CERAMIC ARTS—GENERAL SURVEY.
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Those who «'ire disposed to make a study of this fascinating subject may derive great assistance from a collection of typical examples of modern productions that can readily be made by themselves at no very great cost. For such an undertaking, students in the United States have great facilities, in consequence of the very general representation of the chief manufactures abroad in the large stocks of ware kept on hand in our principal cities. There are, at least, two establishments—that of Mr. Richard Briggs in Boston, and of Messrs. Tyndale and Mitchell in Philadelphia—which may be regarded as museums of the art; for the proprietors, being enthusiasts in their specialty, take great pains to collect and retain examples of all varieties of manufacture and decoration, and even make visits to Europe to secure representative examples and novelties.
Commercial Value of Artistic Skill.
The United States are destined to become the best market in the world for artistic productions. This results from the very general distribution of wealth among the people and the desire to adorn their homes with the same class of objects sought and admired in communities pf riper civilization and culture. Money, for a time at least, anticipates appreciation; but the latter, as already shown, is sure to follow. Economists should not lose sight of the expanding fields of industrial effort which are opened in every direction by increased appreciation of, and demand for, artistic productions amongst the people. It leads to a great variety of manufactures and a rapid increase of wealth. Whole communities ai ’e sustained abroad in the production of trivial ornaments. "W’hen we consider, also, the great increase in value with which the commonest materials may be endowed by a little artistic skill, we do not hesitate to recognize the commercial v alue of such skill to the country. The cla}" which is so abundant under our feet is transformed by the potter into an °bject of beauty. A single slab of earthenware, which may be produced for a few cents, becomes of almost priceless value in the hands of the artist. The enamels of Parvillee and the plaques shown by Deck in the exhibition are examples. The prices which such objects command arc aston-