a

At the Amateur Art Exhibition, at Lowther Lodge, many of the paintings on china, &c., were of exceptional merit. Lady Warwick's portrait plaque of Mrs. Bromley, Davenport, equals the works of most celebrated majolica painters of ancient Italy. In the same class I have to mention Lady Musgrave's dishes, painted in thoroughly original and effective style; Lady Dorothy Nevill's tea set and tray, remarkable for extreme delicacy in the manipulation of tiny sprig ornaments; and Lady Margaret Majendie's oval china plaque, with Italian cattle drovers, for effective drawing and colouring; nor to forget the contributions of the Marchioness of Downshire, of Lady Hood, Lady Mary Wilbraham Egerton, the Duchess of Beaufort, Mrs. Edgar Drummond, and Miss Jekyll.

JULY, 1878.

Messrs. Malkin, Edge & Co., are bringing out a very elegant dinner service, the pieces of which are of an entirely new shape. The goods are such as will, in all probability, make a good line in the market.

Baron Rothschild has bought of Messrs. Brown Westhead, Moore and Co., a dessert set in china, the subjects of which are taken from the rabbit warren, and treated in a comic spirit.

sixteen The same firm have amongst their exhibits vases in the Limoges style, for which they want £300; this is not dear, although most of them are small, considering the talent shown by the decorator and the risk they ran in the successive firings.

I am told that a Russian financier is about

At the Paris Exhibition there are specimens of Chinese porcelain of every known and traditional age. With regard to the example attributed to a period about 300 years prior to the Christian era, they may be set down as fables of the curiosity-mongers. The traditional inventor of the art, the Emperor Honang-ti, was not born till three centuries to purchase of Messrs. Daniell and Son, of later, supposing him to have ever existed, so Wigmore Street, for his daughter just setting that this throws some doubt upon the age of up as a householder, a set of plates, which are some of the exhibits, especially as some of the modern Chinamen challenged a comparison between some of their avowedly modern paintings, and that for which no authentic age can be given.

Glass manufacture is an art in which the Chinese and Japanese have never excelled; it was, therefore, a mistake to have included it in their exhibits, as it is a purely western invention, first introduced by the Jesuit

missionaries.

quite the thing for a bridal outfit, they are of turquoise blue, with love birds, May blossoms, grapes, and convolvulus, painted on glaze in white body color. The delicacy of the plumage and the truth with which the grapes and field flowers are executed deserve a high meed of praise, and the large price that will be given.

PRICE 4d. By Post, 5d.

Gustave Dorè was greatly tickled with the humour and chic of the blue duck and duckling service on white ground, exhibited by Messrs. Minton at the Exhibition, and bought it. It is cleverly designed by an artist who must have watched closely the ways of aquatic fowl, and been in sympathy with them. And certainly the price M. Dorè has paid for each of his plates, every one of which differs from the other, is surprising, only fivepence halfpenny.

The Paris correspondent of the Daily News speaking of the exhibitors, says :-Doulton and Wedgwood can no more clash than parallel lines. An eye wearied with ceramics intended to

harmonise with fashionable

millinery can also find repose among the

stone ware and Lambeth faïence. Some of the Doulton exhibits come very near to the Italian majolica of the sixteenth century. Strength, beauty, and harmony here go hand in hand. One might blindfold take a piece of decorative gris-pottery out of the collection in the certainty that it would not be out of place in a Park Lane mansion, nor too fine for the suburban dwelling of a young struggling couple. Castellane, the famous jeweller, whose son Torquato is making a great mark as a decorative potter in the Italian department, said to me, "Wedgwood in his line cannot be surpassed." It is to be hoped that he will cling to the tradition of his house, and not be drawn into catering for the thirst for novelty of the uneducated wealthy, who do not know their own minds. Doulton also is on the true path. When I think what English pottery in general was in 1851, I am astounded at this show.

