About a century ago the pottery-makers of England, with that keen insight which has given to the British Empire the markets of the world, established a profitable branch of commerce with the Colonies and with the States of the new American Republic, by means of an appeal unique in the annals of trade. They decorated the pottery destined for the new market with faithful views taken from America itself, many of which, by the way, have been perpetuated in no other manner. They reproduced designs from volumes of contemporary prints known as "The Beauties of America," "Picturesque Views on the Hudson River," etc., or, from original sketches out of the note books of English tourists returned from the "grand tour" of the new country. A few of the potters sent their own artists over the sea to make drawings with pen and pencil, sketches in oil, or impressions with the newly invented "camera-obscura" or "camera-lucida" (the beginnings of modern cameras), of scenery bordering upon the wonderful rivers, of mountain ranges, inland lakes, and of the far-famed cataract of Niagara. The artists gratified the civic pride of the dwellers in the new cities by making pictures of their important buildings—state houses, colleges, almshouses, prisons, warehouses, inns, churches, theaters, mansions, etc., as well as of their world-famous enterprise, the "Grand Erie Canal." The English potters did not hesitate to honor the national heroes of the newborn Republic, several of them turning out fanciful scenes of America's pioneers; others, setting aside their own patriotic pride, used portraits of George Washington and of the naval heroes of the War of 1812, together with sketches of engagements fatal to British arms, of monuments raised to Colonial victories, and of Revolutionary battlefields whereon the patriot forces had routed the redcoats.
Benjamin Franklin's portrait and his popular moral "Maxims" and "Proverbs" were eagerly appropriated for pottery display, while the famous visit of General Lafayette to America furnished still another series of decorations. One potter confined his output of American views almost entirely to a group of designs, now rare and valuable, illustrating the coats of arms of the original Thirteen States, and still others commemorated in clay the two marvels of early nineteenth century science—the steamboat and the locomotive.
The pictures thus secured, more than two hundred and fifty in number, were taken to the English pottery works, where, by means of the recently discovered process of transfer printing from copper plates, they were stamped upon dinner sets, tea services, toilet sets, and all manner of useful ware. The potters of Liverpool were the first to put American views upon china, printing, shortly after the close of the War of the Revolution, the portraits of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin upon yellow jugs and mugs and punch bowls. A number of years later, the Liverpool potters produced an almost complete series of portraits of American naval heroes, together with illustrations of the principal engagements of the War of 1812.
By far the greater number of American views, however, went to the group of English hamlets in the county of Staffordshire, which numbers about a dozen and is still known as "The Potteries." Burslem, Cobridge, Hanley, Stoke-upon-Trent, Tunstall, are among the important pottery settlements whence ware was sent to America; while the names of potters which the collector most commonly finds upon the back of his specimens are Enoch Wood, Stevenson, Clews, Ridgway, Stubbs, Tarns, Mayer, Adams, Jackson, and Green. A long list of pieces, however, are unmarked, and the makers unidentified. From the year 1783 when Enoch Wood set up his works at Burslem, until about 1850, almost all of the English pottery which was sent across the sea bore views obtained from America, the specimens which now survive being known as "Old Staffordshire." The name of the potter, oft-times his initials alone, may be found upon the back of the pieces,1 together with peculiar marks (a number of which are illustrated in the supplement to this volume) and scrolls encircling the title of the view upon the face. Every piece of the same set of dishes was not thus defined, hollow ware such as cups and saucers, sugar bowls and pitchers, being frequently found without a distinguishing mark, the name of the potter then being determined by the border design.
Attractive indeed are the border devices with which the American views are framed, nearly every potter customarily making use of one distinctive pattern. He might vary the scene within the frame, or he might borrow some sketch from a neighboring potter, but the border around it, as a rule remained peculiarly his own, thereby making of it to-day a ready means of identification. The border designs, as a study of the illustrations reveals, are composed of graceful combinations of sea-shells and mosses, roses and scrolls, acorns and oak leaves, grapes and vines, or of fruit, birds and flowers in delightful arrangement. Animals peculiar to the tropics appear in one series, the American eagle perches proudly among the scrolls of another, while one or two of the more intricate patterns bear marked resemblance to the borders found on Flemish tapestries of the Renaissance, or encircling the charming terra-cotta Madonnas of Delia Robbia.
