Posted By: Tim
Posted on: 2011-03-22 21:36:38

Featured Item:
The Pugin Bread Tray

Among the various devices of product puffery employed by dealers and auctioneers in the antiques market, one of my least favorite is the excessive use of the word "important." In the field of fine and decorative arts only a few key pieces truly deserve the label--those works that are recognized as singular exemplars of a period, style, or artist/designer's work. In more than twenty-five years in the trade, we have never described one of our offerings as "important."
 
But then, we recently acquired a Minton bread tray decorated by the encaustic technique. It was designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, the architect, designer, antiquary, and advocate, whose passionate devotion to the medieval style--along with his energy and prolific output--has secured  his status as the leader of the Victorian gothic revival and a key influence in nineteenth century design. The circular tray looks familiar; that is because its image consistently illustrates publications on Pugin, discussions of gothicism, and general surveys of British decorative arts. It regularly turns up in the display cases of major museums. This recognition factor, according to British scholar Paul Atterbury, establishes the tray as "an icon of Victorian gothic design."
 
So with some caution, but more genuine satisfaction, this month's feature presents an important work--what is usually simply called  "the Pugin bread tray."

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Dimensions:  Diameter 13 1/4 in.

Dates:  Designed in 1849

Price: $4500.00

   Background: The Minton Encaustic Tile Phenomenon
 
The colorful patterns of Minton's encaustic floor tiles are a frequent feature of buildings, public or domestic, built between the 1840's and the style changes of the century's close. Nevertheless, like so many other ceramic terms, the label "encaustic" is misleading. A more informative term is "inlaid clay." Like the medieval tiles that inspired them, the decoration of these tiles is not a function of surface glaze colors. Instead patterns are created in clays of contrasting colors that extend into the depth of the tile slab. The reason for the technique is clear: floor tiles are subject to tremendous surface wear. Extending the depth of the decorative pattern extends the durability of the tile's appearance. (That is the reason we have medieval survivors.) 
 
Minton's path to preeminence in this field began with the connection between Pugin and Herbert Minton, second-generation leader of the pottery and, because of his vision and technical innovation, one of the under-sung heroes of the British ceramics story. Narratives of the relationship vary, doubtless because most of the Pugin-Minton correspondence has disappeared. Perhaps because she emphasizes the element of friendship, the account by Minton historian Joan Jones rings most true to me.
 
According to Jones, a mutual interest in medieval tiles brought the two men into contact in the early 1830's. Although a collector and scholar, Pugin's primary interest was to develop a high quality reproduction for his architectural projects. For Herbert Minton, the challenge was a technical one, to produce these tiles within an industrial setting. As Minton tackled such problems as the development of colors and the uneven shrinkage rates of different clays, Pugin offered support in the form of technical advice, designs, and original examples from his own collection. At first liquid clay was poured into the indentations of a pattern that had been pressed into the unfired clay slab. Later powdered clays of contrasting colors were fused under pressure and high temperature.
 
By the mid 1840's when Pugin had begun to collaborate with architect Charles Barry on the decorative schemes for the new Houses of Parliament--the Palace of Westminster--Minton had perfected the production process and had several successful installations to his credit. Pugin's satisfaction with the tiles commissioned for Westminster is evident when he calls them "vastly superior to any ancient work...the best tiles in the world." He adds modestly, "I think my patterns and your workmanship go ahead of anything." Through the designs of Pugin and other architects, Minton's encaustic installations proved one of the pottery's greatest successes, continuing even after the deaths of the two great collaborators.

 
  The Pugin Bread Tray
 
Pugin's work for the Minton pottery extended beyond tiles to tablewares, and in 1849 he designed his bread tray, best known of his efforts to adapt the encaustic technique to the domestic accessory. The bread tray is a sturdy durable object; its refinement is of a kind different from delicate porcelains for the tea table. It exhibits three contrasting colors, a reddish brown, buff, and a deep blue. (Another color version exists, as well as a variant in majolica glazes.) The three colors are arrayed in a flat pattern that, though stylized, is clearly derived from nature: florets, loops arranged in petal form, an inner border suggestive of a thorny vine, obvious reference to wheat heads, and at the center a blossom with serrated edges--perhaps inspired by a wild flower taken root in a wheat field. Beyond the pattern, contrast is achieved by the higher sheen of the blue clay and by subtle changes in relief depth that catch the light. Archaic letters in the border spell out the motto "Waste Not Want Not." To our eyes the design has ecclesiastical overtones and perhaps subtly suggests the element of communion inherent in the daily breaking of bread.
 
