HXRAMIC STUDIO 
1 1 
Miss J. Meyer Miss M. Hoekst Mr. N. M. Fischer Mr. G. Rode B. Nathaniedsen 
It is to be noticed that if artistic faiences have attained a rare degree of 
excellence in this country, especially at Rookwood and Grueby, gres remains 
very little used, and porcelain manufacture has been confined to the making 
of ordinary tableware. Europeans have thus far the monopoly of artistic por- 
celain, but there is no reason why it should be so, as we have in this country 
large deposits of kaolin and all materials necessary for the manufacture of the 
best porcelain. We hear so much about the founding of schools of pottery, 
and there is among our decorators such a strong feeling that the time has 
come to give up the old styles of decoration and to turn to more serious and 
thorough work, that undoubtedly the next generation will see the birth of 
artistic porcelain manufactories on this side of the Atlantic. To the artists 
who will undertake this work, the Copenhagen ware will be a constant source 
of inspiration, not that it will be necessary or desirable to imitate them. The 
Copenhagen style of decoration is essentially Danish, and should be left to the 
Danes. The possibilities in decoration are unlimited, but the principles which 
underlie true decorative art are immutable. Two of these principles as applied 
to keramics are. first that decoration should be adapted to the body in use, 
second that it should be fired at the same temperature, thus forming with it 
a complete and harmonious whole, and these two principles have been the 
constant guide of the Danish artists. There is a third principle quite as 
important as the others, which they seem at times to forget, it 
is that the decoration must remain conventional, that a too faithful copy 
of nature is not true decorative art. This has been the great mistake of over- 
glaze decorators, and it seemed that underglaze decorators, with their limited 
use and control of colors, the impossibility of retouching and refiring, would 
be forever saved from the great temptation of copying nature, of making 
painting and miniature instead of decoration. But the Copenhagen artists 
have acquired such a skill in the control of their colors that they more and 
more incline to naturalistic effects. This will be apparent to our readers, if they 
compare the reproductions of Copenhagen pieces which we gave last year and 
our illustrations in this number. The color effects remain necessarily con- 
ventional, but the decoration becomes more and more true to life. The effects 
are exquisite and the skill marvelous, but it is a dangerous tendency and we 
would like to see these clever artists remain within the broad lines of conven- 
tionalism. 
Among the pieces which we will illustrate later on, are interesting pieces 
of modeling, especially animals, lions, seals, tigers, &c, exquisitely modeled 
in the beautiful porcelain paste of Copenhagen, also vases with crystalline 
glazes. The beauty of these glazes, which have been made by different pot- 
teries, Copenhagen, Rookwood, Sevres and many others, is, unfortunately, 
entirely lost in the photographs. Another kind of glaze, quite special to 
Copenhagen, is what they call their catseye glaze, a chatoyant brown glaze, 
having very much the appearance of the stone known as "catseye." This is 
very difficult to make, and although the Copenhagen chemist, Mr. Engelhardt, 
has known for six years how to make it, only six pieces have come out of the 
fire successfully, and are unique and priceless specimens. 
5 Mr. G. Rods. 
7 Mr. G. Rode. 
Mr. St. Ussinc 
8 Mr. G. Heilm. 
