This method of painting on pottery is said to have been discovered by M. Laurin, at Bourg-la-reine, in the year 1873. The process was afterward adopted by M. Haviland, and by him improved in such manner as to materially change the method, as well as the appearance of the painting. Specimens of the ware were first exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition, in Philadelphia, in 1876. The first application of a similar style in the decoration of pottery, in this country, was made by the writer in Cincinnati, in October, 1877.
This method of decorating pottery, although not involving the use of any new principle, was yet so entirely novel an application of principles already in use, as to entitle M. Laurin to all the credit attaching to a very original and important discovery. It places in the hands of the painter of pottery a method at once so artistic, and so thoroughly in accord with the modern school, as to awaken a profound interest in the minds of all lovers of art. It is probable that there are capabilities in this art that have not yet been brought out. It is still in its infancy, and that there are in it possibilities of much importance to the artistic world, can hardly be doubted.
If it were not for the technical difficulties which surround all work on pottery, and this style in particular, it would offer facilities for the production of works of art unequaled by any method heretofore in use. It is the hope of the writer that the following description of the method of decorating pottery, in this manner, may throw some light upon these technical difficulties, and also that artists of ability may be induced to try it, and so demonstrate the capability it undoubtedly possesses.
The mere knowledge of the materials used will, however, no more produce artistic work, than a box of Winsor & Newton’s colors, in the hands of a beginner, will enable him to paint a picture, equal to one by Titian. To produce good work in this method, there must be a certain amount of skill at the command of the painter, just as the same degree of skill is requisite in the production of a good picture by any other method. There is a certain boldness of effect produced by the very nature of the materials and process, which probably would not be seen in the work of the same person in other methods, yet the lack of artistic feeling and ability will be as painfully apparent in this as in any other.
Colors may be daubed upon pottery, as they are, alas! upon canvas, by those whose training and whose feeling for art would hardly fit them to become good house painters; but the result will not be good art, nor will it ever be its own excuse for being. If other branches of decorative art require taste, knowledge, and practical skill, so much the more does this, when it offers scope for the highest capacity. To the artist of ability sufficient to make use of it, it furnishes a palette which, although not of the same range as that of oil colors, yet affords an almost unlimited scale of colors, each of which is enhanced to the fullest degree by the brilliant glaze, with which the work is finished. The painting executed with these beautiful colors, moreover, is practically unchangeable, and none of the ravages of time, short of the destruction of the piece of ware itself, can affect it. In decorations for buildings, or for ordinary use in portraiture, or the higher forms of art, it offers, what has long been desired among artists and art lovers, a method of making works of art indestructible and beyond the possibility of change.
The ware known among dealers under the name of “barbotine,” has some resemblance to that which we have been considering. It has a light body, which has been subjected to a very slight fire, and is covered with a soft glaze, which ensures great brilliancy of coloring. The ware, however, has no durability, and is a substance that would not stand the action of the elements, if used in external decoration.