Chapter V: France (2)

Where but in nature shall we see anything suggestive of such decoration? We do not find it in Japan, for the symbolical and semi-imaginative, semi-realistic style of the extreme East has nothing in common with this naturalism. As little do we find it among the brilliant colors and fantastic forms of Persia. If we come nearer home, to Italy, even to the French centres we have already visited, there is nothing in their classical scenes and floral wreaths and bouquets to prepare us to find in Limoges their orderly successor. In a word, the style is original. There is no crowding of tints for the sake of their rich beauty. A single flower lying on a ground of one prevailing tone is sufficient ornamentation for a vase; or a handful of flowers may be scattered upon the surface in tumbled profusion, or woven into a wreath. Haviland has entered upon a hitherto undiscovered path, and let us pray that he may never be tempted to try the porcelain decoration which threatened to ruin faience, nor to give us anything more meretricious than the beauty of a garden flower or of the many other admirably conceived forms which he has endowed with life.

The best pieces have been chosen for commendation and to illustrate the highest results to be expected from the new process. It is unquestionable, however, that there are many pieces of this faience which could be disposed of without seeking words for the expression of enthusiastic praise. This gives those desiring specimens every opportunity for the exercise of a judicious discrimination. In some pieces the simultaneous melting of the color and glaze has resulted in a haziness of outline and confusion of colors by no means characteristic of the better examples. On others with figure decoration the drawing has been completely destroyed, and the figure left in obscurity. These inferior pieces are useful, however, for showing how careful must be the work which produces the bold effects securing our admiration.

When Haviland took up the process discovered by MM. Chaplet, Laurin, and Lafond, at Bourg-la-Reine, he secured the services of two of these artists. The third, M. Laurin, carried out the process at the place of its discovery. Many of this artist’s works come to us bearing his mark and the name of the factory, Bourg-la-Reine, in full. Like that of Haviland, his work is occasionally irregular; but, as a rule, it is entitled to very high commendation. The flower decoration is extremely beautiful, and when laid upon a soft ground, such as the gray, which Laurin produces to perfection, is entitled to nearly all the praise bestowed upon the corresponding works from Haviland’s factory. The Bourg-la-Reine faience is chiefly painted on the flat, and the leading decoration consists of flower and figure painting. We meet with many well-selected subjects and much strong and realistic treatment. On one vase appear an eagle and a serpent on an excellent ground of gray and blue, the former of which is also employed with fine effect in a variety of flower pieces.

A very common mistake is made regarding this faience. It is often confounded with that of Haviland, although the differences between the two fabrics are obvious. In the first place, the marks can be consulted. That of Limoges is stamped “H. & Co.”--or, Haviland & Co.--with or without the place of manufacture. The artist’s mark also is generally attached. The Bourg-la-Reine is marked either with the name “Laurin” or “B.-la-R.,” or with both. In the second place, the alkaline glaze of the Haviland faience gives the paintings, especially of flowers, a life-like appearance peculiar to itself. It is a mistake to suppose that the processes of decoration are identical in every particular. In one respect only they are alike. In both, the colors are laid upon the unbaked clay. In the mixing of the colors and in the glaze they are distinct. Laurin’s decoration is harder in outline than the Limoges, and never possesses the mingled softness and strength which constitute the great charm of the latter.

Of the early history of Bourg-la-Reine little of general interest is known. It appears that Jullien and Jacques of Mennecy founded a workshop there about the year 1773. Jullien died in 1774, and was succeeded by his son, who resigned his share in the business to Jacques. When Jacques died, in 1799, his son, C. S. Jacques, continued the fabrication. At a later period fine white faience was made. It is upon Laurin alone that, in this country, the reputation of the place depends.

