NEWSLETTER : September 2006 - Edition Number 147
CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE
From the President
Circle Diary
What's on??
“Spices and Porcelains 1450-1750” - Warburton 2006
18th Century Creamware
Two Figure Groups – Warburton 2006
Of Historical Interest
From the President
The week of the 18th of September saw the Circle’s installation team in Hamilton to install our current exhibition ‘The Japanese Aesthetic – Three Centuries of Japanese Porcelain Design and Western Interpretation’. The installation went smoothly and the result was a splendid collection of Japanese porcelain from 1640 to 1900 representing the development of design and colour over the 260 years. The exhibition includes the early development of blue and white for the Japanese taste as well as for the Dutch and Chinese markets. It also shows the development of on-glaze colours from the sparse Kakiemon designs to the rich and elaborate imari-type patterns. To see so many splendid examples of Japanese porcelain brought together in Australia proved to be a feast to the eye and an expansion of our knowledge and understanding.
In parallel to the Japanese exhibition is a collection of 75 pieces of German, Austrian, French, Italian and English porcelain showing Japanese patterns interpreted by the West. The two exhibitions provide an opportunity to study the development of Japanese design and its enormous effect on Western decoration.
The opening on Wednesday 20th was an exciting day with 70 people experiencing a three course luncheon - there is no doubt that country Victoria does it well!. We had Japanese plates decorating the table, Japanese style table mats and a delicious Asian style lunch. There was a great deal of excitement with people milling around the cabinets both before and after the luncheon.
This exhibition was made possible by the generous support of ten members of the Circle and Hamilton Art Gallery.
The exhibition is in Hamilton until the 18th of November and will be installed mid January at the FGY Gallery in Queens Street Melbourne with an official opening on Saturday February 3rd. It will then move to Woolongong in mid April for three months. An eighty page full colour catalogue can be ordered at the next meeting and will be available by the end of October.
The Decorative Arts Study Room at the National Gallery of Victoria has been enthusiastically viewed by many members of the Circle and of the National Gallery. It was so popular that a third viewing day had to be scheduled. Amanda Dunsmore made everybody feel very welcome and explained that the room is available by appointment and that it is possible to ask for specific pieces to be brought from the store for viewing.
The Circle’s Christmas Dinner in December will again be held at the International Brighton on December 12th. The booking form for this function is included in this mailing.
I was very saddened to learn of the death of Mollie Lowe. Mollie was our first Adelaide member and was a faithful member for eighteen years, she was a passionate collector of Chelsea, St. James and Derby toys as well as other 18thC porcelain and Staffordshire figures. She was extremely generous with her collection, lending to Flowers and Fables (NGV), the Circle’s Adelaide conference and a Treasury of Bow. Her enthusiasm and warmth endeared her to everyone she met and she will be much remembered by members who had the good fortune to get to know her at our various seminars, the last being A Treasury of Bow seminar which she attended on a walking frame. My visits to Adelaide will seem strange without time spent with her. Adelaide Art gallery has benefited over the years from her generosity and also benefits in her will.
Congratulations are due to Robyn Ives on her election as President of the Wedgwood Society of Victoria and we wish her well in this task.
Double congratulations to Paul and Glenys Rosenberg on the safe arrival of their twin sons on September 4th. We think of them regularly.
Patricia Begg O.A.M.
President, September 2006
Circle Diary
October 2006 Meeting
This will be held on Tuesday 10th October 2006 at 7.30pm and will feature a “Show and Tell” session with a theme, as members are invited to bring along and discuss items of Blue and White ceramic from their collections.
Venue:
Melbourne / South Yarra Community Centre
Fawkner Park
65 Toorak Road West
South Yarra 3141
November 2006 Meeting
This will be held on Tuesday 14th November 2006 at 7.30pm when Circle President, Patricia Begg O.A.M. will speak on the 250th Anniversary of Sèvres, focusing on Sèvres porcelains in the Royal Collection, and the Wallace and Waddesdon collections.
Venue:
Melbourne / South Yarra Community Centre
Fawkner Park
65 Toorak Road West
South Yarra 3141
December 2006
On Tuesday, 12th December the Circle’s Annual Christmas Dinner will be held at the same venue in Brighton and promises to be another enjoyable evening mixing good food, good wine and good company in a most convivial setting.