If the French were not sure that we are

disposed to put up with "the one-sided reciprocity" for which they go in, it would be madness for them to augment protective duties. Since they are certain we will return a kiss for a blow, I am bound to say they give another proof of their superior shrewd

ness.

F.S.A., has been appointed by the Prince of Augustus W. Franks, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., Wales as President of the Royal Commission for the British Section of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878, to act as Juror in the International Juries for awarding prizes to the exhibitors for Class 20, Pottery.

I am told by a Stourbridge manufacturer of cut and engraved glass for table services, who is almost sure of winning a prize medal at the Exhibition, and who went to the expense, eighteen months ago, of setting up a house in Paris, that he has not made by it as much as pays a porter's wages. To a connoisseur, Baccarat's glass has not the clean cut, hardness, or purity of English fluid crystal. But tradesmen must not depend on connoisseurs for steady incomes. A close French imitation of the beautitul Stourbridge tumbler which cost, say, two shillings, can be sold in Paris for eightpence, and in London for elevenpence. It would need, by candlelight, an expert to see the difference. Baccarat's workmen have cheaper food than the English, are more economic and thrifty, and satisfied with lower wages. In sending his glass to England he pays no duty. An English glass manufacturer cannot pass the French Custom House without paying ten per cent. Were he to cut down wages to the French level, his operatives could and probably would, emigrate, and leave his furnaces useless on his hands.

Business continues dull throughout the district. The only firms who may be said to be busy are Messrs. Ashworth Brothers, the Old Hall Earthenware Company, and Messrs. Wedgwood, of Etruria. They are all in the same class of trade, namely, the old Japan patterns. The prevailing colors, blue de roi, scarlet and green, richly traced with gold. Some of the designs of Messrs. Ashworth Brothers are fine examples of the style now so much in request.

Many of the houses in the American trade are laying themselves out to secure orders for printed ware instead of white granite only. The new shapes of Messrs. Edwards and Son, Dalehall, have been so successful as to stimulate other firms to emulate their example,

Messrs. Wedgwood and Son have secured the services of Mr. R. Leaward, a young modeller of great promise, and a diligent student of the Burslem School of Art.

I am glad to see the Daily News endorses your review of the exhibits of Messrs. Wedgwood. The works of Messrs. Allen, Toft, and F. Rhead are mentioned in terms that must be as highly gratifying to the artists themselves, and the renowned firm from which they emanate, as to you a journal devoted to the interest of English ceramics. The same authority (the Daily News) speaks in the highest terms of praise of the group of tigers and numerous exhibits of Messrs. Brown Westhead and Co. The statuary and under-glaze painting of Messrs. Copeland and Sons, and the pâte-sur-pâte painting of Messrs. Minton and Co. I wish the report contained more reference to the works of English artists, such as Messrs. Pilsbury, Evans, A. Green, R. Stewart, &c., &c., who have contributed to making Messrs. Minton's ex

hibits the finest display of ceramics in the Exhibition; while no mention is made of one of the most important branches, without which the genius of "Mussill" and the undoubted skill of M. Solon, would have been lost to the world. I allude to the pottery department, under the able supervision of Mr. George Leason, a gentlemen thoroughly alive to its importance. acquainted with some of the principal artists in clay, they are entitled to some share in the praise, as they have shared in the labour.

I wish I were

In addition to the wall decoration produced for the North Staffordshire Infirmary and the Stamford Hospital, Messrs. Minton, Hollins, and Co. have just completed an order for the "Waterloo Bar," Birmingham. The walls and ceiling are covered with their tiles, decorated with blue on a white ground. | Running round the room is a broad freize of painted figure subjects, in blue monochrome, illustrating the various stages of the growth of the vine, the pressing of the grape, &c., &c. Near to the fireplace are some merry folks cultivating the vine, then musicians and guests on their way to the feast. The centre panels give the scene at the banqueting table, with a host of convivial spirits enjoying the good things prepared for their delectation. Following this is the breaking up of the party, and the troubles that befall some of the guests who have partaken too freely of the nectar of the gods. The design and the painting of the freize are by Mr. A. Slater, one of the most accomplished of the talented staff of English artists, Messrs. Minton, Hollins and Co. have found it in their interest to employ. The remainder of the furniture of the room is in the same refined taste. Cabinets of Nankin China, mediæval timepieces, statuettes, all specially selected, blend in a harmony I wish was more often imitated.

