Pottery Spotted Dog Figurine

Made in US, Europe or Asian import. Recent or older? Breed?
Thanks

 

Breed - Dalmation

1980s or later.
You don't say how tall he is.

Are you old enough to remember when Wheel of Fortune first came on tv? People had to spend their winnings. One of the items was a large Dalmation like this.

 

it is about 12" tall.

 

Smaller than I thought. Still - not so very old

 

Hi,
I remember back in the 70s, Large dog figurines were coming in from Italy, some marked some not. This reminds me of Italian not Asian. JMHO
greg

 

Thanks for the replies. Will do some research on Italian pieces.

 

That is a really well-done DalmatiAn. The musculature is good, as is the presentation of the head. If Italian, would this be under Walter's purview?

 

It wasn't produced in Italy. There are two reasons for that assessment. The base is too crudely finished and most of the Italian canines are porcelain. This one is simply glazed earthenware. See examples by Ronzan or Cacciapuotti.

 

Hi Walter,
I stand corrected, thank you. I forgot about them being porcelain. They just did not have that Asian look about them. My MIL had a pair of greyhounds that looked like the Dalmatian but they were shiny and as you said porcelain.
greg

 

DalmatiOn LOL
I know it was supposed to be with an A.

I find the older I get, the more my spelling is disintegrating into a tangled mess. I mix up my homonyms on a regular basis. Spell phonetically instead of correctly.

Then when I reread a day later, I wonder how in the world I did it.

 

Please don't apologize for an occasional misspelling. We at least have age and hardening arteries as an excuse. It seems however, that I can't pick up a newspaper without finding poor spelling and misused grammar in almost every article (and these are professionals). Lately, the breaking news that scrolls across the bottom of TV news stations is beginning to read like an alien language from another planet.

 

As in, "Nucular testing will be discussed on Febuary, Fridey the 13th, at the Carnegie Liberry.

(she snarled)

 

As Walter said: ". . . I can't pick up a newspaper without finding poor spelling and misused grammar in almost every article (and these are professionals) [emphasis added]."

I think those "professionals" have forgotten that "words" are their "bred and budder."

 

Thanks for the replies.
I don't know how to tell from the bottom if that is bisque or biscuit. It is kind of buff color but don't know if it was low or high temperature fired.
Speaking of porcelain, some say that it differes from stoneware in being transulent. I don't think that is quite true. If the walls and the glaze are too thick you can't see light passing trough it.
Also, porcelain paste could be different color than white, right?

 

Porcelain and pottery are made from different clays and you don't make porcelain thick or glaze it heavily as it rather loses the point.

I must say that as non China person I have never understood the difference between hard paste and soft paste porcelain.

 

Let me see if I can help clear things up a bit.
Both stoneware and porcelain become non-porous once they have been fired in a kiln, which is to say that if the items were mugs or pitchers they would hold water without needing to be glazed or sealed. Porcelain requires two firings in a kiln, stoneware needs only a single firing. Products made from common clay, known as earthenware, must be glazed in order to hold liquid. In most cases where a glaze is applied to porcelain it is a clear glaze.
Porcelain is white and translucent. Hold a porcelain plate up to a strong light and press your hand against the back of it. From the other side you should be able to see the shadow of your fingers. Stoneware can be any natural color and is opaque.
Porcelain clay may be naturally occurring or made by adding Kaolin to the clay. Stoneware clay may, likewise, be naturally occurring or made from clay by extracting the amount of potassium and sodium in it. Some early stoneware was made by adding frit (ground glass).
Soft-paste porcelain is not a porcelain at all. It was an early attempt by Europeans to duplicate the true porcelains of China and Japan. The experiments included adding ground glass (frit) or feldspar and other secret ingredients to clay mixes. True porcelain is made with kaolin, which is not readily found in Europe. Soft-paste porcelain production was discontinued in the mid 1700's when Europe unlocked the secret of porcelain.

 

Hi Walter,
I have had a few pieces of what I was told by experts that was soft paste porcelain which were made in the 19th century. I guess I was "duped".
Thank you for the explaination and the dates. Even an old coot like me is still able to learn.
greg

 

Thanks, Walter! That explains why people who discuss "soft paste" always seems to have different information than the next person. Two questions, if you would, please: how Did Europe unlock the secret of porcelain?, and WHY is Lenox china beige? (Or cream, or ecru, or whatever that isn't white)

 

I agree that most of the porcelain is transulant, like plates, cups, some vases etc. But I do believe there are thick walled pieces which does not let the light pass trough.
As far as I know the Chinese does not have different words for stoneware and porcelain. Don't know how they do it now but but they used to fire the underglazed pieces once. Paste, blue or other color decoration and clear glaze were baked all together. Overglazed enamels would require second firing.
I think the Europeans were experimenting how to make hard paste porcelain as they did not know the ingredients used by the Chinese. Not sure how they figured to use kaolin and feldspar.

 

Greg, you may have not been misled. Although production of soft-paste porcelain came to end in the 18th century some potteries did continue to create decorative items in soft-paste in the 19th century but it was very limited. It is more likely, however, that the items were made of terraglia, a semi-porcelain (terre-de-pipe in French), consisting of some imported kaolin clay mixed with native clays.

Silverthwait, Johann Friedricih Bottiger of the Meissen factory is generally credited with unlocking the secret of Porcelain in 1720, however, several other alchemist, including Tschimhsaus, are named as possible or even probable inventor. The European history of porcelain reads like a fantastic spy novel filled with intrigue, deception, kidnapping, internments, fortunes won and lost.

As to your excellent question concerning the color of Lenox China the company makes it Bone China in both White and Ivory. The ivory color is created by adding pigments to the slurry (liquified clay) during the creation of the porcelain recipe. Note that I called it Bone China. Lenox is one of the few companies still producing Bone China. By law in order to be called Bone China it must contain at least 40 percent, by volume, animal bone ash.