A Rosenthal Lustreware vase, early 1920s, the baluster vase…
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A Rosenthal lustreware vase, early 1920s, the baluster vase with mauve lustre tones having a wide gilded border and continuously decorated with handpainted birds in green, blue and yellow tonings; green backstamp underside. Height 26.5 cm

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  • 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.
  • Lustre Ware - Ceramics that have been coated with metallic oxides and then fired, to give a metallic finish, using a similar technique to, and sometimes resembling the irridescent finish on glass. Colours produced included silver (using platinum), gold, pink, white, copper and cream. Lustre ware was first made in England in the late 18th century. In the 19th century, many Staffordshire potteries produced lustre ware including Crown Devon, Royal Worcester, Carlton Ware, and Wedgwood. A lustre glaze was used very successfully by Belleek, in Country Fermanagh, Ireland. Many of their wares displayed a nautical theme including shell shapes, dolphins, and mer-boys.
  • Lustre Ware - Lustre decoration on ceramics is created by painting a thin deposit of metal oxide such as gold, silver or copper onto the surface, and then firing the item again, so that metal oxide forms a thin film on the surface. The finished effect is a shiny metallic surface. The technique was used in the 19th century by potteries such as Crown Devon, Grimwades, Maling, and Royal Doulton. However the best known use was by Wedgwood for its Fairyland lustre.

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