A METHOD OF ORNAMENTING CHINA AND CERTAIN OTHER COMPOSITIONS WHICH I DENOMINATE LITHOPHANIC TRANSLUCD OR OPAQUE CHINA
Year: 1828

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, ROBERT
GRIFFITH JONES, of Brewer Stroet, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-eight, in the ninth year of reign, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Griffith Jones, His especial licence, that I, the said.
Robert Griffith Jones, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Robert Griffith Jones, my exors, adññors, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time and at all times
during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A METHOD OF ORNAMENTING CHINA AND CERTAIN
OTHER COMPOSITIONS WHICH I DENOMINATE LITHOPHANIC TRANSLUCD OR OPAQUE
CHINA," communicated to me by a certain Foreigner resident abroad; in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso that I, the said
Robert Griffiths Jones, shall cause a particular description of the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent,
as in, and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Robert Griffith Jones, do hereby describe the manner in which the said
Invention is to be performed by the following description thereof (that is
to say):
The said Invention of a Method of Ornamenting China and certain other
Compositions which I denominate Lithophanic Translucid or Opaque China,
consists in producing the effect of a design or shadowed drawing in china or
other semi-transparent or semi-opaque compositions, such as coloured glass,
by adapting the thickness of the various parts of the substance of such semi-
transparent composition according to the outlines and to the lights and
shadows of the design or shadowed drawing which is to be represented upon
the same, in order that the said china or composition being viewed against the
light may, by the difference of thickness of its various parts, transmit more
or less light through the same, so as to exhibit the lights and shadows of the
forms intended to be represented as a design or picture; (that is to say,)
the parts intended to exhibit the deeply shadowed parts of the picture or
design (when the china or composition is viewed against the light) must be of
a competent thickness (according to the degree of transparency or of opacity
of the china or composition) to resist the passage or transmission of the light
in a great degree, whilst in those parts of the picture or design which are
intended to exhibit the bright lights the china or composition is reduced to a
very thin substance in order that the light may readily penetrate through the
same, and also of all the intermediate lights and shadows between the darkest
and the brightest, the thickness of the substance of the china or composition is
to be adapted to let through as much or as little of the light as will give the
required effect of light and shadow to every part of the intended design or
picture. And as to the means of executing such ornamental designs or
shadowed drawings upon china and other compositions, a suitable model must
first be made in plastic wax, which is spread out in a layer upon the surface of
a plate of glass, the substance of the wax being previously prepared or tinted
in a suitable manner to give it such degree of opacity or transparency as will
in some degree correspond with that of the china or other composition which
is to be ornamented, and also the thickness of the layer of wax which is
poured out in a melted state upon the surface of the glass must be regulated
according to the degree of light that it is capable of transmitting through its
substance. Upon the surface of the wax so prepared the artist must proceed
according to the means usually practised for modelling wax, to cut away
and reduce the thickness of the layer of wax at all those parts which are
required to exhibit the light parts of the picture or design, leaving the other

page_text: parts which are to exhibit the shadows of the full thickness of the wax, and
even adding wax in particular places to give an extra thickness where
necessary to attain the effect of the deepest shadows; and occasionally for
particular objects which are to be exhibited with very defined shadows, they
may be cut out as profiles and forms in paper or in pasteboard, or in wood,
metal, or other suitable substance, and stuck upon the surface of the wax,
the surfaces of such objects being carved in relief to give them different
thicknesses in different parts. Or when defined objects as aforesaid are to be
represented by lights instead of shadows, suitable profiles or forms cut out as
aforesaid in pasteboard, wood, metal, or other suitable substance may be
pressed upon and imprinted into the surface of the wax and then withdrawn,
so as to leave hollow cavities in the wax in order to reduce the thickness
thereof, as the nature of the design requires. In thus modelling for litho-
phanic china the artist must use discretion and ingenuity for the attainment of
the required effect of the particular subject or design he undertakes, and no
precise rules or directions can be given; he must employ the various means
above stated with judgment, and as he may find them best adapted to obtain
the representation of the different effects of light and shade required in the
various parts of the piece. As an example, suppose the design to be reprc-
sented in lithophanic china is a landscape, the artist must first pour over the
whole surface of a glass plate surrounded with a suitable border of putty and
warmed, a thin layer or coat of wax of suitable thickness and tint as afore-
said to form the ground for the model of the picture, and then by inclining the
glass gently one way or another, while the wax is still fluid, he may cause a
somewhat greater thickness to flow to particular parts, and he may by
dexterous management of agitation, and by blowing with the breath while
the wax is cooling, cause it to settle in waves with gradual differences of
thickness, which by the help of slight alterations and amendments may after-
wards be modelled into the proper thicknesses to exhibit the effects of clouds,
and the variations in the thickness of the wax which are necessary to exhibit
the effect of distant mountains may be produced by applying additional layers
of fluid wax upon the original ground of wax, which was first spread upon the
glass, such additional wax when in a fluid state being spread out in directions
suitable to the forms of those mountains by blowing the fluid wax gently with
the breath, and also by moulding it with a scraper or modelling tool so as to
lay it thinner on those parts intended to be light, for instance, the tops of the
mountains or those most in the distance, and thicker at the parts intended to
be shaded. The first set of the fluid wax will not always produce the desired
effect, and then it must be scraped off wholly or in part, and the wax may be

