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Gardiner, Sir Christopher

(Encyclopedia)Gardiner, Sir Christopher, fl. 1630–32, figure in the early history of the Massachusetts Bay colony. When the Puritans arrived in Massachusetts Bay in 1630, they found that Gardiner had preceded the...

index number

(Encyclopedia)index number, in econometrics, a figure reflecting a change in value or quantity as compared with a standard or base. The base usually equals 100 and the index number is usually expressed as a percent...

irony

(Encyclopedia)irony, figure of speech in which what is stated is not what is meant. The user of irony assumes that his reader or listener understands the concealed meaning of his statement. Perhaps the simplest for...

Diaz de la Peña, Narciso Virgilio

(Encyclopedia)Diaz de la Peña, Narciso Virgilio dyäs də lä pānyäˈ [key], 1808–76, French landscape and figure painter of the Barbizon school, b. Bordeaux, of Spanish parents. Mainly self-taught, he was inf...

Eaton, Theophilus

(Encyclopedia)Eaton, Theophilus, 1590–1658, Puritan leader in Connecticut, one of the founders of New Haven, b. Buckinghamshire, England. A member of the London congregation of John Davenport, he was interested i...

Decazes, Élie

(Encyclopedia)Decazes, Élie ālēˈ dəkäzˈ [key], 1780–1860, French statesman, a favorite of King Louis XVIII, who made him a duke in 1820. A lawyer and judge, Decazes was made minister of police in 1815 and ...

Chelsea ware

(Encyclopedia)Chelsea ware, chinaware made in the mid-18th cent. at a factory in Chelsea, London. The earliest specimens extant are dated 1745 and have the potter's mark of a triangle and the word Chelsea. Nicholas...

Coffin, William Anderson

(Encyclopedia)Coffin, William Anderson, 1855–1925, American landscape and figure painter and art critic, studied at the Yale School of Fine Arts and under Léon Bonnat in Paris. His landscapes were awarded numero...

figurehead

(Encyclopedia)figurehead, carved decoration usually representing a head or figure placed under the bowsprit of a ship. The art is of extreme antiquity. Ancient galleys and triremes carried rostrums, or beaks, on th...

Sèvres ware

(Encyclopedia)Sèvres ware, porcelain made in France by the royal (now national) potteries established (1745) by Louis XV at Vincennes, moved (1756) to Sèvres after changing hands. Before 1770 it was a soft-paste ...