Technical Pottery Works.—It is only possible to give a selection of the best of the modern standard works dealing with the technical side of pottery production. Brongniart,Traité des arts céramiques(3rd ed., Paris, 1877), with notes and additions by Salvétat; E. Bourry,Traité des industries céramiques(Paris, 1897); Théodore Deck,La Faïence(Paris, 1887); A. Granger,La Céramique industrielle(Paris, 1905); E.S. Auscher,La Céramique cuisant à haute température(Paris, 1899);Technologie de la Céramique(Paris, 1901);Les Industries céramiques(Paris, 1901); Seger,Gesammelte Schriften(Berlin, 1896; Eng. trans., Eastern, Pa., U.S.A., 1902); Langenbeck,The Chemistry of Pottery(Easton, Pa., U.S.A., 1895); William Burton,Porcelain(London, 1906).
Technical Pottery Works.—It is only possible to give a selection of the best of the modern standard works dealing with the technical side of pottery production. Brongniart,Traité des arts céramiques(3rd ed., Paris, 1877), with notes and additions by Salvétat; E. Bourry,Traité des industries céramiques(Paris, 1897); Théodore Deck,La Faïence(Paris, 1887); A. Granger,La Céramique industrielle(Paris, 1905); E.S. Auscher,La Céramique cuisant à haute température(Paris, 1899);Technologie de la Céramique(Paris, 1901);Les Industries céramiques(Paris, 1901); Seger,Gesammelte Schriften(Berlin, 1896; Eng. trans., Eastern, Pa., U.S.A., 1902); Langenbeck,The Chemistry of Pottery(Easton, Pa., U.S.A., 1895); William Burton,Porcelain(London, 1906).
(W. B.*)
1The archaeologist is frequently puzzled as to the place of origin of some example of ancient pottery—was it made in the district where it was found, or had it been imported from some other centre? When we possess a sufficient body of analytical data obtained by the use of one general chemical method, an analysis of a fragment will frequently enable such a question to be answered, where now all is doubt and speculation. But the analytical results published hitherto are often not worth the paper they are printed on for such a purpose, the older methods of silicate analysis being only approximate.2It must always be borne in mind that, side by side with the production of artistic wares in all countries, the traditional craft of the village pot-maker continued, and has probably been less interfered with than is generally imagined, except in the British Isles. Any country market-place in Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Germany, or Holland is provided to-day with a simple peasant pottery little removed in its forms, its decorations, or its technical skill from the country work of the middle ages. In England the cheapness of machine-made pottery has largely destroyed such village industries.3I tre libri dell’ Arte del Vasajo, by Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante,a.d.1548.4The earliest glazed objects found in Egyptian tombs (once dignified by the name of Egyptian porcelain) are hardly to be called pottery at all, though we have no other name for them. The material is largely sand held together by a little clay and glass.5Foreign pottery had been imported into Egypt at least as early as the XIIth Dynasty,e.g.the Cretan polychrome ware of the Middle Minoan period (Kamares style) found at Medinet Ghuraib (“Kahun”) and the Cypriote (?) “punctuated” black ware from the same site, and from Khata’anah (17). The date between the XIIth and XIIIth Dynasties is certain (14), but the Middle Kingdom Egyptians do not seem to have imitated these earlier foreign forms. British Museum, No. 17,046, is, however, probably an instance of an Egyptian idea imitated by the foreign potter (17).6Some of these figures appear to have been made with a mixture of sand, clay and coloured glass which produced a real glassy porcelain—the earliest porcelain of which we have any record.7On this subject see in particular Mazard,De la connaissance par les anciens des glaçures plombifères, a scientific and valuable monograph (1879); also Rayet and Collignon,Hist. de la céramique grecque, p. 365 (orB.M. Cat. of Roman Pottery, Introduction).8For a full description and lists of such kilns see Walters,Ancient Pottery, ii. 443-454.9See examples in colour on Plate V.10A peculiarity of the Persian and allied blue glazes, of many shades, is that they appear to have been produced not by dissolving the colouring matter in the glaze, but by coating the white ground of the ware with a thin wash of some cobaltiferous substance—probably an earth containing varying proportions of cobalt, manganese and iron—and then melting a thick alkaline glaze over it.11See Drury Fortnum,Archaeologia, vol. xlii.12Specimens of Turkish and other Eastern wares exist with elaborate English silver mounts of the time of Elizabeth, and these were doubtless included under the name of “Damas Wares.”13See Riaño,Spanish Arts, Victoria and Albert Museum Handbook, pp. 149-151; andSobre la manera de fabricar la antigua loza dorado de Manises(1878).14See examples in colour, Plate VI.15There is ample documentary evidence to prove how largely the lustred pottery of Spain was imported into Italy from the 12th century onwards; and it is important to note in this connexion that