Chapter 21

[105]An important collection of armorial china was bequeathed to the Museum in 1887 by the Rev. Charles Walker.[106]This plate belongs to a group in which the arms, above all the mantlings, are in the style of the seventeenth century. On these thegulesis always rendered by an opaque iron-red, although the newrouge d’oris freely used in the rest of the decoration. I learn from my friend Colonel Croft Lyons that the arms on this plate are those of Leake Okeover, who was born in 1701. The initials, repeated four times on the margin, L. M. O., stand for Leake and his wife Mary. The plate, therefore, cannot well have been painted before, say, 1725.[107]This class of Kuang yao must not be confused with the old heavy pieces of Yuan ware mentioned onp. 77.[108]I quote, with a few contractions, from the edition of 1774.[109]I have examined the Korean pottery in the British Museum, at Sèvres, and that in some of the German museums, but I have not seen the specimens in the Ethnographical Museum at Hamburg, which are said to be very remarkable.[110]For an account of the exploration of Sawankalok, seeMan, the volume for 1901. By the kind permission of Mr. Read I have been able to closely examine the specimens which are now deposited in the British Museum.[111]We may mention that the Japanese appear also to give the name of Kochi to other wares, especially to the deep blue and turquoise porcelain with decoration in ribbed cloisons which we have attributed to early Ming times.[112]We may compare with this the impulse given, some four hundred years later, in Europe, to the spread of the use of porcelain at the time when tea was first introduced in the West.[113]See page 66. This Sung ware is known to the Japanese as ‘Temmoku,’ and is highly esteemed by them.[114]Many, however, of these so-called Jesuit plates were probably painted at King-te-chen at a later date. Christianity was finally and ruthlessly crushed in Japan after the rebellion of 1637: in China it was tolerated up to the close of the reign of Kang-he (1721). I must refer back to a quotation from the Père D’Entrecolles given on p. 133. See also a curious note in Marryat, where a statuette of Quanyin, with the boy patron of learning, is described as ‘a Virgin and Child.’—Pottery and Porcelain, p. 293.[115]In the Dresden collection are several cases full of this early Japanese blue and white.[116]The Chinese, however, were given much greater liberty than the Dutch.[117]See the South Kensington handbook on Japanese pottery, p. 86. In the chapter on Japanese ceramics contained in the magnificently illustratedHistory of the Arts of Japan, published in 1901 in connection with the Paris Exhibition, a little further light is thrown on the history of porcelain in that country. But in this work and in the other guides published at the time of our American and European exhibitions (and the same may be said of the Japanese report contained in the South Kensington handbook), the same scanty materials are served up again and again.[118]Ambassades Mémorables de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales des Provinces Unies vers les Empereurs du Japon, Amsterdam, 1680, Partii.p. 102. I take the reference from Marryat, but I have not been able to find the book.[119]We know of no Chinese type to which we can refer this decoration. Certain points of resemblance have been found with the work of the great contemporary Japanese artist Tanyu. The most characteristicmotifsare the tiger, the dancing boy with long sleeves, and the straw hedge.[120]The ‘old Japan’ was at one time closely copied at King-te-chen for exportation to Europe. (Cf.Pl. xxiv. 1.)[121]The composition of the Owari porcelain is more normal, the silica only amounting to 65 per cent.; but as the paste contains little or no lime, it comes nearer to the hard porcelain of Berlin than to the milder Chinese type.[122]Much, however, of the china-stone of Cornwall differs little in composition from the Imari stone; but the latter contains, as we have said, soda, in place of the more usual potash.[123]It is to thisKoransha, I understand, that we are indebted for the historical notices on Japanese porcelain that have appeared on the occasion of our successive international exhibitions (see above,p. 183note).[124]Captain Brinkley speaks of the lower edge being serrated, but I have never seen any specimen of this serration.[125]Another seal was granted to Zengoro with the inscription (reading in Chinese)Hopin chi liu(Pl. B.24). This refers to an old tradition that Shun, a Chinese emperor of very early date, had, before his accession to the throne, made pottery at a place called Hopin, in Honan. This story is told by Ssuma Chien, the ‘Herodotus of China,’ and would be well known to scholars in Japan. These characters are sometimes found on Japanese ware. (Cf.Bushell, chap. i., and the Franks catalogue, fig. 191, where, however, the words are wrongly interpreted.) Yeiraku, I should add, may be also rendered ‘long content.’[126]This question of the relation between the Kishiu, the Kochi of the Japanese, and our class of old Ming wares with coloured glazes, is full of difficulties. It remains for some Japanese connoisseur, who is at the same time both an expert in ceramics and a good Chinese scholar, to clear it up.[127]This work is analysed by Dr. Hirth in his essay onAncient Chinese Porcelainalready referred to.[128]Dr. Meyer, who brought this collection together, has always supported the theory that in early days no true porcelain was ever made except in China. In support of this he points to the specimens, including ‘wasters,’ from Sawankalok in Siam, in this collection, as being all of stoneware. We have seen (p. 173) that more recent excavations in the same neighbourhood have brought to light fragments of true porcelain of undoubted local manufacture. It is true, however, that most of the examples of celadon in the Dresden collection are of what we should call a kaolinic stoneware.[129]I suppose that Franks, who refers to this notice, was satisfied that the present really consisted of Chinese ware. Many slips have been made in quoting this passage, but I will only point out that Nureddin, who died in 1173, has no claim to the title of caliph.