THE INDUSTRY O F ALL NATIONS.

We engrave upon this page another example of porcelain, the exquisite productionof French industry and art The decoration of this piece presents the richest har-mony of colors, and the design is appropriate and beautiful. It forms the top of asmall ornamental table mounted in bronze richly gilt The elevation of the table hasalready been given in this work. It forms the suitable ornament of a drawing roomor boudoir, for the occasional reception of cards and letters, and similar objects of

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momentary importance. The table is exhibited by M. La Hociie.

The ornamental Clock beneath, also comes from Paris, and is contributed by Le-jiolle Freres. It is executed in bronze, and is partly gilt

Messrs. Garrard, of London exhibit the silver Centre Piece here engraved, which

j ^ as IP.Ijde by them for Elliot Thayer, Esq., of Boston. The subject is the landing of| the Pilgrim Fathers, and the figures represent Captain Miles Standish, Governor! Bradford, and the early and faithful friend of the Puritans, the Indian Samoset.

| The class of ornamental objects known under the general name of centre piecesj constitutes a very large, and by far the costliest part of the works in the pre-! C10us metals in the present Exhibition. A careful and continued examination

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of them has convinced us of their aesthetic and artistic impropriety. Sculptureon a large scale in the precious metals is a mistake; and the attempts atexact imitations of fruits, flowers, and foliage, which so largely abound in theexhibited specimens, are absurdities beneath criticism. The gray and polished ap-pearance of silver, having neither the warm, solid color of bronze, nor the trans-parency of marble, is altogether unfavorable to the purposes of the artist. Its surface,

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whether polished or white, gives false reflections, where in other metals there wouldbe shadows. To obviate this fatal objection to silver as usually treated, the continen-tal artists oxydize its surface even in jewelry, and it then looks like so much zinc. Tothe uninstructed eye it gives no indication of being silver, and thus in a great measuredoes away with the value of centre pieces as evidences of wealth and luxury, which,

after all, is the true secret cause of their high estimation. There are other ornamentsmore appropriate for the table on festal occasions, which evince taste as well asluxury on the part of their possessor. Such are the French bronzes, and especiallythe Sfevres vases, and those exquisite combinations of porcelain and parian exhibit-ed by Messrs. Minton. Let these objects and the centre pieces be placed to-gether, and the bullion value of the silver for the moment forgotten, and, we