almost all the fine examples of Hispano-Moresque in our modern collections have been obtained from the palaces of ancient Italian families.16Piccolpasso,I tre libri dell’ arte del Vasajo, dated 1548. It has been several times translated both into modern Italian and French. The English reader will find an excellent abstract of this interesting MS. in the volumes onMajolicaby Drury E. Fortnum.17For a full account of the lustre process see Franchet,Comptes rendusfor December 1905, and W. Burton,Society of Arts Journal, 2846, vol. lv., 1907.18See Magne,Le Palais de Justice de Poitiers(Paris, 1904); also Solon inBurlington Magazine(November 1907).19See B. Fillon,Les Faiences d’Oiron(1862).20See E. Bonaffe,Les Faiences de Saint-Porchaire(1898).21See examples in colour, Plate X.22An excellent summary of the remains of English medieval pottery will be found in Hobson’s “Medieval Pottery found in England,”Archaeological Journal, vol. lix.23Böttger at Meissen made a similar ware as his prelude to the discovery of white porcelain, but this was after Dwight’s death.24For a discussion of the stages through which this was achieved the reader is referred to special works, such as Prof. A.H. Church’sEnglish Earthenware, and W. Burton’sEnglish Earthenware and Stoneware.25It is amusing or annoying to find in European museums the wares of Wedgwood, Turner, Adams and one of the Leeds potteries, all lumped together as “Wedgwood,” and yet one can hardly wonder at it, remembering how much has been written of Wedgwood and how little of the other English potters of the 18th century.26See examples in colour, Plates VII. and VIII.27S.W. Bushell,Chinese Art(Victoria and Albert Museum Handbooks, ii. 5-6).28Yaois the Chinese term equivalent of the English “pottery” or “ware.”29See Brinkley,Japan and China, ix. 353-365.30Solon,The Noble Buccaros(Stoke-upon-Trent, 1896).31M. Reinand,Relation des voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans dans l’Inde el à la Chine dans le IX^e siècle(Paris, 1845).32The suggestion has been made that thecéladonwares found in Western countries were made by Moslem potters and not by the Chinese, but this theory is not generally accepted. On this point consult Karabacek, “Zur muslimischen Keramik” inÖsterreichische Monatsschrift für den Orient, vol. x., 1884; A.B. Meyer, “Über die Herkunft gewisser Seladon-Porzellane” under “Über die Marta banis,” ibid. vol. xi., 1885; Hirth,Ancient Porcelain(1888), and Bushell,Oriental Ceramic Art(1899).33It is of interest to note that the “Delft” of Holland, also a product of the 17th and early 18th centuries, makes the nearest approach in quality to the blue and white porcelain of the Chinese.34See Drake, Sir W.,Venetian Ceramics; and Davillier, Baron Ch.,Les Origines de la porcelaine en Europe.35A perfecttour de forcein this inartistic style of work, preserved in the Dresden Museum and formerly attributed to Meissen, has been shown to be the work of Vincennes. SeeGaz. des beaux-arts, September 1904.36Travels in England and Scotland(Eng. trans.), vol. i. p. 97.
1The archaeologist is frequently puzzled as to the place of origin of some example of ancient pottery—was it made in the district where it was found, or had it been imported from some other centre? When we possess a sufficient body of analytical data obtained by the use of one general chemical method, an analysis of a fragment will frequently enable such a question to be answered, where now all is doubt and speculation. But the analytical results published hitherto are often not worth the paper they are printed on for such a purpose, the older methods of silicate analysis being only approximate.
2It must always be borne in mind that, side by side with the production of artistic wares in all countries, the traditional craft of the village pot-maker continued, and has probably been less interfered with than is generally imagined, except in the British Isles. Any country market-place in Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Germany, or Holland is provided to-day with a simple peasant pottery little removed in its forms, its decorations, or its technical skill from the country work of the middle ages. In England the cheapness of machine-made pottery has largely destroyed such village industries.
3I tre libri dell’ Arte del Vasajo, by Cipriano Piccolpasso of Castel Durante,a.d.1548.
4The earliest glazed objects found in Egyptian tombs (once dignified by the name of Egyptian porcelain) are hardly to be called pottery at all, though we have no other name for them. The material is largely sand held together by a little clay and glass.
5Foreign pottery had been imported into Egypt at least as early as the XIIth Dynasty,e.g.the Cretan polychrome ware of the Middle Minoan period (Kamares style) found at Medinet Ghuraib (“Kahun”) and the Cypriote (?) “punctuated” black ware from the same site, and from Khata’anah (17). The date between the XIIth and XIIIth Dynasties is certain (14), but the Middle Kingdom Egyptians do not seem to have imitated these earlier foreign forms. British Museum, No. 17,046, is, however, probably an instance of an Egyptian idea imitated by the foreign potter (17).
