2023-4-14

珍珠瓷是英国瓷器大家韦基伍德于1779年首先发明并使用的，是一种中温釉下青花或釉下五彩陶器，以黄蓝绿叁种颜色为主，在白胎瓷土上面的氧化铅瓷釉里添加了少量的化学物氧化钴蓝，使得烧成的白地陶器的釉面，呈一丝澹澹的蓝，这就更加接近中国早期外销瓷器上的玻璃釉，因此又叫中国釉，珍珠白和珍珠瓷釉。其他厂家，都是从威基伍德哪儿学来的。

• Pearlware is an earthenware made by Josiah Wedgwood in 1779. It was copied by other potters in England. Pearlware is only slightly different in color from creamware and for many years collectors have confused the terms. Only certain colors like blue, yellow, and green were used as underglaze paintings for pearlware because materials for other colors could not stand the heat necessary to fire the glaze. 

• This style of polychrome hand-painted refined earthenware is also known as Gaudy Dutch. It can occur on a background of pearlware or creamware, however, the dates are currently thought to be the same for both.

• White to light cream-colored, thin, hard, refined earthenware paste. White to faint bluish-white clear lead glazed background, caused by the addition of cobalt to the glaze. There is a bluish cast where the glaze pools. Delicately painted floral wreath designs in olive green, brown, blue, and mustard yellow. If the motif occurs on creamware, the background is pale creamy yellow. We usually refer to any ceramics with the blue-tinted glaze as pearlware, an adaptation of Wedgwood’s pearl white, but some may refer to pearlware with a Chinese-style decoration as China glaze.

顾名思义，奶黄瓷釉微微发黄，也是威基伍德发明的，可是存在的时间更早一些，在1765年前后，是在以氧化铅为主的釉水中加入了氧化铜才产生的。等到珍珠瓷釉发明并进入正规生产之后，奶黄白瓷釉就澹出了市场。

左边是奶黄釉，右边是珍珠白釉，又称中国釉。

• Creamware, the earliest of the three, was formally introduced in England by Josiah Wedgwood in 1762. Cream-colored wares were being produced as early as the 1740s, but Wedgwood succeeded in creating a more refined ware. Wedgwood coined this ware as Queen’s Ware after completing his commission for Queen Charlotte in 1765 (Wedgwood Museum 2016). The creamy color seen in the glaze is achieved by the addition of copper to a lead oxide glaze. In places where the glaze pools, such as a footring, the glaze will look almost green. The popularity of creamware began to decline around 1800 with the introduction of pearlware and is virtually non-existent after 1820.

按理说奶黄釉和珍珠白釉，都是可怜的英国人为了在瓷器生产上弯道超车而多走了的弯路，不像那聪明的德国人，利用了工业间谍盗取了景德镇的瓷器配方而一步到位，后来发现瓷釉中添加氧化钴，一是需要增加成本，得不偿失，二是发现钴矿中，含有大量的氧化砷杂质也就是毒药砒霜，会引发采矿工人和制瓷工人的职业病。于是才改邪归正，直接烧制白瓷。

• Over time the use of cobalt decreased, most likely due to the expense of obtaining the mineral. Fun fact: the word cobalt is derived from the German word kobalt, which means goblin. Cobalt ore, when smelted, produces a powder that contains arsenic, which is highly toxic. By around 1808 a fully whitened version of creamware (known as White Ware) was introduced to meet changing market demand. As the use of cobalt decreased, whiteware begins to emerge, approximately around 1820. During the transition between pearlware and whiteware, it can sometimes be difficult to determine the difference between the two. Early whitewares can have a slightly blue hue to the glaze, particularly in areas where the glaze is thicker. Sometimes we define this as transitional whiteware. 

失去了颜色釉的瓷器，就回复到了梅森瓷器的高冷和一枝独秀，也失去了瓷器的地方特色、多元化和竞争力。于是乎，进入二十世纪之后，曾经不可一世，兴盛了两百五十多年的英格兰瓷器制造，也已经日薄西山，纷纷倒闭，关门大吉了。