THE ROMANCE OF FRENCH CHINA-MAKING
The next day when Mr. Croyden put his head in at Theo's door to say
good-morning he found the boy sitting up in bed eating his breakfast
and his first remark was:
"How long did it take France to find out how to make porcelain,
Mr. Croyden?"
The manufacturer laughed.
"I declare if you are not beginning this morning just where you left
off last night!" he exclaimed. "What kind of porcelain do you mean,
hard or soft paste?"
"Oh, any kind."
"You have not forgotten the vast difference between the hard and
soft ware, have you? I should be discouraged if you had."
Theo shook his head.
"I don't believe you would let me forget even if I wanted to," he
replied with an impish chuckle.
"I certainly shouldn't," smiled Mr. Croyden. Then he added more
seriously: "Soft paste china, or pate tendre, as it is called, was
made at St. Cloud as early as 1695, and some of it was very
beautiful. Such ware looks more creamy and is not so cold and harsh to
the touch. It is, however, much more fragile and for that reason,
although a great deal of it was manufactured, the industry never
became a wide-spread success. Later soft paste was also made at
Chantilly, Vincennes, Limoges, Paris, and a number of French
cities. Even the celebrated Sevres ware, the finest thing in
china-making that France ever produced, was at first made from soft
paste. This is easily understood when you recall that at the beginning
the only clays the French knew anything about were pate tendre
clays. It was not until kaolin was discovered in 1765 and taken from
the section about St. Yrieix that hard paste, or pate dure, was
made in France."
"I see."
"Nevertheless the French people got wonderful results from their pate
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
pate 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. Pate
dure was far more desirable than pate tendre, for it was much less
breakable. The works at Vincennes where Sevres china really had its
birth were now moved to Sevres 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
Sevres 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."
Theo's eyes had not left the story-teller's face for an instant.
"It was not as if the painters used only a touch of color here and
there," continued Mr. Croyden. "Much of the ware was designed with a
solid color that covered the body, small spaces being reserved for
medallions in which there were heads or landscapes. The gilding, too,
was very heavy, and sometimes in combination with it imitation gems
were used. At the present time a color known as Rose du Barry brings
the highest price in old Sevres. Other famous colors in which the
French china-makers excelled were Bleu Roi, which was made from
cobalt----"
"King's blue," murmured Theo.
"Bleu Celeste, a turquoise blue made from copper----"
"Sky blue!" put in Theo.
"There was also a rare canary yellow; an apple green; a fine tone of
violet; and a bright red that had not been seen before in the china
world. So intense was the interest in the Sevres factory that even
when the French Revolution came and every relic of royalty was
destroyed by the hooting mobs, the Sevres works were not touched. You
see in what a magic realm the old Sevres ware had its being. We call
everything dating up to 1800 _Old Sevres_, and you will probably find
it so marked in both public and private collections."
"Is Sevres ware still manufactured?" questioned Theo, stumbling
timidly over the French word.
"Yes," answered Mr. Croyden, "there is a modern Sevres, much of the
success of which is due to Alexandre Brongniart who was both a
geologist and chemist, and who was the director of the Sevres
factories from 1800 to 1850. He did much to perpetuate the industry
and keep up its standard. During his time no piece with an
imperfection in it was allowed to go out from the factory."
"Was Sevres the only famous ware the French people made?"
"It is undoubtedly the most celebrated," replied Mr. Croyden, "but
there are now many other fine porcelains made in France. For example
at Limoges, where in 1775 pate tendre was made, there is a very
extensive porcelain plant founded in 1840 by David Haviland, an
American, from which quantities of pate dure or genuine porcelain for
the American market are annually turned out. Much of the other French
china, however--dainty, exquisite, and artistic as it is, is pate
tendre. It is of course sold in quantities, but it is very perishable.
There is also a so-called porcelain made from a mixture of clays and
phosphates--a ware known to the trade as _bone china_. But of course
this variety is not real porcelain. You see that much of what we call
porcelain is not porcelain at all when you judge it by this strict
standard. It is nevertheless very useful, and a hungry boy like you
can manage nicely to eat his breakfast off it and be quite as
happy. Now give me your tray and I'm off. There will be no more
china-making to-day, you young scoundrel! See how long you have
cajoled me into lingering already. You almost made me forget that I
was going fishing."
With a friendly pat on the boy's shoulder Mr. Croyden disappeared.
[Illustration]