OXIDE PAINTING refers to a technique of glazing in which metallic oxide washes are painted on top of an unfired glaze to achieve color changes and create patterns. Usually, an opaque white glaze is used, however, almost any glaze can be successfully employed. What is desirable is a glaze that will not allow the colors to run or bleed, what potters call a 'stiff glaze'. The glaze we use most often for oxide painting here at GCC is OPAQUE WHITE GLOSS. The white color hides even darker stoneware clay bodies, shows off the oxides well, and the glaze is not runny. It is not the only possible glaze, however. Here is a list of suggested glazes to use:

OPAQUE WHITE GLOSS

CLEAR

SATIN WHITE

CELADON

TEMMOKU (rutile wash works best)

WINOKUR YELLOW

A WASH is a metallic oxide mixed with water. The metallic oxides we use for color in ceramics and their resultant colors are as follows:

COBALT OXIDE - blue to blue-violet (quite strong, use diluted)

IRON OXIDE - tan to rust-brown (quite weak, use less diluted)

COPPER OXIDE - aqua-green to rose-pink

CHROME OXIDE- intense greens (quite strong, use diluted)

CHROME + COBALT - blue-greens

BLACK WASH (actually a mixture of the above) - gray-black

RUTILE WASH (Iron + Titanium) - golden tones, looks best on TEMMOKU

Colors may be mixed, blended, overlapped, stippled, sprayed, brushed or stamped. They should be applied over (not under) a glaze for successful results! Application of metallic oxide washes under a glaze may result in the glaze crawling and not adhering properly.

Try not to smudge colors after application (unless you want that effect). You can also scratch through the oxide wash to reveal the glaze color below. Be careful that you do not scratch so deeply that you reach the bisque.

Here are some examples of the use of oxide painting in ceramics:

Ming Dynasty Blue and White Plate, Porcelain

China, 1426-1435 CE

Representative of the high quality porcelain production of Jingdezhen, China is this large plate painted in cobalt oxide. Cobalt was imported from Persia and utilized by the potters at Jingdezhen to create designs such as this. Here we see a bold design of a dragon amidst crashing waves surrounded by a circular frieze of peony flowers. The peony often symbolizes wealth or rank, and the dragon is usually associated with the emperor. A smooth, white porcelain was used (qing bai) and a suspension of finely ground cobalt oxide in water was used to paint designs over a transparent glaze.

Song Dynasty Plate, Jun Ware, Stoneware

China, 1200 CE

The plate is an example of Jun (Chun) ware from the Song Dynasty. Stoneware clay was used, and here the glaze is turquoise, a typical Jun glaze color. The turquoise color results from the presence of copper oxide in the glaze. To get the splashes of purple seen here, the potter would first apply the turquoise glaze to the plate, and then using pure copper oxide, would brush a design over the unfired glaze. During the firing process these areas, saturated with copper, would often turn a rich red-violet. As all potters know, copper is the source of many of our most beautiful colors: green, turquoise, reds, violets, for example. Unfortunately, copper is also one of the least dependable, and often yields unexpected results. Jun ware was made for the wealthy classes, for the temple and for palace use. Many of the flower vases and planters used in the Forbidden City by the emperor and his court were of Jun manufacture.

Painted Shino Water Pot (Mizusashi), Stoneware with iron oxide decoration

Japan, Momoyama Period, 1568-1615 CE

During the Momoyama, often called the 'Golden Age of Japanese Ceramics,' the kilns at Seto gradually declined in production to be replaced by kilns at nearby Mino. At Mino, the classic tea ceremony wares Shino and Oribe were produced. There are several recognized types of Shino, but the most common is what is called Painted Shino, seen in this example. This tea ceremony water pot (mizusashi) would have had a lid made of wood that would nestle in the lip of the jar. Lids were made of wood so that the sound of the lid being replaced would not be loud or jarring, and spoil the meditative atmosphere of the tea room. Shino ware is unique in the earliest use of an opaque, white glaze in Japan. Shino glaze is very simply made from only a few raw earth minerals, and often imperfectly melts. Crazing is common, as is crawling, the technical term for a glaze that separates in melting, leaving patches of unglazed clay next to pools of glaze. Pinholing is also often seen, the result of escaping gases being trapped in the glaze. The resulting surface, with all its imperfections, is a major part of the interest of Shino ware. It is beautifully imperfect. There are two suggested origins of the name Shino: in Japanese, Shiro means 'white,' like the color of the glaze; or possibly that the name derives from Shino Muenobu, the founder of the school of incense appreciation.

This particular example, called Furugishi, or 'Deserted Strand,' is an example of the mizusashi form especially loved by tea ceremony devotees. The design painted on this piece in iron oxide wash on the opaque white glaze is depiction of reeds blown in the wind on a deserted strand of beach. Shino ware that exhibits the quality of 'hiro,' literally, 'fire color' is especially desired. This refers to the areas where the white glaze turns reddish brown at edges and rims, as seen here. Shino clay is a coarse, sandy stoneware that also adds to the rugged attraction of this ware. This piece is registered as a 'national cultural treasure.'

During the Momoyama, feudal lords competed to build magnificent castles and residences, and to show their sophistication, adopted the tea ceremony, previously practiced by just the intelligentsia and the aesthetes. The tea ceremony is still practiced today, and is called cha-no-yu, the way of tea.

The Judgment of Paris, Polychrome Majolica with Luster

Workshop of Guido Durantino, Urbino, 1545-1550 CE, 28" d.

This large, istoriato plate was painted between 1545 and 1550 CE in the Urbino workshop of Guido Durantino and was based on a large oil by Raphael, "The Judgment of Paris." This beautiful example of polychrome majolica shows the use of all the metallic oxide washes which gives a much fuller palette of colors. Renaissance Italian artists were keenly interested in their Roman and Greek history and legends, and publications of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" brought these ancient stories to a Renaissance audience. Ovid was a Roman poet and author, exiled during his own time, who recounted the ancient Greek tales and commented wryly on contemporary Roman affairs. His works were translated into the Italian of the 16th century and sparked a rebirth of interest in these stories which then often found their way onto the canvasses and ceramics of the day. The following is a synopsis of Ovid's retelling of the Judgment of Paris:

"It is said that, when Thetis married Peleus, Jupiter invited all the gods to a feast with the exception of Eris, (known as Strife). When, later she suddenly arrived and was not admitted to the banquet, to make mischief she tossed an apple from the doorway into the middle declaring that whoever was most beautiful should pick it up. Juno, Venus and Minerva each began to claim to be the best looking, and when a bitter quarrel erupted between them, Jupiter ordered Mercury to take them to Paris on Mount Ida and to tell him to be the judge. Juno promised Paris dominion over all lands and greater riches than all men if he favored her; Minerva, that he would henceforth be braver than all and master of every artifice if she were to depart victorious; Venus however promised to arrange for him to marry the most beautiful of all women, Helen, daughter of Tyndareus. Paris preferred the final offer to the earlier ones and declared Venus to be the most beautiful; as a result, Juno and Minerva became enemies of the Trojans. Urged on by Venus, Paris seduced Helen away from Sparta and Menelaos, his host, to Troy and married her; with her came two servants, the former queens Aethra and Thisadie whom Castor and Pollux had awarded to her when they were taken prisoner."