The New York herald., 1921-05-23
Reviewed by c. LOUISE AVERY.


Some people call 4 spade a spade;
others call il a valuable aid in research.
The archaologlst's finds" or.en solve
problems when other agencies fail.
What excavation has contributed to
one specific field, that of ceramic re-
search, has been tersely expressed by
r. Z. Hobson: "To the searcher after
truth one waste piece from the site OF
an old kin is worth reams of inductive
evidence"
When Hugh Owen in 1873 published
his 1.-TWO Centuries of Ceramic Art IN
Bristol he did not call TO his aid that
potent auxiliary the spade. But his
researches in public documents and IN
family records and correspondence
were so exhaustive that his monograph
has remained a source book for all
later writer's, and no one, until Mr.
Pcuntney undertook his present study,
has attempted to write comprehen-
sive history of the Bristol potteries.
Mr.. w. ]. Pountney however, felt a
peculiar interest in the subject as his
father. John Decimus Pountney. was
proprietor of the Bristol Pottery at
Temple Back from 1913 to 1853, and
after the latter's death his widow for
nearly twenty years devoted her en-
tire time to the management of the
works Their sons close association
with the pottery, his understanding
and love of the craft and his familiar
ity with local traditions gave him a
rare equipment for his task as his
torian. BY his painstaking research,
especially IN the carefully kept records
Of the Bristol City Council. he was
able. in many instances, TO correct or
supplement the information given by
owen 1t was, however, through the
excavation of pottery sites that ne
made his unique contribution to the
history of Bristol pottery. Having
conducted most profitable excavations
al the potteries of Bow and Lowestoft,
Mr.. Pountney was urged by such men
as Mr.. Hobson. Mr. Bernard Rackham
and Sir Arthur II. Church to apply his
spade to the pottery sites of Brisling-
ton and Bristol How these excava-
tons, conducted first in 1914 and con-
tinued in 1915 and 1916. have supple
through the channels of ordinary 'e-
search is summed up by Mr.. Hobson
in his most appreciative foreword to
the present volume: "The excavations
so successfully conducted on the sites
of the old Bristol potteries by Mr..
Pountney (I am proud to think that l
was able, in a small way, to help them
forward) have furnished a new and
safe starting point in the study of
English delft"
While Owens book had dealt almost
entirely with the porcelain of Bristol
and had devoted but a short chapter
TO a discussion of delftware, Mr..
Pountney makes the latter his chief
concern and has added a vast amount
Of facts to those previously known.
The scholarly manner in which he has
worked is shown by the careful refer
ences to the sources of his informa-
ton. references which prove the truth
of his statements and which will en-
able the ambitious student, IL he so
desire, to examine these sources for
himself
In his section on delftware Mr..
Pountney takes up i'm detail the diff
ferent potteries of Brislington and
Bristol, giving their location, tracing
their history, describing and illustrat-
ing the principal styles made. and
chronicling the achievements Of the
craftsmen who worked there. In the
appendix appear two tables. one Civ
ing the potters in the Bristol Appren-
ticeship List and the other the potters
named In the Bristol Burgess Roll.
The map OF Bristol In he eighteenth