Page 187 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

PORCELAIN DECORATED

resisting great heat, and in all designs where very fine

lines occurred, this blue had to be used. The duty

of selecting the mineral devolved upon a special class
of experts, and the whole art of refining and employ-

ing it was evidently carried to a high pitch of devel-

opment. The result amply justified this toil, for the

Kang-hsi era bequeathed to posterity porcelains of
unsurpassed brilliancy and beauty.

Pere d'Entrecolles, in his description of the pro-

cesses witnessed by himself at the Kang-hsi factories,

says that when a vase was intended to be entirely

blue, it was dipped in a solution of cobalt. This

method was not resorted to in the case of " Haw-

thorns." The pigment was laid on with a brush,

not uniformly, but in overlapping layers, so as to

produce the effect of clouds varying in depth and

brilliancy. The beauty of the surface was wonder-

fully enhanced by this simple device. Sometimes a
marbled or tessellated aspect was obtained by means

of dark lines intersecting in diamonds or squares.

The latter method, generally resorted to when the

decoration consisted of clusters of petals only (with-

out connecting branches or trunks), belongs to an

inferior order of art conception, though what it loses

through excessive formality is compensated in the

opinion of many connoisseurs by the stronger play of

reflected light on a surface thus treated. the first
a specimen
In judging of " Hawthorn "

point to be considered is the nature of the blue.

The purer and more brilliant the colour, the better

the specimen. Great depth, amounting almost to

darkness, though highly prized by many connoisseurs

for the sake of its fine contrast with the white design,

is not an essential mark of quality. The design it-

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