ; royal manufactory of faience, 426 M. Machecoul (Loire-Inferieure) ; ceramic works of Ridolfi, 317, 450 Macon (Saone-et-Loir) ; faience, 424 Macquer makes hard porcelain at Sevres, 578 Madrid, Chateau de ; in the Bois de Bou- logne, decorated by Girolamo della Robbia, 245 Maghred, Arab empire on the North African shores ; its potteries, 170 ; tiles at Fez, 171; mosque near Keirouan, ib. ; col- lection of Arab pottery of M. Martin, 172 ; forms and description, 174 Malaga ; see Hispano-Moresque pottery Malicorne (Sarthe) ; epis, 331; brown glazed ware, 451 Malines ; faience, 472 622 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Mallievre (Vendee) ; faience, 445 Manara, Baldasar ; ceramic artist (Faenza), 259 Mandarin ; costume of various orders, 94 Manerbe (Calvados) ; epis or spikes of faience, 331 Manises (Valencia) ; its golden works, 186 Mantes (Seine-et-Oise) ; probably made faience, 404 Marches, The ; manufactories, 257 ; Faenza, see ; Forli, see ; Eimini, see ; Eavenna, see ; Bologna, see ; Imola, see Marans (Charente-Inferieure) ; faience, 442 Marieberg, near Stockholm ; faience, 508 ; soft porcelain, 563 Marignac (Haute-Garonne) ; faience, 437 Marseilles (Bouches-du-Rhone) ; extensive manufactories of faience, 434 ; exported largely, ib. ; hard porcelain, 577 Martres (Haute-Garonne); faience, 437 Marzacotto ; lead and glass glaze, 252 Mathaut (Aube) ; faience, 408 Maurienne (Sardinia) ; faience, imitation of Nevers, 525 Medici family ; their villa at Caffaggiolo, 247 ; Francesco de' Medici makes porce- lain, 253 Meillonas (Ain) ; faience works of Madame Marron, 425 Meissen (Saxony) ; hard porcelain, 596 ; history of its discovery and of the manufactory, ib. Melun (Seine-et-Marne) ; faience unknown, 404 Memmingen (Bavaria) ; faience stoves, 495 Mennecy Villeroy ; Barbin makes soft porce- lain, 546 Meudon (Seine-et-Oise) ; faience, 403 Mezza majolica ; descr., 246 Middle Ages, 231 ; incrusted tiles, ib. ; pottery decorated with engobe, 234 ; funeral fir cones with green glaze, 235 ; potters made to furnish yearly contri- butions of pots, ib. ; j)ots of Beauvais mounted in silver, 236 ; potteries azurees, ib. ; dish with Gothic inscription, 237 ; another with motto of Philip, Duke of Burgundy, 238 ; potters of Plenee Jugon, ib. ; enamelled tiles of Jehan le Voleur, 240 Mikado, Emperor of Japan, 79 ; his arms, 80 Milan ; faience, in oriental style, 518 Mirebcau (Cote-d'Or) ; glazed wares, 424 Modena (Northern Duchies); ceramic artists, 514 Mones (Haute-Garonne) ; faience unknown, 437 Mont Louis (Seine) ; faience, 401 Montaigu (Vendee) ; faience unknown, 445 Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) faience un- known, 440 Montbernage (Vienne) ; faience, 444 Monte Bagnolo (States of the Church) ; known by one majolica dish, 294 Monte Lupo (Tuscany) ; brown glazed wares, heightened with gold, 255, 511 Montenoy (Meurthe) ; faience, 417 Montereau (Seine-et-Marne); English faience, 404 Montigny (Meuse) ; faience, 418 Montmorency, Constable Anne de ; hunting bottle with his arms, 316 ; patronises Abaquesne, 318 ; protects Palissy, 327 Montpellier (Herault) ; faience, royal manu- factory, 438 Montreuil-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais) ; brown ware, 378 Moscow ; hard porcelain, 611 Moulins (Allier) ; faience resembling Rouen, 460 Moustiers (Basses- Alpes) ; important ceramic centre, 427 ; Clerissy family, see ; Olery, see; style of decoration, 430 ; said to have made soft porcelain, 562 Moyen, near Luneville (Meurthe) ; faience, 417 Murano (Venetian States) ; modern