The times., 1901-04-28
THE QUEENS CHINA CLOSET
The Ceramic Treasury of the Late
English Sovereign.
Plates, Tea sets, and Oriental Speci-
mems Worth Fnr More Than Their
Weight in GoId-A Dinner Service
Valued Mt Ten Thousand Pounds.


To attempt to pass In review all the fine
| china and porcelain that her late Ma jesty
| possessed would be to compile a cata-
| logue, for the beautiful specimens she in
| herited, or bought to please her own taste
! and from the laudable desire to patronize
manufactures SO closely akin to fine art
! or received as presents are simply legion,
| and her various residences were fun of
/ them. Many, especially at Windsor Cas-
| tie and Buckingham Palace. are heir
! looms and belong to the sovereign Of
| these realms for the time being. but
| quantities of others are offerings and
| keepsakes which accumulated during the
! Queens long life and reign and they fill
! many a great cupboard and cabinet the
! contents of any one of which would be
! sufficient to decorate a large country
! house whose chatelaine had a pretty taste
{ in ceramics and aspired to the reputation
! of a china maniac. At Windsor there Is a
! large, light china and glass room fitted
! with wide shelves, protected from dust
| by glass doors. 1t contains services for
| domestic use. such as dinner dessert and
| tea and coffee. many of which are price
| less and i'm other establishments would be
reserved for ornament alone Every room
and gallery In the castle is moreover,
adorned with magnificent porcelain over
and above that stored in the china room.
The Queen personally had connois-
! seur's knowledge of china, and occasion
| ally showed a fine isolated piece to a vis-
! itor imbued with similar tastes. A story
is told of an occasion, not very long ago,
when her Majesty sent for a plate with a
good deal of green in it that she wished
to show. The messenger returned, say
ing that no such plate could be seen.
Look again." said the Queen, and de-
scribed not only the shelf, but the juxta-
position of the desired plate among other
pieces of china, and, with her directions
in mind, it was Immediately found
The Guelph sovereigus have all been
fond of china, and when they first came
to rule over England it was the fashion
for every German prince to have some
special ceramic mandatory under his
royal protection. The Kings of France
and Naples followed suit and of course
the King of England could not be behind
hand. George IL devoted himself to the
Chelsea factory, then in the zenith OF its
prosperity, and q magnificent dinner ser
vice of old Chelsea, painted with birds
and butterflies, is in the china room at
Windsor Castle; it is hardly ever taken
from its place on the shelves. This Is so
valuable as to be absolutely precious, and
it closely resembles one that George II
Wurtemberg and gave ei,20O for.
A GLORY OF CHANTILLY.
A large, complete and lovely dinner
service of Chantilly is also one of the
treasures. The output of Chantilly ceased
when the French revolution broke out so
this china must be at least rs years old.
Most delcately painted birds occupy the
centre OF every plate and dish, and the
borders are royal blue with a little gold
on them. The plates are valued at 10
guineas each. and it is believed that none
has ever been broken. a very fine Dres-
den service dates from the latter part of
the eighteenth century. A Worcester
harlequin service is curious, and regarded
entirely in that light, as it rarely left its
appointed place; but a modern Worcester
service, made especially for the Queen
from the designs of Sir NJ Digby Wyatt.
was sometimes brought out. The dessert
services are numerous, and the most Ia
nous and intrinsicaily valuable is the
wonderful Sevres originally made for
Louis XVI and bought by George ",
who, on account of the prevalence Of
very delicate green in its cOlOring, placed
il in the green drawing room, from
whence it was taken when the Queen and
Prince Albert rearranged their household
gods. quite early in their married life.
Her Ma iesty frequently used the plates,
and the service occasionally made its ap-
pearance in the household dining room. 1t
Is valued at 4l0.0O. A service OF turS- /
tenberg china, painted with very beauti- I
full landscapes. is interesting from its con-
nection with the House of Brunswick. The !
FUrste enberg factory owed it's existence TO |
that Duke Of Brunswick who. in 1871. mar
ried Princess Augusta, the daughter of
Frederic. Prince of Wales, whose rhym- |
ing epitaph was:
Here lies Fred,
Who was alive, and is dead,
and sister of George Ill He engaged Ben
graf, the skillful potter, 10 whose inhu-
MaNpnpq factory
mans former employer arrested and near /
ly starved him to death lest he should /
away However, he divulged them and |
was released. but did not live long after }
the establishment OF the Furstenberg /
works, which were then taken UP by /
day, under whom her Majesty's service !
was made. An Etruscan service in black /
and red is distinguished by the classic |
shapes OF the principal pieces. but the /
Queen had no great liking for 1t. and vast |
ly preferred a most beautiful dessert set |
made TO her own order by Minton abou, T.
which there are many. are peculiarly /
handsome In the center of each piece is
d blue medallion with the monogram
". r. on IL in raised gold, ana all nave
blue borders relieved by medalliOns paint
ed a la Sevres with the rose, thistle, and ,
shamrock. This beautiful service graced I
the royal table at all the Jubilee festivi-
ties, and though it travelled about great
deal between Osborne and Balm0ral, only
one plate has ever been broken.
A MOTHER OF PEARL APPEARING SERVICE.
Among the modern china that Queen
Victoria admired and priced is a Belleek
tea service from the Irish factory of that
name. II is -pearl-Hke and lus-
trous and the bases of the larger pieces.
such as a basin, which Is one of the choic-
est pieces of the set. are formed Of coral
branches and adorned with few small /
sea shells. Every make of fine china is
among her Majesty tea serV-
ices, but the pride of them all Is one of
the most delicate SeVres, with q Claret-
cOlOred ground, on which are heads in
and landscapes in panels. A
modern afternoon tea set is
IF the wonderful Burmese china, brought
Dut a few years ago when Burma was
opened up. 1t is a sort of pale primrose
color shading to pink at the edges, much
decorated with gold, and so thin that it
seems like inviting disaster when hot tea
S poured into the cups.
Occasionally the Queen lent very valu-
able little specimens of the noted SeVreS
pate tendTe. or soft paste, to ceramic eX-
libitiOns A beautiful soup basin. with |
over in pate dure, standing about four
md One-haif inches high, has a green |
srOUndwOrk and is embellished with fine /
y painted flowers and much gliding, and |
his is a great treasure. A splendid | .
SeVres vase with a cover has the ceie-
)rated Rose du Barri ground and two
wal medalliOnS. one on each side. one ]
IF them contains Il flower painting and !
he other two cherubS resting on clouds
md playing with white doves. 1t stands
ourteen and One-half inches high and !
he knob of the cover is a deliCately ! {
nodded flower Her Majesty also owned | l
me of the curious old SeyTes vaiSseauX a |
nat with birds painted on the body. 1t is
n the collection at Buckingham Palace |
nd has several times been lent to Min |