Finest China - made in England

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by Christopher Proudlove©
It was during the 17th century that Europeans first became aware of Chinese porcelain decorated in tones of blue, thanks largely to the trading and importing activities of the Dutch East India Company.

Porcelain was regarded as the trappings of the exotic and the rich, and it was celebrated whenever possible.

Dutch Old Master artists painted still lifes to include the porcelain treasured by their patrons rich enough to afford to commission them and houses were bedecked with the stuff as a show of wealth that came to symbolise the three ideals: Peace, Prosperity and Plenty - all good aspects of a successful nation.

The huge amounts of the less valuable blue and white decorated Chinese porcelain imported into England in the 1740s, clearly indicated this was the usable everyday items for the wealthy and mercantile classes of the day, particularly in the growing habit of the drinking of tea.

Polychrome - or multi-coloured - ware was traditionally the most highly regarded type of decoration on the porcelain, but nevertheless it was the blue and white wares that were to predominate in the fashion of the imitation of Chinese designs in England at the time.

It was not long, therefore, before the entrepreneurial English porcelain manufacturers of the day began to take the somewhat risky opportunity to try to create a Western alternative to the Chinese wares and redirect some of the fortunes that were being spent into their own bank balances.

In doing so, they were following the examples of the already established continental manufactories, notably Meissen, who were quick to develop their own naturalistic style that was to follow in England within a decade.

The first to try their hand were the London manufactories of Bow, Chelsea, Limehouse and Vauxhall.

Each developed its own quirky shapes and decoration, often mirroring the localised potting traditions of their neighbours who were engaged in producing domestic earthenware and London delft pieces (themselves copies of wares imported from the Low Countries.

Lengthy experimentations with clays, firing temperatures and types of glaze resulted in a myriad of differences to the colour of the porcelain.

For their part, designers adopted the extravagance of the fashionable rococo silver of the period to produce a purely English style and feel to these early "Chinese" pieces.

A forerunner in the process was the Worcester factory, where on the June 4, 1751, after many trials and experiments in an apothecary's shop, Dr. John Wall and William Davis succeeded in signing up 12 other businessmen of standing to finance the Worcester Tonquin Manufactory.

However, the start was beset by early difficulties and it was only after the premises, stock, tools and effects of the failed Benjamin Lund's Bristol porcelain works were acquired in 1752 that Worcester production began to gather momentum.

The acquisition produced an extra bonus. Worcester also inherited Lund's decorators, many of whom had originally trained in the delft, Limehouse and possibly even Bow factories and they had an understanding of the artistic tradition of painting which Worcester made full use of.

Interestingly, the factory was constantly advertising for more painters who developed their mastery of using the underglaze cobalt blue to a point where it was in no way inferior to the Chinese wares they were copying.

The fashion of the day demanded pottery decorated with Chinese designs - chinoiserie, as it is called - and Worcester's senior decorators were given their heads, resulting in the factory maintaining a successful grasp on the market of the day.

Examples of these early purely chinoiserie designs are found on very few recorded shapes most of which are teawares, while ornamental wares are exceptionally rare.

Among the rarest is a creamboat of which only two examples are known to exist. One of them can be seen in the Museum of Worcester Porcelain, marked in low relief with the Latin "Wigornia" for Worcester. Its value is beyond measure.

Important trading gap

Porcelain shaped like scallop shells were scarce to find in Chinese porcelain at the time and the Worcester factory was able to fill this important trading gap, one of the prettiest being decorated with the highly unusual design of a bird sitting on a floral branch.

However, Worcester were by no means alone in the market.

In 1744, Huguenot silversmith Nicholas Sprimont, who had fled Liege and settled in London, entered into a partnership with fellow Huguenot Charles Gouyn to produce fashionable porcelain for Royal and aristocratic London society.

Their factory was built in what was then the village of Chelsea, and their early wares were gaily coloured domestic porcelain to appeal to such an elite market. Consequently, blue and white Chelsea porcelain is rare.

Sadly, the partnership was beset by differences and in 1749 Sprimont and Gouyn quarrelled and split, Gouyn moving back to St. James's where he had been a jeweller.

He continued to manufacture a series of porcelain figures and animals and
scent bottles and seals which he then mounted beautifully in precious metals.

