„To the girls, who could not listen to their cousin, and who had nothing to do but to wish for an instrument, and examine their own indifferent imitations of china on the mantel-piece, the interval of waiting appeared very long.“

Pride and Prejudice
I,16
Jane Austen

China had become popular in England over the preceding century … Jane Austen's work cabinet, in which she kept needlework supplies, was decorated with Chinese figures done in black lacquer and gilt. (David M. Shapard)