The first issue of our new column, ‘The Word of the Month’, is featuring the word 'bisque' – unglazed porcelain, white porcelain mass that is not covered with a shiny layer of lead glaze.

Let's look at the technique used to create this porcelain using an example from the museum exposition. Part of the museum ‘Russian Art Glass and Ceramics’ collection – candlestick ‘Resting Shepherd,’ was manufactured at F. Gardner Porcelain Factory in the 1860-1870s.

The surface of biscuit porcelain products is white, matte and slightly rough, which makes them look like marble. The technique used to create it involves two bakings, as indicated by the first part of the word – ‘bis’, or ‘repeated’. The porcelain is baked twice without glaze. Biscuit porcelain is related to confectionery not only by its ‘delicious’ name, but also by its porosity. It is this porous structure that prevents biscuit from being used for tableware, but it is in high demand as a material for art sculpture.

There is a concept of bisque (primary) baking of ceramic products. The temperature of primary baking is usually 800-1000 °C, with the first stage of heating being slow enough so that the evaporating water does not cause deformation of the item. Biscuit baking causes irreversible chemical and physical changes, resulting in a durable, porous and slightly rough product resembling marble. All porcelain undergoes the bisque stage. But it was the craftsmen at the Vincennes factory near Paris that first thought of stopping at this stage. In 1751, the company, later known throughout the world as the Sèvres Porcelain Factory, presented a series of sculptural miniatures made of unglazed material. The initiative to leave porcelain at the stage of utility baking, turning a technical processing technique into an art one, belonged to Jean-Jacques Bachelier, director of the Vincennes manufactory. The Vincennes factory enjoyed the special patronage of King Louis XV. In 1756, the manufactory was moved to Sèvres, and a year later, Étienne Maurice Falconet, the author of many world-famous statues, including the Bronze Horseman in St. Petersburg (unveiled on Senate Square in St. Petersburg on August 18, 1782), was appointed its chief sculptor. The fashion for miniature tabletop sculptures quickly spread not only in France, but also in other European countries.

When the Classicism style replaced the Rococo one in the 19^th century, small bisque porcelain sculptures became very popular. In addition to figurines, the Sèvres Manufactory began to produce decorative vases with white moulded medallions on a coloured background. Table sculptures and portrait busts made of unglazed porcelain, both white and coloured, were produced by Meissen, Wedgwood, Vienna Porcelain Manufactory Augarten, Manufacture de Capodimonte in Naples, and several others.

In 1845, the Staffordshire pottery factory Mintons, second in importance only to Wedgwood, began producing another variety of ‘biscuit’ porcelain, named after the Greek island of Paros. In ancient times, high-quality marble was mined there, distinguished by its exquisite fine-grained structure and milky whiteness. Paros decorative vessels and figurines, cast from porcelain slip (liquid clay) and only baked once, also imitated marble carving.

Their main advantage, apart from their art value, was the possibility of mass production, thanks to the use of moulds rather than manual labour.

Between th 1860 and 1900s, French and German manufacturers began producing highly realistic toys made of porcelain bisque, which replaced their earlier, fully glazed counterparts.

The history of bisque porcelain in Russia began with the founding of the Nevsky Porcelain Manufactory by decree of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. At first, the factory produced elegant snuffboxes and other small items for the needs of the court. A full production cycle was only established in 1756, after a large kiln was built. The appearance of bisque sculpture in Russia dates back to the 1750s. The first figurines – blacks, Chinese, heroes of antiquity, folk types – were made at the Imperial Porcelain Factory.  In 1766, the porcelain factory of the Englishman Franz Gardner began operating in the village of Verbilki in the Moscow province. He established the mass production of household figurines similar to those made at Wedgwood manufactory, and the entire collection was named ‘Gardner's bisque.’

In the first half of the 19^th century, items decorated with moulded flowers became fashionable; individual bouquets were made from bisque flowers on special layers. One of the masterpieces of Russian porcelain art was a bouquet of flowers created by the moulder Petr Ivanov that worked at the Imperial Porcelain Factory. The bouquet was intended to be displayed at the World Exhibition in London in 1851, but it was decided not to transport the fragile item there for fear of damaging it. Today, Russian craftsmen are working to restore all the subtleties of bisque moulding technology.

Unglazed porcelain will always be relevant because its value lies in the pristine clarity of its curves and the detail of its relief, which is invariably lost when the product is covered with glaze. Bisque porcelain accurately preserves all the features of the form created by the master craftsman. Bisque products look as if they were carved from stone, but at the same time they have a unique glow and soft play of light.