Page 174 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

them with great enthusiasm. The designs were sim-

ple. Fish (carp) were the favourite motive, and after
them the " peach of longevity," or agarics (a species

of fungus). These last were sometimes combined

w"igtohoddifffoerrteunnte.f"ormsAcocfortdheinigdetoo gtrhaephTa(of-ul}u,, signifying

the num-

ber of fish, peaches, or agarics depicted was always

three, and the number of ideographs five. But

H'siang's illustrations show that though this may

have been true with regard to the peaches, the rule

did not invariably hold in the instance of the fishes.

The ground of H'siang's specimens is said to have
" "
been pure as driven snow," the fish boldly out-

lined and red as fresh blood or vermilion, of a brilliant

colour, dazzling the eye." Tiny cups or miniature

bowls seem to have been the only examples surviv-

ing in H'siang's time. Of the cups decorated with
peaches he adds that " only two or three are known
to exist within the four seas." So much prized were

choice examples of early wares decorated in this style

that they received the name of Pao-ki, or precious

vases. Vulgar tradition says that the grand tone of
the red was obtained by mixing powdered rubies with
the colouring matter. But that is evidently a myth.

The substance employed was a silicate of copper.

Chinese connoisseurs seem to have preferred Hsuan-te

specimens of this class to all others, but there is no

reason to doubt that pieces scarcely if at all inferior

were produced by subsequent Ming potters at any rate

up to the end of the sixteenth century, and such was

certainly the case at the factories of Kang-hsi, Tung-

ching, and Chien-lung, during the present dynasty.

From the list of porcelains requisitioned for the
palace during the Wan-H era, it appears that red

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