Shards2015Spring

Winter/Spring 2015

GREETINGS FROM OUR PRESIDENT Dear Members, It is an honor and a pleasure to once again serve as President for the China Students’ Club of Boston, Inc. I truly believe that there continues to be a role for a group such as ours with a long history, committed to membership, and support of scholarship in and appreciation for ceramics of all types and periods.

In the last issue of SHARDS, Nicholas Johnson, our former club President, indicated that there were some challenges and pressing needs facing our group, mainly that we need to raise more revenue and reduce expenses as part of the “need to take emergency action to survive”. To this end, the board has determined to increase the annual dues by a modest amount this year. There has not been an increase in many years and we felt that this step was necessary.

In the area of reducing expenses, we have entered into a contract with King’s Chapel parish House to hold most of our meetings there, starting in September 2015. It is located on Beacon Street, with easy access to parking and other amenities. Jeffrey Brown has graciously volunteered to act as Hospitality Chair and I am sure that he would appreciate assistance with providing refreshments for the meetings. It would be great to continue the tradition of gathering for lunch with the speaker at the Parish House prior to the meetings; we just need to figure out a way to make this happen!

Those who participated in the April field trip to Worcester had a truly spectacular day beginning with a behind-the –scenes visit to the American Antiquarian Society, courtesy of club member Nan Wolverton, a guided tour of the Worcester Art Museum’s treasures, and ending the day with a chance to see Marj Albright and Dave Stevens’ collection of Kangxi Chinese porcelain at their home complete luscious appetizers, beverages and the chance to see what a couple of passionate collectors and gardeners can accomplish. It was also a wonderful opportunity to talk to other club members, particularly the ones who aren’t able to get to our Thursday meetings, catch up with old friends, and learn more about a fascinating new topic. Access to field trips of that caliber certainly put the level of dues into perspective; the other programs throughout the year are just the icing on the cake.

We have recognized the need for more effective publicity for the amazing schedule of programs that Anne Lanning puts together every year. To that end, work has begun on improving our

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mailing list, creating a new rack card to entice people to pick it up and learn about the club, and improving our web site so that it is more stable and less vulnerable to hacking.

Lastly, we are putting serious consideration into updating the name of the group. At the Annual Meeting last month, Gail Homer presented a list of potential new names suggested by various members. The list is by no means comprehensive and suggestions may be sent to either me or to Gail. The majority of those in attendance at the Annual Meeting voted in favor of the motion to consider a new name; in the upcoming months there will be more discussion on this topic.

Please remember to pay your dues before July 1st in order to be listed in the Blue Book!

Sincerely, Carolyn Parsons Roy

CHINA STUDENTS’ CLUB ANNUAL MEETING:

A GRIM FORECAST FOR OUR CLUB’S FUTURE: CHANGES AFOOT TO PREVENT OUR EXTINCTION Reported by Jeff Brown On May 28th, President Nic Johnson opened our annual business meeting, welcoming everyone to what was to be our last meeting at the College Club. This announcement was just one of several that was precipitated over the course of the last year or so by growing expenses incurred by our organization.

The College Club’s fees have been going up and, after reviewing the numbers, Treasurer Greg Lovell reported at an earlier Board meeting, that, if we remained at this venue for another year, we would be virtually bankrupt. The College Club’s fees, though, were not the only reason for the dilemma as there has been a slow, but steady drop in membership, and, regular members who still do show interest, have simply not sent in their membership fees in a timely fashion.

The Executive Board, and the Board of Directors have been scrambling for months since Greg made these predictions, trying to come up with solutions. Nic Johnson outlined what has been implemented and/or proposed so far: First, a new, and less expensive venue needed to be found. A search was done in the area and that resulted in venues that cost as much or more than the College Club. Fortunately, a place was located at the foot of Beacon Street, a couple doors up from Charles Street. The King’s Chapel Page 2

Parish House is a fine Federal period townhouse with meeting rooms and a kitchen overlooking Boston Common, convenient by “T” and with the Boston Common Garage steps away for those who drive. An agreement has been reached with the Parish House for 2015-2016 program year at a savings of about $1600.00 to the Club’s exchequer.

