It may be collected as an adjunct to old furniture by lovers of old furniture who are precisians in regard to harmony in schemes of decoration. They prefer to see china and earthenware of the same period as the furniture. A modern set of vases adorning a Georgian cabinet is like putting new wine into old bottles. So that concomitant with the love for old furniture, old pictures, and old prints is the accompanying regard for contemporary china and earthenware.
The "drum and trumpet history" relating the personal adventures of princes and nobles, and the pomp of courts, or the intrigues of favourites, sets no store on the apparent trivialities which mark the social and intellectual progress of a nation. But the scientific student of history cannot afford to ignore the detailed study of social conditions which are indicated by the china-shelf. The due appreciation of the development of costume, of furniture, and of the domestic arts gives life and colour to the written records of byegone days. A mug or a jug with an inscription may tell a story of popular party feeling as pointedly as a broadsheet or a political lampoon.
[Illustration: EXTERIOR OF WORKS, ETRURIA: THE MARL BANK.
_By the courtesy of Messrs. Josiah Wedgwood & Sons._]
The ordinary man sees in the collection of china and earthenware an interesting hobby. He reads of the prices remarkable specimens bring under the hammer, and he begins to think that his education has been partly neglected since he knows little or nothing concerning these art treasures, which seemingly are attractive to other men of culture and means.
"Collecting for profit" is a phrase that tickles the ears of many others. Undoubtedly there have been many who have entered the field of collecting and regarded their purchases solely as investments. It must be borne in mind that this class of collector is not to be despised, inasmuch as when he has mastered his subject (and as there is money in it he very speedily sets to work to do this) he is a very formidable rival.
It is absurd to imagine that an amateur, after having given especial study to a subject such as old earthenware, is not in a better position to enter the market as a buyer or a seller than he who comes with little or no training.