Delft, Number of Fabriques.—Haarlem.—Paste.—Great Painters.—Violins.—Tea-Services.—A Dutch Stable.—Broeck Dutch Tiles.—England.—Queen Elizabeth.—Pepys’s Diary.—Brown Stone-ware.—The Tyg.—Lambeth Pottery.—Fulham Pottery.—Elers.—Elizabethan Pottery.—Stoke-upon-Trent.—Josiah Wedgwood.—Cheapness.—Queen’s-ware.—Jasper-ware.—Flaxman.—Cameos.—Basalt.—The Portland Vase.—Prices.
THERE was a day (about 1650) when the Dutch town of Delft had fifty manufactories of earthen-ware, and employed in them over seven thousand people. To-day she has but one—if even that—and the work done there has sunk into insignificance. To those who are fond of change, of excitement, this will be a pleasant fact to know; it goes to show that Macaulay’s prophecy, that the coming New-Zealander will sit on the piers of London Bridge in the “good time that is coming,” and moralize over the ruins of London, may come true—pleasanter for the New Zealand savant than for the English statesman!
Haydn’s “Dictionary of Dates” states that pottery was made at Delft as early as 1310; and there are records of its importation from there into England in the time of King Henry IV. (1399 to 1413). The great industry was undoubtedly stimulated by the close knowledge of Japanese and Oriental porcelains which the Dutch merchants at a very early day and for so long a time had access to; which they brought to Holland in such large quantities, and which by them were distributed over Europe. But the cost of these was, of course, very considerable for those times; and the discovery of good clays in Holland gave the Dutch every facility for engaging in the manufacture, which they had the wit to seize and the skill to develop; so that they were able to make earthen-ware of good quality, with creditable ornamentation, at comparatively small prices.
The Dutch were then the great “traders” of the world. They soon sent this pottery far and wide, into Germany, France, and England; and they got much money for it. Holland grew rich.
Haarlem was also a centre for this industry; but it made less impression there than at Delft, and went down sooner; so that but little is known of it.
The paste of the Delft, or at least some of it, is of a fine quality, so that it was worked quite thin, and yet preserved sufficient strength for use. To make this, a good deal of pains and skill was applied to it before it went to the deft hand of the modeler.
Of course, the great production at Delft was for the uses of the table, and its work did much to effect a revolution in the household-art of the table. Before this production the plates and dishes of the common people were of wood or “tre;” often only a square bit of board upon which the meat could be laid and cut. The better-off people had plates of pewter, and kings and princes indulged in those of silver.
Boitet, writing in 1667 of Delft, says:
“One of the principal branches of industry at present consists in the manufacture of a kind of porcelain[8] which nowhere in Europe is made of such fine quality and so cheap. For some years, indeed, porcelain has been manufactured in Saxony, and also at some places in France. The former is finer than that made at Delft, but more expensive likewise, and therefore not much in general use; whereas the Delft porcelain, on account of its more moderate price, is more salable; and it is sent not alone to most places in Europe, but even to Asia also. The clay of which it is made comes from the neighborhood of Maestricht, and is purified in Delft by divers processes. Besides larger articles for general use, complete services are made here, ornamented with escutcheons, as they may be desired, beautifully gilt and painted, almost equal to the East Indian in transparency, and surpassing such in the painting. Many persons of property have such sets with their escutcheons made here, which then pass for Japan or Chinese porcelain.”
We must receive M. Boitet’s judgment that the Delft “surpassed the East Indian (or Chinese) in the painting” with many grains of allowance. Still, when it is known that many services were painted with landscapes after Berghem, and that William Vandervelde, Van der Meer, and Jan Steen, painted some of the ware themselves, we may easily believe that many pieces of delft had a character of their own, which gave it a very high rank.