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  discovered
  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  nianufactories
  as  compared  with  its  productions,  we  should  remember
the  superior  advantages  enjoyed  by  the  union  of  Science  with
the  accumulated  experience  handed  down  through  generatious,
  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  manufactory,
  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  exhibitions
  they  have  not  been  plaeed  in  competition  with  the  results ­
  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thirty  years;  but,  in  1753,  this  was  revoked,  and  the  king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.