The name of Deck, of Paris, brings before us much that is beautiful in the recent ceramics of France. For a long time, in fact, his name was supposed to represent nearly all that was excellent in the color and decoration of European pottery. Having enriched his palette with a wealth of colors which made him the envy of his cotemporaries, he turned his attention to reviving Oriental styles in hues rivalling those of the East. He was first attracted to Persia, and with marvellous skill applied his rich enamel colors to the reproduction of the faience of that country. In other cases he is manifestly inspired by Japanese art. His technical skill enables him to reach widely varied effects, and since to this are added truthful drawing and a fine taste in the assortment of tints, we can easily understand his eminence in the art. Specimens of his best work are comparatively rare in this country. The faience vase from the Corcoran Art Gallery (Fig. 247) is characteristic, and is an excellent example of M. Deck’s coloring. The ground is a soft yellow or buff, and the plumage of the pheasant is brilliant and rich. The blue tints are especially fine, and the glaze, which is judged to be alkaline, gives the coloring that peculiar softness which is found in the greatest perfection on _pate tendre_. There is considerable doubt as to the body used by Deck. It varies very much in different pieces, approaching in some cases the hardness and compactness of porcelain. Of this character is the bottle, Fig. 248. The ground color of this specimen is a clear blue, and in it the white blossoms appear in thick clusters. A vase and plaque, with a somewhat similar, but possibly even a finer body, are shown at page 325 (Figs. 280 and 281). That given here (Fig. 249), singular alike in form and color, has a ground of undecided shades of brown and yellow. Deck’s violet is soft and rich, approaching at times the velvety violet of China.

The other names most familiar to Americans are those of Colinot, Parville, Longwy, Creil, Sarreguemines, and Montereau. Their products illustrate the taste for Oriental styles which sprung up a few years ago, and to the gratification of which much of the ingenuity of French makers has been devoted. Colinot, of Paris, has employed with great skill colored enamels in the imitation of Japanese work. On one cylindrical vase (Fig. 250) he has laid in strong relief, upon a dark-buff ground, flowers and leaves exactly after the models supplied by Satsuma and Kioto. On other specimens the decoration is outlined upon a white ground, and filled in with enamel colors. The method is productive of a clear hardness of outline, but the results are seldom unpleasing and often very attractive. Colinot has succeeded in obtaining several excellent colors. The vase (Fig. 251) is a rich purple, on which the flowers are laid in white and green. The treatment is similar to that of Deck, but the ground is less brilliant and clear. Colinot also acquired considerable reputation by his faience with colored stanniferous enamel. We give an example (Fig. 252) of his treatment of large pieces. The ground is a pale blue, and the medallions are admirably painted. The color is subdued throughout.

The Creil workshop was established some time during the eighteenth century, probably about 1780, by a number of English potters. Its earliest works appear to have consisted chiefly of services of a semi-porcelaneous paste. The Worcester method of transfer-printing and then painting the design in colors was adopted, and successfully handled. The founders transferred the establishment to Le Bœuf, Milliet & Co. and De St. Criq & Co. Porcelain was made until 1860, after which the production was restricted to English faience. The paste cannot, however, be distinctly qualified, as it varies from the original semi-porcelain to cream-colored ware. The latter has a wide reputation, both for its quality and its decoration under the glaze.

The Montereau establishment was, like that of Creil, founded by Englishmen. Letters patent were granted on March 15th, 1775, to Clark, Shaw & Co., to make English faience and queen’s-ware. The firm started under very favorable auspices, receiving an annual allowance of 1200 francs for ten years, probably for the purpose of naturalizing the industry. Its wares helped to overturn the manufacture of French faience, and were imitated at several places, including Toulouse and Sarreguemines. In 1790 there were two establishments at Montereau. As at Creil, M. De St. Criq, in 1810, acquired the right of protection, and in 1829 assigned it to Lebœuf & Thebaut.

