Page 183 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

PORCELAIN DECORATED

are of fair quality, heavy, solid, somewhat rudely

finished below, and generally having no depression in

the under surface characteristics that render them
;

apt to be confounded with ware of the Wan-li era, es-

pecially as the tone of the blue decoration is virtually

alike in both periods. The mark of the era is Ta-

Tsin Shun-chih nien chi. It is seldom met with.

With the accession of the renowned Kang-hsi

(1661 1722), second sovereign of the Tsing dynasty,

the keramic art began once more to flourish. Under

his enlightened and liberal rule the potteries at

Ching-te-chen developed a degree of excellence and

prosperity without parallel. The era has been well

called the golden age of Chinese keramics. Tang,
an expert of remarkable ability, superintended the

factories at Ching-te-chen. Chinese records say that

he held constant communion with the Genius of

Pottery, and that the ware made under his direc-

tion was necessarily of super-excellent quality. His

achievements almost justify this superstition from a

Chinese point of view. With regard to the blue-

and-white porcelains of his time, it will perhaps

seem fit to speak first of the so-called " Hawthorn

Pattern," so highly and not undeservedly popular

among Western collectors. It need scarcely be pre-
mised that the term " Hawthorn " is a figment of

Western fancy. The design referred to is really

flowers of the plum in white on a blue ground, and

porcelains thus decorated are known to Chinese con-
"
noisseurs and dealers as Mei-hwa-yao, or plum-blos-

som ware." The idea of decoration in white on a

blue ground had its origin long before the Kang-hsi
era. It had been conceived as far back as the Cheng-

hwa epoch (14651487), and may be of even greater

137