faience, 515 N. Nancy (Meurthe) ; faience, 417 ; biscuit de Nancy, ib. Nantes (Loire-Inferieure) ; white faience of Italian origin, 448 Naples (Kingdom of) ; Naples, see ; Castelli, see ; Grotaglia, see ; Sicily, see Naples (Kingdom of) ; majolica artists and marks, 309 ; see Capo di Monte Narbonne (Aude) ; lustred pottery, 438 Narghili ; porcelain recipients of, 149 Nast ; porcelain makers (Paris), 589 Nelumbo ; sacred Buddhist lily, 68 ; repast of the Chinese Emperor, 68; Feast of Nelumbos, 70 Neuhaus (Brunswick) ; hard porcelain, 599 Nevars (Nievre) ; importance of its ceramic works, 456 ; influence of the Conradc, 459 ; classification of its styles, ib. INDEX. 623 Nicola da Fano ; ceramic artist (Faenza), 260 Nicola da Urbino ; ceramic artist (Urbino), 279 Niculoso, Francesco ; ceramic modeller (Pisa), goes to Seville, 245 Niderviller, or Niederviller (Meurthe) ; manufactory of faience founded by Beyerle, 410 ; acquired by Count Custine, 411 ; bard porcelain made, 581 Nien-hao, a temple name after deatb of the Cbinese Emperors, 35 ; of Japanese, called Nengo, 87 Nimes (Gard) ; coarse faience imitating Marseilles, 439 Nini, J.B., modeller (Chaumont) ; his terra cotta portraits, 455 Nottingham ; stoneware, 507 Nove, Le : see Le Nove Nourouz ; Persian festival of the vernal equinox, 121 Nuremberg (Bavaria) ; enamelled Renais- sance stoves, 495 ; dish with confession of Augsburg, ib. ; uncertain whether made soft porcelain, 563 Nymphenburg (Bavaria) ; hard porcelain, 604 Nyon (Vaud) ; hard porcelain, 610 (Enochoe ; vase for libations, 223 Ognes (Aisne) ; faience unknown, 407 Ohrdruf, Posneck, and Eisenberg (Saxe- Coburg-Gotha), Thuringia ; made hard porcelain, 601 Oiron (Deux-Sevres) ; history of its faience, called Henri deux, 337 ; jaspered fa'icnce, 444 Olery, Joseph; ceramic artist (Moustiers), 429; called to Spain by the Duke of Aranda, 430; brings back polychrome style, ib. ; is ruined, ib. ; Italian artists formed by him, 432 Olpe ; vase for pouring out wine, 224 Onda (Valencia) ; common wares, 530 Opium pipe, 74 Orleans (Loiret) ; faience of " terre blanche purifiee," 451 ; soft porcelain, 559 ; hard porcelain, 576 ; statuary, ib. Overtoom, near Amsterdam ; faience, 483 Oxybaphon ; cruet for sauce or vinegar, 225 P. Padua (Venetian States) ; majolica, 306 Pa-kwa ; or eight diagrams of Fo, 23 ; brought by sacred horse, 29 ; how figured, 24 Palermo (Kingdom of Naples) ; albarelli of seventeenth century, 525 Palissy, Bernard; his biography, 323; works, 327 ; pupils and imitators, 330 Panathenaic vases; descr., 202 ; inscriptions, 203, 214 Pancirolli ; on Chinese porcelain, 75 Paraphe, Fr. ; a flourish ; term applied to a stroke through a capital letter, as seen in majolica marks, the letter being said to be "parafe" Paris; Middle Ages, 234; sealed and jaspered wares, 334 ; Claude Reverend obtains letters patent, 391; Count Lauraguais makes hard porcelain, 574 Paris, Barriere de Reuilly ; hard porcelain, Chanon, 590 Paris, Faubourg Saint Antoine, soft porce- lain, 547 Paris, Faubourg Saint Antoine, hard porce- lain, Morelle, 584 Paris, Faubourg Saint Honore ; Rue de la Ville l'Eveque ; Marie Moreau's manu- factory of soft porcelain, 545 Paris, Faubourg Saint Lazare ; hard porce- lain " de Monsieur " Hannong, 582 Paris, Petite Rue Saint Gilles,hard porcelain, 592 Paris, Rue Amelot au Pont aux Choux ; patronised by Louis Philippe Joseph, Duke of Orleans ; hard porcelain, 590 Paris, Rue de Bondy, Dihl and Guerard, hard porcelain called " Angouleme," 588 Paris, Rue des Boulets ; transferred to Pont