Nine-tenths of the beautiful wares existing in Europe, brought thence to the 'United States, are of the Cluing or Tsing dynasty, that is to say. the dynasty of the Tatar conquerors of China, ginning with 1044, and still holding the throne. The Tsing pieces are of all sorts: pure white with or without delicate incised patterns. or in grotesque forms of dragon and the like, or in carefully modeled and delicately formed ettes; white painted with pure blue under the glaze; white covered externally with pure strong color, blood-red (sang de bcruf) or maroon. tur quoise blue or deep blue, yellow, and other Imes; pieces of which the pattern is 'reserved' in white on a ground filled in with dark or black, or, pieces of which the pattern is 'reserved' in white pieces adorned with very elaborate painting in many colors, the subject being often flowers. flowering plants, bushes. bamboo thickets, and the like, and as often including, human figures treated with great dexterity and a very sufficient knowl edge of drawing, but made decorative rather than realistic.
The history of real porcelain in Europe is very brief : for the Florentine ware above named has no connection with the development of the art. That development began in Saxony, at the sen factory near Dresden, under the direction of Johann Friedrich Wittger. In 1756 the Sevres factory was established by royal decree as a con tinuation and development of the earlier factory at Vincennes, and in 176S, the actual porcelain clay having been discovered a few years earlier, the hard porcelain was manufactured at Sevres. The establishment has maintained its graceful work without intermission, even during the Revo lution, and the style of decoration has changed as the different directors have sought for new systems of design. The productions of the manu
factories can always be purchased, except when made especially for national gifts to friendly powers or public benefactors, but the prices are high and no promise can be made as to the time of delivery. At present, since 1898, the old sys tems of design have been largely abandoned and a very elaborate development of independent thought in the decoration is in progress. Among the most remarkable of its movements are the unglazed pieces }mown commonly as biscuit figures, which are found modeled by the first sculptors of France. These are sometimes six teen o• twenty inches high, and groups or series of them are prepared for the adornment of the table at a stately banquet o• for similar uses. There are two different hard porcelains made: one which approaches very nearly in quality and color, and in the degree of heat needed to fire it, to Chinese porcelain; the other a still harder ware fired at a very high temperature and of course limited in its coloration, as few pig ments are available. In England, in the eigh teenth century, the true porcelain was made in at least two towns, Plymouth and Bristol, and many other manufactories were started in the first half of the nineteenth century. It is since 1S50, however, that English porcelain has be come an important industrial product. There is no national establishment, and therefore the wares made are all for the market and artistic advance is not steady.