The Oregon daily journal., March 08, 1908, Page 32, Image 32

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nnIERE is scarcely a dwelling built
' ' t,lgfc Mat lacks the plate rack
: in its dining room. And there is
. scarcely a . buyer or a tenant mho moves in
that fails to fill up the rack xvith pottery of
tome kind, from blue plates to beer steins.
i" It is the modern evidence of the sur
vival of the tfote for fine china and por
celain, which has cost its devotees millions -in
centuries past, and is still embalmed in
specimens that are worth more than their
weight in gold. For 14 carat is the jew
F! EW great paintings haVe been admired more
than H. Sieroaradski'a "The Woman or the
Vase?" One sees that it must be a very
beautiful and rare piece of pottery that
w ' raises a questien against the prompt ownership of
the lovely, shrinking slave.
'Nowadays, most Rovers of oh In admit there
are no manufacturers who put out specimens for
. . commercial purposes that, are actually worth their
weight In goM. Perhaps they may tell of single
pieces put out" by skilful decorators that command
big prices for instance, there la, or was a few
. ..weeks ago. in an Atlantic seaboard city, awaiting'
a purchaser, a pitcher vase . of eggshell Coal port
porcelain, that weighs fourteen I ounces, and is
.worth $350 more than twice its -weight In bullion.
But there is plenty of ware for example, that
designed by M. I Solon, who worked for Minton.
Stoke-on-Trent, until be retired to occupy himself
'with authorship on his darling topic that has sold'
for many times Its weight in silver. It was he
; ' who originated the work known as "pate sur
- pate," paste on paste, a process eminently suited
to the facilities of Mlnton's, where soft paste ma
terial wai'aTfipfccTSITy: r
One vase of his, three' or four feet In height,
sold for 1S00 guineas more than $7500.' Tea. and
one eight-inch plate of his, now in the United
States, which weighs eleven and one-half ounces,
, was on vale for $200. nearly double the worth of
Its weight in gold.
With Solon, in the future, it may be as it has
been with Palissy, and with scores of other men
famous in the ceramio art in the past as it has so
' notoriously been with all -artists, from -Van Dyck
to Millet. AH are not doomed to die to win; but
. the value of things admired rises with their rarity,
. and many a specimen of the most humble potter's
. work, the very names of their authors unknown
. from the hour when they left the kiln, have
soared to prices a thousandfold increased with the
lapse of the ages.
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THE OREGON :
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elers' standard of bullion the world over,
end its price is 56 cents per pennyweight,
or $11.20 an ounce Troy.
Women, who are supposed to be the
born lovers of fine china, figure amoltg col
lectors, as a rule, simply as modest ama
teurs. The history of china, like the history
of horses, demonstrates that it takes men
to be plungers. It takes a Morgan to make
a collection and loan it to the Metropolitan
Museum, aiJboffl Thynne to own a vase
worth $27frdo ' "
Solon, the living expert, the creator of a new
phase of the art, has his own ceramomanla, like
other true lovers of their professions, who. writers
-of Cooks, must have some rare folios and fine bind
ings for their very own; or, makers of pictures,
treasure some canvases they esteem exemplars of
their art
So he bought, a while ago, a number of tana
graa, charming figures, which are being more am)
more highly appreciated." And those rare tanagraH
proved to.be. counterfeits, fully as impudent as
those which, unscrupulous forgers delight in put
ting oft on rich collectors and famous museums.
- When, however, china or porcelain begins to'
approach its weight in gold, it assumes attributes
of identity which are usually ample safeguards for
even the moderately well informed.
There is a French Ware, dating back to the time
Of Henri II, known variously as Oiron, Henri II
and Saint Porchalre, as successive enthusiasts have
made historical discoveries which proved one
thing, and later discoveries that proved another.
For the last half century, every specimen has been
identified, cataloged, pedigreed, registered and
- guaranteed,-with a wealth of documentary evl-
denoe sufficient to prove the identity of an heir to
the French throne before the dethroning Revolu
tion. Counterfeiters, to whom success would mean
thousands or dollars would find it easier to sell
the United states Mint a gold brick, or pass a
Canadian dime on a Washington car conductor,
than to palm oft a spurious Henri II piece upon a
collector, unless the collector happened to be an
American millionaire Just commencing to fulfil hi
ultimate purposed the scheme of existence. They
have tried It, many a time; and their efforts are
v ui ccrunnc literature
. the J1" has always remained open to the
admlBHion of new specimens, if only their authen
ticity was beyond question. Thus, the list of ix.
ty-five pieces of Henri II ware known to be in ex-
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is.