aux Choux, 590 Paris, Pue de Charonne; Dartes freres ; hard porcelain, 595 Paris, Rue de Crussol ; Potter, hard porcelain, called " Prince de Galles," 592 Paris, Gros Caillou ; see Gros Caillou Paris, Rue Fontaine au Roi ; see La Courtille Paris, Rue de la Roquette ; Souroux, hard porcelain, 584 Paris, Rue de la Roquette ; hard porcelain, " Trois levrettes," 585 Paris, Rue du Petit Carrousel ; hard porcelain, 586 624 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Paris, "Rue de Eeuilly ; Lassia, hard porcelain, 585 Paris, Eue Thiroux ; patronised by the Queen, hard porcelain, Leboeuf, called ' ' porcelaine de la Keine," 587 Paris, Rue de Popincourt ; Nast, hard porce- lain, 589 Passeri, earliest writer on Italian enamelled pottery, 266 Pastillage, term explained, 235 Patanazzi family ; ceramic artists (Urbino) ; 279 Paullownia imperialis, see Kiri-mon Pa via (Lombardy) ; graffito dishes of an amateur artist, 289, 520 Perrin, Veuve ; potter (Marseilles), 436 Persia ; history and manners, 118 ; love of Persians for flowers, 121 ; tulip, rose and vine, ib. ; Maison du vin of Shah's palace descr., 123; porcelain, see Persian porcelain; fabulous animals of the fire- worshippers, 136 Persian porcelain, divisions, 124 ; enamelled porcelain, 125 ; soft, 126 ; faience, 130 ; wall tiles, 131 ; rich pottery esteemed in Persia, 133; tiles, 138; plaque with the Caaba, see ; in church at Pisa, 143 ; hard porcelain, ib. ; blue decoration under the glaze, 145; polychrome painting, 148; Chrysanthemum pasonian, ib.; green, ib.; and rose families, 149 Pesaro (Urbino duchy), 266 ; Passeri's history, ib. ; pieces with portraits and mottoes, 267 ; madreperla lustre, 268 ; in eighteenth century imitated French faience, 512 Peterynck, ceramic artist (Tournay), 562 Phiale, shallow saucer or patera, id 24 Piccolpasso, Cavaliere ; his treatise on ma- jolica, 272 Pisa (Tuscany) ; centre of exports to Spain, 252 ; majolica, ib. Pithos ; large earthen jar, 225 ; dwelling of Diogenes, ib. ; of the poor at Athens, ib. Plymouth ; Cookworthy makes hard porce- lain, 567 Poitiers (Vienne) ; faience, 443 Pontailler (Sarthe) ; faience, 424 Pont-de-Vaux (Ain) ; monumental faience, 425 Pontenx (Landes) ; hard porcelain, 592 Porcelain Tower of Nankin, descr., 53 Porto (Portugal) ; faience, 534 Poterat, Louis, Sieur de Saint Etienne ; obtains letters-patent for making porce- lain, 537 Potiche Fr. ; form of jar so termed, 66 ; figured, 97 Potsherds, used for ostracism, 200 Pousa, Chinese god, name given to Poutai, god of contentment, 28 Pre d'Auge "(Calvados) ; perfection of its spikes (epis), 331 Premieres (Cote d'Or), faiences, 424 Prestino ; ceramic artist (Gubbio), 286 Proskau (Prussia) ; brown glazed wares, 498 Pyrometer of Wedgwood ; a clay cylinder which, by its contraction, indicates the temperature of the furnace, 4 Q. Quartiere, a; style of decoration descr., 262 Queen's ware ; made by Wedgwood, 504 Quimper (Finistere) ; faience, Rouen style, 450 Quimperle (Finistere); faience resembling Eennes, 450 R. Rambervillers (Vosges); faience, 4 17 Ratisbon ( Oer. Regensburg) ; hard porce- lain, 603 Rato ; see Lisbon. Ravenna (The Marches) ; majolica, 265 Rauenstein (Saxe Meiningen) Thuringia ; hard porcelain, 602 Reaumur's porcelain, 548 Renac (Ule-et-Vilaine) ; faience Rennes style, 447 Renaissance, French, brought to France by the Italian wars, 314 ; its green glazed pottery, 315 ; immigration of Italian artists, 317 ; tiles of Abaquesne, see ; Palissy, see ; " Epis " of Normandy, 331 Renaissance, Italian, its first ceramic works, 241 ; tin enamel of Luca della Robbia, ib. ; disks encrusted in the Italian churches, ib. ; plaque of St. Crispin and St. Crispinian, 242 ; Entombment in terra-cotta, 243 ; notice of the della Robbia family, see; development of the Italian enamelled wares, 246 Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) ; faience, 445 INDEX. 