Edward Dillon

“ You have first to persuade yourself that you are looking at something made of porcelain: once convinced of this, you marvel at the technical difficulties that have been overcome in its manufacture, but what it never even occurs to one to look for in these monstrous vases, is any trace of that beauty of surface and brilliancy of decoration that we are accustomed to associate with the substance of which they are composed. ”

“ In the art work of that time, in spite of the unsurpassed perfection of execution and love of gorgeous decoration, we can already trace the signs of a coming decay. Zengoro, besides reviving with some success the deep sapphire blue, sous couverte, of Ming times, succeeded in producing from an iron-oxide a red ground which vied with the famous coral reds of the previous century in China. ”

“ It is true that in the colours, and in the general style of the decoration, we are often reminded of the well-known Cantonese enamels on copper. The white surface of the ground is, for the most part, entirely hidden by a floral decoration; but amid this, on medallions surrounded by tongues of flame, we find centaur-like monsters with human heads, above which rise almond-shaped nimbi. ”

“ When we come to consider the various factories of porcelain that sprang up in Europe in the course of the eighteenth century, we shall find that what strikes the inquirer above all (in comparison with the kindred arts of the time) is the little we can observe in the way of development either in the technique or decoration of the wares. The art springs up full-blown; what history there is is concerned rather with an artistic decline. ”

“ What we somewhat vaguely call ‘blue and white,’ that is porcelain decorated under the glaze with designs painted with cobalt blue, has always formed the most important class in the eyes of European collectors, at least of those of England and Holland. This preference has been even more marked with the people of India and Persia, and no wonder, for no combination of colour more suggestive of coolness could be imagined. It has thus come about that this class of ware, more than any other, has been made with the direct object of exportation. ”

“ When we know about the pictorial art of the Chinese even the little that we do already of that of their Japanese neighbours, we shall, to give but one instance, be able to trace the source of the beautiful landscapes and flower designs that we find on the vases and plates of the famille verte and famille rose. ”

“ At Sèvres, on the other hand, we shall see that the glaze of the hard porcelain contains no lime, while that substance is an essential constituent in the paste.
The Meissen porcelain, and indeed the German porcelains generally, form a typically hard and refractory group. But they have in a full measure les défauts de leurs qualités. Among them we may look in vain for that blending of the glaze and body that gives to the best Chinese porcelain a surface like that of polished marble; still less do we find in the enamel decoration the brilliancy and transparence of Oriental wares. ”

“ At this time, in fact, the Kaga ware had hardly differentiated itself from that of the parent province. It was not till the beginning of the eighteenth century that the typical Kutani ware, one of the most original and decorative ever turned out from Japanese kilns, was produced.
On a greyish paste, hardly to be reckoned as porcelain, the lustrous, full-bodied enamels, almost unctuous in quality, are laid with a full brush. The whole surface is generally covered, and a dark, juicy green is the prevailing colour, over which a design of black lines is drawn. ”

“ Indeed, in all lands and at all times, iron, copper, cobalt, and manganese have been the principal sources of colour in the decoration not only of porcelain, but of most other kinds of pottery. As equal to these four metals in importance, but not strictly to be classed as colouring materials, we may place tin, the source of most opaque whites, and lead, which is the main fluxing element for our enamels. ”

“ Among the specimens of Spanish porcelain that we see in English collections, it is the plain white ware that interests us most. This is of a very beautiful warm tint, and the vases are surrounded by amorini in full relief among flowers, or again by sea-shells modelled from nature, as in the case of the Capo di Monte ware. But many other things were made—imitations of Wedgwood, for example, white relief on a dull blue ground. ”

“ The founders, in their petition to the mayor and council of the town, acknowledge that their aim was to follow in the wake of the Chicoineau family of Saint-Cloud, the only place in Europe, they say, where porcelain was made. At the same time they seize the occasion to attack the head of the Rouen works, who, they affirm, has attempted to palm off his inferior wares at Paris, to the prejudice of the real Saint-Cloud porcelain. Some side-light is thus thrown on the rivalry of the Poterat and Chicoineau families. In fact, the porcelain made at Lille closely resembles the Saint-Cloud ware. ”

