[210] Mr. Willett, of Brighton, has a pair of ‘goat and bee’ jugs in silver, with the hall-mark of 1739.
[211] There is an interesting series of these very early pieces in the British Museum. A white ware salt-cellar, with crayfish in relief, has the triangle mark. A jug, in the form of a grotesque Chinaman, is a good specimen of the early paste. We notice the same waxy look in the paste that we find in the Saint-Cloud ware. The surface, however, is generally grayer.
[212] In 1758 we find an advertisement of a house to let in ‘China Walk,’ Chelsea.
[213] Both Gouyn and his successor, Sprimont, were very likely Walloons from the neighbourhood of Liége. In a contemporary work, however, the latter is spoken of as ‘a French artist of great abilities.’ Rouguet’s Present State of the Arts, 1755.
[214] Note the term ‘earthenware.’ As in a much earlier proclamation of the time of Charles ii. (forbidding the importation of painted earthenware, except ‘those of China, and stone bottles and jugs’), the word is used officially to include porcelain.
[215] Such a regulation would seem to show that in England the enamel-painters were in the field earlier than the manufacturers of porcelain.
[216] The later date is supported by the statement of Sprimont in his ‘Case,’ that ‘the ground flat of the manufacturer has gone on still increasing,’ for we know that the works were enlarged in 1757. The expression ‘crowned head’ applies better to the King of Prussia than to the Elector of Saxony. In 1760, as we have seen, Count Schimmelmann was at Hamburg selling, on behalf of Frederick, part of the vast stocks accumulated at Meissen.
[217] In a London paper of December 4, 1763, appeared the following statement—I quote from Mr. Nightingale’s book,—‘A few days since, his R. Highness the Duke of Cumberland was at Mr. Sprimont’s manufactory at Chelsea, and we are informed that his Highness will shortly purchase the same, that so matchless an art should not be lost.’ A week later, however, a formal contradiction of this report appeared in another paper, in the form of a note at the end of an advertisement of the sale of the contents of Sprimont’s factory. All this has a very modern air. We have a skilful combination of the ballon d’essai and the puff preliminary.
[218] This collection has lately disappeared from its old home in the Geological Museum, where it had been the delight of two generations of collectors. Most of the specimens have, however, quite recently been discovered at South Kensington.
[219] Much of the white ware at this time was decorated outside by ‘chamberers.’ Compare the memorandum-book of Duesbury quoted below.