CHAPTER III: PORCELAIN

The production of porcelain is the goal of the potter. The pure white of the clay and the possibility of unlimited fire treatment exert a profound influence upon the imagination while the difficulties of manipulation only serve to stimulate the energy of the enthusiast. For present purposes not much is to be learned from the soft porcelains of France nor from the bone china of England. German and French hard porcelain are but developments of the Chinese idea and therefore need not be studied apart from their prototype.

The earliest date of Chinese porcelain is unknown. The records of the nation are very ancient but their meaning is often obscured by the fact that in the Chinese language the same word was used of old to denote both porcelain and earthenware. Specimens dating from only the tenth century A. D. look almost incredibly old. They are coarse and heavy in structure but are aglow with vibrant color. The finest porcelains date from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and these are the ideals towards which every modern potter looks.

Broadly it may be stated that two methods prevailed. In the former the glaze itself was charged with color or the coloring matter was applied to the clay beneath the glaze. In the latter the porcelain was finished as to body and glaze and the decoration was applied at a subsequent and much lighter burn.

The first named class is called single-colored porcelain; the second has several names such as the famille rose and famille verte as defined by Jacquemart.

In the single-color class it is evident that the potters were not at all sure of their results. In many museums there are to be found examples of ox-blood red, more or less fine, and, with them, other pieces which were intended to be red but which failed in the fire. The wonder is, in these cases, that the pieces, even though failures, are beautiful. The knowledge required for the production of these wares is largely scientific; at the same time it is not to be believed that the Chinese had any special scientific training. They evidently traveled a long and tortuous path before the goal was reached, in fact, they often fell short of it altogether, but they had plenty of time and unlimited patience. The modern potter is, if less patient, more fortunate in that the course has been marked out with more or less accuracy and, if the landmarks of science be heeded, a certain degree of success may be attained.

This single-color work is the true field of the ceramist. Anyone possessing the power of using a pencil, and with a large stock of patience, may produce over-glaze decoration, but to prepare glazes of many hues and to consign them unprotected to the fury of the furnace, requires skill, patience, courage and enthusiasm.

During the last twenty years a new school has arisen which combines in a measure the advantages of the two Chinese methods. Colors are prepared from refractory materials and upon clay or soft burned biscuit ware, scenes, in more or less conventional form, are painted, or else a design purely conventional in character is applied by the artist. The ware is then glazed and subjected to the severe fire which all porcelain undergoes. The result is that the porcelain and the painting are united in a sense that can never be the case with over-glaze treatment. The colors become part of a purely ceramic unit; the spirit of the artist is fixed by the fire.

To this class belong the porcelain of Copenhagen and the recent product of Sevres. These, of course, represent the result of much arduous training and many tedious experiments. Both the training and the experiments are necessary to some extent for every worker, not only because pottery clays vary much in composition, but because individuality can only be obtained by the preparation, in the laboratory, of the desired compounds.

The Chinese, doubtless, stumbled upon many of their successes by accident, helped by the fact that the character of the fire employed influenced many of their colors. This will be explained in a later chapter. They were, however, quick to seize upon that which was good. Many fanciful names were given to the rarest colors, such as "the violet of wild apples," "liquid dawn" and "the red of the bean blossom." This idea has been carried further in France by the invention of such names as "_Sang-de-boeuf_," "_Sang-de-poulet_," "_clair-de-lune_," etc., and pursued in this country in "Peach blow."

In the over-glaze treatment, the type named "famille verte" is characterized by a clear green glaze or enamel over a design in black. The whole is painted over the porcelain glaze and the green enamel is so soft that it is often decomposed on the surface. When a broad black mass is covered with green the decomposition gives rise to prismatic colors and occasions the term "raven's wing black." Some of this ware has also been gilt but the gold lines have disappeared and can only be located by the slight dullness of the enamel where they once were. Well known to collectors also are the rose-back plates. These belong to the "famille rose" in which the characteristic note is a delicate rose pink. This color is prepared from gold and when it is placed upon the back of an egg-shell plate a tender rosy transparency is imparted to the piece. One of the best known of the single colors is the pale sea green named celadon by the French. This color in China was called "the sky after rain" and was considered both rare and valuable.

The porcelain of Copenhagen is the product of scientific skill and artistic taste. In the studios attached to the Royal Manufactory there has grown up a tradition of work and criticism which is fostered by ladies of birth and position. Many of these paint upon the porcelain themselves and so constitute a school which has become world famous.

Natural objects are, for the most part, chosen and, as the palette of colors is, owing to the intense fire, quite limited and low in key, a tone of quiet atmosphere pervades the painting. This is accentuated by the use of the air-brush to distribute a ground color upon the ware in graduated strength.

At the National Manufactory of Sevres there has been some attempt to follow the Copenhagen method but to a greater extent the work is along the lines of conventionalized form. In this treatment the French artists excel, being wonderfully accurate--almost too accurate--in their lines and spacing. Several individual workers in France have also pursued this plan, designing and executing the pieces which have made the French artist-potters famous.

In the porcelains of Berlin the quality lies largely in the complete mastery of technical details. The work is, as would be expected, German in style, but the paste is pure and the colors are well prepared.

From this brief review it will be seen that the interest in the manufacture of porcelain lies not so much in variety as in the value of individual results. In the pottery described in the previous chapter a great many different clays were used and each one proved suggestive to the potter. In porcelain, on the other hand, the body clay is almost identical wherever prepared, the requirement of a white translucent paste being paramount.