CHINESE CRACKLE
The crackle porcelain is a distinct class, though it will be found that
many of the pieces having a single glaze are also crackled. They are
covered with a clay or enamel which having been burnt in the kiln is
taken out and subjected to the action of a current of cold air, or they
are dipped in cold water, so that by unequal contraction cracks are
formed with a regularity which, although in the first place accidental,
became, in the skilful hands of the Chinese, science. Small crackles
like the herring's roe, and large crackles like the ice cracks, could
be produced by the potter as he chose. The cracks were filled with
Indian ink, red or black, which made them stand out clearly. By further
burning, possibly at a lower temperature, the entire surface seems to
be covered with a clear glaze quite transparent, which to the touch
offers no unequalities of surface. These wonderful potters have so far
pushed this unique form of decoration, never successfully imitated in
Europe, that it became one of the most important and striking means
of decoration. Some of their work in this direction is marvellous and
shows successive bands of enamel or glaze, crackled, self-colour and
white all in one piece. Other pieces show a crackled network of
two tints. Some of our English potters are making good attempts to
imitate the fine old Chinese "_famille verte_," and surely for crackled
porcelain there is still inspiration to be drawn from the East. The
glaze was of white or coloured; the body was somewhat coarse in paste,
resembling red or white stoneware. History takes us back to the Sung
dynasty, when this kind of ware was first known, and the accidental
discovery was converted into an exact method of working. A pretty form
of crackle resembles the scales of a trout, and is by the French called
_truité_. All the colours that were employed as single glazes in that
class seem to have been similarly employed as crackle glazes, with the
possible exception of red, which did not lend itself to this process;
all the Celadon shades and the blues, including turquoise-blue. The
most celebrated crackle is that known as apple-green crackle. This ware
has, in addition to the beautiful effect of the crackling, a lovely
soft tint of green, which was applied as the glaze.
[Illustration: VASES MOUNTED IN ORMOLU. JONES COLLECTION, VICTORIA
AND ALBERT MUSEUM. TWO CRACKLE VASES AND ONE IN COLOURED ENAMELS.]
XVI
BLUE
UNDER
THE GLAZE