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for them to evince their superiority in the ornamental branches of
the art; and this has been partially accomplished by the improved taste
of the public, compelling manufacturers to employ superior artists; as
well as by the encouragement given by Government in establishing Schools
of Design for instruction in classic design and correct drawing.
The ancients were not altogether ignorant
of the art of embodying ornament in the interior of Glass; but their
productions were only partially enclosed. The picture of a duck,
described by Winckelmann, or the arabesque Mosaic in the British Museum,
is but a partial incrustation; as the painting is neither completely
enclosed, nor protected from the air. The Venetian
ball and the Bohemian ornamental stems are perfect encrustations; but
they are curious, rather than tastefully designed, or useful. It was
impossible to introduce into the interior of Glass any device or figure,
which could be with certainty accurately defined; because, the variegated
Glass in the interior being of the same nature as the enamel, is
(especially if opaque) fusible at a less degree of heat than the coating
of white transparent glass; consequently, any impression must have been
effaced, when, in the process of manufacture, it became incased in the
hot transparent Glass. To render the art of incrustation subservient to
any useful purpose, it was requisite, in the first instance, to discover
a substance capable of uniting with Glass, but requiring a stronger heat
than its transparent enclosure to render it fusible. About forty years since, a Bohemian
manufacturer first attempted to incrust in Glass, small figures of
greyish clay. The experiments which he made, were in but few instances
successful, in consequence of the clay not being adapted to
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