be the chief decora- tive feature of the Louis QUINZE. Rooms had shallow vertical panelling, the lines formed of broken curves and scrolls terminating in shell forms and ribbons. The acanthus is replaced by the palm as the chief element in the ornamentation, which in spite of its shallow pretence, is attractive, and was in keeping with the social and civic life of the period. J. Verberckt, the carver, and Antoine Rousseau, the painter, are the two chief artists associated with the decorative work of the Louis Quinze. The architecture, unlike the ornamentation, had a greater severity and dignity of style in the hands of Robert de Cotte, German Boffraud, and Jacques Ange Gabriel, the latter being the architect of the Petit Trianon (1762-8), one of the most perfect palaces of this period. Under Louis SEIZE, insistence is laid upon symmetry and sim- plicity in the arrangement of the ornament, and reticence and delicacy of treatment in the details, which consist of the olive, myrtle, and the lily, with sways and garlands of flowers interwoven with ribbons. The cartouche is eliminated, and the oval medallion or tablet takes its place. Room decorations were frequently in white and gold, with delicate stucco or painted ornament and panels painted by the artists Jean Honore Fragonard and Francois Boucher. Distinguished designers of this period were the brothers Rousseau, Philippe de Laselle, Salembier, Lalonde, and Gabriel Trichard, and the " cbenists " Riesener and David Roentgen, and Gouthiere, the metal chaser. Representative architects are J. G. Gabriel, Jules Nicolas Sevandony, and Jacques German SoufTot, the architect of S. Genevieve ''Pantheon). The period known as the EMPIRE was one of artistic activity characterized by a cold classic formalism founded upon Greek and Roman models. The elements of the ornamentation were the anthemion, acanthus (plate 25), paterae, urns, and cornucopias, intermingled with the palm and olive symmetrically arranged, frequently arranged upon diagonal lines, with circular medallions and lozenge shapes. The chief artists of this period were Charles Norman, the architect, Charles Percier, and P. L. Fontaine, who in collaboration controlled the principal decorative work. 75 ENGLISH RENASCENCE, Plate 27 WOOOCAOVinO. A5TOM H/VLL KXiTIOfl OF CCILI1O AT A3TOM HALL. UIBMinOHAM. ftVMfL rtwn THE CHICHE5TCR TtV^B. PILTOtt CHUPCH NGLISH RENASCENCE. The Renascence commenced in England in the early part of the i6th century, about a hundred years later than that in Florence. The first important work was the tomb of John Young, in terra cotta, in the Rolls' Chapel, completed in 1516 byPietro Torrigiano, who also executed the fine tomb of Henry VII. (1512-18) in Westminster Abbey. This consists of a rectangular sarcophagus of black marble, on which rest the bronze effigies of the king and his consort. On the sarcophagus are gilded bronze pilasters and circular panels in relief, surrounded with wreaths of black marble (plate 27). The tomb of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, and the high altar and baldachino of black and white marble in the Abbey are also by Torrigiano. ntemporary with Torrigiano was Benedetto da Rovezzano, of Florence, who was commissioned by Cardinal Wolsey, in 1520, to make a sarcophagus of black touchstone, with a recumbent figure of Wolsey in bronze. On the Cardinal's fall, Henry VIII. commis- sioned Rovezzano to alter and elaborate the work; but it was left incomplete, and in 1646 the bronze was sold, and this sarcophagus became the resting-place of Nelson in 1806, and is now in S. Paul's Cathedral. Another Florentine, Giovanni di Majano, modelled some terra-cotta medallions for Wolsey at Hampton Court (1521). In the work of Hans Holbein (plate 27) the Italian feeling is still retained, showing but little of the Gothic tradition; but in the middle of the century there came a marked change in the ornamental details, the cartouche and strap work, features common to the later French, Flemish, and German Renascence becoming a pro- nounced feature of the English Renascence (plate 27). A typical Tudor house consisted of a series of rooms placed irregularly round an open court having an entrance gateway flanked by octagonal towers; the principal room was the lofty hall with its screen and traceried windows. Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk (1482), and Hengrave Hall, Suffolk (1538), are representative of these Tudor hou- The famous Elizabethan and Jacobean manor-houses are characterized by regularity and symmetry in plan and elevation. The chief buildings of the Elizabethan period are Charlecote (1558), Longleat (1567), Kirby Hall (1570-75), Montacute House (1580), Wollaton Hall (1580-88), Hardwicke Hall, and Haddon Hall (159297). Of the Jacobean peroid there are Holland House (1607), Hatfield (1611), Audley End (1615), Aston Hall (1620), andBlickling Hall (1620), with their long galleries and rectangular mullioned windows characteristic features of the Elizabethan and Jacobean period. There arc magnificent circular bay windows at Kirby Hall, Burton Agnes (1602-10), and Lilford Hall* (1635). and fine octagonal .it Astley Hall. 77 ENGLISH RENASCENCE. Plate 28. CARVED PMEL TOOK THC CHURCH or VMARY, BUILT BVWREM.1695. xx/ Ktns, J^CL , 5TOf1c MORTH pQp^ > reon THE CH01R.5TALL3,5T PAULS. DOOTvcHCAD CTJFrORDSirifl DOOR-HEAD FROM CUITORD5 1P1M . TMtUPPCH OHOCP.TTMr HOU3C.WHITTHALL. r iniOO JOnr CARVED HRt PLACE in OAK U CEDAR. A ROOM AT LOMD01.1686. nov in~mt John Thorpe, whose drawings are dated 1570-1621, and Robert and Huntington Smithson with drawings 1599-1631, are the chief names associated with the architectural history of this period. The beautiful