ware declined about the end of the seventeenth century. The European potters did not gain a clear and sane understanding of the composition and manufacture of porcelain till the last years of the reign of Louis XIV, when d’Entrecolles, a Jesuit father, sent home a full report of the mystery. A few extracts from his letter will be extremely illuminating on certain points relating to European trade and Chinese guile: “As for the colours of the porcelain, they are of all kinds. In Europe, scarcely any are to be seen but those that have a strong blue on a white ground. I believe, however, that our merchants have brought others in. There are some with grounds like our _miroirs ardents_; some again are entirely red, and amongst these some are dotted with little points like our _mignatures_. When these are perfect, which is very hard to attain, they are infinitely esteemed and extremely dear. “Finally there are porcelains in which the landscapes painted on them are made up of almost every colour and relieved by gold. They are very beautiful, if we judge by their cost: otherwise the ordinary porcelain of this kind is not comparable to that painted with azure alone.... Black porcelain has also its own price and beauty.... The gold that is applied to it, gives it a novel charm.... “Here also is made another species that I had never yet seen: it is all pierced and cut-work: in the centre is a cup to contain liquor. The cup is in the same piece and forms a part of the cut-work. I have seen other porcelains in which Chinese and Tartar ladies were painted to the life. The draperies, the complexion and features of the faces were all well rendered. From a distance you would take this work for enamel. “The Chinese complain of a lost secret: they once had the art of painting on the insides of porcelains fishes and animals that only became visible when the vessels were filled with some liquid. They try from time to time to recover the art of this magic painting, but in vain.... However that may be, we may say that at the present day the beautiful blue has been revived on porcelain after having disappeared from it.... “The Chinese chiefly succeed in grotesques and the representations of animals. They make ducks and turtles that float upon the water. I have seen a cat painted to the life. In its head had been put a little lamp the flame of which shone through the eyes, and I was assured that rats were terrified at it. They also make here many statues of _Kouan in_, a Chinese goddess, with an infant in her arms.