With the exception of a few fine _garnitures_ in blue and white in ‘’t Huis ten Bosch’ at the Hague, there appear to be no public collections in Holland dating from the eighteenth century. But in spite of the repeated razzias of dealers, both native and foreign, many old families still retain collections of Chinese porcelain (of blue and white especially), some of which may date from the latter part of the seventeenth century, and many a rough-looking farmer, in country districts, prides himself on the china-cabinet that he has inherited from his ancestors. Francis I. of France and his son Henri II. were, as is well known, great collectors of works of art, and their collections at Fontainebleau may be regarded as the foundation of the national museums of France. The Rev. Père Dan, who described these collections at a later date, in his _Trésors des Merveilles de Fontainebleau_ (1640) says--‘La étoient aussi des vases et vaisselles en porcelaines de la Chine,’ and in an eighteenth century notice we hear of a ‘vase de porcelaine de première qualité ancienne de la Chine,’ which is said to have come from the collection of Sully, the minister of Henri IV. In the second half of the seventeenth century, at the great yearly fairs held in the neighbourhood of Paris, Portuguese travelling merchants set up their stalls for the sale of _les besognes de Chine_.[142] In 1678 the Duchess of Cleveland’s porcelain was sold at the fair of St. Laurent. The _Mercure_ of the day gives a list of the figures and mounted pieces. Louis XIV., we are told, was surprised at the knowledge of Oriental porcelain shown by James II.