From this it will be seen that the Meissen porcelain is of a somewhat ‘severe’ type. To judge from its composition it must require a high temperature in firing; on the other hand, the paste should possess considerable plastic qualities. The absence of lime from the paste and its presence in considerable quantity in the glaze is a point of interest. In this, the Saxon ware resembles the porcelain that is made in the Owari district of Japan. At Sèvres, on the other hand, we shall see that the glaze of the hard porcelain contains no lime, while that substance is an essential constituent in the paste. The Meissen porcelain, and indeed the German porcelains generally, form a typically hard and refractory group. But they have in a full measure _les défauts de leurs qualités_. Among them we may look in vain for that blending of the glaze and body that gives to the best Chinese porcelain a surface like that of polished marble; still less do we find in the enamel decoration the brilliancy and transparence of Oriental wares. In place of this we see a chalky surface of a cold, neutral tone, over which is painted, in dull opaque tints, elaborately executed pictures that look often as if they had been _stuck on_ as an afterthought. Apart from the influence of the taste of the time, and the general absence of the colour sense among the German race, this dulness and opacity is the result of the high temperature required in the muffle-stove to enable the coloured enamels to adhere to the refractory glaze beneath them. As a consequence of this the choice of colours is limited, and even the enamels that are available never become thoroughly incorporated with the glaze. To return to the porcelain made by Böttger in the few remaining years of his life, it is surprising in what a number of directions we find him making experiments; for indeed all the many varieties of porcelain made during his lifetime may be classed together as experimental. It is only in the museum at Dresden that we can study this interesting period. The moulds that had been used for the red stoneware served at first for the new porcelain. The ornaments in relief were modelled by hand and laid on the surface. Böttger attempted at one time to replace the enamel colours, so difficult to use with effect, by employing a kind of lacquer or mastic as a vehicle. His greatest triumph in this department was the so-called mother-of-pearl glaze, a thin wash of rosy purple with a slight lustre,[156] and this he combined with a free use of metallic gold and silver. The plain white of the Chinese was copied closely, but the early attempts at the decoration with blue _sous couverte_ were strikingly unsuccessful. The larger pieces made at this, and even later times, have generally suffered from overfiring or from imperfect support in the kiln, and would now be regarded as ‘wasters.’