Venue:
The International of Brighton
81 Bay Street
Brighton 3186
Installation day Hamilton Art Gallery
What's on??
At the Hamilton Art Gallery
107 Brown Street, Hamilton
The Japanese Aesthetic
The Circle’s marvelous new exhibition, which focuses on Japanese ceramics from the late 17th century and on the European ceramics which copy the Japanese, has now opened in Hamilton.
Until 19th November 2006
At the Ballarat Fine Gallery
40 Lydiard Street North, Ballarat
Petrus Spronk - Meditations on a Korean Odyssey
Works inspired by time spent in Korea as Artist in Residence at Seoul’s Kook-Min University in 1999 and decorated with a series of Korean characters that tell simple stories.
Until 22nd October 2006
At the Geelong Gallery
Little Malop Street, Geelong
Painted porcelain - decorated British ceramics 1750-1850
Based on the Gallery’s holdings of richly decorated porcelains representing the major factories, styles and decorators of this period.
Until 12 November 2006
At East West Art Gallery
High Street, Kew
Barry Singleton - Recent Works in Stoneware and Porcelain
To be opened by Circle President, Patricia Begg OAM on November 11th at 2.30pm.
The Japanese Aesthetic opening luncheon – Hamilton Art gallery
“Spices and Porcelains 1450-1750” - Warburton 2006
The following is a transcript of the talk given by John Adeney at the CGCA Warburton 2006 study weekend.
As any porcelain collector knows porcelain is the spice of life but the term today “Spices and Porcelains” covers 300 years of trade between the East Indies and Europe. In so doing we will learn how Chinese porcelain was introduced to Europe.
The introduction of Chinese porcelain first began with the trade of spices from the East Indies. India and the East Indies were known to be the source of many spices that were scarce and costly in Europe. Muslim merchants traded these spices along the coast of India and then by caravans through the deserts of Egypt to the markets of Venice and Constantinople such as Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. Along with the spices were carried a number of gifts of Chinese porcelain as expensive trade goods or as diplomatic presents.
The spices that were traded from the East Indies were cloves, pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon and Chinese silk. The pepper came from Malacca, Nutmeg from Malacca and Cinnamon from Ceylon, Cloves from North Moluccas (Indonesia) and Mace from (now) East Indonesia.
Porcelain from China was available in Europe by the late 1300s but was extremely rare. The earliest recorded example of Chinese porcelain exported to Europe is a Qinghai vase dated about 1300. It is 24cm high and has been cut down at the neck. It is of a green celadon colour and is in the British Museum. A similar example is in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. The example in the Dublin is mounted as a ewer in silver gilt enamel and known as the Fonthill vase.
Even the Medici’s of Venice regarded Chinese porcelain with great fascination and are reputed to have had 400 pieces of porcelain by the 1500s in their collections. The major source of their porcelain collection was from an Egyptian potentate.
The Chinese had been producing figures for many centuries. Horse and camel figures from the T’ang dynasty 600 AD (in the Shanghai Museum), a Lohan with three colour decoration Liao Dynasty 11-12th Century (in the Nelson – Atkins Museum, Kansas City) and blanc–de–chine figures from Dehua in the Fujian Province were illustrated.
During the 1500s and early 1600s kraak porcelain and Swatow wares were the two major export types from China. The Topkapi Palace in Istanbul holds many examples of Chinese porcelain with unique examples from the Ming Dynasty. Illustrations were shown of a Celadon dish (Qing dynasty Emperor Yongzheng 1723-1735) and a Famille Rose Bowl (Qing Dynasty1745-1765).
The Portuguese wanted to break the monopoly that the Venetian and Turkish traders had with East Indies. The Portuguese Government encouraged exploration of the Orient. Consequently Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to reach India and the Far East. In 1498 Vasco Da Gama sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and then to Calicut, on the west coast of India which at that time was a great Arab trading city. On his return Vasco Da Gama presented King Manual I of Portugal with pepper and other exotic gifts including Chinese porcelain in 1501.
King Manuel was reputed to have a large collection of Chinese porcelain at his residence, the Santos Palace in Lisbon. More porcelains as gifts were presented to the King who is said to have been captivated by the beauty and acquired a taste for the blue and white porcelain. Later a porcelain room was constructed at Santos containing about 260 Chinese bowls and dishes.
