Shards2001december

Volume 5, Issue 1

A Newsletter of the China Students’ Club of Boston

December 2001

Message from the President Dear Fellow Members, It is with pleasure that I greet you in this first edition of our expanded newsletter, under the guardianship of Board Members Yon Bard as Editor and Jeffrey Brown, recent CSC President, as Contributing Editor. Thank you both for continuing to contribute to the Club, and I know we will all enjoy receiving more Club activity news and ceramics information gleaned from lectures, museum collection visits, and our own shared experiences. (I am so looking forward to my visit to member Harriet Goldweitz’s Collection in January—flyer enclosed.)

This expanded newsletter will especially serve our members who live far away and yet wish to continue their membership.

We are eager to expand our membership! The Club attracts excellent guest speakers, thanks to 67 years of Club networking and Program Board Member Anne Lanning’s 11 years of pursuing all leads and then coordinating everybody’s wishes—a daunting task!

With such a distinguished roster of speakers, we are promoting our program by submitting more press releases (thank you Grace Yeomans Thaler, Club Publicist) and distributing our green Program flyers.

Please share the news of our program and bring a potentially interested guest to a meeting! A Membership Committee has just been formed, and they would welcome any thoughts, ideas, and leads you have; members are Louise Richardson, Dorothy-Lee Jones, and Jim Kaufman.

Thinking of communication, Bill Sargent (19881990 CSC President) recently shared with me the story of why it took so long for him to discover the Club. As some of you may know, Bill is now Curator of Ceramics at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, but in younger days he was a potter (and he has just purchased a new kiln!?) Along the way he learned

about the China Students’ Club and was very interested in its programs. However, he assumed the Club was for Chinese students and thus never became more closely acquainted with the Club—for several years??

I have asked a few members if they are aware of similar membership confusion, and I would be interested to hear of other such experiences. Is there interest in modernizing the Club name to Ceramics Study Club, for example? Do let me know your thoughts.

Happy Holidays to you and you families, and I look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Kind regards, Nancy A. Smith, President You can mail your suggestions to Nancy at 73 Seaver Street, Brookline, MA 02445 or fax her at 617-734-5264.

Meissen figurine of a flutist, ca. 1745

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Message from the Editor Jeff Brown inaugurated this newsletter four years ago as a labor of love, and has provided us ever since with informative reports on our meetings, published twice each year. His success prompted a desire for expansion: more frequent issues and a broader coverage. Jeff, being busy with earning a living, could not commit to additional responsibilities, so I volunteered to take on most of the editorial tasks. My main qualification for the job is that, being retired, I have nothing better to do. Also, I have been editing the New England Rug Society Newsletter for several years now, so if you find an article about Persian carpets or Turkish kilims in the next issue of Shards you will know that I have simply gotten mixed up a bit.

Fortunately, Jeff will continue to contribute the CSC meeting reviews as well as be responsible for getting the Newsletter printed.

Among the features we’d like to incorporate in Shards are the following: • Calendar of ceramics related events: auctions, fairs, exhibitions, meetings, lectures, tours, etc.

• Reviews of events that you have attended • Reviews of interesting new (and old) books • Pictures and stories of any interesting pieces belonging to our members • Significant accomplishments by CSC members • Any other articles of interest to CSC members.

In order to provide these items we need our readers’ cooperation: please send us information on forthcoming events that you are aware of, reviews of books you have read and events you have attended, and anything else you’d like to share with the membership. Letters to the Editor are welcome! We are tentatively planning to publish four issues a year, but we can do that only if you provide us with material. We thank Barbara Comollo, CSC

member from Vermont, for breaking the ice and contributing a review of the American Ceramics Circle Symposium’s session on Japanese porcelain.

Please send all contributions to the address at the bottom of this page.

This issue of Shards is dedicated to the memory of Vivian Hawes. Vivian served as CSC President from 1978 to 1980, and she was CSC’s treasurer at the time of her death on 12/27/1999. All who knew her were impressed with her kindness, generosity, and erudition. In her will, she left much of her collection (amassed primarily by her husband Lloyd) to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Strawbery Banke, and Sturbridge Village. On 9/21/00 the CSC Board adopted the following resolution: “The China Students’ Club is committed to honoring Vivian and Lloyd Hawes by organizing and holding an annual lecture in their name focusing on the Hawes’ collection, their interests and/or their contributions to MFA Boston, Strawbery Banke, and Sturbridge Village in close collaboration with these three and other related institutions. This commitment is to take effect in program year 2001-2002 for a minimum of five years.”

