12 
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA. 
which alone is capable of directing onward in its proper 
course and maintainiug constant, a National School of Art.” * 
Museums of Ceeamio Producttons. 
What we specially need, then, in the industry to which 
these pages are devoted, is a well-chosen collection of all the 
best examples of the potter’s art, in all ages, and ffom every 
country. New York already has the nucleus or commence- 
ment of such a collection f in the Metropolitan Museum of 
Art, whefe the unrivalled collection of De Cesnola presents a 
great wealth of examples in earthenware and terra-cotta, of 
the Phcenicians, ancient Greeks and Romans. This is sup- 
plemented by a Loan Museum, chiefly from the private col 
lection of Mrs. W. C. Prime, in which there are excellent 
specimens of new and old Sevres, Dresden, Austrian, and 
English porcelain, of delft ivare and Saracenic tiles. A 
somewhat similar collection exists in the Athenseum, Boston, 
and contains some excellent examples of old Sevres, Chinese 
wäre, päte-sur-pdte, an imitation of Henri-deux wäre, etc., 
some of which were obtained at the Vienna Exhibition. 
These museums are already exerting an influence upon the 
public in directing attention to the pres'ervation ot old and 
curious pieces.of porcelain and the formation of private col- 
lections. Although many such collections are made merely for 
the sake of getting together odd and rare bits of old china to 
which a fanciful value is attached, without any comprehension 
of the nature of the art, or its history, the weakness is by no 
meaus to be discouraged, for sooner or later the possession of 
the objects leads the owner to look beyond them to their 
origin, and to a comparison of the products in all their quali- 
ties of material, form, and decoration. 
*Magniac and Soden Smith, On Porcelain, Lon. Exhib., 1871, I-, p. 258. 
f An important portion of this collection consists of over 4,000 earthenware vascs, 
dißcovered in ancient tombs at Idalium, a Phcenician city which was conquered by 
the Greek colonists of Cyprus several centuries before Chris^ These vases are per 
fect in form and fresh in color, and are ornamented according to the fanc.y of the 
potter, without any special regard to their size or capacity. The colors are generally 
only two: a dark brown, almost black, and a purple red. This last appears to have 
been produced by an oxidc of copper, and the brown by umher,*an earth which 
occurs abundantly in Cyprus. The decorative pattems are usually concentric circles 
and chequered designs, sometimes intermingled with the lotus.