We nowhere find a better successor to the “egg-shell” of China than in the delicate, pure, and fragile specimens of thin porcelain from Limoges. This is an exceptional fabric, but there is elsewhere to be seen enough to substantiate the excellence of French porcelain for domestic use, in point of both beauty and strength. We have seen certain small coffee-cups so finely wrought, exquisitely modelled, and chastely colored, that when not in use they might serve as ornaments. The point to which painting on porcelain has been brought is further illustrated by a series of dessert plates ornamented with different kinds of fruit--grapes, peaches, and other varieties. The supreme delicacy with which the requisite tints are here applied is admirable. On others are different kinds of seaweed and other marine objects, in which the artist has caught the natural hues with wonderful precision. The porcelain vases are, as a rule, small in size. No attempt, so far as we are aware, has been made to follow the gigantic works of Sèvres, Meissen, and Berlin, and we do not regret the fact. The works with which we are presented show great skill in the colors obtained, and the shapes are simple and sometimes severe. The domestic porcelain of Limoges deserves careful study for the sake of the refined taste which it invariably reflects. [Illustration: Fig. 277.--Dinner-set in Limoges Pate Tendre.] The most highly artistic pieces are in _pate tendre_, or artificial paste. Considering the difficulty of manipulating the body and its liability to sink in the furnace, many of the old Sèvres pieces must be regarded as marvels of workmanship. We look with a similar interest upon the examples coming to us from Limoges. It has the honor of having produced the only complete dinner-set ever made of this ware (Fig. 277). Its beauty is parallel with its value, which we hardly dare estimate. Beautifully modelled and plumaged birds form the dish handles, and a simple accessory decoration on the body reveals to perfection the peculiar appearance presented by _pate tendre_ of having the colors sunk in the soft and creamy glaze.