Skip to main content
Museum of Freemasonry

Masonic Periodicals Online

  • Explore
  • Advanced Search
  • Home
  • Explore
  • The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine
  • Sept. 17, 1864
  • Page 5
Current:

The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Sept. 17, 1864: Page 5

  • Back to The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Sept. 17, 1864
  • Print image
  • Articles/Ads
    Article TERRA-COTTA AND LUCA DELLA ROBBIA WARE, CONSIDERED ON THE PRINCIPLES OE DECORATIVE ART. ← Page 2 of 5 →
Page 5

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Terra-Cotta And Luca Della Robbia Ware, Considered On The Principles Oe Decorative Art.

duction of dressing-table candlesticks , wreathed with garlands , and plates with fruits and floAvers in raised work , for the ornament of a lady ' s boudoir ; probably the very first of the latter which Avas made by him , he sent over to me to look at , and the then Countess of Shrewsbury bought it ;

¦ and at the sale , in 1857 , at Alton Towers , it was sold under the catalogue number 1 , 228 . During one of those delightful chats I had with

Minton , I urged upon him , specifying the various purposes to which they might be decoratively app lied , the imitating of those coloured , glazed , Medieval tiles once so generally used in flooring the chancels of our old' English churches . " But where can one find them ? " asked my friend . " In

many places , " I ansAvered ; " for instance , in Great Malvern Priory Church ; many such are described and figured in the ' Archjsologia' and other antiquarian books . " " Though , perhaps , quite well enough for your studies , that Avill hardly do for my purpose" said Minton ; "I want not merelto

, y see but to handle—to turn over , to look at , on both sides , to closely examine specimens of unknoAvn pottery- and china ; to find out , as much as may be , the Avay in which they were wrought ancl ornamented . So , too , do my workmen . But I

Avill bear your suggestion m mind , and we Avill talk of it another time . " We did ; and he told me " it would not pay . " A feAv years afterwards he tried , ancl the venture not only " paid , " but paid splendidly ; and so great was its success , that such a- reviA al of olden pottery not only has got into

very wide use , but iu many places and with many people , the produce itself now goes by no other name than that of Minton tiles . The fact is that Minton , on more occasions than one , lamented to me the sad want in England of a history , in specimensof the ceramic art in all its many branches

, —of all ages and nations—for the improvement -of our OAATI people , in its manufacture ; and , at one period , his thought Avas to try and mend the want himself by beginning to bring together samples in a museum at Stoke-upon-Trent .

But , at the time , this deficiency of England Avas the deficiency of every other country in the Avorld . Let us begin with a land where the potter ' s craft had been ahvays held in high repute—with the great Italian art-centres . Of old , as Avell as ancient Sicily , Magna Grascia Avas famous for its

beautiful A ases of burned clay , ' elegantly shaped , and most artistically figured with passages from Homer and the Greek dramatic Avriters , in black upon a red ground , or in red upon black ; in some instances , too , in various colours , but always overlaid with a fine , thin , delicate glazing ; and that

instructive case , on loan from Mr . Witt , shoAvs us ivhat was the care AA'hich the potters of those days took to bestoAV graceful shapes and becoming ornam entation not merely upon . great , but little things—upon the common hardware vessels of every-day household use . What the ancient Parthenope was to Magna Gratia , Naples still is to

those same portions of South Italy that composed it , its queen , its capital . Itself , too , not long ago , was celebrated for its Capo di Monte ware , as it still is for its imitation of the ancient fictile painted vases ; and that curious figured and coloured sort of pottery that goes with some by the namefor

, want of a better , of Abruzzi Avare , and just now creeping into English notice , some fine specimens of which are in Lady Holland ' s possession , was , and may-be still is , the production of its provinces . "Yet , putting aside its magnificent collection of old fictile vases , Naples neither has nor ever had a

specimen-history of ceramic art . Coming northward , Ave get to Rome ; and , casting a hasty glance at the Capitoline galleries , which in any other city would be looked upon as a first-class magnificent museum , Ave hurry to the Vatican—the glorious Vaticanthat hill of marvelsthe art-Avorld ' s sun

