Vol. I, No. U 
NEW YORK AND SYRACUSE 
March 1900 
S IT is the aim of the KERAMIC STUDIO to 
elevate the standard of keramics with students 
and teachers, and to aid them in placing their 
work on a commercial as well as artistic basis, 
we would suggest that a universal protest from 
all keramists be made against the importation 
of defective white china— called "seconds", (or perhaps sixths 
as we get it) — from all factories. 
It is almost an impossibility to select a perfect piece of 
white china, and as for getting a dozen perfect plates, without 
specks and flaws, one has to be almost disagreeable with 
dealers, in persistently returning the defective pieces, until a 
reasonably fair dozen has been selected. This has been 
brought forcibly to our attention in a practical way since Mr. 
Wilhelm of the old firm Wilhelm & Graef, has undertaken 
sales and orders for the New York Society of Keramic Arts. 
With his long experience in handling goods from all the 
renowned factories of Europe, his practical criticism from the 
trade side is valuable to decorators here, who have not given 
much thought to the selection of white china. Mr. Wilhelm 
is perfectlv surprised to see so much good work placed upon 
such absolutely defective china; he says it greatly injures 
the sales, notwithstanding the artistic merit of the decoration. 
Some of the dealers in white ware are making great 
efforts to procure perfect china for decorators; but it is only 
by persistently refusing to buy poor china that the factories 
will pay any attention to the demands of the decorators. 
The Keramic Studio suggests to the " National League 
of Mineral Painters" some missionary work upon these lines! 
Having heard from well-known teachers, our suggestion 
in our last issue regarding the method of teaching by the 
month, seems to have met with approval. Students also are 
in favor of the idea. Suggestions from our readers are in 
order. 
We are in receipt of a dainty booklet entitled " Egypt," 
from the publishing house of the Robert Clarke Co., Cincin- 
nati. The poem is artistically gotten up and illustrated. We 
particularly admire the design on title page and cover, an 
artistic combination of the winged " Ra," the lotus and the 
scarab. The authoress, Miss Laura G Collins, is to be con- 
gratulated on her publisher and illustrator, Mr. J. Augustus 
Knapp. 
The marks on Oriental porcelain are given in the various 
editions of Chaffers; they are also to be found in works pub- 
lished by Dr. J. G. Theodor Griisse and others, and in Hopper 
& Phillips' Manual of Marks. 
The illustrated article on Pyrography by Mr. O. A. Van 
der Leeden is omitted from this number for lack of room. It 
will appear in the April issue. 
First Exhibition of the American Society of Miniature Painters 
at Knoedler's. 
THIS society was formed for the purpose of encouraging 
and fostering the art of miniature painting in this country 
There would hardly be a need for such a society if miniatures 
could be displayed to advantage at any of the chief annual 
exhibitions, but, though it is true that at the Society of Amer- 
ican Artists and at the Water Color Society a few miniatures 
are seen every year, yet the painters doubtless felt that these 
fragile little things were too often overwhelmed and crushed 
by the more pretentious pictures that make up the greater 
part of such exhibitions. 
The interest of the New York public in miniature paint- 
ing was very slight until six or seven years ago when it 
suddenly arose and grew until it became the hobby of a large 
number of dilletanti. Unhappily most of those who chose to 
indulge a taste for collecting showed a singular lack of judg- 
ment, and apparently never learnt to distinguish between a 
real work of art and a colored photograph. Many seemed to 
regard a picture on ivory merely as a curiosity because of its 
exceeding smallness, others looked on it as a proper excuse 
for a piece of jewelry, and for a time the jeweler's shop was 
thought to be the natural place to go in the quest for minia- 
tures. Within the last few years, however, the buyers have 
grown more discriminating and though the demand has on a 
whole somewhat fallen off, yet the decline of the hobby has af- 
fected the jeweler and the photographer rather than the artist. 
The American Society of Miniature Painters naturally 
does not profess to encourage the photographer; it was at 
least partly in order to save the art from degradation to the 
level of a trade that the formation of a society was originally 
contemplated. The miniatures at Knoedler's are not all good 
by any means, but the work of the hack photo-miniaturist has 
been very successfully kept out of doors. The proportion of 
really able work is fairly large, and it is interesting to note 
that some of the very best examples are contributed by 
women. — New York Post. 
Mr. Baer, who is past master of the art of miniature 
painting, had a very uneven exhibition. His work is beauti- 
fully soft and suggestive, but occasionally overworked to 
tameness. We have seen much finer work of his than the 
present examples. 
Miss Laura Hills showed the same daring and vigor, 
though she too is hardly up to her mark in originality and taste. 
Mrs. Rhoda Holmes Nicholls had but one miniature, a 
likeness of her father, but perfect in its way. It had the 
quaint refinement and intellectuality of the days of Nathaniel 
Hawthorne. 
Miss Strafer's subject, a laughing child, was charmingly 
full of life and well painted. 
Mrs. Lucia Fairchild Fuller also had an interesting ex- 
hibit, but not so good as at the "American Artists" last year. 
There is plenty of room still at the top. 