The first lecture was held on 10/27 in Portsmouth, NH, in conjunction with the Strawbery Banke exhibition entitled Prized Possessions: The Story of Ceramics in Everyday Life, featuring 250 objects from the Hawes collection. In this issue we report on this lecture, as well as on the earlier CSC meeting devoted to ‘The Hidden Treasures of Lloyd and Vivian Hawes.’ We are also indebted to DorothyLee Jones for letting us print her moving eulogy to Vivian, delivered prior to the Portsmouth lecture.

Wishing you all a happy New Year, Yon Bard, Editor

Shards contributors and helpers: Yon Bard (editor), Jeff Brown (contributing editor), Barbara Comollo, Dorothy-Lee Jones, Nancy A. Smith Please send comments/contributions to: Yonathan Bard, 6 Holland Street, Newton, MA 02458; telephone (617) 244-7688, fax (617) 965-2897, e-mail (the preferred venue!) doryon@rcn.com

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The Hidden Treasures of Lloyd and Vivian Hawes Report By Jeff Brown The 2001 Fall program opened with a joint lecture by CSC members Louise Richardson and Carolyn Parsons Roy who spoke on “The Hidden Treasures of Lloyd and Vivian Hawes.” Louise spoke first, thanking fellow members Jim Kaufman and Bob Barth who photographed a lot of the pieces as well as Vivian’s home and the ensuing auction.

Lloyd and Vivian married late in life and, as Louise would demonstrate, it was a partnership that was very important to the world of ceramics. Lloyd was a brilliant and successful man and a passionate collector whereas Vivian balanced the relationship with her unassuming, scholarly manner, always studying and appreciating the object, never needing to possess it. She always referred to the collection as Lloyd’s collection. Their generosity not only benefited Strawbery Banke, but the Smithsonian, the MFA, Colonial Williamsburg, and Sturbridge Village.

They were also generous with their time, spending many hours volunteering at various institutions. Their final legacy simply delighted and astounded Strawbery Banke. The house at 59 Standish Road in Wellesley Hills was found to be a veritable treasure trove of ceramics. Lloyd was a private collector, not everything was proudly on display, and objects were secreted away in cupboards, drawers, under beds, and in boxes in the cellar. From this cache were chosen, in one short day, pieces for Strawbery Banke. Although the will allowed them to take anything, Louise said they concentrated on pieces matching archaeological evidence in the Portsmouth region.

Louise showed a few slides of the Hawes’ home, pointing out an extremely rare French faience wall sconce (which eventually went to auction) and the dining room hung with a spectacular selection of chargers. A very personal piece chosen was a small, simple bowl made by Vivian herself during a pottery class she had taken at some point. One of the most dramatic pieces chosen was a famous London or Bristol polychrome charger with a squirrel decoration (see illustration on back). This was used by the museum as their logo for the entire exhibit on the

Hawes legacy. From something as charming and unique as the squirrel charger to something as common as drug and milk pans, the Hawes collection had it all, and Louise chose the ordinary as well as the extraordinary to tell the whole Portsmouth story.

Objects taken to match shards or probate inventories include a washbowl, teapot stand and teapot (very rare in delft—see illustration on p. 5), flower brick, and footed sweetmeat dish. In the 18th century the sweetmeat dish could come with several mates that all stood together in a wooden form or by itself. Also, very rare and in Irish delft was an invalid feeder (shown on p. 6).

Louise then ceded the podium to Carolyn Roy who continued to speak on the selection process and on the exhibition of the items. Before visiting Vivian’s home, Strawbery Banke received a vague 700 page inventory, and from that Louise, Carolyn, Carl Crossman, and Strawbery Banke President Cathy Mullins had a hint of what they could expect. They then had to compare notes and concur on what would be good for the museum. They were allowed one day to search through Vivian’s collection and locate these items. Carolyn was looking for pieces that could be displayed in an historic house context as well as pieces of individual merit for study. Dated pieces were particularly desirable. One great match to shards was an unusual delft bowl with attached underdish— no one knows what this was used for: perhaps sauces, butter, or jam.

