Porcelain Figures Reflecting Xviii Century Amusements

plucking his lute, or the gallant tossing a kiss to his lady, though less dramatic and more tranquil, seem also to have been transfixed in the midst of activity. We are today so familiar with porcelain, particularly in its utilitarian forms, that we can hardly conceive the thrill with which it was regarded when it was first produced in Europe. For a long time oriental porcelain had been enormously admired, and those who could afford to do so acquired quantities of it for display. Persistent efforts were made to discover the technical secrets of porcelain production, but because of the meager scientific knowledge of the times there was a long interval of costly trial and disheartening error before satisfactory results were achieved. On the Continent these undertakings were frequently directed and financed by kings or lesser princes, who regarded them as private hobbies and who for personal prestige strove to obtain the services of the most promising alchemists and potters and the most gifted sculptors. The sculptors, trained to working in wood or stone, found porcelain provocative and exciting. Its plasticity before firing, its hardness afterward, its gleaming surfaces, and its colorings made it different from other media and susceptible of use in new and varied forms.