RECENT ADVANCES IN THE POTTERY INDUSTRY. 301 



The Union Porcelain Works also manufacture largely hard 

 porcelain insulators and hardware trimmings. 



The exquisite fabrications of the Greenpoint works have done 

 much to dispel that unreasonable prejudice which until recently 

 condemned all American productions, of whatsoever merit. 



Beautiful as are many of the delicate productions of the pot- 

 ter's skill which are made in molds or by the aid of machinery, 

 clay is a material which yields the most subtle and satisfactory 

 results to the direct touch of the human hand. While prmtmg 

 processes are excellent in their way and indispensable for cheap- 

 ness where large production is an element to be considered, they 

 are inadequate to give that breadth and freedom of treatment 

 which constitute true artistic decoration. 



While visiting the Centennial, Miss M. Louise McLaughlm, of 

 Cincinnati, was strongly impressed with the beauty of the then 

 novel faience from the Haviland potteries of Limoges, and on her 

 return home she determined to discover, if possible, the processes 

 of decoration. Her experiments, partially successful, extended 

 over a period of nearly three years, and in April, 1879, she gath- 

 ered around her twelve ladies who were interested m decorative 

 art, and the Pottery Club, which has since exercised such an im- 

 portant influence on the ceramic industry in Cincinnati, was then 

 organized. Miss McLaughlin being elected president and _ Miss 

 Clara Chipman Newton secretary. Experiments were continued 

 at some of the city potteries, where red, yellow, and white wares 

 were made. On the unburned ware colored clays were applied in 

 the manner of oil paints, and some satisfactory results were ob- 

 tained, . . 



The ceramic display of Japan at the Philadelphia Exhibition 

 was, more than any other perhaps, the artistic impulse that in- 

 spired the venture which resulted in the establishment of the 

 Eookwood Pottery in 1880 by Mrs. Maria Longworth Nicholls. 

 Her experiments were continued at this factory, which, through 

 the liberal patronage of Mr. Joseph Longworth, her father, was 

 furnished with the necessary means for carrying it on until its 

 productions had found a market and it could stand financially 



alone. 



The ware produced here is a true faience, and while the shapes 

 employed are mainly reproductions or variations of classic Greek 

 forms, they possess a marked originality in treatment.^ The pot- 

 ter's wheel is used as far as possible, on account of giving more 

 freedom and greater variety to the outlines. Mr. Charles Mahar 

 is the only thrower employed at the pottery, and his graceful 

 creations have obtained a world-wide celebrity. The method of 

 casting in vogue is that which consists in pouring liquid clay into 

 plaster molds, which absorb the superabundant moisture from the 



