Posts Tagged ‘copper oxide’

BOWL IN DARK RED GLASS, ENAMELLED AND GILT
Byzantine, i ith-t2th century A.D.Ht. 79 mm (3*13 in.)
Theophilus, describing ‘how the Greeks
embellish with Gold and Silver’, said ‘they
take the white, red and green glass, whicb
are used for enamels, and carefully grind
each one separately with water on a
porphyry stone. With them they paint
small flowers and scrolls . . .’. He went on
to describe the furnace in which they fired
window glass, including painted glass, and
specified that the glass be bedded down on
quick-lime. Vasari, who wrote an account
of the stained glass technique of Gugliel-
imo de Marcillat (d.1529) stressed that
‘this burning in of the colours requires the
greatest caution, for if the heat be too great
it will cause the glass to crack, and if
insufficient it will not fix the colours’. To
test the enamel, Theophilus suggested
that you should ’see if you can scratch off
the colour with your nail’. Glasses of the
type described by Theophilus are known,
dating from the 1 ith to the 12th centuries;
one of them is illustrated.
VASE WITH ENAMELLING AND GILDING
Syria, Ј.1320-30 A.D. Ht. 302 mm (11 88 in.)
(See also colour photograph 11)
Not until the 13th and 14th centuries was
the next high point in the history of
enamelling reached, with the great Islamic
mosque lamps and other vessels produced
in the near East, particularly in Syria.
Besides the weli-known lamps which
adorned Moslem holy places, the Syrian
enamellers decorated such objects as
footed bowls, sprinklers, globes, beakers
and long-necked bottles. The vase illus-
trated is decorated with golden arabesques
and fish motifs finely outlined in red. The
inscription round the widest point of the
vessel repeats the words ‘The Wise’
(referring to the God of Mohammed). The
medallions around the neck of the vase
probably contain the armorial symbol of
the nobleman who commissioned the
object. The glass itself is not clear and
colourless, for most of the Islamic glass of
that time is of a brownish or greenish tint,
often clouded with bubbles.
Adding: The Skill of the Decorator
In Islam the art of enamelling came to
maturity from the 13th century, the finest
work being done in Syria. The lamps in
Egyptian mosques exported from Syria
are the most famous examples of all the
Islamic enamelled glass. Strictly speaking,
these objects are lamp-holders or lanterns
rather than lamps, for they enclosed an
oil-vessel which provided the illumination.
They were suspended from the roof of the
mosque by chains which, when the roof
was high, passed through a glass globe or
ball, from where the chains radiated to the
handles of the lamp. Enamelled glass was
used for these lamps, not only for its
obvious decorative effect, but because the
Koran said, ‘God is the light of the
Heavens and the Earth: His light is as a
niche in which is a lamp, the lamp in a
glass, the glass as it were a glittering star’.
Many reproductions of mosque lamps
were made at the end of the 19th century.
Unfortunately, like the Romans, the Is-
lamic glass-making artists left no written
record of the craft which they practised
with such very great skill. It is not until
the 15th century that a contemporary
record of enamelling techniques is found,
but from that time, especially with the
advent of printing, there is no lack of
written evidence. Enamelling on glass was
a speciality of the Venetian glass-makers,
a technique which they developed during
the 15th century, probably reaching tech-
nical maturity by the middle of the
century. In all essentials their enamelling
technique was similar to that of the
Islamic artists, yet it would appear that the
Venetians independently re-invented en-
amelling on glass—possibly borrowing the
idea from the Italian worker in metal. By-
tradition the invention has been ascribed
to the glass-maker Angelo Baroviero.
Throughout the 15th century the coloured
glass the Venetians had invented—blue,
green, white, purple and turquoise—was
richly enamelled and gilded.
GOBLET IN  COLOURED GLASS
ENAMELLED DECORATION
Venice. Italy, late 15th 10 early 16th century
By the beginning of the 16th century the
fashion in Venice for coloured glass had
given way to a desire for clear colourless
glass. Enamelling, along with other forms
of decoration, was usually found on clear
glass specimens from this time, although
the clear metal was far less suited to the
technique. The pictorial work which had
been used so much on coloured glass soon
disappeared, and enamelling was restricted
to a few simple motifs. A favourite of these
was a form of scale pattern in bead-like
dots of enamelling and light gilding,
through which lines were scratched, al-
though simple bands of coloured dots were
sometimes the sole decoration of the piece.
Another familiar motif of the late 15th-
and early 16th-century glasses resembled
a lily-of-the-vallcy or a small fruit with a
calyx attached, as on the goblet illustrated.
This goblet also helps to show how the
Venetians combined their coloured and
clear glass in one vessel.
Although representational painting was no
longer the fashion by the beginning of the
16th century, a transitional phase is
represented by a series of glasses enamelled
with grotesque ornamentation built up
from patterns of flowers, leaves, animal
and human-like forms. Armorial glasses
were probably among the latest Venetian
work in the technique of enamelling. A
shield of arms or an emblem would be
added to the few simple decorative motifs
that were now in use on clear colourless
glass, and at their best, these were very
well drawn, as in the dish illustrated.
However, in some cases there is reason to
suspect that the shields were later addi-
tions. Venetian taste, now inclining to-
wards the new, clear colourless metal,
began to appreciate glass for its own sake
and to be interested more in its quality and
beauty of shape than in its added decora-
tion. By the middle of the 16th century the
technique of enamelling, apart from wares
made for export, had virtually passed out
of fashion in Italy.
beaker with enamelled decoration
Made in Venice for the German market, 1603
Ht. 267 mm (105 in.)
Reuhsadlerhumpen, pale green glass with
enamelled decoration
Bohemia, 1654. Ht. 200 mm (11-4 in.)