Early pieces of Chinese porcelain were exchanged as gifts amongst Europe’s nobility. King Manual sent porcelain pieces to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain as gifts.
The Portuguese arrived at the ports of Guangzhou in China in 1517 but were denied trading facilities and were allowed to settle at Macau. They were allowed to sail to Guangzhou twice a year to purchase goods that they resold throughout Asia. Portuguese settlement around the East Indies was extensive with main trading activity at Goa on the west coast of India, Malacca in 1511 and Hormuz in 1515.
Rivalry between Portugal and Spain to discover the sources of spices and to control the spice trade developed. Ferdinand Magellan discovered an alternative route around the southern tip of South America and crossed the Pacific Ocean through the Philippines. In effect he circumnavigated the world to reach the East Indies. In true diplomatic fashion, Portugal and Spain then regulated their trading areas by the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494.
By the mid 1550s porcelain was being made to order in Jingdezhen for the Portuguese market and for sale in Lisbon, Spain. Special ordered armorial and inscribed pieces of blue and white for the nobility and religious orders and in royal gifts were produced for the Portuguese and Spanish market.
Shown was a slide of a blue and white Pilgrim Vase decorated with the Arms of Phillip II of Spain (1556-1598). It was not a Chinese shape and is one of the earliest examples of commissioned armorial pieces. It is in the British Museum. This ware was adapted for European usage and is called Carrack ware a coarsely made thinly potted ware.
At this time in Holland the Portuguese merchants in Antwerp traded with Portugal until Phillip closed the Portuguese ports to the Dutch. The Dutch were then at war with both the Portuguese and the Spanish. The Dutch traders then had to find their own way to the Far East for spices and Chinese silks.
The Dutch first arrived in South East Asia from 1596 mainly as individual traders. However these traders soon realised that they would be better off joining forces if they were to compete with the Portuguese. In 1602 Dutch East India Company formed (with the abbreviation VOC). The Dutch East India Company then became the unofficial Dutch Government in Asia. The VOC captured two Portuguese ships “St Iago” and the “Sta Catherina” containing Chinese porcelain. This cargo was then sold in Holland in 1602 and 1604 at enormous profit. This stimulated the interest of both the public and traders in Chinese products who saw the potential of the China trade.
Porcelain then became an important but not the main import from the East. It was still a novelty and a fashionable status symbol. As the volume of imports increased, Chinese porcelain wares became less expensive. Blue and white porcelain dishes filled with fruit in Dutch appear in still-life paintings of the 17th Century indication the Chinese porcelain remained a status symbol and an indicator of wealth and status.
In the 1630s the Dutch started to order shapes more appropriate to the Dutch way of life such as beer tankards, mustard pots. This was done by sending Dutch examples for the Chinese potters in Jingdezhen to copy.
The Dutch were not allowed to establish a trading base in China because of the negative Chinese experience with the Portuguese, so they established a base at Java at present day Jakarta, then called Batavia.
Between 1644 and 1651 China was involved in a civil war. This resulted in the successful Manchu establishing the Qing Dynasty. The Dutch found it harder to get supplies from China since the porcelain production at the two main areas Jingdezhen and Dehua ware affected by war. The Dutch then turned to Japanese potters at Arita for porcelain supplies.
The Japanese increased production of blue and white porcelain and exported the wares from Deshima in Nagasakiya harbour. As well, the Chinese shipped Japanese porcelain to Batavia.
By 1683 Jingdezhen had reorganised its ceramic industry and were able to supply blue and white wares more cheaply than the Japanese could. By then the Dutch had competition from the English East India Company which had been formed in 1600. Porcelain was now necessary to serve the fashionable new hot drinks of tea, coffee and chocolate. Consequently the English traders, more than any other nation, was responsible for the worldwide renown of Chinese porcelain in the 18th Century.
The first cargoes of Chinese porcelain were by the English in 1715, the French and Dutch in 1720s, the Danes and Swedes in early 1730s and even the Americans in 1784.
The fashion for displaying Chinese porcelain on shelves and on the tops of furniture spread from Holland to Germany primarily through marriages of the nobility. Special porcelain rooms were built to house their collections of Chinese porcelain. A slide of the Porcelain Room at Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin c 1705 built by Frederick III was shown with plates and dishes in the cornices. Vases stand in the corners of the room on pedestals and porcelain vases stand over the fire place on the mantel. Many vases are before walls of mirror-glass. Chinese and Japanese porcelain was mixed together but in a harmonious manner based on size and colour.
