TEAPOT, TORTOISESHELL WARE.
Embossed with hawthorn pattern.
(At the Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh.)
BOWL AND COVER, TORTOISESHELL WARE.
Embossed with floral pattern.
(At the Victoria and Albert Museum.)
In regard to cream ware, undoubtedly this was in an experimental stage, and Whieldon in common with Astbury made those queer little figures with yellow heads and red or yellow bases, but the tortoiseshell flown colouring apparently denotes some of the specimens made by Whieldon. He made salt glaze, he made tea and coffee pots with the Astbury decorations, but with a strong leaning to the earlier Elers style in his avoidance of too strong contrast between white pipe-clay ornament on a dark body. Whieldon toned his ornaments with touches of his own in green and yellow and brown. His solid agate ware and his tortoiseshell and clouded wares, and his cauliflower ware have become so memorable in the cabinets of collectors that they have won him fame, and he has in consequence been credited with all specimens of these classes of ware. We illustrate ([p. 161]) an example of the Whieldon Cauliflower Teapot with vivid green and yellow colouring.
Of this early period, the fine group we illustrate ([p. 171]) with a coffee-pot of glazed red ware, a kaolin of deep cream colour decorated in red, may not unreasonably be attributed to John Astbury, while the little Figure of flown colouring, with red base and brown shoes, may be either by Whieldon or possibly by Thomas Astbury.
The "solid agate" of Whieldon is something far more artistic than the combed ware of earlier days or the very rough attempts at solid agate made by clumsier hands than his own prior to his experiments.