plaster ceilings, consisting of geometrical panelling, fan-tracery, and pedentives, were similar to those of the preceding Gothic period. These richly-moulded pendentives were connected together with bands of pierced strap-work, or moulded ribs with arabesques in low relief. From 1615 to 1650 the panels were composed of purely geometrical forms, such as circles, squares, lozenges, and interlacing quatrefoils, with delicate arabesques. The ribs frequently had a repeating pattern impressed while the plaster was soft. Occasionally a double frieze was used,, the lower having delicate arabesques and strap-work, while the upper one had boldlymarked cartouches and arabesques. One of the most important examples of early Renascence plaster is the frieze in the presence chamber, Hardwicke Hall. It is decorated with classical subjects, such as Diana and her nymphs, surrounded with forest trees and foliage. This frieze is 1 1 ft. in height, modelled in low relief, delicately coloured, and is probably the work of Charles Williams, for in 1567 we hear of a Charles Williams working at Longleat in the Italian fashion, and " the use of the cunning later, that playsterer Bess who of Hardwick, requesting made dyvers pendants, and had flowered the Hall at Longleat, to do like work for them at Hardwick." The ceiling at Audley End was by Bernard Jansen. and is dated 1615. With Inigo Jones the purely Italian Renascence prevailed. He was known from 1604-30 as the designer for the elaborate scenery for the brilliant masques by Ben Jonson that were performed by the nobles and court of that period. In 1622 Inigo Jones com- pleted the Banqueting House, Whitehall, the only portion of his great design which was carried out. He also designed the Water Gate, York House, executed by his favourite carver, Nicholas Stone, the earlier part of Greenwich Hospital, and the great room at Wilton, with its fine mantelpiece and panelling. Nicholas Stone was an expert and prolific carver. An extract from cost his pocket-boo"k of sculpture: is interesting, 1620. I made and throws some a monument, to light -on the be set up at Westminster, of Mr. Francis Holies, the youngest son of the earl of My Clare, for which the sayd earl payed for it 5o/. lord of Clare also agreed with me for a monument for his brother. Sir George Holies, the which; I inade and sett up in the chappell at Westminster where Sir Francis Vere lyeth buried, for the which I was payed from the hands of the sayd earl of Clare ioo/." The ornament of Inigo Jones is excellent in proportion, and Italian in type. The decoration of the panels and friezes consisted of boldly designed festoons, masks, and shields. The plaster ceilings have large rectangular, circular, or oval panels, with moulded ribs en- riched with arabesques, fruit, or flowers in high relief. 79 ENGLISH RENASCENCE. Plate 29, 80 The work of Wren, 'which followed, is on similar lines, the propor- tions being good, but the details are less refined in type, being largely under the influence of Grinling Gibbons and his school. Their wonderful technique and lack of restraint in the hands of less able men degenerated into the mannerisms and looseness of style which marked the later i;th and early i8th centuries. The era of church building began with Sir Christopher Wren in 1666, after the great fire of London, in which old S. Paul's, ninety-three parish churches and chapels, the Exchange, the Guildhall, and fifty of the City Companies' halls were destroyed. S. Mary le Bow (1680), S. Bride's (1680), S. Clement Dane (1684), and S. Stephen's, Walbrook, illustrate some of the typical features of the fifty-one parochial churches that he designed, and his master- piece, S. Paul's (1675-1710), is a noble example of English Renas- cence (plan, plate 57). Wren also built portions of Hampton Court and Greenwich Hospital. Nicholas Hawksmoor, a pupil of Wren, built Christ Church, S. George's-in-the-East (1723), Spitalfields Church (1729), and S. George's, Bloomsbury (1730). Castle Howard (1714) and Blenheim Palace are by Sir John Vanbrugh; S. Philip, Birmingham (1710), by Archer; Burlington House (1717) by Camp- bell, " who also brought out his great work on English architecture, Yitruvius Britannicus," Vol. I., 1715, Vol. II., 1717, Vol. III., 1725, while Yols. IV. and V. were issued by Woolfe and Gandon in 1767. This book gives introductory descriptions, with plans, elevations, and sections of the chief English buildings erected between 1600-1750. The Horse Guards (1742), Holkham (1734), and Devonshire House (1734) were designed by William Kent. S. Mary-le-Strand (1717), S. Martin's (1721), the Senate House, Cambridge (1730), and the RadclifTe Library, Oxford (1747) were by James Gibbs. XVith Sir William Chambers the latter Renascence begins, and Somerset House (1^76) is a typical example of this period, accurate "A in proportion, with refined materials. Chambers also " tecture in 1759, and details and excellent " workmanship and published his Treatise of Civil Archi- Treatise on the Decorative Part of Civil Architecture" in 1791. Other architects of this period were George Dance, who built the Mansion House (1756), and Robert and James Adam, who designed and built the Adelphi (1768) and many streets and mansions in London, Bath, Edinburgh, and Dublin. Robert Adam also designed many accessories, such as console tables and candelabra, and on the ceilings, pilasters, and panels were classical stucco enrichments (plate 29). < t modern Renascence, the Wellington Monument, in S. Paul's Cathedral. 