Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1861-05-14
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How China Ware is Made.

China Is 80 common material that we are
apt TO overlook its beauty and value. Some
people make collections of pieces Of old china,
1 as others do of old pictures Horace Walpole
and the people Of our great grandmothers' time
did 80; and now, when the news Of the "loot-
ing" or plundering OF the Emperor OF China's
palace at Pekin has lately arrived, curiosity
hunters are anxiously expecting the arrival of
specimens Of the famous "egg shells china" of
which not q single particle has been allowed to
leave the imperial capital for the last two hun
dred years.
"Why are our cups and saucers called chinaW
Because the first specimens OF tho manufacture
came from that country. 1t is also called
"porcelain," because the word paycelLani in
Portuguese means little cup, and the first
traders in the article came from Portugal
The first china ware brought to England
was in Portuguese ship taken as a prize in
1898.
In manufacturing It, the workmen take a GER
tain stone called feldspar, break it up, wash 1t,
and preserve the finest portion, which, sinking
to the bottom of the water, forms hard, white
mass, that can be reduced to fine powder.
This Is mixed with water till il is like thick
cream. Then pieces of flint, which are very
hard, are burnt in great kiln FIRE, thrown red
hot into cold water, and afterward ground fine.
Next, the flint and the clay mixtures are brought
together, when they form sort Of mortar or
dough.
This dough is now trampled on by men, with
naked feet, to squeeze out the air bubbles II
is afterward placed in damp cellar to ferment,
and thus get rid of any animal or vegetable
matter il may contain. The longer II is kept,
the better the clay is. The Chinese keep it
over fifteen or twenty years, and parent will
often provide sufficient stock for his sons life.
Most pieces of machinery become improved
and altered in course Of time; but the potters'
wheel is much the same now in 1861 as IL is
known to have been nineteen hundred years be-
fore Christ. This potters' wheel Is a small cir
cular board made to revolve very rapidly, and
on this the clay is measured, and its intended
shape given to it by the pressure Of the fingers
and the palms OF the potters' hands. In the
catacombs Of Thebes in Egypt, which are prov
ed TO have existed more than three thousand
seven hundred years, there have been discover
ed paintings representing various processes of
the potters' art, and among item delineation
OF potters' wheel, exactly like those now in
use. When the clay vessel is moulded it is
partially dried, smoothed on turning lathe,
and fitted with spouts, handles, &c those ir-
regularly sloped pieces being cast in moulds
then they are all baked hard in great fierce
oven.
But when they leave the oven they look dull,
and some ladies buy them in this state (called
"biscuit ware," because they resemble ships
biscuit) and paint their own design or patterns
on them. The painting is done with peculiar
metallic colors, which are afterwards burnt in.
The exquisite group Of flowers often found
on china ware is painted by On artist who makes
1t his sole business to decorate china.
The GOLD around the edoaa ia laid nm in m a
metallic leaf, then burnt In, and FURNISHED by
rubbing 1t with very smooth tool.
After painting the vessels, they are glazed by
being dropped in mixture of lead and ground
fints, which looks like cream. When taken out
of this mixture the paintings are quite covered
by 1t, it is 80 thick; but on being fred in an oven
the heat converts the pasty-looking covering in
to thin coating of glass.
Although the Chinese made the first china,
their manufactures are neither as elegant nor as
useful as those Of America and England. But
they are more curious. They ornament their
porcelain in very queer style; and the division
of labor being great among them, and carried
even into their designs, different workmen,
without any concert or plan, paint successive
parts of the same group or picture, which con-
tributes to the grotesque effect of their work.
They are also ignorant of perspective; 80 that !
you see the strangest effects in what they call
landscapes. They make besides common china |
several others-a black kind much esteemed |
in the East; kind which appears as though |
1t were cracked all over; one in which the |
colors show only when the vessel is filled with |
liquid; and still another variety, in which |
various figures appear raised on pure white |
porcelain, and yet the surface is smooth They |
have even built q tower in Nankin, which is |
nearly three hundred feet high, and entirely |
covered with porcelain tiles, which look as
fresh as when they were put on, four hundred
years ago.
The first attempt to make porcelain in Eu- |
rope was by the Moors in Spain-then ware
called "majohea" was made at Majorca, from
whence the manufacture was removed to Italy. |
About the middle Of the sixteenth century, Ber-
nard Palissy, Protestant, after many trials, |
produced beautiful enamel glazed vase. Palis-
sy's life, which you should all read, is very in
teresting, and shows what patience and perse- |
verance will accomplish. In the seventeenth |
century, in England there was only O common |
earthern ware, but two German brothers
of the name of Ellers discovered superior clay
and after this gentleman named Asbury,
who was engaged in the manufacture, having
occasion to employ some calcined hints as poul.
tice to his horses eyes, noticed their fine, white
opaque substance, and added them to the paste
OF which he made his china, thus supplying the
last needed Improvement for the perfection of
the art. Mr.. Josiah Wedgewood, who was born
poor potter's son, was the next and greatest
improver.
fn the eighteenth century,a German named
Bottiches, while hunting for the philosophers
stone, made Dresden china by accident. The
clay which he used for his crucibes was dis
covered in singular manner. John Schnorr,
an iron master, riding out, discovered that his
horses feet were sticking in soft white earth,
which he used as q substitute for hair powder.
Bottiches used IL as such, and observing its
earthly nature, tested II, and found 1t exactly
what he wanted to perfect his porcelain. The
Elector then caused the earth to be taken Sc
cretly to the factory in sealed barrels. Every
workman was sworn to secrecy; and "Dumb till
deathp' was inscribed In large letters in all the
workshops. The next famous works were
those Of Sevres.