Jug, decanter, broc, betschdorf pottery

Pretty betschorf jug whose dominant colors are gray and blue, characteristic of alsatian artisanal productions since the eighteenth century. Very good general condition. Timeless folk art. The clay, extracted from the forest of haguenau, must rest for several months outside. She then returned to the cellar where she is wet. After a few days, it is mixed with the shovel (rumg'schüfelt). This operation is repeated three times. It then passes into the boudineuse: two iron rollers crush the clay, then an auger leads it to a filter and disc pierced with holes. Finally, it is tightened by the tip ('s mundstick) from where it comes out in the form of pudding. The clay is ready to use. The manufacture of salt sandstone pottery is a very old tradition in the region. In the eighteenth century, potters from the westerwald settled in betschdorf bringing their technique of pottery vitrified with salt and colored with cobalt blue. Since then, the village of betschdorf has become the capital of "grey and blue" pottery. The characteristics of sandstone are a hard and tight grain and low porosity. This porosity is also eliminated in the manufacture of betschdorf sandstone by the so-called "salting" process which by the fusion of sea salt covers the vases with a kind of vitrified coating similar to porcelain enamel and makes them almost completely impermeable. By projecting sodium chloride into the firing oven at a temperature of 1250 degrees, this salt decomposes and gives in combination with the alumina silicate which is the base of the clay a soda silicate that attaches to the parts subjected to firing in the form of an impermeable varnish and thus makes the pottery unassailable to acids. Cooking lasts several hours. Indeed, the rise in temperature must be slow and gradual.

Ref. : XDZGZUA1