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Lusterware
Lusterware is metallic-glazed earthenware rendered brilliantly in an assortment of tones and effects: copper, pink, salmon, purple, silver, splash, and variegated (moonlight). Most lusterware pieces were utilitarian, such as mugs, cups, saucers, vases, and pitchers. Somewhat more unusual were commemorative plaques, watch stands, bulb pots, and figurines. More whimsical pieces included brightly spotted luster mugs with satyr faces and mugs with molded frogs or lizards inside. There are three categories of lusterware: copper, pink, and silver.
Copper Luster
Copper was the most commonly produced lusterware, and it remains the most available type today. When buying copper luster, take caution to avoid pieces that were over-fired to the point where their finishes resemble dull brown enamel instead of metallic copper. Sprig decorations—thinly molded pottery designs applied to the surface of a piece—often appear on copper luster pieces. Typical sprig decorations include children at play, baskets of flowers, birds in flight, portraits of animals, and cherubs in goat-drawn carriages. Most sprig pieces were molded in porcelain. Some were left natural and covered with a clear glaze; others were colorfully painted and glazed. The sprig molds were used and reused for decades throughout the 19th century and they wore down over time. Copper lusterware was also decorated with hand-painted, freehand designs of geometric forms and flowers. Transfer prints with an almost unlimited variety of subject matter were often used as well.
Pink Luster
Pink luster was also made using gold-based glazes. It was produced in more forms than copper or silver luster, and it tended to be more refined. It was often made into plaques, vases, pitchers, and covered jars and urns, and some of these pieces incorporated multiple methods of decoration. Pink luster most often found its way into homes as a bone china dessert set consisting of cups and saucers, teapot, sugar, creamer, and plates. These sets were decorated with hand-painted designs or with transfer prints. Another method of embellishment was resist decoration, in which a design was painted onto the light earthenware body using clear glycerin. Then the object was dipped into the gold luster glaze, the painted design resisted the luster, which adhered only to uncoated areas. The glycerin was removed after firing, and the original pattern appeared reversed out against the luster finish.
Silver Luster
Much silver luster was created to look like more expensive sterling silver. The so-called “poor-man’s silver” was rendered on both light and dark clay bodies molded to emulate elaborate silver tea services. Resist decoration, using a platinum glaze, was also employed in the manufacture of silver luster pieces. The method and subjects were similar, but the combination of print transfer and resist is most commonly associated with silver luster, and is considered rare. Resist decoration combined with yellow glaze is one of the rarest forms of lusterware, and thus one of the most valuable.
Original vs. Reproduction
Lusterware has been popular since the early 1800s, with interest peaking in the late 19th century, the early 20th century, the 1950s, and even today. The clues to origination can often be spotted only by an educated eye. Shape, method, and style of decoration are the best indicators of who the manufacturer was. Early manufacturers include Leeds, Spode, Swansea Wedgwood, Staffordshire, Sunderland, and Newcastle. Certain characteristics point to age. For instance, the molded handle on an early-19th-century pitcher would be rich in detail. The color of an old piece would not be too shiny or brassy. The sprig decoration on early pieces is crisper and more well-defined than that on reproductions. The painted detail work on early pieces will show fine artistic quality; reproductions are cruder. On reproductions that incorporate transfer prints, the prints are much darker and heavier than those on the originals. To distinguish original candlesticks from the reproductions, take a closer look at the base. The originals were created from dark-colored clay, but the newer pieces have a white ceramic base. In the case of pitchers, old example of all-over silver luster generally were silver-glazed on the bottom; the new ones aren’t.
Copper Luster
Copper was the most commonly produced lusterware, and it remains the most available type today. When buying copper luster, take caution to avoid pieces that were over-fired to the point where their finishes resemble dull brown enamel instead of metallic copper. Sprig decorations—thinly molded pottery designs applied to the surface of a piece—often appear on copper luster pieces. Typical sprig decorations include children at play, baskets of flowers, birds in flight, portraits of animals, and cherubs in goat-drawn carriages. Most sprig pieces were molded in porcelain. Some were left natural and covered with a clear glaze; others were colorfully painted and glazed. The sprig molds were used and reused for decades throughout the 19th century and they wore down over time. Copper lusterware was also decorated with hand-painted, freehand designs of geometric forms and flowers. Transfer prints with an almost unlimited variety of subject matter were often used as well.
Pink Luster
Pink luster was also made using gold-based glazes. It was produced in more forms than copper or silver luster, and it tended to be more refined. It was often made into plaques, vases, pitchers, and covered jars and urns, and some of these pieces incorporated multiple methods of decoration. Pink luster most often found its way into homes as a bone china dessert set consisting of cups and saucers, teapot, sugar, creamer, and plates. These sets were decorated with hand-painted designs or with transfer prints. Another method of embellishment was resist decoration, in which a design was painted onto the light earthenware body using clear glycerin. Then the object was dipped into the gold luster glaze, the painted design resisted the luster, which adhered only to uncoated areas. The glycerin was removed after firing, and the original pattern appeared reversed out against the luster finish.
Silver Luster
Much silver luster was created to look like more expensive sterling silver. The so-called “poor-man’s silver” was rendered on both light and dark clay bodies molded to emulate elaborate silver tea services. Resist decoration, using a platinum glaze, was also employed in the manufacture of silver luster pieces. The method and subjects were similar, but the combination of print transfer and resist is most commonly associated with silver luster, and is considered rare. Resist decoration combined with yellow glaze is one of the rarest forms of lusterware, and thus one of the most valuable.
Original vs. Reproduction
Lusterware has been popular since the early 1800s, with interest peaking in the late 19th century, the early 20th century, the 1950s, and even today. The clues to origination can often be spotted only by an educated eye. Shape, method, and style of decoration are the best indicators of who the manufacturer was. Early manufacturers include Leeds, Spode, Swansea Wedgwood, Staffordshire, Sunderland, and Newcastle. Certain characteristics point to age. For instance, the molded handle on an early-19th-century pitcher would be rich in detail. The color of an old piece would not be too shiny or brassy. The sprig decoration on early pieces is crisper and more well-defined than that on reproductions. The painted detail work on early pieces will show fine artistic quality; reproductions are cruder. On reproductions that incorporate transfer prints, the prints are much darker and heavier than those on the originals. To distinguish original candlesticks from the reproductions, take a closer look at the base. The originals were created from dark-colored clay, but the newer pieces have a white ceramic base. In the case of pitchers, old example of all-over silver luster generally were silver-glazed on the bottom; the new ones aren’t.
Latest page update: made by jsonderg
, Apr 19 2007, 12:22 PM EDT
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