Page 345 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

Yung Cheng Period (1723-1735) 207

form the polychrome decoration of the grand feu have been ah-eady

discussed on p. 146. They belong to the Yung Cheng and Ch'ien
Lung periods no less than to the K'ang Hsi.

Of the other kinds of polychrome, the porcelain with glazes
of the demi-grand feu, and enamels of the muffle kiln in the three
colours, green, yellow, and aubergine, was still made. It is hardly
likely that the manufacture ^ which Pere d'Entrecolles describes
in 1722 ceased immediately, and we know that the finer types
with engraved designs and transparent glazes in the three colours
were made to perfection at the Imperial factory. Fig. 1 of
Plate 116 illustrates a bowl of this kind with the Yung Cheng
mark and, to judge from its exquisite quality, an Imperial piece.
The ornament is in green, in a full yellow ground. This
type of decoration is a legacy from the Ming dynasty, and

doubtless many of the saucer dishes, bowls, etc., with Cheng
Te marks, but with all the trimness and neatness of the
Yung Cheng wares, belong to the latter period. One variety

is actually specified in the Imperial list,^ viz. " reproductions

of porcelain with incised green decoration in a monochrome

yellow ground."
As for the on-glaze enamels of the muffle kiln the old famille

verte colour scheme was to a great and increasing extent supplanted
by the famille rose. It survived, however, in certain modified

—forms in the delicately painted wares, for example, usually of

eggshell thinness and decorated in thin, clear, transparent enamels,
such as were described in connection with the late K'ang Hsi

" birthday plates " (see Plate 113). And again the same colours

were employed in a special type of decoration which seems to

have originated in the Yung Cheng period, though it was freely
used in later reigns. In this the design was carefully traced

in pale blue outlines under the glaze, and filled in with light uni-
form washes of transparent enamels on the glaze. The effect
is delicate and refined, though somewhat weak in comparison
with the full, iridescent colours and broad washes of the older

famille verte.

Possibly this style of decoration was intended to reproduce

the traditional refinement of the Ch'eng Hua cups. The Imperial
Hst 3 includes " reproductions of Ch'eng Hua polychrome {wu ts'ai),"

and four exquisite eggshell wine cups in the Hippisley Collection

1 See p. 148. * See p. 225, No. 30. ^ See p. 224, No. 26.