Not all the selected pieces were delft. Some were slip decorated earthenware, some stoneware, Staffordshire, 18th century English porcelain (Worcester, Pennington, etc.), and Chinese export.

In order to exhibit these treasures at Strawbery Banke Carolyn wanted the objects to be seen both in context and up close for comparison. The greatest concentration of delft is being shown at the Wheelwright House, the general period of interpretation being 1780. Other pieces are displayed at the Chase House to demonstrate the diversity of the objects and the scope of the Hawes collecting interests.

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The 2001 Vivian Hawes Memorial Lecture Report By Jeff Brown Editors note: We thank Caroline Parsons Roy of Strawbery Banke for providing the pictures accompanying this report. All the ceramics photographs were taken by Bob Barth.

On Oct. 27 the CSC convened for its first annual Vivian Hawes Memorial Lecture, part of a weekend program at Strawbery Banke celebrating the contributions and gifts of Lloyd and Vivian Hawes. Preceding the lectures, some moving tributes were made to Lloyd and Vivian by personal friends and CSC members Dorothy-Lee Jones, Diana Edwards, and Martha Pinello. It was apparent how much the Hawes meant to everyone; deeply loved as friends and widely respected as scholars of ceramics. Lloyd was an insatiable collector and the moving force behind the founding of the American Ceramics Circle, while Vivian was the quiet, steadfast student whose life was spent engrossed in the appreciation and study of ceramics, their forms, and uses.

The first speaker was John C. Austin, Curator Emeritus of Ceramics and Glass at Colonial Williamsburg and a close friend of the Hawes, who addressed the group on the subject of delft and the importance of the Hawes’ legacy to Strawbery Banke as a really great study collection.

John discussed what delft actually was, how it was made and how it varied from other types of ceramics and showed us how great the Hawes collection was for illustrating all these points. John first pointed out that he refers to it as English delft, not English Delft; and although it was spelled in a variety of ways in the 18th century, the generic term for this body of wares was delft and it was so referred to at the time by the potters, shippers, and retailers. In the 16th century when it first started being produced in England it was called “galleyware”—galley being a corruption of an Anglo-Saxon word for clay. In the 17th century it was called by a variety of names— “hollandware,” “whiteware,” and “bastard china!” It has recently been called tin-glazed earthenware but it is not tin glazed and not always earthenware. Technically speaking the earthenwares of Italy called maiolica and those of France called faience are the

From left to right: John Austin, Vicki Greenwald, LLoyd and Vivian Hawes; Williamsburg, 1965

same as delft. As for production, like most wares it can be thrown, molded, or slip cast. Few pieces are slip cast, though, as that produces a thin wall and because of its low firing temperature delft is weak and needs a thick wall. The body itself tends to be coarse and rough and can be of a variety of colors from buff to gray to red. It was considered rather ugly. The wares were shaped and then fired once to dry. Then they were glazed with a lead glaze to which was added tin oxide to make it opaque—this was how they covered up the coarse body and produced a white ground in imitation of Chinese porcelain. The Continued on page 5

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The 2001 Vivian Hawes Memorial Lecture Continued from page 4

glaze was allowed to dry, producing a very chalky surface. It was on this very tricky surface that the piece was decorated. This is why the designs on delft seem so spontaneous, as the decorator cannot remove his mistakes. The blue is cobalt, the red is iron oxide that is suspended in water and becomes part of the glaze when fired.

The major centers of delft production in the British Isles were London with 17 factories, Bristol with 8 factories, and Liverpool with 16 factories. A great many pieces shipped to the American colonies came from the port and production centers of Liverpool. There were also factories in Scotland located in Glasgow and Dellfield. Strawbery Banke has an extremely rare Dellfield piece from the Hawes collection which is interesting as it has been thought up until now that most Scottish delft was shipped to the Southern colonies, but Strawbery Banke’s archaeological evidence suggests otherwise. And lastly, delft was produced in Ireland, in Dublin, from the mid-18th century onwards.

