Nyon-mark. The mark of Zurich (1755).
CHAPTER XIII.
THE PORCELAIN OF FRANCE—ST.-CLOUD, CHANTILLY, SÈVRES, ETC.
Hard and Soft Porcelain.—Discovery of Kaolin.—St.-Cloud.—Pâte Tendre.—Marks.—Rouen.—Small Manufactories.—Marks of same.—Chantilly.—Sceaux-Penthièvre.—Niderviller.—Marks.—Limoges.—Sèvres.—Flower-Work.—Hard Porcelain, Pâte Dure.—The Grand Monarque.—Florid Taste.—Boucher.—Vieux Sèvres.—Three Vases.—Greek Vases.—Prices at Bernal Sale.—Chemists.—Colors used.—Collections.—Art Museums.—Alexandre Brongniart.—Marks and Dates.
THE porcelain of Sèvres is probably better known than any other by name, if not by sight. The production has been steadily under the protection of the state since 1760, when the crown became sole owner of the works. Time, thought, skill, talent, ingenuity, and money, have been spent upon this work unceasingly for more than a century; and some of the most elaborate, most finished, and most costly pieces of porcelain which the world has anywhere seen, have come out of the small town of Sèvres.
Kings, nobles, poets, painters, have recognized the beauty and value of this work, and have given of their strength to help it onward toward perfection.
The history of the manufactory at Sèvres might fill a book: here we are limited to a brief space, which may suffice for most readers.
Some experts hold that true porcelain is only what is known as hard porcelain, called pâte dure by the French. Such is always the porcelain of China and Japan; such is that of Dresden and the centre of Europe.
This hard porcelain has always the two qualities of hardness and translucency. We have elsewhere explained to what these qualities are due, and how and when they were brought to perfection in Europe, first at Dresden or Meissen (see Dresden porcelain).
France lacked the peculiar clay necessary for making hard porcelain till the year 1765, when chance discovered the magic earth at St.-Yrieix; after which time its manufacture was brought to a high pitch of excellence at Sèvres.