Second: There had to be an increase in subscription prices for our membership to increase revenue. There hadn’t been an increase in years, and compared with what other lecture series cost, either at the MFA or the Athenaeum or from Royal Oak, the China Students’ Club’s offerings remain a huge value for the money. Program Director Anne Lanning continues to work extremely hard to bring in a broad and varied slate of brilliant speakers on a very small budget.

Third, an idea was floated to have some sort of “Silent Auction” of members’ donated objects, the proceeds going to the Club. This is in the planning stages; to be continued.

Fourth, another suggestion, which has been discussed on and off for years, is to change the name of the organization. As America’s first and oldest ceramics study group, no one is taking this decision lightly. But, as past president Amanda Lange so eloquently argued, the CSC was founded in a completely different time when membership was built upon personal and social relationships; times have changed, and in an Internet world, people with specific interests research them online.

People who collect or study ceramics seldom refer to it as “china” anymore. Therefore, someone looking for a group like ours, would most likely do a search for something involving the word “ceramics”. It is very important that the word “Ceramics” appear in our title. Also, our website has recently been hacked, and it has been suggested that it was politically motivated because of the word “China” in our name. An informal vote was taken of members at the meeting and they were overwhelmingly in favor of a name change if it would lead to more exposure and an increased membership. New name suggestions will be offered at a fall meeting, suggestions are also invited from the membership.

And fifth, and most importantly, WE MUST INCREASE MEMBERSHIP. We must reach out, not only with better Internet exposure, but with each member making connections, networking and welcoming newcomers to the club, whether for just an introductory visit and lecture, or more importantly, signing someone on for a full membership. Negotiations are also being made at present to offer our program to the Beacon Hill Seminars, which will publicize our lectures for the Winter/Spring of 2016 to their membership, paying our organization a fee for every one of their students who wishes to attend.

Other business included the election of a new slate of officers, including very welcome volunteers Martha Pinello, who kindly and generously accepted the nomination for Vice-President and Tara Raiselis who will be assisted with publicity. The entire slate will be published in the Blue Book later this summer.

And finally, in-coming President, Carolyn Roy, offered a small gift of appreciation and the gratitude of the entire board and club to out-going President Nic Johnson for the tremendous job Page 3

he has done. Nic was originally very reluctant to take on the position, but he has thoughtfully and conscientiously overseen the club during this rather crucial turn of recent events, as well as work on the development of our new website. Well done, Nic!!

2015 BEGINS WITH PORCELAIN WARS: MEISSEN AND DU PAQUIER The CSC opened its 2015 Winter/Spring lecture program with a much anticipated talk by Meredith Chilton, Independent Art Historian on the subject of Porcelain Wars: The Rivalry between Meissen and Du Paquier. I say “much anticipated” because her visit is the result of years of planning and coordinating on Anne Lanning’s part; the Club calendar and Meredith’s schedule just never seemed to click. Well, fortunately for us the stars had finally aligned and Meredith, much to her delight, was here to deliver the Vivian Hawes Memorial Lecture as she, like many of our speakers, knew Vivian and was inspired by her. And so, despite horrendous traffic gridlock due to the recent blizzard, a group of twenty or so stalwart members managed to make it to the club to hear Meredith speak.

The lecture centered upon the twenty-five year rivalry between the Saxon manufactory of Meissen and its smaller Viennese competitor at the Du Paquier factory during the second quarter of the 18th century. As many of you may already know, Meissen was the first in Europe to discover a formula for hard-paste porcelain. This discovery was made by a brilliant team lead by an alchemist named Johann Friedrich Bottger. Working along with a physicist/mathematician and a mining and minerals specialist, under the virtual prison-like patronage of Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, Bottger and his team discovered the “Arcanum” as the formula and process of making porcelain was called. Augustus, like every other prince in Europe, wanted his capital (in this case Dresden) to emulate the glories of Versailles, perceived that being able to produce “white gold” would enhance the national identity and prestige of Saxony. After the discovery was made Augustus decided to establish a porcelain manufactory in 1710 at the castle at Meissen, just down the Elbe River from Dresden. Security was extremely tight as he wanted to ensure the process was not stolen. The first viable product was a red stoneware, called “red porcelain” but they were soon making white porcelain. Both were formed using bold baroque models supplied the court goldsmith. Augustus also pressed his team to replicate the blue and white wares from Asia with which he was filling his Hollandisches Palace.

