Posts Tagged ‘flasks’

Mould-blown glass
Mould blowing, a technique that dates back to Roman times, became fashionable when it was used to make Irish and Anglo-Irish glass in the late 18th century. However, its popularity in the USA, where it is known as “blown-three-mould” glass after the three-part mould in which it was produced, declined with the growth of pressed glass in the 1820s.
EARLY GLASS
Mould blowing was first introduced by the Romans C.AD 25 and was one of the most important developments in the production of glass. The simple technique involves blowing a molten, sometimes partly formed, gather of glass (paraison) into a mould. Once shaped by the mould, the piece can be removed and finished, perhaps by reheating and further blowing to enlarge it. The mould, which gives the object both shape and decoration in one operation, was typically made of a non-combustible material such as pearwood, clay, or metal. It was usually made in two or more parts to enable the glass, which does not shrink as it cools, to be removed without damage. Wares made include plain unguentaria, bottles, beakers, and drinking cups, as well as more decorative wares such as inverted bell-shaped “lotus-bud” beakers, hexagonal flasks with decoration showing scenes from the Roman circus, and “mythological” beakers, decorated with events and characters from Roman mythology.
EUROPEAN GLASS
Glassmakers in northern Europe continued to produce mould-blown glass after the Romans left the region. The type of unsophisticated glassware, which included cone and claw beakers, was made of green-tinted soda-lime glass in the forested regions in the Rhineland, France, and Belgium between C.AD 400 and C.AD 700. The most common wares were simple drinking vessels decorated with trailing.
In the 18th century mould blowing was popularly used in Ireland to mass-produce wares such as glasses and decanters, with decoration in imitation of cut-glass designs. Most wares were part rather than fully mould blown; this involved blowing a gather of glass into a shallow patterned mould to form the base of the ware – the bowl of a glass or the base of a decanter. The mould enabled the glassblower to produce a range of wares with a uniform shape and the moulded pattern (typically fluted on Irish decanters) helped to hide flaws in the surface of the glass or unsightly sediment from wine settled at the bottom. By the late 18th century Irish glassmakers were also working their factory marks into the base of the mould.
NORTH AMERICAN GLASS
Large quantities and many varieties of blown-threemould glass, often imitating Anglo-Irish cut glass, were manufactured in Western Pennsylvania,
Ohio, West Virginia, and Indiana from c.1815. The full-size hinged moulds had two, three, or more parts – the name is slightly misleading – and were used to produce pieces with patterns imitating cut glass;
wares, which were usually clear, included punch-bowls, decanters, tumblers, and even toy wine glasses decorated with a range of motifs from sunbursts and vertical and horizontal ribs to plumes and scrolls. Very popular at the time were flasks decorated with presidential portraits, the American eagle, or other political symbols, and portraits of celebrities. They were produced from c.1815 in a variety of sizes and colours – most common are clear or bottle-green examples, but wares in amethyst, blue, and various shades of green are also known.
Vast quantities of mould-blown glass were manufactured in North America during the 19th century for wine and spirit bottles, patent medicine bottles, and home preserving jars. However, in
the 1820s with the development of mould-pressing machinery they were able to mass-produce imitation cut glass.
General
• DECORATION unlike that on cut or mould-pressed glass, the design may be felt on the inside of the piece; as the glass stretches when blown, patterns are often contorted; mould-seams may be visible down the piece’s side
Early glass
• WARES flasks, beakers, cups, bottles, and bowls
• COLLECTING many domestic wares can be commonly found; unusual, coloured, or highly decorated items are very collectable and command high prices
European glass
• COLLECTING part-mould-blown Irish decanters (always of clear glass) are particularly sought after
American glass
• TECHNIQUE mould blowing mostly used in North America between c.1820 and 1870
• WARES much used for the production of inexpensive bottles, although other wares, including vases, punchbowls, and drinking glasses, were also produced

Vienna
After unsuccessful attempts to make porcelain, Claudius Innocentius Du Paquier (d.1751) bribed the Meissen arcanist Christoph Conrad Hunger (active c.1717-48) to come to Vienna in 1717 to teach him the secret formula. Hunger’s expertise proved to be limited, so Du Paquier employed Bottger’s kilnmaster Samuel Stolzel (d.1737) in 1719, and the factory made its first successful hard-paste porcelain.
THE DU PAQUIER PERIOD: 1719-44
The shapes of Du Paquier’s wares arc similar to early Meissen, as they are copied from Baroque silver and are of symmetrical form embellished with scrollwork. The factory actory also made some original items: tall beakers, sometimes with moulded borders and usually on a narrow foot; bottles or flasks applied with masks or modelled with animal-head spouts; and double-handled beakers on large, oval trembleuse stands.
