American Garden Pottery 
A PIAZZA SCREEN OF TILES AN INSET ORNAMENT 
MADE BY THE GRUEBY FAIENCE CO. 
or more reproductions in solid green glaze, 
for the estate of a western client. In firing 
one lot of these tubs the color ran, leaving 
them with delightful green and white mark¬ 
ings. But as the order had been for plain 
green the results of this happy accident were 
not accepted by the garden maker. Inci¬ 
dentally, the pottery firm obtained a sug¬ 
gestion for a new modification of glazes— 
comparable, in a minor way, to the lucky 
discovery of rough and “warty” brick seve¬ 
ral years ago through the firing of a lot that 
had been rained on when still soft. The 
green glaze of C and D, with its interesting 
surface, reflecting unexpected lights and 
darks, derives part of its beauty from the 
lively texture of the jar itself. Its coarse¬ 
ness is decidedly a merit. 
Now compare with these the much stiffer 
yet still excellent design E, also furnished 
by Mr. Stanford White. The difference is at 
once perceptible. • The workmanship of 
this truncated cone is as geometric as the 
name of its shape. 
Save for a few tool 
marks on either 
side of the mod¬ 
eled flower form, 
the tree tub is all 
but voiceless, so 
far as individual¬ 
ity goes. No such 
license was in or¬ 
der here as in the 
older pieces, but 
one cannot avoid the feeling that this was 
cast from a model turned off with a template 
made from a mechanical drawing. Its lower 
half is about as uninspiring as a billiard ball 
—but for the spacing of the bands and the 
big rim, the jar would be quite common¬ 
place, in spite of its admirable suitability for 
the housing of a tree. Similar criticism 
must apply to F, used by Messrs. Carrere 
and Hastings for the Hotel Bonce de Leon 
grounds at St. Augustine. Had its work¬ 
manship been less dry and accurate the total 
effect would have been far happier. Look 
closely at the suave antique shape marked 
G and you can see the unemotional hori¬ 
zontal lines produced by sweeping around 
its body with the tool. Thus has its artistic 
life blood been drained. The unyielding 
accuracy of the frieze pattern of H helps to 
make it commonplace. 
Using a form of the potter’s wheel, and 
announcing that all its garden pieces, except 
a few specified, are thrown on the wheel by 
hand,The Merri- 
mac Pottery has 
chosen some ex¬ 
ceedingly good 
shapes which lack 
only the personal 
quality in their 
execution to chal¬ 
lenge warm ad¬ 
miration. Of 
these is the large 
jar marked K. 
A FLOWER POT AND BOWL 
MADE BY THE GRUEBY FAIENCE CO. 
36 
