Saturday, August 23, 2008

Above: Dish China late 1600s or early 1700s. Porcelain decorated with famille verte (enamel colours of predominately green and red) From the Powerhouse Museum Sydney.
It seems the influence of this style is often seen today in dishes and ornaments of inexpensive giftware.
Above: Blue and White Late Ming dynasty dish, China, early 1400s.
This is a fine example of blue-and -white porcelain made in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, which was the site of China's imperial porcelain kilns. Chinese Blue-and -white procelains, often of a lesser quality, were imported into Europe on ships of the Dutch and English East India compaines, established in the early 1600s to share in the rich spice trade.
From the Powerhouse Museum.
Two ornamental vases Tin glazed delftware (eathenware), decorated by Gerrit Pietersz Kain at his De Drye Verguilde Astonnekens factory, Delf, Holland, about 1680. Like generations of potters, many European factories imitated imported Chinese -and, from the late 1600s, Japanese- designs. They used earthenware covered with an opaque tin glaze that resembled the white porcelain they so admired but, except for a few factories, were still unable to make in the mid 1700s.
From the Powerhouse Museum.
One of these teaposts is a fake. Can you guess which one?
As interest in antique porcelain collections grew in the late 1800s, some potters copied antique objects and forged marks on them to achieve higher prices. The famous maker of such fakes was Emile Samson.
Knowledge of antiques was limited and it was easy to deceive customers. Not many would notice, for example, the give-away bright-white colour of hard-paste porcelain in Samson's 'Chantilly' teapot (15) - only the warmer toned soft-paste was made at the French factory.

15 Teapot Hard-paste porcelain, painted with Kakiemon 'two quail' pattern at Samon et Cie, Montreuil, France, about 1900. Chantilly mark (red hunting-horn) painted on base.
16 Worcester Teapot Soaprock porcelain, transfer-printed, handpainted and gilt with 'Chinese family' pattern, Worcester Porcelain Factory, England, about 1770.

The introduction of transfer-printing to porcelain decoration in 1756 meant that decorated articles could be produced economically. Early Worcester teapots showed strong Chinese influences. Later designs were often based on French engravings.
From the Powerhouse Museum.

No comments: