RERAMIC STUDIO 
.83 
THE COLLECTOR 
Officers of the League. 
Miss Ida A. Johnson, President, 193 St. James Place, Brooklyn 
Miss Sophia Gaskell Keenan, Vice-President, 5550 Hays St., Pittsburg 
Mrs. Evelyn S. DeWitt, Rec. Secretary, 47 W. J 6th St., New York 
Miss Myra Boyd, Cor. Secretary, Pittsburg 
Miss M. Helen E. Montfort, Treasurer, 307 Lenox Ave., New York 
Mrs. Kate 0. Gore, Sec. to the Pres., 172 S. Oxford St., Brooklyn 
BOARD MEMBERS. 
Miss Mary Chase Perry, Detroit. Mrs. C. L. Swift, Boston. 
Mrs. C. C. Church, San Francisco. 
Mrs. L. W. Holconib, New York. 
Mrs. Lois E. Andrews, New York. 
Miss Ida A. Johnson, Brooklyn. 
THE Advisory Board of the National League of Mineral 
Painters held its first meeting of the season on Novem- 
ber 1st, at the studio of Mrs. Evelyn DeWitt. There was a 
good attendance and many subjects were brought up for con- 
sideration. 
The new course of study for the League attracted atten- 
tion and expressions of enthusiasm were many. It was 
decided that the exhibition should take place early in May 
1903, in New York, and notice is now given to that effect in 
order that those who wish to work on these interesting lines 
may have an abundance of time. 
The League voted to devote $50.00 for the scholarship 
which provides for a course of study at either Ipswich or 
Alfred. (See Keramic Studio for September). 
It is with great regret the Board learns that the schedule 
of the traveling exhibition has been more or less disarranged 
this fall, but it has been through the failure of some clubs to 
respond promptly, thereby mixing up the dates and causing 
additional travel and expense. We wish to assure the clubs 
that a lesson in itineraries has been learned by the Board, and 
that every possible precaution and endeavor will be taken to 
guard against any repetition of this offence. 
The word from the clubs regarding the exhibition is still 
interesting, and we hope to have full accounts of its reception 
in the west, where it now is. 
Mrs. Ferris M. Martin of Augusta, Me., says: "We en- 
joyed the exhibition, but in some ways it was a little disap- 
pointing, as some artists whose work we wished to see were 
not represented. Each of the plates of course represented 
one of a set, but we thought there were only one or two that 
would seem attractive on the table." 
Miss Fairbanks, of Boston, writes that she is pleased with 
Miss Perry's course of study. She says: " In eliminating the 
medals for the exhibitive and comparative classes, a step in 
the right direction has been taken. What was an objection 
to many, is removed, and I am sure the comparative exhi- 
bition will gain thereby. The educational part promises to 
be most interesting and of great value, both to the workers 
and to the onlookers." 
Miss Fairbanks of Boston, has resigned her place on the 
advisory board and Miss Gertrude C. Davis, Boston, was 
elected in her place. 
ENGLISH PORCELAINS OF THE XVIII CENTURY 
Mary Churchill Ripley 
N the more careful study of pottery which many are 
making at the present time, methods are adopted 
quite other than the simple one of looking for 
marks. That is of course still necessary but does 
not satisfy as once it did, for even those least 
learned in the art of the potter, have discovered that marks 
have been and are forged, and that even in the early life of 
many of the most famous potteries, marks were not used 
at all. 
This has been explained in many ways. Some say that 
casual observers often were familiar with the prevailing style 
seen in the homes of the well to do, and were apt to recognize 
it, when it or something very like it was seen on sale in the 
shops. For instance, the Wedgwood ware decorated in relief 
was during a certain period very popular in England. Imita- 
tors of this ware did better by putting unmarked goods upon 
the market, than by impressing their names upon them, for 
the style was recognized at a glance, and the absence of a 
mark would most likely cause the most thoughtless purchasers 
to give the benefit of the doubt to the otherwise attractive ob- 
ject, as long as it was decorated in the prevailing style, and 
would make the desired impression. 
So with old Worcester, Derby and Spode, in the efforts 
of the potters who were endeavoring to imitate the popular 
patterns of "Dresden" or "Royal Meissen" porcelain. When 
English collectors demanded the German production, it was 
possible for English potters to put upon the market something 
enough like "Dresden" to be mistaken for it, if only the face 
value was studied. When marks were forged in the English 
factories, it was because buyers were looking for and insisting 
upon the crossed swords of Meissen or some other equally pop- 
ular mark. The Royal Dresden factory is at Meissen, as is 
generally known. 
Marks on Old Dresden. Later mark. 
In the Bristol, Worcester and Caughley potteries the 
"crossed swords" were successfully forged during the last 
quarter of the 18th century, and it would be a hopeless task 
to decide between the varying claims of the productions of 
the period, whether English or German, if marks alone were 
considered. Only when we escape from their thraldom and 
become accustomed to the more reasonable method of study- 
ing the wares themselves, can we hope to arrive at the truth 
concerning them. 
H 
X t 
Dresden marks used 
Bristol porcelain. 
Imitations of Dresden mark Mark found on 
found on Worcester ware. Caughley porcelain. 
Now what are the leading characteristics of the porcelains 
of the 18th century, and how may we learn to know them? 
In the first place, they were of soft paste, with the exception 
of Plymouth, Bristol and New Hall, and therefore need never 
be confounded with genuine Dresden, which has always been 
of natural hard paste porcelain. The hard porcelain of the 
