Blue Dash Chargers. By E. A. Downman. (T. Wernie Laurie.
15s. net.)—Collectors of old English earthenware have paid much attention to the coarse Delft dishes, decorated with rude portraits or with the temptation of Adam and Eve or with tulips, which were produced in the reigns of William III., Anne, and the early Georges. These round dishes, covered with tin enamel and painted in blue, green, and yellow, have dashes of blue round their edges, and are thus known as " blue dash chargers." They have no technical or artistic merit, but they reflect the popular taste of their time. William III.'s portrait occurs on many of them, the tulip has an obvious reference to Holland, and the representation of Adam and Eve, tempted by an orange instead of an apple, is supposed to reflect the Jacobite's and Nonjuror's abhorrence of the Revolution- Mr. Downman, an ardent collector of this ware, gives a detailed account of the many examples that he has seen, with numerous illustrations. He is able, on the evidence of Mr. Pountney, to confirm the suggestion of experts like Mr. William Burton that some, at least, of the " blue dash chargers " were made at Bristol, in the potteries which had been established there long before William's day. But it is possible that Staffordshire potters, always quick to take up new ideas, made a good many of these rude dishes.
Previous page
