The Story of Porcelain

by Sara Ware Bassett

"Nevertheless the French people got wonderful results from their pâte tendre, and became wildly enthusiastic over the pieces the china-designers turned out. And well they might for the French were an inventive, art-loving people who certainly got fine results from their early china-making. To understand the place art occupied at that time you must remember that the Court was a centre for all those who were interested in beautiful things. The King was ever on the lookout for what was novel or artistic, and ready to give it his patronage; and whatever the King patronized became the fad among the rich, idle courtiers. So when the King turned his attention to the new art of china-making its success was assured; as a matter of course all the rest of the fashionable world did the same."

"It was a good fashion."

"A very good fashion. Often a monarch's patronage of arts and letters called public attention to a praiseworthy production that might otherwise live unrecognized for years. I sometimes think that in our day it would be a fortunate custom if more persons of influence would give thought and money to elevating the arts to their rightful position of dignity. The old custom of placing artists and scientists beyond the stress of financial worry is not a bad one. Such persons are benefactors of the race and should be endowed that they may work more freely. That is practically what the kings and emperors of the past did for some of our great writers, artists, and inventors. That is in reality what King Louis did for the newly-born china-industry. When between 1740 and 1750 a company was formed at Vincennes to make pâte tendre, the King himself contributed to the venture 100,000 livres for its encouragment."

"How splendid!"

"It meant prosperity for France if the undertaking succeeded, so the act was not perhaps as unselfish as it seems; however, such a donation was of course a great spur to the workmen, who immediately began making not only dinner-sets and ordinary dishes but all sorts of fantastic and beautiful things. They fashioned colored statuettes, vases of fanciful pattern, and an abundance of most exquisitely modeled flowers. How such fragile products as these latter could be fired without injury was a marvel. Among other presents which the china-makers gave to the Queen was a vase three feet in height containing a bouquet of four hundred and eighty of these flowers, each one carefully copied from nature. These china flowers promptly became the rage. Two bouquets of them, each costing 3,000 livres, were made for the King and the Dauphin; and these remain to this day in one of the French museums. The work of this period all reflects the nation-wide enthusiasm for these china flowers. Statuettes were made with a central figure surrounded by them; there were shepherds and shepherdesses seated beneath arbors or trellises covered with the daintiest of vines and blossoms; figures of court ladies at whose feet masses of lovely flowers seemed growing. You can see some of this work in our own museums, and I am sure you will agree with me that it is little short of miraculous. The Art Museum at Boston has three very fine specimens of these early French ornaments, and there are others to be found elsewhere."

"I am going to hunt some of them up when I go home to the city," affirmed Theo.

"That's right! See all you can of the beautiful things the past has given us; you never will be sorry," declared Mr. Croyden. "Now you can imagine with a background of such progress at china-making, what a furore and transformation followed when kaolin was discovered. Pâte dure was far more desirable than pâte tendre, for it was much less breakable. The works at Vincennes where Sèvres china really had its birth were now moved to Sèvres itself, where the art of porcelain-making was gradually perfected. The plant was not far from Versailles, where the Royal palace was, and the industry immediately came under the control of the King.

"Then there was excitement indeed! Money was poured in lavishly that the infant venture might have every chance to grow. The King ordered beautiful gardens to be made about the factories, and not a week passed that he and Madame de Pompadour did not visit the works accompanied by a train of nobles and ladies of the Court. Madame de Pompadour, herself something of an artist, often touched up the decoration on a bit of china that pleased her fancy. Professional artists also lent their aid, their designs ranging from the shepherdesses of Watteau to copies of Chinese and Japanese scenes. Flowers, cupids, garlands, landscapes—never was such a diversity of decoration attempted as during the reigns of Louis XIV and XV. As a result the output became very overdone and ornate. Fortunately for art, Louis XVI had better taste. Instead of continuing this garish type of design he procured a collection of Greek vases to serve as models for his workmen, and as a result the product came back to a more classic and less florid style."

Mr. Croyden paused.

"With all this beauty in the body of the porcelain itself, and all the wonder of the modeling and painting, you must remember that throughout the period the chemists employed were making great strides in the use of pigments. No little science was necessary to find colors that would stand the intense heat necessary for firing this hard paste. You know of course that most of the mineral pigments used to decorate china do not look at all the same after they have been subjected to a high temperature as they look before. Many colors which fire out to exquisite tones look quite ugly when applied to the biscuit clay. Both chemists and artists have to be skilled in the knowledge of how these paints will react under heat. So when I say the Sèvres workers reached a richness and harmony of color never before known in china-making you can imagine how much patient experimental labor probably preceded this triumph of art."