At Oranienburg Palace, Berlin in 1773, the Porcelain Room consisted of a Baroque room covered in porcelain. Walls were covered in plates. Large pyramids of jars and vases were placed in corners. Each pyramid contained at least 100 pieces of porcelain. Behind these pyramids of porcelain were panels of mirrors doubling the effect. It was a room in fancy dress.
Three major collections of Chinese porcelain had been developed by the 1680s in England. These were by Queen Mary, the Earl of Exeter (Burghley House) and the Duke of Marlborough (Blenheim Palace). At Burghley there still are many original pieces of Chinese porcelain.
Nearly all the Chinese figures imported into Europe during the late 17 and 18th Century originated from Jingdezhen during the rein of three emperors Yongzheng (1723-35), Qianlong (1736-96) and Jiaqing (1796-1820)). Many relate to mythological birds and beasts such as the dragon Kylin, Lions of Fo and phoenix or creatures associated with Taoist superstitions like the cockerel, deer, hare, dog or tortoise.
Although Jingdezhen was known as a major producer of ceramic waters the area of Dehua in the province of Fukien also produced many superb blanc-de-chine figures. Since Fukiai was a stronghold of Buddhism many figures contain elements of Buddhism in their modeling. Most models represent Kuan Yin. It is recorded that Augustus Rex has 26 examples of Kuan-Yin.
In conclusion, the import of Chinese porcelains was initially a by-product of the spice trade. It was never a royal monopoly. The trade was initiated by the spice traders and then enlarged by the Portuguese and then the Spanish but the Dutch took the porcelain trade to a new level.
18th Century Creamware
The following is a précis of the address on Creamware given to the Circle in May by Terence Lockett.
The presentation covered the historical development of creamware, the contribution by Josiah Wedgwood to that development, and his promoting it as tableware for royalty.
Cream ware is sometimes called cream coloured earthenware or Queensware. It was described by Josiah Wedgwood, sometime after he is said to have perfected it in 1763, as “a species of earthenware for the table quite new in appearance covered with a rich and brilliant glaze bearing sudden alteration in heat and cold manufactured with ease and expedition and consequently cheap”.
It was felt that his comment “new in appearance” was something of an exaggeration; others before him had played a prominent part in the development of cream coloured earthenware long before 1763, which is the date normally given for Wedgwood’s improved creamware.
The first major step was the introduction into Staffordshire of finer clays from Devonshire and the use of calcined flint. Simeon Shaw writing in 1829 said that these were the discovery of John Astbury of Shelton around 1720. These materials were incorporated in the body of the ware and fired at a fairly high temperature around 1250 – 1300 degrees, which produced salt glaze. If the same basic ingredients are fired at a lower temperature and glazed with a lead glaze you will produce cream coloured earthenware because it is the iron impurities in the glaze that produces the cream colour. A recent chemical analysis confirmed this belief that a salt glazed plate and a cream glazed plate of the same period have the same chemical composition, only the glazes are different.
Most wares produced late in the 17th century were made with powdered lead glaze which was extraordinarily toxic and a great health hazard. Progress was made by patents taken out in 1726 and 1732 by Thomas Benson, and he also took out patents for grinding flint and lead ore with water which enabled people to use liquid lead glaze. Special mills were erected specifically for that purpose. The first use of this liquid lead glaze has been traditionally ascribed to Enoch Booth of Tunstall just after 1740. Liquid glazing involved a double firing process which was not the case with salt glazing which only required one firing.
For earthenware with creamware glaze you had to fire the ware to the biscuit form and then dip it in the liquid lead glaze, an important change in the technology of the production of lead glaze. Other potters took up the use of liquid lead glaze and made improvements; documents prove that people like John Baddeley of Shelton produced creamware as early as 1747 or 1748. There was a lot of creamware being made in the 1740s and 1750s; some 100 factories in Staffordshire alone made Creamware without taking into account factories in Devon or the northeast. Most books indicate that Josiah Wedgwood invented creamware which is incorrect. Wedgwood improved creamware.
