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Sang de boeuf glaze, or sang-de-boeuf, is a deep red colour of ceramic glaze, first appearing in Chinese porcelain at the start of the 18th century. The name is French, meaning "ox blood" (or cow blood), and the glaze and the colour sang de boeuf are also called ox-blood or oxblood in English, in this and other contexts.
Sang de boeuf was one of a number of new "flambé" glazes, marked by "unpredictable but highly decorative and varying effects",[1] developed in the Jingdezhen porcelain kilns during the Kangxi reign (1662–1722).[2] According to one scholar: "In its finer examples, this spectacular glaze gives the impression that one is gazing through a limpid surface layer, which is slightly crazed and strewn with countless bubbles, to the color that lies underneath".[3]
As with most Chinese red glazes, the main colouring agent is copper oxide, fired in a reducing atmosphere (without oxygen); finishing them in an oxidizing atmosphere may have been part of the process. From the late 19th century onwards, usually after lengthy experiment, many Western potters produced versions of the Chinese glaze, which is technically very difficult to achieve and control.[4]
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For Chinese ceramics, some museums and books prefer the term "sang de boeuf", some "oxblood", in both cases with varying use of hyphens, and capitals and italics for "sang de boeuf".[5] The most common Chinese name for the glaze is lángyáohóng (郎窑红, "Lang kiln red").[6] Another Chinese name for this type of glaze is niúxiěhóng (牛血红, "ox-blood red/sang de boeuf").[7]
- ^ Wood, 58
- ^ Sullivan, 226; Valenstein, 238–242; Pollock
- ^ Valenstein, 238
- ^ Ellison, 108–109; Burke and Frelinghuysen, 213–216; Battie, 161–162
- ^ Recent books published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art use: "Sang de Boeuf", "sang de boeuf", "sang-de-boeuf". Typically, outside the larger museums, "ox(-)blood" is preferred in America, and sang de boeuf in Great Britain.
- ^ Nilsson; Valenstein, 238
- ^ Bruccoleri, para. 10