PORCELAIN AND FAIENCE.
45
lain in celadon, or other color, by the addition of a colored
mixture, of whioh oxide of chrome is generally the chief
ingredient; and then, when the piece is still in the clay
state, to paint oi 1 rather model upou it with a brush, using
white porcelain body as the pigment, and taking advantage
of the transparency it will acquire when fired to produce an
effect similar to that obtained in the Limoges enamels, by
working the semi-transparent enamel on a black ground.
Consequently the artist will increase the thickness of the
white clay for the high lights, and decrease it where the
color of the gronnd is to be seen through. Much experience
is required to calculate the etfect, the white clay bcfore firing
being equally opaque in the thin as in the thick parts. Of
course any mistake is irremediable, as it can only be seen
after the piece is iired. It was from studying the Chinese
celadon that Mr. Ebelman started this kind of porcelain.
The colors used on account of the high degree of tempera-
ture arc extremely limited.” To chrome, as a foundation
color, must be added cobalt, nickel and uranium, which are
also used to stain the clays when some other tint is wanted
in addition to the white.
Düring the late Franco-derman war, the Messrs. Miuton,
of England, secnred the Service of M. Solon, the artist by
«tvhom a great success in the pdte-sur-pdte process had been
achieved; and we now find the results in the beautiful speci-
mens displayed by the firm at Vienna. Vide p. 235.
Reference has been made to the impossibility of moulding
or working The soft paste porcelain by throwing, in the ordi-
nary. way, owing to its want of plasticity.
Casting Porcelain Body.
Since the year 1850, the mcthod of casting, rather than
of moulding objects, has been in use. The paste being
mafie thin, so as to flow like water, is poured into the
plaster moulds, which absorb a part of the water and cause
a thin film of the paste, or body, to adhere to the sidps.
The excess is decanted. This gave lightness and per^Sfe- •
tion of form to the objects, such as cups and small vases,
but the process did not succeed with large objects, inasmuch
as in the decantation the paste, adhering to the upper part,