62 
House 
& Garden 
A WAR MESSAGE 
FOR THE FURNITURE BUYER 
America must win the war—-and the big job 
of American manufacturers is the production 
of war essentials. 
To this vital task many of the skilled Berkey 
& Gay workers are now applying themselves. 
Naturally our normal output of furniture is, 
therefore, diminished. 
However, our reserve stock in Grand Rapids 
and New York with such other furniture as 
we may be able to manufacture, in addition to 
goods of our make now in the stores of our 
dealers, will, we hope, be sufficient to supply 
necessary requirements during the period of 
the war. 
Where the purchase of new furniture is neces¬ 
sary, choose Berkey & Gay furniture. Each 
piece bears our inlaid Shop-Mark—the sym¬ 
bol of excellence in material, in cabinet work 
and design. 
Berkey & Gay Furniture Company 
444 Monroe Avenue 
Grand Rapids Michigan 
./ new and comprehensive exhibit comprising thousands of pieces of Berkey Iff 
Gay furniture may be seen at our Nezv York showrooms, 113-iiQ West 40th St., 
or at Grand Rapids. Visitors should be accompanied by, or have a letter of 
introduction from, their furniture dealer. 
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A Chelsea porcelain 
rabbit egg dish, 
from the Hodge 
Collection 
The Fascinating Story of Old Chelsea 
(Continued from page 19' 
dlestick, salt-cellars, sauce-boats, tea and 
coffee equipage. In short, it is com¬ 
plete, and cost £1,200.” 
After the death of the Duke of Cum¬ 
berland and of the Director of the 
works, M. Spremont, the porcelain of 
Chelsea declined. Grosley’s “Tour of 
London,” as we have it in Nugent’s 
translation noted this decline. Apropos 
of earthenware he wrote: “The manu¬ 
factures of this sort lately set on foot in 
the neighborhood of London have not 
been able to stand their ground. That 
at Chelsea, the most important of all, 
was just fallen when I arrived at that 
capital.” The last proprietors had 
pleaded in vain for further state pro¬ 
tection, but it was not forthcoming. It 
closed its doors, while the models, ma¬ 
terials, etc., were carted off to Derby, 
followed by the forlorn workmen who 
witnessed the dissolution in 1784. 
In Smith’s “Life of Nollekens” we 
find the following reference to the porce¬ 
lain of Chelsea: “The factory stood 
just below the Bridge upon the site of 
Lord Dartery’s house. ‘My father 
worked for them at one time,’ said 
Nollekens. ‘Yes,’ replied Betew, ‘and 
Sir James Thornhill designed for them.’ 
Mr. Walpole has at Strawberry Hill 
half-a-dozen china plates by Sir James 
which he bought at Mr. Hogarth’s sale. 
Paul Ferg painted for tffem. The cun¬ 
ning rogues produced very white and 
delicate ware, but then they had their 
clay from China, which when the Chin¬ 
ese found out, they would not let the 
captains have any more lor ballast, and 
the consequence was that the whole 
concern failed.” Nevertheless, although 
decorated by Sir James Thornhill, these 
plates were probably of Dutch fabrique. 
We learn from Faulkner’s “History of 
Chelsea” that Dr. Johnson “conceived 
the notion that he was capable of im¬ 
proving the manufacture of china. He 
even applied to the directors of the 
Chelsea China Works, and was allowed 
to bake his compositions in their ovens 
in Lawrence Street, Chelsea. He was 
accordingly accustomed to go down with 
his housekeeper, about twice a week, 
and stayed the whole day, she carrying 
a basket of provisions with her.” One 
could hardly imagine the good Doctor’s 
adventuring without the provisions! 
But alas! the Doctor’s mixtures all 
yielded to the intensity of the heat 
while the clays prepared by the com¬ 
pany came forth aggravatingly whole. 
Faulkner says: “The Doctor retired in 
disgust, but not in despair, for he after¬ 
wards gave a dissertation on this very 
subject in his works; but the overseer 
(who was still living in the spring of 
1814) assured Mr. Stephens that he (the 
overseer) was still ignorant of the na¬ 
ture of the operation. 
The collector of old Chelsea will find 
it rare indeed! But, as with so many 
things worth while, an occasional find 
will bring thrills of a quality scarcely 
to be compared with the ordinary ex¬ 
citements of coming upon a bit of com¬ 
moner ware. 
The color-charm of old Chelsea is 
very definite. Where, for instance, in 
any other porcelains, will one find just 
its own peculiar claret color? The early 
forms were oriental undoubtedly, but 
the early forms of Chelsea within the 
period its history is clear to us were 
French. Under the Georges, Dresden 
exerted its influence in form, color and 
decoration. 
The Chelsea figure pieces began to ap¬ 
pear about 1750, at least the earliest 
mention of them extant is dated about 
that time. While they were influenced 
by the Dresden and by French figurines, 
they developed qualities of their own 
and their greater naturalness and free¬ 
dom from affectation at once lends them 
an unmistakable distinction. Not only 
were gentle shepherds, demure shep¬ 
herdesses, swains and sweethearts mod¬ 
eled in old Chelsea porcelain, but por¬ 
trait busts as well came into fashion. 
Nearly all bits of Chelsea porcelain 
display stilt marks. A crudely drawn 
triangle marks the Chelsea ware of the 
1745-1751 period. From 1749 to 1753, 
inclusive, we find the Embossed Anchor, 
a raised anchor upon an embossed oval. 
Then followed through 1759 the Anchor 
mark in red or gold painted on the 
glaze. Sometimes Chelsea pieces were 
marked with two anchors. When the 
Derby Works acquired the Chelsea 
manufactory and continued the Chelsea 
porcelain for a while, the mark used 
was a combination capital letter D and 
an anchor. From 1773 to 1784 the mark 
was a Crown over an Anchor or a 
Crown over a D and a combination D 
and Anchor. In the early pieces which 
were copies of Oriental ones, various 
pseudo-oriental marks were used at 
Chelsea, but nearly all introduce an 
anchor-like mark. This anchor was 
probably suggested by some early Vene¬ 
tian workman in Chelsea’s first porce¬ 
lain manufactory. 
Chelsea mantel 
ornament. 
From the Met¬ 
ropolitan 
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