1>\ Alfred Steven^, is distinguished by it^ strong i |>< MHi.tlit\ and architectonic treatment of composition, and the beautv and -insular grace of its detail-. Si MOHAMMEDAN ORNAMENT. Plate 30, I^ELICJ OIVMAnEMT FRO/A THC WCKALA CAIKO ARABiAM Sf^^^^JV x'VV*JS - -\ <~~H v x,^ e h *i5 Y - J 90 1HINESE ORNAMENT. The early bronzes, enamels, porcelain, and textile fabrics of China are indicative of the perfection and luxuriance of the decorative arts of that ancient empire. This perfection is shown by a splendid technique and a fine appreciation of colour and ornamentation, differentiated from the western nations by myths, traditions, and the remarkable persistency of a few typical forms through many centuries, doubtless owing to the profound ancestral worship and veneration for the past. The dragon was represented .under many aspects, frequently forming vigorous lines of composition (figs. 3, 4). The beautiful flora of the country largely influenced Chinese art. The peony and chrysanthemum (frequently highly conventionalized) are typical examples, forming the elements of decorative design. Geometric forms, such as the hexagon, octagon, and the circle, enriched with flowers or the fret, are largely used. The many splendid examples of bells, gongs, and incense- burners in bronze and iron; the carvings in wood, ivory, and jade; the beautiful woven silks, richly patterned with the conventional chrysanthemum, the peony (fig. 2), or with geometrical forms, filled with the fret or rosettes (fig. i); the magnificent fabrics, embroi- dered with dragons, birds, and conventional flowers, excellent in tech- nique and colour ; and the richness and purity of their porcelain, more especially the old blue and white of the Ming dynasty, A.D. 1568- 1640 (plate 39, fig. 4), all testify to the versatility and vitality of the Chinese decorative arts in the past. Their architecture was distinguished by complexity and quaint- ness of form, rather than beauty of proportion and detail. Their pagodas, or temples, of which numerous examples are still extant, were of wood, iron, brick, or marble ; and one, the Nanking Pagoda, A.D. 1412-31, destroyed in 1854, was encased with yellow and green porcelain tiles, and had 150 bells pendant from the roof. Pagodas are from 3 to 13 storeys in height; that at Peking has 13 storeys and is 275 ft. high, the Nanking porcelain pagoda was 250 ft. high, and a fine brick one of 7 storeys on the River Yangtsze is 140 ft. in height. The roof of each storey curves outwards and up- wards, and usually, supports a balcony. Colour symbolism is an important feature of all Chinese art, especially that associated with their religious rites. In the Temple of Heaven, during the religious ceremonies blue is the prevailing colour; blue light is transmitted into the building, the sacrificial vessels are of blue porcelain, the robes of the priests are of blue brocades, and the exterior is covered with tiles of a deep cobalt blue. Yellow porcelain and brocades are used in the Temple of Earth, red in the Temple of the Sun, and white in that of the Moon. 91 JAPANESE ORNAMENT. Plate 35. CRANES PAINTED BY MORI IPJ>5, I64O. BfilTISH MU5EUA\ HE QUICK POSTYAAN.FBOM THE ttANGWA, 3R ROUGH SKETCHES.* HOKU5A1. 1/6O-I849 WOVEN SILKS. THt KIRI-MOM t> K1BU IMPERJAL CRESTS. 92 JAPANESE ORNAMENT. The arts of Japan, though doubtless owing their origin to China, are differentiated by a keener observation of nature and a more olfilrtoerrpaaeloonftyrte,haettmhceenotu"notkfroyslaaintd"hsecoar"pek,iirikbsu,ir"dt,hoearn"cdhyaurrnyiism"aanltorhlieflmei,ulyma, ,ntdhtethhee" beautiful " botan " " kiri or tphaeula"wimnaatsuim"peroiralifsir, (somewhat and the " resem"bling take or our horse chestnut), bamboo likewise the peacock, the crane, the duck, the pheasant, and many smaller beau- tiful birds, together with reptiles, insects, and fishes; all are elements in the decorative arts, being rendered with remarkable fidelity and delicacy of touch, united with a fine feeling for composition of line. Physical phenomena, such as the snow-clad mountain, Fujiyama, have always exercised considerable influence upon the Japanese mind. This may be readily seen in the thirty colour prints by Hiroshige, and the hundred views of this mountain by Hokusai. The cherry and plum blossoms, emblems of the beauty and purity of spring, are also intimately associated with the life and the ornament of the people. It is this literal treatment of natural types, the marvellous technique, and especially the significance of the forms chosen, that constitutes the charm of the earlier Japanese art. It is singular that the materials used by the Japanese should be of little intrinsic value. Having no jewellery, they use little of the precious metals; iron, bronze, enamels, clay, wood, and lac being the chief materials utilized in the decorative arts of Japan. Bronze is one of the earliest materials used in the arts of Japan, and their large statue of Buddha at Kamakura, cast in A.I). 748, rests upon a lotus flower with fifty-six petals, 10 ft. by 6 ft., and the height from base to top of figure is 63 ft. Pottery made but little development until the I3th century, when a coloured earthenware, having but little decoration, was produced at Seto, in Owari, and it was not until 1513 that porcelain was introduced from China into Arita, by Shondzui; and at the com- mencement and flowers of in the ijth century a fine porcelain, blue, red, and gold, now known decorated as " Old with birds " Japan or " ' >ld Hizen," was produced. Kioto, Seto, and Arita were also noted for the production of a fine blue-and-white porcelain. Cloisonne" enamels, introduced in the i/th century, reached a high degree of technical excellence, but never quite reached the beauty, purity, and harmony of colour that characterized the old Chinese rloisonne". Lacquer, of which some fine examples are reputed to date from tin ~th century, was at its best in 1490 and 1709, when some beaut i tul examples with raised gold on a gold ground, or gold or silver foil on silver, black, or red grounds, were produced. lapanese ornament chiefly consists of the irregular distribution dt IK. \derings, or circular or fan-shaped medallion-, often lapping, or .." licxa-oiial or h< me\ oml> diaper- and fret patterns Plate 36. 