Page 293 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly
P. 293
PORCELAIN DECORATED
that the factory at Shaou-king Fu to the west of Canton
must have made still more. Abbe Raynal, in 1774, men-
tions this factory, and states "thpaotrctehleainpeorcdeelsainInkdenso"wnwaisn
France under the name of
made there.
It is probable, therefore, that from these two factories,
and especially from the latter, proceeded the numerous ser-
vices for dinner and tea, differing altogether from the appli-
ances of the same kind used in China. Many of these
services have on them the armorial bearings of the persons
for whom they were made. Even royalty patronised Chi-
nese porcelain ; portions of services made for Frederic the
Great, and the royal families of Denmark and France, are in
the collection. There seems also to have been a large ser-
vice made for the Palace of the Swedish Kings at Grips-
holm, the name of which is inscribed on the various pieces.
The arms of families of rank are often found, and naturally
those of wealthy merchants both in England and abroad.
There is such a similarity of style in the arrangement of
the decoration of much of this armorial china that there
must have been some agent, either in England or at Can-
ton, who supplied the designs and superintended their
execution.
M. Jacquemart has ascribed to Japan what Abbe Raynal
calls "porcelaine des Indes," our "India china," as well as
the armorial specimens ; but he has come to this conclusion
on the most slender grounds ; he argues that the Dutch
India Company was the only important company which
could have caused such a name to be given to its imports,
and that that company traded with Japan. He has, how-
ever, quite overlooked the very important India companies
of England, Sweden, and Denmark, which had a large trade
with China, and that even the Dutch carried on a very con-
siderable commerce with that country, using Batavia as their
depot. In the elaborate sale catalogue of the collection of
M. Angrand de Fonpertuis, prepared by Gersaint of Paris
in 1747, the Chinese and Japanese are generally spoken of
as " Indiens." Moreover, the porcelain with armorial bear-
ings is probably far more common in England than in Hol-
land, and our country had no direct communication with
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