At Longwy the manufacture of faience was begun about forty years ago, when M. Huart de Northcomb was proprietor of a workshop. Its name is now found upon many excellent specimens of faience with colored stanniferous enamel. In the bottle and tray (Fig. 253) a rich effect is produced by the employment of two shades of blue in the scaly ground. The oval medallions and other ornamentation are yellow, with leaves and flowers in green and pink. It is one of the best examples we have seen from this factory, which is one of the largest of its kind in France. The pitcher (Fig. 254) has a ground of undecided very pale yellow, and the leaves, flowers, and birds are variously colored. Our third specimen, an oval plaque (Fig. 255), has, in its design and the brilliancy of its coloring, a decidedly Oriental appearance. In the other examples the ground is broken up by a crackle more or less open and irregular; but in the plaque the white enamel is veined with fine and regular darkly colored cracks, which bring the ground to a soft and pleasing gray. The flowers are red and pink, and the foliage green, turning at times to blue. The bird is brightly plumaged with blue and other colors. In this as in the other pieces, the ground alone is crackled, and the decoration has the appearance of being graved in the enamel and then filled in with the requisite colors.

Parville, of Paris, makes enamelled faience of the same general description; and the vase chosen to represent it (Fig. 256) deserves attention both for the peculiarity of its form and for the illustration it gives of a French modification of the Persian style of decorating. The ground is a dull and sombre shade of dark-blue, upon which the ornamentation is laid in light-blue, white, red, and two shades of yellow.

Gien faience, like those of Creil and Montereau, belongs to the class of ware with a colorless plumbiferous glaze, and its decoration is often remarkable both in design and color. In the vase with which we represent this faience (Fig. 257) the design is outlined on the biscuit, and the colors are then applied. The earlier products of Gien are said to be imitations of the styles of Marseilles. A more artistic faience, resembling the Gien, is made by M. Elysse at Blois, in the old Italian styles of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

The Sarreguemines factory was founded in 1770, by Paul Utzchneider, and is now carried on under the firm of Utzchneider & Co. It turns out both faience and porcelain. Figures and groups in porcelain biscuit and artificial porcelain are made. The factory is also known by a fine white stone-ware. In the fine faience of Sarreguemines, certain works may be found which are, in many respects, the most extraordinary of the present time. Imitations of jasper, marble, granite, and porphyry, are produced of the most beautiful description, and other pieces resemble the jasper-ware of Wedgwood, with white decoration on a blue ground. The vase (Fig. 258) can hardly be described in words. Among the varied contents of Mr. Collamore’s collection, it is perfectly unique. The ground is a deep and brilliant black, upon which the decoration is laid in white, gold, and blue, dotted with drops of jewel-like enamels. The handles are blue and gold. The design can be distinctly followed in the engraving, but even a colored plate could hardly do justice to the enamels, or give an idea of the general effect.

Niederviller has made faience in the Strasburg style since at least the beginning of the eighteenth century, and about 1760 was producing pieces with delicate flower paintings. It was then under the patronage of Baron de Beyerlé, and afterward of Count Custine, under whose proprietorship the porcelain style was farther developed. A curious specimen is given by Jacquemart, in which the ground of the plate is painted to imitate wood, and in the centre is a reservation simulating a sheet of white paper with a landscape in pink. In 1768 the Baron de Beyerlé was making a good quality of porcelain from German material. Under Count Custine, François Lanfrey was engaged as manager. Charles Sauvage, or Lemire, made small figures and groups in biscuit, and Cyfflé also executed some of his works at Niederviller.

The name of this artist, Paul Louis Cyfflé, is, however, more intimately associated with Luneville. The faience workshop of Luneville was founded about 1729, by Jacques Chambrette. In 1778 it was acquired by Keller & Guérin. The styles of Nevers and Strasburg were both successfully followed. It was here that Cyfflé made his statuettes of fine “terre de Lorraine.”

In the same district are the factories of Nancy and St. Clement. The former produced faience in 1774, and a peculiar kind of biscuit which takes its name from the place. The factory was founded by Nicolas Lelong. Very little is known of the St. Clement works, though they are said to have been in operation in 1750. In 1835 they were under the directorship of M. Aubry. Both Luneville and St. Clement have been more recently known by their stanniferous faience.

