A Pottery Primer

THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES ..I on last date stamped below y • • r '(&&& By W. P. JERVIS Author of * THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CERAMICS," " ROUGH NOTES ON POTTERY," "A BOOK OF POTTERY MARKS," ETC. W. P. JERVIS, OYSTER BAY, N. Y. NEW YORK : THE OGORMAN PUBLISHING CO., 76 PARK PLACE Paper Covers, J| | fl H $ ' -00 Copyright. W. P. Jervis, 1911 C; HdA/ildJld Chindv \s sismpedS . France Additional stdjnp on decorated c - i' - , e c<. •^ • 6 • » «•••.•; • * ' •- >< • »S • . * 'l' 11 • • • • .• :••:.••*.. x" Co Limoges <v 4e f> i V9 O —o J PREFACE ^pHIS little history of the Potters o its o Art, insensibly grew during serial publication somewhat beyond the scope of a Primer, but I have ventured to retain the title, for it is only intended as an incentive to further research to those who may be interested either in the ancient «l history of pottery garnished from the most trustworthy sources, or the original matter first here presented. IV. P. JERFIS. PALISSY THE POTTER. B30 Theodore Deck. Courtesy of John Wanamaker, New York. < 1 A POTTERY PRIMER. - CHAPTER I. NOMENCLATURE. Let us first try to understand some of the more common terms in general use. First of all comes pottery. There is a regretably restricted use of this word, and it is generally applied to ware that is opaque, as if that was its sole meaning. It has a much broader significance and is properly applied to any article made of clay and fired, whether a common sewer pipe or one of those dainty Japanese pieces of but little more than egg- shell thickness and so translucent as to be almost transparent. Do not confound these two words, for there is no such thing as transparent pottery. The word pottery is derived from the Latin word potum, a cup or drinking vessel, and if it had originally a specific meaning it soon lost it, as words have a habit of doing, and became the generic word for all articles made of clay and fired. Consider in this respect the word potter, a worker in clay, and pottery, a place where pottery is made. No one would dream of differen- tiating these two words, and they serve to establish the truth of our contention, if any is needed. The clay and other substances which go to make pottery are known as the body, so according to their quality we have good and bad in a sense hard and bodies in general ; soft, artificial, etc., a particular sense. The word body well expresses the idea, which may be and has been carried further. The clay represents the flesh, not sufficient in itself, but given the necessary strength by the addition of flint, which represents the "bones, and feldspar, because it flows through the other parts, the blood. The Chinese had some such idea, for they speak of the glaze as the flesh and the paste as the bone- . Clay mixtures become pottery only after they have been fired, and if no glaze has been applied, are then termed biscuit. Perhaps the next most important word is porcelain—a term very much abused, especially in this country. It is a French word used as far back as the Middle Ages, but was then applied only to ?. shell, similar to mother-of-pearl. In the sixteenth century it assumed a double meaning, and was extended to the newly im- ported Chinese pottery, and eventually to that of similar char- acter made in France. So, while it has no Oriental derivation, u N M E N C L A T U R E . it is rightly applied to pottery of the same composition as that of China, France, Germany, Austria, Copenhagen, etc. It is called a natural porcelain because the glaze and body are made of the natural materials, largely kaolin or china clay and petuntse or china stone. We have used the words kaolin and china clay as synonyms, but it would be more correct to speak of the unwashed clay as kaolin, and as china clay after it is washed and its impuri- ties removed. Kaolin is a decomposed feldspar derived from the decomposition of granite rocks. In England a more Oriental word was used to designate the English imitation of Oriental pottery, and it was called china, from which we get china clay, china stone, and in Staffordshire they also speak of china works to designate its place of manufacture. When Chinese porcelain was first introduced into Europe its constituent parts were not known, and the chemists experi- mented with a variety of materials in their attempts to reproduce it. These bodies are classified as artificial, and as such English china ranks. Later we shall see when and under what circum- stances European potters were able to make true porcelain. Eng- lish china is also known as bone china, because hones are used to give it an added translucency and whiteness. There is another point of difference between porcelain and china. In the former case the ware need only he fired the first time hard enough to give it sufficient strength to enable the dipper to handle it with safety, and it does not receive its full fire to insure vitrification until the glaze is fired. In England the 'body has the hard fire, the glaze a lower one, and in consequence the latter is soft and brilliant. After being for many years a distinctly English produc- tion, bone china has recently been made in Sweden, and, of all nations in the world. Japan is now producing it. Having now determined the meaning of the word porcelain, you can judge for yourself as to what a semi-porcelain should be. Has it a break with an approach to vitrification? Is it translucent, or even semi-translucent? If not answering these condi- tions, it becomes a trade name only, and should properly be classed as earthenware. Earthenware embraces all pottery differing from porcelain and china, whether a white or colored 'body, that is opaque. Tiling, etc., made of a natural red clay is often and properly called terra- cotta, hut may with equal propriety be called earthenware. Faience is an elastic word which has been used to apply to almost anything except porcelain. This recklessness in the use of the word is to be deprecated, because we think there is a distinct kind of pottery which should be so called, and which no A POTTERY PRIMER. 13 other has any claims to. We speak of those wares which, to hide the body, are covered with an opaque white enamel. Note here that a glaze is transparent, an enamel is opaque. This opacity is usually secured by the use of tin oxide, hence the name stanniferous enamel. Our contention is this: About the end of the sixteenth century the Duke of Nivernais 'brought to France a number of Italian potters, one of whom, Scipion Gambin, a native of Faenza, settled at Nevers and there introduced the manufacture of pottery coated with a white stanniferous enamel, which had been known to the Italians as early as the fifteenth century. It was a revelation to the French potter and became known as Faenza ware, from which the more liquid name of faience was evolved- It was a distinct characteristic and worthy of a distinct appellation. The Normandy potters were driven out of business by the growth in the manufacture of porcelain and the removal of duty on English earthenware, with which they could not compete. This earthenware had a transparent glaze and in contradistinc- tion to their own faience with it opaque enamel, they called it, not English faience, but tcrrc-de-pipe, thus emphasizing the name given to this Normany pottery. And as simplicity in nomenclature is most desirable, we think the arguments advanced demonstrate very clearly that our definition is correct and should be used only when speaking of wares, such as Delft, (painted or otherwise, having a covering of white enamel. Majolica is very similar to faience, having the same white enamel, but the true majolica of the Moors in Spain and later in Italy, was enriched with iri- descent lusters. The word itself is derived from the island of where it was to have been is Majorca, supposed made ; but this not so, as majolica in its original meaning was never made in Majorca. Majorca was the port from which the vessels sailed engaged in the trade between the peninsula and Italy, and the ware being carried in these vessels led to its name, exactly as we speak of Lowestoft, because that was the port of entry, not because it was made there, for it was not. The fact that the word in Italy has become a generic one for all glazed earthenware need not influence us, nor is its application to colored glazes here and in England of importance, for such ware is best expressed by the term colored glazes, which represents exactly what it expresses. If you will fix these terms and their meanings firmly in your mind, you have already learned much. It is worth recapitulation: 1. Pottery embraces all clay substances which have been fired. 2. Porcelain: body and glaze of the same substance: has a vitrified break and is translucent. (a) English china or artificial porcelain. i 4 COMPOSITION OF BODIES. 3. Earthenware, opaque and not vitrified. (a) Faience, opaque, covered with a tin enamel. the same with addition of lusters. I b) Majolica, 4. Stoneware, vitrified and opaque. CHAPTER II. CLAYS-—COMPOSITION OF BODIES.

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