CERAMICS. 223 



The import into Russia of foreign porcelain and faience was always 

 very considerable, notwithstanding that the duties tlxed on these articles, 1 to 

 3.75 roubles a poud on faience, and 5.30 to 21 roubles in gold per poud on the dif- 

 ferent grades of porcelain wares, have always sufficiently protected the home pro- 

 duction. The development of the latter has been in general unusually steady and 

 gradual, and particularly visible since 1878, just after the war with Turkey. 



The amount of the annual import of porcelain and faience in the last 20 years 

 was as follows: 



The value of porcelain and faience imported across the European frontier: 



In recent years the value of the imported faience was nearly equal to that 

 <if the porcelain; for instance, in 1891, faience was brought across the European 

 frontier to the value of 383,000 roubles, and porcelain, 369,000 roubles. This pro- 

 protion shows the predominance which faience has over porcelain, as to the 

 •luantity imported. The average commercial value per poud of imported faience 

 IS, according to the customhouse rating, for the three categories of articles, that is, 

 articles without patterns, articles with patterns of one colour, and painted articles 

 with patterns of various colours, 9 roubles, and 28 roubles respectively ; whereas 

 the prices of the corresponding three categories of porcelain are per poud 23 roubles, 

 45 roubles and 85 roubles, according to the valuation of the import of 1891. 



As to quantity, there was imported in the year 1891, across the European fron- 

 tier, of faience about 32,000 pouds; and of porcelain; 9,400 pouds. In the year 1890 the 

 import of faience amounted to 30,000 pouds and of porcelain 7,540 pouds, with a 

 value, for faience, of 324,000 roubles, and for porcelain, of 318,000 roubles. Besides 

 the quantities mentioned, faience is brought across the Asiatic frontier, from about 

 10,000 to 15,000, and porcelain, 3,000 to 5,000 roubles. 



The total value, therefore, of the faience and porcelain imported equals about 

 one-sixth of that of the home production, and the quantitative predominance which 

 the faience articles have in the import, corresponds to the comparatively weak 

 state of that branch in Eussia. At the same time the demand for faience of 

 good quality, arising out of the direct wants of the household, not only constantly 

 exists, but increases faster than the home production. This predominance of faience 

 will always naturally arise from the fact that, in the houseliold, the good durable 

 faience serves as well as porcelain, and is thereby in general the cheaper. 



The best faience until now for Eussia has been the English, the German, and the 



