In 1690, his purchases included “silver andirons, for my dear wife her closett chimney, £13 5_s._“; “a glass screen, £1 1_s._ 6_d._”; “two pair of basins for dear wife, £1 12_s._“; “a large China punch-bowl, with a large jarr and two white cupps, £3 5_s._“; “sett of cupps and saucers, £2”; six other saucers, 10_s._; “two china beakers, £2 11_s._“; two great jarrs of china and two smaller ones, “with one very little one,” £7 3_s._; a parcel of old china, £21; another parcel of old china, £6 10_s._; “another sett of old china for dear wife, £22”; “a pair of old china roul wagons” (large blue and white vases), £7 10_s._ 6_d._; a pair of china cupps and a little jarr, £1 6_s._; for a china teapot basin, £1 1_s._ 6_d._; an old china bottle and two china dishes, £1 15_s._; “at a curiosity shop, 10_s._“; “a rich piece of India atlas, £13 10_s._”; “a parcel of Indian things, £5 7_s._ 6_d._”; and “a pair of china jarrs, £1 4_s._” [Illustration: PLATE LII.—_Tables and Mascarons, by Maret._ ] In 1691, he bought a “Jappan travelling strong water cellar, £5 7_s._ 6_d._”; a “Persian carpet (all of silk) to lay under a bed, and an old china roulwaggon, 22 guineys”; “a piece of blue Indian stuff, £2 15_s._”; and “a candle-skreen, £1 6_s._” (The “roulwaggon” is a kind of vase.) In 1692, he enters “two china rice potts for dear wife, £5”; “a china jarr, £2 10_s._”; and “a parcel of china, £2 14_s._” It is evident from the above that at the close of the seventeenth century, Huguenot, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, English and Dutch artists and artisans had combined to produce a style, the leading spirit of which in England and Holland was Marot. A noticeable fact in connexion with the European craze for Asiatic art products is that, though the English and Dutch highly admired the native wares, the European merchants sent out their own patterns and designs for furniture and ceramics. It is even maintained that the famous “Willow Plate” was the design of a Dutchman. The evidence of the practice of exploiting foreign labour in the field of home taste is overwhelming; and, as the century advanced, the guilds, city companies and other trades unions in England, France and Holland grew more and more restive under the burden of “Chinese cheap labour.” Mazarin was one of the early enthusiasts in France to encourage Eastern importations. In the _Mémoirs_ of La Grande Mademoiselle (1658), we read: “The Cardinal (Mazarin) behaved in a very delightful and galant manner. He took the two Queens (Anne of Austria and Henrietta Maria) and the Princess of England and myself into a gallery that was filled with all that could be imagined in the way of precious stones, jewels, furniture, stuffs and everything beautiful from China; crystal chandeliers, mirrors, tables and cabinets of all kinds, silver vessels, perfumes, gloves, ribbons and fans.”