Sprimont, who suffered bouts of ill health, sold the factory to James Cox in 1769 who in turn sold out less than a year later to William Duesbury, the founder of the Derby factory.

The Chelsea factory was sold in 1784 and what small production that remained there was moved to Derby - masters of copying oriental wares, notably the ubiquitous Imari.

 

Chelsea - a victim of its own success

 

In 1749, massive growth caused the factory to move to new premises in Lawrence Street, and a revitalised business was advertised in The Daily Advertiser on January 9, 1750.

The advertisement read: "The Manufacturer of China Ware at Chelsea takes the liberty to aquaint the Publick, that he has been employed since his last Sale in making a considerable parcel, of which the Assortments are so far advanced, that he hopes to be in a Condition to offer it to Sale in the Month of March next; it will consist of a variety of Services for Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, Porringers, Sauce Boats, Basons, and Ewers, Ice-Pails, Tureens, Dishes and Plates of different Forms and Patterns, and of a great Variety of pieces for ornament in a Taste entirely new". Where is it all now, I wonder.

The marketing push coincided with a new porcelain recipe giving the body a "voluptuousness … highly pleasing to the senses of touch and sight" as one commentator described it. Less than 20 years later, the business was sold.

Pictures show: Top
Wonderful Worcester:
Left to right, a small Worcester mug or coffee can decorated with children playing in a mountainous landscape, worth £300-400, a small bowl decorated with Chinese buildings and bamboo, worth £1,200-1,500 and a pretty little butterboat decorate with oriental flowers and insects, worth £800-1,200

Below, left to right:
A fine and early Worcester tankard decorated with the so-called Walk in the Garden pattern and worth £5,000-6,000. It dates from 1758-60

A rare early Worcester pickle leaf dish, circa 1756, decorated with peonies and a bird perched on a rock. It's worth £3,000-4,000

A rare early Worcester teapot and cover worth £8,000-10,000. It dates from circa 1754 and is decorated with a Chinese garden known by collectors as the Zig Zag Fence pattern

These are tumultuous times. In the space of a few days we have buried a Pope, Brtitain's future King (and Queen?) have married, thousands of car workers face losing their jobs and we are in the midst of a general election campaign which has all the acrimony of a chimpanzees' tea party.

We know all this because of the speed with which news travels around the globe. Time was, before telephones, radio and television were not as common as they are today, when the humble postcard played an important role in recording memorable events for the least expense.

I say all this as a preamble. The alternative might have been to reduce this column to the realms of soft porn and glamour photos, which is not my intention.

However, given the pictures illustrated here, that's going to be difficult! But I'll force on.

Old picture postcards remain today as one of the most accessible, fascinating, inexpensive and easily cared for and stored collectables there are.

The fact that so many millions of the things remain in existence goes a long way in explaining their popularity in their heyday.

Time was, following some memorable event like a crowning, or a funeral or a disaster, that within hours of it occurring, picture postcards recording the scenes were on sale and being posted by the masses to the masses.

The Royal family, in the space of a couple of generations, has provided enough material to fuel the postcard industry. Queen Victoria's death in 1901 probably started the ball rolling when "in memoriam" cards bearing her likeness were apparently being printed and sold by postcard manufacturer C. W. Faulkner less than the day after her demise.

Thereafter, every Royal birth, wedding, Coronation, and funeral spawned millions of cards now eagerly collected by both lovers of royal memorabilia and postcard collectors worldwide.

There are, of course, thousands of other subjects all immortalised by photographers both professional and otherwise in illustrations on the fronts of the little cards and as such each is important as a record of social history.

Collecting postcards illustrated with images that are, if you like, the Victorian and Edwardian equivalent of the Page 3 stunner, had not occurred to me until I had a chance conversation with a stallholder at a recent collectors' fair.

His display consisted entirely of pictures he had framed himself, all charming lithographs and prints all ready to hang and bring stylish cheer to the dullest of rooms.

Among them, however, was a large number of picture postcards which, when framed, lifted them beyond the bounds of the £2-£3 price range that they would otherwise command to something far more significant.

"Oh look," said the Business Manager (Mrs P) "I'm sure we've got some postcards like that at home." And of course she was right (she usually is) whereupon we learned that we were the unwitting owners of something much more significant -- in postcard terms that is.