Although enamelling became unfashion-
able in Italy, it remained a favourite form
of decoration in Germany until the second
half of the 18th century. The earliest
enamelled glasses thai might have a claim
to being German are some cylindrical
beakers commonly bearing German arms,
but it is now thought that these were
ordered from Venice by German buyers.
The beaker illustrated, inscribed ‘Roccho
Grasl’, is a typical late example of the type.
The most productive enamelling work-
shops in the late 16th and early 17th
centuries were situated in Bohemia,
whence the craft was carried to Germany
by emigrant workmen. German enamel-
ling, with its bold colours, has the attrac-
tiveness of a peasant art, but the enamels
used were not of fine quality nor were the
drawings of any distinction. The glass
itself was relatively poor, and only a few
shapes were attempted: the tall Stangen-
glas, the cylindrical Humpen, jugs, beakers,
and screw-topped spirit flasks.
The subjects used by the German enam-
ellers for the most part belong to peasant
art. Gonventional portraits, simplified
landscapes, scenes of artisans at work,
guild processions, satirical subjects, alle-
gories and inscriptions, usually illiterate
and sometimes obscene, are common.
Biblical subjects, the Emperor and the
Seven Electors and the Reichsadler are also
depicted on these glasses. The Reichsadler
is the Imperial double-eagle, bearing on
its wings the arms with names of a fanciful
hierarchy of the Holy Roman Empire; the
arms are arranged in groups of four in the
so-called Quaternion system derived from
Schedel’s Wellkronik of 1483. They begin
with those of Rome and the three spiritual
Electors (Treves, Cologne, Mayence),
balanced by the four temporal ones
(Bavaria, Brandenburg, Saxony, Palatin-
ate), ending with four ‘Dorffer’ and four
‘Birg’. The Reichsadlerhumpen may have
had some contemporary significance, since
they originated during the strife of the
Thirty Years’ War. The Retchsadler and
the ‘Elector’ glasses remained popular for
a long period.
Adding: The Skill of the Decorator
In the guild regulations of the glass-
makers of Krcibitz in Bohemia (1669) one
of the tasks set the aspiring craftsman was
to ‘prepare with colours an Imperial
Eagle, with all its members, in one and a
half days’. This referred to the Reich-
sadlerhumpen, which most likely had to be
fired more than once, those enamels which
required a higher temperature being fired
before the ones which fluxed at a lower
heat In all essentials the contemporary
descriptions of enamelling agree with each
other, the cakes or beads of enamel being
pounded on marble or porphyry, [he
powder thus resulting being washed and
applied to the already annealed glass vessel
and the glass being carefully reheated so
that the enamels fused to it successfully. It
would seem that enamelled vessel-glass
began to be fired in special ‘muffle kilns’
rather than in the glass furnace itself by
the end of the 17th century. As in ordinary
coloured glass, metal oxides were used to
give the enamels their various colours.
‘SchwarzloT, or black enamelling on glass
was a Dutch invention originally used lor
the decoration of windows; it spread into
Northern Germany, and was developed b\
Johann Schaper in the third quarter ol the
17th century. Schaper was born at Ham-
burg in 1621, was at Nuremberg from
1655, at Ratisbon in 1664 and died in 1670.
Originally a painter of stained window-
glass, he was the first of the South German
llausmaler or independent artists, obtain-
ing undecorated glass and pottery and
decorating it to Ins own invention. I le used
copper oxide mixed with black enamel
pigment, painting this on to the glass ahd
then scratching his design through it with
a needle in the manner of the stained-glass
painter. He painted mainly in black, with
slight touches of red and gold. In the
beaker illustrated he used for inspiration
an engraving of a gypsy procession by
Jacques Callot (1592-1635; Callot’s work,
depicting scenes of Italian life with fan-
tastic caricature, was very popular in the
17th and 18th centuries).
Adding: The Skill of the Decorator
Johann Schaper gained some followers,
one of whom, like himself, was a window-
glass painter. This was Johann Ludwig
Paber, who also painted faience. Herman
Benckcrtt of Frankfort-on-Main was an-
other of Schapers known followers. The
Humpen illustrated is a remarkably fine
example of the Schwarzlot technique,
probably the work of one of Schaper’s
imitators. The scene shows a man being
pushed into a pigsty by a laughing and
gesticulating crowd—presumably for
drunkenness, for the Latin inscription on
the reverse is a diatribe against drinking.
After 1700 the Schwarzlot technique was
carried on in Bohemia and Silesia by
independent decorators. Though they
were using the same medium, in style and
subject their work was very different.
They concentrated on landscapes, hunting
scenes, warriors and scenes from peasant
life, then replaced these by scroll-and-
strap-work, Chinese figures, putti and
fantastic animals.
In Spain a distinct style of enamelling
glass emerged in the late 15th, 16th and
early 17th centuries. It originated in
Barcelona, where glass-makers were in
considerable rivalry with Venice towards
the end of the 15th century. The most
important product of the Barcelona crafts-
men was their enamelled ware, which
surprisingly showed a complete inde-
pendence of Venetian models. The colours
they used for their enamels were notably a
light yellowish-green, in combination with
yellow, white and lavender blue, and
occasionally they used touches of black,
red and brown. Their style of enamelling
has been described as primitive, but also
as powerful in design. The motifs they
used were Near-Eastern in feeling, such as
stylised trees, arabesque foliage, running
animals and pairs of birds. Occasionally,
figures in 16th-century European costume
were used. The vase illustrated was a
favourite shape, showing a typical motif
resembling a small fruit with calyx attached
which was also found on Venetian glass.
Enamelled decoration on glass, though
familiar on the Continent from the 15th
century onwards, was apparently never
attempted in England until the middle of
the 18th century. Two types of enamelling
emerged in the third quarter of the 18th
century, one practised by the Beilby
family of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and the
other practised on the opaque white glass
of the period (see Opaque White Glass).
