DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0016
OF THE WORLD'S INDUSTRY 7
artistic effect. A column and vase of porphyry—a splendid billiard-table, the legs and
frame of which, as well as the bed, were of slate; several inlaid table-tops, chimney-
pieces, candelabra, &c., served to show the many purposes to which this useful, novel,
and interesting invention is applicable. To this exhibitor the jury had no hesitation in
awarding a prize medal, in acknowledgment of his admirable and useful contrivances
and applications.
SCAGLIOLA.
The name Scagliola is derived from the Italian, where the process is said to have been
invented more than two centuries ago, but it is now very extensively used for decorative
purposes in England. The material consists of a coating of plaster mixed with alum
and colour into a paste, and afterwards beaten on a prepared surface with fragments of
marble, &c. It is greatly used as an excellent and economical means of imitating the
finer kinds of marble, the material being as hard as marble, very durable, cold to the
touch, and taking a perfect polish. The cement is prepared from the finest gypsum,
broken up before calcining, and afterwards reduced to a fine powder, and passed through
a sieve. It is then mixed with aluminous matter, and isinglass, and also with colouring
matter, and is afterwards made up with alum; and, as it is generally made use of only
where the more beautiful and veined marbles are to be imitated, as many different
colours and shades of colour must be mixed up separately as there are in the kind of
marble to be represented. Thus prepared, it is ready to be laid on the surface intended
to receive it, which has a rough coating of lime and hair already prepared. The different
colours having to be laid on and mixed by the hand, the work somewhat resembles that
of the fresco painter, everything depending on the skill of the operator in imitating the
style, beauty, and veining of the original. When the cement is laid on and has hardened,
the surface is prepared for polishing by rubbing it with pumice-stone, and cleansing with
a wet sponge. It is then polished by rubbing, first with tripoli and charcoal, then with
felt dipped in tripoli and oil, and lastly with oil alone. A durable lustre is thus obtained
equal to that of marble.
Several new specimens of scagliola were exhibited, of great merit and beauty, by
various exhibitors, among whom Messrs. Stevens and Son, and Messrs. Francis and
Sons, received prize medals. The same mark of distinction was also awarded to Mr.
Denis Dolan, of Manchester, for a Gothic Arch of a new kind of scagliola. This arch
included a clustered column, with base and capital cast in one piece, the artisan pre-
paring a mould, and pouring into it the outer coat, a marble composition, which is
allowed to set before the coarse cement of the interior is added, the latter being so
contrived as not to interfere by its expansion with the outer coat, but rather insure the
union of the two. This new process of casting scagliola work, and some contrivances in
polishing, were noticed by the jury as worthy of consideration.
Messrs. Orsi and Armian exhibited a material called metallic lava, which is a plaster
capable of being worked into a variety of patterns and colours, well adapted by its beauty,
durability, and cheapness, for floorings and other decorative purposes; amongst which
was a table in the Moorish style, which was intended for the then President of the
French Kepublic. Two different kinds of the metallic lava were exhibited, one of which
was white and ornamental, admitting of the application of mosaic work, and the other
brown, and peculiarly adapted for covering roofs and terraces, lining tanks, cisterns, fish-
ponds, brickwalls, stables, &c, where a durable, cheap, and impervious covering is required.
!Both kinds have stood the test of experience, and are known to be well adapted for
the object they are intended for. The composition is patented, and the method of laying
down a flooring or terrace without joints is both new and advantageous, insuring the
artistic effect. A column and vase of porphyry—a splendid billiard-table, the legs and
frame of which, as well as the bed, were of slate; several inlaid table-tops, chimney-
pieces, candelabra, &c., served to show the many purposes to which this useful, novel,
and interesting invention is applicable. To this exhibitor the jury had no hesitation in
awarding a prize medal, in acknowledgment of his admirable and useful contrivances
and applications.
SCAGLIOLA.
The name Scagliola is derived from the Italian, where the process is said to have been
invented more than two centuries ago, but it is now very extensively used for decorative
purposes in England. The material consists of a coating of plaster mixed with alum
and colour into a paste, and afterwards beaten on a prepared surface with fragments of
marble, &c. It is greatly used as an excellent and economical means of imitating the
finer kinds of marble, the material being as hard as marble, very durable, cold to the
touch, and taking a perfect polish. The cement is prepared from the finest gypsum,
broken up before calcining, and afterwards reduced to a fine powder, and passed through
a sieve. It is then mixed with aluminous matter, and isinglass, and also with colouring
matter, and is afterwards made up with alum; and, as it is generally made use of only
where the more beautiful and veined marbles are to be imitated, as many different
colours and shades of colour must be mixed up separately as there are in the kind of
marble to be represented. Thus prepared, it is ready to be laid on the surface intended
to receive it, which has a rough coating of lime and hair already prepared. The different
colours having to be laid on and mixed by the hand, the work somewhat resembles that
of the fresco painter, everything depending on the skill of the operator in imitating the
style, beauty, and veining of the original. When the cement is laid on and has hardened,
the surface is prepared for polishing by rubbing it with pumice-stone, and cleansing with
a wet sponge. It is then polished by rubbing, first with tripoli and charcoal, then with
felt dipped in tripoli and oil, and lastly with oil alone. A durable lustre is thus obtained
equal to that of marble.
Several new specimens of scagliola were exhibited, of great merit and beauty, by
various exhibitors, among whom Messrs. Stevens and Son, and Messrs. Francis and
Sons, received prize medals. The same mark of distinction was also awarded to Mr.
Denis Dolan, of Manchester, for a Gothic Arch of a new kind of scagliola. This arch
included a clustered column, with base and capital cast in one piece, the artisan pre-
paring a mould, and pouring into it the outer coat, a marble composition, which is
allowed to set before the coarse cement of the interior is added, the latter being so
contrived as not to interfere by its expansion with the outer coat, but rather insure the
union of the two. This new process of casting scagliola work, and some contrivances in
polishing, were noticed by the jury as worthy of consideration.
Messrs. Orsi and Armian exhibited a material called metallic lava, which is a plaster
capable of being worked into a variety of patterns and colours, well adapted by its beauty,
durability, and cheapness, for floorings and other decorative purposes; amongst which
was a table in the Moorish style, which was intended for the then President of the
French Kepublic. Two different kinds of the metallic lava were exhibited, one of which
was white and ornamental, admitting of the application of mosaic work, and the other
brown, and peculiarly adapted for covering roofs and terraces, lining tanks, cisterns, fish-
ponds, brickwalls, stables, &c, where a durable, cheap, and impervious covering is required.
!Both kinds have stood the test of experience, and are known to be well adapted for
the object they are intended for. The composition is patented, and the method of laying
down a flooring or terrace without joints is both new and advantageous, insuring the