The artist responsible for them is called Angelo Asti (1847-1903) who some think was responsible for introducing the glamour postcard to an already burgeoning market.

Clearly Angelo had an eye for the ladies, but then he did have Italian parents and spent most his life in Paris. Until the collectors' fair conversation, I had never heard of him but a quick search through the online catalogues of a few auction houses soon located " Angelo Asti: Head and shoulders of a maiden, crystoleum, copyright 1902, framed, 29cm x 23cm" in a sale in Tunbridge Wells.

Guide price

The guide price was £100-150. It sold for £30 and I wish I'd been there, although the picture was a crystoleum - basically a print pasted face down to the inside curve of a piece of concave glass.

Asti’s postcards, beautifully detailed and coloured and a tribute to the skills of Edwardian printers, are valued at £8 apiece in the current Picture Postcard Values price guide.

In my view, that is a serious undervaluation, but Asti's stunners are not to everyone's liking. Some refer to them as "nasty Astis" while others have referred to them as "luscious, Rembrandtesque, full-breasted beauties". I'll leave you to decide!

In fact, Asti was a serious artist, exhibiting a range of works at the Paris Salon. He was also renowned for the beautiful women's portraits he painted in a traditional Italian style on silk.

In 1904, some of the portraits were chosen to decorate a calendar and at the height of the Art Nouveau movement, it was a huge success. More than 1.5 million copies were sold, some would argue marking the beginning of the pin-up and glamour calendars that we know today.

The success was spotted by the French postcard publisher known today only by the initials K. F. and later by the famous specialist printer Raphael Tuck. In all, Asti had around 60 of his works published as postcards which today are highly sought after by specialist collectors.

Interestingly, Asti was also asked to provide designs for JOB, the French cigarette paper company, showing "les fumeuses" and since I have been looking, I've also found an extremely smart, early 20th century circular tin tray, intended for a bar or cafe, decorated in the centre with an image of a décolleté Asti lady.

In an online auction, the biding had reached $80 with three days to go.

Over the years, Asti's style has been copied by countless other artists. However, in my view no one has come close to matching his prowess at capturing the hairstyles, poses, fashion and style of a lost era.

Readers remember 'forgotten' Frances

My blog last week appealing for information about the "forgotten" artist Wallasey-born Frances Macdonald, whose monumental work “The Welsh Singer” was commissioned for a Festival of Britain exhibition in 1951 has drawn a response.

In an email, Mrs KR from Crosby tells me that like Frances, she also attended Wallasey High School and remembers the painting being displayed at morning assembly when it was donated to the school.

“It was presented to the school during the autumn term - 1957 - as ‘an

anonymous gift’” she writes. “The artist is described as a pupil of the school from 1924 to 1930, and later a student at the Wallasey School of Art. She was also an official war artist.”

I think it is fairly safe to assume that Frances herself was the donor of the painting, but there will be no sign of such generosity when it is sold by Colwyn Bay auctioneer David Rogers Jones next Saturday, (April 23).

The remarkable painting entitled depicts the vast Penrhyn slate quarry in North Wales and takes its title from a central figure, a miner who sits head tilted heavenward, singing at the top of his voice while the cacophony of mining goes on all about him.

I’ll let readers know what it fetches in a subsequent blog.

Pictures show:
Top -
Angelo’s beauties – we picked up the Art Nouveau mounts years ago at a fleamarket for little money and they are just right for these Raphael Tuck postcards

Below, left to right -
A card from Tuck’s Connoisseur series

Look out for the distinctive Asti signature. Note also the Tuck trademark to the right. It is a tiny artist’s easel and palette with brushes with the initials RTS and it appears on all their products

This Asti postcard was published by Birn Brothers, but they did not credit the artist

Forgotten artist of true genius

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by Christopher Proudlove©

At risk of sounding repetitive, regular readers of this column know how keen I am to learn more about the work of forgotten local artists and craftsmen.

