The Burlington magazine

by Unknown

MR. JULIUS WERNHER’S TITIAN

SIR,

One of your subscribers in Venice has drawn my attention to an article in your magazine (April number, p. 185), written by Mr. Herbert Cook, and illustrating a magnificent portrait by Titian, in the possession of Mr. Julius Wernher. Your subscriber tells me that similarly insufficiently described Italian portraits are not uncommon in English private collections, though, of course, not through the fault of the collectors, as it is impossible to obtain sufficient information from printed books only. We here in Venice are naturally better off, and the public and private archives and the manuscripts in the libraries offer much material to one who is experienced to handle it, and yield in most cases sufficient information. So your subscriber has asked me to show in the case of this Giacomo Doria what we can achieve here. ¶ To the student of palaeography it is not a matter of opinion, but of certainty, that the inscription reads: Giacomo Doria quondam Agostini, that means Giacomo Doria, son of the late Agostino. The dress is not the habit of an Augustinian friar. In the famous concert by Giorgione, in the Palazzo Pitti, the ecclesiastic playing the clavi-cembalo is an Augustinian; he is clean shaven, has the large tonsure, and wears a mozetta. It is impossible to decide by looking at the reproduction alone whether Giacomo wears Venetian or Genoese dress, everything being entirely black. According to Crollalanza’s ‘Dizionario storico-blasonico,’ there were two families of the name of Doria—one in Genoa, and one in the Veneto. Mr. Cook has not been able to decide to which branch Giacomo belonged. ¶ Now Signor Comm. Carlo dei Conti Bullo, at Venice, has a private archive containing many important documents concerning the history of the town of Chioggia. These documents show that the war between Venice and Genoa, called the war of Chioggia, led to the settlement of several important Genoese families in Chioggia. Amongst these are mentioned the Bonivento, the Cibo, the Gandolfo and the Doria. ¶ The Chioggia branch of the Doria family still exists; its present head is Signor Giovanni Battista Doria, a draughtsman in the Genio Civile in Venice. This gentleman has in his possession a genealogical tree, compiled and signed by two canons of the cathedral of Chioggia, which proves his descent from Victor, son of Giovanni, born in the year 1480, and founder of the Chioggia branch. But in this tree no Giacomo di Agostino occurs. Now Signor Doria has another tree, although not a signed one, which shows how Victor di Giovanni is attached to the main trunk of the family in Genoa. In this tree the looked-for Giacomo di Agostino occurs; he is therefore a Genoese and not a Venetian. ¶ We give here the interesting part of this tree:

We see from this tree that Giacomo was a man of eminence, a brother of a doge, and the father of two doges of the republic of Genoa. His personality is of particular interest to the Germans, as his nearest relations play an important part in Schiller’s great tragedy, ‘The Conspiracy of Fiesco.’ His cousins Vettor and Nicolò settled in Chioggia, and, probably on the occasion of a visit to his relatives, Titian painted his portrait. Signor Doria is not certain as to the signification of the dates occurring in this tree, probably they mean the year of birth. Mr. Cook puts the portrait about the year 1523, but I am afraid it will have to be put to a considerably later date. ¶ This is all we can do in Venice; for further information about Giacomo one would have to search the documents in the archives of Genoa. ¶ Curiously enough, Mr. Cook has not a word to say about the arms which one can faintly recognize in the upper left-hand corner of the reproduction. I give below the arms of the Genoese Dorias, and those of the Dorias of Chioggia. ¶ From what I am able to make out, the arms represented on the picture are the Genoese arms. I shall be happy to search for arms occurring on Italian portraits in English collections, and collect information about the persons represented, if printed books fail to give the necessary help.

Yours truly,
GIOVANNI DE PELLEGRINI.

Studio Araldico, Campo San Maurizio,
Venice.

No. 1 is the shield of the Dorias of Genoa, taken from ‘Il Annuario della Nobiltà Italiana.’

