May. 1 913 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



81 



Three Lustre- Ware pitchers. The first in gold, the second in pink and the third in purple lustre 



The first use was for frames, but later on other things 

 were fashioned, as jugs, pitchers, mugs and a variety of 

 subjects all of interest. 



Copper lustre is perhaps the least artistic of any of the 

 kinds. It is surely the most common. In the making the 

 composition is of a rather coarse red earthenware, which 

 makes the articles ungainly in shape and lacking the re- 

 finement of the others. In fact, they were designed for 

 every day use, and compared very favorably with the crocks 

 of that period. The decorative effects were not always in 

 the best designs or in good taste. The casual observer will 

 often run across bad modern day reproductions of such 

 poor shape that he will at once form an opinion that there 

 were no good representative 

 pieces of this kind made. 



This, however, is not true, 

 for the old copper lustre 

 made when the ware was at 

 its best, about 1800, was 

 very beautiful, of high grade 

 and good shape. The ware 

 was smooth, deep in color- 

 ing, inclining to the copper 

 tint rather than a yellow. 

 In the coating there were no 

 imperfections or bubbles. In 

 shape the pitchers were 

 squatty, the handle showing 

 a thumb piece and wide, 

 spreading lip. Look at the 

 bottom and one will find it 

 worn perfectly smooth from 

 much handling, while the red 

 body is disclosed where it 

 has been chipped. 



While it was at its best in 

 1800, yet fine examples were 

 made in the Hispano- 

 Moresque period. Many 

 were decorated in relief, the 

 ornamentation being left 

 white, or perchance colored 



Gold Lustre-Ware pitcher. From the collection of Mrs. 

 buryport, Massachusetts 



with bright pigments on the copper ground. There are to- 

 day shown in the Victoria and Albert Museum three speci- 

 mens of this kind, a sucrier and cover with a band of yellow 

 and most delicate decorations painted on it. 



The second period of this same ware came in about 1830, 

 when the glaze had frequently a pimpled appearance. This 

 was on account of the pieces being badly dipped, and im- 

 mediately afterwards stood upright, which gave the glaze 

 a chance to collect in lumps. On it done in relief were 

 gaudy flowers. They were, however, of inferior character 

 and often painted in horizontal rings, the floral decorations 

 being in cream and pink. Very little of this ware was 

 marked, and there is considerable variety in the decorative 



effect, as one finds when 

 looking through a remark- 

 ably good collection. The 

 white star-like flower and 

 line of bead work on handle 

 is considered to be very 

 choice. 



Pieces of wonderful old 

 lustre have been found by 

 collectors not long after the 

 close of the civil war. They 

 were hoarded by negroes in 

 their cabins. 



One of these was pur- 

 chased by a lady visiting in 

 the section, bought from a 

 mammie, who had saved it 

 andwas supporting her form- 

 er mistress by disposing of 

 family heirlooms. It was cop- 

 per lustre of the rarest kind, 

 the Cornwallis jug. On one 

 side of which was printed in 

 a medallion, a picture show- 

 ing the surrender of Corn- 

 wallis at Yorktown, while on 

 the opposite side of the 

 pitcher is Lafayette pro- 

 trayed, a laurel wreath being 



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