94 ART II. The Applied Arts. \VO(i|>rUT FROM TIIK liROTKSot'K AI THAHRT OK 1464 (KI.KMISH), BRITISH \VKDPANKI. BY IIKINKK II AI K I >l < . I \ F.R, ONR OF THR M i i ii \i - 1 1 i i 'i I;KKM \N v. MOSAICS. Plate 37. WALL MOSAIC COLOUR/ID OKMAMCMT on GOLD GflOUMD 5T AVARK5 VEHICE WALL /^O3AIC,OT COL.OUPXD /^AfVfiLC3 l4-T"CCnTUKT 5 K.AA MARBLE IHLAY ITALIAM of y JACOPO MRCD.WHITEu&UCK nl7f)5 LincoLn OSAICS. Mosaic is the art of forming patterns by means of pieces of variously-coloured materials, fitted to- gether, and is broadly divided into Opus Tesselatum, of small cubes, like dice; Opus Sectile, of slices of marble; and Opus Musivunt, or glass mosaic: and may be subdivided into Opus Figinum, or ceramic mosaic ; Opus Verviiculatum, with (a) ma/us, black and white marble ; (b) medium. all materials and colours ; and (c) minus, of minute tesserae, used for furniture inlay. Opus Alexandrinum is an inlay of porphyry and serpentine on white marble. It was in Rome that the art of mosaic was brought to its greatest perfection. The finest example is from the House of the Faun. Pompeii, and represents the battle of Issus, between Alexander and Darius. This mosaic, of the 3rd century B.C., is probably a copy of A a Greek painting. magnificent example of this period is the so- called " Pliny's ' 11 Doves, a representation of four doves upon a basin. Many fine Roman mosaics have been found in England, at Ciren- cester, London, Lincoln (fig. 6), Leicester, and at Brading. Magnificent examples of Opus Musivunt are found at Ravenna and Constantinople, reaching its culmination at Venice. Of the Ravenna (page 31) mosaics, those of the Baptistery, A.D. 450, S. Apollinare and S. Vitale are typical examples of the earlier Byzantine mosaics, having dark green and blue backgrounds, with % tesserae about in. square. The beautiful frieze of male and female saints in S. Apollinare extends along both sides of the nave, and is 10 ft. high. The vaulting and domes of S. Mark are entirely covered with the characteristic nth century Byzantine gold ground mosaic, formed by fusing two pieces of glass together with gold leaf between. At Santa Sophia, Constantinople, and in the Capella Palatina, Palermo, are other fine early mosaics. Splendid examples of Opus Alexandrinum are found on the pave- ment of the Pantheon, Rome, (A.D. 118-38). Other examples, dating from the 8th century, are in Rome, in the nave of the Basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, having interlacing circular bands of geometri- cal mosaic on white marble. In Santa Maria in Trastevere, the A pattern is formed of hexagons and stars of six or eight points. beautiful design of a large eight-pointed star of porphyry, with the triangles between the points of the star filled with small geometric Opns Alexandrinum, is in the Church of S. S. Giovanni e Paolo. In the 1 3th and I4th centuries in Italy, the Cosmati (a family of mosaicists) produced some fine geometrical inlaid mosaics upon the vertical and on and the twsipslteenddipdill"arAs mibnotnhee,c"loiosrterpsulopfitS,aninGioSvaanntnai Lateranp. Maria in Araceli, Rome. On the tombs of Edward (A.D. 1270) and Henry "IIIC.os(m12a8t0i)," in Westminster mosaic. Abbey, are some good examples of this 97 o GREEK CERAMICS. Plate 38. CIVATCfV. wiric 10 WATCIV CAMTHAIV03 AMPHOKA OIMOCHOC wine CUP poCAj<.YinG ro*v n \A/ i c wine. K ~T L I X, . wint: CuP . COLLECTIOM cwncmo nouKO nv>-_An AHPHOKA 6c 400 KATIOLED VA5C. JOCA5TA AMD THC5PHinx.B C 4OO- R.CD fTOACD FTKJOD REEK CERAMICS. It is difficult in modern times to realise the importance of vases in ancient times. To the Greeks a vase was a receptacle for food or liquid, and was used for the adornment of the home; it was used in the daily life of the living, and buried with the dead. Most of the finer vases found in Etruscan tombs are of 'Greek work- manship, imported from Greece or Grecian colonies; some black unglazed Etruscan vases have been found, but painted vases of Etruscan origin are rare. Early Greek pottery, dating probably from the loth century B.C., has been found in Greece, the colonies of Rhodes, Cyrene in Africa, and Naucratis in the delta of Egypt. These, showing a historic development, are arranged in groups, each with its distinctive characteristic, (ist) PRIMITIVE VASES, simple in shape, handles small or absent, decorations in simple line, punctured or incised, or in raised slip. (2nd) MYCENAE or COLONIAL (B.C. 900-700) vases, often covered with a creamy slip, the designs, painted in brown and black, being derived from geometric patterns with marine and animal forms. (3rd) DIPYLON or GEOMETRIC (B.C. 700), with fret pattern enrichment, and panels with rude figures of men and animals in black and brown. (4th) PHALERON WARE (B.C. 700-550), with continuous bands of animals, probably derived from Phoenicia or Assyria (fig. 4). Among the animals depicted, are placed portions of the fret pattern, a survival of the previous style. The details are incised through the black or brown figure, showing the colour of the A clay body. development of this Phaleron ware was the introduc- tion of the rosette, taking the place of the fret pattern between the figures or the animals. (5th) BLACK FIGURE PERIOD (B.C. 600480) vases, fine in profile, and with good handles, the body of the vase, in red ware, being painted with subjects of Grecian mythology in black, and the details incised ; the faces, arms, and legs of the female figures were afterwards painted in white or red slip and fired at a lower heat. The AMPHORA (fig. 5) was the chief form of this black figure period. Some fine examples are signed by Exekias and Amasis. (6th) The TRANSITIONAL PERIOD (B.C. 500-470), when the black silhouette figures on a red ground gave way to the RED FIGURE PERIOD on a black ground. Artists of this style were Epiktetos, Pamphaeios, Nicosthenes, and Pythos. Many of the vases by Nicosthenes resemble contemporary metal work in their shape and handles. The 7th group (525-400 B.C.) was the culminating period of Greek vase painting, the chief form employed being the A K\ 1. 