BLUE AND WHITE JASPER VASE.
Impressed mark Turner.
Subject—Diana in her Chariot.
(John Turner, of Lane End, 1762–1786.)
BLUE AND WHITE JASPER VASE.
Impressed mark Adams.
(About 1790.)
(William Adams, of Greengates, made jasper 1787–1805.)
(At British Museum.)
As a modeller he was of exceptional merit, and it is known that he designed, himself, several of his finest pieces, such as the Seasons, his Venus Bound, and Cupid Disarmed, his Pandora, Psyche trying one of Cupid's Darts, and the Muses. Monglott, a Swiss artist, was employed by him on jasper vases, and it is believed that Enoch Wood is responsible for designing the hunting scenes which appear on the fine stoneware jugs and tankards similar in style to the Turner jug illustrated ([p. 267]). Many of his jugs had silver mounts.
In regard to marks, that usually found is Adams impressed. Sometimes, though rarely, the mark is Adams & Co.; and later his son, Benjamin Adams, had the impressed mark B. Adams, which appears on stoneware and blue printed ware.
To those who desire to familiarise themselves with the genius of William Adams, there is a special volume by Mr. William Turner, entitled "William Adams, an Old English Potter" (Chapman & Hall, 1904), which is a full and learned monograph, dealing in thorough manner with the productions of William Adams and of his kinsfolk, the Adams family of potters.
We illustrate one of a pair of jasper vases in blue and white by Adams, in date about 1790. The classic figure subjects, as will be seen, display a simplicity and exquisite grace of modelling and arrangement not surpassed even by Wedgwood (see [p. 261]).
John Turner, of Lane End (1739–1786).—Wedgwood and Turner were intimates, and in considering Turner we must regard him as a friendly neighbour, as well as a rival potter. He made some remarkably fine jasper, though it differed in its body very greatly from that of Wedgwood, being more closely allied with porcelain. It contained no barytes in its composition. In design Turner, though not imitative, followed the Greek school and produced, as a modeller himself, some exquisitely proportioned pieces. We illustrate a fine vase in blue-and-white jasper which is especially graceful in design, the severity being relieved by the delicacy of the fine subject in relief of Diana in her Chariot drawing a pair of goats and accompanied by flying cherubs (see [p. 261]). This subject, it will be noticed, is reproduced in a transfer-printed jug illustrated in a later chapter ([p. 319]).