Figs. 848 and 849.
In colour the old Leeds ware—i.e., the cream-coloured earthenware—is of a particularly clear rich tint, usually rather deeper in tone than Wedgwood’s Queen’s ware, and of a slightly yellowish cast. The body is particularly fine and hard, and the glaze of extremely good quality. This glaze was produced with arsenic, and its use was so deleterious to the workmen, that they usually became hopelessly crippled after four or five years’ exposure to its effects. It is not now used.
The perforated pieces, as well as those of open basket-work, exhibit an unusual degree of skill and an elaborateness of design that is quite unequalled. The example (Fig. [848]), is a chestnut basket and stand, of the finest and most elaborate description. In form it is faultless, as it is also in moulding, and there is considerable elegance in the general outline. The upper part of the cover, and the lower portion of the bowl are fluted, and the handles, which are double twisted, terminate in flowers and foliage. Both bowl and cover are elaborately perforated; and here it may be well to note, for the information of collectors, that the perforations of this description were produced by punches, by which the soft clay was pierced by hand. I name this more particularly because I have heard an opinion expressed, by those not conversant with the matter, that this description of open-work was produced in the mould. The fact of each of the perforations being produced separately by the hands of the workman, adds materially to the interest attached to the piece, and to its value. It may also be remarked that the wholesale price of this piece (eleven inches in diameter), the pattern for which was probably produced about 1782–83, was, in 1794, 8s. 6d.—a price which collectors at the present time would gladly triple and even quadruple.
Figs. 850 to 852.
Fig. [849] is an oval butter-tub and stand, of peculiarly elegant design, belonging to Mr. Manning. It is well covered with embossed work, and has both cover and stand very nicely perforated, the perforations being produced in the same manner as the one just described, by punches. The handles are ribbed and double twisted, with foliated terminations. The next illustration shows one of the “pierced fruit baskets” for which these works were very famous, and I have chosen it because it shows the combination of the pierced work with painting. These, and the asparagus shell (Fig. [850]), engraved to show how the peculiar art of these works was applied to the simplest things, will be sufficient to illustrate this variety of pottery.
The next variety is that of twig baskets, of which Fig. [852] is a good and characteristic example. In these pieces, which were produced in different varieties of wicker-work, the “twigs,” or “withies,” are really composed of clay in long or short “strips,” as occasion required, and then twisted and formed into shape. The process was one which required considerable care and nicety in manipulation, and was well calculated to exhibit the skill of the workman. Baskets of this kind were made by various makers, as well as at Leeds, and all on much the same model, so that without an intimate knowledge of the body and glaze of the Leeds ware, it is difficult to distinguish them from others. One of these baskets on its oval stand or dish (the wholesale price in 1794 ranging from 1s. 4d. to 3s. 6d., according to size) is engraved in the book of patterns of which I have spoken, and those who are fortunate enough to possess, or to be able to refer to that extremely scarce work, “Wedgwood’s Engraved Pattern Book” (18 plates, 4to.), will there find one engraved on Plate 13, Fig. [851]. The same baskets were produced at Castleford and Don, and by Staffordshire houses.
Fig. 853.
Another characteristic variety of Leeds work was the combination in basket-work, &c., of embossed patterns with perforations. Of these I give an excellent example on the accompanying engraving, in which the rim of the dish is embossed and pierced in basket-work. The way in which this was produced was this. The plate, dish, basket, or other piece, was formed in the mould so that the pattern stood out in relief above the parts intended to be incised. These were then cut out by hand, with a penknife, leaving the pattern entirely in open-work. The dish here engraved is one of the simplest kind, but is an extremely early specimen, having probably been made about 1779, and is therefore a good illustration of this class of work. It is marked in small capital letters LEEDS POTTERY.