34 
House & Garden 
piiiniHniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiaiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 
3 yMiiiitniMUiiiiiiuiiniiiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiniiiiiiiiiiiiuiitiiiiiiMiiiiiniiiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinintiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiniiuimiiiitiiiiiiiit 
| 5 
1| Charles of London | 
718 FIFTH AVENUE 
NEW Y O R K 
OBJECTS OF ART 
ENGLISH PERIOD FURNITURE 
OLD ENGLISH INTERIORS 
TAPESTRIES 
LONDON—27-29 Brook Street W. 
Smithcraft as an Ally to Architecture 
(Continued from page 52) 
polished brass knobs on the newels of 
old-fashioned iron step rails urge, in a 
modest way, the propriety of this prac¬ 
tice. These are things to think about. 
In conclusion, let us note several prac¬ 
tical hints regarding the exterior archi¬ 
tectural use of smithcraft. Study well, 
before doing anything definite, all the 
needs, conditions and opportunities of¬ 
fered. Then use only a little of it, as 
boldly and effectively as you can, and 
thus ensure that the interest shall be 
concentrated at one or two points—a 
balcony, an area railing, a step rail or 
the like. If the character of the archi¬ 
tecture permits it, considerable richness 
of design may thus enter into the com¬ 
position. A little well designed and well 
placed architectural ironwork will go a 
long way; too much will only cloy and 
spoil all the effect. It is a grave mis¬ 
take to use it too lavishly and break up 
the focus of interest, just as it would be 
hugely bad taste for a woman to 
bedeck herself promiscuously with jew¬ 
elry. 
Don’t choose designs calling for min¬ 
ute, finical or involved workmanship, 
such as punch work, engraving or fret¬ 
ting; these are ail well enough for in¬ 
door work, where they will be seen from 
near by, but not for outdoors. Remem¬ 
ber that the outdoor things will 
usually be seen from some distance. 
Pick out, therefore, clearly defined, 
simple, straightforward, bold designs 
that will carry, and, above all, keep the 
character of the ironwork consistent 
with the architectural type of the struc¬ 
ture it is to adorn. 
Last of all, when picking a place to 
set your bit of decorative smithcraft, 
choose a spot where the background will 
be a good foil and make the design sing. 
The Making and Seeking of Old Worcester 
(Continued from page 19) 
the collection has been intelligently ex¬ 
panded suggests one of the reasons why 
old Worcester has come to be so rare. 
After Dr. Wall 
In 1783 the Dr. Wall influence gave 
way when the London agent, John 
Flight, became sole proprietor, although 
Dr. Wall’s death occurred in 1776. In 
1793 the firm became Flight and Barr. 
Another change occurred in 1807 when 
the firm name read Barr, Flight and 
Barr, and from 1813 to 1840 it was 
rearranged to Flight, Barr and Barr. 
Now a Robert Chamberlain and his 
orother, Humphrey, started a Worces¬ 
ter manufactory .which ran from 1786 
to 1840 as an independent firm. In 
the latter year, Chamberlain & Co.’s 
works absorbed the old works. By 
1847, the old works had, to all practical 
purposes, ceased. Mr. Kerr entered the 
business three years later and 18S2 found 
Worcester manufactured under Kerr & 
Binns. Their works were taken over by 
the Royal Worcester Porcelain Com¬ 
pany. 
Finally, one Thomas Grainger, who 
had been in the Chamberlain employ, 
withdrew and entered the porcelain 
manufacture for himself in 1801, and 
this Grainger company continued till 
1889 when it was consolidated with the 
Royal Porcelain Works, Worcester. 
All this would be as uninteresting as 
a recital of the “Begats” were it not for 
the fact that Worcester, for the col¬ 
lector’s purposes, is that manufactured 
by Dr. Wall, by the Flights, by the 
Barrs, by the Chamberlains, by the 
Graingers and by the Kerrs. It will 
thus be seen that the field of old Wor-1 
cester is a varied one, and sometimes 
the problem a piece may present will 
seem confusing. However, it need not 
be when one goes seriously into the 
study of the different periods of this 
fascinating ware. I suppose more has 
been written on the subject of old Wor¬ 
cester than on any other one of the 
keramic products of Great Britain. Of 
course, it is not the purpose here to 
more than outline the subject, that the 
lover of old china may be inspired per¬ 
haps to delve further into it in more 
voluminous sources. 
Worcester Marks 
Much of the early Worcester found 
its way to America; much undoubtedly 
remains undiscovered in family cup¬ 
boards. To one who has not given par¬ 
ticular study to this porcelain the men¬ 
tion of Worcester is apt to suggest the 
Royal Worcester of the present day, an 
exquisite and very beautiful porcelain, 
it is true, but the earlier wares are not 
to be thought to resemble it and the 
marks on both have little in common. 
Indeed, the marks on old Worcester are 
myriad. The collector cannot do bet¬ 
ter in this connection than to supply 
himself with a copy of the last edition 
(1914) of “Handbook of Marks on Pot¬ 
tery and Porcelain” by William Chaf¬ 
fers, published in this country by 
Charles Scribner’s Sons. Here are 107 
different marks of the Dr. Wall period, 
1751-1783, alone. Of the Barr period, 
1783-1840, Chaffers gives twelve mhrks, 
of Graingers, five marks, of miscella¬ 
neous early marks, seven, and of the 
modern period, 1852—to the present, 
five marks. These 140 marks will prob¬ 
ably come to be augmented by others, 
although Binns, Chaffers and R. L. 
Hobson (in “Worcester Porcelain”, pub¬ 
lished in 1910), have gone very thor¬ 
oughly and extensively into their in¬ 
vestigation. The script “W” ' was the 
earliest mark, and after this many sorts 
of crosses, crescents, swords, imitation 
Chinese characters, and what not. Let 
the collector also remember that sonde 
pieces of Worcester are unmarked. 
Yoxall tells us, for instance, that real 
Worcester transfer printed ware is sel¬ 
dom found with marks. Apropos of 
this transfer printed ware, at about 
the close of the Wall period, 1757, a 
Battersea engraver, George Hancock, 
went to Worcester to instruct the pot¬ 
ters there in his methods of transfer 
printing, with results that still delight 
the eye of the discriminating. As 
numerous forgeries of such pieces exist, 
let the collector proceed with caution. 
However, he need not be baffled when 
once he knows that the forgeries are 
hard paste porcelain. Moreover the 
print-decoration of the forgeries has not 
the fine, clear, clean-cut continuous 
lines that are found on the genuine 
Worcester transfer-printed pieces from 
the hand of George Hancock and his 
immediate followers. There are, too, 
earthenware imitations of the blue-and- 
white Worcester which closely resem¬ 
ble pieces of the Dr. Wall period. But, 
of course, the collector will have no 
difficulty in distinguishing between pot¬ 
tery and porcelain, and Worcester is, of 
course, always porcelain. 
(Continued on page 56) 
