"I am sorry to say he never did much of anything else that was praiseworthy. Sometimes too much success spoils people. But he had done his work, and a great work, too, in launching this vast industry. When he died he left behind him a group of thriving factories. After his death the artists at the Meissen works gradually abandoned copying Chinese and Japanese designs and began inventing decorations of their own, using both gold and an increasing variety of colors. They also began to secure the aid of sculptors, among them the famed sculptor Kändler who modeled statuettes of saints, animals, birds, and persons in much the way the Dutch had done. These figures or groups, however, were more finely executed, and were beautifully colored. As the makers of them became more expert larger figures were attempted until some of them were life-sized."
"Goodness!"
"It does seem absurd, doesn't it?" agreed Mr. Croyden. "It is a childish impulse to want to make everything as big as one can make it. Nevertheless in a land where much of the population was Catholic you can readily understand how these gigantic figures readily found places upon altars in the churches of Europe. All might have gone well with this great porcelain plant had not the Seven Years' War arisen just at this time, lasting from 1756 to 1763. During this period Frederick the Great, the grandfather of the present Emperor of Germany, went into Saxony, stopped the royal factories at Meissen, and took the workmen as captives to Berlin."
"But——" began Theo indignantly.
"Such things are the issues of war," said Mr. Croyden gravely. "We cannot uphold them, nor cease to deplore their injustice. We can only pray that a day may come when the envy between nations will cease, and when each country shall respect its neighbor's rights in a truly Christian spirit. Then we shall have a world for which we shall not need to blush, and which will really be civilized."
"Did the Saxon workmen have to make Dresden china in Germany?"
"Yes. Works under the patronage of the Emperor were opened at Berlin, and here porcelain was made, the profits of which went to the Royal Treasury, the workmen being paid very little indeed. Much of the ware manufactured the monarch kept for his own use; and much of it he gave away whenever he wished to make a fine present to his friends. But so lavishly did the Saxon potters use the deposits of native clay that later the supply became poorer in quality, and as a consequence the body of the later Dresden was not so perfect as that made at Meissen. For this reason collectors set great value on the early Dresden work, that made between 1731 and 1756; also on the figures modeled by the sculptor, Kändler."
"Did the works at Berlin continue?" inquired Theo, who had become absorbed in the story.
"Yes," replied Mr. Croyden. "You see, even before the capital at Dresden was captured by the Germans and the Meissen workmen carried off, attempts had been made in Prussia to manufacture porcelain from ordinary stone. Several private business concerns as well as various individuals had put their money into the enterprise and had even met with some success. But this ware was manufactured on no very extended scale. Now, however, the Emperor was determined that his venture should succeed. Not only did he bring to Berlin the workmen and the clay, but he even sent forth the edict that no Jew in his kingdom should marry until he had purchased an entire supply of porcelain from the Royal factories. As most of the Jews were rich this law assured their master a wide sale for his product. That they did not wish to spend all this money for china and resented the order troubled him not at all. Most of these unlucky Jews bought their expensive porcelain sets only to sell them afterward to other customers, and thus get them off their hands. In this way much of the early Berlin Dresden ware found its way into Russia, where rich Russian Jews were glad to buy it. After repeated improvements the Berlin porcelain came in time to be as fine as that made originally at Meissen; and not only were the Meissen works reopened under German patronage, but the State also established another factory at Charlottenberg.
"Now, do not forget, Theo, that all this early Meissen or Dresden porcelain, as well as that eventually manufactured at Berlin, was made from hard paste, or a combination of clays resulting in what we call true porcelain. Later on I shall tell you much about soft paste wares, and about bone china. None of those varieties, however, ranks as real porcelain. Remember that only the hard paste products are genuine." Mr. Croyden paused a moment, then added: "And while we are speaking of this period in history you may perhaps be interested to know that it was a workman who escaped from Meissen into Austria who started in Vienna the art of making porcelain from hard paste."