Worcester porcelain vase with Callowhill decoration, 1850s
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A Worcester porcelain vase, the decoration by James Callowhill, 1850s, apparently on an earlier body, of broad baluster shape on a square foot with a pair of foliate scrolling handles between the shoulders and rim, the body with gilt-ground borders framing the 'Council of the Gods' after Raphael to the front and Zeus's eagle on a mount to the reverse, signed by Callowhill to one side, the neck and foot pink ground with gilt rim, handles, mouldings, and other details, impressed Flight, Barr, & Barr mark underside together with a further signature by the decorator, 'J. Callowhill, Painter', 36 cm high. Other notes: the crowned Fbb mark impressed to the underside, a mark that went out of use after the merger in that year of the flight and Barr and Chamberlain's Worcester businesses, suggests that the body was manufactured no later than that date and then remained in stock as an undecorated blank throughout the Grainger period to at last be taken up and decorated by Callowhill who joined the firm in 1853 following its acquisition by Richard Binns and William Kerr in 1852.. Condition: losses to gilding in places, and slight wear to painted panel. Restoration and regilding to the lower body (section under painted panel). Small crack to pedestal base. Restoration and regilding to both handles
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- Foliate - Decorated with leaves or leaf-like forms.
- Firing Crack - A firing crack is a crack in a porcelain or stoneware item that occurs whilst the item is in the kiln.They are usually caused by faulty design, where one part is thicker than the surrounding area, and being thicker it cools more slowly, setting up a stress with the surrounding area. Firing cracks are not often seen on modern mass produced porcelain, as the damaged items are discarded during prooduction. However they are seen in earlier items and artisan-produced objects.
- Gilding - Gilding is a method of ornamentation whereby a thin sheet of gold metal is applied to items made of wood, leather, ceramics, glass and silver for decorative purposes.
For furniture including mirrors, the sheet of gold is usually applied over a coating of gesso. Gesso is a mixture of plaster of Paris and gypsum mixed with water and then applied to the carved wooden frames of mirrors and picture frames as a base for applying the gold leaf. After numerous coats of gesso have been applied, allowed to dry and then sanded a coat of "bole", a usually red coloured mixture of clay and glue is brushed on and allowed to dry, after which the gold leaf is applied. Over time parts of the gilding will rub off so the base colour can be seen. In water gilding, this was generally a blue colour, while in oil gilding, the under layer was often yellow. In Victorian times, gilders frequently used red as a pigment beneath the gold leaf.
Metal was often gilded by a process known as fire gilding. Gold mixed with mercury was applied and heated, causing the mercury to evaporate, the long-term effect of which was to kill or disable the craftsman or woman from mercury poisoning. The pursuit of beauty has claimed many victims, not the least of which were the artists who made those pieces so highly sought after today.
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