Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt

“ It would, perhaps, scarcely be expected that in such a busy, bustling, and gigantic place of enterprise and commercial activity as Liverpool—in the midst of shipping of every description, and surrounded by the most enormous and busy undertakings of one kind or other—we should successfully look for the full and perfect accomplishment of so quiet, so unostentatious, so peaceful, and so delicate an art as that of the potter. ”

“ The manufacturer is quite as much a teacher as the writer or the artist, and he is frequently a much more effectual one. In pottery especially, where the wares of one kind or other are hourly in the hands of every person in the kingdom, it behoves the manufacturers to produce such perfect forms, and to introduce such ornamentation, even in the commonest and coarsest ware, as shall teach the eye, and induce a taste for whatever is beautiful and perfect and lovely in art. The mission of the manufacturer is to create a pure taste, not to perpetuate and pander to a vicious and barbarous one ”

“ That the present firm can produce work equal in excellence and beauty to that of their gifted ancestor is amply evidenced by a Portland vase, which in 1877 they made—regardless of trouble or cost—in exact imitation, both in colour and material, of the first fifty. This was polished and cut by a lapidary, and forms a priceless treasure of Art, and one that will bear the closest comparison with the great Josiah’s greatest work. The firm still produce “jasper,” “basaltes,” “red,” “cream-coloured,” and indeed all the other wares for which the works in the olden times were so famous. ”

“ At the present hour the productions of the Coalport works take a foremost rank among the best porcelain of the kingdom; many of the specialities of this firm being marvels of beauty; the colours pure and full, and of extreme richness. Sardinian green—a colour for the extreme depth and richness of which these works are celebrated—is introduced with remarkable effect both in services and otherwise. One of the finest pieces of this colour is a tripod wine goblet, with flowers in tablets, and raised and jewelled gold borders. ”

“ Thus the relics which they contain have come down to us intact, and even now tell their wondrous tale, in a language of their own, of ages and of races of beings long since passed away. A single implement of stone or of flint; a weapon or an ornament of bronze, of iron, or of bone; a bead of jet or of glass; an urn, or even a fragment of pottery; or any one 2 of the infinity of other relics which are exhumed, no matter to what period they belong, or from what locality they may have come; one and all tell their own tale, and supply new links to our ever-extending chain of knowledge. ”

“ The softness of touch, the purity and delicacy of feeling, and the sunny mellowness of tone, as well as the chasteness of design and correctness of drawing, produced on the best pieces of his productions, show him to be a thorough artist, and place him high above most others in this difficult art, while his intimate knowledge of all the phases and intricacies of Art, and of all the processes of the manufacture, render him peculiarly fitted for the post to which he has been called. ”

“ It cannot be wondered that an art, then such an important secret, should have been followed at Caughley,—a place so perfectly retired from the world, situated in the midst of woods and wilds, almost unapproachable to strangers, and with every facility for keeping the workmen away from all chance of imparting the secret to others,—in place of in Worcester, where secrecy would be almost impossible, and where the information would ooze out from the workmen, at the ale-house or elsewhere, and be greedily caught up by those interested in the process. ”

“ A white gallon cask, with gold edged hoops, adorned with four trophies of music emblems of love, in chiaro-oscuro, surmounted by a young coloured Bacchus, sitting on the bung tasting a grape, of which he holds a basket full between his legs, and a cup in his left hand, the barrel is made to turn round on a pivot fixed in an ormolu pediment, a satyr’s mask holds an ormolu cock in his mouth, which opens and shuts by a spring. ”

“ Wherever the burning has taken place there is evidence of an immense amount of heat being used; the soil, for some distance below the surface, being in many places burned to a redness almost like brick. Remains of charcoal, the refuse of the funeral pyre, are very abundant, and in some instances I have found the lead ore, which occurs in veins in the limestone formation of Derbyshire, so completely smelted with the heat that it has run into the crevices among the soil and loose stones, and looks, when dug out, precisely like straggling roots of trees. ”

“ In modelling, these busts are among the most easy, graceful, and life-like we have ever seen, either in marble, in parian, or in any other material, while as productions in warm-tinted terra-cotta they surpass anything yet produced. They are not only life-like portraits of these two great and widely-different types of men, as regards features and figure and pose, but they convey an actual reflex of the mind of each in the expression which the modeller has caught and perpetuated. ”

