FOUCELAIN AND FAT EN OE. 
39 
are eight different colors. The design appears to be car- 
nation pinks, treated conventionally, quartering within an 
arabesque border of brilliant yellow dividing the area of 
the flowers from an outer margin of a beautiful deep blue 
color. The ground-work of the central portion is white, 
being the general glazed surface upon which the enamels are 
laid. The great elemcnt of beauty in such a plaque is the 
relief, with a curved surface, of the design. It may be said 
to catch and reflect the light. The design is visible and bril 
liant, when viewed obliquely, in any poSition. There is no 
one best light in which to view it. Instead of the blinding 
glare of a plain mirror-like surface, the design Stands out 
clearly and brflliantly, lookiug as if the flowers were laid 
upon the plate. This remarkable relief, in somc portions to 
the extent of one-eighth of an inch, appears to be due, in the 
first place, to the composition of the enamel and management 
of the heat, which permits incipient fusion without flowing. 
It is evidently not very fluid in the fire, and does not -seem to 
have any special afflnity for the ground-work glaze, for it 
does not spread upon it. The differently colored enamels 
would, however, unite, where they are placed side by side, 
were it not for a narrow dark line of a brown, earthy charac- 
ter, which is traced around every part of the design, isolating 
each patch of colored enamel, and apparently preventing the 
flow by sinking into and drying up, so to speak, the soft 
vitreous surface of the glaze. It also serves the purpose of 
" setting off” each part of the design, and adds to the general 
effect. It is a dead, earthy surface, without lustre or relief. 
Girard, in reporting upon the beautiful enamels of Collinot 
in the Paris Exhibition of 1867,'says that the absolute neat- 
ness of outline is obtained by tracing around each flower a 
cupreous composition, which, being modified by the fire, 
gives a metallic cavity, retaining the enamel in its place. 
This suggests cloissonee; but the border in the Choisy-le-Roi 
specimen, and in Deck’s enamels, has no metallic appearance 
and does not form any cavity. It simply presents a surface 
repellant to the flow of the enamel, as a line of wax or oil re- 
pels water.