Messrs. Holland and Holt, of St. John's Works, Warwick, exhibit several specimens of their production. A figure of St. Cecilia in stained glass, and one of St. Nicholas under a canopy in the same material, and a chaste design showing a stained glass window complete, with figures of the twelve apostles; these with another design with subjects portraying the "Life of our Lord," will be sure to attract the attention of connoisseurs in this branch of decorative art.

Messrs. Camm Bros., of Smethwick and Birmingham, send good examples of their specialities in stained glass and decorative tiles, panels, &c. In the two panels painted in colors, from designs by Mr. T. W. Camm, subjects, "The Signing of the Magna Charta" and the "Preaching of St. Augustine," the figures, &c., are treated with much feeling. Two large panels for fireplace cheeks illustrate the subject Life," Infancy, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age," conventionally treated in colored enamels with rich enamel blue groundwork, these and the numerous small specimens they exhibit will sustain their reputation.

The Liverpool Hiring Company is quite a new idea. It is a limited liability undertaking, the capital of which is fixed at £2,000 in £10 shares. The first subscribers consist of five waiters, a china dealer, and a bookkeeper. It it proposed to buy and let out for hire furniture, glass, china, &c.

Thorough china maniacs, says the Pictorial World, set little value on the Berlin blue and white stone china, or Delft, or whatever you' like to call it; they say that the real old German stuff is beautifully smeared and smudged, and that is one of the real tests of its being the right thing. However, do not you be blinded by antiquarianism. The Berlin blue ware is always the prettier of the two; the edges of the vases are sharply and clearly cut, and the want of valuable smears can easily be dispensed with. By the way, if you want anything in the china way, at once hideous and novel, I advise you to write to Antwerp for some of the Antwerpers' common green crockery. It looks exactly as if the jugs and pans had been first painted with dirty green paint, and then turned out into the kitchen for the kittens to scratch at.

Messrs. Gardiner, of Charing Cross, have just issued a catalogue of faience, porcelain and earthenware, including every variety of cut, engraved, etched, Venetian and colored glass, mirrors, epergnes,toughened, iridescent,, and lustres, which they are offering for sale at reduced prices. In addition to the collection alluded to there is a large stock of art metall work, including bronzes, candelabra, lamps, chandeliers, pedestals, brackets, girandoles,&c The firm announce that this is the first time in the course of 126 years that they have adopted this exceptional course, but that it is: necessary in this instance to avoid damage: while extending their premises.

The ceramic art of Sweden, as represented! at the Paris Exhibition, ranks very high. A superb dinner service in opaque faience, y strong, and resembling in clearness the rest porcelain vases, and some candelabra not in any way inferior to the best English productions. These are the productions Röstrands Aktiebolag. This company, which is under the management of Messrs. G. H. Strale and Robert Alenstrom, is one of the most ancient manufactories in Europe, having been established in 1726. It is in a most prosperous condition, giving employment to 500 workmen, and the annual value of the goods manufactured is £54,000, a great part being sent to foreign countries.

The following is from an American paper— The fact that an English manufacturer makes a special visit to Trenton for the purpose of inspecting our domestic productions in the pottery line is somewhat rare, considering the number of years that Trenton capital and labour has been engaged in the pottery trades. On Thursday, May 23rd, Mr. Edwin Clarke, proprietor of the Old Davenport Pottery in Staffordshire, made a visit to the extensive