William Beilby (1740-1819) and his sister
Mary (1749-97) were recorded by Thomas
Bewick, the wood-engraver, to have ‘had
constant employment of enamel-painting
of glass’. William had learned the art of
enamelling in Birmingham, and proceeded
to enamel glasses from about 1762. At
what point Mary joined him in his work is
not known, for their glasses are signed
simply ‘Beilby’. Their brother Ralph
Beilby (1743—1817), to whom Thomas
Bewick was apprenticed, may have had
some influence on their work through his
knowledge of heraldic engraving.
The first Beilby enamelled work was of an
heraldic nature, in both white and coloured
enamel on glasses or goblets with ogee or
bucket-shaped bowls. The Beilbys’ style
changed about 1774, and subjects such as
scenes of hunting, fishing and shooting,
pastoral scenes including ruins, and Chin-
ese subjects appeared, the shapes of the
glasses becoming more diverse. Colours
were not always used on these glasses, and
the subjects were often rendered in white
monochrome, sometimes with a faint tint
of blue or pink. Occasionally they followed
the motifs found on engraved glasses of the
period, such as hops, barley and the flower-
ing vine. Beilby glasses more often than
not have an opaque white enamel-twist
stem. Thomas Bewick became attached to
Mary Beilby, who unfortunately in her
early twenties suffered a paralytic stroke.
The brother and sister left Newcastle-on-
Tyne after the death of their mother in
1778, and went to Fife in Scotland, where
apparently they did not continue their
work.
Hi. 105 mm (4-15 in.)
BEAKER WITH CUTTING, GILDING AND
ENAMEL PAINTING
By Anton kothgasser, Vienna, Austria, r.1825
Hi. 115 mm (4-5 in.)
Many drinking and souvenir glasses with
translucent enamelling still exist which
were decorated by Samuel Mohn (horn
1762 in Weissenfels, died 1815 in Dresden)
and his son, Gottlob Samuel Mohn (born
1789 in Weissenfels and died 1825 in
Vienna). Their chief technical innovation
was the preparation of transparent enam-
els, in contrast with the heavy opaque
enamels used particularly in the 16th and
17th centuries. Samuel Mohn had pre-
viously been a painter of silhouettes on
porcelain. His son, who secured the
patronage of the Emperor, painted sil-
houettes on glass tumblers, as well as views
and allegorical figure-subjects. The Mohns
were among the first to cater for the market
for mementoes caused by the revival of
travel for its own sake, after the finish of
the Napoleonic wars. They worked on a
large scale, helped by apprentices, and
using transfer printing for outlines to
speed up the process, but the delicacy of
their paintings, usually on glasses in the
Ranfthecher form, makes these a worthy
item for collectors.
The Mohns’ discovery of transparent
enamels was further improved by a Vien-
nese porcelain and glass decorator, Anton
Kothgasser (1769-1851). He was a painter
from the Imperial Porcelain Factory, who
started working on stained glass with
Gottlob Mohn. He managed to make his
colours more brilliant than the Mohns’,
and made full use of yellow stain, or the
stain made from a compound of silver, as
used on stained glass windows. His glasses
are usually waistcd, with a heavy cut base
and sometimes lavishly gilt, as in the one
illustrated. Views of towns, portraits,
genre scenes and flowers, sometimes
copied, are featured in his work. His
glasses have been described as the finest
examples of the Viennese Biedermewr
style. Kothgasser and the Mohns had
many pupils and many imitators. In the-
same movement was Franz Anton Siebel
(1777-1842) of Lichtenfels in Upper
Franconia.
PERFUME BOTTLE IN COLOURLESS GLASS,
ENAMELLED AND GILT
Emile Galle, France, dated 1880
I li 157 mm (613 in.)
‘CROWN MILANO’ EWER WITH ROPE HANDLE
Ml. Washington Glass Company, U.S.A.
Ht. 254 mm (10 in.)
Emile Galle (1846 1904) the great French
glass-maker, is less well-known for his
enamelled work than for his work in the
field of cameo glass. Yet he was an expert
in the art of enamelling, and showed this
gift in his first major exhibition in Paris in
1878. It was there that he established his
reputation as an inventive and original
glass artist, using—among other tech-
niques—enamelled decoration on triple-
cased glass with gold leaf insertions. At the
exhibition in Paris in 1884 he showed
examples of clear colourless glass decorated
with enamelling, cutting and engraving.
At the 1889 Exhibition in Paris he showed
his finest works. His colours had taken on
a new softness, and a fresh note of lyricism
could be sensed in his work. The decisive
factor in his work seems to have been
Japanese art, and after 1889 he developed
to maturity the ‘nature-style’ that was to
epitomise his thoughts and ideas and was
to bring him his greatest fame. The
singular lyricism ol his work can be seen in
the enamelled perfume bottle illustrated.
An elegant painted and enamelled glass-
ware was produced by the Mt. Washington
Glass Company, New Bedford, Mass.,
towards the end of the 19th century. It was
first called ‘Albertine’, though a ware that
was the same in texture, shape and
decoration was advertised more cxotically
as ‘Crown Milano’ in about 1890. Unless
the perishable paper label survives, ‘Al-
bertine’ cannot be differentiated from
unmarked ‘Crown Milano’. Frederick S.
Shirley and Albert Steffin of that firm were
issued with a patent in 1886 for a means of
decorating an opal glassware. The articles,
which had a convex ribbed body, were
treated as follows: a perforated corrugated
stencil was laid against them; pulverised
carbon was dusted against this, which left
a design for the enameller to follow when
the stencil was taken away, so that there
was no distortion in the finished product.
