i62 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ing of bird and floral subjects above the glaze, but this was soon 

 discontinued owing to the expense. Printing from copper plates 

 is extensively practiced here at the present time, and competent 

 artists are employed to apply the gold in pleasing devices to the 

 rich dark glazes which characterize the better grades of ware 

 produced. Mr. Jeffords has fully equipped his factories with the 

 most approved modern appliances, and is one of the most pro- 

 gressive and successful of our modern potters. 



Mr. Alexander William Robertson started a small pottery in 

 Chelsea, Mass., m the year 1866, for the manufacture of brown 

 ware such as was made in Great Britain, and of lava-ware simi- 

 lar to that of Germany. Two years afterward, Mr. Hugh Corn- 

 wall Robertson, a younger brother, was admitted to partnership 

 m the business, the firm name being A. W. & H. C. Robertson 

 when the production of brown ware was discontinued and the 

 manufacture of plain and fancy flower-pots was substituted. In 

 the following year porous cones or filters of a high grade were 

 made for chemical purposes. In 1872 James Robertson, a practi- 

 cal potter of wide and varied experience in Scotland, England 

 New Jersey, and New York, and recently from the East Boston 

 pottery, joined his sons, the firm name being changed to James 

 Robertson & Sons, when work of a more pretentious character 

 was undertaken. A red bisque ware, in imitation of the antique 

 Grecian terra-cottas and Pompeiian bronzes, was first produced 

 in 1875. The factory adopted the name of the Chelsea Keramic 

 Art Works. The red ware was characterized by a remarkably 

 fine texture and smooth finish, the clay being peculiarly adapted 

 to the faithful reproduction of the graceful classic forms, the fine 

 polished grain offering an excellent surface for the most minute 

 carving, showing the engraved lines as perfectly as on wood. In 

 1876 a pleasing effect was obtained by polishing the red ware with 

 boiled linseed oil. On a few spherical vases thus treated, Mr. F. 

 X. Dengler, the talented young sculptor who afterward died at 

 the age of twenty-five, modeled from life, in high relief, choosing 

 child and bird forms. The firm also received the benefit of ad- 

 vice from a number of capable artists, including, John G. Low, G. 

 W. Fenitz, and others. For lack of public support this branch 

 of the art was abandoned. The next venture was the Chelsea 

 faience, introduced in 1877, which is characterized by a beautiful 

 soft glaze. This ware soon attracted the attention of connoisseurs, 

 and carried the firm to the front rank of American potters. The 

 decoration consists of floral designs, either made separately by 

 hand and sprigged on, or carved in relief from clay laid directly 

 on the surface while moist. Some beautiful effects were produced 

 by hammering the surface of the faience before burning, and aft- 

 erward carving sprays of flowers in relief in clay applied to the 



