To a somewhat earlier date belong the moulded reproductions of animals, vegetables, and fruit so well represented in the Schreiber collection. In the case of some of the models of birds, the plumage is admirably reproduced, and in a sufficiently bold style. Notice especially some covered dishes in the form of partridges and doves. There was a sale of these ‘Chelsea Tureens in the shape of hen and chickens, swans, rabbits, carp, etc.,’ in 1756.
How brilliant and decorative in general effect was some of the ware made by Sprimont in his later days may be well seen in the collection presented to South Kensington by Miss Emily Thomson. It consists chiefly of plates and cups with grounds of deep Mazarin blue, and more especially of the rich claret or maroon of Chelsea ([Pl. xliii].). Technically, however, many of these pieces are very imperfect—the thick glaze accumulated in pools and fissured by cracks, the painting rude—and yet for all this a plate of this ware which has found its way by some accident into an adjacent case, full of the finest Sèvres of the best period, shines out from its surroundings like a jewel.
The single figures and groups are mentioned in the earliest advertisements—some of the plain white statuettes date back probably to the first days of the works. Here the English potters, in applying the soft paste covered with a thick, brilliant glaze to such a purpose, were breaking fresh ground. The crispness and the finish of the Dresden statuettes they could never attain to with these materials. The English figures and groups, whether made at Chelsea or elsewhere, are generally wanting in sharpness and precision of outline, a consequence in great measure of the thick-flowing glaze. In the kiln they had to be supported by an elaborate system of struts to prevent the fusible material from collapsing, and this alone must have hampered the modeller in the selection of the design. Many of these
PLATE XLIII. CHELSEA
English statuettes are childishly and hastily modelled, and yet here and there, perhaps almost by an accident, the modeller has succeeded in giving a naïve charm and vivacity to the little figure that disarms all criticism. I could point to perhaps a dozen examples in our museums to illustrate this. Many of these statuettes are disfigured by the tawdry gilding, and by the ugly rococo or ‘scroll’ bases which are always present in the Chelsea examples. The colouring is distinguished by the skilful use of pale and gradated tints: the greenish turquoise, the rouge d’or—both the English and the French tints—and the pea green, are—thanks, perhaps, to the crystalline glaze into which these colours melt—boldly combined without any unpleasant effect[223] ([Pl. xliv].).
Sprimont, who after all is perhaps the most interesting figure in the history of English porcelain, was after the year 1761 constantly interrupted by ill-health, and the outturn of the kilns was for several years very irregular; finally in 1769 the remaining stock was sold by auction. The next year, the contents of the factory, the moulds, the models—in wax, brass, or lead—the mills and the presses were purchased privately by Duesbury en bloc, greatly to the disappointment of Wedgwood, who had his eye upon certain of the models. Duesbury also took over the lease of the Chelsea works, and carried them on conjointly with his main factory at Derby until the year 1784. In that year, on the expiration of the already prolonged lease, the factory at Chelsea was finally abandoned and the kilns pulled down.
The sales which had previously taken place at Burnsall’s in Charles Street, Berkeley Square, were now held at Mr. Christie’s ‘in his great room, late the Royal Academy, in Pall Mall.’ It was there that ‘Messrs. Duesbury and Co.’ disposed at intervals of the produce of the combined works. But the history of Chelsea porcelain as a genre apart comes to an end with the departure of Sprimont. During the remaining years of their existence, the Chelsea works formed merely a dependency of those at Derby.