The technique of Copenhagen differs from that of Sèvres or of Berlin. In these latter cases the crystals appear like spots on the surface, whereas in Copenhagen ware the crystals have a more subtle and intimate incorporation with the glaze. They never stand on the surface, and often, as in the mellow brown glaze, they lie beneath and glow in reflected light. A series of effects in broken colour, delicate in marking and veined and mottled in most pleasing character, is being attempted in vases. We illustrate several types in whole and partial crystallization, which lose considerably by appearing as black-and-white illustrations. Such vases are conspicuous for their revelry in colour, not the hard, dense, opaque colours of the old Chinese single glazes, but the limpid, vibrating, restless subtleties of Nature's own play of pulsating colours in changeful mood--the dazzling and fairy-like opalescence of the frost and the deep blue of the ice cave, or the pale amber sand-dunes imperceptibly fading into a translucent green stretch of waters, with the vaporous haze of a violet sky. In the white heat of the modern furnace the flowers of a prehistoric day, which have lain buried in the coal seams of an alien land, transmute the dull clay and the mineral glaze under the hand of the modern magician into colour nocturnes. [Illustration: VASES. With Crystalline glazes by V. Engelhardt.] CHAPTER XI COPENHAGEN ART FAIENCE CHAPTER XI COPENHAGEN ART FAIENCE The inception of a new technique--The slow growth of a new art--The old masters of majolica--The great promise of a new school--The rich output of colour and inventive form. [Illustration: COPENHAGEN ART FAIENCE. Dish, with tropical bird, decorated in rich colours. Designed by Christian Joachim.]