Imitative porcelain had been made at Florence under the auspices of the Grand Duke of Tuscany as early as from 1568 to 1587, of which _fabrique_ only about thirty pieces are known. France is the most prolific in porcelain factories of the _pâte tendre_, as it came afterwards to be termed in contradistinction to the _pâte dure_ or true porcelain of Meissen. The factory at St. Cloud lasted from 1695 till 1773. Vincennes was founded in 1740, and was finally transferred to Sèvres in 1756, which factory stands paramount in its porcelain, known to collectors as _vieux Sèvres_. At Nove, near Venice, in 1752, Pasqual Antonibon brought from Meissen a potter, Sigismond Fischer, to construct a furnace for making porcelain in the Saxon style. In 1761 there were three furnaces, one for hard paste _ad uso Sassonia_, and two for soft paste _ad uso Francia_.[2] [2] _Marks and Monograms on Pottery and Porcelain_, by William Chaffers. (Letter from Francesco Antonibon to Lady Charlotte Schreiber.) It will thus be seen that the two schools had begun to run side by side. The crowning point was in 1768, when the Sèvres factory commenced to make hard paste. Both bodies were simultaneously made until 1804, after which the manufacture of soft porcelain at Sèvres was discontinued by M. Brongniart. In 1847, the old style was revived by his successor, M. Edelman (_Report on Pottery at the Paris Exhibition by M. Arnoux_, 1867). In general, it may be said that the manufacture of soft porcelain is beset with difficulties and uncertainties. Its artificial composition renders it capricious in the kiln. In connection therefore with the modern manufacture of Sèvres of the old _pâte tendre_ variety, it is interesting to record that in the late eighties the original formulæ of the early potters were used in an attempt to reproduce the old body, but had, after repeated and costly failures, to be abandoned as hopeless. [Illustration: SUCRIER AND COVER. Fournier period (1760-1766). Soft-paste porcelain.] [Illustration: DISH AND COVER AND CUSTARD CUP. Fournier period (1760-1766). Soft-paste porcelain. (_At Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen._)] In regard to England, it is interesting to note in passing that the old porcelains so highly prized by collectors are all artificial with the exception of Plymouth (1768-1771), Bristol (1771-1781), followed by the company of Staffordshire potters at New Hall who bought the Bristol factory patents, although Wedgwood in his jasper ware and Staffordshire salt glazed ware are fine stone wares which approximate to true porcelain. Our soft-paste factories are here set in chronological order: Bow (1745), Chelsea (1745), Derby (1751), Worcester (1751), Lowestoft (1762), Caughley (1772), Pinxton (1795), Coalport (1798), Minton (1798). It should be observed that these, as do all soft-paste porcelains, differ in body in an enormous degree, whereas the true porcelain differs in a minor degree whether it be Canton or Meissen.