Flower decoration was copied from Chinese and Japanese wares with a palette dominated by iron red, green and manganese purple; contemporary Meissen wares are much closer to the originals. Vienna, however, pioneered the use of European flower decoration on porcelain c.1730. At first these were precisely painted in the style of botanical engravings, but from c.1740 to 1745 they arc smaller and scattered, with much freer brushwork. Another innovation was the use of black, puce, or iron-red monochrome for battle and hunting scenes and chinoiserie; black monochrome, known as “Schwarzlot” (”black lead”), was a common technique among the Hausmaler who worked for the factory. These scenes were often enclosed by borders or cartouches of Baroque scrollwork with Laub- and Bandelwerk, (”leaf- and strapwork”) ornament.
FIRST STATE PERIOD: 1744-1841
Although the earls Vienna wares were successful, the factory’s finances were always precarious. In 1744 Du Paquier sold the factory to the Austrian state, which had been supporting it for many years. Because its financial troubles might
have been due to over-production, the
factory did not introduce any new designs
until c.1750. From this date, wares and figures were made in the fashionable Rococo style. The paste was improved c.1749 with the use of a much finer clay imported from Hungary.
With the outbreak of the Seven Years War in 1756 there was a new influx to Vienna of Meissen craftsmen who influenced the style of decoration; typical themes were scattered European flowers, unframed monochrome landscapes, and scenes within cartouches and paintings in the manner of Boucher, Watteau, and Terriers.
The greatest innovation of this period was the
wide variety of figures, particularly those modelled
by Johann Josef Niedermayer (d.1784), chief modeller from 17 47
. A series of dwarfs copied from engravings by the French printmaker Jacques Callot (1592-1635) is particularly notable. Many were left in the white, while others were painted in very pale colours such as lilac
lemon leon yellow. The bases arc usually a simple pad shape, and arc frequently embellished with a wavy gilt border around the bottom edge.
THE SORGENTHAL PERIOD: 1784–c.1830
After several financial problems at the factory Conrad Sorgel von Sorgenthal was appointed director in 1784. Phasing out the Rococo style in favour of refined Neoclassicism, was responsible for the production of
superb wares equalled only by the Berlin factory. Simple, geometric forms were adopted in line with the severe Neo-classical style, and urn and amphorae shapes were directly copied from antique pieces excavated at Pompeii and Herculaneum. The factory was particularly famous for its tete-a-tete services and solitaires.
The decoration of Vienna wares was among the finest of the period. Coloured grounds with sumptuous gilding and rich painting meant that none of the white body of the porcelain was left showing. Vienna is especially associated with raised gilding with tooled architectural ornament. From 1791, following the example of Sevres, the chemist Josef Leithner developed brilliant ground colours, in particular a claret and a dark blue. The overall effect was enhanced by the fine painting of Classical subjects, topographical views, and botanical Subjects in central or reserved panels. The greatest exponent of botanical subjects was Josef Nigg (active 1800-43), whose most celebrated works are minutely painted flower still-lifes on rectangular plaques.
Figures were made on a limited scale at the end of the 18th century. Generally in biscuit porcelain, they were based on Classical sculptures and Pompeian paintings, or were busts of the imperial family and such luminaries as the composer Haydn. The most important modeller was Anton Grassi (1755-1807), who for several months in 1792 visited Rome, where he sketched and noted the recently excavated Classical sculpture.
After the death of Sorgenthal, Matthias Niedermayer (d.1827) became director. The factory was still producing Neo-classical-style wares, but by the 1830s the restrained 18th-century style had been replaced by the heavier, rounded shapes that characterize the Biedermeier taste. Painters continued to embellish plaques, trays, services, and vases with copies of Old Masters, and original botanical, topographical, and Classical compositions; however, the overall decoration is less rich (often with areas of white porcelain showing) and slightly poorer in execution.
AFTER c.1830
Although it had encountered various problems from the beginning of the 19th century from c.1830 the Vienna

factory entered a serious period of decline, producing inexpensive, rather poor-quality porcelain with transfer-printed decoration to keep up with demand and to try to compete with mass-produced goods, particularly those made in Bohemia. Attempts were made to turn it into an art institute and a model factory, but in 1864 Emperor Francis Joseph ordered its closure.