Nos. 2, 3, 4 are shields of the Dorias of Chioggia; No. 2 is carved on a house in the calle di S. Nicolò at Chioggia; No. 3 is carved in the town hall of Chioggia and on a house on the Canal Lombardo; No. 4 is carved in marble on a chimney of the casa Doria at S. Andrea. All three shields are given in the Ravagnan MS. belonging to the municipality of Chioggia.

Walker & Cockerell Ph. Sc.

The Great Executioner, from the mezzotint by Prince Rupert after Spagnoletto, in the collection of His Majesty the King.

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THE LOWESTOFT PORCELAIN FACTORY, AND THE CHINESE PORCELAIN MADE FOR THE EUROPEAN MARKET DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY[86]

❧ WRITTEN BY L. SOLON ❧

MR. W. CHAFFERS is responsible for the spread of a theory regarding the Lowestoft factory and its productions, which, after it had been provisionally endorsed by the majority of collectors, turned out to be one of the worst mystifications recorded in ceramic history. It must be conceded, in mitigation of the offence, that seldom had such a crop of apparently admissible evidence turned up to substantiate an ill-grounded belief. ¶ On a visit that the author of ‘Marks and Monograms,’ in quest of information, paid to the town of Lowestoft, he came across numerous pieces of porcelain of very distinctive character, bearing the crest or initials of the old families in which they had long been preserved, and all of which were said by their possessors to have been made in the local factory that existed at one time. He concluded, naturally enough, that he was on the way to the discovery of a most important and so far unsuspected centre of production—a too-hasty conclusion that a prejudiced course of investigation, unfortunately, came to strengthen. ¶ The ware that he soon felt himself warranted to call ‘Lowestoft porcelain’ bore, it is true, decorations of European design, but was no other than the inferior oriental china that the East India companies threw wholesale upon the market during the eighteenth century. In building up his lame theory Chaffers had neglected to take into consideration a few points of primary importance. ¶ All the ancient inhabitants of the town who could remember anything of the extinct factory agreed in saying that it was a small place, with only one biscuit oven and one enamelling kiln, and that at the best of times the number of persons it employed did not exceed seventy. Now, if the inquirer had not willingly lost sight of the fact that the very same kind of porcelain as that of which he was endeavouring to localize the origin was commonly found in every country which had had commercial intercourse with the east, not only in Europe, but also in America—where Boston and Salem were the centres of a large importation trade—and that many ancient families inhabiting the sea-port towns of those countries boast the possession of tea or dinner services of similar china, emblazoned with the arms or inscribed with the initials of an ancestor who had obtained them from the East Indies; if he had not conveniently forgotten that odd specimens of the ware are found in every collection and curiosity shop at home and abroad, then he might have suspected that such a colossal supply could only have come from a manufacturing centre of amazing magnitude, and not from a small factory at work for a few years on the coast of England. He also failed to observe that the paste of the china was manifestly of oriental character, and that there is no record of hard porcelain having ever been made at Lowestoft. ¶ On the other hand, a coarse kind of soft china, usually painted in underglaze blue, has been traced as the undeniable product of the Lowestoft factory, and a sufficient number of examples of that class can now be produced to dispel any doubt as to the precise description of the ware that was made there, and to put an end to all controversy. ¶ To the facility that the situation of Lowestoft offered for trading with Holland by way of Yarmouth must be attributed the existence of a petty company of merchants who joined to the importation of Delft-faïence the manufacture, on a small scale, of a pottery of the same description. White and blue faïence pieces, inscribed with local names and dated as early as 1755, seem to indicate that the pottery-works were in operation about that time. The making of soft china was added shortly afterwards. A heap of discarded plaster moulds was unearthed from the site of the old works in 1902; it included moulds for embossed sauce-boats and plain globular teapots; upon one of these latter, the date 1762 was incised in the plaster. The globular tea-pot made in that mould is reproduced on the accompanying plate. In the same year a queer, nine-sided ink-pot was manufactured; it bears a pseudo-Chinese ornamentation in underglaze blue, with the monogram ‘R.B. 1762.’ Robert Browne, for whom the piece was painted and inscribed, was the head of the firm till 1771. This unimpeachable testimony of the true style of the Lowestoft fabrication is now in the possession of Mr. Arthur Crisps, in whose collection are preserved six other ink-pots of the same shape, together with many other genuine pieces, decorated in the same manner, and bearing dates ranging from 1762 to 1782. Among these may be mentioned a tea service which has the name ‘Eliza^th Buckle,’ and the date 1768, painted in blue. It was executed by Robert Allen, a nephew of the worthy dame, who was still serving his apprenticeship, but in after times became the manager of the works. Also a number of small articles bearing the words ‘A trifle from Lowestoft’ or ‘A trifle from Yarmouth.’ None of these specimens have anything in common with the so-called Lowestoft china. ¶ A family tradition discloses the way in which porcelain making was introduced at Lowestoft. It is reported that Robert Browne, anxious to master a process unknown to him and from which he expected great results, repaired to London disguised as a workman, and in that capacity took employment in one of the china factories, either Bow or Chelsea. The discipline of former years had somewhat relaxed in these establishments, and he had no difficulty in worming out from one of the foremen, in exchange for adequate remuneration, the secret of the mixture, with instructions about practical manipulations. The object he had in view appears to have been most easily attained; scarcely three weeks had elapsed when he returned to his own works, provided with sufficient information to start china-making at once, without calling any outsider to his assistance. It is needless to observe that what he learned in this manner did not put him in the position of producing hard porcelain, and that he could not have made any on this basis. ¶ As it stands now the history of the Lowestoft works is a short one to tell. A better knowledge of the exact nature of the owners’ business might have been obtained from an examination of the papers and account books of the old firm; they may or may not be still in existence; at any rate, their contents have never been investigated. We know very little besides the fact that fritt porcelain was made for the first time in 1762, and that the factory was closed in 1803. This article will, however, have fulfilled its purpose if it establishes, once for all, not so much what was the true Lowestoft ware, but what it was not. One may well wonder how it came to pass that the name of the obscure Lowestoft factory could ever have been mentioned in connection with a particular ware which, in every country where the unmistakable specimens of it are met with in large quantities, is recognized as being of oriental provenance. As no conjecture has so far been advanced in answer to that query I will venture to present a not improbable solution of the problem.

