If Cupids be child-life, then the old style offers scores of examples,
but the modern child has been denuded of his wings and is employed in
other occupations than twining wreaths of roses around lovers. The
usual children of the china shelf are armed with baskets and posies,
and are Cupid-like in their character. But in the Renaissance figures
of Copenhagen children the spirit of childhood is present. The simple
peasant _Child_ (illustrated, p. 279), with burden of bottle and
basket, is as true to life as the faithful record of an old Dutch
master. It is, possibly without meaning to be, symbolic of the life of
toil of the peasant. It is a tale the clay tells of the busy life of
the fields. Even a tiny child has to bear her share of the long day's
work. It is just that sad touch of reflection which illuminates great
works of art, and it is here present. A figure such as this is worth,
as a work of art, fifty meaningless Rockingham _Flower Boys_ or Chelsea
manikins in grotesque costume.
[Illustration: FIGURE OF BOY AND CALF.
Painted in underglaze colours. Modelled by Chr. Thomsen.]
The _Old Woman_, modelled by the same artist, with bonnet and shawl
with fringe, represents a type now belonging to days rapidly passing.
The character of an obsolescent type has been caught with exceptional
cleverness. There is another figure of an old woman less robust, and
indicating less lovable qualities, with Bible in hand, and, if the
truth be told, a somewhat crafty look. Such types as these will be
recognized by those who know Denmark well; they are racy of the soil,
and represent the acute perception of the modern potters in seizing
disappearing types. Such crystallized character forms a permanent
and very valuable record of the remoter side of country life, and is
instinct with a truer feeling of art than whole galleries representing
impossible porcelain cavaliers and ladies in costume the like of which
no man has ever seen.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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