Subsequently, large quantities of undecorated Vienna porcelain, some dating back to the beginning of the 19th century, were sold off to other factories and decorators. Such wares were decorated in the Classical Revival style of the Sorgenthal period, with heavy gilt borders, Classical motifs, and topographical scenes, often reserved on a claret ground. As the wares were made at the Vienna factory, they bear the underglaze blue shield mark of Vienna and on this basis could be mistaken as original; however, the decoration is much less refined and sometimes verges on extremely coarse. These wares are now described as “Vienna” pieces.
Numerous firms in Bohemia, Silesia, and Germany (particularly Dresden and Thuringia) made their own wares in the Vienna style during the last quarter of the 19th century. The Augarten Factory (est. 1922), in Vienna, continues to reproduce earlier Vienna porcelain, mostly in the Neo-classical and Biedermeier styles; its products are also marked with the underglaze blue shield.
1719-44
• BODY creamy-white hard paste; smoky, thin glaze with greenish hue
• STYLE heavy Baroque forms and dense, symmetrical decoration
• PALETTE iron red, green, and manganese purple for Oriental flowers; pale, delicate colours for European flowers; black, puce, and iron-red monochrome
• DI CORATION Oriental and European flowers,
chinoiseries; battle, hunting, and mythological scenes; latticework and Laub- und Bandelwerk decoration
1744–84
• BODY greyish hard paste; white and glassy glaze
• DECORATION ION European flowers, monochrome landscapes, copies of French and Dutch paintings
• FIGURES left white or painted in pale colours
• BASES pad, sometimes with a wavy gilt border
Marks
This mark was made in underglaze blue from c.1749; it was sometimes impressed mid-1740s
1784—c.1830
• BODY warmer-coloured hard paste
• STYLE Nco-classical, rich Empire, and Biedermeier
• DECORATION raised gilding; claret and dark blue grounds; mythological and Classical scenes and topographical views

Later Japanese ceramics
In 1853 Commodore Nlatthew Galbraith Perry of the United States Navy entered Japanese territorial waters, forcing the country to accept diplomatic relations and trade with the West after over 200 years of seclusion. One of the effects of this exposure was the introduction of western technology, and this, coupled with the ambitions of the new Meiji Government after 1868, encouraged expansion. The town of Arita, the traditional home of Japanese porcelain, responded not only by making increasing numbers of conventional wares but also with brilliant showpieces suitable for display at international exhibitions and trade fairs, such as those held in London in the 1860x, in Paris ( 1867), and in Philadelphia ( 1876). The potters in the most important ceramic centres – Kaga, Satsuma, Kyoto and Seto – also benefited from the liberal policies of the Meiji Government. Vast quantities of pottery and porcelain saturated the markets in Europe Lind the USA. Such was the craze for all things Japanese that both impressionism and the Aesthetic Movement were inspired by the imported wares.
The range of Meiji ceramics is vast and includes extraordinarily elaborate and over-decorated earthenwares and the most delicate and flimsy eggshell porcelains. The majority arc generally considered to be of variable quality, especially the blue-and-white Arita and Imari porcelains. The mass-produced wares for the export market rarely correspond to the canons of the traditional Japanese aesthetic; the designs are mostly very busy and often lack coherence. They appear either to reflect a Western picture-postcard view of Japan or to be re-creations of earlier export porcelains. The emphasis was on space-filling decoration such as millefiori (thousand flowers) or overlapping panels of various shapes filled with diverse ornament.
ARITA
Late Imari porcelain (made in or around the town of Arita) consists mainly of decorative vases, bottles, bowls, and dishes; figures or useful tablewares
were rarely if ever made. The majority v of the production was f off-white, poorly levigated
porcelain covered in a thinnish
glaze. Surface pitting, iron flecks, and smudged cobalt indicate the somewhat
casual nature of this mass-produced output. Designs are often partly stencilled with outlines in a variable Underglaze blue, which were then infilled with an orangey iron-red, green, turquoise and gilding. The surface decoration featured either a main subject within complicated borders, or an all-over design made up of small panels showing various non-concordant subjects. For such wares the emphasis was on ornamentation –the “more-is-better” school of thought. Output includes enormous Indian dub-shaped vases with flared and frilled necks; small shallow saucer dishes; globular bottles with tall narrow cylindrical necks; multi-lobed, high-shouldered jars; and large dishes moulded in the form of a chrysanthemum. These wares arc generally unmarked, although many have impressed characters. The best Imari wares at this time were made by the Fukugawa family. In 1894 Chuji Fukugawa founded the Fukugawa Manufacturing Manufacturing Co. in Arita, which produced very refined wares -with symmetrical, soft, smoky -blue underglaze decoration.