In the same year as its design, Minton exhibited the bread tray in the Birmingham Exhibition of Manufacturers, one of those events born of the mid-century concern with design reform that was to lead shortly to the Crystal Palace. The tray was subjected to serious criticism, however,  in the Journal of Design and Manufactures, a publication edited by that leader of reform Henry Cole. In the article, critic Charles Dolman found the tray "unsuitable;" "very dark and massive in design and coloring and disagreeably associating with the bread. The design might do very well for a pavement, but is rude and coarse and unfit for an object immediately close to the eye on the table" (Vol. III, No. 13, 1850).

"Suitability" was a major design criterion at the time. Later observers overrule Dolman's critique, placing greater value on such elements as the straightforward treatment of unglazed clay and Pugin's masterful adaptation of natural forms to flat surface pattern.

  Observations on Pugin's Methods
 
In his essay "A.W.N. Pugin and the Process of Design as Applied to Manufacture," Clive Wainwright corrects several potential misunderstandings of Pugin's design methods. Two of his points are well illustrated by consideration of the bread tray.
 
First, much as partisans of the later Arts & Crafts Movement wish to claim him as one of their early heroes, Pugin did not share those thinkers' rejection of industrial manufacture in favor of handcrafts. Nor did he draw the same moral implications from the means of production. In Wainwright's words, "For him it was the character and appearance of the finished object that was crucial. If it possessed what he habitually called "the true thing" in quality of design and execution, then he had achieved his end." Clearly Pugin's close personal and professional relationship with the industrial potter Herbert Minton demonstrates this attitude.
 
Second, nineteenth-century revivalists--of gothic or other historic styles--are often viewed as copyists, simply creating a pastiche of bygone forms and details. This approach can be seen in Charles Meigh's handsome and popular "Apostles" Jug (1842), seen here in its purely architectural variant.

In contrast, Wainwright maintains, Pugin's method was not to copy the details of medieval objects, but to rely directly on the same natural sources that inspired the craftsmen of the Middle Ages. While unmistakably gothic in feeling, the intricate pattern of the bread tray is not derived from some artifact, but is based on Pugin's own adaptation of plant forms. Wainwright quotes Pugin, "Nature supplied the medieval artists with all their forms and ideas; the same inexhaustible source is open to us. If we go to the fountainhead, we shall produce a multitude of beautiful designs treated in the same spirit as the old, but new in form."
 
That slightly paradoxical combination of revival and originality is key to a deeper understanding of Pugin's work. Even Charles Dolman, critic of the bread tray in The Journal of Design, was forced, despite his misgivings, to admit, "...we recommend Mr. Pugin for designs which look old though bran new."

 
  Sources

Joan Jones's account of the development of encaustic tiles at Minton is from her lavishly produced history of the pottery.
 
Minton: The First Two Hundred Years of Design and Production. Joan Jones. Shrewsbury, Swan Hill Press. 1993.
 
In the mid nineties dueling exhibitions--on either side of the Atlantic--produced substantial publications on A.W.N. Pugin. The quotation by Paul Atterbury is from the V & A catalog; the Wainwright material is from the Bard Graduate Center book. 
 
Pugin: A Gothic Passion. Paul Atterbury and Clive Wainwright, Eds. New Haven and London, Yale University Press in association with The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1994.
 
A.W.N. Pugin: Master of Gothic Revival. Paul Atterbury, Ed. New Haven and London, Yale University in association with The Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, 1995.
 
My thanks to noted preservationist Hyman Myers who kindly provided a copy of the Charles Dolman comments from The Journal of Design and Manufactures.  I always enjoy our conversations each year at the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show.
 
Regards,
Tim

Posted By: Mark
Posted on: 2011-02-06 20:07:03

Featured Item:
American Historical Transferware Plate
"At Richmond, Virginia"-- Monumental Church

For a collector, meaning often runs deeper than the immediate impression of a piece.  For me, the American historical transfer Monumental Church plate is an example of that deeper meaning.  Some summers back, when Tim and I were treated to the native's tour of Richmond, Virginia, Robert Mills' Monumental Church was a line item on a full Saturday agenda.  It stopped us in our tracks.  One can read all the facts, one can hear the facts being told.  However, one can not know the soul deep impression of some places until one experiences them.  Monumental Church is just such a place.  With that in mind, it is with great fondness that we focus on Jacksons' view of Monumental Church, "At Richmond, Virginia" for this month's featured item.  
 
                     
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Dimensions:  Diameter 6 3/4 in.
 
