Page 195 - Chinese Porcelain Vol II, Galland

TRADE SECTION. 349

date, befell Portugal impoverished most of the old families,
and from about 1830 onwards a trade was done on
regular
the not it to be known that were
quiet people wishing they
parting with their heirlooms. In this way a great deal of old
china passed into the possession of other countries. One Dutch
dealer, it is said, used to visit Lisbon annually, and bring away
all he could Prices were then
get. very moderate, and vases
that the Portuguese gladly sold for 30 or 40, some years
later hundreds in Bond Street.
brought
a rich nation, have retained their ceramic
The Dutch, being
treasures, and, fortunately for them, their own delft derived
its chief from the Chinese.
inspiration
Germany seems to have drawn what she possesses chiefly
through Holland, and it was probably in this way that the
collection at Dresden was formed.
France naturally has coquetted between her own Sevres
and Chinese. If the reader would judge between the two, the
beauties of the former can well be studied in the
magnificent
specimens now on view at Hertford House. Thereafter visit
the Franks collection at the British Museum, or wander round
the Salting collection at South Kensington. The change will
be sudden, but Instead of the studied classic
invigorating.
forms of the past, few of which can be turned to any practical
use he will find the that have been
nowadays, simple shapes
called into existence the of life in
by requirements everyday
China. Instead of the belaboured of French
compositions
artists in set colours, he will find the freehand drawing of the
Chinese in a careless of
depicted profusion colouring. It is
this of the Chinese that makes
easy grace pieces any European
when look common.
competitor, placed alongside,
At the time and the United States of
present England
America are the chief holders of Chinese and the
porcelain,
to the esteem in which this ware is now
growing prices testify
held in both countries ; but there is every reason to fear that
ere very long the Americans will have outstripped us in the
race, as the finest pieces, as they come into the market, are
taken for America at prices beyond the reach of most people
on this side. There is a love of the quaint on the other side
of the Atlantic to which Chinese art appeals with more force
than, unfortunately, is always the case here, and we will awake