Page 159 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

PORCELAIN DECORATED

their inferiority from an artistic point of view can

scarcely be questioned. Brilliant and pure as is the

colour of their decoration, and skilfully executed as

are their miniature designs, they lack the dazzling

contrast shown by the Kai-pien-yao's snow-white waxy

body and its deep but soft blue ornamentation.
the " "
In Illustrated Catalogue of H'siang six

specimens of Hsuan-te blue-and-white ware are de-

picted, under the name of Ming Hsuan-yao. This

method of distinguishing wares by the year-name of

the period of their production came into general

vogue among Chinese connoisseurs as far back as the

fifteenth century, but the reader must understand that

under the title H'suan-yao not blue-and-white porce-

lain alone but all the choice varieties of the reign are

included. H'siang's specimens are small pieces an

3^ink-pallet, inches long; a miniature vase, 2 or 3

inches high ; a jar in the form of a goose, 6 inches

long ; an elephant-shaped jar, 6 inches long ; a tea-

cup, 2*/2 inches in diameter, and a lamp, 5 inches

high and 4^ inches in diameter. The decorative

designs on all these examples, the tea-cup excepted,

are wholly subordinate to the shapes of the pieces.

There is no attempt to convert the surface into a

painter's canvas. The brilliant tone of the blue, the

pure white "mutton-fat-like" colour of the body,

and the caligraphic excellence of the year-mark

these are things which constitute the important
on the tea-
"" of the specimens. The subject

points

cup a gnarled pine-tree, with orchids and fungus

springing from the grass beneath is eulogised as
"
being evidently from the pencil of a celebrated

landscape painter." But the remaining designs are

essentially of the formal, mechanical type, as becomes

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