1. fine series of these Kylikt-s, with red figures on a black ground, signed by Cachrylion, Euphronios, Duris, Pethenos, and Hieron, are in the British Museum. The later vases (400-200 B.C.) are the polychrome sepulchr.il " Lekythi," covered with white slip, and enriched with paintings, and the elaborate vases, decorated with subjects from the Greek drama, which were produced in the Greek cities of southern Italy. 99 CERAMICS. :fov\uviuiHiiiuiauiiiUiuiiiiiuiiiMw/ LU3TKOU5. OfV. 5AM I AM WA(V: a in W:DCP OBTAinco -IMG IMTO nOULDS t> BY THt U5C OP DIES nusrun or GEOLOGY. Plate 39, A POWlOM OP OllVOn POTTCRY. IHLAY OP C'OLOOfVED CLAY3.OM THC WHI re 5OOY or THE WARX 4 CHinr.5r.vA3c PAinTCD WITH &.fOLIAGCBlur. MinO DYMA5TY. 5OUTH MUSEUM. MAM [WITH PIPECLAY ^5iip,OM BLACK civpu MUSCun OPGCOLOGY 9x THOrAAr> TOFT lOoO. rv or O IOO OMT13H ERAMICS. The antiquity of ceramic art and its scientific and artistic qualities, render this subject one of con- siderable interest to art students: The plasticity of clay and its hardening qualities under the influence of intense heat, its adaptability to the most refined forms, its affinity for the beautiful glazes and enamels so often associated with pottery, and its splendid traditions of craftsmanship, of colour, form, and decorations, so beautiful and varied in character, all combine to invest the subject with a charm and fascination of its own. Intrinsically valueless in its natural state, it is capable of being rendered almost priceless by scientific workmanship and artistic skill. The history of this material, and of its easy adaptation to the most refined and intricate, as well as the simplest of forms, affords invaluable lessons for present day students. Pottery clay may be classified under three divisions or headings : (i) EARTHENWARE, (2) STONEWARE, (3) PORCELAIN. Under the first are grouped the largest number of ceramic wares. The pottery of Egypt, the faience of Assyria and Persia, the Greek and Etruscan vases, the famous red ware from the Isle of Samoa, and its counter- part the Roman Samian ware, the beautiful Maiolica of Spain and Italy, and the Rouen, S. Porchaire, Delft, and most of our English pottery are earthenwares; the paste or body consists of natural clays selected for their plasticity, their hardening qualities, their fusibility or their colour, which when burnt have a porous opaque body, usually dull in colour. This dulness was usually over- come by coating the ware with a slip of fine white clay, which, whilst .not possessing inherent qualities to form pottery by itself, would adhere to the coarser coloured body of the earthenware, there- by forming a smooth white ground. The early Greek vases of Naucratis, the later Lekythos of the Greeks, the faience of Persia, the Mezza Maiolica and the Sgraffito of the early Italian Renascence, and our English slip ware are examples of this method of giving a A smooth white surface to coarse coloured earthenware. similar result to the slip covering was also produced by the use of a silicious glaze, rendered white and opaque by the addition of oxide of tin. Early Assyrian faience, Delia Robbia ware, the Maiolica of Spain and Italy, and the wares of Delft and Rouen are earthenwares coaied with a tin enamel. The silicious glaze here referred to is prepared by fusing silicious materials with soda or potash, and is known as Vitreous, or glass glaze. Plumbeous, or lead glaze, is produced by the addition of oxide of lead to the silicious glaze, rendering it more fusible, and A still transparent. white opaque enamel formed by using oxide of tin with the vitreous glaze is termed Stanniferous, or tin enamel. 101 These different processes of covering the porous body of the earthenware largely influenced the decorations and scheme of colouring. The beautiful faience of Damascus and Rhodes is covered with the silicious slip or glaze, and painted with rich blues produced by cobalt, turquoise and green by cobalt and copper, and purple by the use of manganese, and then covered with an alkaline glaze. In the Rhodian ware the same scheme of colour prevails, except that the purple is replaced by a fine opaque red of great body, called Rhodian red, produced from Armenian bole. On the Italian Maiolica, with its tin enamel and plumbeous glaze, there are fine blue, turquoise and green, but red is very poor in colour, and is generally replaced by rich yellow from antimony, and orange from iron. This white tin enamel was undoubtedly introduced into Europe by the Moors, as some tiles in the Alhambra date from 1273-1302. A large number of bowls and dishes, known as Samian ware, but now called Terra Sigillata (seal clay), of Roman importation have been found in England. The paste is usually of a fine sealing-wax red, with a good glaze. These bowls are enriched with a series of hori- zontal bands, containing the festoon, the scroll, birds, animals, and