Delft was produced in a huge variety of forms catering to all the needs of the 18th century household. Pieces were made for dining—rare forms from the Hawes collection include a footed cheese plate and a figural salt. Punch bowls were produced for alcohol consumption, flower vases, wall pockets, and flower bricks for decoration, as well as teawares for that most fashionable 18th century beverage. The problem with delft teawares, though, is that they are fired at low temperatures and easily crack when exposed to boiling water. That makes a delft teapot in the Hawes collection a remarkable survivor and study sample, as is a footed teapot stand made only between about 1720-1730. Vessels were also made as wash basins and the way to tell the difference between them and punch bowls is that the wash basin has an everted rim to fit into a wash stand, and has little or no decoration on the exterior where no one would see it.

John then discussed the collection itself and gave us an overview of its scope, its great variety of forms and decorations: blue dash chargers, Adam and Eve

Rare delft teapot

William and Mary charger

designs, royal portraits, Chinoiseries, all manner of design and decoration—as rich and varied as the Hawes’ curiosity and scholarship.

Carolyn Parsons Roy, CSC member and Associate Curator at Strawbery Banke, followed John Austin with a talk about archaeological work going on at Strawbery Banke and how that evidence was used to support their choices from the Hawes collection. Carolyn looks to archaeological evidence to re-create life in the Portsmouth region in the 17th and 18th centuries. She explained that delft, although expensive to produce, laborious to decorate, and fragContinued on page 6

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The 2001 Vivian Hawes Memorial Lecture Continued from page 5

ile to ship, proved popular with the consumer public at all levels of society. It was bright, clean and decorative and imitated the expensive Chinese porcelains few could afford.

Not much excavating and research has been done on the 17th century Portsmouth region, but Carolyn discussed one site settled in the 1640s by Humphrey Chadbourne up the river from Portsmouth.

The site pretty much resembles a 17th century English farmhouse compound with an enclosed stable yard. The Chadbournes were rather well to do when their home was attacked and burned by Indians in 1690, leaving it a veritable time capsule of material objects. The remains of these objects give a detailed picture of what was available to people in the region at that time. Syllabub or posset pot shards match an example in the Hawes collection, as well as crimpededged wares and a striking decoration known as bleu Navarre which has an overall cobalt blue glaze made in several London factories around 1680-1690. So it seems the Chadbournes had some of the newest and most fashionable wares on the market.

Another razed site from the 1690s further up the river at Biddeford Pool produced another time capsule, this one even with charred shards from the actual attack and fire. Examples of delft storage and drug jars and lobed dishes match those in the Hawes collection. These utilitarian objects along with chamber pots exist in inventories throughout the region.

Barber bowls were numerous—too numerous to be reserved strictly to the use of barbers as some have suggested. Evidence seems to suggest that they were a household item. Bowls and plates, though, were the most numerous items of delft in early Portsmouth inventories. Shards indicate a wide variety of decoration, some very finely copying Chinese export, some in the continental taste, and some even in the rare Japanese taste. Relying completely on inventories to choose items to recreate a certain site is sometimes problematic as the inventories seldom go into lengthy descriptive detail. Also, pieces of the same type sometimes appear at different sites in different colorings.

Reconfirming John Austin’s observations about the

Invalid feeder, Ireland

Posset pot and similar shards Continued on page 7

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The 2001 Vivian Hawes Memorial Lecture Continued from page 6

fragility of delft teawares, Carolyn remarked that neither Strawbery Banke nor the Hawes collection has a complete teabowl or coffee cup, although there are plenty of handles and other shards as well as inventories that prove they existed. Shards of certain patterns appear at several sites, illustrating what was popular, what was commercially available, and a certain “keeping up with the Jones” mentality. Shards of a very unusual Chinese dragon pattern appear in one neighborhood and the Hawes collection has provided three complete vessels in this pattern.

Diana Edwards closed the lectures with a few observations about what a debt of gratitude Strawbery Banke owed not only to the Hawes legacy but to Louise Richardson, Carolyn Roy, and Carl Crossman.

They literally had one day to go to the Hawes’s home in Wellesley and choose out of a huge collection what would be taken for Strawbery Banke. Keeping in mind the thousands of shards they had excavated and processed, they were able to cull from the extensive Hawes legacy pieces that matched archeological evidence and bring to Strawbery Banke fine examples of ceramics that once existed in Portsmouth.

