Page 241 - Oriental Series Japan and China, Brinkly

PORCELAIN DECORATED

placed in the first rank. As for the blue employed,

it was of ordinary quality. In the latter respect the

Cheng-hwa porcelains were not comparable with those

of the Hsuan-te era but in the matter of enamelled
;

decoration the former far surpassed not only every-

thing that had preceded but also everything that suc-

ceeded them. Their merit consisted in the skill of

the painters and the beauty of the colouring mate-

rials. In a work entitled * of Yu-chang

History

Keramics,' it is stated that among the porcelains of

the Cheng-hwa era there were wine-vessels and cups

ornamented with barn-yard fowl. These were of

exceptional excellence. On the upper part was de-

picted a peony plant, and below a hen with her
chickens, full of life and movement." There were

also shallow, wide-mouthed cups with handles, deco-

rated with grapes in coloured enamels. These were

extremely beautiful. Then came cups ornamented

with figure-subjects and lotus plants, or with grass-

hoppers ; and then wine-cups, thin as paper, with

blue flowers under the glaze. The names of these,

like their shapes, were various. ... In former times

the Ming porcelains were classed in order of merit

as follows : First, those of the Hsuan-te era sec-
;

ond, those of the Cheng-hwa era ; third, those of the

Tung-lo era ; and fourth, those of the Chia-ching era.

But the pieces of the Hsuan-te period decorated with

coloured enamels were far from equalling those of

the Cheng-hwa period. In truth the designs painted

upon porcelains of this latter era had an air of life
and movement which no painter has since been able
to imitate." It is necessary to make some allowance

for the conservative propensities of this writer, who,
like all Chinese connoisseurs, was evidently laudator

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