RERAMIC STUDIO 
line glazes and quite i-ecently the mat glazes, the under glazes, 
and the colors of grand feu over glaze. In this laboratory has 
been invented the process of casting large vases and has been 
determined the regulation of oxidizing and reducing fires. 
There the coloring oxides are scrupidously anah'sed to insure 
their puritj-, and all materials are carefully examined before 
being vised. 
The different monarchs have in different ways manifested 
their interest in the Sevres Works. Louis XVI liked to con- 
verse with Macquer. Napoleon I gave an order to Brongniart 
for the table of the Marshals, and this same Brongniart, who 
was for forty years at the head of the factory, created, accord- 
ing to the wishes of Queen Marie Amelie, a marveloush' rich 
and fresh painting palette. 
Napoleon III who said "thou' to the learned Regnault, 
sent to China frequent missions with a view to enrich the 
vSevres Museum with the most characteristic specimens of the 
Oriental art, and the laboratory with the materials and colors 
taken from the Chinese potteries by diplomacy, and sometimes 
by force (Mission Scherzer.) 
Like the artists, the workingmen were only until 1880 en- 
titled to a retreat annuitj^ Recruited among the best men of 
the ceramic industry and also among the best pupils formed in 
the working rooms, these artisans are exceedingly clever. The 
care with which they do the glazing, the packing of the kilns 
and the firing has considerabh' reduced the percentage of losses 
which is unavoidable in all ceramic fabrication, especially of 
porcelain, and their work is an important factor in the beauty 
of the Sevres products. 
There are seven kilns of different sizes. The moulders, 
repairers of biscuit, number 22, with salaries varying from 
2,800 to 4,500 francs, and there are 15 throwers with salaries 
varjang from 2,000 to 4,600 francs. 
Outside of the table services made from models of the 
factory, Sevres accepts no orders. All the new models are due 
to the chief of the ^A'orks of Art, or to the imaginative creations 
of the artists. Under the monarchs, no piece was sold; all be- 
longed to the kings, who gave them to friendly princes, to diplo- 
mats, high dignitaries, charitable institutions or to the Palaces 
of the Crown. 
Everything has been changed since the Sevres budget is 
voted by the Parliament (1S70). Although a few pieces are 
still offered as diplomatic presents, most of them go to the 
French Museums, and the others are offered for sale in a sales- 
room specially arranged in the factory itself. But until now, 
in order not to injure the outside ceramic artists or factories, 
the Parliament had forbidden the sale in public exhibitions or 
the creation in Paris of a store for the sale of the products. In 
1900, on a ministerial order, a successful exception was made 
to this rule, and at present the factory, overruling all precedents, 
has on the 1st of Ma3^ 1903, opened a store on the Boulevards 
in Paris. 
Moreover, in place of the jealous hiding of the discoveries 
made in the laboratory, which was characteristic of the ad- 
ministration under the monarchy, the present democratic 
government is giving out every ten years all the new processes, 
and in order to efficiently support the efforts of the French 
ceramic industry, the Minister of Public Instruction has recent- 
ly annexed to the factory a School of Ceramics, where industrial 
superintendents are formed, and where after four years de- 
voted both to practice and theory pupils receive the diploma 
of the School of Sevres. 
If one brings into comparison the situation of the other 
royal establishments of Europe which have only a nominal 
protection, like Rosenburg, Meissen, Minton, or a small subsidj^ 
like Berlin (80,000 marks), Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, one 
will easily understand why with its model organization, its 
large subsidy which allows the purchase of the creations of 
great artists, free, unlike other State factories, from all preoc- 
cupations of a commercial nature, established formerly in a 
palace built by Louis XVI on the edge of the woods of St. 
Cloud and Versailles, later on in a more modern palace due to a 
caprice of Napoleon III, having the prestige of a State factor}' 
and a personnel of eminent artists and artisans unhampered by 
the cares of material life and with an absolute freedom of 
presence or absence, one, I say, will easity understand why 
Sevres has been this marvelous 
ensemble which for over 100 
years has forced a universal 
admiration 
(to ke continued) 
1V.,., 
pate tendre — 
Vase by Mr. Vignol 
Bag — Hard porcelain, mediv 
pate, by Taxile Boat. 
Minerva'.s Lace— Hard porcelain, pate 
r pate, by Taxile Doat. 
Laurel— Medii 
by Taxile Doat. 
