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.