42
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
Regnault, Ebelman and Salvetat. Chemical Science was
needed and was freely used to throw light upon the great
empirical art. Results of great practical value to ceramic
industry followed. The composition of foreign porcelains,
of clays and mixtures, was ascertained. The principles of
the art of combining were established, and the secrets of
glasses and enamels, and colors, were unlocked and discov-
ered to the world. We can'scarcely measure the influence
upon the potter’s art of such an establishment. And in
judgiug of the quality of productions of private nianufacto-
ries as compared with its productions, we should remember
the superior advantages enjoyed by the union of Science with
the accumulated experience handed down through genera-
tious, and preserved by royal patronage.
f -
Sevres as a School of Art.
At the London Exhibition of 1851, the jury unanimously
assigued the first place to the products of the Sevres manu-
factory, and awarded the Council Medal.* They, however,
very justly point out the tuet that the light in which these
products should be regarded is wholly different from that in
which the productions of eommercial industry should be
viewed. The Sevres productions are rather tliose of a
richly-endowed school of design, and in the French exhibi-
tions they have not been plaeed in competition with the re
sults of private enterprise. The influence of Sevres as a
school of design has extended over the whole of Europe, and
many of the most beautiful objects in porcelain produced
elsewhefe are imitations, or slight modifications, of the old
productions of the Sevres school.
As early as 1698, the porcelain products at Saint Cloud
were thought to be equal in quality to those of China. The
manufaeture was continued, in 1708, by the Brothers Dubois,
under the protection of the Prince de Coude. But they did
not succeed at Saint Cloud or at Chantilly. They removed
to Yincennes, but failed again. In 1745, a Company was
formed, under the royal patronage, with special Privileges for
thirty years; but, in 1753, this was revoked, and the king
became interested to the extent of a third, and the establish-
Reports of the Jury, p. 542.