Page 167 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

PORCELAIN DECORATED

check. The mark of the era Ta-Ming Hung-chih

nien chi is rarely found on porcelains of the class

now under consideration.

The following period Cheng-te (15061522)
is more important. The Governor of Yunnan suc-

ceeded in procuring a fresh supply of the celebrated

Mohammedan blue, and with it many beautiful porce-

lains were decorated. They are said to have been

comparable with pieces of the Hsuan-te and Cheng-

hwa eras. Few of them, however, appear to have

survived, and they certainly possessed no features to
distinguish them above their immediate predecessors.
It is mentioned in the Tao-lu that during this era the

workmen of the imperial factory dishonestly sold
pieces of the precious Mohammedan blue to private

potters, and that rules of great strictness were adopted
by the superintendent of the kilns to put an end to
the practice. Judging by the value set upon the im-
ported mineral and by the details recorded with
reference to the failure or renewal of the supply, one
is inclined to suppose that its colour must have been
exceptionally beautiful. But there is a strong proba-
bility that the reputation it enjoyed was partly due to
the inexperience of Chinese keramists. Certainly in

later times, when, being thrown on their own re-

sources, necessity stimulated their inventive faculties,

they succeeded in so preparing and employing their

native cobalt as to obtain a colour scarcely, if at all,
inferior to the finest Hsuan-te and Cheng-hwa blue.

The mark of this period is Ta-Ming Cheng-te nien

chi. It is seldom found upon blue-and-white porce-

lain.

Perhaps it will be wise to remind the reader that,
though no repeated reference to the distinction

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