625 Eeticulated porcelain, Chinese, 71 ; Indian and figure, 101 ; Persian, 151 Begensburg ; see Katisbon Reverend, Claude, at Paris sets up a manu- factory of " faience facon d'Hollande," 535 ; tries to make porcelain, ib. Khodes ; Persian potters transplanted there, 131 Rhyton ; drinking cup descr., 217 Eidolfi, brothers; ceramic artists (Caffag- giolo) settle at Machecoul, 317 Eigne (Deux-Sevres) made tiles for chateau of Thouars, 444 Eimini (The Marches) ; majolica, 264 Eingler; German arcanist establishes porce- lain manufactories at Hochst, 600 ; Lud- wigsburg, 603 Eioz (Doubs) ; faience, 423 Eoanne (Loire) ; faience, 427 Eobbia, Luca della; Florentine sculptor and ceramic artist, notice of, 243 ; and his works, ib. ; other members of his family, 244 ; Girolamo decorates the Chateau de Madrid, 245 Eobert ; potter (Marseilles), 436 Eohn (Morbihan), see Quimper Eolet Mart. ; French ceramic artist, Borgo San Sepolcro, 511, and Urbino, 513 Eoman ceramics, 226 ; red wares of Arezzo, 227 ; terra-cotta used for architectural decoration, 228 ; and for statuettes, 230 Eonneburg (Eeuss) ; Thuringia ; hard por- celain, 603 Rorstrand, near Stockholm; first manu- factory of faience in Sweden, 507 Eose family, Chinese, distinguished by its carmine red, 69; egg-shell, ib.; Japanese, see Japanese porcelain ; Persian, see Per- sian porcelain. Rotterdam ; faience, 484 Eouen (Seine-Inferieure), works of Aba- quesne and his successors, 318 ; national style of its decorations, 350; lambrequins and dentelles, 351 ; its manufactory, 359 ; " mise en faience " of Louis XIV., 369 ; potter's marks, 372 Eouy ( Aisne) faience like that of Sinceny, 406 Eudolstadt (Schwartzberg) Thuringia ; hard porcelain, 602 Sadirac (Gironde) ; its "potherie de ver- derie," 316 Saint Adrien (Seine-Inferieure) ; faience, 375 Saint Amand-les-Baux (Nord) ; history of its faience and porcelain manufacture, 388 Saint Blaise (Haut-Ehin) ; faience, 423 Saint Brice ; hard porcelain, 590 Saint Clement (Meurthe) ; faience, 417 Saint Cloud (Seine-et-Oise) ; faience 402 ; manufactory of Chicanneau, 539 ; makes soft porcelain, 541 Saint Denis en Poitou, hard porcelain, 590 Saint Denis He (Seine) ; faience, 401 Saint Denis-sur-Sarthon, faience 376 Saint Die (Loir et Cher), faience, 455 Saint Georges (Bavaria), faience, 498 Saint John the Evangelist, patron saint of Valencia, 183 Saint Marceau (Loiret), faience, 455 Saint Omer (Pas de Calais) ; Saladin sets up a manufactory of faience, facon d'Hol- lande, 378 Saint Petersburg ; hard porcelain, 610 Saint Porchaire (Deux Sevres) ; wares with brown backs, 445 Saint Vallier (Drome) ; faience, 426 Saint Verain (Nievre) ; stoneware, 460 Saint Yrieix, near Limoges ; kaolin dis- covered first in France, 578 Sainte Foy (Normandy ?) ; faience, 375 Saintes (Charente-Inferieure) illustrious from the works of Palissy, see; other wares, 442 Samadet (Landes) ; faience, 440 San Marco ; laboratory of Francesco Maria de' Medici, where porcelain was made, 253 San Quirico (Urbino duchy) modern ma- jolica works of Cardinal Chigi, its products not sold, 511 San Miniatello (Tuscany) ; majolica, 256 Sarreguemines (Moselle), great development of its faience, 419 Sassuolo, near Modena; produced pieces in