St. Amand holds an important position in the history of French art. It is one of the places, including Lille, Dunkirk, Valenciennes, and the other faience-producing towns of Flanders, which enabled France to domesticate, in a measure, the manufacture of ware resembling that of Delft. The paste of these faiences is identical with that used in the great Dutch establishment, with which they very soon came into competition. The history of St. Amand extends from 1740 down to the Revolution. It was founded by Pierre Joseph Fauquez, was continued by his son, Pierre François Joseph, until 1773, and by his grandson, Jean Baptiste Joseph, until the Revolution. The earlier style of decoration is based upon that of Rouen; the second is after that of Strasburg. One of the distinguishing features of this faience is the use of white enamel in relief upon the glaze, which is faintly tinged with blue.

Having already touched upon a few of the leading names of modern Paris, there yet remains to be said something of its previous history. The relics discovered within the city belong to every period, from the Roman downward; and it may therefore be said that the metropolitan potters have been as busy, comparatively speaking, in the past as they are to-day. Faience was made from the beginning of the seventeenth century, and Réverend was, in 1664, making imitations of Delft, “thin, with a white enamel, with clear polychrome colors, often excessively pure.” This is M. Jacquemart’s description. Notwithstanding the privilege accorded to Réverend, many other workshops appear to have made faience throughout the whole of the eighteenth century, and it is generally impossible to tell them from the wares of Rouen and elsewhere, which they imitated.

Artistic faience was made at Sceaux for about forty-five years previous to 1795, by Chapelle and Glot successively. Gros-Caillou, St. Denis, Vincennes, St. Cloud, and Sèvres were all more or less engaged in the manufacture of faience. We find Pierre Antoine Hannong, from Strasburg, at Vincennes in 1767, but he met with little success.

There are many other places at which faience was made, some, like Nantes, Bordeaux, and Orleans, of importance, and others of which little is known besides their names. A list of them would add nothing to our real knowledge of French art, which has been chiefly influenced by the styles of which we have most fully treated. To the accounts of them has been added all that could be learned regarding Limoges, Creil, Sarreguemines, and a few Parisian and other workshops especially interesting to the collectors of the present day.

PORCELAIN.

Efforts to Make Porcelain.--First Artificial Porcelain.--St.
Cloud.--Lille.--Paris.--Chantilly,--Mennecy.--Vincennes.--Sèvres.--Natural,
or Hard, Porcelain.--Discovery of Kaolin.--Various
Factories.--Limoges.--Deck.--Regnault.--Solon.--Pate
Changeante.--Pate-sur-Pate.

We have already seen that the discovery of artificial porcelain preceded that of natural, or kaolinic, porcelain. In treating of the faience of Rouen, we quoted, from the letters patent granted to Louis Poterat on the 31st of October, 1673, a passage to show that he meditated the production of porcelain similar to the Chinese. A privilege was also granted to Claude Réverend, of Paris, in 1664, which bears that he possessed the secret of making a “counterfeit porcelain, as fine and finer than that which comes from the East Indies.” All that Réverend achieved was a very fine faience; and Poterat, having met with success as a maker of faience, probably renounced the prosecution of the search for porcelain, although he may be said to have arrived at or very near success. The first French artificial, or soft, porcelain known to commerce was that made by the Chicanneau family at St. Cloud in 1695 (Fig. 259). It is first noticed by Martin Lister, a traveller, in 1698. Henry Trou, having married the widow of Pierre Chicanneau, became head of the manufactory of St. Cloud; and a family quarrel having taken place, Marie Moreau, widow of one of the Chicanneaus, established herself in Paris. The earliest marks of St. Cloud porcelain are the sun and the letters S. C. and T., the former dating from 1702 to 1715, the latter from 1715 to 1730. The sun was the device of Louis XIV., and the letters afterward used were the initials of St. Cloud and Trou. The paste was close and white, and the glaze uneven. The decoration soon became varied in character, some pieces, with birds and flowers in relief, resembling the Chinese, and others of French patterns in blue, with arabesques or lace borders.

