GLAZED POTTERY.--GRÈS DE FLANDRE, FRENCH, GERMAN, ETC.
Definition of Glaze.--Varnish.--Enamel in Egypt, Babylon.--The
Arabs and the Moors.--Grès de Flandre.--Cologne, Regensburg,
Baireuth, Neuwied, Grenzhausen,
Coblentz.--Holland.--Beauvais.--Flanders.--Apostle-Mugs.
--Graybeards.--"Bellarmines."--"Pottle-Pots."--Modern
Work.--Doulton Stone-ware.--Early German Stone-ware at
Breslau.--Hirschvogel.--Nuremberg.
Before saying anything about the various styles of glazed pottery, it
may be well to give the definitions of glaze, as presented by Marryatt,
thus:
"GLAZE (_Glauçure_, _Vernis_, Fr.).--The composition used for coating
pottery is composed chiefly of lead and silex. That for porcelain is
analogous to flint-glass (whence the derivation _glassing_ or
_glazing_). In fact, this term may be applied to any substance that
covers the surface of the piece; as, for instance, that produced by the
decomposition of salt on stone-ware. M. Brongniart classes the different
kinds of glazing, or vitreous substances with which pottery is covered
when finished, into three kinds:
"'_Varnish._--Every vitrifiable substance, transparent and plumbiferous,
which melts at low temperature, generally inferior to that required for
the baking of the paste: common pottery, fine earthen-ware.
"'_Enamel._--A vitrifiable substance, opaque, generally stanniferous
(tin): majolica and common earthen-ware.
"'_Couverte._--A vitrifiable substance, earthy, which melts at a high
temperature equal to that of the baking of the paste: hard porcelain,
some stone-wares....'
"The mark caused by the absence of glaze is very apparent in Oriental
porcelain, the bottom edge being rough and sandy. This defective
appearance is obviated in Europe by supporting the piece upon a tripod
with very small points (_prenettes_, Fr.). The three ugly marks upon old
Chelsea china are caused by the clumsy tripod which was employed."
The use of glaze and of tin to form the glaze or enamel seems to have
been known to the Chinese beyond the time when Occidental records were
kept. It appears, according to Sir Gardiner Wilkinson and Mr. Samuel
Birch, that very early indeed the Egyptian potters knew the use of the
siliceous glaze, composed of sand and potash or soda; and also that
small sepulchral figures have been found, coated with enamels made from
oxides of tin or copper, dating as far back as the sixth dynasty (B. C.
3703). In the museums of Europe are preserved tiles and bricks taken
from the temples or palaces of Egypt and Babylon, and they must have
been largely used long before our historical time. These glazed bricks
are supposed to date back twenty-five hundred years before our era.
Mr. Birch, in his "History of Ancient Pottery," says that the use of
these bricks was probably learned by the Assyrians from the Egyptians,
"who at a very early period had inlaid in this manner the chamber of the
Pyramid at Saqquara."
He says: "The glazed or enameled bricks from Nimrúd are of the usual
kiln-dried kind, measuring thirteen and a half inches square, and about
four and a half inches thick. They were laid in rows horizontally above
the slates of sculpture of the Mosul marble, and seem to have been
employed in the construction of cornices. They are glazed on one of the
narrow sides or edges only, having on this edge various patterns,
chiefly of an architectural nature, such as guilloche or chain
ornaments, bands of palmettes or helices, and fleurettes or flowers of
many petals. The colors employed were blue, black, yellow, red, and
white. The glaze, which is much decomposed, easily exfoliates, and the
colors have lost much of their freshness. It would appear that patterns
of tolerably large size were executed in this manner, each brick having
its appropriate portion enameled upon it.... Another brick, found by Mr.
Layard in the earliest palace of Nimrúd, has an horizontal line of
inscription in arrow-headed characters of a darker color, and with
square heads like nails. Its tenor was of the usual purport: 'This is
the great palace of "Asar-aden-pal."' Bricks of this glazed kind were
found chiefly in the space between the great bulls which flanked the
entrances of the chambers. From Nimrúd were also brought corbels of blue
faience, or what has been called porcelain, the under part modeled to
represent the five fingers of the hand."
