[187] Some attention was paid to the housing and comfort of the workmen at the new establishment, but Bachelier makes no mention of ‘the gardens, cascades, fruit-trees, groves, woods, and a small chase for the artists, who enjoyed to hunt the stag and the wild boar none the less for their sedentary lives in the art palace’ (Marryat, p. 414). On the contrary, we are told that in a few years the houses and workshops were already threatening to fall down on the workmen’s heads. [188] M. Bertin was himself a great collector of Chinese porcelain. In the _avertissement_ of the catalogue of his collection which was sold in Paris in 1815, we are told that through the medium of the Père Amiot he obtained many choice specimens, some of them direct presents from the Chinese emperor. We have already alluded to Kien-lung’s interest in exotic wares, and to the influence of these upon the native decoration. [189] In the _fond lapis caillouté_ the deep blue ground is painted with fine veins of gold, to imitate the pyrites which generally accompanies the native stone (lapis lazuli). It was used as early as 1758 (see Wallace collection, Gallery XVIII., Case C.). [190] As many as one hundred and sixty pieces, it is said, were carried off during a fire at Tsarskoe Selo. Some of these were afterwards repurchased by the Tsar Nicholas. [191] Marryat quotes a passage to the following effect from a little work published at Venice soon after the death of the favourite. Praising the good taste of the ‘_Madame Marchesa_,’ the writer states that this was, above all, manifested in the adornment of her table. All the porcelain was expressly manufactured for her at Sèvres, and was of _a rose colour mixed with gold_. The value amounted to 257,000 livres, and no sovereign possessed a service of equal beauty. [192] It is found as a ground on pieces bearing the earliest letter-marks, so that it is difficult to accept the statement that it was first made by Xhrouet, a painter of landscapes, in 1757. [193] Much of it found its way to England, and was there decorated in the old Sèvres style, both in London and in the West. [194] For a detailed description of these deposits and their geological relations, see Brongniart’s great work. [195] Napoleon at one time sent Daru to Sèvres to convey to Brongniart, in the most lively terms, his dissatisfaction with what he called the simplicity and tameness of the designs in use at Sèvres. Every piece should, he protests, ‘_dire quelque chose_.’ Every plate should record glorious deeds, the capture of the enemy’s towns, or the triumphant return of the victors. [196] We must, however, place some of these discoveries to the credit of the staff of the Viennese factory, and Dihl again, the chemist of the porcelain works in the Rue de Bondy, has a claim to others. [197] The death of M. Garnier occurred since the above was written.