Blue-and-white Arita wares are made of the same material as the Imari type, but the designs are not compartmentalized in the same way, relying instead on ordered floral, bird, or animal subjects. Some of the flatwares, especially the smaller dishes, were decorated entirely using stencils.
KAGA AND SETO
Although Kaga on the island of Honshu was a major centre for stoneware, it produced little porcelain of note Until the 19th century. The porcelain from the region around Kaga is known as Kutani ware. There are two basic styles of this: the first uses dark washes of green, purple, yellow, and black; the second, which was made specifically for export to the West, is known as “Red Kutani”. This export ware has a red ground and grisaille decoration showing people in romantic land- and riverscapes enjoying the delights of the season; decoration may also be heightened with gilding. another common type of Kutani ware does not use red.
By the end of the 19th century there were 434 kilns in Seto in Owari Province, producing mainly export wares. The potters generally appear to have made blue-and-white porcelains, some very close in feeling and design to the Chinese porcelains produced during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1662-1722). Output consisted of thinly potted ornamental vases and teawares, which were sent to Tokyo for decoration.
SATSUMA AND KYOTO
Although Satsuma was an important centre of ceramic production from the 16th century, the town is synonymous with the highly decorative export wares made from the mid-19th century. These cream-coloured earthenwares with finely crackled glazes and thickly applied enamelled and gilded decoration were also produced in the town of Kyoto. Satsuma and Satsuma-type wares were first shown outside Japan at the international exhibitions, resulting in a huge demand for them in the West. While some are of the very highest craftsmanship, many are of rather mediocre or poor quality, intended for sale in department stores.
In Satsuma the Seikozan studio, and in
Kyoto such potters as Kinkozan IV (1824-84) and Yabu Meizan (1853-1934), made extremely fine panelled wares decorated with miniature scenes depicting people carrying out everyday activities like fishing, playing, or strolling in parklands or along riversides. Landmarks such as Mount Fujiama were also depicted, together with animals including monkeys, cranes, pheasants, peacocks, and cockerels, and flowers
Such as chrysanthemums, irises, proms blossom,
and wisteria. Around these panels the ground was embellished with complex patterns or overlapping designs. Wares included koro (incense burners), vases, wine or sake ewers, howls, covered jars, and figures. The most sophisticated wares with the finest-quality decoration appealed to followers of the Aesthetic Movement in Europe and the USA. Most of these wares are clearly signed on the base.
NORITAKE
In 1891 the McKinley Tariff Act passed by the American Congress declared that all Japanese wares imported into the USA should be clearly marked with the word “Nippon” (the Japanese name for
One of the most important factories that produced what were known as “Nippon” wares was the Noritake Co., established in 1904 in Nagoya by Icizaemon Morimura 1875). The company specialized in the production of porcelain wares, at first copying debased Rococo-style European wares decorated with flowers, fruit, foliage. in
and landscapes i pale pastel tones with gold relief highlights. During the 1920s such well-known designer-, as the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1956) were commissioned to supply designs reflecting the current vogue for Art Deco-style tea, coffee and dinner services. After 1921 the American government decided that the Nippon marls was to be changed to “Japan” or “Made in Japan”.

Arita
• BODY porcelain
• GLAZE usually fairly thin with surface pitting
• TYPES blue-and-white and Imari-style wares
• DECORATION Imari: busy; blue and white
Kaga and SetoBody
• porcelain
• DECORATION Kaga: loosely painted with predominant iron red or grisaille; Seto, mainly delicately, drawn natural themes in clear, bright g
underclaze blue
Satsuma and KyotoBODY
• fine earthenware
• GLAZE Satsuma: warm, creamy, crackled glaze
• PALETTE enamelling in bright colours, gilding
DECORATION landscapes; people carrying out everyday activities; flowers; animals
Marks
Kyoto: seal mark for Yabu Meizan
NoritakeBODY
• at first a grey Seto body; from the each- 1920s a pure white porcelain similar to that made at the French factory of Limoges
• TYPES good quality utilitarian wares of European/ American form intended for export
Marks
Mark used on many Noritake Nippon wares (C.1911-1921); “M” is for Morimura

Arita blue-and-white wares
Almost all early Japanese porcelain was produced in Arita on Kyushu, the westernmost of the main Japanese islands and, significantly, the closest to Korea. It is most unlikely that the manufacture of porcelain would have developed in Japan as early as this without the know-how of Korean potters, who were brought to Japan when Toyotomi Hideyoshi returned from his invasion of Korea at the end of the 16th century. Early Arita porcelain is generally, if superficially, classified into three main types: Arita blue and white, Imari, and Kakicmon.