figures. The bands, or friezes, are often divided by the traditional egg and tongue moulding (fig. i). Clay moulds, impressed with stamps, were made and then fired. The red paste having been pressed into the mould, the interior was smoothly turned in the A lathe. mould of this character was found at York in '1874, so it is possible that some of this ware was made in England, by Roman potters. Roman pottery has also been found at Castor, near Peter- borough, doubtless made at the former place, kilns for firing having been found on the same site. This Castor ware is usually brown, with a black glaze being ornamented with indented tool marks and raised slip patterns of pipeclay (fig. 3). Many Roman dishes and vases of a dark grey colour, ornamented with incised lines and raised bosses of clay have been found in the Upchurch Marshes in Kent. Little artistic pottery of the mediaeval period, however, is known to exist. Early in the I3th century beautiful encaustic tiles were made for the great monasteries, abbeys, and cathedrals. About 1500, the production of tiles was introduced into Holland, quantities of small blue and white ones, decorated with scriptural subjects, being made at Delft, and thence exported to England for the lining of fireplaces, etc. Some fine painted tiles or Azulcjos were made at Valencia about the I7th century. In the 1 6th century, the porcelain of China was introduced into Europe by the Dutch and Portuguese traders, and much of the Delft and Rouen ware oriental porcelain. su"bsDeeqlfuten"tlwyarper,odwuhciecdh was in imitation of this takes its name from the small town of that name in Holland, dates from A.D. 1500, and is a ceramic coated with stanniferous enamel, decorated with a full and liquid brush upon the absorbent enamel ground, and then glazed 1 02 with a plumbeous glaze. Some of this Delft ware is very fine in quality, the cobalt blues under the glaze being remarkably soft and rich in colour. Early examples were decorated with historical subjects, often containing numerous figures, the middle period being notable for its imitation of Chinese porcelain, and the application of coloured enamels on coloured grounds. Vast quantities of this kind of ware were manufactured up to 1760, and exported to all parts of Europe. The production of Delft ware was first introduced into England at Lambeth by some Dutch potters in 1676, being subsequently extended to Fulham, Bristol, and Liverpool. The use of stanniferous enamel was introduced into France by Girolama della Robbia, son of Andrea della Robbia, during the reign of Francis I., 1516, and enamelled ware similar to the later productions of Urbino was made at Nevers, where also was produced a fine ware decorated with Persian motifs in yellow and blue. At Rouen, also, a fine earthenware covered with a tin enamel was manufactured, the decorations consisting of the lambrequins or scallop pattern, symmetrical in arrangement, and converging to the centre of the plate or dish. The ornament was based upon Chinese examples, influenced by the contemporary woven fabrics of France. The decorations were usually in blue and with overglaze painting, *>., after the white enamel was fired, finer and more delicate detail being obtained by this process, but at the cost of the purity and liquid softness of colour which is so characteristic of Delft and oriental underglaze painting. In Rouen ware, the ground is generally white, but some fine ex- amples at South Kensington have a soft yellow ground, a rich Indian yellow being sometimes introduced with the blue decoration. It was under the directions of Louis Poterat (1673) l ^at this most beautiful faience was perfected. Bernard Palissy by repeated experiments discovered the stanniferous or tin enamel. His first productions were Jasper ware, warm and brilliant in colour, and richly enamelled. In the second period, rustic dishes, elaborately decorated with carefully modelled fishes, reptiles, and plants, or natural foliage, covered with an enamel of great brilliancy and purity, were the chief productions. The later pottery of Palissy consisted of saltcellars, inkstands, ewers, etc., the elaborate figure decorations of which were probably executed by some contemporary artist. Henri-Deux or S. Porchare's ware, now more properly described as Oiron ware, originated at S. Porchare in 1524, perhaps by the hand, certainly under the patronage of He"lene de Hangest, widow of A. Gouffier, a former governor under Francis I. This Oiron ware, pale straw colour, is enriched with inlays of yellow, blue green, and brown coloured pastes, the interlacing and arabesque ornamentation, carried out under the direction of Jean Bernart and Francois 103 Charpentier, being similar in type to the contemporary bookbinding of Grolier, which was probably executed with similar tools. Many early examples of Staffordshire slip ware are to be found in England, consisting chiefly of candlesticks, cups, tygs, posset pots, piggins, and plates, the slip decorations being in yellow, white, and brown. This ware was made at Wrotham as early as 1649, and by Thomas Toft, at Shilton, 1660 (fig. 9). Marbled, combed, and tor- toise-shell ware were formed by using colour slips or clays. Agate and onyx ware were formed by layers of different coloured clays, crossed, cut, and pressed into moulds. These methods were perfected by Thomas Wheildon and Josiah Wedgwood, who perfected both the Queen's and the variegated ware. Queen's ware of a creamy colour was made chiefly for dinner and dessert services, being decorated with painted flowers in enamel. In 1781, Wedgwood introduced his famous Jasper ware, and Jasper dip or washed Jasper. This latter ware was dipped into