Page 162 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

notice. It is not easy to account for this silence or
for the comparative absence of specimens bearing the

cachet of any of the three reigns. That fine pieces
were manufactured there can be little doubt, and it

is known that the supply of choice Mohammedan

blue did not fail. Probably the most reasonable con-

clusion is that the Hsuan-te types being closely ad-
hered to by keramists and recognised as standards
of excellence by connoisseurs during the years im-

mediately succeeding the celebrated era of their pro-
duction, the works of those years failed to obtain

distinctive recognition.

The next era, Cheng-hwa, which continued from

1465 to 1488, was in some respects even more re-
markable than the Hsuan-te era. The supply of

imported Mohammedan blue is said to have failed,

and the potters were obliged to content themselves

with native mineral. But whatever pigment they

employed, it is certain that many pieces of great bril-
liancy and beauty were produced. The decoration

differs from that of the Hsuan-te epoch in one impor-

tant respect, namely, that whereas the latter conveys

the impression of being engraved in the pdte, the for-

mer is of a more superficial character. Thus is fur-
nished a suggestion as to the difference between the

imported and the native mineral in the matter of

behaviour during manufacture a difference that may
;

be independently gathered from the text of the

records. The Mohammedan blue was capable of

resisting the temperature of the open furnace the
;

Chekiang blue could not be used except on porcelain

protected by muffles. The result was that, in the

case of the former, the designs became, as it were,

wedded to the pate, thus acquiring remarkable depth

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