This much is given to show how the glaze was applied to pottery by the
nations of that very early time. Where they got their knowledge--whether
they discovered it for themselves in their search into the secrets of
Nature, or whether they derived it from the great world of life which
lay beyond in the far East--we do not and cannot know. But why this so
valuable knowledge was not applied universally by those acute peoples to
the utensils of every-day life, and to all which we now call "artistic
pottery," remains a curious question. That it was applied to some
things, we know; for small vases, toys, marbles, etc., etc., have been
found among the Egyptian tombs coated with this enamel; but most of the
pottery found in Egypt is without glaze, which would indicate that what
was in ordinary daily use was unglazed. Examples of this enameled ware
are to be seen in the British and other museums of Europe.
Coming to the Greeks, it is singular that nothing of this enamel-glaze
is found. The inference is, that they had not the knowledge of it, and
that the art must have been lost; for surely so valuable and beautiful
an art, if known, must have been applied by so æsthetic a people as the
Greeks to the uses of life.
Upon the Greek vases, of which so many examples remain, there appears
sometimes to have been used a very thin and very transparent varnish;
but this does not seem to have been a glaze made either of glass, or of
lead, or of tin. If it was a varnish, and not a polish, the
probabilities point to its being a thin wash of soda or potash. This
varnish served to protect the painting, but did not prevent the
percolation of water.
The Greek methods prevailed among the Romans. Among the great numbers of
potters, and the vast production of pottery, the Romans seem not to have
used the glaze. All that remains of their work, found in Gaul, in
Britain, and in other parts of Europe, is the unglazed ware.
The Arabs and the Moors brought into Europe a knowledge of the
stanniferous (tin) glaze, as has been explained more fully elsewhere. To
this keen and most energetic civilization Europe owes its beginnings in
the arts of pottery, as well as in many other things.
The value of the glaze in all the arts of life cannot be estimated. When
the only cooking-utensils were those made of unglazed pottery, the
cooking was of the simplest, if not most insufficient, character.
Indeed, at that time it is not likely that meat was cooked in the pot at
all. In addition to this, the difficulty of making unglazed vessels
capable of holding wine, oil, etc., without wasting them slowly, must
have forbidden those things being kept to such a time as to insure
perfection, not to mention the inevitable loss.
It is likely that such unglazed pots were then painted on the inside
with some resinous substance which in a degree met the difficulty, but
which, at the same time, imparted a flavor to the wine which we cannot
believe to have been delicious.
Between China and the Spanish Moors exist a wide gap and centuries of
time, in which glazed pottery and porcelain intended for the uses of
domestic life seem to have been unknown. And this, too, was among the
Greeks, the Phoenicians, the Romans--nations eager for every good
thing, astute, keen, grasping. Among the remains of Roman art have been
found a few pieces of pottery upon which are traces of the use of a
glaze; but, if it was used at all, it seems to have been almost an
accident--not at all as with us, to complete and perfect the work.
To the Moors and the Moorish civilization of Spain, Europe owes the
knowledge or the introduction of this most valuable art, which has
enabled her to reach such perfection in the making of fictile ware as we
now see and enjoy.
Not only has the glaze (and enamel) given great strength to pottery, and
increased its use to an infinite variety: it has also enabled most
nations, beginning with the Chinese, to add to its beauty, and, indeed,
to develop or create a method of artistic expression which is peculiar
and most interesting. This subject will be treated more fully, in the
progress of this work, in a chapter upon decorating porcelain and
pottery.
After the work of the Moors in Spain, which will be treated in a
separate chapter, one of the earliest applications of the glaze in
Europe was upon a hard sort of _stone-ware_ made at various places along
the Rhine, and in Flanders and Germany. It has come to be known under a
generic title of GRÈS DE FLANDRE, while but little of it was really made
in Flanders. A great centre of its manufacture and sale, as early as the
1300's of our era, was at Cologne; and a more fit name for it would be
Grès de Cologne; still, the usual name is the one the world knows it by.
The body or paste of which this is composed differs from the faiences or
earthen-wares of which we write.
It is harder, heavier, and much more durable. The commoner kinds are
made so by a considerable mixture of siliceous sand; while in the finer
kinds, known as Grès de Flandre, there are mixed with the paste other
clays, such as _terre de pipe_ and _kaolin_. This hard and heavy body
has long been used for common stone-ware jugs and pots made for
every-day use. In China it was and is still used as a body for vases and
dishes, which received a covering or "engobe," and upon that an artistic
finish--such as the crackle-vases, and many others.