[130]This belief, however, long lingered not only in the East, but even in Europe. According to some, if poison was present, the bowl lost its transparency; others state that the liquid would boil up in the centre, remaining clear round the edge. In a French comic poem, written as late as 1716, among other merits possessed by vessels of Chinese porcelain, it is claimed for them that—‘Ils font connaître les mystèresDes bouillons à la Brinvillière.’[131]By far the greater number of the fragments are of local or at least of Saracenic origin, and many of them may be as old as the date mentioned in the text. But at Fostât, at all events, some of the pot-sherds are of a much later date. There are important collections of fragments from these rubbish-heaps both in the British Museum and at South Kensington.[132]Professor Karabacek of Vienna quotes from the encyclopædist Hâdji Khalifa, who died in 1658: ‘The precious magnificent celadon dishes seen in his time were manufactured and exported at Martabani, in Pegu.’[133]The little bowl of apple-green porcelain in the British Museum, ‘garnished’ with a mounting of the time of Henryviii., has perhaps as long a European history. The two ‘Trenchard’ bowls (in spite of the later date of the mounting) probably came to England in 1506.[134]I think that it is not unlikely that during the time that King-te-chen lay waste, kilns may have been erected somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Canton river, and that from these kilns originated much of the rough ware, hastily decorated in blue, that reached India and Persia in such quantities at this time (cf.the statement of Raynal quoted onp. 166). We have spoken in the last chapter of the influence of these events upon the Japanese trade.[135]I am referring, of course, to Stuart times. In the eighteenth century the so-called Gombroon ware was of Persian origin, and recognised as such in England.[136]The word ‘china’ is used in this sense, I think, by no other European nation.[137]See, however, for the Portuguese merchants who sold porcelain in France, the note on page 230.[138]The Abbé Raynal, writing about 1770, says that connoisseurs divide Oriental porcelain into six classes—‘truitée,vieille blanche,de Japon,de Chine,le Japon Chiné et la porcelaine des Indes.’[139]Marryat’s extracts are unfortunately often carelessly quoted; nor is it easy in all cases to control them by reference to the originals.[140]Augustii.certainly bought a collection of porcelain from the Bassetouche family for 6750 thalers. It would be interesting to know of what wares this collection consisted. The only further additions until quite recent times have been to the European department.[141]The tradition of the ‘dinner-service’ made in China for Charlesv., and presented by him to Moritz of Saxony (or, as others say, captured from him by that prince), belongs to the same category of stories as that of the crusader’s cup. No such commission as this was possible at so early a date, and there is nothing in the Dresden collection that could be connected with such a service.[142]‘Menez-moi chez les PortugaisNous y verrons à peu de fraisDes marchandises de la Chine. . . de la porcelaine fine,’ etc.—Scarron,Paris Burlesque.[143]In 1689 Madame de Sévigné notes the quantity of Oriental porcelain imported at L’Orient.[144]Are we to identify these with some huge Imari vases, now in the Louvre, with coats of arms bearing the French lilies and the label of Orleans? Some similar vases, with the same arms, have lately been seen in dealers’ shops in London.[145]The catalogues of Gersaint and of some other early French collections may be found at South Kensington.[146]Passeri, writing in 1752 in favour of the then neglected majolica, claims that ‘la parte brutale dell’ uomo sarà a favor delle porcellane, ma l’intellettuale e raziocinativa giudicherà a favor delle nostre majoliche.’[147]Recent researches in the archives of Venice have proved that Oriental porcelain was comparatively abundant in Venice at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Dr. Ludwig has shown me extracts from the inventory of the property of a rich ‘cittadino’ who died in 1526, in which can be distinguished plain white, blue and white, and porcelain decorated with red, green, and gold.[148]It is quite possible that Palissy may have tried his hand at this problem. M. Solon has suggested that in the many years’ labour at Saintes (when attempting especially to imitate ‘the cup with white enamel’) Palissy was really seeking to make porcelain.[149]I take the following from the excellent catalogue of the Ceramic Museum at Limoges, by E. Garnier: ‘1125.Pot à Pommade, de forme cylindrique godronné à la partie inférieure et décoré en bleu d’une bande de lambrequins. MarqueA.P.’ Some other small pieces in this museum are classed as Rouen porcelain.[150]Professor Church allows that ‘the substance of some of these statuettes is distinctly porcellanous.’ He found, however, in a fragment of this ware as much as 79·5 per cent. of silica, and only 12·5 per cent. of alumina (Cantor Lectures, 1881).[151]This feeling is well expressed in a contemporary drinking-song:—‘To drink is a Christian diversionUnfit for your Turk or your Persian;Let Mohammedan fools live by heathenish rules,And get drunk over tea-cups and coffee,But let British lads sing, give a rouse for the king,A fig for your Turk and your Sophi.’The punch-bowl of porcelain, however, came to the rescue about this time.[152]In the porcelain gallery at Dresden may be seen (together with one or two small lumps of gold and silver, the results of Böttger’s alchemistic experiments) some snuff-boxes and little flasks of a marbled glass, made by Tschirnhaus at an early date. It is probable that the latter experimenter’s researches lay rather in the way of a frit-made soft paste, on the same lines as the contemporary attempts in France.[153]And yet, forty years later (so well was the secret kept), it was maintained by practical authorities in France that the Saxon ware was no true porcelain, but only some kind of hard enamel. See Hellot’sMémoire, quoted below.[154]We hear, however, of Dutch potters being engaged as early as 1708, and with their assistance Böttger, in 1709, made some imitations of Delft ware.