Conversational Meeting. G5 



\2th March 1845. 



A Conversational Meeting of the Society was held this evening, in 

 the Merchants' Hall, at which upwards of 400 persons were present 



The chief curiosities shown on this occasion were the specimens of 

 Fronch art and manufacture, purchased by Government at the late 

 Exposition at tho Champs Elysees in Paris for tho School of Design 

 in London, and which have been sent down for inspection to tho 

 institution in Glasgow, the directors very handsomely placing them 

 at tho disposal of the Council of the Philosophical Society for this 

 evening. Those articles are of a choice and valuable description, and, 

 presenting a high standard of excellence in various branches of art and 

 manufacture, the study of them in the recently established institutions 

 for the uso of which they aro intended cannot fail to stimulate the in- 

 genuity of our } own artisans and manufacturers. One of the most 

 curious was a drawing or pattern for a rug, being a specimen of the 

 manner in which French designs are executed for the manufacture of 

 these articles. It might be about twelve inches long, by about six or 

 eight in breadth, and consisted of a series of figures of flowers, drawn 

 and coloured with exquisite skill, finished with the minuteness and 

 nicety of miniature painting, and showing an amount of labour which, 

 it was stated, would be poorly compensated to the artist by four- 

 teen guineas, the price at which the pattern was purchased. There 

 wore a number of specimens of pottery, and glass manufacture, and 

 jars and vases cast in metal, remarkable for their classic elegance of 

 form and beauty of design. Amongst these were — a valuable bronze 

 vase, with an allegorical design, representing two groups of figures, the 

 most prominent of which were Justice and Peace on one side, and 

 Patience and Hope on the other, all the figures being produced with 

 admirable sculpturesque effect A jar in common Beauvais ware — the 

 coarsest potter's clay, in fact — showed in a remarkable manner the 

 value of art in moulding forms of perfect grace and symmetry out of 

 the most ordinary and inexpensive materials. One of theso elegant 

 jars might cost sixpence, and in France they are much sought after 

 for household purposes. A vase cast in argent-platina, of singularly 

 fine proportions ; the chasing elaborated with the minuteness of insect- 

 work ; produced in the atelier of M. Rudorf ; the price of this article 

 was forty guineas, being considered a perfect specimen of the art, 

 and without its equal as yet in British manufacture. Glass-china 

 vase, from the work called Choisi le Roi, situated on the Seine, 

 about seven miles from Paris; value £16. In this specimen the 

 classical proportions of the other vases were produced in a material of 

 exquisite delicacy, combining the purity of crystal with the pearly 

 whiteness and transparency of the finest porcelain, and affording a 

 ground susceptible to the minutest shades of the pencil. Vases of this 

 description aro painted by the hands of ladies ; and the presont speci- 



Vol.II .—No. I. 4 