Japanese style, 514 Savignies (Aisne), 235 ; .407 Satsuma, Japan ; stoneware's, 103 Savona (States of Genoa) majolica, 308 ; French artists bring their style, 522 Savy, H., potter (Marseilles), 435 Scarabasus ; in Egypt, the symbol of crea- tion, 14 Sceaux (Seine); manufactory of faience, protected by the Duchesse de Maine, 396 ; Glot develops the manufacture of soft por- celain, placed under the patronage of the Due de Penthievre, 559; hard porcelain one specimen, 589 2 S 626 HISTORY OF THE CERAMIC ART. Schaff hausen ; graffito faience, 491 Schifanoia ; private botega of Sigismond d'Este, at Ferrara, 297 Schlestadt, glaze not invented here, 233 Schreitzheim (Wurtemberg) ; faience, 498 Segovia (Old Castile), 530 Seigne, Jacques ; potter Nevers, 457 Seville ; faience, 530 Sevres (Seine-et-Oise) bad a manufactory of fine faience, 403 ; Vincennes soft porce- lain works transferred here, 550 ; king becomes sole proprietor, ib. ; history of the manufactory, ib.; list of artists, 553; Macquer makes hard porcelain, 578 Sgraffiato, see graffito Shah Abbas, supposed effigy on Persian tile, 138 Shelton ; Astbury establishes himself there, 505 Siam ; its enamelled porcelain, 168 Sicily ; its Arab potters, 311 Siena (Tuscany); majolica manufactory, 252 ; Fra Benedetto, ib. ; modern faience, 510 Simorg ; fabulous bird of the Persians, 136 Sinceny (Aisne) ; faience first imitated Kouen style, afterwards the Lorraine, 405 Sitzerode (Schwartzburg) Thuringia ; hard porcelain, 602 Solobrinus, Leochadius; ceramic artist (Forli), 264 Spice-box with impresa of Cosmo de' Me- dici, 256 States of the Church, 290 ; Deruta, see ; Monte Bagnolo, see ; Fabriano, see ; Fo- ligno, see ; Viterbo, see States of Genoa ; see Genoa Steckborn (Switzerland), remarkable stove, 490 Stoke-upon-Trent ; Minton and Spode's pot- tery and porcelain manufactories, 506 Stoneware ; Chinese, 73 ; bucaro, ib. Stoneware ; German, 343 ; Canettes of the potters of Cologne, 344 ; Apostles' mugs, ib. ; gres de Flandres, 345 ; French, Beau- vais, 235 Stove ; German descr., 335 Stralsund ; faience, 498 Strasburg (Bas Bhin); manufactory of faience and porcelain, 420 ; Hannong family, ib. ; hard porcelain, 573 Surahe ; wine bottle of Persia, 145 Style rayonnant, Fr. of Eouen, descr., 363 Styles of French faience, 347 ; Italian, 349 Kouennais, 350 ; Nivernais, 353 ; South- ern, ib. ; Strasburg, 354 ; porcelain, ib. Surtout de Table, Fr. ; pieces answering to our epergnes used to decorate the centre of the table Swastika ; Buddhist symbol, 27 Swinton, near Botherham, Eockingham works, 507 T. Talavera (New Castile) ; faience, 530 Tavernes (Var) ; faience, 433 Tea, ode upon, by Emperor Kien-long, 44, note Terchi; roving ceramic artists (Bome), worked at Siena, see ; San Quirico, see ; Bassano see ; Savona, see Terhimpel ; Dutch ceramic painter, 482 Terre-Basse (Haute Garonne) ; faience, 438 Tervueren, near Brussels ; faience, 472 Thionville (Moselle) ; faience 419 Thouars (Deux Sevres), pieces " avec his- tories " referred to an inventory, 444 Toft, Thomas, potter of Burslem, 502 Tomb of Mahomet at Medina, 114; at Broussa, ib. Tortosa (Catalonia) ; faience, 531 Toul (Meurthe) ; faience, 416 Toulouse (Haute Garonne) ; grotesque fai- ence, 437 Tour-d'Aigues, La, see La Tour dAigues Tournay, Belgium ; faiences of Fauquez, 47 ; soft porcelain, 563 Tours (Indre-et-Loire) ; faience, 462 ; hard porcelain, 589 Treviso (Venetian States) ; ceramic work- shop in sixteenth century, 305 ; modern products, 515 Trou, potter St. Cloud, marries the widow of Chicanneau, 542 Triana (Andalusia) ; faience, 531 Truite, Fr. ; term applied to fine crackle, 48 Tulip, favourite flowers of the Persians, 121 Troyes (Aube), white ware ; 408 Tunstall, Adams ; imitation of Wedgwood worked here, 506 Turin ; majolica, 314 Tuscany, its manufactories, 246; Caffag- giolo, see ; Galiano, see ; Siena, see ; Pisa, see ; Florence, see ; Asciario, see ; Monte- lupo, see ; San Miniatello, see. Tycoon, lieutenant of the Emperor of Japan, 79 INDEX. 