CHAPTER XLIV. SEVRES CHINA, &c. T the commencement of our work, we made a casual mention of the royal porcelain manufactory at Sevres. We will now return to this subject, and give an account of various important improvements. "It was at Sevres," says M. Capefigue, "that Colbert established a vast manufactory, where antique vases were modelled, and Chinese and German urns imitated; the best paintings copied, huntingscenes, battles, and natural flowers of brilliant colours. Fifty workmen were convoked from various parts of Europe; everything was reduced to rules, and experiments tried upon the earth and water used. The Sevres china acquired a great reputation over all Europe; the king sent presents of it to every court; and it became a gracious offering at the conclusion of a treaty. The Sevres manufactory was a subject of pride to Louis XIV." Napoleon betrayed no less solicitude for the prosperity of this fine establishment, the direction of which he intrusted to the learned mineralogist Brongniard. In 1804, the fabrication of soft porcelain was entirely given up at Sevres. Nevertheless, it must be confessed, as M. Brongniard very judiciously remarked, it required more research and more genius to compose this artificial porcelain by complicated and delicate processes, than to obtain the hard porcelain, which is the result of the simple mixture of two natural materials, kaolin and feldspar. After this reform, the new director of the Sevres manufactory applied himself particularly to the composition of hard porce 19 (217) served the much to be regretted masterpieces, of which we have now but meagre descriptions." With the exception of the Cross of Honour, which he so well deserved, and which Louis XVIII. placed upon his breast in 1814, M. Odiot, senior, received from the government none of the honourable distinctions so often conferred upon unworthy favourites. But, with merit such as his, there were many consolations for a like exclusion. His fame as an artist, and the gold medals decreed to him as testimonials of profound admiration, were infinitely preferable to court favours. CHAPTER XLIV. SEVRES CHINA, &c. T the commencement of our work, we made a casual mention of the royal porcelain manufactory at Sevres. We will now return to this subject, and give an account of various important improvements. "It was at Sevres," says M. Capefigue," that Colbert established a vast manufactory, where antique vases were modelled, and Chinese and German urns imitated; the best paintings copied, huntingscenes, battles, and natural flowers of brilliant colours. Fifty workmen were convoked from various parts of Europe; everything was reduced to rules, and experiments tried upon the earth and water used. The Sevres china acquired a great reputation over all Europe; the king sent presents of it to every court; and it became a gracious offering at the conclusion of a treaty. The Sevres manufactory was a subject of pride to Louis XIV." Napoleon betrayed no less solicitude for the prosperity of this fine establishment, the direction of which he intrusted to the learned mineralogist Brongniard. In 1804, the fabrication of soft porcelain was entirely given up at Sevres. Nevertheless, it must be confessed, as M. Brongniard very judiciously remarked, it required more research and more genius to compose this artificial porcelain by complicated and delicate processes, than to obtain the hard porcelain, which is the result of the simple mixture of two natural materials, kaolin and feldspar. After this reform, the new director of the Sevres manufactory applied himself particularly to the composition of hard porce 19 (217) lain, giving it a whiteness and delicacy never previously obtained. In 1806, the Sevres porcelain was embellished by the superb green chromium, a metal discovered by Vauquelin. To M. Brongniard's wise direction were owing the improvements made in the chemical mode of painting on glass, a new style of painting, which is done by mixing the metallic oxides with a flux composed of glass with lead. It was under the empire that historical subjects were first represented upon porcelain, and especially upon very large vases. The painter, Van-Os, was called to France, in 1811, to paint flowers upon porcelain, and in this branch of art he was distinguished as much for the richness of his shading, as the brilliancy of his colouring. The fine paintings upon porcelain by Drolling, Lauglacé, George Constantin, and above all, Madame Jaquotot, are well known. M. Charles Dupin speaks as follows: "By means of the new method of painting upon porcelain, perfected as it now is, the finest masterpieces of the greatest masters, which are liable to decay in the course of a few centuries, may be copied and consigned to posterity in a most beautiful and imperishable form. Mineralogy and chemistry have lent their aid to render this execution less expensive, more faithful, and more delicate than mosaic imitations." The art of sculpture has also been of great advantage to the manufactory at Sevres, as regards beauty of form and figure. M. Fragonard, senior, to whom we owe such admirable ceilings, has contributed in no small degree to this, as our annual exhibitions fully attest. In fact, the porcelain manufactory at Sevres owes numerous highly valuable compositions to the talents of this skilful artist. It is much to be regretted that private establishments have not imitated the royal manufactory in this respect. It is only by employing artists of undisputed merit that France has gained her great superiority in this art over all Europe, Nevertheless, the efforts made at Sevres have provoked a for SLAUGHTER-HOUSES. 219 tunate emulation. M. Dihl, a skilful porcelain manufacturer, obtained the gold medal for the excellence and beauty of his performances. He had already received, in 1798, one of the twelve rewards, of the first rank, for paintings on porcelain with colours of his own composition, which experienced no change during the process of baking. This celebrated manufacturer also discovered a means of overcoming the difficulties attendant upon the composition and preservation of the colours appropriate to painting on pieces of glass of eighteen decimetres in length and breath. This operation required a distinct and peculiar process of application. He painted the same picture upon two surfaces of glass, so that in putting one over the other, one covered the other, and by that means doubled the vigour of the outline, and the depth of the colouring. In 1810, the Paris authorities issued a decree for the erection of five public slaughter-houses, to take the place of the numerous private establishments of this kind belonging to the butchers. This was of great advantage to the city as regards health and safety. In order to enable the reader to understand all the benefits of this innovation, I will borrow from Mercier's Tableau de Paris, a detailed account of the inconveniences and the dangers presented by the former slaughter-houses. "They are not outside the city, nor at its extremities, but in the midst of it. Blood streams through the streets, coagulates under your feet, and dyes your boots red, whilst mournful lowings salute your ears. A young ox is thrown down, his horned head fastened to the ground with ropes; a heavy club breaks his skull; a large knife makes a deep gash in his throat; his blood, which smokes, pours forth in volumes as he dies. But his groans, his muscles agitated by violent convulsions, his struggles, his gasps, his last efforts to escape from his dreadful doom, all speak the violence of his anguish, and the agony of his sufferings. His heart palpitates with fearful rapidity, his eyes become dull and languishing. Oh! who can contemplate all this |