y.

"Paeonienne--I'll bet it is another flower! Peony?"

"There you have it!" came triumphantly from the china
manufacturer. "It was not half as bad as it sounded, you
see. Chrysanthemums and peonies--the two flowers almost exclusively
used as decoration on the porcelain of that particular period. So
universally was one or the other of these flowers employed, and so
individual was their treatment, that the name serves to cover one of
the oldest types of Chinese porcelain remaining to us. This porcelain
was not so beautiful, however, as some of that which follows it; the
clay or body of the ware being less fine. One can easily see that at
that time the Chinese had not perfected their art. Nevertheless it is
remarkable, and the flower designs on it most artistic."

"And what came next?" inquired Theo.

"Next we come to some other varieties of porcelains which connoisseurs
have grouped together because of their color and called
_Famille-vert_. Think out what that name means as you did the
other. You have studied French at school, haven't you?"

"A little," replied Theo modestly. "_Famille_ is family; and I think
_vert_ is green. But of course it could not mean Green Family."

"That is precisely what it does mean," Mr. Croyden returned
heartily. "The name refers to the delicate color of the ware. 'Sky
after a summer rain' was what the Chinese sometimes poetically called
it. It is a porcelain of wonderful rarity and beauty. Some of it even
ranges to as deep hue as apple-green. One does not find much of it
now, for it is a very choice and expensive variety; nor was it widely
made. The ware for which the Chinese were most celebrated was the
_Famille-rose_."

"Rose Family!" exclaimed Theo, instantly.

"Yes. Broadly speaking the Red Family. I am glad to see you have your
French so at your tongue's end. This porcelain of the Rose Family was
the masterpiece of the Chinese. The word rose did not in this case
refer to the flower but to the rich red tone of the porcelain. Some of
it is as deep and almost as brilliant as a ruby; and neither its
decoration nor its coloring can be surpassed. For the Chinese, you
must not forget, were the most original and unhampered of artists.
They were never content to copy flowers, faces, or figures as we do
to-day. Instead they aimed to catch the spirit of the object from
which they were working, and then with freedom and boldness to execute
a design that should have something more than me