Figs. 832 to 834.—Blashfield’s Terra Cotta.
In colour and quality the Stamford terra-cotta is of faultless excellence. The details are sharp, and in many cases exquisitely moulded; and, the body being much finer and harder than usual, they have a finish and a “touch” about them that cannot easily be surpassed.
One of the most striking series of subjects produced in terra-cotta was the manufacturing “process panels” on the exterior of the Wedgwood Memorial Institute at Burslem. Three of these are engraved on Figs. [832 to 834]. The whole series, modelled by Mr. Walter J. Morris, illustrate the various processes of the plastic art; those selected for engraving represent “Turning,” “Painting,” and “Firing.” The history of these panels is a somewhat interesting feature as connected with Stamford terra-cotta works, and is worth briefly recording. The whole of the clay for these large panels was prepared at the Stamford works by Mr. Blashfield. A large case, lined with plaster of Paris, was made for each panel; the clay was firmly and evenly pressed into it, and thus each of the twelve was transmitted to South Kensington. Mr. Morris wrought his modelling on the faces of these cases of clay, and they were returned to Stamford when ready for the later process to be accomplished. At Stamford they were cut up in suitable pieces for “firing;” made true (for they had got considerably twisted and warped during the time they were in the modeller’s hands), carefully dried, and burned; the whole series coming out from the kiln in the admirable and perfect state in which they now stand, as monuments of Mr. Blashfield’s ceramic skill, in the Wedgwood Institute. The whole of the operations in producing these panels occupied about twelve months in time, and their cost, of course, was something considerable. They were marked with Mr. Blashfield’s name.
Among the most successful vases was the “Shakspeare vase.” It is of the Medici form, but the general allegorical design and details are Mr. Blashfield’s own. The figures of the allegory, which run round the body of the vase, were modelled by the late Mr. Nixon, who executed the statue of William IV. for the City of London, in conjunction with his father, also a sculptor of eminence. It represents a masque scene from Shakspeare’s Tempest—Prospero, Ferdinand and Miranda, with Juno and Ceres, in front of the vase; Iris at the back, with the reapers, dancers, &c. Caliban forms the part of one handle and Sycorax the other. The whole are moulded in a masterly manner, and the rest of the details of the vase are eminently in keeping with them.
Engravings of some of Mr. Blashfield’s vases are given on Figs. [826 to 835]. Of these, Fig. [827], of novel design, bears powerful medallions of Dante and Petrarch; and Fig. [828] (a flower-pot), those of the Queen and the Prince Consort, and the Emperor and Empress of the French.
Fig. 835.
The marks used were the name, impressed, “J. M. BLASHFIELD,” or “BLASHFIELD, STAMFORD,” or “STAMFORD TERRA COTTA CO. LIMITED.”
Bolingbroke.
In the seventeenth century a pottery existed at Bolingbroke, in Lincolnshire. Houghton, writing in 1693, speaks of “the blue clay of Bolingbroke pottery, in Lincolnshire.” Nothing, however, is now known as to this manufactory.