Coffee cup and saucer, Wedgwood. Circa 1770
Creamwares were not only being made, but were exported at a very early date to America. Records refer to an item in the Boston Evening Post dated March 11th 1751, “Henry Barnes an importer was offering for sale blue and white, and white stone tea cups and saucers, teapots, bowls, milk jugs, handled cups, white and brown, cream colour and tortoise shell teapots”.
The first cream coloured earthenwares could be stylistically misleading as potters were influenced by a different style, the continental rococo factories. Instead of producing plain cream coloured earthenware they produced a variety of wares in coloured pigments, tortoiseshell ware and Whieldon wares. You come to a different area in the 1750s and even the early 1760s. Within that 10-15 year period you get tortoiseshell and variety of wares which are basically creamware but they do not look like creamware. Instead of plain wares they covered up the wares for stylistic reasons, and you cannot tell it is creamware, but after analysis it is creamware underneath the colours and glazes.
An example is the cauliflower design teapot, greenware at the bottom of the piece and creamware on the top which is what was occurring in the 1750s and early 1760s, and that is why people have forgotten that the rare creamware had been produced.
Tea Pot, Greatbatch (2nd mould). Circa 1768
When rococo began to go out of fashion in the 1760s tortoiseshell was at its height and then gradually it was being replaced by Wedgwood and other potters with simple cream coloured earthenware. The potters produced a good cream coloured earthenware and we have to give credit to Wedgwood for this in the early 1760s as he did improve it in every way and this opened up a new area for different forms of decoration.
A new stage was black printing on the surface and the first documentary mention that we know of is in 1751. Sadler and Green of Liverpool were later printing Wedgwood’s creamware. Wedgwood made the creamware, sent it to Liverpool where they printed the wares and then shipped them, often to the United States.
On-glaze enamel decoration is very similar to enamel salt glaze, the earliest known piece made in Derbyshire on May 1st 1762. For sometime creamware reigned supreme and it was the material from which everyday crockery was produced. Josiah expressed it himself in a letter dated March 12th 1767 “the demand for this set colour alias Queensware alias ivory still increases, it is really amazing how rapidly the use of this has spread almost over the whole globe and how universally it is liked”.
Another well known comment was by Mrs. Papendiek, the Assistant Keeper of the Wardrobe to Queen Charlotte who wrote in 1783 “Our tea and coffee set were of common Indian (i.e. Chinese) china, our dinner service of earthenware (i.e. creamware), to which, for our rank, there was nothing superior, Chelsea Porcelain and fine India china, being only for the wealthy. Pewter and Delft ware could also be had, but were inferior”.
Creamware’s reign was not for very long, from mid 1760s to c.1780, because fashion again changed, and Pearlware takes the place of cream coloured earthenware. Same body, perhaps a little more refined, and using a china clay and china stone which had been allowed when Cookworthy’s patent had been contested and potters were granted permission to use it and not make translucent ware. The whiteness of the body was improved but the important thing was the glaze which had cobalt added to make it look a white body with a pearl or blue glaze. It particularly took the place of creamware when under-glaze blue transfer-printing on pearlware was developed in the mid 1780s.
Sauce boat and stand, Leeds. Circa 1775
The demand for cream coloured earthenware was still strong particularly for export, and the factories were still able to turn it out much more cheaply and transfer-printing was much more expensive than plain cream coloured earthenware. There were a variety of shapes made in creamware, based on the social scene fashionable at that time.
Cream coloured earthenware is still being made; it has lasted over two hundred and fifty years.
Two Figure Groups – Warburton 2006
The following is a transcript talks given by Margaret Robinson and Mary Moors at the CGCA Warburton 2006 study weekend.
1. The Four Seasons
These figures are a group of allegorical portrayals; they are dressed in contemporary 18th century fashions and represent the Four Seasons. The attributes of the seasons are flowers for spring, sheaths of corn or wheat for summer, grapes for autumn, and furs or a brazier for winter.
They are made of soft paste porcelain and were made by Bow around 1760-65. None of the figures has a maker’s mark. The figures are mounted on elaborate rococo style bases which are raised on small feet. All have a small square hole at the back.
Spring is depicted as a girl seated on a rocky outcrop, with a basket of flowers over her left arm while steadying an apron full of flowers with her left hand and holding some flowers in her outstretched right hand. There is a basket filled with flowers at her feet and a woven basket bee hive to the rear. Her bodice appears to be underglaze blue over painted with puce making an unusual purple colour. A white skirt with blue, red and puce stripes, a floral apron, black shoes with yellow and blue bows and a yellow hat with a blue bow and puce under the brim complete her outfit.
