At the time of the great porcelain fever of the eighteenth century, of which the culminating period may be held to be coincident with the Seven Years’ War (1756-63), the North of Europe—Holland, Denmark, and Russia—formed part of the great province that had its metropolis at Meissen, while the southern countries—Spain and Italy (in part)—may be said to have looked to Sèvres for their inspiration. As for England, its allegiance was divided, but at the beginning, and certainly during the best period, the French influence was predominant; and later on, as regards the materials at least, we struck out a line of our own.
Holland.—There is little of novelty or originality to be found in the hard-paste porcelain made at this time in the North of Europe. The great days of Dutch art were over long before the introduction of porcelain into Holland, and the little that was then made fell readily into the Saxon school of decoration. Somewhere about 1760 the Count of Gronsfeld Diepenbroik established some of the Meissen workmen at Weesp. The mark on this early ware is doubtless derived from the Saxon swords ([Pl. c]. 40). Later, when removed to Oude Loosdrecht, the works were under the superintendence of a Calvinist pastor—his name is given as Moll. The mark on his porcelain, however, M. O. L., certainly referred in the first place to the place of manufacture ([Pl. c]. 41). On the death of the reverend director in 1782 the factory was removed to Amsterdam, where the porcelain known generally as Oude Amstel—a name that is often made to include the other Dutch porcelain of the time—was manufactured.
At The Hague, in 1778, a company was formed to make porcelain. This was under the patronage of the local magnates. They obtained the assistance of German workmen, and took the well-known badge of their town—a stork holding a fish in its mouth—as a mark ([Pl. c]. 42). This was painted in blue under the glaze—for the native porcelain at least. In the case of the foreign white ware, much of which was decorated here—the soft paste of Tournai especially—the mark was painted over the glaze. The somewhat heavily decorated porcelain of the Hague, painted with landscapes, sea-pieces, and flowers, is now much sought after by the Dutch. At the time, however, the competition of both Oriental and German porcelain, of the enamelled fayence of Delft and later of the English wares, left little place in Holland for a native porcelain.
Sweden.—The fayence and soft-paste porcelain made at Marieberg and at Rörstrand—both places in the neighbourhood of Stockholm—received their inspiration from Delft and Sèvres (or rather perhaps from Mennecy) respectively. Some hard paste was also made at Marieberg about 1780. The rare specimens of this ware are of considerable artistic merit. Of the soft-paste Swedish porcelain there are some custard-cups, closely imitating the Mennecy ware, both at South Kensington and in the Franks collection. The hard porcelain (and also, it is said, a ware that appears to be of a hybrid paste) bears as a mark the three crowns of the house of Vasa ([Pl. c]. 44).
Denmark.—At Copenhagen there were some early attempts at a soft paste made by a Frenchman named Fournier about 1760.[166] The mark—F. 5.—on this ware refers to Frederick v., the reigning king. But the famous factory of hard-paste porcelain, that has of late years shown so much enterprise and originality,[167] was founded in 1772 by F. H. Müller, a chemist and Government official, the materials being obtained from the island of Bornholm. In this case the German influence came from Meissen, and also, it would seem, by way of Fürstenberg, for we hear of a certain Von Lang from that town (probably the Von Langen mentioned above), baron and arcanist, who helped in the founding of the works. The factory was taken over by the Government in 1779, and it was long worked at a loss. The mark of three wavy lines in blue on this ware stands for the Sound, the Great and the Little Belt ([Pl. c]. 43). The curved mouldings, radiating in sets of three from a central medallion, sometimes found on bowls and plates, may also have a similar reference. This latter decoration is shown well on a bowl at South Kensington, painted with birds and flowers in gold frames. The handsome cabarets and dinner-services produced in the eighteenth century belong to the German school of the time, and have little relation to the more recent developments about which we shall have a word to say in chapter xxiii.
Russia.—Peter the Great, at the instigation of his friend and ally, Augustus of Saxony, is said to have projected a manufactory of porcelain at St. Petersburg, but the scheme was not carried out till the time of the Empress Elizabeth. This was probably about 1756, or perhaps earlier, and she doubtless, a few years later, welcomed the Meissen potters driven out by her mortal enemy, Frederick.[168] Under Catherine ii. these works rose to some importance, and among the many artists and sculptors attracted to her court, not a few—Falconet, among others—were employed as modellers or painters on porcelain. But on the whole the Russian porcelain was influenced more by Saxon models, and we hear that the gaps in the court services of Meissen ware were so well replaced by native pieces that the new dishes and plates were not to be distinguished from the old. The kaolin and the china-stone were derived from native sources.
After the Napoleonic war the manufacture of gigantic vases, in the style of those made at Sèvres under Brongniart’s régime, was attempted, and several skilful artists migrated from France. Technically the porcelain was not inferior to the hard paste of the latter country. The only mark is the initial of the reigning Emperor or Empress in Russian characters ([Pl. c]. 46), surmounted sometimes by a crown, but beyond these letters there is nothing Russian about the ware. The factory, which is still carried on, has always been an appanage of the court, and its chief produce has consisted in gala pieces for imperial presents.
Not much seems to be known about a certain Gardner, an Englishman, who in 1787 organised a porcelain factory at Tver, near Moscow. Some statuettes with his initials, written in Russian, have been attributed to him. His name occurs in full, again in Russian letters, on some small pieces of ribbed porcelain, decorated with green and gold. The factory seems to have long preserved his name, for on a statuette of a Russian peasant, in the Franks collection, the words Fabrika Gardnery are accompanied by the initials of Alexander ii. ([Pl. c]. 45).
CHAPTER XVII
THE SOFT-PASTE PORCELAIN OF FRANCE
SAINT-CLOUD—LILLE—CHANTILLY—MENNECY—PARIS—VINCENNES—SÈVRES.
WE have now to take up the history of the soft-paste porcelain of France, and in the first place to follow the stages that intervene between the early tentative ware made by Poterat at Rouen ([see page 239]) and the fully developed ‘artificial’ porcelain of Sèvres. We have, then, to deal first with the wares of Saint-Cloud and Chantilly, and in part with those of Lille and Mennecy-Villeroy.