KERAMIC STUDIO 
'K 
rests upon evidence too slight to be worthy of argument. 
The East India Company imported into England large quan- 
tities of porcelain for sale * * * This particular ware, 
which is very plentiful even at the present day, and which 
has of late acquired the reputation of having been made at 
Lowestoft, was simply, in form and ornamentation, a re- 
production by the Chinese of English earthen-ware models. 
The Chinese do not use saucers, butter boats and numbers of 
other articles after the European fashion, and the agents in 
China were compelled to furnish a model for every piece of 
ware ordered. These models the Asiatic workmen have cop- 
ied only too faithfully. The ill-drawn roses, the coarsely 
painted baskets of flowers, the rude borders of lines and dots, 
are literally copied from the inartistic painting on the English 
earthenware of by-gone days. There is a tradition that 
Oriental ware was imported in the white state, to be painted 
in England. Before giving belief to this speculation, it will 
be necessary to consider how singular, nay, how impossible, a 
circumstance it is, that if this unpainted china was imported 
in quantities sufficient to constitute a trade, none of it should 
have escaped into private custody free from that miserable 
defacement which has been miscalled decoration." 
It may be interesting to know what Mr. M. L. Solon, 
the great pate-sur-pate artist, and one of the highest authori- 
ties on old English wares, has to say about the scarcity of 
true Lowestoft ware in England. In a recent letter he 
writes me : 
" With respect to your inquiries concerning the real 
Lowestoft ware I have not much to say beside what every 
one knows about it. A genuine specimen is, at least, very 
difficult to find, if not impossible to identify. The so-called 
'Lowestoft' ware, made in China for the foreign markets, is 
altogether out of the question— the point has been settled 
long ago. A few pieces are in existence, to which an 
unquestionable pedigree gives a certificate of origin. In all 
cases we observe that the style of decoration is always an 
imitation of that adopted in other English factories. I have 
seen a few undoubted examples painted in blue under glaze 
which could be mistaken for common Worcester or Caughley. 
You may understand that, as the Lowestoft ware never bore 
any mark, it is next to impossible to discover a genuine 
specimen. In short, a real Lowestoft piece is the rara avis 
for an English collector, and many a one would be prepared 
to give a very high price for it if it could be found." 
The late Sir A. W. Franks, a noted collector and authority 
on ceramic subjects, stated that " There can be no doubt 
that there was a considerable manufactory of porcelain at 
Lowestoft, but this was of the usual English soft paste. The 
evidence of hard paste having been made there is of the most 
slender kind." 
The question naturally arises, is there any genuine 
Lowestoft china to be found in the United States. So far as 
any positively identified pieces are concerned it may be said 
that not a single one is known. There are, however, a few 
examples which are confidently believed to be of Lowestoft 
origin, but these may be counted on the fingers of one hand. 
Of the thousands of pieces of so-called Lowestoft that I have 
examined, only two could possibly have been of English 
manufacture. One of these is a tea pot of lozenge form and 
English shape, bearing the characteristic " Lowestoft" 
decorations, — tiny flowers and roses in colors, with waving 
lines of minute dots around the top and cover. The handle 
of this piece is of the usual plain design seen on English ware. 
The form of the piece is unquestionably English, and the 
paste is entirely different from the Oriental, possessing a 
pinkish white cast instead of the greenish or bluish tint of 
the Chinese ware. Furthermore the body is the soft bone 
china of the English factories, and there would seem to be no 
reasonable room for doubt that this piece was produced at 
the Lowestoft factory. 
The second example to which I have referred is a small 
cream pitcher with the same characteristic decoration and 
SUPPOSED TRUE LOWESTOFT. Boston Musi 