[155]In a contemporary German pamphlet, which I only know from a French translation (Secret des Vrais Porcelaines de la Chine et de Saxe, Paris, 1752), a certain ‘spath alkalin’ is mentioned as an important element in Saxon porcelain, and this substance is identified with the petuntse of the Père D’Entrecolles.[156]If this colour is derived from the purple of Cassius, as seems probable, it is an important instance of the early use of this pigment upon porcelain.[157]Above all the famous ‘Swan Service’ of 1736, Kändler’s masterpiece.[158]We had in England until lately an unrivalled collection of these little groups—priceless specimens of the best period. They were exhibited by their owner, Mr. Massey Mainwaring, for some time at Bethnal Green. This collection has, however, now found its way to America.[159]On the other hand, as early as 1732 the Meissen ware was finding its way to the East. Quantities of little coffee-cups (known asTürken Copjen, corrupted intoTürken Köpfchen) were sent to Constantinople to be re-exported to other Mohammedan countries.[160]We may remind the reader that it was a syndicate of Berlin merchants who at an earlier date sought, it is said, to purchase from Böttger his secret. There is little doubt, however, that the anecdotes about Ringler, which abound in the notices on German porcelain, are little more than ‘porcelain myths.’ Very similar anecdotes are told of the early days at Vincennes, and in Japan, as we have seen, such stories sometimes take a more tragical form. There is a strong temptation, no doubt, in traversing the somewhat arid ground of German ceramics, to fall back on such tales. At all events they belong to the class oftendenz Mährchen, and illustrate the difficulties to be overcome at that time in starting a new factory.[161]Not but that we have proof of his interest in the subject, as the following letter, dated Meissen, March 28, 1761, will show. It is written to Madame Camas, hischère Maman, who was then with the queen at Magdeburg:—‘I send you, my dear mamma, a little trifle, by way of keepsake and memento. You may use the box for your rouge, for your patches, or you may put snuff in it or bonbons or pills.... I have ordered porcelain for all the world, for Schönhausen, for my sisters-in-law,—in fact I am rich in this brittle material only. And I hope the receivers will accept it as current money: for the truth is, we are poor as can be, good mamma. I have nothing left but my honour, my coat, my sword, and my porcelain.’—Carlyle’sFrederick the Great, Book xx. chap. vi. Marryat, who gives this letter in his notes, mixes up Carlyle’s comments with the text.[162]The Hohenzollern shield bears two sceptres in saltireen surtout.[163]Another account gives the credit to Von Löwenfinck, a porcelain painter from Meissen.[164]Politically, that is to say; for the town formed part of the ‘Pays d’Étrangers,’ and its commercial and social relations were still rather with Germany than with France.[165]I take these facts about the Hannong family from Sir A. Wollaston Franks’sCatalogue of Continental Porcelain, 1896.[166]In the same year we find Count Schimmelmann, who at a later date interested himself in the Copenhagen factory, selling by auction at Hamburg some of the vast stocks of Meissen china that Frederick had thrown on the market.[167]As a royal factory, however, it became extinct in 1864. See chap. xxiii.[168]Thus we have, during the Seven Years’ War, Frederick’s three bitter opponents—Maria Theresa in Austria, Elizabeth in Russia, and the Marquise de Pompadour in France—all taking an active interest in promoting the manufacture of porcelain, and this rivalry may have added to the zest of Frederick when he looted Meissen and sought to make Berlin take its place as the metropolis of porcelain.[169]An American writer has arranged the tests by which soft pastes may be distinguished from true porcelains under six heads. 1.The file test.—Soft porcelain may be marked by a file. 2.The foot test.—In hard porcelain the foot is generally rough and unglazed. This test is rather of value in distinguishing porcelain from fayence. 3.The fire test.—Depending on the greater fusibility of the soft pastes. 4.Chemical test.5.Colour test.—Soft paste is generally mellow ivory by transmitted light, and this is especially true of ‘bone-ware.’ The hard paste tends to bluish shades. 6.Fracture test.—The fracture is glassy to vitreous, and the glaze passes into the paste in the case of hard pastes (the subconchoidal splintery fracture is rather the point to observe); dry and chalky, and the glaze more or less separated from the paste in the case of soft pastes.—E. A. Barber,Pottery and Porcelain of the United States, New York, 1901.[170]De Réaumur, we must remember, had made some kind of hard-paste porcelain from Chinese materials. After that he fell back upon his devitrified glass. Something very similar had been made by Tschirnhaus many years before.[171]These, I think, are almost the only instances in which a distinctly seventeenth century decoration is to be found on porcelain.[172]Thesetrembleusesaucers of the early eighteenth century have a projecting ring into which the base of the teacup fits.[173]The extreme limits for this mark are 1712-62, but Chaffers says it was not used before 1730, according to another authority not before 1735. De Frasnay, in a note to his curious little poem in praise of fayence (1735), says: ‘le secret du beau rouge n’est guère connu en France que d’un très petit nombre de personnes.’ The point is of interest in connection with the origin of thefamille rosein China. We may here note that the minute quantity of gold—the source of all these pink and purple colours—is not necessarily introduced in the form of the tin salt, the purple of Cassius. But this difficult question will be best treated in connection with the history of glass.[174]Generally known as the Duc de Bourbon (1710-40). He was an enthusiast for the art of the Far East. An important work on Chinese art was published under his auspices in 1735. He imitated the painted hangings of the East, and even attempted to make Japanese lacquer. After his death, the two brothers Dubois,épiciers à Chantilly, migrated to Vincennes, and the Chantilly works were for a time neglected. See Gustave Macon,Les arts dans la Maison de Condé, 1903.