The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-08-26
fcorrespOadeace Of TIE London Times
TNTHRHsTING DISCOVERY.

ANS, aug o, = a. M
Many of your readers are probably aware
that the part of the Louvre which forms the
southern boundary of the Place du Carrousel
on the side of the Seine, connecting that pal
ace with the Tuileries, was recently found to
be SO out Of repair as to need reconstruction,
and was accordingly demolished. While ex-
cayating for the new works in that part of the
Carrousel which is cut off by ratings to form
the Court of Honour of the Tuileries, the
workmen have just made most interesting
discovery. They came upon construction in
brick having the appearance Of demi-cupola,
and which proved to be potter's oven. The
labourers had no need to proceed further in
that direction, and would have passed on with
out needing their discovery, had not an arch
eologist been upon the watch. M. A. Derty
has been engaged, it appears, upon a work en-
titled The distorted Topography of Old Pa
ris, of which the first volume, comprising the
region of the Louvre, is about to appear He
had already cleaned valuable information from
observation of the works in progress, and he
was keenly on the lookout Two other brick
ovens, previously uncovered elsewhere, had Of
fered no particular interest, but he had sort
of instructive conviction that this one, which
he considered to date from the time of Gather.
inc of Medicis, was of a more important char
acter, and would repay further search. Of the
result obtained 1 abridge an interesting ac-
count contributed to the Debats by NJ Charles
Read: igaa Isl sas.l3 dJs f -
"Some vitrified bricks first led Mr. Berty to
think that il had to do with a potter's oven,
and it struck him it might possibly be that of
Bernard Palissy, the prince of potters. He
prevailed upon the architect of the palace, M
Lefuel, to have the excavation continued on
purpose outside the line that had been traced,
and soon they came upon carneGar Openings
in the vault of OvenS) and upon fragments of
gdzettes leases used to put the pottery into the
oven); then, further on, they found large
pieces of moulds of the figures, and of various
objects and plants, evidently modelled on the
natural substances, and which at first appear
ell .singularly strange and even inexplicable
TO any one not thoroughly acquainted with,
Palissy and his ways. Thus, one of these
moulds seemed a fantastieal bust, a sort of
of monster, composed even to the fea-
lures OF the face and the two eyes-entirelg
of shells. Others were moulds of human
limbs, on which the very hairs of the body
( were to be d1scerned; others showed strange
'Sos1ules anu codrse sGlpe0 sfuffS, These
seemingly enigmatical relics as fresh as if thew
had been placed there only the day before
clearly told their own tale and origin. In the
eyes of connoisseur such moulds could he
& none other than those of the Termes conceiv
ed and executed by Bernard Palissv for The
grotto he constructed in the garden Of the
Tuileries, towards 1910, by order of the Oueen-
mother. Catherine de MedeciS. In MANN
script memoir of the ilustrious artist found
.. cF,.o Oh Ia In l,~n
iamin Fillon, and published by him only four.
/ years ago. we find the following: sAs to the
Termes which shall be seated ON the rock of
! the fountains, there should be another, which
/ would be all formed of various maritime shells
4 namely, the two eyes oftwo shells, the nose,
mouth, chin, forehead, cheeks. the whole of
shells, as well as the residue of the body /. .
ltem--T would make three or four of them at
tired, and with their heads dressed (Uestus eli
co!geS) in strange manners, which dress and
couture should be of divers linens, cloths or
strlped substances, approaching nature so near
| ~ tnat no man could tell the difference.
ana, Il 1t pleased the Queen-mother, | would
make certain figures from life, initiating nature
/ SO closely that even the little hairs of the
boards and eyebrows, of the same size as on
! the human BODY, should be Observed. 4.
/ Certainly nothing could correspond more
closely than this description written in the
quaint old French of that day) with the OBJ
iects just found. M. Read fastened with the
news of the discovery to M. Riocreux, of the
Sevres porcelain mandatory, and that gentle
man, taken to the spot, was at once convinced.
A dozen great moulds were found, without
reckoning small fragments, and two days later
three or four pieces of enamelled earthenware,
which alone, had further evidence been want
ing, would have proved that Palissy, whom