COPY OF PORTLAND VASE.
In red ware Isleworth.
(Early nineteenth century.) Marked S & G. (Height 7¾ inches.)
(In the collection of Mr. W. G. Honey.)
FINE EARTHENWARE MUG.
Exquisitely painted with exotic birds in Worcester style (attributed to Liverpool).
(In the collection of Col. and Mrs. Dickson.)
LIVERPOOL CREAM WARE
PLATE.With Oriental decoration in blue.
(In the collection of Miss Feilden.)
Derby Earthenware.—Derby porcelain is well known. But it is not so well known that Derby earthenware is worth considering from a collecting point of view. There is a certain amount of obscurity surrounding the early ware made at Cockpit Hill. Slip ware was made in early days and delft appears to have been made there at the beginning of the eighteenth century. In 1772 the Derby pot-works, in the hands of the Heath family who were bankers, produced cream ware, though not equal to the Staffordshire products. Messrs. John and Christopher Heath, of Derby, are described as "bankrupts" in 1780, and a great sale of the earthenware in stock took place. The collector has mainly to rely on dated examples, which are very rare, or on pieces bearing local allusions to elections which may be safely attributed to Derby, but like so many of the extinct factories the ware has not received special attention in regard to its identification, nor is the task an easy one owing to cream ware being of very general manufacture.
Isleworth.—There is not much known about this factory established by Joseph Shore, who appears to have come from Worcester in 1760. The ware later is marked with the initials S. & G. after the firm became Shore and Goulding. The factory was never very large, and employed only twenty hands at the most. We illustrate ([p. 409]) a copy of the celebrated Portland Vase in red ware marked S. & G., and although some of the Isleworth ware appears to have been coarse earthenware to which the term "Welsh ware" was applied, some of it reverting to the old method of slip decoration, yet it must be admitted that certain pieces in red unglazed earthenware are of a high artistic character. There is a very fine teapot of this red ware in exact imitation of the Oriental style, being hexagonal in form, and having embossed decorations on the panels, the lid being surmounted with a Chinese grotesque animal, such as never was designed in Europe. The potting of such pieces as these has directed the attention of connoisseurs to this obscure factory.
There is no doubt that some of the finer pieces of Isleworth red ware have passed as Elers ware, but the former has a slight glaze and the handles are moulded. It is heavier in weight, and the teapots, &c., by Elers were undoubtedly of small dimensions.
It appears that "hound jugs" were made at Isleworth too. They were made at Brampton and elsewhere, but in those illustrated ([p. 413]) the mark is S. & G. They are brown stoneware with subjects of game in high relief, and are early nineteenth century in date.
In the second illustration it will be seen that the handle of the hound jug shows a later stage in its development. The reason is not far to seek, the awkward points of the hound handle were found to be in the way when Betsy Prue drew the beer. Any projection of this nature is distinctly out of place in earthenware for everyday use. This the potter readily recognised, and pattern number two was the result. Here he followed, without knowing it, the practice of the Japanese, who in their finely-carved ivory netsukes, so much collected nowadays, which were used as buttons and fastenings for dresses, always took care to leave no projecting points—the sleeping mouse has his tail well coiled around him—the dwarf mime has a smooth head and a figure as rotund as a miniature barrel.
It will be seen in this second illustration that the hound is still discernible in the handle, but probably only to those who have seen him in his former state. He has now become a clumsy, twisted handle with less meaning. It is here that his delicately balanced proportions when he was leaping over the brim with outstretched limbs—the attitude to the life of a hound when attempting to get through a fence—became a mere symbol in this later stage of his ceramic existence.