Then indeed the marvellous instrument appeared in all its unrivalled splendor. Its graceful curves, its fugitive lines of beauty were such as might drive a Stradivarius wild. Its glaze was of an incomparable limpidity, and the blue in its design recalled the deep blue of the skies of Spain. The potter’s art had never made a greater triumph. Over the whole surface, not a flaw, not a crackle in the glaze, even where the delicate curvature of the neck resolved itself into the main portion of the body.

Dalègre grew green with suppressed jealousy, and when Gardilanne turned the instrument over, and displayed its back, there came a swimming before his eyes. It seemed to the Nivernais as if he could never support the sight of that chef-d’œuvre of design. In the clouds were angels, with ‘cellos, supporting a scroll on which was the legend: Musica et gloria in aer; while, beneath, courtiers in the dress of Louis XIV. clustered round a fair dame at the harpsichord. Gardilanne wished for a hundred eyes, like Argus, to properly enjoy his acquisition.

—Champfleury, The Faience Violin (1861) (source)

Anonymous: Faience Violin (c. 1705 – c. 1710) (source)