PORCELAIN AND FAIENCE.

233

which such participation can give ; and one of the greatest of these advantages is publicity through the reports.

It has been impossible to notice all that was interesting in this group. Many important displays have not been men­tioned, partly for reasons already given, and, in some cases, trom the difficulty or impossibility of obtaining any informa­tion concerning them. In the absence of exhibitors or ..their

O

agents, and the presence of the notice,"Visitors are not allowed to touch the objects,little can be learned that is afterwards available in a report. The reporter would here direct the attention of exhibitors in future exhibitions to the importance of preparing a concise printed statement of the chief facts concerning their products, for the information of those whose attention is specially directed to them. Such facts and descriptions can be verified, by examination, and modified, if need be, to conform to the opinions of the exam­iner. With such information at hand, the exhibitor need not always be present, an<J will, in any case, be spared many questions while benefiting the public as well as himself.

Some idea of the great extent of the exhibition in the ce­ramic department may be gained from the fact that over one hundred and sixty awards were made. The number of ex­hibitors was of course much greater, but I have not been able to obtain it. In the British section alone, there were thirty- six.

II. Porcelain and Faience.

GREAT BRITAIN.

The ceramic productions were the most salient features of fhe exhibition from the United Kingdom. They occupied the most favored place in the grand transept, next to the superb metal work of the Messrs. Elkington. They gave the most gratifying evidence of the substantial growth of the miistic element in Britain. This advance, together with that shown in the metal-work referred to, in the furniture, carpet- ln S s > and decorative art generally, may be accepted as the Result, in great part, of the efforts, since the Exhibition of 1851, for general art-education in Great Britain.

30