The attempts of Poterat and Réverend, and the more perfect success of Chicanneau, indicate the prevalence of the desire to solve the mystery of Chinese porcelain. Experiments were being conducted almost everywhere, and the success of the potters of St. Cloud gave a new zest to the search. A manufactory was founded at Lille in 1711; at Paris, by the offshoot of the St. Cloud family, in 1722; and at Chantilly in 1725, where the porcelain of Corea was taken as a model. Ten years later Barbin was established at Mennecy, and in 1739 the philosopher Réaumur, led away by the universal search, arrived at a devitrified glass, which went under the name of “Réaumur’s porcelain,” though in no sense deserving such a name. With 1740 we reach the establishment of the royal manufactory at Vincennes (Fig. 260).

Two brothers named Dubois, formerly of St. Cloud, offered to sell their secret to the Intendant of Finance, and were given the necessary means to carry on the production at Vincennes. These men did not fulfil their promise, and were succeeded by one of their workmen, named Gravant. The celebrated Madame de Pompadour used her influence with the king to induce him to favor an enterprise the success of which would make France independent of Saxony. The result was that the manufacture quickly rose to eminence. Chemists, artists, and goldsmiths were engaged in designing and decorating. Flowers were modelled and painted in a style so closely resembling the natural that the king is said, upon one occasion, to have mistaken the artificial for the real. In 1753, the position of manager was given to Eloi Brichard. Louis XV. took a third of the capital upon himself, and the name of “The Royal Porcelain Manufactory of France” was conferred upon the establishment. The workshops at Vincennes became too small, and in 1756 a removal was made to a new building erected specially for the purpose at Sèvres.

The imitations which had annoyed Adam, the director who preceded Brichard, continued under the administration of the latter. The king then took the entire establishment into his own hands, and appointed M. Boileau director. Such was an eighteenth century toy of royalty. The king, accompanied by the Pompadour, paid regular visits to Sèvres, which was well worthy of being a royal possession. Everything that art could suggest in the form of gardens and groves had been done to embellish it. Even a private chase was provided for the artists, where, in hunting the boar and stag, they relieved the labors of the studio. Never, possibly, were artists so favored by patronage and place, and the productions of Sèvres were worthy of the sunshine in which it basked. Its flowers and vases admit of no classification. Figures were also made in biscuit (see Fig. 226). Chemists vied with each other in the invention of colors, and the _bleu de roi_, Hellot’s turquoise blue (1752), the Pompadour pink (1757), violet, greens, yellow, and iron-red followed each other in rapid succession, and were employed with dazzling effect. Special mention need only be made of the jewelled porcelain (Figs. 262 and 263) on a _bleu de roi_ ground. The successive directors after Boileau were: Parent, 1773-1779; Regnier, 1779-1793; Commissioners, with Chanou and afterward Salmon, Ettlinger, and Meyer, jointly as inspectors, down to 1800; Brongniart, 1800-1847; and then MM. Ebelman, Regnault, and Robert in succession. The specimen here given (Fig. 264) is one of a pair dated 1772 and 1781 respectively, which formerly belonged to Louis XVI. On his request they were sold by Governor Morris, in order to raise money, and were bought by Dr. Hosack, of New York. The scene in the medallion represents Louis XVI. in his cabinet, and the nurse bringing in the newly born Dauphin.

Meantime the paste was still artificial, and the researches for a natural, or hard, porcelain were not relaxed. In 1769 the discovery of kaolin and petuntse at St. Yrieix, near Limoges, led to the introduction of hard paste into Sèvres. In 1804 M. Brongniart decided to abandon the manufacture of artificial porcelain, and soon afterward regretted having taken such a step. In 1847 M. Ebelman, Brongniart’s pupil and successor, decided to revive the _pate tendre_, and for four years made use of a body which had been prepared by Brongniart forty-five years previously. The clay, instead of being thrown away, as Brongniart thought, had been stored throughout the long period of its neglect, and both saved the new director any trouble in experimenting, and supplied a standard for the future. The production of soft paste has been continued, but the quantity is inconsiderable. Mr. Walters, of Baltimore, has in his collection a valuable _pate tendre_ vase dated 1860.