When ‘Crown Milano’ was made, a blank
in white opal glass was shaped by free-
blowing, moulding or press-moulding.

Coloured glass
Coloured glass is made by adding metallic oxides to the glass batch. This technique was widely practised in ancient Egypt and Rome, where brightly coloured glass was often favoured over clear glass. In the 15th century opaque white glass, slightly translucent glass, and glass in imitation of hardstones were produced in Venice; in Bohemia glass in bold colours of blue and
ruby-red was widely produced before 1800. In the 19th century, with advanced technical and mass production methods production was much more widespread with notable firm operating not only in Italy and Bohemia but also in Britain France, and the USA. Experimention with new staining any overlay techniques produced a wide array of coloured designs.
EARLY GLASS
The Egyptians experimented with coloured glass, exploiting their extensive trade routes to acquire the necessary materials. Ancient Egyptian glass comes in a myriad of bright, pure colours. One of the most common was bright turquoise blue, coloured by adding copper oxide to the batch. Antimony and tin oxide, imported from Assyria, were used to colour glass an opaque white, while pure opaque yellow was trailed over dark blue core-formed objects, with white or pale blue, and
combed into festoons or feathery patterns and zigzags. Fine alabastra (bottles or flasks) known as “gold-band” incorporate stripes of real gold.
The Romans continued to experiment with coloured glass, producing most famously dark blue glass overlaid with opaque white and cut with cameo decoration. Mosaic glass was made from brilliantly coloured canes of glass cut into tiny slices and fused together in a mould. Most coloured glass was blue, although purple and amber pieces are also found. Much excavated Roman glass will have an iridescent surface; this is the result of a chemical reaction with the metal oxides in the earth after the glass was buried. Roman wares include bowls, bottles, flasks, and cups.
VENETIAN GLASS
From the mid-15th century the sophisticated know-how of Venetian glassmakers gave rise to many different types and effective combinations of coloured glass. In the late 15th century a “milky” opaque-white glass made by adding tin oxide to the batch was developed. This glass (known as lattimo in Italy) resembled porcelain, and it became particularly popular in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, when imported Chinese porcelain was in vogue. From the late 15th century a fine marbled glass known as “chalcedony” ” or “agate” glass was created by mixing together coloured opaque metals to resemble hardstones. Opaline glass, which was slightly translucent and less dense than opaque-white glass, was probably first made in Venice in the 17th century by the addition of oxides and the ashes of calcified
bones to the batch; when held to the light it can be distinguished from opaque-white glass by a red or yellow tint, which is known as the “fire’
BOHEMIAN GLASS
In the 16th century a distinctive dark-blue glass was produced in Bohemia by the addition of cobalt oxide. The clear vivid body colour was a perfect canvas for the brightly coloured naive enamelling popular at that time. At the end of the 17th century a deep pink glass was invented by by Johann Kunckel (c.1630-1703), a chemist and director at the Potsdam Glasshouse (est. 1679). The colour was produced by adding gold chloride to the batch. This “gold-ruby” glass (known as “Kunckel red” or, in German, Rubinglas or Goldrubinglas) was also produced in Nuremberg and other glasshouses in southern Germany. Gold-ruby glass was decorated with engraving, cutting, or gilding, and was considered a luxury product.
• MAIN AREAS OF PRODUCTION ancient coloured glass was made in Egypt and Rome; it was produced from c.1450 in Venice and from the 16th century in Bohemia
• TYPES blue glass; porcelain-like “milk” glass; coloured glass in imitation of hardstones; opaline glass; gold-
ruby glass
• FORMS densely coloured pieces may appear heavy bodied
• COLOURS ancient glass: many pieces have dark blue bodies sometimes with yellow and white decoration
• COLLECTING ancient Egyptian glass is very rare and valuable; generally colour will not play an important part in its value; gold-ruby glass is rare and valuable
Bohemia
The 19th century was an age of experimentation in glass technology. Glassmakers, some of whom were also skilled chemists, developed new colours, new ways of applying colour, and innovative techniques to produce glass
The most celebrated types of Bohemian glass from this period are “Lithyalin”, “Hyalith”, stained, and flashed glass.
LITHYALIN AND HYALITH GLASS
Count Georg Franz August Langueval von Buquoy 1811-1851), the owner of a number of glasshouses in southern Bohemia, produced an opaque black glass c.1817, which was inspired by the black basalt wares produced from the end of the 18th century at the Wedgwood factory (est. 1769) in England. In 1819 lie produced another dense opaque glass, known as -Hyalith”, usually in sealing-wax
red or jet-black. Hyalith was usually decorated with gilding.
Von Buquoy’s experiments may have inspired Friedrich Egermann (1777-1864), who in 1829 at his factory in Haida, northern Bohemia, patented “Lithyalin” glass, a polished opaque glass that resembled hardstones, which he continued to produce until 1840. The surface of the glass was brushed with metal oxides to resemble veining and marbling. Strong colours are typical, especially red; more unusual are dark-green, blue, and purple. Wares were usually cut and polished and occasionally gilded or enamelled. Lithyalin glass was used mainly
~, vases,
for purely decorative items, notabl
and scent bottles. Lithyalin glass was also produced at the Harrach Glassworks (est. 1`14) in Neuwelt (now Novy Svet in the Czech Republic), and by Hautin & Co. in France. Although these copies are difficult to distinguish from pieces by Egermann, they are usually slightly lighter in colour.
STAINED, FLASHED, AND OVERLAY GLASS Egermann also invented an effective and inexpensive method of colouring glass with a
thin stain of colour, which was called flashing. This involved painting a clear object with a stain and firing it at a low temperature to fix the colour. This gave a solid, even, pale colour. Egermann is particularly noted for his yellow coloured stain, developed in 1818 using silver chloride, and his ruby-red stain, perfected in 1832, using gold
chloride and copper oxide. Wares were often cut through to the thin colour to reveal the clear glass beneath.
