Robert Taggart Hall

Robert Taggart Hall (1877 – 1920) was owner and sometime-president of The Hall China Company in East Liverpool, Ohio.

Single-fire in China

The single-fire process was first created by Chinese ceramists during the earliest decades of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911).

The peace and prosperity of the Qing dynasty precipitated a tremendous flowering of the arts. The Qing emperors strongly supported Chinese artists, artisans and craftspeople. Sometime following the Qing dynasty, the single-fire method was eventually lost.

Single-fire at Hall China

When Robert Taggart Hall took over the running of Hall China in 1904, he was determined to figure out the process. With the help of staff chemists and ceramic engineers, he experimented over a period of seven years. Finally, in 1911, Hall and his staff came up not only with a recipe for glaze which would work, but with the correct firing temperature as well.

Lead-free ware by accident

Inadvertently, Hall China developed a completely lead-free glaze. This was due not to particular health or environmental considerations, but to the fact that lead was an expensive ingredient which wouldn't survive the high firing temperatures required by the single-fire process.

External links

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