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1894-1917 Imperial Porcelain Factory, St Petersburg Porcelain, flambé high-firing-temperature coloured glaze Height: 9 cm The egg is covered with blotches of different coloured glaze - cherry-red, violet and a bluish turquoise. In the 1890s the Imperial Porcelain Factory began experiments with glazes requiring high firing temperatures. At first they sought to obtain glazes of a single colour evenly covering the surface. The most striking and highly-prized variety was a dark red glaze with a copper base that became known in Europe as sang de boeuf - “bull’s blood”. As well as the solid background covering, the artists began to take enthusiastic advantage of accidental runs and patches in the glaze. The use of different concentrations of copper in the mix and also different firing conditions led to the creation of porcelain covered with a variant of the red glaze, in which the basic colour was set off by patches of white, grey, light blue or turquoise with blotches. Such a glaze became known as flambé - “flaming red” - by association with the shifting colours of fire. |
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