Charger dated 1721 and similar shard

Andrew Maske on Japanese Porcelain Report by Barbara Comollo Members of the Boston China Students’ Club were invited to attend the scholarly November 9 lectures at the annual American Ceramic Circle Symposium, this year’s meeting having been held in Providence, Rhode Island. One of the speakers was Andrew Maske, Curator of Japanese Art at the Peabody Essex Museum, and he spoke with enthusiasm about Japanese porcelain, its history and its influences.

The first Japanese ceramic endeavors were in earthenware, followed by stoneware such as Karatsu, which were used for simple utilitarian objects and for tea ceremonies. The Japanese, late to porcelain production, were influenced by Korean production, so that by the early 17th century they had adopted the Korean multi-chamber kiln system, or “climbing kiln,” which was very efficient in the use of fuel yet able to produce high heat. This kiln consisted of from

four to eighteen chambers, though six to eight were most common. The chambers were all connected up a hill, with a long passage running through the kiln for the dispersion of heat. A fire would be lit at the lower end of the kiln, and the heat would slowly work its way up the hill to the highest of the chambers, small fires supplementing in each chamber. A high temperature was achieved with this method. Stoneware and porcelain were fired together, and sand was used to separate the objects.

The Japanese had been importing porcelain from Korea and China for decades. Once they discovered a source for the fine white china clay needed for porcelain production at Izumiyama, “the Arita Mountain of Porcelain,” they initially copied the blue and white designs of that time. But soon they created Continued on page 8

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Upcoming Ceramics Events CSC 2001/2 Meetings: 1/12: Harriet Carlton Goldweitz leading study group on ‘British Delft Within the Broad Context of Early English Pottery.’ Information for signing up enclosed 1/24: Bits and pieces; 1PM, Seccomb Hall, 356 Boylston Street, Boston 2/16: Peter B. Brown on ‘Cutting Edge: A History of British Cutlery and Table Settings’; 1PM, Riley seminar room, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 3/21: Marilee Boyd Meyern ‘Understanding Beauty: Designs of Marblehead Pottery’; 1PM, Bowdoin Hall, one Bowdoin Square, Boston 4/20: Trip to ‘Delicate Deception: Delftware at Historic Deerfield’; details to be mailed out 5/23: William R. Sargent on ‘Traditions of Porcelain Production: Jingdezhen in the 21st Century,’ plus Annual Meeting and Tea; Seccomb Hall.

Auctions: Skinner, Bolton, 1/19: European furniture and fine arts, including fine ceramics Christie’s, London, 2/28: British and continental ceramics Sotheby’s, New York, 3/20: Chinese works of art Christie’s, London, 3/28: Staffordshire figures Skinner, Boston, 4/6: European and Asian arts Christie’s, London, 5/2: British ceramics Christie’s, London, 5/23: 19th century ceramics Christie’s, London, 5/30: Majolica.

Note: most decorative arts and general estate auctions also feature ceramics.

Fairs: New York Ceramics Fair, 1/17-20, at National Academy of Design, 1083 Fifth Avenue.

Andrew Maske on Japanese Porcelain Continued from page 7

new designs and patterns. An example would be the handsome plates with brown wash and white egrets that Dr. Maske showed us. Japanese designs were not as balanced as their Chinese counterparts, for their designs were asymmetrical, often arranged irregularly on the piece. Japanese potters used more subtle decorations: instead of covering a plate with a busy design, there would be open space and sparser design, all the better to display the glorious white porcelain, at that time unknown in Europe. Japanese porcelain shapes also show originality: we viewed an interesting piece in the shape of a tea whisk. Humor can be found on Japanese porcelain, more so than in Korean or Chinese wares.

Overglazed enamels were produced in Japan at least as early as 1653. In the 1650s a green type of Arita ware was very marketable. At that time, Kokutani ware, made in the Arita area, having a palette of dark reds, purples, greens and yellows, was derived from screen paintings and textiles. Kakiemon was made mostly for the export market. Other Japanese porcelains shown to us were Ko-imari pieces, which have an underglazed blue and overglazed red and gold, and Kenjo Imari, which was “presentation”

Imari for the upper classes. Nabeshima ware was used by the ruling warrior class because of its detailed and carefully executed decoration.

