Before the meeting Mr Howard dined in Hall at Clare with members of the committee. After this, he gave us a most interesting talk about the porcelain tea sets and dinner services which were manufactured in China to the specifications of the English. A large number of these had heraldic designs on them: sometimes these were the arms of the family ordering them but occasionally there were accidents. We saw a picture of one service which had obviously been ordered to be exactly like another, and the Chinese had copied eveything, even the original arms. On another occasion the correct coat-of-arms had been stuck onto the model, but during a long hot summer had clearly worn off, so that some of the pieces had the correct arms, and some had the incorrect arms, and some had an interesting mixture of the two. The overriding impression gained from this talk was that when ordering teasets from the Chinese porcelain manufacturers one got exactly what one asked for: as in the case of the gentleman who had apparently asked for thiry six of everything, and got it: thirty six cups; thirty six saucers; and thiry six teapots.

Charmian Leaver