6Some of these figures appear to have been made with a mixture of sand, clay and coloured glass which produced a real glassy porcelain—the earliest porcelain of which we have any record.
7On this subject see in particular Mazard,De la connaissance par les anciens des glaçures plombifères, a scientific and valuable monograph (1879); also Rayet and Collignon,Hist. de la céramique grecque, p. 365 (orB.M. Cat. of Roman Pottery, Introduction).
8For a full description and lists of such kilns see Walters,Ancient Pottery, ii. 443-454.
9See examples in colour on Plate V.
10A peculiarity of the Persian and allied blue glazes, of many shades, is that they appear to have been produced not by dissolving the colouring matter in the glaze, but by coating the white ground of the ware with a thin wash of some cobaltiferous substance—probably an earth containing varying proportions of cobalt, manganese and iron—and then melting a thick alkaline glaze over it.
11See Drury Fortnum,Archaeologia, vol. xlii.
12Specimens of Turkish and other Eastern wares exist with elaborate English silver mounts of the time of Elizabeth, and these were doubtless included under the name of “Damas Wares.”
13See Riaño,Spanish Arts, Victoria and Albert Museum Handbook, pp. 149-151; andSobre la manera de fabricar la antigua loza dorado de Manises(1878).
14See examples in colour, Plate VI.
15There is ample documentary evidence to prove how largely the lustred pottery of Spain was imported into Italy from the 12th century onwards; and it is important to note in this connexion that almost all the fine examples of Hispano-Moresque in our modern collections have been obtained from the palaces of ancient Italian families.
16Piccolpasso,I tre libri dell’ arte del Vasajo, dated 1548. It has been several times translated both into modern Italian and French. The English reader will find an excellent abstract of this interesting MS. in the volumes onMajolicaby Drury E. Fortnum.
17For a full account of the lustre process see Franchet,Comptes rendusfor December 1905, and W. Burton,Society of Arts Journal, 2846, vol. lv., 1907.
18See Magne,Le Palais de Justice de Poitiers(Paris, 1904); also Solon inBurlington Magazine(November 1907).
19See B. Fillon,Les Faiences d’Oiron(1862).
20See E. Bonaffe,Les Faiences de Saint-Porchaire(1898).
21See examples in colour, Plate X.
22An excellent summary of the remains of English medieval pottery will be found in Hobson’s “Medieval Pottery found in England,”Archaeological Journal, vol. lix.
23Böttger at Meissen made a similar ware as his prelude to the discovery of white porcelain, but this was after Dwight’s death.
24For a discussion of the stages through which this was achieved the reader is referred to special works, such as Prof. A.H. Church’sEnglish Earthenware, and W. Burton’sEnglish Earthenware and Stoneware.
25It is amusing or annoying to find in European museums the wares of Wedgwood, Turner, Adams and one of the Leeds potteries, all lumped together as “Wedgwood,” and yet one can hardly wonder at it, remembering how much has been written of Wedgwood and how little of the other English potters of the 18th century.
26See examples in colour, Plates VII. and VIII.
27S.W. Bushell,Chinese Art(Victoria and Albert Museum Handbooks, ii. 5-6).
28Yaois the Chinese term equivalent of the English “pottery” or “ware.”
29See Brinkley,Japan and China, ix. 353-365.
30Solon,The Noble Buccaros(Stoke-upon-Trent, 1896).
31M. Reinand,Relation des voyages faits par les Arabes et les Persans dans l’Inde el à la Chine dans le IX^e siècle(Paris, 1845).
32The suggestion has been made that thecéladonwares found in Western countries were made by Moslem potters and not by the Chinese, but this theory is not generally accepted. On this point consult Karabacek, “Zur muslimischen Keramik” inÖsterreichische Monatsschrift für den Orient, vol. x., 1884; A.B. Meyer, “Über die Herkunft gewisser Seladon-Porzellane” under “Über die Marta banis,” ibid. vol. xi., 1885; Hirth,Ancient Porcelain(1888), and Bushell,Oriental Ceramic Art(1899).
33It is of interest to note that the “Delft” of Holland, also a product of the 17th and early 18th centuries, makes the nearest approach in quality to the blue and white porcelain of the Chinese.
34See Drake, Sir W.,Venetian Ceramics; and Davillier, Baron Ch.,Les Origines de la porcelaine en Europe.
35A perfecttour de forcein this inartistic style of work, preserved in the Dresden Museum and formerly attributed to Meissen, has been shown to be the work of Vincennes. SeeGaz. des beaux-arts, September 1904.
36Travels in England and Scotland(Eng. trans.), vol. i. p. 97.