Page 29 - J. P Morgan Collection of Chinese Art and Porcelain

PREFACE

from Germany to France, and thence into England,
and completely dominating in one way or another the

whole decoration of porcelain.
With the discovery of hard paste and the subsequent

ability of European potters to supply the market, the
importations from China fell off. It was a great trade
while it lasted, whole fleets arriving under convoy,
laden with porcelain alone, and the appetite for it
appeared insatiable. England vied with Holland in the
avidity with which it absorbed it, but all parts of Eu-
rope were eager customers, in Holland, however,
the rage for porcelain was like that which at one time
was manifested there for tulips; and as late as the
early part of the last century there were not a few
Dutch families in which sets of seven-bordered, egg-
shell, and rose-backed plates and the like number of
cups and saucers of similar character were in daily
domestic use.

W. M. L.

April, 1904.