250
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 judging of the quality of productions of private manufactories as compared with its productions, we should remember the superior advantages enjoyed by the union of science with the accumulated experience handed down through generations, and preserved by royal patronage.
Seviies as a School of Art.
At the London Exhibition of 1851, the jury unanimously assigned, the first place to the products of the Sevres manufactory, and awarded the Council Medal.* They, however, very justly point out the fact that the light in which these products should be regarded is wholly different from that m which the productions of commercial industry should he viewed. The Sevres productions are rather those of a richly-endowed school of design, and in the French exhibitions they have not been placed 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 elsewhere 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 manufacture was continued, in 1708, by the Brothers Dubois» under the protection of the Prince de Conde. But they did not succeed at Saint Cloud or at Chantilly. They removed to Vincennes, but failed again. In 1745, a company wls .formed, under the royal patronage, with special privileges f°i thirty years; but, in 1753, this was revoked, and the king became interested to the extent of a third, and the establish'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.