Page 217 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

PORCELAIN DECORATED

It will, of course, be understood that the objects
mentioned above are not restricted to the decoration

of blue-and-white porcelain. They occur with equal

frequency on specimens of famille verte and famille

rose. Indeed no device is commoner on fine porce-
lains of the last named variety than a branch of peach

tree with fruit, the leaves executed in translucid green

enamel, and the fruit in the broken tints and half

tones peculiar to the famille rose. Strawberries are

almost as often found on fine specimens of this family,
but they are chosen solely on account of their suita-
bility to the palette of t\\t famille rose painter, and not
because of any emblematic significance attaching to
them.

As to blue-and-white of the pate tendre class, the

subjects affected above all others by decorators the

ubiquitous dragon excepted is the pomegranate

Whytree. this should be the case, no explanation

is forthcoming, other than the obvious fact that the

branches and fruit lend themselves readily to graceful

composition and distribution over the surface. Land-

scapes too are very frequently depicted, their details

finished with the utmost care, and some of them

showing a fine artistic sense. Garden scenes are also

found, not uncommonly having a more or less close

affinity with the familiar old willow pattern. Fig-

ure subjects, however, are comparatively rare on soft-

paste porcelains, with the exception of snuff-bottles.

On the whole, the decorators of this choice ware

seem to have been guided chiefly by canons of chas-
tity and refinement, and to have avoided the incon-
gruity of attempting to produce dazzling effects on
a surface that lent itself best to delicate and soft

subjects.

167