The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-16
CHINA THAT IS COSTLY.
RARE AND BEAUTIFUL THINGS IN
TIE CERAMIC WORLD.


Werss-W hich Way Fashion Tends
in OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES and Things
Going Out of Style.
CCopuight)
NEW Y oRK, Feb. 15.-When the Woman's
Press Club Of New York was formed, the
first thing its members did was to present
one another with pretty cups and saucers.
The love of fine china is born and bred in
women.
1t is true that George W. Chllds has fixed
on cups and saucers as fitting gifts for
especially favored visitors: but if Childs
were a woman he wouldn't store his treas
ures in ches-, he would put up shelves
about the dado in his Office and set them
out to view. Neither, unless he were an
exceptional woman, would he give them
away. Lamb drew the line at roast pig. l
believe women would draw it at china.
When tde French officers who fought in
our war wished to make a gift to Martha
! Washington they offered her a Sevres
service. There never would have bsen
SevIes factory if Mime de Pomnadour had
not coaxed Louis XIV. to establish it and to
ad3rn it with gardens, fountains and
groves. believe the white house service is
not highly thought of, but Mrs. Hayes was
| a china lover, if not a china critic, when she
encouraged Bennett to design and decorate
1t with American flowers, fishes and birds
| Mrs. Cleveland has pretty taste in china
and Is little of collector, and Mrs. Har-
risoa is an enthusiast in the same line
Women are among the shrewdest and most
| knowing buyers at the sales of old china ::
1t Is with laces, fans, Yernis Martin
miniatures and pictures, one of the
few. branches Of amateurship; they ex-
Gel in. Was it not woman, Mrs. Morgan,
who gave $4,000 for the peach-blow vase q
IL was a woman, Mrs. Maria Longworth
Storer, who established the lockwood pot
tory at Cincinnati, whose exhibit at the
| French exposition was pronounced remark
able, and was bought up eagerly by French
potters for imitation. 1t was another
woman, Miss Louise Mclaughlin, who
| originated the method of underglaze paint
ing there employed. Mrs. Frackleton of
Milwaukee, an authoress of some note, is at
the head of a china decorating factory
| The best gas kiln for decorators use is q
| wOman's invention. The sex which has its
hand in dish water l, 100 times year pre-
serves in spite of this disenchanting fact q
most tender interest in chinas. the most
| fragile and YET the most enduring of human
| possessions.
Sevres is the most costly of modern
wares. When hostess of the Four Hun
dred serves tea in it she has reached the
summit OF elegant hospitality.
81 paid 5000 for the dozen," proclaimed
portly lady whose wealth has not lost its
fine edge of novelty, as she poured the fra
grant souchong for her favorite nephew
one afternoon this winter.
Then let me tell you, aunt they're not
genuine; you can't buy Serves at that
tigure."
Pray, Mr.. Impertinence, why can't IP'
Last summer while was in Paris
thought would surprise you, so l ran out
to tue factory at Sevres, meaning to buy
some after-dinner coffee cups from first
hands"
"Good boy!'
"What were the prices do you supposed"
Eighty or one hundred dollars dozen,
probably"
six hundred dollars dozen for quite
plain ones, and 90 per cent. import duty to
| bring them home. No, aunt, did not in
| vest my savings
Next morning the portly lady's brougham
stopped before a large establishment and
the portly lady altghted, in an irascible
temper.
Are these cups you sold me genuine
Sevres?"
REALLY, madame"
Are they Sevres?n
"If you press me, they go by that name.
and they are very beautiful ware, deco
rated In Sevres patterns. but they were made
In Paris. There's practically no real Sevres
in the market"
Smash! a package in the lady's hands was
hurled violently to the fl )or, shveriDg its
contents and making, with the picturesque
! language which attended the demolition, an
interesting little incident which will be re-
membered long in the annals of china shop
ping.
There is a great deal of Sevres ware
owned in New York, though lutte is sold.
Oie of the finest Sevres dinner services in
the country belongs to the Astor family.
1t contains 200 pieces, and was bought by
Jonn jacob Astor many years ago. 1t
cost $4,000, but connoIsseurs say it would
sell for $4,000 at the present time. The
decoration is simple, but very effective.
IL has a border of the rare turquoise
blue shade, edged with gold. Mrs. Hicks
Lord has some very valuable Sevres,
and so, seldom as he entertain has Jaw
Gould. The finest Sevres to be had for
money dates from the time of Louis XVI
or of Napoleon l. There is an old French
family in the city that has some beautiful
pieces of Napoleon china which, though it
is far from wealthy, it would think it sacri-
lege to part from. One or two fine pieces
of Napoleon china were sold in the Barlow
| c0IIec6lon. China turned out at the SevreS
factory under the republic is not as good as
form rly, but in spite of this the prices are
almost prOhibitOry, $500 for single cup
being not unusual. The output is very
small and, though Sevres will always be a
name to conjure with, the German chinas
are now especially in vogue.
The Dresden chinas hit the taste for real
ism, the designs are so quaint. the drawings
so simple aud homelike, and Comfortable"
and the exact tint of the violets, and roses,
and hyacinths, and tulips, and forget-ms-
nots, and daisies is SO faithfully preserved
There is a peculiar charm about Dresden
pieces especially in figures and in flowers,
and just at present the opelwork or lace
border which is popularity of the Ger
man fine china, and is made by cutting out
the paste with knife In the nimble hands
of an artisan is particularly admired. The
real Dresden china is more correctly called
Nielsen" china, and a dozen fine dinner
plates cost perhaps 81 80. 1t is initiated
even more frequently than the Sevres china
and very excellent plates from identical
designs, and painted by artists almost as
skilled, flood the markets and are sold,
either fra ky as mutations or as the real
ware, at about one-Jhird the price of the
genuine article.
l came across a very well-known woman
of considerable wealth and taste at a large
establishment a month or two ago. In each
hand she held an entree plate. small and
richly decorated, of beautiful German
cdina 80 this" she SAID, ''is Nelson ware,
and this is only Bavarian? well, there is a