, , , which has neA ^ er been as yet eclipsed . Yet there , though we behold so many Avonders wrought by the ancient Heathen ' s chisel , so many masterpieces of the Christian jjeneil , we find , Avith the exception cf a feAv fictile vases in the library , nothing' that illustrates what has been clone in burned

clay , coloured or uncoloured . Yet in the Roman States was one of its most useful and beautiful branches invented and carried to such high perfection , that a city ofthe Papal patrimony , Faenza , gave , as far as France was concerned , name not merely to onebut all kinds of household

earthen-, ware , called to this day by the French "faience ;" and scholars of Raffaelle ' s are said to have furnished the drawings for the subjects figured on . many of those pieces of earthenware done at Urbino , an ancient fief of the Holy See . But at Florence , once so renowned for its master-hands in all burned

clay works , hoAv fares it there ? Though the vast halls of its magnificent public gallery are filled with so much that is beautiful of ancient and more modern art , it has no collection of earthenware . Rich as is that fine city in that kind knoAvn by

the name of Della Robbia ware , its numerous valuable specimens are scattered about among its several churches , not always placed in the best positions for study , and rendering the comparison of one piece with another very hard and unsatisfactory , if not quite impossible . In all and each

one of the art-collections throughout the great cities in upper Italy we speed no better . Going to Germany , even at Vienna , in that A ery interesting and most ancient of all art-museums the delightful Ambras , we find nothing to our purpose . The same disappointment meets us at Munich , at

Berlin , ay , too , at that city of china by pre-eminence , Dresden , Avith its green vaults and its japan palace . So also in Belgium and Holland . Getting nearer home , and halting at Paris , not even at that most charming place the Hotel Cluny—not even at the splendid Tuileries ( and as we all knoAV the Avord tuileries means simply a place where one kind of earthenware is made—a tilery ); in fact ,

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1864-09-17, Page 5” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 12 June 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_17091864/page/5/.
  • List
  • Grid
Title Category Page
THE BALLOT IN MASONIC LODGES. Article 1
WEST YORKSHIRE. Article 2
LIABILITY OP MASON'S. Article 2
DRUIDICAL FESTIVAL AT LLANDUDNO. Article 3
WINDSOR AND VERRIO. Article 3
TERRA-COTTA AND LUCA DELLA ROBBIA WARE, CONSIDERED ON THE PRINCIPLES OE DECORATIVE ART. Article 4
MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 8
Untitled Article 10
CORRESPONDENCE. Article 11
OUR MASONIC CHARITIES. Article 11
FREEMASONRY IN THE MAURITIUS. Article 12
THE MASONIC MIRROR. Article 13
PROVINCIAL. Article 13
ROYAL ARCH. Article 13
MARK MASONRY. Article 14
CANADA. Article 14
INDIA. Article 15
Untitled Article 17
REVIEWS. Article 17
PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Article 17
THE WEEK. Article 18
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 20
Page 1

Page 1

1 Article
Page 2

Page 2

4 Articles
Page 3

Page 3

3 Articles
Page 4

Page 4

3 Articles
Page 5

Page 5

1 Article
Page 6

Page 6

1 Article
Page 7

Page 7

1 Article
Page 8

Page 8

2 Articles
Page 9

Page 9

1 Article
Page 10

Page 10

3 Articles
Page 11

Page 11

3 Articles
Page 12

Page 12

2 Articles
Page 13

Page 13

4 Articles
Page 14

Page 14

2 Articles
Page 15

Page 15

2 Articles
Page 16

Page 16

1 Article
Page 17

Page 17

4 Articles
Page 18

Page 18

2 Articles
Page 19

Page 19

1 Article
Page 20

Page 20

3 Articles
Page 5

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Terra-Cotta And Luca Della Robbia Ware, Considered On The Principles Oe Decorative Art.

duction of dressing-table candlesticks , wreathed with garlands , and plates with fruits and floAvers in raised work , for the ornament of a lady ' s boudoir ; probably the very first of the latter which Avas made by him , he sent over to me to look at , and the then Countess of Shrewsbury bought it ;

¦ and at the sale , in 1857 , at Alton Towers , it was sold under the catalogue number 1 , 228 . During one of those delightful chats I had with

Minton , I urged upon him , specifying the various purposes to which they might be decoratively app lied , the imitating of those coloured , glazed , Medieval tiles once so generally used in flooring the chancels of our old' English churches . " But where can one find them ? " asked my friend . " In

many places , " I ansAvered ; " for instance , in Great Malvern Priory Church ; many such are described and figured in the ' Archjsologia' and other antiquarian books . " " Though , perhaps , quite well enough for your studies , that Avill hardly do for my purpose" said Minton ; "I want not merelto

, y see but to handle—to turn over , to look at , on both sides , to closely examine specimens of unknoAvn pottery- and china ; to find out , as much as may be , the Avay in which they were wrought ancl ornamented . So , too , do my workmen . But I

Avill bear your suggestion m mind , and we Avill talk of it another time . " We did ; and he told me " it would not pay . " A feAv years afterwards he tried , ancl the venture not only " paid , " but paid splendidly ; and so great was its success , that such a- reviA al of olden pottery not only has got into

very wide use , but iu many places and with many people , the produce itself now goes by no other name than that of Minton tiles . The fact is that Minton , on more occasions than one , lamented to me the sad want in England of a history , in specimensof the ceramic art in all its many branches

, —of all ages and nations—for the improvement -of our OAATI people , in its manufacture ; and , at one period , his thought Avas to try and mend the want himself by beginning to bring together samples in a museum at Stoke-upon-Trent .