To give in detail the events which led to the introduction of natural porcelain into the royal factory, we must turn back to the year 1721, when Wackenfeld was attempting to utilize at Strasburg the knowledge he had brought from Germany. Hannong was engaged in the same enterprise; and his son, Paul Antoine, after endeavoring in vain to carry on the production in competition with the artificial porcelain of the royal factory, and engaging in fruitless negotiations with Director Boileau, at last retired to Frankenthal. His son afterward took the Strasburg works in hand, but failed. All this porcelain was made from imported material. That of Paul Antoine resembles in decoration the works of Meissen, and his son followed both the Saxon and Sèvres styles.

In 1758 an event happened of the first importance to the making of a true French natural porcelain. This was the discovery by the Count de Brancas Lauraguais of an inferior quality of kaolin near Alençon. The specimens of the ware in which it was used show a coarse body, and decoration after the Chinese and Japanese types. Shortly afterward Gérault, or to give his name in full, Charles Claude Gérault Daranbert, the proprietor of a faience establishment at Orleans, engaged in the manufacture of porcelain. A privilege had been granted to the Orleans workshop, in 1755, to make a white faience, and the making of porcelain appears to have begun about 1764, on the acquisition by Gérault of a kaolin mine at St. Yrieix-la-Perche. In 1765 Guettard, chemist in the establishment of the Duke of Orleans at Bagnolet, came upon the kaolin deposit at Alençon originally discovered by the Count Lauraguais. Within a few years, also, Robert was making porcelain at Marseilles.

The next events of importance are Madame Darnet’s discovery of kaolin at St. Yrieix, and Macquer’s experiments with it at Sèvres. As at Strasburg, the mistake was made at Sèvres of mixing the kaolin and petuntse in the wrong proportions, and the result of the excess of felspar was a very translucent glassy body. The first pieces and those of artificial paste were so nearly alike that, to distinguish the former, they were marked with the well known double L and crown. They may also be known by the color being laid upon the glaze. In the soft paste the colors appear to be sunk in the glaze. When Brongniart, in 1804, stopped the production of _pate tendre_, the works of the royal factory began to assume the forms and to be decorated in the styles with which the world has been familiar for the last seventy years. “The largest pieces,” says Jacquemart, “were undertaken, and sculpture and painting united to enrich gigantic vases. Plaques of forty-six by thirty-six inches were given to distinguished artists, who reproduced in unalterable colors the frescoes of Raffaelle, the masterpieces of Vandyke, Titian, and of the modern school.” Of modern Sèvres we give one example (Fig. 268), to which some interest attaches as belonging to a service presented by the French Government to Miss M. F. Curtis, distributor of funds sent from Boston for the relief of sufferers by the war with Germany in 1870-1871.

To give an idea of the value of the Sèvres porcelain, it may be mentioned that Napoleon, following an example set by Louis XV., sent to the King of Etruria a vase worth about sixty thousand dollars. Tea-sets worth $1000, vases at $1500 and $5000, are mentioned as being in the royal collection in England.

There are several specimens of Sèvres porcelain, formerly preserved at Arlington House, and now in the Patent Office at Washington, to which a historical interest attaches. There are, firstly, some pieces of the “Cincinnati China” (Fig. 269) presented to George Washington by the French officers who fought in the continental army. They are white, with deep-blue bands of leaves and scroll-work, and have on the bottoms or sides the figure of Fame holding in her left hand the Order of the Cincinnati. There are, secondly, several remnants of the set presented at the same time, and by the same gentlemen, to Mrs. Washington (Fig. 270). The rim of each piece is surrounded by a chain of thirteen links, in each of which is the name of one of the original States. In the centre of each plate and saucer, and on the side of each of the other pieces, is the monogram of Martha Washington, surrounded by a green wreath of laurel and olive leaves. A golden aureole surrounds the wreath, beneath which is a ribbon scroll with the motto, _Decus et tutamen ab illo_. The colors are at once delicate and brilliant, and the painting admirable.

