Basalt ware
Basalt ware , engl. also black basalt ware , named after the only externally similar rock Basalt is a black-colored in the mass with manganese and iron salts ceramic material, such as stoneware is very burned hard, dense sintered , and is impermeable to water. It therefore does not have to be glazed .
It was developed in the late 1760s by Josiah Wedgwood , who had started making tableware from earthenware in the new classical style since the founding of his manufacture in 1757 . Other potters in Staffordshire had already made earthenware painted with iron oxide , which was called egyptian black , because its shapes were based on Egyptian and other ancient models. Wedgwood's vessels and decorative items differed from these forerunners in their greater hardness and insensitivity, a black coloration of the body , further sintering and thus water impermeability and a finer grain size of the mass, which enabled more detailed shaping of profiles and reliefs. Elaborate pieces had white relief, sometimes black reliefs were placed on a red background, which was reminiscent of black-figure vase painting , or red engobe on a black basalt base, which was supposed to be reminiscent of the red-figure vase painting of antiquity. The firing temperature almost reached that of porcelain. A baked-on varnish and subsequent polishing increased the matt shine of the unglazed surface, especially in the early days. This early goods for artistic value and volume of production no less important than the better-known today and brought with Wedgwood rather in conjunction Jasperware . Basalt ware has been manufactured in Wedgwood's Etruria (Staffordshire) factory since 1769.
literature
- Wolf Mankowitz: Wedgwood , London 1966