Fig. 165 is painted in dark blue, and with leaves in relief; mark, W, in blue; height 10 in.
Fig. 165.—Vase.
AUSTRIA
VIENNA
This manufactory for hard paste was founded about 1717. There are several traditions as to its origin: one is that a musician named La France, and a billiard-marker, named Dupuis, brought with them to Vienna, in October 1717, a certain Cristofle Conrad Hünger, who had been employed at Meissen as an enamel painter and gilder, and that in the following year they were joined by a man named Stölzel of Meissen, who was possessed of the secret, and became director. Another that it was a private enterprise set on foot by Claude du Pasquier, who obtained from the Emperor Charles VII. a privilege for twenty-five years. Major Byng Hall (Adventures of a Bric-à-Brac Hunter), however, says that it was established in 1718 by Claude Innocenz de Blaquier, who engaged one Stenzel or Stölzel to co-operate with him. With this object in view De Blaquier proceeded secretly to Meissen, where he contrived to scrape acquaintance with the arcanist in a coffee-house. He engaged with Stenzel in a game of billiards, taking care to lose, and thus he secured his object. Stenzel after some slight hesitation, accepted an offer of a thousand dollars to be paid yearly.