[175]Of the many European imitations of the ‘Kakiyemon’ style the Chantilly is most successful, while the ‘Old Japan’ was best copied at Chelsea. No European imitation in porcelain of the Chinese blue and white approaches in brilliancy that made in Delft ware in the seventeenth century.[176]The porcelain of Saint-Cloud and Chantilly is well represented in the Fitzhenry collection.[177]Some twenty miles south of Paris, not far from Corbeil.[178]The name is written ‘Sèves’ in English catalogues of the eighteenth century, and the same form is found sometimes in contemporary French writings. We may compare the favourite signature ‘Fédéric’ of the Prussian king.[179]Mémoire Historique pour la Manufacture, rédigé en 1781 par Bachelier, re-edited, with preface and notes, by G. Gouellain, Paris, 1878.[180]See the note onp. 286. It would seem that the first successes at Vincennes were, in a measure, dependent upon the temporary breaking up of the factory at Chantilly on the death of the Duc de Bourbon in 1740.[181]At a later time this man had a contract for the delivery of the paste, the secret of which he preserved, at a fixed rate per pound. In one year he is said to have received for this 800,000 livres![182]Such is my general impression, but M. Garnier, I see, speaks highly of his artistic capabilities. Bachelier founded in 1763 a free school of design, one of the few institutions of the old régime that have survived the many changes of government. It still exists as theÉcole Nationale des Beaux-Arts.[183]By this we get a hint as to the kind of ware made at Vincennes at the commencement, when under the influence of Chantilly.[184]The account-books of these sales are still preserved. M. Davillier, in his little book onLes porcelaines de Sèvres et Madame du Barry, quotes the record of purchases made (at a later date, for the most part) by the royal family, by Madame du Deffand, and by M. de Voltaire. The latter bought, for 120 livres, ‘Deux bustes de mondit Sieur, en biscuit.’ Besides this, large sales were made yearly to the trade.[185]The above description is that given by the Prince de Ligne in his memoirs. In the Johanneum at Dresden there is now to be seen a ‘bouquet’ which in every way corresponds to the prince’s account. The Meissen works for long had the credit of this trophy, but it is now acknowledged that it is identical with the present sent by the dauphine, in 1748, to her father, the Elector of Saxony. M. Davillier quotes a curious account from a contemporary memoir describing the difficulties and expenses incurred in transporting this ‘bouquet’ from Paris to Dresden. Are we, then, to regard it as the actual present given by M. de Fulvi to the queen, or as a duplicate?[186]See for this and other references to porcelain in thechronique scandaleuseof the day, the little book of M. Davillier quoted above.[187]Some attention was paid to the housing and comfort of the workmen at the new establishment, but Bachelier makes no mention of ‘the gardens, cascades, fruit-trees, groves, woods, and a small chase for the artists, who enjoyed to hunt the stag and the wild boar none the less for their sedentary lives in the art palace’ (Marryat, p. 414). On the contrary, we are told that in a few years the houses and workshops were already threatening to fall down on the workmen’s heads.[188]M. Bertin was himself a great collector of Chinese porcelain. In theavertissementof the catalogue of his collection which was sold in Paris in 1815, we are told that through the medium of the Père Amiot he obtained many choice specimens, some of them direct presents from the Chinese emperor. We have already alluded to Kien-lung’s interest in exotic wares, and to the influence of these upon the native decoration.[189]In thefond lapis cailloutéthe deep blue ground is painted with fine veins of gold, to imitate the pyrites which generally accompanies the native stone (lapis lazuli). It was used as early as 1758 (see Wallace collection, Galleryxviii., Casec.).[190]As many as one hundred and sixty pieces, it is said, were carried off during a fire at Tsarskoe Selo. Some of these were afterwards repurchased by the Tsar Nicholas.[191]Marryat quotes a passage to the following effect from a little work published at Venice soon after the death of the favourite. Praising the good taste of the ‘Madame Marchesa,’ the writer states that this was, above all, manifested in the adornment of her table. All the porcelain was expressly manufactured for her at Sèvres, and was ofa rose colour mixed with gold. The value amounted to 257,000 livres, and no sovereign possessed a service of equal beauty.[192]It is found as a ground on pieces bearing the earliest letter-marks, so that it is difficult to accept the statement that it was first made by Xhrouet, a painter of landscapes, in 1757.[193]Much of it found its way to England, and was there decorated in the old Sèvres style, both in London and in the West.[194]For a detailed description of these deposits and their geological relations, see Brongniart’s great work.[195]Napoleon at one time sent Daru to Sèvres to convey to Brongniart, in the most lively terms, his dissatisfaction with what he called the simplicity and tameness of the designs in use at Sèvres. Every piece should, he protests, ‘dire quelque chose.’ Every plate should record glorious deeds, the capture of the enemy’s towns, or the triumphant return of the victors.[196]We must, however, place some of these discoveries to the credit of the staff of the Viennese factory, and Dihl again, the chemist of the porcelain works in the Rue de Bondy, has a claim to others.[197]The death of M. Garnier occurred since the above was written.[198]The use of a bone-paste ware of the ‘Spode’ type is, however, now prevalent not only in many parts of the continent, but porcelain of this kind is now largely made in the United States.[199]Unless it be in the catalogue drawn up by Sir A. W. Franks for his collection of continental china. The ceramic collection in the Hamburg Museum has also been very thoroughly catalogued by Dr. Brinckmann.[200]It is curious to find Venice at this time exporting porcelain to the East, for at an earlier period it was through this town that so much Oriental porcelain and fayence reached Europe.

