Page 234 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

CHINA

merly set up for themselves by English amateurs may

be gathered from a passage in the recent writings of

Mr. A. W. Franks, of the British Museum. " In

England," he says, " lately, so little was blue-and-
till

white porcelain esteemed, that innumerable specimens,

including even those of high quality, were hopelessly

spoiled by being daubed over with green, red, and

gold (unfortunately burnt in), in order to render

them saleable. The majority of English collectors,

in short, had only one conception of Chinese porce-

lain. They regarded it as ware brightly painted in

many colours, and to be esteemed chiefly for purposes

of decorative furniture. Fortunately the error of such

an idea has been recognised. But the tendency at

present is to run to the opposite extreme. Mono-

chromatic and blue-and-white wares are placed on an

unreasonable eminence as compared with specimens

of the enamelled style, and it is no longer admitted,

as it should be, that to the latter class belong some of

the most beautiful and remarkable efforts of Chinese

keramic art.

Decoration by means of verifiable enamels and
pigments over the glaze seems to have had its origin
under the Tuan dynasty (1260-1361). But, like

many other points in the history of the art, this also

is wrapped in obscurity. Chinese annals give no
trustworthy information on the subject. Probably

their silence is attributable to the comparatively
worthless character of early essays in the style.

Their phraseology, too, is unhappily loose. Thus
the Tao-lu, referring to ware made in the opening
years of the Tuan dynasty at Liu-ch'wen, near Foo-
chow, says that some of the pieces had " flowers

rudely painted." In this vague statement connois-

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