With readers' help, we have already uncovered stacks of information aboutLiverpool's Herdman family whose watercolours documented the development of the city in the 19th century (Chapter One); Birkenhead artist Harry B. Neilson, (1861-1941) the man who painted those charming watercolours of foxes dressed as huntsmen riding foxhounds (Chapter Two) and Liverpudlian artist, George Haydock Dodgson (1811 - 1880) who remains elusive despite being a regular exhibitor at among others, the Royal Academy, The Society of British Artists, and The Liverpool Society of Fine Arts (Chapter Three).

The Search continues this week with Chapter Four: who was Wallasey-born Frances Macdonald?

The question was posed when North Wales auctioneer David Rogers Jones contacted me with information about one of his regular "Welsh Sales", which will take place on Saturday, April 23, at his rooms in Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay.

The sale of Welsh views and work by Welsh artists shows no sign of slowing and the sale contains some exceptional lots.

But it is a remarkable painting entitled "The Welsh Singer" by Frances Macdonald that is arousing interest, even before the auction catalogue has been published.

The monumental work -- it measures 6 feet wide by 4 feet deep -- has astonishing wall power. It depicts the vast Penrhyn slate quarry and takes its title from a central figure, a miner who sits head tilted heavenward, singing at the top of his voice while the cacophony of mining goes on all about him.

David Rogers Jones tells me that the work was specially commissioned by the Arts Council of Great Britain for an exhibition which toured the country, finishing at the Festival of Britain in London in 1951.

Leading artists of the era were asked to contribute a painting for the exhibition, which was called "Sixty Paintings for '51". Frances was among their number, as were Francis Bacon, Edward Burra, Lucien Freud, L.S. Lowry, John Nash, Victor Passmore and Ruskin Spear.

In other words, our Frances was among an illustrious gathering, la creme de la creme of Britain's artistic community in the Fifties.

I don't claim to have an extensive reference library, so most of my research is done on the Internet.

Had she been the Frances Macdonald who was one of the so-called Scottish Four - artist and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh, furniture designer, painter, metal worker, jewellery designer and graphic artist Herbert MacNair and sisters Frances and Margaret Macdonald, the search would have been simple.

Scottish Frances married MacNair and was a renowned artist in her own right producing embroideries, gesso panels and water colour paintings, all in the unmistakable Macintosh style.

But our Frances is virtually anonymous.

However, it transpires that the Tate has two works by her in their collection: "Building the Mulberry Harbour, London Docks 1944" and "Iffley Church" 1970-1, and their excellent website gives a brief but tantalising biography.

It reads: Frances MacDonald 1914-2002. Landscape painter, particularly of scenes in Wales and the South of France. Born 12 April 1914 at Wallasey, Cheshire; her great-grandfather was a portrait painter in Dublin. Studied at Wallasey School of Art 1930-4 and the R.C.A. (Royal College of Art) under Sir William Rothenstein and Barnett Freedman 1934-8. Official War Artist 1940-6. First one-man exhibition at Wildenstein's 1947; has also exhibited at the Alfred Brod Gallery. Married to Leonard Appelbee.

"One-man band"

Fascinating. So, with the unusual spelling of his surname,that must be the same Leonard Appelbee whose painting "One-man Band" was also commissioned by the Arts Council and hung in the same Festival of Britain exhibition.

Fortuitously, the Tate also has works by Apelbee in their collection and his website biography shows his dates as 1914-2000. A painter of landscapes, still lifes and occasional portraits, he was born in Fulham, London, studied art at Goldsmiths' College 1931-4, and at the R.C.A. 1935-8. He saw active service in the Army an exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy.

That would have been all I could tell you, but adding to the intrigue is a letter -- to be sold with Frances' "The Welsh Singer" -- dated 1983 from Sheffield address and written by someone who was clearly an admirer of her work.

The recpient of the letter was Miss S. Davies, the headmistress of Weatherhead High School, Mount Pleasant Road, Wallasey, following a visit to the school in a few days earlier by the sender.

The letter reads: "A few days ago I received a pleasant letter from Frances MacDonald who made some interesting remarks about her painting The Welsh Singer 1951.

"She wrote: 'I was interested to be asked to paint a large canvas, as I was already contemplating a painting of that vast Penrhyn Quarry because it was such a magical and compact shape, like a witches' or Welsh hat and I was bewitched by its poetry and the wealth of music coming from 'the biggest man-made hole in the world'.