The glaze upon what we know as Grès de Flandre was made by using in the
furnace common salt; the fumes of which, combining with the fused silex,
resulted in what is termed the _salt-glaze_. This requires a high degree
of heat, in which no colors will stay except the blue of cobalt, a
brown, and a violet.
The Grès de Flandre, of which we give two illustrations (Figs. 55 and
56), is now well known under that name. Its color is a liquid gray, and
its decoration is made with the blue of cobalt. Some pieces of this ware
are highly and beautifully decorated, as is seen on the fine fountain
now in the museum of the Louvre (Fig. 55). Most of the figures and
reliefs are made with moulds, which have a quaint interest; they were
cut in wood, carefully, often with considerable artistic expression. The
best work of this sort was made in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries, and is mostly German.
[Illustration: FIG. 55.--_Grès de Flandre Fountain, Musée du Louvre._]
There were factories at Cologne, at Regensburg, at Baireuth, at Neuwied,
at Grenzhausen, at Coblentz, and at other places along the Rhine. The
same work was also made in Holland, in Flanders, and in Beauvais. Many
pieces of this style of work were decorated with figures of saints, and
other sacred emblems. Some pieces, such as salt-cellars, inkstands, and
candlesticks, were carefully modeled by hand, and have thus an added
interest. I know of but few pieces of this work in our museums, while
those of Europe have made special attempts to secure examples of it; for
it has a peculiar character of its own, and in many cases is delicious
in color and most quaint and artistic in its forms and decoration. Often
coats-of-arms are found impressed upon tankards and bottles and flagons
of this work, and most of these are German. They were evidently
reproduced from the moulds, and sold to others than the persons whose
arms they bore.
[Illustration: FIG. 56.--_Pilgrim-shaped Grès Bottle, in the British
Museum._]
The making of this ware was undoubtedly one step by which Böttcher at
last succeeded in making true porcelain at Dresden.
Fig. 56 is a pilgrim-bottle, bought at the Bernal sale by the British
Museum for eighteen pounds.
At Baireuth were made, in the 1600's, some very curious mugs, called
_Apostle-Mugs_, because the figures of the twelve apostles were worked
in relief around the cup. The clay was a dark-brown, but the dresses of
the figures and the inscriptions were painted in colors. Mr. Frederick
J. Betts, of New York, has one of these interesting bits of work; they
are now hardly ever offered for sale.
[Illustration: FIG. 57.--_Brown Graybeard or Bellarmine._]
The _Graybeards_, or _Longbeards_, or _Bellarmines_, were made largely
in the Low Countries for their own uses, and were exported to England.
We give an illustration (Fig. 57) of one in Mr. Prime's collection.
There is also an excellent one, I believe, in possession of Dr. Breck,
of Springfield, Massachusetts. These were intended for use, and usually
carried from one quart to three gallons. They were always in brown--at
least I have seen none in the gray; but their decoration was sometimes
touched with the violet-color. They are a very handsome and decorative
bottle. The name of "Bellarmine" was given them because, in the
sixteenth century, when these bottles were made and used, the Cardinal
Bellarmin was sent into the Low Countries to counteract the movements of
the pernicious Reformers then so zealously at work there. He was
cordially hated by the Protestants, and received from them his due share
of contumely. Having a short stature and a large stomach, like the
Longbeard bottles, and, as they said, holding like them much vinous or
other liquor, they soon called the bottle a Bellarmine, which name it
bears to this day--so that, indeed, it may be said, the bottle has
immortalized the man.
These bottles were largely in use on the Continent and in England all
through Shakespeare's time, and one was dug up on the site of the
"Boar's Head at Eastcheap." The "pottle-pot," as the bottle was then
called, held about two quarts. In one of the old English plays, Clodpate
says: "Uds-buds, my head begins to turn round; but let's into the house.
'Tis dark, we'll have one Bellarmine more, and then Bonus Nocius."
Sometimes these Graybeards were handsomely mounted, and came to be
ranked high among the household gods. An inventory of the Duke of
Burgundy, made in 1467, speaks of one of them as being decorated with
silver and gold: "Ung hault _Goblet de Terre_ ouvré et chiqueté à ung
visaige d'un heremite, garny au dessus et au dessoubs d'argent doré, et
le couvercle aussi d'argent doré."