admixtures of metallic oxides, producing blue, lilac, pink, sage green, olive, yellow, and black as desired. The decorations in low relief are of the purest white (fig. 10), and in the traditional classic style, the figures being arranged as cameo medallions, or in bands with the scroll, the festoon, and the vine in delicate relief. Many of these beautiful cameos were designed or modelled by Flaxman, Pacetti and Angelini, Bacon, Hackwood, Roubiliac, Stothard, Tassie, and Webber. STONEWARE differs from earthenware, owing to the presence of a larger percentage of silica in the plastic material, which, being fired at a greater degree of heat, vitrifies the body or paste into a kind of glass, thus ensuring a closeness and hardness of material not possesed by ordinary earthenware. Stoneware is usually glazed during the firing by throwing common salt into the kiln, which being volatilized, re-acts upon the silica in the body, forming with it a silicate of soda or glass, having a minute granular texture. The usefulness and the artistic character of stoneware was perfected by the Flemish and German potters of the i6th century. The principal varieties of this ware are the grey and white "Canette" of Siegburg, near Bonn, and the pale brown or grey ware of Raeren, near Aix-la-Chapelle, with its incised and stamped enrichments, sometimes with blue decoration. supplied the " " Bellarmines or " England under the name of " Frechen, near Cologne, probably Grey beards," largely imported into Cologne Pots." Examples of this Frechen ware were frequently ornamented with a raised scroll of oak leaves. Grenzhausen, in Nassau, produced a beautiful grey ware, having delicately moulded reliefs filled in with blue and purple. Many grey jugs ornamented with the initials of William III., Queen Anne, and George I., were imported into England from the Nassau kilns. A peculiar kind of stoneware, also termed " Cologne ware " was 104 produced at Fulham by John D wight, about 1670. Some fine jugs and a few cleverly modelled unglazed statuettes, believed to have been made at this place, are to be seen in the British Museum (fig. 1 1). Another peculiar red stoneware, porcelain, or Red China as it was called, was made near Burslem by the brothers Elers (1688-1710), the ornamentation being obtained by pressing sharp intaglio copper moulds upon pieces of clay attached to the shaped ware. Fine ex- amples, characterized by beauty of outline and delicacy of enrich- ments, are exhibited in the Museum of Geology, Jermyn Street. Astbury (1710-39), continued the traditions of Elers, producing a fine white stoneware, which largely influenced the Staffordshire pottery of A that period. stoneware was also made at Nottingham from 1700-1750. PORCELAIN is technically known under the terms " hard " paste (" pate dure ") and " soft " (" pate tendre "). Hard porcelain is made from clays containing much alumina and felspar or decomposed .granite, having but little plasticity, which necessarily influenced the shape or profile of the vessel. The beauty of form which is so typical of the Greek earthenware vase, is absent in porcelain, where the cylindrical or octagonal form is principally used. " Pte " tendre is a soft and vitreous porcelain, having a great affinity for the beautiful coloured glazes and enamels used in the early examples of Sevres. Porcelain was known in China about 200 B.C., and it was in common use during the i6th century. During the Ming dynasty (1568-1640), porcelain reached its highest development in the perfection of its body, ornamentation, colour and glazes, blue and turquoise being the chief colours of this period; this limited range of colour was owing to the intense heat required to fuse the felspar glaze upon the hard porcelain. It is uncertain at what date Chinese porcelain was first brought to Europe. Amongst the earliest known pieces in England are some bowls given by Philip of Austria to Sir Thomas Trenchard in 1506. But whatever the date, it was inevitable that attempts should be made to imitate this beautiful ceramic. Florentine or Medician porcelain was made in 1575-80. It was not, however, until 1690 or 1700, that a similar manufacture was established at Rouen and S. Cloud. In 1709, Bottcher commenced making hard porcelain at Meissen, in Saxony, subsequently producing some excellent examples about 1715. This was the commencement of the well-known aDindroeupsstdeeednfractohmiSneav1.r6e7s0,.InreB1po7l6ta8hc,in"gtphatehtarmteanodfuufr"aecp"t&uteraentdeonfd"rpheAat"rrdewhpitoecrnhcderhleaai"dn was been were made at Buen Retiro in Madrid (A.D. 1759,) all the porcelain manu- factured for the first twenty years being kept for the exclusive -use of the Royal family. There are some finely modelled Buen Retiro tiles in the Royal Palace at Madrid. About the year 1740 the manufacture of porcelain was established 105 at Bow, Chelsea, Derby, Plymouth, Bristol, and Worcester. The shapes and ornamentation of these English porcelains, having no traditions beyond -the oriental influence, were of a low artistic order, being simply copies of natural forms, without any controlling in- A fluence as regards design or harmonious arrangements. lavish use of gilding was also characteristic of this period, the ornament being very largely misapplied. This continued to grow worse until the middle of the last century, when it reached its culminating point of absurdity and extravagance of form and decorations. The best ex- amples of English porcelain of this period are obviously copies of A oriental porcelain, chiefly Persian and Chinese. great advance in the technique of the porcelain produced in this country took place after the discovery of Kaolin in Cornwall, by