Page 416 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

CHAPTER XIV

EUROPEAN INFLUENCES IN THE CH'iNG DYNASTY

HITHERTO the references to European influence on Chinese

porcelain have been of an incidental nature. But the use

of Western designs on the porcelains of the Ch'ing dynasty,

and especially in the eighteenth century, attained such large pro-

portions that it is necessary to treat the wares so decorated as a

Aclass apart. highly instructive collection of this type of porcelain

is exhibited in the British Museum, where it has been subdivided

in groups illustrating porcelain painted in China with European

armorial designs, porcelain painted in China after pictures, engrav-
ings and other patterns of European origin, European forms in

Chinese porcelain, and, lastly, Chinese porcelain decorated in Europe.

The un-Chinese nature of these decorations, which is apparent

at the first glance, justifies their segregation. Indeed, the foreign

features are in many cases so conspicuous that it is small wonder
if in days when little was known of Chinese ceramic history these

wares were often attributed to European manufacture. We now

know so much of the intercourse between China and Europe in
the past, and of the enormous trade carried on by the various East

India companies, that no surprise is felt at the idea of orders for
table services sent out to China with armorial and other designs
for their decoration. Not that anyone whose eye was really trained

to appreciate the peculiarities of Chinese porcelain could ever mis-

take the nature of these wares. The paste and glaze are, with few
exceptions, uncompromisingly Chinese, no matter how closely the

decorator with his proverbial genius for imitation may have rendered
the European design. And even here, if the Oriental touch is not

betrayed in some detail, the Chinese colours and gilding will dis-

close themselves to the initiate.

It is hardly necessary here to allude to the absurd notion that

any of this group was made at the little English factory of Lowes-
toft. If an error which has once had currency is ever completely

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