Upon the Rhine these stone pots are still made for common uses, and
largely; the same sort of clay is also extensively converted into
seltzer-water bottles. Near Coblentz are several potteries devoted to
this sort of work. At these places, since the great desire for
interesting pottery has sprung up, some very fair copies of the old
_grès_ have been made. At first they were made with considerable care,
and then had _some_ value, showing us, as they did, what this very
quaint and very original pottery was; and they were of value, as we
could not have the originals. But now there is no restraint, and they
are turned out by the ship-load in a slovenly style, and are to be seen
in every shop-window. Fortunately, they do not pretend to be the _real_
thing; and, fortunately, they will have but a short existence, as they
do not grow out of any true want or true use.
DOULTON STONE-WARE.--On the other hand has sprung up at Lambeth,
England, in the potteries of the Doultons, stone-ware which is true,
original, artistic, and delightful. This is the same paste as the
[Illustration: FIG. 58.--_Doulton Ware._]
_grès_; but, instead of imitating that, a scale and a variety of colors
have been developed which the old _grès_ could not at all touch. By
means of thousands of experiments and much scientific knowledge, colors
have been found which will bear the heat, and some of the results
attained there of color alone are gratifying.
No pains or cost have been spared by the Messrs. Doulton to bring about
the best work. Artists have been employed--indeed, have been created--to
invent and to bring forth works novel in design and color; and they have
done it. We cannot but welcome their work with open hands and open
hearts; and we have reason to believe that the public has welcomed it
with open purses. A very fine exhibition of this work was made at the
United States Centennial Festival at Philadelphia, which attracted much
and deserved praise. Among the artists early engaged were some ladies
named Barlow, I think, who did excellent work. One of them etched in the
wet clay groups of animals which were spirited and fascinating; the
other, I believe, did flowers and plants. These ladies went to _work_,
and thus solved the "woman question," so far as it concerned themselves.
Their work was much valued by collectors as far back as five or six
years.
Besides this style, many decorated vases, bottles, jugs, cups, etc.,
etc., have been made, of which examples will be seen in our illustration
(Fig. 58).
Not only have great variety and beauty of form been reached, but the
methods of decoration are equally varied. One of the most elaborate is
in the use of beads in lines or singly, so as to produce a jeweled
effect, often very brilliant and very finished; this is in danger of
being carried to excess.
So many pieces of their work have been brought to the United States,
that those interested can see them for themselves, and will need no
further description.
EARLY GERMAN GLAZED POTTERY.--Before leaving this subject a few words
may be said upon the early German work in pottery.
We know but little of the history of the German or Teutonic tribes
before the time of Cæsar; but it was found then that here existed
strong, handsome, vigorous races, who had reached an unexpected degree
of civilization. They had brilliant arms and armor; they respected
woman, and honored old age. In the museums are found examples of the
early German unglazed pottery, so much like that found in Egypt, in
Gaul, in Peru, and in most other parts of the globe, examples of which
are shown in our first chapter upon unglazed pottery. Just when they
began to use the glaze for the finishing and protection of pottery, we
do not know. But it is known that it was in use there some two hundred
years before it had been applied in Italy in the 1400's A. D. There are
evidences sufficient to prove that the use of enamel, in which tin was
an element, was known in Germany as early as the thirteenth century.
The most famous piece of this early glazed pottery is to be seen in the
Church of the Cross, at Breslau, Prussian Silesia. It is a great
monument of pottery, built in honor of the founder of the church, Henry
IV. of Silesia. He lies at length, the size of life, wearing his armor
and his crown, and with a sword in the right hand, a shield in the left.
Around the sarcophagus upon which he lies are twenty-one figures in
bass-relief, the whole executed in the style of the earliest
German-Gothic. Upon the monument is an inscription, saying that Henry
IV. died on the night of St. John, in 1290, etc., etc. This does not
prove that the monument was executed then; but there are other proofs
that it was made about that time, in the dress, etc., etc.
The name most conspicuous among the early potters of Germany is
Hirschvogel, who worked at Nuremberg, and who, indeed, founded potteries
there which continued through the century. He was born in 1441, and died
in 1525. He appears to have been a painter upon glass, but from that
went to the production of glazed pottery. Large plaques in bass-relief
exist of this work, and also artistic earthen-ware stoves, some of which
are elaborately and beautifully modeled. Examples of these, as well as
pots, cruches, etc., etc., are to be seen in the museum at Nuremberg.
The work of the German potters appears to have been finished with the
glaze earlier than that of any others of Europe, except that of the
Moors, in Spain.