The Story of Porcelain Part 14

"I!"

"Not bored?"

"Not so you'd notice it."

"All right, then; only you'll have to let me think a minute," said Mr. Croyden. "Where did we leave off?"

"You had been telling me about Sevres ware and other French porcelains."

"Oh, yes! Now I remember. Well, as you can imagine, after kaolin was discovered the secret gradually leaked out, and everybody went to work at making china. Kings, emperors, and princes; n.o.bles of high birth, all took up the art with zest, spending great sums of money on fabriques, as the porcelain factories came to be called. In Florence Francis, one of the Dukes of the Medici, built a tiny laboratory in the garden of the Boboli palace and there made a rude ware, some of it hard paste and some of it soft. This was even before the St. Cloud works were opened, and certain historians say that this was the first true porcelain made in Europe. At a much later period (about 1735, to be exact) the Ginori family, another t.i.tled Italian household of wealth and position, owning estates just outside Florence, took up porcelain-making, even sending s.h.i.+ps to China for the necessary clay. Fancy it! And to show you how highly this industry was esteemed I will add that the Marquise himself superintended his workmen and helped in manufacturing this Doccia ware, as they styled their output."

"Did this happen during the Renaissance?" inquired Theo timidly. "It sounds as if it might have."

Mr. Croyden nodded, cordially, much gratified by the lad's understanding.

"That was just when it happened," he said. "In the meantime, at about the same period, a beautiful soft paste called Capo di Monte was being made down in Naples under the patronage of Charles IV--the Charles who afterward became Charles III of Spain. Like the rest of royalty this King became absorbed in china-making--so absorbed that he went frequently to work in his factories himself, and each year held a sale of his products at the gates of his palace; whenever a piece was sold a record of it was made and later the name of the purchaser was reported to the King."

"I suppose he, too, made the n.o.bles buy his china," laughed Theo.

"I am afraid he did," agreed Mr. Croyden. "At least it was a fact that he showed especial favor to those who did buy it, which was practically the same thing. I think I forgot to tell you that the French kings also forced, or perhaps I should say expected, their courtiers and ladies to purchase Sevres ware. It was a custom of the time."

"I think it was a rotten custom!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Theo wrathfully.

"Certainly it was not a desirable thing. In our day we should call it graft. Still at that time there were plenty of people who were only too anxious to keep their heads on their shoulders, and who would have been glad to buy almost anything in order to do so. Doubtless they considered a little porcelain a small price for their lives, and were glad to win the favor of a capricious monarch by purchasing it. King Charles was no worse than all the rest. Later, when he became ruler of Spain, he took many of his Italian workmen there with him, and as a consequence in 1821 the Naples fabrique was closed; many of the moulds, as well as much of the outfitting, was sold to the Doccia works. As a result Capo di Monte was afterward imitated in Doccia hard and soft paste; but the original ware which is of value to collectors was that made at Naples. It is very difficult to distinguish this variety, for the Doccia people even copied the King's trade-mark."

"I suppose people could do that then," ventured Theo.

"Oh, yes. There was nothing to protect an invention as there is now,"

replied Mr. Croyden.

"Did King Charles continue to make porcelain in Spain?"

"Yes, he had a palace called Buen Retiro and here he established fabriques that continued to thrive even up to the time of King Ferdinand in 1780, and would probably have prospered much longer had not the Napoleonic wars come and the French destroyed the factories."

"And what became of the Doccia works in the meantime?" queried Theo.

"I am glad you asked that question," answered Mr. Croyden, "for I had not finished speaking about the Doccia fabrique. It was unique in its management. You know in our day how much we hear of proper factory conditions? Doubtless you have seen mills where there are neatly graded lawns, flower-beds, and perhaps a recreation ground. We consider such mill-owners very progressive and speak of them with keenest approval. Yet in our enlightened times such things are none too common. Now it is interesting to know that this Ginori family who founded the Doccia porcelain works were far in advance of anything we yet have done for our employees. Not only did they have lawns and gardens for their workmen, but they also had a park; a farm where vegetables were raised for the common good; a school for the workmen's children; an academy of music where all could go to concerts; and a savings-bank in which earnings could be deposited. What do you think of that for progressiveness?"