Dates: 1831-1835
 
Price: $395.00
 
We normally think of this size plate as a dessert plate.  The scalloped earthenware blank is decorated in black transfer under a clear glaze.  The solid ground border just inside the rim emphasizes the scalloped shape of the plate. Large floral clusters hang from this outer border, overflowing down into the well of the piece.  The center view is distantly related to one published by architect Robert Mills.   We know the engraving was titled "Episcopal Church at Richmond, Virginia. "  However, the potters, Job and John Jackson referred to their view with the simple mark "At Richmond, Virginia." 

   The Jacksons and Their American Scenery Series
 
Job and John Jackson were English potters working in  Burslem (Staffordshire) from 1831 to 1835.  We tend to think of them for their extensive rose border series of American historical views.  "At Richmond, Virginia," (Monumental Church) falls into that series.  However, they also produced a wide variety of "Romantic" transfer patterns and a few additional American historical patterns.  Unlike the majority of makers of American historical transferware, however, they worked in the lighter, more pastel hues of the Romantic transfer color palette.  They did not produce the dark blue wares we often associate with American historical transferware.  

  The View
 
In her landmark work, American Historical Views On Staffordshire China, Ellouise Baker Larsen notes that the Monumental Church view used by the Jacksons is derived from an engraving commissioned by the architect.  Hugh Howard in his work, Dr. Kimball and Mr. Jefferson, Rediscovering the Founding Fathers of American Architecture noted that while Mills did not generate the atmospheric, perspective views favored by architects of the preceding generation, he did recognize the value of promoting his work with printed images.  According to Howard, the Mills view of Monumental Church was generated by former co-worker, William Strickland.  Mills had it engraved and printed under the title "Episcopal Church at Richmond, Virginia."  The Mills view was then used by William Goodacre, Jr., New York to generate one of a series of drawings submitted to I.T. Hinton & Simpkin & Marshall for their History and Topography of the United States, published in London, 1831.  As was standard practice, the Jacksons seem to have "adapted" Goodacre's work with a few minor alterations for their view, "At Richmond, Virginia." 

      Background
 
All of this seems fairly prosaic up to now.  The story here is Monumental Church itself.  
 
The story of Monumental Church starts on December 26, 1811 when, in the midst of a benefit Christmas pantomime, a carelessly handled chandelier started a fire.  When it was over, the theatre was destroyed, and of the six hundred people in attendance, seventy-two had perished in the blaze.  The list ranged from the daughter of the theatre proprietor-manager -- who had slipped out to attend the performance, against her father's wishes -- to the governor. The human remains were in such a state as to be non-recognizable.  On December 28, the Common Council approved interment of the remains in a mass grave on the site.  The remains were interred and a brick wall was erected enclosing the grave.  Soon after the funeral, it was decided that a "Monumental Church" should be built on the site.   More specifically, Richmonders felt that a memorial built by the city should mark the grave accompanied by a church built by subscription.   
 
At this point in time, Richmond was  riding a wave of prosperity which had started over twenty years before.  From 1790 to 1810, Richmond had more than doubled in size. This was a major tragedy; however, one has to believe that on some level this tragedy was also seen as an opportunity for Richmond to make a statement about its importance and sophistication to the world.  A subscription fund was set up and a committee of local celebrities appointed to oversee the project.  An invitation was extended to the country's premier architect, William Henry Latrobe.  In the end, however, Latrobe's proposal was superceded by a plan unexpectedly submitted by his assistant Robert Mills.
 
Latrobe had warned the committee that funding for the project was insufficient; Mills may have gained an advantage by ignoring this limitation. In any event, the incident ended the mentor-student relationship between Latrobe and Mills and marked Mills emergence as an independent architect -- he is, in fact, considered America's first native born professional architect. (For a more detailed account of this story we recommend Charles Brownell's entry in the exhibit catalog, The Making of Virginia Architecture, cited below.)   

 
Mill's proposal used a three-part design, all of which is demonstrated on the Jackson view,  an entry porch accomodating a memorial to the victims of the fire, an octagonal two-story sanctuary (nave), and a rear tower with steeple signifying that this was a house of worship.  While one can enter the nave from the porch, the intended entry is by an entrance in the middle of each side, one of which is also shown in the Jackson view.  For the porch, Mills utililzed a jewel-box like square Doric portico to showcase a stone urn with the names of the victims.  This porch which is open to the winds on three sides features massive square support piers on the front and rear where the porch attaches to the building.  Mills placed a pair of Doric columns inside each opening so that in viewing the urn, it is always flanked by the columns, underscoring the sanctity of the spot.  This detail is captured in Jacksons' view.  The sanctuary is topped by a slightly flattened dome with central lantern.  Mills uses two banks of double hung windows centered on the walls flanking the side entrys.  Window and dome detail are also indicated in the view. 

