M. Janvier asserts that the very first porcelain made in Europe was in Venice, there being in the archives a letter, dated 1470; from Uielmo da Bologna, that seems conclusively to prove this fact. This art was, however, lost, to be revived again in France about 1605. The porcelain was what is known as soft,'—that is, the materials from which the paste, or body, was mixed, were not thoroughly fused together. In 1709, Bottcher, a German, after repeated failures, succeeded in producing true hard paste at Meissen, near Dres den. It was not for nearly a century that hard paste penetrated to Great Britain ; but in 1800, Josiah Spode created, or rather perfected, what was practically a new ware, the bone phosphate porce lain, the only kind now made in England. The English porcelain is of a soft creamy colour, very agreeable to the eye, and very suitable for decora tion. Nearly all the ordinary kiln colours can be used on it, and beautiful wares of all kinds are made. In Britain, before the 18th century, pottery was rarely used ; the people ate from wooden trenchers, and drank from horn cups, up to the earlier years of the 19th century.
Earthenware or Common Pottery.—There are three distinct branches of this manufacture in India, which, though similar in their manipulation, arc different in their results. The most common kind is the red porous earthenware used for pots and cooking vessels, the black used for similar purposes, and the fine white which resembles some of the biscuit earthenware of Europe.
The red porous earthenware of India differs very materially in quality according to the locality from which the clay is selected ; some are made of a common coarse earthy loam, which has very little tenacity, and yields a brittle kind of pottery, neither susceptible of much finish, nor of being glazed. Most of the pottery of India is of this description ; it is made ou a curious principle, which is unknown in other countries, but which has probably been followed for many centuries in India. The Indian potter's wheel is of the simplest kind. It is a horizontal fly-wheel, the frame of wood, the rim heavily laden with clay, two or three feet in diameter, weight 60 to 80 pounds, and is put in motion by the potter's hand, assisted by a stick ; once set spinning, it revolves for from five or seven minutes with a perfectly steady and nearly true motion. The mass of clay to be moulded is placed on the centre of the wheel, and the potter squats before it on the ground. This machine has doubt less several defects, but it answers its purpose perfectly. The vessels, which are mostly of a round form, are thrown thick in the neck and upper parts or sides. They are cut off the wheel, and left open in the bottom, with vertical sides ; they are then allowed to harden a little in the necks, and as soon as they will bear to be handled, the sides are thinned out by beating with a flat mallet upon a rounded stone or very hard round piece of wood held inside the vessel, which is turned about and beaten till it is closed. This is a very tedious
and unsatisfactory mode of working, and the only recommendation is, that it makes a thin, light vessel, but at a great sacrifice of time. From ten to twenty-eight of these is a good day's work, while a skilful European thrower will turn out 800 in the same time. Good samples of this quality of earthenware are made at Travancore from a fine smooth micaceous loam, and the general forms are good, though heavy. A finer description of this ware is made at Hyderabad, from a tough, smooth plastic clay, and the articles are remark able for elegance of form and extreme lightness of throwing. Some of the vessels are ornamented with gold leaf and coloured lac varnishes ; others are made in imitation of Beder ware ; some are painted white on a red ground ; a few glazed and coloured with a soft lead glaze, composed of 24 parts Isioordar Sing or litharge, 3 parts Char ka pat'har, and 1 part copper. Sandoor, or the red oxide of lead, may be substituted for the litharge. The Ghar ka pat'har should be well burnt, slaked in cold water, and afterwards reduced to a fine powder, and mixed with the litharge. The copper is mixed with its weight of fiuely-powdered sul phur, and heated in a crucible till a green scale has formed on it ; it is then finely powdered, and mixed with the Gliar ka pat'har and litharge. The whole is again heated, and reduced to a fine powder once more. A small quantity of this powder is well mixed with wheat starch, and kneaded well for some time ; water is then added, and it is strained through a fine cloth, and the glaze is gently rubbed in with the hand, after which the pottery is baked. This process of glazing pottery is very similar to that practised in Italy, Germany, and some parts of England, where paving tiles, green flower-pots, and common red earthenware are manufactured. The Ghar ka pat'har is probably either white felspar or peg matite, a variety of granite very abundant in Southern India, and composed of three parts felspar and about one part of quartz ; but at the bangle works at Loonar lake the stone used is chalcedony. The clay which is employed is pro bably more refractory than the common red clays of India, most of which begin to lose their shape or to become spongy at the temperature for melt ing such glazes. The native furnace is simply an excavation in the ground of variable depth, in which the ware is placed layer by layer, with dry reeds, straw, etc., and all are burnt together. This rude system must of course give way to. the -European method, for the construction of all the superior kinds of vessels.