Manufactories rapidly sprung up in other French towns--at Niederviller, where German kaolin was used; at several places in Paris; at Bordeaux, Clignancourt, Lille, Valenciennes, Vincennes, Limoges, and elsewhere. Fauquez made porcelain at Valenciennes in 1785, and the works were taken by Lamoninary in 1787. Hannong was employed at Vincennes in 1786, and marked his pieces with two pipes crossed, with or without the letter H. The industry was afterward protected by the Duke of Chartres, when the monogram L. P. was adopted as the mark.

The porcelain of Limoges is probably better known in this country than any other, through the enterprise of the makers, whose works in faience have already arrested our attention. The proximity of Limoges to St. Yrieix would alone lead us to view it as an important centre. After the discovery of kaolin, the brothers Grellet, Massié, and Fourniera established a porcelain workshop in 1773. The mark C. D. occurs on many remarkable works. In 1784 the manufactory was absorbed by Sèvres, Gabriel Grellet acting as director. The paste was then very pure and white, but deteriorated; and Alluaud succeeded Grellet in 1788. Another change was made in 1793, and the works were again carried on as a private enterprise in the hands of MM. Joubert and Cancate. In 1794 the convent at Limoges was converted into a manufactory, and another rose in 1798, in the hands of the elder Alluaud, who was succeeded by his son. Though highly commendable in purity of glaze and compactness and whiteness of paste, his porcelain was inferior in decoration. The next we hear of Limoges is through David Haviland, of New York, who went from this country to Limoges upward of forty years ago. His firm worked steadily in the manufacture of porcelain, chiefly of a domestic character, before they conjoined it with that of faience.

At the present time Haviland & Co. make a domestic ware of exceptional purity and of great beauty of design. One set is modelled after and decorated with the water-lily, and others are of equal simplicity and beauty. The rule in these and in more strictly ornamental pieces is, to follow a chaste and refined style, marked by a limited use of color. The rule we laid down for the decoration of porcelain--that it should never be loaded with colors less beautiful than its own glaze--is here more closely followed than anywhere else occurring to us. Here, for example, is a set of plates painted with different scenes, such as a snow-storm, morning, night, before a shower, during a shower, and other similar subjects. The details are not wrought in with obtrusive precision. Something is left to imagination, and the effect of every view is perfect. They are painted by M. Bracquemond.

We nowhere find a better successor to the “egg-shell” of China than in the delicate, pure, and fragile specimens of thin porcelain from Limoges. This is an exceptional fabric, but there is elsewhere to be seen enough to substantiate the excellence of French porcelain for domestic use, in point of both beauty and strength. We have seen certain small coffee-cups so finely wrought, exquisitely modelled, and chastely colored, that when not in use they might serve as ornaments. The point to which painting on porcelain has been brought is further illustrated by a series of dessert plates ornamented with different kinds of fruit--grapes, peaches, and other varieties. The supreme delicacy with which the requisite tints are here applied is admirable. On others are different kinds of seaweed and other marine objects, in which the artist has caught the natural hues with wonderful precision. The porcelain vases are, as a rule, small in size. No attempt, so far as we are aware, has been made to follow the gigantic works of Sèvres, Meissen, and Berlin, and we do not regret the fact. The works with which we are presented show great skill in the colors obtained, and the shapes are simple and sometimes severe. The domestic porcelain of Limoges deserves careful study for the sake of the refined taste which it invariably reflects.

