Page 199 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

PORCELAIN DECORATED

and when the standards adopted in China itself began

to be recognised as technically true at least, soft-paste

blue-and-white ware quickly rose to its due place in

the esteem of collectors.

In addition to " Hawthorn," Kai-pien-yaoy and
"
hard-paste egg-shell," large quantities of ordinary

blue-and-white porcelain were manufactured during

the Kang-hsi era. The general verdict as to these

wares is that the grand colour of the blue is always

an attractive feature. The pate is fine, the glaze

smooth and lustrous, the workmanship skilful but
;

over and above these recommendations the tone of the

blue especially attracts attention. Its clearness, bril-

liancy, and depth distinguish it from the blue of the

rival epoch, Chien-lung (17361795), and give it a
marked advantage over the colour of the Lung-wang-

yao (15671619), though the full, solid tone of the
Alatter is unquestionably imposing.
very little ex-

perience will enable the connoisseur to recognise the

bright, pure Kang-hsi blue from anything of later

date, while the only Ming specimens large enough

and numerous enough to create any confusion, namely,

those of the Lung-ching and Wan-li workshops, pre-

sent, on their side, unmistakable features. The Kang-

hsi decorators took their designs from a very large

field. Especially addicted to figure subjects, they

loved to depict hunting scenes, war scenes, garden

scenes, in all of which Mandarins, braves, dames of

high and low degree, and children at play occupied a

great part of the space to be decorated. Palm trees

and quaintly shaped rocks appear everywhere. Geo-

metrical diapers, and ingenious arabesques, often

betraying distinctly Egyptian affinities, and boldly

curved scroll patterns constitute another class of

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