The sophistication of Japanese porcelain intrigued the ACC audience, especially given the excellent presentation, and I for one look forward to learning more about this subject.

Nabeshima dish, 18th centuryh

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In Memory of Vivian S. Hawes

By Dorothy-Lee Jones Editor’s note: the following was extracted from Dorothy-Lee’s remarks at Portsmouth, NH, 10/27/ 01.

The list of organizations in which Vivian was active is impressive: The China Students’ Club, the Wedgwood Societies of Boston, New York, and London, the Wedgwood International, the American Ceramics Circle (founded by Lloyd Hawes), and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (as research associate in ceramics in the European Decorative Arts Department as well as on the Visitors’ Committee for the American Decorative Arts). Strawbery Banke’s archeology research gave her many hours of satisfaction. The Dedham Historical Society and Boston’s Browning (the poet) Society also occupied her time.

Her duties in these organizations included being Board member, President (often several times), Treasurer, and author/editor.

Vivian Scheidemantel Hawes came to us from Illinois, a graduate from the University of Chicago with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in the history of art. She attained the position of associate curator in the Department of Decorative Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago. That is where I first met Miss Scheidemantel, at a discussion of an Iznik pottery charger versus its Chinese porcelain counterpart. The gentleman who brought in the porcelain example wanted comments on the relationship of their tulip designs. I sat on the other side of the table, and was awed by her quiet methodical analysis and her historical knowledge. These were among the attributes she brought to Boston when she married Lloyd E. Hawes, MD, and took up residence in Wellesley.

Once settled, it took Vivian little time to become involved in Boston’s decorative art world.

First and foremost, Vivian’s commitment was to ceramics: the ceramics body, how it was made and its use. In her work over the years she led many new collectors to examine the history of these three aspects of ceramics. But she always brought their attention to the newest ceramic research.

To work with Vivian and to see her commitment to these various projects was an inspiration.

Some of us called her our mentor. I speak for myself in saying she made us want to do the best we could.

We gained much from her exactness, her quiet and often calming manner and her strong resolve. All of these brought us to a new level of insight and knowledge.

Vivian had yet another side to her, that of sharing and caring on a personal level. This was shown by her work within the Lutheran Church in Newton Centre. Thursday mornings she usually chaired a bible study class in her home. She asked me to attend such a study class and I observed how serenely she expressed her faith. It was an atmosphere I find very hard to define. Following this she suggested that we continue work on China Students’ sixtieth anniversary exhibit, after which we attended the American Decorative Arts meeting at the Museum of Fine Arts.

From this one can truly see the energy that she poured into each of her interests. She took many of her church’s elderly out to luncheon, did grocery shopping and other errands for them, or took them out simply for a pleasure ride. She continued this helpfulness to others even when she was ill.

Always modest, she was surprised when someone did something for her. In 1999, she curated the Wedgwood exhibit from New England collections for the Wedgwood International Seminar at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. I spent several days with her, mainly on the floor, packing. She made meticulous notes, descriptions, and instructions for unpacking and repacking the objects, while I packed and numbered each parcel for each box. By March 1999 it became evident that she was tiring more and more even by lunchtime, and so she was quietly surprised and grateful that I had made lunch for us each day.

During this last year Lorraine Horn and I often “dropped in” for some reason or other with something in hand, no matter what.

Vivian’s knowledge was wide and deep. She was willing to share with individuals, with small groups, and in lectures. But it is her personal oneon-one sharing of knowledge, her helping others, and her quietness that perhaps we remember the most.

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Contents Message from the President ..................................................................................................... 1 Message from the Editor ........................................................................................................... 2 The Hidden Treasures of Lloyd and Vivian Hawes, report by Jeff Brown ................................ 3 The 2001 Vivian Hawes Memorial Lecture, report by Jeff Brown ............................................. 4 Andrew Maske on Japanese Porcelain, report by Barbara Comollo ......................................... 7 Upcoming Ceramics Events ...................................................................................................... 8 In Memory of Vivian S. Hawes, by Dorothy-Lee Jones ............................................................. 9

‘Squirrel’ charger English delft, ca. 1730 Hawes Collection Strawbery Banke Museum