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crackle glaze

English translation: A time of trying to acquire an instant, but fake, veneer of antiquity

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:'crackle glaze' time
Selected answer:A time of trying to acquire an instant, but fake, veneer of antiquity
Entered by: Refugio

15:30 Jan 4, 2003
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary
English term or phrase: crackle glaze
He (Napoleon Bonaparte) was a man of his time, when the British and the French rivalled each other in plundering their colonies and protectorates. The eighteenth century was another 'crackle glaze' time when parvenus were busy acquiring the right kind of ancestors and their accoutrements by marriage or pillage.
David Knowles
Local time: 14:49
A time of trying to acquire an instant, but fake, veneer of antiquity
Explanation:
I think it means that the application of crackle glaze to a new piece of pottery simulates many years of aging, just as the parvenus were trying to look like old money.
Selected response from:

Refugio
Local time: 07:49
Grading comment
Fascinating answers! Ruth was the first, and gave a good explanation, and noone gave a "killer reference". I certainly didn't expect to find the French term, and the revelation that it was popular in the early 19th C made sense of the rather obscure and somewhat jarring reference.
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +5A time of trying to acquire an instant, but fake, veneer of antiquity
Refugio
4 +1crackle glaze
Gayle Wallimann
5craquelure
Catherine Bolton
3antique effect
eldira


  

Answers


7 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
A time of trying to acquire an instant, but fake, veneer of antiquity


Explanation:
I think it means that the application of crackle glaze to a new piece of pottery simulates many years of aging, just as the parvenus were trying to look like old money.

Refugio
Local time: 07:49
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 485
Grading comment
Fascinating answers! Ruth was the first, and gave a good explanation, and noone gave a "killer reference". I certainly didn't expect to find the French term, and the revelation that it was popular in the early 19th C made sense of the rather obscure and somewhat jarring reference.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Gayle Wallimann
3 mins
  -> Thanks Gayle

agree  Christopher Crockett: Yes. A curious expression, but that's surely the meaning.
8 mins
  -> Thanks Christopher

agree  Peter Coles: A rather strange use of the term, but I think you're right.
12 mins
  -> Thanks Peter

agree  jerrie
32 mins
  -> Thanks Jerrie

agree  Sarah Ponting
58 mins
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9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
crackle glaze


Explanation:
Crackle glaze is a type of glaze used on pottery that is shiny but it has cracks. The use use of the expression in your context means that people were trying to look good, finding ways of looking refined, aristocratic that really don't hold up very well under closer examination. It's not the real polish that comes from being born an aristocrat.

References for the exact context are hard to find.
Webster's New World Dictionary
and a Pottery manual that I have here at home...

Gayle Wallimann
Local time: 15:49
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in pair: 172

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Christopher Crockett: "Instant Antiquity for the Parvenu"
7 mins
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25 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
craquelure


Explanation:
What the other answerers have said is right - it's a deliberate effect to enhance the appearance of the glazed surface.
Just thought I'd add that according to my Collins Dict. of Art Terms and Techniques, it's also known as "craquelure", and this French term might fit in nicely, given that you're talking about the French too!

Catherine Bolton
Local time: 15:49
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in pair: 98
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27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
antique effect


Explanation:
a time when a style in ceramics that displays cracks on the surface, and strives for an antique effect became popular again ( very popular from early to mid 19th century)


    www.humbold.net/ArcanumRanch/ glaze 5.htm sCraklvs.jpg
    Reference: http://www.crownpaint.co.uk/crown_products/
eldira
Indonesia
Local time: 21:49
Native speaker of: Native in IndonesianIndonesian
PRO pts in pair: 85
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