The Collector's Handbook to Keramics of the Renaissance and Modern Periods Part 18

In 1769, by order of M. Sprimont, the proprietor, the Chelsea porcelain manufactory was sold by auction.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 320.--VASE. "DEATH OF CLEOPATRA."]

The works were purchased by W. Duesbury of Derby, and carried on by him at Chelsea until 1784. The later pieces made here under his direction are easily distinguished; these vessels are of simple elegant forms, with the frequent recurrence of gold stripes, and the same forms and style were adopted simultaneously at Derby, but they are inferior to the vases made when M. Sprimont had the works under his direction.

WALES

SWANSEA. The manufacture of porcelain was revived at Swansea in 1814 by L. L. Dillwyn. At that time Billingsley had commenced making his porcelain at Nantgarw; it naturally attracted Dillwyn's attention, and conceiving that the kilns used by Billingsley & Walker might be considerably improved, he made arrangements with them to carry on their process at Swansea. Hence the origin of the Swansea porcelain, which obtained great repute, and was continued for six or seven years. Baxter, a clever painter of figure subjects, left Worcester and entered Dillwyn's service in 1816 and continued there for three years, returning to Worcester in 1819. In the year 1820 the manufactory was discontinued, and all the moulds and appliances were purchased by John Rose, who removed them to Coalport about the same time as those of Nantgarw.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 321.--PLATE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 322.--PLATE.]

NANTGARW. Established in 1813 by Billingsley, the celebrated flower painter of Derby, with Walker, after they left Worcester. They produced some very fine porcelain, of the same peculiar character as that of Pinxton, with a sort of vitreous appearance and a granulated fracture like that of lump sugar. Being very soft the paste would not in all cases stand the heat of the kiln; some of the early pieces are consequently found cracked on the glaze, or slightly warped and bent.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 323.--PLATE.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 324.--CUP AND SAUCER.]

The Nantgarw porcelain was of remarkably fine body and texture, but its production was expensive. About the year 1820 the manufacture was discontinued; Billingsley and Walker having disposed of their interest in the concern to J. Rose, the moulds and everything connected with the works were removed to Coalport.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 325.--VASE.]

ORIENTAL POTTERY AND PORCELAIN

CHINA

The porcelain of China is composed of two earths, the one a decomposed felspathic rock called _kaolin_, and the other a rock of the same geological origin, mixed with quartz, called _petuntse_. They both harmonise so completely that they have an equally resisting power when placed in the kiln. The _kaolin_ used in making porcelain is much softer than _petuntse_ when dug out of the quarry, yet it is this which, by its mixture with the other, gives strength and firmness to the work.

Chinese porcelain was cla.s.sified by the late Dr. S. W. Bush.e.l.l, C.M.G., under the following periods:--

1. Primitive period, including the _Sung_ dynasty (960-1279) and the _Yuan_ dynasty (1280-1367).

2. Ming period, comprising the whole of the _Ming_ dynasty (1368-1643).

3. K'ang Hsi period, extending from the fall of the Ming dynasty to the close of the reign of _K'ang Hsi_ (1662-1722).

4. Yung Cheng and Chien Lung period (1723-1795), the two reigns being conjoined.

5. Modern period, from the beginning of the reign of _Chia Ch'ing_ to the present day.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 326.--STONEWARE VASE. _With Celadon green glaze.

Ming dynasty._]

The most ancient mode of decoration was the blue _camaeu_, and it is still much esteemed in China; it was executed on the ware, simply dried before the glaze was applied, and then placed in the kiln. Being all completed in one baking, _au grand feu_, the painting thus executed became imperishable.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 327.--STONEWARE VASE. _With Celadon crackle glaze._]

It is on this blue ware that the greater number of the Chinese characters are found denoting the period in which the porcelain was made. The cobalt on the earlier pieces was not so fine as on those of the _Siouen-te_ and _Ching-hoa_ periods, which are now much sought after. It is extremely difficult to tell even the approximate date of the coloured pieces, especially as there was a conventional method of decorating them which had been practised from time immemorial; the painters worked according to given models or patterns, and monsters, deities, or flowers and landscapes, of the same uncouth and rude designs, were placed in successive ages upon the ware.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 328.--PORCELAIN VASE. _Painted in enamel colours._]

The Pere d'Entrecolles tells us the manner of painting vases in China, and how the different parts of a landscape on one vase were intrusted to various hands according to their ability to paint special objects mechanically. He says: "One is employed solely to form the coloured circle which is seen round the border of the ware, a second traces the flowers in outline, which a third fills in with colour; another excels only in painting the water and the mountains, while the next is only competent to portray birds or animals."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 329.--PORCELAIN EWER. _Painted in enamel colours, and mounted with Florentine copper gilt. 17th century._]