In casing – a technique reinvented by Egermann –the glass vessel is covered in a differently coloured glass and then fired; as the glass cools, the two layers fuse together. Some pieces were “double-cased”, i.e. dipped into two differently coloured batches of glass to give a multicoloured effect. The flashing technique is sometimes confused with casing as the terms were used interchangeably by some glassworks; however, in casing the layers of glass are much thicker. If there is a sharp line between the two colours, this suggests flashing, whereas shading or thinning between two colours suggests overlay. Flashing and staining are characteristic of 19th-century Bohemian glassmakers as they are inexpensive methods of colouring glass and thus well suited to the mass-produced wares made during the 19th century.
OTHER COLOURED GLASS
During the 1820s and 1830s a series of
industrial exhibitions held in Prague gave rise to the development of other types of coloured glass, including violet, pink, green, and blue. Further experimentation with colour in the early
I 9th century sparked the discovery in Bohemia of other ways to colour glass. Of particular note is the work of Josef Riedel (active 1830-48), who in the 1830s used uranium to produce a vivid fluorescent greenish-yellow (Annagriin) and yellowish-green (Annagelb) glass, both named after his wife Anna. However, this glass was mildly radioactive, and the process was later abandoned.
Lithyalin and Hyalith glass
• CONDITION ceramic restoration techniques are often used, so repairs can be difficult to spot
• COLLECTING display vessels such as vases and bowls arc most common; display cups and saucers and pieces with gilt oriental and chinoiserie decoration are rarer; lithyalin overlaid on dark-green hyalith is valuable
Flashed, stained, and overlay glass
• CONDITION check pieces carefully, as damage is often hard to detect on coloured glass; good condition is vital
• COLLECTING the condition and depth of the colour determine the value; beware when collecting blue stained glass as it fades easily and can lose value
Other Bohemian coloured glassTYPES
• vivid green Annagriin and Annagelb glass
Britain, France, and the United States after 1800
Coloured glass was widely produced during the 19th century in Britain, France, and the USA. In Britain two important events gave a new impetus to the manufacture of coloured glass in the middle of the century. The first was the removal of excise tax on glass in 1845, which encouraged makers to experiment with new techniques and styles, among them coloured glass. The second was the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851 at which glassmakers from Europe and the USA were keen to show their new skills and techniques. In France glassmakers at all the major factories manufactured coloured glass in a range of styles and forms, and in the USA firms experimented widely with colour, producing an extensive range of designs, most characteristically in delicate pastel shades with subtle
BRITAIN
All blue, green, and amethyst glass produced in Britain from the end of the 18th to the middle of the 19th century is generically described as “Bristol” glass. The most characteristic colour is a brilliant royal blue, produced by adding cobalt oxide to the batch; such glass is frequently embellished with cold gilding. Drinking glasses were generally green, ranging from grass green to a turquoise green. Amethyst glasses are rare, but when found the colour is true and clear, with no sign of red, unlike the plum tone found on later Victorian glass.
In the mid-19th century the influence of coloured glass manufactured by well-established glass companies in Bohemia became increasingly visible in the products of British factories. Not only did important Bohemian factories such as the Harrach Glassworks (est. 1714) in Neuwelt (now Novy Svet in the Czech Republic) exhibit quantities of coloured glass at the Great Exhibition, but Bohemian glassworkers were also employed by British factories where, freed from the constraint of having to produce wares in traditional styles, they were able to manufacture very exciting wares in an outstanding range of new colours.
In the late I 870s a type of
type
opalescent glass, known as
“Vaseline” glass due to its greasy,
vaseline-like appearance, was developed
in Britain and designed to resemble 15th-
and 16th-century Venetian glass. The opalescent colour was produced by using tiny amounts of uranium together with other metal oxides to create shades of yellow, green, blue, and, more rarely, red. Stevens & Williams Ltd (est. 1847), of Brierley Hill, near Stourbridge, was one of the leading innovators in the field of patent colours and colour combinations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company’s rare double-cased “Rockingham” ware is particularly sought after, as are the Bohemian-style
pieces with alternating panels of engraved colour-flashed and clear glass produced by WIT.,
B. & J. Richardson (est. c.1836), also near Stourbridge. Amber was the most commonly used colour for the vases, decanters, and claret jugs in this style, although some pieces were also produced in purple, green, and red.
Gold and uranium oxides combined with sodium nitrate were used to manufacture the “Queen’s Burmese” range of glass by Thomas Webb & Sons (est. 1837), near Stourbridge, patented in 1886. Queen’s Burmese was inspired by the “Burmese” glassware patented in 1885
by the Mount Washington Glass Co. (est. 1837), in South Boston, Massachusetts, and favoured by Queen Victoria who ordered a set – hence the name. It had a body colour that shaded from a pale lemon-yellow (sometimes light green) at the bottom through to salmon-pink at the top. Some pieces feature enamelled and gilded designs. Although Queen’s Burmese ware was made by other British companies – including WIL, B. & J. Richardson –pieces by Webb are the most desirable. Typical wares include vases, posy bowls, and lampshades. Another type of glass introduced by Webb was “Peach” glass, a type of cased glass that shaded from pink through to a deep red.
A Tazza
The tazza is a distinctive Venetian form of serving dish. The revival of 15th- and 16th-century Venetian glass forms and styles of decoration was started in Venice during the mid-19th century and gradually spread throughout Europe. In Britain the Revival was supported by William Morris, who disapproved of the heavily cut glass prevalent at the time. One of the leading British manufacturers of Venetian Revival glass was James Powell & Sons (est. 1834), which produced “Vaseline” glass wares similar to the example shown above, and in delicately tinted glass from the 1870s.