[105]An important collection of armorial china was bequeathed to the Museum in 1887 by the Rev. Charles Walker.

[106]This plate belongs to a group in which the arms, above all the mantlings, are in the style of the seventeenth century. On these thegulesis always rendered by an opaque iron-red, although the newrouge d’oris freely used in the rest of the decoration. I learn from my friend Colonel Croft Lyons that the arms on this plate are those of Leake Okeover, who was born in 1701. The initials, repeated four times on the margin, L. M. O., stand for Leake and his wife Mary. The plate, therefore, cannot well have been painted before, say, 1725.

[107]This class of Kuang yao must not be confused with the old heavy pieces of Yuan ware mentioned onp. 77.

[108]I quote, with a few contractions, from the edition of 1774.

[109]I have examined the Korean pottery in the British Museum, at Sèvres, and that in some of the German museums, but I have not seen the specimens in the Ethnographical Museum at Hamburg, which are said to be very remarkable.

[110]For an account of the exploration of Sawankalok, seeMan, the volume for 1901. By the kind permission of Mr. Read I have been able to closely examine the specimens which are now deposited in the British Museum.

[111]We may mention that the Japanese appear also to give the name of Kochi to other wares, especially to the deep blue and turquoise porcelain with decoration in ribbed cloisons which we have attributed to early Ming times.

[112]We may compare with this the impulse given, some four hundred years later, in Europe, to the spread of the use of porcelain at the time when tea was first introduced in the West.

[113]See page 66. This Sung ware is known to the Japanese as ‘Temmoku,’ and is highly esteemed by them.

[114]Many, however, of these so-called Jesuit plates were probably painted at King-te-chen at a later date. Christianity was finally and ruthlessly crushed in Japan after the rebellion of 1637: in China it was tolerated up to the close of the reign of Kang-he (1721). I must refer back to a quotation from the Père D’Entrecolles given on p. 133. See also a curious note in Marryat, where a statuette of Quanyin, with the boy patron of learning, is described as ‘a Virgin and Child.’—Pottery and Porcelain, p. 293.

[115]In the Dresden collection are several cases full of this early Japanese blue and white.

[116]The Chinese, however, were given much greater liberty than the Dutch.

[117]See the South Kensington handbook on Japanese pottery, p. 86. In the chapter on Japanese ceramics contained in the magnificently illustratedHistory of the Arts of Japan, published in 1901 in connection with the Paris Exhibition, a little further light is thrown on the history of porcelain in that country. But in this work and in the other guides published at the time of our American and European exhibitions (and the same may be said of the Japanese report contained in the South Kensington handbook), the same scanty materials are served up again and again.

[118]Ambassades Mémorables de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales des Provinces Unies vers les Empereurs du Japon, Amsterdam, 1680, Partii.p. 102. I take the reference from Marryat, but I have not been able to find the book.

[119]We know of no Chinese type to which we can refer this decoration. Certain points of resemblance have been found with the work of the great contemporary Japanese artist Tanyu. The most characteristicmotifsare the tiger, the dancing boy with long sleeves, and the straw hedge.

[120]The ‘old Japan’ was at one time closely copied at King-te-chen for exportation to Europe. (Cf.Pl. xxiv. 1.)

[121]The composition of the Owari porcelain is more normal, the silica only amounting to 65 per cent.; but as the paste contains little or no lime, it comes nearer to the hard porcelain of Berlin than to the milder Chinese type.

[122]Much, however, of the china-stone of Cornwall differs little in composition from the Imari stone; but the latter contains, as we have said, soda, in place of the more usual potash.

[123]It is to thisKoransha, I understand, that we are indebted for the historical notices on Japanese porcelain that have appeared on the occasion of our successive international exhibitions (see above,p. 183note).

[124]Captain Brinkley speaks of the lower edge being serrated, but I have never seen any specimen of this serration.

[125]Another seal was granted to Zengoro with the inscription (reading in Chinese)Hopin chi liu(Pl. B.24). This refers to an old tradition that Shun, a Chinese emperor of very early date, had, before his accession to the throne, made pottery at a place called Hopin, in Honan. This story is told by Ssuma Chien, the ‘Herodotus of China,’ and would be well known to scholars in Japan. These characters are sometimes found on Japanese ware. (Cf.Bushell, chap. i., and the Franks catalogue, fig. 191, where, however, the words are wrongly interpreted.) Yeiraku, I should add, may be also rendered ‘long content.’

[126]This question of the relation between the Kishiu, the Kochi of the Japanese, and our class of old Ming wares with coloured glazes, is full of difficulties. It remains for some Japanese connoisseur, who is at the same time both an expert in ceramics and a good Chinese scholar, to clear it up.

[127]This work is analysed by Dr. Hirth in his essay onAncient Chinese Porcelainalready referred to.

[128]Dr. Meyer, who brought this collection together, has always supported the theory that in early days no true porcelain was ever made except in China. In support of this he points to the specimens, including ‘wasters,’ from Sawankalok in Siam, in this collection, as being all of stoneware. We have seen (p. 173) that more recent excavations in the same neighbourhood have brought to light fragments of true porcelain of undoubted local manufacture. It is true, however, that most of the examples of celadon in the Dresden collection are of what we should call a kaolinic stoneware.

[129]I suppose that Franks, who refers to this notice, was satisfied that the present really consisted of Chinese ware. Many slips have been made in quoting this passage, but I will only point out that Nureddin, who died in 1173, has no claim to the title of caliph.

[130]This belief, however, long lingered not only in the East, but even in Europe. According to some, if poison was present, the bowl lost its transparency; others state that the liquid would boil up in the centre, remaining clear round the edge. In a French comic poem, written as late as 1716, among other merits possessed by vessels of Chinese porcelain, it is claimed for them that—‘Ils font connaître les mystèresDes bouillons à la Brinvillière.’

‘Ils font connaître les mystèresDes bouillons à la Brinvillière.’

[131]By far the greater number of the fragments are of local or at least of Saracenic origin, and many of them may be as old as the date mentioned in the text. But at Fostât, at all events, some of the pot-sherds are of a much later date. There are important collections of fragments from these rubbish-heaps both in the British Museum and at South Kensington.

