Ellsworth American., 1877-11-22
Pottery and Porcelain.

Refuge lot OIu Men.
Pottery and Porcelain.
Within the last few years attention has
been widely given 10 ceramic art. II said
that while "ten years ago there were not
ten collectors Of pottery and porcelain In
the United States, to-day there are perhaps
ten thousand" There are other thousands,
not collectors, who desire to know some
thing about the history Of this art, which
SO interests those who have studied it and
| others, many, who look on their family
china, few old pieces In pantries or on
shelves, and wonder whence they came
and what artist painted them, and wish for
book to tell the history Of their treasures.
| For each Of these classes this book Is pre-
cIsely what Is wanted. In one superb vol
ume, illustrssed with three hundred speci-
| mems, and some two thousand copies of
| artists and factory marks, the American
| reader has more instruction In history and
art than he could otherwise obtain In a
number OF costly European books.
| Mr.. Prime gives In his brief Introduction
! the reasons which make the ceramic art so
! universally Interesting. Pottery, he says,
/ Is the oldest, the longest, the most widely
| difused OF all arts of man. Its history be-
! ginning with the brck-makers on the plain
I of Shlnar. He commences his account
| here, and shows the wonderful igenealogy
OF this art. unexampled by any other.
] handed down from nation to nation In all
| the ages. Elsewhere In the book he notes
the curious fact that the transmission
color" In the art is blue. The Egyptians
| taught blue enamel color to the AssyrIans,
| they perhaps to the Chinese, the Perslans
to the Arabiaus, the Arablans to Italy. aud
so on. the first Italian porcelain being dec
/ GRATED In blue. the Arst German and French
| psrcelalns also In blue.
| We have thus in the volume an account
/ OF Egyptian potteries and euamels; Greek
/ art IN the magnificent vases from the
/ tombs; Phenician art, the teacher Of the
/ Greek /; Roman pottery down TO the Middle
Ages; Persian and Saracen potteries aud
| porcelslns; Chinese and japanese. Ger
man, italian. French, English and Amert-
/ can porcelains and potteries; described
with their distinguishing characteristics
! Eminent pOtters snd artists are here
/ brought before the reader in connection
with their work. The celebrated Henri
| Deux ware j. not here mere curiosity OF
art, but becomes the expression of thought
| OF Helene OF Hangest-Genlis. a lady of rare
| intellectual power and cultivated taste,
whose artistic life Is llssed into the art his
| tory OF the sixteenth century. Palissv the
/ potter IL no myth, nor Is he In this book
| the hero Of romance which he has usually
/ appeared. for Mr. Prime has small admira-
! tiuu Tor Palsy or any other man who
/ leaves hts wife and children 10 starve be-
/ cause he ia seized with the mania OF invent
| lug something. His final success does not
| appear 10 have been worth the COS. at
which 1t was attained. Mr. Prime tell, us
substantially that Pslissy had little infu-
/ ence on the ceramic art OF France In sub
/ sequent years, and that "a great deal OF the
work attributed TO him was not his work.
| IL Is only hnted, but those who are fatnil
/ lar with the museums OF France will appre-
clste the hint. that Palissy could not have
been the high-souied Christian martyr that
( he has been supposed. and yet have pro-
/ duced numerous specimens OF pottery
/ illustrating the most profsne and improper
characters and stories OF ancient literature
which have been catalogUed as his work.
I Coming down to more modern times, the
author describes the works and illustrates
the products OF each and every manufact-
ory known In Europe down 10 the early
part OF this century. While many Of these
works are excessively rare 10 America,
others are to be found in old houses, aud
the results OF visits 10 pantries and garTe's
In the country, which are here given. Will
lead many to hunt up their old treasures
aud examine a book which is designed to
show them their value. How we have de-
scribed, or pictured, Washington pitchers,
s willow pattern plate, y John Hancock
mug, the steamboat Chief Justice Mar
shall, from an old blu. and white plate;
tea pots decorated with flowers, ship, on
plates and bowls and pitchers. silver lus-
tired wares. many varieties OF the crockery
with which some OF US were familiar in
boyhood. The scope OF the work includes
as well the description Of Sevres vases
worth thousands OF dollars as the old blue
and white wares of Staifordshire. Every
known variety OF pottery or porcelain is
referred 10.
The dictionary tor such II is) OF marks
and mOnograms found on china Is the
first American publication ofthis kind, and
is much more extensive than any European
list hitherto published. This will strike
many as a curious and novel dictionary,
but when one has turned up few pieces of
old china and discovered on them hitherto
unnoticed marks or signs, AMI obtsins q
ready Interpretation Of them in this book,
showing that a piece OF Chinese porcelain
bears renowned mark of the Ming dynas-
ty, or that a teapot is old Bow or Chelsea,
or the costly Bristol. the value OF the die
tioLary In q small house will become appar-
eRt.
Many people ridicule collectors especial
ly collectors OF old china. Prime meets
this riducule with statements that are cal.
cula.ed TO arrest attention. He commits
crates snch as have not the taste, educa-
ton, or natural ability, to enjoy beautiful
ceramic art; but those who deny the use
fulness of "collecti.g" he refers to the
present magnitude of the commercial in-
dustries in the potteries OF England. EN-
ploying thousands Of laborers. supporting
whole districts crowded with population.
using millions OF capital, and all this
sprung up within littie more thar cen
tury. He traces thi- immense trade in
beauty to the influence of the collectors OF
old china in Engiaui. |. and the consequent
study OF the art. H. urges. IA the cIearest
terms, the necessity Of making people
acquainted with at before \ demand tor
art cas be expected to exist among them,
and commends l,csl museums and local
exhibitions of b-autiful pottery and porce-
lain As the means toward establishing the
art among our American Industries.
There Is one characteristic of this woIk
which must not escape notice. The con-
clusion which Mr.. Prime has before pre-.
sented TO the public, derived from art his
tory. that all lines Of spreading human art
converge toward a point Of origin, coinci.
dent with the point fixed by Moses. is here
distinctly stated; and in tracing the origin
Of art among men In various countries, he
admits no possible doubt that Egyptian.
Greek, Phenician and Chinese all were Of
one family. and all derived their first
knowledge of art, more or less directly,
from their ancestral home In Western
Asia. The history of the art of pottery
thus adds its strong confirmation to the
Mosaic record Of the dispersion.-N Y.
Tribune.
On Saturday. q Partisan painter, who