Part 16 (1/2)

”Didn't the English ever make any real hard paste china?” asked Theo

”It is said that between 1730 and 1744 they did make some; and this product is supposed to be the only true porcelain ever land It was manufactured at Stratford-le-Bow, and where do you think the clay for it cainia You can i the clay across the Atlantic This ware known for convenience as Bow became very popular The first of it was hand-painted, but later the designs were transferred, and the product becareat nuures of birds, animals, and shepherdesses; there were even some statuettes of celebrities of the ti record of the costu to the fact that much of the Bow china was unmarked it is frequently confused with the soft ware lish manufacture”

”Did the Bow factories continue?” asked Theo

”About 1775 the Boorks were ed with those of Derby; and in 1784, the Chelsea fabrique was also absorbed by the Derby company Derby china, especially Crown Derby, you lish wares About 1777 these factories cae III, at which time the terlish king did help in English porcelain- after all!”

exclaimed Theo

”To a certain extent, yes,” answered Mr Croyden ”The English nobility, too, patronized the royal factories The as so beautiful perhaps people were only too glad to do so There were plates with deep borders of solid rich color, frequently adorned with heavy gold work; and there were vases, pitchers, and bowls of ht to a greater perfection in this ware than ever before, and it established for thereputation Possibly this reputation hted un to sell at a lower rate their imperfect pieces, or seconds

Great quantities of these flooded the market and immediately the fame of the ware decreased”

”What a pity!”

”Since then this erroneous policy has been corrected in so far as has been possible; but the blot on the history of the Derby porcelain re should never allow io beyond its doors William Cookworthy, who, by the way, land, in 1760, finally discovered deposits of true kaolin at Cornwall, and of this material made some more true porcelain; but unfortunatelyHis workers of exposing the ware to the extre place in the developrow and becoer?” asked Theo

”Alas, reat extent from Chinese and Continental wares, was reat that poor Cookworthy sunk a fortune in the enterprise However, the venture was not without its fruits, for out of the Plymouth fabrique developed that of Bristol, and later that of Shelton, or New Hall All of these plants manufactured hard paste chinas At Bristol in 1774 a wonderfully fine tea and coffee set was lish orator In theup At Pinxton, Swansea, Coalport, Liverpool and Rockingham; most of these factories made soft paste chinas Then calish porcelains, known as Spode, was produced by co with this type of paste pulverized bones”

”Bones!”

”Yes It seereat discovery, and one that has been generally adopted and used ever since by the principal china-land The bone element, or phosphate of lith and elasticity to the china Minton ware, first land and sold throughout the china-buying world, is one of these bone chinas It is a great favorite because of its durability as well as its beauty There were in addition land--far too many of them for me to enumerate One was the Lowestoft, made from about 1756 in soft paste, and in 1775 in hard Much of it is in ih some was decorated with roses, and some with landscapes or coats of arms As it had no enuine ware Moreover, a large amount of the white porcelain, it is said, was sent from China to Lowestoft to be decorated, and therefore the body of it is of Oriental and not English make Worcester is another of the celebrated soft paste chinas, which at first copied Oriental designs, and later branched off into imitations of Dresden or Sevres wares It is still reat lish wares were copies of somebody else's work,” remarked Theo

”I aland was not rich in originality of design The work of Wedgwood is the only distinctively inventive contribution lish bone porcelains are very beautiful, and though they are not genuine feldspathic products they are highly esteemed and in deiven you a pretty co of the European countries Holland and Belgium, as I have told you, lack both clay and fuel and therefore had not a fair chance to compete with the other nations; but they did make some little porcelain Sweden also turned out a little Denen ware, a type of white porcelain decorated beneath the glaze in cobalt The fabrique forthis china was opened as early as 1760 but it never paid, and in 1775 the Government took over the works and it became a royal factory where wo and decorating the porcelain The undertaking, however, proved so expensive that in 1876 the factories went back into private hands But the porcelain has become world-famous and holds its place in the list of the distinctive chinas of the art universe Look up Royal Copenhagen some time, and see how beautiful it is”

”I will,” nodded Theo ”But in all this china-?”

”Russia made her try,” Mr Croyden said ”Peter the Great was an ambitious ruler who traveled the Continent over to see what other countries were doing in the way of cories he made the people build a new corad Here he set his subjects to s such as he had seen in Europe, especially brass, copper, and silver articles From 1744 to 1765 under the Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine II a little really fine hard paste was produced It was a porcelain in imitation of Dresden; but there never was very much of it manufactured A little Russian porcelain was also made at Moscow and Poland The Russians never excelled in pottery and porcelain-, however, as they did in metal work”

Mr Croyden rose

”See,” he said, ”here coood-bye to china-ood-bye to it altogether, too, for by to- into New York and separating for hoet, Theo, that I want you to come to Trenton the first minute you are rid of these crutches Then I shall trah my factories and you shall see how all this porcelain we have talked of is lad to come,” responded Theo

”I must leave it to your father's discretion, then, to notify me when he thinks you are able toto Dr Sho had just joined them ”You just telephone me, Doctor, when you think you can spare this boy of yours; will you?”

”You are very kind, Croyden”

”Not a bit! Not a bit!” protested Mr Croyden ”I shall want to see Theo, and I am anxious to have Mrs Croyden meet him too I only e had a boy just like him; then I'd have somebody to leave my business to”