VIII
THE
SCHOOL
OF
WEDGWOOD
CHAPTER VIII
THE SCHOOL OF WEDGWOOD
1760–1810
William Adams (of Greengates) (1789–1805)—John Turner (of Lane End) (1739–1786)—The plagiarists of Wedgwood—The Wedgwood influence—The passing of classicism—Table of Marks—Prices.
Potters who followed Wedgwood may be divided into three classes. Men such as John Turner and William Adams, who were competitors with him in friendly rivalry, each striving to emulate the successes of the other, and each doing original and independent work. Indebted, and greatly indebted to Wedgwood as these potters were, they produced work equal with his in technique. The blue jasper of William Adams, if anything, is rather finer than that of his master. John Turner, of Lane End, made jasper from a different formula to Wedgwood, being more porcellanous in character. These men, his friends and intimates, and Palmer, of Hanley, who was first to apply bas-reliefs to his black vases, in 1769, may be said to represent original research, as compared with uninventive copying.
The second class, which includes contemporaries such as Elijah Mayer, and Palmer, of Hanley, who must be included here (in spite of his streak of originality above alluded to, and his fine use of gilding to granitic ware), and Neale, his brother-in-law, and Voyez, the modeller, and Hollins, may all be said to be plagiarists who lived largely on Wedgwood's jasper and basalt ware, as well as several schools such as Hartley Greens (of Leeds), and Swansea and Spode, and many others who followed his cream-ware designs. In regard to Palmer and Neale and Voyez the case is very strong, as they are stated to have forged the mark "Wedgwood & Bentley" in some of their medallions; but against the others the case must not be pressed too closely, as they undoubtedly displayed a fertility of invention and an originality after they had once learned the Wedgwood manner. Leeds, in particular, having caught the spirit that Wedgwood had transplanted from the silversmith to his dessert services, produced cream-ware rivalling that of Etruria.
Tennyson had a set of verses which illustrate this situation. He tells of him who "cast to earth a seed" which grew so tall "it wore a crown of light."
"But thieves from o'er the wall