1 See supplementary chapter B.
When and how did the pictured English pottery find its way to the United States ? Near the end of the eighteenth century, soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, "sailor-pitchers" and punch bowls made in Liverpool were brought to these shores by sea-captains and sailor-boys and were presented as keepsakes to home friends. By reason of the graceful forms and of the verses and portraits printed upon them, verses breathing of homely sentiment and patriotism, and portraits of celebrated patriot heroes, they were lovingly cherished by New England housewives. About 25 years ago, when keen interest in the preservation of historic china had its beginning, there was scarcely a New England family with sea-faring ancestors whose chimney shelf or corner dresser was not graced with one or more yellow jug or bowl of Liverpool.
The more gayly hued pottery of Staffordshire manufacture was, until as late as the middle of the nineteenth century, shipped to American merchants in large quantities and purchased for daily use by our forefathers and their china-loving dames. They admired the rich colors and the quaint forms, and, as they sipped their spiced brew or fragrant tea, they found added pleasure in looking upon the faces of their beloved heroes, in living over in imagination the great battles, and in marveling anew at the wonderful achievements of peace, depicted upon the specimens before them.
The prices given for the imported ware were so small, from a six-pence to a shilling being the cost of a single plate, that the amounts paid at the present time to possess one of the surviving pieces would amaze our thrifty forefathers as well as astonish the trade-seeking potters who turned them out. Liverpool jugs bearing the portraits of Washington or of the heroes and sea battles of 1812 are worth thirty, fifty, and more dollars, while one hundred dollars are frequently given for a blue plate or platter or pitcher printed with some historic design. A few years ago, the sum of $290 was given for a blue platter picturing "New York from Brooklyn Heights"; at a recent sale, $1000 was paid for a Pennsylvania Arms plate; and not long ago a platter of the "New York from Weehawk" design brought $1225, the highest price yet paid for a specimen of old Staffordshire.
It may be asked, Where are examples of Staffordshire historical ware to be obtained at the present time? It is a surprising fact that search for pieces of English pottery with American views in the country where it was manufactured fails to discover any specimen, practically all of it having been shipped to the market for which it was created. In this country, a large number of pieces which have survived the changes a century has brought to the rapidly developing nation are carefully gathered into the public Museums or Historical Societies of the great cities, or else they are cherished in the no less valuable private collections of china-loving individuals. But there yet remains in country homes throughout the eastern states, in the oft-times careless possession of descendants of original owners, a harvest sufficient to tempt the admirer of "old blue," to lure him into that fascinating quest which may be as futile as the search for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but which has for reward, in addition to the specimens secured, a fuller understanding of the formative period of his own nation.
What joy can compare with that of passing a long summer day in the country, driving with horse and carriage or swifter motor (the halcyon days of the spacious tin peddler's cart, which served the earliest in the field of china collecting, alas! are gone), over sun-baked dusty hills and through winding, shadowy valleys, stopping at each low-browed dwelling in quest of old blue china? A debt of gratitude is due the oldtime potters of England for making and sending to these shores such quantities of attractive ware that even yet stray specimens are hidden away under dusty eaves, upon top pantry shelves, or on the high mantels of dark parlors, waiting to be peered out and gathered.
Uncertain as a lottery are the rewards of a china hunt. One may, after knocking at the door of some "likely" farmhouse, be shown, in place of the "old blue dishes, pewter, or any other old things" humbly asked for, a hair wreath set in a deep gilt frame, or a bunch of faded worsted flowers—memorials of another more recent "Art" period of our history. Or, the seeker of historic relics may make his way to the back door (the true hunter of old china never approaches the front) through the pigs and hens of the barnyard, only to be informed by the woman who opens it, "Old blue dishes? Land, yes! I had stacks of them, but when they got broken I just pounded them up and fed them to the hens!" As he picks his way to the gate he may take a long look at the poultry, until there rises before his vision rows of Easter eggs born into the world bearing the sad love story of Chang and his sweetheart Koong-Shee, or else the benign features of Franklin or of the Father of His Country; surely, "Caesar dead and turned to clay . . ." has a parallel in the present.
