The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-08-09
THE LoWEsTOFT DISCUSSION.
IIistsry or (hiaa About which . Centro-
vefsy rsaees.

HistsFy or Shina Abeus which . Centric
veesy RACES.
OF the several wares that have been
labelled sLowsstoft' there appear 70 be
four distinct varieties. d
There is the simon pure, soft paste Love-
stoft china, made and decorated IN the town
Of Loweafoft; there Ia so-called Lowestoft.
which 10 purely Oriental, being both made
and decorated In China; there 10 probably
ware made In China and decorated In Lowe
stoft; there IL probably ware made In Hoi-
land and decorated Ia Lowestoft.
All Of these, says o writer In the Circle,
may bear the printed name Of the town,
since members of the company which
t-sded In them resided Of that place. Doubt
his been cast upon each Of these four wares;
but the frat W at least seem TO be cleared
Of all uncertainty.
For the last half Of the eighteenth cen
tury 0 factory existed at Lowestoft. This
10 true beyond the shadow Of . doubt. 1t
was, however, q small factory. employing
at is best but seventy hands, and having
but one oven ind one kiln.
Il II simply Impossible that great quanti-
ties Of hard glass porcelain should have
been brought fsom over seas 70 be deco
rated and then fired In this one small kiln.
II the whole output charged up TO Lowestoft
was genuine, the factory must needs have
bean the largest In England, which 1t was
not.
Tho Arst attempts at pottery making in
Lowsstoft sssm 10 have been q rough imita-
tion Of Delft ware. These included tea
services, punch bowls. dishes and mugs OF
various sisea.
They were painted In we'll known land
soapss or In simple designs, generally with
u~ndsrslsas. blue. which IVES inclined to
fnn some ons or q .R e. S %s. pieo ss1 : digit SsiSs Of S' birds
was introduced, with . cresoeht moon IN
open Imitation Of the Worcester raj
The ware itself wss. . dinGy white, coarse
and s~emi-opeqls. The slsss We eighty
and minute black spets, due 70 careless
firing. when. Viewed By. transmitted light
There was never any distinctlve mark,
rs In tho case OF Grown Darby.
place 0 in the oSaraosss Of the output. Ger
tain French refugees. driven from their
own country by the hwleesne9s OF the great
revolution, began to appear In England.
One Of these men, who was named Rose,
S obtain H s"B Bscsms head az dee naUes and
~Olhb. AO ~ L~1 -S
introduced o more delicate treatment into
Underneath many Lowsstoft handles
will be found Q small rose, which. denotes
rose was his mark; but before this vas
represented the coat Of arms for Lowestoft
thorough, which was the Tudor rose.
Roses set back TO back appear on this
the highest grade OF Lowestoft china; n
at it's best the ware vas finer than any
sent out by Bow and Chelsea. The loves
loft red Il Of o peculiar shade, varying
from Sarntne 30 ashes Of roses and often
s~pnroaohing plum color. Hoses and
ssSsand I Of rOsss II ai. thsss tovs BY. hS Ss;n Of
Dainty and familiar are the flowers and
spries In natural colors, with delicate
borders in color and gold.
Small quantities Of undeoorated ware
may have been brought from China and
ord Of any such transactions; the duty was
heavy and the amount Of such ware i'm
ported must have been considerable. China
was doing this same work for other ooun-
tries; it 10 reasonable to suppose that the
greater part Of their orders to China, TO be
filled by Chinese workmen upon Chinese
This also explains the failure Of the bonn
pany;; y is recorded, upon good authority
tidt u % tuu OouitC Pai Wy " tlc oudIp
competition with the Staffordshire wares,
but was preoipitated in 1908 by the wreck
Of one Of their vessels carrying q cargo Of
porcelain and by the burning Of their Rot
terdam warehouse by the French army.
Therefore Napoleon wrecked the fortunes
Of the Loweetoft factory As he wrecked
and built+sso many more fortunes In his
day.
II 10 impossible to conceive that enough
ware to load q vessel and enough to Hi
Nuyn ovoNahc.,aAa onn To- neStalnS- ~.l -
in London. could have been supplied by
q little one oven factory. employing q force
Of seventy men. 1t 10 therefore evident
that the wares sold by the Lowestoft oom-
pany. and often bearing their name be-
cause Of passage through their hands, were
not all. perhaps not nearly all, Of native
make.
It was customary for the Dutch firms 10
send over to their foreign settlements
shapes and designs obtained from European
sources to be reproduced by native hands.
The Lowestoft people did what ali other
merchants had done before them and