CERAMIC ART IN CHINA". HQS 



pincers a cage is opened to test the condition of tlie porcelain. The 

 baking ended, firing is stopped and all openings closed dui'ing a i)eriod 

 of three or live davs. according to the size of the pieces, when the door 

 is opened and the articles removed. 



To bake porcelain decorated with soft colors or dx deini-grand feu 

 two kinds of kilns are nsed — one open, the other closed — the former of 

 which b(>ars a close resemblance to the enameler's kiln {mmifle). This 

 kind of furnace has been used in Germany to l)ake painted porcelain; 

 but even in China the liability to breakage confines its use to articles 

 of small size. The large pieces are baked in closed kilns, the general 

 arrangement of which resembles that of the kilns known as moufles, 

 but being circular in form, they are really p^^'celain kilns of small size. 



DECORATIONS. 



In the decoration of European porcelain one of three methods is 

 followed: {ii) The use of paste of different colors; (i) the introduction 

 of the coloring matter in the glaze; (<?) the application of the colors 

 upon the white surface of the porcelain. The two former methods 

 require the application of a temperature as high as that necessary to 

 bake the porcelain; they are therefore termed colors dn grand feu. 

 The third method requires for the vitrifaction of the colors a much 

 lower temperature; the colors used are therefore termed de mouflc, or 

 of the enameler's furnace. It is the use of this latter sN^stem which 

 permits the reproduction with exactness of the works of celebrated oil 

 painters. 



The substances employed in the decoration of porcelain in China may 

 be divided into two similar categories, colors du grand feu and de 

 moiifle. 



Colors du grand feu. — The varieties of the grounds in these colors 

 have played prol)ably as imj)ortant a part in the high reputation gained 

 by Chinese porcelain as have the originality and rich harmony of the 

 designs. The hlue decoration under the gla^e is made with the brush 

 on the unbaked porcelain, the coloring matter being peroxide of 

 coV)altiferous manganese, the shade, dark or light, depending on the 

 quantity used, and the greater or less trending toward ^•iolet on the 

 richness of the ore in cobalt. It resists the tire well, retaining great 

 distinctness and at lower temperatures than are necessary at Sevres. 

 C'elado7i and the re^ grounds, at times showing an orange, at others a 

 violet shade, had not been- successfully reproduced in p]urope Avhen 

 M. Salvctat wrote in 1855, and he considered their production in China 

 as due rather to accident than design. The justice of this view is, 

 however, perhaps open to (piestion, for the Chinese appear to have 

 at least an empirical knowledge of the conditions necessary to produce 

 these colors, though thej^ are unable in all cases to ensure those con- 

 ditions. The fond laque ovfeuille mortt is obtained by the use of oxide 