The rococo base has applied flowers and leaves and is decorated in turquoise and puce with gold highlights.
Summer is portrayed as a girl seated on loosely stacked sheaths of corn, clasping a handful of corn heads in her right hand and supporting a sheath of corn in her left hand. She is dressed in a deep puce bodice with dark blue lacing and white moulded lace neckline and cuffs, a white skirt decorated with rings of blue, yellow and puce, white stockings, puce shoes with blue and gold bows and a yellow hat with blue under the brim. The rococo base has applied flowers and leaves and is decorated in puce and dark blue with gold highlights.
Four Seasons, Bow. Circa 1765
Autumn is depicted as a young man seated slightly askew an overturned basket filled with grapes, holding a bunch of grapes in his right hand and has a wine cup in his left hand and it looks as if he might be squeezing the grapes and catching the juice in the cup below. He is dressed in pantaloons of pale yellow with puce and green decoration, a white shirt and yellow jacket with puce and gold edging and moulded lace cuffs, white hose and black shoes with yellow bows. He is wearing a dark blue apron. The rococo base has applied leaves and is decorated in puce and turquoise with gold highlights.
Winter is represented by an old man seated on a pile of logs who is bending forward to warm his hands over a small three footed brazier. He is wearing a puce coat with dark blue cuffs, a yellow belt and gold buttons, over yellow pantaloons decorated with puce flowers, white hose and blue shoes with puce bows. The Brazier has yellow orange flames. The rococo base has applied green leaves and is outlined in two shades of green.
All figures make use of the dark underglaze blue; Spring’s striped skirt, the underside of Summer’s hat, Autumn’s apron, and the cuffs on Winter’s coat. The range of colours used includes puce, two shades of green, turquoise, clear pale yellow, dark blue, red, and black as well as gold.
Whilst the way the seasons are shown changes, and all may be seen with a wide range of figures including cupids, putti, boys, girls, men, women, couples, lovers; the attributes of the seasons don’t change:
- Spring is flowers
- Summer is sheaths of corn or wheat
- Autumn is grapes and
- Winter is furs or a brazier
2. A Bow Candelabrum of a Musician and his Companion
This was made around 1760. It has no maker’s mark. The flower shaped gilt metal candle sconces are probably late 18th or early 19th century replacements. The figures are dressed in contemporary 18th century costume.
The seated male musician is shown, leaning back, playing his violin. He is supporting his violin against his chin with his left hand and holding the bow against the violin with his right hand. He is wearing a long floral vest under a puce coat with a pink collar and gold buttons and moulded white lace cuffs, blue floral pantaloons, white hose and black shoes with gold buckles.
The seated female companion is shown sitting upright and accompanying him in song. She is wearing a puce bodice which has a blue and white striped under bodice, with moulded white lace cuffs to sleeves and lace at the neckline, a white skirt decorated with deep puce and gold flowers and green leaves which has a yellow overskirt, and on her feet are yellow shoes with red bows. With her left hand she is holding up a sheet of music, which actually has a few lines of music on it, whilst her right hand is held out in a graceful gesture.
Candelabrum of musician and companion, Bow. Circa 1760
They are seated on raised balustraded platform in front of a large bocage tree and the platform is decorated to look like marble. Between them at their feet is white dog with red and brown markings. There are also applied leaves and flowers on the platform near their feet. Bow used both apple leaves and hawthorn leaves. Hawthorn leaves are more jagged and pointed than apple leaves. The bocage uses hawthorn leaves. Some of the leaves on the base are apple leaves.
The components of this piece include190 leaves, 50 flowers of varying intricacy, 2 sections of curved balustrade, a platform base with 3 full width steps and small double bun feet supports at the front and a full rococo swirl with 3 feet at the back which also helps support the multi branched tree trunk to which the balustrades are joined and the leaves and flowers attached – all this before you even start to look at how the figures were constructed and pieces of clothing moulded and applied.