But , at the time , this deficiency of England Avas the deficiency of every other country in the Avorld . Let us begin with a land where the potter ' s craft had been ahvays held in high repute—with the great Italian art-centres . Of old , as Avell as ancient Sicily , Magna Grascia Avas famous for its

beautiful A ases of burned clay , ' elegantly shaped , and most artistically figured with passages from Homer and the Greek dramatic Avriters , in black upon a red ground , or in red upon black ; in some instances , too , in various colours , but always overlaid with a fine , thin , delicate glazing ; and that

instructive case , on loan from Mr . Witt , shoAvs us ivhat was the care AA'hich the potters of those days took to bestoAV graceful shapes and becoming ornam entation not merely upon . great , but little things—upon the common hardware vessels of every-day household use . What the ancient Parthenope was to Magna Gratia , Naples still is to

those same portions of South Italy that composed it , its queen , its capital . Itself , too , not long ago , was celebrated for its Capo di Monte ware , as it still is for its imitation of the ancient fictile painted vases ; and that curious figured and coloured sort of pottery that goes with some by the namefor

, want of a better , of Abruzzi Avare , and just now creeping into English notice , some fine specimens of which are in Lady Holland ' s possession , was , and may-be still is , the production of its provinces . "Yet , putting aside its magnificent collection of old fictile vases , Naples neither has nor ever had a

specimen-history of ceramic art . Coming northward , Ave get to Rome ; and , casting a hasty glance at the Capitoline galleries , which in any other city would be looked upon as a first-class magnificent museum , Ave hurry to the Vatican—the glorious Vaticanthat hill of marvelsthe art-Avorld ' s sun

, , , which has neA ^ er been as yet eclipsed . Yet there , though we behold so many Avonders wrought by the ancient Heathen ' s chisel , so many masterpieces of the Christian jjeneil , we find , Avith the exception cf a feAv fictile vases in the library , nothing' that illustrates what has been clone in burned

clay , coloured or uncoloured . Yet in the Roman States was one of its most useful and beautiful branches invented and carried to such high perfection , that a city ofthe Papal patrimony , Faenza , gave , as far as France was concerned , name not merely to onebut all kinds of household

earthen-, ware , called to this day by the French "faience ;" and scholars of Raffaelle ' s are said to have furnished the drawings for the subjects figured on . many of those pieces of earthenware done at Urbino , an ancient fief of the Holy See . But at Florence , once so renowned for its master-hands in all burned

clay works , hoAv fares it there ? Though the vast halls of its magnificent public gallery are filled with so much that is beautiful of ancient and more modern art , it has no collection of earthenware . Rich as is that fine city in that kind knoAvn by

the name of Della Robbia ware , its numerous valuable specimens are scattered about among its several churches , not always placed in the best positions for study , and rendering the comparison of one piece with another very hard and unsatisfactory , if not quite impossible . In all and each

one of the art-collections throughout the great cities in upper Italy we speed no better . Going to Germany , even at Vienna , in that A ery interesting and most ancient of all art-museums the delightful Ambras , we find nothing to our purpose . The same disappointment meets us at Munich , at

Berlin , ay , too , at that city of china by pre-eminence , Dresden , Avith its green vaults and its japan palace . So also in Belgium and Holland . Getting nearer home , and halting at Paris , not even at that most charming place the Hotel Cluny—not even at the splendid Tuileries ( and as we all knoAV the Avord tuileries means simply a place where one kind of earthenware is made—a tilery ); in fact ,

  • Prev page
  • 1
  • 4
  • You're on page5
  • 6
  • 20
  • Next page
  • Accredited Museum Designated Outstanding Collection
  • LIBRARY AND MUSEUM CHARITABLE TRUST OF THE UNITED GRAND LODGE OF ENGLAND REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER 1058497 / ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2025

  • Accessibility statement

  • Designed, developed, and maintained by King's Digital Lab

We use cookies to track usage and preferences.

Privacy & cookie policy