"She goes on a great length about the growth of the work and then writes that 'the person who had been music teacher at Wallasey high school bought it for the school'.

"There is a strong chance that Frances MacDonald attended either your school or one in the Wallasey area because she writes that she attended 'the small but very good Wallasey Art School' before going to the Royal College of Art."

The letter concludes by giving a Devon address for Frances and Leonard Appelbee and suggests that the headmistress might well receive a letter from her.

This background information -- the provenance of "The Welsh Singer" -- makes the painting even more compelling. David Rogers Jones believes the work left the school and was sold without fanfare "a year or two ago".

One of about 200 paintings by Welsh artists and Welsh subjects to be sold by him on Saturday, April 23, the work is expected to fetch in the region of £4,000. I suspect it might be more.

And, as usual, if any reader knows more about Frances MacDonald -- perhaps they were a fellow pupil at Weatherhead High School, a neighbour or a friend -- I'd love to hear from you.

60 Paintings for '51

A foreword to the catalogue for the exhibition "60 Paintings for '51", to be sold with "The Welsh Singer" reads: "If the Festival of Britain is to achieve its avowed aim of showing the British way of life in all its various facets it is clearly appropriate that a number of distinguished painters and sculptors should have been given an opportunity to make their contribution.

"With this very end in view -- and also in the hope of handing down to posterity from our present age something tangible end of permanent value -- the arts Council has commissioned 12 sculptors and invited 60 artists to paint a large work, not less than 45 x 60 inches on a subject of their own choice.

"The paintings will be exhibited in London and the Provinces as a group not only to enable visitors to the Festival to see a lively cross-section of contemporary British painting but also to encourage other public bodies, or indeed private individuals too, to celebrate the Festival by making a purchase.

"It will be said, and rightly, that today the number of private patrons who can afford either the wall-space or the cost of these large paintings must be limited and it is to the new collective patrons of the future, as well as to art galleries, that the exhibition is commended as an opportunity when they may suitably exercise their patronage".

The same holds true, both for exhibitions and auctions, today.


Pictures show top:
"The Welsh Singer", the imposing oil by Frances Macdonald
Below, left to right:
Two detail images showing the singer, head tilted heavenward, from whom the picture's title is taken
Detail showing slate cutters at work

Flowers that never wither or die

Jan van Huysum

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by Christopher Proudlove©

What would I buy if money was no object? A big house, a big garden … and the staff to run it all.

The thought occurred as I gave the patch of weeds we call a lawn its first cut after winter.

The half-hour it took was ample time to conjure up day-dreams of life-enhancing improvements to my lot!

I don't do gardening, but I do like a nicely laid out and well presented garden. Regrettably, I have neither time nor inclination to achieve either.

Sadly, I don't have the money to invest in an alternative: a collection of flower paintings by Dutch Old Masters.

It would have been an investment that would have paid dividends. Old Masters have risen in value almost without fail every year for the last 10 or more and the trend looks set to continue.

But I could afford to collect flower prints like the ones illustrated here.

The great thing is there are flower pictures to suit all pockets - from £100 to £1 million or more. You should buy the best you can afford.

Flower pictures look decorative in any setting; they don't need watering or weeding; they never wither and die and they don't get infested with greenfly.

The Dutch have always been entranced by flowers, particularly tulips, but they were luxuries that only the rich could afford.

In the 17th century, rich Dutch traders would bedeck their homes with flowers as a display of wealth that their peers could only grow ever more jealous about.

It was the Chinese who first painted flowers, mostly on silk and as early as the 7th century AD.

Sadly, the medium was only slightly more durable that the flowers themselves and such early pictures are known only by reference to them in contemporary writing.

In Europe, the first use of flowers in art was probably as decoration to medieval manuscripts and as backgrounds to religious paintings intended for churches and monasteries, the iris and lily being the most usually associated with the subject matter.

It would be asking for trouble to try to say who was the first European painter to paint a flower picture for the sake of the flowers alone.

Suffice it to say that the practice was established by about 1500 and was common place by about 1600, the lead being taken by artists in the Low Countries.

It was a turning point in the history of Western art, since most of what had gone before was of religious or mythological subjects painted in the main for churches and palaces.

However, the gradual development of trade between nations and the general increase in wealth brought many more luxury goods to a greater market.

