Vol. Ill, No. 12 
NEW YORK AND SYRACUSE 
April 1902 
GAIN we call attention to the designs for keramic 
forms made in the art schools or under the in- 
struction of teachers of design, and ask a study 
of the different character of overglaze and 
underglaze decoration. While the same prin- 
ciples of decoration apply equally to all articles 
to be decorated, whether rug, table, book cover or vase, the 
medium of expression is so different that a closer study should 
be given to the materials, surfaces and tools, as well as the 
purpose for which the object was made. 
For instance, many of the designs that we have seen from 
art schools to be used on glazed porcelain, would be charming 
in underglaze decoration, on heavy pottery, where the design 
should be broad and effective, and where the fire aids the 
decorator in causing the colors to run and blend, producing 
effects chemically that cannot possibly be produced in an 
overglaze decoration. 
When the students work these same designs over the glaze 
they are confused and disappointed, wondering wherein lies 
the trouble. 
The fault is that the designer has seen in his mind's eye 
a finished effect on pottery and not an effect on porcelain. 
The possibilities of porcelain decorations over the glaze 
are not understood and the designer must become acquainted 
with the materials to be used, and express the same ideas in a 
different way. 
There is the greatest variety of tools and materials to 
form any effect or combinations of effects in overglaze so that 
the same design may be carried out in many ways, giving the 
idea of an entirely different design each time. 
There are all the colors for washes or tints, which give 
transparency, and there are the matt or dull colors for certain 
other effects. There are all the colors in lustres, bronzes aud 
gold, which give the metallic and iridescent effects, either 
dull or brilliant, and then there are the enamels with no limit 
to their possibilities (and failures), both in flat washes and in 
high relief. 
Then there is the paste for raising gold, which is suscept- 
ible of the finest modeling and which can impart to a design 
the acme of refinement as well as the greatest vulgarity of 
taste, when not used understandingly. 
Therefore in designing for keramic forms we urge a study 
not merely of the design in black and white on paper, but of 
the way in which these materials should be used. The result 
will surely be a wider and more intelligent range of decorations. 
The KERAMIC STUDIO also calls attention to the coming 
exhibition of the National League of Mineral Painters, and 
urges each club and member to take an active interest in it, 
and to send fine representative work that will do credit to 
themselves and to the League. 
The offer of prizes is an inducement to send good designs 
(March, 1902, Keramic STUDIO), and we hope to see the 
best exhibition that the League has held. That the com- 
petitive work must be on certain forms leads us to expect an 
educational feature hitherto lacking. 
We congratulate the Pratt Institute of Brooklyn on its 
progressive movement in opening a department in keramics. 
Under the instruction of Mr. Volkmar, Jr., a class has been 
formed for the making and modeling of pottery, each member 
making the forms to be decorated. With Mr. Volkmar's 
practical knowledge, and with his clay, glazes and pottery 
works at command, this is an opportunity for those who 
are near enough to take advantage of it. Mr. Volkmar, Sr., 
takes the greatest interest in any attempt to further the art 
of pottery making, and in him students find every possible 
encouragement. His Pottery is open to students for a sum- 
mer term. 
The competition for designs in black and white is now 
closed but there is still time to send us china panels in color. 
We offer for the best two Naturalistic Color Studies, on China 
Panels 7 x 9, the following prizes: First Prize $25. Second 
Prize $15. Competition closes May 1st, 1902. 
4= 
In an auction sale at Christie's (London), on November 
14th, we notice the following prices for china: 
A Dresden porcelain group, six inches high, £37, 16s. 
Another Dresden group of Lady and Gentleman lovemaking, 
£84. At Foster's, of Pall Mall, the same day, a pair of fam- 
ille verte vases, 22 inches high, enameled, panels of equestrian 
and other figures, £102, 18s., and a pair of Chelsea vases, 13 
inches, painted with foliage on red ground, £$7, 15s. At 
Sotheby's, on November 12th, a unique Worcester transfer 
mug decorated with Masonic emblems, date about 1760, 
fetched the small sum of £6, 5s. {From the Connoisseur.) 
Of important sales made lately by private treaty, the most 
noteworthy is the sale to Mr. Morgan of the collection of Ma- 
jolica and Limoges enamels formed during many years by Mr. 
Gavet of Paris. When the famous Spitzger collection was dis- 
persed some ten or twelve years ago, the collection of Mr. 
Gavet became first in importance for really fine specimens of 
fifteenth and sixteenth century Majolica and enamels. Mr. 
Morgan has lent the collection to the South Kensington 
Museum (London) until its removal to America. 
A WARNING 
We wish to warn all would-be subscribers to Keramic 
STUDIO against placing any business in the hands of one 
Benjamin Johnson, a swindler, who has been working around 
New York and Boston and vicinity and who is falsely claiming 
to represent us, collecting money whenever he can do so and 
making absurd offers of extra color studies and free advertis- 
ing. Do not place subscription and money in the hands of 
any but our authorized agents or people whom you know. 
