CERAMIC ART IN CHINA. 361 



now, or could at least when M. Salvetat wrote, only be produced at 

 Sevres by casting. The sculpture, the hollowing- out, the shaping, 

 etc., are practiced also in China in nuich the same manner as in Europe. 

 Among the happiest effects produced in this line are engraving in the 

 paste, sculpture in relief on the paste, and the open work which the 

 French term pieces retleulees. 



One peculiarity of the Chinese system is the method of completing 

 the foot in the unbaked state and after being covered with glaze. This 

 custom of laving on the glaze before the article has been completed, 

 the method in which the glaze is applied, and the composition of the 

 glaze present, perhaps, the greatest contrasts with the corresponding 

 manipulations employed in Europe. It is certainly curious that the 

 Chinese after a practical experience extending through so many cen- 

 turies should be ignorant of the advantages to be derived from sub- 

 mitting the article to a slight baking before applying the glaze, which 

 is then in a condition termed by the French Vetat degourdi. Porcelain 

 earth, like other clays, is diluta])le by water, but it ceases to be so 

 after exposure to a temperature which makes it red. On this propert}^ 

 is based, in Europe, an expeditious and easy method of covering porce- 

 lain with glaze. The porcelain having been rendered indissoluble and 

 absorbent by a preliminar}' slight baking, it may be covered with a 

 uniform layer of suitable thickness by a simple immersion in water 

 holding the fineh^ crushed material in suspension, provided that the 

 proportions of water and glaze (relativeh' to the thickness of the ves- 

 sel to be covered) have been dulj^ determined. The failure to emploj'^ 

 this process is the more curious since, from Mr. Hoffman's sketch of 

 the Japanese system of manufacture appended to M. Julien's work, it 

 appears that in that country the glaze is applied to porcelain after 

 preliminary baking. 



GLAZE. _ 



In Europe porcelain glaze is generally composed of pure pegmatite, 

 finely crushed and applied by immersion after a preliminary l)aking. 

 In German}' other substances, such as kaolin or paste, have been added 

 to diminish its fusibility, but at Sevres pegmatite from Saint Yrieix is 

 alone used. The addition of lime in forming the glaze is a rare excep- 

 tion in Europe. In China, on the contrary, pure petrosilix is but very 

 seldom used for this purpose. The greater part of Chinese and Japan- 

 ese porcelains is covered with compound glazes, obtained by a mixture 

 of substances of which the proportions vary according to the nature 

 of the article, lime being the material added to the petrosilix to ren- 

 der it more easily fusible: and, in some cases, the ratio added is so large 

 that it represents a fourth of the total weight. In the preparation of 

 the glaze, the use of fern leaves is sometimes mentioned. The residue 

 of the leaves after ])urning appears, however, to be cast aside, and 

 what purpose these leaves exactly served has never been determined. 

 NAT MUS 1900 26 