The boy's eyes opened wide.

"I guess we're not so civilized as we think we are," he remarked soberly.

"We are not the only people who ever lived--that's sure!" retorted the Trenton man grimly. "As you can well imagine, the men under the Ginori were very appreciative, and as a mark of their grat.i.tude for all this kindness they set to work and made for the Ginori chapel beautiful porcelain monuments as a tribute to the dead and gone Ginori n.o.bles. They also made a marvelous high altar all of porcelain, with magnificent candlesticks, fonts, and statues--a wonderful embodiment of their skill as well as their devotion."

"It must have taken some clay!" exclaimed Theo.

"I guess it did," Mr. Croyden a.s.sented. "Aside from this work the output of the Doccia fabrique was largely imitative. They made so many copies of Sevres, Capo di Monte, and Majolica that it soon became a great problem to tell the real from the imitation, and this has caused collectors no end of trouble."

"Was no other porcelain made in Italy?"

"Yes, as far back as 1515 pottery, as I told you, was made in Venice; and with the discovery of kaolin Venetian merchants imported the true clay which did not exist in Italy, and manufactured both hard and soft paste. But the industry was never a success because the expense of getting the material was so great. In 1753 the Germans, because of the cheapness of Italian labor, tried making porcelain there, thinking that they could furnish their own clays at slight cost. But the scheme was a failure. There was, however, some imitative work done later by a potter named Cozzi which was very good. But Italy has never excelled in china-making as she did in the making of gla.s.s because she had not the material to do any very extensive work. There has, to be sure, been a scattering of porcelains turned out--some from Turin; some from Treviso; and some from other cities. But aside from the Majolica pottery, and Delia Robbia's terra-cottas, Italy has not made any distinctive contribution to the china-making art. Still she has done so much in almost every other art that she should rest content. One cannot excel in everything."

"Some of us never excel in anything," laughed Theo.

"Some of us excel in falling off roofs and breaking our legs,"

chuckled Mr. Croyden teasingly. "And some of us excel in being very patient about it afterward," he added, patting the boy's shoulder affectionately.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XI

OUR ENGLISH COUSINS

All too soon the time came when grips had to be packed, tackle stowed away, and the campers start out over the carry to meet the train that was to take them to New York. The trip was a long and tedious one of two days' duration. Nevertheless our travelers did not find it wearisome. On the train were papers and magazines in plenty, and whenever Dr. Swift went into the smoking car Theo always found Mr. Croyden near at hand and willing to talk.

"And when Mr. Croyden is around no place could be dull or stupid,"

affirmed Theo to his father.

"I believe I shall begin to be jealous of Mr. Croyden, Theo," laughed Dr. Swift good-naturedly. "I am coming to fear that if you go to visit him as he wants you to, you never will come back home."

Theo smiled.

"You can't lose me so easily, Dad," he answered. "Just the same, I know if I do go and visit the Croydens I'll have a bully time. But I'd like to wait until I get rid of these crutches so I won't be a bother to anybody."

"That is wise. I should not feel easy if you started out on a visit before you were quite well," replied Dr. Swift. "However, it won't be long now before you can cast your crutches into the rubbish heap. In the meantime your own family can have a visit with you. I rather fancy your mother will be thankful to have you home again; she has been pretty anxious about you. No mother likes having her boy where she cannot get to him when he is ill."

"But you were there, Dad."

Dr. Swift smiled into the eyes that met his.

"Yes, I was there, to be sure," he a.s.sented. "But a doctor is not necessarily a good nurse."

"I don't see how anybody could be a better nurse than you, Father."

The Doctor shook his head.

"I'm afraid I did not fuss much over you," he answered. "At least I did not smother you with attention the way your mother would have done. You got no spoiling from me. I expect, though, that when your mother gets hold of you she won't be able to do enough for you. I can see her to-day flying round the house ordering all the things you like to eat, and getting everything ready for your coming. I shall have no attention at all."

Theo beamed.

"You will have all the attention you want, and more too, Dad, I guess," he remarked drily. "Probably a string of patients as long as this car will be waiting to pounce on you the minute you set foot in New York."