Page 273 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

K'ang Hsi Polychrome Porcelains i6i

resembles a pigment rather than a vitreous enamel. Add to these
the brown black pigment, which is used to trace the outlines of
the design and with a covering of green to form the green black,
and we have one type of famille verte which differs in no essential

from the Wan Li prototype. It is, in fact, no easy matter to find

the line which divides the two groups. The nature of the ware and

the style of the painting are the best guides ; and the study of the
K'ang Hsi blue and white will be a great help in this delicate task.

But the real K'ang Hsi famille lerie, which we might call the
K'ang hsi wu ts'ai, is distinguished by the addition of an overglaze

blue enamel which enhanced the brilliancy of the colour scheme,

and at the same time removed the necessity of using underglaze

and overglaze colours together.^ It is not to be supposed, however,

that the underglaze blue disappeared entirely from the group.

The old types were always dear to the Chinese mind, and there were

frequent revivals of these in addition to the special wares,^ such
as the " Chinese Imari," in which this kind of blue was essential.

There are indeed examples of both blues on the same pieces.

The history of this overglaze blue enamel has already ^ been

partially discussed, and evidence has been given of its tentative

Ause in the Wan Li porcelain. passage in the second letter of Pere

d'Entrecolles * actually places its invention about the year 1700,

but the worthy father's chronology (based no doubt chiefly on hear-

say) is often at fault. It is fairly certain, however, that the blue

enamel was not used to any extent before the Ch'ing dynasty, owing

no doubt to the fact that it had not been satisfactorily made until

that date.

A beautiful enamel of violet blue tone, it is an important factor

of the famille verte decoration, and the merits of a vase or dish are

1 The underglaze blue almost invariably suffered in the subsequent firings which
were necessary for the enamels, and, as we shall sec, a different kind of glaze was used
on the pure enamelled ware and on the blue and white.

* Apart from the cases in which the enamel colours were added to faulty specimens

of blue and white to conceal defects.

3 See p. 85.
* Op. cit., section vi. " II n'y a, dit on, que vingt ans ou environ qu'on a trouve le
secret de peindre avec le tsoui ou en violet et de dorer la porcelaine." As far as the

gilding is concerned, this statement is many centuries wrong. The tsoui is no doubt
the is'ui, which is very vaguely described in section xii. (under the name tsiu) of the
same letter. Here it is stated to have been compounded of a kind of stone, but the
description of its treatment clearly shows that the material was really a coloured glass,

which is, in fact, the basis of the violet blue enamel.

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