Chaire (tea jar), Shigaraki stoneware, probably late 16th century

'...something unique'

When Bernard Leach first went to Japan he was a young artist just discovering Japanese pottery. However he was soon to become the pre-eminent British potter of the 20th century.

He did not doubt the value of the collection, describing it as 'something unique.' Taking advice from Japanese tea masters, he brought together objects of the type most valued in the Japanese chanoyu tradition, following principles established back in the 16th century. These dictate that the objects used should be simple and unpretentious, and contribute to the quiet sense of contemplation that a tea ceremony inspires.

The chaire (tea jar) sent by Leach displays these qualities perfectly. It is an example of the roughly made stoneware of Shigaraki, prized by tea connoisseurs since the 15th century. Guests would traditionally take pleasure in examining and praising such an object after the host had finished serving tea.

Recreating chanoyu

Chanoyu is an art of life, a highly ritualised act of hospitality. Objects are chosen, arranged and handled with meticulous care, so that the combination of objects and people, time and place, makes each ceremony a unique and unrepeatable occasion. Leach was insistent that this same regard was observed when the collection was displayed at the Museum in 1924.

Japanese traditions

Chanoyu objects collected by Bernard Leach

When Leach was in Japan, the preservation of Japanese heritage was under considerable threat from rapid industrialisation and westernisation. Some saw the tea ceremony as a metaphor for traditional Japan, and Leach hoped that this acquisition could allow a better understanding between East and West.

In later life, Leach used his experience to act as a mediator between the cultural worlds of Western Europe and East Asia. However, we now know that the Japanese circles he moved in were themselves influenced by Western thinking and that his claims to have understood an authentic Japanese tradition should be treated with scepticism.

Nevertheless, Leach stands out as one of the key figures in the ongoing history of interaction between Europe and East Asia. It seems fitting that, just as these items are valued for their beauty and their antiquity, they are now also valued for their association with Leach himself.

Background Reading

Edmund de Waal, Bernard Leach (London: Tate, 1999);

Emmanuel Cooper, Bernard Leach: Life and Work (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 2003);

Kakuzo Okakura, The Book of Tea (New York: Dover, 1964);

Paul Varley and Kumakura Isao (eds), Tea in Japan: Essays on the History of Chanoyu, (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1989)

St Teilo's Church, Llandeilo Tal-y-bont, in situ in 1984

Stone mullioned medieval window uncovered from beneath layers of lime wash and render during the dismantling process

Wall-painting of St Catherine, 'in situ', found on the east wall of the south transept, believed to have been painted c.1400

From Llandeilo Tal-y-bont to Cardiff

St Teilo's church was built during the 13th century. There was probably an earlier church on the site. Abandoned in the 1960s, it was scheduled as an Ancient Monument by Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments in the 1980s. As the decaying church could not be saved at its original site, it was offered to the Museum in 1984 for dismantling and re-erecting at St Fagans.

As the careful process of dismantling the Church began, two amazing wall-paintings from the 15th and 16th centuries were discovered, as well as numerous texts and areas of decorative patterns. These were all carefully recorded, removed and conserved.

The delicate removal of layers of lime-wash from the surface of the wall-paintings provided vital clues to the date of the original building. The removal of mortar from the outside walls enabled any Victorian or later alterations to be filtered out. After dismantling, the foundations were excavated, uncovering further clues to the Church's construction.

The history of the Church

The first surviving church was probably a small building consisting of a nave and chancel, a pattern that was standard throughout Wales at this time, thought to be 13th to 14th century. The next addition would have been the north transept, with the south transept probably built shortly after, as both are of similar construction. These probably date from the 14th or early 15th century, which corresponds to the dating of a wall-painting on the east wall of the south transept.

An extension of the south transept to form an aisle probably occurred during the late 15th century, the old south wall being replaced by an arcade of two arches, with another two cutting into both transepts. The final addition was a porch leading to the south aisle.

Expanding congregations

The Museum decided to rebuild the Church as it could have appeared around 1510-30. Architectural clues from this period can be used to understand the social, religious and political framework within which the Church was constructed and furnished. This closely follows the extension of the south transept to form the south aisle, presumably to accommodate a larger congregation. This could fit in with the economic recovery in Wales, after the Welsh Tudor dynasty became Kings of England in the late 15th century. This brought a period of relative calm after long periods of political and social unrest - including civil war.

Various clues show the nature of worship during the period up to 1530. Most important of these are the pre-Reformation wall-paintings. They show themes from the life of Christ and many saints, including St Catherine and St Christopher. Corbel stones found in the masonry work of the chancel arch show that there were once a medieval rood screen and loft. Both the wall-paintings and the rood screen and loft would have been brightly painted.

The poor man's Bible

Wall-paintings in churches have been described as "the poor man's Bible". They were designed to show scenes from the Bible to a congregation unable to read or write. They were also painted to create a sense of awe, fear and obedience. In some cases, the wall-paintings like the ones found in St Teilo must have been the only means of communicating any religious message at all, as both reading the Bible and preaching were in Latin, which congregations did not understand.

An end to worship

The growing population of the area, the development of other larger churches and frequent acts of vandalism led to St Teilo's falling into disuse. These events reflect the social, religious and political history of the Church just as much as the pre-Reformation wall-paintings do. The re-erection of the Church at the Museum is but another phase in its history, where visitors in the 21st century will be just as valued as its medieval pilgrims! St Teilo's Church now has a good chance of surviving for many more years.

The clock above the entrance to the Welsh Slate Museum

A distinctive feature of the National Slate Museum building is the diamond-shaped face of a clock on the front of the Museum. On the roofline above it is a small pagoda-like structure containing a bell and hammer, connected to the clock by a wire rope.

