176 AMERICAN HOMES 
One of the devices they adopted for 
the purpose of making this china popu- 
lar in the United States was to print on 
the upper edge of a plate or platter a 
medallion portrait of some prominent 
and popular American or friend of 
America. On many plates will appear 
simply a single medallion. On others 
there will be two medallions: Washing- 
ton and Lafayette, and on some few of 
the platters, heads of Jefferson, Wash- 
ington, Lafayette and Clinton appear. 
One of the most curious things these 
potters did was to select a plate or plat- 
ter which had an English view on it, 
and to place on the upper margin me- 
dallion portraits of the four prominent 
men just mentioned, and at the bottom 
margin of the platter, beneath the Eng- 
lish view, some scene along the Erie 
Canal. The second illustration shows 
a platter containing a view of Hare- 
wood Hall, York, England. At the 
top are medallion portraits of Jetter- 
son, Washington, Lafayette, and Clin- 
ton, at the bottom is a picture of the 
Erie Canal at Albany. ‘The platter 
was made by Stevenson, and has the 
oak-leaf and acorn border, which was 
characteristic of Stevenson’s ware. 
This particular platter hung in one of 
the cases of the Smithsonian Institution 
at Washington for about ten years, and 
was supposed by everyone to belong to 
that institution, but it was discovered 
that this collection had been merely 
loaned, and it was the intention of the 
owner to withdraw it and sell it. In 
AND GARDENS May, 1911 
view appears also on a 3%-inch cup 
plate. An “Errand Boy” platter in 
proof condition would be worth $250. 
Mr. Frederick Keppel, in his admir- 
able book, “‘The Golden Age of En- 
graving,”’ says of Sir David Wilkie, that ’ 
as early as 1825 he “had produced both 
etching and dry-point work of the right 
sort.” Wilkie was born in 1785 and 
died in 1841. 
Another series of blue Staffordshire 
ware is known as “Dr. Syntax plates.” 
. They are beautiful and decorative. 
Many of them are excessively rare. 
One’s pleasure in considering this 
group of plates can be heightened by 
a little knowledge about the “Dr. Syn- 
tax Poem.” In May, 1809, there ap- 
peared in London a magazine called 
the ‘‘Poetical Magazine,” and the Syn- 
tax poem, then called ‘““The Schoolmas- 
ter’s Tour,” started with this number. 
Its publisher was Mr. R. Ackermann. 
This magazine came out once a month, 
and its specialty was the reproduction 
of original compositions, especially 
drawings. There was employed by 
Mr. Ackermann, an old gentleman of 
good literary ability, and of a poetical 
turn of mind, who wrote metrical illus- 
trations of these prints as they ap- 
peared in the “Poetical Magazine.” 
His articles were all unsigned, and the 
general public were in ignorance as to 
his identity. A well-known artist by 
the name of Rowlandson started a 
series of pictures which appeared to 
tell a continuous story. ‘The first Row- 
: ' c 2 1A RACE It Three very unusual Syntax plates ‘olor. The : . : : : 
this way a number of the pieces came upper one, “Dr. Syntan at Homes the avddie one landson etching in this magazinewgmas 
: . : C Beit ee “Dr. Syntax Setting Out for London,” otto “For c . 
into the collection of the writer. My Dean Boy's the bettors plas ey on et 6ealled “Doctor Syntax settinemontmom 
Travels.”’ ‘ 
The so-called medallion pieces have 
always been very rare, and 
collectors would do well to 
pick them up whenever an 
opportunity offers. It might 
be mentioned in this connec- 
tion that Harewood Hall 
was one of the views selected 
by Josiah Wedgwood for the 
decoration of the Imperial 
Russian dinner service which 
he made in 1774 for Cath- 
erine II, Empress of Rus- 
sia. I thought this might be 
of interest in view of the 
fact that this dinner service 
is perhaps the most famous 
one in Europe and_ odd 
pieces from it are greatly 
sought by china collectors. 
Seven designs drawn by 
the famous Scotch artist, Sir 
David Wilkie, were repro- 
duced on old blue china by 
the Messrs. Clews, and are 
known as the “Wilkie 
plates.” The rarest one of 
this series is the 19% by 
1434 inch platter called the 
“Errand Boy,” as shown by Inside of fruit dish showing the very rare view of “Dr. Syntax Enter- 
tained at College” 
the illustration. Part of this 
his tour to the lakes.” The first draw- 
ings of this series were sub- 
mitted to the unknown writer 
referred to above, and at the 
request of Mr. Ackermann 
he started to write in verse 
a description of these pic- 
tures, recounting the adven- 
tures and travels of a certain 
mythical personage known as 
the Rev. Dr. Syntax. What 
the pictures failed to por- 
tray, the author supplied 
from his imagination. When 
we consider that this series 
of prints came out month by 
month during a period of 
two years, and that a poem 
was spun around them which, 
when completed, amounted 
to ten thousand lines, we are 
forced to admit that the 
achievement is unique in its 
conception and accomplish- 
ment. It possesses, above 
every other feature, the 
quality of originality. Weare 
told that the artist and the 
writer had absolutely no per- 
sonal connection or knowl- 
edge of each other, and the 
