The Industrial Arts in SpainRiaño, Juan F. (Juan Facundo)
History
The Industrial Arts in Spain
Riaño, Juan F. (Juan Facundo)
Decorative arts -- Spain -- History; Pottery -- Spain -- History
But nothing can be compared in exactitude to the following receipt of
the manner of preparing this lustred ware, which I was fortunate enough
to find in a manuscript in the British Museum. (Egerton, No. 507, MS.
fol. 102).
Count Florida Blanca wishing in 1785 to establish at Madrid a
manufactory of metallic-lustred ware, had the following report on the
actual state of the industry sent to him from Manises with full details
of the manner in which it was required to be carried out.
"After the pottery is baked, it is varnished with white and blue, the
only colours used besides the gold lustre; the vessels are again baked;
if the objects are to be painted with gold colour, this can only be put
on the white varnish, after they have gone twice through the oven. The
vessels are then painted with the said gold colour and are baked a third
time, with only dry rosemary for fuel.
"The white varnish used is composed of lead and tin, which are melted
together in an oven made on purpose; after these materials are
sufficiently melted, they become like earth, and when in this state the
mixture is removed and mixed with an equal quantity in weight of sand:
fine salt is added to it, it is boiled again, and when cold, pounded
into powder. The only sand which can be used is from a cave at
Benalguacil, three leagues from Manises. In order that the varnish
should be fine, for every _arroba_, 25 pounds of lead, 6 to 12 ounces of
tin must be added, and half a bushel of fine-powered salt: if a coarse
kind is required, it is sufficient to add a very small quantity of tin,
and three or four _cuartos_ worth of salt, which in this case must be
added when the ingredient is ready for varnishing the vessel.
"Five ingredients enter into the composition of the gold colour:
copper, which is better the older it is; silver, as old as possible;
sulphur; red ochre, and strong vinegar, which are mixed in the following
proportions: of copper three ounces, of red ochre twelve ounces, of
silver one _peseta_ (about a shilling), sulphur three ounces, vinegar a
quart; three pounds (of twelve ounces) of the earth or scoriæ, which is
left after this pottery is painted with the gold colour, is added to the
other ingredients.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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