Figs. 826 to 831.—Blashfield’s Stamford Terra Cotta.
Mr. Blashfield further wrote to me:—
“I suggested to Herbert Minton the making of mosaic pavements, and found some of the money and designs for the early development of the pavement business. It was the connection with the pavement business that led me to a knowledge of pottery; and made me turn the moulds and models which I had used for plastic scagliola and cement castings into use for terra-cotta in 1851. I began to form my collection of models in 1831 in the Southwark Bridge Road.”
The productions of this manufactory were terra-cotta as applied to every purpose, glazed or enamelled tiles and bricks for wall-facings, hard ordinary paving tiles, enamelled architectural enrichments for internal use, and red and buff moulded bricks.
In this material, statues, both single figures and groups, busts, vases, tazzas, fountains, pedestals, suspenders, chimney shafts, cornices, consoles, string courses, pateræ, medallions, panels, friezes, capitals and bases, tracery, window and door heads and jambs, balustrades, and every species of architectural decoration were produced in almost endless—and, certainly, as to design, matchless—variety. The vases and tazzæ were most carefully modelled from ancient examples taken from the British and other Museums, and from the standard works of Montfaucon, Winckelmann, Millengen, Raoul Rochette, Dubois-Maisonneuve, Baptista Passerio, D’Hancarville, Piranesi, Tatham, Moses, Sir William Hamilton, Englefield, and others; and many original designs by Mr. Blashfield and other artists were added. These were produced of various sizes, but all of equal excellence. The statues and busts, &c., are clever reproductions of ancient examples, and special works modelled for the purpose by or from Bell, Woodington, Roubilliac, Weigall, Chantrey, and other renowned modern artists.
Among the public buildings which have been enriched by the art works of Mr. Blashfield’s manufactory are the urns, antifixa, and pavements in the Royal Mausoleums, Windsor; vases and terminals, &c., at Buckingham Palace; vases, tazzas, borders, &c., at Kew and Hampton Court Gardens and Dairy Farm, Windsor; colossal statues, fountains, vases, &c., and roofs and other decorations, at the Crystal Palace; chimney shafts, &c., Sandringham; vases and pedestals, Marlborough House; the entire red, buff, grey, and black terra-cotta details and enrichments for Dulwich College; Lady Alford’s mansion, and many other places; and, indeed, for most of the public buildings and private mansions of this country and abroad. Of these, perhaps one of the most important, and which will ever remain a lasting monument of Stamford ceramic art, is the new Dulwich College, erected from designs by Mr. Charles Barry, and entirely composed of terra-cotta. It is the most complete specimen of terra-cotta building in England—no stone whatever being used; the value of the material alone being, in the gross, calculated at £28,000. The whole of this was made at these works.
