DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1398#0128
PLATE 141.
GROUP OF DECORATIVE PORCELAIN,
BY MR. ALDERMAN COPELAND, M.P., STOKE-UPON-TRENT AND LONDON;
AND MESSRS. PHILLIPS & BINNS, WORCESTER.
"TTrB have already given in Plate 4 an illustration of the large and beautiful porcelain vase
* ' exhibited by Mr. Oopeland, and we now add a selection from some of the jewelled and
Limoges ware, in which he has been not less successful. We need hardly say that a prize
medal was awarded to this eminent manufacturer, accompanied with special approval of his
" decorative porcelain enamels in the style of Limoges, and products in ceramic marble." We
may add that the adoption and perfecting of both the Parian imitation marble and the jewelled
ware are due to the talent and good taste of Mr. Thomas Battain, P.S.A., who for several years
has had the superintendence of the artistic department of Mr. Copeland's establishment.
The first examples of the jewelled porcelain shown in our illustration were exhibited by
Mr. Copeland at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Though bearing some affinity to the famous jewelled
ware of early Sevres manufacture, the process by which these designs are executed presents a
marked difference. The imitative gems of the old Sevres are simply a kind of coloured glass
made separately, and afterwards affixed to the glaze of the ware, the junction being carefully
managed so as to be almost imperceptible. By the process employed in the production of
Mr. Copeland's ware, the gems are raised in white and coloured enamels worked on the porcelain,
and firmly attached to it by a very high degree of temperature, so that they become, as it were,
a portion of the biscuit, and an extra amount of durability is given to the work, which, on the
other hand, though rich and subdued in tone, loses somewhat of the brilliancy of the old Sevres
jewelled ware. The manipulation of the materials requires the greatest judgment and the nicest
skill; the productions, consequently, are of a somewhat costly character.
The jug, in the Limoges style of the Renaissance period, was enriched with a painting en
grisaille, representing the " Triumph of Neptune," and was a very good example of the high
state of excellence to which this favourite style of decorative art has now arrived.
The cup with figures of the Apostles, painted in enamel on a gold ground, was one of the
numerous fine, though small, pieces contributed by Messrs. Phillips, Binns, & Co., late Kerr &
Binns, of Worcester. Further illustrations and descriptive notice of the beautiful ware produced
by this firm will be found on reference to Plates 168 and 299.
It is to firms such as Mr. Copeland's and others, possessed of large and old-established
works, combined with capital, liberally applied to the improvement of every branch of ceramic
art, — it is to such as these that England owes the high position which she has achieved in
this particular branch of industry. As regards material, capital, and workmen, we have never
experienced any deficiency since the first establishment of the porcelain manufacture; but there
has been a want, which has now been happily, to a very great extent, supplied; viz. that of
decorative artists. It is not enough to be a good artist alone,—the requirements of a painter on
porcelain are peculiar, and require training and practice; and whereas we had no one who could
compare in any degree with the continental porcelain-painters some twenty years since, we are now
enabled, thanks to the establishment of the schools of design, mainly through the energy and
tact of Mr. Henry Cole, C.B., who now so ably presides over the South Kensington Museum,
which, under his care, has become, within a few years, one of the finest museums in Europe,—
thanks also to the liberality and encouragement of our principal manufacturers,— to count over
a numerous and accomplished phalanx of artists, who promise, even from an artistic point of
view, to render English porcelain a dangerous competitor to that produced by the celebrated
establishments on the Continent, with all their advantages of government aid and special education.
The difficulties of painting on porcelain are by no means so slight as might be imagined.
All the colours must be incorporated with a fusible flux, and worked with essential oils and
turpentine; and one great disadvantage under which the artist labours is, that, in most cases,
the tints, as seen on the palette, are different to those which come out after the application of
the heat necessary to produce the required colour and fix the entire design on the body of the
ware. Thus the results of either over-firing or short firing are fatal to the success of the
painter; and it is evident that he must be well acquainted with the various stages of the
manufacture.