“ The great and laudable aim of the present firm has been and is to produce the best, most artistic, and most pleasingly effective designs, and to adapt them to ordinary purposes, so that they may become the every-day surroundings of the artisan as well as of the educated man of taste. Thus they associate durability of quality in body and a perfect glaze with purity of outline in form, chasteness of decoration, and clearness and harmony of colour—adapting their designs and styles of decoration to the national tastes of the people in the various climes to which the goods are sent. ”

“ Armed with his new Act of Parliament, by which he was empowered to enjoy nearly twenty-two years’ patent right, Champion spared no pains and no expense to make the productions of his works as good as possible; and that he continued to produce a magnificent body and a remarkably fine glaze, and turned out some truly exquisite specimens of fictile art, both in design, in potting, in modelling, and in painting, is fully evident by examples still remaining in the hands of collectors. ”

“ In china, which in body and glaze is of the highest quality and of peculiar durability, an immense variety of services and articles are produced, and all are equally good in point of artistic decoration; the ground colours, whether rose du Barry or otherwise, of a remarkable purity and evenness, and the gilding, both dead and burnished, of unusual solidity. The same remarks apply with equal force to the dessert ware, some of the patterns of which are of surpassing loveliness and give evidence of the highest and most successful cultivation of decorative art. ”

“ The vases, which are made in endless variety, are characterized by extreme chasteness and elegance of outline, and by excellent taste in decoration, whether that decoration consists in festoons of hand-modelled flowers, in pressed work, in milling, in printing, or in painting. Many of them in form and in ornamentation, although of so different a body, bear comparison with the better specimens of Wedgewood-ware, and exhibit a purity of taste which is quite refreshing. For tea or déjeuné services, the insides of the teapots and cream-ewers are simply, but judiciously glazed ”

“ The weapons and other implements of imperishable stone and flint have, long ages ago, died out, and any possible connection between them and the weapons or tools of our own day has died with them; but the vessels of simple clay have an abiding-place with us which has lasted without a break until now, and will yet last for ever. Hitherto the course of the potter’s art has been one of constant and gradual improvement; but its capabilities for further development are almost unbounded, and another generation will witness advances of which we can now but dimly dream. ”

“ The dento-ceramic art is, naturally, of recent origin, but it has already almost reached perfection; the artificial teeth so closely resembling the natural, that the false are undistinguishable from the real. In durability nature is by this manufacture excelled; since the porcelain tooth lasts much longer than bone or ivory. Surprising, however, as we find the exact imitation of nature, it is, perhaps, still more surprising to learn that it is only obtained by a variety of at least 100 different shades and tints of colour, and of about 1,000 different shapes and sizes of teeth. ”

“ It is pleasant to know, and to be able indisputably to prove, that from those early days down to the present time the art has, through a long succession of ages, continued with more or less skill, to be observed among us, and that thus in pottery, as in nothing else, an unbroken chain, connecting us in our present high state of civilisation with our remote barbarian forefathers of the stone age, exists. ”

“ No man could have been more highly respected, both by his workmen and by all who knew or had dealings with him at home and abroad, than was this second William Duesbury, and under his care the works continued to grow in importance with an astonishing rapidity, and soon became by far the most prosperous and most successful in the kingdom. ”

“ So true to nature are many of the flowers, and so delicately modelled in all their minutest details, that the most skilful botanist can scarce find a deviation from nature in leaf or flower. The basket engraved on Fig. 807 is a fair specimen of the Matthews’ reproduction of flowers; but the most exquisitely beautiful group yet produced is an example in my own possession—the chef-d’œuvre of the works. It is unsurpassed by any production in terra-cotta. These floral baskets are a speciality of the Royal Pottery, and are among the most beautiful of art productions. ”

“ The geometric or tesselated pavements are of every conceivable variety; the tiles composing them being made of different forms and of all shades of colour, but all produced with the utmost mechanical nicety so as to “fit” in ever-changing variety. A notable feature in the tiles of this firm is the richness, the clearness, and the purity of the colours and the excellence of the glaze; these features, added to faultless quality of body, to high-class artistic treatment of patterns, and to excellence of mechanical workmanship, place them high in estimation. ”