 Latrobe had been correct in warning the committee that funds would run short for both a memorial and church.  In the end, the steeple, complement to the Doric memorial porch, signifying the dual purpose of the building -- was abandoned due to shortage of funds.  The Jackson view of course, derived from Mills' and Goodacre's engravings, includes the never-completed steeple.  However, close examination of the view also reminds us of Mills' intent to place a sculpture group on a flat roof over the Doric portico.  This was changed to a sloping roof with pediment in the final building.   

  Monumental Church, 1903 (see below)
 
In line with current romantic thought, Mills placed geat emphasis on the manipulation of light and shade throughout his project.  The Doric portico always presents the memorial urn in semi-shade.  In the sanctuary, the banks of windows and the lantern at the top of the dome all combine to flood the sanctuary with available daylight.  However, Mills has one supreme gesture dramatically calling the power and symbolism of light into play, not unlike Sir John Soane's use of light in his Bank of England.  In the daytime, a concealed skylight over the pulpit symbolically illuminates the pulpit from an unseen source.  Obviously this concealed interior feature is captured in neither the engravings nor the Jacksons' view.    
 
Continuing in the spirit of Neoclassicism, Mills looked to antiquity for the correct decoration.  Appropriate to the funereal aspect of the commission, Mills selected a chaste relief based on amphora shape vessels used in antiquity to collect the tears of mourners, lachrymatories (tear bottles) for the frieze around the memorial porch.  The transfer pattern does not go into this minute degree of detail.  We regret this detail, however attach a link to the Historic American Buildings Survey below which includes detail shots of the actual tear bottle frieze in photos 18, 19 and 22, as well as other details of the church. 

 Monumental Church, 1865, Fallen Richmond (See Below)
 
Monumental Church was affiliated with the Episcopal church from the beginning, by vote of the church fund subscribers.  It played a vital role in the Richmond community throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth.  Toward the end of the Civil War, the women of Richmond gathered in the octagonal nave to sing hymms as the Yankees advanced on Richmond.   Monumental Church however was also subject to the same phenomenon of urban churches the world over.  As the twentieth century progressed and the population moved away from the inner city, Monumental Church struggled accordingly.  Finally in 1965 the church voted to offer the property to the adjoining Medical College of Virginia.  In 1983, MCV in turn ceded it to the Historic Richomond Foundation which maintains it today. (See link below).    
 
But I digress.  Our featured item is a six and three quarters inch plate which happens to carry a view of Monumental Church, identified only as "At Richmond, Virginia," imaginary and not even Mills' imaginary commissioned view. 

  Jackson's  Monumental Church Plate in the 19th Century Home
 
Before we close, I think it is important to consider the role this china played in the nineteenth century home.   When we look at this plate, we bring the baggage of the automobile age, roadside stands, and souvenir plates.  This would not necessarily have been viewed as such in the nineteenth century home. 
 
In her general discussion of Jackson and their American views, Ellouise Baker Larsen makes the following citation (American Historical Views on Staffordshire China ; p. 156, 1975 Dover Edition). 
 
"On May 3, 1831, the New York Commercial Advertiser notified the public that an order of 'Job and John Jackson's Burslem Superior Ware' with 'very elegant American views' had been received by the New York agents, Sherman & Gillin, and was waiting to be sold."  
 
From this quotation, we gather that Jacksons' rose border china was treated like the other romantic patterns of the day,  It was tableware, sold and used in sets, tea sets, dessert sets, dinner services.  What differentiated it from the other patterns we call "Romantic" is our own categorization of "American" views.  For Sherman and Gillin, it was a pattern which featured "very elegant American views."  
 
We know that this china was used in sets for specific purposes.  In our experience, we have occasionally encountered this size plate in groups indicating its use in food rituals.  From the list of pieces available in the Jackson rose border series of American views, this china could have been used for meals or dessert (a chestnut basket and fruit compote among listed pieces indicate use for dessert).  There is also one intriguing listing for a view on a wash bowl indicating possible use in a chamber set.  However there are no listings for teapots, sugar bowls, creamers or cups and saucers, which would indicate that tea and coffee were seen as separate rituals from meals or dessert and would have been accomodated with other patterns.  The Jacksons did offer tea wares in some of their other Romantic transfer patterns such as "Clyde Scenery." 
 
Given that the views were used together for a specific food ritual, it also follows that the "American" aspect represented a general overall interest, if not pride, in the entire country as opposed to a souvenir of a specific spot.  We would be curious to see if the Jacksons offered this service of American views in England along with their other Romantic patterns such as "Asiatic Scenery" or "Clyde Scenery."  We have seen American historical transfer in England as when years ago we encountered a "Texian Campaigne" platter at a small antiques show in London.  Given Hinton & Co.'s publication of American views, Jacksons' American scene china might have appealed to the same scholarly class (provided they could overlook the unpleasantness of the War of 1812). 
 