The mechanism is installed on the second floor of the building. It was manufactured in Shropshire but it is not possible to read the date. Early photographs of the building, erected in 1870, do not show the clock, so it was probably not installed until the mid-1890s

Timekeeper for quarry explosions

The Museum is located within the Victorian workshops of the Dinorwig Quarry. The clock helped ensure the trains taking slate from the quarry to the Company's port at Port Dinorwic were always on time. The clock was more than simply a timekeeper for the workshops though. At some stage in its life, a series of electrical connections were added. At set intervals the clock transmitted an electrical signal to other parts of the Quarry's large site. This was to ensure that blasting happened on time. Such systems were usually marketed as 'pulsynetic clocks'. They were sold by well-known makers such as Gent, Leicester. At Dinorwig, however, a home-made, reliable solution was produced.

100-year-old graffiti

A power supply was required to provide the electrical signals. This was supplied via wet cells, or accumulators, stored alongside the clock. One of the discoveries made when renovating this part of the building, in the mid-1990s, was the original graffiti on adjacent walls and panels noting the dates of battery charges. On June 10, 1909, for example, Willie Owen Williams and George Hughes charged the batteries.

Cleaning the clock

Although well cared for over the years, by 2001 the clock required specialist attention. J.B. Joyce and Company, the manufacturers, were still in existence. They were established at Whitchurch in Shropshire, and are still there over three hundred years later. Unfortunately, they have no records of individual clocks manufactured, but were prepared to visit the Museum to inspect the clock. The mechanism ended up being returned to the Joyce workshops where it was cleaned and serviced. The clock was then reassembled, brought back to the Museum and commissioned. Today the clock works smoothly and to a good degree of accuracy.

Village timekeeper

At a time when few people possessed watches, the clock installed in the Dinorwig Quarry workshops was a timekeeper for its surrounding community, with its bell being audible to most of those living in and around Llanberis. To quote one local author:

'Torrai ar y distawrwydd yn nhrymder nos, a chlywyd aml i glaf yn cwyno yn y bore,"Chysgis i ddim gwerth neithiwr - clywed yr hen gloc yn taro pob awr nes iddi 'leuo"'

(It relieved the silence of the depth of night, and quite frequently one would hear of those who were unwell complaining the next morning, "I didn't sleep well last night - I could hear the old clock striking each hour until it dawned".)

The old clock continues to measure the passage of time into the 21st century at Llanberis.

Two different medieval myths are represented in two works by the 19th century artist Sir Edward Burne Jones. The Wheel of Fortune (1882) and Arthur at Avalon (1890) are both in the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru.

This unfinished painting of about 1882 depicts the medieval theme of the wheel of fortune, which lifts or abases man as it is turned by the goddess Fortuna. The drawing of the nudes and the drapery of the goddess reveal the artist's careful study of Michelangelo.
Burne Jones.
Oil on Canvas.

The Wheel of Fortune is based on Roman mythology. For the Romans, the goddess Fortuna represented luck. However during the Middle Ages the idea of the wheel of fortune evolved from the writings of Boethius, a 6th century Christian martyr. In The Consolation of Philosophy, he wrote that the random turns life could take were all part of God's divine will and that man must accept the twists and turns of fortune.

It has long been a tradition in art to show gods as being larger than humans, and here Burne Jones represents Fortune as larger than the humans, who she turns on her wheel. He does show her blindfolded, as was usual, but with her eyes closed. Traditionally, the wheel has four figures on it. They represent four stages of life: "I shall reign", "I reign", "I have reigned" and "I have no kingdom". Burne Jones only depicted three figures on the wheel, but he maintained the idea of a reign by placing a crown on the head of the central figure.

The feminist author Camille Paglia has described this work as a sadomasochistic tableau, with "Fortuna turning her torture wheel of beautiful young men, languid with limbs stretched in sensual suffering". Although the men are accepting of their fate, how much choice do they have? The limbs are not so much stretched in sensuality but as an indication that you ascend by climbing over someone else and this in turn will happen to you. This is something Burne Jones felt personally. In 1893 he wrote "My Fortunes wheel is a true image, and we take our turn upon it, and be broken upon it."

But to wider Victorian society, where industrial fortunes meant one could rise in wealth and class and the British Empire was the most powerful in the world, this notion of rise and fall would have touched a nerve. If you are on top of the wheel, the next turn might place you at the bottom.

Burne Jones painted another myth with Arthur at Avalon. This myth is taken from Thomas Malory's famous poem of 1470 Morte d'Arthur ('The Death of Arthur'). Arthurian legends were popular with artists for many reasons. They were well known to the public and they contained brave knights, thwarted lovers and femmes fatales. Unlike the classical world, these heroes were Christians and, most appealingly, they were rooted in British history. Greece and Rome were all very well but a local hero was more likey to inspire future empire builders.

In Arthur at Avalon Burne Jones shows the scene of Arthur's death. After being mortally wounded in battle by Mordred (his son by his half sister), Arthur is taken to the Isle of Avalon in an attempt to heal his wounds. The name Avalon ("Afallon" in Welsh, meaning the isle of apples) perhaps related to the tree of knowledge, and it was believed to be a magical place. In the background of the painting we can see trees with blossom that could be apple trees. Authur ordered Sir Bedivere to give his sword Excalibur to the Lady in the Lake, but when Bedivere returned Arthur was gone. This has been taken to mean that Arthur might not be dead, only sleeping until he is needed again. The Arthurian legend not only continued to be a source of interest to artists throughout the 19th century, but continues to inspire artists, writers and film-makers today.

Arthur At Avalon, Burne Jones, 1890