RERAMIC STUDIO 
273 
bined oxide a little salt and silica, fritting these together 
and grinding up the result to a fine powder, produced an 
opaque glaze that gave to the commonest clays a superior 
appearance. Slowly, inch by inch, as is the case with all 
human discoveries, a finer and finer frit was discovered, 
a purer and purer glaze obtained; till at last a glaze, so 
white, so pure, and brilliant was evolved that it compared, 
and not unfavorably, with the white porcelain of the east. 
Away back in the Middle Ages the Italian potters pro- 
duced results that have never been surpassed, so much 
that for the last two or three centuries this class of ware 
has made no progress whatever. 
The cheapening of white earthenware has doubtless 
had to do with this, for the French, Italian and Iberian 
makers of "tin-glazed" wares have really retrograded 
from the positions of their forefathers. A few, such 
as the manufacturers at Nevers and Blois, make a really 
high-class and artistic ware, but the great majority con- 
fine themselves to making cheap basins, plates and cook- 
ing vessels, sold for a few pence in the markets of their 
little country towns. 
The decoration, of the roughest and crudest char- 
acter, is, as almost all national pottery is, of strong and 
glaring colors; for this glaze readily lends itself to colors 
that are almost the despair of the white earthen ware 
maker. The brilliant scarlet, which is the desire of our 
home potter, is easily produced on this class of goods, 
and the greens, blues and oranges take on a brilliance 
and purity all their own. 
The ware to be seen in any market town in Southern 
France, Spain, Portugal or Italy, is almost invariably of 
an inferior, dirty yellow gray color, and consists of bowls, 
plates and jugs, made on the wheel, and showing in the 
form and outline a certain pleasantness to the eye, which 
is almost always the characteristic of a purely hand-made 
article. The decoration, done with a few sweeps of a 
dauber, is crude; a cottage with a tree, roughly sketched 
flowers, or those primitive forms that the peasant farmer 
of every land seems to like. In Britany one or two fac- 
tories make a quantity of rough ornaments, many of which, 
owing to tourists, are brought over to England as memen- 
toes. These are a little better; but with very few excep- 
tions the ware is of the roughest and crudest character. 
Those who have seen really fine specimens of this 
pottery would scarcely recognize the kinship of the present 
degenerate wares. There are in existence specimen plates 
(the writer has in memory the remains of a dinner service) 
on exhibition in a little place abroad, which it would puz- 
zle any man to distinguish from first-class china or earthen- 
ware, so long as he was not permitted to handle it; and 
which is quite equal in appearance to any first-class white 
ware. Of course, it is softer, and more easily chipped 
and broken, yet the pieces, for there are several, are wonder- 
fully free from crazing, though a century or more old. 
This ware, except in the hands of a few specialists, 
it is probable, will gradually die out of common use. A 
few who work in reproducing copies of the great masters 
of the art, or making ornamental pieces on the same lines, 
may continue for many years to come ; but the ware seems 
likely, as an ordinary article of commerce, to be doomed. 
Its makers are seeking new means and methods; for al- 
though to produce a poor article is very easy indeed, the 
purity and beauty of the best extant specimens are difiicult 
and expensive to attain. The increasing price of tin and 
the cheapening of ordinary white ware must bring it to 
an end. 
STUDIO NOTE 
Miss E. E. Page, of Boston, goes to Europe in April 
for a course of art study. 
MARIPOSA LILIES-M. E. HULBERT 