FRANCE
In France, the Baccarat Glassworks (est. 1764 as the Sainte-Anne Glassworks) in Baccarat, near Luneville, Lorraine, produced glass c.1880 in a distinctive, delicate shade of pink known as “tinted-rose”.Many
wares feature acid-etched Classical decoration. Another fashionable trend was the production of coloured opaline glass, a semi-opaque white glass, opacified by the addition of the ash of calcined bones and coloured with metallic oxides. The Venetians had been the first to introduce this translucent glass, which was later made in Bohemia and Britain, but the French opaline glass first produced c.1823 at Baccarat was more translucent. The finest French opaline was made at Baccarat, at the Saint-Louis Glassworks est. 1767) near Bitche, in the Munzthal, Lorraine, and at the Choisy-le-Roi Glassworks (est. 1821) in Paris. Wares were made in delicate pastel shades such
as turquoise, pink, and pale green, and include pairs Of vases with enamelled decoration, and vases, jugs, and dishes of inventive forms, often with coloured cane rims. Saint-Louis Glassworks made many pieces IT soft pink or blue, with latticinio decoration and glass cane rims.
THE UNITED STATES
Throughout the 19th century American glass manufacturers launched and developed a range of innovative coloured glass. One of the most popular and now widely collected colours is the transparent “Cranberry” glass, which has a distinctive raspberry pink tint, first produced in the glassmaking region of Stourbridge in England. Huge quantities of useful and ornamental wares were made, most notably at the Boston & Sandwich Glass Co. (1826-88) in Sandwich, Massachusetts.
However, it was only during the 1880s, when there was a move away from cut and pressed glass by the leading glass manufacturers, that they began to experiment in earnest with a more sophisticated range of coloured art glass. One of the leading companies at this time was the Mount Washington
Glass Co., which launched the widely copied and enormously popular “Burmese” glass in 1885. Most Burmese glass has a satin finish, although some has a glossy surface, and is characterized by subtle gradations of shading from a light lemon at the bottom of the piece to a delicate pink at the top. In 1883 the firm of Hobbs, Brockunier & Co. (est. 1863) in Wheeling, West Virginia, developed “Peachblow” glass and incorporated it into its range of coloured wares. This cased glass is a warm buttery yellow at the base shading through to a purplish-red at the top and is lined in a white opal glass. Peachblow was made at other companies, including the New England Glass Co. (1818-90), originally in East Cambridge, Massachusetts, which called it “Wild Rose”. New England was also notable for its “Amberina” range of glass, which it produced as “Pressed Amberina”. Both Wild Rose and Pressed Amberina were developed by Joseph Locke (1846-1936), an English glassworker, who emigrated to the USA in 1882. Patented in 1883, Amberina glass contained small amounts of gold, and graduated from pale amber at the base through to a rich fuschia at the top. It was made until 1900. Hobbs, Brockunier & Co. also made Pressed Amberina under licence from the New England Glass Co.
France
• MAJOR FACTORIES Baccarat, Saint-Louis, Choisy-le-Roi
• TYPES pastel-coloured opaline glass and wares with decoration are most notable
• COLLECTING wares by Baccarat are sought after
Marks
Saint-Louis: this mark was used from 1870 to the present day; some pieces marked “Argental” or Munzthal the German for Argental, often with a tiny cross of Lorraine
The United States
• COLLECTING Cranberry glass: very popular with
collectors; later Cranberry tends to have a less warm hue and a bluey tinge when held to the light
Marks
Mount Washington Glass Co.: mark used on Burmese ware from the 1880s
New England Glass Co.: Amberina ware; mark used from 1880s
Britain
• TYPES Bristol glass, overlay glass, Vaseline glass, decorated opaque and opaline glass
• BEWARE there are many early 20th-century copies of Bristol glass: beware of glasses that are larger than usual (more than c. I Ocin/4in high) and thin glass
Marks
Thomas Webb & Son

Ceramic production during the reign of Hongzhi maintained the fine quality associated with wares produced in the Chenghua period. However, during the reign of Zhengde there was a notable decline in draughtsmanship and potting, which lasted until the end of the Ming Dynasty.
POLYCHROME WARES
From the Chenghua period the use of lead-fluxed, overglaze enamels became increasingly common. Underglaze blue was combined with these colours, which were fired a second time at a much lower temperature. On the finest wares known as doucai ..contrasted colours”) pieces, the outline of the design was traced in underglaze blue, and then yellow, green, aubergine-purple, and red enamels were painted on hcfore a second firing to create a jewel-like effect. Douche pieces arc generally small, fine, and extremely well made; decoration includes figures, plants, and animals, often in briefly painted landscapes. Wares include “chicken cups” – small wine-cups with designs of hens and cockerels with peonies.
The wucai (”five colours”) style, using the same palette as doucai, was introduced in the Jiajing reign period. While underglaze-blue outlines were still used, they were often replaced with overglaze black or red. The decoration developed along different lines, with fish, water-weed, ducks, and figure scenes becoming increasingly popular. Dragons appear in all manner of wises, with wings, and with flowers or jewels in their Months, arranged around bowls and jars or as circular medallions. Wucai decoration was used on large as well as small pieces and is generally not as neat or refined Lis doucai. The colour yellow, which had imperial connotations, was used together with bold designs of fruits and flowers in underglaze blue from the Xuande to the Jiajing reign period. For example, in the Zhengde period a common design consisted of green dragons on a white background, achieved by marking the design in wax resist then glazing the ground with white, firing, painting the reserved design in green enamel, and finally refiring at a lower temperature.