As we consider this "At Richmond, Virginia" dessert plate, it is fascinating to consider the customer who acquired it new.  Judging from the catalog of patterns we have seen over the years, the china one used on one's table was more than decorative.  The china also revealed much about the owner, whether it was the interest in exotic Indian and Chinoiserie views or the political statement on the affairs of Greece or Poland represented by the "Acropolis" or "A Tear for Poland" patterns.  In the 1830's, Monumental Church would have been barely twenty years old.  The owner might have been aware of the tragedy connected to the church, but could have just as easily viewed it as one component of the picture of his own American pride presented by Jacksons' service.  

     Collecting Today

There is something very safisfying about a collection of American views, possibly the fact that they are like snapshots of the young nation.  Maybe that American pride still lingers in our psyche.  One can collect as broadly or as narrowly as one wishes.  Obviously one of the most satisfying strategies is by color.  Some of our fondest memories link to a dining room densely hung with black transfer American views by multiple manufacturers --- where we have enjoyed countless hours of good food, wine and conversation.  One can also limit one's scope to manufacturer such as Jacksons' rose bordered series, Adams or Clews.  Larsen's research affords the opportunity to take a yet narrower view in building a collection.  We know of collectors who only collect views originally sketched by Thomas Cole.  Whatever the strategy, anyone with the mildest interest in America or American history will find American views a rewarding area to collect. 

      Conclusion
 
Ellouise Baker Larsen was not very kind to the view "At Richmond, Virginia."  While she exercised her usual acumen in listing this view, she took the occasion to be somewhat dismissive of Mills' building.  She mentioned that some thought the view on the plate "more artistic" than the finished building.  She compared the church to a museum.   Perhaps Ellouise just could not forgive Richmond for not going the extra mile to build the steeple.  Ellouise Baker Larsen was of a generation who knew an America dotted with quaint and curious museums and fairgrounds exhibition barns, halls and pavilions, often featuring flattened domes with central lanterns not unlike Mills sanctuary.  I too have been to those out-of-the way museums and historical societies, exhibition halls and barns.  I also knew women of similar ilk to Ellouise Baker Larsen, women who, "sharp as a tack" had endless "free time" to pursue their research or volunteer work -- and were secure in their opinion.  It was a vital part of growing up in the Midwest.  I cherish those memories, both of those matriarchs and those places.  However, needless to say, regarding "At Richmond, Virginia," Ellouise and I do not agree.    
 
Later, Mark  
 
Resources 

Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS):   
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=pphhphoto&action=browse&fileName=va/va1400/va1448/photos/browse.db&recNum=0&itemLink=&title2=Monumental%20Church,%201224%20East%20Broad%20Street,%20Richmond,%20Independent%20City,%20VA&displayType=1
 
Monumental Church is open for tours today by request only through the Historic Richmond Foundation.                 phone 804/643-7407
http://www.historicrichmond.com/preservation-monumental.php

1903 Photograph, Monumental Church, Richmond, Va.; by Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942; Library of Congress Collection

1865 Photograph, Monumental Church, Richmond, Va.; Photograph from the main eastern theater of war, fallen Richmond, April-June 1865; Library of Congress Collection

 
References

Andrews, Wayne; Architecture, Ambition, And Americans, A Social History of American Architecture; Revised Edition, 1978; The Free Press, A division of Macmillan Publishing co., Inc., 866 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022

Bergdoll, Berry; Oxford History of Art, European Architecture 1750-1890; Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, 2000    

Brownell, Charles E., Calder C. Loth, William M. S. Rasmssen, and Richard Guy Wilson; The Making of Virginia Architecture; Companion publication to the exhibit "The Making of Virginia Architecture:  Drawings and Models, 1719-1990," Virginia Mseum of Fine Arts, Richmond, November 10, 1992, through January 3, 1993; Published by Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Office of Publications, 2800 Grove Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23221-2466; Distributed by University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville and London; 1992

Bryan, John M.; America's First Architect, Robert Mills; First Edition, 2001; Princeton Architectural Press, 37 East 7th St., New York,New York 10003 

Howard, Hugh; Dr. Kimball And Mr. Jefferson, Rediscovering the Founding Fathers of American Architecture; First Edition, 2006; Bloomsbury USA 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York, 10010

Larsen, Ellouise Baker; American Historical Views On Staffordshire China; Third Edition, 1975; Dover Publications, Inc., New York