627 U. Urbania, modern name of Castel Durante, its wares, 513 Urbino, Dukes of, patrons of the majolica manufactures, Guidobaldo H., and Fran- cesco Maria, 11, 269 Urbino, Duchy of, Pesaro, see ; Gubbio, see ; Gualdo, see; Castel Durante, see; Urbino, see; Citta di Castello, see; Borgo San Sepolcro, see ; San Quirico, see. Urbino (Urbino duchy) ; history of its majolica manufactory, and its artists, 266 ; modern products, 512 Urn, vessel to contain the ashes of the dead, 225 Utrecht, tiles like Delft, 484 V. Valencia ; most important centre of the Hispano-Arabic manufactories, 182 ; mo- dern, 531 Valenciennes (Nord) ; history of its faience manufactories, 386 ; specimen of soft porcelain, 561 ; hard porcelain, 591 Vaunert (Gard) ; glazed wares, 439 Varages (Var) ; faience imitated Moustiers, 433 Varzy (Nievre) ; faience works of Auxerre transferred there, 460 Vaucouleurs (Meuse) ; faience, 417 Vaux ; hard porcelain, 583 Venetian States ; Venice, see ; Cornaro, see ; Treviso, see ; Padua, see ; Bassano, see ; Verona, see ; Chandiana, see Venice ; its majolica, 301 ; Alfonso I. sends for its wares, ib. ; style of its decline, 304 ; modern faience, 514; soft magnesian porcelain, 569 Verneuil (Bure) ; faience, 376 Verona (Venetian States) ; specimen of its products, 307 Vienna ; porcelain manufactory founded by Du Pasquier, sold to Maria Theresa, 606 ; developed under Baron Sorgenthal, ib. Villa Peliche (Aragon) ; its wares, 532 Villeroy; probable faience, 465; see Men- necy Villers-Cotterets (Aisne) ; faience, 407 Vincennes (Seine) ; its faience manufactories, 402 ; Gravant makes soft porcelain, 548 ; hard porcelain, 578, 591 Vineuf, near Turin ; soft magnesian porce- lain, 568, 611 Vistar-AUegre, near Oporto ; hard porcelain, 611 Viterbo (States of the Church) ; majolica, 294 Volkstadt (Schwartzburg) ; hard porcelain, 602 W. Wall, Dr. ; founds the Worcester manu- factory, 566 Wallendorf (Saxe Coburg) Thuringia ; hard porcelain, 601 Waly (Meuse) ; faience, 419 Wedgwood, Josiah ; his life and products, 504 Weesp, Holland ; hard porcelain founded by Count Grosfield, 609 Wegeli ; founds a manufactory of hard por- celain at Berlin, 605 Wheildon, potter, Little Fenton, 506 Wintherthur (Zurich Canton) ; stoves and monumental faience, 490 Worcester, manufactory of soft porcelain, 566 Writing, Chinese ; at first figurative, 32 ; eight diagrams, see Pa-kwa ; Kouwen, 32 ; Ta-tchouan, or characters of Tcheou, 33 ; examples, 39 ; Siao-tchouan, or sealed character, 33; examples, 38; Lichou, or office writing, 33 ; Thsao-chou, or cursive character, ib. ; counterfeited, 64 ; Kiai- chou, character in present use, 33 Wrotham (Kent); engobed earthenware, 503 X. Xanto, Francesco Avelli ; ceramic painter and poet (Urbino), 273; his "istoriato " pieces, ib. Y. Yang and yn ; according to the Chinese the active and passive forces of nature, 24, 31 ; how figured, 24 Yarmouth potteries by Absalon, 507 Z. Zoroaster, Persian philosopher, 118 ; his dogmas, 119 Zurich ; faience, 489 ; hard porcelain, 610 LONDON: PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STRBKT AND CHABING CROSS.