BLUE-AND-WHITE WARES
Blue-and-white wares made during the Chenghua period are regarded as some of the finest porcelains ever produced. Technically they arc superb, with light, thin bodies and a glassy glaze. The blue on early Chenghua pieces is dark – an almost blue-black associated with the use of imported cobalt; the later wares have a much lighter, clearer blue derived from local ore from the Raozhou Prefecture around Jingdezhen. It is applied very evenly, in designs of dragons and phoenixes, landscape scenes, or the very fine flower scrolls that adorn the so-called “Palace” ware. This was made in the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, the most typical item being a bowl with everted rim, known as a “Palace” bowl.
The reign period of Hongzhi is largely a continuation of the Chenghua style, but it may be viewed as a watershed in the Ming dynasty since after it standards clearly began to decline. Even the best of the later Ming wares never reached the heights of the 15th-century work. As the 16th century advanced, the deterioration manifested itself in the increasing number of flaws in the poorly refined clay, and in the more casual brushwork, although the latter often has great appeal. During the reign of Jiajing the quality of blue improved. A rich, saturated purplish cobalt, termed “Muhammadan” blue, was introduced and was used on many porcelains in this and the later Ming reigns of Longqing and Wanli. Imperial quality wares are dressed in a thickish and smooth glassy glaze with a strong bluish cast. Almost all later Ming porcelains oxidized during firing, and while this thin reddish veneer may be worn by the passage of time, it is usually still visible at the margin of the glaze oil the base or foot rim.
EXPORT WARES
During the reign of Wanli the export of Chinese porcelain expanded, with large numbers of blue-and wares made purely for export. Among these pieces, kraak ware, which was produced from the Wanli period, is particularly important. It takes its name from the Dutch rendering of the Portuguese for “carrack”, Or merchant ship, two of which, carrying Chinese porcelain, were captured by the Dutch in 1602 and 1604. Kraak ware of this period has a fairly thin, light body, which is prone to chipping at the edges. The blue,
often evenly applied in washes, is inclined to be rather watery and thin.
The use of panels on bowls and dishes increased in the late 16th century; all wares of
this type are called kraak ware. On kraak howls and dishes the decoration radiates from a central circular panel. After c.1570 the most common
themes found on kraak porcelain are floral, including a highly stylized and barely recognizable form of the peony, lotuses, chrysanthemums, and other flowers issuing from rocks. Other motifs were also popular, such as precious objects or symbols tied with ribbons, and crickets, beetles, and butterflies.
DECORATIVE THEMES
Dragons and phoenixes remained the most important decorative motifs throughout the Ming period, but other designs also became increasingly popular. In the Chenghua period a very fine arrangement of lilies and Other flowers in underglaze blue seas used to decorate the exteriors of the dishes known as “Palace” bowls. Emperor Chenghua was a devout Buddhist, and this is reflected in the use of Buddhist symbols on some pieces from this period. During the reign of Zhengde, who was tolerant of the Islamic religion in China, a unique style of decoration using Arabic or Persian script was applied to a wide range of blue-and-white wares that were predominantly intended for the scholar’s desk. These included pen rests, small lamps, incense burners, and, in a few very rare instances, bowls. The script is enclosed within medallions against a background of scrolls and sometimes stylized lotus designs. These wares always carry the six-character mark of Zhengde, whereas almost all other dishes of this period have a four-character mark.
The decoration of 16th-century Ming wares is less refined, more chaotic in its arrangement, and much more freely drawn than that of the 15th century. The designs show the influence Of illustrations from popular literature, which was becoming widely available at this time. On wares of the Jiajing period, children, scholars, animals, and flowers are depicted in gardens, on terraces, or in open landscapes. Daoist subjects, for example the sage Laozi and the Eight Immortals (legendary or historical individuals who arc associated with the philosophy of Dao), were increasingly incorporated into the decoration on these wares, as were the associated symbols of long life, such as the lingzhi fungus, deer, cranes, peaches, pine trees, the Chinese character short (often elaborated into the form of a peach tree), and herons.
Doucai wares
• BODY fine white porcelain
• COLOURS underglaze-blue outlines with overglaze enamels in red, green, yellow, and aubergine
• SHAPES small, neat pieces: wine-cups, stem cups, howls, and jars
• DECORATION chickens and peonies; dragons, plants, and floral motifs; neat and jewel-like
Wucai wares• BODY white porcelain of variable quality
• COLOURS overglaze enamels in yellow, red, green, turquoise, and aubergine, with some outlines in red or [)lack and others in underglaze blue
• FORMS small and large pieces, such as huge cisterns
• DECORATION dragons, fish, landscapes, and figures; not as neatly drawn as doucai wares
Export wares
• BODY relatively thin and light porcelain of reasonable quality; the glaze has a tendency to break away from the edges in an irregular way – this is often referred to as “moth-eaten” or “tender” edges
• GLAZE highhigh
gloss, reasonably thick over the body, tending to be thin on the base
• SHAPES kendi (Hindu ritual vessels) and “Persian” flasks, jars, and dishesBLUE
• watery and thin, often applied in washes, sometimes rather silvery grey
• DECORATION division into panels radiating from a Central circular field, with animals, birds, plants, landscapes, or baskets of flowers, and often ribbons and medallions between the panels
• FOOT-RIM there is often grit in the glaze

Yuan and early Ming
During the Mongol occupation and the early reigns of the Ming Dynasty, momentous changes occurred at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province. The kilns came under imperial patronage, and fine porcelain with underglaze decoration supplanted the glazed stonewares of the Song period as the most desirable form of ceramic. Exported Longquan celadons remained a vital source of revenue for the government.
