Fashions change in pottery as well as in other things, and freakish forms which please us to-day may be ridiculed to-morrow; but primitive wares have an enduring value. Pieces that were moulded for service, by potters whose love for nature and its beauties must needs express itself even on the decoration of a cooking-pot, will last long after the ware that is made only for money has gone back to the ground from whence it came.
Modern American Pottery
CHAPTER XII
MODERN AMERICAN POTTERY
One of the most encouraging signs of the advance in taste among American people is to be found in their appreciation of the pottery which is now being made in this country. Time was when majolica jardinières and Austrian china, with their high colours and glassy glazes, were things to be desired. Happily, they are going the way of plush-covered “suites” of furniture and crazy-quilts.
Much of the simplicity of method and design in American pottery comes from the study of primitive processes, shapes, and decorations. Indian ware, though of less value than some others to the student of ceramics, on account of its softness of body and unglazed surface, is nevertheless full of artistic feeling and suggestion to makers of pottery. There are many evidences also of French and Japanese influence.
In various parts of the country, true art pottery is being made—each ware with its own individuality and more or less characteristic of the section of the country from whence it comes. As yet but little tableware has been attempted at these potteries—the Dedham being almost the only one where it is made.