because it is expensive or rare, but test it upon its true merits and love it for its own sake. EXHIBITION OF POTTERY. Amongst the most important and useful articles of domestic use is pottery. Pottery has now for some years been one of the staple trades of this country. There was a time when our wares were not known beyond our own shores, but now we can hardly enter a city in Europe in which they are not be found. This great revolution was mainly the work of Josiah Wedgewood. Before his time English pottery was of an inferior quality as to materials, and still worse as regarded the taste shown in the design. The ware was chiefly of a dirty white colour, and the forms were copied from the worst patterns of Chinese manufacture. But Wedgewood, by the introduction of his terracottas, his basalts, his jaspers, and his biscuits, at once raised British pottery to a high state of excellence. For the production of designs Wedgewood employed the highest talent, and to the skill of Flaxman we owe most of the fine conceptions which Wedgewood has embodied in his pottery. He first introduced pure geometrical forms, in articles of common use, and also more generally introduced the finest Grecian and Etruscan shapes. Since his time much attention has been paid to the subject, but nothing finer has been produced. The remains of pottery are amongst the most precious relics left us by bye-gone nations, and by these alone almost we can follow the footsteps of the most wandering of people. We find in this island remains of pottery manufactured by its earliest inhabitants, while the Roman progress through Britain can be definitely marked by potsherds, and Egypt, Greece, and Ancient Italy have all become better known to us by means of their urns, waterpots, and vases. All pottery is formed of plastic clay, which by labour, skill, and taste is made to assume the required form and texture. Potters class their productions under two heads: Pottery and Porcelain. The former name is applied to all ware that is opaque and cannot be seen through; while the latter is much more compact and shining in its texture and possesses a large degree of transparency. Both these classes are again divided into many others, which it would take a volume to illustrate, but the principal are the soft pastes and the hard pastes, which with some difference are equally applied to porcelain and pottery; e. g. :-in porcelain the terms have reference to its capability of resisting heat, but in pottery they more particularly refer to the different proportions of the component parts as well as the degree of heat applied in the bakings-the test of the paste here being whether or not it can be scratched with a knife. Again some are glazed, and some unglazed or mat, while other specimens are enamelled; but, as we have already stated, to go into detail on this subject would require a volume. It would appear that potters have been held in much more honour than they are in the present day; for it is recorded that, at Numa a college of potters was established, and Charles III., who founded the celebrated manufacture at Capo de Monte, moulded the clay with his own hands, while the Mesdames Pompadour and Dubarry have both left their names intimately connected with the ceramic art. In our own district at Bovey Tracey many persons are employed in manufacturing the more ordinary kinds of pottery; but though this is the only place where pottery is manufactured in this neighbourhood, both Cornwall and Devon are rich in the raw material-potter's clay. De la Beche says that "37,500 tons of this mineral matter are annually shipped from the district to the Potteries," and he gives the value of the whole export of clays (1838) as not less than 43,500l., an item of some moment in the yearly revenues of our district. This clay is the detritus of decomposed granite rock, and is found in several parts both of Devon and Cornwall. The clay exists in some parts, as between Teignmouth and Bovey, in natural beds, and at other places it is artificially prepared. The chief ingredient in the decomposed granite which it is desirable to secure is the felspar, but with this there is also frequently associated much quartz, and the great object is to separate these and get the felspar as free as possible from impurities. The mode in which this is done is thus described by De la Beche: "The decomposed rock usually containing much quartz is exposed on an inclined plane to a fall of a few feet of water, which washes it down to a trench whence it is conducted to catch-pits. The quartz and other impure particles are in a good measure retained in the first catch-pit; but there is generally a second or even third pit in which the grosser portions are collected before the water, charged with the finer particles of the clay, is allowed to come to rest in the larger tanks or ponds. Here the china-clay sediment is allowed to settle, the supernatant water being withdrawn as it becomes clear by means of plug-holes in the sides of the tank. By repeating this process the tanks become sufficiently full of clay to be drained of all the water, and the clay is allowed to dry so much as to cut into cubical or prismatic masses of about nine inches or one foot sides, which are carried to a roofed building through which the air can freely pass, and where the cubical or prismatic lumps are so arranged as to be dried completely for the market. When considered properly dry the outsides of lumps are carefully scraped and exported to the Potteries, either in bulk or in casks, as may be agreed upon." This clay is also called kaolin. The kaolin used at the celebrated Sèvres manufactory is procured from St. Yrieux, near Limoges, and that used at Dresden from Aue in Saxony. When the clay is brought to the pottery it is kneaded and brought into such consistency