PRECIOUS POTTERY.
ARE we Philistines ? We did not know it, bat it must be so, for the enthusiasm created by a sale like the FOU7I■ taine sale of pottery, and the prices given on Tuesday and Wednesday for some of the specimens, excite in us a sense of bewilderment, and, we will frankly add, of intellectual annoyance, only exceeded when we see thousands of pounds paid for specimens of wooden furniture, without a claim of any sort except that they were difficult to make, and that workmen wasted lives in their completion. We yield to no one in admiration of beauti- ful buildings, or beautiful pictures, or beautiful books, or even, at a long distance, beautiful precious stones, though the majority may surpass us in knowledge of them all ; but this expendi- ture of tens of thousands for curious pottery, this collec- tion of the art-lovers of the world to see painted dishes and finely glazed dishes — for enamels are nothing else — and candlesticks, and urns, creates in us a sense of irritation which to those who worship such things is, we suppose, slightly comic. We quarrel with no man's fads, if they are not injurious to society or debasing to themselves, and if the mil- lionaires like to spend hundreds a year for the privilege of looking at ugly majolica, we are not discontented. Still, the burden of proving that the pottery is worth its price would seem to be upon those who give it. Prima facie, their mania is a little absurd. Europe is supposed just now not to be making much money, and certainly there is much distress, while the future is full of storms, yet here we have capitalists by the dozen, and professional traders in Art by the score, who com- pete eagerly for the privilege of giving £3,000—or in one in- stance £7,350—for a dish, or £4,000 for an ivory horn. What do they do it for P It is certainly not for the gratification of the sense of beauty, for three times in four the articles are not beautiful. No picture can, as a picture, be so perfect on pottery or enamel as on canvas, for the conditions of manufac- ture, the necessities of firing, and glazing, and what not, must limit the artist's freedom, and render the expression of his thought more difficult. In most cases, however, the picture is not the attraction. Beauty of form, on the other hand, is better secured in harder material, as is proved by the reluctance with which great sculptors have devoted themselves to clay, which, when they have finished their work, may be spoiled in baking, colour- ing, and glazing. Half the costly pottery valued by collectors is positively ugly, covered with glaring colours, adorned with ridiculous reptiles, and so glazed that the iridescence is a weari- ness to the sight, which is always interrupted by an undesired reflex glare. The designer cares nothing for intellectual effect, nothing for any correspondence of parts, nothing even for naturalness of colour ; but solely for work which shall produce the impression of enormous difficulties successfully surmounted. This is the kind of thing which drives pottery purchasers wild with enthusiasm and liberality :—"103. A large oval cistern, elaborately ornamented with masks of cherub heads, with fes- toons of drapery and fruits all round the body of the cistern. The faces white, the hair and wings purplish gray and yellow, some of the drapery rich blue, and the ground of rustic work greenish, with lizards here and there. Four lion's paws form the feet of the cistern, which measures 321 in. long, 17; in. wide, and 131 in. high. Pat up at a bid of 500 guineas, and speedily reached the large sum of £1,911, at which it was knocked down (no name)." We venture to say that in all true elements of beauty, a Greek amphora with black figures on the natural terra cotta, worth perhaps thirty shillings, is richer than that thing, though it fetched probably six times the price of the " Icarus," and twice, if we remember right, the price asked for Watts's " Dove released from the Ark." The money, in fact, would buy a choice library, even if all the books were well bound. Or take this example, which excited even more enthusiasm at the sale :—" 296. Henri II. ware.— Flambeau, or candlestick, lower part of the stem of architectural design, three figures of children on a bracket, one bearing a shield with the Arms of France, each of the figures standing on a bracket supported by a mask, forming a tripod on a large circular plinth, the upper part of stem formed as a vase ; the Montmorency Laval Arms painted on top and plinth, 121 in. high, the plinth 6-8- in. in width. This celebrated piece was pat up at 1,000 guineas and speedily rose to 2,000, the two con- tending bidders being M. Clement and M. Manheim, of Paris. After a very spirited encounter the winner was M. Clement, at the enormous figure of 3,500 guineas (23,675)." In itself, what is that, except a particularly complicated candlestick in a material which any careless servant could destroy for ever. It is not its age for which it is bought at that monstrous price, for though old, it is not a sixth of the age of the abundant specimens of Greek pottery, nor is it its associations. Nobody that anybody knows of ever did anything wonderful by the light of that flambeau, even if that were a reason for placing upon it such a preposterous value. Men might as well bay a mirror for a million, because Queen Elizabeth once admired her own face in it. Association, indeed, has little to do with these prices, for although undoubted pedigree tells, and though the portraits included in the Limousin enamel dish may have swelled its monstrous price, seven thousand guineas, still all through the sale men were giving hundreds for dishes and the like, about which nothing could be said except that they were undoubted specimens of this or that ware, or from such-and-such a hand. They had probably passed most of their subsequent existence in old chests and cupboards. The truth is, the col- lectors are influenced a little by the fact that the article offered is unique, there being of necessity no other on earth exactly like it, a little by a certain glowing richness of effect, a little by that originality of workmanship which in worthier work would be genius, but principally by admiration for a specimen of handi- work in which inherent difficulties of every kind have been visibly 'overcome. That is a sound defence up to a point, all sincere handi- work deserving estimation ; but then comes the question whether the difficulties were worth overcoming ? We contend that they were not, and that every such piece of work is a specimen of ingenuity wasted, imagination frittered away, and genius
forced to exert itself in self-imposed fetters. Half the power exerted to produce grotesque clays or elaborate enamels, or over-ornamented ivory horns, would, if worthily spent, have produced work far more beneficial to Art, and indefinitely more ennobling, from the aide of artistic thought, to those who gaze upon it. Who, indeed, is en- nobled, who is not pro Canto debased by the elevation of an 'elaborate candlestick of painted pottery, without true beauty of colour or true grace of form, into the position of a work of the highest Art, for which the wealthiest connoisseurs may worthily compete and nations wisely pay ?
