Vase thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
British Galleries, Room 125c

Vase

1905 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
This vase is a purely decorative object which met fashionable taste around 1900 . The form is a 'double gourd' shape, copied from Chinese ceramics of the 18th century. The glaze is copied from Chinese rouge flambé. This vase would impress as evidence of the owner's knowledgeable and artistic taste.

People
After the closure of the family firm of Moore Bros. in 1905, Bernard Moore (1850-1935) set up his own kilns and decorating workshop at Wolfe Street, Stoke-on-Trent. Long before then he was a highly respected glaze chemist and a consultant to the ceramics industry on a wide variety of technical fronts. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s it is likely that he was experimenting with and perfecting the specialist and difficult glazes with which his name is now principally associated.

Materials & Making
Based on mineral (usually iron or copper) oxides, flambé glazes (or transmutation glazes) are fired at high temperatures (up to 1500º C) in a kiln atmosphere that is rich in carbon monoxide, owing to the shutting off of oxygen at a critical moment. (This is known as a 'reducing' atmosphere.) This results in a violent reaction within the glaze, which is transmuted into an unpredictable range of reds, purples, blues, lilacs and greens. The glaze was perfected by the Chinese in the 18th century and first copied successfully in Europe in the later 19th century. A less demanding version offering a similar appearance could be achieved by using a slip oxide fired at a low temperature. Unlike the true flambé, however, this was easily scratched.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Porcellaneous stoneware, with a flambé glaze
Brief description
Bernard Moore vase
Dimensions
  • Height: 14.2cm
  • Diameter: 8.4cm
Dimensions checked: Measured; 24/08/2000 by Terry
Gallery label
  • British Galleries: CHINESE, FRENCH AND ENGLISH VASES with flambé glazes
    These brilliant flambé glazes were perfected in China in the 18th century. The effect iscreated by skilful manipulation of the glaze chemistry and high temperature firing. Interest in reproducing flamb‚ glazes began in about 1855 in France but soon spread across Europe, particularly to England and Germany. In Britain, the Staffordshire potter Bernard Moore used experimental and highly accomplished red flambé glazes on Chinese-inspired shapes.(27/03/2003)
  • Vase Bernard Moore , Wolfe Street pottery, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England about 1900 Porcellaneous stoneware with a high temperature (flambé) glaze C.175-1984(23/05/2008)
Object history
Made by Bernard Moore (born in Stone, Staffordshire,1850, died in 1935), at St Marys Works, Longton, Staffordshire
Summary
Object Type
This vase is a purely decorative object which met fashionable taste around 1900 . The form is a 'double gourd' shape, copied from Chinese ceramics of the 18th century. The glaze is copied from Chinese rouge flambé. This vase would impress as evidence of the owner's knowledgeable and artistic taste.

People
After the closure of the family firm of Moore Bros. in 1905, Bernard Moore (1850-1935) set up his own kilns and decorating workshop at Wolfe Street, Stoke-on-Trent. Long before then he was a highly respected glaze chemist and a consultant to the ceramics industry on a wide variety of technical fronts. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s it is likely that he was experimenting with and perfecting the specialist and difficult glazes with which his name is now principally associated.

Materials & Making
Based on mineral (usually iron or copper) oxides, flambé glazes (or transmutation glazes) are fired at high temperatures (up to 1500º C) in a kiln atmosphere that is rich in carbon monoxide, owing to the shutting off of oxygen at a critical moment. (This is known as a 'reducing' atmosphere.) This results in a violent reaction within the glaze, which is transmuted into an unpredictable range of reds, purples, blues, lilacs and greens. The glaze was perfected by the Chinese in the 18th century and first copied successfully in Europe in the later 19th century. A less demanding version offering a similar appearance could be achieved by using a slip oxide fired at a low temperature. Unlike the true flambé, however, this was easily scratched.
Collection
Accession number
C.175-1984

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Record createdMarch 27, 2003
Record URL
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