“ It is upon these principles, and these alone, that he has acted in this business, and therefore he humbly presumes he does not merit the censure of avidity in grasping at other men’s manufactures, though he thinks that himself and all manufacturers should be protected in the free use of all raw materials that are not invented by men, but are the natural productions of the earth. When Mr. Wedgwood discovered the art of making Queen’s Ware, which employs ten times more people than all the china works in the kingdom, he did not ask for a patent for this important discovery. ”

“ The progressive improvements in the manufacture of Porcelain and Earthenware, during the last thirty years, have raised this art to an eminence which it never reached before in the British Empire; and, perhaps, in no department of art has scientific research and experiment been so productive of wealth and fame as in this, and it is no undue encomium on the industry of the manufacturer to state, that the consumption at home and the demands from abroad have kept pace with the improvements which have increased both. ”

“ Cookworthy, who is his particular friend; he gives him all the merit which is due to so great a discovery; he deserves it for finding out the means of a manufacture, which will, in all probability, be a very great advantage to this country; but yet Mr. Champion claims the merit of supporting the work, and, when the inventor declined the undertaking himself, with his time, his labour, and his fortune, improved it from a very imperfect to an almost perfect manufacture; and he hopes, soon, with proper encouragement, to one altogether perfect. ”

“ Harvey Adams & Co. in every style, from the simple white and gold (one variety of which, with a beaded edge, is peculiarly simple and pretty) to the most richly, even gorgeously painted, gilt, enamelled, and jewelled varieties; in each of these their productions take rank with those of any other house. In some services, both tea and dessert, what may be called an ormolu decoration has been introduced with as good effect by this firm as by any other. It gives a richness and a solidity to the patterns which could not otherwise be easily obtained. ”

“ Wall, a man of high intellect and attainments, and of noble character, was impelled to the prosecution of his inquiries; but that for the good of science and of commerce alone, and with a knowledge that a branch of manufacture of the kind, if once well established, must be lucrative to its possessors and advantageous to the city, he was induced to work hard and zealously in his laboratory until he had mastered the difficulties which surrounded him, and had produced a material that should successfully rival the foreign examples which he took for his model. ”

“ In earthenware—toilet and all the usual table services and numberless useful articles of the best designs and highest finish are made. In stoneware—jugs, tea-pots, and other articles are produced; in these many excellent shapes and designs have been introduced. In china—tea, breakfast, dinner, dessert, trinket, toilet, and other services; jugs of various kinds; vases, and an endless variety of ornamental and highly decorated goods, are made. The quality of the china is remarkably fine and good, and the glaze of more than average excellence. ”

“ This new ware was first made public at the Great International Exhibition of 1851, and from its peculiar qualities of durability, hardness, and freedom from cracking with heat, attracted considerable attention. The surface of the semi-porcelain bears every characteristic of the finest china, and, of course, in colour, in painting, and in gilding can be made quite equal to it; but it has the additional advantage of being so completely vitrified that the inside, in case of being chipped or broken, remains of its original whiteness. ”

“ One superb and elegant vase with therms, beautifully enamel’d with figures, the Three Graces on one side and a landscape on the other, in compartments, enriched with chased and burnished gold, and 2 ewer-shape vases to match, figure of Virtue on one side and Prudence on the other. ”

“ In majolica the Worcester works produce many splendid varieties of articles, and many spirited and beautiful designs. Dessert services, floral table decorations, shell-pieces, spill-cases, and vases are among the articles produced. The body is finer and more compact than that frequently used by manufacturers, and the colouring is faultless and in the purest taste. It was a wise thought to graft this branch of ceramic art on to that of the finest porcelain at Worcester, and its rapid development shows how thoroughly it has been appreciated. ”

“ The iridescent effect produced is somewhat similar to that of the ruby lustre of the famous Gubbio Majolica; that Italian enamelled ware which commands such fabulous prices, and of which an unrivalled collection is to be seen at the South Kensington Museum. Lustres were introduced many years ago for English pottery by Hancock, by Gardner, and by Stennys; and in the booths of our country fairs, rude inartistic forms, glowing with a gold or a silver lustre, are often to be seen. ”

“ A patent would greatly have limited its public utility. Instead of one hundred manufactories of Queen’s Ware, there would have been one; and instead of an exportation [369] to all quarters of the world, a few pretty things would have been made for the amusement of the people of fashion in England. It would be the same with the use of the materials in question: if they are not only confined to the use of one person or manufactory, by patent, for fourteen years, but that patent be extended for twenty or thirty years longer, so long they may be the means of supporting one trifling manufactory ”