ART POTTERY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1970, 21 February 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

ART POTTERY.

Whirb is the shepherdess of my youth ? The round-eyed, yellow-haired, brawny-armed, damsel, with crook in hand, and impossible lamb at her feet ? Where is the gallant Hielandman, in kilt and plaid, sporran and philabeg, looking for all tne world as if he were ready to flash claymore, or dance a fling, at a minutes notice I Where is the wonderful poodle with sheepish fleece ? Where are all the horrors in china-ware in which the last generation delighted ? All goned afay in die Ewigkeit, as Hans Breitmann would say, and let us be thankful that this is the case. They were hideous burlesques in baked clay ; and, though hideous they were, not sufficiently bizarre to be able to even claim distinction on the ground of their ugliness, as is the case with the monsters produced in the East. South Kensington has taught that beauty of form and color may be produoed as cheaply as its reverse, and our potters have learned the lesson. Yet I miss these outrageous chimney-orna-ments. I miss them, and, to a certain extent, regret them — for »re they not part and parcel of the surrounding of that halcyon period when the yrorld lay bright before me, and toffy and gingerbread were still sweet in the mouth ? How many reminiscences of happy hours ara connected with the vision of a mantle-piece adorned with a huge shepherdess at one end, and an equally enermouß Highlander at the other ! We, whose recollections date back Jive-and-twenty or thirty years, can never forget our old china friends, however muoh we may rejoice that they have ceased to exist. Truly there has been a wonderful ohange in such matters during the last thirty years. For over a century, England knew not the gladdening effect of beauty, and dreamed but of the useful. With the advent of the first King George, all taste for the beautiful began to decline, and the land became tilled with abominations to the artistic eye, which lasted far into the reign of the present queen. Houses, gardens, pictures, statuary, pottery — all alike revelled in the hideous, and the people in general had not the faintest conception of what makes the daily jcy of an Italian, a German, or a Frenchman. I remember, as a boy of thirteen, marvelling to see, in such lowly places, for instance, as the Gast ttubc of a German village inn, such elegant glassware as might not be met with even in the palaoes of England. It was my good fortune to spend some years in Dresden, a city which has always taken high

rank in the Art world, owing to its magnificent collection of paintings, and its celebrated china factory. There every dwelling boasted of the possession ol crockery and glassware of cha-ite design and coloring, and such abominations aa disgraced our English homes woull not have been tolerated by the lowhe-a peasants. The great faotory at Meissen, some seven miles from Dresden, is a sight that may not be easily forgotten. Iq Bohemia, the land of glass blowers, I saw, in a room about 20 feet pquare, over ten thousand pounds' worth of glassware. But this was all of tho very best class of goods, which sold at very high rates, even in the land where it was produced. Cheaper ware, yet still beautiful in design and execution, was to be met with everywhere— your very glass of beer, at a road-side inn, would often be served in a measure which you would gladly have purchased for a chimney-orna-ment. What barbarians we English must have appeared to the foreign visitor who beheld our pottery and glass for the first time ! It is indeed comforting to reflect that no such shame can attach to us now. And not • the least of tho merits of the change lies in the fact that we can now purohaae works of art (as they may truly be termed) for very little more than our fathers paid for their shepherdesses and poodles. I aaw, the other day, in the show-rooms of Messrs. Bray Brothers, in George-street, a plaque, showing a garland of flowers in high relief, which, I was informed, could become mine for the trifling consideration of seven seven shillings and sixpence. The flowers were naturally tinted, and delicately moulded, and, if I had been asked to estimate the price of this plaque, I should certainly have named at least two guineas. Curiosity led me to make further perquisition in this establishment, and I was literally astounded at the cheapness of most of the beautiful, yet useful, articles I examined. I found that the distinction between the expensive and the cheap was often too subtle for the untrained eye to discover ; so that a very small outlay would suffice to make a great display. Most of the more choice designs are reproduced in a cheap fashion, yet without losing anything of their original beauty — or the loss is too minute for discernment by any but an expert. On the contrary, Mr. Bray showed me two tiny vases, not three inches high, which I fondly imagined to be worth at the most five shillings, but which, he told me, he would not be able to sell, without loss, under two guineas. Amongst the most expensive chinaware are the hand-painted dessert-plates, which range often aa high as three or four pounds apiece. I chanced to arrive at an auspicious moment, as there had just been unpacked a consignment of goods intended for Christmas gifts, embraoing such glories in china and glass as beggar description, and must be seen to be believed in. An examination of these, required aa much time as a visit to a pioture gallery, and could not fail to afford as much pleasure to the lover of art. I own that I came away bewildered, and, as usual, mad that I owned not the wealth to enable me to invest in such luxuries. Nevertheless, some money is bound to find its way out of my pocket into the till of Bray Brothers. On return home, I held a meeting, and formed a Kahzoio society, like they have in Melbourne. I am at present the only member, but, as I have power to add to my number, I shall be happy to reoeive the names of any ladies and gentlemen who will join me in worshipping at the shrine of the Beautiful. At the meeting, I carried unanimously a vote of thanks to the (to me) unknown individuals to whom we owe the blessings of freedom from offensive ornamentation, and cheap yet beautiful designs, even for ttie oommonest article in daily use. But I forgot to mention that at Messrs. Brays' I met an old friend in the shape of a willow-pattern plate. And such a plate 1 Not the coarse ware of former days, but gotten up as regardless of expense aa if it could boast of being the offspring of the brain of a — of a — well, to own the shameful truth, £ do not know the name of any one of the designers of our modern pottery. lam sorry, because such artists deserve immortalisation, and what greater honor could befall them than mention by [The remainder of this article is not worth publication. — Editor.]