William Cook worthy (1755). Transfer printing over the glaze was adopted at Worcester about 1757, the transfers being taken from copper plates engraved by Robert Hancock, a pupil of Ravenet, who was employed at the Battersea enamel works, about 1750. Sadler and Green in 1756 also adopted over -glaze printing on the Liverpool delft. About 1770 under-glaze printing on the biscuit ware superseded the over-glaze process. Of early English porcelains, those of Derby are, perhaps, the most refined in form and in treatment of decoration, the plates, cups, and saucers having borders of blue or turquoise, with enrichments of festoons, leaves, and flowers; many of the cups were pressed with fluted, ribbed, or imbricated patterns. The Derby works were founded in 1757 by William Duesbury, who in 1769 purchased the Chelsea works and carried on the two simultaneously until 1784, t"whhCeerwnoawrtnehecDaeClhrleebdlys"e"aChwepallssaneitantDwreaorsdbuycter"da.nwsafserprreoddutcoedD,erabnyd. From between 1769-73 1773-82 Porcelain of an excellent quality was made at Nantgarw about 1813, and at Swansea 1814-17, the decorations in enamel colours consisting of a natural rendering of flowers, birds, butterflies, and shells, chiefly painted by Richard Billingsley. Porcelain was also made about 1800 at the Herculaneum potteries at Liverpool. Rockingham, in Yorkshire, produced during the years 1759-88 a brown china, which, however, was but a fine earthenware, of a hard and compact body, covered with a rich brown or chocolate glaze. In 1820, porcelain was made at Rockingham comprising dinner and dessert services, richly enamelled and gilt, together with vases, flower baskets, and busts in fine biscuit ware. In 1832, a dessert service of 200 pieces was made for William IV., at a cost of .5,000, the decorations consisting of natural fruit and flowers, with landscapes and the royal arms in enamel colours. In some of the earlier Rockingham ware the outlines of the flowers and butterflies were in transfer printing, and the colouring was added by hand. 106 The illustrations given on plates 31, 32, 38, 39, and 40 show the universality of the potter's art, which may be traced through many beautiful examples differentiated by racial customs and material. The beauty of form in the Greek vase (plate 38) was but the natural outcome of a fine earthenware in the hands of an artistic people, with traditions and architecture of the highest order. In Persian pottery, form is subservient to colour, blue, turquoise, and white being used in charming combination, together with a frank yet decorative treatment of natural forms. The Hispano-Moresque and Italian Maiolica (plate 40) are remarkable for the technical excellence of their white enamel, rich blue, yellow, and orange, the iridescence of their gold and ruby lustre, and their high technical skill in painting. English earthenware of the i;th and i8th centuries, though traditional, showed a remarkable diversity in treatment and conception. The picturesque platter of the Toft school, with its quaint enrichment of trailing lines and heraldic forms in coloured slip, the fine red stoneware of Elers, with its graceful enrichments in delicate relief, and the varied and beautiful jasper ware of Wedgwood mark a distinct phase of the potter's art, and bear a tribute to the vitality and personality of the founders of the "Potteries" 107 MAIOLICA. lAiTinc coirrc 9 Plate 40. WAKXICA PLATE ITALIAM (55O. mcocD 3<AArriATO otvriArttrfr 3 Ktt BOTTLC.BY OIVAIIO romAMA WART |53O K 3 f-\ PLATEAU TO* Ah C\1/C^ BlUC ARABC3QUC5.Ori ORAMCtT fACMZA . I5OO 5 KJ. VA?C, BOWV C.UB6IO WAIVE . CA5TCL DU*ANTE WART CJ*>CiO. 3 K fA 1 08 AIOLICA. Maiolica or Italian faience is an earthenware, coated with a stanniferous or tin glaze, termed enamel. This is formed by the addition of oxide of tin to a silicious glaze or slip, thus rendering it white and opaque, hence its name, enamel. The origin of this beautiful ceramic art may be traced to Chaldea a" nFdriePzeersoifa,Arwcihthersth"eifrrommagtnhiefiPcaelnatceenofamSeulslaed(4b5r5icBk.sC,.),suacnhd as the now in the Louvre. From Persia the art was carried by the Arabians to Fustat, or old Cairo, which was destroyed A.D. 1168, and amongst the ruins many fragments of gold or copper lustred ware have been found. This enamelled ware was introduced into Spain in the I3th century, and perfected there by the Moors, giving rise to the Hispano- Moresque ware. This ware was enriched with central heraldic arms, surrounded by concentric bands of foliage, arabesques, or inscrip- tions in blue, with a copper lustre. This Hispano-Moresque ware was manufactured chiefly at Malaga, Talavera, Triana, and Valencia, and dates from the Moorish occupation of Granada (A.D. 1235-1492). In the Island of Majorca, from which this beautiful ware derives its name, fine examples were manufactured at an early date by Persian and Arabian potters. After the conquest of Majorca by the Pisans (A.D. 1115), many of these examples were introduced into Italy, the art being subsequently cultivated in some of the smaller central states. " The " slip early Italian Maiolica was usually covered with or engobe of clay, which served as a ground for a thin white the coloured patterns. It was then coated with a lead glaze, and was known as mezza or mixed Maiolica. In some examples the design was scratched or engraved through the upper layer or white engobe, showing the darker body underneath. This type of ware, known as sgraffito, was also glazed with the lead glaze, forming, when fired, the beau- tiful iridescent lustre. Few remains of a tin enamel of Italian workmanship have been found in Italy
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