SUNDAY .' JOURNAL- PORTLAND. 4 - SUNDAY
arvelous Works
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ltncj now include three which, at the
ale of the Fountain (Narford Hall collec
tion, were found In pn old clothc basket
Under a bedstead.
They sold for tu enormous aura of 6236
-31.0Q0. If they weighed nearly a hundred
pounda avoirdupois, thoy still brought 120
an ounce.
At the Spitier sale in Paris, In 1891. a
taza. or bowl, which had brought a little
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MORNING, MARCH 8, 1905
of Art
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less than 15000 few years earlier at the
Kami U so Palace sale, was purchased by
George Salting for nearly 17500,
A candlestick in the Rothschild collec-"
tlon cost $18,000. Another, at the sale of the
Fountaine collection, was bought by Detuit
for nearly $20,000. One such candlestick, In
cluded anions tho half dosen specimens
treasured in the South vn.i w '
4UUVOUIU,
in. England, is only 12H inches Igh. and at
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"'tis''.) $fi .f Uf -
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th base i4 inches In diameter.
,w wL!fy,Tb08e nerolc consecration to his chosen
art, whose; long years of deprivatien, longer years
Hl.?nalhaV0J: and Ignominious end in the royal
JL,8- have,bee the theme of all writers on the
ceramio art, la one of the potters whose fam8 hka
I!", and grows ever ore exalted. Massl"
i e of ,h,s, Produotion there are many
now eateemed priceless. .
i2?e-i the m8t admirable is a-famous dish, in
Mietoa.nd reenl de.P'ctin Venus with several Cu
fhs,.ttrieattment ot th.e 8uect as noteworthy for
i?i,,exiuL8lte STce ot lts nea as it is for the
brilliant harmony of Its colors.
The name ''majolica" is a household word in al
jnost every European country, and the American
housewife contracted her ambition to cn lmjollca
when she listened at her mothers knees.
t .Chh,r'itJan!yiaus,ht K" !. to the poor and
to the rich, in the glazes of majolica; and the very
travelers to the Holy Land bore flasks ornamented
with symbols of their pious pilgrimage. iSTpeclally
fine pieces have risen in price until they are
worth their weight in gold, as instance in
Italian one of remarkable wealth in detail and
great beauty of conception, "The Resurrection." a
Plaque measuring. 9 inches in height by & inches
lectTon forW$63ol was 8l,ld from tha Ponrtfii col"
i.iElfland l,n 41le 'a"" of Its china and porce
lain, has produced pieces that ar the Joy of con
noisseurs and the despair ofali' collectors whose ;
( Prse .-would- have been disowned br Fdrtundtus!
It was ih 1763 that Dr. Gamier. injWland" 'p"et
-fonted to. the. Foundling Hospitilv a Chelsea Vase.
, .twenty-tour-inchfeS high, With a; ground Sof 'deep
I bluet painted -on 'one side with a Boucher subject.
n -the reverse with exotlo birds. ""J"-'-.
It was slightly damaged, byt. Lord Dudley paid
. a high price for it, and, finding the companion
vase in the possession of Lord Chesterfield, ob- '
pairedooreSor9 ?0: . In 1888 th9
At Lor H. Thynne's sale, half a dozen years
ago, two other vases attained-the record price for
Chelsea, bringing' $43,000. - , j ,
There, is a vase in. the British kuseum, -'only
twenty inches hlgh, one of two presented by Dr. 1
Oarnier more than, a cenlury ago, when he inade 1
. his gift to the Foundling Hospital, that i. beytnd i
price, because the British , empire never needs
, money badly enough to sell such treasures. But if I
it were fit up at auction today a -Morgan would
be likely to give $20,000 for it, as he is said t? I
have given $125,000 fpr three peachblow Jars with ! '
covers and two beakers, and ,$100,000 for a slngU
red hawthorn vase, in his collection . now In the ' -New
York Metropolitan Museum of Art on loan -i
..?evrfs Js name quite as famous to conjure '
with. In the; Jones collection,; deposited In tha 1
South Kensington Museum, there is a Sevres vas -(
wm-n ociy CU lu. uuuv X.WO QlSiant KillgdOmS. '
' it was part of the collection of. tievres porce-
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lain preseniea ,ny;King juuis XVI of France td
Tlppoo Sahib in 1788,. when Tippoo sent, three am
bassadorsto the court of France; The collection
s then valued at 83,128 ; livres, about $6600, while
this particular vase was Inventoried at nearly $200.
Today the lessened purchasing value of money.
.and the enhancement of .values upon such notable
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