In the Fry Collection at Bristol.
We reproduce a fine specimen of a splendid vase, hexagonal shape, sixteen inches high, in the possession of the Fry family at Bristol. It is richly decorated with festoons of finely modelled raised flowers, with painted butterflies and borders. This was the forerunner of the exquisite Bristol vase made by the firm which bought Cookworthy’s life secrets.
Devon and Plymouth suggest Elizabethan days and one man’s name flashes uppermost, but—
“Drake he’s in his hammock, but a thousand mile away
(Capten, art tha sleepin’ there below?),
Slung atween the round shot in Nombre Dios Bay,
An’ dreamin’ arl the time o’ Plymouth Hoe.”
But there are heroes of peace and the arts of peace and that art of all arts, the art of self-effacement and William Cookworthy is one.