“ No doubt, within the last twenty years or so a certain revival has come about both in the Far East and in certain European countries, and that under totally different conditions from those which prevailed in the eighteenth century. Here and there, at least, the manufacture of porcelain has come within the sphere of the new impulses that have brought about such changes in the ‘Arts and Crafts’ at the end of the nineteenth century. ”

“ The flower-painter came first with realistic, well-shaded little nosegays, in the style of the Dutch painters of the day; then landscapes, views of real towns, sometimes in a purple-red monochrome, and surrounded by a gold rococo frame to imitate that of an oil picture. The free use of gold, however, in the European porcelain of this time, was to some extent a saving point. It helped, as gold always does, to pull together the decoration. On the earlier Meissen ware the gold is most solidly applied and has worn well. ”

“ To understand the important influence of this aristocratic patronage upon the scattered kilns of Japan (only a few of these, indeed, produced porcelain) , I cannot do better than quote the words of Captain Brinkley, perhaps our first authority on Japanese ceramics: ‘During the two centuries that represent the golden age of Japanese ceramic art, that is to say, from 1645 to 1845, every factory of any importance was under the direct patronage either of the nobleman in whose fief it lay, or of some wealthy amateur whose whole business in life was comprised in the cultivation of the Cha-no-yu. ”

“ Francesco Maria, the second Grand-Duke of Tuscany, was neither a good prince nor a faithful husband. He was, however, by nature an enthusiastic and patient experimenter, and a chemist after the manner of the day. Soon after his accession, in 1576, the Venetian envoy writes of him—I abbreviate here and there: ‘He has found the way to make the porcelain of India; he has equalled them in transparence, in lightness, and in delicacy. With the help of a Levantine he worked for more than ten years, spoiling thousands of pieces, before producing perfect work. ”

“ We are much in the dark as to the source of the porcelain exported both from China and Japan in the seventeenth century, especially of the roughly painted ‘blue and white,’ of which such vast quantities went to India and Persia. So of the Japanese ‘Kakiyemon,’ which had so much influence on our European wares, what was the origin of the curious design, and what was the relation of this ware to the now better known ‘Old Japan’? ”

“ But in this rude ware we see at times a certain barbaric, almost Oriental feeling for colour and decoration, giving more promise of artistic possibilities than we can find in the tame imitative work of the eighteenth century porcelain maker. ”

“ No better instance of this conservatism could be given than the fact that the use of gold as a source of a red pigment, the basis of the famille rose in China, appears to have been unknown until the beginning of the nineteenth century, and even then the rouge-d’or was but sparingly applied. On the other hand, the Chinese were always eager, in the interest of trade, to copy the wares exported from Nagasaki, and we shall see later on what an influence the various products of the Hizen kilns had upon the porcelain of Europe. ”

“ THE HARD-PASTE PORCELAIN OF GERMANY Böttger and the Porcelain of Meissen WE have already more than once come across the famous Elector of Saxony, who found time, between his Polish wars and his innumerable amours, to bring together the nucleus, at least, of more than one of the great collections that have since his time attracted visitors to Dresden. ”

“ The next stage in our history brings us at one step to Europe. Before making this stride of more than a thousand leagues from Japan to Central Germany, it will be convenient to bring together some of the scattered references to the porcelain of China that have been laboriously disinterred from the works of the Arab and Christian writers of the Middle Ages, and to compare these statements with the scant account of the trade with Western lands to be found in the Chinese books of that time. ”

