214 
KERAMC STUDIO 
THE COLLECTOR 
WILLOW WARE PATTERN 
Loving birds poised on the wing, 
Sigh when you hear the song I sing. 
In a little boat one summer's day, 
Two happy lovers sailed away. 
Weep, sad willow, to your name be true, 
For a father's wrath doth these lovers pursue. 
O'er the bridge hard by his armed band 
Hastens to meet them when they land. 
To the lordly castle the maiden is led. 
Her lover, alas ! for his life has fled. 
Beneath this tree with its apples red, 
For her lover she mourns as though he were dead. 
She is sleeping now beyond the fence, 
Again they will meet some few years hence. 
So whenever you see a willow pattern plate, 
Be warned stern parents by the lovers sad fate. 
THE "willow pattern "was undoubtedly the most popular 
ever made, and was first introduced by Thomas Turner 
of the Caughley works in 1780. Its great popularity led to it 
being copied by nearly all the other English manufacturers of 
that time. The cut herewith published represents the original 
pattern with the addition of eight indentations in the rim. 
This was in many instances slightly altered, some patterns 
having but two figures on the bridge, where the original has 
three; others very different in that the relative position of the 
lovers and bridge were reversed. The color was a beautiful 
blue, not so dark as that used on American historical designs 
or so light as that used on more modern dishes. In those 
days styles did not change with every season, as in our day, 
and the willow pattern was made for many years and reached 
far into the nineteenth century, in fact, some enterprising 
English manufacturer has lately reproduced it, and the unprac- 
ticed eye could hardly distinguish it from the old, but the 
connoisseur can readily detect the imposture. 
The pattern was undoubtedly of Chinese origin, as were 
many patterns of that day. It was applied to both ironstone 
and china ware, but mostly all that is to be found nowdays is 
of the former, which is not surprising, as the greater portion 
of the importations of table ware were of that material. 
The writer has also seen the willow pattern reproduced in 
Cloisonne, which was very beautiful, as is almost everything 
that is produced in that elegant ware by the Japanese. 
As to prices on the willow pattern, it is difficult to deter- 
mine. At the Gov. Lyon sale in 1876 plates sold for one 
dollar each. Everything in the line of old dishes have ad- 
vanced, and I have known of plates selling as high as three 
dollars. Col. John H. Drake. 
e e e 
CHEATS IN ORIENTAL CERAMICS 
THE most inviting field to-day. perhaps, for the unscrupu- 
lous business man is in the trade of Chinese and 
Japanese antiques. There is hardly ever the possibility of 
detection in the frauds perpetrated. "Antiques" that were 
formed by a cunning Celestial twelve months ago are sold at 
enormous prices, and no one can dispute their claim to be 
antiques because the date of their manufacture has never been 
registered. 
To understand how extremely difficult it is to come into 
possession of a veritable antique, it is necessary to go into the 
atelier of the Chinese or Japanese artist in his native country. 
One hundred years ago aud earlier the Japanese and his 
neighbor loved art for art's sake as well as for the profit in it. 
He conceived and executed a vase of beautiful form, and then 
he broke the mould. That single vase whose creator could 
easily be told from the peculiar handiwork has become valua- 
ble from the fact that it is the only one of its kind, and not 
because it is more beautiful than those of later date. Art 
connoisseurs agree that the more modern artists — in fact the 
artists now living and producing — do infinitely finer work than 
their forbears did, both in design and workmanship. The 
early artists never registered dates. Because of this fact buy- 
ers of antiques are at the mercy of the dealer, and he in turn 
is at the mercy of the modern native Japanese and Chinese 
artists. But his business interests will not permit him to 
make this confession. 
" We absolutely cannot rely upon anything that is told 
us," said a buyer. " I go to Yokohama, Tokio, Koba, and 
other art centres every year. In the first-named city, about 
ten years ago, I visited a large native art store. The proprie- 
tor, among other things, showed me a stone lantern, on one 
side of which was this inscription in Chinese characters : ' Pre- 
sented to temple in 1774.' I looked the lantern carefully over 
and it did look its 125 years. I bought it, not because I believed 
its story, but because the price asked was reasonable. Before 
parting with it the owner told me the roundabout way by 
which it had fallen into his hands — a pretty tale, which, of 
course, I did not believe. 
" Well, in the course of my stay, I came across another 
merchant. At this particular time I was looking for antiques. 
I began to deplore the fact that he had nothing sufficiently 
old. The next year I visited him his store teemed with an- 
tiques. I grew suspicious, and questioned him sharply, but 
his self-composure never deserted him. I got no satisfaction 
whatever from investigating. The natives preserve their 
secrets, and a traitor among them in their dealings with for- 
eigners is unknown. I became convinced that they met our 
demands for antiques by manufacturing them. 
" I have handled Japanese and Chinese art goods for 
twenty-five years. To-day I cannot tell between a piece made 
150 years ago and a piece made fifteen months ago. These 