LOWESTOFT PORCELAIN TEAPOT OF SOFT PASTE

IN THE COLLECTION OF MR. GEORGE HARDING

SMALL PLATE PAINTED IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE, WITH A VIEW OF LOWESTOFT CHURCH

FRANKS COLL. B.M.

HARD PORCELAIN TEAPOT, MADE AND DECORATED IN CHINA, BUT MARKED ‘ALLEN, LOWESTOFT’; IN THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM

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That they never manufactured such a porcelain at Lowestoft has no longer to be demonstrated; it remains to be proved that they sold it, and that the misconception as to its origin arose from no other cause. We must remember, in the first instance, that the proprietors of the works were also ship-owners, conducting a small trade with Holland. They exported English clays and raw materials for the use of the Delft potters, and brought back, in return, articles of Dutch faïence, often painted with names and inscriptions, for which they accepted commissions from private customers. We know, next, that Rotterdam was the centre of the mighty commerce carried on between Holland and China. It may, then, be fairly assumed that while engaged in the trade of common Delft ware, they conceived the idea of entering into communication with the wholesale importers of Chinese porcelain from whom they could purchase large supplies, and establishing in England a highly-remunerative branch of business by underselling the East India company. ¶ It was customary with the Dutch firms to send over to their foreign settlements shapes and designs obtained from European sources, to be reproduced by native hands. Models from Dresden, Sèvres, and even from Leeds or the Staffordshire potteries, were constantly copied in oriental porcelain. The Lowestoft people did what all other merchants had done before them, and through the same channel forwarded to China the designs of coats-of-arms, English mottoes, and initials that were to be painted on the porcelain they had undertaken to supply. In the Henry Willett collection is an armorial plate decorated in the usual Indo-European style, and inscribed, at the back, with its certificate of origin: CANTON IN CHINA 24th Jan. 1791. Commissions of that kind were received from the leading families of the neighbourhood and duly executed; hence the number of local patronymics that Chaffers noticed on the porcelain in the possession of many inhabitants of the town, who honestly believed that it had been made by the very men from whom it had been purchased. ¶ In 1770 the business had taken sufficient extension to induce the partners to open a warehouse in Queen Street, Cheapside. Their agent, Clark Dunford, inserted in the London papers an announcement in which he advertised ‘a large selection of Lowestoft china.’ We possess no information as to what may have been the exact description of the goods advertised under that name, but we may safely surmise that it was something superior to ‘A trifle from Lowestoft’ or any of the articles we know to have been the staple production of the works. It seems that a more attractive exhibition might have been formed in the show-room by a stock of Chinese porcelain imported by the Lowestoft company. ¶ I feel convinced that conclusive proofs of this elucidation of the Lowestoft puzzle will one day come to light; in the meantime, it cannot be denied that it is strongly supported by the following facts: It is recorded, on good authority, that the ruin of the company was caused by the wreck of one of their vessels carrying a cargo of porcelain, and the burning, by the French army, of the warehouse they had established at Rotterdam. The idea that the enormous amount of ware required to load a vessel and to fill a large warehouse in Rotterdam, not to speak of the one in London, could have been supplied by a one-oven factory, is too ludicrous to be entertained for one moment, and it may be dismissed without further comment. ¶ It has been suggested that the Lowestoft painters may have decorated ware imported from China in the white. By reason of the ubiquity of the porcelain decorated in the accredited style, and the small number of hands employed at the factory, such a suggestion is equally untenable. A hard porcelain teapot, unmistakably painted by a Chinese hand, which is marked ‘Allen, Lowestoft,’ is reproduced on the opposite page. Robert Allen was manager of the works up to the last. When they closed he set up a small china shop in the town, decorating himself part of the articles he sold. His supply was drawn from various sources, including oriental. Far from being deceived by such misleading testimonies, we may only infer from this tea-pot that the dealer was wont to affix his name to all that passed through his hands, even upon such pieces as had been decorated abroad. This curious specimen is now in the Victoria and Albert museum. ¶ The so-called Lowestoft style is characterized by sprays and garlands of flowers, in which two peculiar pink and purple colours play a conspicuous part, and by scalloped borders of the scale or trellis patterns. Similar designs appear on the early china and earthenware of Staffordshire. The last partisans of the Chaffers theory—for all the offshoots of the mystification have not yet been fully eradicated—believe that such pieces afford irrefutable examples of the Lowestoft original production. This is an error that must be discarded with the others. To imitate Chinese decoration has always been the golden rule of the English potter; just as he had reproduced the fine Nankin porcelain, he also copied the quasi-European ware manufactured for exportation by the East India company, and this all the more readily that it could be easily and cheaply produced. The well-known scale borders and the sprays of pink and purple roses occur frequently on the early china of Minton, Spode and other makers. These designs were obviously taken from the Chinese importations, and did not originate in the Potteries any more than they originated at Lowestoft. ¶ From the few authenticated specimens that have come under the collector’s notice we gather that the paste of the genuine Lowestoft porcelain is coarse, semi-opaque, and of a dingy white; the glaze is speckled with bubbles and minute black spots, which denote a rather imperfect manufacture. It is poorly decorated, and under these conditions we understand that it was not preciously preserved in the households; at all events, it has now become very rare. No mark was ever used at the factory, and the specific character of the ware is not sufficiently pronounced to allow us to use such undoubted examples as we possess as a means of identifying those which may have escaped destruction.

PORTRAIT OF THE EMPRESS ISABELLA BY TIZIANO VECELLIO; IN THE PRADO MUSEUM, MADRID.

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