[132]Professor Karabacek of Vienna quotes from the encyclopædist Hâdji Khalifa, who died in 1658: ‘The precious magnificent celadon dishes seen in his time were manufactured and exported at Martabani, in Pegu.’

[133]The little bowl of apple-green porcelain in the British Museum, ‘garnished’ with a mounting of the time of Henryviii., has perhaps as long a European history. The two ‘Trenchard’ bowls (in spite of the later date of the mounting) probably came to England in 1506.

[134]I think that it is not unlikely that during the time that King-te-chen lay waste, kilns may have been erected somewhere in the neighbourhood of the Canton river, and that from these kilns originated much of the rough ware, hastily decorated in blue, that reached India and Persia in such quantities at this time (cf.the statement of Raynal quoted onp. 166). We have spoken in the last chapter of the influence of these events upon the Japanese trade.

[135]I am referring, of course, to Stuart times. In the eighteenth century the so-called Gombroon ware was of Persian origin, and recognised as such in England.

[136]The word ‘china’ is used in this sense, I think, by no other European nation.

[137]See, however, for the Portuguese merchants who sold porcelain in France, the note on page 230.

[138]The Abbé Raynal, writing about 1770, says that connoisseurs divide Oriental porcelain into six classes—‘truitée,vieille blanche,de Japon,de Chine,le Japon Chiné et la porcelaine des Indes.’

[139]Marryat’s extracts are unfortunately often carelessly quoted; nor is it easy in all cases to control them by reference to the originals.

[140]Augustii.certainly bought a collection of porcelain from the Bassetouche family for 6750 thalers. It would be interesting to know of what wares this collection consisted. The only further additions until quite recent times have been to the European department.

[141]The tradition of the ‘dinner-service’ made in China for Charlesv., and presented by him to Moritz of Saxony (or, as others say, captured from him by that prince), belongs to the same category of stories as that of the crusader’s cup. No such commission as this was possible at so early a date, and there is nothing in the Dresden collection that could be connected with such a service.

[142]‘Menez-moi chez les PortugaisNous y verrons à peu de fraisDes marchandises de la Chine. . . de la porcelaine fine,’ etc.—Scarron,Paris Burlesque.

[142]

‘Menez-moi chez les PortugaisNous y verrons à peu de fraisDes marchandises de la Chine. . . de la porcelaine fine,’ etc.—Scarron,Paris Burlesque.

[143]In 1689 Madame de Sévigné notes the quantity of Oriental porcelain imported at L’Orient.

[144]Are we to identify these with some huge Imari vases, now in the Louvre, with coats of arms bearing the French lilies and the label of Orleans? Some similar vases, with the same arms, have lately been seen in dealers’ shops in London.

[145]The catalogues of Gersaint and of some other early French collections may be found at South Kensington.

[146]Passeri, writing in 1752 in favour of the then neglected majolica, claims that ‘la parte brutale dell’ uomo sarà a favor delle porcellane, ma l’intellettuale e raziocinativa giudicherà a favor delle nostre majoliche.’

[147]Recent researches in the archives of Venice have proved that Oriental porcelain was comparatively abundant in Venice at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Dr. Ludwig has shown me extracts from the inventory of the property of a rich ‘cittadino’ who died in 1526, in which can be distinguished plain white, blue and white, and porcelain decorated with red, green, and gold.

[148]It is quite possible that Palissy may have tried his hand at this problem. M. Solon has suggested that in the many years’ labour at Saintes (when attempting especially to imitate ‘the cup with white enamel’) Palissy was really seeking to make porcelain.

[149]I take the following from the excellent catalogue of the Ceramic Museum at Limoges, by E. Garnier: ‘1125.Pot à Pommade, de forme cylindrique godronné à la partie inférieure et décoré en bleu d’une bande de lambrequins. MarqueA.P.’ Some other small pieces in this museum are classed as Rouen porcelain.

[150]Professor Church allows that ‘the substance of some of these statuettes is distinctly porcellanous.’ He found, however, in a fragment of this ware as much as 79·5 per cent. of silica, and only 12·5 per cent. of alumina (Cantor Lectures, 1881).

[151]This feeling is well expressed in a contemporary drinking-song:—‘To drink is a Christian diversionUnfit for your Turk or your Persian;Let Mohammedan fools live by heathenish rules,And get drunk over tea-cups and coffee,But let British lads sing, give a rouse for the king,A fig for your Turk and your Sophi.’The punch-bowl of porcelain, however, came to the rescue about this time.

[151]This feeling is well expressed in a contemporary drinking-song:—

‘To drink is a Christian diversionUnfit for your Turk or your Persian;Let Mohammedan fools live by heathenish rules,And get drunk over tea-cups and coffee,But let British lads sing, give a rouse for the king,A fig for your Turk and your Sophi.’

The punch-bowl of porcelain, however, came to the rescue about this time.

[152]In the porcelain gallery at Dresden may be seen (together with one or two small lumps of gold and silver, the results of Böttger’s alchemistic experiments) some snuff-boxes and little flasks of a marbled glass, made by Tschirnhaus at an early date. It is probable that the latter experimenter’s researches lay rather in the way of a frit-made soft paste, on the same lines as the contemporary attempts in France.

[153]And yet, forty years later (so well was the secret kept), it was maintained by practical authorities in France that the Saxon ware was no true porcelain, but only some kind of hard enamel. See Hellot’sMémoire, quoted below.

[154]We hear, however, of Dutch potters being engaged as early as 1708, and with their assistance Böttger, in 1709, made some imitations of Delft ware.