We object, for our part, to the nation paying any such sums for any specimens of the kind. A syndicate of wealthy men, anxious that such " dreams of beauty" should not be lost to the nation—as they will be while the Treasury is ruled by trustees for the taxpayer—was, it is stated, formed to bid at the sale for the articles it conceived the nation ought to have. If the Treasury buys them for South Kensington, well and good ; if not, the articles will be sold again, and in neither case will the guarantors suffer much. We suppose the syndicate deserves some credit for taking a good deal of trouble and risking a small sum of money in order to secure what its members believe to be art treasures to the nation, but appreciation of their effort should be confined to thanks from the authorities at South Kensington. The nation has only a limited sum to spend upon art treasures, and can spend it much more worthily than in buying candlesticks like these at 2600 apiece :—" 269. Limoges enamels, a pair of magnificent candlesticks on circular feet, with subjects in grisaille, from Exodus ; on square above foot of four figures, animals and cupids ; the stems painted with red and white foliated fluted work ; signed' P. R.' (Pierre Raymond), and dated 1556; 12 in. high. For these fine candlesticks there was a most energetic struggle between M. Lowengard and M. Clement, of Paris, and Mr. I. C. Robinson, who at length became the purchaser at £1,218; and his acquisition, as it was presumed to be for the syndicate, was loudly applauded by the crowded audience." The " crowded " audience was an audience of rich persons, and if it valued the candlesticks so much, might have presented them to the nation ; but, in any event, they ought not to be bought. If the South-Kensington Museum wishes to complete its exposition of the history of enamels, let it buy cheaper pieces, or wait till the craze is over and similar specimens are brought once more to the hammer at reasonable prices, not deplete it8 limited treasury by competing with men whose wealth is only equalled by their whimsicality. Art will not be injured by such abstinence, for no one wants such treasures to be imitated, and seeing them could but inspire students with a false ideal of what ought to be sought. We maintain the Department to collect beautiful things, not curios, and to teach men to design well, not to overcome mighty difficulties in modelling and baking heaps of incongra- ons figures on a dish. If the fund were limitless, it might be worth while to spend a few thousands upon such articles as candlesticks, if only to show our grandchildren what our grandfathers went mad over ; but as it is, such purchases would be a breach of the trusteeship in Art which South Ken- sington holds for the unhappy taxpayer.
It maybe said, and will be said, that the buyers waste no money, any more than they would in buying diamonds, for the estimation of pottery or enamel so precious rises every year. The specimens will sell a hundred years hence just as readily as they sell now. We do not believe it. Not to mention the risk from fire and care- less attendants, and the risk of a decline in the national wealth, amidst which all such whims will die away as suddenly as they rose, we maintain that if art-culture spreads—so spreads as to filter down among the people—the admiration for mere triumphs of skill and labour, without beauty either of form, or colour, or thought, will steadily die away, and they will be relegated to their fitting position,—as remarkable specimens of misdirected ludas try, patience, and artistic power. They will be regarded as what they are,—remarkable imitations in difficult material of natural objects, bound together for no reason except ostentation in a single design to which they do not naturally belong, and which they spoil by excessive overloading. Men will be ashamed to waste thousands in purchasing such things, and they will no more fetch their present prices than Lord Dudley's china ship will be sold for £10,000. We may be wrong, and the syndicate right, and no doubt the syndicate includes men who really love Art; but if we are wrong, and our grandchildren will give the price of three good pictures for a candlestick, the annual vote for Art will not have had much beneficial effect. Let the millionaires, at all events, run the risk, and let the nation con• fine its purchases to work possessed of beauty, buying even then with some reasonable consideration for the needs of those who pay. The slightest hint of economy in such matters is set down to Philistinism ; but with every increase in the Education Vote watched by jealous eyes, and a difficulty made of the east of keeping the coinage undefaced, we hold it preposterous to give a quarter of a million, or a fourth of that sum, for a caw.
tion of Rnbens pictures, which ought, till they vanish, as they will do, into the air, to be regarded as property already in trust for the benefit of the nation.
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