194 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



May, 1907 



2 — Punch Bowl and Table Service 



with the armorial decoration which is most sought now, and 

 though the heraldic decorations to be found in this country 

 are distinctly less ornate than those found in England, still 

 enough are to be met with here to keep the student of 

 heraldry quite busy in order to decipher the devices. 



It was the fashion during the whole of the eighteenth 

 century to ornament household belongings with coats-of- 

 arms, as may be seen on the splendid old silverware of the 

 times. 1 he china followed suit, and nearly every ship of 

 the East India Trading Company, the Dutch East India 

 Company, and the stout ships which went "round the Horn" 

 from our own seaports, carried patterns to the Orient. Not 

 only this, they no doubt carried examples of English pottery, 

 of Staffordshire as well as of choicer makes, so that the 

 Chinese artist could copy in his own fashion the style of 

 work in vogue at the time in England. Very charmingly, 

 too, diti the Celestial artist treat these little sprigs and 



3 — Cup and Chocolate Pot 



bunches of flowers, and never, till you begin to collect, will 

 you guess the variations which may be rung on the theme of 

 a rose, two leaves, and three unnamed little posies. 



Besides all the services which were decorated to order 

 with individual devices, there seem to have been certain 

 "stock patterns" which could be used when only initials were 

 wanted. The commonest of these were a shield on which 

 the entwined initials were placed, the whole design being sur- 

 mounted by two birds billing. A vine in red or green ac- 

 companies this pattern, and sometimes the two colors are 

 combined, or black or brown may be used. Sometimes in- 

 stead of the vine the pattern which is used as an edging Is 



that decoration known as the "grain of rice." It looks like 

 a row of rice grains set end to end, and very frequently is 

 red in color. I have a small bowl decorated on the outside 

 with grain of rice, and on the inner edge with an elaborate 

 arrangement of dots in festoons, in every alternate one of 

 which is a bunch of roses. 



All the decoration of this Armorial or Eowestoft china 

 is over-glaze, hence it wears off with much use; you can see 

 in Fig. I that it is indistinct in places. The gold which was 

 used seems to have been of poor quality, and that always 

 wears off first. It is sometimes a matter of speculation why, 

 when such large quantities of this china were sent to Eng- 

 land and America, none without decoration is to be found. 

 The explanation is simple. All undecorated china brought 

 from the East into England between the years 1775 and 

 1800 was taxed, and these were the years when this style 

 of china was at its greatest popularity. 



The tea-caddy in Eig. i shows fluted sides and a slight 

 decoration in monochrome. The cover is wanting, but it 

 was no doubt of the usual pattern, with either the rough 

 nut or the little seated dog on top. "Fhese knobs never seem 

 to ha\ e \ aried in design. The tea-caddies are always small 

 pretty little affairs, very often standing in a small tray with 

 decoration to match. The price of tea was so great that the 

 receptacles for holding it were made very small. It was on 

 sale in Boston by 1690, and in the next year it could be 

 procured at four tea-houses. It was advertised for sale in 



4 — Platter with " Sprigged " Pattern 



