Page 121 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Wan Li (1573-1619) 63

tribute coming from the four seas) ; or the same sentiment with

yung pao (ever insuring) in place of wan ku.

^gDragons in clouds holding the characters sheng shou, the

emperor's birthday.

Miscellaneous.

Representations of ancient coins {ku lao chHen).
Landscapes {shan shui).

Necklaces {ying lo JisEft).

Jewel mountains in the sea waves {pao shan hai shut). This is,

no doubt, the familiar border pattern of conventional waves with

conical rocks standing up at regular intervals.

Round medallions {ho tzu, lit. boxes) in brocade grounds.
Most of these designs are given under the heading of " blue and

white," though, as in the Lung Ch'ing list, the blue is in many

cases supplemented by colour or by other forms of decoration such
as patterns engraved in the body {an hua), and " designs on a blue

ground," the nature of them not explained, but no doubt similar

to those described on p. 61. The method of reserving the decora-

tion in white in a blue ground {ch'ing ti pai hua) is specifically
mentioned under the heading of " mixed decorations." The supple-

mentary decoration consists of on-glaze enamels mixed with the

underglaze blue ; bowls with coloured exterior and blue and white

inside or vice versa yellow grounds with designs engraved under
;

the glaze gilded fishes among polychrome water weeds, and other
;

gilded patterns ; curling waves in polychrome and plum blossoms
;

red dragons in blue waves, the red either under or over

the glaze ; relief designs {ting chuang ^) and pierced work

{ling lung^).

The " mixed colours " included garden seats with lotus designs,

etc., in polychrome {wu ts'ai) and with aubergine brown {tzH) lotus

decoration in a monochrome yellow ground; tea cups with dragons

in fairy flowers engraved under a yellow glaze yellow ground with
;

polychrome {xvu ts'ai) decoration ; banquet dishes, white inside,

the outside decorated with dragons and clouds in red, green, yellow,

and aubergine.

The custom of minutely subdividing the work in the porcelain

factories so that even the decoration of a single piece was parcelled

out among several painters existed in the Ming dynasty, though