Porcelain - Augarten Porzellan

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PorCelain oBJeCts
Porcelain Production
A material so delicate and yet so tough: the
secret of porcelain production had preoccupied
the Western world ever since Marco Polo
brought porcelain from Asia to Europe more
than 600 years ago. But merely four ingredients
are needed to produce finest porcelain:
feldspar, quartz, kaolin, and water. The exact
mixing ratio is the well-kept secret of each
factory.
Once the paste is prepared, it can immediately
be cast into moulds for the creation of most elegant
forms. If one prefers to bring the paste to
perfection on the turntable, the substance first
has to be allowed to mature until it reaches its
ideal consistency. Such open circular forms as
beakers or plates are thrown (or turned), dried,
and subsequently finished, whereas angular
and oval forms, as well as handles and parts of
figures, are cast. The individual components of
figures or cups must be put together while still
wet. Now the complex process of firing begins:
the first firing, called biscuit firing, is carried
out at 930° Celsius. It causes the material to
harden, while the surface still remains porous.
Now the time has come to give the raw piece
of porcelain its “identity”: after it has been inspected
and cleaned, the cobalt blue “beehive”
or banded shield stamp is applied before the
object is glazed. It is the Babenberger dynasty’s
coat of arms, which has been used as the
Vienna porcelain factory’s mark since 1744.
After the piece has been glazed by hand, the second
firing, called glost or main firing, is carried
out at 1380° Celsius, which lends the material
the same resistance as steel. Now the smoothly
glazed surface is ready to be elaborately decorated
with the quill pen or brush. Depending
on the pattern, up to six intermediate firings,
so-called “muffle firings”, are required, so that
the colours will fuse with the glaze on the one
hand and the artwork will be conserved as a
whole on the other. The 24-carat gold referred
to as “polished gold” – the icing on the cake in
many of Augarten’s unique items – only receives
its unmistakable shine when polished
with sea or agate sand. Every single Augarten
item is thus made with a lot of patience and
passion, summoned up by those excellent
craftspeople working for us.
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