Hard Paste Porcelain

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 31, 6 February 1937, Page 14 (Supplement)

Hard Paste Porcelain

SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENTS IN ENGLAND LONDON, Jan. 13. The Brygos Gallery, New Bond street, which holds monthly exhibitions of articles which have been “fired,” or baked at high temperatures, this week held an exhibition at which the high standard of tho pottery that can be produced with hard paste porcelain was shown. The exhibition marked an interesting point in the history of English ceramics, since, with tho exception of tentative efforts of William Cookworthy at Plymouth (1768-1770) and later at Bristol (1770-17S1) with Richard Champion, hard paste porcelain has never been developed in England. British pottery manufacturers have been wholly occupied in perfecting their earthenware and more exquisite “English Bone China,” a material with many of the fine qualities of porcelain. The work exhibited has sprung from tho technical excellence of purely functional pottery. Technical porcelain must of necessity bo perfect in body and glaze, for it has to withstand the severest climatic conditions, varying from tropical heat to arctic cold. Technical poreclain is the produce of modern methods of ceramic research, and for strength and durability it has to stand tests which Chinese porcelain was never called upon to endure. From the purely aesthetic point of view the material has great possi bilities. At present it is in the experimental stage, but it is likely that it may carry English pottery to a high place in the ceramic art. Many of these modern glazes have the quality and the colour of early Chinese pottery. The majority of them are under perfect control, but t.hero are some in which the “fire” provided unexpected results, which are, nevertheless, not unpleasant.