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Meanwhile, back in Vienna, one Claudius Innocentius Du Paquier, a minor court official with major entrepreneurial ambitions imagined the wealth that could be generated from producing such a wildly popular luxury item as porcelain. Du Paquier cajoled, bribed and lured several Meissen employees to Vienna and into revealing their knowledge of Meissen porcelain production.

By 1719, with financial backers and a royal patent, porcelain was being produced in Vienna as well.

Meissen soon had their revenge, as they then managed to poach a very talented young artist, Johann Gregorius Horoldt from Du Paquier. Horoldt carried with him Du Paquier’s formulae for enamel colors-something that played a huge part in Meissen’s future success. With the development of a palette of sixteen colors over the next few years Meissen moved away from highly sculptural forms, emphasizing instead painted decoration. Typical of this early (1720s) style is the use of decorative cartouches framing European scenes such as hunting parties, ladies and gentleman at leisure, the commedia dell’ arte, and, most importantly, figural chinoiseries that would prove enduringly popular.

In contrast, Du Paquier’s early work featured monochrome painting and highly imaginative sculptural forms. From 1725-1744 the two manufactories took different paths. The prodigy Horoldt at Meissen developed a series of about ten ground colors inspired by Chinese porcelains: yellow, purple, turquoise, shades of lilac, as well as apple green, grey green, pale blue and brick red.

In the 1730’s a gifted young sculptor, Johann Joachim Kaendler joined the Meissen staff, and, in 1738, under the new directorship of Count von Bruhl, a new design direction favoring sculpted figures and grand dining wares was pursued. Despite some creative differences between colorist Horoldt and sculptor Kandler, the quality and workmanship always remained stellar. This is the period that sees the creation of the famous Meissen Swan Service. Unfortunately, Du Paquier did not enjoy the financial security of royal patronage, hence their products had to be more commercially viable and appealing to a wider spectrum of the market.

Meissen Swan Tureen

DuPaquier Teapot

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This resulted in a greater range of creative freedom and decorative styles, the costs remained high.

And, just as Meissen moved in the direction of innovative baroque and rococo forms, Du Paquier concentrated more on decoration, introducing as early as 1729 naturalistically rendered European flower painting. Monochromatic decoration continued a specialty of Du Paquier, as well as increasingly elaborate scrollwork. They attempted to make figures after Meissen, but they did not have anyone with the skills of Kandler. And so, with their patent running out, and deep in debt, they were purchased by Empress Maria Theresa and became a state manufactory.

FEBRUARY BITS ‘N’ PIECES CANCELLED Due to the absolutely horrific weather conditions in Boston this past February, an Executive Board decision was made to cancel one of our most favorite programs, Bits ‘n’ Pieces. The streets were treacherous, public transit was at a standstill, and parking was at a premium. The only good news should be that members will have twice as many great objects to show next year! Keep collecting!

SIMPLY RIVETING: MENDED CERAMICS IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LIFE A lecture given by Angelika Kuettner, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation March 26, 2015 Long before the heralds of 4:00 a.m. infomercials purported extra-hold glues, there were craftsmen and merchants who boasted their skills and promoted “infallible” products to repair many objects including ceramics. Glues, cements and rivets of various materials promised new life to the prized family vase and the useful cooking pot alike. “Satisfaction guaranteed” or the owner could return a jar or dish for re-mending at no extra cost. With a focus on 18th- and early 19th-century America, Angelika Kuettner placed broken and mended ceramics in historical context through the use of museum objects, paintings, prints, newspapers, letters, almanacs and archaeology. Her lecture was divided into two sections – how ceramics break and what happens to them after they are broken.

She went deeper into the subject to explain various methods of repair including “do-it-yourself” glue recipes, pastes available for purchase, as well as methods such as riveting carried out by trained craftsmen. Angelika is working on an article on the subject that will be published in the near future.

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JUST IN TIME FOR SPRING: A CSC FIELD TRIP Spring was indeed in the air during a sunny Saturday in April when CSC members convened in Worcester MA for a very full day with a field trip to the American Antiquarian Society, the Worcester Art Museum and, finally, a delightful afternoon reception and collection tour at the home of CSC members Dave Stevens and Marjorie Albright.

CSC member and past President, Nan Wolverton, Director of the Center for Historic American Visual Culture, at the American Antiquarian Society welcomed us all in the impressive Reading Room of the Society where she and her colleagues had laid out some very rare volumes entitled Oriental Ceramic Art by Louis Prang of Boston which featured amazingly large chromolithographic plates of objects in the collection. Each image of a piece of porcelain having been hand painted before then being rendered on to a lithographic stone to be printed for the book, a monumental, time-consuming, and expensive task. We were then lead upstairs to the Council Chamber where we were able to enjoy a large collection of English transfer-printed wares made for the American market during the first third of the 19th century. Collected and donated by Emma DeF. Morse in 1913, this extensive group features images of important American public works and buildings, as well as popular historical figures and events and American landscapes and popular destinations.

Also in the room were pieces of furniture belonging to John Hancock as well as Cotton Mather’s high chair! We were then taken through some of the seemingly endless archives this institution safeguards before moving onto our next destination, the Worcester Art Museum.

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Nan Wolverton welcomes CSC members to the

The impressive Reading Room of the Antiquarian Society

American Antiquarian Society

A small portion of the Emma DeF. Morse Collection of transfer printed wares

Members viewing ceramics-related resource materials from the archives

After tucking into a delicious lunch, the group was given a tour of the museum’s Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Persian ceramics as well as a breathtaking collection of contemporary Chinese jade and hardstone carvings recently donated to the museum. Moving on, we enjoyed

American ceramics and other decorative arts and paintings before repairing to Grafton a few miles away for some afternoon refreshments.

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A sampling of the Worcester Art Museum's collection of Kangxi period (1662-1722) porcelains

Breathtaking collection of Chinese jade and hardstone carvings

Vietnamese parrot form ewer

Extremely rare Chinese export porcelain Black Fitzhugh plate with American eagle decoration. Early 19th century.

Chinese famille verte porcelain vases

Wares by Dedham's Hugh Robertson. Late 19th century

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In Grafton we not only were treated to a delicious array of potables and comestibles by hosts Dave Stevens and Marjorie Albright, but got to feast our eyes upon their extensive collection of Chinese export blue and white porcelains from the Kangxi period (1662-1722) a small part seen below:

PROGRAM YEAR CONCLUDES WITH TALK ON NEW HAMPSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES Our program year concluded, as is tradition, with a presentation from one of our members, Martha Pinello, a Principal Investigator with a the Wyman Archaeology Project, who spoke to us on “A Glimpse into the Hampshire Pottery from the Wyman tavern Excavations: Keene, New Hampshire 1871-1923, Milk Jugs to Art Pottery�.

The Wyman Tavern in Keene, New Hampshire was both a home and a tavern built by Isaac Wyman, just home from the French and Indian Wars, in 1762. It was on a major north-south route heading as far a Quebec, and, oddly did not serve liquor, seeming to cater to a more business-like clientele than cattle drovers; it is where the articles of incorporation for Dartmouth College were drawn up. The Hampshire Pottery was eventually sited in the next century about a quarter mile from the tavern. There is evidence of human habitation with indigenous people in the area dating back 12,000 years. The first settlers on the Wyman site were a family named Fisher, who lived there twenty years before the Wymans buying the property. Later in the 19th century the house was owned by two Congregational ministers, followed by a pair of spinsters, the Adams sisters, and finally, by a local banking family named Sturtevant who held the property until in 1968 it was acquired by the Historical Society. It is known primarily as an archive, being the only county historical society in New England. But as the Sturtevants were collectors of local antiques, when their estate was auctioned off a lot of items were purchased and returned to the Historical Society, so there are also decorative arts in the collection.