This Pair of New Dancer Candlesticks each with a red anchor and dagger mark with blue cross which were made circa 1765, have been included to show how Bow figures though quite different in subject matter compliment each other. The candle sticks are almost mirror images of each other with figures of a boy and a girl in standing position, each with an open lidded basket to one side, a large spreading bocage behind and an original metal arm with integral metal leaves supporting a candle sconce to one side and set on a rococo base. The characteristic square hole on the back has been used to mount the metal arms.
The girl is wearing a deep puce bodice laced over a white blouse with moulded lace to neckline and cuffs, a striped floral skirt and blue floral apron, white stockings and red shoes with red and yellow bows and a yellow hat with blue under rim which is set at a jaunty angle and has the left side pinned up with a flower. She is supporting the lid of her basket with her left hand and has flowers in her right hand.
The boy is wearing a puce coat with yellow cuffs edged with lace over a white shirt; red pantaloons with yellow rings floral panels, white hose and black shoes with red bows and a hat with a blue under rim folded back and fastened with a gold pin. He is supporting the lid of his basket with his right hand and has a piece of fruit in his left hand. The baskets are painted with floral sprays on each side of lid and on basket sides and may have been intended as comfit holders.
All three pieces make use of the same colour palette, yellow, various shades of puce, two greens, underglaze blue, opaque blue, turquoise, rusty red and black with gold detailing.
Of Historical Interest
By Ron Mack
On our recent trip to the maritime provinces of Canada, Dawn and I visited the Fortress of Louisbourg, a National Historic Site of Canada. Louisbourg is on the north-east coast of Nova Scotia.
Copy of 18th century tea bowl (21st century)
Louisbourg has a rich and interesting history which, for the purposes of this article, I am summarising as follows:
- 1713 – Settled by the French at a time when France had aspirations of a North American empire. The Fortress and the core facilities were built and Louisbourg rapidly became a major trading post. At its peak it had a population of some 2500.
- 1744 – France and Great Britain declared war on each other.
- 1745 – Louisbourg was besieged by a British Expeditionary Force, and after some six weeks, fell to the British. All residents and garrison personnel were repatriated to France and Louisbourg became a British trading port.
- 1748-1749 – A treaty between Britain and France handed Louisbourg back to France and the French returned.
- 1758 – Louisbourg was again besieged by a British Expeditionary Force and again, after some six weeks, fell to the British. Again, the personnel were repatriated to France.
- 1760- 1768 – Britain decided that, because of the declining influence of France in the area they would withdraw from Louisbourg. To prevent any other power from making use of the facilities the complete fortress and surrounding township was totally destroyed. Everything was broken, burned or blown-up and Louisbourg remained so for nigh on 200 years when, in 1961, the Canadian Government decided that the principal or core parts should be reconstructed as a national historical site.
Careful excavation and reconstruction proceeded for some 24 years and today we see the fortress and the essential core buildings showing approximately one quarter of the original township of 2500 inhabitants.
Fortunately, the original plans of the fortress and the principal buildings were available in the French Public Records Office in Paris. All reconstructed buildings were on the original foundations and much use was made of the excavated material for purposes of replication. It was interesting to note that the most superior dwelling in the township was that of the number two man, the Financial Controller! Historic Louisbourg is a fine example of the culture, customs and technology of the day.
Of particular interest to me was the excavated ceramic material. Historic Louisbourg claims to have some 69,000 shards of Jingdezhen porcelain in their archives, this being the principal pottery imported into the settlement during its lifetime, obviously for the use of the elite and ruling classes. In addition, many shards of locally made low quality earthenware items were retrieved and catalogued. One assumes these items were for the use of the lower classes.
In the interests of authenticity the Historic Louisbourg team selected nine blue and white items and arranged with Jingdezhen potters (unspecified) to replicate a small number of each using the original specification and technology. The nine pieces were as follows:
- Tea bowl and saucer - Girl on the swing pattern
- Small bowl – Hare in the moon
- Large bowl – Blossom Brocade
- Plate – Palace Garden
- Plate – 100 Antiques
- Plate – Pine Tree
- Soup plate – Chinese Garden
- Small platter – Flower Basket
- Large platter – Blossoms in Time
Base of copy of 18th century tea bowl (21st century)
The modern pieces were made in 1998 and few remain on sale at Louisbourg today. However, I did find a Tea Bowl and Saucer, which I purchased. The original pieces of which these are a copy have been dated by the Louisbourg archaeologists at approximately 1742. I have included photographs.