Crystal clear: Soyer enamels past and present

摘要

It was indeed fortunate that Erika Speel put me in touch with David Husder before my impending trip to Paris and Limoges in March 2011. We barely had time to organize samples for me to take along, but David's package of several broken bits of his marked enamel arrived from Toronto just in time to collect it from the Williamsburg post office on my way to the airport. Possessing litde technical knowledge of enameling, I thought perhaps running this little errand to the Soyer factory near Limoges would enhance my own understanding of the art of Delphine de Cool. She and a number of her most accomplished pupils from the Paris municipal art school for girls near the Louvre exhibited dozens of painted enamels and porcelains at the Paris Salon and other venues from about 1875 to 1910 (Fig. 4).