R.ERAMIC STUDIO 
53 
GRAND FEU CERAMICS 
XII— GRAND FEU COLORS— Colored Pastes— Pates sur Pates 
Taxile Doai 
have now reached the most inter- 
esting part of the grand feu art, the 
colors. Whether a painter, a sculp- 
tor or an architect, the ceramic 
artist must also be a chemist. He 
may produce the finest models of 
sculpture or the most beautiful 
decoration, he may fire in the most 
even and experienced manner, but 
he will not succeed if he has not at 
his service a palette of colors which suits his work. But the 
palette of the grand feu is not like that of the petit feu; for the 
latter, one may go to anj^ of the merchants who are numerous 
in Paris, Berlin, and New York, and secure a rich palette which 
will compete with the finest tones of oil painting. For the 
grand feu, each ceramist must mix his own colors or have them 
experimented on by a chemist who makes a specialty of such 
work. These chemists are rare and the additional expense of 
such collaboration is possible onlj^ to large manufactories. 
The researches are costly and are naturally kept secret bj^ the 
establishments for which they are a source of profit. 
The isolated artist, not having any help of this kind, must 
be his own chemist. If he is fond of research he will certainty 
succeed, and the whole of his work will gain therefrom harmony 
and homogeneity. 
His work will be simplified by the publications of such 
men as Brongniart, Ebelman and Salvetat, who in France are 
authorities.* He will find in these books information which 
will constitute his starting point and a number of acquired 
results which he may modify to suit his fancy. He will also be 
helped by catalogues of chemical products which large firms 
everywhere offer to the public, wherein the metals, acids and 
salts constitute a rich mine for varied experiments. These 
products are offered in a state of the greatest possible purity by 
reliable industrial firms. 
In these articles I have carefully avoided the science of 
abstract formulae, but on the contrary have adopted the 
science of immediate and empirical application, which the 
humblest ceramist will be able to understand. The given data 
will be certain, the mixtures simple and producing on the same 
material constant effects, according to the firing for which they 
have been created, but these effects will vary with the body 
used. 
Of course I will leave out every thing which relates to low 
muffle firings. These are known everywhere, and nothing will 
be found in them, which could be of any use for grand feu 
ceramics. They are consequently of no interest here, which 
does not mean that I wish to bring into disrepute an art which 
has shone with great brilliancy and has given birth to many 
beautiful works, which fill the museums and belong to the 
history of ceramics. I only mean that these muffle firings 
having been a step in the evolution toward grand feu ceramics 
have no raison d'etre now that the latter have been created, 
but are repetitions and contrary to the law of progress, which 
is characterised by a march forward. This forward march 
opens in ceramics unsuspected horizons, more- in harmony 
with the strenuous fight of mind against matter, and more 
fascinating in their results. I do not want a better proof of 
this than the splendid blossoming of grand feu works which has 
taken place in the last fifteen years, and the favor with which 
both public and collectors have met this production with its 
new and surprising eft'ects. Whatever the number of discover- 
ies made during that time, almost every thing still remains to be 
conquered, and the field cannot be harvested so that new- 
comers will not find much to glean. 
I have told in a former article how the grand feu palette 
was developed at Sevres, and 1 will now say what this palette is 
and what a rich field it covers. 
The number of grand feu colors and glazes is limited, 
because few coloring substances can resist the high temperature 
for firing hard porcelain and gres. Metals only can supply 
them. However, as there are 49 known metals with the whole 
series of their binary and tertiary compounds, the field of 
exploration remains fruitful. The first combinations were 
*Iii the United States "Seger's Collected Writings," recently translated 
into English, will be found a most invaluable help. — Ed. 
Panel in kaolinic gres, by Taxile Doat, purchased by the French Government for 
the Musee du Luxembourg. 
Subject of medallion, Geres; white pate sur pate on lapi.s-lazuli bine ground. Lam- 
brequin, mat light green with scattered wheat heads in yellow bright glaze. Car- 
touche, mat crystaliue dark brown with red poppies, white daisies and the sicltle in 
golden yellow. The wheat stems, which cross each other on a disc of bright glaze, are 
yellow with snowy wliite on edges. 
made by adding the coloring oxides to a porcelain paste mixed 
with water. The first attempt was made with chrome, the 
second with cobalt. 
Cobalt and its compounds give blue colors. This metal is 
employed, either as a chemically pure oxide, or in the form of 
arseniate, carbonate and even phosphate. Variations of tones 
can be obtained by adding to it colorless oxides, like zinc and 
