68 
House & Garden 
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A. THEO 
Dept. C. 
ABBOTT & CO. 
PHILADELPHIA 
Whieldon bottle, teapot and coffee-pot, from the collection 
of Mr. Louis E. Myers 
The Ware of Thomas Whieldon, Potter 
(Continued from page 27) 
duced by a mixture of red clay and 
oxide of manganese such as the elder 
Elers is believed to have made popular. 
Whieldon’s black glaze ware is exces¬ 
sively rare and the most difficult of all 
his products to attempt satisfactorily to 
identify. 
Figures and Chimney Ornaments 
The figure, bird and animal toys 
which Whieldon himself called “image 
toys” and the Whieldon chimney orna¬ 
ments have truly high artistic quality. 
While they lack in the exactness of the 
Staffordshire figurines by the elder Ralph 
Wood, I would credit them with a far 
greater degree of true artistic excellence. 
Indeed, I know of no figurines of the 
early potters which approach Whiel¬ 
don’s in their surprising modernness. “It 
is difficult,” says G. Woolisoncroft 
Rhead in “The Earthenware Collector,” 
“to fix a limit to what Whieldon could 
have done with the advantages of a 
proper artistic training or in a different 
environment.” But I, for one, am quite 
satisfied with what Whieldon did do. 
Whieldon’s solid agate ware, like other 
agate wares, was produced by placing 
thin laminae of clays of different colors 
in an alternating arrangement, cutting 
these crosswise by wires after doubling 
them over and variously working them, 
the greater the number of doubling and 
cutting operations the finer being the 
veining produced. Turned agate ware 
pieces were superior to the molded ones, 
as such came forth from the turner with 
greater perfection in the veined effect. 
While as early as 1724 Redrich and 
Jones had perfected a process for pro¬ 
ducing agate ware, that by Whieldon 
was of a finish and quality which dis¬ 
tinguished it definitely. 
The Whieldon mottled, marbled and 
tortoise shell wares were of a genre that 
Redrich and Jones had also anticipated, 
but like Whieldon’s solid agate ware his 
wares of this sort possessed a remark¬ 
able and rich quality of their own that 
placed them without real rivals. In 
making these wares Whieldon spared no 
pains and continually sought perfection 
and durability. 
Whieldon and Wedgwood 
Some hold that the vivid glazes of 
green and yellow that brightened Whiel¬ 
don’s cauliflower, pineapple, maize and 
melon wares was the invention of young 
Josiah Wedgwood who came to Whiel¬ 
don in 17S3 and remained associated 
with him until 1759. In the partnership 
agreement between Whieldon and Wedg¬ 
wood it was arranged that both should 
utilize certain processes devised by 
Wedgwood, the secrets of which Wedg¬ 
wood was to retain. Solon says: “It 
would be interesting to discover the 
share Wedgwood had in the production 
of Whieldon’s more refined pieces. He 
spent much of his time in the first years 
of their partnership in preparing blocks 
and molds; and it is not improbable 
that some of those delicate pickle trays, 
scalloped plates, perforated teapots of 
tortoise shell, and agate ware so highly 
prized, are the work of his own hands.” 
Probably Wedgwood’s experimental na¬ 
ture and ideas came somewhat in con¬ 
flict with what may have been Whiel¬ 
don’s conservatism, and the partnership 
was dissolved in 1759. During the few 
years of their association, however, salt 
glaze ware was their principal product, 
and Wedgwood himself made record 
that “whitestone ware was the principal 
article of our manufacture, and the 
prices were now reduced so low that the 
potters could not afford to bestow much 
expense upon it.” 
Cauliflower, pineapple, melon and 
maize wares became very popular and 
were imitated extensively in many direc¬ 
tions. The glaze of the green leaves of 
the cauliflower ware against the cream- 
white glaze forms a most pleasing con¬ 
trast. Certain Whieldon pieces of this 
fifth class possess a luminous orange- 
brown tint, the applied leaf ornamenta¬ 
tion being in yellow of a pale tint. Ast- 
bury may have initiated this style but 
Whieldon’s own pieces will hardly be 
mistaken. 
True Whieldon Ware 
The collector interested in ceramics 
still stands a good chance of picking up 
interesting bits of Whieldon ware, al¬ 
though he must not hope for “a dozen 
tortoise shell plates at 2s,” nor must be 
overlook the fact that the term Whiel¬ 
don has come to be applied as a generic 
term to all the variegated Staffordshire 
wares of the sort in which Whieldon 
himself excelled. As I have said, Whiel¬ 
don did not mark his wares and one 
must become familiar with attributed 
specimens in private or public collec¬ 
tions or in the collections of reputable 
dealers in order to obtain a “sense” of 
the superiority of genuine Whieldon 
pieces. Fortunately, American museums 
have many fine Whieldon pieces, and 
although private collectors of Whieldon 
have been few in America, their ranks 
are increasing. 
Probably the “image toys” and the 
chimney pieces will continue to hold the 
warmest spot in the heart of the aver¬ 
age collector. I do not agree with an 
English authority on ceramics who in¬ 
sists that we must assign the majority of 
figures generally given to Whieldon to 
the Wood family, unless he chances to 
refer to pieces carelessly attributed and 
scattered at large, in which case he is 
probably correct, as it has seemed more 
than probable that many such do not 
bear the impress of Whieldon’s own di¬ 
rection, however well they may have 
imitated or suggested it. In the figures 
that ought to be accredited to Ralph 
Wood, for instance, there is a pose of 
the head that certainly is characteristic 
of his work and which can hardly be 
mistaken. Whieldon’s type appears more 
angular, the costume more nearly con¬ 
temporary and the glazing richer and 
more varied. In his later figurines 
Whieldon did, of course, introduce Ori¬ 
ental motives. As for Toby Fillpots, it 
is unlikely that Whieldon ever produced 
(Continued on page 70) 