Then the unexpected "finds"! Setting out in search of a Willow platter which neighborhood rumor whispered was "in the low white house on the hill yonder, a part of her grandmother's wedding set," how keen the pleasure to discover in place of the more common pattern, a rich blue platter inscribed, "Landing of General Lafayette,"—and how eager the desire to hasten home with the prize and search for the story it records. The day we came upon the large vegetable dish with the aqueducts, the canal boats and the four familiar faces . . . our interest in the sluggish ditch had been but a dull one until then. And the big-winged frigates so fiercely fighting upon the yellow jugs, Penn and his Indians, and Columbus, the battle-monuments and the buildings of the early cities—how they sharpened our appetites for hitherto dry facts, and awakened an impulse to unravel and follow to their source the bright threads of this alluring and gayly patterned "stuff of history."
The knowledge of a bygone period of our nation's history acquired from the pleasant study of old blue china suggests to the mind a comparison with the present era, and tempts a vision, "far as human eye can see," of that which lies before. "We live in a most extraordinary age," remarked Daniel Webster a century ago— words frequent on men's tongues to-day. For, as a present-day historian observes, "Less cumbered by old traditions than the elder nations, and with a vast continent in front of her, America has marched along the new roads of history with a rapidity and an energy for which there is no precedent." From the twelve million inhabitants of Webster's time the Republic has increased to a population of one hundred millions, and the flag which the century-old tableware pictures displaying thirteen stars, now proudly flies nearly half a hundred. To-day, in place of the Mississippi River or the "Shining Mountains" bounding the western territory of the nation, the dwellers in Alaska, in Hawaii, in the islands of the Far East and of the tropical seas are, like the early settlers upon the Mississippi banks, "fellow citizens and neighbors of those who cultivate the hills of New England." Almost all of the stately buildings displayed upon the old tableware have been swept away by the growth of the great cities, the few which have been spared being at the present time either lost to view as the kernels of imposing modern structures, or else their proportions are dwarfed by neighboring tower-like piles.
Science has taken the past hundred years for her special field, and has marked its pathway with such countless milestones of achievement that the clumsy and fear-inspiring little steamboats and locomotives which the blue plates present as the wonders of a century ago have been at the present time succeeded by the swift moving leviathans of sea and land; and the telephone, the wireless telegraph, the automobile, the submarine, have, each in turn, been cause for marvel . . . until, crowning all marvels, the boon denied Icarus of old, navigation of the air, is a commonplace to those who live to-day. Obsolete as the primitive yewbows of yeoman archers, or as the cumbersome armor and lances of mediaeval knights, is the Art of warfare as it is manifested in the old-china battle-scenes of the Revolution and of the sea engagements of 1812, . . . a vivid contrast to the vast European campaigns which at the period of writing are claiming the attention of the world. These century-old sketches of the one time "thin, red lines" of gayly uniformed British soldiery defiling up Bunker Hill, for hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, and of Old Ironsides slowly and laboriously kedging her way out of the enemy's reach, have been succeeded by modern photographs, and moving-picture films, of parallel trenches filled with gray-clad soldiers losing or winning battles sometimes without a sight of the enemy; of long-range guns, aeroplanes, and submarine destroyers.
To the western Republic, the hundred years of peace which have been recently concluded have brought such unexampled growth and prosperity that to it as to a "Promised Land" turn the hopes of the folk of Old World Empires, who within its borders seek and find that liberty which was so hardly won by their forefathers—America's pioneers.
As to the place which the future holds for the United States, the prophecy spoken by an early and far-seeing citizen of the Republic is one with the convictions of those who behold her at the present time entering upon a "new road of history": "Humanly speaking, no circumstances can prevent these United States from becoming eventually, and at no distant period, a great and powerful nation, influencing and controlling the other sovereignties of the world."
(From The Blue-China Book by Ada Walker Camehl, 1916.)
No comments:
Post a Comment