More About Belleek

Connoisseurs of the unimportant probably joined with me, a year or so ago, about an anachronism in Vaughan Wilkins and so, Victoria, in which novel he permits a cook of the 1820's to upbraid a housemaid for not serving something or other on a Belleek saucer. This frail and nacreous porcelain not having seen the light for at least a double decade after the designated date, Mr. Wilkins, by his error, joined a goodly company of fellows, fellows such as William Shakespeare, for instance, who in his own JULIUS CAESAR, allowed the characters to speak of hats and clocks in a day when neither was known to Rome. But the play's the thing, and we, who are at least sketchily acquainted with our wares, make far greater mistakes than ever Mr. Wilkins thought of, chief among them being the general supposition that Belleek is an Irish product of considerable age. As a matter of fact, the most (and the best) of it was turned out here in the United States between 1870 and 1890.

To know what Belleek is, one must know what Parian is, a subject well handled by Thelma Shull in these pages recently. For those who have forgotten, or missed it altogether, one may simply state that Parian is a porcelain which, instead of being moulded into shape like dough is poured, while liquid, into moulds. Belleek is this same Parian, glazed, and dipped into a solution of metallic oxides called madrepearla-mother-of-pearl.

Parian, often left unglazed, had been used for fine figurines and brica-brac ever since its introduction in the 50's, its chief experimentalist and exponent being W. H. Goss of Stoke-Upon-Trent, an artist and writer whose diminutive but steady stream of fine ornamentals in this material competed with, and sometimes overshadowed, the products of such manufacturers as Copeland. From his great library of ancient and contemporary books on potting he gathered and used such recipes as might improve his work, and in the late 1850's he obtained rights to use the madrepoarla over-glaze, which had been improved upon from ancient lustres by Brianchou, a French chemist-artist. Dipping one of his Parian vases into the pearl, he knew he had discovered a unique and beautiful finish.

An artist, Goss knew that the combination of graceful shape and irridescent coating was in itself sufficient beauty, but he also knew that the public might care for something more spectacular for its money. For this reason, and since the Parian body was not able to withstand very great heat, he forgot his unnamed new discovery and continued his work in Parian. McBirney and Armstrong, small potters in the village of Belleek in Ireland, obtained his permission to carry on with the experimental novelty and were soon so successful, especially in making it heat-resistant, that they finally hired away Goss's foreman and several of his artists. Together the new group developed it chemically and artistically, put it on the market with wonderful success, and for want of a better name called it Belleek-Irish China. The artists, capitalizing on its place of manufacture, turned out many pieces bearing a decoration of sprigged shamrocks, and thus Belleek became inseparable from the legend of Ireland.

In 1876 it was exhibited here at the Philadelphia Centennial, many of these pieces being subsequently purchased by Tiffany and Company. This blessing, bestowed by the country's supreme mentors of taste, inevitably interested the many potteries now springing into action on the eastern seaboard. It was only shortly after that several of them sought and obtained from McBirney and Armstrong the right to carry on its manufacture over here. Belleek became a rage, a household symbol for the finest in chinaware, so much so, indeed, that the American manufacturers had to purchase the name as well as the recipes to insure their successes. Many of the original Irish workmen were imported, and under an agreement, by which the name Belleek was combined with the American firm name (as for instance, Lennox-Belleek), its production was begun.

Its enormous popularity and novelty caused it for a time to outdistance such established wares as Wedgwood and Spode; it was used for dinner and tea sets, decoratives, odd-size plates and pitchers, and sundries such as shaving mugs; under the influence of its original designers it retained its classic shapes, and was a lovely porcelain. Often, in keeping with its pearly surface, it was moulded in forms reminiscent of the sea; compotes like shells upheld by strands of kelp, pitchers like nautili, with coral handles. Snail shells were used as models for the feet on many items, and the only decorations were raised, self-color ornaments, like the beadings and flutings of sea-born things. It was, without doubt, the finest and purest porcelain of its time, and Trenton, N. J., was the center of its manufacture. It was made there by such firms as Knowles, Taylor and Knowles, the American Art Company, the Delaware Pottery, and the Willits Pottery Company. Their Belleek wares bear their own trade name and the name Belleek, hyphenated, or at least, together.

The standard of these various manufacturies was exceptionally high, and their Belleek of a distinguished beauty. It was so fragile as to be an easy prey to the ravages of the years, however, so that, while not altogether rare, it is found in less quantity than those heavier porcelains turned out in the same era. For some ten years it reigned as America's luxury china, and though sometimes deprecated as inferior to that actually produced in Ireland, this criticism seems to have been the fruit of snobbery rather than genuine taste. In fact, comparisons show that in quality, taste and feeling it was - during this period-superior to anything made in the Emerald Isle.

The Centennial, with its accumulation of pottery from all over the ancfent and modern world, gave us a terrific taste for porcelain, and also, a taste for show. It was the first time the general public had seen really good china, indeed, and in its enthusiasm it mistook elegance for quality. Thus, as Goss had dreaded, years before, they began to wish more for their money; if white ware was fine, colored was finer, doubtless! Very well, then. Thus, slowly, Belleek, in its pallid beauty, was discarded. To meet the competition of cheaper manufacturers, who were turning out garish imitations with great approval, the established and genuine concerns began to "pretty" their Belleek in order to continue; the lovely finish was lost under paint, enamel and transfer; it was distorted into bigger, more elaborate shapes. A "Jewelled" Belleek, enamelled in baroque scrolls, and heavy with gold, marked the end of its career in the Etruria works: Sometimes it was entirely painted so that not a vestige of its pearly surface remained for the eye; it was turned out in blank sets to be scourged by misguided if wellmeaning amateurs in the new and thrilling epidemic of hand painting on china.

By the time newer and plainer forms had become modish, Belleek, always expensive, was outdone by newer and cheaper pastes. It was (and is) made in some quantity, but never did it regain its original exquisite feeling and form. Ireland happily continued to make the plain and pure type, so to it, at last, must go the laurels. Here in America, Willits' remained true to these traditions, and as long as their company operated made Belleek in plain shapes, also, pale as moonlight, light as foam, of a quality even finer than that achieved by the little Irish village so generously and usually credited wtih Bellee'k's sole origin and development.