“ These full-blown roses are a note that distinguishes English porcelain from this time onwards. As they become larger, and occupy a more prominent place, the painting loses all trace of decorative feeling. Billingsley carried them in his wanderings to all the porcelain factories of England, and we are finally landed in the monstrosities of Rockingham and the insipidities of Nantgarw.
One point we have omitted to mention in our description of the Chelsea-Derby vase at South Kensington. The handles, winged figures somewhat classically treated, are of unglazed ware. ”

“ We have every reason to believe that this store of porcelain, found in the palace of the heretic caliphs of ‘Babylon,’ can have consisted of nothing else but the much prized ‘martabani,’ of which such wonderful stories are told by the Arab and Persian writers.
The high estimation in which this ware was held in Persia at a later date is well brought out in the following quotation from Chardin, who was in Persia in 1672: ‘Everything in the king’s palace is of massive gold or porcelain. There is a kind of green porcelain so precious that one dish alone is worth 500 crowns. ”

“ It was not so much their lack of translucency or the softness of their paste that was at fault, but rather the fact that they made pretence to be something better than they really were ‘at heart.’ Compared to porcelain, they are as plated ware to real silver, and time and wear are apt only too soon to reveal the base nature of their body. Wherever the enamel is chipped off, the dirt lodges, and greasy matter finds its way into the porous paste, causing a wide spreading stain. ”

“ Again, the great heat required in the kilns necessitates, in the firing of porcelain, many precautions that are not called for in the case of earthenware or fayence. Without, however, some slight acquaintance with the processes of the manufacture, it would be impossible to avoid an amateurish and somewhat ‘anecdotal’ treatment of our subject. There are, indeed, many intimate features, many delicate shades of difference that distinguish the wares of various times and places, both in Europe and in the East, which can only be rationally explained by reference to the details of the manufacture. ”

“ A very frequent subject is a rocky bank from which grow peonies, narcissi, or other flowers, and under which two or more chickens or sometimes quails are grouped. The petals of the flowers are rendered by a white opaque enamel in high relief, often with a flush of pink, imitating the tour de force by which the painters of the time, by a single stroke of the brush, produced a full gradation of colour. Indeed, the same artists doubtless painted both on silk, on paper, and on porcelain. ”

“ The Japanese have at many times made piratical descents upon the coast of China, and among the loot thus obtained many fine pieces of Chinese porcelain may have found their way to Japan. There was, however, a period in the fifteenth century during which a pretty steady trade was kept up, under the patronage of the pleasure-loving Ashikaga Shoguns, and many specimens of the earlier Ming porcelain must have reached Japan at that time. It has always been the celadon ware that has found most favour with the Japanese, and fabulous prices were, and indeed still are, given for fine pieces. ”

“ We have first a description of the man who carries the unbaked ware to the furnace, ranged on two long narrow planks. Balancing these on his shoulders, he threads his way through the narrow streets, for the furnaces, as we have seen, may often be a long way from the factory. He goes on to say, ‘the place where the furnaces are presents another scene. In a kind of vestibule in front of the kilns are seen heaps of clay boxes destined to contain the porcelain.’ These, of course, are the ‘seggars’ already described. Each piece of porcelain of any size has its own case. ”

“ This is a practical, and, we may also add, a hygienic defect, that is now sometimes forgotten, the more so as nowadays our common table ware is free from this fault, and resembles fine porcelain in so far that the white, compact body is covered by nothing but the transparent glaze. In fact, as far as European experience is concerned, we may say, broadly, that the merits of porcelain compared with those of fayence are rather of a practical than of an artistic nature. ”

“ One of our principal difficulties in discussing the early wares of China is to reconcile and co-ordinate the various types described in old Chinese books with the few specimens surviving at the present day. Of these scanty examples we can point to scarcely any in public{60} collections; the rare pieces that have been brought from China are in the hands of private collectors in England, France, and America. In the Chinese authorities we find as early as the tenth century references to porcelain which was ‘blue as the sky, brilliant as a mirror, thin as paper, and as sonorous as a piece of jade’ ”