[155]In a contemporary German pamphlet, which I only know from a French translation (Secret des Vrais Porcelaines de la Chine et de Saxe, Paris, 1752), a certain ‘spath alkalin’ is mentioned as an important element in Saxon porcelain, and this substance is identified with the petuntse of the Père D’Entrecolles.

[156]If this colour is derived from the purple of Cassius, as seems probable, it is an important instance of the early use of this pigment upon porcelain.

[157]Above all the famous ‘Swan Service’ of 1736, Kändler’s masterpiece.

[158]We had in England until lately an unrivalled collection of these little groups—priceless specimens of the best period. They were exhibited by their owner, Mr. Massey Mainwaring, for some time at Bethnal Green. This collection has, however, now found its way to America.

[159]On the other hand, as early as 1732 the Meissen ware was finding its way to the East. Quantities of little coffee-cups (known asTürken Copjen, corrupted intoTürken Köpfchen) were sent to Constantinople to be re-exported to other Mohammedan countries.

[160]We may remind the reader that it was a syndicate of Berlin merchants who at an earlier date sought, it is said, to purchase from Böttger his secret. There is little doubt, however, that the anecdotes about Ringler, which abound in the notices on German porcelain, are little more than ‘porcelain myths.’ Very similar anecdotes are told of the early days at Vincennes, and in Japan, as we have seen, such stories sometimes take a more tragical form. There is a strong temptation, no doubt, in traversing the somewhat arid ground of German ceramics, to fall back on such tales. At all events they belong to the class oftendenz Mährchen, and illustrate the difficulties to be overcome at that time in starting a new factory.

[161]Not but that we have proof of his interest in the subject, as the following letter, dated Meissen, March 28, 1761, will show. It is written to Madame Camas, hischère Maman, who was then with the queen at Magdeburg:—‘I send you, my dear mamma, a little trifle, by way of keepsake and memento. You may use the box for your rouge, for your patches, or you may put snuff in it or bonbons or pills.... I have ordered porcelain for all the world, for Schönhausen, for my sisters-in-law,—in fact I am rich in this brittle material only. And I hope the receivers will accept it as current money: for the truth is, we are poor as can be, good mamma. I have nothing left but my honour, my coat, my sword, and my porcelain.’—Carlyle’sFrederick the Great, Book xx. chap. vi. Marryat, who gives this letter in his notes, mixes up Carlyle’s comments with the text.

[162]The Hohenzollern shield bears two sceptres in saltireen surtout.

[163]Another account gives the credit to Von Löwenfinck, a porcelain painter from Meissen.

[164]Politically, that is to say; for the town formed part of the ‘Pays d’Étrangers,’ and its commercial and social relations were still rather with Germany than with France.

[165]I take these facts about the Hannong family from Sir A. Wollaston Franks’sCatalogue of Continental Porcelain, 1896.

[166]In the same year we find Count Schimmelmann, who at a later date interested himself in the Copenhagen factory, selling by auction at Hamburg some of the vast stocks of Meissen china that Frederick had thrown on the market.

[167]As a royal factory, however, it became extinct in 1864. See chap. xxiii.

[168]Thus we have, during the Seven Years’ War, Frederick’s three bitter opponents—Maria Theresa in Austria, Elizabeth in Russia, and the Marquise de Pompadour in France—all taking an active interest in promoting the manufacture of porcelain, and this rivalry may have added to the zest of Frederick when he looted Meissen and sought to make Berlin take its place as the metropolis of porcelain.

[169]An American writer has arranged the tests by which soft pastes may be distinguished from true porcelains under six heads. 1.The file test.—Soft porcelain may be marked by a file. 2.The foot test.—In hard porcelain the foot is generally rough and unglazed. This test is rather of value in distinguishing porcelain from fayence. 3.The fire test.—Depending on the greater fusibility of the soft pastes. 4.Chemical test.5.Colour test.—Soft paste is generally mellow ivory by transmitted light, and this is especially true of ‘bone-ware.’ The hard paste tends to bluish shades. 6.Fracture test.—The fracture is glassy to vitreous, and the glaze passes into the paste in the case of hard pastes (the subconchoidal splintery fracture is rather the point to observe); dry and chalky, and the glaze more or less separated from the paste in the case of soft pastes.—E. A. Barber,Pottery and Porcelain of the United States, New York, 1901.

[170]De Réaumur, we must remember, had made some kind of hard-paste porcelain from Chinese materials. After that he fell back upon his devitrified glass. Something very similar had been made by Tschirnhaus many years before.

[171]These, I think, are almost the only instances in which a distinctly seventeenth century decoration is to be found on porcelain.

[172]Thesetrembleusesaucers of the early eighteenth century have a projecting ring into which the base of the teacup fits.

[173]The extreme limits for this mark are 1712-62, but Chaffers says it was not used before 1730, according to another authority not before 1735. De Frasnay, in a note to his curious little poem in praise of fayence (1735), says: ‘le secret du beau rouge n’est guère connu en France que d’un très petit nombre de personnes.’ The point is of interest in connection with the origin of thefamille rosein China. We may here note that the minute quantity of gold—the source of all these pink and purple colours—is not necessarily introduced in the form of the tin salt, the purple of Cassius. But this difficult question will be best treated in connection with the history of glass.

[174]Generally known as the Duc de Bourbon (1710-40). He was an enthusiast for the art of the Far East. An important work on Chinese art was published under his auspices in 1735. He imitated the painted hangings of the East, and even attempted to make Japanese lacquer. After his death, the two brothers Dubois,épiciers à Chantilly, migrated to Vincennes, and the Chantilly works were for a time neglected. See Gustave Macon,Les arts dans la Maison de Condé, 1903.

