Page 262 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

i6o Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

(sometimes called the dogs of Fo), usually in pairs, one with a cub,
and the other playing with a ball of brocade, mounted on an oblong
base, to which is attached, in the smaller sizes at any rate, a tube

for holding incense sticks. Other familiar objects are four-footed or

tripod stands for manuscript rolls, boxes for brushes, colours, etc.,

ink screens, water pots of fanciful shape for the writing table,

picture plaques (Plate 100), supper sets made up of a number of

small trays which fit together in the form of a lotus flower^ or a

rosette, perforated boxes and hanging vases for fragrant flowers
(Fig. 2 of Plate 98), " butterfly cages," and " cricket boxes."
Another well-known specimen represents the famous T'ang poet,

Li T'ai-po, the Horace of China, reclining in drunken stupor

against a half overturned wine jar, the whole serving as a water

vessel for the writing table.

Instances of the combination of on-glaze and on-biscuit enamels

in the same piece also occur. Thus on the splendid black-ground

potiche in the Franks Collection (Frontispiece) passages of white glaze

have been inserted to receive the coral red colour which apparently

could not be applied to the biscuit. And conversely in the ordinary

famille verte decoration on the glaze there are sometimes inserted

small areas of on-biscuit enamels on borders, handles, base orna-

ments, etc. Such combinations give an excellent opportunity for

observing the contrast between the softer, fuller tints on the bis-

cuit and the brighter, more jewel-like enamels on the white glaze.

In rare instances we find passages of blue and white decoration

associated with the on-biscuit enamels as on the curious ewer illus-

trated by Fig. 1 of Plate 94. Blue and white is similarly combined

with decoration in coloured glazes on the biscuit in a late Ming

jar in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Case 9, No. 4396-57).

The familiar phrase, famille verte, was first used by Jacquemart

as a class name for the enamelled porcelains on which green plays

a leading part. According to this definition it should include the

Wan li wu ts'ai, the Ming enamelled porcelain, as well as much of

the on-biscuit enamelled wares, in addition to the typical K'ang Hsi

enamelled porcelain to which usage has specially consecrated the

Aterm. direct descendant of the Wan li wu ts'ai, the famille verte

includes the combinations of underglaze blue with the translucent

on-glaze enamels green, yellow, and aubergine, and the coral red

(derived from iron), the French rouge de fer, which is so thin that it

A^ lotus-shaped set in the Salting collection numbers thirteen sections.