[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] These trembleuse saucers 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 the famille rose in 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.