page_text: remelted at particular parts by partial application of heat, and the surface
must be afterwards remodelled. The surface of the wax being thus prepared
of suitable thickness for modelling the back ground, greater thicknesses must
be given for the deepest shadows and the subjects in the foreground. Figures
'of men and animals, and strong and decided forms, such as buildings or trees,
'may be produced by cutting out those forms in lamina of hard wax and
fixing them in their proper places, or else fresh layers of fluid wax may be
added, and the surface carved and modelled to the forms required. When
such figures form the principal subject of the design, they should be moulded
'with the scraper or knife to reduce the thickness at all those parts of each figure
'which are intended to exhibit lighter shades, whilst the darker shadows must
'be raised into a considerable thickness of wax. The projections and excava-
*tions upon the various parts of the surface of lithophanic china are not (as in
the case of common embossing and modelling in relief) carved according to the
real forms of the subject, but are intended to adapt the degree of thickness
of the china at every part according to the intensity of light and of shadow
which is requisite to represent the subject, and hence a lithophanic model or
lithophanic china, when viewed upon an opaque ground, presents an irregular,
"indistinct, and unfinished surface, with very little of the effect of the design,
for, like transparent paintings, the lithophanic china must be viewed against the
light to exhibit the light and shadow of a picture. Hence during the process
of modelling the design in wax as aforesaid, the model must be frequently
held up to the light to examine the progress and effect of the work and to
govern the modelling accordingly. The model in wax or original design being
prepared by a judicious application of the various means above described, and
of all other suitable means usually practised in modelling in wax, a cast
or mould must be taken from the model in plaister, which mould will con-
sequently be in reverse to the model; then from such mould the required
'number of casts or copies may be obtained in china, in the manner commonly
practised for taking casts of ornamental figures in china. If it is desired to
produce a very finished and delicate design with a strong effect of light and
shade, the first plaister cast or mould which is taken from the wax model, and
in reverse thereto, may be retouched by carving and cutting away at all those
parts which are required to exhibit very deep and defined shadows and dark
'outlines, such as would have been difficult to execute with sufficient relief
and sharpness on the surface of the wax model. For instance, the naked
branches of trees, railings, the outlines of buildings, figures, and siniilar
'objects, which must be represented by dark lines, should be carved out in the
hollow parts of the first mould. From that first mould when so prepared

page_text: a cast should be taken either in plaster or in china, which will be a counter-
part of the original model, but more perfect and in higher relief at all the
shadowed parts and dark outlines. That cast should be again retouched, in
order to cut away and reduce the thin parts where requisite, to improve the
parts which are to exhibit the lights, by carving or graving the surface to
reduce the thickness of those parts. Lastly, a metal mould of pewter, tin,
or type metal, or brass, or other suitable metal, should be taken from the said
cast, and the finishing touches for the sharp outlines and deep shadows may
be engraved in the hollows of that metal mould. For instance, to attain the
effect for the more delicate strokes of the design, such as the lineaments of
the face, the hands, the embroidery of garments, suitable finishing touches
must be put in with the graver. These operations of retouching upon the
hollow moulds and the metal require even more skill and attention than the
first operation of modelling in wax, because the artist can only judge of his
work by his previous knowledge of the effect it will produce. In order to
guide him as to the depth of cut he is to make with his graver, the impres-
sions or casts for highly finished lithophanic china are taken from the last
metal mould when prepared as above described, and such impressions and
casts are to be burned and treated in every respect in the same manner as
ornamental figures in china or biscuit are usually treated, and the surface of
the lithophanic china may be further ornamented in colours, and glazed if
thought desirable.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Griffith Jones, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of May, in the year of our
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