260 
I1ERAMIC STUDIO 
FLORIAN WARE 
sheets of "The Encyclopedia of Ceramics," by W. P.Jervis.] 
HIS is an arbitrary name given by the manu- 
facturers, Messrs. Maclntyre & Co., Burslem, 
to the pottery designed by Mr. W. Moor- 
croft. In its manufacture there has been a 
return to first principles, as it is all made by 
the old process on the potter's wheel and the 
turner's lathe, the more mechanical method of moulding hav- 
ing been rejected, on purpose that as far as is practicable in a 
commercial project, the individuality of the designer should 
be preserved, nor is there any use made of other mechanical 
aids, such as printing the outline, each piece being entirely 
done by hand. The body is a fine earthenware and on this 
the artist sketches the design in the raw clay with slips mixed 
with various metallic oxides, capable of standing the heat of 
the biscuit kiln. Whilst this means a very limited palette the 
ware seems to have gained rather than have lost from its 
limitations, the greys and blues, with their outlines of white, 
being most satisfying, especially when the coldness is relieved 
by a few touches of orange. Students from the Burslem 
School of Art, of advanced experience, are trained to carry out 
Mr. Moorcroft's designs under his immediate superintendence, 
and no piece is allowed to be fired that has not passed his 
critical judgment. There may be sometimes a slight depart- 
ure from the lines laid down, but such departures if artisti- 
cally conceived are welcomed instead of rejected, and it thus 
happens that no two pieces are exactly alike. Whilst the 
methods employed have no elements of novelty, Mr. Moor- 
croft has at the same time so used them as to produce some- 
thing entirely new and of such a high order of merit as to 
justify us in classing his work as a distinct advance in ceramics, 
charming alike in thought and execution. Florian is the in- 
spiration of an artist and the fulfillment of the dream of a 
potter upon whom the beauties of the pottery of the far East, 
of Greece and Egypt, had left an indelible impression, and 
who has succeeded in giving expression with much humanity 
to some beautiful thoughts 
in an imperishable mate- 
rial. Our illustrations will 
give a good general idea 
of the forms and decora- 
tion, but the unsurpassa- 
bly beautiful colors with 
their iridescence and 
charm, theirhidden depths 