The most highly artistic pieces are in _pate tendre_, or artificial paste. Considering the difficulty of manipulating the body and its liability to sink in the furnace, many of the old Sèvres pieces must be regarded as marvels of workmanship. We look with a similar interest upon the examples coming to us from Limoges. It has the honor of having produced the only complete dinner-set ever made of this ware (Fig. 277). Its beauty is parallel with its value, which we hardly dare estimate. Beautifully modelled and plumaged birds form the dish handles, and a simple accessory decoration on the body reveals to perfection the peculiar appearance presented by _pate tendre_ of having the colors sunk in the soft and creamy glaze.

Haviland & Co. have attained an exceptional success in colors. A complete toilet-set of _pate tendre_ is turquoise blue of great richness and transparent depth. The modelling corresponds with an achievement in color which has been the despair of ceramic artists for centuries. Deck is the only French maker who, before the Havilands, approached the old turquoise of China. The art has long been lost in the East. Deck’s pieces, however, are apt to craze or crack in irregular breaks, and this was thought to be unavoidable until Haviland made crackle closely resembling in color the rare old Chinese. Of the same material are two recumbent Psyches (Fig. 278), one in blue, the other in pink. In no more poetic form do we remember to have met the winged nymph who turned against Cupid the darts with which he was wont to afflict humanity. A set of three graceful vases (Fig. 279) with reticulated necks, and each supported on a tripod of goats’ feet, is painted in blue, gold, and pink. The forms are graceful and the coloring refined. The paintings of Poitevin and Du Liege on these and other pieces are characterized by the most exquisite delicacy. M. Pallandre, the Parisian flower-painter, has also lent to the porcelain of Haviland & Co. the beauty conferred by his dexterous brush.

An excellent domestic ware, also made at Limoges, is largely imported by the manufacturers, Charles Field Haviland & Co., of New York. The greater portion of it is undecorated; but lately the makers have been turning their attention to decoration, and artistic work of considerable merit now comes from their establishment.

Before leaving France, the names of Deck, Solon, and Regnault may be allowed to stay our progress. The Messrs. Deck, of Paris, have, as we have seen, made a special study of color, and were the first, or among the first, to revive Oriental decoration. Their Persian ware, or imitation of the old art of Persia, is characterized by much of the beauty of the original. Their blue, as we have seen, is especially commendable, and enabled them to compete with the enterprising imitators of England, the Mintons, who have for several years been in possession of a blue very little inferior to the turquoise. It is to be regretted that Deck was not represented at the Centennial Exhibition, where, by the richness of his palette, he would have had an opportunity of extending his reputation in America.

M. Regnault, who succeeded M. Ebelman in the directorate of Sèvres, was the inventor, while at the Sèvres manufactory, of _pate changeante_. The ware appears, during the day, like gray céladon, and at night, under artificial light, changes to a beautiful pink, whence its name.

The name of M. Solon recalls at once the peculiar style of decoration called “_Pate-sur-pate_,” or paste upon paste. The process has been long known in China, and was first attempted in Europe by M. Ebelman at Sèvres about thirty years ago. The experiments were successful, and some very fine works were issued. The process was taken to England from Sèvres by M. Solon, who was engaged a few years ago by the Messrs. Minton (Fig. 282). In Mr. A. B. Daniells’s collection at the Centennial Exhibition, some examples of _pate-sur-pate_ by M. Solon attracted general attention. There were two pairs of vases of a pure Greek shape, with a body of a rich bronze or chocolate color. On this, in white relief, were figures symbolizing Fire and Water, and a group of the Graces accompanied by Cupid in a race. The forms were exquisitely drawn, and were half revealed by the semi-transparent drapery. More usual grounds are a dark green and a grayish tint, either of which has a soft effect. A second specimen is given at Fig. 352.

This method of treatment consists in applying to the surface to be decorated white liquid porcelain as a pigment. The application is repeated until the necessary relief is obtained, when the figures are finished by carving or scraping. Repeated firings are necessary before glazing, and the decoration, which is opaque while wet, becomes more or less transparent, according to the thickness of the pigment. The process is one of the nicest and most difficult in the entire range of ceramic art, as a mistake once made cannot be remedied, and the glaze has a tendency to destroy the fine outlines of the figures.