Glazed Wares

Almost immediately after the invention of Ceramic manufacture, the application of glaze or coloured enamel must have improved it. What we term glaçure is a light varnish which enlivens and harmonizes the porous surface of terra-cotta. In its simple state it is a mixture of silex and lead, and in this state it is transparent, as we find it on antique vases; when vitrifiable, and mixed with tin, as in the case of majolicas, it is called enamel; and when of vitrifiable and earthen substance, such as can only be melted at the temperature required for the baking of the paste itself, it is known as Glaze, or couverte, and can be identified in the Persian faiences and Flemish stone-ware. (Figs. 359, 360.) (See Burty, Chefs-d’œuvre of the Industrial Arts.) IMG:6949005855195395773_fig_360.jpg: Fig. 360. German enamelled stone-ware Cruche, date first half of the 16th century.