"I am sure he will," Mr. Croyden said. "And if he is too busy to do it, I will take you myself. Maybe some day we could go china-hunting together."
"That would be corking!"
"I'd enjoy it as much as you," affirmed Mr. Croyden. "We would prowl around among the different collections and look for the celebrated Nankin blue which, although not strictly speaking a porcelain, would give you a glimpse of some of the finest work ever done in a blue and white ware. Of the very early Chinese porcelains we should, alas, find no specimens, because most of these were destroyed during the wars that raged against the various ancient dynasties; but we should see some examples of what is called the Chrysanthemo-Pæonienne period."
"Jove, what a name!"
"Not such a terrible one when you think about it," returned Mr. Croyden. "Get to work with your brain and you can soon tell me what it means."
"Chrysanthe——" ruminated Theo, thinking aloud. "Has it anything to do with chrysanthemum?"
"It surely has. Go on," urged the elder man encouragingly.
"Pæonienne—I'll bet it is another flower! Peony?"
"There you have it!" came triumphantly from the china manufacturer. "It was not half as bad as it sounded, you see. Chrysanthemums and peonies—the two flowers almost exclusively used as decoration on the porcelain of that particular period. So universally was one or the other of these flowers employed, and so individual was their treatment, that the name serves to cover one of the oldest types of Chinese porcelain remaining to us. This porcelain was not so beautiful, however, as some of that which follows it; the clay or body of the ware being less fine. One can easily see that at that time the Chinese had not perfected their art. Nevertheless it is remarkable, and the flower designs on it most artistic."
"And what came next?" inquired Theo.