EARTHENWARE. 



EARTHENWARE. 



720 



The ceramic art appears to have lingered longest in the Lower Eastern 

 empire, and from thence to have been acquired by the civilised Arab 

 races who played so important a part in the history of the 9th and 

 following centuries. The Moore of Spain were especially proficients in 

 this art, as is shown, not merely in the beautiful tiles of enamelled 

 earthenware with which they decorated the Alhambra and other of 

 their great buildings, but in vases and other earthenware articles still 

 preserved in public museums. To them, in fact, is due the preserva- 

 tion of the art, and the direction it took upon its revival in Spain and 

 Italy in the early part of the 15th century. The Moorish works con- 

 tinued to flourish till the expulsion of that people from Spain; 

 they were continued, though with little comparative success, by the 

 Spaniards. 



The famous Italian Majolica ware, now in such repute with collectors, 

 owes its name to Majorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands, where, 

 whilst it was held by the Moors, was a large manufacture of earthen- 

 ware, or an emporium for its sale. The island was taken by the Pisans 

 in 1115, and immense spoils were carried by the victors to Pisa; but 

 whether it was from Majorca that the art itself, as well as the name, 

 was derived, is not certain. The earliest so-called majolica ware of the 

 Italians is, however, beyond doubt an imitation of the Moorish ware. 

 But it was not till the 14th century that the Italian pottery began to 

 assume a decorative character, though, according to Pessari (' Istoria 

 delle Pitture in Majolica'), vessels made of red clay at Pesaro, were 

 covered with an opaque coloured, and also a thick white, glaze in the 

 previous century. The so-called mezza-majolica, with patterns of a 

 Moorish character, surrounding portraits, figures of saints, &c., seems 

 to have been first made at Pesaro, where, from about the middle of 

 the 15th century it was produced of so superior a quality as to be 

 regarded as sufficiently valuable to offer as presents to sovereign 

 princes and persons of distinction. The manufacture spread thence 

 into other parts of Italy, and was zealously encouraged by the several 

 princes. Urbino, Gubbio, Castel Durante, and other cities became 

 especially famous for then- majolica. At Urbino, artists of great ability 

 were called into requisition to paint the designs upon the vessels ; and 

 from the designs of Raifaelle being very frequently copied, and in later 

 years it being reported that Raifaelle himself sometimes painted upon 

 earthenware, the ware itself was long commonly known in this country 

 as Raffaelle ware. It is now, however, generally admitted that there 

 is no ground for supposing that the great painter ever so employed his 

 pencil, the painting being generally executed by artists who devoted 

 themselves to this particular occupation. Most of the majolica ware 

 bears a general resemblance, but that of Gubbio is distinguished by 

 a brilliant lustre, produced by the use of a stanniferous glaze, for the 

 production of which an artist known as Maestro Giorgio, but whose 

 real name was Giorgio Andreoli, who flourished during 1485-1532, 

 was particularly famous. The coloured relievi of Luca della Robbia 

 (1400-81) was- formed of earthenware, or glazed torra-cotta, but it 

 hardly belongs to our present subject, though his labours doubtless 

 contributed greatly to the improvement of Italian earthenware 

 generally. 



The fine Majolica or that which owes its celebrity to the beauty of 

 its designs is considered to have been produced in its greatest per- 

 'i from 1540 to 1568. It then began to decline, and the art of 

 making it was finally lost by the early part of the 18th century ; majolica 

 having come to be regarded as barbarous, as Oriental porcelain became 

 tin' dominant fashion. In our own day we have seen the collecting of 

 majolica ware become a passion ; and specimens of it, which but a, 

 few years ago would hardly have received a second glance, are now 

 regarded as among the most precious ornaments of the museum and 

 the palace. Plates of fine majolica, and of the lustrous ware of 

 Maestro Giorgio, the size of an ordinary dinner plate, have been sold 

 by public auction for as much as 1501. each ; and large dishes and 

 other articles of less ordinary character, for a much greater sum. A 

 majolica plate, 9J inches in diameter, now in the South Kensington 

 Museum, will well illustrate the rapid growth of the majolica mania. 

 At the Stowe sale (1848) it was purchased by a London dealer in 

 these "curiosities," for 41. The following year he sold it to Mr. 

 Bernal for 51. At the sale of that gentleman's collection in 1855, it 

 wag purchased for the South Kensington Museum for 1201. The plate 

 is interesting chiefly as containing a representation of a majolica 

 painter at work. Of late years the manufacture of spurious majolica 

 ware, as well as spurious Greek and Etruscan vases, has been brought 

 to such perfection by those inimitable and most industrious forgers of 

 every object of ancient art, the Italians, that even skilful archaeologists 

 and collectors find it extremely difficult to detect the imposture. 



In France, earthenware was made as early as the 12th century; 

 and that of Beauvais had become celebrated in the 14th ; but the 

 impulse to the manufacture of really decorative ware appears to have 

 been imparted by the establishment of a pottery at Nevers, and the 

 Introduction of Italian majolica workers by Catherine de' Medici. 

 The moot characteristic old French earthenware, however, is that of 

 Bernard Paliagy (1510-89), of which, the most remarkable has raised 

 figured of fishes, reptiles, fruit, and other natural objects, imitated in 

 their actual colours ; and which, in pecuniary value, rivals majolica. 

 In Nuremberg and some other parts of Germany, and in Holland, the 

 manufacture of enamelled ornamental earthenware waa pursued with 

 great success during the 16th and 17th centuries. Holland earthen- 



ware, under the name of delft, was, prior to the growth of the Stafford- 

 shire factories, that ordinarily used in this country. The earthenware 

 drinking jugs of quaint shapes, but some far from inelegant, are 

 familiar from their constant occurrence in Dutch pictures. 



