Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/808

 784 POTTERY AND PORCELAIN FIG. 11. Chinese Crackle Vase. the Chinese made the wares known as crackle, distinguished by the breaking up of the enam- el in coarse or fine cracks running in all direc- tions. The same effect is often produced on modern stoneware and porcelain by continued expo- sure to heat and oold. With the orientals, howev- er, the process was reduced to a fine art, and they were able to produce it in different sizes, and ' on separate portions of the same article. The manner in which it was done is not known, but it is evident from ex- amination that the articles to be dec- orated in this way were composed of two varieties of paste, the interior or core of the article be- ing of a softer paste than the inner and out- er surfaces, which were of a hard enamelled paste. Such an article, subjected to heat suf- ficient to fuse the softer core and plunged suddenly into cold water, would crack in a thousand lines, which would be filled with the fused paste of the inner core. Varieties in the crackle would depend on varieties of paste, degrees of heat, and the use of differ- ent pastes in different parts of the same piece. This theory is however purely conjectural. The crackles are found with varieties of color in the lines, and also in the surface decora- tion. From the earliest times of which we know anything the Chinese excelled in rich colors. Their yellow, green, blue, violet, and red, in innumerable shades, are the envy of European potters, who have never succeeded in equalling some of them. The art was prac- tised with equal skill for many centuries. Since the beginning of the 18th century the products have not been as fine as in former ages, but the falling off is in the style of decoration and not in the quality of the porcelain. Japan made pottery from a very remote time, and is supposed to have derived the art of making porcelain from China through Corea about B. 0. 27. In the 13th century the Japanese derived the art anew directly from China, and thereafter the Japanese work equalled and sometimes surpassed the Chinese. It is not easy to distinguish the products of the two na- tions, but the Japanese porcelain is generally of a purer white, and the decorations, especially in flowers, are more true to nature. All the oriental porcelains are hard paste. Toward the end of the 16th century Grand Duke Francis I. of Tuscany had a laboratory in which he made a paste now classed as soft paste porcelain, and which is the earliest ware of this kind made in Europe. The art was lost, and not revived till 1695, when a factory was established at St. Cloud in France, where soft paste porcelain was produced. The composition of soft paste being clay in union with various other substances, it follows of course that when the clay used has kaolinic characteristics, the resulting ware may be hard paste porcelain ; and for this rea- son much confusion arises in distinguishing the character of works produced at the same fac- tory, especially in England. It is also to be no- ticed that as silex is largely used in some pastes, as it is in glass, an increase in the proportion of silex results in an approximation to glass, and some factories have produced work which differs very little from opaque glass. Most of the large factories of Europe have produced both hard and soft pastes, and many factories have also produced varieties of pottery. The importation of oriental porcelain into Europe was large and increasing during the 17th cen- tury. Its durability and superiority to pot- tery were recognized. Augustus, elector of Saxony and king of Poland, employed a young chemist named Bottger or Bottcher in 1701 to search for the philosopher's stone. Bottger, in the course of his experiments, hit upon a paste which being baked produced a hard stone- ware, red and brown, resembling porcelain. The importance of his discovery was recog- nized, and he pursued his investigations until a happy accident about 1710 helped him to suc- cess. His valet had purchased in Dresden a hair powder, the weight of which attracted Bottger's notice and induced him to try it in one of his pastes. The result was the produc- tion of true porcelain. The powder proved to be a clay found at Aue, identical with the Chinese kaolin. The art being discovered, great exertions were made to preserve the se- cret. The workmen were prisoners at Meis- sen, and the works were secluded. In 1715 the first sales were made. The earliest wares were decorated in blue and white in imitation of the Chinese, and soon after polychrome decorations came into use. In 1720 Horoldt became director of the factory; from 1731 to 1733 Augustus himself took the direction ; from 1733 till the seven years' war Count Briihl was in charge. Frederick the Great after occupy- ing Saxony transported workmen and materi- als to Berlin, but the Meissen factory soon re- sumed work. Dietrich, the well known artist, was one of the commissioners in charge. From 1774 to 1814 Count Marcolini was director. The best period of the Meissen factory is gen- erally regarded as that prior to 1774, which is commonly called the king's period, but the Mar- colini period was scarcely if at all inferior to it. In purity of paste and enamel the Dresden porcelain (as the Meissen ware is called) has never been surpassed. In decoration, especial- ly in bouquets, flowers, birds, and landscapes, it has seldom been equalled, much of its work