PORCELAIN
Although porcellaneous wares had been made from the late 6th century, it was at Jingdezhen that porcelain developed to its full potential. The addition of kaolin (china clay) to the batch made it possible to make much larger pieces than before. Shu fu wares, which take their name from the two moulded Chinese characters shit and fu (”Privy Council”) found on their interiors, arc of thickly potted white porcelain with an opaque, greyish-white glaze; these were made during the Yuan period for the Ministry of Military and Civil Affairs.
UNDERGLAZE BLUE-AND-RED DECORATION
The use of underglaze decoration probably dates
from c.1330. Cobalt imported from Persia was applied directly onto the unfired body, which was then glazed and fired. Copper oxide, which fires red, was often used in combination with underglaze blue in the earliest painted wares of Jingdezhen, and by the late 14th century it was used on its own. Copper is much more volatile than cobalt and many of these pieces are flawed, the red being greyish and dull.
In 1368, after the Mongols were finally expelled from China, the Ming Emperor Hongwu (1368-98) imposed a strict trade embargo, and foreign cobalt became very rare. The use of copper oxide therefore became more widespread, and copper monochromes were introduced, reaching their peak in the reign of Xuande (1426-35). The Yongle (1403-24) and Xuande reign periods are also regarded as belonging to the classical era of blue and white, when foreign cobalt was once again in plentiful supply. The blue tended to filter through the glaze, creating an effect known as “heaped and piled”, much imitated during the Qing period.
Longquan
• FORMS abandonment of archaic forms in favour of large platters and forms dictated by the export market
• GLAZE thinner and more olive than on Song wares
• DECORATION very little space left undecorated
Qinghai
• FORMS large pieces made possible by the addition of kaolin to the paste
• DECORATION increasingly ornate, with little space left undecorated; beading and Buddhist figures common
Shu fu
• BODY thickly potted porcelain
• GLAZE opaque, greyish-white and waxy
• DECORATION may have moulded Chinese characters
shu and it scarcely visible under the glaze; moulded floral decoration on the inside and incised decoration on the outside
Blue-and-white wares
• FORMS bottles, bulbous wine jars, and large platters
(many with bracketed rims) for the export market
• GLAZE viscous in the Yuan period and inclined to
the pitted “orange-peel” effect in the early Ming
• BLUE dark speckled blue, known as “heaped and piled”, on some Xuande and Yongle pieces
• DECORATION themes include fish among aquatic plants, flower motifs, grapes, and vine tendrils (specifically for the export market)
• STYLE crowded arrangements in the Yuan, but elegant, harmonious spacing in the Yongle and Xuande periods

Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty (960-1279) is regarded as the classic period of Chinese ceramics, when simple, elegant wares decorated with attractive monochrome glazes were produced. The five “classic wares” – Ding, Jun, Ru, Guano, and Ge – were produced for imperial use, while other wares, notably Cizhou and some of the northern celadons, were made for a much wider market.
CELADONS
The most characteristic Song ceramics are the celadons, with their iron-derived, semi-translucent, usually greenish glaze. When the Song court was situated in northern China (960-1126), such centres of production as Yaozhou in Shaanxi Province became important for celadons; the most distinctive northern celadons are those with incised or moulded decoration of floral scrolls covered with an olive-green glaze. The later Longquan or southern celadon usually has a pale-grey body that shows the thick, opaque, bluish-green, slightly bubbly glaze to advantage. The best Longquan wares include archaic forms and items for the scholar’s desk, bowls, and vases. Jun wares made in Yu xian and Linru in Henan Province are thickly potted stonewares with a lavender-blue glaze often splashed with purple derived from copper oxide and, very rarely, green. Typical forms include chunky globular jars. Ru wares, the rarest and most coveted of all Song ceramics, are simple, elegant stonewares with a crackled blue-green glaze. Guan wares have light buff or dark stoneware bodies with a very thick, pale-greyish glaze that is usually strongly crackled and may be black, brown, or clear. The bodies show dark brown or black on the unglazed rims and feet.
OTHER WARES
Ding wares, made in Ding xian in Hebei Province, are fine porcellaneous stonewares with a warm ivory glaze, made in delicate shapes, including ewers and vases as well as small plates and bowls. Most flatware was fired upside down – the rims were left unglazed, and were bound with gold-coloured metal (now
patinated). Moulded decoration was introduced in the 11th cenrury; in this a reusable stoneware mould was impressed onto the hard clay, creating closely meshed designs; the earlier, more fluid, hand-carved ornament was also used. Qingbai (bluish white) wares from
Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province have a fine white porcelain body and a glassy blue glaze that tends to pool. These items are very delicate and elegant, and include thinly potted conical bowls and beautifully proportioned vases.
Fine black-glazed stonewares were produced during the Song period in Henan Province and at Jian in Jiangxi Province. Blackwares were sometimes decorated with red-brown floral designs. Cizhou wares, named after the kilns in Cizhou in Hebei Province, are sturdy stonewares with robust designs in black-and-white slip; often part of the black slip was scraped away to create a textured pattern (sgraffito), while on other wares the designs were sometimes painted on. Common shapes include “pillows” and meiping (an inverted-pear-shaped vase).
Marks
Song wares are generally unmarked, although a few stoneware moulds have survived with 12th- or 13th-century dates incised on the surface

• BODY most Song wares are stonewares, although Ding and Qinghai wares are porcellaneousSTYLE
• subtle and scholarly, in contrast to the flamboyance of the preceding Tang period and the subsequent Yuan period; from the 12th century there is a strong archaizing tendency, with a fashion for classic jade and bronze shapes
• DECORATION many Song wares are without ornament, relying for effect on the harmony between glaze and form; early Ding and northern celadons are decorated with restrained carved designs – some later wares have busier moulded floral and foliate decoration; Cizhou wares show the greatest variety of decorative techniques