es these many types of workmanship the Chinese
made a very thin egg-shell porcelain, the most fragile and transparent
of which we now get from Japan; and a porcelain decorated with a fine,
open-work design cut through the ware, and styled 'grains-of-rice
pattern.' Moreover they manufactured a variety which in firing took on
a crackled effect and has for that reason been christened Chinese
Crackle. You see how many kinds of thing they worked out."

"I should say so!" exclaimed Theo.

"Most of the painting of Chinese porcelain was done directly on the
glaze instead of underneath it, although some of the brush work was
done on the clay itself before the glaze was put over it. In either
case the ware required several firings, and before even such a simple
article as a cup was completed it frequently passed through as many as
seventy pairs of hands. Add to this the dangers risked in packing and
importing, and the tumult of the many wars that racked China, and is
it anything short of a marvel that so many perfect pieces of ancient
make have come down to us?"

"I think it is wonderful that all of them were not broken," gasped
Theo.

"It is not until 1171 that there is any mention of porcelain being
seen outside of China. Then the Mohammedan Saladin sent as a present
to another ruler forty pieces of Chinese porcelain. In 1487 the Sultan
of Turkey gave to Lorenzo de Medici, a great art lover, a porcelain
vase. After that porcelain began, as I have already told you, to find
its way into Europe--first through the Portuguese traders, and later
through the Dutch. What we know of Chinese porcelain applies largely
to that of Japan, because for many years Japan was merely an imitator
of China so far as porcelain-making was concerned. By and by, however,
the Japanese Government encouraged the industry by giving money toward
its manufacture, and as a result about the year 1200 the porcelains of
the Japanese rivaled those of China. The Chrysanthemo-Paeonienne was
worked out to a degree of perfection hitherto unknown; and the
Famille-rose was also made, but not as perfectly as in China. The
Famille-vert, on the contrary, was not attempted to any extent in
Japan, probably because the Japanese lacked the necessary clays to
make it."

Mr. Croyden paused as if reflecting, then added:

"As I explained to you, the Japanese had their symbolism of color and
design as well as the Chinese; and not only did they make similar
sorts of porcelai