French Porcelain |
Posted: June 10, 2022 |
In France, in the city of Sevres, near Paris, there was a soft porcelain factory that in 1760 was renamed the Royal Manufacture and in 1768 hard-paste porcelain began to be produced. It is what is known as soft or tender paste the French porcelain that is white, compact, light and translucent. In French a great quality was reached in this type of porcelain, essentially fine and light. This factory laid the foundations for the Rosenthal Company, which, thanks to the commercial and artistic vision of the two brothers, grew rapidly. Due to the enormous competition in the tableware industry, Philipp decided to design and manufacture pieces based on the popular French Porcelain. They began by producing figurative porcelain, exploring new trends and innovating until they became the benchmark they represent today. Today, Rosenthal is one of the world's leading providers of contemporary porcelain design. Table sets, services, interior decoration and gift pieces that respond to a wide range of international brands and designers. Blue and White Soft-Paste Porcelain Chinese porcelain had been imported from China for a long time and was a very expensive and desired luxury. Chinese porcelains were treasured, collected from the time of Francis I, and sometimes adorned with elaborate precious metal mounts to protect them and enhance their beauty. Huge amounts, especially of silver, were shipped from Europe to China to pay for desired Chinese porcelain items, and numerous attempts were made to duplicate the material. The first soft-paste porcelain in France was developed in an effort to imitate high-value Chinese hard-paste porcelain, and to follow attempts at Medici porcelain in the 16th century. The first soft-paste fritted porcelain was produced at the Rouen factory in 1673, in order to imitate "la veritable porcelain de Chine", and it became known as "Porcelain franchise". The production technique of the new material was discovered by the Rouen potter Louis Poterat his license to make "earthenware and porcelain" was taken out in 1673, the soft porcelain used blue designs of the type already used in the faiences of the time. Manufacturing Process As a finer and more sophisticated product than earthenware, which is fired at a temperature between 1,000 and 1,300 °C, porcelain is fired at a much higher temperature, around 1,800 °C. The sintering process, or firing, is carried out in two stages. The first corresponds to obtaining, at 1800 °C, a moldable pastes that, when cooled, results in a hard, brittle and rough material. The second corresponds to the glaze. In the firing of porcelain carried out in wood ovens, to maintain its whiteness, the pieces were protected against ash deposits and direct flames by a system of refractory gazettes. Porcelain is usually decorated in a third firing with pigments obtained from calcined metal oxides. Painted Decoration Kakiemon-style motifs were rendered in ocher on fired enamel, with the help of a fine pen or brush soaked in a mixture of colors vitrifiable diluted in water with sugar. Then the five colors from the palette were applied using a fill-in brush. These colors were diluted in a more or less oily turpentine mixture, in order not to dissolve the line of the drawing and to obtain the desired shape and transparencies. As in the Far East, the generally asymmetrical composition was organized with the empty white structure. With the decoration made, it was fired at 800°C, which set the enamel.
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