POTTERY 



region, and may have originated 

 the decorated pottery of the An- 

 dean peoples as well. This was 

 marked by simulation of natural 

 objects, and by skilful human 

 portraiture. Fine pottery is still 

 produced in the Pueblo region. 



Modern African methods often 

 follow ancestral tradition. Some 

 Berber tribes produce utilitarian 

 fabrics of predynastic Egyptian 

 type. Choicer work comes from the 

 Kabyles and the Uganda peoples. 

 In W. Africa and Congoland local 

 influences have given rise to gourd - 

 like forms. Both there and else- 

 where decoration is largely based 

 upon textile and basketry patterns, 

 primarily because both industries 

 form part of women's work. 



E. CJ. Harmer 

 Greek and Egyptian Pottery 



The Greeks held the potter's art 

 in high esteem. Their skill un- 

 doubtedly came from Egypt, and 

 vases of good form and workman- 

 ship date from 900 B.C., being 

 made of well-prepared, fine-quality 

 clay. Three distinct styles exist, 

 primitive, geometric, and archaic, 

 and the fine vase period follows, 

 which extended over 400 years 

 from the 7th to the 3rd centuries 

 B.C. During the Bronze Age the 

 lake-dwellers nourished at Bour- 

 get in Savoy, and discoveries show 

 that they attained skill. 



Some pieces show signs of paint- 

 ing, and were evidently used for 

 decorative purposes, but the sense 

 of aesthetic value was new to 

 mankind at this period about 

 450 B.C. A Celtic civilization im- 

 mediately preceded the introduc- 

 tion of Roman arts into Britain, 

 and urns rudely shaped, but made 

 upon the potter's wheel, suggest 

 that Roman influence had already 

 made itself felt. 



Roman ware divides itself into 

 several classes, Samian, Grey, ass<i 

 Upchurch wares, beside the coarse 

 native pottery made where suitable 

 clay was found. Samian, the best 

 known ware, was largely made on 

 the Continent, chiefly in Auvergne, 

 but some was made in Britain. That 

 the skilful and luxurious Romans 

 were not content with coarse wares 

 is proved by the discovery of 

 pieces of glazed and decorated 

 pottery showing refined taste. 



Great Britain's artistic light 

 came from without. From the 

 East enamelled earthenware was 

 introduced into Europe, mainly 

 through such intercourse as that 

 between the Moors and Spain. 

 Moorish potters established them- 

 selves in Malaga and Valencia, 

 and tiles in the palace at Seville, 

 and the famous Alhambra vase, 

 show their skill. By them was 

 founded the school of ornament 



6297 



now known as Hispano-Moresque. 

 The expulsion of the Moors 

 from Spain in the 15th century 

 caused the manufacture to cease, 

 but the art had already spread to 

 Majorca and Sicily, the way being 

 thus prepared for the great works 

 of the Italian Renaissance. The 

 Italians, ever ready to seize and 

 develop an artistic idea, soon 

 improved upon the work of the 

 Majorcan potters. 



Many of their cities became 

 famous for ceramic productions, 

 Gubbio, Faenza, from which comes 

 the name faience, Siena, Urbino, 

 Pesaro, and Castel Durante, for 

 instance. Among the great masters 

 of the art are Luca della Robbia, 

 Giorgio Andreoli, and Francesco 

 Xante. 



Decline came soon after the 

 beginning of the 17th century, but 

 the influence of the wares was felt 

 in many directions. Delft in Hol- 

 land made a ware which may be 

 regarded as a compromise between 

 Italian majolica and Chinese por- 

 celain ; its methods taken from the 

 former, and designs from the latter. 

 Lambeth made pottery at a very 

 early date, and in 1676 a Dutch 

 potter settled there and took out 

 letters patent for the manufacture 

 of earthenware " after the way 

 practised in Holland." 



Italian and French Pottery 



Probably a piece of Italian ma- 

 jolica inspired Bernard Palissy 

 with the desire to become a potter. 

 This was in 1542, and for 15 years 

 he struggled and suffered, to see 

 his efforts at last successful. 



Upon the decline of the Italian 

 potteries, the artists and artisans 

 migrated to France, lured by the 

 offers of support from French 

 nobles. Several manufactories of 

 enamelled faience ware were estab- 

 lished, the likeness between late 

 Italian and early French being very 

 marked. At Nevers pottery was 

 made at the end of the 16th cen- 

 tury, and Rouen started a factory 

 about 1644. The wars and famine 

 of 1712 so depleted the royal trea- 

 sury that Louis XIV sent all his 

 gold plate to the mint, and com- 

 manded the Rouen potters to fur- 

 nish the royal tables with ware. 

 This caused a sudden demand, and 

 no trouble was spared to make 

 their work fit for a king. 



A minor but nevertheless Im- 

 portant factory of faience was 

 Moustiers. It was established in 

 1700, and carried on the style of 

 Rouen with a treatment more 

 simple, and having an original and 

 new note, in that a variety of 

 colours were used instead of blue 

 alone. Faience was developed in 

 Germany in an entirely different 

 direction. Germany is the land of 



POTT ER Y 



the stove, and here is a happy 

 instance of the homely use of 

 faience. No other material could 

 be used with equal satisfaction 

 and effect. 



The early English potters of the 

 16th and 17th centuries devoted 

 themselves to the production of 

 ware of a homely character. 

 Painting on a dark clay with one 

 of a lighter tone occurred to the 

 Romans, but it was left to the 

 Staffordshire potters to rediscover 

 it. For a long time they con- 

 fined themselves almost entirely 

 to decoration of this class on 

 porringers, bowls, and " tygs," or 

 many-handled loving cups. Wrot- 

 ham, in Kent, was an important 

 centre for this class of slip deco- 

 rated ware. 



Staffordshire Wedgwood Ware 



Staffordshire now received the 

 greatest impression ever brought 

 to bear upon it. Two German 

 brothers, Elers by name, settled 

 there and began to make a fine red 

 ware. A Burslem potter, named 

 Astbury, obtained admission to 

 their works as a labourer, and 

 informed himself of many of their 

 methods. Accident brought to 

 his notice the peculiar properties 

 of flint, which he calcined, ground 

 to powder, and combined with 

 his earthenware body; this pro- 

 duced a superior article, on 

 which he turned to account the 

 processes learned from the Elers. 

 Astbury, in his turn, largely in- 

 fluenced his fellow-workers, and 

 an enormous advance was made 

 upon the slip wares and the pro- 

 ductions of Fulham. 



Josiah Wedgwood is, perhaps, 

 the best known English potter, and 

 justly so, for he did more to raise 

 the quality of English ware than 

 any other maker. Deriving his 

 artistic inspiration from the an- 

 tique, he produced beautiful shapes, 

 improved existing materials, and 

 by persistent and energetic re- 

 search discovered new mixtures. 

 He worked from 1744 till his death 

 in 1795, and was the most ver- 

 satile of potters. He called to his 

 aid John Flaxman and most of the 

 well-known artists of his time. 

 Yorkshire for years made quan- 

 tities of ordinary wares, but Leeds 

 claims a place in ornamental cera- 

 mics. This is in the finely executed 

 pale - cream - coloured perforated 

 ware which was a development of 

 the earlier and similar class of 

 pottery made in Staffordshire, 

 though greatly extended in range 

 and elaborated in detail. 



Side by side with the growth of 

 earthenware was that of the pot- 

 tery called stoneware, so named 

 from its excessive hardness. It 

 came to Britain from the Low 



