Page 184 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

antiquity. But there are no " Hawthorns," in the

Western sense of the term, dating from the Ming
dynasty. Previously to the Kang-hsi era the method

had been merely accessory : it was used in parts only

of the general design. From about the middle of

the seventeenth century Chinese potters began to act
upon the inspiration of entirely covering the surface
of the biscuit (beneath the glaze) with rich, brilliant

blue, among which flowering branches of plum, or,

in less elaborate specimens, petals only of the blos-

som, were reserved, showing white and soft upon a

ground of deep, glowing colour. Unquestionably
this fashion of decoration is one of the most beauti-

ful ever invented in China or anywhere else. It has

every quality that should be possessed by ornamental

porcelain grace, softness, solidity, brilliancy, rich-

ness, and delicacy. Yet that Chinese connoisseurs

did not rank it particularly high is proved by the

nature of the specimens upon which the decoration

is chiefly found ; as, for example, ginger-pots, sugar-

jars, and vases of comparatively mediocre quality.

Neither the experts nor the virtuosi of the Middle

Kingdom appreciated the charms of a ware for pieces

of which every Western collector of taste searches

with wise avidity. The colour and tone of the blue

in the best Hawthorns of the Kang-hsi period show

that a mineral was used in no respect inferior to the

best Mohammedan pigment. An interesting fact is

that the first Japanese potter Gorodayu Go-shonzui

who manufactured translucid porcelain, having vis-

ited China in 1510 to study keramic processes, re-

turned to Japan with a conviction that sprays and

blossoms of the plum were eminently suitable for

purposes of porcelain decoration. Among all the

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