The Britons must have understood the potter's art before the 

 Roman occupation, since urns of earthenware have been found in 

 barrows in different parts of the kingdom. Vestiges of considerable 

 Roman potteries have been discovered in many parts of this island, 

 particularly in Staffordshire ; at Castor, Northamptonshire ; at Lincoln ; 

 in the New Forest ; and on the site of a former island in the Queen's 

 Channel near Margate. Probably rude pottery continued to be made 

 in England. Decorative tiles for ecclesiastical purposes were wrought 

 during the Norman dynasty ; and perhaps, in one form or other, 

 the making of earthenware never ceased to be practised here. In the 

 16th and 17th centuries, it is evident, from the many specimens of 

 drinking vessels, dishes, &c., in private collections, that a good deal of 

 attention was given to the making of ornamental earthenware, the 

 principal seats of the manufacture being Lambeth, Burslem, and 

 Liverpool. But, as already said, till far into the 18th century, England 

 was chiefly indebted for its ordinary domestic earthenware to Holland, 

 and for superior kinds to Germany and France. English earthenware 

 and porcelain are now, however, not only brought into general use in 

 this country, nearly to the exclusion of foreign goods, but earthenware 

 is also largely exported to almost every part of the known world, and 

 even to those countries where the art was previously prosecuted. 

 M. Faujas de Saint Fond observes on this subject : " Its excellent 

 workmanship, its solidity, the advantage which it possesses of sustaining 

 the action of fire, its fine glaze impenetrable to acids, the beauty and 

 convenience of its form, and the cheapness of its price, have given rise 

 to a commerce so active and so universal, that in travelling from Paris 

 to Petersburg, from Amsterdam to the furthest part of Sweden, and 

 from Dunkirk to the extremity of the south of France, one is served 

 at every inn upon English ware. Spain, Portugal, and Italy are sup- 

 plied with it ; and vessels are loaded with it for the East Indies, the 

 West Indies, and the continent of America." Since this intelligent 

 French traveller wrote, the distribution of English earthenware all 

 over the world has vastly increased. England is mainly indebted to 

 Josiah Wedgwood for the extraordinary improvement and rapid exten- 

 sion of this branch of industry. Wedgwood's success was not the 

 result of any fortunate discovery accidentally made, but was duo to 

 patient investigation and unremitting efforts. He called upon a higher 

 class of men than had usually been employed in this manufacture to 

 assist in his labours ; and in prosecuting his experiments he was guided 

 by sound scientific principles. The early and signal success which 

 crowned his first exertions only served as an additional motive for con- 

 tinuing his pursuit. One of the principal inventions of Wedgwood 

 was his table ware, known afterwards as queen's ware, in consequence of 

 the patronage of Queen Charlotte, who commanded it to be thus 

 designated. It is a dense and durable substance, covered with a bril- 

 liant glaze, and capable of bearing uninjured sudden alternations of 

 heat and cold. From its first introduction, it was manufactured at so 

 cheap a rate as to render it an article within the reach of all. Soon 

 afterwards, embellishments were introduced, which added only a little 

 to the cost of the article ; first, a coloured edge or painted border was 

 added to the queen's ware ; and, lastly, printed patterns covering the 

 whole surface. Wedgwood's more beautiful inventions were a 

 terra cotta, which could be made to resemble porphyry, granite, Egyptian 

 pebble, and other beautiful stones of the siliceous or crystalline kind : 

 a black porcelainous biscuit [BISCUIT] very much resembling basalt in 

 its properties, and therefore called basalt ; a white and a cane-coloured 

 biscuit, both smooth, and of a wax-like appearance ; and another white 

 biscuit, distinguished as jasper, having in general all the properties of 

 the basalts, with a very important addition, namely, the capability of 

 receiving through its whole substance, from the admixture of metallic 

 oxides, the same colours as those oxides communicate to glass or enamel 

 in fusion. This peculiar property of the jasper-ware renders it appli- 

 cable to the production of cameos and all objects required to be 

 shown in bas-relief ; as the ground can be made of any colour, while 

 the raised figures are of the purest white. Mr. Wedgwood likewise 

 invented a porcelain biscuit, nearly as hard as agate, which will resist 

 the action of all corrosive substances, and is consequently peculiarly 

 well adapted for mortars in the chemist's laboratory. 



We have only been able to treat very cursorily the history of 

 earthenware ; those who may desire further information respecting it 

 will find ample particulars in Alexandra Brongniart's ' Traitd des Arts 

 Ceramiques, ou des Potteries considered dans leur Histoire, leur Pra- 

 tique, et leur The'orie,' Paris, 1844 ; ' A History of Ancient Pottery and 

 Porcelain : Egyptian, Asiatic, Greek, Roman, Etruscan, and Celtic,' by 

 Samuel Birch, London, 1857 ; and ' A History of Pottery and Porce- 

 lain, Medieval and Modern," by Joseph Marryat, London, 1857, which, 

 together, cover the entire field of inquiry, and supply, with their 

 references, materials for extending research as far as may be desired. 

 It may not be out of place, however, to add that the public museums 

 of the metropolis now afford the student means of obtaining that 

 actual knowledge of the products of the art which books alone cannot 

 possibly supply. The British Museum contains many specimens of the 

 pottery of ancient Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia. Its collections of 

 Greek and Etruscan vases occupy two spacious rooms. Of Roman 