Excavations of the site have turned up shards coordinating with the various periods of ownership of the property. There are pieces of creamwares from the 18th century tavern, ample examples of Page 10

English transfer-printed wares from the time of the ministers’ occupation, and also an enormous amount of shards with makers’ marks most likely from both the ministers and the Adams sisters.

Some of the transfer printed pieces match complete objects in the Historical Society’s collection donated by a Mrs. Falkner; was she buying locally as her whole objects match the shards cast out by the spinster sisters? Also shards from the Hampshire Pottery turn up in this excavation which match a pitcher in the Historical Society’s collection that was painted and signed by Eliza Adams, one of the sisters. Was she one of these 19th century genteel lady china painters? Or, was she actually painting these for the pottery and getting paid for piece work? Were there other women employed similarly by the pottery? These are some of the scenarios that Martha deals with in trying to interpret a site. The only curious thing missing are clay pipe shards, usually the most ubiquitous finds at a tavern excavation, but, Martha surmises they are most likely resting in some yet undiscovered trash pit.

As for the Hampshire Pottery down the road, little exists as to their historic record. We do know that in 1871, with the pottery industry failing throughout a country gripped in a global recession, and with no training whatsoever as a potter, James S. Taft opens a pottery in a former clothes pin factory. Wares were produced from local clay, the kiln was stocked and fired, and, the entire factory catches fire and burns to the ground. Not an auspicious beginning, but it did not deter Mr. Taft. Another pottery is set up (Mr. Taft’s uncle served as the President of the Cheshire National Bank and Taft was it Vice President) and a business model was put into place where the pottery seemed to consistently hire people with little or no expertise or experience in potting! One Wallace King, who was a landscape painter, was hired as a decorator; one Thomas Stanley was hired as an English potter, but was in fact, a common laborer; and one Cadmon D. Robertson (who happened to be Taft’s brother-in-law) was brought on board as a great expert in glazes with many patents had previous experience as a machinist. The only one hired with any kind of potting experience was George Morton who previously worked for Grueby, later became a tire salesman.

Wares were not built-up or thrown, but simply slip-cast. Pieces were impressed with various names as the business failed and re-organized itself, later even re-incorporating itself in Massachusetts.

Marks read J.S. Taft and Co., or Hampshire Pottery, and the factory bore the sign of The Keene Stone and Earthenware Manufactury. Early wares were simple utilitarian milk jugs. Some of the earlier stonewares were made on site, later ones could have been imported from other potteries for finishing and re-sale. Souvenir objects for various New England towns and tourist destinations were produced. Martha tries to get a picture of production from comparing shards from tip sites to whole pieces in the Historical Society’s collection and the sherds found at the Tavern site.

There are only three existing sale catalogs from the firm, one from the time of Cadmon Robertson’s stay there, 1904-1914. The production was then focuses upon vasiform lamp bases in

the style of contemporary art pottery. Pieces could be ordered drilled for lamping or left whole as a vase. The pottery was basically the K-Mart or HomeGoods of art pottery; they had the basic forms Page 11

and glazes down, the “look� was there, but just don’t look too closely! The pieces were slip-cast in great numbers, not thrown as true art pottery pieces were, and they were sold primarily to hotels.

The company ultimately failed in 1923, the year James Taft died and it is surprising they survived as long as they did and produced as much as they did. But Martha thinks that because of difficult economic times, and a work force in flux, that the company was always supplied with enough skilled laborers for the day-to-day production that they were able to produce what they did, despite the apparent lack of experience or expertise on the part of the management.

Examples of Hampshire Pottery

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER EVERYONE…RE-NEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP AND SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER AT OUR GREAT NEW VENUE!

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