- Copper Red
- Sang de boeuf, which is the French name meaning ‘Ox blood’
- Lang yao hong (lang yao red), the Chinese name believed to have been named for Lang Tingji, one of the imperial kiln supervisors.
- Just to confuse things further, sang de boeuf is also called flambé glaze!!!
EVERYONE has been chasing copper red glazes for a really long time!!
First, it was the Chinese, then the French, then the English….then all the rest of us!!!
The Chinese are always ahead of us. They may have even discovered (if you can use that word, see article here) America a century before Columbus!! Such an amazing bunch of people! If you have visited there, you know what I mean. The people of China are multitudinous. They throng, thrive, and bustle. They have a culture that is far more ancient than anything in the USA or Australia – the two countries in which I have lived. AND they had this pottery stuff nailed centuries ago!
Sang de boeuf Ming Vases |
EVERYONE recognises the difficulty in achieving this glaze. “It’s sophisticated and refined, and it’s difficult to achieve,” says Tina McEown, an antiques dealer and collector in the Valley. “It’s fired with no oxygen, which can cause the color to change, and it’s fired many times. It’s not simple.” The above paragraphs are from this article.
In Europe, Theodore Deck, the “father” of French ceramics and one-time director of manufacture for the country’s famous Sèvres porcelain factory, was well-known for his sang de boeuf.
William Howson Taylor, co-founder of Ruskin Pottery, is said to have fiercely guarded the production of such pieces and destroyed all of his glaze recipes (can you believe it!!!) before his death.
Work of Willliam Howson Taylor |
Ernest Chaplet, a French ceramicist, devoted his later life to producing sang de boeuf.
Ernest Chaplet, French Ceramicist ©Jason Jacques Gallery |
Ernest Chaplet’s work ©Jason Jacques Gallery |
Ernest Chaplet’s Work ©Jason Jacques Gallery |
In the early part of the 20th century, Bernard Moore, an English potter, experimented with Chinese glazes and tried to recreate the sang de boeuf glazes.. He produced some successful flambé and sang-de-boeuf glazes on a stoneware body at his small factory in Stoke-upon-Trent. He worked in association with William Burton of Pilkington pottery in Manchester, which made experimental decorative ware of all kinds. |
Bernard Moore, Master Potter, A book on Bernard Moore chronicles his life and his pottery. |
Not only do you have to get a good recipe but the kiln gods need to smile on you too. Copper red needs good reduction, proper kiln placement…it’s a challenge but a worthy challenge.
Thanks for the history lesson Marian! Interesting! I know so little about glazes but have heard that red is hard to achieve! How unfortunate when it’s soooo gorgeous! Good luck with finding the perfect glaze!