Discover the secrets of pottery


The Spread of Pottery Styles

The Dutch not only exported dishes and otherThe white lead-glazed earthenware of St
domestic wares they also exported the DutchPorchaire was decorated in an unusual manner
tiles to England and other European nations.by impressing it in patterns with small metal
Thus the making tiles became a separatestamps and filling the marks with colored
branch of pottery making. And some of theclays. This small sixteenth-century pottery
important pottery making places was Hamburg,has had a chequered literary history, and a
Frankfurt, Hanau and Bayreuth was outstandingcentury ago was the subject of speculation
centers. Bernard Palissy was one of theand bitter argument among experts; first
famous potters whose students spread hisstated to have been at Lyons, then at
styles  of  pottery.Beauvais, and again Oiron, it has been
decided that it was actually located at St
Dutch tin-glazed pottery, known by the namePorchaire, north of Bordeaux. Only just over
of the town of Delft where it becamesixty pieces of the ware survive, and most of
established eventually, was made in greatthem are in museums. It has been faked, and
quantities and much was sent to England. Notthe English Minton factory made exact copies
only was there a big trade in dishes andof  known  examples.
other domestic wares, but Dutch tiles were
sent also. These were of sufficientOther French potters were affected closely by
importance to become a separate branch ofItalian work, but by the seventeenth century
pottery making; some men made them to thethe factory at Rouen was making a tin-glazed
exclusion of all else, and sets of tiles weremajolica of character with decoration in red
painted to be placed together and formand blue. Potteries at Marseilles, Moustiers,
pictures.Strasbourg, and elsewhere shortly became
prominent, and today French faience is
Germany, also, had numerous potteries makingrecognized as having a distinction of its own
tin-glazed wares, and those of Hamburg,that rivals porcelain. It was well made and
Frankfurt, Hanau and Bayreuth werewell painted; the shapes were interesting and
outstanding centers; the first-named,often  strikingly  unusual.
together with Nurem-burg, being noted for
making the great glazed and decorated potteryThe Swedish potteries at Marieberg and
stoves used for heating rooms in manyRorstrand made excellent wares in original
Continental countries. Much of the outputshapes with fine decoration towards the end
resembled the earthenware being madeof the eighteenth century. At about the same
elsewhere at the time, and much remainsdate a Norwegian factory at Herreboe made
confused with contemporary English and Dutchsome equally interesting pieces. Productions
work. Many German and Swiss potters madefrom these factories are rare outside
lead-glazed wares with slip and sgraffitoScandinavia.
decoration; much of it inscribed and dated.
There were big centers for the making ofAll types of wares were made in Portugal, but
stoneware at Cologne and Siegburg, the lattermost are indistinguishable from those of
near Bonn. Much of the output was decoratedSpain, Italy and Holland. A century ago, a
elaborately with impressed patterns, and apottery was founded at Caldas da Rainha by
large quantity of be liar mines was made;Manuel Mafra, and has made imitations of
these are jugs with fat bodies and short thinPalissy-ware and other colour-glazed pieces
necks, the head of a bearded man impressed onever since. Some bear the maker's mark,
the  front.others  do  not.
Bernard Palissy, whose life span embracedDifferent potters used in different countries
almost the whole of the sixteenth century,and different styles of glazes. The Dutch
made dishes and other pieces modeled withpotters use the tin-glazed known as Delft.
lizards, shells, leaves and fishes. The clayMany German and Swiss potters used the
of which these are made is whitish, andlead-glazed wares with slip and sgraffito
Palissy and his followers covered itdecoration and the white lead-glazed
effectively with colored transparent glazes.earthenware of St Porchaire. When a new
It is said that 'no class of pottery has beendesign or style becomes popular different
so  widely  copied  for  fraud'.potters would fake it.



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