Page 418 - Chinese pottery and porcelain : an account of the potter's art in China from primitive times to the present day

252 Chinese Pottery and Porcelain

space permitted, but we must be content with citing a few typical
instances, most of which may be seen in the Franks Collection. To
the K'ang Hsi period belong some curious imitations of Dutch
Delft, in which even the potter's marks are copied, the designs
having been, oddly enough, borrowed in the first instance from
Oriental wares by the Dutch potters. There are the so-called
" Keyser cups," tall, covered cups viiih saucers, painted in blue
with kneeling figures surrounding a king and queen, who probably
represent St. Louis of France and his consort ; and in the border
is the inscription, l'empire de la vertu est estabi jusq'au
BOUT DE l'uners. Another cup has a design of a ship and a syren,
with legend, gardes vous de la syrene ; and there are small
plates with the siege of Rotterdam^ copied in blue from a Dutch

engraving.

But the group which probably commands the greatest interest
is that known as "Jesuit china," decorated with subjects bearing on
the Christian religion. The earliest examples are painted in under-
glaze blue, the Christian designs being accompanied by ordinary
Chinese ornaments. An early (to judge from the general style of
the piece, late Ming) example is a pear-shaped ewer, with elongated
spout and handle, in the Kunstgewerbe Museum, Berlin. On
the side is the sacred monogram IHS, surrounded by formal orna-
ment, and it has been plausibly suggested that the little vessel

had been used for Communion purposes. A bowl with fungus

mark in the Franks Collection has a Crucifixion on the exterior,
framed in a pattern of cloud-scrolls, and inside with truly Chinese
tolerance is painted a Buddhist pearl symbol in flames and clouds.

A cup in the same series with the "jade" mark^ has a Crucifixion

half lost among the surrounding arabesque scrolls. These two are
of the K'ang Hsi period, and were probably made with the pieces

to which P^re d'Entrecolles ^ alludes, in his letter dated 1712, as

follows : " From the debris at a large emporium they brought me
a little plate which I treasure more than the finest porcelain made

during the last thousand years. In the centre of the plate is painted

a crucifix between the Virgin and St. John, and I am told that

1 Rotterdam was captured by the Spaniards in 1572 ; but those who are interested
in the anachronism of Chinese marks will observe that these plates have the date mark
of the Ch'Sng Hua period (1465-1487).

= See vol. i., p. 226.
» Op. cit., p. 207.