This specimen of the work of the Copenhagen chemist, Hr. V. Engelhardt,
in crystallized glaze, has been followed by many notable achievements
on his part. In 1902 there was a figure of a _Polar Bear_ lapping
water, modelled by Arnold Krog and produced in crystalline glaze by
Hr. Engelhardt. This, of which only thirty pieces were made, was
executed for an artistic club in Paris. Another fine subject is that
representing two Polar Bears on the ice, one mounted on a frozen
pinnacle. The whole is a skilful piece of modelling by C. E. Bonnesen,
and crystalline glazing by Hr. V. Engelhardt.
[Illustration: FROG IMBEDDED IN ICE ON A WATER-LILY LEAF.
Modelled by Arnold Krog. Crystalline glaze by V. Engelhardt.
Period 1891-1895.
(_At Sèvres Museum._)]
[Illustration: VASES.
Designed by Arnold Krog. Crystalline glaze by V. Engelhardt.]
New shapes are continually being invented, and a long chain
of experiments in the laboratory has resulted in the production of
some very remarkable examples of colouring which are always welcome
to collectors, who are quick to realize that no two examples can
ever be the same. All colours can be handled in this manner. The
range is a wide one, and the surprising gradations of tone have a
charm undoubtedly their own, and not unworthy to be regarded as
representative of some of the most wonderful creations of the modern
potter. The metallic oxides in the hands of the twentieth-century
chemist become possessed of magical properties and are transformed into
tender harmonies vibrating with exquisite tones. Yellows, and blues,
and browns merge into mauve or grey, in delightful tenderness, and
black and white are included in the colour schemes of which this style
is now capable.
=Blue Crackled Glaze.=--In regard to crackled glazes there is evidence
that they are coming more under the governance of the chemist. There is
a beautiful deep blue variety produced at Copenhagen, with a network
of crackle graduated to a nicety, now swelling, when on the belly of
the beaker or vase, and now contracting into minute meshes when on the
slender neck. This is completely under mechanical control. As yet blue
is the only colour produced in this style.
At the Brussels Exhibition, 1910, the Sèvres factory exhibited some
large vases with crystalline glaze evidently under the complete mastery
of the potter and chemist. These vases were of a very fine character,
and the suggestion arises that at no far distant date the glazes now
termed "transmutation" or adventitious will be completely mastered by
the latest developments of modern science as applied to pottery, and
thus "transmutation" will be a word of the past.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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