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Biscuit porcelain, bisque porcelain or bisque is unglazed, white
porcelain Porcelain () is a ceramic material made by heating substances, generally including materials such as kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arises mainl ...
treated as a final product, with a matte appearance and texture to the touch. It has been widely used in European
pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
, mainly for sculptural and decorative objects that are not
tableware Tableware is any dish or dishware used for setting a table, serving food, and dining. It includes cutlery, glassware, serving dishes, and other items for practical as well as decorative purposes. The quality, nature, variety and number of ob ...
and so do not need a glaze for protection. The term "
biscuit A biscuit is a flour-based baked and shaped food product. In most countries biscuits are typically hard, flat, and unleavened. They are usually sweet and may be made with sugar, chocolate, icing, jam, ginger, or cinnamon. They can also be sa ...
" refers to any type of fired but unglazed pottery in the course of manufacture, but only in porcelain is bisque a term for a final product. Unglazed
earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ...
as a final product is often called terracotta, and in
stoneware Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non- refractory fire clay. Whether ...
equivalent unglazed wares (such as
jasperware Jasperware, or jasper ware, is a type of pottery first developed by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770s. Usually described as stoneware, it has an unglazed matte "biscuit" finish and is produced in a number of different colours, of which the most com ...
) are often called "dry-bodied". Many types of pottery, including most porcelain wares, have a glaze applied, either before a single firing, or at the biscuit stage, with a further firing. Small figurines and other decorative pieces have often been made in biscuit, as well as larger portrait busts and other sculptures; the appearance of biscuit is very similar to that of carved and smoothed
marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
, the traditional prestige material for sculpture in the West. It is hardly used in
Chinese porcelain Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from constru ...
or that of other East Asian countries, but in Europe became very popular for figures in the second half of the 18th century, as
Neoclassicism Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism) was a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. ...
dominated contemporary styles. It was first used at Vincennes porcelain in 1751 by Jean-Jacques Bachelier. Biscuit figures have to be free from the common small imperfections that a glaze and painted decoration could cover up, and were therefore usually more expensive than glazed ones. They are also more difficult to keep clean. A popular use for biscuit porcelain was the manufacture of
bisque doll A bisque doll or porcelain doll is a doll made partially or wholly out of bisque or biscuit porcelain. Bisque dolls are characterized by their realistic, skin-like matte finish. They had their peak of popularity between 1860 and 1900 with French ...
s in the 19th century, where the porcelain was typically tinted or painted in flesh tones. In the doll world, "bisque" is usually the term used, rather than "biscuit".
Parian ware Parian ware is a type of biscuit porcelain imitating marble. It was developed around 1845 by the Staffordshire pottery manufacturer Mintons, and named after Paros, the Greek island renowned for its fine-textured, white Parian marble, used since an ...
is a 19th-century type of biscuit.