as will best adapt it to receive the desired forms, which are given either by the potter's wheel or by moulding or casting. The potter's lathe or wheel is a small circular stage, placed horizontally, and supported on a vertical shaft, to which a rotatory motion is imparted. The prepared clay is placed upon this stage, which is made to revolve rapidly, and by the hand of the potter, in a manner somewhat resembling the method used in the common lathe, the required shape is given. All circular forms are produced in this manner, while vessels, and the parts of vessels, not so shaped, are moulded by hand or cast. The articles at this stage are rough and very porous. To give them durability and a better appearance, they are covered over with a liquid of a creamy consistency, containing some substance capable of being vitrified. After receiving this coating, they are put into an oven, and submitted to a heat strong enough to produce vitrification. If a pattern is desired, this is either transferred from a print in oil, specially produced for the purpose, on thin paper of peculiar texture, or else painted on by hand before the glaze is put on; and as the glaze is transparent, the colours of the pattern are seen through it. The common glaze is composed chiefly of lead and silex. The most celebrated porcelain works now in Europe are those of Sèvres and Dresden. The works, however, of this latter place are really at Meissen, a town 14 miles distant. At Sèvres the manufacture is carried on by the government, and many works of great value and elaborate workmanship are annually produced. Many eminent chemists have been connected with this establishment, and it is somewhat remarkable that all the governments of France, however they may have differed in other respects, have agreed in supporting the manufacture of Sèvres. No objects of interest have more devoted collectors than has "old china." Cups of noted manufacture have been sold for 40 or 50 guineas. In the museum to be sent to Barnstaple from the Department of Science and Art, there is a vase belonging to her Majesty the Queen valued at 2000 guineas. This vase is of Sèvres manufacture, but of a kind and colour not now made. This museum is rich in specimens of ancient pottery, and with the assistance of the catalogue, and under the guidance of Mr. Worsnop, the intelligent and obliging curator, it will afford visitors an opportunity of making acquaintance with the "Majolica," "Fayence," "Palissy," and most of the other wares which have at various times been produced in Europe, as well as to see genuine specimens of Oriental manufacture. The advance of the art in England is of recent origin. About the middle of the seventeenth century the brothers Elers, from Holland, established a small factory at Burslem in Staffordshire. It will be remembered that Delft, a town in Holland, had for a long time nearly supplied England with its pottery; in fact, till within the last half century, delft was the ordinary name for pottery in this country. In the Burslem factory the Messrs. Elers remained for some time, carefully guarding their secrets from every one. A person, however, named Astbury, feigning to be an idiot, got into their employment, and so obtained their secret; whereupon the firm quitted Burslem in disgust and settled in London. It was some time after that Wedgewood's genius presided over the ovens of Burslem, and gave us those fine productions that are still the admiration of every one. We have in the Kensington contribution to the Exhibition specimens of the various kinds of porcelain which have at different times been manufactured in this country. One of the earliest manufactures, and one which had considerable success, was at Chelsea, near London. The paste for this ware was made of Alum Bay sand, plastic clay, and powdered flint-glass, and this was covered by a leaden glaze. In 1748, the manufacture was transferred to Derby, and, in 1751, Dr. Wale established a manufacture at Worcester, which, we believe, still exists. A Mr. Cookworthy, of Plymouth, about the year 1768, discovered kaolin and Cornish stone, and, by introducing these into the manufacture, he gave the ware a greater hardness and translucency, thereby conferring upon it more of the character of the German and Oriental productions. We find, however, in a note to Polwhele, it is stated that the difficulties which Mr. Cookworthy and his coadjutors found in proportioning the materials properly so as to give exactly the necessary degree of vitrification and no more, and other niceties with regard to the manipulations, discouraged their proceeding with the concern at Plymouth, after they had procured a patent and expended upon it from 2000l. to 3000l. They then sold their interest to a Mr. Champion, of Bristol, who endeavoured to carry on the business on an extensive plan, but after some years, having met with misfortunes, abandoned the undertaking and withdrew to America; so that these early attempts to naturalize the manufacture in our neighbourhood proved abortive, although the raw material was found upon the spot. The small beginnings of the brothers Elers have now swelled into mighty proportions; the Staffordshire Potteries now cover an area of 8 miles by 6, and employ about 70,000 operatives. Here, too, we have the firms which are now adding fresh lustre to British manufacture, and likely still to continue so to do, viz., Messrs. Copeland, Minton, Wedgewood, Alcock, Pratt, Meyer, Mason, &c. Though Wedgewood did so much in his productions to secure a taste for good designs, even in articles of common use, and showed that it was in geometric forms well applied we should look for them, this has not prevented often a sad falling off in attempts where change has been sought for, and apparently without any object but for change. |