Gradually bits of Chinese pottery and porcelain found their way into
different parts of the East; and as a consequence men began to be
highly dissatisfied with their red and black ware, and with the crude
clay dishes they had previously thought so fine. They wanted to make
white ware like that of the Chinese. But because they did not know
what clays to use, or how to glaze their products, all their
experiments failed. There did nevertheless appear throughout the
Orient a ware of common clay over which a simple covering of white had
been painted, and this slip or engobe of white gave to the variety the
name of Oriental Engobe. This type of ware decorated with a
conventional dull-hued design was many years later revived and
imitated by Theodore Deck of Paris, one of the great French porcelain
makers. But even this was not like the white Chinese ware everybody
wanted so much to make."
"Did they never find out the secret?"
"Of that I will tell you some other time. It is a most interesting
story," returned Mr. Croyden. "In the meantime the Moors and Arabs
who had lived in the Orient had in some way learned that tin or lead
could be used for enameling clay surfaces.
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