A sort of very hard stoneware, covered with a thick glaze, may be the most ancient description seen at the present day. The surface is covered with a semi-opaque glaze which is called _celadon_ by the French, and which varies in colour from a russet grey to a sea green. The glaze of this ware is frequently seen crackled all over in irregular lines, which is termed in England _crackle_. This crackle china is the most esteemed of Oriental porcelain, although it arises from a _defective_ cause.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 330.--BOTTLE. _Powder blue porcelain. Ming dynasty._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 331.--JAR. _Painted with plum blossoms. Ming dynasty._]

The same effect may be easily produced upon all terra-cottas of which the paste is more sensible to the changes of temperature than the exterior coating or glaze. In fayence this accident is of frequent occurrence; the red porous clay, being more expansive, draws away the enamel, which, being less elastic, is separated into fragments, and the greater the resistance the more they are multiplied. Now one of the qualities of porcelain is precisely to avoid this double action. Its paste is composed of a felspathic rock, decomposed and infusible, called _kaolin_; the cover or glaze comes also from a felspathic rock, slightly crystallised; these melt and a.s.similate together harmoniously in vitrification, and a complete affinity is evident between the two elements of porcelain. Nevertheless the Chinese, in modifying the glaze, are able to render it more or less expansive and to break the harmony between its own shrinkage and that of the paste or body which it covers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 332.--PLATE. _Egg sh.e.l.l porcelain._]

Hence the crackle, at the option of the potter, is made of large, middling, or small size.

Various kinds of crackle are thus produced, sometimes upon one and the same piece, as by exposing the porcelain or portions of it when at its greatest heat to a sudden cold or contact of water, large fissures may be obtained. These cracks are sometimes filled in with black, red, chocolate, or purple colours.

Others may be cla.s.sed among the curiosities of porcelain--for example, cups or bowls which have an outer reticulated coating, pierced or cut out into arabesques, completely insulated from the inner vessel, except at the rim at top and bottom where it is joined; these have been used for tea or hot liquids, and may be held in the hand with impunity, notwithstanding the heat enclosed within it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 333.--PLATE. _Egg sh.e.l.l porcelain._]

Another variety consists in cutting or punching out pieces of the paste or body of the ware in patterns before it is baked; the pieces so cut out are small ovals like grains of rice placed in more or less numerous stars, rosettes, &c. The vase thus ornamented is dipped into the glaze which fills up all these small holes, and then placed in the kiln. The pattern, being much more transparent than the body of the ware, is distinctly seen, but especially so when held to the light.

Another beautiful effect is produced by means of the glaze itself, which is of a light or dark shade according to its intensity or thickness; for example: a fish, animal, or other object is stamped incuse on the upper surface of a plate, it is then filled in with a coloured glaze and vitrified, and is consequently shaded according to the thickness of the glaze on each portion of the design, the surface being perfectly smooth.

Vases are sometimes seen separated in the middle into two pieces (which must have been cut while the clay was soft), the upper half being completely divided from the lower half--in arabesques and dove-tail patterns, in such a manner, that although separate, they cannot be altogether removed from each other; the wonder is, that in the baking, the edges in juxtaposition should not have become again cemented together.

The Chinese themselves are great forgers, and endeavour to impose not only upon the Europeans, but upon their own countrymen, many of whom are great amateurs, and are willing to pay extravagant prices for ancient examples of porcelain, especially if made by a celebrated potter.

j.a.pAN

The information concerning the origin of making porcelain in j.a.pan is very scanty. Dr. Hoffmann of Leyden published a history of the princ.i.p.al porcelain manufactories in 1799, which is appended to M. Stanislas Julien's account of those of China: it was a translation from a j.a.panese work. He says it was to a colony of Koraeans established in the province of Omi, in the island of Nippon, in the year 27 B.C., that the introduction of this art was attributed. About the same epoch there lived in the province of Idsumi, situated like that of Omi in the island of Nippon, a man named _Nomino Sukune_, who made, in pottery and porcelain, vases and notably figures of the size of life, to subst.i.tute for slaves, which it had been previously the custom to bury with their masters. _Nomino_ received as a recompense authorisation to take the name of _Fazi_, in the Koraean language _Patzi_, artist-workman.

Under _Sei-wa_ (859-876 A.D.) the number of fabriques increased considerably.

Under _Syun-tok_ (1211-1221), a j.a.panese potter named _Katosiro-uye-mon_ commenced the making of small vases in which to preserve tea, but for want of a better process he placed them in the kiln on their orifices, which consequently appeared as if they had been used, and the vases were little cared for. Desirous of improving himself in the art, _Katosiro_, accompanied by a Bonze or Buddhist monk, visited China in 1211, with orders from his Government to make himself acquainted with all the secret processes of the manufacture, which was at that time brought to so great perfection there.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 334.--PORCELAIN VASE. _Hizen ware. About 1690._]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 335.--f.u.kUROKUJI. _The G.o.d of longevity._]