I
■iir
GROUP OF DECORATIVE PORCELAIN,
BY MR. ALDERMAN COPELAND, M.P., STOKE-UPON-TRENT AND LONDON;
AND MESSRS. PHILLIPS & BINNS, WORCESTER.
"TTrB have already given in Plate 4 an illustration of the large and beautiful porcelain vase
* ' exhibited by Mr. Oopeland, and we now add a selection from some of the jewelled and
Limoges ware, in which he has been not less successful. We need hardly say that a prize
medal was awarded to this eminent manufacturer, accompanied with special approval of his
" decorative porcelain enamels in the style of Limoges, and products in ceramic marble." We
may add that the adoption and perfecting of both the Parian imitation marble and the jewelled
ware are due to the talent and good taste of Mr. Thomas Battain, P.S.A., who for several years
has had the superintendence of the artistic department of Mr. Copeland's establishment.
The first examples of the jewelled porcelain shown in our illustration were exhibited by
Mr. Copeland at the Great Exhibition of 1851. Though bearing some affinity to the famous jewelled
ware of early Sevres manufacture, the process by which these designs are executed presents a
marked difference. The imitative gems of the old Sevres are simply a kind of coloured glass
made separately, and afterwards affixed to the glaze of the ware, the junction being carefully
managed so as to be almost imperceptible. By the process employed in the production of
Mr. Copeland's ware, the gems are raised in white and coloured enamels worked on the porcelain,
and firmly attached to it by a very high degree of temperature, so that they become, as it were,
a portion of the biscuit, and an extra amount of durability is given to the work, which, on the
other hand, though rich and subdued in tone, loses somewhat of the brilliancy of the old Sevres
jewelled ware. The manipulation of the materials requires the greatest judgment and the nicest
skill; the productions, consequently, are of a somewhat costly character.
The jug, in the Limoges style of the Renaissance period, was enriched with a painting en
grisaille, representing the " Triumph of Neptune," and was a very good example of the high
state of excellence to which this favourite style of decorative art has now arrived.
The cup with figures of the Apostles, painted in enamel on a gold ground, was one of the
numerous fine, though small, pieces contributed by Messrs. Phillips, Binns, & Co., late Kerr &
Binns, of Worcester. Further illustrations and descriptive notice of the beautiful ware produced
by this firm will be found on reference to Plates 168 and 299.
It is to firms such as Mr. Copeland's and others, possessed of large and old-established
works, combined with capital, liberally applied to the improvement of every branch of ceramic
art, — it is to such as these that England owes the high position which she has achieved in
this particular branch of industry. As regards material, capital, and workmen, we have never
experienced any deficiency since the first establishment of the porcelain manufacture; but there
has been a want, which has now been happily, to a very great extent, supplied; viz. that of
decorative artists. It is not enough to be a good artist alone,—the requirements of a painter on
porcelain are peculiar, and require training and practice; and whereas we had no one who could
compare in any degree with the continental porcelain-painters some twenty years since, we are now
enabled, thanks to the establishment of the schools of design, mainly through the energy and
tact of Mr. Henry Cole, C.B., who now so ably presides over the South Kensington Museum,
which, under his care, has become, within a few years, one of the finest museums in Europe,—
thanks also to the liberality and encouragement of our principal manufacturers,— to count over
a numerous and accomplished phalanx of artists, who promise, even from an artistic point of
view, to render English porcelain a dangerous competitor to that produced by the celebrated
establishments on the Continent, with all their advantages of government aid and special education.
The difficulties of painting on porcelain are by no means so slight as might be imagined.
All the colours must be incorporated with a fusible flux, and worked with essential oils and
turpentine; and one great disadvantage under which the artist labours is, that, in most cases,
the tints, as seen on the palette, are different to those which come out after the application of
the heat necessary to produce the required colour and fix the entire design on the body of the
ware. Thus the results of either over-firing or short firing are fatal to the success of the
painter; and it is evident that he must be well acquainted with the various stages of the
manufacture.
I
■iir