WELSH PORCELAINS

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HE Welsh porcelains are better known to collectors and connoisseurs of these wares by the names of Old Swansea and Nantgarw. There were factories at both places, and their histories are inter-related. The Swansea potworks were opened for work in 1768, and closed in 1870, after an existence of a little over a century spent mainly in the production of faience. Their famous porcelain period, however, was much shorter, for it lasted only ten years, from 1814 to 1824. The manufacture of porcelain at Nantgarw extended over eleven years, in three of which no work was done there. It was commenced in 1811, and terminated in 1822; from 1814 to 1817 its founders were at Swansea, but returned again during the latter year. Old Swansea, or what is locally called the 'duck-egg' porcelain, has been collected, especially in South Wales, for many years; Nantgarw not so much, but collectors could always be found for any stray pieces which

turned up. Within the past five years,

however, a considerable demand has grown up for both, and prices have risen, on the average, about 300 per cent. in that time.

Many authorities might be quoted in favour of the opinion that Welsh porcelain deserves the attention now paid to it. The late Mr. R. H. Soden Smith said many years ago that it was a pity that a monograph was not written about the Swansea and Nantgarw porcelains, because in some respects they were the most interesting of all English china. He was an acknowledged authority on ceramics, and was for a long time the special agent of the government to report thereon at foreign exhibitions and on other occasions. The following reasons may be given in support of Mr. Soden Smith's opinion as to the interesting character of the Welsh porcelains:

(1) The best paste of the Welsh porce

lains has a soft, artificial, glassy, translucent body approaching more nearly to old Sèvres than any other English variety.

(2) The decorations are simple but effective reproductions of nature, mostly of flowers, insects, and birds.

(3) One of the decorators (Billingsley) was the most noted flower-painter of his day, as is recorded by Jewitt, Marryat, and Haslem. In 1796 his reputation was such that Mr. Lygo, London agent for Mr. Duesbury of Derby, begged the latter to prevent Billingsley from leaving Derby to go to Pinxton, entirely on account of the popularity of his work in London. Billingsley introduced a new mode of painting flowers and practically founded a school which lasted for half a century at least. He also elaborated a recipe for artificial paste, which he first tried at Pinxton and afterwards developed at Nantgarw.

For these reasons the pursuit of the Welsh porcelains by collectors has grown up, and is not likely to subside for some considerable time at least. No doubt some critics have objected to it as an absurd craze. They condemn a taste for 'glassy porcelains, and for Nantgarw in particular. From the point of view of the man who thinks hard paste the only thing worth collecting, the objection is an intelligible one. But he must be consistent and object to early Chelsea, Dr. Wall's Worcester, and even Sèvres itself, for these are all soft-paste porcelains. Collectors, as critics, are sometimes unreasonable. Because a man collects Derby, why should he object to Bow? Because another collects the hard Bristol, why should he object to the collecting of the softer Swansea? Then, the decorative improvement effected by Billingsley has been objected to as of no importance; it was only (it is said) a dirty practice of 'wiping out the high lights' instead of letting the white ground' remain. But when Turner and Girtin emancipated the English water

colour school from the swaddling bands of stiff outlines, they did exactly the same thing and more. Perhaps it was not a very great achievement, but it had the merit of being followed, not by one or two, but by hundreds of artists for over fifty years; and it is now being revived again with a qualification after a period of decadence.

That by the way: Billingsley had defects, like other human beings, but he had that power given to all gifted natures of inspiring personal admiration and a following. Let us, for just a little space, consider the ideals that these men had. They can best be appreciated by reading the petition which was sent to the Government from Nantgarw. The Pinxton recipe did not succeed commercially, and Mr. Coke, the owner of the Pinxton works, dropped it a very few years after starting. After a pilgrimage of about ten years via Mansfield, Torksey, and Worcester, Billingsley began operations at Nantgarw in 1811-12, and continued, with the assistance of William Weston Young, till 1814, when an appeal was made to the Board of Trade. Part of the memorial was worded thus: It is now many years since France has taken the lead in the manufacture of porcelain English manufacturers have exerted themselves .. the importation of white

but

French porcelain continues, selling price

the

for the last thirty years has been near three times that of the best English white porcelain. Your memorialists have to state that they have been engaged for years in trials for the improvement of British porcelain, and they have succeeded in making one equal to the French. It is formed on true scientific principles. They will undertake to make any article the French or any other people can, and with as much taste and precision ... but the manufacture being in an infant state they are not furnished with those models that older establishments are in possession of.'

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The Nantgarw petition failed to draw any pecuniary assistance from the Government, but Sir Joseph Banks referred the memorial to his friend and brother botanist, Mr. Lewis Weston Dillwyn of Swansea, who interviewed the potters at Nantgarw and persuaded them to go to Swansea that is, Billingsley, the potterartist; Samuel Walker, the potter; and Billingsley's two daughters, who always accompanied their father in his wanderings. In 1817 Billingsley and Walker returned to Nantgarw, and, after a two years' further struggle, they departed for Coalport, where the former died. Meantime, Young carried on the Nantgarw factory, with the assistance of Thomas Pardoe as manager during part of the time, till the month of October 1822.

This is the summary of the history. At Nantgarw Billingsley used his peculiar 'glassy' recipe and succeeded so far as reputation was concerned. It took hold of the London market, insomuch that Mr. John Rose of Coalport became alarmed for his own trade, and persuaded Billingsley to leave Nantgarw and go to Coalport. Now, in the petition of 1814 to the Government it is stated that twenty-five dozen pieces a week were made, or about 15,000 a year. At that time (1811-1814) Billingsley (with the occasional assistance of Young, probably) was the only decorator. His daughter Sarah was a gold-burnisher, and Lavinia was too young to do much. Mortlock, of London, agreed to take all he could get in the white; therefore Billingsley would paint, at that early period, only for those local men who patronized him. Out of the total output probably more than 14,000 pieces in the white' went to London every year. This will clearly show that a very large proportion of the whole produce was decorated in the metropolis. It also accounts to some extent for the distinctive character of the home-decorated minority now found re