Colour

Although the great majority of biscuit figures (other than dolls) are entirely in white, there are a number of ways of using colour in the technique. Jasperware, developed by
Wedgwood Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapi ...
in the 1770s and soon very popular all over Europe, is usually classed as stoneware rather than porcelain, but the style of using two contrasting colours of biscuit was sometimes used in porcelain. The
Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro (popularly called ''La China''; "Buen Retiro Porcelain Factory"; alternatively, Real Fábrica de Porcelana del Buen Retiro) was a porcelain manufacturing factory in Spain. It was located in Madrid's Parque del Buen Re ...
in Madrid made a porcelain room in the Casita del Principe, El Escorial decorated with 234 plaques in the style, with a "Wedgwood blue" ground and the design in white biscuit porcelain in low relief. These were applied as sprigs, meaning that they made separately as thin pieces, and stuck to the main blue body before firing. The plaques are framed like paintings; they were made between 1790 and 1795. The figure by the same factory illustrated here uses elements modelled in a coloured paste, and is all biscuit. Biscuit porcelain could also be painted with unfired paint rather than the enamels normal
overglaze decoration Overglaze decoration, overglaze enamelling or on-glaze decoration is a method of decorating pottery, most often porcelain, where the coloured decoration is applied on top of the already fired and glazed surface, and then fixed in a second firing ...
uses, the lack of a shiny surface giving a strikingly different effect in the best examples. This rare technique is called "coloured biscuit", and is found from the 19th century onwards. As with 18th-century pieces painted over the glaze, the paint may peel if not well looked after. A piece could be made with some areas left as biscuit while others are glazed and enamelled in the usual way. A
Chelsea-Derby Chelsea porcelain is the porcelain made by the Chelsea porcelain manufactory, the first important porcelain manufactory in England, established around 1743–45, and operating independently until 1770, when it was merged with Derby porcelain. ...
figure of
George II of the United Kingdom , house = Hanover , religion = Protestant , father = George I of Great Britain , mother = Sophia Dorothea of Celle , birth_date = 30 October / 9 November 1683 , birth_place = Herrenhausen Palace,Cannon. or Leine ...
(1773–74) leaning on a classical plinth and standing on a high base has only the figure in biscuit. This part-glazing also occurs in other types of pottery, and for example is very common in the
earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ...
Chinese
Tang dynasty tomb figures Tang dynasty tomb figures are pottery figures of people and animals made in the Tang dynasty of China (618–906) as grave goods to be placed in tombs. There was a belief that the figures represented would become available for the service of the ...
. Other pieces "reserve" areas in biscuit, by giving them a temporary coating of wax or something similar to keep the glaze off; this is a fairly common feature of
Longquan celadon Longquan celadon (龍泉青瓷) is a type of green-glazed Chinese ceramic, known in the West as celadon or greenware, produced from about 950 to 1550. The kilns were mostly in Lishui prefecture in southwestern Zhejiang Province in the south of ...
(which is porcelain in Chinese terms), and also found in Ming dragons. Some Chinese pieces are described as "porcelain with polychrome enamels on the biscuit" - that is, using the normal "overglaze" technique on biscuit, but with no actual glaze, often a revivalist style evoking earlier
sancai ''Sancai'' ()Vainker, 75 is a versatile type of decoration on Chinese pottery using glazes or slip, predominantly in the three colours of brown (or amber), green, and a creamy off-white. It is particularly associated with the Tang Dynasty (618� ...
wares (which were not in porcelain). The laborious and mostly 19th-century
pâte-sur-pâte ''Pâte-sur-pâte'' is a French term meaning "paste on paste". It is a method of porcelain decoration in which a relief design is created on an unfired, unglazed body, usually with a coloured body, by applying successive layers of (usually) white p ...
technique often uses biscuit for at least one of the colours. File:Madame du Barry (1746–1793) MET ES4280.jpg,
Madame du Barry Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse du Barry (19 August 1743 – 8 December 1793) was the last '' maîtresse-en-titre'' of King Louis XV of France. She was executed, by guillotine, during the French Revolution due to accounts of treason—particularly bein ...
, the bust in biscuit, the pedestal glazed, enamelled and gilt.
Sèvres porcelain Sèvres (, ) is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a population of 23,251 as of 2018, is known for ...
, 1772.The museum is not entirely clear as to whether this was made as two pieces. The comparable British Museum George III figure was made as one piece. File:Simposiasta, Real Fabrica del Buen Retiro, Madrid, 1784-1803 AD - Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas - Madrid, Spain - DSC08406.JPG, Attendee at a
symposium In ancient Greece, the symposium ( grc-gre, συμπόσιον ''symposion'' or ''symposio'', from συμπίνειν ''sympinein'', "to drink together") was a part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was acc ...
, all in biscuit porcelain including the
Jasperware Jasperware, or jasper ware, is a type of pottery first developed by Josiah Wedgwood in the 1770s. Usually described as stoneware, it has an unglazed matte "biscuit" finish and is produced in a number of different colours, of which the most com ...
blue,
Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro Real Fábrica del Buen Retiro (popularly called ''La China''; "Buen Retiro Porcelain Factory"; alternatively, Real Fábrica de Porcelana del Buen Retiro) was a porcelain manufacturing factory in Spain. It was located in Madrid's Parque del Buen Re ...
, Madrid, 1784-1803 File:Statuette Porzellanmalerei KGM 07-120.jpg, ''The porcelain painter'', Paris, c. 1875. Biscuit porcelain with unfired paint. File:MET 1992 100 2 O1 sf (cropped).jpg,
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...
Chinese zodiac figure, part biscuit, part coloured glazes


Notes


References

* Battie, David, ed., ''Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Porcelain'', 1990, Conran Octopus. {{Authority control Porcelain Ceramic materials