[175]Of the many European imitations of the ‘Kakiyemon’ style the Chantilly is most successful, while the ‘Old Japan’ was best copied at Chelsea. No European imitation in porcelain of the Chinese blue and white approaches in brilliancy that made in Delft ware in the seventeenth century.

[176]The porcelain of Saint-Cloud and Chantilly is well represented in the Fitzhenry collection.

[177]Some twenty miles south of Paris, not far from Corbeil.

[178]The name is written ‘Sèves’ in English catalogues of the eighteenth century, and the same form is found sometimes in contemporary French writings. We may compare the favourite signature ‘Fédéric’ of the Prussian king.

[179]Mémoire Historique pour la Manufacture, rédigé en 1781 par Bachelier, re-edited, with preface and notes, by G. Gouellain, Paris, 1878.

[180]See the note onp. 286. It would seem that the first successes at Vincennes were, in a measure, dependent upon the temporary breaking up of the factory at Chantilly on the death of the Duc de Bourbon in 1740.

[181]At a later time this man had a contract for the delivery of the paste, the secret of which he preserved, at a fixed rate per pound. In one year he is said to have received for this 800,000 livres!

[182]Such is my general impression, but M. Garnier, I see, speaks highly of his artistic capabilities. Bachelier founded in 1763 a free school of design, one of the few institutions of the old régime that have survived the many changes of government. It still exists as theÉcole Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

[183]By this we get a hint as to the kind of ware made at Vincennes at the commencement, when under the influence of Chantilly.

[184]The account-books of these sales are still preserved. M. Davillier, in his little book onLes porcelaines de Sèvres et Madame du Barry, quotes the record of purchases made (at a later date, for the most part) by the royal family, by Madame du Deffand, and by M. de Voltaire. The latter bought, for 120 livres, ‘Deux bustes de mondit Sieur, en biscuit.’ Besides this, large sales were made yearly to the trade.

[185]The above description is that given by the Prince de Ligne in his memoirs. In the Johanneum at Dresden there is now to be seen a ‘bouquet’ which in every way corresponds to the prince’s account. The Meissen works for long had the credit of this trophy, but it is now acknowledged that it is identical with the present sent by the dauphine, in 1748, to her father, the Elector of Saxony. M. Davillier quotes a curious account from a contemporary memoir describing the difficulties and expenses incurred in transporting this ‘bouquet’ from Paris to Dresden. Are we, then, to regard it as the actual present given by M. de Fulvi to the queen, or as a duplicate?

[186]See for this and other references to porcelain in thechronique scandaleuseof the day, the little book of M. Davillier quoted above.

[187]Some attention was paid to the housing and comfort of the workmen at the new establishment, but Bachelier makes no mention of ‘the gardens, cascades, fruit-trees, groves, woods, and a small chase for the artists, who enjoyed to hunt the stag and the wild boar none the less for their sedentary lives in the art palace’ (Marryat, p. 414). On the contrary, we are told that in a few years the houses and workshops were already threatening to fall down on the workmen’s heads.

[188]M. Bertin was himself a great collector of Chinese porcelain. In theavertissementof the catalogue of his collection which was sold in Paris in 1815, we are told that through the medium of the Père Amiot he obtained many choice specimens, some of them direct presents from the Chinese emperor. We have already alluded to Kien-lung’s interest in exotic wares, and to the influence of these upon the native decoration.

[189]In thefond lapis cailloutéthe deep blue ground is painted with fine veins of gold, to imitate the pyrites which generally accompanies the native stone (lapis lazuli). It was used as early as 1758 (see Wallace collection, Galleryxviii., Casec.).

[190]As many as one hundred and sixty pieces, it is said, were carried off during a fire at Tsarskoe Selo. Some of these were afterwards repurchased by the Tsar Nicholas.

[191]Marryat quotes a passage to the following effect from a little work published at Venice soon after the death of the favourite. Praising the good taste of the ‘Madame Marchesa,’ the writer states that this was, above all, manifested in the adornment of her table. All the porcelain was expressly manufactured for her at Sèvres, and was ofa rose colour mixed with gold. The value amounted to 257,000 livres, and no sovereign possessed a service of equal beauty.

[192]It is found as a ground on pieces bearing the earliest letter-marks, so that it is difficult to accept the statement that it was first made by Xhrouet, a painter of landscapes, in 1757.

[193]Much of it found its way to England, and was there decorated in the old Sèvres style, both in London and in the West.

[194]For a detailed description of these deposits and their geological relations, see Brongniart’s great work.

[195]Napoleon at one time sent Daru to Sèvres to convey to Brongniart, in the most lively terms, his dissatisfaction with what he called the simplicity and tameness of the designs in use at Sèvres. Every piece should, he protests, ‘dire quelque chose.’ Every plate should record glorious deeds, the capture of the enemy’s towns, or the triumphant return of the victors.

[196]We must, however, place some of these discoveries to the credit of the staff of the Viennese factory, and Dihl again, the chemist of the porcelain works in the Rue de Bondy, has a claim to others.

[197]The death of M. Garnier occurred since the above was written.

[198]The use of a bone-paste ware of the ‘Spode’ type is, however, now prevalent not only in many parts of the continent, but porcelain of this kind is now largely made in the United States.

[199]Unless it be in the catalogue drawn up by Sir A. W. Franks for his collection of continental china. The ceramic collection in the Hamburg Museum has also been very thoroughly catalogued by Dr. Brinckmann.

[200]It is curious to find Venice at this time exporting porcelain to the East, for at an earlier period it was through this town that so much Oriental porcelain and fayence reached Europe.

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