JASPER WARE. 321 



of being stained with the fine mazarine blue, which was one 

 of the early characteristics of the Saxon porcelain. The 

 mineral from whence this colour is obtained is said to be 

 guarded with so much jealousy in Saxony, that conveying it 

 out of the country is made a capital offence. This porcelain 

 is called jasper, from its resemblances in properties to that 

 stone ; and this property of receiving colours, which no other 

 body, either ancient or modern, has been known to do, 

 renders it peculiarly fit for cameos, portraits, and all subjects 

 in bas-relief, as the ground may be made of any colour 

 throughout, and the raised figures of a pure white. 



" He possessed this valuable secret about twelve years 

 before anything of the same kind was done by another, 

 notwithstanding that he lived in the midst of a great 

 number of ingenious men engaged in the same pursuits 

 with himself. The first nearly similar effect was produced 

 by an intelligent neighbour,* with a material different from 

 that employed by Mr. Wedgwood ; and afterwards, through 

 an incident partly accidental, and partly proceeding from 

 treachery $ the whole discovery was laid open to several 

 others ; but the directors of the principal manufactories of 

 porcelain on the Continent have not yet, as we believe, 

 succeeded in producing this species, although it has been an 

 object of extreme solicitude among them. The bas-reliefs 

 which he finished at this time, partly after the subjects upon 

 the Etruscan vases, and partly from the engravings which 

 he found in different authors, were frequently inlaid into 

 marble for chimney-pieces, and used to ornament girandoles, 

 and in some instances abroad they were set in panels of 

 coaches. Commissions for these and his other productions 

 were often received from foreign princes, and artists have 

 even been sent to make collections of them, to be conveyed 

 to Rome, and there fitted up. 



"The bamboo, or cane-coloured porcelain, is another of 

 the inventions of Mr. Wedgwood, which was soon and very 

 well imitated by other makers, and, while it adds variety to 



* Turner. 



