Page 359 - 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) 213

the Cantonese style is not apparent, and this we assume without
hesitation to have been decorated at Ching-te Chen.

It only remains to say a few words on the dating of the jamille
rose wares and for this we must return to the ruby-back porcelains.

Dated pieces are rare, but the British Museum is fortunate in possess-
ing a few documentary specimens. The most interesting of these

is a bowl with pale ruby enamel covering the exterior, and a dainty
spray of flowers in famille rose enamels inside. It is marked in blue
under the glaze with the cyclical date " made in the lisin chou year
recurring " (see p. 213). The only year to which this can be referred
is 1721, when the hsin chou year came round for the second time
in the long reign of K'ang Hsi.i It is of course possible that this
bowl was not enamelled in the year of its manufacture, but there
are two other pieces in the same case, an octagonal plate with ruby
border and a dish, both with the mark of the Dresden collection,

and therefore not later than the early years of Yung Cheng. A

fourth document is a ruby-back saucer dish delicately painted
with a lady and boys, vases and furniture in typical style, which has
the mark of the Yung Cheng period.

Unfortunately it is no longer possible to regard the year 1724,
to which the signature Pai-shih is attached on the plate mentioned

above, as conclusive evidence of the date of decoration.- It is
certainly the date of the design, and it is probable enough that
the porcelain was painted within a few years of the original picture,

but beyond that no further inferences can be drawn. '^ The Yorke-
Cocks tankard, however, to which we have also alluded, must for
heraldic reasons have been painted between the years 1720 and 1733 ;
and there is an eggshell cup and saucer in the British Museum painted
in rose pink and other enamels of this type, with the arms of the
Dutch East India Company and the date 1728.

From this cumulative evidence it is clear that the manufacture
of eggshell dishes and services with famille rose enamels in the Canton
style and with " ruby backs " was in full swing in the Yung Cheng
period, and the general tendency to label them all Ch'ien Lung

errs on the side of excessive caution.

1 Officially the reign of K'ang Hsi dates from 1662-1722, but he actually succeeded
to the throne on the death of Shun Chih in 1661, so that his reign completed the cycle

of sixty years in 1721.

2 As Bushell has done in Chinese Art, vol. ii., p. 42.
3 See " Note on Canton Enamels," Burlington Magazine, December, 1912.