The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1890-04-22
LusTERED POTTERY.

LUsTERED POTTERY.
The Possible Discovery in q Mexican City
of q Lost Art.
Every one who reads books has read
more Or less about the superb works
of the Italian potters of the sixteenth
century, decorated with paintings and
brilliant luster. For the information
Of those who have not seen specimens
of these wares it is not easy in words
to give.an intelligent idea of their lus-
ter decorations. No expressions can
be too extravagant in describing their
splendor They vary greatly in colors.
some being red. others green. others
blue, yellow, golden, silvery, all re-
fecting light with the most intense
brilliancy. many changing color
as they are seen at different angles,
and all reaching their highest
sheen when, as many are, they are
iridescent, flashing out every color of
the spectrum from every.minute point
on the surface.
In the nineteenth century. when the
study of the history of pottery revived
with the general revival of interest in
all art history, the attention of coll
lectors was directed to the italian
wares of the quattrocento and sue
ceeding periods. It is unnecessary
here to describe the rise and growth
of the desire-perhaps it might we'll
be called mania-to possess speci-
mems of those wares. Prices advanced
rapidly, varying, of course. according
to the quality of the specimens. But
as they were the most rare, so the
most esteemed and desired were lus-
tered pieces, and especially the works
of the great master, Giorgio. A thou
sand dollars was and is a moderate
price for fair specimen, and for elab-
crate works, where the paintings of
distinguished artists are heightened
with Giorgio's gorgeous touches, there
is no limit to the price asked and paid.
During the past thirty years many
great potters, and not few amateurs,
have devoted much money, experiment
and labor to seeking the secret of the
Gubbio lusters. It would do no good
to recite the various experiments
which have been made. Occasionally
a bright, even brilliant, result has
come from the furnace; but it is fair
to say that most if not all such pieces
have been the result of accident, and
in no case has it been found practic-
able to repeat the process with GER
tainty of like result. The accounts
given of the methods used by the
Italian potters do not prove correct
when subjected to experiment. The
art remains a lost art.
From time to time / have acquired
specimens of the experimental works
of modern English. French and Italian
potters who were seeking the Cubic
secret. They at least afforded
examples of that admirable quality in
many great European potters, the
willingness to sacrifice money in seek
ing new field for their industries. It
is this quality which has given to the
pottery industries of all parts of
Europe such vast success. Those who
have been familiar with the wide
spread desire to reproduce Cubic
lusters, and the steady failure of all
experiments, will understand the
surprise and astonishment produced
by the receipt from Mexico. two years
ago, of half dozen specimens of a
coarse pottery, decorated with rude
reliefs, and entirely covered with a
luster rivaling in brilliancy and
iridescence the best old Italian pieces
They had been discovered by Mr.
Charles Dudley Warner in a shop in a
Mexican city.
Here was certainly a marvel. No
European or American potter can pro-
duce such as urface. Properly manip-
ulated, this decoration would be a
fortune to a skillful potter. But these
wares are produced in secluded part
of Mexico. and. as Mr.. Warner learned.
by Indians. Had their ancestors made
an independent discovery Of the glaze;
or have we here. transmitted from
Italy and Spain of the sixteenth CEN
fury. an art which has been lost in
Europep While this Mexican pottery
arrests our attention as an extremely
interesting example of North Ameri-
can Indian art, and a possible relic Of
old European art, it seems we'll de.
serving the attention of potters in this
country and Europe. The fact stands
that to-day in San Felipe unskilled ln-
dams are producing and selling for
daily use in Mexico wares decorated
with a luster imcomparably finer than
any metallic luster produced in Eu-
rope, and which, if potters can by ex-
pertinent learn SO to use it that differ
ent colors can be produced as desired,
will practically restore to modern
uses the lost Saracen and Italian lus-
tiers. G. Prime, in Harper's Maya
zine.
Luther and Music.
alther had often stood with cfhnya