M. Demmin quotes from a Russian work of 1773: "Il existe une fabrique de porcelaine, située sur la Néva, route de Schlüsselburg, à quatorze versts de Pétersbourg. Elle fabrique des porcelaines tellement belles et fines, qu'elles ne le cèdent en rien à la porcelaine de Saxe, soit pour la blancheur et la finesse de l'émail, soit pour la beauté du décor. Sa blancheur est même supérieure à celle de Meissen. Le directeur, l'inspecteur, tous les maîtres et ouvriers sont à la solde de la cour," etc.
The porcelain has a fine glaze, the paste being hard and slightly bluish; the decorations usually highly finished in the styles prevailing at Dresden.
[Illustration: FIG. 161.--_Russian Porcelain._]
The piece shown in Fig. 161 is a teapot, of superior glaze and finish, from Mr. Wales's collection; the handle and spout are peculiar, finishing, as they do, with the neck and head of a bird, ending at the base of the spout in a small wing-decoration. The paste, the glaze, and the painting of the teapot and the cup and saucer are excellent.
[Illustration: _A mark in blue, supposed to be an early one._]
[Illustration: _The Empress Catherine II.'s mark (1762 to 1796)._]
[Illustration: _The Emperor Paul's mark (1796 to 1801)._]
[Illustration: _The Emperor Alexander I.'s mark (1801 to 1825)._]
[Illustration: _The Emperor Nicholas's mark (1825 to 1855)._]
[Illustration: _The mark now is a crown, with the letter A in script, Alexander II._]
TVER.--About 1787 an Englishman named Gardner made some porcelain at Tver, of which so little is to be obtained that it is hardly known in collections. His mark seems to have been [illustration: symbol], the monogram in Russian letters of A. Gardner, and sometimes the full name in Russian characters.
MOSCOW.--In 1830 some porcelain was made at Moscow by A. Popoff, a piece of which is in the South Kensington Museum, marked with his name in Russian characters. There seems also to have been porcelain made at Moscow by M. Gulena, of which little is known. His mark was the initial letters of Fabrica Gospodina, and his own name, in Russian characters.
POLAND.--At Korzec, in Poland, in 1803, a Frenchman named Mérault, from Sèvres, made porcelain for a few years, probably in small quantity; and a mark upon some pieces of his is a triangle containing an eye.