A Ming-style blue-and-white dish
This large dish is a fairly faithful rendition of late Ming kraak porcelain Emblems used by the Chinese as decorative motifs, including the “Eight Precious Objects” of the scholar (a musical stone, jewels, a coin, a pair of books, an open tied lozenge and a closed tied lozenge, and the artemisia leaf), were often copied by the Japanese. The artemisia leaf can be seen in this dish in the broad panels in the top right corner. (c. 1660-80; diam. 40cmll6in, value H)
DOMESTIC WARES
The earliest Arita wares wore crude-bodied, heavily potted porcelain, casually decorated in blue and white, and were generally not exported. These wares were clearly influenced by both Korean blue-and-white and imported late Ming porcelain. By the mid-17th century the Arita potters were producing a more refined and broader range of objects for the newly established export market, as well as for the domestic market. The type of decoration on these later wares was complex, combining natural themes with geometric patterns; dishes or bowls featured leaf or flower forms and, more rarely, bird or animal shapes. The underglaze blue used ranges from a poor-quality grey or blackish blue through to a bright purplish blue. Wares made for the domestic
EXPORT WARES
In 1647 the civil war in China between the Dynasty and the invading
disrupted the well-established trade between Japan and Europe. The Japanese were persuaded by Dutch East India Company to supply - white wares in the style of either the Chinese kraak porcelain or the Transitional
decorated with semi-botanical subjects narrative themes applied in a mechanical These are not close copies but loose
Japanese decorators were hampered by she they had to work from wooden models of originals supplied by the Dutch.
Wares produced at this time included
northern European metal or ceramic forms example the Enghalskrug (narrow-necked
or Kugelbauchkrug (bulbous globular rank:_
and the Birnkrug (pear-shaped tankard
specifically Chinese shapes as the kendi a
drinking vessel) and the klapmuts (a wide-dish) were also made. The trade with Europe continued until the kilns in China were reestablished in 1683, after which the Dutch mainly
returned to their patronage of Chinese porcelain. which was much less expensive than Japanese wares. However, porcelain made in the kilns at Arita continued to be exported to the West until the mid-18th century
market include small dishes and c.1640 Japanese wares include The third type of blue-and-white solely for the export market.

Qing after 1800
During the Qianlong reign period (1736-95) the directorship of the imperial kilns passed from imperial officials to regional supervisors, and from that time there followed a slow decline in the quality of wares from Jingdezhen in Jiangxi Province. While some fine pieces continued to be made, there was a general tendency to over-elaborate in both form and decoration.
BODY AND GLAZE
The changes in the quality of the material were gradual and, when wares are unmarked, it can be very difficult to distinguish between one reign period and another. The dragon and phoenix wucai bowls, which were first made during the Kangxi reign period (1622-1722), continued to be made right into the 19th century and are a good example of the problem; their smooth bluish-white glaze and neatly drawn enamelling are virtually the same whether they are from the Qianlong or the Jigging reign periods (1736-1820). Without reference to the seal marks, most specialists would be hard put to tell the difference.
There was, however, a perceptible decline in quality during the Daoguang reign period (1821-50), and the inferior quality persisted to the end of the dynasty. The cool and lustrous glaze gave way to a grainy off-white, while the enamels were duller or harsher than their
brilliant predecessors. The decoration of enamelled porcelains was arranged in a crowded or ineffective manner, with over-complicated colour combinations.
STYLES, SHAPES, AND DECORATIVE THEMES The porcelains that had been produced in the 18th century continued to be made in the 19th. They included Ming-style blue-and-white wares such as moon flasks and pear-shaped bottles, as well as large saucer dishes. Likewise, monochromes continued to be produced, notably sang-de-boeuf red, “peachbloom”, and yellow. There were also artistic innovations, among them the production of “medallion” bowls.
• GLAZE marked deterioration in quality from the Daoguang period; “European-green” turquoise wash appears on the inside of many vessels
• DECORATION tendency to over-elaborate, complicated colour schemes and overcrowding; greater use of gilding; introduction of “medallion” bowls and “rice-grain” pierced wares; use of show and other auspicious characters; heavy use of enamels
Reign marks
Reign marks were inscribed on most 19th-and 20th-century domestic, imperial, and export porcelain; the mark shown here is in conventional script for the Guangxu reign period (1875-1908)