Flowers were one such commodity which caught the imagination of European courts and the wealthy landowners who actively competed with each other to devise the most exciting and well-stocked gardens replete with exotic cultivars.

In the early 1630s, a single bulb of a rare or exotic tulip cost about three times the annual wage of a skilled manual worker or about the price of a smart Amsterdam town house - quite literally more than worth their weight in gold.

The only time since then that tulip bulbs have been so highly valued was during the "hunger winter" of 1944-45 when a Nazi blockade in Occupied Holland forced the beleaguered populace to eat them to stave off starvation.

The golden period of Dutch flower painting was roughly between 1650 and 1750, led in the main by Jan Davidsz de Heem (1606-1683/4).

Breathtakingly convincing

De Heem had a masterful control of colour and contrast, enabling him to construct three-dimensional illusions that were breathtakingly convincing.

His work was to influence an entire generation of artists into following his style, notably Jan Brueghal, Johannes Bosschaert, Jan Davidsz de Heem, Willem van Aelst, Rachel Ruysch and Jan van Huysum.

The downside of all this is the cost. The going price for a decent Old Master flower painting these days is more than I earn a year.

So what's the alternative? Well, consider the beautiful orchid prints here.

Each is an illustration by John Nugent Fitch (1840-1927), the botanical illustrator and lithographer famous for his "Orchid Album" first published in 1882.

Fitch was the nephew of the great botanical illustrator Walter Hood Fitch who between 1834-77 drew more than 2,700 plates for Curtis's Botanical Magazine.

Nugent Fitch took up the task for many years after his uncle's retirement in 1878.

Curtis's Botanical Magazine has been published continuously since 1787 and is now published for the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.

William Curtis (1746-1799) was a trained pharmacist living in London. He was fascinated by the study of flora and insects and maintained a large garden where he grew beautiful exotic plants.

A large number of the prints found on the market today were published by Curtis and bear his address at St. George Crescent. They start at around £100 apiece

Another name to watch out for is Doctor Robert Thornton who inherited the family fortune and spent every penny of it in publishing a book of engraved illustrations of flowers.

In the end, it bankrupted him. Thornton even organised a lottery with copies of the book as prizes.

Sadly, the gamble did not pay off. Insufficient tickets were sold, leaving Thornton even further in the red and "was forever after a beggared man" to quote one contemporary report of the catastrophe.

Today, a copy of the complete book is priced in the realms of Old Masters, but single prints occasionally come on to the auction market and change hands for £2,000 to £3,000 apiece.

Thornton's interest in botany and natural history started as a boy. He kept a small botanic garden and an aviary and incurred his grandmother's wrath for spending his time catching insects and butterflies in her garden instead of minding his studies.

The idea for his flower engravings was formulated while at university. It would be a masterwork in many volumes that would surpass all others. His inheritance would fund it.

Grandly, he called it The Temple of Flora and no expense would be spared on the "botanical work of national importance".

Thornton commissioned paintings of the plants from leading botanical artists of the day and the most capable engravers to produce the plates.

Each measured 23 inches by 18 inches and were much acclaimed for their dramatic representation of the flowers in romantic landscapes.

It was a truly important work. Not only was it the first to depict the flowers in their natural surroundings, but the idea of printing them in colour was uncommon at this date and exceptionally expensive.

Thornton's fixation with detail and thoroughness led to many expensive alterations and changes in the search for perfection for each plate.
In some cases more than one plate was engraved and others were engraved first in aquatint and then in mezzotint.

By the time Temple of Flora was published, Britain was at war with Napoleon and the government raised taxes to pay for it, making money tight among Thornton's likely customers. Few copies of the book were sold.

Faced with mounting debt and disappointing sales, he successfully petitioned George III for royal assent to an Act enabling him to dispose of his collection of paintings, drawings and engravings to recover some of his expenses "by way of Chance".

The draw was made on May 6, 1813 but it was a flop and Thornton went home a broken man. He died in his London home in 1837, leaving so little property there was no point in him making a will.

Pictures show above:
A magnificent oil on panel by Jan van Huysum, dated circa 1730. His paintings inspired generations of artists but cost today more than I earn a year

Below:
Orchid prints by John Nugent Fitch and worth £100-200 each